Deep Cuts from my Top 15 Artists (with pictures!)

Deep Cuts are the b-sides, album cuts that never got much attention, or the obscure songs that only the most avid collectors seem to own. In short, they’re the songs that fell through the gaps. I decided to make my own playlist of deep cuts from a few of my favorite artists, most of which have their fair share of hits but have plenty of other songs that don’t get the respect or attention they deserve. But first, here is my criteria for what actually qualifies as a deep cut:

1. A Deep Cut cannot be a hit single or on the Top Ten charts on last.fm. (This should be obvious.)
2. A Deep Cut cannot be a “fan favorite”, i.e. a song that isn’t well-known with the general public but is so popular within the artist’s fanbase that lots of people know about it anyway. (So if Pearl Jam was on my top 15 artists, I wouldn’t include “Yellow Ledbetter”).
3. A Deep Cut is not an album cut that gets played on the radio over and over. As much as I love Abbey Road, I’m not putting any songs from that album here because my local classic rock station plays them pretty much nonstop.
4. A Deep Cut (generally) is not going to be from one of those “absolute classic” albums that everyone already owns and everyone is already familiar with all the songs. (Basically, no Deep Cuts from The Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin IV, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band).
Let’s get started!

15. The Police - When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around
This little gem from The Police’s underrated album Zenyatta Mondatta is a great song that makes up for its ridiculously long title. Driven by Andy Summer’s atmospheric guitar textures and a very funky bassline from Sting, this song is a perfect example of how the band could make lighthearted pop songs as well as the darker stuff they’re better known for. The lyrics are catchy and don’t show any of the pretension that Sting has been accused of before. It also has a very uplifting message and is a great jam to put in the middle of other lesser-known tracks and odd covers at Police concerts. I know that from experience!



14. Bob Dylan - Workingman's Blues #2
I know a lot of people don’t like Bob Dylan’s newer albums, but this song should convert any naysayers. It’s a six-minute ballad with a delicate piano and a country-tinged guitar that almost sounds like it’s coming from a 1950’s transistor radio. Bob’s creaky, world-weary voice only makes the song seem even more positively ancient. By contrast, the lyrics are very personal, but are written in a way that anyone can relate to them. Even if you’ve somehow never heard a single Bob Dylan song, you can tell from the words that this guy has loved, lost, and fought hard for everything he owns. My favorite verse: “Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue/Gonna give you another chance/I'm all alone and I'm expecting you/To lead me off in a cheerful dance”. This isn’t quite the Bob Dylan that was fighting on the front lines, it’s the Bob Dylan that has seen everything and is still going to “sing a little bit of these workingman’s blues”.



13. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Sir Psycho Sexy
This isn’t quite a deep cut, as it’s on the Chili’s most well-known (and best, IMO) album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but it’s just too good not to find its way on this list. What we have here is an 8-minute slow jam that holds you on for every second. It features some great guitar lines and backing vocals from John Frusicante, one of the funkiest bass grooves in rock music, and some of the raunchiest lyrics I’ve ever heard from a mainstream rock act. After six minutes of Anthony Keidis’ mojo and some very funky white boy music, the track changes to a freaky groove of strings and clean electric guitar before fading out of what is quite possibly the best song in the whole Chili Peppers catalogue. (Oh, and it’s followed by a hyper cover of Robert Johnson’s standard “They’re Red Hot”! What better way to end an album?)



12. The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais (Live: From Here To Eternity Version)
The Clash were not only one of the best studio bands of the late 70’s and early 80’s, but they were one of the best live bands ever. When they played punk rock numbers like “Complete Control” and “London’s Burning” onstage, the sheer energy of their performances was legendary. But they also knew how to make their softer songs work, as is shown by their performance of “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”. The rhythm section of Paul Simonon and Topper Headon really emphasizes the great reggae groove of the song, and Joe Strummer and Mick Jones alternate lead vocals to make this a really fun song. But as the song draws to a close, the band turns on their distortion pedals and gives their fans a full-on barrage of pure rock, up until Joe sings the last line, “but we’re only looking for fun”. Then they play with the groove some more, just to prove that they really were the only band that mattered at that time.



