Ten Great Rock Songs Opening Albums

I decided to write an article about ten great rock songs that open albums. I wrote about a few of the songs with different text before in previous articles. In the headings, I mention the song and the artist followed by a colon with the album name. Let’s begin.

Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

This is an epic progressive rock opener from Elton John’s most popular studio album. It opens with atmospheric effects and bells followed by David Hentschel’s synth playing. Elton’s piano then comes with the other instruments being subtle. Soon it goes into a full band sound with Davey Johnstone providing a guitar solo. David Hentschel’s synth parts add to the song. Funeral for a Friend is the instrumental part of the song and “Love Lies Bleeding” is the second half featuring Bernie Taupin lyrics sung by Elton. In “Love Lies Bleeding”, bassist Dee Murray’s part is noticeable. This song showcases Elton John’s strength as a rock artist as it rocks so hard.

Nothing but the Truth by Procol Harum: Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974)

Both this song and the previous one overlap as they are both by English artists from the same time period and Procol Harum are a progressive rock band. Lead singer and piano player Gary Brooker leads the song with his piano playing. His opening piano riff rocks great and comes back a few more times. The arrangement is expansive with a subtle orchestra included. This is a powerful catchy rock song with its incredible chorus.

Once or Twice by Chicago: Chicago X (1976)

This song goes in a different direction to the previous ones as this is jazz rock. It’s written and sung by original Chicago guitarist Terry Kath. The signature Chicago horns are a big part of the song including a saxophone solo. I like Robert Lamm’s rock and roll piano. It’s creative to feature that kind of piano playing in a jazz rock song. Terry provides a tough vocal which is suitably powerful.

Running on Empty by Jackson Browne: Running on Empty (1977)

This is the title track from Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” album of original songs recorded entirely on the road, with some of it recorded live such as this one. The song is led by the guitar and features the piano well. Pianist Craig Doerge’s notes are an important part of this song. David Lindley provides two incredible slide guitar solos. Jackson crafted a memorable melodic piece of heartland rock reflecting the US at that time.

Say You’ll Be Mine by Christopher Cross: Christopher Cross (1979)

This is from Christopher Cross’s self-titled debut album. Christopher sings with passion in his voice. Jay Graydon provides a guitar solo that’s both relaxing and rocking. I detect a possible jazz influence in Jay’s solo. Michael Omartian’s piano notes work well in the song. Nicolette Larson gives good backing vocals singing well with Christopher. This is an enjoyable form of yacht rock.

Running Man by Al Stewart: 24 Carrots (1980)

It opens with backing vocal singing, piano notes and other instruments including guitar. Following this section, there is the main piano riff which is soon doubled by guitar. This song has a good mix of piano and guitar. There is a latin sounding acoustic guitar solo. I like the percussion beat. Al Stewart brings his signature brand of soft rock.

I’ll Never Need Anyone More by Michael Stanley Band: Heartland (1980)

This song by the Michael Stanley Band is written and sung by Michael. It’s guitar driven and features good piano backing. There is a strong guitar solo in the middle. I like the fact that this song has three keyboards which are piano, organ and synth. The synth effects near the end are nice. I like this heartland rock sound.

Rosanna by Toto: Toto IV (1982)

This song opens with Jeff Porcaro’s epic drumming. The singing alternates between guitarist Steve Lukather and lead singer Bobby Kimball in the verses. I like the sound of the band singing together in the choruses. Steve Porcaro provides a synth solo followed by Steve Lukather’s guitar solo which contrasts well. David Paich who wrote the song provides a great piano part which holds the song together. I assume the organ part near the end is by David. It’s nice to hear jamming by David Paich and Steve Lukather in the final section.

Allentown by Billy Joel: The Nylon Curtain (1982)

This song is about the American town of Allentown, Pennsylvania. It opens with a train noise. Billy’s piano leads the song well with it being the most prominent in the verses. There are cool percussion and sound effects repeated throughout. The percussion is by drummer Liberty DeVitto and Billy seems to be doing the sound effects. This song shows Billy's strength in writing and singing a melodic rock song. It’s good how Billy stretches certain words he sings. There is a prominent rocking guitar part near the end.

