Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Toki’s Theme” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet Ever since the news broke about Dave Brubeck’s passing earlier this week, I’ve been mourning the only way record geeks like myself know how to, grab all of the music you own by the artist and start listening. I’m a serious record collector who has been at it now for over 40 years. In that time, I think I’ve amassed a pretty well-rounded and eclectic collection of music suitable for any mood. I became aware of Brubeck’s music many years ago, but didn’t buy my first records by him (which were Take Five and At Carnegie Hall) until the early 1980s when I...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Good Year For The Roses” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions – They were young, drunk, marketed as punk rockers and cut loose in Nashville, Tennessee, behaving very badly. Such was the backdrop for Elvis Costello and the Attraction’s album-length foray into straight-ahead Country music back in 1981. Costello was coming off a white-hot streak of records including 1977’s My Aim Is True, followed by “This Year’s Model” in 1978, Armed Forces in 1979, and both Trust and the 20-track Get Happy record in 1980, all stuffed to the gills with self-penned classic songs. Add to that the 20-track Taking Liberties album that gathered up the rest of the stray...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#820 in the Series) is Led Zeppelin, Celebration Day  OK, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and make a statement that will have Led Zep fans loathing my very existence. The Led Zeppelin of the 2007 reunion show and recent Celebration Day DVD/CD are so much better in every way than the Led Zeppelin of The Song Remains The Same circa 1973. Or, at least, the slightly touched up Led Zep of 2007 is better. While it’s tough to compare a band that’s fresh off of releasing an album like Houses Of The Holy with a bunch of semi-retired veterans who have remained somewhat active over the years with various...

  One of the things that many music websites do this time of year is publish what they call “The Best Albums of year..blah blah blah.” All I have to say is, if you claim your list is a best of, then you better have heard every album that was released. I read a ton of these lists and I know for sure, these people are deciding on what is a best of and they haven’t come close to doing enough homework. Yes, we’re putting out a list as well. But we’re calling it our “Favorite Albums of 2011. I know darn well that I didn’t hear nearly enough to think that I what I have to say is...