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50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Four (20-11)Jun 12 '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 4.
What do I mean by obscure? I'll tell you that I don't mean unheard demos, b-sides or anything like that. I'm just talking about songs that probably will not appear on the band's Greatest Hits albums. The songs that are ignored by radio, and the casual music listener in general. These are the lonely tracks that deserve a chance to be heard. Some people call them "Closet Classics" or "Deep Cuts" - these are the tracks that people may have missed along the way, so break out those old CDs you haven't played the whole way through and give these songs a listen. The only rule I had made for myself, is that I will only list one song per band, which doesn't mean anything for you really, except it makes it a little more challenging for myself to have to choose which song to include on this list. One more thing, these songs are not in any real order. 20. Come Down In Time from Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection 1970. Elton's Tumbleweed Connection album contains no hit singles, yet some of his greatest songs ever. There were a couple of obscure songs I could have picked from this album alone, but I decided on Come Down In Time because it's my favorite from the album. The song's obscurity was lessened a bit when Sting recorded a version on Elton's tribute album Two Rooms, but I believe it still qualifies. The song creates an ambiance of a sepia toned Summer evening somewhere in Middle America, as the gentle melody floats down from the heavens. This is easily one of Elton's greatest ballads recorded and is definitely worth looking up. http://www.epinions.com/content_219661635204 19. Man in A Suitcase from The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta 1980. The Police do not have a long and varied back catalogue yet some songs will get overlooked along the way. The band's 1980 release Zenyatta Mondatta is cited for the two singles Don't Stand So Close To Me and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da and most of the other songs are forgotten as time goes by. Man in a Suitcase is a short little upbeat song that features some awesome bass playing from Sting and impressive percussion from Stuart Copeland. This is surely a quality track from The Police, and definitely worth looking into and taking a listen or two. http://www.epinions.com/content_174334840452 18. Automatic from Prince, 1999 1982. When the name Prince is brought up, images of purple, glam and high heels may come to mind, and foremost Dance music. But, Prince has produced some awesome rock music throughout his career as well, with the Purple Rain album leading the charge. Automatic is taken from his 1982 double album release 1999. The album is mostly made up of long dance tracks, but Prince and the Revolution just about balance out this release with some rock oriented music (Automatic, Something In The Water, Little Red Corvette, International Lover, Free). The song that used to open up the second album was Automatic, it's a long song of about 9 1/2 minutes. The song's lyrics are sopping with sexual desire yet very clever at the same time. From the James Brown like screams from Prince to the simulated intercourse, Automatic is a lot to take in. After a couple of listens you're hooked. I'm still in love with this song even after 25 years. http://www.epinions.com/content_224442093188 17. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) from John Lennon, Sometime In New York City, 1972. Let's face it, most of John Lennon's best solo work can be found on the many different versions of his Greatest Hits albums. This song was originally recorded by 50s Doo-wop band called The Olympics and written by member, the late Walter Ward. This is a live track recorded in June of 1971 at the Fillmore East in NYC. At the beginning of the track Lennon states that this is a song he used to play in the early days with The Beatles and then tears into a raucous version of the song with the help of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention backing John and Yoko. At first listen, it's easy to be put off by Yoko Ono's howls, screams and yelps that answer back at John after each line that he sings, but for once Yoko actually aids the song and gives it an even heavier edge. This is perhaps Lennon's heaviest song recorded post-Beatles. It's definitely worth a listen. The 2005 re-issue of Sometime In New York City, where this is a Bonus Track, sounds better than ever. http://www.epinions.com/content_4525629572 16. Lord, Is it Mine from Supertramp, Breakfast In America, 1979. One of the biggest albums of the 1970s is from British progressive/pop rock band, Supertramp. Breakfast In America produced big singles The Logical Song, Goodbye Stranger, Take the Long Way Home and the title song (one of my all-time favorites) Breakfast In America. Lord Is It Mine is an uplifting piano ballad that borders on spiritual. I love Roger Hodgson's voice (The Logical Song, Breakfast In America), it gives the song an extra endearing quality. For those of you who haven't given the whole album Breakfast In America a listen through, it is a treat and you won't be sorry. 