What grabs you as a kid listening to songs on the radio may still grab you as an adult… but the nuances often come out after you’ve had years to process them, all informed by life experience. This was true for Rob and Steely Dan’s 1972 debut record Can’t Buy a Thrill. It was an Read more about 6.6: Steely Dan – Can’t Buy a Thrill (1972)[…]
When you find out your friend is in a band and has made a record, it’s like finding out that they’re a practicing wizard, a superhero, or secret agent. It often turns music fans/friends into evangelists – “Everyone! Listen to what my friend made!” In the heady days when melancholic northern new wave roamed the Read more about 6.5: Age of Mirrors – Screenplay (1987)[…]
Music runs deep and has the power to enlighten, educate, and empower. This doesn’t have to be a didactic thing and the best of it isn’t. Great songs can do all of those things as one listens and enjoys them. It does all that at the soul level. Music is weird – and sometimes very, Read more about 6.4: Sweet Honey in the Rock – Breaths (1988)[…]
There reaches a point in a young music fan’s life when they begin to detect the emotional complexities of the songs and albums they love. This usually corresponds with a capacity for sensing these things in real life between real people. One discovers that some things can seem happy on the surface, while being full Read more about 6.3: Nick Heyward – North of a Miracle (1983)[…]
We often find an attachment to certain music during times of emotional upheaval and loss. And it can be a double-edged blade. We love it and find it painful at the same time… because, hey, music is weird – and mysterious. For Graeme, the ending of a relationship led him to this exact place. Around Read more about 6.2: Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing (1997)[…]
As is often the case with music, love can grow in increments. The Deeper Cuts trio touched on that in our discussion on Tom Waits’ Mule Variations album all the way back in Season Two when Shannon first saw the artist’s incendiary performance of “Chocolate Jesus” on Letterman. But even as listeners grow into a Read more about 6.1: Tom Waits – The Heart of Saturday Night (1974)[…]
In part two of our exploration of the 2015 soundtrack to the musical Hamilton, the Deeper Cuts trio continue their discussion of the resonant themes in the musical that helped Shannon become the person she wanted to be and how music can help us set our values. We also talk about what Hamilton has to Read more about 5.7: Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording (2015) (Part Two)[…]
How can art shape our very identities? How can it give us a sense of direction from the people we are to the people we want to be – shaping our very values? Shannon adopted the city of New York as her home, and many of her album selections for this show across multiple seasons Read more about 5.6: Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording (2015) (Part One)[…]
When one is at a young age, the way isn’t always as straightforward as we initially think. This is true of the subcultures, ideology and even faith communities we find ourselves in. But what remains after we find ourselves on a different path years later? How do those lessons we picked up from a bygone Read more about 5.5: Steve Taylor – On The Fritz (1985)[…]
Being connected. Feeling surrounded by those who support you. It’s vital to happiness, particularly during life-altering events like the birth of a child, for instance. This was on Rob’s mind as he anticipated the arrival of a new daughter, and the feelings associated with being surrounded by an extended support system of soon-to-be aunties, uncles, Read more about 5.4: The Finn Brothers – Everyone Is Here[…]
Romance! Everyone has an idea of what it means to them. It is certainly attached to intense emotional states, especially when we’re young. By the late eighties, Graeme was in college in doing content creation in a time before podcasts – this time as co-editor of the school newspaper. It was there that his fellow Read more about 5.3: Van Morrison – Poetic Champions Compose (1987)[…]
A clean slate. A new era. A dedication to a new focus. When Shannon moved to Boston’s Fenway neighborhood for graduate school, these were some of the things that characterized her life at that time. As we’ve learned by now, for every era in a music fan’s life, there is a soundtrack. Regina Spektor’s 2006 Read more about 5.2: Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope (2006)[…]
Some records become the soundtrack for pivotal periods of self-discovery in our lives, even if we’re not aware of the importance of those times to our personal development – maybe even especially so. In the summer of 1987, Rob took a trip to Barbados to stay with his cousin. Driving around the island, A-Ha’s 1985 Read more about 5.1: A-ha – Hunting High & Low (1985)[…]
