Today’s Cool Album of the Day is (#803 in the Series) is Scorpions, Fly to the Rainbow. Fly to the Rainbow was the 1974 album from German metal band Scorpions. It was their second album following up, Lonesome Crow. This was not just a straight ahead metal album. It was far from it. It definitely had a good layer of prog-rock in its sound.  I usually don’t include track times to the listings. I did so here for a reason. Look at the lengths. 7:42, 9:40 etc.  Those lengthy times are a clear point to something different. Lonesome Crow was the only album that had Michael Schenker as full time lead guitarist.  He did appear here but in a...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#797 in the Series) is KISS, Monster KISS has recently released their 20th studio album, “Monster,” and every KISS fan in the world is gonna gobble it up, no matter what it sounds like or how it is reviewed. They always have and always will and they are part of the reason the band has been a perpetual marketing juggernaut, regardless of whether they were producing a good product musically, or not. There are basically three versions of KISS; The classic lineup (Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Paul Stanley) from our beloved “Dazed and Confused” era from 1974 to 1982 (KISS – Unmasked ). They were amazing trailblazers in many...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#768 in the Series) is Attila, Attila Close the door. Make sure you lock it too, and then turn your speakers up to 10. Attila is an underrated masterpiece. Consisting of Billy Joel on organ, Jon Small on drums, this album has remained long out of print since its release in 1970. It still has not gotten a proper reissue. Some people love it, some people don’t. Billy Joel himself has called it “Psychedelic bullshit.” I am one of those people who enjoys this album, and it just might be one of the most underrated albums in progressive rock history, simply because not a lot of people know it. But, if you...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#292 in the Series) is Black Sabbath, Paranoid. Black Sabbath, Paranoid……  I don’t think I need to say much about this one now do I?  This was one of the very first metal albums that I owned.  I have a feeling that many of us can say that.  Hey, and we turned out alright, didn’t we? I went to a rather conservative catholic high school in suburban Chicago.  We had a bus driver that had hooked up a pair of speakers about half way back towards the ceiling. He looked like George Carlin.  He used to blast the 8-track of this on the way to school about 8:00 in the morning.  How cool was...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (# 553 in the Series) is UFO, The Chrysalis Years, (1973-1979). I am going to delay with the normal album review inroduction and substitute it with: IT’S ALL HERE! ALL YOU COULD WANT FROM THIS SEMINAL 1970′S HARD ROCK JUGGERNAUT. AND IT COSTS LESS THAN NINETEEN DOLLARS ON LINE! Now that I have that out of my system…… UFO was a great heavy rock band that my friends and I worshipped as teenagers in suburban Chicago. My first show was UFO at the Aragon Ballroom on October 10, 1975. This group had everything. UFO possessed the piledriving rhythm section of Peter Way (bass) and Andy Parker (drums). They featured serviceable short term...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#482 in the Series) is the debut from Lucifer’s Friend. If ever a band fit the category “cult,” it’s Lucifer’s Friend. I guarantee 90% of casual rock music fans will respond “Lucy-who’s what?!” Unfortunately, they also join the long list of bands that never were quite able to surpass, or even equal, their debut album. It’s like the old adage- bands have twenty years to make their first album. They’ve got six months for the follow up. I can still remember the day I bought Lucifer’s Friend’s 1970 debut, some 38 years ago. (It wasn’t released in the US ‘til around ‘73.) I was actually buying The New York Dolls debut when a curious-looking...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#175 in the Series) is Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny. Back to some metal.  I’m sure some might be saying ‘ug’ while others are saying, ‘It’s about time,’ but as you know, We try to spray to all fields here. Sad Wings of Destiny is EARLY Priest, real early.  This was released in a period when they weren’t even sure if they were going to make it.  This was their second album. One of the things that I always liked about this album was the fact that it did have a touch of prog-rock in it. I think that was something missing from some popular metal bands later.  To each, his own....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#129 in the Series) is UFO, Force It. I haven’t featured a good old fashioned, rock and roll album for some time.  So here it is for you, UFO,  Force It. A good ‘play it loud, listen to the scorching guitar, rock and roll classic album. UFO was an 80s metal band that featured some of the best players of that era.  Michael Schenker on guitar.  Phil Moog, Vocals, Andy Parker, Drums. Pete Way, Bass.  Chuck Churchill was a guest musician that added, and for the first time, keyboards on a UFO album. Force It was the beginning of a three album run that, while quite popular, also marked the beginning of the end...