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Post by The Ocean on Jan 11, 2021 16:55:22 GMT
I started doing this thing on Facebook a month and a half ago and I'm enjoying the exercise enough to continue it here I'll do the ones I've already done five per post so I don't spam too many posts at once. I've so far done 39 of these. 37 from me, one picked by my wife, and another by Melne. --- Deep Track of the Day #1 - 11/29/20 Billy Joel - "Stop in Nevada" from Piano Man I'm starting a new thing and seeing how far I can take it. I call it Deep Track of the Day. Every day, sometime before midnight, I'm going to post my favorite songs which were either never singles, or if they were, never get airplay. The first is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, Stop in Nevada. The strings and the harmonies make this song. It was hard to choose between this and You're My Home, but I think in the end this is the better song. --- Deep Track of the Day #2 - 11/30/20 Golden Earring - "Brother Wind" from Together Golden Earring went through many phases of their career, but the period in between their breakthrough Eight Miles High album (centered around a side-long cover of The Byrds' masterpiece) and their international smash hit Moontan (featuring Radar Love) is above reproach. In the midst of that era is the album Together. Their Dutch hit Buddy Joe is usually a standout, but my ears always perk up when the harmonized guitars open Brother Wind, as the show winds its way through incredible soundscapes including a dazzling drum solo and a vintage rockin' organ solo. It is worth noting that Steve Harris, the driving force behind Iron Maiden, considers Golden Earring to be his favorite band, and hearing this song it's clear what an influence it had on him. --- Deep Track of the Day #3 - 12/1/20 The Kinks - "Shangri-La" from Arthur or: the Decline and Fall of the British Empire Ray Davies is the kind of genius who can pull of wistful & nostalgic, and cynical & sarcastic, all at the same time. He pines for a yesteryear that he knows never existed and hopes for a tomorrow that he knows will never be, yet as foolish as he knows it to be, he clearly still believes that there is value in nostalgia and hope. Perhaps he knows that cynicism without limits is an express ticket to despair, so perhaps we are best to hold onto a little bit of sincerity so that we can get through out day. Arthur is the second in what I consider to be The Kinks' tetralogy of PERFECT albums, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur(...), Lola Versus the Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, and Muswell Hillbillies. Out of all four of these albums only Lola was a hit, but behind that song existed several dozen masterpieces that deserved their own spot in the Sun. While Village Green is my favorite album of all time (let alone favorite Kinks album), it is Shangri-La from Arthur that might be Davies' strongest single moment as a songwriter. --- Deep Track of the Day #4 - 12/2/20 Bruce Springsteen - "Incident on 57th Street" from The Wild, The Innocent & The East Street Shuffle Good night, it's alright, Jane I'll meet you tomorrow night On Lover's Lane It would be hard to call this song a deep track per se because it does get SOME airplay, but it's relatively rare all the same. This song was the first song I heard after moving out of my parents' house, and the moment, driving in the dark onto 202 South from, is burned into my memory. This song is the first indication of the kind of epic-feeling songs Springsteen would become well-known for over time, such as Jungleland or Born to Run. But before those songs, there was this masterpiece. It's hard not to get goosebumps as the song builds up to its incredible crescendo before fading out leaving a solitary piano to carry on the melody. Brilliant. --- Deep Track of the Day #5 - 12/3/20 Blue Öyster Cult - "Sinful Love" from Agents of Fortune Blue Öyster Cult often worked with outside lyricists like punk icon Patti Smith, sci-fi authors Michael Moorcock and John Shirley, rock critics like Richard Meltzer, or in this case punk legend Helen Wheels, who cowrote the lyrics with drummer Albert Bouchard. Albert provides lead vocals on this track. Agents of Fortune is the only album in the band's history which included a lead vocal from all five members, with lead guitarist Buck Dharma providing the vocals for (Don't Fear) the Reaper, keyboardist Allen Lanier and bassist Joe Bouchard each contribute one lead vocal, Eric Bloom provides four, and Albert Bouchard singing three. I chose Sinful Love out of all of the great tracks from this album because of a personal connection I have with my late uncle Mike to this song. When I was 14 I told him my favorite band was BÖC, and he laughed and quoted Sinful Love, saying "I love you like sin, but I won't be your pigeon" in such a tone as if to say "you know their lyrics are weird as ****, right?" Their lyrics (especially early on) can indeed be weird as ****, and this is no exception. The words paint a picture and the music fills in in the gaps. The piano is the driving force of this song, but a very unusually modal riff carries the listener through, and to cap it off Buck Dharma's solo is melodic as always, and he manages to use several different playing styles throughout, including cluster chords and pinch harmonics. He always knows how to give a solo momentum and to keep it from sounding "samey' throughout. Im also particularly fond of his solo on Tenderloin later on the album, but you'll have to stream it or buy it.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 11, 2021 17:02:24 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #6 - 12/4/20 Rush - "Animate" from Counterparts
If you believed that people thought Neil Peart was great because of his ability to handle complex time signatures (such as 3|4+7|8+3|4+4|4 in Cygnus X-1), but his greatness is recognized not primarily for his ability to comprehend the complex, but for his ability to make it seem so simple. It wasn't that he was flashy, but that he could make everything feel so natural.
