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Vol 4. (Super Deluxe) (Album of the Day)
Black Sabbath unleashed their fourth album in two years in 1972 with VOL. 4. While previous albums were produced by Rodger Bain and recorded in England, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward instead chose to produce this one themselves and cut it at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Stacked with classic tracks like “Supernaut,” “Changes” and “Snowblind,” the record harnessed the group’s surging popularity to reach the Top 10 on the Albums Chart in the U.K. and the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., on its path to being certified platinum by the RIAA. Now available, the 4-CD Super Deluxe Edition of VOL.4 includes previously unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, false starts, snippets of studio dialogue and a searing collection of live performances from March 1973.
The Baby Huey Story: Living Legend (Expanded Edition) (Album of the Day)
James Ramey may have been nicknamed “Baby Huey” after a cartoon character, but when he opened his mouth to sing, listeners took him seriously. A popular act on the Chicago R&B circuit, Baby Huey and his band the Babysitters caught the attention of Curtis Mayfield, who produced THE BABY HUEY STORY: THE LIVING LEGEND for his Curtom label. Released in 1971, about a year after Ramey’s untimely death, the set’s slightly psychedelic soul and playful rhymes would win fans among hip-hoppers years later, and “Listen to Me,” “Mighty Mighty” and “Hard Times” (the latter two penned by Mayfield) have been sampled frequently. With a pair of originals and memorable covers of “California Dreamin’” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Going to Come,” THE BABY HUEY STORY ensures the performer’s legend will live for decades to come.
The Yes Album (Album of the Day)
The third time proved the charm for Yes; on the verge of being dropped by their label after two LPs, the U.K. progressive rockers came up with a critical and commercial success in THE YES ALBUM. Released 50 years ago today, the Atlantic collection would be the final one to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye (until his return for 90125) and the first to feature guitarist Steve Howe, whose versatility took the band to a whole new level. The set is also the quintet's first of all-original material and includes such future concert staples as “Yours Is No Disgrace,” “Starship Trooper” and “I've Seen All Good People.” The vocal and instrumental work on these intricate-but-melodic songs is spectacular, and it's easy to see why the platinum-certified THE YES ALBUM is a favorite of such fellow prog greats as Rush's Geddy Lee and Genesis' Tony Banks.
The Blues Album (Album of the Day)
Whitesnake celebrates the blues sound that helped inspire its multi-platinum career on a new collection that features remixed and remastered versions of the group’s best blues-rock songs. THE BLUES ALBUM is the third and final release in the band’s Red, White and Blues Trilogy, a series of compilations organized by musical themes that began this year with Love Songs (red) and The Rock Album (white). “'Blues' to me is a beautiful word that describes emotional expression,” notes band founder David Coverdale, “be it feelings of sadness, loneliness, emptiness … but also those that express great joy, celebration and dance, sexiness and love!” Now available, THE BLUES ALBUM delivers a potent mix of hits and deep tracks that originally appeared between 1984 and 2011 on six Whitesnake studio albums and Coverdale’s solo album, INTO THE LIGHT.
Young, Gifted and Black (Album of the Day)
While Nina Simone may not have written the title song to YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK for her, Aretha Franklin truly embodied those qualities. Supported by an all-star ensemble including Billy Preston, Dr. John and guitarist Cornell Dupree, the Queen of Soul rises to new heights as both a keyboardist and a singer here, earning a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Grammy in the process. The gold-certified 1972 Atlantic set includes four Franklin-penned tracks, two of which made the Pop Top 10 (“Day Dreaming” and “Rock Steady”), and the originals are joined by an eclectic array of covers (from The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Elton John, among others) that the legendary performer makes uniquely her own. An inspiring release that captures every facet of Aretha Franklin's talent, YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK is now available in a special yellow vinyl edition for Black History Month.
