George Harrison “All Things Must Pass”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#418 in the Series)is George Harrison, All Things Must Pass I know I’ve mentioned the purpose of the Whale Wednesday Series. Yeah, the plan was to feature some of the bigger releases and give them some representation on the site as well. However I meant that to mean “bigger” in regards to profile or sales etc. I didn’t intend it to mean the actual size of the recording! So here we have one that fits the term ‘Huge’ on a couple fronts. The first of those being that it was recorded by George Harrison along with some well-known friends. The second being how well this was accepted. All Things Must Pass sold over...
Bruce Springsteen “Born To Run”
Today’s Cool Album Of The Day (#411 in the Series) is Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run I guess there’s really only one album that would be appropriate for today’s feature, and that would be Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Born to Run. We lost “The Big Man” this past weekend, and I think this album was the recording that showcased his talents the best. We’re presenting it as a tribute to him. I remember when I first heard of this album. I was a teenager and my girlfriend at the time had a bunch of biker brothers. (What the heck was I thinking?) One of them lived at home (sometime) and had what I thought was a really cool...
Crosby & Nash “Another Stoney Evening”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#407 in the Series) is Crosby & Nash, Another Stoney Evening. This release recorded on October 10, 1971 was making the rounds as a bootleg until the proper release in 1998. Self-described by David Crosby in the audience patter as “the loosest show on earth”, the album at times has the feel of two friends playing the guitar for friends by the campfire, and at other times sounds like two angels harmonizing in Heaven. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young had just broken up, Neil Young going off to form the band Crazy Horse, and Stephen Stills forming a group of super musicians collectively known as Manassas, leaving the two better vocalists of the...
Aerosmith “Toys In The Attic”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#404 in the Series) is Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic. Well, it took 404 entries into our little project here, but we’ve finally gotten around to featuring Aerosmith. I many could say that they’re one of the State’s best bands. I know that’s easily debatable. One thing that I don’t think is debatable is that they are one of the State’s best hard rock bands. Me personally? I’m not the one to say much about who’s who in the hard rock genre. It’s not near the top of my list of favorites, but there was a period when I was into Aerosmith for a while. This was that period along with the albums...
Leon Russell “Leon Russell”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#402 in the Series) is Leon Russell. The year was 1970, the 23 year old British Singer-Songwriter who had recently changed his name to Elton John, in his first American concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Ca, was nervously sitting at his piano bench, about to start “Sixty Years On”, gazing over the packed- in audience in wonderment that all these people were here to see him, when he paused and noticed Leon Russell was in the house. This was 40 years before Elton would collaborate with his idol and one of the original “piano men” and release the excellent The Union album. This was also before the “ Rocket Man” became...
Talking Heads “Stop Making Sense”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#400 in the Series and #36 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense Yes, you read it correctly. Today marks the 400th entry to “Cool Album of the Day.” Wow, already. I’d get schmaltzy but I’ll save that for #500. I try to find something a little special for all the milestone numbers. I think I’ve done a pretty decent job finding one for #400. I remember Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense being a huge, huge deal when it was released in 1984. The concert form which this was taken was from December 1983. The main reason that this was hugely talked about was that it accompanied a...
The Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#397 in the Series) is The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers Before I go into a quick recap on The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers, let me take a moment to once again discuss what Whale Wednesdays are all about. As you most likely know, we here at Cool Album of the Day like to showcase many albums from different genres. Since most of you are real audiophiles, most of the time you’ll be seeing titles that you know, but not always. I’m sure most of you specialize in one area or another. Hopefully you’re seeing some names that you may not be familiar with at all, or most likely, you’ll see names that you’ve...
ZZ Top “Eliminator”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#391 in the Series and #14 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is ZZ Top, Eliminator. Is Eliminator my favorite ZZ Top release, oh heck no. My vote would always by placed on one of the earlier, more guitar driven more blues based offerings. I’m featuring Eliminator because it truly was a “Whale.” No, it wasn’t a number one album, far from it. It actually only made it up to #9 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. I don’t care where this charted, this was a HUGE album. This album was all over the radio during the summer of 1983. ZZ Top was clearly an established act when this was released in March....
Paul McCartney and Wings “Band on the Run”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#384 in the Series, and #13 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is Paul McCartney and Wings, Band on the Run Whenever I do one of these write-ups I first give the album a listen. Heck, some of them I haven’t heard in quite some time. I try to look for an angle on what to say. You really don’t have to try to think of which angle you want. I just let something come into my head. What comes to you first when you give a listen? What came to my first with this one was “underrated.” I didn’t see that one coming, but when I listened to this one again I was...
Mick Jagger Forms New Supergroup Called “Super Heavy”
Mick Jagger has reportedly formed a supergroup called Super Heavy with Joss Stone, Damian Marley, Eurythmics‘ Dave Stewart and the Oscar-winning musician and producer behind the score for Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman. An unnamed source told the New York Post that Super Heavy “Just finished a record and their first video and are talking to major labels about a deal.” Another unnamed reports that, “Each member has a very distinct and different style, but it works. Mick has been recording with Dave for a while, and both worked with Joss in the past.” Although it has been reported the group have made a music promo, Jagger insists they haven’t looked that far ahead yet. The legendary rocker claims he...
