What grabs you as a kid listening to songs on the radio may still grab you as an adult… but the nuances often come out after you’ve had years to process them, all informed by life experience. This was true for Rob and Steely Dan’s 1972 debut record Can’t Buy a Thrill. It was an Read more about 6.6: Steely Dan – Can’t Buy a Thrill (1972)[…]
There reaches a point in a young music fan’s life when they begin to detect the emotional complexities of the songs and albums they love. This usually corresponds with a capacity for sensing these things in real life between real people. One discovers that some things can seem happy on the surface, while being full Read more about 6.3: Nick Heyward – North of a Miracle (1983)[…]
Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. There are wake-up calls and there are WAKE UP! calls. When Rob was growing up, his Dad’s copy of Read more about The Live Sessions 1: James Brown – Live at the Apollo (1963)[…]
Being connected. Feeling surrounded by those who support you. It’s vital to happiness, particularly during life-altering events like the birth of a child, for instance. This was on Rob’s mind as he anticipated the arrival of a new daughter, and the feelings associated with being surrounded by an extended support system of soon-to-be aunties, uncles, Read more about 5.4: The Finn Brothers – Everyone Is Here[…]
Some records become the soundtrack for pivotal periods of self-discovery in our lives, even if we’re not aware of the importance of those times to our personal development – maybe even especially so. In the summer of 1987, Rob took a trip to Barbados to stay with his cousin. Driving around the island, A-Ha’s 1985 Read more about 5.1: A-ha – Hunting High & Low (1985)[…]
Remember record stores? Those magical places which seemingly contained all the music in the world? Rob remembers one such record store fondly — Cactus Records in Oakville — because it was there he encountered an album that he’d been interested in for years: Sade’s sophisiti-pop opus Diamond Life. How were Sade’s stylish sounds received by Read more about 4.4: Sade – Diamond Life (1984)[…]
The end of a road can take on many different forms. Sometimes, the road branches off in two or more directions. Sometimes, it’s a dead end. At other times, that road is shrouded in mist with no road signs to indicate what’s ahead. In any of these situations, you have to decide on what to Read more about 4.2: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – All This Useless Beauty (1996)[…]
Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions — a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his time sheltering in place, Rob turned to Fountains of Wayne’s 2007 album Traffic and Read more about The COVID Sessions 1: Fountains Of Wayne – Traffic and Weather (2007)[…]
Music doesn’t always make it easy on you. It often challenges you. It shocks you. It confuses you. And through that, it makes you hear other music differently after a journey down a twisty path leading you through unfamiliar cultural and artistic territory to destinations you didn’t anticipate. Soon, you find yourself both challenged and Read more about 2.8: Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (1959)[…]
Sometimes, the best advice you can follow is: shut up and listen. That way you learn more, particularly about the stories of others that often remain hidden from you, yet are vital to know and understand. During a period of discovery for Rob around the issues of feminism and the burdens placed on women by Read more about 2.6: Tori Amos – Under the Pink (1994)[…]
Sometimes you find your favourite music. But in those rarer moments, that music seems to find you. That’s the experience Rob had with 1971’s Bryter Layter by singer-songwriter Nick Drake. The record was Drake’s second album, exploring English folk-rock textures with some chamber pop and jazz thrown in, and with some interesting lyrical content to Read more about 2.2: Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (1971)[…]
In episode seven of our podcast (which you can listen to right here!), we talked a lot about the expanding musical possibilities that Joe Jackson’s Night and Day album helped me discover beyond the borders of top forty pop. But in parallel, Joe Jackson himself was on a journey all of his own around the Read more about Joe Jackson Night and Day Addendum: Steppin’ Out of a Comfort Zone[…]
Have you ever felt a page of your life turn, moving from one chapter to another? It’s a common experience that can be tumultuous but also pretty exciting, too. During a time of transition for Rob, it was Joe Jackson’s 1982 album Night and Day that provided the soundtrack. It was what we term an Read more about 7: Joe Jackson – Night and Day (1982)[…]
For every great record, there is almost always another great one behind it. Sometimes, there’s even an entire body of work that helped to inspire it. Shannon, Graeme, and I aren’t the only ones who have albums that hold deep meanings! This idea is absolutely true of XTC’s Apple Venus, Volume 1, a record that Read more about XTC Apple Venus, Volume 1 Addendum: The Influence of Judee Sill[…]
Location, location, location. Sometimes, a record is vivid enough to make you feel as though you’re in one as you listen. Maybe it can even help you make sense of your physical location, too. For Rob Jones, XTC’s eminently pastoral and Anglocentric 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 provided both of those things to him Read more about 5: XTC – Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)[…]
Being a teenager is tough. We all have those albums that we went to for solace when we were slogging through our teen years that helped us to realize that we’re not alone in our awkward gloominess. Rob submits this one as his go-to teenage angst record; Tears For Fears’ 1983 debut album The Hurting. Read more about 1: Tears For Fears – The Hurting (1983)[…]