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Slap and Tickle

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Dire Straits: “Once Upon a Time in the West” Play this track

I’ve always had a soft spot for Dire Straits’ somewhat unheralded second album, 1979’s Communiqué. This tune kicks off the album and defines its vibe. —Rock Stamberg
This tune is filled with Dire Straits DNA. Mark Knopfler told me that, more than anything else, he is trying to create a mood with his songs. The song itself is unhurried and the languid Stratocaster guitar lines flow with the ease of gravity. Nothing is forced or pushed. This song screams because it whispers. -John Stix

U2 & Bruce Springsteen: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” Play this track

This could have been just a great picture. And while it is, the music is equally as great. Love the dynamics of the opening verse and the punch they land as the band comes in for the second verse. Springsteen knows the song and commits to it. He plays their song with his voice. Two of the greats showing you how good it can be together. NHT material indeed. -JS

Blues Project: “I Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes” Play this track

The first album I wore out on my Garrard turntable was Blues Project Projections. It was rock, it was blues, it was the sound of 1966 FM radio. Al Kooper was my hero, and I followed the Blues Project around. If they were playing The Westchester County Center or the Palisades Amusement Park in Fort Lee, NJ, I was there. This is the opening track. I played it in my jam bands, sans Kooper’s Quarter Tone electronic keyboard (he called the Kooperphone). These are my roots in rock music. -JS

Bob Dylan: “Duncan and Brady” Play this track

Isn’t this a great Dylan track? This previously unreleased and jaunty rocker was recorded for a never completed record The Bard was recording with David Bromberg and his big band back in 1982. I wonder if there are any other long-lost recordings from those aborted sessions. Hmm … -RS
Dylan rocks out with another great story song. I didn’t know this one and suspect you don’t either. But we both love it yes? -JS

Squeeze: “Slap and Tickle (Live)” Play this track

One of my favorite vocal sounds, the distinction of these two voices in harmony or unison sucks me in every time. Melody forever and lyrics that rival Rundgren over smart guitar parts that always invite, and surprise makes Squeeze among my all-time favorite pop bands. And this song is one reason why. -JS

John Sebastian: “Red Eye Express” Play this track

This is the opening track from his 1970 debut solo album (John B Sebastian), which by the way is as good as anything we love by the Lovin’ Spoonful. Even if you’ve never heard it, you think you already know it. And you do! -JS

Harry Nilsson: “Turn on Your Radio” Play this track

This track is yet another example of Harry Nilsson’s outstretched musicality in fine form. He made it all sound so easy. -RS

When Rock played this for me the first time, I heard the opening guitar riff and said yes – this goes in. The rest of the song was just confirmation that he had picked a winner. -JS

Rufus Wainwright: “April Fools” Play this track

Rufus Wainwright caught my ear the first time I heard him in 1998. This was the song. He has developed into a master of far-flung musical genres in the years since, veering from pop and rock to classical to folk to opera to his penchant for covering Judy Garland albums in their entirety on stage. His first few records each remain stunning, however. -RS

Another Rock pick. Rufus Wainwright has a unique voice, great vocal phrasing, and casts a melody with hooks big enough to catch a whale. As Nick Lowe might say this is pure pop for now people. -JS

Loggins and Messina: “Nobody but You” Play this track

I had this idea for a theme where we play the opening tracks from a given band’s debut album. These were the first tracks on debut albums that listeners would hear. They had to have have something special about them. Loggins and Messina had a great duet vocal sound and a rock band with horns and a spitting Fender Telecaster. They rocked, they rolled and ushered in one of the finest musical collaborations of the 1970s. -JS

Jethro Tull: “My Sunday Feeling” Play this track

Jethro Tull started as a blues band, and this is their blues. It’s a shuffle that swings (at times). Mick Abrahams, he of the British Blues guitar lineage, would leave after this album and start Blodwyn Pig. With this opening track, Ian Anderson added flute to the rock lexicon of sounds. This holds up very well. -JS

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: “Love Struck Baby” Play this track

This rockin’ shuffle ushered in the era of the most celebrated modern bluesman of the 1980s. Not as aggressive as the album’s major keeper, “Pride and Joy,” but SRV does a good job of channeling Chuck Berry in this LP’s short and sweet opener. -JS

Ten Years After: “Me and My Baby” Play this track

Thanks to my buddy Pat Sbarra for turning me onto this, what would become my favorite Ten Years After track. Too many swinging shuffles? I think not. Tasty keys, with Chick Churchill dueling with himself on acoustic piano and a classic Alvin Lee guitar solo, no vibrato, no string bends, just stuttering melodies that skip over the propulsive rhythm section. Sweet. -JS

Buckingham/Nicks: “Races Are Run” Play this track

From Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ debut album from 1973, this was among the tunes Fleetwood Mac drummer heard that prompted him to seek out the duo. What a great song, what a fantastic performance. -RS
This (whole) recording was quite an audition and foreshadowing to the max. -JS

Chicago: “Mississippi Delta City Blues” Play this track

Chicago’s original guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, Terry Kath, was a monster talent. This almost out of control rave up features all his strengths in one place. This is a kick-ass rave up of the first degree. -RS
Surprised? I was. Who knew Chicago the horn band was also a great funk band. We knew they could rock, play outside, and play pop, but funk. Now we know. -JS

Black Crowes: “By Your Side” Play this track

This is the title track to Black Crowes’ unfairly unsung 1999 album, which is a hotbed of songs that show off the band’s influences in short order. Every track is a winner. -RS
I keep thinking it’s The Stones or The Faces but it’s the Black Crowes wearing their influences on their sleeves. Who cares when the song is this good? Rock on. -JS

Joe Walsh: “Funk #49 (from Late Show with David Letterman)” Play this track

This is a James Gang classic that has been played to death. Not quite. There is extra life in this version. Maybe it’s the horns, or the percussion or the acoustic piano. There’s an ease in execution I haven’t heard in other versions that puts this one in my “use this” folder. -JS
What a surprise this take on the Joe Walsh barn burner turned out to be. Too good to be a toss-off, even if it was just a TV timewaster for the audience during and after a commercial break. Doesn’t matter – John Stix heard it and now you do, too. -RS

The Everly Brothers: “The Price of Love” Play this track

The first song the brothers performed live together after a decade-long estrangement; this hearty rocker showed they still had it. As if there had ever been any doubt about that. -RS
They have a unique vocal blend that tells you immediately who’s singing. It’s the head-bobbing rhythm and chicken pickin’ guitar that brings it home for me. -JS

Nick Lowe: “All Men Are Liars” Play this track

Ah, Nick Lowe. The man never disappoints. Is this peppy (and pop-y) musing on the male species’ proclivity for fibbing tells it like it is. “And that’s the truth.” -RS
Just like Squeeze, I love almost everything Nick Lowe does. Melody, hooks, and clever lyrics nail me every time. I offer this song to make my point. Are we in agreement? Yes. -JS

Steve Winwood: “Can’t Find My Way Home” Play this track

You know the saying “Nobody doesn’t like Sarah Lee” The same holds true for Steve Winwood. This is my favorite version of one of his favorite songs. Here is the classic with just a warm acoustic guitar and a voice deeply invested in the song. Dig the crackles coming from the fireplace. NHT indeed. -JS
Whether performed by Blind Faith, latter-era Traffic, or Steve Winwood solo, this monumentally timeless track always delivers, which is a testament to its grandeur and thus its longevity. More proof a good song is always a good song, Winwood’s cozy take here – recorded with his fireplace’s crackles intact – defines timelessness. Great. -RS