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Education Entertainment Recreation (Live At Alexandra Palace) (Album of the Day)
Held at London’s Alexandra Palace, New Order's only U.K. show of 2018 was a career-spanning celebration of perhaps the most vital British band of recent decades. The group's now established line-up of Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman was in relentlessly sparkling form, blending eras and genres during the show's 2 hours and 20 minutes. Now available, the 2-CD EDUCATION ENTERTAINMENT RECREATION (LIVE AT ALEXANDRA PALACE) opens with a track from their latest acclaimed album (2015’s MUSIC COMPLETE) before moving back in time to such favorites as “Regret,” “Love Vigilantes,” “Blue Monday” and “Temptation,” and closing with a three-song Joy Division mini-set. EDUCATION ENTERTAINMENT RECREATION is a timely reminder of the connection we get from live music and what to look forward to when New Order returns to the road.
Now in a Minute (Album of the Day)
Welsh-born singer-songwriter Donna Lewis studied piano and flute composition and spent time teaching music before embarking on a performing career, and that background lends a sophisticated air to her debut album, NOW IN A MINUTE. Cut in New York City and Birmingham, England, with co-producer Kevin Killen, the Atlantic collection is best known for “I Love You Always Forever,” a Top 10 single that broke the record for airplay with more than a million spins on U.S. radio. But the set has much more to offer beyond that; such tracks as “Nothing Ever Changes,” “Mother” and “Silent World” pair introspective lyrics with a dreamy pop-classical sensibility and top-notch instrumental accompaniment. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the platinum-certified NOW IN A MINUTE announced the arrival of a true talent and earned Donna Lewis a Brit Award nomination for British Female Solo Artist.
Houses of the Holy (Album of the Day)
On HOUSES OF THE HOLY, Led Zeppelin continued the progression of their classic fourth album to create one of their most diverse sets to date. Though there's no shortage of dynamic Jimmy Page riffs, the Atlantic collection ventures far afield from the blues-inspired heavy metal of the quartet's debut to touch upon funk (“The Crunge”), folk (“Over the Hills and Far Away”) and reggae (“D'Yer Mak'er”). Both guitarist-producer Page and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones had built home studios, allowing them to perfect tracks like “The Rain Song” and “No Quarter” in advance of recording sessions. Housed in a Grammy-nominated Hipgnosis sleeve, the Diamond-certified HOUSES OF THE HOLY was #1 on the Billboard chart on this day in 1973, and it's still tops with hard rock fans.
Servin' Up Some Soul (Album of the Day)
Born on this day in 1943, Mary Wells is best known to music fans for her signature smash “My Guy,” but the hitmaker had a fruitful career for many years after she left Motown. Case in point: the aptly-titled SERVIN' UP SOME SOUL, which Wells cut in 1968 for the Jubilee label. At the time, she was married to singer-songwriter Cecil Womack, and the pair teamed up to produce the album and co-write half of its dozen tracks. Among the outstanding originals are opener “Soul Train,” “Two Lovers History” and “The Doctor,” which would become the performer's final appearance on Billboard's Pop 100 Chart. Closing with an update of her very first single, “Bye Bye Baby” (produced by Cecil's brother Bobby), SERVIN' UP SOME SOUL will please any fan of 1960s R&B.
Exciter (Album of the Day)
Released 20 years ago today in Depeche Mode's native England, EXCITER marked a return to form for the synth-pop greats. A Top 10 debut on both sides of the Atlantic, the collection was produced by Mark Bell, who brought out the best in both vocalist Dave Gahan and songwriter Martin Gore. The baker's dozen tracks include singles “Dream On,” “Freelove” and club friendly “I Feel Loved,” and if the tempos are sometimes slower and the focus more personal than earlier work, the set boasts lots of variety and puts abstract electronic textures to excellent use. As U.K. music mag NME originally described the gold-certified EXCITER, “Not many long-running groups could make an album this fresh and confident in their 20th year, never mind one which bridges timeless soulman crooning and underground techno.”
