Eternal Essence “A Light in the Distance”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#780 in the Series) is Eternal Essence, A Light in the Distance. I don’t know a lot about Eternal Essence and I bet you don’t either, but you should. They could be one of a million best kept secrets, known only to their geography of audiophiles (in this case, Jersey and the East Coast), but gain tremendous popularity and respect for their over the top musical skills in places far and wide. I am guessing, but that could well be the hidden meaning behind the title of this A Light in the Distance, their 6th record, the first five which were all instrumental, the first 3, piano bass and drums. I mean...
New Order “Get Ready”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#767 in the series) is New Order, Get Ready In the early 80’s I sometimes was overwhelmed with the idea of how much undiscovered music there was. New Order was more underground and sub-culture back then, even though the mix of rock and dance music did become big and certainly New Order gained fame and popularity as years went by. But it was not with their best songs and tracks, like “Your Silent Face,” one of my favorite songs of all time, went largely unheard. The reason I bring this up is the same is true of this almost forgotten release from 2001. I forgot about it myself and couldn’t find the disc...
Iggy Pop “Blah Blah Blah”
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...
Squackett “A Day Within A Life”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#725 in the Series) is Squackett, A Day Within a Life. This is a project that goes back to 2008 when longtime Yes bass player Chris Squire was planning another solo record. His first and only previous release was 1975’s Fish Out of Water, though he did another project with Yes part-timer Billy Sherwood, and a Christmas record Chris Squires Swiss Choir in which Steve Hackett was the other main half of the band. Hackett was the guitar virtuoso of Genesis who survived the Peter Gabriel departure to write and perform on two post-Gabriel records, one of which Wind and Wuthering is in my opinion his greatest work. He also has released...
The Finn Brothers “Finn”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#710 in the Series) is The Finn Brothers, Finn The Finn brothers are Neil and Tim Finn who were an integral part of Split Enz and they also collaborated on one Crowded House record, Woodface. But their first release as a duo came out in 1995 and was made up of a bunch of cool songs they put together over the years but never released. This 11 song record was done almost entirely (writing and music) by the siblings and contained some well written and creative tracks that were either too good or not good enough for the two aforementioned groups. Actually some were perhaps too personal, as many song’s lyrics told...
Kick The Cat “Scramble”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#695 in the Series) is Kick the Cat, Scramble This was a new find for me when I saw them live at Reggie’s Rock Bar on the near south side of Chicago (where they have one of the coolest record stores around with tons of rare vinyl), They were opening up for a band called District 97 who was having a guest appearance by singer John Wetton, ex of King Crimson, Asia, etc. who was in town for the UK reunion show (I saw it, great). So I did not know what to expect from the opening act and it was an extremely pleasant surprise and they turned out to be...
Flying Colors “Flying Colors”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#673 in the Series) is the debut from Flying Colors This is the first record from a five some of talented veteran musicians who have mad skills at playing and combining rock, pop, fusion and even a touch of metal. Mike Portnoy is the founder and now ex-member of Dream Theater and even if he is not your favorite drummer, you would have to admit he is one of the best. Bass player David LaRue is a longtime member of Dixie Dregs, who, if you have never heard of them, I can tell you it aint country (though they do a great rock/hillbilly instrumental piece called “Where’s Dixie?). His fellow band...
Centric Jones “The Antikythera Method”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#667 in the Series) is Centric Jones, The Antikythera Method Centric Jones is a duo of experimental musicians Chris Fournier and Tobe London, and this is their second release. The temptation to label certain music is hard to resist, but this music truly does challenge the mind when it comes to figuring out who it is you may have heard of that they sound like. I guess you could say Tangerine Dream or any of the synthesizer instrumental bands from a time long ago, but it’s less than a fair comparison. You will likely not hear this band talked about on “That Metal Show”, even if they are generally lumped in with...
“Once” Original Soundtrack Recording
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...
Yes “Close To The Edge”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#645 in the Series) is Yes,Close To The Edge A friend once told me a story about this record that I would have a hard time verifying as he has been to hell and back, but the story was that he took a class at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) at which the syllabus for the semester covered only the meaning and interpretation of the epic and classic title track of one of the best, if not the best ever record by this band of immensely talented musicians that were either ahead of their time, before their time, or most likely in a time that few would ever understand. This is likely...
