As usual, before I launch into my playlist of sinfully underplayed songs, let me set forward an explanation and a few notes.
A) The purpose for sharing this playlist is to present to you some titles that you may not have heard of. A list which contained nothing but songs like "Stairway to Heaven" and "Hotel California" would be a total waste of our time. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for good music I've not heard before, or perhaps forgotten about. Not to say every track here will be unheard of - judging by the comments Retrospace gets, many of you are professional musicologists. I wouldn't presume that these are new to you at all - suffice it to say, most of these songs aren't in heavy rotation on your average oldies or classic rock radio stations.
B) You'll note that I've ventured outside my usual domain and included a few songs released after the 1980s. Why? Just for the hell of it.
C) This is by no means a comprehensive list of every underplayed song - that would take months to write. But it should get you started. You can finally delete that tired old Styx's Greatest Hits and fill your iPod up with nice new stuff.
D) I'd love to provide a mp3 of each of these songs, but (1) most of these are still for sale and (2) I don't feel like having Lars Ulrich murder my whole family (or whatever they do to copyright violators these days). BTW Lars' net worth is $175 million.
E) One final note: Every music magazine has at one time or another made a list of "greatest songs". Unlike those lists, however, this one isn't crap.
Let the list begin!
- 1941 - Harry Nilsson
- 2000 Light Years from Home - Rolling Stones
- A Minah Menina - Os Mutantes
- Act of the Apostle - Belle & Sebastian
- African Symphony - Van McCoy
- Any Major Dude - Steely Dan
- Anyone for Tennis? - Cream
- Baby's On Fire - Brian Eno
- Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On - Mel McDaniels
- Ballad of Danny Bailey - Elton John
- Batpoem - The Liverpool Scene
- Big Black Smoke - The Kinks
- Blue's Theme - Dave Allan and the Arrows
- Business as Usual - Orleans
- Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - The Carpenters/Klaatu
- Cancer - Joe Jackson
- Caroline Goodbye - Colin Blunestone
- Catch the Sun - Doves
- Celtic Soul Brothers - Dexy's Midnight Runners
- Chevy Van - Sammy Johns
- Chihuahua - Bow Wow Wow
- Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
- Circle Round the Sun - B.J. Thomas
- Circle of Steel - Gordon Lightfoot
- Cities on Flame - Blue Oyster Cult
- Cold on the Shoulder - Gordon Lightfoot
- Colonel Brown - Tomorrow
- Come All Ye - Fairport Convention
- Cook with Honey - Howdy Moon
- Cthlu Thlu - Caravan
- Daily Nightly - The Monkees
- Daybreak - Harry Nilsson
- Defecting Grey - Pretty Things
- Disadvantages of You - The Brass Ring
- Do It Again - The Kinks
- Do Ya - The Move
- Dogs of Lust - The The
- Down in the Park - Tubeway Army
- Eagle and the Hawk - John Denver
- Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone
- El Diablo - ZZ Top
- Entertaining the Shy Girl - Donovan
- Equestrian Statue - Bonzo Dog Band
- Every Day Another Hair Turns Gray - Manfred Mann
- Every Night - Paul McCartney
- Faintly Blowing - Kaleidoscope
- Family of Man - Three Dog Night
- Fisherman - Badfinger
- Forever - Charlatans UK
- Fresh Garbage - Spirit
- Fundamentally Yours - Stackridge
- Georgie Porgie - Toto
- Get It Right Next Time - Gerry Rafferty
- Ghetto Child - The Spinners
- Golf Girl - Caravan
- Good Old Desk - Harry Nilsson
- Gotta Get Up - Harry Nilsson
- Guilty - Barry Gibb and Barbara Streisand
- Happiness Stan - Small Faces
- Hard Times - Kiss
- Hello Hooray - Alice Cooper
- Hello Little Lover - Mahogany Rush
- Home Is Where the Hatred Is - Esther Williams
- Hot Smoke & Sassafras - Bubble Puppy
- Houdini Said - Gilbert O'Sullivan
- Hummingbird - Seals and Crofts
- I See the Rain - Marmalade
- Ice Man - The Ice
- I'm Mandy, Fly Me - 10cc
- In the First Place - Remo Four
- Inside Out - Mighty Lemon Drops
- Isn't It Time - The Babys
- I've Got to Be Going - Peppermint Trolley Co.
