

The Next Track
Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn
Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn discuss music and musicians, and how we listen to music, whether it be analog or digital, downloaded or streamed, audio, or video.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 26, 2025 • 29min
Episode #302: Rant about Apple's Music App
We rant about compilations in Apple's music app, and some other annoyances.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Doug's AppleScripts
Take Control of Apple Media Apps
Very Seldom Casual: UncertainFM
Apple Music Classical (Mostly) Plays the Right Chords - TidBITS
Our next tracks:
Bears Sonic Journals: Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, Before We Were Them
Spirit: Clear
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Feb 12, 2025 • 23min
Episode #301: The Freddy Mercurization of Dylan
The recent movie about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, has led many people to "discover" Bob Dylan's music.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Don’t look back: after decades of apathy, A Complete Unknown has turned me into a Dylan nut
Elijah Wald: Dylan Goes Electric
Episode #20 – You Think You Know about the Blues? Eliah Wald on the History of the Blues
Our next tracks:
Allman Brothers: Live at the Fillmore East
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisted
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Jan 29, 2025 • 29min
Episode #300: Billions and Obscura
We look at Spotify's Billions Club, and discuss how some people are trying to discover the must unplayed music.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
No Dylan but loads of Coldplay! What the songs with a billion streams on Spotify tell us about music taste today
Vintage Obscura
Lefsetz Letter: Apple Music’s Per Stream Payment
Our next tracks:
Morton Feldman: Two Pianos and other pieces, 1953-1969
Steel Pulse: Tribute to the Martyrs
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Jan 15, 2025 • 32min
Episode #299: The Normalization of Apple's Media App; Songs in Movies
With the release of Kirk's new book, Take Control of Apple Media Apps, we discuss how Apple has normalized their media apps and, perhaps, finally made them easier to use. We also discus the use of songs in movies.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Take Control of Apple Media Apps
Obsidian
Casino
Megalopolis
Oppenheimer
Wonder Boys
Our next tracks:
Dance Craze
Andy Pratt: Andy Pratt
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Dec 31, 2024 • 30min
Episode #298: Fake Music
Streaming services - mostly, but not only, Spotify - are filling their playlists with fake music.
"If everyone is a content creator, who's left to be the audience?"
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Take Control of Apple Media Apps
The Ghosts in the Machine, Liz Pelly
Max Richter: Sleep
Our next tracks:
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band: Almost Acoustic
Pixies: The Night the Zombies Came
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Dec 18, 2024 • 29min
Episode #297: 1984
1984 wasn't like 1984.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Episode #235 - 1973
Episode #79 – 1977
Episode #98 - 1981
1984: The Year Pop Stardom Got Supersized
Synth Britannia
Our next tracks:
Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Guadalcanal Diary: Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Dec 4, 2024 • 29min
Episode #296: Nostalgia Concerts, 74 Albums from 1974, Interstellar Soundtrack
Apparently "nostalgia concerts," where bands play full albums, have become common; not everyone likes this idea. Rolling Stone made a list of the "best" 74 albums of 1974. And we discuss movie soundtracks, with specific reference to Hans Zimmer's music for Interstellar.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
No More Nostalgia Concerts, Please
The Cure: live stream of Songs of a Lost World
The 74 Best Albums of 1974
Intersteller
Hans Zimmer
Our next tracks:
Kraftwerk: Autobahn
David Byrne: The Catherine Wheel
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Nov 20, 2024 • 32min
Episode #295: Selling Records with Pete Morgan of Burning Shed
We talk about selling records with the unique Burning Shed, the British online record store that offers a curated selected of progressive rock, new wave, ambient, and electronic music.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Burning Shed
Our next tracks:
The Durutti Column - A Life of Reilly, by James Nice
Sponge: 1994
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Nov 6, 2024 • 33min
Episode #294: Desert Island Bass Players
With the passing of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, we talk about the bass players we would take to a desert island.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Phil Lesh obituary
Our next tracks:
Grateful Dead: Fallout from the Phil Zone
Stanley Clarke: School Days
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Oct 23, 2024 • 30min
Episode #293: Desert Island Discs Redux
We discuss desert island discs as a thought experiment, though we didn't agree on the ground rules.
Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!
Show notes:
Episode #130 - Desert Island Discs, Part 1
Episode #133 - Desert Island Discs, Part 2
Schubert: Winterreise, Ian Bostridge & Thomas Adès
Bach: Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould 1981
Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet, Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi
Hume: Musicall Humours, Jordi Savall
Elastica: Elastica
The Who: Quadrophenia
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros: Streetcore
Gustaf: Package, Pt.2
The Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya-Yas Out
The Clash: London Calling
Brian Eno: Music for Airports
Bang on a Can: Music for Airports
Grateful Dead: American Beauty
Bill Evans: The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde
King Crimson: Red
Castaway
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track


