Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#386 in the Series) is Harry Nilsson, Pussy Cats “Over The Rainbow” was the name of the exclusive members- only, club, bar, hangout, and hideaway for the Los Angeles, Rock and Roll, and Hollywood debauched elite that was located in the upstairs section of the “Rainbow Room”, the iconic Sunset Strip music venue. If you were lucky enough to be granted entrance back in 1973/1974 you might have been indulging and imbibing next to the likes of Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Dennis Hopper, John Lennon, and even Groucho Marx….You Bet Your Llfe. It is here, most probably, that the original idea for John Lennon to produce a Harry Nilsson album was...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day(#385 in the Series) is The Replacements, Tim The barstool I happened to be sitting on was half a dozen steps inside Geno and Carlo’s, an “old school”, cash only bar in the heart of the Italian section of San Francisco known as North Beach, or as the locals prefer to call the area,” Naughty North Beach”. The drink of choice was a Makers Mark Manhattan straight up with two stemmed cherries. The clientele of this particular watering hole is a sublime mosh pit of professional types, Goth chicks, drunken homeless dudes, artists, and musicians. The atmosphere is more Woodstock than Altamont, with a definite “Star Wars bar scene” vibe to the entire proceedings....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#384 in the Series, and #13 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is Paul McCartney and Wings, Band on the Run Whenever I do one of these write-ups I first give the album a listen.  Heck, some of them I haven’t heard in quite some time.  I try to look for an angle on what to say.  You really don’t have to try to think of which angle you want.  I just let something come into my head.  What comes to you first when you give a listen? What came to my first with this one was “underrated.”  I didn’t see that one coming, but when I listened to this one again I was...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#383in the Series) is Electric Light Orchestra, Face the Music Today Jeff Lynne and his band Electric Light Orchestra make their first appearance on Cool Album of the Day. They do so with one of their most popular album, Face the Music. Face the Musicwas released in 1975 and reached as high as #8 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. It spent 48 weeks in the top 200. No singles charted on the Hot 100 chart, but many were well known album rock cuts. The most well-known probably being “Evil Woman” or “Strand Magic.” This was their first album recorded at Musicland in Munich Germany. That studio would become the studio of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#382 in the Series) is Band of Horses, Infinite Arms Band Of Horses have come a long way in the last seven years or so. Formed circa 2004 in Seattle by South Carolina native Ben Bridwell and his friend Mat Brooke, early promise saw them land a deal with that fine city’s most famous label Sub Pop. Two albums, Everything All The Time and Cease To Begin followed fairly quickly (Brooke left after the former and formed his own band Grand Archives) and some amazing live shows helped cement their reputation. Along the way they also found time to gather up a pretty fanatical group of followers. I well remember my first introduction...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#381 in the Series) is Roy Buchanan, You’re Not Alone. Many of you are aware of Roy Buchanan. In fact, we’ve featured him once before.  You probably know him as this guitar slinging blues player with the fastest licks in the business. This would be true, but this album is a little different.  Yes, he still plays those killer notes.  The music still has some blues base to it, but this was still quite different. OK, what makes it different? Firstly, Roy tackles some pretty well known cover tunes on this record. He plays Neil Young’s” Down By the River” and Joe Walsh’s “Turn to Stone.”  Another interesting aspect here was the use...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#380 in the Series, and #33 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Hall and Oates, Live at the Apollo. Hall and Oates was a white hot hit machine when they decided to release this live album. They had just had some nice success with their Rock and Soul Pt. 1 greatest hits album and its follow-up, Big Bam Boom. Always known as blue-eyed soul, they decided to take the soul part of that mix and record their first live album at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. They brought some friends along to help make it a success, not just any friends either. They being, the Temptation’s Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day(#379 in the Series) is Steve Kilbey, Unearthed Steve Kilbey, Steve Kilbey….where have I heard that name you may be asking yourself. Well, he’s British born lead vocalist for the Australia band, The Church, as in “Under the Milky Way Tonight” fame. This was released in 1986. It was the first of eight solo albums that Steve has done to date.  This was from a period when a few members of The Church decided to do some solo efforts.  Guitarist, Marty Wilson-Piper would release In Reflection as well. One of the reason’s that I’m featuring this album is because one of the great songs on the disc is called “Judgment Day.” I figured I’d...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#378 in the Series) is Journey, Look Into the Future Way back in 1975 I was a big fan of Starcastle.  They were a darn good band from Champaign, Illinois.  I saw they were coming to the Riviera theatre in the Uptown area of Chicago.  They weren’t headlining, they were opening for some band named Journey.  Journey…. Journey, I knew the name but AH, yes, that’s the new band with Ex-Santana members, Neal Schon on guitar and Gregg Rolie on keys and vocals. They also have Aynsley Dunbar on drums and Ross Valory on bass, Cool. I’m going! So I called up my buddies Carl Adduci and Chuckie Garcia and grabbed some tickets....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#377 in the Series) is Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here. What can you say about Wish You Were Here that hasn’t been said already? This is one of the iconic albums in rock and roll.  This is one of Pink Floyd’s best.  It was released in 1975 which was right in the middle of their “meat era.” The period where they produced four of their most popular releases, they being of course The Dark Side of the Moon (‘73), Wish You Were Here (‘75), Animals (’77) and The Wall (’79.) That was four of the most popular albums of the seventies, and yes, I do feel that they were their best albums.  That...