10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1324
MIKE BROWNING FEATURING ELENA ROGERS: Over And Under And All Around
THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO TEAM-UP! Like the first time Marvel Comics bowslinger Hawkeye joined forces with Marvel Comics bowslinger other Hawkeye, TIRnRR Fave Raves Mike Browning and Elena Rogers pool their mighty talents for the amazing, fantastic, and incredible new single "Over And Under And All Around." I can do this all day, and I can play this all day. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
DAVID RUFFIN: I've Got A Need For You
From a previous 10 Songs:
"I continue to be mystified about why Motown Records didn't release David Ruffin's proposed album David in the early '70s. It's such a fantastic record, and I wish we'd been able to experience it fifty years ago...
"...Sublime stuff. It borders on heresy, but I may even prefer the tracks on David to Ruffin's classic work with the Temptations."
From the originally-unreleased David, Ruffin's exquisite take on the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" earned a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and we've programmed a number of the album's other tracks at various times here on TIRnRR. Stellar, stellar album. I can't fathom what Motown execs were thinking when they shelved it.
MICHAEL SIMMONS: America
America feels like a dream to me now.
As duly ranted here, I'm in absolute thrall to Fun Where You Can Find It, the recent all-covers album by Michael Simmons. Among its garden of earthly sweets 'n' treats, my go-to selection has become Michael's lovely and moving version of Simon and Garfunkel's "America." Much of this interest is driven by the need for comfort in the midst of the country's spiraling miasma. The song provides some of that comfort, at least to the extent that a record can provide comfort.
GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Most music-lovers likely consider Marvin Gaye's performance of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" definitive, and I would agree. If I understand the story right, Gaye recorded the song before Gladys Knight and the Pips did, but Gladys's "Grapevine" reached retail well before Marvin's, and it became a hit. Years ago, and for many years thereafter, I dismissed the Pips' take as too...show biz? Vegas, even? That was nonsense--nonsense!!--and I disavow my former POV as the hopelessly chuckleheaded take it was. Stupid young punk!
WORMSTEW: Spinning
SUPERgroup! SoCal pop combo Wormstew has been around for ages honestly, originally as a solo DIY recording project for songwriter Mike Schnee. Now a trio, with the right honorable Mr. Schnee joining forces with longtime TIRnRR stalwarts Teresa Cowles and the above-mentioned Michael Simmons, Wormstew's new digital single "Spinning" heralds the release of their forthcoming album Last Days Of Loma. We're spinning! It's what good DJs do.
THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE HALF/CUBES: Whenever You're On My Mind
As we continue to bliss out with the pristine perfection of the Half/Cubes' current album Found Pearls, a long-player filled t'burstin' with nonpareil covers of underappreciated pop pearls, my mind wanders to prolonged consideration of what other worthy source material our Half/Cubes could unearth for a hypothetical third album. It's...a long list, and I'm still adding to it as an idle exercise in delighted daydreaming. In the here and now, we're enthusiastically digging the latest single from Found Pearls, a go'geous cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "Whenever You're On My Mind," which the Half/Cubes accomplish with able assistance from Tom Teeley and Robert Crenshaw. Whenever pop music's on my mind, the Half/Cubes are THERE!
PARTHENON HUXLEY: Double Our Numbers
ALSO The Greatest Record Ever Made! We played Ballzy Tomorrow's ace cover of "Double Our Numbers" on last week's epic tribute to Parthenon Huxley. We program the original version this week. Once again: Godspeed, Parthenon.
TELEVISION: Elevation
Yet another hero passes, as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio remembers Television bassist Fred Smith. Television's 1977 debut album Marquee Moon is rightly recognized as classic, and I've always been particularly drawn to its Side Two opener "Elevation." From its chapter in my GREM! book:
"Vertigo.
"For the disaffected and dissatisfied in 1977, no track expressed the feeling of rock music in dizzying free fall with greater menace and implied ennui as 'Elevation' by Television...
"...From Television's debut album Marquee Moon, the track 'Elevation' just fascinated me when I was 17. Fall of 1977, freshman in college, trying to finally hear all these punk or new wave or whaddayacallit bands I'd read so much about in the pages of Phonograph Record Magazine. I asked the campus radio station for help, and was rewarded with the sounds of the Ramones, Blondie, the Dictators, the Adverts, the Jam, Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band, the Runaways, and oh yeah!, Television. I could never get enough of this jagged, loping, serpentine noise, so mesmerizing, so different, so gratifyingly dizzying in its willful application of elevation going to my head. And staying there. Marquee Moon was among my earliest LP purchases in this broad category of NEW MUSIC circa '77 and '78. It would not be the last...."
SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go
The only thing more powerful than hate is love. And yes, Slyboots' "If We Could Let Go" is indeed another sterling example of The Greatest Record Ever Made! My favorite individual track of 2024 and one of my favorite tracks of the decade, we'll hear this wonderous gem again on our next show.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
