Strange thing about my Substack articles. My Monday and Wednesday ones get a lot of clicks. Hundreds of subscribers open them and read them. Several people will write a reply and several will always like the articles, which I greatly appreciate. Yet, my Friday columns don’t get the same exposure. Sure, I do get a lot of comments and likes but not every subscriber opens the link. Can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s because I write to a much older audience on Friday, I don’t know.
This week I am bringing back a component that I have’t written about in a while, My Deep Dives. This is when I look to my library (and other sources) and find interesting songs that in the past, would be considered filler material on some albums, yet, they are pretty good pieces of music.
Today, I will start with a song I just recently heard and I have been playing it almost every day since. Metallica’s “Poor Twisted Me” is a hidden gem by the masters of metal. Now, I was never a Metallica fan, other than “Enter The Sandman” (still the greatest entry song for any player in any sport, ever) I really couldn’t listen to anything they have done. Even seeing them in concert a few years ago really didn’t change my mind. Too loud (if that is even possible), too angry, and too much shredding guitar work. Yet, her I am, in love with a song that embodies everything Metallica stands for. Not everyones cup of tea but it is worth a listen or two.
The next song by the supergroup Manassas, “Isn’t It About Time” is a quick hitter. It’s three minutes long and has an infectious beat. It also has the one thing that every Stills fronted song has, his wicked guitar. Manassas wasn’t really a super group, it was a pet project of Stills and released two critically acclaimed albums and then everyone went back to where they came from.
No argument here but Jeff Beck may be the greatest living guitarist and while almost everything he has done has been an instrumental, there are several tracks from his catalog that stand out. The one I am including here is an old one, back in the Jeff Beck Group days, “Going Down”. Starts out with a Boogie woogie piano and riffs right into Beck’s guitar. This song kicks ass and shows how great Beck is as a guitarist.
One of my favorite artists of all time Long John Baldry probably can have three or four songs included on this list but this time around I will put “Insane Asylum”. A Willie Dixon song written God knows when, this song has an incredible performance by Kathi McDonald. It may be one of the best versions of any blues song ever.
Getting back to Rock and Roll, “30 Days in The Hole” by Humble Pie is another song I love. The guitar by Clem Clempson is great and Steve Marriot’s vocals are spot on. Make no mistake, this is a song about drugs and getting busted for minor drug possession but it still rocks.
“Too Bad” by Faces is one of the best songs no one has ever heard . Rod Stewart may have turned into something unrecognizable now but back in the day he was a true rock and roll legend. With Faces and Ron Wood on guitar they were every bit as good as any band of that era. There is no argument that the album this song came from has the best title ever, “A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse”. The fact that this album had so many great songs is the reason this one has been overlooked. Yet, it is a great piece of songwriting and it’s pretty funny as well.
The next selection is a true deep dive. Robert Palmer’s “From a Whisper to a Scream” is a prime example of Palmer’s soul leanings. It is on one of the most underrated albums of all time, “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley” is a classic. This is one of maybe 50 albums I can sit and listen to from beginning to the end. The album is backed by The Meters, Little Feat and Allen Toussaint.
My last selection is by Dire Straits, “Down to the Waterline”. It is a very subtle song but breaks out on Knopfler’s superb guitar playing. Dire Straits was a rock band in an era of New Wave and Progressive music forms. This was track one on side one of their first album, That gave you a pure indication of what this band was all about from the get go. Clean instrumentation, rock and roll and no nonsense lyrics. Rated as one of the best songs the band ever did, I think it’s easy to see why.
As with every column I write, I would like to hear what you think about this weeks mix. I have thick skin, let me have it.
Looks to me like a Google/You Tube weekend. You always tickle my curiosity with your Friday choices;)
Thanks Rick,
Check out Long John Baldry’s whole catalog. Guy was awesome