- Junk - Paul McCartney
- Ladies and Gentlemen - Clouds
- Land of the Few - Love Sculpture
- Lay the Ghost - The Creation
- Leave It - Mike McGear and Paul McCartney
- Legal Tender - B-52s
- Life Has Just Begun - Spirit
- Like Always - The Association
- Living for the City - Stevie Wonder
- Long Agos and Worlds Apart - Small Faces
- Love Alive - Heart
- Love Is Alive - Gary Wright
- Love Will Find a Way - Pablo Cruise
- Lovely Day - Bill Withers
- Lucifer Sam - Pink Floyd
- Man of 1000 Faces - Gene Simmons
- Mary Skeffington - Gerry Rafferty
- Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendez & Brazil '66
- Matilda Mother - Pink Floyd
- Me and My Arrow - Harry Nilsson
- Michael Caine - Madness
- Minstrel of the Dawn - Gordon Lightfoot
- Miserlou - The Lively Ones
- Monster - Steppenwolf
- Moonlight Feels Right - Starbuck
- Morning Will Come - Spirit
- My Girl - Chilliwack
- My Little One - Marmalade
- My Minds Eye - Small Faces
- My White Bicycle - Tomorrow
- Nadia's Theme - Various Artists
- Nice, Nice, Very Nice - Ambrosia
- Nothin' to Hide - Spirit
- On Any Other Day - The Police
- Only Daddy that Will Walk the Line - Waylon Jennings
- Open My Eyes - The Nazz
- Open the Door - Pentangle
- Open Sesame (Groove with the Genie) - Kool & the Gang
- Opera House - Olivia Tremor Control
- Our Love Was - The Who
- Porpoise Song - The Monkees
- Psychic Vampire - Space Opera
- Quick One, A - The Who
- Rapper, The - The Jaggerz
- Red Telephone - Love
- Regatta de Blanc - The Police
- Rejoice - Jefferson Airplane
- Remember a Day - Pink Floyd
- Rental Car - Beck
- Ripplin' Waters - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Rose for Emily, A - The Zombies
- Runaways - XTC
- Saint Simon - The Shins
- Salty Dog - Procol Harum
- Searchin' for So Long - Chicago
- See a Little Light - Bob Mould
- Seed, The - The Roots
- Seven Island Suite - Gordon Lightfoot
- She Was Naked - Supersister
- Sign on the Dotted Line - Gerry Rafferty
- Sing Child - Heart
- Sky High - Jigsaw
- Snake, The - Al Wilson
- Son of Sam - Elliot Smith
- Song for Children - Brian Wilson
- Song of Joy - Captain and Tennille
- Song of the Viking - Todd Rundgren
- Starship Trooper - Yes
- Stormy - Classics IV
- Suddenly - Olivia Newton John, Cliff Richard
- Summer Night City - ABBA
- Summer of '71 - Helen Reddy
- Sun, The - The Pretty Things
- Tam Lin - Fairport Convention
- Telephone Is Empty, The - Love and Rockets
- Theme One - The George Martin Orchestra
- There's a World Outside - Psychedelic Furs
- Timeless Melody - The Las
- Too Many People - Paul McCartney
- Vacuum Cleaner - Tintern Abbey
- Walking Through My Dreams - Pretty Things
- Wand, The - Flaming Lips
- Waymore Blues - Waylon Jennings
- What Am I Doing Hangin' Round? - The Monkees
- What You Won't Do For Love - Bobby Caldwell
- Whiskey Man - The Who
- Working Girl - The Members
Love the inclusion of some Tomorrow songs. Any chance of a Spotify playlist? Totally legal and can be streamed all in a row.
ReplyDeletegood idea - tho it's still a bit patchy
DeleteAdmittedly, I've never used Spotify.... how comprehensive is their selection? Would they really have the Bonzo Dog Band?
DeleteDude,
ReplyDeleteNo list should EVER include a Steely Dan song. Unless it's the "Bands who have made a career of re-recording the same song over and over for 30 years." list.
Wow, you obviously haven't listened to more than 2 of their hits.
DeleteConsidering Steely Dan is one of the diverse bands of all time, that is quite an ironic comment. To each his own I suppose..
Deletefor what it's worth, Jimmy Page stated that the solos on "Reeling in the Years" is as close as it gets to a perfect rock guitar solo.
DeleteI forgot "Baby's On Fire" existed
"2000 Light Years.." bring back the mellotron!
Oh, I get it. You mistook Steely Dan for CCR. An honest mistake. Sarcasm +1
DeleteSome great stuff in there (Too Many People, Regatta de Blanc), and some great ones that seem pretty popular to me (I wouldn't call Moonright, Feels Right, Sky High, or Starship Trooper underplayed). When I saw Kinks, I was hoping for Art Lover or Celluloid Heroes - two genius songs.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can see where you're coming from. Starbuck and Jigsaw are pretty well known among lovers of seventies music..... there's more than a few on this list that are just borderline obscure. I could really hit some deep deep tracks - but I'll save that for a future post.
