Jesus Christ Superstar – Original London Cast
Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the Original London Cast recording of Jesus Chris Superstar. It”s now our Cool Album of the Day every Easter Sunday. Don’t give me the knock-offs. Give me the original 1971 release featuring Ian Gillian as Jesus. I remember playing the hell out of this back in the day. To me this has always been the definitive version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera. It’s the Original London Concept Recording. Yes, I also realize that the story told in the opera ends on Good Friday. We still feel that it’s fitting for Easter Sunday. The music here is absolutely brilliant. It includes some wonderful performances from Deep Purple lead vocalist Ian Gillan...
The Kinks “The Kinks Present a Soap Opera”
Today’s Kool Album of the Day (#773 in the Series) is The Kinks, The Kinks Present a Soap Opera Kronikling a Kool & Kollectable Kinks Klassic “The Kinks Present A Soap Opera” Emerging on the first tidal wave of the British Invasion, The Kinks quickly established themselves as one of the greatest bands to kome out of London. Rather than following the footsteps of Liverpool’s Finest, like so many other akts who kopied the Merseybeat and Liverpudlian sounds, The Kinks took about defining a sound that remains unique in Pop and Rock musik. Along with Amerikan producer Shel Talmy, The Kinks went on to kreate The POWERKHORD … even beating The Who-> to play the first POWERKHORD with...
Ian Anderson “Thick As a Brick 2″ (aka TAAB2)”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#691 in the Series) is Ian Anderson’s, Thick as a Brick2 (aka TAAB2) The question certainly could be fairly posed as to whether I am a suitable person to review this most recent outing from Ian Anderson (notably not Jethro Tull, a point itself worth addressing given the original’s importance to the band’s 44-year history). I say this for a reason. All of the following would be true of me: A fan of the band since 1970, and an out-and-out fanatic since one night in 1972 after viewing their staggering performance of the original in Chicago, an individual who, until cutting back to maybe three in the past six years has seen...
The Baseball Project “Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#675 in the Series) is The Baseball Project, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails Somewhere, probably with one heck of a backing band, Steve Goodman is performing his annual rite of spring, “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” for “The Man in Charge” in his annual attempt to bring positive Mojo to the Chicago Cubs and at long last bring a championship to one of the most storied franchises in all of baseball. It is in this reverential spirit that the collective group of artists known as The Baseball Project was formed and released the album Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. The Baseball Project is a concept group united...
Aphrodite’s Child “666”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#666 in the Series) is Aphrodite’s Child, 666 Well you knew we’d have to come up with something special for entry #666 didn’t you? Ok, you my friend are correct. I remember always looking at this album when I’d walk past it at good ol’ Hegewisch Records. For some odd reason, it always seemed to be in front of the bin, staring at you, challenging you to pick it up and look at it. The bright scarlet red cover with those giant black outlined 666 letters just jumped out at you. It was kind of spooky actually. Then when you finally did pick it up you were surprised. It was darn heavy!...
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Will The Circle Be Unbroken-Vol. II”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#588in the Series) is The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume II. Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol II is, obviously, the follow up to the 1971 album. If you’re not familiar with the two, they were a pair of albums released by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that featured a roomful of guest stars. The original album gave us names like Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, Vassar Clements etc. Volume II continued the tradition. Some wonderful names are on this release. Here we find, Johnny Cash, Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, EmmyLou Harris, Levon Helm, John Denver (Before he made a big splash), John Hiatt, John Prine, Rosanne Cash, Randy Scruggs, Roger...
Neil Young “Tonight’s The Night”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Neil Young, Tonight’s The Night. Happy 65th birthday wishes go out to Neil Young today as we feature his touching album Tonight’s The Night. Neil lost two close friends to drug deaths, only about six months apart. One was the guitarist of his backing band, Crazy Horse, Danny Whitten. The other, Bruce Berry, was a long time roadie for Neil. Bruce was also the brother to Jan, of ‘Jan and Dean’ fame. Much of this album was a direct response to those losses. Both of those men died shortly before Neil started writing this album. Bruce Berry is mentioned by name in the title track while Danny Whitten can be heard on...
Roy Buchanan “You’re Not Alone”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#381 in the Series) is Roy Buchanan, You’re Not Alone. Many of you are aware of Roy Buchanan. In fact, we’ve featured him once before. You probably know him as this guitar slinging blues player with the fastest licks in the business. This would be true, but this album is a little different. Yes, he still plays those killer notes. The music still has some blues base to it, but this was still quite different. OK, what makes it different? Firstly, Roy tackles some pretty well known cover tunes on this record. He plays Neil Young’s” Down By the River” and Joe Walsh’s “Turn to Stone.” Another interesting aspect here was the use...
David Bowie “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#238 in the Series) is David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (aka Ziggy Stardust) was David Bowie’s epic, 1972 release. There was also a concert film of the same name a year later. It only reached #75 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. I fared much better in his home UK were it reached #5. ‘Starman’ was the only US single, peaking at 65. Accolades #35 Best Album on the Rolling Stone Top 500 Best Albums of All Time #20 Best Album of time in a ‘Music of the Millenium’ poll conducted...
Genesis “Duke”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#236 in the Series) is Genesis, Duke. I’ve always loved the Duke album. Not every track is great like most of the early works, but from start to finish, Duke was a darn strong Genesis effort. It should be listed to in its entirety. The songs play together as a story. It opens with the great ‘Behind The Lines’ and segues thru ‘Duchess’ and ‘Guide Vocal. Man of our Times’ is another great song. Side two opens with another great side opener, ‘Turn it on Again.’ It ends with the reprise tinged ‘Duke’s Travels’ and ‘Duke’s End.’ If you’ll notice I’ve deliberately left out mentioning one song. It also was left off the video montage...