Even Now by Bob Seger: The Distance (1982)

This is one of Bob Seger’s lesser known hits. It has an epic intro. This song is very melodic with incredible piano by Roy Bittan. Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder plays the guitar. Bob’s saxophonist Alto Reed provides good support. Bob gives incredible singing showcasing his vocal range. I love how he sings both the lead vocals and the backing vocals in the chorus. Bob ends with singing “Even Now” stretched out followed by guitar & piano parts and Craig Frost’s organ notes which close the track. This is my favourite Bob Seger song.

This was my selection of rock songs I like that open albums. I tried to feature a balance of popular and lesser known songs. Interestingly, I recently listened to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” albums from this article in 5.1 surround sound which sounded very good in that format.

Sri Lankan Jazz by Rukshan Perera

I decided to feature two original jazz songs in English by Sri Lankan singer Rukshan Perera in a blog post. Rukshan has been a member of the popular Sri Lankan bands “The Golden Chimes” and “The Super Golden Chimes” in the 1970s. Rukshan’s main instrument is the guitar, but he’s a multi-instrumentalist who is also an exceptional keyboardist. I will be embedding the songs “What Time Is It?” and “Cool Cats” from Rukshan Perera’s YouTube channel.

What Time Is It?

Rukshan describes this as a jazz funk song. This song features piano playing by Rukshan with accompaniment by the jazz fusion band Thriloka. The song opens with Rukshan playing only with his right hand. He then is joined with his left hand playing a chord featuring light accompaniment from the bass and drums. After the intro, the piano changes to a more energetic part and the whole band comes in. There is an interesting subtle electric guitar strumming part. Rukshan brings back the notes with both hands from the intro briefly twice where it’s just his piano. In parts of the song, Rukshan speaks with the instruments stopping.

There is a long upbeat piano solo. Following the piano solo, Rukshan does jazz scatting after the piano solo where he plays the piano and sings musical sounds to match the piano notes. He plays another solo and starts singing again. Rukshan does ad-lib singing relating to the time at the end. Rukshan sings soulfully. This song reminds me of the Chicago jazz rock song “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”. That song is also performed by a singing pianist (Robert Lamm) and I had featured it in my article about non-relationship rock songs.

Cool Cats

This video features the lyrics displayed. There is a prominent bass part by Ray Gomes in this song. This song is a tribute to singers George Benson and Ella Fitzgerald with Rukshan singing in praise of them. There is the lyric “I bow my head to my masters when I do my scat”. Rukshan performs with a guitar in the first half including a section where he does the scatting and guitar playing that George Benson does (Rukshan performed the piano version of scatting in the previous song) and just sings in the second half.

After Rukshan’s scat, we have Ricky Senn’s saxophone solo followed by Herschel Rodrigo’s piano solo. Rukshan sings another scat towards the end of the song. In this case, there are no guitar notes accompanying his singing. His scatting in the second scat is more intense and adventurous. I hear what seems to be African influences in this scat. I like how in this song Rukshan sings in the Sri Lankan/British pronunciations instead of the American pronunciations. It is even cooler as he’s a US citizen. Rukshan lived in the US from the 1980s to the 2000s. I both have an interest in the US and like the international approaches of doing things. I’m not a US citizen, but I’m also a Sri Lankan dual citizen like Rukshan.

These are two melodic jazz songs by Rukshan Perera. Rukshan showcases his creative singing, songwriting and instrumentation skills in these songs. There is a contrast in the songs as “What Time Is It?” is fast with “Cool Cats” being a slower ballad. Rukshan gave us two great universally accessible jazz songs.

Ten Great Non-Relationship Rock Songs by Ten Different Singers

While romantic relationships are the most popular song topic, I personally prefer lyrics about other topics. Therefore, I decided to compile a list of classic rock songs about other issues. I had previously written a similar article featuring many of the same artists called “Ten Great Piano Rock Songs by Ten Different Singers”. There is also piano on all of these songs as I like piano in rock music. Two of the songs use electric piano and more than half of them feature its piano part played by the singer-songwriter. I’m featuring the official YouTube embeds for each of these songs so you can listen to any or all of them if you wish.

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - Chicago (1969)

I’m discussing the arrangement of the album version which opens with a long jazz solo by pianist Robert Lamm, also the songwriter and singer of the song. After the solo the horns come in a good way. This song is jazz rock. There are good backing vocals by Peter Cetera and Terry Kath. I like how there is also some talking in the background. The song opens with someone being asked what the time is. He responds with a long humorous monologue beginning with “Does anybody really know what time it is”. This humorous monologue is the chorus which has two more different prompts leading to it.

