Chart Music

[Furtho]

Sarah Bee is really good in this one, the best I can remember her. Luckily there’s no clunkily thoughtless sexism from Al or Taylor, right up to the point where there is, to her audible frustration.

[Satchmo Distel]

Can you elaborate on where that occurs in the episode? I think there's a moment where Taylor (again) assumes that Sarah is making a different point than the one she really is, which would annoy me no end (especially as he does not do this with his male co-guests)

[Furtho]

It’s close to the end and includes, but is not limited to, the phrase “ZZ Top heavy”, about which Al seems very pleased and Sarah a lot less so.

[Beatle Simon]

Not happy with the negativity

I've found it on a couple of occasions to be a bit close to the bone. The first time was the BA C***erson episode and the baby-bashing incident. The second time was about Toyah, which ventured into a personal attack.
Overall, I really enjoy Chart Music, but the views from one particular contributor does enter a dark world.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Without wanting to turn this into a pile-on, I listened to the 1969 episode today and Al's line about something being "a punch in the fanny" was needlessly offensive. All in all it's still a tremendously funny and often informative podcast but some edges could be filed off it without losing quality.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Never Ending Story is hokey, cheesy and clearly not I Feel Love. However, it never fails to bring a smile to my face and Dustin's rendition during Stranger Things had me in stitches. File away with Together in Electric Dreams.

Also the insinuation that Limahl was unattractive and a poor singer is a head-scratcher. His singing is at least adequate; additionally, pretty much every thirteen-year-old girl I knew had pictures of him on their walls, so he must have had something going on. They certainly didn't have Athena posters of Jim Diamond, Joe Fagin and Black Lace.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Additionally, the consensus on ZZ Top was just that they were 'better than Status Quo'.

However, ZZ Top were interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, no one else had nailed that Southern, dirty, crunchy, Les Paul sound up til then and it was much imitated. Mark Knopfler pretty much lifted it wholesale for Money for Nothing. Also some Brownie points for not writing Motley Crue-esque sexist nonsense. Secondly, ZZ Top were one of the early bands to get big exposure via MTV, helped by the great visual image their record company had created.

I saw ZZ Top live about a year ago. How three ageing chaps can create such an enormous sound is an impressive thing. Gimme All Your Loving is a great tune as well.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Mind you, I don't have much sympathy for Toyah. A talentless chancer.

BA Robertson I just can't get riled about.

[Jah Womble]

He wasn't really around long enough to piss one off to any great degree. At least, not in 'chart' terms - Annabella Lwin might disagree in terms of his TV career.

(I have a story relating to his first hit, of course.)

[Stumpy Pepys]

The stuff BA Robertson was doing wasn't a million miles away from, for example, Squeeze.

[Jah Womble]

Yep, wry and mildly-sardonic.

Robertson also co-wrote Carrie and Wired for Sound for Cliff Richard and then bagged himself an Ivor Novello award for The Living Years (with Mike Rutherford).

[Snake Plissken]

Anyone who says ZZ Top were crap should go away and listen to stuff like Antenna. They were Southern blues in a very good way.

[G-Man]

I'm not a big fan of ZZ Top, but "Tush" is a great song.

Anyway, the story of the original of "Son Of My Father" and a bunch other lesser-knwn originals of 1970s hits is up now.

[Lang Spoon]

Pocketful of Change is fantastic as well.

[Auntie Beryl]

Just got an email from Al via Patreon - Chart Music is about to dive under the protective wing of Great Big Owl, who also put out the Rule Of Three podcast and whose roster appears pretty solid.

Looks like they will soon offer hour-long sections of the full four-hour episode on Monday through Thursday, with the full kaboodle on the Friday of release week.

[edit: Great Big Owl stuff gets distribution on Spotify, which CM hasn't had previously. So there's that.]

[Snake Plissken]

Great Big Owl also do SMERSHPod, which is a favourite of mine.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Just got an email from Al via Patreon - Chart Music is about to dive under the protective wing of Great Big Owl, who also put out the Rule Of Three podcast and whose roster appears pretty solid.

Looks like they will soon offer hour-long sections of the full four-hour episode on Monday through Thursday, with the full kaboodle on the Friday of release week.

[edit: Great Big Owl stuff gets distribution on Spotify, which CM hasn't had previously. So there's that.]

Looks like subscribers get the full episode on the Monday of release. I prefer the full one, I save them for long runs/walks and they soak up the time nicely. I must look a bit strange to other runners/spectators when I start laughing in the latter stages of a race. Hope the change doesn't interrupt the flow of the full episode, ie they do it as they normally would and just chop up the end product rather than try to time the sections to fit the edit requirements.

[Satchmo Distel]

I think the sections will be irregular lengths so they can split it after a particular track.

[G-Man]

The 1984 episode was really enjoyable. Taylor was in superb form, without that nasty and condescending edge he sometimes has. And Sarah Bee is always good value (plus she laughs like a good friend of mine, which I like).

The Eugene Wilde discussion missed the point, though. In that kind of song, the lyrics are just wallpaper. The groove of the song is the bed on which all the action is happening. That's why so many soul lyrics, especially in the 1980s, are so crap. Nobody bothered. It was all about the sound.

"Sexual Healing" was an exception. There, Marvin Gaye discussed his sexual dysfunctions and confusion, and addiction to masturbation. But nobody cares much about that (including Taylor and Sarah), because the groove is so damn sexy. As is that of "Gotta Take You Home With Me Tonight".

I don't get the "ZZ Top heavy" gag, by theway. Neither why it's supposed to amuse nor why it should offend.

[Snake Plissken]

Refers to big breasts.

[diggedy derek]

I've been meaning to catch up on Chart Music, but the file sizes are often prohibitive for my phone. A three hour download often means I have to delete a whole bunch of photos or something. I'm sure I'll get round to it someday

[Satchmo Distel]

They are going to start posting smaller files, splitting each episode into four.

[willie1foot]

They are going to start posting smaller files, splitting each episode into four.

Beginning of the end....

When will it be on Spotify? And will it be on the Australian version? I know Netflix Australia doesn't have everything that's available elsewhere, but not sure about Spotify. No biggie, I can still download and listen right?

[Stumpy Pepys]

I've been meaning to catch up on Chart Music, but the file sizes are often prohibitive for my phone. A three hour download often means I have to delete a whole bunch of photos or something. I'm sure I'll get round to it someday

Three hours? Are you on a really slow connection?

[Satchmo Distel]

Beginning of the end....

When will it be on Spotify? And will it be on the Australian version? I know Netflix Australia doesn't have everything that's available elsewhere, but not sure about Spotify. No biggie, I can still download and listen right?

Yes it will be on the website as normal but with adverts. Alternatively you can subscribe 3 or 5 dollars a month for ad-free.

I think the reality is that we've been getting this great work for free but that couldn't continue, e.g. Taylor is on the dole.