The Cars “The Cars”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#481 in the Series) the debut album from The Cars You’re a new band. You begin by putting pencil to paper as your first tracks take shape. Maybe you get a gig here and there. You write a few more songs and then the gigs get more frequent and hopefully in a little bit better houses. You think, maybe if things go well you’ll get noticed. Heck, if things really go well, maybe a real label will give you a record deal! That’s how it often rolls. I don’t know exactly if this was the scenario of Boston’s The Cars, but I’m guessing it wasn’t all that different. So all that happens and you...
Alice Cooper “Easy Action”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#480 in the Series) is Alice Cooper, Easy Action I’ve always had a soft spot for Alice Cooper. No, let me rephrase that—I’ve always been a diehard Alice Cooper fanatic! It all stems from AC being the first “real” band I ever saw, back in 1972 on the School’s Out tour. I was 13 years old, and alone. To say the event was life-changing would be an understatement. The seedy, yet exciting, world of rock n’ roll was now at my fingertips and in living color! Even better—there were no grownups to be found! But, first, let’s back up just a tad… Following their experimental and, quite frankly, bizarre debut album, Pretties For...
Crack The Sky “Crack The Sky”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#478 in the Series) is self-titled debut from Crack The Sky Rarely do I agree with anything in Rolling Stone magazine. Sorry, but that’s the fact, Jack. But, when they awarded Crack The Sky’s 1975 debut Album of the Year, they nailed it! Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the album also was the least sold ever bearing that critical distinction. Ever since needle touched vinyl, various artists from every era and genre have somehow slipped through the cracks and into obscurity. Whether due to poor management, bad luck, or, perhaps, merely being ahead of their time, many bands never got their just due. CTS are one such band. I first heard CTS...
Billy Joel “The Stranger”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#474 in the Series and # 26 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is Billy Joel, The Stranger. We don’t feature greatest hits albums here on “Cool Album of the Day.” I swear we don’t! Yeah, I know this had about five of them on it, but it’s not a greatest hits album, I promise, it’s not! The Stranger was released in 1977 and houses some of Billy Joel’s most well-known songs. It just might have been the peak of his career. It answers “yes” to the question about “Standing the test of time.” Many of these tracks are part of his live shows to this day. Many of these songs are still being...
The Ramones “It’s Alive”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#470 in the Series #46 in the Live Saturday Night Series) is The Ramones, It’s Alive Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members The Ramones performed 2,263 concerts in their career. They picked one of the best to record and use as a live album and eventually a concert video. The show was New Year’s Eve in 1977. It would take until April of ’79 to get this released. The double album contains 28 songs and there’s not a bad one in the mix. When this was recorded the band had released three classic albums, The Ramones, Ramones Leave Home and Rocket to Russia. Those three albums are represented heavily on the live...
The Doobie Brothers “Minute By Minute”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#467 in the Series) is The Doobie Brothers, Minute By Minute. Ever since I’ve been around music, or sold music, or reviewed music or even just listened to music, there has always been one argument that has topped the charts in polarization. That is The Doobie Brothers, “with or without Michael McDonald?” People go nuts about this. Let me give my feelings. I’m one of those that actually digs both versions. I was always a big fan of the earlier Doobie Brother music. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (with-out McDonald) is easily my favorite album by the band. Minute By Minute (with McDonald) is probably my second favorite. I tell what...
War “The World is a Ghetto”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#466 in the Series) is War, The World is a Ghetto I’m not sure if you heard that Jerry Lewis is no longer hosting the Labor Day Telethon. The news got out last week. Prior to that, it was announced that the show would not be its usual 21 hours. Starting this year, it’s only going to be on for six hours. I’m really bummed about this. I really got a kick out of the stuff that would happen about three or four in the morning. It could get really interesting at times. One of the things that I’d see every year was War playing about a 10 minute medley of all their...
The Edgar Winter Group “They Only Come Out at Night”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#465 in the Series) is The Edgar Winter Group, They Only Come Out at Night. This was a pretty big deal when I was in 8th grade. I always remember walking across the street because my friend Joe Moncada bought a couple new albums. To this day I remember it was this and Curtis Mayfield, Super Fly. They Only Come Out at Night was a HUGE album for Edgar Winter and his band in 1972. It contained two well known songs. They were the instrumental “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.” The Edgar Winter Group was quite the band. Many of the names were or became quite well known. Rick Derringer and Ronnie Montrose were...
Wet Willie ‘Keep on Smilin’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#461 in the Series is Wet Willie, Keep On Smilin.’ There’s often a common theme among many of the write-ups that I do. That theme is how an album stands up to time. Mind you, that usually has little to no effect on what I write because I try to write about how I felt about an album when it was released. How it fit into the times, what was on the radio, how it affected what was happening in my life etc. This is one that stands up to time much better than most. Often it’s not the band’s fault if something sucks now that was good once before, it’s more about how my...
Bad Company “Run With The Pack”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#458 in the Series) is Bad Company, Run With the Pack. No, it’s not their most popular album, no, it’s not their first album, and no, it’s not their classic album, it’s just the album that we happen to be featuring today. And it’s one I like as well. It was though, the album they were supporting for the tour in which I saw them, more on that later. I could have easily featured their debut, but we actually could not, that one will have to be saved for a future “Whale Wednesday” feature. For those not familiar with the term, on Wednesdays we also do some big hitter album, hence the name....
