Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#879 in the Series) is Aztec Camera, Frestonia This is not only a cool album, but a very cool “must listen to album.” Roddy Frame was the genius behind the project called Aztec Camera he started at age 17. They released six records as a band, with interchangeable parts and he was central in songwriting, playing and producing. I have all six and only discovered this early this year, even though it was released in late 1995, and is the last Aztec Camera record, but in my humble opinion, their best. If you have a short attention span, take tracks one, eight and ten for a spin and you will be hooked enough...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#710 in the Series) is The Finn Brothers, Finn The Finn brothers are Neil and Tim Finn who were an integral part of Split Enz and they also collaborated on one Crowded House record, Woodface. But their first release as a duo came out in 1995 and was made up of a bunch of cool songs they put together over the years but never released. This 11 song record was done almost entirely (writing and music) by the siblings and contained some well written and creative tracks that were either too good or not good enough for the two aforementioned groups. Actually some were perhaps too personal, as many song’s lyrics told...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#586 in the Series) is Todd Rundgren (TR-i), The Individualist. Todd Rundgren’s ever-changing diversity is often hard to keep up with and difficult to follow and, with the birth of TR-i (Todd Rundgren interactive) in 1993, he reinvented himself yet again, this time as an artist wanting to share sound and vision with fans in an intimate fashion. His first venture into his TR-i persona, “No World Order”, was mostly centered around producing a CD-i in which the listener could interact with the music in a non-linear fashion. It represented a chance for Todd to reinvent himself while providing an opportunity for the listener to talk back to the music. Todd basically used this moniker as a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#359 in the Series) is BoDeans, Joe Dirt Car. Today we once again take a look at a live album. As you probably know, we only do this on Saturdays.  This one is from the Waukesha, Wisconsin band the BoDeans. The BoDeans hit the scene in the mid-80s.  They’re still going strong today.  They are led by two front men, guitar vocalists Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas.  After those two, it’s been a complete revolving door.  It didn’t start off that way. They were a pretty stable band from the start to the early-90s.  Bassist Bob Griffin was around for a long time as well. To me, The BoDeans started off strongly. I...

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 (#251 in the Series) is Wilco, AM. Today we’re featuring Wilco’s 1995 debut album, AM. Even though the band has been producing great music for years, I still prefer their debut.  This one was a little more ‘Americana/Alt-Country-ish’ that suited my tastes.   If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen. AM did not chart. Those days would come soon enough. (I know, short and sweet today. We’ll have more to say tomorrow.) Here’s all the info. Track listing All songs written by Jeff Tweedy unless otherwise noted. 1. “I Must Be High” – 2:59 2. “Casino Queen” – 2:45 3. “Box Full of Letters” – 3:05 4. “Shouldn’t Be Ashamed” – 3:28...