Here in Animate is him doing what he does best: playing for the song. Animate is a simple rock song with no frills. And even with this complete lack of complication, you will still feel Neil's groove.
The lyrics are brilliant and the band is tight. What more can you ask for?
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Deep Track of the Day #7 - 12/5/20 Dream Theater - "Misunderstood" from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
I love when a song sets up a chorus, and on the final rendition adds extra lines to the end of it. This song instead does it to the prechorus, making you think the hammer is about to drop and instead making you wait. Prime the audience, train them, then surprise them.
I love every moment of this song from the Ten Years Gone-reminiscent opening riff to the surprisingly dissonant, harmonized guitar solo which sounds like it could have been recorded backwards, to the long instrumental passages, to the beautiful sounds that eminate from Jordan Rudess' keyboards during the bridge.
It was tough to pick a song from Dream Theater. I still want to get a tattoo that reads "The Answer Lies Within," and I might still get that one day. Ultimately, this song is the one that impressed me the most. I expected a nine minute plus song to be complex and almost convoluted (The Dark Eternal Night), but this song is thoughtful, deliberate, simple yet not predictable.
This song also convinced me that Dream Theater could do a James Bond theme if they wanted to.
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Deep Track of the Day #8 - 12/6/20 Led Zeppelin - "Your Time is Gonna Come" from Led Zeppelin
This was the first song by Led Zeppelin I ever heard, and it made me a fan in an INSTANT. The doubletracked organ from John Paul Jones is mesmerizing, the pedal steel in the outro just adds to this song's unique charm. I have nothing much to say about this one other than the fact that it's great. I know my last several entries are a few hundred words each, but sometimes all I need to say is this is a great song.
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Deep Track of the Day #9 - 12/7/20 Garbage - "Drive You Home" from Beautiful Garbage
Garbage made a name for themselves with technopop in the 90s, and it may have pigeonholed them to the degree that their album Beautiful Garbage polarized fans because of how different it was from their first two albums. They still kept the techno beats, but they really went out on a limb with this album and the risks paid off in my opinion. Drive You Home is a soft, dreamy ballad you could close your eyes and sway to.
Shirley Manson's voice alone tells you everything you need to know about the mood. At heart, she is not just singing but acting. This is my favorite vocal performance of hers by a mile.
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Deep Track of the Day #10 - 12/8/20 Sara Bareilles - "Satellite Call" from The Blessed Unrest
There are a lot of great songs to choose from, and while I Choose You is my favorite song of hers and is very meaningful to me this track from the same album missed the chance to be a hit, and it had every reason to be one.
I love the way it just slowly builds and builds as it goes, the lyrics, the beautiful piano, the reverse echo, and her voice. This song is captivating. You can close your eyes and just sway along.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 11, 2021 17:21:48 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #11 - 12/9/20 Pearl Jam - "Red Mosquito" from No Code
One of the dirtiest, nastiest solo tones from Pearl Jam is on this song. This tells the story of a feverishly sick Eddie Vedder who hallucinate that a mosquito in his room was Satan coming to take him away. The music almost screams panic and anxiety.
