Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#938 in the Series) is the eponymous debut from Karla Bonoff Karla Bonoff is almost the female version of J.D. Souther.  Like J.D., she was a denizen of Laurel Canyon and hung with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, and the rest of the cosmic cowboys. The two also shared the unique gift of song-craft that perfectly suited the times and the country-rock vibe that was permeating the L.A. scene in the early to mid-seventies. Also like Souther, Karla made a name for herself with her songs that were recorded by other artists most notably “Home” that was recorded by Bonnie Raitt, as well as “Someone To...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#937 in the Series) is Led Zeppelin, Presence.  If you’ve been with us for a while you’ll notice some common themes that I referred to on a regular basis. One of the more popular ones is my tendency to be a big fan of a band’s album from a tour that I happened to see. I don’t know why this is true, because often those aren’t anywhere near the band’s best piece of work, but for some reason those albums consistently have always stuck with me longer. One of my early great live rock ‘n roll experiences was seeing Led Zeppelin at the Chicago Stadium on the Presence tour. Back then I...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#936 in the Series) is King Crimson, Discipline. King Crimson is quite the unique musical act. They’ve completely reinvented themselves numerous times.  This was probably the most straight forward of those reincarnations. Contributing to the straight forward sound was the newly slimmed down line up. King Crimson was now a tight little four piece. This would be the debut of two members that would eventually be considered King Crimson mainstays. They would be Adrian Belew on guitar, lead vocals and Tony Levin on bass and Chapman stick. Bill Bruford returned on drums along with the main man, Robert Fripp on guitars and “stuff.” Discipline also received a decent amount of airplay for a band that...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day ($#935 in the Series) is Ready Never,  Eleutherophobia Oh, the modern EDM craze. It isn’t my first choice to queue up when I’m making dinner, while I’m at work, or even when I’m driving and just want background music, but it has a special place in my life. For me, it’s when I’m clubbing after midnight in Nairobi, Kenya, not sure how or when I’m going to get back to the hotel to make the flight home to Kigali tomorrow. Or when I’m supervising a school dance and the kids are bouncing up and down with the lights and the beat and the waves of heat and sweat. It’s me being 17 and finding...

  Recently I was able to catch Eagulls’ show at the Crescent Ballroom which is rapidly becoming my all time favorite music venue. In the past year I have also seen Haim and The War on Drugs there and there is not a bad seat in the house.  It’s standing room only up front, but there are also bleachers in the back that are at most only 20 feet from the stage. Eagulls self titled debut album has been critically applauded, but at this point in their career, they are a band that is best appreciated live. That is why it was disappointing to see barely over a hundred people at the gig because this is a band that deserves...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#934 in the series)  is XTC, Apple Venus (Volume 1) The sun was streaming in through my living room window the other day, making me feel all happy and upbeat and summery , even though it was still pretty cold outside. Upon deciding that i needed some music to enhance this lovely mood the first album which sprung to mind was this little beauty , Apple Venus (Volume One) by XTC , a late period classic from one of my favourite bands. There’s eleven songs on here, each a perfect little gem in it’s own right. As it played i had cause to reflect : this album came out very near  to the...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#933 in the Series) is Lovesick Saints, Dia De Los Muertos Chandler, Arizona is more likely to be known as a bastion of conservative politics and suburban way of life than for a thriving punk rock and alternative music scene.  Usually one has to travel at least into Phoenix proper, or make the journey a few hours further west on I-10 to SoCal before engaging with any meaningful punk music. But listen to the music of Lovesick Saints and learn that being surrounded by such a homogenous atmosphere as Maricopa County can, perhaps counter-intuitively, produce a social consciousness and yearning that combine to forge intelligent, powerful alternative punk and rock music reserved usually...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#932 in the Series) is Bob Dylan, Modern Times. About five years ago I had a chance to visit upstate New York on a business trip. My journey would start in Albany, continue day by day west.  I’d spend a day in Utica, Syracuse, Rochester and eventually Buffalo.  After l landed in Albany I met up with a few other ‘soon be’ friends that would make the same trip. When we arrived in Buffalo, ‘Tom’ jokingly suggested that next year, we should rent a Winnebago. We could all save on rental cars and hotel rooms. I added, ‘Yeah, we could call ourselves the Rolling Thunder Review!’ Of course we never did, even though...

…From prog-sphere.com David Gilmour is currently in the studio working on a new solo album. Gilmour’s wife, Polly Samson, recently posted an Instagram photo from the sessions, featuring the Pink Floyd guitarist recording with his backup singers. Graham Nash originally leaked news of Gilmour’s album last November, when he revealed that he and David Crosby were going to contribute vocals to the project. “What the hell would it cost you to have David Crosby and Graham Nash getting on a bloody train to Brighton to sing with you?,” said Nash on Vintage TV’s Needle Time program. “We’re musicians. We love good songs. We’ll sing them until we are dead.” Gilmour’s last studio album was 2006’s On An Island. He released Live In Gdansk in 2008 and collaborated with ambient techno group The Orb in 2010 for...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#931 in the Series) is Billy Joel, 52nd Street While 52nd Street is not Billy Joel’s most popular album, that honor goes to The Stranger with the mega-hits “Just the Way You Are”, “Scenes in an Italian Restaurant”, “Only the Good Die Young”, and the rest, or his most socially aware album, that would certainly be The Nylon Curtain with the brutally honest social commentary of “Allentown”, and “Goodbye Saigon”, and it was by far not the worst, clearly An Innocent Man gets that dubious honor, but it is in some circles, including mine, simply the best. In the interests of full disclosure, my view of this album may be somewhat influenced...