Rock Relics 3

This pick closes out this chapter of the series and I will be honest, putting it together felt a little like saying goodbye to an old friend. Not because the music is going anywhere but because narrowing it down is genuinely hard when every song on the list deserves to be there. There is one track in particular that I think stands above everything else here and if you know it you already know which one I mean. There will probably be a Volume 4 at some point, just not right away. I need to live with these three for a while first. This pick has range, it has weight, and it has that thing that all the best Rock Relics volumes have where it sounds better end to end than it has any right to.

Rock Relics 3

37 Led Zeppelin - Rock And Roll

38 ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses

39 Steely Dan - Bodhisattva

40 Eagles - Heartache Tonight

41 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain

42 Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women

43 Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman

44 Bob Seger - Old Time Rock & Roll

45 Stealers Wheel - Stuck In the Middle with You

46 Grand Funk - The Locomotion

47 Brownsville Station - Smokin' In The Boys Room

48 Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You (Original 12'' Single)

49 Nazareth - Hair Of The Dog

50 Shocking Blue - Venus

51 Van Halen - Dance The Night Away

52 Van Morrison - Domino

53 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

54 Doobie Brothers - China Grove

55 The Knack - My Sharona

56 Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town

Rock Relics 2

I had a fire engine red 1964 Mustang once. Purists would say I ruined it as a classic and they are probably right. I stuffed the largest engine I could fit under the hood, which made it look like it could outrun anything on the road. It could not. But the sound system was something else entirely. Separates, subwoofers in the trunk, sound paneling throughout the whole car. Inside that thing this music was a physical experience. Outside the car you could barely hear it because of all the dampening I put in the panels. So it just sat there looking menacing and fast, quietly shaking itself apart from the inside. This pick is the soundtrack to that car. The kind of rock that was built for exactly that situation, big, loud, unapologetic, and best experienced at a volume that makes the rearview mirror vibrate. That is what Rock Relics is. My old Mustang in playlist form.

Rock Relics 2

19 Ike & Tina Turner - Proud Mary

20 Toto - Hold The Line

21 Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama

22 Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion

23 Foghat - Slow Ride

24 Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down

25 AC-DC - Highway To Hell

26 Grateful Dead - Truckin'

27 Ram Jam - Black Betty

28 Bachman-Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

29 Free - All Right Now

30 Cars - Just What I Needed

31 Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)

32 Three Dog Night - Joy to the World

33 Eddie Money - Two Tickets To Paradise

34 Who - Won't Get Fooled Again

35 Van Halen - You Really Got Me

36 Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me

Rock Relics 1

This pick is where the series begins and honestly it might be my favorite of the three just because of what it represents. These are the songs that were everywhere when I was growing up. On the radio, at a party, blasting out of somebody's car in a parking lot at the wrong volume for the neighborhood. You did not choose to love this music, it just happened to you whether you were ready or not. I have been collecting and playing music my whole life and I still cannot fully explain why certain songs just lodge themselves permanently into your brain, but every track on this volume did exactly that to me at some point. That is what Rock Relics is really about. Not nostalgia exactly, more like evidence that some music just refuses to age no matter how many times you have heard it.

Rock Relics 1

01 Elvis Presley - Always On My Mind

02 Guess Who - American Woman

03 Aerosmith with Run DMC - Walk This Way

04 Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time

05 Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

06 Boston - More Than a Feeling

07 Rolling Stones - Miss You (12 Special Disco Version)

08 Foreigner - Hot Blooded

09 Grand Funk - Some Kind of Wonderful

10 AC-DC - You Shook Me All Night Long (Ultimix Remix)

11 T. Rex - Bang a Gong (Get It On)

12 Alice Cooper - School's Out

13 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

14 Heart - Barracuda

15 Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

16 Elton John - Crocodile Rock

17 Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

18 Kinks - Lola

What's The Connection? Groovy 1

This Groovy connection runs from sunshine pop to punk to dub to Texas boogie, and the word shows up in every single title whether it earned it or not. Some of these tracks ARE in the groove and many might be groovy, too. Some of them are just using the word the way everyone did for about a decade, like a verbal tic nobody could shake. I always wished I was groovy. I drove a VW bus for a while, which should have qualified me, but I'm not sure I ever really pulled it off. The racing Bug definitely didn't count. What does count is how totally groovy the cover is!

