Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer There was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’m not talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hadrosaurus, or even your garden variety Pterodactyls. These dinosaurs wore coats of proggy sounds typified by 20 minute epic-length, multi-movement suites of music. These were dinosaurs that went by names like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, PFM, The Moody Blues and Yes. There was no pretention in what they were doing, yet many of them were very, very pretentious. And if you were a rock fan of the 1970s, you ate it up. You loved it. There was nothing better. But a funny thing happened...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Midnight At The Oasis” by Maria Muldaur You either loved it…or you completely loathed it, but there’s no doubt that if you were around in 1974, you could not avoid Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight At The Oasis.” Today’s Song Of The Day was released on Muldaur’s eponymously titled first solo album which soared all the way to the #3 position on the Billboard charts on the wings of this David Nichtern-penned top-ten single. Yet, most people don’t know much about Maria Muldaur before she sent her camel to bed in back in 1973. Muldaur’s maiden name was Maria D’Amato and she got her start performing as a member of the Even...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Speak To Me/Breathe/On The Run/Time by Pink Floyd So Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon hit its 40th anniversary this past week,  and not only did most of us know upon first hearing it that it was a classic, but it has also held up awfully well over the years. The anniversary got me thinking about some of my favorite records from 1973. Back then, a new record was a much anticipated event. Sure, I still look forward to some new releases (like the new Bowie album, coming out this week), but with the advent of downloaded music, it’s nearly impossible to have a cultural moment anymore just by...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lemmings Lament” by National Lampoon “Welcome to the Woodshuck Memorial Festival: Three Days Of Peace, Love And Death!” So began one of the funniest and spot-on parodies of the Woodstock generation with this announcement made by none other than John Belushi. Lemmings was performed as a stage show by National Lampoon in 1973, and not only launched the career of Belushi, but also introduced many of us to Chevy Chase, Tony Hendra and Christopher Guest. The show opened at the Village Gate, in New York City, on January 25, 1973, and ran for 350 performances. It included a then-unknown John Belushi performing a parody of Joe Cocker on the song...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#820 in the Series) is Doug Sahm, Doug Sahm and his Band Doug Sahm was Americana Roots Rock before the respective terms even existed.  A multi –instrumentalist child prodigy, his career going all the back to the Louisiana Hayride in the 50’s appearing with the likes of Hank Williams, Web Pierce, and Hank Thompson , Sahm was first and foremost a band leader. From his early days with The Pharaoh’s, his career defining stint with The Sir Douglas Quintet where they released the hit “She’s About a Mover” along with the California classic “Mendocino,” and the subsequent forming of the Tex –Mex Travelling Wiburys, The Texas Tornados that featured Flaco Jiminez, Augie...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” by The Seldom Scene They sure love their bluegrass in Virginia! I lived in Alexandria for five years, and during that time I was exposed lots of great bluegrass music via a weekly local Sunday morning radio show. As is still the case now, the best venue to go see live bluegrass music was at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. And from the late ‘60s through the late ‘80s, The Seldom Scene played there every Thursday night to mostly sold out audiences with guest like Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, John Prine, Lowell George and Vince Gill sitting in. I was saddened to hear of...

      Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Easy Money” by King Crimson – Nothing can match the rush you get from hearing a newly remastered version of a record you’ve lived with for nearly 40 years, especially if the remastering job is done right. It’s all about the nuances you never knew were there that magically appear, making something that had been so ingrained in your memory sound brand new again. Such was the blissed out rush I experienced this morning on my way to work when I listened to the just re-released King Crimson album Lark’s Tongue In Aspic. In the ever changing world of Crimson lineups, this one came to be after the...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Sad Song” by Lou Reed When Lou Reed’s Berlin came out in 1973, it was met with a huge shrug. Hot off the heels of “Walk On The Wild Side” success and the Transformer album produced by David Bowie, Reed worked with producer Bob Ezrin who had a taste for the absurd and theatrical. Departure is an understatement describing what Reed and Ezrin delivered to the American public. A story about a suicidal mother who was a hooker and her boyfriend wasn’t exactly easy listening, although, nobody having any knowledge about Reed’s past with The Velvet Underground should have been surprised that he could, or would, deliver such a morbid,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#365 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from Heartsfield Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday Dear “Cool Album of the Day.” Happy Birthday to You!!!  Well, not exactly.  This is our 365th entry. So we’re going to call this our birthday! Yeah, we may have started a little over a year ago but we did miss a few days early, but since this is # 365, it’s our birthday. Keeping that in mind, I’m going to feature another album by my dear friends, Heartsfield. Yes, we’ll be getting back to some more current goodies very soon, but since it’s our birthday, I’m going to give myself this gift...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#749 in the Series) is The Sons of Champlin, Welcome to the Dance The Sons of Champlin were one of the most original bands to come out of the San Francisco ‘scene’ of the the late 1960’s. Headed up by Bill Champlin, they performed regularly at The Fillmore West and Avalon Ballroom, along with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Tower of Power, among others. Their first album release was in 1969, Loosen Up Naturally, which featured a great hippie anthem, “Get High.” Two more releases for Capitol Records followed, after which the band was on the verge of breaking up, mainly due to personnel issues. A certain San Francisco “hippie” who...