The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / Deep Cuts – AKA can a list thread still work in these cynical times?

Deep Cuts – AKA can a list thread still work in these cynical times?

by 85 Comments

What with @bricameron having an idea for a ‘deep cuts’ band and everything, I found myself thinking about both this and the ‘death of the list thread’ comments that have been swirling around. So, without further ado let’s see how a Deep Cuts list thread gets on. I’ve actually been thinking about this since coming across this terrific Nick Cave track a week or so ago. Not only have I never really clocked how awesome this track is, I’ve played this album a couple of times without this track standing out. Boy how wrong I was.

But what actually is a ‘deep cut’ I hear you say? Well, please post away according to the literally quite arbitrary rules I have made up:

Not a single obvs. A or B. B-sides is a different beast to Deep Cuts.
Not on a greatest hits.
Not from the debut, most critically acclaimed, or latest albums – so to have a deep cut a minimum of three albums is required.
Not otherwise picked out as a fan favourite/critical hit – so no, Stairway to Heaven is not a deep cut.
Some bands have no deep cuts. Zep, HJH’s, Nirvana. The Stones however – pull out that Deep Cut from Steel Wheels or Undercover right now.
You must actually like the track and want to share it. Hidden away as Track 9, once you have set it free, its true genius can be seen by all.

4

Comments

  3. I think people who don’t think that they like Suede might like this. Buried away on one of the Head Music b-sides vat the turn of the century, thankfully resurrected on the recent reissue.

  8. Many of those who enjoyed Godley and Creme era 10cc will have heard of their sank-without-trace concept album Consequences. A triple album including a mini-playlet featuring Peter Cook, the whole thing is arguably less than the sum of its parts. But it does contain one or two musical gems, such as this. Classic Kevin Godley, this could sit comfortably next to Somewhere in Hollywood.

    • The boys must have been too busy trying to be cool to pay attention to their geography lessons, and God knows why they gave Cook so much rope with which to hang them all.

      The song that starts this section makes me think of Steely Dan filtered through a gentle, warm fog of Boddys.

      • Indeed. But spread over 6 sides, the novelty wears off. For the time, the sounds generated by the Gizmo on the first of the three albums was impressive. But the time it took them to get it all together (in what would be three clicks of a mouse nowadays, said Lol) and the ample rope given them by a record company imagining another Tubular Bells resulted in one hell of a white elephant. Imagine, a concept album retailing for £11 landing in the peak of punk (September 77…Port Elizabeth, weather fine)

  10. The deep cuts idea I have doesn’t necessarily mean only obscure songs. That would be a tough sell. The idea is to surprise the audience with what they do know but may have forgotten and introduce them to what they don’t, hopefully broadening an appreciation for a multitude of Artists heretofore unknown to them.

    @ Junior Wells

  11. Yo La Tengo are possibly too prolific for their own good: 1995’s Electr-O-Pura is not usually considered a key album of theirs, but “Paul is Dead” is a little gem with clever lyrics: first verse, rock snob in-joke, second verse, lovely confessional.

  17. How about The Beatles’ You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)?

    Think it’s one of my favourites just for the sheer silliness, if nothing else. See also the extended version on Ant 3.

  20. The Kinks – Sweet Baby Genevieve

    This – from the Preservation Act 1 album – is one of my three favourite Kinks songs.
    And that means I like it A LOT.

  22. Wild Injuns. Last track on Neville Brothers’ Yellow Moon album.

    On an album that features two Dylan covers, as well as production by Eno and Lanois, this track outshines everything else on the album. With one foot in New Orleans folklore and another one solidly in the funk, it’s one of my all-time favorite tracks. I usually get impatient if I listen to the whole album because it takes too long to get to the real gem at the end.

  24. Your Costello correspondent writes – a lovely melody reject from King Of America sessions. When he pulled this out in an encore at Birmingham Symphony Hall once I was beyond thrilled. As you can tell by this live clip (studio versh not on YT) the trainspotters in the audience want others to know they know it.

    https://youtu.be/WG2VNFkOSmc

    • I recall being shocked and stunned when I were a nipper at the acapella bit where Freddie’s voice bounces around the stereo field and the doubletracking. I unashamedly love those bastards

  29. I always think you should be able to dance to a deep cut. I’m choosing a Talking Heads track from their best selling album (by far), the track before the big single, because it has a thumping beat and some deranged vocals and incredible bass playing in the stretch-out section in the latter half.

          • Their UK album chart placings are interesting:

            Talking Heads ’77 number 60
            More Songs About Buildings And Food 21
            Fear Of Music 33
            Remain In Light 21
            Speaking In Tongues 21
            Little Creatures 10
            True Stories 7
            Naked 3

              • I agree.

                And it’s still fucking brilliant – certainly the original less-is-more vinly.

                BTW I think what you’re looking at with those chart placings is the “long tail” of the Eno albums and, in particular, the Stop Making Sense film. The latter did an incredible job of selling T’Heads to the skeptical. Still does.

                • In the UK, The Name Of This Band Is reached number 22, the year after Remain In Light and Stop Making Sense number 24, the year after Speaking In Tongues.

                  The Eno years are legendary but not that commercial. Remain In Light nearly broke the band, the rest feeling marginalised by Eno/Byrne. The original release credited just those two with the songwriting. The others nearly had to resort to lawyers to get equal credit. After Eno left, they licked their wounds with Speaking In Tongues, then focussed on the visuals for the movie. Then, there was a conscious decision to create commercial Pop music with a twist. Road To Nowhere really hit the spot.

                  Love For Sale is my favourite Talking Heads single because it is exuberant, unashamed Pop with a Rock beat with just a ghost of their arty inclinations. It’s perfection and grace…

                  • Here we are again Tiggs, the two guys in the world who like True Stories 😉

                    It was the first TH I bought when it was new (don’t laugh, I was only 12!) and I loved its crazy variety. Wild Wild Life was a big ole hit at the time – perhaps partly because of the video – even though it felt a bit Heads-By-Numbers.

                    He’s a man, he’s a piece a cake!

    • Stop Making Sense doesnt appear to be in UK streaming ir available for download? Any one know why? I need to replace my rip of my DVD coz it stops with 4 songs to go and i’d rather watch a proper version. (First find dvd, then find ripping software not used for years….)

  30. Here’s just a couple from Pet Shop Boys (there are an awful lot to choose from…)

    From the largely ignored ‘Elysium’ album:

    From the bonus album ‘Etc’ released with ‘Yes’. Featuring a very distinctive guest vocalist:

  38. Buried deep on Trick of the Tail. Love the cascading 12 strings, synth bass pedal and the mellotron.

    I’m pretty sure Radiohead had heard the ending section when they were making OK Computer

  39. Digging deep..
    One from 1966 and another from 1975.

    Tim Hardin – Hang On To A Dream

    Murray Head – Say It Ain’t So, Joe

    Bonus track!!


    (Harry Nilsson – One)

Leave a Reply