Classic Rock Song of the Day (Deep Cuts now being featured!!)

[Big Hath]

first time I ever heard that song was when they guested on SCTV.  Unfortunately, I can't find the video on youtube.

[Jaq]

A staple of early MTV ("our motto: you made a video?! WE'LL PLAY IT!") and a pretty decent hard rocker. MTV had a Tubes concert in the early days that was an eye opener since I thought they were a straight up hard rock band, not the over the top theatrical act they really were. Early MTV was so much fun.

[Orbert]

The Tubes in their early days were very theatrical.  R-rated stuff right on stage, probably would've been X-rated at the time.  But "Talk to Ya Later" was after they'd tamed things down considerably.  I guess they'd had their fun, and thought actually making some money would be nice for a change, too.

We did this one in the band I was in back in the 80's.  People always said they liked my synth solo better than the original, which is kinda thin and wimpy sounding.  I went kinda Moog with it, with a harder edge.

[KevShmev]

I only knew a handful of their songs.  Don't Touch Me There definitely has a theatrical flare to it, yet is still likable and catchy, even if not really a rock song (in other words, it would never get featured in a thread like this ).

[Orbert]

"Don't Touch Me There" is awesome!  I love that song.  My wife is also a big Tubes fan and we sing that one in the car, much to the chagrin of our kids.

[KevShmev]

Haha, I'll bet that's quite a scene.

Bad Company - Bad Company

Here we have it: the song Bad Company, by the band Bad Company, from the album Bad Company.  You don't see that one very often.  A lot of their stuff sounds kind of bland to me now, but this is one of the handful that has really stayed with me.  It has a great vibe, and Paul Rodgers' voice sounds tremendous.  So yeah, I like this one a lot.

[Orbert]

I've honestly never quite understood all the laud foisted upon Paul Rodgers.  Yeah, he's got a good voice, but I find most of his songs to be pretty blah.  Bad Company had a couple of good songs.  Free had that one.  The Firm had one or two.

This song is pretty good, and yeah, Paul sounds pretty awesome in it, but I've never gone out of my way to hear any Bad Company, even the title track off the eponymous first album.  But you're right; that doesn't happen very often.

[Cool Chris]

Blah is a good way to describe Bad Company (the band, and the song).

Did not think I knew that Tubes song, but I googled it and I did, just never knew who sang it or what is was called, nor did I care. 

[jjrock88]

I have the best of from Bad Company, 10 from 6.  Enjoy all the songs from that disc, especially this one.  But never looked into the band beyond that.

[KevShmev]

Foghat - Fool for the City

I am guessing some have forgotten that Foghat has several other classic rock staples besides Slow Ride, this being one of them.  Admittedly, I probably wouldn't pay much attention to this song if it weren't by the same band that did Foghat, and in fact I usually don't pay it that much attention even still.   Having said that, it's a nice tune, just not one that is very noteworthy.

[masterthes]

Agreed, it's alright

[Jaq]

I love Foghat. Their live album was a rare single live album from an era of double live albums, and it was six straight up rocking songs. Fool For The City was much better live. Hell, so was Foghat.

[Orbert]

I like this one better than "Slow Ride".  "Slow Ride" has a good beat, but it's very repetitive and doesn't go anywhere.  Then it takes off into an extended jam that's very repetitive and doesn't go anywhere.  Bleh.

At least "Fool for the City" has something a little different to say and is kinda funny.  "Traffic's good and loud."

[KevShmev]

Heart - Crazy on You

I can't think of enough good things to say about this song.  This was the first of the three classic rock Heart staples that I heard back in the day after being familiar with their 80s pop hits, and I loved it immediately.  Ann Wilson's vocals are off the charts in this one, and Nancy Wilson's acoustic guitar playing really stands out, especially in that intro.  Fantastic song.

[jingle.boy]

Heart - Crazy on You

I can't think of enough good things to say about this song.  This was the first of the three classic rock Heart staples that I heard back in the day after being familiar with their 80s pop hits, and I loved it immediately.  Ann Wilson's vocals are off the charts in this one, and Nancy Wilson's acoustic guitar playing really stands out, especially in that intro.  Fantastic song.

Agreed... although I think my introduction to Heart was with Alone.  This is my favorite of their 'big 3'.  I'm not too deep into the Heart catalog, but this is at the top of the list.

[bl5150]

Yeah - love Ann Wilson.  And Alone is one of the prime examples of a band making a cover version their own (original by I-Ten)

[Orbert]

Technically, the intro is a separate track, "Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)".  But they play it on the radio as one track.

[Edit: Turns out I was wrong.]

This one and Magic Man are two of my all-time favorite Heart songs.  They did a lot of great songs later, but man, that debut album is amazing.  Actually, my top 3 are all from the first album, the third being Sing Child.  The only thing that brings down that first album is the title track, "Dreamboat Annie".  It's the weakest song on the album and we don't need two versions of it.  The mellow one is kinda lame, and I always skip it.  The upbeat version is better and I can stand it.

