In this episode, we start off with a dance collaboration that unexpectedly showed up on the music party countdown and I reveal this year's top 5. Somebody has 2 songs in the top 5 and I feel one of the artists could win Best New Artist at next year's Grammys.

One of the artists in the collaboration brings an instrumental to the mix that harkens back to 30 years ago. What does it remind me of? Well, kind of a massive dance song from 2000 that might be the last instrumental song to reach the Pop Top 40 in the States (a version of Mom's favorite tune from the '80s might be in contention as well).

Jeff brings in a story about a fake song list!!!! Is it possible? We blame Spotify.

We finish the episode with a father/daughter duo that just must love music of all genres.

Focus songs

One Night, All Night/Justice & Tame Impala

Generator/Justice

Sandstorm/Darude

Alchemy/Gintronix

Intro: Get Up And Dance/Gintronix

Closer: I Love Music/The O'Jays

In all 37 songs/artists are discussed.

Summer stories will be the bulk of Castlist 014. First off a tie back to an artist from a recent episode. Then I'm in concert mode with 2 great shows. The second concert artist ends up tying into the discussion of the next song, just another universe connection that always seems to be part of the process. The annual music party comes into the picture and we end on an obscure song from the mid-'90s that impacted both of us at the time.

Focus Songs

The Struts/Somebody Someday

Ian Hunter/Irene Wilde

Ian Hunter/All American Alien Boy

The Struts/Bad Decisions

The Struts/Do What You Want

Keane/Bedshaped

Keane/Somewhere Only We Know

Space/Female Of The Species

The Walker Brothers-Keane/The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

Pizzicato Five/Twiggy Twiggy 

Clearly it has been a while since I posted updates here. 4 new episodes have been uploaded over the last few months.

This episode focuses on early '70's glam, a few well-known artists, and an obscure one who has an amazing and crazy story behind him. The lead singer of one of the bands featured gets a lot more time on the clock than I expected but it is well deserved. There is a saxophone having an aneurism, a woman on a rant, and a Broadway show run amok.

Primary songs discussed

Suffragette City/David Bowie

All The Way From Memphis/Mott The Hoople

Cleveland Rocks/Ian Hunter

We Gotta Get Out Of Here/Ian Hunter

Rock Of Ages/Jobriath

I'm A Man/Jobriath

A continuation of our discussion about Jobriath's music, this episode features a trio of his songs that other major artists have recorded. Two artists are prominent in this episode, Def Leppard and Kylie Minogue. Joe Elliot from Def Leppard was very connected to 70's glam as a youth and fascinated by Jobriath. While Kylie Minogue has no connection to Jobriath, she does have a connection to the over-arching conversation. Hilarity ensues as we have differing opinions on a certain song, and a tragique duet is discussed

The second half of the episode features a conversation about 2 gifts, one given to me from Jeff, and the other from my mother on her birthday. His is music-oriented while her's is just another of the myriad stories of my connection to the energy of the universe. It's actually an uplifting end to a tragique story. 

Primary Songs discussed

Heartbeat/Def Leppard

Unbreakable/Def Leppard

I'm A Man/ Adam Lambert or Jobriath

Morning Starship/Morrissey of Jobriath

Padam Padam/Kylie Minogue

Aphrodite/Kylie Minogue

Where The Wild Roses Grow/Kylie Minogue & Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Take Me I'm Yours/Jobriath

This playlist starts with one of my favorite songs from 1974 that came to me while I was sleeping. The episode has a lot of energy, music spanning from the 60's through today, a couple of fun Uber stories, a French songstress, hardcore punk, and 3 versions of the same song (twice!). You'll also find out who wasn't a big fan of Cher, how the mother of one of the biggest voices of our lifetime factors into the discussion, and the most awesome way a Reddit contributor connects 2 British bands. Oh how I love how the narrative plays out in the editing process.

Primary songs discussed

I've Got The Music In Me/Kiki Dee

Queen Of The Night/Kelly Clarkson

Oh No: He Said What!/Nothing But Thieves

Explode!/Mother Mother

This episode continues the discussion of the Canadian band Mother Mother with the fun and playful side of the artist. I felt the song "The Stand" was a no-brainer for Jeff to enjoy and I was right. We also explore how their most streamed song came about 12 years after its release.

We up the flamboyance factor with the next song by the Scarlet Opera. The band is full of glam and disco which leads into a story about my coming out experience. From there I throw a little cheese into the mix from the late '70's. Sexual innuendo, a hippie 7th grade teacher, and bad music movies enter the conversation.

