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Shadow Dancing (Album of the Day)
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
On this day in 1978, Andy Gibb's third single became his third U.S. No.1 hit – an unprecedented feat. That single is the title track of the singer-songwriter's second album, SHADOW DANCING, which like its predecessor, benefits from the helping hands of his older brothers, the Bee Gees. Given that pedigree, it's no surprise that the music is first class pop-rock with a disco beat, and both "An Everlasting Love" and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" were Top 10 hits, pushing the album to platinum sales status. But Andy wasn't merely riding his siblings' coattails; he wrote 6 of the 10 songs himself, and his lead vocal work here is immaculate. While Gibb's career was brief (he would release just one more album before his death at age 30), SHADOW DANCING displays a talent that was incandescent.
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Suzi Quatro (Album of the Day)
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
By the time Suzi Quatro's self-titled debut albums hit the racks, she already had nearly a decade of experience as a rock 'n' roller; the mid-'60s singles by her Detroit band The Pleasure Seekers are still revered by garage collectors. Our leather-clad heroine relocated to London for SUZI QUATRO, which features a dozen sterling examples of the glam and glitter sounds then sweeping England. The set is split between vintage rock covers (“All Shook Up”), Quatro-penned originals (“Get Back Mama”) and songs by the production team of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, whose “Can The Can” became Suzi's first U.K. No.1 single on this day in 1973. A fist-pumping blast from start to finish, SUZI QUATRO remains sultry and powerful.
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Nevermind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (Album of the Day)
Monday, June 15, 2015
This month in 1977, Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating her Silver Jubilee, and to mark the occasion, the Sex Pistols set sail on the Thames to perform a blistering version of “Anarchy In The U.K.” outside of Parliament (resulting in several arrests when the boat docked). While there was little the pioneering punk quartet did during its all-too-brief original lifespan that didn't engender controversy, their sole album is much more than a Malcolm McLaren publicity stunt. With such explosive anthems as “God Save The Queen,” “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays in The Sun” among its dozen songs, NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS debuted at No.1 on the British charts and in the years since has been called one of the 100 greatest albums ever made by the likes of NME, Rolling Stone and Time.
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Tone's For Joan's Bones (Album of the Day)
Friday, June 12, 2015
Chick Corea had played piano for such jazz greats as Miles Davis before getting to lead his own group for this outstanding 1967 album. Atlantic Records labelmate Herbie Mann handles production chores here, ensuring Corea gets the most out of his accompanists, which include Woody Shaw (trumpet), Joe Farrell (flute/saxophone), Steve Swallow (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums). If the Latin-tinged hard bop here occasionally betrays the debt that the keyboardist owes McCoy Tyner, Corea's four originals - “Litha,” “This Is New,” “Straight Up And Down” and the title track - offer plenty of space for soloing, and each instrumentalist makes excellent use of it. Chick Corea celebrates a birthday today, and TONES FOR JOAN'S BONES is a reminder that his prodigious talent was in place from the very beginning.
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Big Love (Album of the Day)
Thursday, June 11, 2015
"With STAY, I was running away from Simply Red," Mick Hucknall says of his band's previous album from 2007. "But now I'm comfortable with the notion of us as a blue-eyed soul group.” The new BIG LOVE plays to that strength with 12 Hucknall-penned songs including celebratory first single "Shine On" and "The Ghost Of Love," a big soul song punctuated by wah-wah guitar and bold orchestral strokes recalling Barry White and his Love Unlimited Orchestra. The British singer, whose piercing, powerful voice remains a thing of wonder, was inspired to make Simply Red's first full album of originals in 20 years by the success of the group's recent 30th anniversary tour. To judge from early response, BIG LOVE is another in the band's long string of successes.
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Like A Prayer (Album of the Day)
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Madonna's final album of the 1980s consolidated her success during the decade and remains one of the performer's very best. Dedicated to the singer's mother, "who taught me how to pray," LIKE A PRAYER is among the most personal and soul-searching she has ever recorded. All 11 songs were co-written and co-produced by Madonna in varied arrangements informed by classic rock and funk (Prince was one of her collaborators), and the collection spun off four Top 10 singles - “Like a Prayer,” “Express Yourself,” “Cherish" and “Keep It Together” - as well as some striking (and in the case of the title track, controversial) videos. The commercial success of the quadruple platinum No.1 album was matched by its critical acclaim; with the ambitious LIKE A PRAYER, Madonna's status as one of pop's greatest artists was undeniable.
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Black Holes and Revelations (Album of the Day)
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Muse was already a sensation in their native England when BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS brought the trio a global audience. Recording of the 2006 collection began in the same French studio where Pink Floyd cut THE WALL, and that seminal band's favorite designer, Storm Thorgerson, also provided the cover art here. Like Pink Floyd, Muse specializes in progressive rock on an epic scale, with an occasionally pessimistic world view illuminated by ambitious arrangements as on “Supermassive Black Hole,” “Starlight” and “Knights Of Cydonia” (all Billboard Modern Rock hits). A Mercury Prize nominee in the U.K. and a Top 10 album in the U.S., BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS put Muse in the big leagues and is an ideal way to celebrate lead vocalist/songwriter Matthew Bellamy's birthday.
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Diamond Dogs (30th Anniversary Edition) (Album of the Day)
Monday, June 8, 2015
On this day in 1974, David Bowie scored his his third U.K. No.1 album with DIAMOND DOGS. If George Orwell's estate had been more amenable, the set would have been a concept album based on 1984, and that book's dystopian outlook runs through many of these songs (most directly in “1984” and “Big Brother”). But the real unifier here is the swaggering glam rock of hit single “Rebel Rebel” and the title track; having recently left his Spiders on Mars, the collection would be the last Bowie would make in his signature glam style. The 30th Anniversary Edition of DIAMOND DOGS adds eight bonus cuts to the original, including rare versions of album tracks, the non-LP song “Dodo” and a surprisingly effective Bruce Springsteen cover (“Growin' Up”).
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Actually: Further Listening 1987-1988 (Album of the Day)
Friday, June 5, 2015
On this day in 1988, The Pet Shop Boys made their live debut at a benefit concert at London's Piccadilly Theatre; by that time singer Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe had mastered danceable synthpop in the studio. The U.K. duo's second longplayer, ACTUALLY, was a smash hit, launching four British Top 10 singles: “It's A Sin,” “Rent,” “Heart” and the Dusty Springfield duet “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” The album has been cited by Q and Slant magazines as one of the best of the 1980s, and its melody, irony and cheeky humor are even more abundant on ACTUALLY: FURTHER LISTENING 1987-1988, which adds a bonus disc of B-sides, remixes and previously unreleased material to the classic original.
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I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (Album of the Day)
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU wasn't Aretha Franklin's first album (she'd previously recorded ten of them for Columbia Records), but it was the first she'd cut with a label and producer that truly “got” her, and that made all the difference. Powered by the iconic single “Respect” – which went to No.1 on the U.S. chart on this day in 1967 - the Jerry Wexler-produced Atlantic release is a master class in soul whose 11 lessons also include “Do Right Woman-Do Right Man,” “Baby, Baby, Baby” and the title song. Aretha's force-of-nature vocals, songwriting skills (she penned four of the 11 tracks here) and piano work shine throughout, justifying the set's frequent inclusion in “Greatest Albums of All Time” lists from the likes of Rolling Stone and Q magazines. With I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU, the Queen of Soul earns her crown!
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