Today’s Albums 201-300

New Orleans Trombone Shorty debuts on Blue Note with Parking Lot Symphony. First heard of him on Treme. Talented musician!  tromboneshorty.com

The debut Limp Bizkit Three Dollar Bill, Y’all is 20 years old today. Fred Durst power rap-rock. Forgot about the George Michael cover of Faith!  limpbizkit.com

The incredible The Fat of the Land by The Prodigy is 20 years old today. Includes Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe, Firestarter and the powerful Mindfields. Epic! theprodigy.co.uk

The 2nd Royal Blood album How Did We Get So Dark? is not a touch on the debut, but deserves a listen. Huge hints of QOTSA!  royalbloodband.com

The 3rd Brian Eno album Another Green World released 1975. Eno transitioned from rock to more ambient sounds. Phil Collins on drums!  brian-eno.net

At My Age by Nick Lowe was 10 years old yesterday. Soul and country influences throughout this charming and humorous album.  Love Long-Limbed Girl.  nicklowe.com

Ryan Adams 9th studio album Easy Tiger is 10vyears old today. Adams makes song-writing such a simple art. Love Pearls on a String and Goodnight Rose. paxamrecords.com

The new Goldie album The Journey Man is a lengthy affair rekindling the passion of Timeless, blending soul and drum & bass. Take a day off and listen… goldie.co.uk

Sublime 40oz. To Freedom is 25 years old this month. Blends reggae, rocksteady and punk, one of the best selling independent albums of all-time. Badfish sublimelbc.com

The 4th solo album by Paul Weller Heavy Soul is 20 years old today. Includes Peacock Suit and Friday Street. Two decades on still sounds as fresh as a daisy!  paulweller.com

The Kate Grom team reached out regarding her stunning new release Heroine. Smooth country with sumptuous production. Love the opener Whiskey Cry and Under the Gun. kategrom.com

The Basement Tapes 1975 release by Bob Dylan & The Band.  Previously bootlegs, the songs were recorded around Woodstock, NY after Dylan’s motorcycle crash.  bobdylan.com

Former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters first studio album in 25 years, Is This The Life We Really Want? Classic Waters sharing his world views!  rogerwaters.com

Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do is 5 years old today!

The 1975 Elton John album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. An underrated masterpiece! Includes Someone Saved My Life Tonight. eltonjohn.com

Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized was 20 years old yesterday. Love Electricity,  I Think I’m in Love & Come Together

UK release of Radiohead OK Computer is 20 years old today. Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Lucky & No Surprises. Simply perfect, agree?  radiohead.com

The 6th & final The White Stripes album Icky Thump is 10 years old today. Love Conquest & I’m Slowly Turning Into You. Ended on a high!

The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach latest solo album Waiting on A Song is one of the summer. Fun 60’s Nashville pop!

The eponymous debut from the 22 yr old Canadian Colter Wall is dark and raw country, from the gruff voiced singer, now living in Kentucky. Such maturity at such a young age!  colterwall.com

The debut eponymous Teddy Pendegrass album is 40 years old today. Two great singles released were I don’t Love You Anymore & The Whole Town’s Laughing at Me

@todayzalbum is the 2005 My Morning Jacket album Z. Has been called the Kentucky band’s OK Computer. Love Gideon and Wordless Chorus  mymorningjacket.com

The 3rd album from alt-J, RELAXER was released this month. Guest vocals by Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice. Oblique soundscapes and poetic melodies!  altjband.com

Del Amitri’s Change Everything is 25 years old today. Includes Always The Last To Know and love As Soon As The Tide Comes In. Classic pop-rock!  delamitri.com

The Bravest Man In The Universe was final album released in Bobby Womack lifetime, is 5 years old today. Recorded despite Womack’s ill health!  bobbywomack.com

@todayzalbum is 1985 debut Radio by LL Cool J. Produced by Rick Rubin, Radio helped an upsurge New School Hip Hop. Love I Can’t Live Without My Radio  llcoolj.com

The 1967 eponymous debut album by Moby Grape is 50 years old today! Love Omaha. Original cover showed drummer Don Stevenson flipping the bird!

