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

[masterthes]

i don't know whether I like this better than Freebird or not

[Orbert]

I'm the opposite.  This song is awesome from start to finish.  I love the buildup, I love the breakdown, and I love the jam at the end.  Ghost Riders in the Sky has a great vibe, but I never went ga-ga over it.

[KevShmev]

Journey - Just the Same Way

Easily one of the Journey songs I enjoy the most.  I remember hearing this for the first time and thinking, "Since when did Journey have a singer back then who wasn't Steve Perry?"  I was clueless at the time about Gregg Rolie and all that.  Anyway, this a great little tune to crank up and enjoy like mad.  Plus, it packs a great punch for being such a short song.

[King Postwhore]

I always loved the interplay between Rollie and Perry with the vocals.

[BlobVanDam]

One of my favourite songs off the album (nothing can top Lovin' You Is Easy), although I'll just never be a huge fan of Greg Rolie's vocals. But it's a great song, and the two voices do work very well together here.
When they play it live now, Castronovo and Cain sound bang-on for Perry and Rolie too.

[Bolsters]

Good song. I definitely am more a fan of the Journey that followed, but there are some gems on those early albums, and this is one of them.

[Orbert]

I always loved the interplay between Rollie and Perry with the vocals.

Same here.  It was a big part of the sound that I really liked on Infinity and got me into Journey in the first place.  Then next thing I knew, Gregg was gone and it was The Steve Perry Band.  Perry had a great voice, but I got tired of it kinda easily.

[Jaq]

While you can't argue with the success the band had after Rollie left, you have to wonder what the band could have been had he stayed around. His voice did provide a nice contrast to Perry's-that being said, though, like we discussed over in the Chicago thread, the 80s likely would have seen Perry pushed as the front man anyway, so Rollie probably would have not sang as much. So it was probably for the best he left.

[Orbert]

Yet another reason why the 80's sucked for music.

I mean that.  Come at me.

[KevShmev]

The Beatles - Let It Be

An absolutely gorgeous song, and one that still gets played quite a bit on traditional classic rock stations.  I think this one of the few Beatles non-Sgt. Pepper songs that I knew growing up, so my love for it goes back a long, long way.  I still love it to pieces.

[Orbert]

Great song.  I've had the pleasure of performing it a few times, and it's always a rush because by the end, everybody is singing along.

Paul McCartney's mother is named Mary, and he remembers being a child and her coming to him whenever he needed comforting.  Her words were always so reassuring; just let it be, don't worry about it.  He was surprised to learn later that a lot of people thought that "Mother Mary" meant Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.  Puts a religious spin on a song about thinking back to a simpler time.

[sueño]

This version (along with the visuals) from "Across the Universe" has me weeping by the end of it.  Every time.  Beautiful song! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLbyb-3Vl8

[masterthes]

One of my favorite late era Beatles song. I prefer the studio version with the solo guitar as opposed to the version used on the radio

[Orbert]

Wait... what?  Is the version from the album not the one that you hear on the radio?  I guess I didn't even pay attention.

[DebraKadabra]

The Beatles - Let It Be

An absolutely gorgeous song, and one that still gets played quite a bit on traditional classic rock stations.  I think this one of the few Beatles non-Sgt. Pepper songs that I knew growing up, so my love for it goes back a long, long way.  I still love it to pieces.

Great song from a great band.  Love it too.

[Jaq]

Wait... what?  Is the version from the album not the one that you hear on the radio?  I guess I didn't even pay attention.

There's two versions. One features a guitar solo over the musical break, the other...well, doesn't. The one that didn't have a solo is the version that appeared on most of the compilations, suggesting it was a single. The guitar solo version tends to get most of the airplay these days, but not ALL of it.

[Orbert]

Now I'm really confused.

I prefer the studio version with the solo guitar as opposed to the version used on the radio

The guitar solo version tends to get most of the airplay these days, but not ALL of it.

Those two statements appear to be contradictory.  Either the version usually played on the radio has the guitar solo, or it doesn't.

