Content tagged ''
San Siro 2007 (Album of the Day)
Among the most successfully pop vocalists in Italy, Laura Pausini was cutting records before she got her high school diploma, and has so far sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, singing in Italian and Spanish. On June 2, 2007, Pausini became the first female artist to sell out the San Siro soccer stadium in Milan, a performance released on CD and DVD as SAN SIRO 2007. The singer–songwriter's second live collection features songs from her two most recent albums along with medleys of hits, offering an excellent distillation of her career to that point. The mezzo-soprano is in superb form, the 70,000-strong crowd appreciative and the sound pristine throughout – despite a rainstorm during the concert. SAN SIRO 2007 was released 10 years ago today, and if you're curious about the global phenomenon that is Laura Pausini, it's a good place to start.
THE WARNER BROS. ALBUMS [1974-1983] (Album of the Day)
Recently named the greatest stand-up comic of all time by Rolling Stone, Richard Pryor blazed a trail that was profane, profound and hilarious. Though perhaps most famous for his film and television work, Pryor’s recordings are an even richer legacy, and THE WARNER BROS. ALBUMS (1974-1983) capture him at his peak. The six albums he cut for the label – THAT NIGGER’S CRAZY, …IS IT SOMETHING I SAID, BICENTENNIAL NIGGER, WANTED: LIVE IN CONCERT, LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP and HERE AND NOW – brim with razor-sharp observations on race relations and Pryor’s personal life, introduced such characters as Mudbone and earned 4 Grammy Awards. Richard Pryor was born on this day in 1940, and we'll remember the comedy great with another spin of THE WARNER BROS. ALBUMS (1974-1983).
Alive 2007 (Album of the Day)
Daft Punk are among the greatest showmen in electronic music, a fact underlined by ALIVE 2007. The French duo’s second live album was drawn from their concert at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in France on June 14, 2007, and features the robot rockers manipulating and reworking such studio favorites as “Da Funk,” “Around The World” and “One More Time.” The double-length collection earned Grammy Awards for Best Electronic Album and Best Electronic Single (“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”) and acclaim from such outlets as Pitchfork, which called it “the ultimate Daft Punk mixtape.” Released in the U.S. ten years ago today, ALIVE 2007 puts you in a front-row seat at one of the most exciting techno performances of recent memory.
Jade To The Max (Album of the Day)
Having grown up on jazz, Motown and gospel, vocalists Tonya Kelly, Joi Marshall and Di Reed – known collectively as Jade - could make just about anything sound good. On JADE TO THE MAX, the R&B trio’s 1992 debut album for Giant, the ladies also have top-notch production and material to work with. Hitmaker/mentor Vassal Benford penned nearly half of the 11 songs here with co-producer Ron Spearman, including three Top 40 singles: "I Wanna Love You," "One Woman" and the supremely catchy “Don’t Walk Away.” If new jack swing is your thing, the platinum-selling JADE TO THE MAX remains among the gems of the era.
Running On Empty (Album of the Day)
Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer Jackson Browne drew upon years of experience onstage and off for his 1977 Asylum release RUNNING ON EMPTY. If the cover art (a drum kit on a road heading to the horizon) isn't already a tip-off, this is a concept album about touring – and one of the best and most unusual live albums ever made. None of these ten songs had appeared on any of Jackson's previous albums, and in addition to concert performances, the collection includes impromptu recordings made backstage, on buses and in hotel rooms during one of the singer-songwriter's cross-country treks. With such old hands as guitarist David Lindley, bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel in the band, the proceedings have a loose, easy feel to them, even when the material touches on the darker side of life on the road. Released 40 years ago today, RUNNING ON EMPTY brought Browne a pair of Grammy nominations (including Album of the Year) as well as commercial success; the title anthem and “The Load Out/Stay” were both hit singles, while the album reached #3 on the chart.
