Bee Gees:
Fanny (Be Tender with My Love) (from
Main Course)
This one's got an incredible melody and was a successful single in its own right, but was dwarfed by the iconic status of the other two hits from this record. At around 3:00 the arrangement makes some subtle nods to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.
Bob Dylan:
Meet Me in the Morning (from
Blood on the Tracks)
This is a country blues take on the end-of-relationship theme that dominated this album.
They say the darkest hour
Is right before the dawn
But you wouldn't know it by me
Every day's been darkness since you been gone
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Led Zeppelin:
Night Flight (from
Physical Graffiti)
Quite nimble by Zep standards, this one features another fantastic vocal from Plant. It's been remarked that John Bonham's drumming got funkier on this album; this is a prime example of that.
Sick Again (from
Physical Graffiti)
Physical's closer is a wall of glorious guitars and grunting.
Joni Mitchell:
Edith and the Kingpin (from
The Hissing of Summer Lawns)
Set to a jazz arrangement showcasing Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder, this is a story of a gangster's girlfriend as she learns more about him.
Women he has taken grow old too soon
He tilts their tired faces
Gently to the spoon
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Don't Interrupt the Sorrow (from
The Hissing of Summer Lawns)
The vibe on this one to me presages what Joni would do on Hejira the following year. The lyrics are dense and nonlinear but appear to reference women's liberation and men's resentment of it. And this verse sure seems to apply today:
Truth goes up in vapors
The steeples lean
Winds of change patriarchs
Snug in your bible belt dreams
God goes up the chimney
Like childhood Santa Claus
The good slaves love the good book
A rebel loves a cause
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Ohio Players:
Fopp (from
Honey)
Fun-kay. Amazingly, covered by Soundgarden, which probably shouldn't come as a huge surprise given how heavy the guitar riff is and how over-the-top the vocals get.
Todd Rundgren's Utopia:
The Wheel (from
Another Live)
The six-piece Utopia (very different from the four-piece edition of the band that churned out new wave in the late '70s and early '80s) released a live album in 1975 that was a mix of new material, songs from previous Todd Rundgren solo albums and covers. This is the best of the new songs, an intricate ballad that showcases members on instruments like trumpet, accordion and glockenspiel. And the bass line by John Siegler is amazing.
And there's just a few things I ain't got sorted out
Sometimes they make my brain get sore
Like if kids were left of all devices
Would they ever come up with a thing like war
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