10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1046.
THE BAR: It's Just You
A Smithereen, a children's author, and a Grip Weed walk into a bar. Well...something like that. This show's connection with the group called The BAR goes back about 15 years, when Dana and I were trying to assemble the second This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation album. Kurt Reil had given us permission to use a track by his own combo The Grip Weeds, and we'd begun a conversation with The Smithereens' guitarist Jim Babjak about securing something from either the 'Reens or Jim Babjak's Buzzed Meg. That conversation led to The BAR--insert your own joke here--and The BAR made their official debut with a song called "Katie's Shoes" on TIRnRR Volume 2.
The group's nom du bop is an acronym, with the above-mentioned Babjak and Reil's last names appropriately bookending the name of Danny Adlerman. Our Danny has written a cavalcade of children's books (many with his wife Kim Adlerman), with titles ranging from Mommy's Having A Watermelon to A Toucan Can: Can You?, the latter co-written by the above-mentioned Jim Babjak. Danny's also a musician, and the Danny Adlerman & Friends 2000 CD One Size Fits All is a delight for rockin' pop fans of all ages.
Babjak, Adlerman, Reil. The BAR's long-awaited eponymous debut album is out this week, and it's fabulous. It includes "Katie's Shoes" alongside a number of other stellar tracks, and the album's opener "It's Just You" is as radio-ready as they come. The "Katie's Shoes" single is available right now at dannyandkim.com, and the album hits this Thursday, October 15th. Book it.
JIM BASNIGHT: Prince Jones Davies Suite
Jim Basnight's "Best Lover In The World" was our # 2 most-played track last year (falling but a single spin shy of the unstoppable juggernaut of "Waterloo Sunset" by TIRnRR Allstars at # 1). So it's safe to say we kinda like Basnight's work. His current Big Stir Records single "Prince Jones Davies Suite" is a medley of Prince's "April Snow," David Bowie's "Win," and The Kinks' "The World Keeps Going Round," and it's a teaser for his forthcoming all-covers album Jokers, Idols And Misfits, due out in November. One would presume that album will score at least a little bit of TIRnRR airplay. One would presume correctly.
THE BURNS SISTERS BAND: I Am A Patriot
I absolutely adored the way The Burns Sisters Band used to crush this Little Steven song in their live shows, an in-the-red performance that left no corpuscle unshaken. I regret that somewhere along the way they decided that they needed to pull it back and reign it in. The recorded version reflects that decidedly less-wild approach, and we can only shrug and mourn the missed opportunity. It's still terrific--The Burns Sisters' vocal perfection will be entered as evidence that a benevolent God exists--and a political action group is currently using it in an ad on behalf of Joe Biden/Kamala Harris. I am a patriot, and I approve this message.
THE FOUR TOPS: Bernadette
Poor ol' Levi Stubbs. Although it's never spelled out or even really implied within the song itself, I have a lingering suspicion that his cherished Bernadette just might be something of a player. I have trust issues. (I also believe that R. Dean Taylor's "Indiana Wants Me" is about a hapless guy in denial of his wife's affair with the man he just shot, and that the deceased man is furthermore the real father of the little baby the doomed singer wishes to see just once more. But I digress.)
Where was I? Oh, Four Tops! My favorite Motown group. I hope Bernadette appreciated Levi, too.
THE HOODOO GURUS: Get Out Of Dodge
It's new music from The Hoodoo Gurus. For "Get Out Of Dodge," the legendary Australian group enlists assistance from Vicki Peterson of The Bangles and John Cowsill of The Cowsills and The Beach Boys to craft a worthy successor to the Gurus' classic legacy. It's new music from The Hoodoo Gurus. What more do you need to know?
THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: 41 Miles To Roscoe
Man, ya gotta love a band whose name is the plural of a Badfinger song title. Well, maybe ya don't gotta love 'em; I guess we'd have to actually hear from hypothetical acts like The No Matter Whats, The Come And Get Its, The Gotta Get Out Of Heres, and The We're For The Darks before actually making that proclamation. My bad. But man, ya gotta love The Midnight Callers.
Our path to The Midnight Callers was paved by intrepid TIRnRR listener Dave Paine. Dave's son Chris Paine was in a cool combo called The London Egg before fronting his own Chris Paine and the Lettertrain (whose "Might Have Found Me" was one of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2018). As Chris migrated to the Midnight Callers dba, we were blown away by each and every song we heard. The Midnight Callers' eagerly-awaited debut album Red Letter Glow is due out next week from the good folks at Jem Recordings, and Gloriosky!, it's immediately and indisputably one of my favorite albums this year. I guess we got what we deserved. Ya gotta love that
PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: Happening Intro/Too Much Talk
In my imaginary ideal Best Of Paul Revere and the Raiders compilation, I specified that such a set would need to use the album version of "Too Much Talk" (from the 1968 Something Happening LP) rather than the 45 version. The two takes differ significantly, and I've never warmed to the single version at all.
I never even heard the single version prior to its inclusion on the 1990 2-CD set The Legend Of Paul Revere. "Too Much Talk" wasn't a big enough hit to make an impression on me when I was eight, so I discovered the song nearly a decade later on my copy of The Raiders' Greatest Hits Volume II. That collection used the album version, so that's the version I came to know and love.
THE SHANG HI LOS: Sway Little Player
HOLY MOLEY! Where's this band been all my life? I've seen The Shang Hi Los name-checked by some way cool radio programmers, and I saw the video for their ace cover of Chicago's "Saturday In The Park" as part of WhistleStop Rock's premiere party for "Queen Of The Drive-In." But even those sterling recommendations plus an agreeable video didn't prepare me for the essential 'n' transcendent oomph of "Sway Little Player." Oh, and the group's Jen D'Angora was in Jenny Dee and the Delinquents and The Downbeat 5, and Dan Kopko was in Watts. Hey, TIRnRR pedigree! Must. Acquire. MORE!!
NATALIE SWEET: Lip Service
Like The Shang Hi Los, Natalie Sweet has just reached my ears thanks to a recent Rum Bar Records digital compilation called Rocktober. Her album Oh, By The Way...It's Natalie Sweet came out in 2019, but as we all know by now, any record you ain't heard before is a new record. And I like this new record a lot.
WEDNESDAY WEEK: Why
A & E's Biography series recently aired a fascinating history of MTV, from its Michael Nesmith-conceived origin to the bean-counters' soulless decision to pretend the "M" part shouldn't stand for "MUSIC." I had my quibbles with MTV even when it was still MUSIC Television, but the documentary reminded me of what I liked about the channel. And it reminded me of being young, creating a pleasant tingle of nostalgia for the '80s (a decade with which I had a complicated relationship.)
Moving a little later in the decade, Wednesday Week's 1987 MTV hit "Why" was one of my turn-the-TV-UP go-to videos. Wednesday Week's Kristi Callan is still active with her current collective Dime Box Band. Dime Box Band scored a little TIRnRR airtime last year, and they're overdue for a return to the ol' playlist, stat. Music television? Pfui. We've got music radio. ROCK 'N' ROLL radio. This is, y'know...that. Stay tuned for more rock 'n' roll.
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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 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
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).
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