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Killing Me Softly (Album of the Day)
Fight Songs (Album of the Day)
With their second Elektra album (and fourth overall), Texas quartet Old 97's came up with their most accessible set to date. Recorded in New Orleans, FIGHT SONGS features more polish to the production and more structure to the material than previous releases, and “Murder (Or A Heart Attack),” “Oppenheimer” and “19” are among the many standouts. For a band so linked to the No Depression movement, singer Rhett Miller sounds pretty forlorn in places (“Lonely Holiday”), but his feisty determination never wavers. There's no shortage of country licks on FIGHT SONGS, but the 1999 album delivers a knockout punch to anyone who would consign Old 97's to an alt-country pigeonhole.
Crest Of A Knave (Album of the Day)
On this day in 1989, the first Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance was handed out – to Jethro Tull. Howls of protest accompanied the choice, but in fairness to the venerable British band, CREST OF A KNAVE offers guitarist Martin Barre plenty of opportunity to wail, and such tracks as “Steel Monkey” absolutely qualify as headbangers. The Chrysalis collection sparked a commercial and artistic resurgence for the group, which had been sidelined for three years while frontman Ian Anderson recovered from throat problems. If it's louder and more intense that their earlier work, CREST OF A KNAVE still features such Tull trademarks as ambitious folk-inflected epics (“Budapest”), social commentary (“Farm On The Freeway”) and of course Anderson's fine flute work. You might be a fool to look for Jethro Tull in the heavy metal section of your record store, but you'd be a knave to dismiss one of the band's best albums since their 1970s heyday.
THE AUSTIN SESSIONS (EXPANDED EDITION) (Album of the Day)
Kris Kristofferson had been making music for more than 30 years when he went into the studio with producer Fred Mollin to cut THE AUSTIN SESSIONS, and the 1999 Atlantic album is a rich reflection of that history. Joined by a band of L.A. and Nashville studio aces and some high-profile guest stars (Jackson Browne, Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, Vince Gill and Alison Krauss among them), Kristofferson revisits some of his most famous songs, including “Me And Bobby McGee,” “For The Good Times” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” His weathered vocals fit these classics perfectly, and the stripped-down arrangements are in many ways superior to the original versions. Rhino's new Expanded Edition of THE AUSTIN SESSIONS includes unreleased outtakes of “Best Of All Possible Worlds” and “Jody And The Kid” to complete this portrait of outlaw country's greatest storyteller.
Rickie Lee Jones (Album of the Day)
A singer-songwriter who can bring the spirit of beatnik jazz to a variety of musical styles, Rickie Lee Jones has always known her way around “Coolsville.” After working the Los Angeles club scene for a few years in the mid-1970s, a demo tape earned Jones a deal with Warner Bros., and producers Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman pulled out all the stops for her self-titled debut. RICKIE LEE JONES features some of the city's top jazz session players (along with Dr. John, Michael McDonald and Randy Newman) and Jones' songs put them to good use - “Young Blood” was a Top 40 hit and the breezy “Chuck E.'s In Love” reached #3. A Platinum-selling success, the collection also brought the performer four Grammy nominations (including a win for Best New Artist), and RICKIE LEE JONES' colorful sketches of L.A. characters and dives remain irresistible.
Insomniac (Album of the Day)
Green Day followed up the massive success of their Reprise debut with 1995's INSOMNIAC. As with DOOKIE, the collection was co-produced by Rob Cavallo and is packed to the gills with infernally catchy pop-punk. Where it differs from its predecessor is its darker tone, with more metallic instrumental work and occasionally downbeat lyrics – when singer Billie Joe Armstrong reflects on the post-fame reception to the band's music in "86," there's more hurt than pride. Nonetheless, such memorable singles as "Geek Stink Breath," "Stuck With Me" and "Walking Contradiction" made the album a fan favorite and a double-Platinum hit. Armstrong was born on this day in 1972, and we'll celebrate the birthday by spinning INSOMNIAC into the wee hours.
Something/Anything? (Album of the Day)
Is there something – anything – Todd Rundgren can't do? In the early 1970s, when the accomplished singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist was busy adding "hit producer" and "solo artist" to his resume, he came up with a true tour de force, SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, and did it almost single-handedly. Through the magic of multi-tracking, Rundgren produced, sang and played all instruments on three LP sides and polished off the double album with a live-in-studio side (session musicians have their uses after all). The collection became Todd's biggest seller, and arguably his best, with a dazzling variety of musical styles and ear-catching melodies on such tracks as "I Saw The Light," "Couldn't I Just Tell You" and the #5 hit "Hello It's Me." Released 45 years ago this month, SOMETHING/ANYTHING? remains a pop masterpiece.
ATTACK OF THE GREY LANTERN (Album of the Day)
"The Grey Lantern is like a comic-book hero - the album is about this village of people with really disgusting morals and the Grey Lantern sorts them out," notes singer-songwriter Paul Draper of his band Mansun's striking 1997 debut. Released at the tail end of the Brit-pop era, ATTACK OF THE GREY LANTERN had that music's punchy, melodic appeal, the ambition of progressive rock (even if it's not a full-fledged concept album) and a touch of glam's dark decadence. From "Wide Open Space" (a modest Modern Rock hit in the U.S.) to the Beatle-esque "Taxloss" to the John Barry-esque "The Chad Who Loved Me," the collection's memorable songs drew near-universal acclaim from England's music mags and pushed the set to the top of its album chart. Mansun's debut is both audacious and seductive – listeners can't help but surrender to ATTACK OF THE GREY LANTERN.
Love Language (Album of the Day)
After a string of hits for Philadelphia International – and a serious auto accident - singer Teddy Pendergrass reemerged on Elektra Records in 1984 with LOVE LANGUAGE. The R&B crooner remains a master of romantic balladry, and these eight tracks pair that distinctive voice with top-tier songs (several co-written by Brill Building greats Gerry Goffin or Cynthia Weill) and some stellar guests. Fellow hitmaker Luther Vandross produced the set's "You're My Choice Tonight (Choose Me)," which was also featured in the Alan Rudolph film Choose Me, and on "Hold Me," Teddy duets with Whitney Houston a year before her debut. When it came to LOVE LANGUAGE, few spoke it more enticingly than Teddy Pendergrass, making it the perfect soundtrack for Valentine's Day.
Low-Life (Album of the Day)
After POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES and "Blue Monday" propelled New Order to prominence, LOW-LIFE took the quartet a step further in terms of accessibility. From the 1-2 punch of opening tracks "Love Vigilantes" and "The Perfect Kiss," the 1985 collection neatly straddles the urgent rock of the band's Joy Division roots with the synth-driven dance grooves for which they'd become more closely identified. As catchy as the album is, it's also filled with strange beauty ("Elegia") and, thanks to Bernard Sumner's plaintive vocals and Peter Hook's melodic bass work, plenty of soul. Many see LOW-LIFE as a high-water mark for New Order, so we'll cue it up again in celebration of Hook's birthday.