Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#894 in the Series) is Don Dixon, Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do Quite often the hardest thing about maintaining this website is trying to come up with the next day’s “Cool Album of the Day.” There are times when nothing jumps out at you that you feel like telling people about. Then there are times when you get an idea from places you never expected. That’s what happened yesterday when I was looking for our next entry. As you know we also have a Facebook page for “Cool Album of the Date.” On the page there is often continuous discussion on the entries along...

Neal Schon, Michaele Salahi Getting Married Live On Pay-Per-View Journey rocker Neal Schon is tying the knot with Real-Housewife-turned-White-House-gate-crasher Michaele Salahi, and you’re invited to the wedding! The Dec. 15 nuptials will be filmed and available for viewing live on pay-per-view for $14.95. The big day is dubbed the “Winter Wonderland Wedding and Music Event” and will feature performances by —who else?—Journey. The couple will become the first to get married on pay-per-view, according to TMZ, and they will be donating a portion of the proceeds from their event to a charity working on relief efforts for the recent Philippines typhoon. Salahi and Schon memorably got together when she split from her “Real Housewives of DC” co-star and husband Tareq...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#893 in the Series) is Popkissed, It’s a Fine Day (Aquavit Records) If you loved Madonna’s hypnotic hit “Frozen,” then you’re sure to dig the equally trance-inducing sound of the Norwegian duo Popkissed. The beat is just as steady, driven by simple, catchy drumlines and encompassed by Lill-Ann Blauenfeldt’s bold, controlled vocals. She might not command the Material Girl’s vocal range, but there is something about Lill-Ann’s heavy alto that lends her delivery an almost tangible intimacy. Creating the vivid soundscapes through which Blauenfeldt’s husky musings float like a restless lark is producer Robert Solheim. These two talents are the heart and soul of Popkissed, an electro-pop act that has just upped the ante...

Today’s Cool Albums of the Day (#s 891 and 892 in the Series) are The Bottle Rockets – The Bottle Rockets, The Brooklyn Side When it comes to game changing bands that first began surfing the banzai pipeline of the Americana tidal wave that began in the early 1990’s and gained momentum in the new millennium, The Bottle Rockets, along with The Blasters, Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, and The Old 97’s, were among the first explorers to plant the Roots-Rock flag on American soil, and now, courtesy of Bloodshot records, we are treated to a re-mastered, deluxe edition treatment of the band’s first two albums, The Bottle Rockets, and The Brooklyn Side. Formed in 1992, from the not so musical...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#890 in the Series) is the self-titled debut by The Ria Reece Band With the amount of musical talent Montreal is churning out, it just might be that there’s a new Motown north of the border. The latest off the conveyor belt is a four-piece band hell-bent on instilling in us a reverence for the roots of rhythm and blues. The Ria Reece Band doesn’t do half-baked and there is a richness in their instruments and in Ria’s gravy-sweet vocals that will appease the staunchest of soul purists. Their mastery of the intricacies of the raw, passionate melodies of the sixties and seventies belies the fact that The Ria Reece Band was...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#889 in the Series) is Diana Krall, Live in Paris Diana Krall was another one of those artists that I knew more ‘of’ than actually knew.  I couldn’t tell you anything that she had done.  I’d see her listed as being on different shows etc.  I had a little interest. Some of it also generated from being familiar with her superstar husband, Elvis Costello.  I wonder if she’s ever worn his red shoes? So one day I’m surfing thru the television channels when I see her sitting at her piano singing this marvelous song. “OK’ I said, this sounds pretty good’ Maybe I’ll watch a song or two.” Well, about 80 minutes...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#888 in the Series) is The Power Station. Duran Duran, Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Robert Palmer.  That’s what you heard countless times when Power Station was released.  This was indeed true, unfortunately, those members John Taylor, Andy Taylor along with Palmer, wasn’t what made Power Station hot.  What made Power Station a great band was its drummer, Tony Thompson. I miss hearing Thompson play. He was so darn good. He passed away from renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) in 2003, just two months after Robert Palmer died from a heart attack. I’m surprised I don’t see Thompson’s name more when best drummers are discussed.  You’ve heard his work so many times. Thing of the...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#887 in the Series) is The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988 This may be one of the more interesting box sets of the year – a year that has already seen many. They have been some really great ones and some that I have to shake my head and wonder if there was really a need for that. They have come in all shapes and l sizes. There have been career spanning Boxes by Stephen Stills and Duane Allman, Re-releases of several artists entire discographies and a number of deluxe sets expanding albums of long ago such as Nirvana’s 20th anniversary release of In Utero, Van Morrison’s Deluxe...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#886 in the Series) is Sturgill Simpson, High Top Mountain High Top Mountain, the impressive new album by Country Singer Sturgill Simpson, is the best Outlaw Country throwback album released in years, and would have fit right in with Willie’s Red Headed Stranger, Waylon’s Dreaming My Dreams, and the Mighty Merle Classic, Back to the Barrooms.  This guy is that old school, that true, and that damn good. The opening track “Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean” sets the template for 12 tracks of superb playing and true-life story lines, with Sturgill himself telling you what he thinks of all of the outlaw hoopla that is starting to envelop and mostly...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#885 in the Series) is Alice Cooper, Welcome to My Nightmare Part Psycho Circus, part Jerry Springer show, part Quentin Tarantino shock-fest, Alice Cooper’s Welcome to my Nightmare album and subsequent tour was, depending on your point of view, either ridiculous or brilliant. The ultimate answer is of course given the benefit of historical perspective, that the album is ridiculously brilliant. Released in 1975, the album was Alice Cooper’s first post band break-up outing and is by far the best solo record of his decades long career. Giving up the comfort of a consistent touring band and going to ax person by committee was certain to be a calculated risk. It was going...