Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#661 in the Series) is the only album from Little Village. One album, One tour from a “Cool Musicians Super Group.” Who was Little Village? I think many in this group know, but I’ll fill in the names. This 1992 group included Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner, John Hiatt and Ry Cooder.  How’s that for fire power! They only lasted one album and one tour.  They played the Arie Crown Theater here in Chicago.  If  you look around the internet you can find an audio of the show.  It was a hell of a show since they played almost the full album and each member did a tune or two from their solo...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#593 of the Series) is Freedy Johnston, Never Home Have you ever taken a chance and bought a record even though you never heard anything by the artist before you made the investment? I found this CD in the “Country” section of the department store (Venture- Midwest chain now long gone). Maybe subconsciously I did hear his music featured in one of my favorite movies “Kingpin”; “Bad Reputation” was featured in the film. Or maybe I was on a lucky streak and looking to discover more new music. Whatever it was, I hit a home run with this gem. These are some of the catchiest pop tunes you never heard. The hook on...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#586 in the Series) is Todd Rundgren (TR-i), The Individualist. Todd Rundgren’s ever-changing diversity is often hard to keep up with and difficult to follow and, with the birth of TR-i (Todd Rundgren interactive) in 1993, he reinvented himself yet again, this time as an artist wanting to share sound and vision with fans in an intimate fashion. His first venture into his TR-i persona, “No World Order”, was mostly centered around producing a CD-i in which the listener could interact with the music in a non-linear fashion. It represented a chance for Todd to reinvent himself while providing an opportunity for the listener to talk back to the music. Todd basically used this moniker as a...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#558 in the Series) is Radiohead, Ok Computer (Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)) At many points of this record a listener might get the idea the band was trying not to put out a breakthrough record that would make them popular, but the final product in total is one of the records I will bring with me to the moon. There is a lot more guitar and quite a bit more rock on 1997’s, OK Computer, but the production in the end is satisfying for many reasons. Though the lyrics are nearly impossible to decipher, the vocals of Thom Yorke, whether singing or talking are musical. From the notes of the very first...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#556 in the Series)is Sonny Landreth, Outward Bound In 1987, John Hiatt released his great Bring the Family album. This was the work that took him from being a guy just known for being a good songwriter, to a known musician and record maker in his own right. Part of the reason that radio found that album to their liking was that it featured some great backing musicians with well-known identities. That project included the likes of Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner and Ry Cooder  (who later would all record together again as Little Village). That album was a critical success and did not do badly sales-wise either. What would John do on...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#549 in the Series) is Sugar, Copper Blue Bob Mould is getting a lot of press these days. His autobiography, See A Little Light: Tales of Rage and Melody is one of the best of its genre I’ve ever read, and I highly recommend it. Usually I start these books, get my interested piqued for a while, then the minutia of the “road stories” gets old and I’m fighting to keep plundering through. Not so much the case with this one, as it’s a story of a man with a remarkable life that centers around music but also openly and shamelessly describes the demons and drive that have made him successful.  The...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (# 487 in the Series) is Ride, Nowhere. There have been some ridiculous labels for rock music’s subgenres. Acid rock? Math rock? Proto-punk?  The most ridiculous of all is emo (isn’t almost all rock music “emo”tional?). The late 1980’s and early 1990’s gave us shoegazer rock. Shoegazing got its name from musicians who were not very mobile on stage staring at their instruments. It appeared that they were staring at their shoes. Some of the great bands hatched in this period were Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, and Ride. Ride was formed in Oxford, England circa 1988. 1990 witnessed the band releasing 3 EP’s before dropping their debut album, Nowhere,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#477 in the Series) is the first Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. I’ve always been a huge fan of these Ringo Starr All-Starr tours. I think they are just a fantastic idea. Besides being a fantastic drummer, Ringo’s a smart man. He knows he doesn’t have the body of work, vocally, to front a tour that will allow him access to large venues.  So he fills out his band with well-known musicians and they take the lead also during the show. Great idea, but what makes it even better is the musicians that Mr. Starkey takes on the road with hi. He always picks some really interesting people.  I don’t think...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (# 450 in the Series) is The Wildhearts, Earth vs. the Wildhearts. A friend once questioned my musical tastes. “What do you do when you want to mellow out?” I believe that she was telling me that I should listen to her favorite band, the Eagles (something which I would never do). I replied “Watch television or take a nap. Rock and roll is supposed to be fast, loud, aggressive, and a bit obnoxious.” The Wildhearts debut “Earth vs. The Wildhearts” fits this philosophy perfectly. Visualize a blender with equal parts hard rock, glam, and punk in it and you would have England’s The Wildhearts. In 1993, The Wildhearts dropped their debut on...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#448 in the Series) is Peter Himmelman, From Strength to Strength   If there were a checklist of “Interesting Facts/Accomplishments of an Artist,” Minnesota native Peter Himmelman would have it nailed. Prolific songwriter? 20+ studio albums both with his former band Sussman Lawrence and solo, including 5 solo children’s albums. Award Nominations? Grammys, Emmys (for the “Judging Amy” TV series), and numerous awards for his children’s albums.  Famous Relatives? His father-in-law is Bob Dylan.  And he’s an Orthodox Jew who keeps close to his faith, saying “One of the secrets is to be able to lose yourself, your ego—in the music, in the Torah.” So either with him or not, his music is...