I don’t know where to start with David Bowie’s Panic in Detroit, which has been one of my favorite rock songs for a long, long, long time. Everything makes it great.
Graham Parker never did get enough airplay.
Why isn’t Love Gets You Twisted played regularly every Valentine’s Day?
First of all, I strongly prefer the Bowie version of “Hang On To Yourself” from Ziggy Stardust than the Arnold Corns version.
I’m not a big fan of Paul McCartney and Wings. They were okay, but the falloff from the peak with the Beatles made listening to them feel somewhat hollow. They just never clicked with me. Except with this song.
When I first started this list, I probably would have bet that there wouldn’t be a Styx song here. But here’s The Grove of Eglantine.
My friends from high school will tell you, I am not a Grateful Dead fan. But there’s no way to deny the beauty of Box of Rain from the American Beauty album of 1970. The vocal harmonies alone make it stand out, but it’s a great tune as well. I’m no deadhead, but I am Box of Rain sane.
Freda Payne’s 1970 hit was not a Motown song, but was released on the Invictus label. It was written by former songwriters at Motown.
Bill Conti is still alive, and the genius of his effort here has been lauded elsewhere, although somehow this lost to the tepid Evergreen by Barbara Streisand in the Academy Awards for best song that year.
This is the live version of Moon Tears. I bought the live Nils Lofgren album, Night After Night, after hearing it on KTIM AM, a fantastic radio station that used to broadcast in Marin County , California.
I really enjoy the early stuff by Steely Dan. Can’t Buy a Thrill, their debut, is still their best in my opinion. As they matured, I found their music less accessible to me. By the time they released Aja and Goucho, I was disinterested.