Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#967 in the Series) is Traffic, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. Back in 1986, my friend Bruce Embree and I went to see Steve Winwood in concert. He was touring in support of his Back In The High Life album.  We had second row-center seats.  That was a treat considering I nabbed them via phone order!!   On the way to the show we had discussed ‘what were our chances to hear any Traffic tunes?’ This was one of the first solo Winwood tours that I had remembered. We certainly had not seen him before.  So we weren’t sure what to expect. Some artists will play quite a number of songs from...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#960) is Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Live Rust If I read it one more time I’m going to hurl.  Now what would that be? Well that would be that Live Rust was recorded on Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s tour supporting Rust Never Sleeps. No, No a million times no! Most of Live Rust was recorded at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on October 22, 1978.  Rust Never Sleeps was released,  June, July  1979. Live Rust was released on Nov., 1979.  How wrong is the statement that Live Rust was recorded to support Rust Never Sleeps? Well, some of Rust Never Sleeps was recorded during the Live Rust tour. Live Rust was...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#929 in the Series) is Donald Fagen, The Nightfly I never would’ve thought that my favorite Steely Dan album wouldn’t even be a Steely Dan album. But as strange as that may seem my favorite work by Mr. Donald Fagan is his first solo album called The Nighfly.  It can’t be considered a Steely Dan album because it does not include Fagen’s longtime band partner Walter Becker, but I’ve enjoyed this work more than any of the Dan projects so that’s really what I’m getting at. One of the complaints that I often hear about Steely Dan is that their albums are so perfectly recorded, so perfectly produced, that they actually become...

  Yes, you read that headline correctly. The full nearly four hour performance of the 1976 Thanksgiving night concert by The Band has made it’s way to the public. It includes, previously unreleased tunes by The Band such as “WS Wolcott Medicince Show,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Arcadian Driftwood,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and also “The Weight” which in the film was represented only by the live in studio version. No overdubs here either. Songs by some of the guest stars include “Hazel” by Bob Dylan, “Four Strong Winds” by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young and “Coyote” also by Joni. “Don’t Do It”, which opens the performance part of the movie is also shown in its rightful place as the...

    Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#924 in the Series) is The Allman Brothers Band, Idlewild South. Idlewild South was the second and last of the two  “true” Allman Brothers Band albums. They’ve had many, many great albums, but the first two are always considered the only “true” Allman Brothers, meaning, Duane and Gregg were both included. I’ve also read more than one review that has called this the best studio album that band ever produced.   As mentioned, this was the last full studio album that included the great Duane Allman. He would lose his life in a motorcycle accident while recording the follow up, Eat a Peach.  Of course it didn’t end there either. Original...

Today’s Cool Album of the day (#918 in The Series) is the debut self-titled solo release from Steve Winwood. When discussing Steve Winwood’s solo albums the first one that’s usually mentioned Is Back in the High Life. That indeed was a huge album for “Stevie” and deserves all the praise it received. The 1986 release peaked at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and won Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance along with an engineering award.  “Higher Love” was a #1 single. Arc of a Diver also gets kudos tossed its way. And yes, it’s another good one. As far as hits there was the title cut along with “When You See...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#909 in the Series) is The Who, Live at Leeds.  The Who, Live at Leeds. Is this the motherload of all live albums? I do believe this, when you talk about the best live albums of all time, this is in the team picture.  And I’m just referring to the six song, original release of 1970. That’s it, six raw powerful wonderful rock and roll songs. It was The Who during a great period. This was the tour for Tommy.  They had finished their poppy earlier era and had entered into a rock and roll era with the original band that would last for about eight more years. The six songs on the...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hot Stuff” by The Rolling Stones Today’s Song Of The Day comes from the Rolling Stones’ 1976 album Black And Blue. Next to Goats Head Soup, the album stands as one of the most maligned Rolling Stones releases of the 1970s. That assessment is totally unfair since the album actually is one of the most varied and forward looking records in their catalog, featuring two superb ballads, two terse rockers and several songs that add reggae, soul, funk and disco into the mix. Many of the record’s songs stemmed from studio jams that were recorded while trying out new guitarists to replace Mick Taylor, and guitarists Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen Some of my favorite scenes from The Sopranos are when Tony Soprano is shown driving in his SUV rocking out and singing along to ‘70s tunes, usually by BTO or Journey. Today, I felt a little like Tony Soprano while driving to work, but instead of Journey or BTO, I was listening to one of the greatest albums ever released, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen. A strange and wonderful sensation came over me by the time the title track came on, which will always signal the beginning of Side Two to me even when hearing it on an iPod. “Born To Run” is still...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Melt Away” by Brian Wilson The fact that Brian Wilson’s eponymously titled album was ever completed was seen as nothing short of a miracle back in 1988 when it appeared in the record racks. After more than a decade of inactivity in which Wilson spent most of his time in bed doing nothing, he came under the around the clock care of Dr. Eugene Landy who got him out of bed, put him on an exercise regimen and got him back into the studio. Brian Wilson was pared with Beach Boy aficionado Andy Paley who produced the sessions, however like Murray Wilson (Brian’s dad) before him, Dr. Landy was a constant...