THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1): Another Updated Table Of Contents

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

An infinite number of songs can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. That's the central conceit of my forthcoming book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), a collection of essays extolling both the immediacy and the immortality of the pop songs we love. As the book's formal proposal makes its appointed rounds in search of a potential publisher, I've continued to tweak the work itself. Other projects have required more of my attention for the last month or so, but now I'm returning to work on the book, with an eye toward finally completing a first draft. Currently, the draft's completed individual chapters total about 96,000 words, with a final target around 120,000 words, give or take. Here is the latest incarnation of its Table of Contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD
DISCLAIMERS AND DECLARATIONS (A User's Guide To The Greatest Record Ever Made!)
OVERTURE A Fistful Of 45s

1. BADFINGER: Baby Blue

2. CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land
3. DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: I Only Want To Be With You
4. THE SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen
5. ELVIS PRESLEY: Heartbreak Hotel
6. PATTI SMITH: Gloria
7. LITTLE RICHARD: The Girl Can't Help It
 *8. NEIL DIAMOND: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
9. CRAZY ELEPHANT: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' 
10. WILSON PICKETT: In The Midnight Hour
11. THE HOLLIES: I Can't Let Go
12. THE SHIRELLES: Will You Love Me Tomorrow
13. THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
INTERLUDE I Dream Of Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy (and occasionally Marky, Richie, C.J., and/or new recruits)
14. BUDDY HOLLY: Peggy Sue/Everyday
15. JOHNNY NASH: I Can See Clearly Now
16. SUZI QUATRO: I May Be Too Young
17. GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS: Midnight Train To Georgia
18. THE RARE BREED: Beg, Borrow And Steal
19. THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me
20. THE ROLLING STONES: Get Off Of My Cloud
 *21. PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: Just Like Me
22. PRINCE: When You Were Mine
23. LESLEY GORE: You Don't Own Me
24. TRANSLATOR: Everywhere That I'm Not
25. THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: I Fought The Law
*BONUS TRACK MERLE HAGGARD: Mama Tried 
26. THE WHO: I Can't Explain
27. TODD RUNDGREN: Couldn't I Just Tell You
28. THE RASPBERRIES: I Wanna Be With You
29. THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise
 *30. SHOES: Tomorrow Night
31. SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES: The Tears Of A Clown
32. THE NEW YORK DOLLS: Personality Crisis
33. THE EASYBEATS: Friday On My Mind
34.  BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Girls In Their Summer Clothes
 *35. OTIS REDDING: (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
36. ARETHA FRANKLIN: Respect
37. THE MONKEES: Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)
INTERLUDE The Night I Met Peter Tork
38. KISS: Shout It Out Loud
39. THE LEFT BANKE: Walk Away, Renee
*40. P. P. ARNOLD: The First Cut Is The Deepest
41. THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Rock And Roll Love Letter
42. THE KNICKERBOCKERS: Lies
43. THE GO-GO'S: We Got The Beat
44. JAMES BROWN: Please, Please, Please
45. GRAND FUNK: We're An American Band
46. SAMMY AMBROSE: This Diamond Ring
47. THE FIRST CLASS: Beach Baby
48. THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Summer Breeze
49. THE RUBINOOS: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
50. BIG STAR: September Gurls
ENTR'ACTE THE BEATLES: Yesterday
51. MARVIN GAYE: I Heard It Through The Grapevine
52. THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action
53. THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes
54. THE FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache
55. THE SPINNERS: I'll Be Around
56. ALICE COOPER: School's Out
57. BARON DAEMON & THE VAMPIRES: The Transylvania Twist
58. SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everybody Is A Star
59. TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl
*60. DAVID RUFFIN: I Want You Back
61. LED ZEPPELIN: Communication Breakdown
*62. THE BANDWAGON: Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache
INTERLUDE Old Time Time Rock & Roll
63. THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM: 2 + 2 = ?
64. BEN E. KING: Stand By Me
65. THE BYRDS: I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
66.  THE EVERLY BROTHERS: Gone, Gone, Gone
67. THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
68. GENE PITNEY: Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa
69. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: I'll Be Your Mirror
70. FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie
71. THE DRIFTERS: On Broadway
72. SAM & DAVE: Soul Man
73. THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne
74. THE TRAMMPS: Disco Inferno
75. HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES: Don't Leave Me This Way
BONUS TRACK GRANDMASTER & MELLE MEL: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
76. T. REX: 20th Century Boy
77. THE JIVE FIVE: What Time Is It?
78. THE KINKS: You Really Got Me
79. THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset
80. THE SMITHEREENS: Behind The Wall Of Sleep
*81. THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me
82. FREDA PAYNE: Band Of Gold
83. MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress
84. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
85. THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There
*86. DON HENLEY: The Boys Of Summer
INTERLUDE The Tottenham Sound Of...The Beatles?!
87. THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: Any Way You Want It
88. PAUL COLLINS: Walking Out On Love

