I am off the usual schedule this week, with a post coming on Friday rather than Thursday, so thought to make a little “bonus” post and remind all my subscribers that the latest Crossed Channels podcast, Episode 28, is one that co-host Dan Epstein and I titled “Pick n’ Mix” but perhaps should have been called “A Free-For-All” instead, as we made it… free for all. (You can listen/download above this paragraph.)
In other words, we decided to detour from our usual convention of choosing an act or album alternating from the two sides of the Atlantic, whereby we review that act or album in the context of the Transatlantic back-story and reception. Instead, we each came to our live, in-person recording with three topics the the other person had not been told about, several of them still having that Crossed Channels transatlantic theme, and jumped right on in.
Dan raised the subject of Rickenbackers; I hit back with the answer to the poll I posted (results below) asking which Welsh band’s frontman used the “c*nts” word to describe fellow Welsh natives Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey, and what this says about British bands’ arrogance versus whatever American bands have in its place.
We tried out this Pick n’ Mix concept in large part because we have had a warm reception to our themed shows - a few people have told us Crossed Channels is one of the top podcast listens - and thought it would be interesting to see how we fared if we just talked about music in general… like so many of us do over caffeine at the coffee shop, a beer with our frenemies over our conflicts in taste (!), or in the kitchen making dinner with our partners and getting the ingredients mixed up because we get too involved in the conversation!
Typically, Crossed Channels is only available in full to our paid subscribers, but we made this one an exception. It’s already had an impressive number of downloads but - certainly at my end - I want to make sure you all get to maximise your subscription here (or perhaps you are just passing by, in which case welcome) and listen along.
All episodes on Crossed Channels should be available on every podcast platform. I don’t share Spotify and many other platforms don’t have embed codes, but here it is on Apple. Almost all the other episodes will have the shorter free preview unless you are paid up and have set it up (instructions on the sidebar of all podcast posts.)
The one other episode we made available to everyone - by mistake, but hey, it certainly got its downloads - was the Oasis episode, where we discussed (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? before we had any idea that the group was going to reform.
Oasis: What's The Story?
Welcome to the fifth episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond
Other subject matters have ranged from The Who and The Jam, to Redd Kross and The Replacements, Kate Bush and Blondie, and Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield. We have discussed Sweet and Slade, the Raspberries and the Beach Boys, The Smiths and R.E.M., and had a decided conflict of tastes when I insisted Dan listened in depth to my favourite ongoing active recording band, James. You can find all the shows here:
https://tonyfletcher.substack.com/podcast
We have kept Crossed Channels to our paid subscribers in part because we won’t take ads on the show. We would, however, welcome an appropriate sponsor. Just in case you might be that sponsor.
Certainly, Dan and I greatly appreciate all our paid subscribers who keep us going, and a subscription to either of our Substacks will get you access to all episodes. (Dan is at Jagged Time Lapse.) But we appreciate ANY subscribers of any kind, essentially anyone who enjoys our work and wants to, usually, read it - and occasionally listen to it. If you have not yet taken that leap, the handy button is below.
The penultimate subject matter of this Crossed Channels Pick 'n’ Mix/Free-for-all was Dan’s question to me: What recording session would you most like to have been a fly-on-the-wall for? I had almost no time to think, but stick by my answer. What would yours be? That’s why hosting a podcast on Substack is cool: you can leave comments where we can see them and respond.
And feel free to share this out if so inclined.
Happy listening and thanks for reading. Next episode is Echo & The Bunnymen, though not the album you might expect. If you have a subject - an act or album in a Crossed Channels theme - that you think we should cover, let us know. Cheers!
