The DexterRiley 100 overlooked and underplayed Tunes

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Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Gotta love that motown- sound.

I'll be the first to admit, it was the Blues Brothers movie in 1980 that first got me hooked on bluesy based boogie and the sweet vocal stylings of what is commenly known as the motown sound. Which pleased my father to no end, as there was a compromise for the record player time ( he was a big band era guy, that didn't "get" alice cooper..for some reason..lol)Nowadays we get watered down vanilla versions with flavour of the month backstreet boy type fluff that has more to do with image and swag sales imo.

Not to say that it was any different back in the day, i know lots of girls that swooned over derek the drummer of Bay City Roller fame when i was a kid, so i concede my bias.

anyways with that in mind..the next 10 spots are covering the acts that you may not know, though you may well know the song. I love the Temptations and the Four Tops, but they are well known and are played often, which is why they do not appear in this section.

68. Sam & Dave- You got me hummin -(1967)
Sam & Dave are members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and are Grammy Award and multiple Gold Record award winning artists. According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sam & Dave were the most successful soul duo, and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records. Recorded primarily at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1965 through 1968, these included "Soul Man", "Hold On, I'm Comin", "I Thank You", "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", "Wrap It Up", and many other Southern Soul classics. Other than Aretha Franklin, no soul act during Sam & Dave's Stax years (1965-1968) had more consistent R&B chart success, including 10 consecutive top 20 singles and 3 consecutive top 10 LPs.[1] Their crossover charts appeal (13 straight appearances and 2 top 10 singles) helped to pave the way for the acceptance of soul music by white pop audiences, and their song "Soul Man" was one of the first songs by a black group to top the pop charts using the word "Soul", helping define the genre "Soul Music". "Soul Man" was a number one Pop Hit (Cashbox: November 11, 1967) and has been recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone Magazine, and RIAA Songs of the Century. "Soul Man" was featured as the soundtrack and title for a 1986 film and also a 19971998 television series, and Soul Men was a 2008 feature film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_&_Dave



67. Gloria Jones- Tainted Love (1964)

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66. The Spinners- I'll be Around (1972)



65. The Detroit Emeralds- You want it you got it (1972)

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64.
James & Bobby Purify-I'm Your Puppet (1966)





63. The Foundations- Now that I've Found You (1967)

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62. We Five- You were on my mind

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61. Music Explosion - lil bit o soul (1967)



60. The Five Stair-Steps- oooh Child (1971)



59. Dobie Gray - The In-Crowd (1965)
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__________________
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Hey Folks, sorry it took me so long to get to the next batch of tunes. The next bunch of selections that are often overlooked, and underplayed, not to mention seem to be missing from todays scene, is "the story song".


58. David Ball- Riding with Private Malone (2001)

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57. Tracy Chapman- Fast Car (1988)



56. Vicki Lawrence- The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia (1973)



55. Bruce Springsteen- Johnny 99 (1982)




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Billy Joel has been fashioning Story songs for years, his most famous being Piano Man, and Moving Out (anthony's Song). This tune i never hear on the radio, though each time I've seen him live, he does play it live.

54. Billy Joel- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (1977)



53. Billy Joel- Ballad of Billy the Kid (1973)

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52. The Payola$- It Must be Love (1985)

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51. Clarence Carter- Patches (1970)

Hey Everyone has probably gotten down to Carter's "The Stroke", but somehow this gem has been lost in the shuffle.



50. Warren Zevon- Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner (1978)



49. Johnny Preston- Running Bear (1957)



48. Bobbie Gentry- Ode to Billy Joe (1967)




Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Of course no Story Song list would be complete without Arlo Guthries' Alice Restaurant, which is pretty well known but isn't played anymore because FM stations don't play 18 minute tracks anymore.

47. Arlo Guthrie- Alice Restaurant



Another one is Harry Chapin, whose Cats in the Cradle , 30,000 pounds of Bananas and to a lesser extent Taxi are extremely well received.

less so this tender tale :

46. Harry Chapin - A better place to be (1972)

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Keep on Rockin in the Free World
The next section is for those bands and songs that got lost in the shuffle, with the silly "New Country" emergence. I know plenty of folks that flat out refuse to listen to Country music, even though they love the Eagles and "Southern Rock" music.

45. The Road Hammers- I'm a Road Hammer (2005)



This the sort of tune that wouldn't have been out of place on a John Mellencamp record cira the lonesome jubilee.

44. Blue Rodeo- Five Days in May- (1994)



45. The Great John Prine - Angel From Montgomery-(1990)



Had Tom Petty and the heartbreakers released this next one, i have no doubt we'd all know the words to it. Shame.

44. John Hiatt- Real fine Love (1990)




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Ok here is the fun part of the list where I'll be featuring Tunes off of Albums that for whatever reason never got the air-play. Often times of course it was just the way the music biz was. A band would cut an Album and while it was touring in support of it, 2 or 3 songs emerged, now there is a ton of down-time on the road, so thats when they'd write. When they got home they'd cut another record, or do so while still on the tour, and the cycle begins anew.

43. Tom Cochrane- Dreamers Dream (Ragged Ass Road (1995)

Former front band for Red Rider (they appear later)and the awesome Lunatic Fringe, Tom hit it big as a solo artist.

Best known for: Life is a Highway, Sinking like a Sunset, No Regrets, Big league, boy inside the man, untouchable one victory day, wish you well, Good Times.

never heard of him? John Mellencampish



42. Dire Straits- Mans Too Strong- (Brothers in Arms 1985)


Mark Knoffler and the boys have been putting out records for a long while, and had early hits with Sultans of Swing, Romeo and Juliet, twisting by the pool among others. The Album that broke them wide, was most def, Brothers in Arms which with the aid of the new fangled music vid sold a pile of copies. The first 3 songs on side 1 all were hits So far away, Walk of life and the smash Money For Nothing. and then ...nothing. which is a shame, because its a terrific album.



