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STRANGEWAYS HERE WE COME (Album of the Day)
The Smiths performed their last concert on this day in 1986; some 10 months later, the U.K. quartet's fourth and final album arrived in stores. The title of STRANGEWAYS HERE WE COME references a notorious Manchester prison and if it was recorded as the band was splintering, you wouldn't know it from the music, which stands as the group's most varied and elaborately produced. On the strength of such tracks as “Girlfriend in a Coma,” “I Started Something I Couldn't Finish” and “Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before,” the collection went Gold on both sides of the Atlantic. Frontman Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr and drummer Mike Joyce have all called STRANGEWAYS HERE WE COME the best Smiths album - tt's a terrific finale for the indie icons.
FOXTROT (Album of the Day)
Genesis' fourth studio set, FOXTROT, did much to raise the progressive rockers' profile – it became their first album to chart in the U.K. and secured their first show in the U.S. (on this day in 1972). While the whimsical tone of past releases is still present, it's bolstered by the band's most forceful and focused playing yet. From punchy opener “Watcher of the Skies” to the near-side-long “Supper's Ready” closing suite, this ambitious collection touches on sci-fi, mythology, English history and social commentary with some of Peter Gabriel's most imaginative lyrics. Allmusic rightly said of FOXTROT “This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it's a pinnacle of the genre (and decade) because of it.”
VERITIES & BALDERDASH (Album of the Day)
On his fourth studio set, Harry Chapin served up an appealing mix of VERITIES & BALDERDASH. The nine originals on the 1974 Elektra album range from the romantic (“I Wanna Learn a Love Song”) to the topical (“What Made America Famous”) to the comedic ("30,000 Pounds of Bananas"), with a No.1 hit - “Cat's In The Cradle” - included for good measure. With producer Paul Leka at the helm, the collection benefits from polished, ambitious arrangements and the work of top studio musicians; all of Chapin's other albums feature his touring band. The versatile singer-songwriter was born on this day in 1942, and we'll remember Harry Chapin with his most commercially successful release, VERITIES & BALDERDASH.
SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH (Album of the Day)
After a grueling world tour behind VOL. 4, and a month of fruitless sessions at Los Angeles' Record Plant, Black Sabbath decamped to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, England, to work on their fifth album. With its dungeon and resident ghosts, the place was just what the band needed, and SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH brims with inspiration. “We'd managed to strike just the right balance between our old heaviness and our new, 'experimental' side,” noted frontman Ozzy Osbourne of the set, which features such classic originals as “Killing Yourself to Live” and the title track while upping the ante on arrangements by successfully incorporating orchestration and synthesizers (Yes' Rick Wakeman guests on “Sabbra Cadabra”). Released this month in 1973, the Platinum-selling SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH belongs in any heavy metal collection.
MINUTE BY MINUTE (Album of the Day)
The Doobie Brothers completed their transition from Northern California biker bar band to radio-friendly blue-eyed funk hitmakers with MINUTE BY MINUTE, released this month in 1978. While it still reflects the band's roots with the rocker “Don't Stop To Watch The Wheels” (sung by original frontman Tom Johnston) and the bluegrass-flavored instro “Steamer Lane Breakdown,” the Warner Bros. album is best remembered as the moment that Michael McDonald took center stage. The singer/keyboardist scored big time with the title track and “What A Fool Believes,” which topped the singles chart and went on to win Grammys for both Song and Record of the Year. The album itself went to No.1 on the chart, and the supremely listenable MINUTE BY MINUTE would become the Doobies' all-time top seller.
PANORAMA (Album of the Day)
The five original members of The Cars - Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson - made six studio albums together for Elektra Records and have sold more than 23 million albums in the U.S. alone. Cut with longtime producer Roy Thomas Baker, PANORAMA became the band's third consecutive Platinum set and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Chart. Boasting a darker, more experimental tone than its predecessors, the 1980 collection became a fan favorite thanks to songs like "Touch And Go," "Up And Down," and "Gimme Some Slack." PANORAMA offers a broad look at the New Wave hitmakers' strengths, and we'll give it another spin to wish guitarist Easton a happy 70th birthday.
KYLIE CHRISTMAS (Album of the Day)
Australia's reigning pop princess, Kylie Minogue has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, and though it took her a while to get to a holiday album – KYLIE CHRISTMAS was her 13th studio set – the results were worth the wait. Co-produced by her longtime musical director Steve Anderson, the 2015 collection offers a little something for everyone, from time-honored classics (“It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” bookend the album) to more recent yuletide songs by The Waitresses, Pretenders and Coldplay to such originals as “Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here.” The arrangements are varied as well, and guest stars include Iggy Pop, James Corden and Frank Sinatra (via a vintage recording of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”). Have a Merry KYLIE CHRISTMAS this year!
DOUBLE VISION (Album of the Day)
Though half the band was British (hence the name), America embraced Foreigner with open arms in the late 1970s. Founded by journeyman guitarist Mick Jones and powered by Lou Gramm's strong vocals, the group was an immediate smash, its debut going multi-Platinum. Foreigner's follow-up was even more successful; DOUBLE VISION ruled the U.S. Top Ten for half a year thanks to the hit singles “Hot Blooded,” “Blue Morning, Blue Day” and the title track. While similar in ways to its predecessor, the collection has more of a hard rock feel and includes the group's only instrumental (“Tramontane”); with the departure of bassist Ed Gagliardi, the album would be the last from the original sextet. DOUBLE VISION remains an arena rock classic and we'll cue it up now to wish Jones a happy birthday.
CURTIS (Album of the Day)
Curtis Mayfield played a key role in the development of soul in the 1960s as a founder of The Impressions, infusing their music with spirituality and conscience. The singer-songwriter left the trio for a solo career in 1970, and his self-produced debut (released on his own Curtom Records label) boasts the same social awareness as his previous group while traversing tougher musical territory. Cut in Chicago, CURTIS serves up simmering funk and psychedelia on eight originals, including epic side openers "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" and "Move On Up." Seen through the eyes of one of R&B's greatest poets, CURTIS offered a look at “what's going on” in Black America during the Nixon years – though its compassion for all people makes the album timeless.
ANTHEM OF THE SUN (Album of the Day)
The Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's ANTHEM OF THE SUN, was an unprecedented hybrid of studio and live recordings. It also marked a departure for the band, as they began to channel their creativity into longer jams on songs like “Alligator” and “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” – two concert staples of the Dead’s early days. As band archivist David Lemieux notes, “This is one of the most thrilling albums the Grateful Dead ever produced, mixing portions of live recordings from the first six months of Mickey [Hart]'s tenure with the band, along with studio experimentations that would hint at where the Dead would go when they started recording to 16-track tape the following year.” ANTHEM OF THE SUN captures the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers at the summit of psychedelic music.