This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1012.
THE ANIMALS: Inside--Looking Out
My Christmas 1976 acquisition of the double-album Best Of The Animals was an integral part of my rockin' pop development during that '76-'77 period that I often call my musical crucible. As great as it was to own copies of "It's My Life," "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," and "House Of The Rising Sun," and to be introduced to new-to-me Animals classics like "Baby Let Me Take You Home," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "I'm Crying," Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me," and even "Story Of Bo Diddley," the gatefold liner notes made teasing, maddening references to a couple of songs not included on that compilation: "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Inside--Looking Out." What the...?! I was especially intrigued by the description of the latter song as an example of "the typically British rave up sound which The Animals helped to create," and I just ached to hear its sure-to-be transcendent sound. I eventually tracked down a copy of the original MGM single at the flea market, and it did not disappoint.
THE BANGLES: Tell Me
Before the big hits, The Bangles were more likely to be heard on alternative radio stations than on CHR in the mid '80s. When the group played in Buffalo around 1984 or so, I owned a copy of their eponymous indie EP, but hadn't yet picked up their major-label debut album All Over The Place. The Bangles' concert was to take place at Buffalo's left-of-the-dial club The Continental, promoted by New Music Radio WBNY-FM, the Buffalo State college radio station. I recall promo spots for the show including snippets of tracks from All Over The Place, definitely including "All About You," possibly including "Tell Me." I had to be there, and I was (possibly via free tickets secured through a WBNY on-air giveaway). They were great, and I bought All Over The Place soon thereafter. All Over The Place remains one of my favorite albums of the '80s, and nearly every track is fantastic; the presence of the ballad "More Than Meets The Eye" is all that has prevented me from celebrating the album in my Love At First Spin series. The Bangles' (definitive) cover of Katrina & the Waves' "Going Down To Liverpool" is my top track here, but "Tell Me" comes close. And "Silent Treatment." And a cover of The Merry-Go-Round's "Live." And "He's Got A Secret." And..and..and...!
THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Sweet Virginia
By 1977, teen idols The Bay City Rollers were nearing the end of their hitmaking tenure, but not quite done yet. The It's A Game album yielded the Tartan-clad group's final American radio hits, "You Made Me Believe In Magic" and "The Way I Feel Tonight." I recall my friend Dan Bacich being amazed that a group like the Rollers (whom he normally detested) was capable of making a record he liked as much as "You Made Me Believe In Magic." Me, I liked the Rollers' earlier hits just fine, and thought the new stuff okay, too (if nowhere near as pleasingly exuberant as the previous year's "Rock And Roll Love Letter"). The album as a whole seemed like an attempt to groom a slightly more mature BCR audience, though our Rollers may have been undecided about exactly what kind of mature audience to target. MOR? Disco? The rock crowd, via a cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel?" Album track "Sweet Virginia"'s tragic tale of a young lesbian taking her own life (Was it really such a crime, to be lovin' your own kind?) is certainly grown-up in its subject matter, its sprightly, boppin' arrangement providing an odd juxtaposition with its downbeat storyline. The Bay City Rollers' next album didn't sell, and they wound up hosting a Saturday morning kiddie TV show. The mature audience didn't materialize.
Ha! Credit TIRnRR listener Scott "King" Cornish with making us aware of this fine track, specifically for its lyrical train travelogue shout-out to Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. That bit reminds me of when my new girlfriend Brenda saw the 1978 Superman movie back home in New York over Christmas break, a few weeks before her first trip to meet me and my parents in Syracuse. She later told me of how I immediately came to her mind when a scene in the film similarly called out transportation connections to Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. I do believe she kinda liked me, and that she still does. All aboard!
DOUG DEREK & THE HOAX: Bobby's Gotta Get Back To Boston [1981 version]
Although we're now up to TIRnRR # 1012, my CD carrying case still contains a number of discs I'd hoped to include within the larger celebration of our 1000th show back in November. These were all tracks that meant something to our show over the weird course of our mutant history, and I wanted to play as many of them as I could in the weeks before and after the milestone itself. Never got around to reprising this one, but it absolutely qualifies; friend and listener Beth Woodell once told me something to the effect that "Bobby's Gotta Get Back To Boston" is pretty damned close to a definitive TIRnRR track, its speedy, hook-laden and aggressive pop approach a perfect summary of whatever the hell it is we have in mind in each week's pursuit of The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin Planet. From Kool Kat Musik's essential Doug Derek & the Hoax CD anthology Who The Hell Is Doug Derek?