It's all sharp angles and contrast. The verses are heavy and it's the choruses which are soft, and the coda brings it all home combining the harsh guitar with the softly layered harmonizing vocals, ending on one last little noise from that scratchy guitar.
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Deep Track of the Day #12 - 12/10/20 Aerosmith - "Avant Garden" from Just Push Play
One of my favorite songs from their catalogue. The sound of the jangly slide guitar, the dreamy vocals, the strings (whether they're real or not, I can't tell and I don't care), the blink-and-you'll-miss-it whisper from Liv Tyler in the final chorus...
Just truly beautiful.
Also, there's a hidden track at the end of this YouTube clip that they didn't bother excising, so you'll hear a short reprise of just the song "Under My Skin" from the same album if you keep listening.
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Deep Track of the Day #13 - 12/11/20 Van Halen - "Little Dreamer" from Van Halen
Van Halen's first album spawned five singles, featuring nine of the albums studio tracks ("Jamie's Cryin'" was both a single and a subsequent B-side). The two remaining songs on the album are shockingly different from the rest. Ice Cream Man starts primarily acoustically, making it unique for the album even if it returns to the usual style by the end.
Little Dreamer, on the other hand, is the only track on the album that can be described as subdued. Plenty of the other tracks have their softer parts, but they retain parts with a hard edge, and at least one member of the band is giving it their all at some point. Here, Roth never screams or shouts, Eddie never plays with the full attack, Alex never goes wild, Michael never goes full force either.
This is the only song on Van Halen that can be described as mellow, even with the distortion and a little bit of the usual pizazz in the solo. You almost never hear it on the radio unless somebody is doing a block of Van Halen or playing the full album.
It also is just a really damn good song. The riff may not be the first one you remember when you think Van Halen, but that's merely because it doesn't get played, not because it isn't worth it. I really love this song.
In fact, the only song on that first album I'm not in love with is On Fire, which I believe was mistakenly released as a single when Little Dreamer could have been.
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Deep Track of the Day #14 - 12/13/20 Iron Maiden - "Paschendale" from Dance of Death
I took yesterday off because I was sick, but I'm back! I've seen Iron Maiden in concert three times, and every time was an experience I can only describe as epic. They are unequaled in the world of metal, in any subgenre. Now, if it weren't for bands such as Thin Lizzy or Golden Earring, there would be no Iron Maiden, but Iron Maiden achieved levels of global success that neither of those bands ever did, despite deserving to.
Part of the reason, I believe, is their formula for storytelling. They were relatively successful as a band before Bruce Dickinson came along in part because the band really is Steve Harris' beast. There is a reason Bruce Dickinson can credibly sing tracks originally recorded with Paul Di'Anno or Blaze Bayley, and that's because Steve's fingerprints and formula create musical textures that transcend. While Dickinson is one of the world's greatest frontmen and an incredible performer, it helps to having something GREAT to perform! Harris has always provided on this front.
Over time, however, Adrian Smith has become a writer of unparalleled talent himself, and has been the primary writer of some of Maiden's best modern work using the formula developed by Harris. The two of them wrote this song, Paschendale, telling a story based upon the Battle of Passchendaele, which took place in Belgium in World War I.
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Deep Track of the Day #15 - 12/14/20 Tears For Fears - "Call Me Mellow" from Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
My second favorite album of all time is 2004's comeback album by Tears For Fears, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. And it's out of print, because of COURSE it is. Perhaps it didn't sell up to standards, but it wasn't helped by the fact that the band were unceremoniously dropped by Arista BEFORE the release of the album. The ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy: don't promote an album, dump the band for poor sales.
