The best way most people have to understand how extinct animals like the dinosaurs lived is through art. Over the years, paleoart has transitioned from maintaining outdated ideas, to illustrating new understandings of dinosaurs, to entirely speculative art of different possibilities of how dinosaurs looked and acted.
If your understanding of the Black Panther Party is informed by depictions like Forrest Gump of a group of radical Blacks who hate white people, it’s worth listening to this podcast to learn what they actually understood. In reality, the Black Panthers were seen as a threat by the FBI, and others, due to their radical vision of cross-racial activism.
Teachers have dealt with a lot during the pandemic, from the brunt of redesigning education for remote learning on a moment’s notice to being the target of anger from parents and politicians. Here are some of their stories.
New York congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the target of rage from Republicans, establishment Democrats, and Leftists alike. This podcast explains what they have in common.
Running Tally of Podcast of the Week Awards for 2021
Last September, Rolling Stone magazine released their most recent list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which includes a greater variety of artists and genres than previous lists. Looking through the list, there were many albums I’d never listened to before and a few I’d never even heard of. In fact, counting it up, I found that I’d only listened to 140 of the albums, although I’d heard songs from many more. So I’ve decided my project for 2021 is to listen to 10 albums each week and write up some thoughts about each one.
Artist: Lil Wayne Album: Tha Carter II Year: 2005 Label: Cash Money/Universal Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No Favorite Tracks: None Thoughts: Welp, here’s my first time listening to Lil Wayne! This project is really making me realize how much I’m out of it when it comes to hip hop and rap. Overall I found this album a bit dull. Your mileage may vary.
Artist: Mobb Deep Album: The Infamous Year: 1995 Label: Loud Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Survival of the Fittest”
“Give Up the Goods (Just Step)”
“Up North Trip”
“Trife Life”
Thoughts: I am not familiar with the music of Mobb Deep either, but I like it a whole lot more. It sounds like the East Coast conscious rap I liked in the 80s, but updated for the mid-90s. There’s a lot of good beats here too.
Artist: George Harrison Album: All Things Must Pass Year: 1970 Label: Apple Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Isn’t It A Pity”
“What Is Life”
“If Not For You”
“Beware of Darkness”
“Apple Scruffs”
“Awaiting On You All”
Thoughts: George Harrison had a lot of songs in him and let them all out on a 3-record collection that was his first post-breakup release. He had a lot of friends to help him out on what ended up being one of the best of the former Beatles albums from top to bottom. “What Is Life?” is probably my all-time favorite George song, but you can’t really go wrong on this album.
Artist: Drake Album: If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late Year: 2015 Label: Cash Money Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?:No Favorite Tracks:
“10 Bands”
Thoughts: Drake is someone whose music I have actually heard before, although not anything from this album. This is Drake eschewing his r&b/soul style for a more straight-up rap album, although it is still very melodic.
Artist: Aerosmith Album: Rocks Year: 1976 Label: Columbia Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No Favorite Tracks: None Thoughts: Confession: despite being a long-time resident of Boston, I’ve never liked Aerosmith. I mean as a generic rock band following the paths previously blazed by the Rollings Stones and Led Zeppelin, they’re fine, but definitely not my thing. The upside about listening to this album is that it doesn’t contain any of the Aerosmith tracks that have been beaten to death through overplay. The downside is that I don’t like any of them anyway.
Artist: Madvillain Album: Madvillainy Year: 2004 Label: Stones Throw Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks: All of them Thoughts: We’re once again in the territory of groups I’ve never heard of before. In this case I feel a little be better that Madvillain was an underground, experimental hip hop act that produced only one album. Madvillain was a collaboration of MF Doom and Madlib, who I have heard of. In fact, I reviewed Madlib’s most recent release earlier this year. Like J. Dilla’s Donuts, this album is a collection of shorter tracks that are more vignettes than typical song structure. It’s something you need to listen to as a whole to fully absorb.
Artist: Talking Heads Album: More Songs About Buildings and Food Year: 1978 Label: Sire Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“With Our Love”
“Warning Sign”
“I’m Not In Love”
“Stay Hungry”
“Take Me To The River”
“The Big Country”
Thoughts: This album is early Talking Heads at their weirdest and quirkiest. And their genre-redefining cover of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River.” To my knowledge, most of these songs are not about buildings or food.
Artist: Parliament Album: Mothership Connection Year: 1975 Label: Casablanca Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)”
“Mothership Connection (Star Child)”
“Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)”
Thoughts:
Parliament are at their space-age funkiest with this science fiction concept album. George Clinton is an interstellar DJ letting the people of earth have the party anthems they want with an underlying social message of defiance against discrimination against Black people and their music.
Artist: Luther Vandross Album: Never Too Much Year: 1981 Label: Epic Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No Favorite Tracks:
“Never Too Much”
Thoughts: This was the debut album for Luther Vandross as a solo artists. I feel like the title track is vaguely familiar, but the rest of the album was completely new to me. Nevertheless the sound reminds me of the bouncy and super cool soul crooning style of the early 80s. I feel this album is good but not great. I know there are some Vandross songs out there that I really like but I’m not going to hear them in this project because this is the only Vandross album on the list.
Artist: My Chemical Romance Album: The Black Parade Year: 2006 Label:Reprise Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks: none
Thoughts: We’ll finish out this week’s 10 albus with yet another band that I know nothing about. I guess I wasn’t listening to emo in the Oughts as well as hip hop. The album sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins doing a musical revue of songs by Electric Light Orchestra and Queen. Since I like none of those bands, I guess that’s a bad thing. Your mileage may vary.
Running List of Albums I’d Listen to Again
500. Arcade Fire, Funeral
498. Suicide, Suicide
497. Various Artists, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
494. The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
489. A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector from Phil Spector and Various Artists, Back to Mono (1958-1969)
487. Black Flag, Damaged
485, Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
483, Muddy Waters, The Anthology
482, The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
481, Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister
478, The Kinks, Something Else by the Kinks
477, Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight
469, Manu Chao, Clandestino
465, King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years
464, The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3
462, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin
459, Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day
457, Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
456, Al Green, Greatest Hits
455, Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley
453, Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
452, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Anthology
451, Roberta Flack, First Take
448, Otis Redding, Dictionary of Soul
446, Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada
444, Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
443, David Bowie, Scary Monsters
440, Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter
439, James Brown, Sex Machine
438, Blur, Parklife
437, Primal Scream, Screamadelica
435, Pet Shop Boys, Actually
433, LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
431, Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive?
430, Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True
429, The Four Tops, Reach Out
428, Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising
427, Al Green, Call Me
426, Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams
425, Paul Simon, Paul Simon
424, Beck, Odelay
423, Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
Panorama of the Mountains 