Coma Rage (Expanded Edition) (Album of the Day)
Since emerging in the mid-1980s, Viper has become one of the most important ambassadors of Brazilian hard rock, recording and touring through Europe, the U.S., Japan and South America. Cut shortly before the quartet's appearance at the 1994 “Monsters of Rock” festival in São Paulo, COMA RAGE was made in Los Angeles with producer Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Testament). “We were already influenced by heavy metal, but we also started to have contact and make friends with other punk, grunge and even hardcore bands,” says guitarist Felipe Machado of the group's fourth – and heaviest - studio set. Now available, an expanded and remastered version of COMA RAGE features previously unreleased bonus tracks including the album's pre-production demo and “País do Futuro,” Viper's first song in Portuguese.
Freedom of Choice (Album of the Day)
Do you want freedom of choice or from choice? Forty years after they posed that question in its title track, Devo's third studio album remains subversive and infernally catchy. The dozen originals on FREEDOM OF CHOICE are among the most accessible the Ohio spudboys ever wrote, including such favorites as “Girl U Want,” “Gates Of Steel” and hit single “Whip It.” Tonto's Expanding Head Band mastermind Robert Margouleff co-produced the 1980 Warner Bros. collection, elevating the synth-pop component of the quintet's sound. Devo vocalist and keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh was born on this day in 1950, and we'll mark the occasion by donning red energy dome hats and giving FREEDOM OF CHOICE another spin.
Animal Boy (Album of the Day)
ANIMAL BOY was the Ramones' ninth studio album in ten years and with vocalist Joey and guitarist Johnny often at odds, bassist Dee Dee and drummer Ritchie stepped into the breach. The former is credited on the lion's share of the dozen tracks, most notably the anthem “Something to Believe In” (whose Live Aid parody video is worth seeking out), while raging opener “Somebody Put Something in My Drink” was penned by the percussionist. Perhaps the most famous song on the Sire set is “My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg),” a jab at then-President Reagan and a rare instance of social commentary from the quartet. With producer Jean Beauvoir (of the Plasmatics) at the helm, the collection also ventures into new sonic territory including keyboards and synthesizers. Released 35 years ago today, ANIMAL BOY shows the Ramones remain untamed.
3614 Jackson Highway (Expanded Edition) (Album of the Day)
For Cher's first solo album on Atco Records, the label's powers-that-be sent her to a studio down South, a strategy that had produced spectacular results for Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield. 3614 JACKSON HIGHWAY - named after the address of Alabama's Muscle Shoals Sound, where the collection was made - is among the finest releases in the singer's career. With heavy hitters Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin producing and an ace studio band behind her (both on the cover and at the microphone), the set shows Cher in blue-eyed soul mode, and rarely has her voice sounded stronger than on such songs as “Cry Like a Baby,” “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” and “Lay, Baby, Lay,” one of three Dylan covers here. The Expanded Edition of 3614 JACKSON HIGHWAY adds a dozen tracks from sessions for a planned 1970 follow-up, and we'll give it a spin now to wish Cher a happy birthday.
Another Year (Album of the Day)
You wouldn't guess it from such chart-toppers as “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” but Leo Sayer started out specializing in musical character sketches a la Al Stewart. The British singer-songwriter's third album, ANOTHER YEAR, is filled with bedsitter images of drifters, dreamers and lovers on 10 originals penned by Sayer in collaboration with Supertramp alum Frank Farrell. The 1975 collection was produced by 1960s star Adam Faith and his former Roulettes cohort Russ Ballard, who frame such fine songs as “The Kid's Grown Up,” “Only Dreaming” and successful single “Moonlighting” with intimate, appealing arrangements. A Top 10 U.K. hit, ANOTHER YEAR is an album fans frequently cite as one of Leo Sayer's very best, and we'll give it another spin now to wish the performer a happy birthday.