Why are there so many songs about rainbows? In this last episode of our fourth season, the Deeper Cuts trio indulge in some comfort listening, true to our well-established Muppet Agenda. This time, it revolves around the soundtrack album to 1979’s The Muppet Movie. Saving his money from a paper route, a young Graeme bought Read more about 4.6: The Muppet Movie (Original Soundtrack) (1979)[…]
A year and a half in a new city. A raffle for concert tickets. The tail-end of a slowly declining and not very healthy relationship. It was a time when Shannon realized that things were coming to a head in that phase of her life. This was Shannon’s emotional context when she went to a Read more about 4.5: Rufus Wainwright – Out of the Game (2012)[…]
Remember record stores? Those magical places which seemingly contained all the music in the world? Rob remembers one such record store fondly — Cactus Records in Oakville — because it was there he encountered an album that he’d been interested in for years: Sade’s sophisiti-pop opus Diamond Life. How were Sade’s stylish sounds received by Read more about 4.4: Sade – Diamond Life (1984)[…]
Parents are good for one or two things. Sometimes, one of them is how they serve as vectors for great music; how to spot it, what to listen for, and how to form your own lifelong love for musical artistry. At a young age, Shannon’s dad helped her hone an appreciation for music by listening Read more about 4.3: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced (1967)[…]
The end of a road can take on many different forms. Sometimes, the road branches off in two or more directions. Sometimes, it’s a dead end. At other times, that road is shrouded in mist with no road signs to indicate what’s ahead. In any of these situations, you have to decide on what to Read more about 4.2: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – All This Useless Beauty (1996)[…]
Sometimes, you find yourself growing up. You realize that some of the things you believed and thought were solid in your life really aren’t – and in fact are even harmful to you. You find you have to question those things to create a new path for yourself. You’ve got to start again. This was Read more about 4.1: Sting – …Nothing Like The Sun (1987)[…]
Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions — a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Living in modern times can be exciting, and also terrifying. Sometimes, it feels like we’re just Read more about The COVID Sessions 3: John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (original soundtrack) (2019)[…]
Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions — a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now during the COVID-19 lockdown, a lot of us find ourselves waiting. We’re waiting for Read more about The COVID Sessions 2: Bruce Cockburn – Night Vision (1973)[…]
Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions — a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his time sheltering in place, Rob turned to Fountains of Wayne’s 2007 album Traffic and Read more about The COVID Sessions 1: Fountains Of Wayne – Traffic and Weather (2007)[…]
It’s that time of year again, Deeper Cuts fans; the season of our holiday gift exchange! With some (actually, quite a lot of) trepidation in the hopes that our gifts are yuletide treasures rather than lumps of coal, the Deeper Cuts trio explore a range of musical styles from synthpop to blues-rock to yet another Read more about Holiday Special 2019[…]
Home. What does it mean? What associations do people commonly hold about what their home means to them? How can music help to tie us to home, especially when one is far from it and missing it? When Graeme went to a military school at the age of 12, ABBA’s penultimate 1980 album Super Trouper Read more about 3.6: ABBA – Super Trouper (1980)[…]
Sometimes, it’s just time to move on. And yet, after struggles, trials and tribulations and painful endings, sometimes that’s not the easiest thing to do. How do you find the right path? How do you redefine your life once an important chapter has closed? This is a situation we all face in one way or Read more about 3.5: EELS – Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)[…]
Rebellion. Anger. Even disillusionment. These are only some of what makes up the human experience. This may be even more pertinent during our youth, and when times of great turmoil are reflected in the headlines, and in the lives of the people we know. It could also be just about the drudgery of our existences, Read more about 3.4: Green Day – American Idiot (2004)[…]
