In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series: it’s Part 2 of Chuck’s chat with his close friend, legendary bassist Carol Kaye. This time around, they’re joined by Chuck’s bassist buddy, Ammo. Carol is one of the most prolific bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings during a career spanning over 65 years. She actually started doing session work in 1957 on guitar, and after a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s. She’s appeared on sessions by Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The Monkees. The intro on Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”? She came up with that. Of course, that’s also Carol plucking away on The Beach Boys albums Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Pet Sounds, and Smile. Most famously, Kaye’s bass lines are the driving force behind “Good Vibrations”, one of her many number 1 hits.  Here’s just a few of the many things that Carol discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: What Murry Wilson was like at that time; The love that Chuck Britz had for Brian, especially during his dark time in the 1970s; Carol’s views on Paul McCartney’s bass playing; Her nightmare story of working with producer Joe Thomas; And Carol’s absolutely brilliant way of explaining why Brian’s music connected with people in such a big way.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series: it’s Part 2 of Chuck’s chat with his close friend, legendary bassist Carol Kaye. This time around, they’re joined by Chuck’s bassist buddy, Ammo. Carol is one of the most prolific bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings during a career spanning over 65 years. She actually started doing session work in 1957 on guitar, and after a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s. She’s appeared on sessions by Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The Monkees. The intro on Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”? She came up with that. Of course, that’s also Carol plucking away on The Beach Boys albums Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Pet Sounds, and Smile. Most famously, Kaye’s bass lines are the driving force behind “Good Vibrations”, one of her many number 1 hits.  Here’s just a few of the many things that Carol discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: Brian’s psychological difficulties; A nerd’s fantasy: a rundown of her equipment; The corruption she experienced firsthand while working for Motown; The music she liked and didn’t like playing; The particularities of the legendary studios in which she recorded; And just setting the record straight in general, about absolutely everything.

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives. This is the interview you’d hope for if you prayed for all the things you wanted Hal Blaine to talk about in a stream of consciousness style, without a filter: what it was like to work with an acid-addled Brian Wilson; how it felt working at The Beach Boys home studio with the rest of the group; attempting to work with Joe Thomas; how it felt having Murry Wilson around; working with a wildly inebriated John Phillips; and how he feels he got accepted into his senior living community. This entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series is the second part of Chuck’s chat with Brian Wilson’s favorite drummer, legendary studio maestro Hal Blaine. It’s not hard to understand why Brian worked with him so often: Hal claimed to have participated in over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one. Chuck’s interview with Hal took place while the latter was living in a retirement community, and the tone is definitely “no shits given” by this point. Hal passed away a few years later in 2019, which makes this posthumously released “Chuck Chat” yet another priceless buried treasure.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), Unrest’s Mark Robinson, and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. Part 7 covers the era during which Billy catches his manager’s hand thrust deep in the cookie jar, Christie Brinkley divorces him, he stops writing pop music, dips his toe in classical waters, his drinking starts getting super scary, he gets married again, his third wife gives him a rehab ultimatum, he gets divorced a third time, and then gets married yet again. And he also manages to make and release Storm Front, River Of Dreams, and Fantasies And Delusions. The goal for this and the previous episode was to make great art about bad art, to create two podcast episodes in inverse qualitative proportion to the rock bottom records being discussed. Mark and Dave accomplished their goal. Here are just a few of the many things that Mark discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: The crazed embezzlement fall-out with Billy’s manager Frank Weber;  Why we have Sean Ono Lennon to thank for “We Didn’t Start The Fire”; Billy’s Shelter Island Sessions, which collapsed and then transformed into River Of Dreams; Billy’s swerve into the classical lane with Fantasies And Delusions; And an in-depth deep dive on every song off Storm Front and River Of Dreams.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. Chuck and legendary bassist Carol Kaye are close friends, so this exceptional interview goes incredibly deep in its search for the truth. Carol is one of the most prolific bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings during a career spanning over 65 years. She actually started doing session work in 1957 on guitar, and after a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s. She’s appeared on sessions by Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The Monkees. The intro on Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”? She came up with that. Of course, that’s also Carol plucking away on The Beach Boys albums Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Pet Sounds, and Smile. Most famously, Kaye’s bass lines are the driving force behind “Good Vibrations”, one of her many number 1 hits.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flin Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Part 6 covers the time after his divorce, a time when most people tend to sit around and sulk, but not Billy—he dated multiple supermodels, settled down with one, and became happy to an extent that managed to prove conclusively that great art absolutely can not be created by very happy people. And he also managed to make and release An Innocent Man and The Bridge.  The goal for this and the next episode was to make great art about bad art, to create two podcast episodes in inverse qualitative proportion to the rock bottom records being discussed. Mark and Dave accomplished their goal.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. By now, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston has retired from being interviewed, so this epic, unheard 2001 interview for Chuck Granata’s Pet Sounds book is absolutely priceless…especially seeing as his fanboy love for Chuck’s Frank Sinatra book wound up contributing to a level of unvarnished honesty that’s super-rare for The Beach Boy universe.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flin Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Discograffiti’s Mark Robinson Tackles Billy Joel (But Only Metaphorically) Series dissects every last release Billy Joel’s ever had a hand in creating. Part 5 covers the last two records that Billy made before marrying Christie Brinkley and entering his tabloid uber-superstar phase: Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. It’s Chuck’s dizzyingly inspired chat with legendary producer Mark Linett, the producer and audio engineer best known for his remixing and remastering of The Beach Boys’ catalog. Since 1988, he’s been the engineer of choice for Brian Wilson’s recordings. In 1996, Linett created the first true stereo mix of Pet Sounds. He’s also co-produced nearly all of the band’s archival releases, including 1997’s The Pet Sounds Sessions, 1998’s Endless Harmony Soundtrack, 2003’s Hawthorne, CA, and 2011’s The Smile Sessions, as well as the Feel Flows (2021) and Sail On Sailor (2022) box sets.  In addition to earning three Grammy Awards, he was nominated for Best Engineered Album for his work on 2004’s Brian Wilson Presents Smile. He’s also worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Los Lobos, Rickie Lee Jones, and Randy Newman.  This is Chuck’s lengthy and consistently fascinating interview with Mark from the early 2000’s for his Pet Sounds book…stay tuned for my own more recent interview, which covers completely different territory.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flint Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Discograffiti’s Mark Robinson Tackles Billy Joel (But Only Metaphorically) Series dissects every last release Billy Joel’s ever had a hand in creating. Part 4 covers the first couple records that Billy made after becoming a superstar: 52nd Street and Glass Houses.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. It’s Chuck’s chat with legendary producer Phil Ramone, Billy Joel’s most relied-upon right-hand-man, the producer of every Billy Joel record during the height of his popularity, from 1977’s The Stranger to 1986’s The Bridge. Phil won his first production Grammy for his work on Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years in 1975, eventually becoming chairman of The Recording Academy. He also helped produce, with Quincy Jones, 2001’s televised A Tribute To Brian Wilson. His credits and accomplishments in the industry are almost literally endless, and what better place to learn about them than Chuck Granata’s 2007 memoir (co-written with Phil) Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music. Phil passed away a few years after this interview in 2013, which makes this posthumously released “Chuck Chat” yet another priceless buried treasure.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flint Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Discograffiti’s Mark Robinson Tackles Billy Joel (But Only Metaphorically) Series dissects every last release Billy Joel’s ever had a hand in creating. Part 3 tackles the two mid-1970s records that, after their release, wound up turning him into a superstar: Turnstiles & The Stranger.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flint Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Discograffiti’s Mark Robinson Tackles Billy Joel (But Only Metaphorically) Series dissects every last release Billy Joel’s ever had a hand in creating. Part 2 tackles his two early-1970s, California-based albums after signing with Columbia Records: Piano Man & Streetlife Serenade.

