66. Joan Holliday Discusses Al Stewart, Modern Times

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You, Me and An Album takes the show on the road for this episode, recording at WRSI The River studios in Northampton, Mass. The station’s program director, production director and afternoon host, Joan Holliday, was not only gracious enough to join me on this episode and introduce me to Al Stewart’s Modern Times, but also to provide a wonderful venue for our conversation. In addition to talking about the tracks from this 1975 album, as well as some others from Stewart’s discography, Joan discussed her friendship with Stewart, her career in radio and The River’s unique approach to programming.

As Joan mentioned on the show, you can reach her via mail: [email protected].

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and this show has accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Be sure to follow @youmealbum to find out in advance about upcoming guests and featured albums for this podcast.

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1:01 Joan joins the show

2:25 Joan explains how she chose Modern Times for this episode

3:37 Joan recounts how she became an Al Stewart fan

4:52 Joan talks about her friendship with Al Stewart

9:49 Joan contrasts Modern Times with Year of the Cat

12:35 Joan appreciates how Al Stewart can embody different characters in a song

13:22 Joan and Al discuss how albums like Modern Times don’t become pop albums anymore

15:03 Joan highlights the aspects of Al Stewart’s music that she loves

17:46 Joan has seen Al Stewart perform too many times to count

Reaction to (nearly all of) the album’s tracks:

19:05 Apple Cider Re-Constitution

21:29 Not the One

24:25 Sirens of Titan

25:46 Carol

28:12 What’s Going On?

30:37 The Dark and the Rolling Sea

34:54 Next Time

38:10 Joan implores us to explore more of Al Stewart’s catalog

42:10 Joan talks about how Al Stewart’s sound changed after the success of Year of the Cat

44:04 Does Tony Banks sound like Al Stewart?

45:24 Joan talks about how she started at The River

46:43 Joan describes The River’s approach to programming

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