Vinyl Verdict

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by their friend Bell. Bell is here today to talk about Adam's pick, Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life". Released in 1976, it came out as the culmination of a legendary run of albums, beginning in 1972 with "Music of my Mind". Between 1974 and 1977, Stevie Wonder won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year 3 times, a record. Upon release, the album was critically praised and spawned five singles, "I Wish", "Sir Duke", "Another Star", "As" and "Isn't She Lovely" (although this one was not released as a single in the US). But will the boys critically praise this album? Will they say it "Knocks me off my Feet", or will it leave them with a "Contusion"? Come along and find out!

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by Dan Besser, who this time brings his own pick! Unconventionally, Dan's pick is a maxi-single called Payback Time by the The Dysfunctional Psychedelic Waltons. As far as we can tell, the song was created for an advertising campaign by Levi's Jeans in 2003. The single contains four versions of the song, remixed by different artists. We've never covered the same song, four different ways before, but we did cover singles all the way back in Season 1. Come along with us and have a little fun with Payback Time!

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by their friend, Dan Besser! Dan joins us today to talk about Adam's next pick, Igorrr's "Spirituality and Distortion". Released in 2020, it was his fourth album. A mix of avant-garde music, metal, and most perplexingly...polka, "Spirituality and Distortion" is a wildly eccentric album, named in 2024 as one of the 10 most wacky by Loudwire. But what will Dan and the boys think of the combo of blast beats and accordion? Will they dance a "Nervous Waltz" or will they think it is "Very Noise"? Come along and find out!

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined by their new friend Wade! Better known as the hands behind the YouTube channel Dankpods, Wade was visiting us all the way from Australia. His pick for this episode, the Avishai Cohen Trio's "Gently Disturbed" was a favourite from when Wade studied jazz in university. Released in 2007, the trio at the time featured Avishai Cohen on bass, Mark Guiliana on drums and Shai Maestro on piano. At the time of recording, Shai Maestro was only 21 years old, and was considered a rising phenom in jazz music, while Avishai Cohen and Mark Guiliana were more seasoned veterans. The jazz press was warm to this album, with the Jazz Times lauding the piano work by Maestro and saying the playing by Cohen cemented him as one of the elite bassists in jazz. But what will the boys think of the album? Will it be a study of the 'structure in emotion', or will it leave them 'gently disturbed'? Come along and find out!

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined again by Sven - this time for his pick, Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory". Released in the distant future of the year 2000, the album was released to critical success. It spawned four singles, "One Step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling" and "Papercut", all of which charted. At the 44th Grammy Awards, "Crawling" won the award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album has gone on to be named on several Best Of and Must Own lists, but what will the boys think? Will it leave them crawling in their skin? Will it have them one step closer to the edge? Come along and find out!