The world can be a place of trouble and darkness. But in that darkness, there is hope to be found if one is open to doing so. That was just the message that Rob needed as grim world events were coming to a head and as the call to fatherhood to a baby daughter beckoned Read more about 3.3: Mavis Staples – Have a Little Faith (2004)[…]
Some music in our lives gets us at a young age. It bonds itself to our DNA for the rest of our lives, connecting us with memories of unfiltered teenaged joy, posters plastered onto bedroom walls, and the reckless abandon of dance moves and hairbrush microphones in front of the mirror. Our first pop album Read more about 3.2: Backstreet Boys – Backstreet Boys (1997)[…]
People are constantly doing things to improve themselves, to help make themselves a little smarter (or make themselves think that they’re smarter). Sometimes music can be part of a self-improvement. That’s what Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach was for Graeme; as the revolutionary electronic music album started the a-little-too-serious teenaged Graeme on an excursion into the Read more about 3.1: Wendy Carlos – Switched-On Bach (1968)[…]
Surprise! Before the new season of Deeper Cuts debuts next week, we did a bonus episode as a surprise party of a podcast for our beloved Deeper Cuts co-host Rob Jones, who turns 50 today (February 15, 2019)! Join Graeme and Shannon as they talk about a favourite band and a favourite album of Rob’s, The Read more about 3.0: The Band – The Band (1969) (Happy 50th Birthday Rob!)[…]
Happy holidays, Deeper Cuts fans! In anticipation for our upcoming third season, we have the 2018 edition of our holiday episode. This time, the Deeper Cuts trio gather around the yuletide tree to exchange gifts to celebrate the season. What gifts are we exchanging? Music, of course. Each of us gave another of our group Read more about Holiday Special 2018[…]
Spirituality. It’s a pretty open-ended term. But one thing common across the faith spectrum (or the absence thereof) may be the sense of becoming part of something bigger than yourself and experiencing mystery and wonder. It isn’t easily defined and categorized as some systems of faith might have us believe. But it’s significant all the same. Read more about 2.9: Bruce Cockburn – Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws (1979)[…]
Music doesn’t always make it easy on you. It often challenges you. It shocks you. It confuses you. And through that, it makes you hear other music differently after a journey down a twisty path leading you through unfamiliar cultural and artistic territory to destinations you didn’t anticipate. Soon, you find yourself both challenged and Read more about 2.8: Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (1959)[…]
Moving on. We all find ourselves at the end of one era of our lives and with a new one ahead of us. It can be exciting. It can be sad. It can be both at the same time. Sometimes, it happens when you’re a kid, and there’s a feeling of helplessness attached to leaving Read more about 2.7: Nanci Griffith – Flyer (1994)[…]
Sometimes, the best advice you can follow is: shut up and listen. That way you learn more, particularly about the stories of others that often remain hidden from you, yet are vital to know and understand. During a period of discovery for Rob around the issues of feminism and the burdens placed on women by Read more about 2.6: Tori Amos – Under the Pink (1994)[…]
The comfort album: in times of trial, it offers just the right song to make things bearable. It give us lyrics that speak directly to us when we’re most in need. They make us feel less alone, and remind us that “this too shall pass” – sometimes very literally. That was Graeme’s predicament at one Read more about 2.5: OK Go – Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (2010)[…]
Sometimes an album can offer you a point of departure: that moment when suddenly – WHAM! – everything clicks and new musical vistas are in front of you. We return to a theme we discussed back in episode 7 of our first season as we talk about Shannon’s journey with Tom Waits, specifically with his 1999 Read more about 2.4: Tom Waits – Mule Variations (1999)[…]
Your parents’ music. It can shape your own taste in various capacities. Or it can give you something to rebel against. Sometimes, it can be both. Either way, the music your parents put on when you were a kid isn’t just a soundtrack to your childhood; it’s a part of the tapestry of their personalities, Read more about 2.3: Anne Murray – Let’s Keep It That Way (1978)[…]