Crossings (Album of the Day)
A Kennedy Center honoree on this day in 2013, keyboardist Herbie Hancock first came to prominence in Miles Davis' quintet, going solo in the late 1960s as the legendary trumpeter began exploring jazz fusion. Herbie's own exploration of that sound can be heard on a trio of albums he cut for Warner Bros. concluding with 1972's CROSSINGS. That set consists of three epic workouts: Hancock's side-long five-part suite “Sleeping Giant” and saxophonist Bennie Maupin's “Quasar” and “Water Torture.” Though about half of the sextet here are horn players, Patrick Gleeson's Moog and Herbie's work on electric piano and Mellotron steer things straight into outer space. Featuring soundscapes that are by turns beautifully alluring, funky and just plain weird, CROSSINGS is ripe for rediscovery by electronic fans as well as jazz buffs.
Strange Days (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Album of the Day)
Though The Doors’ debut was one of the musical highlights of 1967, it wasn’t the L.A. quartet’s only album that year. STRANGE DAYS followed in September and was another hit, peaking at #3 on the Billboard chart and featuring classics like “Love Me Two Times,” “When The Music’s Over” and the title track. Mixing new songs written on the road with some penned before the band’s debut, the Elektra collection benefits from an increased budget, access to an eight-track recorder and additional time to experiment in the studio. A new 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the platinum-selling set has just arrived in stores; produced by the album’s original engineer, Bruce Botnick, the double CD includes remastered versions of the original stereo and mono mixes of the album along with new liner notes and previously unseen photographs. Doors frontman Jim Morrison was born on this day in 1943, and we’ll wish the Lizard King a happy birthday with STRANGE DAYS.
Vol. 4 (Album of the Day)
"For me, SNOWBLIND was one of Black Sabbath's best-ever albums – although the record company wouldn't let us keep the title,” noted singer Ozzy Osbourne of VOL. 4. The original title track is a nod to the British quartet's cocaine binge during the set's recording at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, but the other nine songs show the band on a creative binge. With the group – guitarist Tony Iommi in particular – taking the reins of production, the arrangements are more varied than ever; from keyboard ballad “Changes” to the thundering “Supernaut” to the neo-classical instrumental “Laguna Sunrise,” this is Sabbath at their most ambitious and eclectic. Released 45 years ago today, VOL. 4 has been cited by the likes of Kerrang! and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time, and we're in total agreement.
PLAYBACK: THE BRIAN WILSON ANTHOLOGY (Album of the Day)
Brian Wilson's eponymous solo debut for Sire in 1988 launched an extended period of renewal for the iconic Beach Boys songwriter. The new Rhino collection PLAYBACK: THE BRIAN WILSON ANTHOLOGY is the performer's first-ever solo career-spanning collection and covers more than 30 years of music with selections from nine of Wilson's solo albums. The set's 18 tracks mix live and studio recordings and feature such highlights as the classic "Love And Mercy," “Heroes And Villains” from the Grammy®-winning BRIAN WILSON PRESENTS SMILE and “Gettin' In Over My Head” from the 2004 album of the same name. PLAYBACK also includes a pair of previously unreleased cuts: "Run James Run," a new song Wilson wrote and recorded for this collection, and "Some Sweet Day," a gem he wrote with Andy Paley in the early 1990s for an unfinished project.
St. Elsewhere (Album of the Day)
Gnarls Barkley couldn't have asked for a better calling card than “Crazy,” the ridiculously catchy lead single from their debut album ST. ELSEWHERE. A U.K. No.1 hit (the first to top that chart based solely on downloads), the song made vocalist CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse the odd couple of the year. While a perfect musical snapshot of 2006, the Atlantic collection remains exciting today, its 13 originals (plus a great cover of Violent Femmes' “Gone Daddy Gone”) a head-spinning mix of hip-hop, R&B and alternative rock peppered with highly imaginative samples. The platinum-certified ST. ELSEWHERE earned a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and if you'd like to lose your mind in sonic ecstasy, just give it a spin.