[KevShmev]

Wait, I'm confused.

Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child) is a separate track, but it's only 1:10, and that was not the intro I was referring to. The intro I was referring to is the first 44 seconds of the Crazy on You track, before the entire band comes in.

Also, not sure which upbeat version you are talking about in reference to the title track, but I know that I adore the two-minute track 5, while the reprise at the end of the album is pretty good but easily the least best track on the whole thing.  Are we in agreement on that?

[Orbert]

I'm probably the one who's confused.  I was pretty sure that the acoustic guitar intro to "Crazy on You" was part of the song, but my wife (who is a much bigger Heart fan than me) insists that that's "Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)".  But DA(FC) is the short, single verse of the title song, right?  So the title song really does show up three times on the album, right?  I thought so, but again, I've deferred to my wife and now nothing makes sense anymore.

The one version I do like is the upbeat one with the drums, where the banjo comes in.  Banjo is cool.  Other than that, I guess I just get tired of hearing the same melody over and over.  It's a nice enough song, but it's like they tried to make it into a mini-concept album or something, but only had the one song to tie things together.

[KevShmev]

No, you are correct; your wife is not.  (although you might not want to tell her )

I basically agree with you about that last Dreamboat Annie being a bit of overkill in the name of trying to make the record sound more thematic, but it's still an outstanding album, and definitely one of my favorite debut albums by anyone. 

[Orbert]

I thought so, but you're right; I'm just gonna let this one lie.  You pick your battles.  My wife and I both have pretty vast stores of music trivia, and she was pretty proud of being able to "correct" me on this one.  I let it go at the time, and there's nothing to be gained (and plenty to be lost) by going back now and winning an argument we had years ago.

But it's good to know I'm right.  I thought so.

[masterthes]

probably my least favorite of the big 3, but still an awesome song

[KevShmev]

Little River Band - Help Is on Its Way

Every time I think of this band, I think of good vocal harmonies, since they are pretty much a staple of every song of theirs that I know.  Many of their songs had that "I feel like I've heard this before" when I went through my classic rock discovery phase in 1989/1990, so they must have been a band my parents listened to a bit when I was really young, so the songs were stuck there somewhere down in my subconscious.  As for this particular song, it's a good one.

[bl5150]

Great song and great Aussie band - both Shorrock and Farnham versions.  One of those bands where many don't realise how many hits they had (in AUS at least) until you play them back to back.

[Orbert]

I saw The Little River Band once, hundreds of years ago when I was in high school.  They were touring whatever album it was that had "Lonesome Loser" and "Cool Change".  I didn't care about that.  Ambrosia was opening for them, touring "Life Beyond L.A." and I was there to see them.  So were a lot of other people, as it turned out, since about 1/3 of the audience left after Ambrosia finished their set.

Most Little River Band stuff is pretty good, nice harmonies, nothing too offensive.  Just not my thing.

[YtseBitsySpider]

R.I.P ac~dc

Angus had a stroke, it's over. At least I think it was Angus....

[djbj]

RE: Dreamboat Annie/Crazy on You intro confusion. I think I may know the source of your confusion here. From Wikipedia:

The version released on the single was listed on the 45 as 2:59 but was actually around 2:40. It is not included on the album. The single is a variation of Track 5, with the intro to "Crazy On You" grafted onto the beginning of the single. This version remains unreleased on any Heart album. It's assumed this was done to increase the playing time of the single to the more standard 3 minute format.

Orbert, I think this may be why your wife was confused. She may have heard the single version of Dreamboat Annie and got it mixed up with the album version(s).

[Orbert]

Maybe.  Thanks for that! 

[jingle.boy]

R.I.P ac~dc

Angus had a stroke, it's over. At least I think it was Angus....

Reports I heard were that it was Malcolm. Sad day for sure. End of one of, if not THE, pioneer of hard rock. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy.  Meat and potatoes HARD...ROCK. 

[KevShmev]

Edgar Winter Group - Free Ride

Ah, their other well-known classic rock song.  I remember being surprised by how simple and ordinary this was, after first hearing Frankenstein, which is so adventurous and creative.  Not that simple is bad, but this song is pretty vanilla.  I do like the little breakdown before the final chorus though, although it could have been expanded and made much cooler, but maybe that's just the prog fan in me talking.

[Orbert]

Those are my thoughts, pretty much word-for-word.

[jingle.boy]

Absolutely prefer this over Frankenstein.  Great tune.  Love the bass slappin, and little drum fill that leads out of the chorus.

[masterthes]

Catchy as all hell

[KevShmev]

The Who - Who Are You

Even though I love The Who, I have never been a big fan of this song.  Sure, it's a good song, but they have tons that I like way more, so I have never gotten the "This is one of their best songs" love that it frequently gets.  And it was always one of their most played songs on classic rock radio, which just added to that thinking.  This song is notable for being one of the few where the f-word is sang several times, is clearly audible, and was played on the radio as is, unedited. 

[masterthes]

It's okay, but probably one of the least of their best songs