This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1041.
T BONE BURNETT: Jellico Coal Man
I'm fascinated by the varying random ways in which we discover music. My discovery of this track was about as random as it gets. A co-worker was testing some wi-fi streaming audio thing that I don't actually understand, and without warning this majestic, hypnotic music enveloped my ears and inner monologue. There was only one rational response I could offer in reply to this sublime sound: What. Is. THIS...?!
"This" was "Jellico Coal Man" by T Bone Burnett. Based on a poem by Johnny Cash, Burnett composed the music and recorded the song for Forever Words, a 2018 compilation of various artists adding melody to Cash's words. "Jellico Coal Man" is simply wonderful, one of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's most-played tracks in 2019, and it's something I would likely have never even heard if not for serendipitous happenstance. Fascinating.
EARTH, WIND & FIRE: Shining Star
When I think of rock 'n' roll or pop music movies, I have something specific in mind. I'm not thinking of documentaries or concert films, and I'm not really thinking of biopics (though I wouldn't necessarily exclude them); I'm thinking of films with some kind of storyline, however slight or substantial, where the musical element is the main thing but not quite the only thing. The Girl Can't Help It. Jailhouse Rock. Expresso Bongo. A Hard Day's Night. Head. Rock 'n' Roll High School. That Thing You Do! Bloodstone in Train Ride To Hollywood, or (if it had been completed) The Sex Pistols in Who Killed Bambi? Some are better than others, and some are terrible, but when thinking of beat flicks, these pop into my head before any performance film would.
(I mean, except for The T.A.M.I. Show, which is the perfect rock 'n' roll movie. I am large. I contain multitudes.)
Lovely wife Brenda and I recently watched the 1975 film That's The Way Of The World, which featured Earth, Wind & Fire in a supporting role (playing a group called...The Group). Maurice White and other members of the group--sorry, The Group--are fine with the little bits of acting required of them, though obviously it's their music that's the real shining star here.
The film itself is a low-key melodrama about the record industry, starring Harvey Keitel as a hotshot producer navigating the demands of his label, a Mob boss, his belief in (and commitment to) The Group, a (seemingly) clean-cut family act foisted upon him by his boss, and both the personal and professional desires of that act's pretty lead singer, Velour Page (played by actress Cynthia Bostick, a former Miss Kentucky whom a quick Google search indicates is a currently a Trumper, which is disappointing but in perfect keeping with her character in That's The Way Of The World).
Writing in the book Hollywood Rock, Marshall Crenshaw gave That's The Way Of The World a full five-star ranking, which seems a couple of stars too high for me. It is very much a '70s film, in its ambiance and in its pacing, its attitude, its curious mix of idealism and cynicism. I liked it for what it was: a hokey but interesting time capsule with some great music. Plus Bert Parks and Murray the K. It's on Amazon Prime if you're keen on seeing it for yourself.
And in one scene, EWF's "Shining Star" plays on the radio. That's sufficient motivation to get the track back on the TIRnRR playlist (in an alternate mix from the group's--arghh, THE GROUP'S--boxed set, The Eternal Dance). Shining star for you to see what your life can truly be.
FOOLS FACE: Always The Last To Know
Pop fans have stacks 'n' stacks of stories about favorite almosts and shoulda-beens, cherished acts that seemed to have everything--everything--one could look for in a rockin' pop success story, missing only, y'know, the success part. Springfield, Missouri's Fools Face were a prime example, a nonpareil group that wrote great songs, reportedly put on dynamic live shows, made some fantastic independent records in the '70s and '80s, and did not get noticed. I own the only copies I've ever seen of their second and third albums, 1981's Tell America and 1983's Public Places, and I've only ever seen one other copy of their debut LP, 1979's Here To Observe. Tell America is an all-time Top 20 record for me.
The group's eponymous 2002 reunion album lived up to their legacy, and that album's "Always The Last To Know" is as good as anything released by anyone that year. Few heard it. Fools Face was the group's only studio album to be released on CD; it's now nearly as tough to come by as their old LPs.
IAN HUNTER: Soul Of America
Ian Hunter's Shrunken Heads was one of my favorite albums of 2007, and possibly my favorite of Hunter's long and storied career. Yeah, even including the absolute classic stuff he did with Mott the Hoople. I had the good fortune to see Hunter play with Mick Ronson at a club show in 1989--hey, Thanksgiving night at The Lost Horizon!--and I continue to marvel at the length and breadth of his career. Ian Hunter is, of course, not in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
"Soul Of America" from Shrunken Heads was requested this week by intrepid TIRnRR listener Dave Murray, as a long-distance dedication to Joe Biden. The soul of America. Vote blue.
