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The Best Of Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead (Album of the Day)
More Of The Monkees (Deluxe) (Album of the Day)
The Monkees’ second studio collection, MORE OF THE MONKEES, remains the group’s most successful album, racking up a staggering 70 weeks on the Billboard chart – 18 of them at #1. It includes such unforgettable songs as “I’m A Believer,” “She,” “Mary, Mary” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.” Arriving just in time for the set’s 50th anniversary, the new three-disc Super Deluxe Edition features 55 previously unreleased tracks, including remastered stereo and mono mixes, extensive studio outtakes and recently discovered concert recordings from 1967 that are the band’s earliest-known live tracks. Produced by Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval, MORE OF THE MONKEES: SUPER DELUXE EDITION is the definitive look at one of the bestselling LPs of the 1960s.
Dick's Picks Volume 17 (Album of the Day)
As the man charged with combing through the Grateful Dead's tape vault, Dick Latvala kept fans enthralled with a series of archival releases in the 1990s. DICK’S PICKS VOL. 17 features the band's complete September 25, 1991 concert at the Boston Garden in Massachusetts (plus a pair of tracks from a Greensboro, NC show earlier that year) and the triple-disc set is the Dead at their eclectic, improvisational best. Along with such familiar originals as “Playing In The Band,” the group surprised the audience with a first-time performance of Paul McCartney's “That Would Be Something” along with a couple of fine Bob Dylan covers. Of particular note on DICK’S PICKS VOL. 17 is the marvelous interplay between the keyboards of Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick (who was born on this day in 1951).
Discovery (Album of the Day)
After French house heroes Daft Punk were hailed for their debut they decided to take a slightly different direction on follow-up DISCOVERY. The collection's accessible song structures reflect the joy the duo felt discovering music in their late-1970s youth, and as member Thomas Bangalter put it, “HOMEWORK ... was a way to say to the rock kids, like, 'Electronic music is cool.' DISCOVERY was the opposite, of saying to the electronic kids, 'Rock is cool, you know?'” Working with noted producers Todd Edwards and Romanthony, Daft Punk deliver such danceable tracks as “Digital Love,” “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and the irresistible “One More Time.” The 2001 club classic also marked the debut of the group's distinctive mechanical personae, and as the robots retired on this day in 2021, we'll take this opportunity to re-discover DISCOVERY.
Blurryface (Album of the Day)
Columbus, OH duo Twenty One Pilots scored a commercial breakthrough with their second major-label set, BLURRYFACE. Frontman Tyler Joseph described the title character as representing “all the things that I as an individual, but also everyone around, are insecure about,” and while serious themes abound in the lyrics, the music is remarkably eclectic, combining alternative rock, hip-hop, electropop and reggae on 14 originals. It's hard to single out highlights on an album where every track was R.I.A.A.-certified Gold or better, but “Tear in My Heart” “Ride” and “Stressed Out” certainly qualify – the last of these peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 this week in 2016 and later won a Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Grammy. BLURRYFACE topped the album chart upon release, and the triple-Platinum collection stands as Twenty One Pilots' most successful to date.
Let Me In Your Life (Album of the Day)
Twenty albums into her career, Aretha Franklin could still deliver the goods, and LET ME IN YOUR LIFE is proof of that. The Atlantic Records brain trust of Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd co-produced the 1974 set and they brought an A-team of instrumentalists (guitarist Cornell Dupree, keyboardist Donny Hathaway and drummer Bernard Purdie among them) to accompany the legendary vocalist. The emphasis on orchestral arrangements here shows off Franklin's mastery of ballads, and all three singles - “Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do),” “I'm in Love” and “Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing” - were Top 10 R&B hits. The collection as a whole topped the R&B album chart and LET ME IN YOUR LIFE remains one of the Queen of Soul's best from the 1970s.
Killing Me Softly (Album of the Day)
Roberta Flack and producer Joel Dorn labored for more than a year on the follow-up to the performer's duets album with Donny Hathaway, and the effort paid off with this double Platinum hit. Though none of the tracks on KILLING ME SOFTLY are self-composed, the collection has the introspective feel of a singer-songwriter album, with Flack's soulful vocals joined to nuanced piano work that hints at her affinity for jazz and classical music. Among the eight cuts here are outstanding interpretations of Leonard Cohen's “Suzanne” and Janis Ian's “Jesse,” not to mention the title track, which topped the U.S. singles chart on this day in 1973 (and later won a Record of the Year Grammy). One of Roberta Flack's best, KILLING ME SOFTLY remains a perfect album for late-night reverie.
Jagged Little Pill (Album of the Day)
Alanis Morissette embarked on one of the most spectacular career reinventions in music history when she turned from the fluffy dance-pop of her first two (Canadian-only) albums to the ragingly cathartic JAGGED LITTLE PILL. Working with producer Glen Ballard in Los Angeles, Morissette's soul-baring songs burst with raw emotion, but there was also consummate craftsmanship in these recordings – the melodies and forceful arrangements of “You Oughta Know,” “Hand In My Pocket,” “Ironic” and “Head Over Feet” practically jumped out of the radio. By the time the smoke cleared, the Maverick release had gone multi-Platinum, and on this day in 1996 Morissette became the youngest artist to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. A critical and commercial smash on original release, JAGGED LITTLE PILL has lost none of its power.
On the Border (Album of the Day)
ON THE BORDER was an appropriate title for Eagles' third studio set; the collection straddles the mellower music of their earlier discs and the tougher sounds they'd soon explore. After initial sessions with Glyn Johns in London, the band shifted gears, moving to L.A.'s Record Plant and teaming with producer Bill Szymczyk to find a harder rock edge (the band would get a boost in that direction with the addition of guitarist Don Felder). There are still plenty of country influences on the album; Bernie Leadon's “My Man” is a tribute to his old friend Gram Parsons and there's some fine pedal steel work on “Best Of My Love,” which hit #1 on this day in 1975. But ON THE BORDER also includes punchier singles “Already Gone” and “James Dean,” reflecting a versatility that would eventually take the group to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A Donny Hathaway Collection (Album of the Day)
A gifted singer, songwriter, arranger and keyboardist, Chicago-born Donny Hathaway learned the ropes of the music industry at Curtis Mayfield's label before signing with Atco Records, where he remained for the rest of his career. Among the first surveys of his work for the company, 1990's A DONNY HATHAWAY COLLECTION reflects every facet of his talent, including such signature originals as “The Ghetto,” “Someday We'll All Be Free” and seasonal favorite “This Christmas.” While at Howard University, Hathaway befriended fellow student Roberta Flack, and their duets “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You” both reached the Top 10. A DONNY HATHAWAY COLLECTION shows why the man was a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and the album is now available in a purple vinyl edition at rhino.com and Black-owned indie retailers.