Avant-garde singer-songwriter and musician Azalia Snail joins Rob in the TRGMH studio to discuss an artist near and dear to her heart - Melanie Safka aka Melanie - and some of her greatest hits:
"But maybe it'll all be alright, ma
Maybe it'll all be okay
Well, if the people are buying tears
I'll be rich someday, ma
Look what they done to my song..."

Songs discussed in this episode: California Dreamin' - Melanie; Take Away His Power, Expert Outlier, Zap You Of That Hate - Azalia Snail; Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins Singers; Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) - Melanie; Look What They've Done To My Song - The New Seekers; What Have They Done To My Song, Ma, Brand New Key, Ruby Tuesday, The Nickel Song, Bobo's Party, Good Book, Christopher Robin, Animal Crackers, Psychotherapy (Live), Beautiful People, Leftover Wine, Peace Will Come (According To Plan), People In The Front Row - Melanie; Becomes Clear To Them - Azalia Snail; Sign In The Window (Bob Dylan cover) - Melanie

For our very first stab at a Dylan record, Chicago singer/songwriter Steve Dawson (Dolly Varden) veered away from the obvious and chose 1970s 'New Morning'. Coming on the heels of his widely ill-received 'Self Portrait', 'New Morning' was a tight, solid collection of songs many considered a welcome return to form from Mr Zimmerman. Super-fun conversation!

Songs discussed in this episode: The Man In Me (Live at Budokan, 1978) - Bob Dylan; At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree - Steve Dawson; Surrounded By The Sound - Dolly Varden; Time To Let Some Light In - Steve Dawson; Blue Moon - Bob Dylan; Girl From The North Country - Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash; The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band; If Not For You - Bob Dylan; If Not For You - George Harrison; If Not For You - Olivia Newton John; Day Of The Locusts, Time Passes Slowly, Went To See The Gypsy, Winterlude, If Dogs Run Free - Bob Dylan; See It Was Like This When - Lawrence Ferlinghette; New Morning, Sign On The Window, One More Weekend, The Man In Me - Bob Dylan; The Man In Me - The Clash; Three Angels, Father Of Night - Bob Dylan; Weather In The Desert - Steve Dawson

This week's guest, author Rob Drew, traces how a lowly, hissy format that began life in office dictation machines and cheap portable players came to be regarded as a token of intimate expression through music and a source of cultural capital in his new book Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable.
For this episode, he curated a mixtape of some of the music featured in his book and discusses it with Rob. TWO Rob's for the price of one!

Songs discussed in this episode: Louis Quatorze - Bow Wow Wow; Sailin On - Bad Brains; Crazy - Patsy Cline; I Just Want To Feel You - R. Stevie Moore; King Heroin (Live in New York 1980) - James Chance & The Contortions; Pay To Cum - Bad Brains; Golden Lane - The Cleaners from Venus; Psychotic Reaction - Shockabilly; Redneck Jazz - Eugene Chadbourne & Evan Johns; Watchin' Girl - Shonen Knife; Don't Mix The Colors - Beat Happening; Honey - Marine Girls; Missing - Everything But The Girl; C30 C60 C90 Go - Bow Wow Wow; EMI - The Sex Pistols; Go West (Girly-Sound version) - Liz Phair; Subtle Holy Gift - Sentridoh; Going To Maryland - The Mountain Goats; Tuesday Moon - Neutral Milk Hotel; Speeding Motorcycle - Yo La Tengo; Living Life - Daniel Johnston; Living Life - Kathy McCarty