*89. THE SUPREMES: You Keep Me Hangin' On 

90. THE BEACH BOYS: God Only Knows
*91. LULU: To Sir, With Love (Museum Outings Montage)
*92. MANNIX: Highway Lines
93. THE SELECTER: On My Radio
94. SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
*95. CHEAP TRICK Surrender
96. DAVID BOWIE: Life On Mars?
*97. THE O'JAYS: Put Your Hands Together
98. THE GRATEFUL DEAD: Uncle John's Band
 *99. EDDIE & THE HOT RODS: Do Anything You Wanna Do
100. STEVIE WONDER: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)
ENCORE! EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year
ENCORE!! THE JAYHAWKS: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
An Infinite Number
Underrating The Beatles
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! THE BEATLES: Rain
LAST CALL! THE T-BONES: No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)
CODA Cruisin' Music
MORE BONUS TRACKS/AFTERWORD     



I'm getting there! The song choices and sequence won't be set in stone for a while yet, but it feels closer and closer. While I'm clinging to the illusion that the chapters form a Hot 100 of GREM! selections, the inclusion of an Entr'acte, two Bonus Tracks, two Encores, one specific Greatest Record Ever Made!, and a Last Call really make the book about 107 songs in total (or 108, since the Buddy Holly chapter discusses both sides of the "Peggy Sue"/"Everyday" 45). Interludes (about The Ramones, The Monkees, Bob Seger, and The Beatles vs.The Dave Clark Five) and other supplemental material add flavor and occasional context, but aren't intended as additional GREM! entries. There are certainly many other songs equally worthy of celebration, and I may still decide to move songs in and out of the Table of Contents, but this is where I am now.



The asterisks indicate the chapters I'm still working to complete. Human nature would suggest those 16 chapters are the most vulnerable to being replaced by something else (just as a completed Suzi Quatro chapter recently replaced a barely-begun Rufus chapter in the line-up), but I've already demonstrated my occasional (and unfortunate!) willingness to remove completed chapters in favor of something I ain't written yet. You never know with me. I never know with me. And I hope you'll all have an opportunity to read the whole thing some day, courtesy of a bookstore near you.


THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1)

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

As pop music fans, we may have one all-time favorite song that stands out for us as the greatest record ever made. But in another moment, we may shift our allegiance to a different song, and then to another. We’re not fickle. We’re enthusiastic, and we’re sincere. We love our music. We lose ourselves in the music we love.

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Acclaimed pop journalist Carl Cafarelli (Goldmine, This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio) brings his own passion and enthusiasm to The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), a collection of 100+ essays about 100+ great songs, celebrating both the immortality and the in-the-moment immediacy of the rockin' pop music we cherish. The subjects include Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers like The Beatles, Chuck Berry, The Sex Pistols, Aretha Franklin, The Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Prince, and many more.

But The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) encompasses more than just those enshrined in a Hall of Fame. It includes hit acts like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes,  Sammy Ambrose’s forgotten original of “This Diamond Ring,” cult acts like The 13th Floor Elevators and Big Star, teen idols like The Bay City Rollers, and relative unknowns like Baron Daemon and the Vampires: rock, soul, R & B, pop, punk, bubblegum, ska, power pop, girl groups, and disco. This is not a definitive list of the 100 best songs ever recorded. Rather, it's a 100+-song block party of great tracks, each one the greatest in its own infinite turn. It's a celebration, exhaustively and enthusiastically crafted by a pop journalist who loves each of these records without reservation.

Why did The Monkees go from the top of the pops in 1967 to seeming has-been status in 1968? How did James Brown respond to the British Invasion? What minefields of racism, sexism, homophobia, ambition, frustration, depression, or loss were navigated by Little Richard, Dusty Springfield, The Go-Go's, Elvis, Sly and the Family Stone, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, and Material Issue's Jim Ellison? Were The Ramones as much a bubblegum band as they were a punk band? When does a group succeed or fail in its quixotic quest to be the next Beatles? 

Our path is finite. Its soundtrack is not. The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) mixes history lessons, artist appreciation, and the ways in which the records we love can deeply affect our personal lives. Part personal memoir and part rockin’ pop record hop, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is the book for anyone who’s ever yelled “Turn It Up!”

Or, better yet: “Play that again!” Your infinite turn awaits. Welcome to the world of The Greatest Record Ever Made!

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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.)