Brian Setzer ‘The Knife Feels Like Justice’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#926 in The Series) is Brian Setzer, The Knife Feels Like Justice. Earlier we featured the forgotten Steve Winwood album. Now we feature a long forgotten, Brian Setzer album. This album just never got it’s due. It was NOT Stray Cats. And it’s not the Brian Setzer Orchestra. It was released between the two and has it’s own unique sound. I guess if I had to tell you what it sounds like I guess I would go with “Americana” or maybe somewher in the “Root’s” categories. Like we’ve discussed before, we hate to pigeon hole, but I’m trying to describe it to those that never heard it. Which, unfortunately for Brian, was most of America....
Pixies ‘Doolittle’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#925 in the Series) is Pixies, Doolittle. Pixies first came to most people’s attention via 1988’s superb “Surfer Rosa,” a raw blast of punky mayhem with a real sense of fun and pop at its core. Produced (or as he likes to say, recorded) by Steve Albini, it garnered the band a whole host of new fans and critical acclaim, setting the band up for greater heights in the process. The question was, could they keep the quality quota as high on the next one and deliver on the promise they’d shown? Easily! The following year’s “Doolittle” was overseen by Gil Norton, who gave their sound a more polished sheen but managed to...
Johnny Cash ‘Out Among The Stars’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#920 in the Series) is Johnny Cash, Out Among the Stars In the last years of his life, and currently with the multiple releases of the Rick Rubin produced American Recordings series of recordings, we have been treated to new music from Johnny Cash. The songs presented on these records were mostly scaled down un-plugged style versions of old classics along with deep in the vault songs from artists Cash admired. Every song in the series was a powerful reminder of the greatness of the past, and a sobering look into eyes and on to the soul of one of the greatest artists ever to walk the line. And now, courtesy of the...
The Stone Roses ‘The Stone Roses’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#916 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from The Stone Roses. (Silvertone) With the recent news of The Stone Roses reuniting and touring, I thought back to my freshman year of college at Arizona State University twenty plus years ago, where I was first introduced to their self-titled debut. This was a great time in my life musically, considering I was away at college and free to spend as much time as I wanted scouring the record bins at Tower Records or listening to live music at Long Wong’s, the venue that launched The Gin Blossoms. Additionally, that fall both Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s Ten were released. Not to mention my...
Terence Trent D’Arby ‘Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#915 in the Series) is Terence Trent D’Arby, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby. Terence Trent D’Arby arrived on the scene in 1987 and found immediate success. This album, his debut, peaked at #4, TWICE! His second single “Wishing Well” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. He won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Then…. Not much. He would never see success like that again. That first album though is definitely worth looking back upon. The first single was my favorite on that disc. That was the hard funk of “If You Let Me Stay.” I don’t think anything on the album came close to that...
Spinal Tap ‘This is Spinal Tap’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#911 in the Series) is Spinal Tap, This is Spinal Tap Very, very rarely do I toss around words like ‘brilliant’ and ‘masterpiece.’ But I think they apply when describing the humor in the movie, This is Spinal Tap. For those of us that worked in the industry, This is Spinal Tap rang so true, so real, that it is almost scary to watch at times. Yet, the comedy still plays well enough that someone with just casual interest in music can still enjoy it. What also was brilliant was that the stars and writers of the movie also were responsible for creating the music. Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean played all the...
Tom Russell ‘Heart on a Sleeve’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#897 in the Series) is Tom Russell, Heart on a Sleeve Going back to Lukenbach with Waylon, Willie, and the boys, Texas has been ground zero for singer songwriters. With a couple of them you only need to mention their first names to experience the magic. With others, two first names may be necessary. Just ask Jerry Jeff, Billy Joe, or Jimmie Dale, and with Bob Wills you only need to hear a few notes to understand that he is still The King, but the true beauty of the Texas music scene is the regional diversity and eclectic musical differences you can experience depending on what part of the Lone Star State you...
Bill Nelson “The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart)
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#475 in the Series) is Bill Nelson, The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart) Who is Bill Nelson you ask? Well, did you read our recent Be-Bop Deluxe feature written by one of our contributors Jim McCabe? Bill Nelson was the leader/guitarist/front man for them. That piece triggered much discussion about Bill on the site and facebook. Many people were not aware of the long and prosperous solo career that Bill has had. So I’ve decided to come right back with one of his best solo efforts, The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart.) Be-Bop Deluxe pretty much called it a day back in 1978 with the release Drastic...
Warren Zevon ‘Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#895 in the Series) is Warren Zevon, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School In what can be considered a what came first, the chicken or the egg, sort of symbiotic of relationship, we will never know if Earnest Hemingway could have written The Old Man and the Sea if he was clean and sober, and wasn’t wrestling with more demons than Anton LeVay. Fortunately, in the case of Warren Zevon, we have the exact answer. You can go home again, and second chances to make a great first impression are sometimes given, which is exactly what happened with the release of Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School in 1980. Following the somewhat...
Don Dixon “Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#894 in the Series) is Don Dixon, Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do Quite often the hardest thing about maintaining this website is trying to come up with the next day’s “Cool Album of the Day.” There are times when nothing jumps out at you that you feel like telling people about. Then there are times when you get an idea from places you never expected. That’s what happened yesterday when I was looking for our next entry. As you know we also have a Facebook page for “Cool Album of the Date.” On the page there is often continuous discussion on the entries along...
