This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1023.
THE BOOKENDS: She's Got It
The Bookends are two cousins, Karen Lynn and Sharon Lee, whose shared DNA manifests in a love of the 1960s and all things Beatley. I've been Facebook friends with Karen for years, and I've been delighted to hear the music Sharon 'n' Karen have made together as The Bookends. Their first album, 2018's Far Away But Around, was deliciously fab and far out, and I eagerly await more. Now that The Bookends are signed with Marty Scott's storied Jem Records label, they've released a couple of cool singles, the most recent of which is "She's Got It." "She's Got It" has got it in spades.
THE BROTHERS STEVE: We Got The Hits
This is just such a great radio song. The Brothers Steve include three former members of the group Tsar (Jeff Whalen, Jeff Solomon, and Steve Coulter, the latter also a cool mystery writer under the nom du pulp S. W. Lauden), and "We Got The Hits" is an irresistible de facto statement of intent. We got a radio show. Of course we got the hits! The song also serves as an illustration of the sometimes-symbiotic nature of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio; I began playing it last year, Dana got hooked on it immediately, and now he's the one playing it as I stand to the side applauding his choice. It works both ways, as I'll often run with some great track that Dana played first. That's what makes a hit.
DAVE CLARK AND FRIENDS: If You've Got A Little Love To Give
Somewhere within my mid '70s dive into learning all I could about the British Invasion, my study of The Dave Clark Five informed me of the existence of Dave Clark And Friends, a 1972 album that was the final collaboration between Clark and the DC5's incredible lead singer and keyboardist Mike Smith. I have never seen a copy of that LP. However, several years ago I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a two-for CD of suspect legitimacy--the sort of release that record sellers used to winkingly refer to as a "rare import" rather than a "bootleg"--combining Dave Clark And Friends with the final official DC5 album, The Dave Clark Five Play Good Old Rock & Roll. MINE! I couldn't buy it fast enough.
THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Sisters Of The Pollen
The Corner Laughers' new album Temescal Telegraph is due out June 5th from the good folks at Big Stir Records, it's flippin' fabulous, and I'm ordering all of you to buy it. NOW! Don't argue with the blogger. Led by singer-songwriter Karla Kane, The Corner Laughers made their TIRnRR debut in 2006 with "You Two Are The Ones," a track from their album Tomb Of Leopards. Tomb Of Leopards was released by Sandbox Records, which was piloted by the late, great Marty Rudnick. Marty hipped me to the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of The Corner Laughers, and I remain grateful. A lot of the songs on Temescal Telegraph remind me of XTC without feeling at all derivative, and with more ukulele. If I did year-end Top Ten lists, this would already be a strong contender.
THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise
I've been writing a book called The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). When I get self-conscious about how often I mention the book here, I remind myself that, y'know, what's the point of having my own blog if I can't gush about the projects that get me fired up? I've been reviewing and tightening the chapters already written, and my stupid, fannish enthusiasm for my own work remains undiminished.
And The Flashcubes' "No Promise" is The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE FOUR TOPS: Standing In The Shadows Of Love
I'm not sure when I realized that The Four Tops were my favorite Motown group. My first conscious exposure to the Tops wasn't even with a Motown record, but with their 1973 AM radio hit "Are You Man Enough" on ABC-Dunhill. Although it's likely that I heard a bunch of their earlier gems as a little kid in the '60s, I didn't retain any awareness of them. Instead, I rediscovered all of that in the late '70s.
I think my gateway to Motown-era Four Tops was "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," which led me to "It's The Same Old Song," which led me to a beat-up Motown anthology at the flea market, which led me to a used copy of The Four Tops' Greatest Hits. That LP was probably the first single-artist Motown album I owned. I liked The Supremes and The Temptations and The Miracles and Stevie Wonder, but yeah, The Four Tops were indeed tops with me. Levi Stubbs, man. No one could invest more passion and force into a 45 rpm record than Levi Stubbs could.
"Standing In The Shadows Of Love" has never been my # 1 favorite Four Tops track--that designation has shifted back and forth between "It's The Same Old Song" and "Reach Out I'll Be There"--but it's up there. In college circa 1979, I remember actively despising Rod Stewart's smarmy cover of the song. Rod Stewart was okay, I guess. But he was no Levi Stubbs.
THE JAM: The Eton Rifles
I've written previously of how I became a fan of The Jam in the late '70s. "The Eton Rifles" is from The Jam's 1979 album Setting Sons, which is not only my favorite Jam album, but one of my all-time Top 25 albums in any category. The album is long overdue for a retrospective in my series Love At First Spin.
THE JIVE FIVE: What Time Is It?
