Please share songs you love that get overlooked on classic albums that most consider among the best ever--for example, those that regularly appear on the Rolling Stone top 100 list. Last weekend I played "Hotel California" all the way through and was really digging "Try and Love Again". Can't get it out of my head. Oddly, a Randy Meisner tune with great bass guitar and unique bass drum work by Don Henley--pumping it twice rather than once not sure why. There is some really great stabbing guitar lines, awesome rhythm guitar licks and a nice lead guitar. As always, great harmony vocals to boot. A really great song that seems to fly under the radar because it is on an LP that has so many "hits" and really great songs.
All of these "Classic Rock’ albums could be considered Top 100 entries. I selected one album from each year of the 1970’s since IMO that defines "Classic Rock". Yes, all of these albums make my personal Top 100 list, FWIW I selected 3 albums from 1971 which I consider the strongest year of the 1970’s. I also avoided(tried?) any song that was released as a 45rpm single to make sure these were "deep" tracks.
1970-Grateful Dead-American Beauty-Attics Of My Life
1971-Alice Cooper-Love It To Death-Black Juju
Don Mclean-American Pie-The Grave
The Who-Who’s Next-My Wife
1972-Steely Dan-Can’t Buy A Thrill-Midnite Cruiser
Love this thread and thanks to whom ever posted about Bowie's "Cracked Actor".
Forgot how much I loved that song. There is an internet radio station called Desert Underground that plays obscure classic rock and came across a Tom Petty song worth mentioning. "Running Mans Bible".
(this is a bit off topic but) I am listening to one of the many seventies rock albums that is a total gem beginning-to-end and never got the attention it should - and where not just a song or two flies under the radar:
@slantgut+ 1 - recently got the box set of Electric Ladyland; I don't think I'd heard it since the early 70's, and I forgot how awesome that song (1983) was; Jimi's take on prog (before there was prog?)... That whole album is a masterwork.
I never saw Romeo Void in concert. I caught the song years ago on one of the rock stations in the Bay Area. I bought the CD, and thought it was pretty good for an unknown group. You probably won't find them in Rolling Stone's Top 100.
sokogear,
One Trick Pony is a favorite, as well as Hearts and Bones. There is no question who the songwriter was in S&G. Good choice!
@tonykayI saw Romeo Void live back in the day and it was one of the best concerts I remember seeing. The guitar, bass and drums were just locked in and could create incredible tension just with dynamics since there really wasn't any solos played by the guitarist.
@charliechgood catch on those early Iron Maiden albums. Recently re-purchased Killers, was humming and hawing bout Number of the Beast...you've given me a nudge
The tracks that called out to me across the decades were the first two, Ides of March and Wrathchild, which i kinda think of as one track, much like Fleetwood Mac's the Chain, where one half sets the table for what follows. I love the post-punk energy, the almost space rock feel to it. Like Black Sabbath, that one has aged well
Conversely, i was dreadfully disappointed with my repurchase of Piece of Mind. The first heavy metal album i bought with my own money, aged 13
I saw Warren Zevon perform but I just can't remember where. In L.A., of course. Aquarius Theater? McCabe's? The Troubadour? He was okay, but I'm sure even he'd agree that the artists who covered his tunes probably did them better.
Neil Merryweather - Star Rider on the 1975 album Kryptonite. Definitely a lesser known singer but he has recorded with quite a few well known artists over the years.
In 1977 the original lineup of the Animals reunited and released Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted. Remains a truly great lp with killer vocals by Eric Burdon and keyboards by Alan Price. The production is clean and the mix shows what a great lineup this was.
@sgreg1 With any type of best of lists your going to have some with extreme biases towards a specific genre. Here are some solid examples of a top 100 classic rock albums list.
@dodgealum- nice thread, but what he says is also true. And I'm confused as to how an album's title track can be a 'hidden gem' - if it's the album's title, it ain't hidden very well! 😄
@dodgealum -- Thread drift is a fact of life in these modern times. Succumb to it. Revel in it. It doesn't hurt that loose fingers sometimes yield valuable insights.
I don't want to rain on the parade of enthusiastic posts here but this thread is a good example of why people should be a bit circumspect when coming here for advice on how to choose gear. As someone mentioned, the original post was pretty clear about the narrow range of LPs the recommendations should come from--just the top 100 or so classic rock and roll albums. The idea was to uncover some hidden gems on albums that many people own so they would be inspired to pull them out and have a listen to some classic rock favorites with an ear toward songs that don't often get air play on the radio. Instead folks just chimed in with random rock and roll songs (or albums, or bands) that they like, some of which are less well known. At the end of the day that's fine--I've enjoyed learning about a few tunes that I didn't know about before that I will look for next time I'm out at the record shop. But carry this mentality over to a post about recommendations for equipment and what we routinely see are folks who respond to very specific questions (such as: What are the best high efficiency floorstanders below $4K?) with a list of their own favorites which may or may not fall within the parameters of the post with speakers that are often well above the price point or that are bookshelf type or low sensitivity designs. Kinda makes for a lot of static that doesn't really help people get where they are trying to go. Again, thanks for the enthusiastic response and maybe try to keep your suggestions to songs that appear on the most popular classic rock LPs.
You know threads always get a tad sidetracked (or a lot!) or stray from the precise meaning of the thread. Sometimes that's a bad thing, sometimes it's a harmless meandering off the designated path. This is harmless and it's bringing up a bunch of hidden gems that would not otherwise be mentioned.
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