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Anthem of the Sun (50th Anniversary Edition) (Album of the Day)
Released on this day in 1968, Grateful Dead’s ANTHEM OF THE SUN was an unprecedented mix of studio and live recordings stitched together to create a hybrid. It also marked a departure for the band, as they began to channel their creativity into longer jams on songs like “Alligator” and “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” – two live staples of the Dead’s early days. To celebrate the set's golden anniversary, a new two-disc Deluxe Edition has just been released including the original album with newly remastered sound, plus a bonus disc with a previously unreleased complete live show recorded on October 22, 1967 at Winterland in San Francisco - the first known Dead recording with Mickey Hart. One of the most thrilling albums the Grateful Dead ever produced, ANTHEM OF THE SUN: 50th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION captures the group at the summit of psychedelic music.
Soul Searching (Album of the Day)
Among the most unlikely exponents of funk in the 1970s, the Average White Band formed in Dundee, Scotland, and scored three Top 10 albums, the last of which was SOUL SEARCHING. The 1976 Atlantic set was produced by Arif Mardin, the label's master of sophisticated R&B, and features 11 originals including singles “Queen Of My Soul,” “A Love Of Your Own” and the title track. While none of them soared as high on the chart as “Pick Up The Pieces,” the collection is cited by many fans as their favorite, expanding on the group's trademark sound with some truly inspired improvisation. AWB co-founder Alan Gorrie celebrates a birthday today, and we'll wish him a happy one with SOUL SEARCHING.
Candlebox (Album of the Day)
If ever a band was in the right place at the right time, it was Candlebox; formed in 1990 in Seattle, the quartet rose with the city's grunge scene and was signed to Madonna's Maverick Records. CANDLEBOX became the label's first big success, eventually selling more than 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. Singles “Far Behind,” “You” and “Cover Me” all reached Billboard's Mainstream Rock Top 10, but every one of these 11 originals is pretty solid, with an intense but accessible attack led by frontman Kevin Martin. The band's finest hour, CANDLEBOX was released 25 years ago today, and still burns bright.
Song of the Day - "Thank You" (Album of the Day)
Led Zeppelin could certainly deliver the heavy metal thunder, but what makes the quartet the gold standard for hard rock is that they could do so much more. Case in point: “Thank You,” from the band's second album. The first song for which frontman Robert Plant wrote all the lyrics (as a tribute to his wife, Maureen), the track frames his delicate vocals with Jimmy Page's acoustic guitar and scene-stealing Hammond organ work from John Paul Jones ... and caps things off with a false ending. Page and Plant revisited the song in the mid-1990s on their NO QUARTER collaboration, and of course it's a Thanksgiving perennial. Most recently “Thank You” has been heard on commercials for HBO’s “Sharp Objects,” and we'll take that as a cue to make it our Song of the Day.
America Live (Album of the Day)
AMERICA LIVE was the first concert album from the soft-rock hitmakers, recorded on July 24, 1977 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The set marked a couple of key transitions for the group, being the final album of their Warner Bros. contract and their first without co-founder Dan Peek, who'd left to pursue Christian music a couple of months earlier. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley acquit themselves admirably on these 14 tracks, which include such hits as “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “Tin Man” and “A Horse with No Name. The duo had an orchestra behind them for this show, and their studio producer, George Martin, returned to make sure the sound and fuller arrangements sparkled. A virtual greatest hits collection, AMERICA LIVE is sure to please any fan of the group.
Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990 (Album of the Day)
The Flaming Lips have pushed the sonic envelope for more than two decades as part of the Warner Bros. roster, but that's not the beginning of their story. Oklahoma's most famous freaks got their start on indie imprint Restless Records, and their gleefully weird output for the label has just been reissued on SEEING THE UNSEEABLE: THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS OF THE FLAMING LIPS 1986-1990. The six-CD boxed set includes their albums HEAR IT IS (1986), OH MY GAWD!!!...THE FLAMING LIPS (1987), TELEPATHIC SURGERY (1989) and IN A PRIEST DRIVEN AMBULANCE (WITH SILVER SUNSHINE STARES) (1990), all remastered from the original 1/4" analog tapes. SEEING THE UNSEEABLE is also packed with rare recordings originally released as b-sides, flexi discs, and on compilations, as well as the “Mushroom Tapes” demos for the band's final Restless album.
Lullaby (Album of the Day)
“Everyone deems our first album as 'our moment,' but LULLABY was our only CHR record,” noted Book Of Love's Ted Ottaviano. “We had the most amount of fanfare with our second album as well as our biggest tour.” The synth-pop quartet's 1988 Sire collection boasts a somewhat tougher sound than their debut, thanks partly to co-producer Flood, but remains dance-floor friendly while incorporating such ambitious instrumental flourishes as a cathedral organ, bagpipes and a full orchestra. Barring a peppy take on Mike Oldfield's “Tubular Bells,” the material is all original, with “Pretty Boys And Pretty Girls” (one of the first pop songs to address the AIDS crisis), “Witchcraft” and the title track among the many highlights. Thirty years after its release, there's still a lot to love about Book of Love's LULLABY, and Ottaviano has more to say about the band and its music in Rhino.com's podcast.
Song of the Day - "Holiday" (Album of the Day)
Madonna is one of the best-selling female artists in pop history, and it all begins with “Holiday,” the third single and first big hit from her eponymous debut released 35 years ago today. Written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy, the song had been pitched unsuccessfully to artists including Phyllis Hyman and Mary Wilson before producer John "Jellybean" Benitez pointed it toward Madonna. Celebrating time away from workday pressures and buoyed by a joyful dance-pop arrangement, the track's appeal is near-universal (in a 2005 interview, Madonna declared it her personal favorite), and we'll give “Holiday” another spin as our Song of the Day.
Lionheart (Album of the Day)
Kate Bush's THE KICK INSIDE marked the arrival of a singular new voice, and that album's success in the singer's native U.K. prompted a quick follow-up in LIONHEART, recorded in France with producer Andrew Powell (who'd helmed her debut). With Kate's airy vocals and literate lyrics on such key tracks as “Hammer Horror,” “Wow” and “Symphony in Blue,” the 1978 collection offered a kick similar to its predecessor. It proved similarly popular in Britain, reaching the Top Ten and eventually going platinum there thanks to the performer's first tour, though it would remain unreleased in America for several years. Today we'll wish Kate Bush a happy 60th birthday with the distinctive LIONHEART.
The Steven Wilson Remixes (Album of the Day)
Yes mark their 50th anniversary this year, and YES: THE STEVEN WILSON REMIXES spotlights the iconic music that helped secure the band's recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The new five-album set includes remixed versions of THE YES ALBUM (1971), FRAGILE (1971), CLOSE TO THE EDGE (1972), the double album TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS (1973) and RELAYER (1974). Each album features remixed audio by renowned producer Steven Wilson, released on vinyl for the first time. These articulate remixes shine a light on stellar performances ranging from hits like "Roundabout" and "I've Seen All Good People," to side-long epics like "Close To The Edge" and "The Gates Of Delirium." YES: THE STEVEN WILSON REMIXES confirms the band's standing as the most enduring, ambitious and virtuosic progressive band in rock history.