The Jesus Lizard & Opinions on Yacht

Jim and Greg are joined in the studio by one of the best live bands in rock history: The Jesus Lizard.

The Jesus Lizard
Download Subscribe via iTunes

Music News

Jim and Greg have been predicting this shift on Sound Opinions for years, but according to a new study, by 2010 digital sales will have eclipsed physical sales. Right now 65% of music sales are still compact discs, but the trend is going down quickly. Plus most of the CDs are sold at big box stores like Walmart, Targetand Best Buy. Anyone who has shopped at those places recently knows that the selection is not always impressive.

Last week guitar legend Les Paul died at the age of 94. Paul was a guitar innovator, best known for developing multi-track recording. He and his wife Mary Ford had many hits, and Paul influenced the next generation's guitar greats like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Beck, in particular, was very close with Paul. He was not only influenced by Paul's multi-tracking, but also his tone, which Greg explains was singing, sustained and steeped in melody. You can hear the influence in the 1968 track "Beck’s Bolero."

Another obituary in the news is that of producer Jim Dickinson. His death hasn't gotten as much attention as Paul's but Jim and Greg were very sad to hear of his passing. Dickinson recorded such artists as Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Ry Cooder. He grew up in Chicago, but was really known as a Memphis producer. Jim and Greg both talked with Dickinson a number of times, and remember him as a great man and a living encyclopedia of music. To remember him they play Big Star's "Thank You Friends," which Dickinson produced in 1975.

The Jesus Lizard

Jimand Gregare joined by the original members of The Jesus Lizard this week: singer David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison, bass player David William Sims, and drummer Mac McNeily. As Jim and Greg explain, The Jesus Lizard was one of the most influential bands to come out of the post-punk scene in the late '80s and early '90s. While they had a number of important recordings on the Touch and Go label, it's live that the band really stood out. They broke up in 1999, but now a decade later, they have re-formed for a number of shows including the recent Pitchfork Music Festival. Before that show they spoke with Jim and Greg and performed live in our studio.

See Mystery Lights Yacht

See Mystery Lights

DFA duo Yacht have a new album out this week called See Mystery Lights. Jona Bechtolt has been making music and art for a number of years now, but now he's partnered with vocalist Claire Evans, and Jim explains they are reaching their biggest audience to date. For both hosts, this is not undeserved. The electro-pop tracks really make you feel like you are floating in space, or are haunted by the paranormal. It's a perfect bridge of dance music and psychedelia, and both Jim and Greg give the record a Buy It.

Greg

For his Desert Island Jukebox selection this week, Greg was thinking about the lasting influence of Jim Dickinson. He will, of course, be remembered through his music, but his legacy also lives on with his two sons Luther and Cody. Together with Chris Crew they are the North Mississippi Allstars. Their music is steeped with the blues sound of the Hill Country. Different from Delta blues, Hill Country blues is all about the drone and trance. Greg says it's perfect for all-night drinking and dancing–something he plans to do a lot of when stranded on a desert island. He adds the band's song "Going Down South" to the DIJ.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!

edit