Recorded in-between back to back shows in Rotterdam with Left Of The Dial festival we made a right show out of a show. You've heard of a blowjob, you've heard of a tough job but this was a rush job!  Plenty of changes in this episode, a producer, mic stands (free hands for gesticulation {and other unmentionable -ations-} and by extension, free-er minds for pontificating), and a trigger pad for the jingles! But, if you're afraid of change and all that is a bit much for you, don't worry, there's more of the same old shite from us.  Joe and The Shit Boys drop in at the end for a quick natter and scatter.     

Higher Fidelity

26.Rotterdamn The Torpedoes

The quadranscentennial jubilee installment of this show sees us discuss everything we've done over the last few weeks which is everything. Everything includes listening to the Beatles Capitol albums on the way to Listowel, Pete and Ev's stint as crew for a festival tour with Dea Matrona, (successful for Ev, disastrous for Pete), watching 'Enter The Dragon', our assistance in the nation-wide battle against teen-depression, Ross' recents stint in Cork, Sam's soon-to-be stint in Rome and then a heated debate about the properties and practicalities of swapping the characteristics and excretory locations of different bodily fluids. And that's BEFORE we even get into the segments. What a pre-amble.  Pete, wary of being held in perilously high regard by the world at large, decides to nip it in the bud now with one of the most brutal Workfarces yet. 

25. ‘I Hate It When People I Respect Listen To This Show‘

'Five Live Yard Beours', episode 24 of the SINstitution that is 'Higher Fidelity, sees us stray even further from God's light and take even MORE leave of our senses. For reasons unbeknownst to us know but were presumably knownst to us at the time, we make a lot of animal noises, discuss our dreams, break Bill Wither's record for the longest note (35 seconds, eat shit Withers) and expand Pete's Patent Pending to include the ideas of idiots.  The we review our first show with an audience in Tullamore and predict our next show in Listowel. There's also a casual bit of time travel interviewing. No biggie. 

24.Five Live Yard-Beours

Later than usual, but better than ever, this episode sees us descend into fits of laughter that we never truly recover from.  From Marcus' quest for stardom (the rest is infamy) to the discovery of a mysterious individual known only as Don Plamm, (stopping at Jessica Simpson's cover of 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' and Bob Geldof's inadequate larynx on the way) episode 23 features more heavy breathing and screams of delight than a flasher's camera roll.    We also discuss The Zen Arcade's FIRST encounter with a listener in the wild! Molly from Virginia, we need that photo, Spotify do your thing.   

23. Who Is Don Plamm?

The 22nd door in the hallowed hallway of Higher FIdelity's house thats full of metaphors that get away from themselves, is split across two locations. We feel the wind in our hair in Dublin and get our hair caught in the window in Cavan. Becky beams in from Stephens Green for Sonic Seconds and Vox Pas while we beam at each other in Ev's sitting room for the rest.  Fresh from the success of 'High Fidelity' and sweaty from the anticipation of 'The Many Faces Of We' stream we use cutting edge technology to get some celebrity assistance, point the finger of plagiarism at Red Kross and debate the properties of King Midas' curse and how it would manifest itself in reverse (as per The Hollies hit).  One look a the 'As Heard On Higher Fidelity' playlist will tell you that we cover a lot of erratic ground on this episode. We go from Arkana ('So Little Time', Mary Kate and Ashley theme) to Jean Jacques Perrey (NOT 'So Little Time, NOT Mary Kate and Ashley theme). This rapid change of pace subjected our bodies to G forces that could've easily proven fatal were we of a lesser constitution. 

22. Wallace Andgromit

In episode 21 we discuss all the things we talked about in episode 21.  DISCLAIMER: This claimer is dissing your claims.

21. The Psychedelic Fursona

It's a brand new location and the same old insights from us on this exciting milestone.  The first instance of content recycling is here, one of us made the abhorrent mistake of using a quote that was used before on a previous episode and we sincerely apologise. We can only try and be better.  Of course, a betrayal like this is very hard to come to terms with and even harder to forgive but we hope you understand that we are human and we make mistakes.  We raid the ideas of an interview we just came from and steal their gargling game. What follows is ASMR of a very disturbing nature.  We remember the contributions from the latest live episode of Higher Fidelity, remember John Leyton in 'Johnny Remember Me' and remember the time we dipped our toes in the world of fashion and found it to be very cold. 

20. GargleBox

The first 'one on one' episode of Higher Fidelity featured many happy returns,  1. The return of 'Second Best' 2. The return of 'Never Mind The Fuzzbox' 3. The return of 'Pevan' Those of a certain vintage will remember Pevan as the contraction of both Pete and Ev's names use most prominently by Tumblr and Wattpad users for their platonic and erotic stories about us. The intention to upset couldn't have been further from their minds (I hope. What an odd way to bully someone if it was intentional, 'I wrote a 13 chapter, 46 page story about you attending my school') but nonetheless, we took ourselves very seriously at the time, something we find practically impossible now.  Dr Feelgood and fanfiction, a ludicrous time capsule of an erstwhile era. 

