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

[King Postwhore]

Randy was so unique for his time and you can here it in his playing on Flying High Again.

[BlobVanDam]

Always been one of my favourites off Diary, which is itself a great album. As is typical for Rhoads, it has a killer solo.

[jingle.boy]

Ya know, I'd love for someone to do a discography discussion thread on Ozzy's solo stuff.  That's another act that I for some reason never explored back in the 80s, and for some even stranger reason never did after that.  I know the hits, and I have No More Tears (and the subsequent Live & Loud album), but that's about it.

[KevShmev]

David Bowie - Fame

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: I hate this song.  That jangly guitar tone makes me want to rip my ears off and throw them at Bowie for making it impossible for me to ever unhear it.  This is high on my list of "Songs I can't believe were so popular."

[jingle.boy]

David Bowie - Fame

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: I hate this every David Bowie song.

Fix'd for me.

[Orbert]

Well Kev, it had to happen eventually.  I've been pretty much with you on this whole Song of the Day thing, but this song is fucking awesome.  I love that funky guitar riff by Carlos Alomar (though I do understand how it can annoy some people), I love John Lennon's bad echo vocals, I love the weirdass synth or guitar effects (whatever that is), and I love the whole-tone scale at the end, which I took as a personal challenge to learn back in junior high and have never forgotten.  I crank this song up whenever I hear it.

Ninja'd by Chad, who is also wrong.

[senecadawg2]

David Bowie - Fame

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: I hate this every David Bowie song.

Fix'd for me.

Yeah, David Bowie is just a bit off for me. I'll admit, I haven't given him the most fair of chances, but still… the few songs that I have tried have all left me dissatisfied to say the least.

[KevShmev]

Well Kev, it had to happen eventually.  I've been pretty much with you on this whole Song of the Day thing, but this song is fucking awesome.  I love that funky guitar riff by Carlos Alomar (though I do understand how it can annoy some people), I love John Lennon's bad echo vocals, I love the weirdass synth or guitar effects (whatever that is), and I love the whole-tone scale at the end, which I took as a personal challenge to learn back in junior high and have never forgotten.  I crank this song up whenever I hear it.

 

Fair enough.  I figured you and/or Jaq would love it, so I was ready for the splashback.

[hefdaddy42]

I am with Orbert, this song rocks!

[King Postwhore]

Dan Chad, Not even Major Tom or Blue Jean?

[jingle.boy]

Dan Chad, Not even Major Tom or Blue Jean?

Perhaps 'hate' was a little strong.  There are some songs I can tolerate.  These two are borderline.  If either of them came on the radio, I'd probably change the station... even if I was in your car.

[King Postwhore]

Well at least you'd still have you dominant hand after you did that.

[Jaq]

Well Kev, it had to happen eventually.  I've been pretty much with you on this whole Song of the Day thing, but this song is fucking awesome.  I love that funky guitar riff by Carlos Alomar (though I do understand how it can annoy some people), I love John Lennon's bad echo vocals, I love the weirdass synth or guitar effects (whatever that is), and I love the whole-tone scale at the end, which I took as a personal challenge to learn back in junior high and have never forgotten.  I crank this song up whenever I hear it.

 

Fair enough.  I figured you and/or Jaq would love it, so I was ready for the splashback.

Orbert gets the nod here. I like a lot of Bowie, but this one is just kind of there for me.

[Orbert]

Oh you guys.

[masterthes]

How can you hate on Bowie? I love this song. The remix they used on Pretty Woman though? Ehhh

The Ozzy and Who stuff mentioned rock my socks off

[KevShmev]

Well, I personally didn't hate on Bowie.  I like quite a bit of his material; I just hate this particular song.

[KevShmev]

Charlie Daniels Band - Uneasy Rider

These kind of story-telling songs seemed to be the rave for a while in the 70s, and I remember a handful of them getting played regularly on the radio, and this was one I heard quite a bit.  An interesting little tune that sounds almost more country than rock, but I guess the southern rock feel made it rock enough to catch on with classic rock stations.

[hefdaddy42]

It sounds more country than rock because it's country, not rock.

[Orbert]

I never heard this one on the radio, but a co-worker back in the 80's had this on a tape and we all listened to it and loved it.  Eventually I sought it out on mp3.  Fun, silly song.  Good times. 

[KevShmev]

I'll do another today since that one probably won't get much more, if any, chatter.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

One of my earliest childhood musical memories is hearing this song on my parents' stereo and thinking it was the best thing I had ever heard (which, at that moment, probably wasn't much ), but time has been very kind to it for me.  I still love it to pieces.  Also, the version I got into was the single version with electric guitar and drums, and when, years later, I heard the stripped-down original, it almost sounded weird to me.  Crazy, I know.  So yeah, it goes without saying that I am still very partial to the version that I fell in love with as a kid. 

[KevShmev]

Oh, and it's impossible now for me to hear this without thinking of The Graduate.  Forgot to mention that.

[Podaar]

I very much appreciate the harmonies and especially the lyrics...but to be honest, I'd rather listen to silence.

[Orbert]

Wow, I didn't even realize that there were two different versions!  The version from Sounds of Silence (1966) does have electric guitar and drums, but the drums don't come in until the second verse.  The electric guitar the beginning is clean, but there's a second, descant electric guitar introduced later.  Apparently all of that was added after Simon and Garfunkel had laid down the original acoustic track, and without their knowledge or consent.  But it's not unusual for such a thing to happen, not back in the day anyway.

