Favorite Songs Rarely Heard On Radio

Dave64 made me think of this with his thread about songs that you're sick of hearing. What about the opposite- songs you love but never or very rarely hear. To my mind Three Dog Night's Out In the Country gives me a boot. I hadn't heard it in thirty years but the refrain was drumming in my head all that time and so I repeated the refrain to my friend, Lenny Hecht, and he knew it. I bought the CD the next day. It was originally released on the album It Ain't Easy in 1970. It reached # 15. "Before the breathin' air is gone/Before the sun is just a bright spot in the nighttime/Out where the rivers like to run/I stand alone and take back something worth remembering..." Have you any favorites that get no airplay?

 

There was a group that had a regional hit with a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire." I can't think of the bands name right now, (maybe Bob Lovely can chime in here). Anyway's, I'd love for our oldies station here in Chicago give that record a spin now and then.

 

Joe,

'Fire' - Five By Five (1969) Paula Records. Back 'in the day' this was a moderate hit on both WLS and WCFL in Chicago as well other markets in the Midwest, South and Plains States.

Here is one for you:

Every Day And Every Night - The Trolls (1967) Dunhill Records. I purchased this on 45 after hearing it on WLS.

Like 'Fire' this moderate hit has never been released on any CD that I am aware of.

Bob

 

Thanks Bob,
That's it, Five By Five, I can never remember that.

 

You're welcome Joe, anytime!

Bob

 

It's on this one, Bob.

 

Mike,

Thanks for the valuable info - much appreciated!

Bob

 

"Out In The Country" - Yep! Great song by Three Dog Night. Composed by the great songwriting duo of Roger Nichols/Paul Williams. Both Nichols and Williams released their own material on A&M.

 

That's why I love this place! Good heads up, Mike.

 

...most 70s soul music...

 

Grant,

This music is played on the Radio here in this area on WMCS, an AM station. They mix 60's and 70's Soul into the their playlist. I listen to them on the way to work some mornings:

http://www.1290wmcs.com/home.asp

However, the Oldies station here which, is formatted as 'The Best of the 60's and 70's' does not have much 70's Soul music on their rather limited playlist.

Bob

 

"Talk Talk" by Music Machine. IIRC, it had a nasty sounding fuzz-bass and an equally snarly lead vocal. Also, I do miss WLS a lot. It used to be the ONLY station I could pick up at night down here in rural Florida.

dave

 

My guess is that it is stuff on the mellower side of things, and only the major hits.

Every once in a while, a station in a major market will play 70s and even 80s soul/R&B for a breif period, then gradually slip in the pop stuff by Hall & Oates and Gary Wright, and you know the rest.

There may be a major 80s revival going on, but from all the 80s stations I hear, there are NO R&B record played beyond Rick James' "Super Freak" or some lightweight stuff by DeBarge.

 

Grant,

I station I referred to serves primarily the Black community here although there are lots of folks like me who simply like the station. They have good DJ's and a good News department. That station is owned by NFL Hall-of-Famer Willie Davis - a great guy who owns several stations including one in, I believe, Riverside, CA. They play a lot of 60's and 70's Soul...

Bob

 

I have never heard the station, but i'm still betting that they tend to play the more popular and mellower hits. I could be wrong.

Anyway, it is likely one of those more rare stations, or the part of the country I live in, or have visited, have awful radio, period. Can you say The Clear Channel?

 

Eric Anderson put out a record written by a Canadian by the name of David Wiffen. I heard it ONCE in the early seventies and, it too, has haunted me in some way. I eventually got to hear it again this year. The song is More Often Than Not. Do any of you recall it? "And would you believe that it happened more often than not/Here's to all the ladies that I'm not with tonight...wherever they are..."

 

Some songs from late 1965 to early 1966 I would like to hear on the radio. I would also like to find these on a CD someday .

Daddy You Just Gotta Let him In ... Satisfactions

Lullaby Of Love ... Poppies

Don't Say Why ... Plymouth Rockers

The Pied Piper ... Changing Times

Don't Make Me Over... Swinging Bluejeans

Charlie

 

I know it's my mantra, but Day of The Eagle by Robin Trower, which rocks the gonads off anything by crappy bands like Nickelback of Scum 81 or whatever.....this is one of the heaviest songs ever made, yet it's ignored by our so called classic rock station. I guess they can't fit it in between This Beat Goes On and Satisfaction! YAWWWWN!!!!!!!

 

I hear ya! Robin Trower is one of my all-time favorite british blues bands! I am currently working on remastering my 3-CD-R Robin Trower anthology, all but five tracks are from vinyl LPs. I'm also doing vinyl to CD-R transfers of the 70s LPs. It has been an ongoing project for the last two years.

Thought about sending Steve a couple of volumes...

 

Something In the Air -- Thunderclap Newman

This song used to get quite a lot of airplay. And, come to think of it, if they were ever to put this fantastic record in heavy rotation, I'd never get sick of it!

Jim W.

 

Re: Something In the Air -- Thunderclap Newman

 

Hate to keep shilling for 'em, but this is one of the things I really like about XM Radio. They're not afraid to go a little deeper (actually, a lot deeper) with their playlists.

http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/the60s_it.pdf

http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/deeptracks_4000list.pdf

 

By the way... Clear Channel owns 15% of XM...

 

Things I'd Like To Say-New Colony Six
Stay Awhile-Dusty Springfield
Dialogues Pt. I and II-Chicago
Just Once In My Life-Righteous Brothers
The Happy Organ-Dave "Baby" Cortez (nothing beats the original Clock 45 for bass response on this one!)
Harlem Shuffle-Bob and Earl
Mr. Jaws-Dickie Goodman
You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry-The Caravelles (this was the song that technically kicked off the British Invasion-from its debut in October 1963 until the third week of April 2002, I think, every Billboard Hot 100 had at least one Brit act. It actually made headline news, the first week of no British acts in the Hot 100, as I recall. And, true, the Caravelles weren't the very first UK act to hit the Hot 100, but they were the first to have a steady chart presence come after them).
Manhattan Spiritual-Reg Owen and His Orchestra
Nothin' But A Heartache-The Flirtations (never heard it? Go buy it tomorrow, and you'll thank me. Great song, a soulful blast of Wall of Sound-ish techniques. Imagine Holland-Dozier-Holland writing a song and the Funk Brothers teaming up with the Wrecking Crew on the backing).

 

Bidin' My Time/Anne Murray

A very good tune written by Canadian Gene Maclellen (Snow Bird) and released in 1970. "...I'll just keep bidin' my time while the glow of the wine makes a fool of me." Attached is a picture of me in the Capitol building's lobby in August 2000.