Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#888 in the Series) is The Power Station. Duran Duran, Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Robert Palmer.  That’s what you heard countless times when Power Station was released.  This was indeed true, unfortunately, those members John Taylor, Andy Taylor along with Palmer, wasn’t what made Power Station hot.  What made Power Station a great band was its drummer, Tony Thompson. I miss hearing Thompson play. He was so darn good. He passed away from renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) in 2003, just two months after Robert Palmer died from a heart attack. I’m surprised I don’t see Thompson’s name more when best drummers are discussed.  You’ve heard his work so many times. Thing of the...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#887 in the Series) is The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988 This may be one of the more interesting box sets of the year – a year that has already seen many. They have been some really great ones and some that I have to shake my head and wonder if there was really a need for that. They have come in all shapes and l sizes. There have been career spanning Boxes by Stephen Stills and Duane Allman, Re-releases of several artists entire discographies and a number of deluxe sets expanding albums of long ago such as Nirvana’s 20th anniversary release of In Utero, Van Morrison’s Deluxe...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” by Devo w/Neil Young Q: Where do the worlds of The Kingston Trio, Devo and Neil Young all collide? A: In the film Human Highway, of course! Human Highway was a dreadful film released by Bernard Shakey (aka Neil Young) in 1982. The move was filmed between 1978 and 1981 and it starred Neil Young, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Russ Tamblyn and Devo. It was briefly shown in movie theaters upon its release and was never to be seen again until its home video release in 1995 on VHS. It is currently out of print. While the movie is quirky and mostly incoherent, it...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Sheila Take A Bow” by The Smiths The Who called them “odds and sods.” These were the songs that didn’t fit on their proper albums. Typically, they were non-album singles, B-sides and stray tracks recorded for outside compilations, movie soundtracks and other projects that either didn’t fit, or were never considered for, inclusion on their proper albums. They were also songs that may not have been released all over the world, but were only released, for whatever reason in specific regions. The “odds and sods” compilation album made for an easy stop-gap project between new albums, creating more revenue for the artist and new product for the labels to market. At...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#872 in the Series) is Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair I don’t know that you can name a definitive album of the 1980’s, but if you could, Tears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair would definitely be in the conversation. The follow up to their also classic The Hurting, it is a classic musically as well as a touchstone in social activism. It is an important aspect of the decade for which it rarely gets credit. Tears for Fears, along with R.E.M., The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and a few others were instrumental in bringing 80’s college/alternative/indie rock into the mainstream. This was important because this new genre, and most specifically, Songs...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Melt Away” by Brian Wilson The fact that Brian Wilson’s eponymously titled album was ever completed was seen as nothing short of a miracle back in 1988 when it appeared in the record racks. After more than a decade of inactivity in which Wilson spent most of his time in bed doing nothing, he came under the around the clock care of Dr. Eugene Landy who got him out of bed, put him on an exercise regimen and got him back into the studio. Brian Wilson was pared with Beach Boy aficionado Andy Paley who produced the sessions, however like Murray Wilson (Brian’s dad) before him, Dr. Landy was a constant...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Facts Of Life” by Talking Heads By 1988, Talking Heads were running out of fuel. The band members were somewhat fed up with each other, and were not happy with the conventional pop direction that their previous two albums took them in. For their final album called Naked, the group worked with producer Steve Lillywhite and decamped to France to record with the support of a host of East African, British, Irish and Caribbean musicians. Before leaving for Paris, the band worked up 40 basic improvisational rhythm tracks as a jumping off point in the studio. In Paris, the group would jam on one of the tracks each day and...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Skateaway” by Dire Straits Today’s Song Of The Day comes from Dire Straits’ third album Making Movies. The album was co-produced by Jimmy Iovine whom Mark Knopfler contacted because he liked the production sound he gave to Patti Smith’s single “Because The Night,” and Iovine brought a similar New Wave sheen to Making Movies. David Knopfler left the group during the making of this album, and Iovine brought Roy Bittan (of The E Street Band) into the fold on keyboards to help fill the void. It was the first time that Dire Straits had ever worked with a keyboard player, and Bittan expanded the band’s musical palate especially on the songs...

Song Of the Day by Eric Berman – “I’m Going” by Neil Young & The Bluenotes After going electronic on Trans, country and western on Old Ways, and then turning himself into a rockabilly cat with The Shocking Pinks, what else could Neil Young have had in store for fans whose patience was beginning to wear thin as the 1980s drew to a close? Soul man! In 1988, Neil Young put together a soulful horn band called The Bluenotes and recorded the album This Note’s For You. The album was seen as a return to form after a string of patchy genre-hopping releases for Geffen Records, and it was also his first release back on the Reprise label. The...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Follow Your Bliss” by The B-52’s “Follow Your Bliss” is perhaps the most unique recording in the entire B-52’s catalog, it is also the perfect closer to their greatest album. By the time of The B-52’s comeback album Cosmic Thing the group was ten years into their career. After becoming media darlings for the new wave, they soon found themselves in a dramatic free fall that left them practically unable to give their records away at retail. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976, The B-52’s consisted of Fred Schneider on vocals, percussion and keyboards, Kate Pierson on organ, bass and vocals, Cindy Wilson on vocals, tambourine and guitar, Cindy’s brother Ricky...