We here at Heat Rocks took a break from recording episodes in order to recharge our batteries. We thought we'd celebrate our return with an episode partly dedicated to our favorite comeback albums.
In the second half, we rummage through the Heat Rocks mailbag and answer listener questions about great debut albums, summer jams, the weirdest record sleeve finds, and more!

Show Tracklisting:

• Mariah Carey: Butterfly
• Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band: Cherchez la Femme/ Se Si Bon
• Mariah Carey: Breakdown
• LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out
• LL Cool J: Milky Cereal
• Jay-Z: December 4th
• Jay-Z: Dirt Off Your Shoulders
• A Tribe Called Quest: Black Spasmodic
• A Tribe Called Quest: We The People...
• A Tribe Called Quest: Solid Wall of Sound
• D'Angelo: Send It On
• D'Angelo: Devil's Pie
• Brandy: Brokenhearted
• Joe Budden: Pump It Up
• Young Gunz: Friday Night
• Jay-Z: Show Me What You Got
• The Rebirth: This Journey In
• The Internet: Wanna Be
• Missy Elliott: Sock It 2 Me
• Digable Planets: Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
• Digable Planets: Black Ego
• Prince: Diamond and Pearls
• Cissy Houston: Warning - Danger
• Floyd Anckle: Hey Pocky A-Way
• Johnny Nash: Cupid
• Chaka Khan: Caught in the Act
• Skye: Aint No Need

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there
If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Albums: 

• Prince: Dirty Mind (1980)
• Prince: 1999 (1982)
• Prince: Purple Rain (1984)

Hard to believe but Prince's landmark album Purple Rain turns 35 years this week (and the Purple One himself would have just celebrated his 61st birthday last week). In honor of these milestones and the fact that Prince is one of Heat Rocks' Triple Crown winners (i.e. his albums have been featured three times so far), we decided to offer you a "Best of Prince" episode that splices together highlights from our previous three Prince eps:

• #7: Anil Dash on 1999
• #42: Meshell Ndegeocello on Purple Rain
• #77: Illa J on Dirty Mind

Show Tracklisting (all songs by Prince unless indicated otherwise):

• When You Were Mine
• Dirty Mind
• Controversy
• Sister
• Partyup
• Sister
• Dirty Mind
• When You Were Mine
• Head
• D'Angelo: She's Always In My Hair
• Gotta Broken Heart Again
• D.M.S.R.
• Little Red Corvette
• Let's Pretend We're Married
• 1999
• Little Red Corvette
• Lady Cab Driver
• All The Critics Love U in New York
• Lady Cab Driver
• Let's Go Crazy
• For You
• When Doves Cry
• I Would Die 4 U
• Let's Go Crazy
• Computer Blue
• The Beautiful Ones
• When Doves Cry
• Purple Rain
• Housequake
• Let's Go Crazy

Shout out to our Producer Supreme, Christian Duenas, for doing the edit work on this episode and if you enjoyed the highlights, be sure to download and listen to the entire episodes!

The Album: Depeche Mode: Violator (1990)
By the time Depeche Mode released Violator in 1990, they had already become one of the giants of the modern rock world but Violator took the group to new heights of global success. Dark and moody yet intimately dance-able, the group and their album marked a height of synth-pop’s growth across the 1980s, a zenith that would soon be eclipsed by the on-rush of grunge and competing forms of so-called “alternative” rock.
Violator was the pick of guest Hua Hsu, staff writer at the New Yorker and English professor at Vassar College. For him, Violator was part of a soundscape of growing up in the Bay Area, least of all as an Asian American. As he and Oliver (flying solo this week) discuss, modern rock became a soundtrack for a generation of Asian American youth, at least those growing up in West Coast suburbs for whom songs centered on alienation and otherness felt all too familiar. Besides, as Hsu notes, we all had piano lessons so a music built around synthesizers was an easy sell.
More on Hua Hsu

• Hua on the the Long Form podcast
• "The Moon Represents My Heart: Music, Memory and Belonging" (Museum of Chinese in America)
• Twitter | Website | New Yorker Archive

More on Violator

• "Depeche Mode's 'Violator' at 25: Classic Track-by-Track Review" (Billboard)
• "Black Celebration: Depeche Mode Look Back on ‘Violator’ 25 Years Later" (Rolling Stone)
• "Q+A / DEPECHE MODE / VIOLATOR" (Recoil)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Violator unless indicated otherwise):

