Bonnie Raitt “Give It Up”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#551 in the Series) is Bonnie Raitt, Give it Up. Give it Up was her second album, released in September of 1972. Far from suffering the “sophomore slump” jinx of second albums that so many artists seem to, Give it Up remains to this day one of Bonnie’s most complete and thoroughly satisfying collections. Many don’t know of her early work, not really hearing of her until the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s with albums like Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw. Do yourself a favor and check out this wonderful recording from her early days. Give it Up is a mix of blues, folk ballads and funk...
War “The World is a Ghetto”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#466 in the Series) is War, The World is a Ghetto I’m not sure if you heard that Jerry Lewis is no longer hosting the Labor Day Telethon. The news got out last week. Prior to that, it was announced that the show would not be its usual 21 hours. Starting this year, it’s only going to be on for six hours. I’m really bummed about this. I really got a kick out of the stuff that would happen about three or four in the morning. It could get really interesting at times. One of the things that I’d see every year was War playing about a 10 minute medley of all their...
The Edgar Winter Group “They Only Come Out at Night”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#465 in the Series) is The Edgar Winter Group, They Only Come Out at Night. This was a pretty big deal when I was in 8th grade. I always remember walking across the street because my friend Joe Moncada bought a couple new albums. To this day I remember it was this and Curtis Mayfield, Super Fly. They Only Come Out at Night was a HUGE album for Edgar Winter and his band in 1972. It contained two well known songs. They were the instrumental “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.” The Edgar Winter Group was quite the band. Many of the names were or became quite well known. Rick Derringer and Ronnie Montrose were...
Carly Simon “No Secrets”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#453 in the Series) is Carly Simon, No Secrets A “Whale?” You’re actually putting this album in the “Whale Wednesday” category? If you’re questioning that, then you weren’t around in the late 1972 or early ’73. If you were, you’d have remembered how big this album was. Singer-songwriters were all the rage at this time. A year and a half earlier, Carole King was top of the charts forever it seemed with her masterpiece “Tapestry.” That album was released in March on ’71 and she actually released another album, Music before ’71 was out. Carly’s No Secrets was not another Tapestry, but it may just have had a bigger hit than anything of...
Delaney & Bonnie “D & B Together”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Delaney & Bonnie, D & B Together Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell did not have the name recognition of Sonny & Cher or the album sales of Buckingham-Nicks, yet between 1969 and 1972, as Delaney & Bonnie they created a sound that combined rock, blues, funk, soul, a little country, and a dose of gospel that was so hip and incendiary that followers the likes of Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, and George Harrison were all influenced in one way or another by the duo. Separately, or as together they had a hand in writing Clapton’s “Let It Rain” and Karen Carpenter’s “ Superstar” as well as many other hit...
Curtis Mayfield “Super Fly”
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”...
David Bowie “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#238 in the Series) is David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (aka Ziggy Stardust) was David Bowie’s epic, 1972 release. There was also a concert film of the same name a year later. It only reached #75 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. I fared much better in his home UK were it reached #5. ‘Starman’ was the only US single, peaking at 65. Accolades #35 Best Album on the Rolling Stone Top 500 Best Albums of All Time #20 Best Album of time in a ‘Music of the Millenium’ poll conducted...
Jethro Tull “Thick As a Brick”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#221 in the Series) is Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick. There’s a song I really like on this album. It’s called ‘Thick as a Brick.” OK, as Jethro Tull fans know, that is the only song on this album. Part I and Part II. There’s really not much to say here. So I’ll just list the usual info and get out of the way. I have the complete album below. It’s broken into five parts. I’ll add a few Tull favorite’s as well. But in true ‘Cool Album of the Day’ tradition, maybe not one’s that you’d expect! (Be SURE to check out ‘Teacher” It’s from 1970 and the quality looks like...
Grateful Dead “Europe ’72”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#165 in the Series, and #1 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is the Grateful Dead, Europe ’72. As you can see by the intro, we are breaking new ground this evening. Previously, we have not feature ‘live’ albums on our blog. I’ve only written up two in all these days. They were Poco, Live at Columbia Studios, Hollywood 9/30/71 and Little Feat, Waiting For Columbus. The Poco entry was to help promote a great new release while the Feat album was to honor the drumming of Richie Hayward. Hayward had just passed away. But this evening that all changes as from today on, we start anew. Every Saturday we will be featuring...
Steve Goodman "Somebody Else’s Troubles"
Today’s Cool Album of The Day is Steve Goodman, “Somebody Else’s Trouble.” We’re going back to the Singer/Songwriter genre today. If you look up Singer/Songwriter in the dictionary you’d see Steve Goodman’s face on the description. He was one of the best. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 26 years now. “Somebody Else’s Troubles” was Steve’s third album. It’s full of goodies! The album starts with one of his most well known songs, “The Dutchman.” It’s one of the few hits that Steve did not write. It was written by Michael Smith. Other tracks you might know include ‘Lincoln Park Pirates, Chicken Cordon Blues,’ and of course the title cut, ‘Somebody Else’s Troubles’ which features an uncredited Bob Dylan...
