THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1): Bonus Tracks

As we noted in our most recent treadin' water update on my book-in-progress The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), I've expanded the book's afterword to include a section called Bonus Tracks. This is just a list of songs that were also under GREM! consideration at some point in the process, whether for use in the book or on the blog. Here's that section as it currently reads:

The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The "Volume 1" is in the title for a reason, and that reason isn't just an attempt to drum up interest in a sequel. Calling this Volume 1 is a reminder that the discussion of a Greatest Record Ever Made isn't limited to just one book, even if no other book ever appears under that title. We say there's an infinite number of songs taking individual turns as the greatest record ever made; if that's so, then there are still so, so many more fantastic tracks on roughly equal footing with the songs we've talked about today.

To illustrate, here's a list of songs that were included in this book's proposed Table of Contents at some point or another, or were at least penciled in as GREM! blog posts, before being crowded out by other songs.

THE ANIMALS: It's My Life
THE AVENGERS: We Are The One
STIV BATORS: It's Cold Outside
THE BEATLES: Hey Jude
THE BEAU BRUMMELS: Laugh, Laugh
THE BEVIS FROND: He'd Be A Diamond
THE BOX TOPS: The Letter
THE BUZZCOCKS: Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
THE CASTAWAYS: Liar, Liar
ANNY CELSI: Empty Hangers
THE CONTOURS: Do You Love Me?
THE CREATION: Making Time
THE DANDY WARHOLS: We Used To Be Friends
DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK & TICH: Hold Tight
DEEP PURPLE: Hush
THE DIRTY ROYALS: I'm In Love
BOB DYLAN: Like A Rolling Stone
THE ENGLISH BEAT: Save It For Later
FIRST AID KIT: America
AL HIRT: The Green Hornet Theme
HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: Time Will Tell
THE JAM: In The City
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS: Light Of Day
THE MC5: Kick Out The Jams
THE MONKEES: Riu Chiu
THE MOTORS: Dancing The Night Away
MOTT THE HOOPLE: All The Way From Memphis
NAZARETH: Love Hurts
PINK FLOYD: Wish You Were Here
THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away
THE PRIMITIVES: Crash
R.E.M.: Radio Free Europe
THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop
THE RECORDS: Starry Eyes
PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: Kicks
AMY RIGBY: Dancing With Joey Ramone
THE ROLLING STONES: Happy
THE RONETTES: Be My Baby
THE SAINTS: (I'm) Stranded
SLADE: Mama Weer All Crazee Now
SPLIT ENZ: History Never Repeats
THE STEMS: Never Be Friends
SUGAR: If I Can't Change Your Mind
THE SUPREMES: Stop! In The Name Of Love
SWEET: Ballroom Blitz
TELEVISION: Elevation
THE TEMPTATIONS: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
TOOTS & THE MAYTALS: Pressure Drop
IKE & TINA TURNER: River Deep, Mountain High
THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: You Were So Warm
TWINKLE: Golden Lights
THE UNDERTONES: Teenage Kicks
THE VENTURES: Walk--Don't Run
THE VOGUES: Five O'Clock World
THE YARDBIRDS: Heart Full Of Soul

Our favorite records don't live in isolation. Each one has a story to tell. Those stories continue.

Infinitely.



Snazzy, right?

This list only includes tracks that my notes indicate were under individual consideration somewhere along the line; I could easily add more worthy entries right now, but these are the ones I actually penciled in at some point or another. And they weren't all intended for the book, or at least not for this book. For example, I wrote an entry on "Hey Jude" to run on the blog the day I saw Paul McCartney in concert in 2017, but I never had any plan to make it an entry in the book. I have several placeholder GREM! files in my draft queue, and many of those are for unfinished blog pieces rather than as additional chapters for a book that's already a-bustin' at its virtual seams. 

But a lot of these were indeed included in some of the book's previous tentative Tables of Contents. Hell, the completed entry discussing "Liar, Liar" by The Castaways was in the book a few weeks ago. Things change. There may still be more changes yet to come.

But for now: The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain entries on 107 GREM! song selections (or really 108, since the Buddy Holly chapter names both sides of the "Peggy Sue"/"Everyday" 45). There are 100 main entries, plus an entr'acte, three encores, a last call, one coronated Greatest Record Ever Made, and a closing instrumental. There are also three interludes, each discussing a song that isn't necessarily The Greatest Record Ever Made--honestly, I actively despise one of 'em, though the other two are certainly cool tunes in their own right--but which serves as an enhancement to another entry. Throw in all the supplemental material--foreword, afterword, user's guide, overture, coda, and a chapter about underrating The Beatles--and I hope we wind up with a substantial and compelling read.

And, of course, I hope you get to read it. 

Someday.

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Fans of pop music will want to check out Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a new pop compilation benefiting SPARK! Syracuse, the home of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. TIR'N'RR Allstars--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone--offer a fantastic new version of The Kinks' classic "Waterloo Sunset." That's supplemented by eleven more tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), including previously-unreleased gems from The Click Beetles, Eytan Mirsky, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Michael Slawter (covering The Posies), and The Anderson Council (covering XTC), a new remix of "Infinite Soul" by The Grip Weeds, and familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves by Vegas With Randolph, Gretchen's Wheel, The Armoires, and Pacific Soul Ltd. Oh, and that mystery bonus track? It's exquisite. You need this. You're buying it from Futureman.

(And you can still get our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, on CD from Kool Kat Musik and as a download from Futureman Records.)

Get MORE Carl! Check out the fourth and latest issue of the mighty Big Stir magazine at bigstirrecords.com/magazine

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).