Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the Original London Cast recording of  Jesus Chris Superstar. It”s now our Cool Album of the Day every Easter Sunday. Don’t give me the knock-offs. Give me the original 1971 release featuring Ian Gillian as Jesus. I remember playing the hell out of this back in the day. To me this has always been the definitive version of  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera.  It’s the Original London Concept Recording.  Yes, I also realize that the story told in the opera ends on Good Friday.  We still feel that it’s fitting for Easter Sunday. The music here is absolutely brilliant.  It includes some wonderful performances from Deep Purple lead vocalist Ian Gillan...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#911 in the Series) is Spinal Tap, This is Spinal Tap Very, very rarely do I toss around words like ‘brilliant’ and ‘masterpiece.’  But I think they apply when describing the humor in the movie, This is Spinal Tap. For those of us that worked in the industry, This is Spinal Tap rang so true, so real, that it is almost scary to watch at times. Yet, the comedy still plays well enough that someone with just casual interest in music can still enjoy it. What also was brilliant was that the stars and writers of the movie also were responsible for creating the music. Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean played all the...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the soundtrack to the film, The Harder they Come. The Harder They Come could almost be considered a Jimmy Cliff album. In fact, Cliff, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, has his name featured prominently on the cover.  Officially however, this album is considered a soundtrack to the film with the same name. Other artists that appear on the album include Desmond Dekker (He of ‘Israelites’ fame), The Maytals, The Slickers and Scotty. The film and soundtrack have long been considered classics. Forty years later, the film is still the number one movie produced in Jamaica by Jamaicans. The Harder They Come went a long way in pulling Reggae music into...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Midnight Cowboy Theme” by John Barry Not only is today’s Song Of The Day perhaps one of the greatest movie themes of all time, it is also from one of the greatest films of the 1960s. The 1969 film Midnight Cowboy was based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The movie starred Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight (in his film debut) and was directed by John Schelsiinger. It won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. When it was originally released, it was given an X rating, so it also holds the distinction of being the only X-rated film to...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Café Regio’s” by Isaac Hayes This breezy instrumental comes from the movie Shaft, one of the most popular Blaxploitation films of all time. However, most people probably first discovered today’s Song Of The Day on the B-side to the number one single “Theme From Shaft.” Hayes initially agreed to write the score for the film only if he was given the chance to try out for the lead role. And while he did have a bit part in the film as a bartender, he was never afforded the opportunity to audition for the lead. Fortunately he decided to fulfill the agreement anyway. Isaac Hayes was the backbone of Stax Records, who...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Willkommen” by Joel Grey from the film “Cabaret” A funny thing happened to the Broadway Musical Cabaret during its adaptation to the big screen. It lost ten out of its original fifteen songs. Many of the original Broadway songs were in the play to express the emotions of the characters and move the plot line forward, something that the medium of film was able to accomplish by using visuals. As a result, Bob Fosse only used the songs “Wilkommen,” “Two Ladies,” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “If You Could See Her,” and “Cabaret” for the film. The rest were dumped, as were characters and elements of the original plot. Cabaret opened...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dance At The Gym” from the Original Soundtrack of “West Side Story” – Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim Broadway musicals don’t get any better than this! You can keep your Andrew Lloyd Webber with his one song per musical, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim were the real deal! And their musical, West Side Story, has never been bettered. West Side Story was one of the first musicals where dance played as important a role in story development as dialog. The choreography was expertly done by Jerome Robbins, who also choreographed the Broadway stage version. Robbins was fired from the production before it wrapped due to it going over budget. The...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#687 in the Series) is the Original Soundtrack Recording from the Academy Award Winning Motion Picture, The Sting. The Sting was one of my favorite movies of all time.  It’s also one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. The Sting starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford and was set in the Chicagoland area beginning in the late 30’s. The soundtrack featured the great ragtime styling of Scott Joplin.  Here, Joplin’s music is recreated by pianist Marvin Hamlisch.  Hamlisch also added some original compositions to the mix. Scott Joplin was born in 1867 and lived until 1917. His popularity peaked posthumously after The Sting hit the big screen. He was awarded a Pulitzer...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#652 in the Series) is the Original Soundtrack Recording from the film, Once With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, if you are looking for a movie to get you in the mood for corned beef and cabbage, instead of the old standby The Quiet Man, check out the Irish musical film “Once.” It produced a terrific soundtrack that more than stands on in its own. It features musicians Glen Hansard, from Irish folk band The Frames, and Czech immigrant Marketa Irglová. You don’t have to see the movie to appreciate the soundtrack, but it only helps the appeal of these charming yet soulful songs that have pop rock roots. In...

Today’s Cool Album Of the Day (#326 in the Series) is Curtis Mayfield, Super Fly This album actually could be officially listed as the soundtrack to the film, Super Fly, but I’m going to list it as a Curtis Mayfield album. I mean, he did compose the whole darn thing! What a great piece of work he produced. Two albums really set the ground work for the R+B Soul-concept album era, Super Fly and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.  What’s Going On looked at life in the US from the eyes of a returning Vietnam veteran while Super Fly looked at life of those living on the drug torn streets. Two singles here made the top ten. “Freddie’s Dead”...