Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1033 in the Series) is Nomad Planets, You’re Never Alone Until You Panic The following was originally posted back about seven years ago. Let’s read it again shall we… This is a piece that I’ve been meaning to write for quite some time. What’s taken so long? That’s an easy one.  I love this album so much that I never thought I could do it justice with words.  I still don’t think I’ll be able to but I had to make sure that you knew about. You can hear the album its entirety below so even if I slobber and make zero sense at least you can just blow me off and...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1032 in the Series) is The Outlaws, Hurry Sundown. The Outlaws first hit the music scene (at least as far as recordings go) in 1975. They actually had been together on and off since as early as 1967.  Their debut album was simply titled The Outlaws.  It contained a song that would be closely associated with the band for the rest of their career. That song would of course be “Green Grass and High Tides.” While it did help their popularity, I also thing it mistakenly categorized them as a southern rock band from then on.  I use the word “mistakenly” because I really don’t believe that The Outlaws were a southern-rock...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1031 in the Series ) is Uriah Heep, Live Back in the mid-seventies, one of my friends had a “neat” drum kit in his attic. He and and a few other  friends would pound away on it. At that point I had taken some lessons so I knew a little bit of what I was doing. We had a stereo up there as well.  If memory serves me correct, it was a two story unit apartment house type of thing with maybe one person living in-between. So we could make a ton of noise up there and no one cared, and we did. We’d get some of our favorite albums and try and...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1030 in the Series is Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, Herb Alpert Present, Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. I know I’ve mentioned many times in these parts how much of a part my two older sisters (Tina and Judy) played in getting me started on listening to good music. Tina was the older one; she always made sure that she had on “Where The Action Is” or “Shindig” in the afternoons.  She added the first albums to the family record collection that were not my father’s stuff like Al Martino, Mario Lanza or Robertino “The Young Italian Singing Sensation.”  Judy was a little younger and took over from there. She bought me my...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1029 in the Series) is Rosanne Cash, The List When Rosanne Cash was 18, she was spending most of her time on tour with her famous father, Johnny.  One day, Johnny was checking out what she was listening to.  Most of her tastes, like most teenagers, were towards the music of the day.  He thought it was time to teach her a little bit about music. So he brought her into the tour bus, sat her down, and wrote out a list of, what he felt, were the 100 most essential country songs of American music history. She held onto that list. She would look at it year after year.  She became quite...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1028 in the Series) is Jean-Luc Ponty, Imaginary Voyage. Some people might not realize how popular jazz-fusion was from the early 70s to early 80s. Acts like Jean Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Brand X, Jeff Lorber, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Passport, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour and Shadowfax were all over the place. Cripes, Spyro Gyra was a house hold name! (I was a bigger fan of “Spyrograph” myself) It was really a fun time. Jean Luc Ponty was one of the leaders in this genre.  He was popping them out like crazy while playing in bands along the likes of Frank Zappa and the previously mentioned Mahavhishnu Orchestra. Don’t get...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1027 in the series) is the debut album from Poco, Pickin’ Up The Pieces.   It must be nice to be known as a band that helped establish a new genre of music. Why isn’t this band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Their omission is a real tragedy.  Some things just don’t make sense.  Someday I hope, they surely deserve it. Poco laid their plan.. right there.. in the lyrics in the title cut. Call it a Mission Statement: ‘Well, there’s a little bit of magic In the music we’re playin’ So let’s begin We’ll bring you back down home where the folks are happy Sittin pickin’ and a-grinnin’ Casually,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day  (#1026 in the Series) is Daryl Hall, Sacred Songs. This is one of the main reasons that I’ve decided to create this site. That is to point out ditties like this. I have a feeling that many people did not know this gem existed. It’s the first solo release by Daryl Hall of “Hall and Oates” fame. I don’t know if DH is the best rock vocalist of all time, but he’s in the team picture. This was recorded in 1977 but not released until 1980. The wonderful RCA records held the album because is was ‘not commercial enough.’ I guess ‘very good’ just isn’t a good enough reason for a label to...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1025 in the Series) is Charlie, Lines. Readers of an “Cool Album of the Day” should see a pattern especially lately. What they would notice is that there is a strong tendency to feature albums of what’s commonly known now as the “Americana” genre. This is been my favorite music to listen to for a number of years now. But another genre that I’ve long enjoyed was the sound of the slick jazz rock bands often known as the ”L.A. Sound.”  Some great music has been produced by that well-known group of musicians from Los Angeles. I’m sure you know what I’m referring to, Toto, later period Doobie Brothers, Les Dudek, Boz Scaggs, etc....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1024 in the Series) is Jeff Healey Band, See The Light See The Light was the break through album by Canadian Blues guitarist Jeff Healey.  It was released in 1988. It was steep in Blues-Rock but actually featured a hit that was John Hiatt (with help from Fred Koller) penned ballad, “Angel Eyes.” “Angel Eyes” wasn’t the only Hiatt tune on the disc.  Healey does a killer job on “Confidence Man.”  Some other highlights include the title cut, “See the Light” plus “My Little Girl,” “Hideaway” and “Someday, Someway.”  Jeff also does a wonderful version of ZZ Top’s, “Blue Jean Blues.” See the Light was produced by the great team of Greg Ladanyi and...