It's not even available to STREAM on Amazon Music (I haven't checked iTunes, admittedly). If you are blessed of paycheck and don't mind shelling out $35 for a CD, the entire album is a masterpiece of Beatles-inspired Britpop from beginning to end. They wear their influences on their sleeves for sure on this album. I could chose any song since this is more of a Deep Album than a collection of deep tracks, but I think if one song provides the best example of the merits of this album, it's Call Me Mellow, with its jangly guitars, dreamy swirling vocal harmonies, and a perfect illustration of how well TFF manages to create brilliantly deep compositions and arrangements from the simplest of frameworks. Their songs sound simple when you strip it down to the basic ingredients of the chords on an acoustic guitar, but missing would be the spices added layer by layer.
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Post by zenman on Jan 11, 2021 20:33:41 GMT
Your Uncle Mike was right on about Sinful Love.
One of the best lyrics ever written: I love you like sin, but I won't be your pigeon.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 0:40:44 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #16 - 12/15/20 Kansas - "Cheyenne Anthem" from Leftoverture
Kansas is one of those bands that strictly FM radio listeners don't know the half of. Dust in the Wind and Carry On Wayward Son are pretty straightforward, as great as they are. Point of Know Return is also fairly straightforward, uncommon time signatures notwithstanding. It's when you dig deep that you find a band those sound CLEARLY influenced decades of musicians.
Cheyenne Anthem is a song that is rich in layers and tells its tale through multiple movements, like the best of prog rock/prog metal that we've all come to know and love. I was stuck between this song and Closet Chronicles from the Point of Know Return album, or even something from their underrated album Masque. In the end, Cheyenne Anthem won me over because of the journey the song takes the listener on.
Kansas deserves to be known better for their progginess.
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Deep Track of the Day #17 - 12/16/20 The Vines - "Winning Days" from Winning Days
The Vines had a lot to live up to after Highly Evolved, and their single from Winning Days, "Ride," certainly got tons of airplay. Sadly, this album faded fast, and the title track never charted in the US. What a shame, because this is a lovely little pop song layered with brilliant vocal harmonies and a noisily fuzzy guitar solo reminiscent of Queen's self titled debut and their follow-up Queen II.
The Vines have sadly faded away when other bands from the garage rock revival of the early Aughties survived, such as The Strokes. Their first two albums are untouchable, to me.
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Deep Track of the Day #18 - 12/17/20 Small Faces - "Song of a Baker" from Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
This is a unique little album comprised of psychedelia mixed with interstitial skits in Cockney Rhyming Slang. It is best known perhaps for "Lazy Sunday" and the title track, which was used famously in the original trailer for Grand Theft Auto V.
Song of a Baker is a short but powerful little song with a catchy and memorable vocal melody. Full of loud backing vocal harmonies, violent drumming, and frenetic momentum.
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Deep Track of the Day #19 - 12/18/20 Mountain - "Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)" from Nantucket Sleighride
People tend to think of a solitary cowbell counting in a nasty fuzzy riff when they think of Mountain, but I think of this marvelous composition first and foremost. The kind of song that creates an entire world with its music and tells a story, this one supposedly true, and later recounted in the Ron Howard film In the Heart of the Sea.
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Deep Track of the Day #20 - 12/19/20 Faces - "Too Bad" from A Nod is As Good As a Wink to a Blind Horse
From the count-in to piano lick to the unique rhyme scheme to the acoustic guitar as punctuation, this song is angry, immediate, and solidly entertaining. I dont have much to say except that it is clear that Rod Stewart is singing from the heart, and that heart is pissed the hell off.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 0:51:41 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #21 - 12/20/20 The The - "Uncertain Smile" from Soul Mining
The The have had an endless string of hits in the UK and a few big ones on the US Mainstream Rock charts, but this song stayed away from our side of the pond and didn't really chart that well in their native UK compared to later hits.
What gives this song endless appeal to me is the extended piano solo, a sadly-rare event in modern rock music once guitar took the forefront. I am no keyboard player, though I use one to write and compose at times, but I have always wished I could play well enough to have made a career out of it. And while I love my guitar and mandolin, a great piano solo will usually wind up being my favorite element in any rock song in which it is present.