HARMONIC DIRT: Maybe
TIRnRR's most-played track in 2018, thanks entirely to Dana, who knows a hit record when he hears it. I don't think the members of Harmonic Dirt even realized how special this track is, and we're still playing it because we love it, our listeners love it, and you oughtta love it, too. Harmonic Dirt played the song live last week on an episode of the local TV morning show Bridge Street, and their Anthracite album has been nominated for a SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Awards). See? We play the HITS! (And you can read my little song and dance on behalf of Harmonic Dirt right here.)
MARYKATE O'NEILL: I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around
God, I love this little gem, the lead-off track from Marykate O'Neil's 2006 album 1-800-Bankrupt. As I continue my ongoing Sisyphus impression in attempts to get some notice for my writing, this track joins Eytan Mirsky's "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" and The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year" as a personal motivation theme. I'm ready.
KEN SHARP: Girl
Like me, my friend and former Goldmine colleague Ken Sharp is a Monkees fan. Unlike me, Ken's also a singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist, and he's just released a single pairing his two new covers of songs associated with the late Davy Jones. We opened this week's TIRnRR with Ken's cover of The Monkees' "Forget That Girl," and came back to play his version of Davy's solo song "Girl." "Girl" never got to be a hit record--Michael Nesmith's "Joanne" was the only solo hit for any of the former Monkees--but it's well-known from Davy's 1971 guest appearance on TV's The Brady Bunch, and from his return to sing it again in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie. Davy Jones' "Girl" was also used in the 1971 film Star-Spangled Girl starring Sandy Duncan, a movie (based upon a play by Neil Simon) which relatively few people saw.
Ken's digital singles of "Girl" and "Forget That Girl" are available right now at kensharp.bandcamp.com, and sales benefit our Davy's favorite charity, The Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. The tracks are also available as a 45; contact Ken for details.
THE SUPREMES: You Keep Me Hangin' On
This track merits a chapter in my ever-forthcoming book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but I confess that I've had some difficulty getting the right handle on what I want to write. Beyond the glitz of diva Diana Ross, there is much sadness in the Supremes story, particularly in regard to the late Florence Ballard, and (to a lesser degree) Mary Wilson. For a long time on TIRnRR, our Supremes preference was to play tracks like "Nathan Jones" and "Up The Ladder To The Roof," from the post-Ross edition of The Supremes (which we billed as "without that annoying Diana Ross chick"). But the hits with Ross are still terrific, and "You Keep Me Hangin' On" is probably my favorite. I'll figure out a way to tell its story.
THE YARDBIRDS: Train Kept A-Rollin'
I first knew the song "Train Kept A-Rollin'" via Aerosmith's cover, which a guy named Steve in the dorm room across from mine liked to play during my freshman year in college at Brockport, 1977-78. I've often mentioned how my musical tastes didn't jibe with those of most of my collegiate peers; that's true, but there were nonetheless moments of rockin' pop convergence, even within that stronghold of Southern Rock. There was that one Punk Night at Brockport's on-campus Rathskeller in '78, plus the weekly Oldies Nights at the Rat, too. There was the community viewing of The Rutles' TV special All You Need Is Cash (also in Steve's room); Steve was a Beatles fan, and he occasionally played some other stuff I liked, including The Beach Boys and the above-mentioned Aerosmith.
(It's also worth noting that I wasn't all that much into Aerosmith or The Beach Boys at the time, though I became a big Beach Boys fan as the years fell away; still, I was okay with listening to either act circa '78.)
I'm not sure when I realized that "Train Kept A-Rollin'" predated Aerosmith, but I learned pretty early on that The Yardbirds had also recorded it in the '60s. The track wasn't on my Yardbirds Greatest Hits LP, but I found out about it somehow, even though I may or may not have actually heard it.
During my senior year of '79-'80, there was a free screening of the 1966 film Blow-Up in the ballroom at the student union. I knew (by whatever means) that The Yardbirds appeared in the movie. The screening was already in progress when I happened to pass by the ballroom, but I shrugged, figured what the hell, and slipped in with just enough time to see and hear the nightclub scene, featuring The Yardbirds performing what I thought was "Train Kept A-Rollin';" it was actually an [ahem] ORIGINAL tune called "Stroll On," but yeah, a blood test woulda proven that "Train Kept A-Rollin'" was its daddy. Satisfied to have witnessed The Yardbirds--and the short-lived Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page line-up at that--I quietly exited the ballroom without seeing any more of the film. I think I'd already missed actress Jane Birkin's appearance in the film, so I felt no reason to stick around further.
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| Jane Birkin |
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| For dramatic purposes, the part of my McDonald's co-worker shall be played by Jane Birkin |
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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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 3: download
Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 127 essays about 127 tracks, 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).
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