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Category: Record Of The Day

Record Of The Day: Spike – Elvis Costello

Published 18 February 2015 by Jason Crane

elvisspike

This was the first Elvis Costello record I ever heard, and I came to it in a weird way. During my ten minutes in college, my second roommate had a CD of a Cornell glee club singing an a cappella version of “Veronica.” From that I checked out this record, which remains one of my favorites in EC’s discography. From “Veronica” (with Sir Paul McC on bass) to the perfect anger of “Tramp The Dirt Down” and the beauty of “Satellite” (with Chrissie Hynde on the chorus), this album is a solid winner. Plus, it features the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and guitarist Marc Ribot, among many others.

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Record Of The Day: Phoebe Snow – Phoebe Snow

Published 14 February 2015 by Jason Crane

snow

I’m going to say it: This is a perfect record. It’s like stepping into the world of Schoolhouse Rock and getting to live there, with all that sunshiny 70s soul. Why Phoebe Snow isn’t a household name can only be because she so strenuously resisted categorization.

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Record Of The Day: Push The Sky Away – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Published 12 February 2015 by Jason Crane

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My first introduction to Nick Cave came in 2005 when I went four nights in a row to the Little Theatre in Rochester, NY, to watch the concert film and documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, in which Cave is featured singing the title track and talking about Cohen. I enjoyed him in the film, but didn’t really dig in.

Then in 2010, Nick Cave’s song “O Children” was featured in my favorite moment in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1:

I decided it was time to dig in.

Push The Sky Away came out two years ago. We just got a vinyl copy at the store this week and it’s great. Moody and rich and just what you want to hear when it’s down to the last few people on a Wednesday night in the winter.

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Record Of The Day: LIVE! ALONE In America – Graham Parker

Published 6 February 2015 by Jason Crane

parker

I don’t know how this happened, but somehow I made it 41 years without ever listening to Graham Parker. I had a friend in Tucson who was into Parker, but I didn’t know this friend very long and moved before I listened to any of his records. Today I was flipping through the “P” bin at the store and came across this live solo album. I’m a sucker for records like this: electric guitar + voice + nothing else — think Billy Bragg and Warren Zevon. So this looked right up my alley. I’m writing as side one is finishing, and I really dig it.

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Record Of The Day: Love Over Gold – Dire Straits

Published 4 February 2015 by Jason Crane

loveovergold

This is my favorite Dire Straits record, followed closely by the live album Alchemy. I was introduced to this record in high school, sometime around 1988 or ’89, by Jeff Smith, who played guitar in a band with a bunch of my friends. Love Over Gold is, for me, the apex of Knopfler’s period of writing extended, complex songs for the band. This album is by turns haunting and lovely and thrilling, with plenty of guitar heroics throughout.

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Record Of The Day: Abandoned Luncheonette – Hall & Oates

Published 29 January 2015 by Jason Crane

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Sure, I’ve heard the hits, and I was married for years to a big Hall & Oates fan. I also like Hall’s work on Robert Fripp’s album Exposure. But this album was a revelation. Cleverly crafted pop songs with gorgeous production values. You’ll know at least one song — the hit “She’s Gone.” This record is the perfect music for a summer afternoon in 1973, the year both it and I were released. And it sounds pretty darned good now, too.

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Record Of The Day: A.R.C by Chick Corea/Dave Holland/Barry Altschul

Published 27 January 2015 by Jason Crane

A.R.C.
A.R.C.

A prose poem by Chick Corea covers the back of the record sleeve.
A prose poem by Chick Corea covers the back of the record sleeve.

This band features three-fourths of the band Circle (the missing member is Anthony Braxton). Right out of the gate, the trio is forceful and free-flying in their take on Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti.” And then on the next track, it’s “gaze into one’s soul” time on Corea’s “Ballad For Tillie.” A fun outing by three supremely talented players.

Note: Listen to my 2012 interview with Barry Altschul.

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Record Of The Day: The Band – Rock Of Ages

Published 21 January 2015 by Jason Crane

band

Take one of the great musical groups of, well, ever. Add arrangements by Allen Toussaint, one of the best arrangers ever to put pen to paper. Throw in a live concert environment. Stir. You’ve got a fabulous live album. This is The Band doing what they did best: playing deep, soulful rock music.

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Record Of The Day: Aretha Franklin – Lady Soul

Published 20 January 2015 by Jason Crane

aretha

Stone. Classic.

I mean COME ON, this record has “Chain Of Fools,” “Since You’ve Been Gone,” and the absolutely deadly “Ain’t No Way,” which my friend bassist John Kennedy describes as “baby-makin’ music.” The band alone is worth the price of admission — Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson, Bobby Womack, Joe Newman, King Curtis, Frank Wess, and many more.

Did I already say “stone classic”?

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Record Of The Day – Fishbone

Published 19 January 2015 by Jason Crane

fishbone

One of the very first real rock shows I ever went to was a double bill of Fishbone and Primus in about 1991, on the tour for Primus’s Sailing The Seas Of Cheese. I’d never heard of Fishbone and never seen anything even remotely like them. That show never left me, and then years later I was reawakened to the joy of Fishbone by W. Kamau Bell and Vernon Reid on their podcast The Field Negro Guide To Arts & Culture. There’s also a great Fishbone documentary. Here’s the trailer:

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