Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1047 in the Series) is Arc Angels If there is such a thing as a one-hit wonder record, The Arc Angels self-titled debut album, released in 1992, would probably rank at the top of the heap.  The Parker Lee of rock bands, comprised of the Stevie Ray Vaughan rhythm section Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton along with Austin guitar legends Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II, the band that was named after their practice facilities at the Austin Rehearsal Center, was ready and seemingly able to take the Stevie Ray torch and become the preeminent power blues band in the world, or so it seemed. Charlie Sexton, guitar prodigy extraordinaire, returned...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1045 in the Series) is Paul Weller, Wild Wood Operating out of an office located deep in the recesses of Buckingham Palace is a covert organization of artistically minded individuals that govern and regulate the art, artists, and entertainment content that is released to the United States. This organization known as E.A.T.M.E (Englanders Against The Music Exportation) has been in existence since the 1960’s, and is considered to be the sole ruling body in determining which artists are released to the unsuspecting U.S. public. Their mission is to keep the good stuff within the realm and export the rest. The Beatles were a “canary in a coal mine” test project where they sent...

  T0day’s Cool Album of the Day (#1044 in the the Series) is Whiskeytown, Strangers Almanac. There are very few albums that I can look back on and say that it shaped what I listened to for the rest of my life.  Strangers Almanac is one of those albums.  I had a roommate that kept telling me that I needed to listen to this artist named Ryan Adams.  I kind of had a rule at the time that if the album came out in the 80’s or later I wasn’t that interested.  I finally gave it a chance and it redefined my taste in music. If you compose music we recommend the best violin case to protect your instrument all times....

  Let’s check out this post that we ran a few years ago. Spencer is now nearly 30 years old. You’ve seen him but you probably never knew his name.  The famous three month old pee-pee baring baby on the cover of the Nirvana Nevermind album is now a thirty something year old man. His name is Spencer Elden.  He told MTV News a few years back  “it’s kind of creepy that that many people have seen me naked — I feel like I’m the world’s biggest porn star.”  The shot was taken at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, California and it’also where he “kinda” recreated the cover in 2008. Elden said that his parents were...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1014 in the Series) is Crowded House, Woodface I’ve always loved the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil.  To me, the best overall music they produced was in the Split Enz, at least when you look at their music as a complete picture. I never thought I’d say this, especially considering how I adored the Enz, Time and Tide, but the best single album that the brothers ever recorded was Crowded House’s Woodface.  Both releases could easily be on my Desert Island Disc listings, that’s how strongly I’ve always felt about them. I’ve said it more than once on these pages, why aren’t these New Zealanders stars in the States, especially when you look...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1010 in the Series) is Buddy Guy, Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues The process of selecting a blues album to review is not an easy one.  First of all, a lot of people will not think they like the blues or will say they don’t know enough about the blues.  The real answer to both of these questions is that if you listen to music at all, and like music, then you are by definition a fan of the blues.  All of the great rock & rollers of today were heavily influenced by the blues in one form or another. “I’m a King Bee,” “Walking the Dog,” and “Now I’ve Got a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1009 in the Series) is Nirvana, Nevermind. In 1990 I had never heard of Nirvana, in fact, not many had. The only people that were familiar with them were the ones that were lucky enough to know them from their Sub Pop Record days. Most of those people were from the northwest. They and some real audiophiles, but not me. The grunge genre hadn’t really hit the map yet, better yet, “Alternative Music” was still, get this, alternative!  It wasn’t everywhere like it would be in the near future.  It was still “our secret” to many of the die-hards. At this time I had a “very, very close friend” that worked for Nirvana’s...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1004 in the Series) is the Hindu Love Gods. There’s something cool about two of your favorite acts coming together on side projects.  That’s exactly what we have here in the Hindu Love Gods.  Who are they? (REM-Michael Stipe) + Warren Zevon = Hindu Love Gods. For those of you that hated Algebra, this would mean… take REM but leave Michael Stipe home, now add Warren Zevon on vocals and you got the idea. OK, now which tunes should they do you “ax?”  Well, they really did hang together enough to do much writing, so like many quickie, one-off side projects, they resort to covering many songs that they just happened to like....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#971 in the Series) is Hal Ketchum, Past the Point of Rescue. I don’t know what it is. I’ve always been a sucker for those songs when an artist takes a known track, their’s or possibly another artists, and recreates it using a slower tempo.   I’m thinking of tracks like Joe Jackson’s live version (played as part of the Big World tour) of “Steppin’ Out” or Loey Nelson’s take on “To Sir with Love” if you were lucky enough to hear that. Here, Hal Ketchum does a spectacular rendition of The Vogues, “Five O’Clock World.”  Please check it out below. That was the track that first exposed me to Hal Ketchum.  As I...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#970 in the Series) is Jellyfish, Bellybutton. My guess is that a good number of you don’t know this album or even this band. In one word, “you should!” They were one of the best power-pop bands of the early nineties, Jellyfish.  One of those bands that you ask yourself, Why wasn’t this all over radio, why were they not more popular? They definitely had some radio friendly songs, a good look a unique look and a major label.   So it’s hard to say what happened.  They should have had much more success. You can hear a little Squeeze in their sound, a little XTC and a little Beatles. The songs that did...