11. R.E.M. - King Of Birds
This is one of those songs that some people love and others just don’t care for, but it’s hard to hate it. Personally, I love it. The way Bill Berry plays the snare drum almost makes the song feel like a military march, but Peter Buck’s delicate acoustic guitar gives the song a strange mystique that the band has had ever since their debut album, Murmur. Michael Stipe is also in top form, singing the beautiful chorus gently and never trying to oversing. The whole song just gives this feeling of being on a high cliff, or, as the song goes, “standing on the shoulders of giants”.



10. Jimmy Eat World - Disintegration
This song, from the sort-of obscure Stay on My Side Tonight EP, is not only a Deep Cut but one of my favorite Jimmy Eat World songs ever. There’s this mysterious darkness that’s present throughout the whole seven and a half minutes of this song, but it doesn’t crush your skull with its angst. The song is mostly clean guitars and soft background vocals, but the drums are so loud and powerful they practically drown out everything else. What makes this song so great, though, is when singer/guitarist Jim Adkins sings the title of the EP halfway through the song, and then the band goes right back to the chorus! Since the song is so long, it’s not exactly a concert staple, but if JEW does play it live, consider yourself very lucky.



9. Nirvana - School
Nirvana’s first album Bleach is a great record that seems to be ignored simply because it wasn’t as accessible or successful as the albums that followed. All most people seem to know about it is the legend surrounding its creation (it was supposedly recorded for just $600) and the fact that its poppiest song, “About A Girl” was the first song in Nirvana’s famous Unplugged concert. But “School”, the song that follows on Bleach, is a sludgy rocker that’s just as good as some of the bands hits. The odd sliding riff is characteristic of early Nirvana, while the bass line that pops up in the bridge is sure to bring later Nirvana classics to mind. There are only about four different lines of lyrics in the whole song, but Kurt Cobain manages to turn a chorus as simple as “No recess!” into a heart-wrenching declaration of angst and misery. Hell, he even turns the “You’re nothing again!” scream into a hook. Why this song was ignored in its day is really beyond me.



8. Joey Ramone - What A Wonderful World
Yeah, yeah, my #8 artist is the Ramones, not Joey Ramone, but this song is too good not to be on here. This is, of course, a cover of the Louis Armstrong classic, done in a more punkish or alternative rockfish version to suit Joey’s style. The guitars are really fun (although it’s obvious that Johnny Ramone isn’t the one playing them) and the whole band is tight, but what makes the song is Joey’s heartfelt, earnest vocals. He recorded this cover just months before his death in 2001, but it’s hard to tell from his delivery, which is 100% pure optimism. It kind of says a lot about what Joey was like as a musician, and maybe as a person too. If you can find this album at your local record store, don’t hesitate to pick it up.



7. Goo Goo Dolls - Cuz You're Gone (Live in Buffalo version)
Specifically, it’s the live version I’m talking about here. The studio version on Superstar Car Wash is a fantastic track in its own right, but the band really extends the song and transforms it in a live setting. There’s a lot more guitar here, and the short guitar solo (which is either played by singer John Rzeznik or a live sideman, I can’t remember) leads into a really awesome bridge that isn’t found at all on the studio version. I love the part where John sings “a thousand words, just like you”, over and over as the guitars get louder and louder, until the song turns into a chaotic mess of guitars before going right back to the chorus. Random note: I saw the Goo Goo Dolls twice, and the second time they actually played this song. It was awesome.



6. The Who - Heaven and Hell (Live at Leeds version)
Everybody and their grandmother’s pet kitten would agree with me when I say that The Who’s Live at Leeds is the best live album ever made. This song, featured on the 1996 remastered CD (I don’t think they ever recorded it in a studio setting), is a kickass rocker written not by Pete Townshend but by bass player John Entwistle, who also sings lead vocals here. As far as instrumentation goes, it’s The Who at their very best: Pete Townshend plays some awesome solos to go along with his classic riffs, Keith Moon is a monster on the drums, and John Entwistle plays his instrument in a style that can only be called “lead bass”. The lyrics, which brood on where people go when they die, are all tongue-in-cheek and show the black humor that The Ox was known for. Hell, if Pete Townshend wasn’t the guitarist in The Who, John Entwistle could be a decent main songwriter.