Aerosmith 3rd albumToys In The Attic, released 1975, includes original Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion. Gave the Boston band commercial success!  aerosmith.com

Dizzee Rascal 3rd album Maths + English is 10 years old today. Essential summer grime. Includes Flex and great social observations on Excuse Me Please.   dizzeerascal.co.uk

The 9th album by Bob Marley and the Wailers Exodus is 40 years old today. Classic Marley! Includes Jamming, Waiting in Vain, Three Little Birds & One Love/People Get Ready. bobmarley.com

The The Lemonheads It’s A Shame About Ray is 25 years old today. Catchy grunge that found the band fame. Mrs. Robinson was on re-release.

The legendary Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is 50 years old. The new stereo mix by Giles Martin is stunning. Like a new album!  thebeatles.com

Fly Like an Eagle is the 1976 release by Steve Miller Band. Dreamy rock & blues grooves. Love Rock ‘n’ Me,  Take the Money and Run & title track.  stevemillerband.com

The 1966 debut album Freak Out! by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention. Surreal, wacky and warped. All hail Suzy Creamcheese!  zappa.com

Heaven by The Walkman is 5 years old today. They returned to form with 7th album. Highlights include Heartbreaker and Song For Leigh  thewalkmen.com

The 2004 Arcade Fire debut Funeral. Euphoric indie rock. Includes the masterful Rebellion (Lies), Wake Up and Haiti. In your Top 100 albums?  arcadefire.com

The 1969 eponymous debut Santana. Frantic Latin rock of the highest order! Love Jingo, Evil Ways & Persuasion  santana.com

The wolves!  Los Lobos album Kiko is 25 years old today. Superb Mexi-soul from a band so much more than La Bamba! Love That Train Don’t Stop Here & Rio de Tenampa loslobos.org

The 7^th album by The Cure Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is 30 years old today.  A prolific period.  Love If Only Tonight We Could Sleep & Just Like Heaven  thecure.com

The 1978 album Darkness On the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen. Solid hard luck rock. Love Badlands &  Adam Raised A Cain  brucespringsteen.net

The sublime female voice on Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter Merry Clayton released an album of the same name in 1970. A fantastic listen!

The Monkees 3rd album Headquarters is 50 years old today. The band had creative freedom and played instruments…the result was legendary!  monkees.com

The 1979 eponymous debut from Athens Georgia’s The B52’s. Superb B-movie kitsch. Love Rock Lobster & Planet Claire. Do you dig?  theb52s.com

The Foo Fighters 2nd album The Colour and the Shape is 20 years old today. Seminal modern rock! Includes Monkey Wrench, My Hero & Everlong  foofighters.com

The Sky Blue Sky by Wilco is 10 years old this month. Simple song-writing, reminds me of The Beatles in places. Love Impossible Germany  wilcoworld.net

The original release of Polythene by Feeder is 20 years old today. Love My Perfect Day, High and Suffocate. Great festival band!  feederweb.com

Careless Soul by Cale Tyson. A young Texan singing country soul. Recorded at Muscle Shoals. Love Traveling Man & Ain’t It Strange  caletyson.net

1979 debut album Entertainment! by Gang of 4. Influential edgy postpunk riffs. Recorded in 4 weeks. Love At Home He’s A Tourist & Damaged Goods

1977 Ol’ Waylon by country singer Waylon Jennings, includes career defining Luckenbach, & covers of Lucille, Sweet Caroline & an Elvis medley!

Debut Battles album Mirrored is 10 years old today. Ear-catching rhythmic drums, guitar and electronics. Love Atlas, Rainbow and Leyendecker  bttls.com

Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius latest release No Shape. Confidently blissful, euphoric and tender. Love Otherside & Alan  perfumegenius.org

The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by The Black Crowes is 25 years old today. Still brilliantly dated! Love Hotel Illness & Remedy  blackcrowes.com

Iron Maiden Fear of the Dark is 25 years old today. Band’s 9th studio album, Love Fear Of The Dark,  Fear Is The Key & Afraid To Shoot Strangers  ironmaiden.com

Led Zeppelin 1973 Houses Of The Holy. Contains The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song & No Quarter What’s not to love?  ledzeppelin.com

