Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#913 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from Nina Hagen Band. There’s a great scene in Paul Rachman’s terrific documentary “American Hardcore” that discusses the differences between early punk and early hardcore.  While I don’t remember the specific verbiage, the gist of the thing is that early punks came up playing glam rock and turned to punk later in life, whereas early hardcore kids heard punk rock and picked up instruments; while they couldn’t play worth a damn, the primal energy of punk rock was a universal.  This attitude seems to be widely held, and time hasn’t been kind to “punks that could play”: the classic image of punk rock is fast,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#912 in the Series) is KISS, Destroyer It is difficult to pinpoint the exact point in time that KISS ceased being a band and morphed into the soul sucking, cross marketing, American Idol appearing, corporate sell-outs that they are today. After all, this is the band that released Alive!, a self proclaimed live album that was cleaned up in post-production with actual guitar licks layered in, and more after-the fact enhancements than an air brushed Playboy centerfold. These were the guys who kicked Ace Frehley out of the band for partying too hard (who among us doesn’t pine for those Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John years), and deceptively tried to disguise Tommy Thayer...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#910 in the Series)is Paul Pena, New Train New Train is the debut release and the “lost record” from blind blues singer Paul Pena. Recorded in 1973, the album was (for a reason known only to the musical gods) shelved until its first proper release in 2000, and is now considered one of the great unearthed Soul-Blues albums. With a voice that floats somewhere between Lenny Kravitz and Lou Rawls, and a vibe that rolls down The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce and Bonnie Raitt train track with a side trip down the Joe Cocker Highway, New Train does not show its age at all, and sounds as if it could have...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#909 in the Series) is The Who, Live at Leeds.  The Who, Live at Leeds. Is this the motherload of all live albums? I do believe this, when you talk about the best live albums of all time, this is in the team picture.  And I’m just referring to the six song, original release of 1970. That’s it, six raw powerful wonderful rock and roll songs. It was The Who during a great period. This was the tour for Tommy.  They had finished their poppy earlier era and had entered into a rock and roll era with the original band that would last for about eight more years. The six songs on the...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#908 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from Wishbone Ash. Everyone has a band or two, that, for one reason or another, they consider “their band.” Perhaps you were the first kid on the block to discover them, and then couldn’t wait to tell everyone about them! Or they simply remind you of a special time in your life. For me, Wishbone Ash is one of those bands. Wishbone Ash was the first “real” band I ever saw. They were opening for Alice Cooper at the long since demolished International Amphitheatre in the lovely stockyard area of Chicago’s south side. That show was in the year of 1972. I was 13...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the soundtrack to the film, The Harder they Come. The Harder They Come could almost be considered a Jimmy Cliff album. In fact, Cliff, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, has his name featured prominently on the cover.  Officially however, this album is considered a soundtrack to the film with the same name. Other artists that appear on the album include Desmond Dekker (He of ‘Israelites’ fame), The Maytals, The Slickers and Scotty. The film and soundtrack have long been considered classics. Forty years later, the film is still the number one movie produced in Jamaica by Jamaicans. The Harder They Come went a long way in pulling Reggae music into...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#899 in the Series) is The Jam, This is the Modern World The punk rock explosion of 1975-1980 made for some strange bed fellows. The Stranglers and Eddie and the Hot Rods were holdovers from the pub rock era. Many claim that the Sex Pistols and Clash were puppets controlled by ego maniacal managers. The Buzzcocks and Undertones were pop tune perfectionists. For the want of an easy title, the media called them all punk. The Jam were thrown under this umbrella. The Jam were formed in 1975 in Woking, Surrey, England by 17 year old singer, writer, guitarist Paul Weller, bassist Bruce Foxton, and drummer Ric Buckler. The trio came together with...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#898 in the Series) is Tuff Darts, Tuff Darts!  In the spring of 1979, I was a freshman in high school in a little Appalachian town in Western Maryland and a few of my older friends in the Media Department at the local community college were putting on a Saturday Night Live type show titled “Media Madness.” Just like SNL, they did live sketches interspersed with prerecorded pieces that you could see on TV monitors around the auditorium.  It was a very funny and well done show and one of the videos was by a guy I did not know and never really met but I remember his name was Dave Thomas because...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#885 in the Series) is Alice Cooper, Welcome to My Nightmare Part Psycho Circus, part Jerry Springer show, part Quentin Tarantino shock-fest, Alice Cooper’s Welcome to my Nightmare album and subsequent tour was, depending on your point of view, either ridiculous or brilliant. The ultimate answer is of course given the benefit of historical perspective, that the album is ridiculously brilliant. Released in 1975, the album was Alice Cooper’s first post band break-up outing and is by far the best solo record of his decades long career. Giving up the comfort of a consistent touring band and going to ax person by committee was certain to be a calculated risk. It was going...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango Hailing from Cameroon, Africa, Manu Dibango established himself as an in-demand saxophone player working with acts as diverse as Fela Kuti, Don Cherry, The Fania All-Stars and Sly and Robbie. “Soul Makossa,” Dibango’s signature disco smash, was originally released as the flip side to the 1972 single “Mouvement Ewondo” on the French independent Fiesta record label. The song probably would have sunk without a trace if it had not been for Manhattan socialite David Mancuso. Mancuso was known for throwing exclusive invitation-only loft parties in New York City that served as a precursor to the city’s thriving Disco scene of the 1970s. Mancuso found a copy...