15. Ecstasy from The Raspberries, Side 3, 1973 Listening to a song like this from The Raspberries, it's easy to hear the influence they had on a blatant carbon copy like ELO, another pop rock band from the 70s. Ecstasy from their album Side 3 showcases The Raspberries mastery of the Pop Rock genre while not sacrificing any of the Rock elements, from the abrupt intro to the Keith Moon like drumming of Jim Bonfanti and the raspy, spot on vocal from Eric Carmen. Ecstasy is a Raspberry Deep Cut in its own right and should definitely be given a fresh listen. The Raspberries are recording and releasing new material this year, so even more of a reason to revisit the band. http://www.epinions.com/content_153560452740 14. Diamonds On the Souls of Her Shoes from Paul Simon, Graceland, 1986. The majority of Paul Simon's Graceland was recorded in South Africa, and he enlisted some South American musicians to assist him in recording his Grammy award winning album. Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes contains the usual formula that Simon uses for a lot of his songs, but with the South African backing band, the exotic rhythms create a different ambiance that melded well with Simon's songwriting style. The amazing bass line, played by Bakithi Kumalo is the stand out instrument here; he plays a five-string fretless and gets a sound reminiscent of someone like Jaco Pastorius. When you add in the Mbube-style of backing vocals from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, it makes for an amazing Deep Cut. http://www.epinions.com/content_374853439108 13. Remember (Walking In The Sand) from Aerosmith, Night In The Ruts 1979. Aerosmith is another band where radio only plays a select few tracks from their Greatest Hits albums. Aerosmith is not a band that has consistent studio albums, most of their best songs wind up on their greatest hits albums anyway. Yet they do manage to squeeze in a few quality tracks on most of their albums. One album that gets completely ignored is their 1979 release Night in the Ruts. The album was due out in 1978, but because the band had tour dates to honor, the album was put on hold for a year. Feuds, fights and fisticuffs led to original member and lead guitarist Joe Perry leaving the band halfway through the recording of this album. His temporary replacement Jimmy Crespo can be heard on the songs that Perry did not finish. One of the songs he did not finish is Remember (Walking in the Sand). This song is a cover, originally performed by the female group The Shangri-Las back in 1964. Aerosmith released this song as a single, and it briefly charted, but today twenty-eight years later it remains highly obscure. Aerosmith stayed pretty faithful to the original, but gave it an edge that no previous version had. 12. Let Her Down Easy from Terence Trent D’Arby, Symphony or Damn, 1993. D’Arby, who has received warranted comparisons to Prince from the very start of his career, had released quality releases starting from the decline of Prince's output ironically. Most people know about Terence's hit singles Wishing Well and Sign Your Name from his debut. The artist had released much greater works since then, but the majority has no idea since radio had decided to ignore his music. My favorite album, Symphony or Damn is D'arby's 3rd album, it's perfect in every way. Terence mixes up funk, R&B, rock and jazz in a way no one has done since. The last track on this album, Let Her Down Easy is a moving piano ballad with a soundtrack quality. One of the best things about Terence's music is the wonderful lyrics poured into every song, and then when his raspy, smoky vocals are bringing the words to life, it's magical. http://www.epinions.com/content_229014081156 11. Stay Awhile from Journey, Departure, 1980. Journey has inspired many from the magic licks of Neil Schon's guitar to the golden pipes of Steve Perry's voice. It's safe to say that a band like Journey tend to get forgotten when such an amazing list (like this one for example) gets made. Journey enjoyed super success with albums Frontier and Escape in the first half of the 80s, and really as soon as Steve Perry joined Journey in 1978, born were the classic rock favorites like Lights, Wheel In The Sky, Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin' and more. The Departure album had a top 40 single with Anyway You Want It, and a good Deep Cut from this album is the typical Journey-esque power ballad Stay Awhile. The song has a superb vocal performance from frontman Steve Perry, and its accessibility and radio-friendly feel makes me wonder why it wasn't issued as a single. I'm glad I didn't forget to remember an important band like Journey in my list. 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part One (50-41) 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Two (40-31) 50 of Rock Music's Favorite Deep Cuts - Part Three (30-21)  |
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