Cleaning Out My Closet....

This is probly gonna B more like a dumping ground. A coupla mo's back I made this huge list of 4got10 & overlooked singles I wanted 2 write about (after I ran outta stuff rattling around inside my head, AMAZING what Research can do), & after looking at it recently & doing some other research on-line, I'm afraid I haven't got much that's 2 Shocking or Suprising left. But there IS a lotta stuff left on this list, so this'll B an effort 2 get it all down. & away we go....
* Cream: "Badge" ('69) -- An album-rock classic, but really, Xcept 4 "Layla," did Eric Clapton ever play another guitar figure as gorgeous as the 1 that opens up the middle of this song? I've read the lyrics (by Clapton & George Harrison) Bing Dscribed as "nonsense," but I think they fit perfectly w/ the dramatic & jagged music, & the singing's great. Why couldn't something this great break the Top 40? It did in England....
* Fleetwood Mac: "The Farmer's Daughter" ('81), *"Monday Morning (live)" ('81) -- Both from the Mac's 1st 2-disc LIVE album, released back-2-back on a single. "Farmer's Daughter" is a brief, gorgeous breathy remake of an old Beach Boys #, & was the best thing on the Ntire 2-disc set. "Monday Morning" led-off the album, & beats the studio original 2 death.
* The Who: "Relay" (#39, '73), +"Call Me Lightning" (#40, '68), +"Let's See Action" ('70), *"The Kids Are Alright" ('65), +"Disguises" ('66), +"Dogs" ('67), +"I'm the Face" ('65) -- Jeez, these guys shoulda made the Top 10 about a dozen times. & they didn't. "Relay" is a leftover from Pete Townshend's LIFEHOUSE project, spooky & driving, w/ an Xcellent Roger Daltrey vocal. "Call Me Lightning" is infectious silliness w/ a great chorus. "Let's See Action" is the best of the 'Oo's immediate-post-TOMMY singles (circa '69-'70), w/ great choruses & a nice build. "Kids Are Alright" is my fave early Who single, almost gentle, wistful; no suprise they didn't do much stuff like this. "Disguises" has great gtr (of course) & more of that sneering Daltrey vocal like he used on "I Can See for Miles." "Dogs" is more British silliness, charming but of course it ain't rock&roll.... "I'm the Face" was their 1st single ever & has hilarious mock-macho posing. All these R on their 4-CD best-of box, THIRTY YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B.
* Buffalo Springfield: "On My Way Home" ('68), *Bluebird ('67), *Mr. Soul ('67), +Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing ('66) -- I've raved about the Springfields B4, & U can get all these songs on NE Dcent best-of collection. Thin period production hurts summa these songs, but they're great nevertheless -- all Xcept "Bluebird" were written by Neil Young. "On My Way Home" has an Xcellent Richie Furay lead-vocal & nice horn fanfares 2 highlite Neil's kiss-off 2 the resta the band; produced by Jim Messina in the band's final days when they were no longer speaking-2 each other. Stephen Stills' "Bluebird" has great stinging gtr & cryptic lyrics; the single edit's great if 2 short, longer versions bore me. Speaking of cryptic, "Mr. Soul" is mayB Neil's 1st grappling w/ his own weirdness; it includes more great gtr. "Clancy" is the single BS released B4 "For What It's Worth" -- it was banned from airplay 4 use of the word "damn." Furay's vocal is again Xcellent, the lyrics R twisted, & Dspite the thin production it gains some real in10sity at the Nd. & I wonder if the whole thing's an impotence metaphor; that's just the way my mind works....
* Procol Harum: "Shine On Brightly" ('68) -- Right up there w/ "Wreck of the Hesperus," "Whiter Shade of Pale," "A Salty Dog" & the last 1/2 of the live "In Held T'was in I" among their very best. Just a poetic Dscription of what a crazy guy thinks about, w/ great Robin Trower gtr!
* Byrds: "Chestnut Mare" ('70) -- Country-rock epic, great vocals by Roger McGuinn, beautiful choruses, everything clear & precise as an Ansel Adams photo. Byrds fans probly loved it, but 5+ mins of this was probly 2 much 4 radio back then.
* Genesis: "Afterglow" ('76), *"Your Own Special Way" ('76) -- From my favrite period 4 these guys, after Peter Gabriel but B4 superstardom -- they did a lotta beautiful mushy stuff in this period. Keyboardist Tony Banks' "Afterglow" is almost perfect, w/ Xcellent choruses & building 2 some real drama at the Nd. Bassist Mike Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way" is lighter & takes awhile 2 get where it's going, but the choruses R BEAUTIFUL. But again, 6 mins of this (& it don't move 2 fast) was probly 2 much 4 disco-era radio....
* Chicago: "In Terms of Two" ('73), +"Critic's Choice" ('73) -- From CHICAGO VI. Bassist Peter Cetera's "In Terms of Two" is a nice bouncy sorta-country-rock # that takes off from "Oh Susannah" & turns in2 a sorta railroad-workers' folksong, I guess. Got lotsa radio airplay, shoulda bn a hit. Pianist Robert Lamm's "Critic's Choice" led-off the album & is DEFinitely a response 2 critics who slagged the band back in the day -- Lamm's singing is the perfect mix of sincerity & weariness 4 the song, & the lyrics R clever & funny but shouldn't B taken seriously, especially when the song fades-out in2 the lame Top 5 hit "Just You 'N Me."