Doctor My Eyes - Jackson Browne (1972)

This song is about a person talking to a doctor therapist seeking help. It deals with this person’s

perceptions of the world where he is talking to his doctor. Jackson plays the piano on this song. The

song has good congas by Russ Kunkel who also plays drums. Jackson’s YouTube channel recently

released a live performance of the song which is even better as it has rockier guitar and the addition of organ.

Kings - Steely Dan (1972)

This song is about English King Richard from the 12th century by jazz rock band Steely Dan. It talks about his issues which include his plundering which makes me think of corrupt heads of state. It also talks positively about his brother King John who succeeded him. I would like to give my views of these kings, but I won’t as I know hardly anything about them. This song has rocking piano and jazz influenced guitar including a solo. The piano part is played by singer and co-writer Donald Fagen.

Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy - Elton John (1975)

This is the opening track from Elton John’s 1975 album of the same name. It is about Elton John

(Captain Fantastic) and his lyricist Bernie Taupin (The Brown Dirt Cowboy). It opens with Davey

Johnstone’s acoustic guitars also featuring Elton’s electric piano. It sounds country in the first verse,

before making the sudden switch to hard rock in the chorus where Davey’s intense electric guitars

come in. The next verse goes back to the country sound but with a rock presence as there is some

electric guitar now. It ends with the same opening. Interestingly, a modified version of the same

opening/closing part was used in the closing title track of the 2006 sequel album “The Captain & The Kid”. The lyrics “The Captain and the Kid” were mentioned in this song. I love the lyric “From the end of the world to your town”. 

Hello Old Friend - Eric Clapton (1976)

I would classify this song as both pop rock and country rock. This song is about the pleasure of seeing a friend or acquaintance after a while. It has good positive vibes. There is a keyboard presence of piano and organ. Eric’s guitar shines throughout with his playing. 

The Logical Song - Supertramp (1979)

This is a Roger Hodgson Supertramp song in the light progressive rock style. Roger plays a notable electric piano part. This song deals with the meaning of life and has thought provoking lyrics. Roger

sings how special life was in his childhood, which unfortunately changed when he was sent to boarding school. He is critiquing what we are taught at school. There is a reference to cynicism which is a view I personally am not fond of. There is a nice saxophone solo by John Helliwell. 

I Gotta Try - Kenny Loggins (1982) 

This song was written by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. Michael first released his version in August 1982 and Kenny released his version one month later. While both versions are soft rock,

Kenny’s version rocks better. Michael does play keyboards on this version too. The song seems to talk about the importance of trying to make your life better. It points out how people’s perceptions differ with truth being a theme of this song. The importance of persistence is given. I love the lyrics “They say it’s a hopeless fight, but I say I gotta try”. There are some lyrical similarities with the previous song as both deal with issues we face in this world.

Sometimes - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (1986)

It’s now time to change the pace up with a harder rocking song. This song has very good lyrics about someone who has issues with his life connected with where he lives so he wants to move somewhere else. There’s a saxophone solo by the late Alto Reed. Alto was Bob Seger’s saxophonist in the Silver Bullet Band who sadly passed away in December 2020. The saxophone solo is followed by a melodic piano solo and an intense guitar solo. There are horns throughout the song. Towards the end of the song, there are good piano notes. 

The Doctor - The Doobie Brothers (1989)

This song opens with a good piano/guitar rocking combination. I suspect the piano is played by Bill

Payne, who was the piano player on the previous song. It is about the healing power of music,

referring to music as the doctor. This is the second doctor song on this list. It is sung by Tom Johnston and is the last hit single by The Doobie Brothers. It features a powerful guitar solo by Tom. This song reminds me of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll” with its lyrics and musical sound. There are the similar lyrics “good time rock and roll”. I love the lyrics “Music is the doctor of my soul” which rings true to me. 

The River Of Dreams - Billy Joel (1993)

This is a gospel rock song which seems to be about the meaning of life. Billy sings about “searching

for something” in his dreams involving a river which he is required to cross. Crossing this river is

difficult. There are prominent gospel style backing vocals. This song is very melodic and has a brilliant rocking piano solo by Billy.  

I hope you enjoyed reading about and/or listening to these songs. They address a variety of themes

which include politics, identity, loneliness, persistence, the meaning of life, the state of the world and

friendship. Feel free to give your thoughts and interpretations on any of these songs. I’d be interested in hearing them.