Back to The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Here's a snippet from the chapter discussing "What Time Is It?" by The Jive Five:
The Jive Five's "What Time Is It?" (a song much later covered by Marshall Crenshaw) is one of the most heavenly-sounding records ever made. And it sums up the sweet anticipation of the big date tonight with greater joy and eloquence than any other record I've ever heard...
...The giddy wellspring of hope and promise, the potential redemptive power of a love story about to write its introductory chapter, are essential components in our collective concept of the first date as a rite of passage. And it is the irresistible tableau of The Jive Five's dreamy, delicious celebration "What Time Is It?"....
Better hurry up and put my tie on.
THE PALEY BROTHERS AND THE RAMONES: Come On Let's Go
The combined forces of The Paley Brothers and Ramones provided me with my second-hand introduction to Ritchie Valens's fantastic 1958 debut hit "Come On, Let's Go." As much as I came to dig the Valens original, I regard the Paley/Ramones cover version as definitive.
The track was originally issued in 1978 on a Paley Brothers EP, but I knew it from the soundtrack of The Ramones' 1979 movie Rock 'n' Roll High School. I don't remember whether I bought that album right before or shortly after first seeing the film in a crowded nightclub on July 6th of '79, a Friday at the end of a week from Hell. The screening preceded lives sets from The Flashcubes and The Ramones themselves, and lemme tell ya, that's how ya celebrate a rock 'n' roll movie.
I think I bought the album after seeing the film, though it could have been the other way around. It became one of my go-to albums that summer. Syracuse's 95X had been playing the movie's title track, so I definitely at least heard that song prior to seeing the movie (and to hearing The Ramones include it in their live set). The LP included great stuff by Devo, Alice Cooper, Brownsville Station, Chuck Berry, Nick Lowe, and Eddie and the Hot Rods, the film's star (and my newest crush) P. J. Soles warbling her version of "Rock 'n' Roll High School," less interesting (to me) selections from Eno and Todd Rundgren, some live Ramones cuts, and two new Ramones studio tracks heard in the film, the lovely ballad (Ballad...?!) "I Want You Around" and, of course, "Rock 'n' Roll High School." It did not include the Paul McCartney, MC5, and Velvet Underground songs played within the film itself. It did include "Come On Let's Go," its credit reversed to "Ramones with The Paley Brothers." Sorry boys; gotta give top billing to the stars of the picture.
But enough about them. Let's talk about P. J. Soles....
THE ROLLING STONES: Get Off Of My Cloud
Hearing "Get Off Of My Cloud" on the radio is my earliest memory of The Rolling Stones. The songs earns a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):1965 was pop music's best year ever. I was five, and although I was old enough to know a bunch of songs I heard on the radio, I didn't start to truly appreciate the year's bounty until more than a decade later, when I began to discover essential '65 gems by The Kinks, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Buck Owens, The Yardbirds, The Beau Brummels, The Byrds, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Fontella Bass, The Small Faces, The Dixie Cups, The Vogues, The Who, The Zombies, The Miracles, The Hollies, George Jones, Stevie Wonder, and so, so many more. Whatta year! The best stuff was popular, and the popular stuff was the best.
"Get Off Of My Cloud" was the first Rolling Stones song I ever knew, a radio smash in '65. Even if I had to wait until teendom to understand the splendor that was all around me when I was five, there was still much I knew as it happened. I certainly knew "Get Off Of My Cloud." I may not have had reason to believe The Rolling Stones were substantively different from contemporary hitmeisters like The Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, The Castaways, or Gary Lewis & the Playboys, but I remember that voice bellowing out of transistor radios: Don't hang around boy, two's a crowd! At five, I thought the twisting of the familiar "Two's company, three's a crowd" maxim was interesting. This record was probably my introduction to the idea of a song having swagger...
...As an avowed pop fan, I've found that some rock fans think that maybe I don't like the Stones. But I do. For a very brief period in the early '80s, I even preferred The Rolling Stones to The Beatles (though I got over that phase pretty fast!). Granted, there are a number of Stones perennials--"Brown Sugar," "Miss You," "Start Me Up"--that I would be just fine with NEVER EVER HEARING AGAIN. Ahem. I'm pretty well over "Shattered" by now, too. But The Rolling Stones were a pop band, especially in the '60s. They were, in fact, a terrific pop band. I like to invoke Bob Segarini's joke about The Rolling Stones being "The World's Luckiest Bar Band," but even a really, really lucky bar band doesn't come up with the riffs, doesn't quite pull off the attitude, and--most importantly--doesn't craft those hooks that made The Rolling Stones essential radio fare. And if you think that ain't good enough for pop music...well, don't hang around, boy--two's a crowd....
On my cloud, baby.
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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 134 essays about 134 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).
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 134 essays about 134 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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