Finally we get all theatrical with a perfect song for the end of Act One of a ficticious Broadway musical. The unavoidable comparison to Queen happens and another Billie Eilish cover versions is discovered.

Focus Songs

The Stand/Mother Mother

Problems/Mother Mother

Hayloft I and II/Mother Mother

The Place To Be/The Scarlet Opera

Big City Thing/The Scarlet Opera

Heaven on the 7th Floor/Paul Nicholas

Cousin Kevin/Tommy the Movie

Alive/The Scarlet Opera

In My Defence/Freddie Mercury

Catch Me If You Can/The Scarlet Opera

What Was I Made For?/The Scarlet Opera

Check out my updated top 250 of 1983 on the Beyond Radio 250 page. The Struts are dominating the top of my current chart.

It has been quite some time since I updated anything on the site. The Beyond Radio 250 has been suspended as I just do not have the time to process the information. My focus has gone to other things. The podcast and having fun looking back at past years and re-assessing the music from those years. I've been working on early '74, '84, '94 and so on. I have uploaded my new version of the top 200 of 1973 on the Beyond Radio 250 page. Elton John, The Partridge Family and Godspell dominate the chart. I will periodically upload other charts there as well.

I also have posted my current personal chart for the first time since last May! In a nostalgic turn Billy Joel's latest has struck a nerve with me.

In addition, I've posted 2 new episodes of the podcast over the last couple of weeks. The focus of these episodes involves my assessment of music from '73, '83' and '93.

If you know where that lyric is from, I love you!

This episode starts with another artist that we talk about their evolution. This band went on to be one of the premiere alt/dance acts of the last 40 years.

The transition to the next song was a jarring one for Jeff (of course that was on purpose) and he didn't get the connection between the songs :( but that is OK. This song is a very important song in my history and absoutely stunning in its execution. And of course it led to a revelation I wasn't expecting.

Hilarity ensues with the next transition and this song has inadvertently become the pinnacle of my love for pop/rock.

From there 3 songs from 1973 round out the episode bringing joy and a beat.

I am dedicating this episode to my high school classmate Thomas Campbell who recently passed away. He was a huge music enthusiast and musician plus an occasional listener to the podcast who has corrected me on occasion (which I appreciated). We were not close in high school though if we had been my music knowledge and diversity would probably have come sooner than it did. I also think he would have appreciated this particular episode as it features artists from the '70s and '80s who were on the cutting edge of music that I imagine he followed at the time.

The conversation in this episode builds off my annual look back at previous years. I had been re-evaluating music from the years 1973, 1983, and 1993 during 2023 and the first 2 episodes of Castlist 12 feature songs from those years. In this episode the songs chosen are the catalyst to a discussion of how artists evolve over time. The 4 primary songs of this episode are "The Paris Match" by The Style Council, "Strange Town" by The Jam, "Rising' by Midge Ure and "Hoover Dam" by Sugar. Maybe all are new to you but they are all important to me.

There's a lot of history in this episode. Influences range from Jazz to Glam Rock, Punk to Soul, 60's Brit Pop to Sythn Pop to Grunge.

Which song sounds like a movie montage to Jeff? What is a Glass Pinecone? How to do ruin a song with an updated version? (IMO). How did we land on The Daily Show at the end of the episode?

The opening song is the latest track from Sheryl Crow, the song "Evolution", a solid offering and preview to her upcoming twelfth studio album, coming out at the end of March.

And if you missed Part 3 of the "What I Did Last Summer" trilogy here it is.

Wow this episode has a lot of stuff going on in it. We first explore the world of the song of the summer and an emerging trend associated with it. It is certainly adding an interesting wrinkle to the Pop universe. A viral video becomes part of that conversation, as does a wee bit of political commentary.

Next up, an artist up for Best New Artist at next year's Grammys who has been plugging away for over 2 decades. I then offer up contenders for my song of the summer and Jeff is really digging the winner.

From there it's the "IT" guy of the summer based on my Uber experiences, and one who Jeff's daughter Eva was in on at (or near) the beginning.

The real fun starts with 3 consecutive days and 3 chance meetings in my life as an Uber driver. Meeting 2 was not nearly as impactful as 1 and 3 but fits into an artsy pattern. It all leads to a 70's music scene that started in northern England and an unexpected concert. The Grammys come up again and there is an appearance by Santa (well not really) and a tornado (really).