Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#811in the Series) is Dave Edmunds, D.E. 7th Welsh rocker, Dave Edmunds released the fabulously rich album, “D.E. 7th,,” in the spring of 1982 after the turmoil of seeing the band he had been with for most of the past decade dissolve and changing record labels. It was his first project for the Columbia label after spending five creatively productive years with Led Zeppelin’s “Swan Song” label and the first in nearly a decade without his old Rockpile cohorts, with whom he recorded and produced as a solo artist, band and on Nick Lowe’s solo projects. Being the talent magnet that he is, he never missed a step by reuniting with old...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#795 in the Series) is Rank and File, Sundown. I’m not sure how many of you know this band, or much less this album. Rank and File had a pretty unique sound. “Cowpunk” was the term used to describe their music. I’ve also heard “Country-Punk.” Whatever you want to call them, make sure you have “fun” somewhere in the mix. Alejandro Escovedo was in the band. He’s gone on to a fine solo career and is probably more popular than ever. The best songs here? Check out “Amanda Ruth,” “I Went Walking,” “Coyote” and what I think is their best tune, ‘The Conductor Wore Black.” This had been quite hard to find for...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#775 in the Series) is Romeo Void, Benefactor. Romeo Void’s Benefactor album is another perfect example of some of the cool post punk/new wave sounds of the early 80s. There was a refreshing blend that mixed a little bit of punk, a little bit of ska, a little bit of the new romantics and maybe even a touch of reggae at times.  It allowed many people to hit the dance floor again that might not have since growing tired quickly of the disco era. Benefactor was released in 1982 and stood up well alongside albums released by bands such as The Psychedelic Furs, Ministry, OMD, Our Daughter’s Wedding, A Flock of Seagulls,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#722 in the Series) is Dire Straits, Love Over Gold It’s hard to believe that Dire Straits only released six studio albums. They had such a reach and such an impact on music that it seems that they were one of those acts that would spit them our year after year.  That was actually true for the early part of their career when they indeed released their first four albums in a short period of five years. That was from 1978 through 1982.  They then took a couple years off before releasing their most popular album sales-wise that would be Brothers in Arms. After that album’s success they would really lay low,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#689 in the Series) is The Roches, Keep on Doing. I recently heard a song by The Roches on the radio and then it hit me, man I hadn’t thought about them for a long time (Sorry ladies if you’re reading this. I’ll make it up to you!), What a shame, I really like their music.  It’s been too long! What did I like about them? I think it was the melting of sounds that intrigued me when I first had this album thirty years ago. That and the sense of humor that is clearly visible in these songs. The Roches were a New York band that began in the late ’70....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#671 in the Series) is Richard and Linda Thompson, Shoot Out the Lights. I love year-end “best of” write-ups.  I don’t know why, since like we’ve talked about before, music isn’t a competition unless you’re in high school and playing in a “Battle of the Bands” contest.  I guess you could say that all bands are in competition for airplay and sales, but I think you know what I mean. I remember when Shoot Out the Lights was released in 1982. This album was on just about every list I read.  I knew of them, but hadn’t heard much of this record.  The same can be said for their previous band, Fairport Convention.  I knew...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#664 in the Series) is The Clash, Combat Rock We music fans love to hear stories about how classic songs were recorded, and how some almost never happened. There’s a great part in the Joe Strummer documentary The Future Is Unwritten where drummer Topper Headon talks about how the Clash single ‘Rock the Casbah’ came into being. It was 1982 and the Clash were coming apart at the seams; torn apart by egos, infighting, drug addiction, and the strain of such a heavy touring schedule. Musically, the band had long since left behind their band-of-the-people persona, and were now filling stadiums. Their last two albums London Calling and Sandinista had seen them...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#660 in the Series) is 1982, self-tiled release from Dan Siegel. When you go to a concert do you pay attention to the opening acts? Do you see what they have to offer? If not, I suggest that you do, as I’ve found many acts that have become favorites by doing so.  I wonder if how much longer it would have taken me to find NRBQ if I hadn’t seen them open for John Prine in the early 80′s. Another of those was when I first saw Dan Siegel. I was spending the summer in Kansas City, and was an aspiring rock and roll writer for Night Rock News magazine at the...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#633 in the Series) is Donald Fagen, The Nightfly I never would’ve thought that my favorite Steely Dan album wouldn’t even be a Steely Dan album. But as strange as that may seem my favorite work by Mr. Donald Fagan is his first solo album called The Nighfly.  It can’t be considered a Steely Dan album because it does not include Fagen’s longtime band partner Walter Becker, but I’ve enjoyed this work more than any of the Dan projects so that’s really what I’m getting at. One of the complaints that I often hear about Steely Dan is that their albums are so perfectly recorded, so perfectly produced, that they actually become...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#577 in the series) is eponymous debut from Asia. Well let’s see what’s going to happen with this choice of albums. I think some people may not find it as “Cool” as I did. Not that I feel like I need to justify any entry, what’s cool to one person might not be cool to another, and that’s cool, but I’m going to write this regarding how I felt about this release in early 1982. Not how I felt about it or them down the road years later. That’s not what I do. When I first head of this new band Asia I was so excited. Emerson, Lake and Palmer was one...