Alternative Frenay & Lenin

Last week's Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin show, spotlighting their own songs instead of covers, was so much fun. It was my first visit to The Listening Room at 443, which is a terrific venue, and I hope its success leads to a follow-up show for Gary 'n' Arty (ideally on a Saturday night). 

In the mean time, my usual process of idle thoughts prompted me to slap together an alternative set list of Frenay and Lenin tunes, following the format of the recent show but without duplicating any of the song choices. For kicks, I picked the new songs from memory only, resisting the temptation to check previous Flashcubes, Screen Test, FabCats, or Frenay or Lenin solo releases for inspiration. It's tough to imagine a Frenay & Lenin songwriting showcase that doesn't include any of the great songs they performed last week, but their combined repertoire of originals is strong enough and deep enough that the rockin' pop result below could stand just fine on its own. 

The only cover last week was an unplanned run-through of Eddie & the Hot Rods' power pop classic "Do Anything You Wanna Do," performed as an encore with surprise guest Tom Kenny. For the encore in this week's exercise in What If?, we turn to Gary's "Welcome To The Working Class," which has become a standard show-closer for The Flashcubes. At 'Cubes shows, "Welcome To The Working Class" is done as a medley with The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" and Nick Lowe's "Heart Of The City," plus sometimes with Paul Collins' "Walking Out On Love." For this make-believe workout, we're making it a medley with Arty's "Angry Young Man," and throwing in a snippet of Ramones for Carbona-huffin' gravitas.

This set list has never happened, and will never happen. But when we close our eyes....

Anytime
Mr. Acarius
Just Like Me
All Wrapped Up In You
Chevy
I Won't Trust You Anymore
No More Lonely Nights
Christi Girl
We Could Be Brothers
Cycles Of Pain
Growing Up Too Fast
--
Wait Till Next Week
Walking Through The Park
Blue Topaz
About Your Head
Natalie
I Don't Want To Be A Human Being
You Don't Know Me
Girl From Germany
Memories Of Goodbye
I Wanna Touch You In The Dark
The Boy From Shaker Heights
--
I Am Sincere
I Can't Stop Wanting You
I Don't Want To Break Your Heart
You Can't Go Wrong With Me
Suellen
Cherry's World
You Got My Promise
My Baby's Stacked
Nothing To Say To You
Nothing Really Matters When You're Young
Sound Of The Radio
--
Welcome To The Working Class/Angry Young Man/I Wanna Be Sedated 

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