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VIOLATOR (Album of the Day)
One of the hallmarks of a truly great group is its ability to build on successes; Depeche Mode had already sold out L.A.’s Rose Bowl on its Music For The Masses tour when it released VIOLATOR in 1990. The U.K. quartet’s seventh studio album, co-produced by the band and Flood, filled dance floors all around the world, and reached triple-Platinum status in the U.S. The collection plays to each members’ strengths, from Dave Gahan’s impassioned vocals to Alan Wilder’s inventive keyboard arrangements to one of Martin Gore’s best-ever sets of songs – including such memorable hit singles as “Policy Of Truth,” “Enjoy The Silence” and “Personal Jesus.” Coloring a sometimes bleak emotional landscape with indelible hooks and ambitious arrangements, VIOLATOR remains one of Depeche Mode’s very best.
NAKED (Album of the Day)
Released on this day in 1988, NAKED would be the final studio album from Talking Heads. Recording for the Sire collection began in Paris with co-producer Steve Lillywhite (and such musical guests as guitarist Johnny Marr and vocalist Kirsty MacColl) before being finished off at New York City’s Sigma Sound studio. Musically, the 11 originals recall the worldbeat jamming of REMAIN IN LIGHT more than the mainstream approach of the quartet’s two previous releases; lyrically, frontman David Byrne said that many of the songs were “about human beings stripped of their pretensions; stripped of their surface trappings,” which likely explains the set’s title. A Gold-certified, Top 20 success, NAKED is a superb swan song for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
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," inspired by an incident that happened in Scranton, PA, on this day in 1965). And it didn’t hurt that a No.1 hit – signature song “Cat's In The Cradle” – was part of the lineup. 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. VERITIES & BALDERDASH would prove the most commercially successful release from the versatile singer-songwriter.
WHAMMY! (Album of the Day)
Following a brief detour into MESOPOTAMIA, The B-52's got their mojo back with WHAMMY! Recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, the 1983 Warner Bros. set gets the party vibes going on nine hook-filled originals including the irresistible "Legal Tender," "Song For A Future Generation" and "Whammy Kiss.” The album finds the Athens quintet embracing synthesizers and drum machines, but doing so with a playful approach that never descends into New Wave cliché. The late Ricky Wilson was born on this day in 1953 and in his honor we’ll turn up the Top 30, Gold-certified WHAMMY.
SPARKLE (Album of the Day)
Starring Irene Cara in the title role, SPARKLE told the story of the rise and fall of a Harlem girl group at the end of the 1950s. Though it was remade decades later with Whitney Houston in the lead, the film's greatest claim to fame is likely its wonderful soundtrack, a meeting of two R&B giants: Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield. With Mayfield producing and writing all the material, the 1976 collection shows the Queen of Soul in all her majesty on eight songs including “Hooked on Your Love” and Top 40 hit “Something He Can Feel” (both of which would later be covered by En Vogue). Aretha Franklin was born on this day in 1942, and the Gold-certified MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE SPARKLE was one of her biggest successes of the late 1970s.
BREEZIN’ (Album of the Day)
George Benson had paid his dues with more than a dozen studio albums when he hit the jackpot with BREEZIN'. The 1976 collection, his first for Warner Bros., was recorded at Capitol Records Studios in Hollywood with producer Tommy LiPuma behind the boards and it features plenty of the performer's fluid guitar work on such songs as the title track and self-penned “So This Is Love?” The set also includes one vocal number, the Top 10 hit “This Masquerade,” which went on to win the Grammy for Record of the Year and broadened Benson's audience considerably - the album topped not just Billboard's Jazz chart but its Pop and R&B charts as well. We’ll cue up the triple-Platinum BREEZIN' now to wish George Benson a happy birthday.
ROCK ‘N SOUL (Album of the Day)
Jet magazine was right on the money when it called Solomon Burke the “King of Rock 'n' Soul” in January, 1964. The singer 's debut album for Atlantic Records was released later that year and features rock, soul and even a little swamp pop, all sung in an inimitable voice that garnered Burke such admirers as The Rolling Stones. The set is sort of a “best-of” collection of his work going back almost three years, and most of its dozen tracks reached the Billboard Top 100 singles chart, including hits like “Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms),” “Cry to Me” and "If You Need Me.” Solomon Burke was born on this day in 1940 and we’ll salute the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with another spin of the outstanding ROCK ‘N SOUL.
PORNO FOR PYROS (Album of the Day)
Following the 1992 dissolution of Jane's Addiction, frontman Perry Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins recruited guitarist Peter DiStefano and bassist Martyn LeNoble to carry on as Porno For Pyros. Expectations were high for the band's self-titled debut, and it doesn't disappoint; if the 1993 Warner Bros. set bears similarity to Jane's Addiction in places, it nonetheless stands proudly on its own. Though the songs remain concise, for the most part they trade riffs for more progressive textures, covering a lot of stylistic ground in the process. The subject matter is equally diverse – paired tracks “Cursed Female” and “Cursed Male” examine gender roles, Modern Rock chart-topper “Pets” has an extraterrestrial theme, and a couple of songs deal with the then-recent L.A. riots. To celebrate Perry Farrell's birthday, we'll give PORNO FOR PYROS another spin today.
THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY (Album of the Day)
Called by Rolling Stone “one of rock's more elaborate, beguiling and strangely rewarding concept albums,” Genesis' THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY was the pinnacle of the U.K. band's progressive rock phase. The double LP would be the group's final release with founding frontman Peter Gabriel, who wrote the set's lyrics about a Puerto Rican gang member named Rael and his journey of self-discovery in New York City. The Atco set showcases both the group's talent for crafting compelling songs (“Counting Out Time” “Carpet Crawl”) and for inspired instrumental interplay. THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY was a personal favorite of both Gabriel and drummer Phil Collins and in honor of keyboardist Tony Banks – who was born on this day in 1950 – we’ll give the Gold-certified collection another spin now.
GORILLAZ (Album of the Day)
Gorillaz is the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and illustrator Jamie Hewlett, who together created a virtual band in answer to the vacuity they saw on MTV. While the group's dazzling animated videos would certainly stop any television viewer in their tracks, the music on GORILLAZ is equally arresting. To be sure, there's a touch of Blur's Brit-pop here, but the album is equally informed by trip-hop and many other influences - Del the Funky Homosapien raps on “Clint Eastwood” and “Rock the House,” Cuban vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer sings on “Latin Simone (¿Que Pasa Contigo?)” and “19-2000” features half of Talking Heads. Cartoon quartet 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel unleashed GORILLAZ on this day in 2001, and the collection went on to sell millions of copies around the world.