Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#477 in the Series) is the first Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. I’ve always been a huge fan of these Ringo Starr All-Starr tours. I think they are just a fantastic idea. Besides being a fantastic drummer, Ringo’s a smart man. He knows he doesn’t have the body of work, vocally, to front a tour that will allow him access to large venues.  So he fills out his band with well-known musicians and they take the lead also during the show. Great idea, but what makes it even better is the musicians that Mr. Starkey takes on the road with hi. He always picks some really interesting people.  I don’t think...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#444 in the Series) is the self-titled 1982 release from Utopia 1982 was a weird year for Utopia. They switched record labels and were now on “Network Records.” You never heard of them you say? Not surprising, this was the only album they released. At least the one they did decide to release was a fantastic piece of music. This was my favorite version of Utopia, Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, John ‘Willie’ Wilcox and Kasim Sulton.  I’ve always like Utopia better than Todd solo because it featured more vocals by Kasim. I think he has a great voice. Yes, I know there were a ton of guests on this disc, but we know...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#427 in the Series) is Luther Vandross, Give Me The Reason In late 1985, early 1986 I had a chance to see Luther Vandross in Chicago at Rosemont Horizon.  Well, at least I think that’s where it was.  That was a long time ago. He was just about ready to cross over.  That’s one thing I remember about the concert. He was still just a Soul/R+ B star at that time. I know for sure that he hadn’t crossed over yet!  I do remember it was a great concert. Besides Luther, The Isley Brothers and Starpoint were also on the bill. It was fun seeing Ernie Isley wale on that classic solo on...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#380 in the Series, and #33 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Hall and Oates, Live at the Apollo. Hall and Oates was a white hot hit machine when they decided to release this live album. They had just had some nice success with their Rock and Soul Pt. 1 greatest hits album and its follow-up, Big Bam Boom. Always known as blue-eyed soul, they decided to take the soul part of that mix and record their first live album at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. They brought some friends along to help make it a success, not just any friends either. They being, the Temptation’s Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#184 in the Series) is the soundtrack to the movie, Rock and Roll High School. ”Gabba, Gabba, Hey!! Just pure silly fun in the movie and on the soundtrack! I started today’s choosing by looking at the Ramone’s catalog and tried to make a decision. I just couldn’t find one album to feature! So I decided to do something slightly different. So today’s album is the soundtrack to Rock and Roll High School. It’s features mostly songs by the Ramones, but has a couple other goodies in there as well. Tons of Ramones here. ‘Blitzkrieg Bop, I Wanna Be Sedated, She’s the One, Rock and Roll High School, Sheena is a Punk Rocker,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#172 in the Series and #2 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Todd Rundgren, Back to the Bars. Adventures in Utopia is the Todd album that I’ve spun the most. I would have to say that a close second would be Back to the Bars. Back to the Bars was released shortly after Hermit of Mink Hallow in 1978. It’s a Utopia live album with a bunch of friends joining in on the fun. Double album, four sides of various tunes from Todd as a solo artist and of his work with Utopia. Highlights are many.  Here’s what I’d recommend.  Real Man, Love of the Common Man, Love in Action, Black Maria,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#159 in the Series) is the Kinks, State of Confusion. We’re running with the Kinks today.  I wonder what they’re running away from on that cover anyway.  I guess it was the graffiti, again! They also used a graffiti themed cover on the previous release, Give the People What They Want. State of Confusion was more later day Kinks.  This release was an album that I really liked. They were still putting out good music until the end.  Ray Davies continues to get it done to this day. His album from a few years ago, Working Man’s Café, is brilliant. But I digress. State of Confusion actually had the highest charting single in...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#117 in the Series) is Mandy Moore, Coverage. I told you I’d pull out some weird things on this blog. Well I bet this one really blows your mind! Back to Ms. Moore. I bet your saying ‘What the ^%$( is he smoking!’ But take a look at this album. It’s an album full of cover tunes. (How many of those have we seen the past few years?) But what makes this one interesting is the song list that she chooses. Her performance of these songs was quite good. Some not so much but others were pretty solid. But let’s look at the songs. I was shocked when I saw this list. She...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Utopia’s, “Adventures in Utopia” For those of you that don’t know, Utopia is a band led by Philadelphia native, Todd Rundgren. He was joined by Roger Powell on keys, John ‘Willie’ Wilcox on drums and Kasim Sultan on bass. Everybody sang. This was their release of 1980. They were just spitting out the music back then. And Todd, well he was at one of his busiest periods between mid 70’s and say, 1983. Some of my favorite music by him was done during that time. ‘Adventures in Utopia’ follows my pattern of, ‘The tour I saw was often my favorite album by that artist.’ But I’m not sure which was the chicken...