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Crossings (Album of the Day)
A Kennedy Center honoree on this day in 2013, keyboardist Herbie Hancock first came to prominence in Miles Davis' quintet, going solo in the late 1960s as the legendary trumpeter began exploring jazz fusion. Herbie's own exploration of that sound can be heard on a trio of albums he cut for Warner Bros. concluding with 1972's CROSSINGS. That set consists of three epic workouts: Hancock's side-long five-part suite “Sleeping Giant” and saxophonist Bennie Maupin's “Quasar” and “Water Torture.” Though about half of the sextet here are horn players, Patrick Gleeson's Moog and Herbie's work on electric piano and Mellotron steer things straight into outer space. Featuring soundscapes that are by turns beautifully alluring, funky and just plain weird, CROSSINGS is ripe for rediscovery by electronic fans as well as jazz buffs.
Strange Days (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Album of the Day)
Though The Doors’ debut was one of the musical highlights of 1967, it wasn’t the L.A. quartet’s only album that year. STRANGE DAYS followed in September and was another hit, peaking at #3 on the Billboard chart and featuring classics like “Love Me Two Times,” “When The Music’s Over” and the title track. Mixing new songs written on the road with some penned before the band’s debut, the Elektra collection benefits from an increased budget, access to an eight-track recorder and additional time to experiment in the studio. A new 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the platinum-selling set has just arrived in stores; produced by the album’s original engineer, Bruce Botnick, the double CD includes remastered versions of the original stereo and mono mixes of the album along with new liner notes and previously unseen photographs. Doors frontman Jim Morrison was born on this day in 1943, and we’ll wish the Lizard King a happy birthday with STRANGE DAYS.
Vol. 4 (Album of the Day)
"For me, SNOWBLIND was one of Black Sabbath's best-ever albums – although the record company wouldn't let us keep the title,” noted singer Ozzy Osbourne of VOL. 4. The original title track is a nod to the British quartet's cocaine binge during the set's recording at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, but the other nine songs show the band on a creative binge. With the group – guitarist Tony Iommi in particular – taking the reins of production, the arrangements are more varied than ever; from keyboard ballad “Changes” to the thundering “Supernaut” to the neo-classical instrumental “Laguna Sunrise,” this is Sabbath at their most ambitious and eclectic. Released 45 years ago today, VOL. 4 has been cited by the likes of Kerrang! and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time, and we're in total agreement.
PLAYBACK: THE BRIAN WILSON ANTHOLOGY (Album of the Day)
Brian Wilson's eponymous solo debut for Sire in 1988 launched an extended period of renewal for the iconic Beach Boys songwriter. The new Rhino collection PLAYBACK: THE BRIAN WILSON ANTHOLOGY is the performer's first-ever solo career-spanning collection and covers more than 30 years of music with selections from nine of Wilson's solo albums. The set's 18 tracks mix live and studio recordings and feature such highlights as the classic "Love And Mercy," “Heroes And Villains” from the Grammy®-winning BRIAN WILSON PRESENTS SMILE and “Gettin' In Over My Head” from the 2004 album of the same name. PLAYBACK also includes a pair of previously unreleased cuts: "Run James Run," a new song Wilson wrote and recorded for this collection, and "Some Sweet Day," a gem he wrote with Andy Paley in the early 1990s for an unfinished project.
St. Elsewhere (Album of the Day)
Gnarls Barkley couldn't have asked for a better calling card than “Crazy,” the ridiculously catchy lead single from their debut album ST. ELSEWHERE. A U.K. No.1 hit (the first to top that chart based solely on downloads), the song made vocalist CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse the odd couple of the year. While a perfect musical snapshot of 2006, the Atlantic collection remains exciting today, its 13 originals (plus a great cover of Violent Femmes' “Gone Daddy Gone”) a head-spinning mix of hip-hop, R&B and alternative rock peppered with highly imaginative samples. The platinum-certified ST. ELSEWHERE earned a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and if you'd like to lose your mind in sonic ecstasy, just give it a spin.
Storms Of Life (Album of the Day)
After most of the major labels in Nashville had turned him down for being “too country,” Randy Travis signed to Warner Bros. and released STORMS OF LIFE. With a rich baritone closer to Lefty Frizzell than the pop crossover sounds then favored in Music City, Travis did stand apart, and that might have been the secret of his success – the 1986 collection went multi-platinum and can now be seen as a watershed moment in country's rise to commercial prominence. Its ten songs include a terrific mix of material including a pair of Travis originals and no less than four Top 10 Country singles: “On The Other Hand,” “1982,” “Diggin' Up Bones” and “No Place Like Home.” Randy Travis received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on this day in 2004, an honor that the superb STORMS OF LIFE alone would justify.
CORE (25TH ANNIVERSARY) (Album of the Day)
Stone Temple Pilots (guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, drummer Eric Kretz and vocalist Scott Weiland) roared on to the scene 25 years ago today with their raucous debut CORE. A breakout success, the album peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts, dominated radio waves with hits like “Sex Type Thing” and “Wicked Garden,” and has been certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. The band also took home the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for their smash single “Plush.” The new Deluxe Edition of the grunge-era classic features a newly remastered version of CORE and a bonus disc of B-sides and nine previously unreleased demos drawn from the quartet's original Atlantic sessions and recordings made between 1987 and 1990 when the band was known as Mighty Joe Young.
Gorilla (Album of the Day)
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was led by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes, and if the latter name is familiar from The Rutles, you'll know what's in store – absurd humor and spot-on re-creations of bygone styles. The British group's debut takes loving aim at music hall, jazz, doo wop (“Death Cab for Cutie,” from which the alt-rock band drew their name), psychedelia and more, scoring direct hits with a mix of originals and well-chosen oldies. The Bonzos had some famous fans (The Beatles put them in their Magical Mystery Tour film, and Eric Clapton guests on ukulele here), and this charming album shows why. GORILLA was released 50 years ago, and if you haven't caught it yet, don't wait any longer!
Tomorrow (Album of the Day)
An outgrowth of beat group The In Crowd, Tomorrow was one of the bands that helped define British psychedelia in the 1960s. The group's sole, self-titled album for Parlophone is among the best of the era, well-produced (with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick helping work the boards) and bursting with adventurous arrangements and highly melodic material. Standouts among the ten originals include “Real Life Permanent Dream,” “Revolution” and the oft-anthologized “My White Bicycle.” Guitarist Steve Howe would go on to Yes (and drummer John “Twink” Alder to The Pretty Things), and the superb instrumental work here makes his future fame seem inevitable. Recorded many months before its February 1968 release, TOMORROW offers a snapshot of the Summer of Love that remains exciting today.
Sparks (Album of the Day)
Rock's favorite pair of oddballs, Sparks was formed in the late 1960s by brothers Ron and Russell Mael, on keyboards and vocals, respectively. The duo started out as Halfnelson, and it was under that moniker that they entered the studio with producer Todd Rundgren to cut their eponymous debut for Bearsville. The 1971 album failed to connect in the marketplace until the boys changed their name to Sparks, signed with Warner Bros. and reissued the set a year later – at which point SPARKS earned a minor regional hit (in Alabama, of all places) with “Wonder Girl.” Guitarist Earle Mankey, his bassist brother Jim and drummer Harley Feinstein fill out the sound on these 11 originals, and the band is as tight as it is quirky. The clever lyrics, falsetto singing and willingness to mash-up pop genres that would make the Maels cult heroes are in full bloom on SPARKS, and we'll give the set another spin now to wish Russell a happy birthday!