Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#688 in the Series) is The Neville Brothers, Yellow Moon. Yellow Moon was the sixth album and fifth studio album by the New Orleans based Neville Brothers. The Neville Brothers were indeed four brothers, Aaron, Art, Charles and Cyril. It was released in 1989 and peaked at #66 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. The song “Healing Chant” won the band a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The title cut, “Yellow Moon” received the most airplay. The band did some interesting covers on this album.  They included songs by Bob Dylan “With God on Our Side” and “The Ballad of Hollis Brown,” Link Wray “Fire and Brimstone” and Sam Cooke...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#682 in the Series) is NRBQ, God Bless Us All I have always felt that God Bless Us All was NRBQ at their absolute peak. In fact, if someone wanted to know an album to start their Q catalog, this was the one I’d always suggest. This was the one that I’d always play at parties and would always get the the Q fans  boppin’.  If you weren’t a Q fan when I put this one on, well you would be soon. “Who’s this?” was a question that was asked more than once when I’d put needle to vinyl. Not only did it catch the band at their peak, but it also...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#672 in the Series) is The Call, Reconciled. One topic that I tend to revisit often is about the “Band That Didn’t Get Their Due.”  The Call fits that line as well as any act on these pages. Despite some great songs, a decent label push and some nice guest stars, Reconciled got some airplay but didn’t click like it should have I believe. Two tracks received most of the play. ‘They were the first two tracks on the disc, “Everywhere I Go” and “I Still Believe.”  I once heard an old saying around record stores.  “If you’re thinking of buying a album and don’t know much about it. Don’t buy it  if...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#671 in the Series) is Richard and Linda Thompson, Shoot Out the Lights. I love year-end “best of” write-ups.  I don’t know why, since like we’ve talked about before, music isn’t a competition unless you’re in high school and playing in a “Battle of the Bands” contest.  I guess you could say that all bands are in competition for airplay and sales, but I think you know what I mean. I remember when Shoot Out the Lights was released in 1982. This album was on just about every list I read.  I knew of them, but hadn’t heard much of this record.  The same can be said for their previous band, Fairport Convention.  I knew...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#664 in the Series) is The Clash, Combat Rock We music fans love to hear stories about how classic songs were recorded, and how some almost never happened. There’s a great part in the Joe Strummer documentary The Future Is Unwritten where drummer Topper Headon talks about how the Clash single ‘Rock the Casbah’ came into being. It was 1982 and the Clash were coming apart at the seams; torn apart by egos, infighting, drug addiction, and the strain of such a heavy touring schedule. Musically, the band had long since left behind their band-of-the-people persona, and were now filling stadiums. Their last two albums London Calling and Sandinista had seen them...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#660 in the Series) is 1982, self-tiled release from Dan Siegel. When you go to a concert do you pay attention to the opening acts? Do you see what they have to offer? If not, I suggest that you do, as I’ve found many acts that have become favorites by doing so.  I wonder if how much longer it would have taken me to find NRBQ if I hadn’t seen them open for John Prine in the early 80’s. Another of those was when I first saw Dan Siegel. I was spending the summer in Kansas City, and was an aspiring rock and roll writer for Night Rock News magazine at the...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#647 in the Series) is Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, What’s New Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra’s What’s New was a very big deal when it was released in 1983.  My guess here is that it was much bigger of a deal than you may remember. Why so you ask?  It wasn’t a big deal so much that it was a Linda Ronstadt album, nor was it a big deal because it included the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. What made it a big deal was that it was one of the first times that a genuine rock and roll star tackled the “Great American Songbook.” I’m sure there are...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#641 in the Series) is Joe Jackson, Big World One thing that I’ve always noticed is that my favorite albums by an artist are often tied in with a tour that I may have seen. That rings true with Joe Jackson’s Big World. I was lucky enough to have attended one of the shows on this  tour at Popular Creek Theater (RIP) in northwest suburban Chicago. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. A couple interesting notes on this album. For one, it was a digitally recorded album that was done in full song takes in front of a live studio audience. A few hundred people were invited to sit in silence and watch...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#631 in the Series) is Harold  Budd / Brian  Eno, Ambient  2 :The Plateaux  Of Mirror It was a beautiful day today, sunny in the morning, and you could easily have been fooled into thinking spring was arriving early. There’s a row of old-fashioned houses that I can see from a window at work and all morning long, as the slow rising sun crept up, the houses were changing colour, pink, orange, red. It was a lovely sight and it brought this album to my mind,  it’s an old favourite which I hadn’t played in such a long time. Up until 7 years ago I worked in a paper mill and worked...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#629 in the Series) is Prince, Controversy I have wanted to do a piece on one of these early Prince albums for a while now. In fact I started doing Dirty Mind a while ago and decided to do an about-face and present a piece on Controversy instead. We’ll get to Dirty Mind someday as I consider that also one of his best, but today it’s Controversy. Controversy was released in 1981 just a year after the previously mentioned Dirty Mind. Did have some controversial pieces in it? You could say somewhat, but there is nothing totally outrageous here in my opinion. He takes a look at social protest in three tracks,...