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S4 E25 - The Concept Album · The Steve & Jeff Show

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: We welcome you to the Steve and Jeff Show.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's a funny podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Steve's mom told me so.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: Follow or subscribe to this funny show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: On whatever podcast platform you like to go.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: So say hello to comedy's master chefs.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Cooking up trouble making beautiful mess.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: Grab your ears and bring your laugh track breath.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: And now here's Stephen Jeff.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: This was not Stephen Jeff.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Lester Curtis.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: You may remember me as the narrator of that Stephen Jeff episode about the early years of Keith Richards.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back with another story from the exciting world of rock and roll.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Tonight, we look at the Steven Jeff band and their long-awaited and soon-to-be-released concept album called Ariel Font of Knowledge.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: We'll hear some excerpts from some of the songs on the album, and I will also guide you through the story of Ariel.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like most concept albums, the premise is obscure and at the same time hard to follow.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I will be your guide.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: But first, let's get the backstory on this concept album.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: The band began working on the album back in 1979, inspired by the great concept albums that filled vinyl record store shelves at that time.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Lacking the resources, both financial and musical, of the superstars producing concept albums, but knowing that the heart of a concept album is an arcane yet confusingly detailed storyline, they set out to create one with what they had.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: It turns out what they had was an ounce of what the kids back then called ditchweed.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So they put it to work and came up with a story so intricate, it took them 47 years to unwind it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: The album is about a young girl named Ariel, not like the mermaid with an E, like the typeface with an A.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Her full name was Ariel Fontanini, daughter of a printer, who was coming of age in late World War I London.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Ariel spent most of her time reading and felt alienated from other kids.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: On the night the war ended, she was visited by a wise spirit who taught her more than she could have learned by reading a lifetime of books.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the wise spirit had an unfortunate gambling addiction.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: He took her to a casino as part of her learning and mused about the good fortunes coming to him.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's listen to that right now.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I think 21 is my lucky game.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Lucky guy is gonna be my new nickname.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: What about the ace?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: What about the ace?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Should I hit or pass?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: I never saw it, never heard it, never said hit me.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: Just nodded a little, and now I'm busted.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: Really busted.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: The game isn't called 28.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sad but beautiful at the same time.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Even sadder was the fact that the wise spirit gambled with Ariel's limited money, and he lost it all.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Destitute and spurned by her printer father, she took the only job she could find as a member of a street band that busts for money.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: There were many such bands around London, but this one attracted attention and stood out for their unique approach to percussion.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Here's an example.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: A long time ago the captain knew that drinking carbonation made a nice pass-through.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: Since that day we all drink coke.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: We like to buff a deep.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: We're the captain belts carpet.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: We respect it, Captain Shake.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Captain Belcher.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: Captain Belcher Help!
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: See what I mean?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: They were indeed unique.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have more from the concept album Arial, Font of Knowledge.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: But first, a message from our sponsor.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not really our sponsor, because they aren't paying us.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But they do require us to run this ad under executive order 896,993,234.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It is brought to you by government renegades increasing federal theft, commonly known as Grift.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: When you find yourself in trouble, and you don't know where to turn.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: She's no Gandhi.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: You need Bondy.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Bondy, when obstruction of justice is your only hope.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we're back.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: While in that band, Ariel met a young man named Johnny, whom she immediately fell in love with.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Johnny, though, was easily distracted by other women and couldn't focus on her.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this excerpt where Johnny sings about two women he loved, neither named Ariel.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: So just hang on.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, 21?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait, I don't want to digress.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: The spirit told her about a planet far away where people respected smart and quiet people.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: He said that all Ariel had to do to get to that planet was wish very hard and sing a song.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Here she is, on her way to a planet where she will be immediately crowned queen.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And there you have a taste of this two-disc concept album, 47 years in the making, soon to be released on records and tapes, and available at Tower Records Stores, wherever you can find them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: They will be performing the entire rock ring cycle live at the Adler Planetarium at an unspecified future date.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Steve and Jeff will be back next week, assuming their attorneys allow it, and I will see you the next time our hosts need a documentary narrator.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that the Steve and Jeff Show band will sing us out of this episode, so to speak.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So take it away.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And the hive begins too early.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: And you run out of cocaine.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: For the seven years well told.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now we wonder if even one record will be sold in eight.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, let's go.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: And even though it's just an omalgon, please buy our own.