Earth, Wind & Fire 1975 That’s the Way of the World. Band’s 6th album, tight production funk,  soul & jazz from fine musicians. Love Shining Star  earthwindandfire.com

Lost on You by LP. Laura Pergolizzi aka LP impressed on BBC’s Later with Jools Holland. Love  No Witness and title track Lost On You. Do you like LP?  iamlp.com

The Manic Street Preachers returned to form with 8th album Send Away the Tigers, 10 years old today. Love Autumnsong and Your Love Alone Is Not Enough  manicstreetpreachers.com

Tres Hombres, 3^rd release (1973) by the Texans ZZ Top. Love Waitin’ for the Bus and La Grange. Great dose of southern blues that put them on the map!  zztop.com

The 10^th solo album, Flaming Pie by Paul McCartney is 20 years old today. Bursting with introspection & nostalgia. Love Somedays & Great Day  paulmccartney.com

Drunk by LA’s Stephen Bruner aka Thundercat. 23 tracks of soul, 70sfunk, hip-hop & rock and top musicianship. Love Let Me Show You

The 1967 Stax records release Born Under a Bad Sign by blues Albert King. The album help modernize blues music. Love The Hunter, Crosscut Saw and title track.

Andromeda Heights by Prefab Sprout is 20 years old today. Full of elegant and tender melodies. Love Steal Your Thunder & Weightless

Volta by Bjork is 10 years old today. Full of melodic dark eccentricity. Part produced by Timbaland. Love Earth Intruders, I See Who You Are & Innocence  bjork.com

Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins, 1956 hard bop sax in legendary quartet Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass & Max Roach on drums  sonnyrollins.com

The new Mark Lanegan album Gargoyle. Awesomely dark and brooding. Love Deaths Head Tattoo, Emperor and Goodbye to Beauty  marklanegan.com

Hard Normal Daddy by Squarepusher is 20 years old today jazz fusion and funk mixed drum ‘n’ bass. Still sounds great two decades on!  squarepusher.net

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco. The band’s 4th LP was rejected by Reprise records, but maybe their best work? Love War on War  wilcoworld.net

The new Kendrick Lamar album DAMN. His 4th release, deep lyrics! Love Duckworth and Humble. A rapper at top of his game?  kendricklamar.com

Eurythmics 1983 3rd album Touch, Includes Here Comes the Rain Again, Right by Your Side & Who’s That Girl? 80’s gold?

@todayzalbum is debut Oracular Spectacular by @whoisMGMT released 2007. Includes catchy #Time to Pretend & #Kids. How do you rate?  whoismgmt.com

The 1972 Give It Up by Bonnie Raitt is @todayzalbum. Her 2nd album features great vocals, blending folk, blues & R&B. Do you dig?  bonnieraitt.com

The 1969 eponymous album by Boz Scaggs. Highlight is 12-min blues Loan Me A Dime. Classic Muscle Shoals sound & deeply soulful!  bozscaggs.com

Father John Misty new album Pure Comedy. Lush epic melodies & eloborate social commentary. Elton John influence? His Magnum Opus?  fatherjohnmisty.com

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes. Duo’s 3rd album 2001, recorded in under a week. About love hope betrayal and paranoia!

@todayzalbum is The Stone Roses debut. Cult Madchester classic, includes Fools Gold (On US version) and I Wanna Be Adored. One of the best debuts?  thestoneroses.org

The 1971 Live in Cook County Jail album by B.B. King was more reserved than Cash’s prison releases. Not Live At The Regal but worth a listen. Love The Thrill Is Gone bbking.com

The 1984 album Purple Rain made Prince a superstar. 1^st album featuring The Revolution. So many classics Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U, Take Me With U, Baby I’m a Star & the epic title track Purple Rain. Perhaps the greatest soundtrack ever made!

The 2017 album What If by Hauschka is Erik Satie’s piano meets Kraftwerk’s electronics.  The German composer practices prepared piano, essentially placing unusual objects inside a piano to expose alternative sounds.  hauschka-music.com

Orbital’s fourth album, In Sides was released over twenty years ago and still sounds futuristic.  Orbital created sophisticated electronic mosaics to fill the headphones of cultured listeners. orbitalofficial.com

The New York CBGBs regulars the Dead Boys, released their debut album Young Loud and Snotty in 1977, and it’s angry, lewd and full of spit. Love the opening track Sonic Reducer.

