Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1030 in the Series is Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, Herb Alpert Present, Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. I know I’ve mentioned many times in these parts how much of a part my two older sisters (Tina and Judy) played in getting me started on listening to good music. Tina was the older one; she always made sure that she had on “Where The Action Is” or “Shindig” in the afternoons.  She added the first albums to the family record collection that were not my father’s stuff like Al Martino, Mario Lanza or Robertino “The Young Italian Singing Sensation.”  Judy was a little younger and took over from there. She bought me my...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Shake Your Hips” by Slim Harpo This record’s got it all! An insinuating groove that doesn’t quit…otherworldly vocals that spook and caress at the same time…laid bare stripped down production, and the stellar harp playing that gave Slim Harpo his surname. There’s good reason why ‘60s British Invasion groups like The Who, the Yardbirds, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones borrowed so heavily from him. Today’s Song Of The Day is the version of “Shake Your Hips” that The Rolling Stones carbon copied for their Exile On Main Street Album. The following year, ZZ Top revisited the track to form the basis of their first break-out hit “La Grange.” Although this...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Walkin’ The Dog” by Grateful Dead/Record Store Day Recap I’m a dyed in the wool, straight up record collector. I’ve been collecting records for more than 40 years and my thirst for music is pretty much insatiable. Today, I got totally played on by “the man.” I’m talking about “the man” who presses the records I buy. The man that I help keep relevant by going back to the tap and sipping in new music in all different formats. It gives me pleasure and enjoyment. By now, record labels fully how to push record collector buttons to get me back into the record store. They’ve turned record buying into a holiday,...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Wings” by Tim Buckley – My sister is seven years my senior, and growing up she was my biggest musical influence introducing me to artists and albums I would have never otherwise discovered at such a young age. And so it was back in 1972 when she brought Tim Buckley’s album Goodbye And Hello home when I was eleven years old. To be honest, it took me years to actually get into Tim Buckley because the combination of his ethereal brand of psychedelic folk music combined with my young age made the music somewhat incomprehensible to me, and it was enough of an obstacle to keep my interest in his...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#728 in the Series) is The Shadows of Knight, Gloria There’s this great moment during the final encore of Rickie Lee Jones’ “Live at Red Rocks”: she and band are midway through an improvised-sounding reading of Van Morrison’s composition “Gloria” that, to these ears anyway bears as much homage to the Shadows of Knight as Morrison’s Them…and while the band vamps those three indelible chords, she tells the audience, “I was 12 when this song came out and I have never forgotten.  I will never forget!  That’s why I will never get old!”  And I’m like: how true that is! The Shadow’s “Gloria” debuted on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey in mid-February,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#603 in the Series) is the self-titled release from Fred Neil (Capitol) What about old Harry Nilsson, brilliant wasn’t he? Although he was never one for performing live, he more than made up for it by making some superb music in the studio. He was a wonderful singer and an absolutely top-notch songwriter. It’s one of those strange and ironic quirks of fate then that Harry, probably best known to the public at large as the singer of two fantastic hit singles, didn’t actually write either of them himself. Which brings us neatly enough to the main subject of this piece, Fred Neil. Well, in a minute anyway………. Nilsson’s biggest hit, a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#320 in the Series) is Paul Revere and the Raiders, Midnight Ride. This is another album that was a staple during my formative years.  My two older sisters didn’t bring home a ton of albums but this is one that they did.  I played it to death. Well, in all actuality I played “Kicks” to death.  I probably should have had them buy me the 45. It could have saved them some wear on their album. I only learned years later that the song was actually drug related. I just thought it was cool! This, as do many Paul Revere and the Raiders albums, falls into the same formula. That being, “Go ahead boys, feel free...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#308 in the Series and #2 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds. Beach Boys, Pet Sounds and The Beatles, Sgt. Peppers.   I think we know the relationship between these two albums.   If you don’t, really quickly, Pet Sounds was released directly before Sgt. Peppers.  The Beatles were heavily influenced by the  Beach Boys use of structure and over dubbing.  That story is well told, I’m not going to rehash it now.  Paul McCartney has even been quoted as saying that “God Only Knows,” a Pet Sounds single, is his favorite song.  (Hey Paul, if you’re reading… I’d lean towards “Caroline, No” actually.) This was another one of those...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#301 in the Series, and #1 in the new, Whale Wednesday Series) is The Beatles, Revolver Do I really need to say much about Revolver? I don’t think so. So I’ll keep it rather short so you can scroll down and check out some of the videos before the Apple Records minions have them removed! I know quite a few people that call Revolver their favorite Beatles album. Mine is “whichever one I’m currently playing!” I do like where this fits into their chronology. It’s not “early Beatles” it’s not “psychedelic Beatles” (well, maybe a little) and it’s not “later Beatles.”  I believe that’s why so many people like it as much as...