Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the 24th (and what we think may be the liveliest-ever) episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond. And on this episode, we do indeed clash… though we also connect, as well!

We thought we’d change things up a bit this time. Whereas we usually focus on a single band or artist from the UK or USA for each episode, this episode finds us widening the scope to take on the topic of live albums — officially released and otherwise.

So for this episode of CROSSED CHANNELS, we dig into a deep discussion of some of our favorite live albums — and not just our “desert island” selections, but the live albums that introduced us to the concept in the first place, concert recordings that enriched our appreciation of certain bands, bootlegs that we religiously listened to during our teens, and live albums we wish we could have been present for the recording of.

We also get into some of the worst live albums ever recorded by some of our favorite artists, all-time favorite concerts we’ve attended, and amazing shows we’ve witnessed that really should have been recorded for posterity. Place your bets now on how many times Tony mentions The Who in this episode, or how long it takes for Dan to bring up The Kinks…

As always, this CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available in full to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this complete episode, along with all of our previous complete CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!

Welcome to the 23rd episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

This episode was inspired by Tony’s recent five-part exploration on his Substack about how Buzzcocks invented pop-punk in 1978 with an incredible run of singles — and how his early-teen self reacted to each new one (and its B-side) as it was released. Dan, on the other hand, discovered the band like most American Buzzcocks fans did back then: via Singles Going Steady, a compilation released in September 1979 by IRS Records, which was the first Buzzcocks record to come out in the US. Side One of the album presented the band’s first eight A-Sides in chronological order, with their first eight B-sides arranged similarly on Side Two.

We talk about Shelley’s knack for writing about romance from a gender-neutral perspective, the production genius of Martin Rushent, the underrated brilliance of the band’s guitar arrangements, how Steve Diggle was the “Dave Davies” of the band, and our favorite B-sides from that original batch of groundbreaking Buzzcocks singles.

As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!

Theme music: "Put It Down" by The Dear Boys. https://thedearboys.bandcamp.com/album/put-it-down

Welcome to the 22nd episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

This time out, we dig into a big bowl of Raspberries, the legendary American power pop band of the early 1970s. Formed in Cleveland, Ohio from the ashes of popular local groups The Choir and Cyrus Erie, the Raspberries were fronted by guitarist/pianist Eric Carmen, and also featured lead guitarist Wally Bryson, bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti.

Between 1972 and 1974, the Raspberries enjoyed four Top 40 Billboard hits (including 1972’s “Go All The Way,” which went, er, all the way up to #5) and their riffy, hook-filled, arena-rocking brand of power pop would go on to influence several generations of pop-minded musicians — some of whom can be heard testifying to the importance of the band’s legacy on Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, the new 2-CD set released by Think Like A Key Music.

But while the Raspberries were arguably the most commercially successful American power pop band of the 1970s, and their legion of fans included John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, they got a rough reception from US rock critics, many of whom derided their records for being too blatantly Beatles-esque. And the band, despite drawing heavily from British influences (especially The Who and Small Faces as well as the Fab Four), achieved little notice at all in the UK.

In this episode, Dan makes a case for his twelve top Raspberries songs — three from each of their four studio albums — as he and Tony break down the (mostly) British influences that inspired their creation.

As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!

Welcome to the 20th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

For our big 2-0, we’re back on American shores — the Jersey Shore, to be specific. Bruce Springsteen is someone whose work is extremely dear to both of us — though because of our slight difference in age and the fact that we grew up on opposite sides of the Atlantic, our experiences were quite different when it came to discovering his music. We compare notes on the “origin stories” of our Bruce fandom in this episode, while also taking a closer look at a Springsteen album that didn’t chart in either the US or the UK at the time of its release: 1973’s The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.

Released just 11 months after the acoustic-oriented Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen’s ambitious second album found him plugging in his electric guitar to record seven songs — four of which ran seven minutes or longer — with a full band, while drawing upon a much wider range of musical styles and influences. The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle was an incredibly important stepping stone in Springsteen’s career, once which put him and the E Street Band on course to create Born to Run and to play their first shows in the UK and Europe, including their now-legendary appearance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on November 18, 1975.

We talk about that incredible performance in this episode, along with why Wild/Innocent is still such a compelling listen, Bruce’s knack for myth-making, the time Tony interviewed Bruce for his book with Eddie Floyd, Knock! Knock! Knock! on Wood: My Life in Soul, and a whole lot more!

As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!

Music on this episode: "Put It Down" by The Dear Boys. More info at https://thedearboys.bandcamp.com/album/put-it-down

Welcome to the 18th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

The Beach Boys fit in quite nicely with our whole CROSSED CHANNELS concept, as they were a quintessentially American band that was both profoundly impacted by the British Invasion and hugely influential on a number of British artists. And when their immense US popularity began to decline as Brian moved the band’s music away from surfing and hot rod songs, The Beach Boys experienced a new wave of popularity in the UK — a wave set in motion in May 1966, when The Who’s Keith Moon personally insisted that Beach Boy Bruce Johnston (then visiting London to promote the newly-released Pet Sounds) join him for an interview segment on ITV’s Ready Steady Go!

Of course, The Beatles also show up in this CROSSED CHANNELS episode. The competition between Britain’s biggest import and America’s biggest homegrown band produced incredible music from both camps, at least before the May 1967 release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band caused Brian Wilson to scrap The Beach Boys’ ambitious Smile project. But even with Brian on the ropes, his band’s post-Pet Sounds output continued to sell remarkably well in the UK, where the influence of Pet Sounds itself also manifested in Billy Nicholls’ remarkable 1968 album Would You Believe, which Dan recently wrote about at his Substack:

As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them! CROSSED CHANNELS can be heard both here on our Substack pages or via your preferred podcast app: just follow the links and instructions on the right. In addition to the podcast, Jagged Time Lapse and Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith regularly serve up previously unpublished interviews and other exclusive content to our paid subscribers.