The version from The Columbia Studio Recordings is the stripped-down version, all acoustic guitars, no drums.  I just listened to it.  Whoa.  I'm not sure which version I prefer.  There's something very bare and honest about the original; it's clearly how the song was originally conceived.  But the added instrumentation isn't exactly superfluous, it's not overdone, and it does add dynamics to a very simple song.  But simple isn't necessarily bad.

Such a quandry.  I think I'll have to listen to it again.

In any event, some of the best two-part vocals ever recorded, right here.  Incredible harmonies.

[hefdaddy42]

Great, great, great song (both versions).

[masterthes]

Great song from a great duo. I have always wondered, did Rush have to pay licensing rights to use parts of their lyrics for The Spirit of Radio?

[Orbert]

My guess is no, since the words were changed, and it was an homage rather than a blatant rip-off.

[KevShmev]

The Moody Blues - The Story in Your Eyes

The Moodies are a longtime favorite of mine, so I am always partial to just about everything from those seven albums they did from 1967-1972, and The Story in Your Eyes is one of many killer tunes on those albums.  Not sure how much this song still gets played, because back when I first started listening to rock radio, it was played a lot, but it seemed like over time it got played less and less, although maybe I was just so used to it than I didn't notice; impossible to know.  Regardless, this song packs a helluva punch for being under three minutes, from that wicked cool intro to the catchy vocal melodies to that badass outro.  Great, great tune.

[jingle.boy]

Excellent tune.  Unfortunately, I'm only a 'best-of' fan, not that I don't like their catalogue, I've just never been exposed to it.  This is a good one though.  I've liked pretty much everything I've heard from them, so I should probably check them out... maybe another discog discussion band for you Kev??  mmm, mmm? 

[KevShmev]

I might be down for that, but the problem there is, I know little background information on the band, and I'd lose interest in even doing it once I got finished with the Big 7.  I like some of their later pop hits, but I can't speak knowledgeably about much of anything they did post-1972.  I could always do a mini-discography thread on them, that focuses on just the Big 7.

[jingle.boy]

I might be down for that, but the problem there is, I know little background information on the band, and I'd lose interest in even doing it once I got finished with the Big 7.  I like some of their later pop hits, but I can't speak knowledgeably about much of anything they did post-1972.  I could always do a mini-discography thread on them, that focuses on just the Big 7.

I'd be down for that.  Some piece of the pie is better than no pie at all.

[Podaar]

What a terrific song and super rockin'! Always such great vocals with these gents.

[Orbert]

I like some Moody Blues, especially the early stuff.  They started off with a nice blend of pop and prog, and just plain experimental, which is pretty cool.  This one's good.

The Moody Blues made something of a comeback in the 80's, with some awesome keyboard help from Patrick Moraz, who they treated like shit, and I basically was so put off by that that I vowed never to give them any more of my money.  Great music, but Justin Hayward is a dick.

[KevShmev]

Is he? I've never seen that many interviews and other stuff about the band to know what kind of personalities the band members really have.  I just know that John Lodge has always been my favorite.  Something about his voice I really like, and his bass playing was always pretty killer on those classic records, not to mention vastly underrated.

[hefdaddy42]

Never had any use for this group.

[Orbert]

I may be being a little harsh on Justin, but it does fit in with what I've heard/read from others.

As you know, after their Seventh Sojurn, they took a break for several years.  Six years later, Octave (with "Steppin' in a Slide Zone") showed up, and they were back.  Turns out the rest of the album was okay, but definitely not up to previous standards.  The sessions were also somewhat troubled, and Mike Pinder ended up leaving the band before the album was finished.

Enter Patrick Moraz, formerly of Yes, Refugee, and a long successful solo career.  Long Distance Voyager was a terrific album, IMO largely due to Moraz's keyboard work which frankly left Pinder's in the dust.  Refugee did not last long, and Moraz was not treated well by Yes (he was basically dumped when Rick Wakeman decided to quit pouting and come back) so it was very exciting for him to be in a band with a successful album and a lot of that success attributed to him.  He submitted some songs to the band (as all members of The Moody Blues do) but was basically shot down, told that he was "just the keyboard player".  It was around this time that Justin Hayward began asserting more control over the band.

There's not actually a lot of keyboards on The Present and The Other Side.  Where the credits used to be pretty evenly spread among all band members, one started seeing Justin Hayward on pretty much everything, sometimes with John Lodge and the occassional Ray Thomas.  Edge and Moraz got one collaborative credit on The Other Side.

Moraz eventually quit.  All trace of him has been removed from The Moody Blues official website.  He is not listed as a member of the band on the 80's albums on which he appeared, even though he was credited as such on the albums themselves.  Justin Hayward says that Moraz misunderstood the arrangement from the beginning.  He was always a hired gun, never a full member of the band.  The album credits don't agree, Hayward is rewriting history to suit himself, thus my conclusion that he's a dick.  I'm definitely biased (having been a keyboard player and often treated as a second-class citizen even in bands that I helped found) but revising your band's website to specifically remove someone who by many accounts helped bring your band back from obscurity is nothing less than a dick move.