Matt and I finally get down to business to complete a band draft, an idea that’s been near to our heart but far from our podcast for some time now. Taking the helm of four bands apiece – with names from many styles, from Wu-Tang to pirates – we create a positive festival chock full… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 28: The Spicy and the Honeys
You might have thought that Matt and I had exhausted ourselves on music-related podcasts, or perhaps you thought we had reached the height of hubris when we claimed to know the 100 most ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s songs, respectively. But you would be wrong, because the B&B B&B has outdone itself: it has divined the… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 24: The Great “Reptilia v. Take Me Out” Debate of 2016
Are you breaking up with someone right now? Neither are we, but that didn’t stop us from running a break-up song bracket. Find out why we couldn’t actually finish the bracket, why we disagree vehemently about which is the superior “Ne me quitte pas,” and what each of us would put in our ten-song breakup… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 22: God Creates Man, Man Bemoans Fortune
There’s almost too much to talk about in this latest installation of a series on Top 100s in music, but we give our level best to a host of topics, like: what happened to rock music? what happened to rap and hip-hop? where are the white women at? Join us as we take a long… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 20: How Purple Light Killed Music
In the sudden tradition that we’ve come across, we’ve made a Top 100 Disney Songs list that you can see below. We bring back Josh to talk Disney with us, and we spare no thought for scope of this audio feast: we discuss whether Disney’s rollicking tunes or its introspective ballads are its most indicative… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 18: Jiminy Brisket
Honorable mentions: “Bui-Doi,” “The Fall of Saigon” On a scale from Madame Butterfly to M. Butterfly, Miss Saigon is probably a D. It almost certainly fails the Bechdel test. In a less enlightened time, Jonathan Pryce played a Vietnamese national. It is one of the most problematic musicals of the past twenty-five years. People love… Read More Songs from Musicals: #1, “I Still Believe,” from Miss Saigon
Honorable mentions: “The Deal/No Deal,” “You and I (Reprise)” Like Grenada, Chess is a victim of American late Cold War insecurity. In the British version, the Soviet grandmaster beats the American grandmaster to take the latter’s championship before defecting, and with a little help from the American, topples the Soviet challenger for his crown. In… Read More Songs from Musicals: #2, “Pity the Child,” from Chess
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T47tPt5AUgw Honorable mentions: “On My Own,” “ABC Cafe: Red and Black” A few years ago, I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which I love as much as any place in Philadelphia. I had started to develop a passing interest in medieval art, which had never really appealed to me before, and I was… Read More Songs from Musicals: #3, “Stars,” from Les Miserables
Honorable mentions: “Dancing Through Life,” “The Wizard and I” I dunno if any of you guys want to listen to this song in German, but I highly recommend it. All about that “Solang Ich Dich Hab.” As far as I know, there is no other love song that begins with the same note that “As… Read More Songs from Musicals: #4, “As Long As You’re Mine,” from Wicked
Honorable mentions: “The Guilty Ones,” “Those You’ve Known” Spring Awakening, let it not be said too loudly, maybe functions better as a concept album than as a musical. I love this musical to pieces, and I’ve even seen it a couple times in different contexts, but the book is not the equal of the music.… Read More Songs from Musicals: #5, “Touch Me,” from Spring Awakening
Seeing Things Secondhand 