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We Are Family (Album of the Day)
Sister Sledge already had a couple of studio sets under their belts when they released WE ARE FAMILY, but it was on that Cotillion collection that the quartet truly hit it out of the park. Thanks partially to its use as the theme song to the Pittsburgh Pirates' successful World Series run, the title track became a No.2 hit; and opener “He's the Greatest Dancer” also reached the Top Ten; the album itself went platinum on this day in 1979. Philadelphia siblings Kathy, Debbie, Joni and Kim Sledge harmonize like angels and each gets a chance to sing lead, and the sisters get a huge assist from Chic's Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, who wrote and produced these 8 tracks. Rodgers once declared that “pound for pound, I think WE ARE FAMILY is our best album hands down,” and it stands as not just Sister Sledge's finest, but one of the greatest long-players of the disco era.
Dock of The Bay Sessions (Album of the Day)
Soul great Otis Redding was on top of the world in 1967, and when he entered Memphis' Stax studio in the fall, he began to explore new musical directions. Tragically, those sessions were cut short after only a few weeks when the singer died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, leaving his vision for the album unrealized. Now in stores, Rhino's DOCK OF THE BAY SESSIONS is the first collection to show what could have been. Compiled with the Redding family's full endorsement by Roger Armstrong of Ace Records and Otis biographer Jonathan Gould, these 12 songs range from the driving R&B of “Hard To Handle” and “Love Man” to such heart-stopping ballads as “I've Got Dreams To Remember” and the title classic. Although the individual tracks have been previously released across posthumous compilations, they have a cumulative power on DOCK OF THE BAY SESSIONS, which captures the first indication of a new Otis Redding, one that wowed European audiences and brought the house down at the Monterey International Pop Festival.
Unplugged... And Seated (Album of the Day)
The stripped-down, predominantly acoustic approach of MTV's Unplugged series allowed for a fresh spin on rock classics, and few performers took better advantage of it than Rod Stewart. Released 25 years ago today, UNPLUGGED … AND SEATED features the U.K. singer-songwriter on 17 career-spanning songs ranging from such early favorites as “Stay With Me” and “Maggie May” to more recent hits including “Forever Young” and “Have I Told You Lately.” Former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood joins in on guitar for many of these tracks, and though they hadn't worked together in nearly two decades, the chemistry is still palpable. A Stewart show is usually pretty animated as Rod plays to the crowd, but even when UNPLUGGED … AND SEATED, he makes thrilling music.
Fate Of Nations (Album of the Day)
Since his Led Zeppelin days, Robert Plant has explored many different paths, and so it was on his FATE OF NATIONS, released 25 years ago this month. The album drew inspiration from turning-point artists like Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane and Traffic that Plant explained “were trying to tell the listener something, joining various traditions, with the sense of a quest being insinuated and bandied in their acoustic and electronic themes.” The U.K. singer-songwriter does his heroes proud on a set of richly textured folk and rock arrangements, with lyrics that touch upon concerns both personal (“I Believe,” an elegy to his son) and political (“Network News”). FATE OF NATIONS would be Plant's last real solo album for nearly a decade, and it has the majestic feel of a musical summation.
SONG OF THE DAY - "Witchy Woman" (Album of the Day)
Released on this day in 1972, “Witchy Woman” was the second single from the first Eagles album, and quickly cast its spell on record buyers to become the band's first Top 10 hit. Written by Bernie Leadon - who'd been working on the melody since his Flying Burrito Brothers days - and Don Henley, the song drew inspiration from famed 1920s flapper Zelda Fitzgerald as well as a few more recent female acquaintances, with a touch of Carlos Castaneda mysticism thrown in for good measure. A highlight of Eagles concerts ever since (not to mention a hilarious 1996 Seinfeld episode), “Witchy Woman” is our Song of the Day.