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Deep Track of the Day #22 - 12/21/20 Jet - "Shine On" from Shine On
I hear this song in my head whenever I think of a dear departed friend, and at 35 I have more of them than I ever imagined at this age. That may not be what the song is about, but it's what I associate it with.
To my friends who have left this world: I miss you all, but your memories shines bright for me, always, and I believe I will see you again someday.
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Please don't cry, You know I'm leaving here tonight, Before I go, I want you to know, There will always be a light.
If the moon had to run away, And all the stars didn't wanna play, Don't waste the sun on a rainy day, The wind will soon blow it all away. (Yeah)
So many times I'd planned To be much more than who I am, And If I let you down, I will follow you around, Until you understand.
If the moon had to run away, And all the stars didn't wanna play, Don't waste the sun on a rainy day, The wind will soon blow it all away. (Yeah, oh yeah)
When the days all feel the same, Don't feel the cold or wind or rain: Everything will be okay, We will meet again one day.
And I will shine on for everyone.
So please don't cry, Although I leave you here this night, Where I go, how far I don't know, I will always be your light
If the moon had to run away, And all the stars didn't wanna play, Don't waste the sun on a rainy day The wind will soon blow it all away. (Yeah, oh yeah)
When the days all seem the same, Don't feel the cold or wind or rain, Everything will be okay, We will meet again one day.
And I will shine on for everyone, Shine on for everyone (Aaaaaaaah - aaaaaaaaah)
When the stars all look the same, Don't feel the cold or wind or rain, Everything will be okay, We will meet again one day.
And I will shine on for everyone, Shine on for everyone.
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Deep Track of the Day #23 - 12/22/20 The National - "Turtleneck" from Sleep Well Beast
You ever come across one of those songs that you simply cannot BELIEVE wasn't released as a single? That's this song. It's got such a damn catchy chorus and such a muddy crunchy riff.
No big pitch on this one; just listen and love it.
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Deep Track of the Day #24 - 12/27/20 Joe Jackson - "On Your Radio" from I'm The Man
Joe Jackson has a lot of hits: "Is She Really Going Out With Him," "Breaking Us In Two," "Steppin' Out," and "You Can't Get What You Want ('Til You Know What You Want)."
His music could be frenetic and intense or mellow and smooth, and he does both very well. "On Your Radio" is of the frenetic and intense variety. As my pal Steven Singer says, it is VERY reminiscent of Elvis Costello, in the best way.
I recommend a deep dive into his discography, and what a better place to start than this song?
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Deep Track of the Day #25 - 12/28/20 Squeeze - "Another Nail In My Heart" from Argybargy
Don't judge Squeeze by Tempted, the only song that US terrestrial radio plays by them. Whether you like the song or not, it just doesn't sound like Squeeze. Primarily because it wasn't written by the core duo of Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford. Most Squeeze songs have a very distinctive vocal sound due to their voices blending together in lead and backing vocals, and I believe that "Another Nail In My Heart" does a great job of showing people what Squeeze can be.
This song has: a great hook, unique vocal textures, a great synth line, and a really melodically interesting clean-tone guitar solo that in parts harmonizes with the regular melodic line so seamlessly with the rest of the solo. This is a great song, and was sadly never a hit in the US.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 2:18:29 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #26 - 12/29/20 The Killers - "Uncle Johnny" from Sam's Town
Laura loves The Killers. She bought Sam's Town on the strength of the single "When You Were Young," loving the whole album upon hearing it. I love The Killers as well, and they are still putting out great works.
Sam's Town however is a helluva sophomore album from a band whose debut contained hits like "Mr. Brightside," "Somebody Told Me," and "All These Things That I've Done."
"Uncle Johnny" brings forth the best of this band, with Brandon Flowers emoting through his voice better than any of his peers from the bands of the early aughties. This song is a testament to how well The Killers layer their music, and how they paint a picture with sound. The U2 comparisons shouldn't stop with the voice, but should keep in mind the soundscapes that both bands do an incredible job of painting with their music.
