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Wild Streak (Album of the Day)
Though he qualifies as country music royalty, Hank Williams Jr. refused to be shackled by tradition on WILD STREAK. Released 30 years ago today, the Warner Bros. collection displays a strong rock influence, with a boisterous spirit that will be familiar to Hank Jr. concert fans; nowhere is this more apparent than on the cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Tuesday's Gone” that closes the album (and features Gary Rossington on guitar). Williams also came up with some tasty southern rock originals, including singles “Early in the Morning and Late at Night” and “If the South Woulda Won,” which ranks among Bocephus' best. A gold-certified Billboard Country chart-topper, WILD STREAK has enough energy and assurance to rouse the rebel in any listener.
Mermaid Avenue (Album of the Day)
When Woody Guthrie's daughter wanted music added to some of her father's unrecorded lyrics, she made a savvy choice in U.K. troubadour Billy Bragg, who in turn enlisted alt-country group Wilco to help. Asked to give Guthrie's words a contemporary framework rather than imitate the folk legend, the performers came up with the remarkably effective MERMAID AVENUE, released 20 years ago on Elektra Records. Drawn from hundreds of manuscripts penned from the late-1930s to the mid-1960s, these 15 tracks include protest anthems, love ballads and children's songs, with lead vocals split between Bragg and Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” “California Stars” and “Birds and Ships” (with guest singer Natalie Merchant) are just a few of the gems on MERMAID AVENUE, which earned a Grammy nomination and a place on innumerable 1998 year-end best-of lists.
SONG OF THE DAY - "Rock And Roll" (Sunset Sound Mix) (Album of the Day)
Has it been a long time since you rock and rolled? Led Zeppelin's “Rock And Roll” (Sunset Sound Mix) is finally available on streaming services for the first time as a standalone single. Evolving from a jam during recording sessions for the quartet's untitled fourth album, the song is aptly titled given that its rhythm and guitar riff were inspired by the '50s rock of such pioneers as Little Richard and Chuck Berry. A big audience favorite since its release in 1971, the anthem opened Zeppelin concerts for years, and was the final encore of the band's 2007 reunion show. Also available as part of the new LED ZEPPELIN X LED ZEPPELIN digital-only collection, “Rock And Roll” (Sunset Sound Mix) is our Song of the Day.
Sailin' Shoes (Album of the Day)
By 1972, Lowell George and his Little Feat cohorts had an acclaimed debut album under their belts but with SAILIN' SHOES the band reached another level entirely – something obvious from the opening notes of “Easy To Slip,” which stands among the great lost singles of the decade. Produced by Ted Templeman, the Warner Bros. collection features some of George's best-loved songs, including “Cold, Cold, Cold,” “Tripe Faced Boogie,” “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” and truck-driving anthem “Willin'.” As seasoned L.A. music veterans, the foursome deliver performances that are pretty near immaculate and, more importantly, soulful; the roots-informed rock of these 11 tracks goes down mighty easy. If Neon Park's cover art isn't sufficient inspiration to kick up your heels, just give a listen to SAILIN' SHOES.
Piano & A Microphone 1983 (Album of the Day)
As skilled as Prince's was as a producer, he didn't need studio gimmickry to dazzle listeners, a fact made abundantly clear on PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983. Released by the Prince Estate in partnership with Warner Bros. Records, the new 9-track collection features a previously unreleased cassette recording made at the performer's Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, MN, just before he achieved international stardom. The private rehearsal provides a rare, intimate glimpse into Prince's creative process as he worked through songs including “Purple Rain,” “Strange Relationship,” “International Lover” and a cover of Joni Mitchell's “A Case Of You.” Among the standouts on PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983 is a rare recording of the 19th-century spiritual “Mary Don't You Weep,” which was recently used during the end credits of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman.
Wide Swing Tremolo (Album of the Day)
Following the break-up of Americana standard-bearers Uncle Tupelo, singer-songwriter Jay Farrar and drummer Mike Heidorn recruited brothers Dave and Jim Boquist to form a new group – Son Volt – and signed to Warner Bros. The band's third collection for the label, WIDE SWING TREMOLO, finds them leaning more toward the alternative side of alt-country, with energetic guitar rockers like “Straightface” and “Medicine Hat” practically jumping out of the speakers, even if Farrar's enigmatic lyrics sometimes provide dark undercurrents. WIDE SWING TREMOLO was the final studio album from Son Volt's original line-up, and we'll crank it up now to celebrate the set's 20th anniversary.
Road To Ruin (40th Anniversary Remastered) (Album of the Day)
For the Ramones' ROAD TO RUIN, Dee Dee, Joey, and Johnny were joined for the first time by drummer Marky Ramone, as founding member Tommy Ramone moved to the producer's chair. More accessible than ever without sacrificing the quartet's blitzkrieg power, the 1978 Sire set introduced a nation of pinheads to such classics as “I Wanna Be Sedated." In honor of its 40th anniversary, Rhino has just released a 3-CD/1-LP boxed set of the seminal collection including two different mixes of the album, unissued rough mixes for every album track and an unreleased 1979 concert recording of the Ramones in New York – all packaged in a beautiful 12 x 12 hardcover book. To mark what would have been Johnny Ramone's 70th birthday, we'll crank up the ROAD TO RUIN: 40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION.
Skyscraper (Album of the Day)
David Lee Roth continued to scale hard-rock heights with SKYSCRAPER, the performer's second full-length solo album. The 1988 Warner Bros. collection was produced by Roth and guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, who together add a high degree of polish to these 10 tracks, most of which were co-written by the pair. Highlights include “Hot Dog and a Shake,” Billboard Rock chart-topper “Damn Good” and Top 10 hit “Just Like Paradise”; the album as a whole also reached the Top 10 and went double-platinum. The band (which includes bassist Billy Sheehan shortly before he left to form Mr. Big) sounds like it's having a blast, and the sense of fun is contagious. This is David Lee Roth's birthday, and we'll wish him a happy one with SKYSCRAPER.
For Everyman (Album of the Day)
Released 45 years ago this month, Jackson Browne's second album, FOR EVERYMAN, was proof that his remarkable debut was no fluke. As on that earlier work, the lyrics offer sharp observations on both personal and social concerns, and Jackson sings them with even greater confidence - among the standouts from his songbook are single “Redneck Friend,” “These Days” (a song he'd given to Nico years earlier) and “Take It Easy,” which he'd co-written with Glenn Frey. Frey appears here in support, along with fellow Eagle Don Henley and a host of L.A. rock greats including David Crosby, Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt; additionally, multi-instrumentalist David Lindley begins his long collaboration with Browne on the 1973 Asylum set. Today we'll give the platinum-certified FOR EVERYMAN another spin to wish Jackson Browne a happy birthday.
The Blue Hour (Album of the Day)
Brit-pop leading lights The London Suede made one of the most welcome comebacks in recent memory when they returned from a near-decade recording hiatus in 2013, and THE BLUE HOUR completes a triptych of albums made since their reunion. It's the band's first collaboration with producer Alan Moulder, whose name can be found on some of the most iconic shoegazing records of the 1990s, and while the new set is short on hazy guitar feedback, it brims with atmosphere. The 14 originals incorporate choir and orchestral arrangements as well as spoken word sections to add an art-rock romanticism to the quintet's sound; singles include “The Invisibles,” “Don't Be Afraid If Nobody Loves You” and “Life Is Golden.” The London Suede's most successful album on the U.K. charts since 1999's HEAD MUSIC, the adventurous THE BLUE HOUR further burnishes a great band's legacy.