Chris Squire ‘Fish Out Of Water’
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1015 in the Series) is Chris Squire, Fish out of Water I can’t give you the date. I wish I could, but I remember it like yesterday coming home as a wasted teen, turning on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and seeing Bill Bruford with his Boston Bruins cutoff jersey, Chris Squire with his signature cape and Patrick Moraz standing in front of an orchestra performing the first two tracks on this gem of music. I recognized it well, as I got it on vinyl as soon as I could. It would later remind me of Peter Gabriel’s first solo record, not sounding all that much like the famous and great band they...
Genesis “Seconds Out”
Today’s Cool Album Of the Day (#976 in the Series) is Genesis, Seconds Out. How much do I like this album? Well, if I could only take ten albums to a desert island, I might have to take two copies of this and then eight others. This was the album that made me fall in love with Genesis. I don’t know why I didn’t get into them earlier. After this was released I did go back and loved all the Gabriel era works. For some reason I missed it when it was happening. I remember seeing all those ads about them playing the Auditorium for three nights. I can kick myself now for not going. I guess I did...
King Crimson ‘Discipline’
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...
King Crimson ‘Lark’s Tongues In Aspic’
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Easy Money” by King Crimson – Nothing can match the rush you get from hearing a newly remastered version of a record you’ve lived with for nearly 40 years, especially if the remastering job is done right. It’s all about the nuances you never knew were there that magically appear, making something that had been so ingrained in your memory sound brand new again. Such was the blissed out rush I experienced this morning on my way to work when I listened to the just re-released King Crimson album Lark’s Tongue In Aspic. In the ever changing world of Crimson lineups, this one came to be after the...
The Roches “Keep on Doing”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#689 in the Series) is The Roches, Keep on Doing. I recently heard a song by The Roches on the radio and then it hit me, man I hadn’t thought about them for a long time (Sorry ladies if you’re reading this. I’ll make it up to you!), What a shame, I really like their music. It’s been too long! What did I like about them? I think it was the melting of sounds that intrigued me when I first had this album thirty years ago. That and the sense of humor that is clearly visible in these songs. The Roches were a New York band that began in the late ’70....
Yes “Close To The Edge”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#645 in the Series) is Yes,Close To The Edge A friend once told me a story about this record that I would have a hard time verifying as he has been to hell and back, but the story was that he took a class at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) at which the syllabus for the semester covered only the meaning and interpretation of the epic and classic title track of one of the best, if not the best ever record by this band of immensely talented musicians that were either ahead of their time, before their time, or most likely in a time that few would ever understand. This is likely...
Yes “Yessongs”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#421 in the Series and #39 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Yes, Yessongs Saturdays are of course the day we look at a live album. A few of those Saturday’s ago, when discussing The Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, I mentioned that they picked the right time to record their live album. I want to make that same point again, but this time even more so. Yes, picked the absolute point in their career to record Yessongs. In fact, I’ll go one step further in claiming that this marked the ending point to their ‘Glory Days.’ The band would still go on and still create some wonderful music, but this marked...
Rick Wakeman “Six Wives of Henry VIII”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#323 in the Series) is Rick Wakeman, Six Wives of Henry VIII Back in the early 70s I was really into art-rock. I don’t remember using the term, prog-rock yet. I guess progressive rock was tossed around a little. Mostly it was art-rock. I just couldn’t get enough of Yes; Emerson, Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, etc. This album was quite ground breaking. I don’t think I realized it when I was listening to it. I was just doing some reading on it this this week. Many experts credit Six Wives of Henry VIII as being one of the first albums to bring keyboards to the forefront in an art-rock setting. If you have feelings...
U.K. "U.K."
Today’s Cool Album of The Day is UK, “UK” One of the best ‘supergroups’ of their day. U.K was of: John Wetton, (King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music) bass, vocals; Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis) drums and percussion; Eddie Jobson (Curved Air, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa) violin, keyboards and electronics and Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Gong) guitars. The some was as big as the parts on this 1978 release. The best known track was the single ‘In The Dead of Night.’ ‘Alaska’ and ‘Time to Kill’ also got some play. U.K. was produced by U.K and reached #65 on the Billboard US Charts. Track listing Side one “In the Dead of Night” (Eddie Jobson, John Wetton) – 5:38 “By...