* John Denver: "I Think I'd Rather Be a Cowboy" ('73), *"Farewell Andromeda (Welcome to My Morning)" ('73) -- Why R U laffing? "Cowboy" almost ROCKS, w/ great LOUD gtrs & a pissed-off mood from ol' Goodtime John, but as the B-side of "Sunshine on My Shoulders" it got almost no radio airplay.... "Andromeda" is a lot more like usual, as JD continues the Xploration of the cosmos he started w/ his earlier hit "Rocky Mountain High." That should B all U needta know....
* John Stewart: "Midnight Wind" (#28, '79) -- Best thing he ever sang, a dark & haunted love song disguised as breezy SoCal pop. & if this does NEthing 4 U, U should check-out the very dark Side 2 of his album DREAM BABIES GO HOLLYWOOD....
+ Ronnie Dyson: "One Man Band" (#28, '73) -- Just a nice modest little # about the comforts of self-sufficiency, w/ great choruses.
+ Chi Coltrane: "Thunder and Lightning" (#17, '72) -- Haven't heard this in yrs, but Ms. Coltrane got pretty wild on the vocals as I remember. OK piano 2. Her only hit.
+ Starz: "Cherry Baby" (#33, '77) -- Rep as a minor-league Kiss, I thot their only hit was kinda cool, power-poppy w/ nice choruses....
+ Tubes: "Love's A Mystery (I Don't Understand)" ('79) -- Big ballad, heavy dramatic production by Todd Rundgren. This is like a blueprint 4 their later ballad hit "I Don't Want to Wait Anymore" (#35, '81). From the underrated TV-obsession concept-album REMOTE CONTROL, which also features 4got10 classics like "I Want it All Now" & "Prime Time."
+ Alice Cooper: "Teenage Lament '74" ('74) -- Well, I liked it. MayB not a classic on the level of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (#25, '73) or "Elected" (#26, '72), but well above Alice's later hits like "You and Me" & "How You Gonna See Me Now."
+ Henry Gross: "Come On and Say It" ('75) -- The prequel 2 Gross's 1976 No. 6 hit "Shannon." Very pleasant, sunny & bouncy, w/ Xcellent choruses. Haven't heard it in 35 yrs. Got lotsa airplay on Boise, Idaho's then-fairly-adventurous all-automated KBBK-FM.
+ Atlanta Rhythm Section: "Doraville" (#35, '74) -- Just some laid-back Southern boys singin about their hometown, a suburb of Atlanta. Nice gtrs & pretty good vocals....
= Korgis: "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" (#18, '80) -- About my only success as Singles Maven back in my Record Store Daze was helping get local radio 2 play this repetitive, synthesizer-wash early-'80s-style breathy love ballad. Coupla guys from eccentric English group Stackridge teamed-up 2 record this. Has NEbody out there ever HEARD Stackridge?
+ Icehouse: "Big Southern Land" & "Icehouse," "We Can Be Together," "Can't Help Myself" (all '80) -- Icehouse was an Australian new-wave band led by singer-songwriter Iva Davies, who sounded like a more-human David Bowie w/ more rhythm. The last 3 songs listed here (all on the band's 1st album) have a distant almost-icyness 2 them, but Davies got warmer as he went: "Big Southern Land" is sorta an epic, & he & the band made the Top 15 w/ "Electric Blue" & "Crazy."
* Gary Numan: "Are Friends Electric?" ('79), +"I Die You Die" ('80) -- Well, if U could handle Icehouse, Gary Numan'd B no problem. "Friends" was Numan's 1st single & topped the charts in Britain; it's sorta an icy Krautrock synth-epic w/ Bowie-esque vocals but some real in10sity. "I Die You Die" continues the drama w/o as many hooks.
= Rupert Holmes: "Nearsighted" ('79) -- From the guy who (Ghod help us) gave us "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)." THIS is an AMAZING Barry Manilow impersonation, that somehow sounds XACTLY like Manilow -- w/o getting all gloppy. Bet Barry wishes he'd written it....
= Cat Stevens: "Two Fine People" (#33, '75) -- Probly the very last of Yusef Islam's really pleasant pop hits, w/ his characteristic lite touch, Xcellent choruses & a nice catchy Nding.
= Smokie: "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" ('75) -- Mushy British pop w/ memrable choruses, heavy on the group vocals that I'm a sucker 4.
= Evie Sands: "You Brought the Woman Out of Me" ('76?) -- Haven't heard this in YRS, might strike me now as Mbarrassing. Among the ranks of Fanny's "Charity Ball" & Kiki Dee's "Amoureuse" as Bing just a little 2 sensual 4 its time....
= Beginning of the End: "Funky Nassau" (#15, '71) -- Great horns & a Dclaring vocal highlite this not-quite-reggae #.
= Bulldog: "No" ('71) -- 4mer members of the Rascals teamed-up 4 this silly pop not-quite-hit. The sleazy hippie lines & falsetto vocals were probly just a little 2 much, tho it's catchy.