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The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThis Week @ CHIRP Radio (Week of September 5)
Upcoming Events
- CHIRP will be at the Chicago Fringe Festival September 5th through September 11th
- CHIRP spins at the Renegade Craft Fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th
New Media
- Josh Friedberg rediscovers two classic albums by Peter, Paul & Mary
- Craig Reptile looks forward to the Sept. 3 Guided by Voices show
- Chicago artists Health&Beauty and Ryley Walker are In Rotation
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: Ryley Walker
Artist: Ryley Walker
The Album: Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
The Label: Dead Oceans
Available In Rotation or by request on CHIRP Radio!
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: Health&Beauty
The Band: Health&Beauty
The Album: NO SCARE
The Label: Wichita Recordings
Available In Rotation or by Request on CHIRP Radio!
Craig Reptile: Your Sunday Sonic Sundowner writesGuided by Voices Take Over Metro on Saturday Sept. 3!
[photo by Matt Davis]
by Craig Bechtel
Guided By Voices are back! Given that Robert Pollard is, and always has been the only constant member of Dayton Ohio’s GBV, it’s a fair question to wonder how any but the most hardcore fans will recognize the difference between this latest incarnation and any of the previous versions, not to mention delineating the distinctions between Pollard’s prolific solo output and his innumerable side projects. And this is coming from someone who’s listened to every Guided By Voices official release and most released under Pollard’s own name.
For the uninitiated, GBV are the best band you’ve never heard, who at their best sound like the weirdest, best Who songs in demo form and at their worst sound like the worst demos by Yes or Ween. Given that the volume of their discography can be intimidating (Pollard once released a 28 song “best of” just his solo material from 2010 to 2011, entitled, rather fittingly, The Kids Eat It Up, but didn’t slow down in 2012, releasing two solo albums and THREE Guided By Voices records) and despite moments (usually characteristically brief) of brilliance throughout their recorded output, the best places to start are still their breakthrough Bee Thousand (Scat, 1994) and the follow-up, Alien Lanes (Matador, 1995).
Josh Friedberg: Music Historian's Corner writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: Peter, Paul and Mommy and Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too
by Josh Friedberg
For many, Peter, Paul & Mary were the most accessible entry point for the folk revival of the 1960s. Surprisingly, this remained true in the decades following, and part of this has to do with their participation in children’s music with two similarly titled albums.
I grew up on ‘60s folk music, and these were the two albums of theirs I grew up listening to the most. To be fair, I grew up with the Peter, Paul & Mary of PBS specials in the ‘80s and ‘90s, so my interaction with their music was different from most of their fans. This meant that I played the 1993 children’s album that they did, Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too, more than the original Peter, Paul and Mommy from 1969, and while both have their moments of beauty and pleasantness, I prefer the ‘90s album, partly because it has more songs geared towards adults, including Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty,” though it also has moments much more targeted at kids.
Peter, Paul & Mary were actually a group put together by folk manager Albert Grossman in the early ‘60s, which makes their longevity all the more surprising. I remember reading in an obituary for Mary Travers in 2009 that the group won five Grammy awards during their initial reign in the ‘60s, the final one being for the 1969 children’s album. In the 2004 DVD, Carry It On: A Musical Legacy, Peter Yarrow talks about how from the beginning, the group put children’s songs on all their albums, including “It’s Raining” and “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” both reprised on the 1969 album.