As you know by now, I like to dig through the archives and find rare gems that receive little airplay and might be worth a listen.
Considering that there are probably over 40 million songs recorded since 1965, thats a pretty tall order. Let’s do some high school math here. First, out of the 40 million, I think 23 million are recorded outside the US and the UK, so I am not digging through that pile. Then, more than half of those songs are genre’s I don’t listen to (classical, religious, Zydeco, get my point?). Then a third are country and country covers. Then a another third are urban. Doing the math now and divide by 7 carry the one and you get down to around 300,000 songs that I can sort through. Of that 300,000, 295,000 are utterly terrible. So it leaves us with around a pool of 5,000 songs give or take a thousand. Upon further calculation that works out to be around .00015% of all songs recorded are actually listenable. Not a good ratio but I am picky.
Now you understand what I am up against. To dig a little deeper I have 6,800 songs on my IPhone 23 (or is it 24) about half of which I push right past so my pool is now maybe 3,000 songs. Of that 3,000, more than half are what I call “Standard Bearers”. “Free Bird”,”Respect”,”Honky Tonk Woman” and so on. Songs we are all familiar with and still love because of the memories they bring back. That leaves me around 1,500 songs in my library and maybe 1,000 songs that I will eventually discover along the way.
Thats the math. The science is simple. I love longer songs (read last weeks Substack), I don’t have a preference on the instrumental focus or the complexity of a song, I just know it when I hear it.
For example, “Your Own Backyard” by Mott The Hoople is literally one of my favorite songs ever and I only heard for the first time in the summer of 2020 during the height of the Pandemic. It just struck me, lyrically and musically, and I still have it in heavy rotation.
Or, another example, “Time” by the Chambers Brothers. I first heard it played on some talent show on TV during the summer of maybe 1967. It might have been the first time I really enjoyed a rock and roll song and this is another song that has stayed with me.
In-na-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly is an example of simple and complex and it just strikes me. No clue why. The song makes little sense. The band just plays a simple beat and riff and it last 18 minutes. I was maybe 12 when I first heard it and could not believe it was the whole side of an album and it was played at every hippie party I went to during Junior High and half of High School. Some parties even tried to do a light show to match the light show that Iron Butterfly put on. Funny story about this song. We had a Christmas concert at my Junior High (might have been High School, details are fuzzy) and they had a local band come on to perform some Christmas songs and Junior Puglisi (lead guitarist) came on in tie dyed teeshirt and started the first guitar chord and everyone knew what they going to play and for the next fifteen minutes they played In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The teachers were horrified and the guy who ran the whole Christmas production tried to stop them and was booed off the stage. They were later suspended but it was a truly awesome Christmas spectacular.
What I am getting at is that I don’t know what strikes me with a song and I don’t think any of us actually know why we like what we like, we just do. I try to give the readers a little exposure to some songs they may never have heard or forgot about. Today, I will throw a couple of songs out there and tell me what you think.
First one is “Welcome Home” by Bachman Turner Overdrive. You all know by know that The Guess Who is one of my guilty pleasures and I love Randy Bachman’s vocals. This song is about the Guess Who’s rise to fame and it’s as hard rock as you will find without being metal. They have a couple of other songs that I love as well. “Blue Collar” as mentioned previously and “Not Fragile”.
Here is one to dig out, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings version of “Hit The Road Jack”. Worth finding for sure. Wyman did some solo stuff away from the Stones and this is one of their better songs. Granted, it’s a cover, it’s still excellent and if you can find the Live version, download it.
I have mentioned Boz Scaggs before and I think it’s worth another listen to “Jump Street”. Little poppy for Scaggs, but it was from Silk Degrees which was Scaggs most commercially successful album. The slide by Les Dudak is awesome and the song does “Jump”.
I guess this could be my other guilty pleasure and I am not embarrassed by it. There are four or five songs by Cat Stevens that I absolutely love and I can’t pick any one over the other so I will let you choose. “On the Road To Find Out”, “Sun C79”, “Angelsea” and “Peace Train”. There is just something about these songs that just remind me of a really great time and I always stop and listen whenever I hear any of them.
I apologize if I mentioned this one before but The Clash’s “Magnificent Seven” is one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard. The seven and a half minute version(If you can find it) is the one to listen to. The Clash were groundbreaking while still being mostly accessable. Their power came from the message but the music was never an afterthought. If you go on Youtube and watch them perform the song on the Tom Schneider show back in 1981 you will see what I mean. The album it came from, Sandinista, is a benchmark for all other punk bands that came after. If you watch the video, read the comments under it and that will explain everything.
While the 90’s were truly a desert for Rock bands there were maybe a couple of groups that would rise above the garbage and Collective Soul was one of them. Maybe a little over-produced but still solid. I love “December” from their debut album, Collective Soul. Also try “The World I Know” from the same album.
I will give you a couple other 90’s songs to check out as well. “Low” by Cracker, “Cannonball” by The Breeders, pretty much any song from Throwing Copper by Live.
Pretty sad when all I can come up with from a decade is a handful of songs. Hey, I can’t even come up with that many after the 90’s ended. Maybe Garbage could submit a few songs but thats about it. Foo Fighters? Arcade Fire? Queens of The Stone Age? Arctic Monkeys? Sorry, Gen X,Z or whatever generation you call yourselves, in another decade those bands would opening for Twisted Sister.
And then there is Disturbed. Their version of “Sounds of Silence” is literally disturbing but after you get past that, they do the song proud and I would include it in any list you have.
Let’s go back again to a time when music was music and our parents were scarred. No, not Alice Cooper (although he scarred plenty of parents) I am talking about one of the scariest album covers ever, King Crimson’s In the Court of The Crimson King. Pick any song from this Robert Fripp masterpiece and you will not be disappointed. My favorite is “I Talk To The Wind”. Very English sounding and slightly weird. The whole album is a touch weird but thats what makes it so good.
For my last selection this week I will dig into an obscure album that I think received some airplay but I doubt more than 20 people remember this band, Mason Proffit. They were a country band that released a few albums and never really caught on with mainstream radio (Which controlled the music industry indirectly) and they became session musicians after they broke up. The song is “Cheat the Hangman”. It’s a metaphorical song for sure, I’m guessing something about the US Government, but I like the story and the way they build the song to some sort of crescendo.
Obviously, we still a few thousand great songs to go over but this is just another sampling of the stuff I dig for so I don’t have to listen the Grand Funk’s “Were An American Band” again on Sirius Radio.
Heh heh heh, couldn't think of a better way to start a weekend than reading your Friday column. Taking a walk down the past is excellent! I always get some "gems" from you, then they end up on my play list. Thanks for sharing Friday's with us!!