Content tagged ''
DO YOU WANNA DANCE (Album of the Day)
DO YOU WANNA DANCE? When Bobby Freeman posed that question in 1958, America answered in the affirmative; the single hit the Top 10 and would later be covered by artists including Cliff Richard, The Beach Boys and the Ramones. It's the title track to Freeman's debut LP, and the Jubilee collection shows the San Francisco high schooler to have been a precocious talent. The dozen songs balance surprisingly mature takes on such standards as “When You're Smiling” and “Ebb Tide” with more raucous originals like “Good Lovin' Is What I Need” and “Mardi Gras Rock.” Freeman passed away on this day in 2017, and DO YOU WANNA DANCE ensures he'll be remembered.
KIKO (Album of the Day)
The LA BAMBA soundtrack might have given Los Lobos a huge hit, but KIKO showed this band from East L.A. had no desire to join the oldies circuit. While it includes the requisite taut roots rockers (“That Train Don't Stop Here,” “Whiskey Trail”), the set is most impressive for its ambition, adding art rock and South African influences to an already-broad musical palette. Producer Mitchell Froom's dream-like soundscapes prove a perfect complement to the group's masterful singing and playing, and the 1993 collection is frequently cited as the band's best. All but a couple of the 16 inventive originals on KIKO were co-written by Louie Pérez, and we'll wish the drummer a happy birthday by cueing up one of Los Lobos' most popular albums.
MOJO (Album of the Day)
“It's blues-based. Some of the tunes are longer, more jammy kind of music,” noted Tom Petty of MOJO, his first record with The Heartbreakers in eight years. Cut in his Clubhouse studio in L.A. with minimal overdubbing, the 2010 Reprise collection may invite comparisons to the Dead or the Allmans - it sounds throughout like a band playing for its own enjoyment. Add Petty's solid songcraft (“I Should Have Known It,” “Good Enough,” “First Flash of Freedom”) to outstanding instrumental work and it couldn't miss; the album debuted at No.2 on the Billboard chart. The Heartbreakers really got their MOJO working on this set, and we'll give it another spin to wish guitarist/co-producer Mike Campbell a happy birthday.
CHICAGO IX: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS (Album of the Day)
Chicago is the first American band to release Top 40 albums in five successive decades, and it certainly seems like they've been making hits forever. When CHICAGO IX, the group's first best-of collection, started a five-week run atop the U.S. album chart in 1975 it was their fifth No.1 album. The collection culls 11 highlights from the band's first five years, including “25 Or 6 To 4,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is” and “Saturday In The Park.” While the Peter Cetera-led balladry of the next decade would bring Chicago even more Gold records, these are the hits that put Chicago on the musical map. We'll give CHICAGO IX: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS another spin now in honor of original guitarist Terry Kath's birthday.
KICK (Album of the Day)
Their fifth album, LISTEN LIKE THIEVES, had given INXS an international hit in “What You Need,” but that wasn't enough for the Australian sextet. As guitarist Kirk Pengilly put it, “we wanted an album where all the songs were possible singles,” and in KICK, they got what they needed. The Atlantic album included no less than four U.S. Top 10 singles: “New Sensation,” “Never Tear Us Apart,” “Devil Inside” and “Need You Tonight,” which became the band's first U.S. No.1 hit on this day in 1988. With a little help from producer Chris Thomas, INXS' potent mix of new wave, danceable funk and Stones-styled rock reached its peak here, and KICK went on to sell more than 6 million copies in America alone.
THE WORLD IS A GHETTO (Album of the Day)
Inspired by an idea War’s Papa Dee Allen had for a stage play, THE WORLD IS A GHETTO took on deeper meaning as the band’s gigs in SoCal’s wealthier enclaves revealed problems existed there, too. While social awareness underpins such songs as the Gold-certified title track, it’s the septet’s outstanding musicianship that really grabs the attention, whether on signature single “The Cisco Kid” or epic suite “City, Country, City.” The set has been hailed by outlets including Rolling Stone, Allmusic and Pitchfork, which called the collection “a landmark album of ’70s funk, one that deserves to be remembered alongside the best work of the Meters, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Sly and the Family Stone.” Billboard’s best-selling album of 1973, THE WORLD IS A GHETTO is now available as a blu-ray audio disc in Rhino’s Quadio series.
CHANGE OF THE CENTURY (Album of the Day)
Ornette Coleman's second Atlantic album proves that the revolutionary sounds of THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME were no fluke. Cut in Hollywood under the watchful eye of producer Nesuhi Ertegun, 1960's CHANGE OF THE CENTURY features one of jazz's most celebrated foursomes performing at peak power: alto saxophonist Coleman, pocket trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins. As the quartet's bandleader put it in the liner notes, “each member goes his own way and still adds tellingly to the group endeavor” on seven Ornette originals including soon-to-be-standards “Ramblin'” and “Una Muy Bonita.” A free jazz landmark, CHANGE OF THE CENTURY is now part of Rhino’s High Fidelity series on 180-gram vinyl.
CHAKA (Album of the Day)
Chaka Khan had already tasted stardom as a member of Rufus when she launched her solo career in 1978 with CHAKA. The Warner Bros. set was produced by Arif Mardin, who marshaled a small army of supporting performers behind the vocalist, including George Benson, David Sanborn and much of the Average White Band. Khan positively soars on these ten tracks, which include radio favorite “Roll Me Through the Rushes” and R&B hits “Life Is a Dance” and “I'm Every Woman,” an Ashford & Simpson-penned classic that has become an anthem of pride transcending gender. Due for reissue in March, CHAKA is sure to please any fan of 1970s funk and soul.
WILD TALES (Album of the Day)
WILD TALES is the title of Graham Nash's autobiography but his 1974 album of that name also offers a look at the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's life and times. Confronted by romantic disappointments (“I Miss You”) and social concerns (“Prison Song”), Nash gets by with a little help from such friends as guitarists David Lindley and Dave Mason along with CSNY bandmates David Crosby and Neil Young (under the pseudonym “Joe Yankee”). Leavened with whimsy and energetic playing, these ten originals still resonate with listeners 50 years on. We'll wish Graham a happy birthday with another spin of the underrated WILD TALES. (edited)
BLUE LIGHTS IN THE BASEMENT (Album of the Day)
Always a critical favorite, Roberta Flack had also become a commercial force by the time of her sixth studio album, BLUE LIGHTS IN THE BASEMENT. Accordingly, Atlantic lavished plenty of attention on the 1977 set, recruiting a legion of top instrumentalists (like Hugh McCracken, Ronnie Foster and Steve Gadd) well attuned to the performer's distinctive blend of R&B, jazz and singer-songwriter intimacy. Co-producer Gene McDaniels penned three of the ten tracks, including standouts “Why Don't You Move in with Me” and “25th of Last December,” but it was the Donny Hathaway duet “The Closer I Get to You” that scored on the singles chart, reaching #2. On the album chart, BLUE LIGHTS IN THE BASEMENT made the Top 10, and the richly romantic collection is a great way to warm up a cold evening.