Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#134 in the Series) is Gram Parson’s, GP. I was shocked to see that I hadn’t featured Gram Parson’s as of yet.  He’s one of my all-time favorites.   I did feature him as part of The Byrds, Sweethearts of the Rodeo era. GP was Gram’s first of two studio albums.  Grievous Angel was the second and could have been as easily featured as GP since they are both outstanding pieces of music. GP was home for some of Gram’s most wonderful moments.  He was in excellent voice in this era.  Give a listen to some of the slower moments of the disc including ‘A Song For You, Streets of Baltimore, She’ or ‘The...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#129 in the Series) is UFO, Force It. I haven’t featured a good old fashioned, rock and roll album for some time.  So here it is for you, UFO,  Force It. A good ‘play it loud, listen to the scorching guitar, rock and roll classic album. UFO was an 80s metal band that featured some of the best players of that era.  Michael Schenker on guitar.  Phil Moog, Vocals, Andy Parker, Drums. Pete Way, Bass.  Chuck Churchill was a guest musician that added, and for the first time, keyboards on a UFO album. Force It was the beginning of a three album run that, while quite popular, also marked the beginning of the end...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#128 in the Series) is Nils Lofgren, Nils. Nils is the sixth solo album by guitarist Nils Logren, and and the fourth studio release. Nils came to prominence as a member of Crazy Horse and before that, Grin. He’s been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band for over 25 years. Nils was my favorite for a number of reasons but mainly for No Mercy. No Mercy is a boxing song written from the viewpoint of the victorious boxer as he feels sorrow for his soon to be defeated opponent.  It’s quite the unique song. But there indeed many great pieces of music here.  Others include I’ll Cry Tomorrow, and a great...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#126 in the Series) is Grateful Dead, Terrapin Station. You hardly ever hear people mention this album when they talk about the Dead, well maybe a little but it doesn’t get it due. What Terrapin Station is known for is the full sided title track that is side two. The sixteen plus minute song, and one that was performed in it’s entirety many times by the band. It’s broken into six parts: –Lady With a Fan –Terrapin Station –Terrapin –Terrapin Transit –At a Siding –Terrapin Flyer –Refrain Two songs on side one did get some actual airplay. They were Bob Weir’s ‘Estimated Prophet’ and their take on the traditional favorite “Sampson and Delilah.”  “Dancin’ in...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Tom Waits, “Blue Valentine.” What a piece of music this one is.  I just love Tom Waits.  This is yet another example of the album I love is the tour I saw. I can’t remember the name of the place. But there was a little roadhouse between Merrillville + Valparaiso, Indiana where I saw this tour.  It had to be in 1978 or ‘79.  The opening act was Leon Redbone who had laryngitis that night and did everything instrumental.  He then held up a ‘thank you’ sign after every song. TW does an amazing version of ‘Somewhere” from West Side Story as an opening number on this album. It’s truly a remarkable...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#113 in the Series) is Little Feat, Waiting For Columbus. We usually only have studio albums in this blog. No Greatest Hits packages either. But today is going to be different. Today is Little Feat, Waiting For Columbus. It’s quite possibly the best live album ever. (Note: since this was originally published we have indeed begun covering live albums, but still no greatest hits packages.) I do so for sad reasons. Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward passed away yesterday from liver cancer. He will be missed by masses. He was a wonderful musician and according to those that knew him, a wonderful person. What always amazed me about Waiting For Columbus was Richie’s drum...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Captain Beyond, Sufficiently Breathless. I’m taking a slight step in a different direction today. Let me admit that I really only know pretty much one song on this album. But the title track was such a huge FM hit hear in Chicago in the early 70’s that it’s stillworth entry. Our group is far more than just Chicago at this point. So I’m curious if our out of town members also remember this song (album, band) from that era. The title track is the one that got all the play, “Sufficiently Breathless.” Captain Beyond, “Sufficiently Breathless” peak at #90 on the Billboard Top 100 Album chart. Personnel Lee Dorman – bass guitar Rhino...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the self-titled debut from “Ambrosia.” Ambrosia was better known in later albums for melodic hit ballads. Which if done well, isn’t a bad thing. And they did them quite well.But this was a little different. Their 1975 debut release was a little more progressive with a little space age tossed in. This album did quite well too. Two singles charted. ‘Holdin’ On To Yesterday’ reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and ‘Nice, Nice, Very Nice’ reached #63 but was even more received as an FM hit. As an album, “Ambrosia” reached #22 on the Billboard Top 200. Track Lisiting Nice, Nice, Very Nice (Vonnegut) 5:49 Time Waits for No One...

Today’s “Cool Album of the Day” is Pink Floyd, “Animals.” Well, I thought it was time to pull out a big hitter. So it’s Pink Floyd today. “Animals” is basically three biting political satire songs. Pigs, Dogs and Sheep. It’s mainly a Roger Waters album as he wrote the entire album except for ‘Dogs’ which he co-wrote with David Gilmour. The album opens and ends with a short into/exit song called, Pigs on The Wing. If you had the 8-Track of “Animals” you’d know that these are looped together to form one song. Nice touch. “Animals” was also the catalyst for one of Pink Floyd best tours. This was when we were first introduced to the flying pigs. It...

Today’s “Cool Album of the Day” is the debut, self titled album by, “Starcastle.” Starcastle was a prog-rock band mostly based out of Champaign, Illinois. Their stylings leaned heavily towards the sound of ‘Yes.’ If you’re a fan of ‘Yes,’ you should check out this album. I think you’d like it. This was released in 1976 on Epic Records. I’m not sure if their impact reached much out of the Midwest. They did get a little more of a bump nationally with their 2nd and 3rd albums ‘Fountains of Light’ and ‘Citadel.’ ‘Starcastle’ contains their epic song, ‘Lady of the Lake.’ 10 minutes in length with a few different chapters. I’ll post a link below. As I mentioned, ‘Yes’ fans,...