Alphabet soup set list – songs are by bands/artists A to Z. Set list with my track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.
1. Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You
2. Bad Company, Crazy Circles
3. J.J. Cale, Call The Doctor
4. The Doors, Been Down So Long
5. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bitches Crystal
6. Faces, Cut Across Shorty (live)
7. The Guess Who, Self Pity
8. Heart, Bebe Le Strange
9. Chris Isaak, Speak Of The Devil
10. Jefferson Airplane, The Last Wall Of The Castle
11. The Kinks, Holloway Jail
12. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Four Walls Of Raiford (demo version)
13. Mott The Hoople, Thunderbuck Ram
14. Nazareth, Fat Man
15. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Chicken Train
16. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Last DJ
17. Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Fool
18. Keith Richards, Amnesia
19. Steppenwolf, Power Play
20. Ten Years After, Woman Trouble
21. U2, The Three Sunrises
22. Van Halen, Little Dreamer
23. Wishbone Ash, Time Was
24. XTC, Ten Feet Tall
25. Yes, Parallels
26. Warren Zevon, The Overdraft
My track-by-track tales:
1. Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You . . . Spooky title cut, including a galloping riff the future members of Iron Maiden might have been listening to, on the 1970 release from the British progressive hard rockers. It was the band’s second album, released after drummer Carl Palmer, who had been with Rooster keyboardist Vincent Crane in The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, left to join Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
2. Bad Company, Crazy Circles . . . From the 1979 album Desolation Angels. Rock ‘n Roll Fantasy was the big hit and a great track and one of my favorites by Bad Co it is, but I remember this getting a fair bit of airplay back when commercial FM radio played deeper cuts, or maybe I just played it a lot. Cliche/obvious lyrics about life, perhaps, like this verse, but it works for me:
Life is like a game of chance
Some find riches and some romance
Some find happiness and some find sorrow
Some find it today and some maybe tomorrow
I’ve found all of what’s described, as perhaps many may have, at various times.
3. J.J. Cale, Call The Doctor . . . One of those great J.J. Cale tracks (aren’t they all?) that you won’t find on one of his various compilations, so you have to own, search or stream his 1971 debut album, Naturally, to hear it. Most J.J. Cale songs, like this one, are under three minutes and it never ceases to amaze me how much greatness he’s able to squeeze into such short time frames. Less is indeed often more, I suppose, leaving you wanting more and I submit one can never get enough J.J. Cale. The album produced two Cale songs, Call Me The Breeze and After Midnight, later taken to more commercial success by, respectively, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eric Clapton in more uptempo versions than Cale’s signature laid back style. I like those versions and artists but still prefer Cale’s originals.
4. The Doors, Been Down So Long . . . From perhaps my favorite Doors album, the bluesy L.A. Woman. The track has received varying reviews over the years but I’m going with the reviewer who, according to Wikipedia, said it’s one of the Doors’ ‘must hear’ blues tracks.
5. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bitches Crystal . . . From Tarkus, ELP’s second album highlighted by the 21-minute title cut that was the entire side one of the original vinyl. This one, Bitches Crystal, condenses all progressive rock elements from each individual artist in the band – keyboards, drums, vocals, guitar and bass – into four minutes.
6. Faces, Cut Across Shorty (live) . . . From the rambling, shambling and that’s exactly what the fun Faces were all about, live album from 1974, Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners. I had the record on vinyl when it came out, lost it over time, but recovered it on CD via a used shop some time back and glad to have it again. A studio version of this track, popularized by Eddie Cochran, appeared on the Rod Stewart solo album Gasoline Alley during what ultimately became an awkward 1969-74 period (of to me and many people, Rod Stewart’s greatest solo years) where Faces members were backing Stewart on his parallel solo excursions until ultimately Rod broke away, or the band broke from him, Ronnie Wood joined The Rolling Stones and Faces went kaput. The band has reunited off and on, including a stint with former Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall replacing Stewart, and a news report in February 2024 suggested the surviving members of the band (Wood and drummer Kenney Jones) were working on a new album although Stewart said they were ‘struggling’.
“I’ve sent a lot of them [songs] to Ronnie Wood,” Stewart said, according to a story on American songwriter.com. “I told him, ‘This is stuff we’ve recorded with my band, maybe The Faces would like to do it instead?’ We’re still struggling to make this album. We’ll see. Some of them might see the light of day.”
7. The Guess Who, Self Pity . . . I admire Randy Bachman as a guitarist, bandleader and producer but I doubt The Guess Who would have done such a terrific funky, vocal-powered by Burton Cummings song like this one from their 1973 album No. 10, had Bachman not left the band after the American Woman album in 1970, leaving Cummings as the undisputed leader.
8. Heart, Bebe Le Strange . . . Title cut from the band’s 1980 album released as the second single from the record (Even It Up was the first) but it was the first Heart single not to make the US Billboard Top 100. Ridiculous of course, it’s a great song, maybe too similar to Even It Up, but a great staccato type track nevertheless, should have been a bigger hit, I like it, so I’m playing it.
9. Chris Isaak, Speak Of The Devil . . . Isaak is best known by most people for his sultry, sexy hit single Wicked Game from the 1989 album Heart Shaped World. Long ago, before one could call up a song at a keystroke, I bought a compilation of his just to have it, and discovered other great stuff, like this one from an artist whose sound has been compared to the likes of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson and Duane Eddy.
10. Jefferson Airplane, The Last Wall Of The Castle . . . Jefferson Airplane has a big hit album with Surrealistic Pillow in 1967, an album containing the band’s best-known hit songs Somebody To Love and White Rabbit and what do they do as a followup? They go, essentially, back underground, doing the type of thing I admire in creative terms, releasing the almost anti-commercial, psychedelic After Bathing At Baxters, including this Jorma Kaukonen-penned tune featuring his wicked lead guitar.
11. The Kinks, Holloway Jail . . . A couple jail tunes coming up, led by this one from the to me exceptional but commercial failure album that was Muswell Hillbillies, released in 1971. It would probably be categorized as Americana and might do better on the charts were it released today, which is interesting given that Ray Davies did roots rock solo albums titled Americana and Our Country: Americana Act II in 2017 and ’18.
12. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Four Walls Of Raiford (demo version) . . . Acoustic, blues; it’s not really Lynyrd Skynyrd, in a way. It’s original Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Jeff Carlisi, a longtime member of .38 Special, on a song recorded in 1976 and available on bootlegs and/or the Lynyrd Skynyrd box set released in 1991. Regardless how it came about, a great tune.
13. Mott The Hoople, Thunderbuck Ram . . . Mick Ralphs in a rare lead vocal performance (Ian Hunter of course usually sang lead for Mott) on what becomes a kick butt rocker shortly after the beautiful acoustic intro. An AllMusic site reviewer declared this and the entire Mad Shadows second album by Mott The Hoople, released in 1970 before the band achieved stardom, to be a ‘descent downward into murk.’ To which I say: Open your ears.
14. Nazareth, Fat Man . . . Heavy, bluesy, brooding track from the band’s self-titled debut album, released in 1971.
15. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Chicken Train . . . Harmonica, fiddles and other fun stuff from the band likely best known for their hits If You Wanna Get To Heaven and Jackie Blue. Dig deeper and they’re so much more, evidenced by this track from their 1973 debut album. I’ve heard it described as “a hillbilly song’. I agree. I like it.
16. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Last DJ . . . OK, yeah this title cut from Petty’s 2002 album was a No. 22 hit but when one is talking the late great Petty, how often do you hear this song referenced? Besides which, while mine is a deep cuts show, I’ve forever stated I do play the occasional single, even hit ones, but for the most part ones that didn’t do so well on the charts or are not often heard since they came out, or are not embedded in the public consciousness as are so many, for instance, of Petty’s songs. So, disclaimer done, this song and the lyrics are exactly why I do my deep cuts show – I play what I want and thankfully am at an independent station that allows me and my fellow DJs here to do so, unlike commercial radio which is rigidly formatted and which prompted me to become a DJ here and create this show. Several songs on the album, like this one, were critical of the music industry and were boycotted by some radio stations, proving Petty’s point.
“I was elated when my song was banned,” Petty told Billboard. “I remember when the radio meant something. We enjoyed the people who were on it, even if we hated them. They had personalities. They were people of taste, who we trusted. And I see that vanishing.”
17. Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Fool . . . Long jam from a band that was part of the 1960s San Francisco scene along with the Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead yet never ascended to those bands’ commercial heights.
18. Keith Richards, Amnesia . . . From Richard’s most recent and so far last solo album, 2015’s Crosseyed Heart. It chugs along around Richards’ distinctive guitar sound and soloing.
19. Steppenwolf, Power Play . . As I’ve often said, Steppenwolf is so far beyond just Magic Carpet Ride and Born To Be Wild, great tunes both of course but selling the band short on the many great songs, with topical at the time and forever lyrics, that the group has released.
20. Ten Years After, Woman Trouble . . . Boogie rock from Alvin Lee and company from the second TYA album, Stonedhenge, released in 1969. TYA was immortalized by Lee’s guitar performace on I’m Going Home from Woodstock yet Lee, and TYA, were more than that space in time – my deliberate nod to the band’s 1971 album A Space In Time which yielded the terrific hit single I’d Love To Change The World. A band well worth exploring more deeply, if you haven’t.
21. U2, The Three Sunrises . . . Nice guitar work from The Edge on this track, originally a B-side on The Unforgettable Fire single from that album in 1984. It was later released on the Wide Awake In America EP in 1985 and then a limited edition expanded version of the compilation The Best Of 1980-1990, released in 1998.
22. Van Halen, Little Dreamer . . . One of my favorites from an album full of them, the band’s explosive 1978 debut record that gave us such timeless tunes as Runnin’ With The Devil, the Eddie Van Halen guitar showcase Eruption, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love and VH’s cover of the Kinks’ classic You Really Got Me.
23. Wishbone Ash, Time Was . . . All the elements of Wishbone Ash – progressive, folk and hard rock – come together on this 10-minute highlight of the Argus album, 1972.
24. XTC, Ten Feet Tall . . . Making Plans For Nigel and a great track it was, was the only single released from the 1979 XTC album Drums And Wires but I recall this song getting lots of airplay in Canada during my college days.
25. Yes, Parallels . . From the Going For The One album, 1977. The song, written by bassist Chris Squire, was originally targetted for his solo album Fish Out Of Water but he didn’t think it fit for that record so he brought it to the band which gave it a typical orchestral type Yes treatment.
26. Warren Zevon, The Overdraft . . . No, this rocker from the 1982 album The Envoy is not about the usual/perpetual state of my bank account. But it could be. Nice guitar from a usual Zevon accomplice, Waddy Wachtel, later to become a key member of Rolling Stone Keith Richards’ X-Pensive Winos.
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