Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric “If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a f*ck.” “The world’s most flexible record label.” “Undertakers to the industry.” “We came. We Saw. We Left.” “In ’78 everyone born in ’45 will be 33-1/3.” “When you kill time, you murder success.” “If they’re dead, we’ll sign them.” The above non-sequitors were all slogans for one of the coolest record labels to be associated with the late 1970s punk rock movement. Stiff Records established itself by not only having a roster that included Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, The Damned, Wreckless Eric and Ian Dury, but by the hyperactive media antics they pulled off in the name...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Good Year For The Roses” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions – They were young, drunk, marketed as punk rockers and cut loose in Nashville, Tennessee, behaving very badly. Such was the backdrop for Elvis Costello and the Attraction’s album-length foray into straight-ahead Country music back in 1981. Costello was coming off a white-hot streak of records including 1977’s My Aim Is True, followed by “This Year’s Model” in 1978, Armed Forces in 1979, and both Trust and the 20-track Get Happy record in 1980, all stuffed to the gills with self-penned classic songs. Add to that the 20-track Taking Liberties album that gathered up the rest of the stray...

  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...

  So, did you get a chance to catch Elvis Costello on “The Great Spectacular Winning Songbook tour?”  No, well don’t fret, now you’ll get a chance to hear and even see what you missed as the Elvis Costello camp has just announced that December 6th  will bring Elvis Costello & the Imposters: The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!!. Box Set! It will be a limited release of 1,500 units. It will include a 4 song vinyl  EP, a 19 track DVD, and a 16 song CD.  Each box set will be autographed by Mr. Costello himself.  Look for around $320 price. Ok, after I got you excited then dropped a price bomb on you, rest assured it...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#317 in the Series) is Rosanne Cash, The List When Rosanne Cash was 18, she was spending most of her time on tour with her famous father, Johnny.  One day, Johnny was checking out what she was listening to.  Most of her tastes, like most teenagers, were towards the music of the day.  He thought it was time to teach her a little bit about music. So he brought her into the tour bus, sat her down, and wrote out a list of, what he felt, were the 100 most essential country songs of American music history. She held onto that list. She would look at it year after year.  She became quite...

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...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#296 in the Series) is the debut from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It’s a pretty simple premise.  Write some straight-forward, catchy pop rock and roll tunes and then hire a few great musicians.  Make them your backing band.  Then make it even better, allow them enough room to grow with you so they become band mates and stay with you for the long haul.  There it is boys and girls. Now go for it. As if it was all that easy, huh. Tom Petty showcased some of his best writing here.  I really do not believe he ever wrote a better song than “American Girl.” I was recently looking at the chronology...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#290 in the Series and #20 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Diana Krall, Live in Paris Diana Krall was another one of those artists that I knew more ‘of’ than actually knew.  I couldn’t tell you anything that she had done.  I’d see her listed as being on different shows etc.  I had a little interest. Some of it also generated from being familiar with her superstar husband, Elvis Costello.  I wonder if she’s ever worn his red shoes? So one day I’m surfing thru the television channels when I see her sitting at her piano singing this marvelous song.  ‘OK’ I said, this sounds pretty good’ Maybe I’ll watch a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#279 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...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True. The live Elvis’ debut release. I remember when it came out and ‘XRT jumped on it. Great song followed by great song. Little did I know that he’d be putting out great music with unmatched variety to this day. His backing band on ‘My Aim is True’ was an unheard of band called ‘Clover.’ They went on to become, ‘The News’ as in Huey Lewis and….’ They should have suck with Elvis. There are many memorable moments here. “Angel’s Want To Wear My Red Shoes, Mystery Dance, Radio Sweetheart, Alison, Less Than Zero and Watching the Detectives.” It’s hard to find many better debut albums. Elvis...