Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1013 in the Series) is Keith Richards, Talk is Cheap. I think I listen to this album more than any Stones album. Great songs, great arrangements, great musicians, great performances. But talk is indeed cheap. So give a listen to “Struggle,” ” Take It So Hard,” “You Don’t Move Me” and “I Could Have Stood You Up.”  The latter definitely channels one of Keith’s favorites, Chuck Berry. One of the more interesting cuts on the album is “Make No Mistake.” Here Keith has written a song that Al Green would be proud of.  It’s a nice departure with some great duet vocals by Sarah Dash. Word has it that this 1988 recording was during a period...

  Today’s Cool album of the day(#770 in the Series) is the new self-titled release by The World Famous Headliners. (Big Yellow Dog Publishing) Out of the blue comes an album that I think will be in so many top 10 lists at the end of the year and no one even saw it coming. I think most reviews are going to start with who are these guys? That’s a good question and it’s a great answer but I wanted to start with what really matters, the music. The album’s 15 tracks slip effortlessly from rock and roll to funk, with bits of power pop, country, and 60’s style rock thrown into the mix. It’s a fun from the...

  THE WORLD FAMOUS HEADLINERS Big Al Anderson, Shawn Camp, Pat McLaughlin, Michael Rhodes & Greg Morrow Debut release from Big Yellow Dog Music August 21, 2012 from the band’s press release … This is rock n’ roll. Big Al Anderson’s first band since the eclectic NRBQ is The World Famous Headliners—Music City’s premiere rock band led by Anderson with hit songwriters Shawn Camp and Pat McLaughlin and veteran musicians Michael Rhodes on bass and drummer Greg Morrow.  The World Famous Headliners debut album with producer Justin Niebank (Eric Clapton, James Cotton Blues Band, Peter Frampton, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Keith Urban) will be released by Big Yellow Dog Music on August 21, 2012. Anderson’s innovative guitar work has...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#682 in the Series) is NRBQ, God Bless Us All I have always felt that God Bless Us All was NRBQ at their absolute peak. In fact, if someone wanted to know an album to start their Q catalog, this was the one I’d always suggest. This was the one that I’d always play at parties and would always get the the Q fans  boppin’.  If you weren’t a Q fan when I put this one on, well you would be soon. “Who’s this?” was a question that was asked more than once when I’d put needle to vinyl. Not only did it catch the band at their peak, but it also...

  Tommy Ardolino has passed away at 56. All we have is this short blurb on NRBQ’s facebook page. “We regret to inform you that Tom Ardolino passed away today. Tom will be missed but his spirit lives on through those who were touched by him.” He had been ill for some time, the band made this statement last month. “Tom Ardolino is presently dealing with a number of health issues and is expected to be in the hospital for some time. “He was a great drummer and a great guy,” fellow NRBQ alum Al Anderson told the told the Hartford Courant today. “He had a totally unique style of drumming that nobody can ever duplicate. That was one of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#434in the Series) is Carlene Carter, I Fell in Love Youngsters from musical families have a huge advantage over the majority of society.  Not only is music given to them via their genes, but having it in their ears from before birth is just a wonderful way to grow up. A dear friend of mine was from a musical family.  He’s a guitar player/singer/songwriter etc. etc. He married a singer/dancer and yes, their two children have grown up to be extremely musical in their own write.  In fact the daughter has been headlining places like the Rainbow Room and Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles all this summer. But what else makes...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#339 in the Series) is Al Anderson, Party Favors Al Anderson.  Do you know the name? You might. Al was the long time guitarist for NRBQ.  Besides his work with “The Q” he’s also written a country hit or two, most notably for Carlene Carter. This was actually released about the same time that he was doing well with the Carlene hits. It also was directly before NRBQ was to release one of their few major-label albums, that being Wild Weekend.  That album was on Virgin Records. This album was a side project during that time. Al actually played most of the instruments on the disc. Some reviews have said it had a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#259 in the Series) is Skeeter Davis and NRBQ, She Sings, They Play. I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t find more videos for this album. This one is really special to me. NRBQ is one of my favorite all time bands. I love when bands do something totally out of their element. That’s what we have here. Skeeter Davis was a country/pop star from the early to mid-sixties. She was best known for the huge hit she had in 1963 called ‘The End of the World.” NRBQ has often been called the world’s best bar band or world’s best garage band etc. They were much more than that. Some of their fans include...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day  is NRBQ’s Grooves in Orbit. This one really fits the bill as NRBQ Grooves in Orbit is indeed a very ‘cool’ album. This one finds the worlds greatest bar band at quite possibly their creative peak. It runs end to end with many tunes that stayed in their live show for years. Decades even. Side one starts with the perfect, “Rain at the Drive In.” A song about a couple that loves to go to the drive in when it’s raining because it’s easier to get the windows to fog. How can you beat that? Just the fact that it’s about a stinkin’ drive in makes it cool! One of my other...