3 Rock Classics From 1975 You Almost Forgot About Until Now

With colossal 1975 classic rock tracks like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, it’s easy to overlook additional gems released the same year. Midway through the decade, rock and roll was becoming more ambitious, as Freddie Mercury’s multi-part suite proves. Even Springsteen’s hit had expanded on Phil Spector’s inventive Wall of Sound as The Boss completed his first masterpiece.

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Here, let’s highlight three rock classics from 1975 you almost forgot about until now. They may not be as popular as “Born To Run” or “Bohemian Rhapsody”, but they are certainly tracks you don’t want to forget.

“Long Distance Love” by Little Feat

Many overlook Little Feat in conversations about great rock bands from the 1970s. Though not when other musicians are involved in those discussions. Lowell George absorbed the lessons he’d learned as a member of Frank Zappa’s ensemble, The Mothers Of Invention, before branching out on his own. With Little Feat, George made a fan of Jimmy Page and many others. Apart from his virtuosic guitar playing, George’s stellar songwriting is on full display on “Long Distance Love”, a smooth Southern rock ballad from the band’s fifth studio album, The Last Record Album.

“San Ber’dino” by Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention

If The Mothers Of Invention are too strange for you, “San Ber’dino” may be your way in to Frank Zappa’s avant-garde, comedic, jazz, and art rock project. The track features Johnny “Guitar” Watson and Captain Beefheart in a deep, unhinged rhythm and blues groove. Surrounded by jazz musicians, One Size Fits All features a version of the Mothers with smoothed edges. Yet wrapped inside its single size, remains Zappa’s adherence to musical complexity, wit, and all the things that made him a divisive and singular figure.

“In My Time Of Dying” by Led Zeppelin

Casual listeners may know Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti album by “Kashmir”, “Ten Years Gone”, or “The Wanton Song”. However, any Jimmy Page disciple interested in the dark art of heavy blues must know “In My Time Of Dying”. It’s an 11-minute jam that opens with ominous slide guitar melodies as Led Zeppelin further transforms Delta blues with a continuation of an old death song. It follows Bob Dylan’s reading of the traditional “In My Time Of Dyin’” from his 1962 debut as well as Blind Willie Johnson’s “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed” (1928), which borrows from earlier spirituals.

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