DeleteMusic is really not your thing, right?
ReplyDeleteThe comment above is meant for Jeff, not for Gilligan.
ReplyDeleteThere were some great ones on this list. As I'm writing my new manuscript I've actually been listening to a lot of these due to one character's musical preference. Now I've got more to add to Pandora. Danke.
ReplyDeleteGilligan,
ReplyDeleteIs there really a Vacuum Cleaner by Tintern Abbey or did you just make that up to see if we were paying attention?
Will enjoy trying to track that & others down anyway.
Y
Yep, they're real. See the comment below by burnleaf.
DeleteAnd I can want to add it is one of the best rock songs ever.
DeleteKudos for the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd era, 66-67 Who songs, the Monkees and 2000 Light Years From Home - the intro to that is Keith Richards tossing shillings into a grand piano played backwards. About half of your list is on my regular rotation on my ipod
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS-ULwge-x0 Vacuum Cleaner - Tintern Abbey - my new favorite song!
ReplyDeleteSome great songs! I agree...most are definitely underplayed!
ReplyDeleteSome great songs! I agree...most are definitely underplayed!
ReplyDeleteI'm about 90% with you on that list.. I would add
ReplyDeleteThe Sherbs - I Have The Skill
Tin Tin - Toast and Marmalade for Tea
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition- Something's Burning
Buck Owens - Made In Japan
Cartoone - A Penny For The Sun
The Beat - On The Highway
Lucinda Williams - Righteously
I will be promptly adding these to my phone. Nice.
DeleteI was just, as I'm reading this, listening to Inside Out!!! http://sonofthesubversivesounds.blogspot.com/2012/05/mighty-lemon-drops-world-without-end.html
ReplyDeleteKudos for Os Mutantes and Kaleidoscope!
Blue Oyster Cult has a song other than Don't Fear the Reaper? I had no idea!
My sister used to play Nadia's Theme on the piano. A Tulsa jeweler used in commercials in the 70s.
Stormy gets plenty of play on our local station. Good to know there's still some variations in radio play.
Miserlou was originally done by Dick Dale, any reason you chose the Lively Ones version?
As to Nadia's song, I always wondered whether it was on Young & the Restless first and then just got renamed after Nadia Comenici.... I'd look it up, but I'm feeling too lazy.
DeleteGilligan, it was originaly on the soundtrack to Bless the Beast and the Children and titled "Cotton's Theme." Then Y&R used it as their theme song. After Nadia used it, they decided to cash in on both its popularity with Y&R and Nadia and released it as a single under the name "Nadia's Theme."
DeleteThat's what I originally thought, but then I heard the Carpenter's "Bless the Beasts and the Children" and it didn't sound at all like Nadia's Theme. Must be two songs from that movie.
DeleteBy the way, I saw that movie in the theater and cried like a blubbering idiot.
I thought it was from Dr. Zhivago.
DeleteThe Nazz, Caravan, great choices. There are so many songs that this list could never be complete. I'll just suggest one - Hot Summer Day by It's A Beautiful Day.
ReplyDeleteThe radio station I work for had "What You Won't Do For Love" in heavy rotation recently when we were "Timeless Love Songs," however, I could tolerate that compared to all of the cuts we played off of Bobby Caldwell's Frank Sinatra tribute CDs. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I agree with most of these and the titles I don't recognize, I'm going to track down.
I heard 'Ecstasy of Gold' in Peking a few years ago with the maestro himself conducting. The chorus was in full Chinese regalia- what a great concept! I must have 6 versions on that song on my ipod. Try to find the mash up with Adele's 'Set Fire to the Rain' (The Good, the Bad and the Pyro)- it's worth it!
ReplyDeleteNice to see The Monkees listed three times! :)
ReplyDeleteI've no idea why Cities on Flame isn't as well-known a riff as Iron Man, Black Dog, etc. It's a great song.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, full o' seriously solid choices. Hello Hurray!
ReplyDeletemassive song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39SjyMvBbk4
ReplyDeleteWorking on creating this in a Spotify list, and yes, Bonzo Dog Band is on Spotify!
ReplyDeleteHome Is Where the Hatred Is was actually done by soul singer Esther Phillips. As far as I know, synchronized swimming MGM star Esther Williams never cut an album.
ReplyDeleteFound all of these songs except 14 of them on Spotify!
ReplyDeleteGood to see that someone else enjoys Batpoem, lots of good choices here
ReplyDelete