• Clean
• Depeche Mode: Blasphemous Rumours
• Clean
• New Order: Bizarre Love Triangle
• Personal Jesus
• Policy of Truth
• Halo
• Blue Dress
• Somebody
• Personal Jesus
• Depeche Mode: Route 66
• Depeche Mode: Behind the Wheel
• Enjoy the Silence
• Depeche Mode: Just Can't Get Enough
• Johnny Cash: Personal Jesus
• Tori Amos: Enjoy the Silence
• Jazzystics: Personal Jesus
• St. Petersburg Ska Jazz Review: Policy of Truth

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: Ani DiFranco: Little Plastic Castle (1998)
Ani DiFranco has never been a pop star by conventional measure but Little Plastic Castle was her dealing with the costs of stardom within her niche of alternative pop/rock world. The result is what's considered one of her best albums ever — it ended up being her best-selling at the very least — one where she tries to work through what happens when public scrutiny and fan indignity begin to feel invasive and you wonder what it's all for. For DiFranco though, she reminds us: she's got better things to do than survive.  
Little Plastic Castle was the pick of our guest, comedian Guy Branum who, until very recently, was the host of the Maximum Fun pop culture panel podcast Pop Rocket (alas, recently cancelled, RIP!). Pre-Heat Rocks, Oliver was on Pop Rocket for two years and got to see, first hand, Guy's pop polymath skills in action. Taped earlier in the spring, live in front of an audience as part of the Voyager Institute series, the three of us discussed DiFranco's album within the context of Lilith Fair-era female artists, the politics of queer authenticity and how her invocation of cherry bombs probably doesn't refer to firecrackers.  
More on Guy Branum

• Guy's 2018 memoir, My Life as a Goddess
• Interview on NPR's It's Been a Minute
• Twitter | Website

More on Little Plastic Castle

• AV Music review
• Theory for Turntables podcast episode about the album
• "Ani DiFranco Takes Chances on 'Little Plastic Castle'" (MTV News)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Little Plastic Castle unless indicated otherwise):

• Little Plastic Castle
• Swan Dive
• Ani DiFranco: 32 Flavors
• Two Little Girls
• Glass House
• Fuel
• Swan Dive
• Gravel
• Independence Day
• Dizraeli: Bomb Tesco
• Pulse

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there
If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: Gang Starr: Hard to Earn (1994)
Gang Starr's Hard to Earn dropped in the pivotal year of 1994, arguably the height of the Golden Era as it came alongside everything from Biggie's Ready to Die to Nas's Illmatic to OutKast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Unlike those other debut albums, this was Gang Starr's fourth LP and by '94, they had established themselves as the (no pun intended) premier rap duo, avatars of a boom bap/braggadocio style that would help define an entire era. For DJ Premier, Hard to Earn marked the beginning of his imperial era, where the telltale sound of a Primo scratch was a mark of quality. Meanwhile, G.U.R.U.'s lyrical craft stepped up another notch (even if it was still "mostly tha voice" that got folks up). Fans will debate whether this was Gang Starr's best album but for Morgan and Oliver, it happened to be their favorite by the group. Aight? Chill.
Hard to Earn was the pick of a dynamic duo of guests. First up: Vikki Tobak, author of the astounding new book, Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, quite possibly the best rap photography book ever created. She was in town as part of the new Contact High exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography (which is up through August, come catch it!). As part of the exhibit, there's a wonderful documentary video that accompanies, assembled by other other guest: Joseph "Jazzbo" Patel. He and Oliver go back to the '90s when both were young writers at URB Magazine and by the '00s, Patel had moved into video content, becoming one of the most influential behind-the-scenes talents at places like Vice TV, MTV, The Fader and Vevo. (He and Vikki are now working on a docu-series based on Contact High). In tackling this album, the four of us discussed everything from the highs and lows of the jazz-hip-hop era of the early '90s to why we need to bring back answering machine/voicemail skits to how to properly pronounce "DWYCK."
More on Vikki Tobak and Joseph Patel

• Oliver's review of Contact High (Los Angeles Times)
• WOCA interview with Tobak
• Patel interviewed on The House List podcast.
• Tobak's Twitter | Instagram
• Patel's Twitter | Instagram

More on Hard to Earn

• "A Game Of Two Halves: Gang Starr's Hard To Earn Revisited" (The Quietus)
• "DJ Premier Talks Gang Starr's 'Hard to Earn' 25 Years Later: 'I Had a Chip on My Shoulder With This Album'" (Billboard)
• "Gang Starr’s ‘Hard to Earn’ Deserves More Love" (Afro.com)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Hard to Earn unless indicated otherwise):

