The Great Albums

647

Two indie rock musicians, Bill Lambusta and Brian Erickson, dive into the fandom of great rock and pop music and how it connects to their lives through the lens of the medium they care for most, the album. Episodes frequently include guest contributions from musicians, podcasters, and journalists and always culminate in a track by track review.

Recent Episodes
  • Liner Notes - Bill's Listening Habits in 2021 (plus emails!)
    Jan 3, 2022 – 01:02:50
  • Top 10 Albums of 2021 (Jeff)
    Dec 20, 2021 – 01:34:37
  • Liner Notes - Bill's Listening Habits in 2020 (plus emails!)
    Jan 4, 2021 – 57:49
  • Top 10 Albums of 2020 (Jeff)
    Dec 21, 2020 – 01:26:03
  • Top 10 Albums of 2020 (Brian)
    Dec 14, 2020 – 01:32:06
  • Liner Notes - A Look Back on 10 Classic Pop Punk Bands' "Mature" Albums from Brooklyn Vegan
    Jul 27, 2020 – 01:14:04
  • Liner Notes - Pearl Jam's 25 Best Deep Cuts from Spin
    Apr 6, 2020 – 01:45:58
  • High Fives - Top 5 Albums We've Not Covered
    Mar 23, 2020 – 01:45:18
  • Liner Notes - Bill's Listening Habits in 2019
    Dec 30, 2019 – 38:48
  • Top 10 Albums of 2019 (Jeff)
    Dec 16, 2019 – 01:18:18
  • Top 10 Albums of 2019 (Brian)
    Dec 9, 2019 – 01:27:35
  • Liner Notes - All Good Things...
    Sep 9, 2019 – 01:32:49
  • The Replacements - Let It Be (Reprise)
    Jul 1, 2019 – 01:48:24
  • Radiohead - OK Computer
    Jun 24, 2019 – 01:52:30
  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In (w/ guest Doug Robertson)
    Jun 23, 2019 – 02:03:46
  • The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (w/ guest Sean Barna)
    Jun 9, 2019 – 02:09:37
  • Sonic Youth - Murray St. (w/ guest Scott Sylvester)
    May 27, 2019 – 01:50:27
  • The Police - Synchronicity (w/ guest Maureen Zahn)
    May 20, 2019 – 02:08:29
  • Garbage - Self Titled (w/ guest Rachel from We Are Weezer)
    May 13, 2019 – 02:12:46
  • Liner Notes - Special Announcement
    May 6, 2019 – 49:52
  • The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (w/ guest Matt Warren)
    Apr 1, 2019 – 02:02:56
  • Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (w/ guest Savannah Pope)
    Mar 18, 2019 – 01:49:47
  • Superchunk - Here's Where the Strings Come In (w/ guest Nikki Karwacki)
    Mar 11, 2019 – 02:06:55
  • Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left to Lose
    Mar 4, 2019 – 01:54:26
  • Tenacious D - Self Titled (w/ guest David Rosen)
    Feb 25, 2019 – 02:09:59
  • Barenaked Ladies - Maroon (w/ guest James Anderson)
    Feb 18, 2019 – 02:18:07
  • Depeche Mode - Violator (w/ guest Vincent Onorati)
    Feb 11, 2019 – 01:54:01
  • High Fives - Top 5 TV Theme Songs
    Feb 4, 2019 – 01:22:46
  • Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary (w/ guest Cassidy Robinson)
    Jan 21, 2019 – 01:59:52
  • Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (w/ guest KL Martin)
    Jan 14, 2019 – 02:16:57
  • Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (w/ guest Justin Pope)
    Jan 7, 2019 – 02:00:48
  • Top 10 Albums of 2018 (Jeff)
    Dec 17, 2018 – 01:28:15
  • Top 10 Albums of 2018 (Brian)
    Dec 10, 2018 – 01:29:55
  • Liner Notes - Bill's Health Update & Mail Bag
    Dec 3, 2018 – 55:58
  • The Beatles - The White Album (w/ guest Mick Chorba)
    Nov 26, 2018 – 02:10:25
  • Supertramp - Breakfast in America (w/ guest Jeff Fiedler)
    Nov 19, 2018 – 01:54:14
  • No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (w/ guest Kristen Costa)
    Nov 12, 2018 – 02:09:16
  • Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club (w/ guest James Kittle)
    Nov 5, 2018 – 01:58:39
  • Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (w/ guest Renee Maskin)
    Oct 29, 2018 – 02:01:05
  • a-ha - Hunting High and Low (w/ guest Brian Wagner)
    Oct 22, 2018 – 01:50:57
  • Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
    Oct 15, 2018 – 01:40:40
  • Fugazi - Repeater (w/ guest Nick Palmer)
    Oct 8, 2018 – 01:53:43
  • Harvey Danger - 6 Song 6 Pack
    Oct 1, 2018 – 01:07:42
  • High Fives - Top 5 Good Albums with Awful Art
    Aug 27, 2018 – 01:16:01
  • Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (w/ guest Matt Cook)
    Aug 20, 2018 – 02:04:33
  • Nada Surf - The Weight Is a Gift
    Aug 13, 2018 – 01:51:53
  • Blink-182 - Enema of the State (w/ guest Tyler Plazio)
    Aug 6, 2018 – 02:08:10
  • XTC - Skylarking (w/ guest Chris Tull)
    Jul 31, 2018 – 02:18:03
  • Summer Special - Love & Mercy
    Jul 16, 2018 – 59:48
  • My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (w/ guests Dan Drago and Alex Santilli)
    Jul 9, 2018 – 02:06:53
Recent Reviews
  • Ifeelscottish
    Great podcast!