Marc Cohn (Album of the Day)
Cleveland-born singer-songwriter Marc Cohn made quite a splash with his self-titled debut, earning three Grammy nominations including a win for Best New Artist. Released 30 years ago this month, the Atlantic collection balances Marc's gritty voice with shimmering piano work on ten originals (plus a Willie Dixon cover) highlighted by “Walking in Memphis.” A salute to that city's rich musical history, the Top 40 hit accounted for Cohn's other two Grammy nods but the songs that follow are just as melodic, well-crafted and emotionally direct, including “Silver Thunderbird,” “True Companion” and “Perfect Love” - the last of which features a guest vocal by James Taylor. Allmusic calls the platinum-certified MARC COHN “one of the finest debut albums of the 1990s,” and we're in complete agreement.
Yes Indeed! (Album of the Day)
Like many early Atlantic albums, including his debut, Ray Charles' YES, INDEED! was a compilation of single sides. The 14 songs on the 1958 set span five years – from his second single for the label, “The Sun’s Gonna Shine Again,” to the then-recent title track – but have the consistent quality of Brother Ray in his prime. While the aforementioned songs are covers (as is a sensational version of “Lonely Avenue”), most of the material is original, and “Swanee River Rock (Talkin' 'bout That River)” and “Talkin' 'bout You” are among the Charles-penned standouts. Though the arrangements give the iconic singer and his piano plenty of elbow room, there's also plenty of additional talent on these sessions, including saxophonist David Newman and vocal groups The Cookies and The Raelettes. Ray Charles Plaza was established in hometown Albany, Georgia, on this day in 2007, and the exciting YES, INDEED! shows the honor was well-deserved.
LIVE (Album of the Day)
The first concert collection from the line-up that took the musical world by storm, Fleetwood Mac's LIVE is everything you hoped it would be and more. The double-disc set was primarily recorded during the TUSK tour and though the quintet had little to prove at that point, they play as though their lives depend on it across these 18 tracks; Mick Fleetwood's energetic drumming and Lindsey Buckingham's fiery guitar solos deserve special mention. There are new songs (“One More Night,” “Fireflies”), rarely performed numbers (“Oh Well,” Beach Boys cover “The Farmer's Daughter”) and of course all the big hits, a couple of them in revelatory extended versions. The gold-certified LIVE was released 40 years ago today, and shows that the Mac's high standards in the studio also carried over to the stage.
Life's Too Good (Album of the Day)
There can't have been many people looking to Iceland for music's “next big thing” before the arrival of The Sugarcubes' debut, LIFE'S TOO GOOD, in 1988. While most members were veterans of the country's post-punk scene, the band was kind of a lark until the collection became a surprise success; the album made year-end best-of lists across Europe and America and lead single “Birthday” topped BBC DJ John Peel's Festive Fifty. Additional singles “Coldsweat” and “Deus” also paired playful lyrics to the appealing, occasionally eccentric, vocals of Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Einar Örn Benediktsson (an approach not unlike the B-52s in their prime). Though Björk would soon become a solo star, LIFE'S TOO GOOD is too good to relegate to footnote status in her career – it's gleeful proof that exciting alternative rock knows no international boundaries.
No Trendy Rechauffe (Live Birmingham 95) (Album of the Day)
The second of six strictly limited-edition albums in David Bowie's Brilliant Live Adventures series, NO TRENDY RÉCHAUFFÉ (LIVE BIRMINGHAM 95) was recorded live at the Birmingham NEC on December 13, 1995. The collection captures the final show of the Outside tour and was the first night of a five-night festival promoted as “The Big Twix Mix Show.” Such stalwarts as guitarists Carlos Alomar and Reeves Gabrels accompany David on these 15 tracks, which include rare performances of “Jump They Say” and “Strangers When We Meet,” as well as two versions of “Hallo Spaceboy,” a song intended as the singer-songwriter's next single. Now in stores, NO TRENDY RÉCHAUFFÉ (LIVE BIRMINGHAM 95) shows the incredible stage presence Bowie still had 30 years into his career.