Celebrating 19 years of podcasting with part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see. 

Show notes:

• On to our top 10 shows
• Phil's are in chronological order, Jay's in no particular order
• Phil: Neil Young and Pearl Jam on their short Euro tour, 8/26/95 in Dublin
• PJ standing in for Crazy Horse
• The Velvet Sundown, lame AI band
• Jay: The Clash from June 1980 at Hammersmith Palais
• 31 songs from throughout their career
• The Clash opened for the Who on the Schlitz Rocks America tour
• Apparently Schlitz was once a big name in beer
• Phil: Stevie Ray Vaughan on 9/21/85 at the Capitol Theatre
• Jay: PJ Harvey on the Rid of Me tour in '93
• Saw her on the next tour in '95
• Phil: Talking Heads on the Speaking in Tongues tour in Oct. 1983 in Billerica, Mass.
• Jay: I would've picked the 1980 tour with Adrian Belew on guitar
• Jay: Living Colour at TT the Bears in Cambridge, Mass. in the summer of '88
• Taped the show off the radio simulcast on WBCN
• Killer show before the band blew up the next year
• Phil: U2 on the War tour in March 1983
• Jay: Prince's Purple Rain tour at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse
• Prince was the biggest musician in the world at the time
• Phil: The Pretenders at the Paradise in Boston in 1980
• The band's original lineup was so good
• Jay: Went with a December 1981 Pretenders show in France
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see. 

Show notes:

• We're taking advantage of time machine technology
• That time Zebra opened for their own Zep cover band
• We're listing specific shows
• So many great artists to choose from
• YouTube makes it easier to see a lot of shows you missed
• Honorable mentions
• Jay: Surprise show by the Stones at a small Toronto club in '77
• Two shows were turned into a live album decades later
• Phil: Bob Marley and the Wailers in London, Monterey Pop, Bowie on Diamond Dogs tour, Sleater-Kinney in Berkeley, James Brown at the Boston Garden in '68, Beatles in Hamburg or the rooftop set, Prince on Purple Rain tour, Phish in '98, Steely Dan in '74  
• Jay: JB at the Soul Train studios in '73, the Police in '79, Iggy and the Stooges in '73, Zeppelin in '70, Mission of Burma's first farewell in '83, Drive Like Jehu in '94, Black Sabbath in '70, Iron Maiden in '81 with their original singer
• The Police jumped on the new wave bandwagon and brought energy and skill to it
• Sabbath's had interesting line items in their recording budget
• Shout out to CompCon intern Lily
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025 so far.

Show notes:

• Counting down our favorite albums
• Breitling's #6: Dan Bejar with another well-done Destroyer album
• "Slacker Sinatra" singing about aging
• Kumar's #6: Striking solo effort from Tunde Adebimpe
• Breitling's #5: Shoegaze goodness from NJ's High
• Kumar's #5: Dax Riggs with fuzz-laden goth grunge
• Breitling's #4: Digging the Estonian dream pop from mariin k.
• Kumar's #3: Impressive 15th solo album from Bob Mould plays to his strengths
• Still kicking ass into his mid-60s
• Breitling's #3: Boston trio with a dumb name and a great album, (T-T)b
• Kumar's #2: Mclusky returns after 21 years with a razor-sharp ripper
• Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #4: Surprise return to thunderous form from The Men
• Kumar's #1: PUP's fifth album finds them exploring more mature themes while still kicking ass
• Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #7: The four-album magnum opus from Hallelujah the Hills exceeds expectations
• Many guest appearances among the 54 songs
• Looking forward to new releases from the Lemonheads, Sloan, Superchunk, Pile, Wednesday

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025 so far.

Show notes:

• Drinking some Italian beer
• Rock is dead commercially
• Billboard album chart contains nearly no rock
• Fleetwood Mac's Rumours still riding high for some reason
• Festival cancellations: Bonnaroo, Boston Calling next year, Lollapalooza
• Too many festivals, high ticket prices
• Black Sabbath farewell show
• Lots of big rock deaths: Brian Wilson, Sly Stone, David Johansen, Marianne Faithfull, etc.
• We saw Hallelujah the Hills recently and it was glorious
• Kumar saw some shows: Frank Black, Shannon/Narducy, Gang of Four, Bob Mould
• Breitling will see Oasis in Mexico, as one does
• Who's the Who's drummer?
• Breitling's bubbling under albums: Whirr, Winter, Lunchbox, Pink Floyd reissue, Rough Francis, The Get Quick, Autocamper, Viagra Boys, Thalia Zedek Band
• Kumar's list: Kinski, Ty Segall, Civic, Cameron Keiber, Dean Wareham, Pulp, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, The Bug Club, Turnstile, The Tubs, Kestrels, Lifeguard, Hotline TNT
• Breitling's #10: An electronic collab between Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke
• Kumar's #10: Sophomore release from Horsegirl explores mellower sounds
• So much music to listen to these days
• Breitling's #9: Ambient situation delivered by William Tyler
• Of Bills Frisell and Laswell
• Kumar's #9: Post-punk ripper from Charm School
• Kurt Loder is still with us
• Kumar's #8: Heavy Spoon influence on the new album from The Convenience
• Breitling's #7: Dean Wareham is still bringing it
• To be continued 

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.