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Deep Track of the Day #27 - 12/30/20 Gary Numan - "My Name is Ruin" from Savage (Songs from a Broken World)
Gary Numan, for the uninitiated, is more than the song Cars would lead you to believe. He is an Industrial Rock hero whose influence is beyond measure. Trent Reznor counts him as a core influence.
My wife and I saw him perform live in 2018, and it was a revelatory experience. He never stopped or slowed down. This song caught my ear that night and I immediately purchased a copy or the album from which it came.
He's also just a really nice dude.
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Deep Track of the Day #28 - 12/31/20 Thin Lizzy - "Waiting for an Alibi" from Black Rose: A Rock Legend
I mentioned before that there would be no Iron Maiden without Golden Earring, and I'm sure that for some that might be a surprise. But it would be a LOT LESS SURPRISING to say that Thin Lizzy were a huge influence on Steve Harris.
Phil Lynott's Thin Lizzy had a string of hits in Ireland, but in the US you'd be lucky to hear more than The Boys are Back in Town or Jailbreak on terrestrial radio. Maybe if you have satellite radio you'll hear Cowboy Song, Whiskey in the Jar, and Dancing in the Moonlight.
I'd recommend you give their discography a deep dive because they were the kings of hard rock in the 70s and the key inspiration for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
I was originally going to use their song "The Rocker" with its extended guitar solo, or "Soldier of Fortune" with its incredible guitar army, but I think this short and sweet number here gives you everything thats great about Thin Lizzy in just three-and-one-half track: the twin guitars, the in-your-face-bass, the dynamic presence of Phil Lynott's vocal charisma, and some killer background vocals.
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Deep Track of the Day #29 - 1/1/21 Tesla - "Song & Emotion" from Psychotic Supper
I was surprised by just how many hits Tesla has actually had in their career. I was originally going to choose "Mama's Fool" but found it, like 21 other Tesla songs hit the US Mainstream Rock charts.
I love this band and I am only missing one of their albums in my collection (Simplicity). Their newest album Shock is so refreshingly good. But I wanted to choose a classic for this one, and really, with the number of songs that DID chart, I'm shocked (sorry) that Song & Emotion from Psychotic Supper isn't one of them. It's an especially somber ballad that takes you on a journey and just lets you fall into it. This is one of those songs that people would light their lighters to at concerts.*
Psychotic Supper is one of those albums that gets kind of drowned in memory because it came out at a time of Grunge dominance, and people were throwing away 80's metal. Tesla got lumped in with that crowd, but they were always a blue collar metal band. They never sounded like or even looked like the hair metal of the day, and their music was legitimately heavy at times but was nowhere close to the thrash metal of the day. Their music straddled the line with excellent pop music hooks attached to their heavy playing.
*Am I showing my age with that reference? Last concert I went to people just used their cell phones. Which is probably better.
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Deep Track of the Day #30 - 1/2/21 Supertramp - "Crime of the Century" from Crime of the Century
Epic.
Just epic.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 2:29:15 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #31 - 1/3/21 Boston - "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" from Boston
Hard to call a song that's on one of the best-selling albums of all time a deep track per se, but it was never a single and wasn't included on the multi-platinum greatest hits compilation Boston put out in the 90's. This song is more known than maybe a lot of songs on this list, but it definitely is underappreciated and overshadowed by the more well-known songs on the album.
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Deep Track of the Day: Bonus Friend Edition - 1/5/21 PoiL - "Trouille Cosmique" from Dins O Cuol
Melne suggested this one so I gave it a listen, and it is as if Genisis, Kansas, and probably Primus called Frank Zappa decided they needed to collaborate. It is relentlessly proggy, has wild sound effects, and understands EXACTLY how goofy it is. I'm sure it may sound weird and even obnoxious to some listeners who aren't used to this, but I enjoyed the ride immensely, and I want to discover more of their work now.
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Deep Track of the Day: #32 - 1/5/21 TOOL - "Rosetta Stoned" from 10,000 Days
TOOL have made a lot of strange music throughout their career. Lateralus remains one of the greatest prog albums of this century so far. This one has the usual unusual time signatures, but is not complex by any means. It is long but structurally straightforward. It sound closer to TOOL's earlier songs, and is as usual tight and precise. This is one of their weirder songs lyrically too. Solid work from an always solid band.
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Deep Track of the Day: #33 - 1/6/21 Queen - "It's Late" from News of the World
It's Late is a Brian May-penned mini hard rock opera in three "acts." It features Freddie Mercury giving every last ounce of energy he has, that classic Roy Thomas Baker backing vocal layering, an early use of two-finger tapping in a guitar solo, and just relentless energy. You can feel the sweat coming off their skin through the record. What incredible energy. What a hell of a performance.
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Deep Track of the Day: Bonus Wife Edition! - 1/6/21 Billy Idol - "Sweet Sixteen" from Whiplash Smile
My wife Laura chose this one, and I hadn't heard it before, but instantly loved it. I was shocked to find out that it had charted in the top 20 in the US. But ask me when the last time I heard this on the radio was and the answer is literally never. Even listening to 1st Wave on Sirius/XM it hasn't been played when I've been listening. Such a shame, because to my ears it's one of his best. A beautiful mellow track of his, better than Eyes Without a Face I think. Underrated, underplayed, hella-good!
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 2:36:09 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #34 - 1/7/21 David Bowie - "Black Country Rock" from The Man Who Sold the World This has everything that makes this era of David Bowie great: interesting chord progressions, fuzz guitar tone, Mick Ronson. What more is there to say? I love this song and it feels like it should be a classic to me. --- Deep Track of the Day #35 - 1/8/21 Audioslave - "Heaven's Dead" from Out of Exile I must have listened to Out of Exile at least once a day for weeks after it came out. It was such a powerful and listenable album. Chris Cornell's voice mixes so well with Rage Against the Machine. This song in particular always grabbed me because of its elegant simplicity, its structure, and its beauty. --- Deep Track of the Day #36 - 1/9/21 The Pretenders - "Mystery Achievement" The Pretenders Final track on the Pretenders' first album was never a single or a hit, but it is one of the best on the album! That's really all I have to say. It's great. --- Deep Track of the Day #37 - 1/10/21 Sting - "Seven Days" from Ten Summoners' Tales What do Frank Zappa and Sting have in common? The incomparable Vinnie Colaiuta. Vinnie is a drummer of vast and underrated talent who can make the most complex rhythmic parts flow so easy and fluidly. Seven Days, with it's smooth 5|4 groove, synthesized pizzicato strings, and Sting's always mellifluous voice, is sadly overshadowed by the much more well-known Fields of Gold. Seven Days didn't even chart in the US. That should be fixed. --- Deep Track of the Day #38 - 1/11/21 The album that gave us Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, and The Day I Tried to Live is full of memorable tracks with unique hooks. This one is another stellar vocal performance by the late Chris Cornell, as usual effortlessly haunting. It features a five-chord progression in a most non-waltz-like 3|4 time. --- And there it is all up to date! I'll have my next entry tomorrow
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 12, 2021 22:21:42 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #39 - 1/12/21 The Rolling Stones - "Rocks Off" from Exile on Main Street
The Rolling Stones are one of those bands like Led Zeppelin or The Beatles who don't HAVE deep tracks. You've heard this song. Everybody's heard it. But much like my choice in Led Zeppelin's song, it comes down to how often you may find yourself hearing this song.
The horns sell it for me. Exile is an album of extremes, given how incredible some of the songs are and how forgettable others are, but Rocks Off represents one of those songs that was never truly a hit bit it had (despite the use of the f-word in the lyrics) all the makings of a hit. It's got the wild energy of the best Stones songs, a most memorable if very simple horn arrangement, and Mick Jagger's trademark gritty vocals of the era. Exile has a lot of gems on it like Sweet Virginia or Shine a Light, but Rocks Off isnt used in the closing credits of a recent hit movie* and doesn't have a Scorsese concert film named after it, respectively. So I'm giving it a little love for my Deep Track of the Day entry.
