The Next Track

A podcast about how people listen to music today.

About the show

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.

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Episodes

  • Episode #277: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Star, Part 2

    March 13th, 2024  |  29 mins 59 secs

    This time, Kirk chose three rock stars to discuss from David Hepworth's book Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994.

  • Episode #276: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Star

    February 28th, 2024  |  32 mins

    We didn't all do our homework, but Doug discusses three chapters from David Hepworth's book Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994.

  • Episode #275: Dead at the Sphere, Vision Pro, Grammys, Taylor Swift, the Superb Owl, and More

    February 14th, 2024  |  31 mins 11 secs

    We have a “two guys in a pub” episode, in which we talk about the next musical artist to perform at The Sphere: Dead & Company. We also discuss Apple’s new Vision Pro, the Grammys, Taylor Swift, the Superb Owl, and more.

  • Episode #274: OMD

    January 31st, 2024  |  28 mins 21 secs

    We discuss the first album by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, aka OMD, called Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. This was a foundational album in the synth-pop movement that started in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK.

  • Episode #273: Sheik Yerbouti

    January 17th, 2024  |  29 mins 24 secs

    Doug has long been a fan of Frank Zappa’s music, yet we’ve never spent an episode discussing it. In our irregular series looking at individual albums, we look at Zappa’s best-selling record, the 1979 Sheik Yerbouti.

  • Episode #272: Keef

    January 3rd, 2024  |  30 mins 9 secs

    Keith Richards is still alive. We recorded this episode on his 80th birthday, and we discussed how he is one of the most important guitarists in rock music, and the backbone of The Rolling Stones

  • Episode #271: New in Apple’s Music App

    December 20th, 2023  |  28 mins 54 secs

    Apple’s recent operating system updates have added some changes to the Music app. We look into these features and how they affect the way you manage your music.

  • Episode #270: Timo Andres on Philip Glass’s Piano Études

    December 6th, 2023  |  37 mins 58 secs

    Composer and pianist Timo Andres worked on a new edition of Philip Glass’s piano études. He talks about these works, about what piano études are, and about Glass’s music.

  • Episode #269: The End of iTunes

    November 22nd, 2023  |  27 mins 9 secs

    Apple is slowly phasing out iTunes on Windows, after having done so four years ago on Mac. Is it the end of the iTunes brand?

  • Episode #268: Miles Davis, Bitches Brew

    November 8th, 2023  |  28 mins 24 secs

    We discuss Miles Davis's groundbreaking 1970 album Bitches Brew.

  • Episode #267: Dark Side of the Moon Gets Rogered

    October 25th, 2023  |  29 mins 50 secs

    Roger Waters decided to make a new version of Dark Side of the Moon. It's a mistake.

  • Episode #266: Is the Sphere the Future of Concerts

    October 11th, 2023  |  32 mins 29 secs

    The Sphere is a huge new venue in Las Vegas, with a massive scene that provides an immersive video experience. U2 has been playing there, with concerts that combine their music with innovative visuals.

  • Episode #265: How Recordings Have Changed Music

    September 27th, 2023  |  32 mins 7 secs

    Recordings change music by freezing it in time.

  • Episode #264: The Heyday of Album Artwork

    September 13th, 2023  |  32 mins 35 secs

    A new documentary about Hipgnosis, the design team that is famous for covers of albums by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and many others, looks at the period when album artwork became an important element of rock albums.

  • Episode #263: More Thoughts on Dolby Atmos

    August 30th, 2023  |  29 mins 54 secs

    It's been a while since we've talked about Dolby Atmos, so we decided to discuss how much it has changed the way we (well, Kirk) listen to music. (Doug doesn't have an Atmos setup yet.)

  • Episode #262: Personal Music Players

    August 16th, 2023  |  27 mins 36 secs

    Doug bought a Sony Walkman (not one that plays cassettes), and we discuss personal music players, as well as boom boxes, which were collective listening devices.