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SHAKEDOWN STREET (Album of the Day)
The final Grateful Dead album of the 1970s, SHAKEDOWN STREET, paired the group with another acclaimed California rocker: Little Feat's Lowell George, who co-produced the Arista collection. This would be the final Dead album to feature the husband-and-wife team of Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux; the latter sings beautifully on “France” and her own “From the Heart of Me.” From the Garcia-Hunter title track (which flirted with disco) to such future concert staples as “Fire on the Mountain” and “I Need a Miracle,” these 10 songs cover plenty of stylistic ground. SHAKEDOWN STREET shows a great band still eager to shake things up, and we'll spin it now to wish drummer Bill Kreutzmann a happy birthday.
REPUBLIC (Album of the Day)
Released on this day in 1993, REPUBLIC saw New Order emerge like a phoenix from the financial ashes of longtime label Factory Records and home base the Hacienda club. Led by singles including “Regret,” “Ruined in a Day” and “Spooky,” the quartet’s sixth studio set climbed to the top of the UK Albums Chart. Stephen Hague co-produced the collection, whose gleaming surfaces are reflected by designer Peter Saville’s magazine-spread photography – but as polished as the band’s dance-pop gets, it never loses its soul. New Order’s final album before an 8-year hiatus, the Gold-certified REPUBLIC brought the first chapter of the group’s career to a satisfying close.
FULL HOUSE (Album of the Day)
The J. Geils Band hailed from Boston but found Detroit particularly welcoming and cut their first concert album at the Motor City's Cinderella Ballroom in April, 1972. FULL HOUSE shows that the sextet's reputation as one of the greatest live bands of the era was well-deserved. Along with one top-notch original (“Hard Drivin' Man”), the group make blues and R&B favorites like “Serves You Right to Suffer” and “First I Look at the Purse” their own with remarkably energetic workouts. While vocalist Peter Wolf and harp player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz merit special mention, the entire band is on fire throughout this set. Magic Dick was born on this day in 1945, and to wish him a happy birthday, we’ll crank up the full-tilt rock 'n' roll that is “LIVE” FULL HOUSE.
MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS (Album of the Day)
David Byrne and Brian Eno had already worked together on two Talking Heads albums when they decided to collaborate outside the band on MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS. Described by Eno as a “vision of a psychedelic Africa,” the 1981 collection combines rhythms of that continent with electronics, found sounds and sampled vocals. Sampling had been done before but this set's emphasis on it was unique, influencing musicians as diverse as Kate Bush, Public Enemy and Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright (though clearing all the recordings delayed the release significantly). MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS has been cited by outlets including Pitchfork and Slant as one of the best albums of the 1980s, and we’ll give it another spin now to wish Byrne a happy birthday.
FEAR OF MUSIC (Album of the Day)
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around! Released in 1979, Talking Heads' FEAR OF MUSIC was a great leap forward for the band and remains an alternative rock classic. The quartet's second collaboration with Brian Eno couples David Byrne's quirky, playful lyrics to sophisticated but powerful rhythms and, despite its title, the sense of trepidation expressed here is directed more toward modern society than music. “I Zimbra,” “Life During Wartime” and “Heaven” embrace a wide range of styles, and the Sire collection was hailed as album of the year by such outlets as NME, Melody Maker and the Los Angeles Times. We’ll give the Gold-certified FEAR OF MUSIC another spin now to wish Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz a happy birthday.
BLACK CELEBRATION (Album of the Day)
BLACK CELEBRATION drew mixed reviews on its initial 1986 release; only in hindsight is it clear that it marked a turning point for Depeche Mode. While the British quartet continues to serve up melodic synth-pop, the lyrical themes have grown darker - note the album's title - and the performances more intense. The public was quicker to embrace the collection than critics, and the set was a U.K. Top 10 hit that many fans still cite as their favorite Depeche disc. Martin L. Gore penned all the songs, including such favorites as “A Question of Time,” “Stripped” and “A Question of Lust,” and vocalist Dave Gahan wrings every drop of emotion from them. As this is Gahan's birthday, we'll stage a BLACK CELEBRATION with another spin of the Gold-certified album.
THE BEST OF SPINNERS (Album of the Day)
One of the classiest and most successful soul groups of the 1970s, the Spinners had paid their dues for more than a decade (including a stint at Motown) when they signed to Atlantic Records in 1972. With gifted singer Philippe Wynne taking over lead vocal chores and hot producer Thom Bell providing immaculate musical arrangements, the Spinners could do no wrong, placing seven singles in the Top Ten and earning numerous Gold albums. Released in 1978 shortly after Wynne’s departure for a solo career, THE BEST OF THE SPINNERS features 10 stone-cold classics including “I'll Be Around,” “One of a Kind (Love Affair),” “The Rubberband Man” and the group’s No.1 duet with Dionne Warwick, “Then Came You.”
SHADOWS AND LIGHT (Album of the Day)
Joni Mitchell's second live album (and final collection for Asylum) was 1980’s SHADOWS AND LIGHT. Recorded the preceding year at the Santa Barbara Bowl, the double LP reflects the singer-songwriter’s love of jazz, with recent albums like HEIJIRA and MINGUS supplying much of the material. Accordingly, she’s assembled a backing band of fusion greats including guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Jaco Pastorius and keyboardist Lyle Mays (plus vocal group The Persuasions on two tracks). Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this day in 1997, and the adventurous spirit heard on SHADOWS AND LIGHT helped put her there.
DEJA VU (Album of the Day)
The first album from David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash set a remarkable standard both for artistic quality and commercial success, and expectations for a follow-up were high. DÉJÀ VU did not disappoint; the group upped the ante with the addition of Neil Young to the line-up and with four strong songwriters and a pair of fiery guitarists now in the fold, sparks flew. “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Woodstock” each became Top 40 hits, but tracks like Young’s “Helpless,” Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair” and the Stills-Young-penned “Everybody I Love You” are equally distinctive. The #1 album on the Billboard 200 this week in 1970, the multi-Platinum DÉJÀ VU boasts marvelously eclectic arrangements and immaculate harmonies, and has been cited by the likes of Rolling Stone and VH1 as one of the greatest albums of all time.
HARD CANDY (Album of the Day)
Madonna pulled out all the stops for her 11th – and final – Warner Bros. studio album, HARD CANDY. Enlisting a team of A-list producers including Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams (all of whom also contribute vocals, along with Kanye West), the performer created a tough-but-sweet confection that was “like 'Holiday' with an R&B groove,” in Timbaland's words. The urban-oriented dance-pop of the collection shines as brightly on LP-only tracks like “Candy Shop” and “Devil Wouldn't Recognize You” as it does on singles “Give It 2 Me,” “Miles Away,” and Top 10 hit “4 Minutes.” Needless to say, HARD CANDY was a smash, reaching No.1 on the U.S. album chart this week in 2008 and racking up more than 4 million sales worldwide.