• The Planet
• Gang Starr: Manifest
• Speak Ya Clout
• Intro (The First Step)
• Gang Starr: Jazz Thing
• Guru: Loungin'
• Code of the Streets
• Mass Appeal
• DWYCK
• Aiight Chill
• Tonz 'O' Gunz
• Coming for Datazz
• Speak Ya Clout
• Crooklyn Dodgers: Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers
• Suckas Need Bodyguards
• Gang Starr: The ? Remainz
• The Planet
• Tonz 'O' Gunz
• The Planet
• Mass Appeal

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.
If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: OutKast Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)

Antwan (Big Boi) Patton and Andre (Dre) Benjamin began collaborating in 1992 and paired their genuis presenting it for the world to see on their debut project SouthernPlayalisticadillacmuzik which released on LaFace records in the spring of 1994.

LA’s own DJ Rashida sat with us to talk southern charm, the musicality of this album, black consciousness through the lyrics, what made the interludes so compelling and why this album stands the real test of time.

More on DJ Rashida

• DJ Rashida's Wikipedia page
• DJ Rashida on Prince
• Twitter | Instagram

More on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

• Southernplaylisticadillacmuzik's Wikipedia page
• How Classic is OutKast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" (Classic Hip-Hop Magazine)
• Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik at 20 (Billboard)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik unless indicated otherwise):

• Hootie Hoo
• Arrested Development: Tennessee
• Call of da Wild
• True Dat (Interlude)
• Welcome to Atlanta (Interlude)
• Ain't No Thang
• Funky Ride
• Ain't No Thang
• Claimin' True
• Crumblin' Erb
• Myintrotoletuknow
• Flim Flam
• Git Up, Git Out
• Player's Ball
• Player's Ball (Reprise)
• The Roots: Proceed
• Society of Soul: E.M.B.R.A.C.E.

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: Joy Division Closer (1980)

Moby has been in the game for over three decades, making punk, electronic, alt-rock, dance, and everything in between. When we heard he was coming on Heat Rocks, we had no idea what album he'd pick, but we knew it was going to be some absolute fire.

Joy Division were pioneers, blending genres and helping create and popularize the sound that would become post-punk. Unfortunately, Closer would be Joy Division's final album. On May 18th 1980, just weeks before Joy Division's first tour in America, lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life. Factory Records released the album a few months later, and the remaining members would go on to form New Order.

We sat down with Moby to talk about post-punk, the wildly varied music scene on the East coast in the 80s, and the shift from Joy Division to New Order. We chat about Ian's deteriorating mental wellness and Moby's own experiences playing with New Order and covering Joy Division songs. Grab a chair, this conversation goes deep.

Moby's new book, "Then It Fell Apart" is out now. Cop it at your local bookstore.

More on Moby

• Moby's new memoir "Then It Fell Apart"
• For Moby, Using Music as a Coping Mechanism(Wall Street Journal)
• Twitter | Instagram

More on Closer

• My Favourite album: Closer by Joy Division (The Guardian)
• Rewind: Joy Division's Closer" (Read TIDAL)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Closer unless indicated otherwise):

• Twenty Four Hours
• Moby: Natural Blues
• Heart and Soul
• Joy Division: Wilderness
• Decades
• Atrocity Exhibition
• Nolan Porter: Keep On Keepin' On
• Joy Division: Interzone
• The Eternal
• Moby: New Dawn Fades
• Atrocity Exhibition
• Twenty Four Hours
• Isolation
• Atrocity Exhibition
• The Nonce: Mix Tapes
• Elliott Smith: No Name No. 5

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: James Blood Ulmer: Odyssey  (1984) 
“Electric guitar” and “free jazz” may not be terms that folks normally pair together but when James Blood Ulmer first began collaborating with jazz giant Ornette Coleman in the mid 1970s, Ulmer found an instant kinship is the heady, improvisational style of Coleman’s harmolodics theory. The influence would shape the beginnings of Ulmer’s solo career later in the decade, culminating, for many, in Odyssey, recorded in 1983 with just Ulmer, drummer Warren Benbow and violinist Charles Burnham. Since then, the album is considered one of Ulmer’s greatest achievements, what longtime New York music critic, Robert Christgau lauded as a “ur-American synthesis that takes in jazz, rock, Delta blues and even country music…you’d be hard-pressed to pin just one style on any of this painfully beautiful stuff.”
Odyssey came to us via music historian and author RJ Smith. He's already written  books on everything from the Los Angeles post-war jazz scene to photographer Robert Frank to an R&B artist named James Brown. He's currently working on a new biography, this one about Chuck Berry. For RJ, Ulmer's masterpiece represented a distillation of musical movements all colliding together in early 1980s New York City and where Odyssey's opening song felt like an invitation to prayer and mediation. 
More on RJ Smith