In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flint Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Discograffiti’s Mark Robinson Tackles Billy Joel (But Only Metaphorically) Series dissects every last release Billy Joel’s ever had a hand in creating. Part 1 tackles his turmoil-ridden ancient history, including early bands The Hassles and Attila, plus his debut LP, Cold Spring Harbor.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. It’s Chuck’s chat with legendary Gold Star engineer Larry Levine, the man responsible, side by side with The Wrecking Crew, for building Phil Spector’s ”Wall of Sound”. His peak accomplishments include “Be My Baby”, “Summertime Blues”, “River Deep, Mountain High”, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”, “He’s A Rebel”, ”Then He Kissed Me”, A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector, Pet Sounds, Smile, and so many others.

In this episode, Graham Nash discusses David Crosby’s classic solo debut If I Could Only Remember My Name with commentary and stories. Discograffiti’s Wild Tales: The Graham Nash Interview Series tackles every last release the great Graham Nash ever had a hand in creating, including CSN/Y, C&N, and his solo career, detailing a history almost too wild to be believed.

In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. It’s Chuck’s chat with re-issue genius Bob Irwin. Bob and his wife Mary started the Sundazed Music label in 1989. Bob discusses his relationship with Pet Sounds, its standing in the pantheon no matter how many times you’ve heard it, its importance and influence on music in general, and the wonders of a technology with inherent, imposed limitations.

Beach Boys author Chuck Granata reviews and discusses Pet Sounds’ “Caroline, No” with commentary and stories. Discograffiti’s Pet Sounds Deep-Dive Series stands as a unique combination of factual obsession and personal connection, and there’s nothing else quite like it. This is the final episode.

In this episode, Dave Gebroe interviews our brother podcast 1001 Album Complaints’ host Rob Kassees as he walks us through the process of creating and releasing your own album, something he’s done many times over by this point

In this episode, Discograffiti presents Part 3 of Chuck’s chat with Tony Asher, Brian Wilson’s lyrical collaborator on Pet Sounds. This is easily the best, most honest and unguarded Tony Asher interview in existence.