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 (#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 (#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...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#629 in the Series) is Prince, Controversy I have wanted to do a piece on one of these early Prince albums for a while now. In fact I started doing Dirty Mind a while ago and decided to do an about-face and present a piece on Controversy instead. We’ll get to Dirty Mind someday as I consider that also one of his best, but today it’s Controversy. Controversy was released in 1981 just a year after the previously mentioned Dirty Mind. Did have some controversial pieces in it? You could say somewhat, but there is nothing totally outrageous here in my opinion. He takes a look at social protest in three tracks,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#611 in the Series) is The Tubes, The Completion Backward Principle. “As I mentioned near the close of the last record, this record you are now playing is another example of the completion backwards principle. If you can possibly manage the time, please play both sides at one meeting.” When you plopped this on your turntable in the early 80s those lines were the first sounds you heard, and I can tell you that in most cases,yes, I did manage the time to play both sides because it was just too darn hard to stop listening. The Completion Backwards Principle is one of The Tubes most popular albums. No, it  wasn’t as crazy nor...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day(#609 in the Series) is the self titled album by Bobby and The Midnites. Are you familiar with this one? You should be. Talk about a great grouping of musicians. Bobby is Bob Weir ( guitar, vocals) of the Grateful Dead. This was one of his many side projects. Released in 1981, the rest of the band features one of the greatest drummers that ever put wood to skin, Billy Cobham. Bass duties were held by another heavy weight, Alphonso Johnson. Bobby Cochran on guitar and vocals. Keyboards? Brent Mydland of the Dead. Even with the jazz influences, this was still a rock and roll record. Tons of great tracks, including ‘Too Many Losers,...

  Today’s Cool album of the Day (#608 in the Series) is Was (Not Was), Born to Laugh at Tornadoes.  You can look for years and years and all kinds of music and you’d be hard-pressed to find a band and a sound more interesting than that of Was (Not Was.) They brought a combination of so many different things that their uniqueness may never be topped. What makes these guys interesting and unique? Well, how about the fact that they’re a hard-funk band led by two white Jewish guys from Detroit. There’s a great start. The unbelievably high level of talent of the two bandleaders Don Was and David Was was just fantastic. Don Was has gone well...

Today’s Cool Album of The Day (#606 in the Series) is Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing. Solitude Standing was singer – songwriter Suzanne Vega’s second release.  It contained the hit song, “Luka.” I always thought that it was a song about spousal abuse. As I did my research on the album, I actually found out that it’s about child abuse. These are Suzanne’s own words… “          A few years ago, I used to see this group of children playing in front of my building, and there      was one of them, whose name was Luka, who seemed a little bit distinctive from the other children. I always remembered his name, and I always remembered his face, and I didn’t know much...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#594 in the Series) is John Fogerty, Centerfield This is another one of those albums that may not be looked upon the same way as it did when it was released. I think the overplaying of the title cut may have caused a little “album fatigue” that changes the overall perspective of this album. I’m writing this looking back to what I felt and what it felt like listening to this album back in 1985. In 2012 you might not realize how much of a big deal this album was, but this was a big deal! You have to go back and look at the whole history of John Fogerty and remember...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#589 in the Series) is Michael Penn, March. This was a real pleasant surprise for me.  I knew that actors Sean and Chris Penn had a musician brother, but that was the extent of it. It was 1989 when an RCA rep walked into my office and tossed a cassette of this album on my desk. I was told to ‘check it out. ‘I listened to it a little at the office and then played it more than once while stuck in traffic on 294 between Elk Grove Village and Oak Lawn. Did I like it, well….Yeah! In fact, before I got home, I stopped at good ol’ Wind Records on 95th street...