The Austin Garage Soul act Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears 2011 release Scandalous features pounding rhythm guitars, tonsil splitting vocals. From the opening bars of Livin’ in the Jungle, you know you are in for wild ride!  blackjoelewis.com

The 3^rd album by The Stooges Raw Power, released February 1973, failed to ignite, but as years passed became a cult classic, with critics suggesting was a precursor to punk rock. The album was mixed by David Bowie, with highlights being Search and Destroy, Gimme Danger and the title track. iggyandthestoogesmusic.com

The 1968 Aretha Franklin album Lady Soul, was an escape from her under pressure marriage. Includes Chain of Fools, Goffin and King’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, the Rascals’ Groovin, James Brown’s Money Won’t Change You and a wonderful version of Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready. arethafranklin.net

“Kick it!” Guided by master producer Rick Rubin, the Beastie Boys created a masterpiece of light-hearted wordplay in Licensed To Ill, which gave the genre of hip-hop the first ever number one album. Includes Fight for Your Right (To Party), Rhymin & Stealin and No Sleep Till Brooklyn.  blog.beastieboys.com

Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain, released July 1960, is neither jazz, Flamenco nor classical, yet perfectly embodies all three genres. The blend of Gil Evan’s arrangement, the orchestra and Davis’s trumpet conjures wonderful images of Spanish summers. milesdavis.com

The Clash’s eponymous debut LP turns 40 today! The album was mostly plotted in guitarist Mick Jones’s grans flat, and was released six months before the Pistol’s Never Mind the Bollocks. The UK’s version contained Janie Jones, White Riot, Career Opportunities, Police & Thieves and the magnificent London’s Burning. theclash.com

Beck’s 8th album Sea Change, released September 2002, he reverted to singer-songwriter basics, writing a break-up record, following the split with his long-time girlfriend. The Golden Age, Lost Cause, Guess I’m Doing Fine, Nobody’s Fault But My Own and Lonesome Tears are my highlights. beck.com

Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You was released March 1967, with producer Jerry Wexler behind the mixing desk at Muscle Shoals. The album has a mix of covers with the highlight an incredible cover of Ray Charles’s Respect, a song that became an anthem for the civil rights movement. arethafranklin.net

Simon & Garfunkel’s 5th, and final, studio album the stunning Bridge Over Troubled Water transformed their familiar folk sound to a heavier textured and expansive music, incorporating many genres. Months after the release in 1970, the partnership ended. Includes The Boxer, The Only Living Boy in New York and El Condor Pasa (If I Could). simonandgarfunkel.com

The gravelly voice, strumming telecaster and occasional saxophone can only mean one thing…Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Born in the U.S.A. his 7th studio album, released June 1984, commercialised his usual stories of American small town folk. The title track, I’m Goin’ Down, the haunting I’m On Fire and the dazzling synth laced Dancing in the Dark are the stand-out tracks. brucespringsteen.net

Guns N’ Roses debut album Appetite for Destruction, released July 1987 put the Rrr back into Rock. Axl Rose’s lyrics told tales of sex, drugs, rock & roll with side helping of booze. The album is a masterpiece, with highlights being the anthems Sweet Child O’ Mine, Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City. gunsnroses.com

Pink Floyd – The Wall

Pink Floyd famously released very few singles, so it’s remarkable they had a Christmas number one, especially considering the single, Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 was taken from their 1979 concept double album The Wall. The band’s eleventh studio album is a lengthy affair and often cited as one of the most famous concept albums of all-time, with The Who’s Tommy, being another. Bass player Roger Waters wrote most of the material, which chronicles the life of the fictional character Pink, and his breakdown resulting in his isolation behind a psychological wall. The highlights are the tracks Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb, Is There Anybody Out There? and the aforementioned Another Brick. The Wall was placed at 87 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 2012 Top 500 album list. pinkfloyd.com

Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison

How on earth did Johnny Cash pull this one off? On his 27^th album (yes 27!), released in May 1968, he performed songs of crime to an audience of prison inmates, pure genius. On the 13^th January 1968 Cash waltzed into Folsom State Prison to play two shows, one at 9.40am and another at 12.40pm, which was to be recorded and released in attempt to revive his career. The set-list included prison anthems such as 25 Minutes to Go, The Wall, Green, Green Grass of Home and Merle Travis’s Dark as a Dungeon, all received with whoops and hollers from the inmates. Also he sang moral boosters including Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog and Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart. Cash ended the set with a song called Greystone Chapel written by inmate Glen Sherley, who was serving time for armed robbery. The album closes with the announcement “Please hold your seats until released by the officer” a final reminder to the listener where it was recorded. Rolling Stone ranked the album at 88 in their 2012 Top 500 album list. One of the great live albums! johnnycash.com

Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis

Dusty Springfield had one of the most effortless voices in music history. Her timing and delivery was exquisite, as well as soulful. All of which was all evident on her fifth studio album Dusty in Memphis, released April 1969 in the UK. The album was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis, a studio where some fabulous tunes were recorded, including Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds, Joe Tex’s I Gotcha, B J Thomas’s Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head and Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline to name a few. Sadly, on the release of Dusty’s album it failed to sell both in the UK and US, but over the years it’s reputation has grown, and in 2012 Dusty in Memphis was ranked at 89 in Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 albums of all-time. The highlights for me are Don’t Forget About Me, The Windmills of Your Mind, the Randy Newman songs I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore and I Can’t Make It Alone, and of course the legend that is Son of a Preacher Man.

Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors

Last month Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors returned with a self-titled seventh studio album. Although, following the departure of David Longstreth’ partner Amber Coffman, both professionally and personally, which left ostensibly Longstreth, so perhaps Dirty Projector is more appropriate. Longstreth has worked with artists such as Kanye West, Solange and David Byrne, and is a master of voice modulation, auto-tuning and pitch distortion, all heavily used on this album. The nine songs on Dirty Projectors are mostly linked to his break-up with Coffman, yet the album never feels downhearted. The tracks Keep Your Name, Death Spiral and I See You, which has a more than passing resemblance to Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale, are my highlights. dirtyprojectors.net

The British new wave band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, named after a Soviet street gang, was a flash in the pan. Their futuristic cyberpunk image and repetitive sounding pop was ridiculed by the music press. The debut album, Flaunt It is a space-age mash up, culminating in a cyber-headache…I love it! “Studio-line from Loreal, fixing gel strong hold be bold…”

Neil Young – Tonight’s The Night

I’ve heard Neil Young’s sixth studio album Tonight’s The Night, released in 1975, referred to as a ‘dark masterpiece’, which is unsurprising given the circumstances fuelling Young’s lyrics. The album was written shortly after the death of two close friends, Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, both died of drug overdoses. Tonight’s The Night sounds rough around the edges, caring less of production and more of feeling and capturing a melancholy moment in Young’s life. The album failed to ignite commercially, but critics adored Tonight’s The Night with one reviewer hailing it a ‘glorious mess’. I can’t think of a better description. The tracks Albuquerque and Tired Eyes are my highlights. Rolling Stone magazine placed Tonight’s The Night at 330 in their 2012 Top 500 Album list. neilyoung.com

Brooklyn-based artist James Hinton, under the moniker of The Range, has taken sampling to another level. Hinton trawls YouTube for rarely seen clips of aspiring singers or rappers, before blending the samples with break beats. The result is outstanding. Potential, released in March last year, is Hinton’s 2nd album using this technique! therange.us

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

Time to harness the power of the down-tuned guitar! Daydream Nation was New York alternative rock band Sonic Youth’s fifth studio album, released October 1988, and is widely regarded as their finest moment. The double album cost a paltry $30,000 to make, and contains twelve exhilarating almost avant-garde jams. The tracks average around six minutes a piece, showcasing Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s clever guitar interplay and vocals. Daydream Nation is often cited as hugely influential in the indie genre, and clear why the album earned the band a major label deal. The tracks Teen Age Riot, Candle, Eric’s Trip and The Sprawl are my highlights, although Daydream Nation should be listened to in its entirety, like a classical symphony, albeit rather grungier. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Daydream Nation at 328 in their 2012 Top 500 all-time album list. sonicyouth.com