Random stops along the MP3 Wagon Trail

Well folks, here's today's random selections from the ol' wagon trail...enjoy!

• Feels Like Rain - Buddy Guy & Bonnie Raitt

It's your time now, baby, but it'll be mine after a while"-so the song goes, and it couldn't ring any truer than it must for veteran Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy. After years of never quite capturing his frenzied blues intensity and wild showmanship on wax, Guy experienced a breakthrough two years ago with his Grammy-winning comeback LP Damn Right I've Got The Blues. Although it seems like ever since then the media's been trying to shove him onto that "Elder Statesman Of The Blues" pedestal, the cat doesn't look a day over 30, and plays like he's a hungry 19-year-old with no tomorrow. Produced by John Porter (who also did Damn Right), Feels Like Rain once again features an all-star band-including Richie Hayward and Bill Payne of Little Feat along with cameos from Bonnie Raitt, Paul Rodgers, John Mayall (on the excellent "I Could Cry") and Travis Tritt.

• Five Owls - Canned Heat

Five Owls is only a portion of the nine minute epic Parthenogenesis from the seminal Living the Blues album released by Canned Heat in 1968. The quintet of Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/vocals), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar), Aldolfo "Fido" Dela Parra (drums), and Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals) return with the same aggressive blend of amplified rock with rhythm and blues as their previous hit LP Boogie with Canned Heat. The sidelong, "Parthenogenesis" is an experimental suite that allows each band member copious room to move.

• Urgent - Foreigner

Foreigner released their fourth album simply called Foreigner 4 in late June of 1981. The album was the band's first since 1979's Platinum seller Head Games. Head Games while a Platinum seller, did not sell as well as the first two albums and founding members Al Greenwood and Ian McDonald quit over creative and personal differences. Instead of breaking up,lead singer Lou Gramm, guitarist Mick Jones, drummer Dennis Elliot and bass player Rick Wills forged ahead with Mick and AC/DC and Def Leppard producer now Shania Twain's husband Mutt Lange co-producing and unleashed Foreigner's most successful album ever with Foreigner 4. The album was #1 for ten straight weeks and sold millions thanks to the massive Top 5 hits Urgent(with Jr Walker's sax solo) and the ballad Waiting For a Girl Like You. Also, the album contained rock radio classics like Juke Box Hero, I'm Gonna Win and the opening Night Life.

• Luna - The Smashing Pumpkins
  

Siamese Dream was The Smashing Pumpkins' breakthrough album, spawning a few modern rock mainstays and even a crossover pop hit. The production here is given a "Wall of Sound" treatment. The songs are wrapped in layers of noisy guitars, creating a dense, dreamy sound. There's also a heavy emphasis on melodies and hooks. Luna is a gorgeous, Middle Eastern-tinged ballad, a soft masterpiece with great use of mellotron providing the album with a nice, quiet closing.

If you enjoy these artist's give'em your support & buy the CD's!

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