Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#944 in the Series) is Tribute To Steve Goodman. 30years. It’s hard for me to believe that Steve Goodman has been gone for almost 30 years. It’s seems like yesterday that I was seeing him at Harry Hopes or Braden Auditorium in Bloomington, Illinois. Steve passed away in September of 1984.  Shortly after his passing, many of his friends gathered at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago.  They told stories, played some of his music and some of theirs as well. I was lucky enough to be there. For those who weren’t, we’re treated to this recording. One of Steve’s closest friends was John Prine. We get lots of John here!  He opens...

Today’s Cool album of the Day (# 928 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett burst into national prominence with his Pontiac album in 1987. That was the release that gave us some of his best known tunes such as “If I Had a Boat” and “She’s No Lady.”  Some people never looked to see that he had another spectacular record the year prior. I’m referring to his debut, which was simply called Lyle Lovett. I’ve always been a fan of debut albums.  To me it seems that the one thing that many of them have it common is that they are rarely overproduced.  Why, because most of these new acts don’t have the budget...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#926 in The Series) is Brian Setzer, The Knife Feels Like Justice. Earlier we featured the forgotten Steve Winwood album. Now we feature a long forgotten, Brian Setzer album. This album just never got it’s due. It was NOT Stray Cats. And it’s not the Brian Setzer Orchestra. It was released between the two and has it’s own unique sound. I guess if I had to tell you what it sounds like I guess I would go with “Americana” or maybe somewher in the “Root’s” categories. Like we’ve discussed before, we hate to pigeon hole, but I’m trying to describe it to those that never heard it.  Which, unfortunately for Brian, was most of America....

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#887 in the Series) is The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988 This may be one of the more interesting box sets of the year – a year that has already seen many. They have been some really great ones and some that I have to shake my head and wonder if there was really a need for that. They have come in all shapes and l sizes. There have been career spanning Boxes by Stephen Stills and Duane Allman, Re-releases of several artists entire discographies and a number of deluxe sets expanding albums of long ago such as Nirvana’s 20th anniversary release of In Utero, Van Morrison’s Deluxe...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#788 in the Series)Saturday Night Series) is Sting, Bring on the Night.This entry is slightly different. Bring on the Night is a live soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Have you seen the movie? No, then get to Netflx as soon as you can. Near the beginning of the film Sting explains why this concert movie is different.  He says, paraphrasing, that this film is different because most concert films are often about a band’s career ending or about them breaking up. This is about a band coming together. So here we see the rehearsals and some performances of Sting putting together his band for his tour for Dream of...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#746 in the Series) is Iggy Pop, Blah Blah Blah  I dusted this one off recently and fell back in love with it. Tons of sharp pop hooks and well written pieces, it was “Jim Osterberg’s” most successful commercial record when it came out in 1986 that apparently ended up causing some negative emotion that we can only imagine came from the fact it sounds a lot like a David Bowie record. The first song “Real Wild Child” was his first top 10 hit in the UK (don’t know why it wasn’t “Lust for Life”- I always loved that some cruise ship company used the music bed of “Lust” for their commercial. Do you...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#718 in the Series) is Joe Cocker, Cocker. This is one of those albums that did not include a disappointing track. I hadn’t listened to a new Cocker release in years when a promo of this arrived in my mail one day. I guess it’s not as bluesy as most Cocker albums, in fact, some people might not be thrilled with the inclusion of a couple power-ballads, but I always loved the release.  The most well known song was Randy Newman’s ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On.’ Sure, it still provides for some great video memories for many, but it was hardly the best song. Give me JC’s reading of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#694 in the series) is The Smiths, The Queen is Dead.  By the time this album was released The Smiths were slap bang in the middle of one of the greatest creative rolls that any band or artist has EVER managed , four studio albums and nine stand alone singles in little over four years . And yes, you did read that correctly , they released nine singles in this time period that weren’t on any album!  And, just for good measure, the majority of those singles contained brand new , and for the most part ,superb, tracks on the flipside. Can you imagine anyone even coming close to that sort of...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#672 in the Series) is The Call, Reconciled. One topic that I tend to revisit often is about the “Band That Didn’t Get Their Due.”  The Call fits that line as well as any act on these pages. Despite some great songs, a decent label push and some nice guest stars, Reconciled got some airplay but didn’t click like it should have I believe. Two tracks received most of the play. ‘They were the first two tracks on the disc, “Everywhere I Go” and “I Still Believe.”  I once heard an old saying around record stores.  “If you’re thinking of buying a album and don’t know much about it. Don’t buy it  if...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#641 in the Series) is Joe Jackson, Big World One thing that I’ve always noticed is that my favorite albums by an artist are often tied in with a tour that I may have seen. That rings true with Joe Jackson’s Big World. I was lucky enough to have attended one of the shows on this  tour at Popular Creek Theater (RIP) in northwest suburban Chicago. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. A couple interesting notes on this album. For one, it was a digitally recorded album that was done in full song takes in front of a live studio audience. A few hundred people were invited to sit in silence and watch...