Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for February 27th

Pink work on "Piper"... -- A great singer who never got to enjoy being No. 1... -- The Grammys sucked in the old days, too...

Original Pink Floyd line-up, 1967; L-R: Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Richard Wright. (Keystone Features/Getty Images)

2/27/1967 (53 years ago today) - At London's Abbey Road studios, Pink Floyd are nearing completion of their debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" -- There's just one Roger Waters song ("Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk") and two group-composed instrumentals ("Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R. Toc H."); the remaining eight songs were all written by Syd Barrett, most notably the psychedelic-era defining "Astronomy Domine", "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother", "The Scarecrow" and "Bike". For a record that's over half-a-century old(!), it still sounds unique. Interesting side-note-fact: they did the entire LP while The Beatles were -- literally -- down the hall making "Sgt. Pepper"...

2/27/1971 (49 years ago today) - It's her best record, no doubt about it: Five months after her death, Janis Joplin starts a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. chart with her second and final studio solo album "Pearl" -- Blues rock, soul blues, R&B, funk rock, whatever you wanna call it, the LP is practically a perfect 'Greatest Hits' compilation -- "Move Over", "Trust Me", "Cry Baby", "Me And Bobby McGee", "Get It While You Can" and "Mercedes Benz", the legendary 1-minute-46-second a cappella piece that would turn out to be the very last song she recorded before passing away. A definitive masterpiece album.

2/27/1980 (40 years ago today) - We were yawning on this night, too...: Winners at the Grammy Awards this evening include Billy Joel's "52nd Street" (Album of the Year), Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" (Best Disco Record, an actual category), Kenny Rogers' "You Decorated My Life" (Best Country Song) with The Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female award going to Donna Summer for "Hot Stuff". Look, we actually like Donna Summer, butcha can't call it rock...

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"Dialing for Dollars is trying to find me...", xoxo!

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