• Interview between RJ and June Thomas (Slate.com)
• "Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: Capturing the Elusive Robert Frank" (NY Times)
• "In 'Rhythm,' Bhi Bhiman's Music Isn't Limited By National Borders" (NPR)

More on Odyssey

• Robert  Christgau's review of Odyssey (and other Ulmer albums of the era)
• 1998 interview between Ulmer and Jason Gross (Furious.com)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Odyssey unless indicated otherwise):

• Love Dance
• Church
• Smothered Soul
• Ornette Coleman Quartet: Live in Roma
• Swing and Things
• Wynton Marsalis: When It's Sleepytime Down South
• Swing and Things
• Church
• Please Tell Her
• Little Red House
• Are You Glad To Be In America

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: The Carpenters' A Song For You (1972)

dulcet (adjective) used to describe a sound that is soothing and soft, like the dulcet harmonies in a 70s pop song or the dulcet tones of a harp.

It seems like Karen Carpenter invented dulcet tones. Her velvet buttery vocals floated and soared on songs like "We've Only Just Begun", "Top Of The World", "Close To You". Alongside her brother Richard, she created a signature sound built around layered arrangements and harmonies.

Our guest, Pop Rocket's own Karen Tongson, sat with us on Heat Rocks to deep dive into the Carpenters seminal, Close To You, their second studio album released on August 19th, 1970. We talked about what made Karen Carpenter's voice inimitable and extraordinary, how the Carpenters invented the power ballad, Karen's enunciation and lower register, and listened to acapellas that made us all swoon.

Karen's book "Why Karen Carpenter" makes its debut on June 1st and will cover all the ground we didn't in this episode, sans music, but Heat Rocks recommends that you listen to music of The Carpenters in prep!

More on Karen Tongson

• Karen Tongson on Why Karen Carpenter Matters (UTexas Press)
• Preorder Karen's book here
• Twitter | Instagram

More on A Song For You

• Karen Carpenter's tragic story (The Guardian)
• Remembering Karen Carpenter, 30 Years Later" (NPR)
• Flashback: Karen Carpenter Takes Country Music to the White House (Rolling Stone)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from A Song For You unless indicated otherwise):

• Hurting Each Other
• Goodbye to Love
• The Carpenters: We've Only Just Begun
• Donny Hathaway: A Song For You
• A Song For You
• Piano Picker
• Crystal Lullaby
• I Won't Last A Day Without You
• Diana Ross: I Won't Last A Day Without You
• I Won't Last A Day Without You
• Intermission
• The Carpenters: Rainy Days and Mondays (isolated vocals)
• Goodbye to Love
• Road Ode
• I Won't Last A Day Without You
• Top of the World

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Album: Meshell Ndgeocello Plantation Lullabies (1993)

When Plantation Lullabies first hit the scene back in 1993, there wasn't anything really like it. Meshell Ndgeocello was a bald, badass, and bold woman with bars talking about sexuality, racism, and gender relations while paving the way for neo-soul music and artists.
Plantation Lullabies gave us many, many things, and Sy Smith (who has played alongside Meshell for years) came by the studio to talk to us about it. We discuss the impact it had on neo-soul, the shades of funk and go-go throughout the record, and the freedom it offered to black America.
Settle in, because this episode and this album are essential to any Heat Rocker.

More on Sy Smith

• Sy Smith is in Full Bloom on Sometimes A Rose Will Grow in Concrete (Soul Bounce)
• Now and Later -- Music Video
• Twitter | Instagram

More on Plantation Lullabies

• Plantation Lullabies Review (BBC)
• If That's Your Boyfriend -- Music Video"

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Plantation Lullabies unless indicated otherwise):

• Soul On Ice
• Sy Smith: Sometimes A Rose Will Grow In Concrete
• Dred Loc
• If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)
• Picture Show
• Shoot'n Up and Gett'n High
• If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)
• Plantation Lullabies
• I'm Diggin' You - Like An Old Soul Record
• Dred Loc
• Call Me
• Untitled
• Meshell Ndegeocello: Nocturnal Sunshine
• Meshell Ndegeocello: Rush Over
• If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)
• Soul On Ice

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!