It’s a great song but it made its way into live performances on several tours and occasionally got a spin on classic rock radio.
I think Mad Man Moon might have been too difficult to do live with the technology at that time.
For Absent Friends is a wonderful song that can bring tears to my eyes. It is Phil’s first vocal and wasn’t credited like More Fool Me. Does it meet the masterpiece category? Hmmm. But definitely an underrated and important song that is virtually unknown except for Genesis fans.
It would have been nice to see Phil sing it on the last tour. Similar to how Paul McCartney sings In Spite of All the Danger on his tours, the very first Beatles recording with Paul.
Since nobody has mentioned The Who’s song Boris The Spider, man, that’s one you just can’t miss. Here Apparently it was not uncommon to hear it played live, but I only got to one Who show & got kicked out of that one. (That’s what friends are for.) So, it was … very strange … hearing it for the first time, with no warning at all.
I still play it from time to time… One of those things that I was amazed actually came out on CD. (ie: They apparently didn’t think better of it in the meantime.)
From U2’s The Joshua Tree, “Bullet the Blue Sky” is an outstanding song that’s got little attention.
Man, this must really vary by location – that’s not an obscure song here (Chicago.) I don’t own a single U2 album, and I know that song by heart from the radio.
Skating Away (on the Thin Ice of a New Day) is not exactly undiscovered, as such, since it gets played with fair frequency at concerts, but for some dumbass reason, Bungle in the Jungle seems to be the song from Warchild that gets airplay.
So true! I’m a big Tull fan, and I despise “Bungle.”
Depends on what you mean as classic. The Whalers Due’s off Jethro Tull’s Rock Island will always be a classic to me. Hell, every song off Broadsword and the Beast too.
Talking of that, niche, atypical albums of complete quality: Drama from Yes, with the new incarnation of Yes at the time without most of the usual members, was so much better than the crap Yes had been producing for about ten years at that point.
Long Way Home from Supertramp’s Breakfast in America is a classic too. Not sure how well known it is though.
I got a new pair of headphones yesterday and that’s the song I picked to test them out! That song is a delight, full of little audio treats, like the way it “opens up” after the first verse, with additional instruments doing fills on the far right and left. Had me giggling with joy.
It does vary by location, I think. I’ve never once heard “Bullet the Blue Sky” on terrestial radio, even back when The Joshua Tree was new, a sales juggernaut that was spinning off hit singles and videos.
Was there even a video made for “Bullet”? I know it was not released as a single.
…
As an aside, local radio never, ever played Elvis Costello songs until MTV broke “Every Day I Write the Book”. The guy had absolutely no profile in this area during his heyday.
Ian MacDonald observed that George was likely inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” when he composed “Long Long Long.” Not that this is a slight; it’s one of his favorite White Album tracks (I like it, too).
The best thing about appreciating Tull is that they were so niche. Most of their material gets sporadic attention, and so it has not been Stairway to Freebirded into the swirling dust in the streets of Yawnsville. Its obscurity helps keep it fresh, like Eno’s stuff. On the rare occasions when they play Hunting Girl in concert, it can take your breath away because of how beautifully elaborate the music is.
Drama had a big edge: everyone else was listening to Asia (and somehow not barfing), so it slid under the radar.
There isn’t a dud on that album, I’ve been listening to it for over 40 years and it’s still transcendent.
“Rael” off The Who Sell Out (1967) is my candidate. It barely ever gets mentioned in any discussion about the evolution of the Rock Opera although it is the direct link between “A Quick One (While he’s Away)” (1966) and Tommy (1969).
Been thinking about this for a while. My favorite Stones album is “Beggars Banquet,” and after long thought I have to go with “Factory Girl.”
It’s not as campy as “Dear Doctor.” “Jigsaw Puzzle” might make the cut, but it’s too Dylan derivative, repeating the same chord structure over and over like “Desolation Row,” but it’s no “Desolation Row.” That song need a bridge, like “Salt of the Earth” has.
In the end it’s Rick Grech’s fiddle that makes it work.
Close second is “Prodigal Son.”
Oh man. There was a period of several months during which, when I got into work and no one else was in yet, I would listen to that at as loud a volume as I dared. What a monster song.
The first three you named were the Blonde tracks included on the album Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, so no wonder. I agree, “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)” is a standout, climaxing with that pianist playing his heart out in appassionata octave runs.
Also from the same album, I think “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” is one of Dylan’s most beautiful songs—sometimes I wonder if it’s referenced more often as a novelty track as the first ever to take up the whole side of a record—but it isn’t a novelty song, it’s a work of art for Sara.
There’s also, if I may add modestly, my theme song, but that one is critically acclaimed, therefore hardly undiscovered.
I’ll vouch for A Trick of the Tail being a classic, and I love “Entangled” better than anything.
40+ years ago, when I was still in college, my GF at the time loved Rita Coolidge, and kept playing her version of We’re All Alone. I always thought Coolidge was robotic – pitch perfect but little emotion – and I told my GF that she should play Boz’s version if she wanted to hear it the way it should be sung.
We broke up shortly after that, and partly because of stuff like that.
Check out post #91. Perhaps you’ll enjoy the affinity with the Beatles’ “Long Long Long.”