    I loved this podcast, please come back.
  • King Chungo
    Amazing
    I have loved this podcast forever. Please comeback!
  • Bilgepump93
    Incredibly in-depth and thought out
    What an amazing series. Probably my favorite podcast of all time.
  • Jazzbo
    White guys with guitars!
    It’s amazing how many great albums these guys haven’t heard. There’s a lot more music than just rock you know.
  • AC2277
    Grow Up!
    For the love of music, please stop saying “like” every other word! You’re not in high school anymore!! So distracting from an otherwise enjoyable show.
  • samajax
    You know, like, ya know
    I’ve actually listened to quite a few episodes, and a little late to the party, so I’ll give it a just ok. I already know to skip ahead at least 10 minutes to see if they’re talking about the topic album yet. Their pop culture knowledge is pretty slack- two folks had never heard of My Bloody Valentine/Russ Meyer in the Garage episode, but hey, there is a lot to digest out there. What really kills me is the “you know” and “like”, sometimes more than 4-5 times in one thought. I don’t expect NPR, but this is an aural entertainment, space fillers are really annoying to many listeners. Think before you speak, short silences are way better than ya know, ya know, like, ya know.
  • wizard70
    MJ thriller
    Certainly you know by now he was falsely accused if not I suggest you do research...I am glad one of the hosts likes the album...
  • Weatheredsands
    Terrible
    Spend more talking about themselves than the Artist or the Album.. waste of time
  • FreddyC1968
    Love the podcast!
    Touches on so many artists and albums I am into. By the way.....its great that there is a Replacements reference in almost every episode!!!
  • Triple Crown003
    Nice work
    Great podcast guys, great to hear insight from actual musicians
  • billbixby
    Nice to see you're back
    I really enjoy getting some insight and background on albums I aleady know (Houses of the Holy) or albums I never really listened to, but have now become part of my audio library (Pet Sounds). I've been going back and listening to episodes I originally missed, and now I see you're doing some new content. It's great to have Bill and Brian as a temporary escape during the pandemic. Keep it up and how about a few of your High Fives?
  • TheFallopians
    Loving all the coverage thus far
    Please consider doing any Roxy Music or Destroyer albums.
  • Biging1
    Don’t Ever Stop for Good!
    Always SO much fun to hear these guys talk about the music they love. Thrilled they haven’t completely let go of this.
  • raybird
    Great info, but shut up!
    These guys know their stuff but get on sooooo many tangents that I just wanna leave. And I do.
  • BrandyLikeTheAlcohol
    Ahhh man... you didn’t do The Chronic?!
    The Chronic needs to be done
  • Poe22222
    Thanks
    A few weeks ago, I had a spiritual experience rediscovering Pearl Jam, a band with which I was absolutely obsessed in youth, and have been gobbling up material. Your Yield episode has been amongst my favorites! Looking forward to more :) Btw, I still think Ten and Vs. are untouchable, but Yield is probably my new third favorite.
  • Metalzone007
    Great listen Excellent choices of records Reviewed
    Worth the listen
  • Bunegeria
    Um like you know
    They like to listen to themselves agree and say the same things. 35 minutes before they played a song, except for the opener. Listened to the first one, then to one about a band I love, both were interminable-
  • Terry212am
    They needed an editor. Badly.
    There are a lot of 5-star reviews, and I felt like I was taking crazy pills. Then I scrolled down to see that there were a bunch of people who said what I was planning to say. Whew. I wanted a podcast with good research and thoughtful review of "great albums." When I finally tried this one out...it was what a lot of review complain about. Talking about everything but the album. For instance, in the Nothing Left to Lose Foo Fighters podcast...I learned what one host's girlfriend gave him for Christmas when he was 15. Castle Wolfenstein, the video game. I learned that they didn't expect that there were new viewers, but then they said maybe there WERE first time listeners listening. They said they shudder at how bad their early episodes were. They went over the fact that there was no real reason for doing that particular review except that they liked the album. They said there was no important anniversary or anything. And they, as they were saying that out loud, they put together that it was 20 years since the album came out, so it WAS an anniversary. Crap like this went on for THIRTY minutes before they started breaking down songs. Look, if hosts are witty or incisive or something, it's all well and good to listen to them say entertaining things...but this elevated uninteresting small talk to high art. And when they finally got into the background of the band, they kept having to correct each other on the facts. And when they tried to discuss equipment, they had trouble disguising that they had never seen the equipment they were GUESSING that the Foo Fighters used. SKIP IT.
