Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#956 in the Series) is Shawn Colvin, A Few Small Repairs  A Few Small Repairs is one of those albums that takes love gone wrong and turns what could be a litany of heartbreak and “woe-is-me”  into an autobiographical  purging, and the listener goes along for the ride with some soaring beautiful melodies punctuated with  hard-knock lessons.  Colvin didn’t come to the making of this album without a lot of hard work, learning guitar in her childhood in South Dakota and performing in The King and I as a teen, then like most of us had some twists and turns which led to this release, her fourth, in 1996. The album opens...

  Today’s Cool album of the Day (#948 in the Series) is Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, Painted From Memory   Reviewers hated this album. I call it the “Album to Never Listen to When Going Through a Breakup” simply because it’s heartfelt and full of emotion. Someone said to me, I’m hurting, and I said be sure to not listen to this then. I grew up with Burt Bacharach, and as a semi-adult I became smitten with all that Elvis Costello did. This “marriage” was a dream coming true. I love this album so much. Add Steve Nieve (keyboards) to it and it makes it close to perfect. Elvis is a crooner at heart, despite his “punk rock”...

  One of the things that many music websites do this time of year is publish what they call “The Best Albums of Year..blah blah blah.” All I have to say is, if you claim your list is a best of, then you better have heard every album that was released. I read a ton of these lists and I know for sure, these people are deciding on what is a best of and they haven’t come close to doing enough homework. Yes, we’re putting out a list as well. But we’re calling it our “Favorite Albums of 2012. I know darn well that I didn’t hear nearly enough to think that I what I have to say is...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#699 in the Series) is Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook There isn’t any way I could be looked to to provide an unbiased review of an Elvis Costello album, that’s impossible for me to do. A fellow who can have a career such as his for so long, reinventing (or rather exploring) his genres and styles, combining those with phenomenal lyricism and musicianship, and topping it all off with a charming personality like Elvis has….well, there just isn’t much not for me to like. But thankfully this isn’t technically a “review” site, rather a place to get to know an album and hear one person’s opinion...

  One of the things that many music websites do this time of year is publish what they call “The Best Albums of year..blah blah blah.” All I have to say is, if you claim your list is a best of, then you better have heard every album that was released. I read a ton of these lists and I know for sure, these people are deciding on what is a best of and they haven’t come close to doing enough homework. Yes, we’re putting out a list as well. But we’re calling it our “Favorite Albums of 2011. I know darn well that I didn’t hear nearly enough to think that I what I have to say is...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#549 in the Series) is Sugar, Copper Blue Bob Mould is getting a lot of press these days. His autobiography, See A Little Light: Tales of Rage and Melody is one of the best of its genre I’ve ever read, and I highly recommend it. Usually I start these books, get my interested piqued for a while, then the minutia of the “road stories” gets old and I’m fighting to keep plundering through. Not so much the case with this one, as it’s a story of a man with a remarkable life that centers around music but also openly and shamelessly describes the demons and drive that have made him successful.  The...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#448 in the Series) is Peter Himmelman, From Strength to Strength   If there were a checklist of “Interesting Facts/Accomplishments of an Artist,” Minnesota native Peter Himmelman would have it nailed. Prolific songwriter? 20+ studio albums both with his former band Sussman Lawrence and solo, including 5 solo children’s albums. Award Nominations? Grammys, Emmys (for the “Judging Amy” TV series), and numerous awards for his children’s albums.  Famous Relatives? His father-in-law is Bob Dylan.  And he’s an Orthodox Jew who keeps close to his faith, saying “One of the secrets is to be able to lose yourself, your ego—in the music, in the Torah.” So either with him or not, his music is...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#367 in the Series) is Ben Folds, Rockin’ The Suburbs Ben Folds’ 2001 solo debut Rockin’ The Suburbs is one of those albums that kind of took me by surprise. If you’ve ever listened to his work either solo or with his 90’s band Ben Folds Five, it’s like sitting down listening to a friend tell a story. This release, however, was his first solo effort, and manages to balance  cleverness and vulnerability while maintaining some pretty impressive consistency. North Carolina native Folds is reasonably prolific, with over 20 albums, EPs, and compilations, and if you think you haven’t heard him before…well, you most likely have. He contributed to the soundtracks of Over...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#312 in the Series) is The Jayhawks, Tomorrow the Green Grass. A lot of great music has come out of Minneapolis, but I think of the Replacements, Husker Du, or Prince as acts that are identified with the Twin City area. The Jayhawks have a much different feel, and their alt- country-rock sound is just the kind of music that made an impact in the 90’s. Tomorrow the Green Grass was their 4th album, and the final release with Mark Olson. The Jayhawks continued on with a more pop feel for three more albums, fronted by founding member Gary Louris. When the band formed in 1985, they were opening for Alex Chilton in...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#309 in the Series) is Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Punch the Clock. Elvis Costello is one busy guy, and with over 30 studio albums (and counting!) it’s hard to pick just one, especially when every one seems to have its own feel. Punch the Clock is one of those albums that people either love or hate, and for good reasons either way. It was roundly described as “uneven,” and although that may be, there are a few compelling reasons to give it another listen. One for me is personal, and that is its issue in 1983 was in my “formidable” years of music, and later in college I think I wore the...