Exploring unheralded rock songs from many genres including classic rock, hard rock, psych, garage, metal, proto-punk, punk, post-punk, and the occasional blues tune...
Most songs, even most great songs that I would go on to love, take a few listens for me to appreciate. However, there have been a handful of maybe twenty songs that have immediately imprinted themselves on the pleasure center in my brain. Examples include Been Caught Stealing by Jane's Addiction, Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, and Fell In Love With a Girl by the White Stripes. That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate is another.
Boston's Mission of Burma only released one proper album in their initial incarnation from '79-83. Here is the last song on that album and it is quite a piece of work.
I just stumbled across this song the other day while randomly traveling across the interwebs. This funked up song grabs you and insists that you listen all the way through.
Afrique, as far as I can tell, was solely a side project for expert studio musicians. This group included Chuck Rainey, Arthur Wright, and David T. Walker. These guys knew how to play and it is all in evidence here.
I have never been a huge Kiss fan. There are a handful of songs that I like, but there are also plenty that annoy me, so I've never taken a deep dive on their catalog. That said, if I am at a yard sale and see a Kiss album for cheap, I'll pick it up because I know that there is a market for it. Just this last weekend, not only did I pick up a cheap copy of Destroyer, but I also saw the Ace Frehley solo album from 1978. I picked this one up, as well.
Later, I was testing how the albums played, as they were not in pristine condition. Despite some pops and crackles, the Frehley album was in decent enough condition. More surprising was that I was actually liking the music. It looks like I'll be keeping this one in my collection.
In the mood for some funky Dutch psych fusion? Alright, well trust me. This stuff deserves to be heard. This band was only together for a few years and only able to release one album. It didn't sell particularly well at the time of initial release, but it has been more successful in reissues. Check out this detailed review of the entire album for more info.
Here is an instrumental track that is succeeds on all levels, IMHO.
If a newer band were to use vintage instruments and equipment in the hopes of capturing a long gone sound, I would be skeptical of their chances of success. Well, what do I know. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have done just that and have managed to pull that hard rock/psych sound of the early 70's into the present day.
I encourage you to check out their webpage for information on their releases and tours. Here is the opening cut off of their second album.
Would you like to try some Zambian psychedelic rock from the mid-70's? Wait, what?? That was precisely my reaction when I stumbled on this album. Apparently, there was a whole psych rock scene in this landlocked African nation that continued through the 70's. To read more about it, check this out.
The whole Africa album by Amanaz is good and sounds even better when played in its entirety.
Sure, there are some issues with the sound levels, but hey, it was recorded forty years ago in central Africa.
The Velvet Underground is the cult band to rule all cult bands. During their relatively short existence from 1965 - 1970(I don't count the years after Lou Reed left the band), they left quite a mark with brooding garage/psych/experimental music that still resonated. Their experimentation declined a bit after John Cale departed in 1968, but the quality of their output was not diminished through the 1970 release of the classic Loaded album.
Growing up in the 80's, I was only really aware of a few VU songs(Sweet Jane, Rock n Roll, and I'm Waiting for the Man). This was only the tip of the iceberg. I've since gone on to listen to everything this band has produced and I enjoy almost every tune they recorded.
Here is a 1969 song recorded after the addition of Doug Yule to replace Cale.
The Electric Prunes were another one of those funny-named 60's psych bands, although less funny than the Strawberry Alarm Clock or Bubble Puppy. The Prunes, though, did an interesting job straddling the line between garage and psych. I think this makes their music a bit more accessible than some of the trippier bands.
Here is the B side of the 1968 single, Everybody Knows You're Not in Love.
Who was my favorite member of Faces, one of the best party bands of the early 70's? Was it Rod Stewart? Kenney Jones? Ronnie Wood? None of the above. There was something that I always liked about Ronnie Lane. Whether it was the Faces or the Small Faces before that, Ronnie lent a imperfect soulful voice that you couldn't help but believe.
Ronnie wouldn't end up having a long recording career or life for that matter. He died of complications from multiple sclerosis in 1997. Still, listening to his old records always puts a smile on my face.
Here's Ronnie from his second solo album, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, with his take on the Chuck Berry classic.
I realize that Pete Shelley's "Homosapien" isn't too deep of a track. I remember it getting a fair amount of airplay in the early days of the MTV era. However, I was just really in the mood for some early 80's new wave/rock and this tune just about sums up everything that I liked about this genre(There is plenty that I didn't like about this genre, too).
Here is the former Buzzcocks frontman with his biggest solo hit.
There is nothing too complicated about Sir Admiral Cloudesley Shovell's latest effort. It is straight ahead hard rock. But guitar driven riff-based rock is hard to come by today, so enjoy.
Kings of Leon were not always terrible. I know, it is hard to believe. If one listens to "Use Somebody", "Sex on Fire", or "Notion" from their later work, it is hard to imagine that this same band with the same band members actually produced some quality music. But they did.
Their first two albums had the distinct sound of understated vocals and biting guitar. The music rolled. It didn't last, though. Of course, the band went on to much wider appeal and more record and concert sales, but the music became banal.
That said, those first couple of albums are definitely worth checking out. Here is the first song off of their first album, Youth & Young Manhood.
This little known San Francisco band not only had the good fortune of being selected to perform at one of the final nights of the Fillmore West, Bill Graham's famed concert hall. Their performance was also selected to open the documentary about the closing of this revered rock establishment.
I don't know much about the band, but I know that the song struck me as having a good feel to it when I was watching the documentary,
Stuck In The Middle With You is Stealers Wheel's most recognizable song. That said, I don't even think of Stealers Wheel when that song comes on. I only think of this scene from Reservoir Dogs.
That said, Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan did make some other good music as Stealers Wheel. Here they are doing their best impression of Free.
In between playing guitar for David Bowie(on Young Americans and Station to Station) and working with John Lennon and Yoko Ono(on Double Fantasy), Earl Slick made a go of it with his own band. His own work sounds much different than that which he played with Bowie and Lennon. His stuff is more straight ahead rock n' roll. The common denominator was Earl's skillful playing.
Slick would later go on to tour with Bowie, the Eons, and even the New York Dolls.
Man, does this song feel like a 60's song. No matter that it was released in 1971, its definitely got a 60's sound. In some ways it is dated, but in other ways it just works. The guitar work is definitely worth a listen even if the 60's aren't your thing.
Felt(not to be confused with the alt rock 80's English band, Felt) hailed from Alabama and managed to record their one and only album in 1971. For a first effort, this album was quite a piece of work. No simple cover versions here.
The Gizmos were a short-lived punk band(weren't they all) from Bloomington, Indiana. They certainly didn't look the part with their short haircuts and relatively conservative dress. See here for a live performance of the Al Green classic. However, their sound was on-the-nose punk.
I'm not sure if this recording is actually from 1978, but it appeared on an album, The Gizmos: 1978-1981 Never Mind the Gizmos, Here's the Gizmos. Since the live recording seemed early, I'm going with an earlier date as a guess.
If you're looking for a band that sounded like a cross between the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones, the Downliners Sect might be for you. Of course, they never achieved the fame of the bands I've compared them to, but their early music is no less satisfying.
The Sect would go on to develop a psych sound in the later half of the sixties. They would later break up and then reform to reinvent themselves again. To me, though, this earliest work stands out the most.
Just about any tune off of their 1964 release, The Sect, could have been selected to showcase their sound. Here is Bloodhound.
I first heard of the Gits with the release of the Home Alive CDs in the mid-90s. At the time, I only noticed that this compilation album featured great tunes by Nirvana, Lydia Lunch, Pearl Jam, and others. Only by buying and listening to the album, did I learn of the story of Mia Zapata.
Mia was the lead singer of the punk band the Gits, which achieved some success in the burgeoning Seattle rock scene of the early 90's. While the band did not achieve superstardom right out of the gates like some of the other big Seattle bands, they were a favorite among many of those very bands.
One night, in the summer of 1993, Mia left a bar by herself in Seattle. She was brutally raped and murdered. The Home Alive movement arose out of this tragedy to address continued violence against women. It took ten years, but the authorities finally found her killer in Florida. He was ultimately sentenced to 36 years in jail.
Before her tragic death and the movement that came out of it, the Gits were a very good punk band and Mia Zapata was a powerful force in front of the band.
When I think of early punk or "proto-punk", I don't think of groups like the Stooges or the Velvet Underground. Don't get me wrong, I love those bands, but they seem closer to classic rock than the punk sound.
Australia's Radio Birdman formed in 1974 and developed a sound that would, to my ears, sound quintessentially "punk". Birdman and the Saints were probably the biggest punk bands to come from Down Under.
Here is a track off of their 1977 release, Radios Appear.
I have a limited tolerance for ska or swing revival music. I mean, it's okay if I'm in a very specific mood for it. But, there's something about the Specials that always brings a smile to my face. This English ska band had a lot of energy and must have been a really fun band to see live back in the late 70's/early 80's.
Here is the first song off of their second album, More Specials. Enjoy Yourself was written back in the 1940's by Carl Sigman and Herb Magidson and first popularized by Guy Lombardo in 1950. There is something universally wise about the lyrics of this tune which adds to its overall enjoyment.
Michael Des Barres will always be the Scum of the Earth to me. When I was a kid in the late 70's/early 80's, my favorite TV show was WKRP in Cincinnati. Des Barres played a punk rocker in the linked clip above.
Later, I found out that Des Barres had fronted a few mid-level rock bands in the 70's. The best of the bunch, Silverhead, is featured here. Silverhead is a glam/good ole rock n' roll band. There is nothing too high-brow here, just good time party music.
I was never a fan of Iron Maiden's signature sound that was born in the early 80's realized with Bruce Dickinson's vocal histrionics. As a result, I managed to avoid Iron Maiden for years. At some point, I heard some of their early work with lead singer Paul Di'Anno. This was much more interesting to me.
It's unfortunate that Paul was more into cocaine than the music, though. He was replaced in 1981 by the aforementioned Bruce Dickinson.
This track, Sanctuary, was from those early days, and has a distinctly different sound than what would later develop.
I don't know too much about Sun Dial, aside from the fact that band leader Gary Ramon put out a number of quality albums in the 90's during the second wave of psychedelic rock. Here is a hypnotic track from 1993.
Long before the "signature" 80's sound of Ultravox featuring Midge Ure was developed, there was the John Foxx version of the band. To me, this band was much more interesting. I don't know if it was just the vocals or the whole Brian Eno production of the band's debut album, Ultravox!.
In any case, today's track is another great example of a great first song on a debut album. See Devo's Uncontrollable Urge for another.
Back in my early high school days in the 80's, I immersed myself into the Beatles. Sure, I had all of the albums, but I also read a ton of books about the Fab Four. I remember one of those biographies relayed the story about how John Lennon rode around London in the Summer of '67 listening to Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale on a turntable in the back of his paisley colored Rolls Royce. I thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. I would play that story out in my head many times before I actually heard the song for the first time. When I finally did hear a Whiter Shade for the first time, I was disappointed. I thought the tune would be trippier. Oh well, expectations strike again. Over the years, I would learn to love this song, but it took awhile.
It took many years after that to check out anything else by Procul Harum(with the minor exception of Conquistador). Here is a bluesy track from 1969.
Growing up in the 80's, classic rock radio made me aware of two Animals' songs. House of the Rising Sun was the biggest one. That song was a masterpiece, but it got so overplayed. The other song was We Gotta Get Out of This Place. I never liked this song, probably because I was previously underwhelmed by hearing David Johansen's version.
Years later, I started to listen to more of the Animals' work. I love their garage sound in the early days. Here is a version of Jimmy Reed's Bright Lights, Big City. There is just something that makes me smile when the keys kick in during the chorus.
By early 1992, I was completely into classic rock. The popular music of the day(Dance, Rap, and Hair Band Metal) didn't appeal to me at all. One Sunday night, while at my college apartment, I decided to listen to my university's radio station to see what college bands might be out there. I wasn't hopeful. After a couple of songs, the deejay came on saying that he would play the following song one more time due to so many requests, but that was it. He was sick of getting all the calls for this tune. That song was Smells Like Teen Spirit. I immediately liked this song, I mean I really liked it.
The next weekend I was at some house party. It was packed and there was even a deejay spinning. This was rare at a UMass party. Still, no one was really dancing, just a lot of drinking and swaying. That was, until this quick thumping song came on and everybody started jumping up and down. The place went nuts. That song was Territorial Pissings. Not long after this, I picked up Nevermind and Bleach.
Nirvana restored hope in me that current music could be great. It really struck a nerve. I would get into the whole "grunge" music wave. Of course, that faded, but I was happy that I got to live through an exciting period of rock music.
Here finds Nirvana playing a lesser known song. I love the message of the naive dreamer expecting to hit it big.
Okay, so "TV-Glotzer" is really "White Punks on Dope". The music is an exact replica of the Tubes' masterpiece, but Hagen changed the lyrics. Sure, they are in German, but she didn't just translate Fee Waybill's Tubes' classic. The lyrics now reflect her view as an East German being able to watch West Berlin TV during the cold war and being jealous of the western freedoms.
In any case, there is something edgy and frightening about Hagen's vocal delivery here. Some might find it a bit jarring, but that's what I like about it.
Trivia Question: Name the Jack Bruce power trio featuring a virtuoso lead guitarist that released a few heavy albums over forty years ago? If you said, Cream, well you'd be right. But you'd also be right if you said West, Bruce, and Laing. This power trio of Bruce, Leslie West, and Corky Laing(both of Mountain) formed in 1972 and cut two studio albums and one live album over the space of a couple of years.
These albums, as you may expect, are pretty bluesy. On some songs, like the one featured here, they sound like a Cream/Mountain mashup. I guess that should not be too surprising.
