Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#727 in the Series) is Little Feat, Rooster Rag  Little Feat has been on the proud highway since 1969, their first release in nine years is a collection of good ole Americana music that may be appreciated by baby boomers only, just because they have been flying under the top 40 radar for 43 years. And of course some music historians will say, “It’s not the same without Lowell George” and since the passing of every drummers hero, Richie Hayward, how could they possibly go on. No, it’s not the same, but the boys are still getting it done. When I first heard a Rooster Rag preview, I skimmed through, looking for...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#726 in the Series) is Jerry Douglas, Traveler I’m guessing that some of you may have never heard of Jerry Douglas, but as a music lover he has been a part of your acoustic life for more than a decade. As THE premier slide dobro player in the business today and a genre spanning artist, he seamlessly flows between Pop, Country, Folk, Bluegrass, and Indie Rock without ever breaking a sweat. Jerry Douglas is to the dobro what Zamfir is to the pan flute. Supporting the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, and even more contemporary artists including his new BFF’s Mumford and Sons, he has lent his...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#725 in the Series) is Squackett, A Day Within a Life. This is a project that goes back to 2008 when longtime Yes bass player Chris Squire was planning another solo record. His first and only previous release was 1975’s Fish Out of Water, though he did another project with Yes part-timer Billy Sherwood, and a Christmas record Chris Squires Swiss Choir in which Steve Hackett was the other main half of the band. Hackett was the guitar virtuoso of Genesis who survived the Peter Gabriel departure to write and perform on two post-Gabriel records, one of which Wind and Wuthering is in my opinion his greatest work. He also has released...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#724) is Royal Southern Brotherhood,  Royal Southern Brotherhood The band of musicians that is generally considered to be the first “super group” is Blind Faith.  Blind Faith included Eric Clapton, who had just left Cream because he was tired of mediating the cat fights between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.  Steve Winwood, also a member of a band that was in disarray, with all of the members of Traffic arguing over song rights and musical direction, and the aforementioned Ginger Baker. The self-titled album that resulted from this brief crash-and-burn union was, depending on the music critic of the day you were reading, brilliant or bloated.  The record was considered bloated due...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#723 in the Series) is Wings, Wild Life After recording “Ram” with Linda McCartney around 1970, Paul McCartney decided to form a band named Wings. Without much notice, their first release, Wild Life was put together in about a week and released in 1971, containing the most rawness of any other Wings album. The album was not taken seriously, but in many fans’ opinions, it is a very huge landmark in McCartney’s recordings. For some it is one of his best albums. This album sounds like a session; a recording session in the studio that could have been labeled as a jam-out. It is still a very powerful album in the sense...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#722 in the Series) is Dire Straits, Love Over Gold It’s hard to believe that Dire Straits only released six studio albums. They had such a reach and such an impact on music that it seems that they were one of those acts that would spit them our year after year.  That was actually true for the early part of their career when they indeed released their first four albums in a short period of five years. That was from 1978 through 1982.  They then took a couple years off before releasing their most popular album sales-wise that would be Brothers in Arms. After that album’s success they would really lay low,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#721 in the Series) is The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree There’s something about the Mountain Goats that provokes delirious, unbridled reverence amongst a large portion of their fans; a level of veneration that goes beyond that which many bands can claim. I’m not talking about gangs of screaming kids or the usual “I‘m your number one fan!” type of nutcases you get at almost every gig, but a deep, profound respect that comes from a band having touched some part of a fan’s life in an important way. Maybe it’s Mountain Goats’ main man John Darnielle’s way with a witty, insightful lyric. Maybe it’s his way of telling dark tales of...

    Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#720 in the Series) is Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Big Moon Ritual A couple of weeks ago, on one of the few sunny days we’ve had so far this year, I was sitting out in the back garden enjoying a beer and browsing online. I came across a phrase I’d never heard before: Cosmic California. Hmmm, I thought, wonder what the hell that can be about. I sipped my beer. I read on……… Like most people who listen to a lot of music, I sometimes get a little jaded. I look at the shelves of CD and vinyl and I think that I can’t be bothered listening to any of it, heard...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#719 in the Series) is The Siegel-Schwall Band, The Siegel- Schwall Band  It seems like a contradiction in terms to use words like “joyous” and “blues” in the same sentence but this is a brilliant set of tunes that demands it.  Sad to say I never got to hear these guys live.  These sounds have seen me through ecstatic times and provided solace through some of the most grievous. It’s billed as a studio album but at least the first and last songs are obviously live recordings.  In any event, this is such a tight band I gotta believe everything else here was recorded essentially live and whole, without the benefit of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#718 in the Series) is Joe Cocker, Cocker. This is one of those albums that did not include a disappointing track. I hadn’t listened to a new Cocker release in years when a promo of this arrived in my mail one day. I guess it’s not as bluesy as most Cocker albums, in fact, some people might not be thrilled with the inclusion of a couple power-ballads, but I always loved the release.  The most well known song was Randy Newman’s ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On.’ Sure, it still provides for some great video memories for many, but it was hardly the best song. Give me JC’s reading of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner...