AC/DC, That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll . . . AC/DC had been in commercial decline but 1988’s Blow Up Your Video album, from which this top 30 single comes, signaled a rebirth that was fully realized with the next album, The Razors Edge and such hits at Thunderstruck, Moneytalks and Are You Ready. Not that I listen to commercial rock radio anymore, in fact its predictability – endless repetition of the same songs – is what long ago motivated me to do this for the most part deep cuts show, but I don’t recall hearing this single much at all when it came out.
The Beatles, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) . . . Fun music hall track, typical Beatles’ humor. It was the B-side to Let It Be in 1970 but goes back to initial sessions in 1967 and a final one in 1969. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones helps out on saxophone.
Can, She Brings The Rain . . . Conventional, lovely ballad from an unconventional band.
Deep Purple, Our Lady . . . From the critically-panned Who Do We Think We Are album in 1973. One wonders whether rock journalists actually focus on the music or, in this case, on the fact that the band was fraying due to the forever enmity between singer Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore – in which case, an album of such quality is remarkable. I like the record, as do most Deep Purple fans I know. I mean, c’mon, critics: Woman From Tokyo, this track, Mary Long, every song is good. Certainly not going through the motions, as one critic wrote and besides, how would he know unless he was in studio with the band.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Knife-Edge . . . Terrific B-side to Lucky Man and arguably more indicative of ELP’s progressive rock approach than that more mainstream, albeit excellent, single is.
Fairport Convention, She Moves Through The Fair . . . Sandy Denny. One of those singers who, when you hear her, think, that’s the voice of an angel. Just beautiful.
Rory Gallagher, Calling Card . . . Title cut from the late great guitarist/songwriter/bandleader’s 1976 album co-produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, who had met Gallagher when Rory opened for Purple on an American tour.
Hawkwind, Space Is Deep . . . A song about space, and humanity, from the space rockers.
Iron Maiden, Strange World . . . Uncharacteristic Maiden, a bluesy cut from their first, self-titled album featuring pre-Bruce Dickinson lead singer Paul Di’Anno.
Jethro Tull, Nothing To Say . . . I have nothing more to say that I haven’t already, this week anyway, about Jethro Tull, one of my favorite bands. From Benefit, the band’s third album, 1970.
Kansas, Paradox . . . Amazing how many time signature changes and other such progressive rock elements Kansas can cram into this four-minute track.
Led Zeppelin, Friends . . . Nice acoustic one from Zep III.
Metallica, The Struggle Within . . . The Black Album divided people as Metallica went more commercial via singles like Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, which introduced them to a massive wider audience. That didn’t sit well with at least some longtime fans who preferred their earlier thrash metal stuff. So this one, from that somewhat controversial album, is for them. And me, although I appreciate all Metallica.
Nazareth, Red Light Lady . . . Love this multi-faceted tune from the self-titled debut album in 1971. And they just released a new one in April, Surviving The Law. It’s not groundbreaking, but rocks hard and is the second one featuring new singer Carl Sentance, who replaced original singer Dan McCafferty. McCafferty retired from touring with the band in 2013 due to health reasons although he released a solo album, Last Testament, three years ago although to be honest I only found that out while giving a listen to the new Nazareth record. As for Nazareth overall, there’s just one original member left, Pete Agnew on bass, which like many bands continuing to soldier on leaves them open to criticisms of being essentially a tribute act. I hear it but, besides Sentance, the other guys in the band, including Agnew’s son Lee on drums and guitarist Jimmy Murrison, have been in the group for nearly 30 years and they do continue to release new music and if it’s good, and still has some connection to the original band, I don’t have a huge issue with it.
Ozzy Osbourne, S.A.T.O. . . . Kick-butt rocker from Diary Of A Madman, the second solo Ozzy album and the last featuring the late great guitarist Randy Rhodes. The title either stands for Sharon Arden (maiden name of Ozzy’s wife, who is the daughter of music industry mogul Don Arden) and Thelma Osbourne, his first wife, or Sailing Across The Ocean, which is what the lyrics reference. Apparently, it was initially called Strange Voyage but after some battles within the band that resulted in bass player and co-songwriters Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake being fired, Ozzy and Sharon changed it. Oh, and sato, non-acronym, is also a Thai rice wine.
Pink Floyd, Julia Dream . . . From 1968, written by Roger Waters and sung, for the first time on a Floyd track, by new at the time guitarist David Gilmour. This ballad was the B-side to It Would Be So Nice, a song written by keyboardist Richard Wright that was, to be charitable, not very good. “Effing awful, wasn’t it” drummer Nick Mason was quoted as saying. Well, in fairness, the Floyd was in transition after the departure of band co-founder and early chief songwriter Syd Barrett and finding their legs, so to speak, before Waters became the dominant writer.
Queen, Drowse . . . I’ve always liked this one, written and sung by drummer Roger Taylor, from A Day At The Races. The title fits the laid-back vibe of the tune.
Keith Richards, Heartstopper . . . Up-tempo tune from Crosseyed Heart, Richards’ third, and most recent, solo album that came out in 2015. Seven years ago already.
Stephen Stills, Blind Fiddler Medley . . . A beautiful blending of a traditional folks song, Blind Fiddler, with two of Stills’ own tunes from his first and second solo albums, respectively – Do For The Others and Know You Got To Run. The medley was released on his 1991 album, Stills Alone, for the most part just him and his acoustic and electric guitars. It’s a great listen.
Thin Lizzy, Opium Trail . . . Bad Reputation, including the title cut which I’ve played before, is such a solid Thin Lizzy album, one of my favorites by the band but then I’m a big fan and of course they’re so much more than The Boys Are Back In Town. Opium Trail is another winner from the album.
U2, Acrobat . . . A fellow DJ mentioned he liked this song when we got discussing deep cuts from Achtung Baby a while ago after I played a different song from that album. I do, too. So, here we are.
The Velvet Underground, Lonesome Cowboy Bill . . . The Velvets go country on this one from the Loaded album. It was so named because the record company wanted an album ‘loaded’ with hits. The album still didn’t chart but the Velvets were never a commercial hit – it’s been said that few people bought VU albums, but those that did formed bands. Two of their more widely-known songs, Sweet Jane and Rock & Roll, did emerge from Loaded.
Tom Waits, Frank’s Wild Years . . . Short and sweet spoken word brilliance, a shade under two minutes, from Swordfishtrombones in 1983. Two albums later came the Franks Wild Years record, no apostrophe but otherwise connected with the original song.
XTC, Science Friction . . . Devo-ish punky stuff from 1977 before they broke big, to the masses at least, with their 1979 album Drums and Wires and the Making Plans For Nigel single.
Yes, Starship Trooper . . . A bit of a challenge getting a longer tune into what had to be a 26-song set list due to today’s alphabet motif, but we managed. This is from The Yes Album, the first to feature guitarist Steve Howe and where the Yes all who know and love them (or loathe them) truly emerged. Such was the relative commercial failure of their first two albums, Yes and Time and A Word, that the band was at risk of being dropped by Atlantic, their record company. But they survived and thrived.
ZZ Top, I Need You Tonight . . . The lone bluesy cut from 1983’s Eliminator, the album where the band fully embraced synthesizers and other technology to great commercial success but to the distaste of some/many of their longtime bluesy raunch and roll supporters. This song could easily have fit on any of the early ZZ albums.