Side A, Side B

One album, one hour, pulled from the shelf

Esteban Villarreal2 episodes1 min of audio43 playsEpisodic

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S1 · E2Oct 9, 20260:4416 plays Preview

The double album everyone says is too long

A sprawling 1970s double album is often called indulgent. Esteban argues for every side, talks to the engineer who sequenced it and shares the one pressing worth hunting for.

S1 · E1Jun 18, 20260:4327 plays Members

A soul record made in four days, and the pressing that got it right

Esteban takes a 1972 soul album made in four days off the shelf, tracks down the bassist from the sessions and explains why the second pressing sounds better than the first.

About the show

Side A, Side B is an album deep-dive show for people who still believe a record is meant to be heard from the first groove to the run-out. Each fortnight Esteban Villarreal takes one album off his shelf, often a pressing he has hunted for years, and spends an hour on it: how it was made, who played on it, what was happening in the room and in the world, and why the track order matters. It is a solo narrated show with short clips and the occasional phone call to a session musician or engineer who was there. Esteban is a record collector first, so every episode ends with a short collector's note on pressings, matrix numbers and what to pay. It is for anyone who has felt a whole album change their week, and for anyone who wants to start listening that way. Around 50 to 60 minutes, every other Tuesday.

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