*Knives Out. AMAZING movie, by the way.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 14, 2021 4:01:44 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #40 - 1/13/21 The Beatles - "Good Morning Good Morning" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
I have dreaded choosing a Beatles track since I started doing this because their body of work is incredible and has been heard by every human being who can read this sentence. I'm destined to choose a song that nearly EVERYBODY has heard no matter what I pick. Hell, my local classic rock station has Breakfast with the Beatles every Sunday and they have played their entire catalogue thousands of times through.
So I decided to just choose my favorite Beatles song for this since it wasn't a single, which is about as "deep" as it gets. Anybody who knows me can figure out that Sgt. Pepper would be my favorite Beatles album even if i never told them. Good Morning Good Morning has such an original arrangement of time signatures, changes in style, and inventive harmonies. I love it from the opening rooster crow to the fadeout over the ever-intensifying drums.
I'm not the biggest Beatles fan there is but I do love them very much. The order of bands is chosen randomly in order to avoid frontloading it with my favorites, so it was a conscious choice to avoid starting with The Beatles. I didn't want to be doing this thing for a year only to find the only artists I and left were REO Speedwagon or Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods.* So there are still plenty of big bands and mega stars to come. I am saving tracks by bands/artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Elvis, Journey, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, etc. to sprinkle throughout the rest of this series, for however long I continue to do it. I have enough picked right now to get to 100.
*I'm kidding. I would NEVER do an entry for those bands.
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Post by zenman on Jan 14, 2021 4:24:36 GMT
I didn't want to be doing this thing for a year only to find the only artists I and left were REO Speedwagon or Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods.* *I'm kidding. I would NEVER do an entry for those bands. Actually, the first two REO Speedwagon albums are pretty good, not at all like their later output.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 14, 2021 5:00:46 GMT
I didn't want to be doing this thing for a year only to find the only artists I and left were REO Speedwagon or Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods.* *I'm kidding. I would NEVER do an entry for those bands. Actually, the first two REO Speedwagon albums are pretty good, not at all like their later output. Gypsy Woman's Passion and Sophisticated Lady are pretty good songs. Most of the rest didn't leave an impression on me... except Five People Died Today, which made me laugh at how bad it was lol
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 14, 2021 5:36:41 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #41 - 1/14/21 John Mayer - "Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967" from Born and Raised
I got into John Mayer because of his guest appearance in a sketch on Chappelle's Show. He wasn't on my radar. No Such Thing from Room For Squares was a HUGE song at the time and it didn't interest me. But Heavier Things had just come out, and I was interested in hearing his work after seeing some of his chops on the show. Heavier Things was incredible to me. Bigger Than My Body, Clarity, and Wheel were shocking to me in their instrumental creativity and the way they wore their jazz, blues, and soul influences on their sleeves. John Mayer was clearly better than I gave him credit for (hehe). I loved that album. When Continuum came out next, I was blown away again. In Repair was a perfect song. Then came Battle Studies with yet more brilliant songwriting and arrangements. This guy got famous from writing easy to digest pop songs and then parlayed that fame into an amazing career in exploring so many different genres of music.
My favorite song of his comes from the country/folk-influenced Born and Raised. Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967 has a simple driving beat, a catchy vocal melody, a heating lyrics beautiful refrain, and tells an bittersweet and/or heartbreaking story of a man who obsessively builds his own personal submarine and takes it for a spin to his probable demise. Most of John Mayer's songs are emotional and personal in some way. This one is dwtached, but in a whimsical and bemused sort of way. I love it for its own sake as it's just a damn good song, but I also love how unique it is when taken with the rest of John Mayer's output.
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Post by The Ocean on Jan 16, 2021 3:54:46 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #42 - 1/15/21 The Cars - "All Mixed Up" from The Cars
I've always loved the songs that Benjamin Orr sang. This, Bye Bye Love, Just What I Needed, all great songs with great vocals by the late Mr. Orr. But All Mixed Up is never to be found on FM radio or most compilations. It's a lovely album closer for one of the greatest debut albums of all time.
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