  • cathcasez
    Sorry to see you go
    I will recommend this to anyone looking for a great listen. Maybe you will revisit this from time to time? Love Momma Z
  • To11800th
    Good listen
    I stumbled upon this podcast somehow a while ago and have since listened to a bunch. The Siamese Dream, Blue Album, amd Chutes Too Narrow eps were great. It also took me through some albums I’ve never actually dove into (Dark Side Of The Moon) and took me on a few nostalgic trips (Yield). Either way, I like their voices and ideas and opinions and stories (Playing the shins in front of a strange girl and your aunt!) and they seem like friends I Would kick it with. Well done gentlemen and thank you.
  • iCentaur.com
    Why not???
    Bill and Brian... why not put together a documentary on the podcast exploring how the show developed, evolved, and finally ended. Perhaps use the same narrative as the podcast and use fans to help tell the story.
  • AllenS!
    Great show!
    One of my favorite podcasts! So in-depth and knowledgeable!
  • Ajmart2998
    Glad this exists
    Interesting show, but wish it was better researched/structured. Things aren’t very smooth and a lot of wasted time. Could be tightened up.
  • blaine63
    Like listening to me and my loser friends talk music...
    Great Podcast. As much as it exposes me to new music and fresh insights to music I already know...I enjoy to back and forth between the hosts and their guests. Keep pumping these out.
  • Clarnwhich_Duval
    An Absurd Waste of Time
    2 uncharismatic knuckleheads mask their ignorance, cultural irrelevance, and lack of musical sensibility with dull personal anecdotes and diversions. For such a long podcast to be so unenriching is a disgrace, especially while attempting to address fascinating material. An absurd waste of time.
  • Mrs42067
    Seriously
    For the record! Waylon Jennings didn’t lose a coin toss to Buddy Holly like the guy in the Waylon Jennings Dreaming my Dreams episode. It was Buddy’s chartered plane. Waylon gave his seat to a sick Big Bopper and Tommy Alsup lost the coin toss to Richie Valens. So idk what website the guy they spoke to during the episode is from but the fact that these 2 don’t do enough research to an episode to know probably the most commonly know story about Waylon. SMH!!!
  • AstriSelma28
    Men talking about men
    This podcast seems to filter out women and women-led bands. Open up your ears to more that’s out there and learn to appreciate women artists!
  • Joe-KC
    They need an editor
    While their episode titles are not exactly mis-leading, be prepared to sit through 20-80% chatty filler while waiting for them to get around to it. The 2-hour No Doubt /Tragic Kingdom episode doesn't even start until hour 2. They could edit the thing down to 40 minutes and it would be pretty sharp.
  • Paul T in Boston
    Must Hear Podcast.
    This is one of my absolute favorites. I have recommended it to everyone I know who either loves podcasts or music. The key to my enjoyment, as a sixty-one year old who remembers the release of virtually all of these albums, is going back and listening again once I finish an episode. It opens up so many new possibilities and shows me so many things I missed. Musicians who are also fans are the only people that could pull this off, but anyone could derive something from what they have managed to create. Thank you for that.
  • AP554
    Great Albums=Great Listen
    Such great insight, chemistry and taste.
  • westseattleguru
    Good company
    These guys are great. Like nerding our with your buddies about music. If considering Lindsey Buckingham a douche is cool, consider me Miles Davis.
  • GBostown
    Stop trying to be young!
    Jay-Z before Jimi Hendrix ... just one example of a poor choice. You guys have some great episodes and I loved a lot of the shows but lately just not so good! Please examine some of the important talent in music ... there’s nothing good past maybe ‘05 . No more reminders of how old you guys were when Matchbox 20 came out ..we good ... I’m holding on for some good stuff!
  • Eh em
    Before even get to STP’s Purple
    Guys guys guys. Great that you have an episode about Purple but before you even get to it... so wrong about Shangri la dee da. There are many great songs on it. Coma is strong as you mentioned but some of their best lighter material is on this album... Wonderful, A Song for Sleeping for example. The outro of Bi-Polar Bear is one of the highlights as well. As opposed to the last self titled one with Weiland. Right about Take a Load Off, thats one of the very few quality tracks on it. Most of it isn’t very inspired. The Deleo bros explained that Weiland was barely in the studio w them, he’d do his vocals at his own studio. I assume this lack of cohesion was the problem with that album. By far their weakest w Scott. I think the Deleo bros took the lead on Tiny Music’s genre hopping direction and Weiland followed, instead of the other way around.
  • imhmr
    Great insight into great albums!
    I recommend finding albums you already love and listening to those episodes and then expand from there. I’ve discovered some records from the podcast I now love. Bill and Brian are insightful and knowledgeable.
  • Griffy269
    Love it
    These guys turned me on to so much amazing music. Would love to hear a little more of each song other than just the beginnings of tracks, but I’m super appreciative. I typically listen to an episode then download the album on Spotify. Love it.
  • Open D
    BeeGees
    Not a word from you guys about the bigest pop band of all time ??
  • album awesome
    Awesome
    Great podcast keep up the good work
  • Tom mas Thom
    Check the facts
    The Music From Big Pink episode was kind of hard to listen to because there is a ton of bad information here. The hosts got the names of Hawks songs wrong, over-priced the stay at Big Pink by $150 a night and let their guest ramble on about his own music for several minutes before getting to the topic at hand. George Harrison never lived at Big Pink. (He may have visited.) Garth did not find Levon’s drum kit. Robbie did not sing on Northern Lights, Southern Cross; he sang a studio song on The Last Waltz soundtrack. Their last album is called Islands. Robbie did not live in NYC when the other guys lived at Big Pink. He and his soon-to-be wife, Dominique, a French journalist (not his “model girlfriend”) lived on Grossman’s property in Woodstock. It’s not that Garth Hudson didn’t want to join The Hawks, he was concerned his parents would not accept him playing in a rock and roll band. To convince his parents, they told them he’d be giving lessons to the other members. Caledonia Mission is about The Hawks getting busted with drugs at the Canadian border. There’s some good analysis and opinion of the music, but you may want to double check any facts you hear on this podcast.
  • Joehme
    Had great potential
    Omg, shut up! I was really looking forward to this series, but just all the rambling. I had to delete all 30 episodes. Just terrible. I was liking to hear about a lot of the albums and the history, but then just rambling forever.
  • carpito
    Overall good show but.....
    It is a very good show, the guys are knowledgeable about the records and artists they review. You might agree or not with their opinions but that’s life. My main issue is with the persistent use of the word “like” when is not needed. After a while it can get annoying. The guys clearly have a good and extensive vocabulary so I don’t see the need to insist on the misuse of the word.
  • Fletch_NYC
    One of the best music podcasts.
    Thoughtful, intelligent, and informed analysis of some of the greatest albums ever recorded. An essential podcast for music lovers.
  • Pkuelz
    The best
    You guys should review Tool
  • TrivTriv
    Best Music Podcast There Is
    As a former music journalist who left the business because the need to keep up/say something deep/not sound pretentious was getting me down, I'm very glad to have discovered Bill and Brian. Their discussions are enlightening without making the listener feel small (no mean feat in music journalism), and their depth of knowledge is broad but approachable. It's a fascinating and fun way to revisit some of my all-time favorite music; highly recommended.
  • mistergreen16
    Refused!!!
    I can’t believe they reviewed this album. So many of these albums are my middle school/high school soundtrack. Just hearing the small clips they played brought me back to senior year. This album was my secret find and scared my sister when I first played it. Definitely a podcast for thirty to forty somethings who want to stroll down memory lane. Watch out because you will want to find your old cds or buy new ones.
  • Michael Shashoua
    Love for RP
    thanks for covering Robert Palmer's Clues, the man does not get his due as a creative musician, singer, producer and artist. You explored what made his work great in detail. Thanks again!
  • Eric P 1985
    Thank you.
    THIS is the only thing that can get me through my day to day. As a self taught musician, this podcast offers more than just production/compositional knowledge, it also provides a real way for me to connect with some of the long forgotten albums in my own childhood. I have listened to every episode a couple of times and I find something new each time I do, some little tidbit of info or personal reflection that really lends itself to my experiences as well. So, as the boys say ‘that is what makes a great album’.......constantly coming back and finding new things to love. Well done gentlemen and please keep the episodes coming!!
  • Jessiah the Third
    Great podcast
    These guys talk about music in a very knowledgeable, conversational, and unrehearsed way. I feel like I am sitting in a room with a couple of my friends. I’ve revisited some great music and learned new things with each episode so far. Keep up the great work.
  • East Bay 3001
    Pretty good show
    Good job with background detail and song analysis, especially if you are a musician. Have not reviewed a Stones album and the name is Greatest Albums?! Could do without the personal political input that occasionally happens. Overall a good listen.
  • Former Ump
    A Jimmie Nicol mention
    Along with Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best...good one guys...even if you didn’t mention Nicol by name...had me laugh out loud in the gym today...the dirty looks from the muscleheads was totally worth it
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