41.Saga - No Stranger (chapter 8)(Worlds Apart 1981)


Sound- Prog Rock, Early genesis, late 70's Rush, Yes


Best known for - Wind Him Up, On the Loose, Scratching the Surface, the Flyer, Catwalk

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This post, I'll specifically adress a major peeve of mine. Each of the Bands showcased here have a ton of excellent material to draw from, yet a handful of tunes are played, re-played, played again then played some more.

Prime Example


While Stairway to Heaven, Black Dog and Rock and Roll are on perma-loop, gems go un-noticed.
71. Led Zeppelin - Going to California (1971)

The song is reportedly about singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with whom Plant and Page were both infatuated. In live performances of the song, Plant would often say the name "Joni" after this stanza (which is thought to have referenced Mitchell's 1967 composition "I Had a King"): To find a Queen without a King, they say she plays guitar and cries, and sings"




70. Aerosmith- Adams Apple (1975)



69. Steve Miller Band- Living in the USA (1968)

If you are, or know someone that is 35 or older, I guarantee they owned at least one copy in one format or another of


If the DJ says " comin up after the break we've got some Steve Miller, The roulette wheel of choices will be derived from that.

If you don't tap your toes to the opening, call the morgue.

That last post deserves a thread of its own.
worry not Iro, my peeve will dominate the last 50 slots or so. Its month end so I've got my landlord hat on today. I'll get back to the thread later today/nite.
the one about underplayed songs by overplayed bands. There's thread potential there.

And Here we go. The remaining selections will be an Album ..songs that you probably know, and the tracks that didn't get the love.

(hopefully the dreaded database error won't rear its ugly head while O'm making this post this time)

40.

Def Leppard had a monster album with 1987's Hysteria. With the exception of the title track and Armageddon it, apparentlty DJ's never bothered to listen to side B.

If i never hear pour some sugar on me or love bites again, I'll die a happy man.

Overlooked and Under-played imo:

Love and Affection



39.



Quick..when you think of Men at Work, you most likely recall "down under" or maybe the sax heavy "who can it be now". Maybe even Be good Johnny, but again imo the star of the album is

I can see it in your eyes a poppy lament of the awkwardness of being the first to acknowledge a relationship is toast.

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38.


Phil Collins brought in the wall of sound guys to give No Jacket Required a real Horny feel to it, and spawned several singles like Sssudio,Don't lose my Number and Only you know and i know. A couple of Ballads were plucked as singles, One More Night, and Take me Home. The one that got lost in the shuffle imo was

long long way to go

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I guess programmers thought it was too much of a downer subject, though they play "another day in paradise" so who knows really.



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
37. Yes

Yes is Awesome, Yes is amazing and has soooooo many album cuts that don't get near the listens it deserves, its laughable.

For Reasons unknown, programmers have chosen to play either Roundabout or All Good People if they are not choosing a track from their 1983 "comeback" effort



So a double shot of Yes is in order.

1st up from 1972's



I present And You and I: Cord of Life/Eclipse/The Preacher the Teacher/Apocalypse


From Wikipedia:
I. Cord of Life
The song opens with Steve Howe tuning his guitar, and his voice can be heard at the beginning of the track, then playing mostly natural harmonics, played around what will become the central melody, using a 12-string Acoustic guitar which quickly forms into a simple chord progression over distant organ chords. Then, the Moog comes, sounding like a child's instrument, for a simple solo, which presents us the main theme of the next part, but in a completely different arrangement. After that, the vocals begin at about 1:40. The line "All Complete in the sight of seeds of life with you" is spoken, which is repeated throughout the song. At about 2:50, there's an utter change: Anderson sings a sharper melody, accompanied by a second vocal track by Anderson harmonizing with himself, plus Chris Squire and Steve Howe providing a counter-melody and alternate lyrics, with their voices fed through a Leslie Speaker.

II. Eclipse is the slowest part of the song based on a measured and deliberate melody reminiscent of Sibelius. It is led by Rick Wakeman's epic Mellotron and Minimoog synthesizer. The lyrics are all from the first stanza of "The Cord of Life", but are sung in a different melody, which is also epic and slightly sad. Finally ending with the 12-string acoustic guitar leading into "The Preacher, The Teacher".

III. The Preacher The Teacher: The melody and lyrical structure is very similar (for the most part) to that of "The Cord of Life", with some variations. The exception is that "The Preacher, The Teacher" has a fast synthesizer solo by Rick Wakeman at one point during the song. The last stanza again consists of lines from "The Cord of Life", now sung in a different order and a completely different mood. At 8:34 there is a reprise of the previous section "Eclipse", which lasts until 9:12. The section ends with a cadenza-like orchestral statement, on Mellotron and Moog, reminiscent of neo-Wagnerian compositions from Strauss or Bruckner.
IV. Apocalypse is the shortest piece of the song, only about 40 seconds long, it consists only of four lines, accompanied only by Howe's guitars. The lyrics are taken from "Cord of Life", but are sung in the key of B, making them more upbeat: And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning. And you and I reach over the sun for the river. And you and I climb, clearer, towards the movement. And you and I called over valleys of endless seas

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36. Speaking of the aforementioned 90125 album, Owner of a Lonely Heart got heavy rotation, and to a lesser extent Leave it, and It Can Happen.

I could have chosen any of Hold on, Hearts or this Gem :

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