THE LIKE: Release Me
I don't know anything at all about The Like, an all-female combo that was signed to Geffen Records earlier in this newfangled 21st century. I can only tell you that I heard the title tune from their 2010 album Release Me, and was immediately enthralled by its boppin' appropriation of '60s girl-group hooks within a vaguely alt-rock setting. Shoulda been a hit.
THE MONKEES: I'll Be Back Up On My Feet
This track from The Monkees' 1968 album The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees represents one of the first times I was aware that there could be different versions of the same song by the same group. I purchased the Bees LP at the flea market in the mid '70s, right around the same time I was re-connecting with the group's TV show via reruns on cable. Before long, I noticed that the version of "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet" on my album sounded very different from the version heard on TV. (I mean, aside from the fact that my Bees album skipped on that track, changing the line I won't disappear to I won't deeeear. Well. As long as you promise you won't.) No backing brass, different overall feel. I began to wonder about such variations, and in college wished that the TV version could be released. I got it on a bootleg in the early '80s, and of course Rhino eventually gave it a legit issue as part of the label's ongoing crusade to just take my money.
Oddly enough, I now prefer the album version. See, it sounds fine without the skip, Deeeear.
POP CO-OP: Persistence Of Memory
Oh, what a beautiful song. It sounds so frail and delicate, yet possessed of its own stubborn resilience, its steadfast remembrance of what was, the prevailing persistence of memory. From Pop Co-Op's most recent effort Factory Settings, Your Favorite Album Of 2020.
THE POPTARTS: I Won't Let You Let Me Go
The Poptarts were a terrific all-female quintet in the late '70s, playing in the same effervescent Syracuse scene as The Flashcubes, The Ohms, and The Tearjerkers. The '60s-influenced look and sound of The Poptarts presaged the successful formula of The Go-Go's in the '80s, but The Poptarts weren't able to break through, and disbanded without ever releasing any records. Their handful of demos, rehearsal tapes, and studio recordings have never seen official release.
"I Won't Let You Let Me Go" was the first song ever played on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, kicking off TIRnRR # 1 on December 27th, 1998. We've played it again many times since then, and we usually favor the more energetic demo version. This week, we opted to play the studio version, produced by Bill Murphy. The members of The Poptarts hated the results of their studio sessions, with guitarist Cathy VanPatten once telling me that the producer "cut off our balls...and we didn't even have any!"
But, just as The Poptarts anticipated The Go-Go's, their reaction to a producer's slightly slicker realization of their sound was later duplicated by the feelings of The Go-Go's when they first heard what producer Richard Gottehrer had done to their punk-bred approach. It must have been jarring. Nonetheless, Gotterher's gloss helped make The Go-Go's household names. I adore those records, and I wish The Poptarts had been able to achieve similar success.
Decades ago, in an overview of The Poptarts' recordings, I referred to Bill Murphy's work with the group as "woefully overproduced." While I still prefer the earlier demo versions, I've come to appreciate Murphy's valiant attempt to accentuate the first syllable in Poptarts. It's good stuff. I wish more people had a chance to hear it.
ROSETTA STONE: Drive On
I was and remain an unapologetic fan of The Bay City Rollers. The late Ian Mitchell was only in the Rollers for a very brief time in the '70s, so we wanted to pay tribute to him with a spin of something by his post-Rollers group Rosetta Stone. Rest in peace, Ian.
ANDY WILLIAMS: A Fool Never Learns
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio is also large enough to contain multitudes. This isn't the first time we've played this great Andy Williams track, nor is it the only Andy Williams track ever played on the show; I played "Moon River" on an all-vinyl edition of TIRnRR in 2017, sandwiched in between X and James Brown. Multitudes, I tell ya! "A Fool Never Learns" was written by former Buddy Holly collaborator Sonny Curtis, whose popcrafting resumé also includes "I Fought The Law" and the familiar Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song "Love Is All Around." The 1963 Andy Williams 45 of "A Fool Never Learns"/"Charade" was in the family record collection when I was a kid, and I've loved it since then. I have learned that there is nothing foolish about that.
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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.
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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 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).
Thanks so much, Carl! This means a lot!
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