It's mostly academic interest for me, I suppose.  I don't do compilations and I don't listen to much radio.  But I'm only familiar with the version that does have the guitar solo, which I believe is the album version.  On the other hand, I always thought that that solo sounded like an "obvious" overdub.  It's just a bit too loud and clear.  It comes back towards the end, too, during the repeated chorus, playing a few fills just a bit too loud.

[Jaq]

It isn't contradictory because it depends wholly on the radio station. There are two stations in my area that are rock stations. One is the classic rock station, the other is one formatted for modern rock with the occasional classic track. One plays the version with the guitar solo, the other doesn't. What makes it weirder is that both stations were owned by the same company before they got clear channeled and shared DJs, and largely have the same staff backstage today as they did 20 years ago.

[masterthes]

I've never heard it on the radio with the solo. I was so shocked when I got the album and heard the solo for the first time. I was like, where did this come from?!

[KevShmev]

Lynyrd Skynyrd - What's Your Name?

Solid rock tune.  Nothing really fancy about it; just a solid rock tune.

[krieger]

Wow - magic! I started reading this topic exactly at the same time this very song started playing (I'm listening to Past Masters vol. 2).  How high are the odds?

A beutiful song! Great lyrics... well, I think McCartney is the greatest, best composer of the XX century, anyway... 

[nicmos]

Frankly this song seems predatory and creepy.  on top of that, I think the music is very pedestrian, probably my least fav out of the LS songs I hear on the radio.  so one I usually change the station when it comes on.

[KevShmev]

Badfinger - Baby Blue

I had to feature this song this week.  I have always liked this song a lot, but after the Breaking Bad finale, it has become of those songs I will always associate with a film or television show.  I will never be able to hear this song again without thinking of Walter White.  Fans of the show will know exactly what I am talking about.

[Orbert]

Good song.  Badfinger had a lot of good songs like this.  Pop, but with just a bit of bite to the guitar sound and just a bit more complexity to their arrangements than the average pop dreck.

[Lolzeez]

Oh man. This song I will never forget.

Ever.

[DebraKadabra]

Good song - never watched an episode of Breaking Bad though.

[Jaq]

Good song - never watched an episode of Breaking Bad though.

I knew there was a reason I liked you, Deb. 

[KevShmev]

Foreigner - Feels Like the First Time

Good classic tune.  Not one I ever have to hear, but whenever I do, it is always enjoyable. 

[JayOctavarium]

I believe I dislike Foreigner almost as much as Van Halen and The Stones.

-backs away slowly-

[BlobVanDam]

One of my favourite Foreigner songs, although I only like a few of their songs.

I believe I dislike Foreigner almost as much as Van Halen and The Stones.

-backs away slowly-

Get out.

[JayOctavarium]

I believe I dislike Foreigner almost as much as Van Halen and The Stones.

-backs away slowly-

Get out.

No Seriously

[DebraKadabra]

I knew there was a reason I liked you, Deb. 

 

Foreigner - Feels Like the First Time

If classic rock radio hadn't played this one to death, my opinion of it would be quite different.  As it is, it was cool the first 10 times I heard it but it got old after that.

[KevShmev]

Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild

I am pretty sure this was one of the first classic rock songs I ever knew.  My parents loved this song, and they had the 45 of it, and played it a lot, so I heard it a bunch when I was very young.  Still a good song, even if it is not I ever really seek out.  A definite, major classic, for sure.

[Orbert]

There were a couple of biker bars in northern Michigan that we used to play once in a while, and without fail, "Born to be Wild" would always get them going.  They're weren't too big on the proggish pop (actually, pretty much no one was) but if things got really bad, whip out "Born to be Wild" and tell them it's time for another pitcher or two.  Yeah, baby!

Trivia: This song, and the line "I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder!" is said to be the origin of the term Heavy Metal.

[BlobVanDam]

This is probably one of the rare cases where a song has been used/abused enough to affect my enjoyment of it (usually it wouldn't bother me at all), although I still like it.
It's a great classic rock song, no doubt, but it's been a bit watered down over time by its overuse.