What's The Connection? Groovy 1

01 The Love Generation - Groovy Summertime

02 P.P. Arnold - (If You Think You're) Groovy

03 Classic Example - That's Groovy

04 Harpers Bizarre - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

05 Young Fresh Fellows - Where is Groovy Town

06 Winston Groovy - Please Don't Make Me Cry

07 Pillbugs - Neo Mega Quasi Ultra Super Groovy

08 Militant - Hot & Groovy

09 Nancy Sinatra - Your Groovy Self

10 The Farm - Groovy Train

11 Jakie Mitoo - Groovy Spirit

12 Fabulous Caprices - Groovy World

13 Paraffin Jack Flash Ltd. - Blue 'n' Groovy

14 Harmony Grass - What a Groovy Day

15 New Colony Six - Treat Her Groovy

16 Capt. Groovy and his Bubblegum Army - Capt. Groovy and his Bubblegum Army

17 Larry Harlow - That Groovy Shingaling

18 Lollipop Fantasy - It's A Groovy World

19 Ray Johnson - Kinda Groovy

20 Mad Professor With The Robotiks & Lee Scratch Perry - Groovy Dub

21 Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love

22 The Clash - Groovy Times

23 The Mike Flowers Pops - A Groovy Place

24 ZZ Top - Groovy Little Hippie Pad

What's The Connection? Groove 2

Sixteen more, and the word still isn't tired. This batch runs the full map — rock, funk, reggae, zydeco, soul, and a little something from the bayou — and every single one of them has groove right there in the title where you can see it. Some of these are obvious. Some of them you might not have heard in years, or maybe ever. That's kind of the point. The Salsoul Orchestra will tell you it doesn't have to be funky to be a groove, and honestly, this whole volume proves it. There will be a third connection, eventually. The word has more left in it than I think.

What's The Connection? Groove 2

17 Ace Frehley - New York Groove

18 Talking Heads - Double Groove (Unfinished Outtake)

19 Rodney Franklin - The Groove

20 Skyy - Groove Me

21 Tower Of Power - So I Got to Groove

22 Teena Marie - Behind The Groove

23 Heatwave - The Groove Line

24 Lil Brian And The Zydeco Travelers - It's A Zydeco Groove

25 Paul Carrack - I Live By The Groove

26 Prince - Get Yo Groove On

27 Tiki Tokkers - Global Groove (Hana Hou)

28 Salsoul Orchestra - It Don't Have To Be Funky (To Be A Groove)

29 Bunny Wailer - Rock N Groove

30 Chocolate Milk - Groove City

31 Lee Scratch Perry - (I Got The) Groove

32 System - Don't Disturb This Groove

What's The Connection? Groove 1

Not "groovy." Not "groovin'." Not even "grooves." Just groove — singular, present tense, like it's happening right now, because it is. They aren't all funky. Not all of them are even dancefloor. But every single one of them has that thing — that locked-in, can't-explain-it feeling that makes you close your eyes and nod your head whether you're in a club or your kitchen. That's the groove (at least the word) and it doesn't care what genre you filed it under. I had to start somewhere, and groove felt like the right word to open with. There's a reason it became its own language — musicians talk about being in it, losing it, finding it again. There will be more of these connections, the word is big enough to go a few rounds. But this is where it starts. 

What's The Connection? Groove 1

01 Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart

02 King Floyd - Groove Me

03 Heatwave - Gangsters Of The Groove

04 Madonna - Into The Groove

05 The Tardy Disco-nesians - Grandpa Got The Groove

06 One Way - Mr. Groove

07 MC Hammer - Addams Groove

08 T-Connection - Groove to Get Down

09 Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove

10 Peaches & Herb - Shake Your Groove Thing

11 Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang

12 Maceo Parker - Maceo's Groove

13 Archie Bell & the Drells - Let's Groove

14 Led Zeppelin - We're Gonna Groove

15 Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove

16 Isley Brothers - Groove With You

Gee Whiz, You're Neat, Repeat

This one I just finished. The first two had been archived somewhere in my brain for years and this one felt like it had been waiting in line. Same idea, same no-real-genre situation. Some of this leans retro, some of it is newer artists doing what the old artists did, and some of it is just stuff that fits the mood. This pick brings the whole series to 105 tracks, which probably says more about me than I'd like to admit. I always think of it as doo-wop even though only part of it actually is. Gee Whiz, here we are anyway.

Gee Whiz, You're Neat, Repeat

78 Fabulous Poodles - When the Summer's Thru

79 The Capris - Morse Code Of Love

80 Liquorice John Death - High School Confidential

81 Curtis Lee - Gee How I Wish You Were Here

82 The Royal Jesters - Take Me For A Little While

83 Yvonne Caroll & The Roulettes - Gee What A Guy

84 Paris Sisters - I Love How You Love Me

85 Jakki O - Ooo...Aaah

86 Don & Juan - What's Your Name

87 The Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care

88 Dicky Doo And The Don'ts - Click-Clack

89 Capris - There's A Moon Out Tonight

90 The Ditty Bops - Sister Kate

91 Ariana Grande - Tattooed Heart

92 She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here

93 Mayer Hawthorne - When I Said Goodbye

94 Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know

95 Cyndi Lauper - He's So Unusual

96 Lil' Rob - Barely Getting By

97 Ray Barretto - A Deeper Shade Of Soul

98 The Five Satins - In the Still of the Night

99 Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight

100 Frank Zappa - You Didn't Try to Call Me

101 The Marcels - Blue Moon

102 Starlighters - Zoom

103 Question Mark And The Mysterians - Can't Get Enough Of You Baby

104 Ruben And The Jets - If I Could Only Be Your Love Again

105 Meghan Trainor - Dear Future Husband