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Your three-song taster for relatively unheralded artists

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One of the great joys of this forum is discovering new – or old – music that I haven’t heard before. With this in mind, I’d like you to name three songs from a singer or band (or classical, jazz, Bulgarian nose flute, etc.) you’d like to act as a gateway for others to use, in order to explore further.

I’ve always loved Tim Buckley’s songs, but he never really broke through to the mainstream. Here are my three songs
(I’ve omitted the relatively well-known Song to the Siren):

Morning Glory
Sing a Song for You
Buzzin’ Fly

Over to you.

2

Comments

  2. Jonathan Richman is quite well known but his best known songs are not his best IMHO…

    Howsabout…

    It’s You
    Surrender
    Someone I Care About

    And then there’s Roddy Frame. Not exactly unknown. There’s the songs that pay his bills and then there’s…

    Stray (live)
    For What It Was
    Western Skies

  3. I know several AW regulars are already fans of Robyn Hitchcock, but I think he can reasonably fit the ‘relatively unheralded’ criteria. The whole point about cult artists is that most people are unfamiliar with them. So…

    The Cheese Alarm
    Queen Elvis
    Balloon Man

  6. Liam Hayes (who also trades as Plush) is a Chicago singer-songwriter who specialises in off-centre chamber pop (you may know him by accident, as he can be seen and heard playing in the background of a bar scene with John Cusack in the movie of “High Fidelity”…) A preponderance of weird record labels means his streaming presence is incomplete, but I’d recommend the following starting points:

    Minimalist: “Soaring And Boring”
    Maximalist: “No Education”
    Classic: “Rock And Roll”

  8. Alice Night is a local (to northern NSW) singer-songwriter. She’s an eccentric sort – she’s been known to get all her kit off during the last song of a gig, although it beats me how she knows what’s actually being applauded when she’s finished – and displays definite Nimbinish tendencies. A little singer-songwriter normally goes a long way with me, certainly at the local level, but Alice has a nice acerbic way with words that appeals to me a lot.
    Eventually. https://alicenight.bandcamp.com/track/eventually
    At the Corner. https://alicenight.bandcamp.com/track/at-the-corner
    Be My Narcissist. https://alicenight.bandcamp.com/track/be-my-narcissist

  9. Ross Wilson, aka Blue Rose Code, is an artist who hovers eternally on the brink of being better known. Lazily tagged as a mix of Van the man and John Martyn, he offers a good deal more than that.
    Wild Atlantic Way:

    Jericho:

    Sadie:

  10. Jackie Leven

    One of those guys who really, really deserves to be far, far better known than he is (or indeed was in his lifetime)

    Another Man’s Rain

    First track of his I really got into – later made famous by Ian Rankin who misheard Rain as Grave and used it as the title of a Rebus book before eventually going on to tour with JL not long before he died

    Couple of excellent live tracks from last year’s Live at Bremen in 2004 with JL’s storytelling-driven intros leading into both tracks

    Jim O’ Windy Gates (“we didn’t have hangovers, we had Haigovers”)

    Classic Northern Diversions (“No happy family to go home to, a shabby grey coat and a bottle of vodka in his pocket”)

    Sure other JL fans here will have their own three tiacks

  11. Chris Mills is brilliant.
    Watch Chain – A majestic track and is one of my favourite songs ever
    Chris Mills Is Living The Dream – A bit of a novelty song about the life of an artist when they need a e and job.
    Living in the Aftermath – An example of a more uptempo song.

  12. I was going to try this for Peter Hammill. I know there are people on here who hate his voice – fair enough. But, apart from that hurdle, his solo material is relatively unheralded, particularly in comparison with VdGG – who arguably are also “relatively” unheralded.

    It’s a difficult task – he’s released more than forty studio albums as a solo act and another bakers’ dozen of live albums. A prog phase, an electronic phase, a “beat group” phase, a proper “singer-songwriter phase, over 400 songs to choose from, none completely representative. So I’ve fallen back on choosing three of my favourites:

    A Louse is not a Home (a proggy one)
    (On Tuesdays She used to do) Yoga (an open heart confessional one)
    Fogwalking (an electronic one)

  13. Bill Caddick: often sung on the folk circuit, but less well known outside. I am missing out possibly his two best known, and there’s nowt wrong with either of them, but, my taster choice is…

    Cloud Factory
    Oller Boller
    Songs of Praise

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