Podcast Review: Sound Opinions interviews Steve Earle (3/31/08)

For the unaware: Sound Opinions is a really fun, occasionally informative, often frustrating (the good kind) podcast by two of the only remaining traditional media rock critics: well spoken everyman Greg Kot and the blubbering Lester Bangs aping Jim DeRogatis. Both write for Chicago publications, the Tribune and the Sun-Times respectively, and both wield that pre-blog David Fricke trad rock critical spew fest (especially DeRo) but still wind up being affable and entertaining. The show, which is hosted by Chicago Public Radio, is extremely well edited and I always look forward to my Monday morning dose of rock talk radio (since it usually posts on Sunday night).

This review is a bit late but I still wanted to post it.

On this week's show, they review the new Gnarls Barkley and Raconteurs albums and interview Steve Earle and his special lady friend Allison Moorer.

They open the show with their four millionenth Beatles reference this year since apparently the four millionenth "5th Beatle" died recently. For someone who took Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band and 60's babyboomers to task in his own book, DeRo does not shut his mouth about the Beatles. This extended segment of these two babbling about the Beatles Anthology comes just a few weeks after they mutually climaxed on air over Revolver. One of my biggest criticisms of these guys is that they don't seem to know who their audience is: when Greg Kot starts saying "The only two other people that could be considered 5th Beatles are..." I cringe because anyone who'd go through the trouble of downloading such a podcast would have learned this stuff over a joint and/or from their Dad's Beatles coffee table book.

The next segment is a review of the new Gnarls Barkley record, The Odd Couple. I've yet to hear the album, but I think St. Elsewhere was good albeit spotty. I never came down too hard on the Gnarls: they put out great singles and at the very least they push the boundaries of Top 40 music. What made me a little wary is the fact that St. Elsewhere only sold 1.3 million copies. "Crazy" was one of the most ubitiquous songs of the last few years, like "Living La Vida Loca" all over again. But apparently, this did not translate into album sales. This furthers the constantly audible rumblings of a "song based" future of the music industry and invalidates radio to some degree. "Crazy" was the number 7 song on the Billboard charts for 2006 and number 4 on the iTunes best-seller list. Alternatively, St. Elsewhere wasn't even close to the top 10 best selling albums. Just saying, is all.

During the review DeRo name drops "northern soul" and Greg Kot makes the plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face observation that Danger Mouse is taking classic grooves and updating them for the 21st Century. Oh and they give the album a pretty good review while not really embarassing themselves with their rockist knowledge of hip hop music.

They interview Steve Earle. He was on the Wire (he plays Bubbles' sponsor). I love the Wire. He sings the theme from the Wire which is a Tom Waits song. He sings it terribly. He sings a terrible song he wrote himself called "Satellite Radio" about the end of radio, which he says, is like what Springsteen is doing, referring to the Boss' terrible song, "Radio Nowhere." He seems nice enough and tours with his wife, Allison Moorer which is cute, I guess. She is way better looking than he is. He reminds me of Ryan Adams, who once named his then girlfriend Parker Posey as exe-cute-ive producer of Rock and Roll. Steve and Allison sing some pretty ok songs that range from cliche and maudlin to cliche and pretty. Greg Kot seems to think it's really funny that Steve Earle and Chuck D talk music.

They review the Raconteurs album and both rip into it, particularly DeRo. This is my favourite part of the show for the week, thus I have the least to say about it. They make sure to load on the praise to the White Stripes. Yuck.

The final segment of most shows is the "Desert Island Jukebox" which takes bad High Fidelity cliches to a whole other level. Guess what the concept is! Every week one of the guys picks a tune that he would load onto a jukebox that would be on a desert island. Mmmhmm. This week Kot picks "Where is My Mind?" by the Pixies. DeRo apparently is not much of a Pixies fan and it angers me a little inside to know I also don't like them very much either. Kot also commits another cringeworthy faux pas: apparently, to Mr. Kot(ter) seeing the Pixies at Coachella with the sunset behind them made him glad to be alive. This bums me out since Kot is age appropriate to have seen the Pixies in small clubs the first time and I get the impression he did not. Also a bummer that the sight of the money obsessed Black Francis' bloated face makes him pleased to be alive. I wish he just would have focused more on the subtext of his love of the Pixies: he wants to do Kim Deal.

More next week when the boys talk about music fidelity. I promise I will make the review sound better than the show.