Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1034 in the Series)  is Bob Dylan’s 1975 release, Blood On The Tracks. “A lot of people tell me that they really enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that, you know. I mean, people enjoying that type of pain ?” – Bob Dylan. It’s one of the most famous quotes in rock music history and he was referring, of course, to people’s reaction to “Blood On The Tracks,” not only his own personal best album but one of the greatest ever made, by anyone. Bob being Bob though, he also came out later and denied that the songs on the album were based on his own life, marriage or...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1007 in the Series) is Bob Dylan, Modern Times. About twelve years ago I had a chance to visit upstate New York on a business trip. My journey would start in Albany, continue day by day west.  I’d spend a day in Utica, Syracuse, Rochester and eventually Buffalo.  After l landed in Albany I met up with a few other ‘soon be’ friends that would make the same trip. When we arrived in Buffalo, ‘Tom’ jokingly suggested that next year, we should rent a Winnebago. We could all save on rental cars and hotel rooms. I added, ‘Yeah, we could call ourselves the Rolling Thunder Review!’ Of course we never did, even though...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#975 in the Series) is Warren Zevon, The Wind In the final episode of season 2 of the hit Showtime series Californication, down on his self-inflicted luck, writer Hank Moody has just finished a book project and is ready to begin his post-project ritual. “Every time I finish a book, It’s Whiskey, Weed and Warren Zevon, It’s the little things” he says, while ”Keep Me in your Heart” plays delicately in the background. “Keep Me In Your Heart” is the emotional core of The Wind, the last album that Warren Zevon made prior to his death of lung cancer in September of 2003. The album was already in the works in late August...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#959 in the Series) is Sebastian Cabot, actor; Bob Dylan, poet. A Dramatic Reading with Music.  ..Like one of our favorite comedy troupes once proclaimed…”And Now For Something Completely Different.” You’d be hard pressed to find something as different as this. What I like about this album is the fact that it’s of course a novelty album, a “what the heck, why not album” yet it has a redeeming quality that makes me actually like it on a non-novelty level. It is just what the title says it is. It’s the late actor Sebastian Cabot giving a dramatic reading to Bob Dylan’s lyrics. Mr Cabot is probably best known at least here...

Today’s Cool Album the Day (#945 in the Series) is Al Kooper, Stephen Stills, Mike Bloomfied, Super Session. Blues, Blues, Blues. Blues at its best. This album was a project put together by Al Kooper. Al had just left Blood, Sweat and Tears. It was 1968. He recruited Mike Bloomfield to play guitar for this project.  They had known each other since playing together on Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 revisited.  He also had Stephen Sills in on the project. Still was in the process of leaving The Buffalo Springfield at the time. Al Kooper played the VERY well-known keyboard part in ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ In fact, he got the gig mostly by accident.  He was invited to the...

  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 (#922 in the sSeries) is Nanci Griffith, Other Voices, Other Rooms Nanci Griffith, much like John Prine, is one of those artists that flies just under our musical radar much of the time. Even though she sounds very much like her, she does not have the name recognition of Emmylou Harris. She can stand quill for quill on the songwriting medal stand with Joni Mitchell yet you probably can’t name a song she has written, and she even has a bit of that sultry,girl next door vibe going on that we saw with Linda Ronstadt back in the day. Appearing on the scene in 1978 with her debut album There’s a Light...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan and his Band from the “Americanarama Festival” 2013 We live in the day and age of festivals. For music fans, festivals offer bang for the buck providing the opportunity to see numerous bands that you might not ever get to see otherwise at one time and in one place. For musicians, they open up the possibility of gaining a wider audience, particularly with festivals like the annual Pitchfork Music Festival that will be taking place here in Chicago next weekend. With a roster consisting of mostly up and coming artists, Pitchfork provides a bonanza for inquiring fans who want to discover music they’ve...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Just Dropped In” by Tom Jones Tom Jones just released his 40th album this week called Spirit In The Room. It was released last May in England and has finally gained a release stateside. It is also the second “mortality” album he’s released in a row. The “mortality album” occurs when a rapidly aging heritage artist is matched with a hip (younger) producer, who in this case is Ethan Johns. (Johns was also at the helm for his last “mortality album” Praise And Blame.) The producer acts as a mentor to the artist and who curates the record by choosing the songs that not only will give the artist credibility with...

Now this sounds like fun. A great blend of some fine music from multi-generations of greatness. The AmericanaramA Festival of Music, coming this summer, with Bob Dylan and his Band, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket, with special guests at select shows including Richard Thompson Electric Band and Ryan Bingham. 26 dates have been confirmed. They’re listen below. Tickets on sale starting this Wednesday!     ——————————————————————————————————————————— Jun 26, 2013 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre with WILCO and My Morning Jacket ————————— Jun 27, 2013 Tampa, FL Live Nation Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds with WILCO and My Morning Jacket ————————– Jun 29, 2013 Atlanta, GA Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood with WILCO and My Morning Jacket ————————– Jun...