5. Radiohead - The Trickster
This is a b-side that appears many places, but the easiest place to find it is on the My Iron Lung EP. Apparently, the band recorded this during the sessions for The Bends but didn’t feel the need to include it on that album. I have no idea why, since the song is not only better than most of the stuff on The Bends but is probably one of the best songs the band ever wrote! The riff is an absolute must for alt-rock guitarists to learn, and the song abounds with vocal hooks. Even the “hey, hey, hey, this is only halfway” chorus, which would sound corny if, say, Jon Bon Jovi was singing it, is delivered with a bitter falsetto (if there is such a thing as a bitter falsetto) that sends chills up your spine. The triple-guitar attack that Radiohead excelled at in the 90’s is also done well here, as one guitar plays the spooky chords while another plays the same progression as sharp single notes. Simply put, it’s 90’s Radiohead at their very best.



4. Pink Floyd - Lucifer Sam
Before Pink Floyd rose to superstardom with The Dark Side of the Moon and later to bombast with The Wall, they were the trippiest band in the 60’s and were fronted by a LSD-addled savant named Syd Barrett. Their only full album with him, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is an underrated gem from the Summer of Love, and this cut is a fantastic rocker that shouldn’t be missed. There’s an awesome descending riff that brings their 9-minute freakfest “Interstellar Overdrive” (another great song from the same album) to mind, a very bizarre instrumental bridge (is it guitar or keyboard? Who cares?), and some odd lyrics about a crazy cat. Don’t try to understand it, just love it. “That cat’s something I can’t explain!”


3. Led Zeppelin - Hey Hey What Can I Do
This one is a bit tricky to find. It’s not an album track, and the only place you can find it is either on the Led Zeppelin Box Set or as the b-side for the Immigrant Song single. Even so, this acoustic country/blues ramble is worth the hard work and effort of finding it. There’s some great guitar playing from Sir Jimmy Page, and the mandolin in the background just screams “Vintage Acoustic Zeppelin”. But the guy who really makes the song, in my opinion, is Robert Plant. He manages to imitate the old bluesman that Zeppelin idolized while still maintaining his distinctive high-pitched screams in the chorus. As the song slowly fades out, all the other members sing the title almost like it was a gospel song. It’s one of those “lost classics” that’s hard to find, but you’ll be happy when you do find it. (And yes, Brad, I did this partially for you, haha.)



2. Green Day - Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
I have no idea why I like this song so much. Maybe it’s because The Catcher in the Rye is my favorite book, well, ever. Maybe it’s because this is an early, early Green Day song and unlike their later albums, this song has a very low-budget production that’s hard not to love. Maybe it’s because the chugging guitar riff is really catchy, there’s some great bass work, and the drums are incredible. Maybe it’s because the lyrics, although written by a younger Billie Joe Armstrong, are more mature and serious than most of the stuff he has written afterwards. I can’t really pinpoint one reason WHY I like this song, but suffice to say it’s one of my favorite Green Day songs, and is just as great as “Basket Case”, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, “American Idiot”, and the rest.



1. The Beatles - Free as a Bird
Most Beatles fanatics will probably scoff at my calling this song a Deep Cut, as the band’s catalogue is so huge that you can wade through dozens of bootlegs, unfinished demos, and alternate versions and still find some very familiar stuff. But for those of us who would rather not scour the earth for some out-of-print bootleg, I’m adding this song, from the Capitol-released Anthology series. As most Beatles fans know by now, this song is actually a John Lennon demo recorded sometime in the late 70’s, and when it was time to release the Anthology discs, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Jeff Lynne of ELO fame went into the studio and recorded their own parts to really make the song shine.
Words can’t really explain this song. I could go on and say it’s beautiful or sad or whatever, but it’s just hard to explain it even then. John’s vocals are, um, warbly and echoey, as if his ghost had returned to sing this song with the rest of the Fab Four. The harmonies are also amazing, and I love how Paul and George alternate lead vocals in the chorus. There’s also a wonderful false ending, before the band jumps into the last “free...” and then play with some weird effects that sound like something from Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. Jeff Lynne’s production doesn’t quite fit the song (why are the drums so damn loud?) but even that can’t hurt what is definitely a lost classic.