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50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Five (10-1)Jun 19 '07 (Updated Jul 02 '07) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Rock and Roll's Greatest Obscure Songs from the Biggest Names in Rock Music History. Part 5. It's finally finished!
Finally, the last installment of my short series on rock music’s greatest Deep Cuts is completed and published. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to compile a list of fifty songs from fifty different classic artists. I started this list back in April and just completed it now in June. Is this list going to agree with everybody? Heck no, I didn’t include artists like Dylan, Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty or other artists of the like due to the fact that I’m not as familiar with such artists as I am with the ones I had listed. I had to make room for The Beatles and Queen after all, surprised? This list of fifty songs are ones that I truly recommend for the most part, and while I expect some snobby remarks like “real interesting list Scapp” from people whose musical nose is stuck in the air, and friends who I show this to that tell me that I got this completely wrong, I still stand by selections, and I hope you do in fact enjoy what I have compiled here. Thanks for reading. 10. I Love Everything About You from Stevie Wonder, Music of My Mind, 1972. Back in 1972, Stevie released two albums, Talking Book and Music of My Mind. This year was a turning point for Stevie Wonder, it marks a point where the artist tended to venture into more genres of music and thus beginning his heyday which lasted until the amazing Songs In the Key of Life in 1976. I Love Everything About You fuses jazz, R&B and rock together and in a sense captures the mood and culture of the early 1970s. Stevie beatboxes in this song (in a jazzy style) as he sings much of the song's percussion. This song was also the b-side to the epic Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You), a top 40 single. This song can also be found on the anthology At the Close of a Century amongst his greatest hits and other not so well known tracks. 9. Any World (That I'm Welcome To) from Steely Dan Katy Lied 1975. This song has always been a favorite of mine from Steely Dan. The band was one of the coolest, well respected bands to come out of the 1970s with their jazz-rock style producing quality releases one after another. Donald Fagan and Walter Becker, the band's founders are living legends from the classic rock era. FM radio loves to play the music of Steely Dan, classic rock radio, smooth jazz, adult contemporary and more. The casual listener knows some of the greatest hits from the band, but Steely Dan has a wealth of quality obscure tracks. This song falls into the soft rock genre yet it grooves in that Steely fashion. The lyrics are among the best from Steely in my opinion and one of the main reasons I love the song so. http://www.epinions.com/content_139768204932 8. San Tropez from Pink Floyd, Meddle 1971. I tend to enjoy guitarist David Gilmore's lead vocal over bassist Roger Waters, but San Tropez is an enjoyable track. It's light years away from where the band end up two years later with their masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon. It has a jazzy guitar, a tropical lead break, but something about Roger Waters' double tracked vocal and the jangle piano and upbeat drums and bass, to me it sounds like a very British song that seemed to be somewhat the fad at this point in history as many British bands would include a track or two like this on their releases. Toward the end of the song, it seems to be a short yet extended jam featuring Richard Wright on the piano. A song like San Tropez would seem to get overlooked with the 22 minute long Echoes hogging most of your attention. http://www.epinions.com/content_357326622340 7. Waiting (Reprise) from George Michael, Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 1990. George Michael? In this list? Sure, why not. George is known mostly for his dance/pop style - but in 1990 with the release of his second album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, the majority of the album falls within a soft rock/pop style. George's Listen album despite the fact it sold around seven million units, and produced three hits singles, (including one #1) the album didn't seem to get its due. For the people who did in fact listen without prejudice and gave the album a chance, it remains a landmark in music history as a record with ten amazing songs from an artist who could never come close to producing another album of songs of this quality. That George Michael is long dead, instead we have a drug-induced carbon copy impersonating a once great artist. Anyway, this whole album with the exception of Freedom 90 is obscure and great. I choose the last song on the CD Waiting (Reprise) as the greatest from George Michael mainly because of the lyrical content, and secondly a stellar vocal performance. It's such a truly moving heartfelt ballad, in my opinion one of the best songs ever written. http://www.epinions.com/content_100962373252 6. Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love/Power Cut from Paul McCartney & Wings, Red Rose Speedway, 1973. Paul McCartney really output a butt load of good music in 1973 from a commercial standpoint. This year he released two spectacular albums, Band on the Run and Red Rose Speedway, the single Live and Let Die and the song Six O'clock in the Morning (see this list for that song) for Ringo's album, Ringo. Paul McCartney is the only ex-Beatle to release a group of albums that would rival the superiority of The Beatles albums themselves. His album, Red Rose Speedway turns out to be quite obscure itself aside from the #1 single My Love spawned from it. I chose the last song Medley to list here. Sometimes critics get annoyed at McCartney's piecing together unfinished songs that result in a medley. I happen to love when McCartney attempts this, I mean we wouldn't have most of Abbey Road's side two without it. Paul & Wings took four songs that were almost whole, and created one his best moments on record, the eleven minute plus Medley, featuring Hold Me Tight, (not the Beatles song), Lazy Dynamite, Hands of Love and Power Cut. While I would rather everyone would take the time out and discover this album as a whole, I think most would agree that the Medley is a superior track. It would be great if McCartney with his new band would perform this live. http://www.epinions.com/content_136871317124 5. Got Love For Sale from KISS, Love Gun 1977. Although radio virtually ignores KISS, the hard rock band has hardly any obscure tracks. KISS kind of dictates what is obscure and what is popular by what their set list consists of in a live setting. One song that has never been played live by the band (yet) is Gene Simmons' Got Love For Sale. The song is typical KISS, it sounds like a left over from the Rock and Roll Over album from the year before. The song always reminded me of Gene's Love 'Em, Leave 'Em with those chunky, choppy guitar chords and straight drumbeat from Peter Criss. I think also that it's apt to choose a song from Love Gun, because at the time of this writing the album is just about celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. http://www.epinions.com/content_128202804868 4. Polly from Nirvana, Nevermind, 1991. Admittedly, I think the whole Grunge thing sort of blew, yet there were moments that are undeniably pretty good, Nirvana being one of those brief moments. There are about 25 million copies of Nirvana sold worldwide right now, so how obscure can a song off that album be? Well, for one Polly has not been included on either Nirvana compilation albums that came out in 2002 and 2005. Secondly, Polly is one of the band's best songs. The track really doesn't sound too much like a "grunge" song on it's own as it has its obvious pop influence. I can't decide which version I like more, the Nevermind studio version or the MTV Unplugged live version. Both examples stand on their own, and if you haven't already listened to this track, it's about time. http://www.epinions.com/content_58923257476 3. The Rain Song from Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, 1973. It's about as hard to find an obscure Zeppelin song as it is a Beatles one. Classic Rock radio exhausts just about the entire catalog, and all of the greatest songs from that artist. The Rain Song is no exception, I hear this song on the radio from time to time, but it's such a beautiful song from Led Zep from the peak of their career. I mean how do you follow up such a classic album like Led Zeppelin? Only Houses of the Holy can succeed in such a feat. The Rain Song is an epic ballad from Page and Plant that showcases the 12-string acoustic guitar mastery from Jimmy Page, with a lush orchestral back drop with John Paul Jones adding to the delicate melody with piano and mellotron while John Paul Jones drums along yet not diminishing the moody ambiance of the song while he accents the perfect vocal from Robert Plant. Plant is said to be most proud of his vocal on this song, and it would be hard to disagree with him. The Rain Song isn't very obscure, but it's worth taking another listen as it's one of Zeppelin's finest moments. http://www.epinions.com/content_365436309124 2. The Prophets Song from Queen, A Night at the Opera 1975. With a band like Queen, I have so many songs to choose from because here in America, most of their songs are very obscure. Classic Rock radio plays a handful of Queen songs taken from their greatest hits album, and the casual listener would believe that Queen was a band that formed in the 1970s and broke-up sometime in the 1980s. The fact is that Queen had released albums up until 1991, the year that lead singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS related pneumonia. They even released an album posthumously in 1995 which included Freddie's last studio recordings. I choose The Prophets Song for many reasons. This epic track (8:17) was written by guitarist Brian May for their worldwide breakthrough album from 1975, A Night at the Opera about a dream he had had a few years before. The song is easily the hardest rock produced from the band, with twist, turns and surprises around just about every corner. La piece de resistance is the middle section where Freddie Mercury sings a capella accompanied by his delay. The result of Freddie harmonizing with his own echoed delay is sheer genius and very impressive. On A Night at the Opera the song seamlessly segues into one of Queen's most delicate and quiet ballads Love of My Life which gives The Prophets Song added contrast and appreciation. http://www.epinions.com/content_100938780292 1. It's All Too Much from The Beatles, Yellow Submarine Songtrack 1969. The Beatles is a group where it's just about impossible to find any obscure songs. The obvious choice for obscure Beatles would be You Know My Name (Look up the Number), but I don't want to be so obvious, I want it to look like I've put some effort into this list. This George Harrison song is taken from their Yellow Submarine soundtrack, and it's a song that never receives any play despite the fact that it's one of The Beatles best. Harrison is known for the melancholy numbers, or the songs with heavy Eastern influence. So a song like It's All Too Much is really out of left field. The track rocks, it's upbeat and very catchy. The reason for its obscurity is possibly because it's not requested very much, but I believe that it's simply accidental. The Yellow Submarine Songtrack is overlooked because most of the album is just songs that we have on other Beatle albums. There were only four tracks written for the film, and two of them are from Harrison. 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part One (50-41) Van Halen The Eagles Red Hot Chili Peppers Boston Ringo Starr Belly U2 David Bowie The Doors Elvis Presley 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Two (40-31) Rod Stewart The Cranberries Mr. Bungle Styx The Who Motley Crue Veruca Salt Tom Tom Club Metallica REM 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Three (30-21) Faith No More The Doobie Brothers Billy Joel Simon & Garfunkel George Harrison Neil Diamond The Rolling Stones Black Sabbath Bon Jovi The Jimi Hendrix Experience 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Four (20-11) Elton John The Police Prince John Lennon Supertramp The Raspberries Paul Simon Aerosmith Terence Trent D'arby Journey Also check out these reviews 10 of Top 10's Dirtiest / Sexiest Songs Scapp70's Top Ten Tear-Jerking Songs Yeah Yeah Yeah, My Top 20 Favorite Beatles Songs Scapp70's Top 20 Favorite Beatles Songs from their Solo Years  |
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