I was driving in to work this morning with my iPod on shuffle, and it played a couple of songs for me that it occurred to me that I’d probably never hear if I had the radio playing instead. And it made me think about some of my favorite songs from some artists that you’d probably never hear unless you owned their albums. What are some of your favorite deep tracks from well-known artists?
I’ll start with these two:
It Never Rains - Dire Straits
Paper Thin - John Hiatt
R.E.M., Pilgrimage: R.E.M. - Pilgrimage - YouTube
Prince, How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore (B Side, later recorded by Alicia Keys)
Isley Brothers, Livin’ in the Life: The Isley Brothers Livin In The Life - YouTube
In a Broken Dreamby Python Lee Jackson. While the group doesn’t fit the OP, the vocalist does: Rod Stewart, giving one of his best vocal performances.
I like several songs from the Kinks’s Preservation Act I, notably “Sweet Lady Genivieve” and “Here Comes Flash.” And though “Lola” is rightly celebrated, “Apeman” from the same album is great, as is Dave Davies’s “Strangers.”
From the Who, there’s “Music Must Change” and “Guitar and Pen,” plus “The Relay.”
There’s little from the Beatles that fit, and “Hey Bulldog” seems to be getting more and more notice, but there’s also George Harrison’s “Only a Northern Song” (which would have been far better known if they had included it on Sgt. Pepper, as planned).
I second “Sweet Lady Genevieve”, “Strangers” and “Only a Northern Song”.
Well, I have hundreds of answers – in fact, one of my favorite musical pastimes for a long time has been creating playlists of “alternative universe Top 40 music”, stuff that could easily have been hits but didn’t make it. I’ll just list a handful:
Stones – “Connection”, “Child of the Moon”*
Dylan – “Obviously 5 Believers”
Who – “So Sad About Us”, “Sunrise”
Animals – “C.C. Rider”, “Gonna Send You Back to Walker”
Byrds – “She Don’t Care About Time”*
You mean I’m not the only person who bought that album?
FWIW, “Child of the Moon” was recorded during the Satanic Majesty’s sessions, and would have fit nicely into that album.
Sanford and Townsend, Squire James from the Smoke From a Distant Fire album.
Song For Shelter by Fatboy Slim. Way too long and varied to be a radio hit but man… I get deep 
Where to start?
Thomas Dolby has about three on The Golden Age of Wireless. These days, I prefer Airwaves
Janis Ian’s Bright Lights and Promises
Mike Rutherford’s Hideaway
Divinyls Sleeping Beauty
I absolutely love their track Make Out Alright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FYVGOWohA
Christina Amphlett had such an interesting voice that was sexy - I wish she didn’t go for the bad S&M outfits. When she starts working the vocal at the end of the song she does such a great job…
The Cure’s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me had quite a few famous tracks but I always liked “Like Cockattos” and “Torture”
Bauhaus also had a lot of “famous” tracks but “St Vitus Dance” and “Stigmata Martyr” are favorites
In regards to Bowie “Cat People (Putting out fire with Gasoline)” and “Rock and Roll Suicide”
I’ve been on a Pink Floyd rampage since picking up their latest (and final) album, “The Endless River,” and it has occurred to me that I’d never hear ANY of their music, earlier than “Dark Side of the Moon,” (and some later than) if I didn’t own the albums.
The Kinks I Need You. Dirty riff rocker that’s easily the equal of You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night, but for some reason was left in obscurity as a B-side.
Speaking of B-sides, The Beatles I’m Down could use a little more love.
Van Halen The Full Bug - Best song on Diver Down.
My favorite Kinks song since 1964. Vastly superior to “Set Me Free” (the A-side) and at least as good as YRGMe and ADAAOTNight.
AC/DC: “Snowballed”
Aerosmith: “Uncle Salty”
Beatles: “For No One”
Black Sabbath: “Hole in the Sky”
Byrds: “Change Is Now”
Cars: “Down Boys”
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Ramble Tamble”
Deep Purple: “Flight of the Rat”
Dire Straits: “You and Your Friend”
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: “Toccata”
Billy Joel: “Until the Night”
Judas Priest: “Sinner”
Led Zeppelin: “Custard Pie”
Rush: “Cut to the Chase”
Scorpions: “I’m Going Mad”
Van Halen: “On Fire”
Alice Cooper: “Gutter Cat vs. the Jets”
Cream: “Dance the Night Away”
John Denver: “Matthew”
Dire Straits: “You and Your Friend”
Led Zeppelin: “Custard Pie”
Moody Blues: “The Actor”
Rolling Stones: “We Love You”
Roxy Music: "Re-make, Re-model
Simon & Garfunkel: "For Emily, Wherever I M
Squeeze: “Vicky Verky”
The Kinks have lots of great deep tracks.
A couple of gems from an obscure late-career EP:
“Did Ya” (the title track), which harks back to the sound of “Sunny Afternoon” and “Dead End Street”
and “Look Through Any Doorway” a great mid-tempo power-pop song which is written by Dave but sung by Ray.
Then there’s one of Dave’s best: “When You Were a Child,” a highlight of the uneven Think Visual album
…and I could go on. The Kinks really reward digging.
Well, if I have to suggest a Kinks track, let’s go with…
“Shangri-La.” Just ahead of “Animal Farm.”
R.E.M. - Perfect Circle; Sitting Still; Harborcoat; Little America; Maps and Legends; Green Grow The Rushes; These Days; I Believe; Exhuming McCarthy; Half A World Away; Try Not To Breathe
Rush Best I Can
Queen The Prophet’s Song
Led Zeppelin Boogie with Stu
Steely Dan Show Business Kids
Innumerable Pink Floyd tracks, to be sure, but these as examles: