Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#853 in the Series) is Burt Ward, The Boy Wonder Sessions Produced by Frank Zappa “Batman” actor Burt Ward was 21 when he recorded the song “The Teenage Bill of Rights.” It’s a surprisingly stirring number, which decried the second-class treatment of American teenagers and was composed at the height of the nation’s battle over civil rights. “I don’t suggest we march all day and picket every night,” Ward proclaims with the utmost conviction. “I just propose the following: a Teenage Bill of Rights.” The music swells behind Ward as he launches into the first amendment. “Nothing we do so go unnoticed, not even the smallest deed. And no one should even...

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 – “Push Push” by Herbie Mann Duane Allman’s final session… Herbie Mann was already ten years into a career that established him as a purveyor of Afro Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz and Bossa Nova music by 1971 and the release of his album Push Push. Mann had released albums for Bethlehem, Prestige, Epic, Verve and Savoy, before signing with Atlantic Records in 1962 where he would release numerous records for the label over the next eight years that established him as the premiere flautist in all of jazz. While at Atlantic, Mann worked with a whole host of influential percussionists and instrumentalists like Ray Barretto, Michael Olatunji, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#838 in the Series) is Jimmy Spheeris, Isle of View For today’s album review I wanted to pick someone out that has been overlooked for the most part. Jimmie Spheeris had all of the makings to go down as one of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the 70s. He had a poetic lyrical sense, a unique voice, and an intriguing history. His poetry conjures up vivid imagery and his voice fits perfectly within the scenery he has laid out. Part of the reason for such an uncanny ability to describe such vibrant settings is probably from his childhood. Jimmie was born into a traveling carnival family. This unique upbringing would be referenced in...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#830 in the Series) is Ten Years After,  A Space In Time When you are three pints in, and the conversation as it inevitably does, turns to the greatest guitar players of all time, and the usual suspects Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and the rest are shouted out from around the bar, the name Alvin Lee is largely and criminally ignored.  As one of the early pioneers of Blues Rock, Lee and his band Ten Years After were mostly known for their spacey psychedelic blues jams that were groovy enough to grab the ears of concert promoter Bill Graham, who brought the band to San Francisco for a series of...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#723 in the Series) is Wings, Wild Life After recording “Ram” with Linda McCartney around 1970, Paul McCartney decided to form a band named Wings. Without much notice, their first release, Wild Life was put together in about a week and released in 1971, containing the most rawness of any other Wings album. The album was not taken seriously, but in many fans’ opinions, it is a very huge landmark in McCartney’s recordings. For some it is one of his best albums. This album sounds like a session; a recording session in the studio that could have been labeled as a jam-out. It is still a very powerful album in the sense...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#719 in the Series) is The Siegel-Schwall Band, The Siegel- Schwall Band  It seems like a contradiction in terms to use words like “joyous” and “blues” in the same sentence but this is a brilliant set of tunes that demands it.  Sad to say I never got to hear these guys live.  These sounds have seen me through ecstatic times and provided solace through some of the most grievous. It’s billed as a studio album but at least the first and last songs are obviously live recordings.  In any event, this is such a tight band I gotta believe everything else here was recorded essentially live and whole, without the benefit of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#680 in the Series)  is Cat Stevens, Teaser and The Firecat. I was going to feature Catch Bull at Four because it contains “Boy With the Moon and Star on His Head” but went with Teaser and The Firecat instead. I love that song but I’ve read that it’s one of the few songs that Cat Stevens recorded years ago that he’s actually embarrassed about. Sometimes when I do some research for these pieces you learn little nuggets that you didn’t know about and they catch you totally by surprise.  For instance, I learned when looking up Teaser and the Firecat that Rick Wakeman of Yes fame played keys on the top 40 hit “Morning Has...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#639 in the Series) is Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Where’s The Money? What do I look for in a band? Some of the elements that I like to see to make me really like an artist are 1) Great Musicianship. 2) Great Writing 3) Uniqueness, and a little 4) Sense of Humor for good measure. When you throw all those in the pot you usually get something that’s fairly entertaining to listen to. One of my all-time favorite bands that easily qualifies on all four fronts is NRBQ and another one would be these guys Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. In fact I’m giving this great album another listen...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#626 in the Series) is Don McLean, American Pie Magnum Opus, noun….a great work, especially the chief work of a writer or artist: Proust’s magnum opus is Remembrance of Things Past.  Origin: 1785–95;  < Latin You cannot find a better way to describe Don McLean’s American Pie other than by simply referring to it as his Magnum Opus. Were you around in 1971 when this was a hit? If you were sure you remember exactly how huge this was. The single “American Pie” spent nearly 2 months at the top of the Billboard Top 100 singles chart. That’s incredible considering current at the same period were albums like Carole King’s Tapestry and John...