Sometimes you find your favourite music. But in those rarer moments, that music seems to find you. That’s the experience Rob had with 1971’s Bryter Layter by singer-songwriter Nick Drake. The record was Drake’s second album, exploring English folk-rock textures with some chamber pop and jazz thrown in, and with some interesting lyrical content to Read more about 2.2: Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (1971)[…]
Break-ups! Autobiography! Pop crossovers! Season 2 of Deeper Cuts kicks off with a HUGE record from the late nineties, and a formative one for Shannon to boot while she was a musically curious 14-year old. Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill consolidated the nu-soul movement as it connected with hip-hop, reggae, and other genres by the end of Read more about 2.1: Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1999)[…]
What is it about Christmas and holiday music? One thing’s for sure, it definitely takes us back to our childhoods. That’s precisely where Graeme, Shannon, and Rob went on this special holiday episode of Deeper Cuts; specifically, to the 1979 album John Denver and The Muppets – A Christmas Together. They discuss favourite tracks, common Read more about Holiday Special: John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together (1979)[…]
Pop music; we all have to start somewhere. For Graeme, pop music was a big part of his journey as a pre-teen, skipping a grade in school and finding himself surrounded by the monstrous reality known as Junior High School. During that time of awkwardness and alienation, it was Supertramp’s massively popular 1979 album Breakfast Read more about 9: Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)[…]
Classical music. It’s old. It’s complex. It can be intimidating. But somehow, the best of it goes beyond mere academic appreciation and makes you feel things. This is especially true if, like our Shannon Dohar, you get to participate in it. Shannon performed Beethoven’s Mass in C as a member of a choir and this Read more about 8: Beethoven – Mass in C major[…]
Have you ever felt a page of your life turn, moving from one chapter to another? It’s a common experience that can be tumultuous but also pretty exciting, too. During a time of transition for Rob, it was Joe Jackson’s 1982 album Night and Day that provided the soundtrack. It was what we term an Read more about 7: Joe Jackson – Night and Day (1982)[…]
Road trip! It’s a common and very welcome battle cry, even if we’re just taking a journey by ourselves. The best and most memorable road trips are very often, if not always, accompanied by a great soundtrack. For Graeme, that soundtrack was Indigo Girls’ 1992 offering Rites of Passage, an album that he took with Read more about 6: Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage (1992)[…]
Location, location, location. Sometimes, a record is vivid enough to make you feel as though you’re in one as you listen. Maybe it can even help you make sense of your physical location, too. For Rob Jones, XTC’s eminently pastoral and Anglocentric 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 provided both of those things to him Read more about 5: XTC – Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)[…]
Very often, we outgrow the place where we’re from. That can be one of the signs that we’ve come of age. But leaving an old familiar place and finding a home in a new one is rarely simple, especially when you’re young. That’s the subject of our discussion around The Weakerthans’ 2000 album Left and Leaving, a Read more about 4: The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving (2000)[…]
Chances are, our first encounters with music was that which was aimed right at our hungry little learning minds and dancing little feet. For generations of kids, including our own Graeme Burk, a heavyweight in this department was the original cast recording The Sesame Street Record, released in 1970. Like the groundbreaking TV show it was Read more about 3: The Sesame Street Record (1970)[…]
Everyone needs a role model. This is true even for those who become role models themselves later on including Shannon Dohar. At one time, Ani DiFranco’s 1995 album Not A Pretty Girl served as her template, including the cover art that informed her ideal wardrobe! Shannon, Graeme, and Rob discuss the album that explores the complexity of Read more about 2: Ani DiFranco – Not a Pretty Girl (1995)[…]
Being a teenager is tough. We all have those albums that we went to for solace when we were slogging through our teen years that helped us to realize that we’re not alone in our awkward gloominess. Rob submits this one as his go-to teenage angst record; Tears For Fears’ 1983 debut album The Hurting. Read more about 1: Tears For Fears – The Hurting (1983)[…]