Doing the Pandora shuffle, 4th edition

"OK, Google, shuffle my Pandora."

"The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll," Mott the Hoople (The Hoople, 1974): A jumping rock-and-roll burner that sounds exactly like what the title suggests -- Jerry Lee Lewis imported into 1970s glam. The opening track on Mott's seventh studio album, it's dense with three saxophones, Ian Hunter's piano and lead vocals, and backing vocals by sister team Sue and Sunny. Hunter left Mott after this album and did a lot of this kind of stuff in his solo career. 

"You Can't Always Get What You Want," The Rolling Stones (Let It Bleed, 1969): I am listening to the full 7:28 closing track, from Let It Bleed's 50th Anniversary Edition. An edited version of this was the B side to "Honkey Tonk Women" in 1969 and resurfaced four years later as an A side, reaching No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100. I remember it as a prominent part of the soundtrack to the 1983 film The Big Chill, but it did not appear on any of the movie's soundtrack albums for whatever reason. It's one of the Stones' best-known songs, but I have never found it particularly enthralling.

"Once in a Lifetime," Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense, 1984): This is the live version from the Jonathan Demme film, which usually lands in conversations about the best concert movies ever. Talking Heads is one of those bands: I like their hits quite a bit, but I have never taken to any of their albums. I've tried, I've just never been able to get there. Like "Sledgehammer" and "Money for Nothing" and dozens of others from MTV's golden era, this song cannot exist without the goofy video playing in your head: David Byrne in big-frame glasses doing that spastic dance and karate-chopping the length of his arm. Uggghh, I would love to wipe that thing from my memory bank.

"I'll Keep It With Mine," Nico (Chelsea Girl, 1967): This is a song Bob Dylan wrote in 1964 and recorded a few times but never used on any of his studio albums. Judy Collins gave it its first official release as a single in 1965. Nico, the German fashion model who gained fame hanging with the Andy Warhol crowd and singing with The Velvet Underground, picked it up for her solo debut. This and a few other tracks from Chelsea Girl have appeared on a number of reissues of the The Velvet Underground & Nico. It's a pleasant little minimalist folk number with Nico's distinctive husky monotone accompanied by John Cale's viola and Jackson Browne's electric guitar.

"Everybody Wants to Run the World," Tears for Fears (Songs From the Big Chair Super Deluxe Edition, 2014): I have never heard this. It's a slightly different version of their monster hit, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," this time with a subtle horn arrangement in the chorus and the instrumental break. I'm not finding any information on this particular track, so I don't know if it's an early, discarded attempt or what. I remember "Rule" as a big synth-pop hit during that MTV era -- I do not remember the video, but I do recall that I liked the song in its day for what it was. This particular version is not particularly interesting, just a different version of a hit song from long ago that is no longer particularly interesting.