Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#445 in the Series) is the debut, self-titled debut from America America? Cool? I say heck yeah, especially this album. This was 1971. I remember walking up to Roseland Music Store and buying my first ‘45s’ ever. In fact, they were just about the only 45s I even bought. I went pretty much right into albums. That day, however, I did by two. They were two songs by two artists that I think we’re very similar at this time. They were America, “Horse With No Name,” and Neil Young, “Heart of Gold.” Similar, at this stage of their music, absolutely. Listen to Horse With No Name and tell me that that couldn’t be...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#432 in the Series) is John Mellencamp, Scarecrow I was not even close to being a John Mellencamp fan when this was released. I was not even close to ever being interested in buying one of his  albums and definitely was never interested in buying a John Cougar album either.  I will admit that the long version of “I Need a Lover” isn’t too bad; I’ll give him that one. As time went on, I started reading that John wasn’t a big fan of some of the other things either, and he especially wasn’t a fan of the way Riva Records wanted to package him as some a pop star. He’d write and...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#417 in the Series) is Fire Town, The Good Life It’s funny how you can really like an album, then over time completely forget about. Then all of a sudden, you see something catches your eye or you run across it in your collection and you jump up and it all comes back to you, and you wonder why you ever let it get away.  For me, Fire Town, The Good LIfe is the perfect example of that. I really liked this release and then.. it was gone for years, but now it’s back. So who is Fire Town? Were you a fan of this great pop act back in the late 80s?...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#393 in the Series) is Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like A Wheel Laurel Canyon is a stretch of Los Angeles wonderland that runs through the Hollywood Hills from the Sunset Strip to the San Fernando Valley. That curving, stretching, boulevard of hipness and “California Noir” is where Carole King escaped to create her “Tapestry” masterpiece.  It was in Laurel Canyon, while living on Lookout Mountain with Joni Mitchell, that Graham Nash wrote “Our House”.  Leading the “Soft Parade” of Laurel Canyon artists, musicians, singers, and songwriters that included Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Warren Zevon, The Mamas and the Papas, the various incarnations of The Flying Burrito Brothers including Gram Parsons, most of The Eagles,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#360 in the Series) is Jackson Browne, The Naked Ride Home This album is generally not considered to be the best Jackson Brown album. That honor belongs to the The Pretender, or Running on Empty, depending on your tastes, or for my mine, Saturate Before Using, which contains two of my favorite songs, “Doctor My Eyes”, and “Rock Me on the Water.” The Naked Ride Home, released in 2002, peaked at number 36 on the billboard charts, and was highly anticipated since Browne had not released a new album since 1996, the six years between records representing the longest recording gap in his career. Some critics have dismissed this collection, complaining that these...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#352 in the Series, and #29 in the Live, Saturday Night  Series) is Three Dog Night, Around the World With Three Dog Night. Yes, you read the title correctly. Today’s Cool Album is indeed Three Dog Night! I was about 14 when this was released, and I loved it. Around the World With Three Dog Night was a double live album. It was released in 1973.  It was actually their second live album, it followed Captured Live at the Forum from 1969. Forum was a short single album. For some odd reason it has been available for many years while Around the World has been a cut-out for decades.  In fact, I don’t...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#349 in the Series) is Carole King, Tapestry. There has always been one thing that I’d love to know about an artist like Carole King, and about her writing her masterpiece Tapestry.  That is, do you really know what you’re writing when you write an album like this? Meaning, this just wasn’t your run of the mill singer-songwriter album.  This was indeed a masterpiece of music.  Did Carole know that this was something special? Did she know that although she’d written a ton of hits, mostly for others, that this was just different?  I really don’t know how to answer that.  I’d love to hear what you think. Please share your ideas below.  I’m betting she...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#328 in the Series) is the self-titled album from Joan Armatrading. There are so many great Joan Armatrading albums in which to choose.  I almost went with Show Some Emotion, since I think that’s my favorite song from this British singer-songwriter.  I also could have gone with later works such as Me, Myself I or Walk Under Ladders, also great works.  In fact, I’m sure through time, we’ll get to them as well. Today however, it’s her self-titled third album, Joan Armatrading. She did have two earlier releases but this was the first time she tasted success, sales-wise.  It was the first album that really let me hear her voice and songs as...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#324 in the Series) is Drive-By Truckers, Southern Rock Opera This is really an interesting project.  Drive-By Truckers had been around since 1996. They had released three albums. None that would make them household names, not even “trailerhold” names. For years they (actually mostly band leader Patterson Hood) had been thinking about a project that would eventually go a long way to raising their popularity to what it is now. That would be the double album Southern Rock Opera.  It was a tribute to the rock music of the south, leaning heavily toward Lynyrd Skynyrd.  It would not just feature Skynyrd, but southern rock and southern lifestyles in general. As alluded to earlier,...

By Larry Carta, March 13, 2011 One of the best parts about publishing this website is getting turned onto new bands, new albums, new music. Today I’m going to spotlight a new album by a band from Nashville, Tn. Let me introduce you to Ashley Beth, Dave Beth, Al Plourde, Russ Dean and Dan Leveillee. Collectively, they’re known as Sugar Lime Blue. Yes, I indeed did mention Nashville. However this is not a country act.  Sit back, close your eyes and think about artists like the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Edie Brickell and even Renaissance’s Annie Haslam. Now mix them  in with R & B acts Al Green, Bill Withers, maybe some Otis etc. Ok, now you have the idea!...