WHEATSTRAW SUITE (Album of the Day)
As Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman take a well-deserved victory lap across America to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SWEETHEARTS OF THE RODEO, it's a good time to re-examine another seminal country-rock album from 1968 – The Dillards' WHEATSTRAW SUITE. The quartet had cut three previous bluegrass collections before dipping their toes into folk-rock on a couple singles as a lead-up to waxing this near-masterpiece for Elektra Records. Given the group's roots, you'd expect the deft finger-picking of Rodney Dillard and Herb Pedersen and the spot-on harmonies here. What's new on WHEATSTRAW SUITE is the stronger rhythmic pulse (from future Derek & The Dominos drummer Jim Gordon) and more contemporary material, including Beatles (“I've Just Seen a Face”) and Tim Hardin (“Reason to Believe”) covers along with several strong originals (“Nobody Knows,” “Hey Boys”). It's The Dillards' finest hour.
SONG OF THE DAY - "Every Day is Like Sunday" (Album of the Day)
“'Everyday Is Like Sunday' is, to me, a masterful piece of prose," noted Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde of the Morrissey classic a few years before her band cut its own version of the song. We couldn't agree more, though the literate lyrics are but one of the track's charms. The second single from Morrissey's solo debut VIVA HATE made the Top 10 on the U.K. chart, buoyed by the performer's inimitable vocals and evocative orchestration by co-writer and former Smiths producer Stephen Street. Thirty years old this year, “'Everyday Is Like Sunday” offers a mix of exuberance and melancholy that has timeless appeal (it even popped up in the recent Marvel Studios film Ant-Man And The Wasp), and that makes it our Song of the Day.
Banda Larga Cordel (Album of the Day)
“When I was only two or two and a half,” Gilberto Gil once recalled, “I told my mother I was going to become a musician or a president of my country,” and the Brazilian star's ongoing career includes long stints as both recording artist and politician. Gil's forward-thinking work as a performer features socially conscious lyrics and an ear for new sounds to blend with traditional ones, an approach he began in the 1960s as a pioneer of tropicalia and continued to explore on 2008's BANDA LARGA CORDEL. These 16 Portuguese-sung songs embrace contemporary technology as firmly as vintage samba and bossa nova rhythms, and Gil's mellifluous voice illuminates such highlights as “Amor de Carnaval,” “Cano” and “Máquina de Ritmo.” As we mark its 10th anniversary, the Grammy-nominated BANDA LARGA CORDEL embodies the vitality of both Brazilian music and one of its greatest exponents.
Everything is Everything (Mono) (Album of the Day)
Donny Hathaway had established a reputation as a talented session pianist and arranger before he got the chance to cut his own album in 1970 – and it turned out he had a wonderful voice, too. Hathaway had grown up singing gospel and spent time working for Curtis Mayfield, and EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING displays both of those influences in Donny's moving performances and choice of material. The nine selections on the album are split between inspiring covers of songs like Nina Simone's “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” and such socially aware originals as “Tryin' Times” and “The Ghetto” (both co-written with Leroy Hutson, Mayfield's replacement in The Impressions). Donny Hathaway cut many fine records in his all-too-brief career, but this debut disc may well be his best.
Orange Crate Art (Album of the Day)
Brian Wilson and wunderkind lyricist Van Dyke Parks worked together in the mid-1960s to compose The Beach Boys' famously shelved SMILE album; the pair re-teamed 30 years later for ORANGE CRATE ART. “It was to extol the propagandist art that brought California a sense of realty,” notes Parks of the title song, and the entire Warner Bros. collection paints the Golden State with a nostalgic glow. That's Wilson's sweet spot, even if songs like “My Hobo Heart,” “Hold Back Time” and “Lullaby” recall an era that predates surf music. As on their first collaboration, the wordplay is intricate, the arrangements dense and varied, and no expense has been spared to bring in top-flight instrumentalists. This is Brian Wilson's birthday, and while others may mark it with his '60s hits, we'll take a deeper dive to celebrate the late-career resurgence heard on ORANGE CRATE ART.