19. Pevan Go Deep With A Two Hander

Paraphrasing the immortal words of Martha 'is that even legal' Cox we find out that we can 'popdown, lockdown jamdown and -break-down'. Yes that is the title too. It's Title 2 'An Appearance In The Description'. It's the same as 'Superman' being said in 'Superman' and 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' being said in 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' (I haven't seen it but it's SUCH a poor title it has to be said in the film?) Join us on a walk through our wiki where we're accused of 'posthumously' appearing in Rocketman, before we dive into everything wrong with Allan M's footwear in Josie And The Pussycats. We then find ourselves finding hilarity in the vocal stylings of Micky Dolenz, Fergie and Shakin' Stevens before discussing at length and breadth The Animals' 'Lust For Glory and Quest For -Their- Money'. After discovering Pete Wentz's unlikely inspiration in the guitarist from Jason And The Scorchers we welcome the return of Pete's Patent Pending and Workfarce. Before rounding out the episode with the revelation that Shakin Stevens (yep he's brought up twice) had a hit with a song by a band that used to pal around with Black Flag, we agree to round out the episode with the revelation that Shakin Stevens (yep he's brought up twice) had a hit with a song by a band that used to pal around with Black Flag. 

18. Popdown, Lockdown, Jamdown, Breakdown.

We were looking back to see if this year was looking back to see if we were looking back on it fondly. The new year has brought with it nothing new, only remastered blu-ray versions of last year's nonsense in high definition. We've been George Lucased.Recorded in the dying days of 2020 we let our optimism get the better of us and our pop-timisms bring out the worst in us. Admissions of enjoying The Wanted and Dave Clark clash with denials of appreciation for Sparks and Roxy Music, all while the social acceptability of going commando is hotly debated (another reason to do it, the heat).Do you fear late stage development of a bum chin? Will you, in good conscience, deny Ron Ryan his royalties? Can peace ever truly be achieved when Cardiacs fans walk among us? They don't have to suffer their existence, but we do. Look within and click above to find out. 

17. The Tyranny Of Clark and The G Force Of Kravitz

We lose, find, lose again and then forget about the Christmas Spirit in our second festive special. New guests, old guests, friends and family gather round an electric fire hazard and in a time honoured Christmas tradition, dissect the cast list for 'How To Eat Fried Worms' (a film that wasn't a springboard for ANYONE).Evan discovers the phrase 'shawty' while discussing Jedward's appearance on the Slammer performing 'Mistletoe' by Justin Bieber. What a SENTENCE. We then go on to establish that 'It's A Wonderful Life' is the 'Citizen Kane' of Xmas films and by extension, using that metric, 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' is the 'Alien' and 'Polar Express' is the 'Avatar' (big budget and bad).Before we, the description committee, sign off for this year we'd like to tell you a joke. Where did Mary go for a coffee after giving birth to the Baby Jesus? Pret A MANGER!

16. It's Christmas, Let's Go Through The Cast List of 'How To Eat Fried Worms'

A red letter episode featuring the dissection of our ascension from nobodies to yes-bodies while our debut single 'Dont Say A Word' saw us reach new heights in terms of chart success and new lows in our ability to read social cues on live radio. 'Workfarce' and 'Never Mind The Fuzzbox' make welcome returns as Sonic Seconds takes a welcome break. It had begun to buckle and wheeze under the pressure of being omnipresent. We further discover that Rod Stewart's body began to let him down way earlier than we thought, Just Eat bags drastically affect balance and that our first tv appearance on the Toy Show is the gift that never even gave in the first place.

15. The Mind Was Singing But The Flesh Was Weak.

Higher Fidelity gets (what would've been) the -exclusive first play- of 'Don't Say A Word'! (if Irish radio hadn't jumped the shark-gun and blown our load for us).Joe Pesci's career is defined by flipping from comedy role to serious role at the drop of a brick to Daniel Stern's face. The sad nadir of this knack for jumping between the two is none more so tragically apparent than on his debut album 'Little Joe Sure Can Sing' where he -hilariously- tries to -seriously- attempt too many classics to count. It was an ambitious start to a singing career that is still stuttering to this day. Other disappointments enclosed include an alignment chart for Italian American actors and their northern English British Invasion group counterparts, and The Cars getting (de)railed by Sugar Ray. 

14. Joe Pesci and The Who Were Label Mates

We discuss the historical revisionism abundant in the recent reappraisal of Dr Feelgood's 'Wilko-era' and almost getting caught by the rozzers (see 'busted by the filth') for blaring the Just My Luck soundtrack at 3am. We also learn the phrase 'historical revisionism' and abuse the PHUCK out of it. Raimi's Spiderman gets another dashing against the rocks of logic and a new segment rears its head and heads for our rears, it's 'Vaux Pas', which is all about singers cacking it live.  

13. The Lonnie Donegan Connotations

A music discussion podcast that isn't just that, it's only that. Hosted by the band Zen Arcade.

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Higher Fidelity

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