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 # 1085.
SPINAL TAP: Gimme Some Money
A community radio show relies upon support from listeners and volunteers. SPARK! in Syracuse is no exception, and we're always looking to expand our ranks with more dedicated and talented Central New York individuals. There's never been a time when this organization had too many people involved. If you live in the Syracuse area, and would like to become an active participant in this project in some capacity, well, you should contact us, my friend. With you, we could be legion!
Much of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's sphere of influence falls outside the ol' 315, but our listeners step up just as if they were local, minus the access to salt potatoes and Hofmann hot dogs (their loss). We need people, but we also need, y'know, money to keep the lights on and the records playing. We're grateful to all of the folks who've tithed us with their hard-earned greenbacks in the past, and we remain in need of further TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS on an ongoing basis. You like whatever it is we do here? Yeah, you're our kind of potential patron o' the arts, then! Please give what you can, if you can, and we thanks ya.
Mindful that we haven't done an active fundraiser in quite some time, we figured we oughtta open this week's proceedings with a simple reminder that this is radio worth paying for. And there was no more appropriate way to say that, except to open with this simple call to action from the lads of Spinal Tap. Gimme some MONEY!
THE BEATLES: Money (That's What Want)
For as many times artists have attempted Motown covers over the decades, only a relative handful have been within the same zip code as matching the original. Very few attempts have been even better than the Motown original.
The Beatles did it twice.
In 1963, the Fab Four's second album With The Beatles (revamped, reorganized, and renovated for American ears in '64 into The Beatles' Second Album) included three tunes from the Motown songbook: the Miracles' "You've Really Got A Hold On Me," the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman," and Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)." I don't think the Beatles match the Miracles here, but I do believe they absolutely own "Please Mr. Postman" and "Money (That's What I Want)." Consider those the sound of young Beatlemania.
THE O'JAYS: For The Love Of Money
Philly soul legends the O'Jays provide "For The Love Of Money," the final piece in our three-part opening ode to filthy lucre. I really wanted to play this, but I only have the album version, and at a running time of more than seven minutes, that's, like, two songs in the TIRnRRverse. EDIT, people! Dana had access to the 3:42 single version, and our money-grubbing trilogy was complete. For that mean, mean, mean, mean, mean green.
THE CHELSEA CURVE: A Better Way
The fab Red On Red Records imprint is a trusted resource for the rock and the roll, and the vast majority of TIRnRR playlists come factory-equipped with at least one track from the Red On Red empire. Kid Gulliver! Justine and the Unclean! Andrea Gillis! Cold Expectations! Linnea's Garden! MORE! And that "more" includes the Chelsea Curve, back again with a new single called "A Better Way," which just might be their best one yet. Trust us.
THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: It Don't Feel Good
It is not at all unfair to think of the Dave Clark Five as a singles band. They never became an album act, not like the Beatles, not like the Kinks or the Rolling Stones, definitely not like the Who, and there's no Tottenham Sound equivalent of the Zombies' Odessey And Oracle. God knows there's no Pet Sounds here, and God's not the only one who knows it. The DC5 lived and breathed on 45s--"Glad All Over," "Bits And Pieces," "Any Way You Want It," "Catch Us If You Can," "Try To Hard," etc.--and that's where the group's thumpin' footprint was established.
That said, I mean, the Dave Clark Five did release albums, too. And they weren't just filled with padding around the single tracks. Granted, a DC5 LP could include a lot of filler, but there were also some lesser-known gems here and there. If I were to assemble a list of my all-time DC5 favorites, LP tracks like "When," "Don't You Realize," "Don't Be Taken In," "Doctor Rhythm," and "It Don't Feel Good" would edge out familiar smashes "Because," "Over And Over," and "Can't You See That She's Mine." HEY!
"It Don't Feel Good" is from the 1966 Try Too Hard album. It's an album track but it sounds great on the radio. Singles band. Album artist. We reject your petty labels. Let's play. Don't it feel good?
EAGLES: The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks
Here's an understatement for ya: Eagles do not receive a lot of airplay on TIRnRR. Without actually checking stats, I'd say this week's spin of "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" is unlikely to be more than the group's fifth appearance here all-time, and maybe only their fourth. I can only think of three Eagles songs we've ever played ("Already Gone" and "Take It Easy" are the other two), and it's possible that "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" is the only Eagles track we've played more than once.
I'm not here to belabor my long-standing antipathy for the Eagles, nor to denigrate their fans; dig what you dig, always dig what you dig. As a burgeoning teen punk in 1977, I selected the Eagles as my designated band to hate, just because it felt like the thing for me to do. And I did hate (and still do hate) "Lyin' Eyes" and "Hotel California." It may be silly in retrospect, but I think it was the right thing for me at the time.
The three Eagles songs cited above were my exceptions. I was a pop fan, so I couldn't figure out a way to deny the pure pop appeal of "Take It Easy" and "Already Gone," early evidence gathered in my long-standing conviction that even the act you hate the most might be capable of at least one song you absolutely love.
The Long Run, the 1979 album that would turn out to be the group's farewell, didn't change much of anything, I think. Wait, lemme check...yep, still hated the Eagles in '79. But man, I loved the willfully stupid frat-rock of "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks," and I wished the Eagles could get stupid more often.
DEAN LANDEW: Cathi D'Silva
Wait, a song about a DJ? Sure, we'll play that! Fave Rave Dean Landew returns to the TIRnRR playlist with this tale of a rockin' woman servin' up the platters that matter. Just like us! Except, y'know, a chick, like....
Yeah, like Riff Randall, rock 'n' roller! Well done, Dean!
BILLY OCEAN: L.O.D. (Love On Delivery)
Long before that Caribbean queen and her painted-on jeans, Billy Ocean offered this very cool 1976 bubblesoul single that shoulda been a hit. I was working in record retail during Ocean's mid-'80s hitmakin' heyday, and I didn't object to any of it, to "Carribean Queen," "Suddenly," "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going," or "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," and I have a vague memory of a female customer blushing girlishly when I responded to her plea for help in IDing a song by singing "Suddenly" to her. Yeah, those were the days. No more love on the run!
But "L.O.D. (Love On Delivery)" is far and away my favorite among Ocean's...man, I wish an Ocean's 11 reference fit here. I learned the song from a 1998 various-artists set called Soulful Pop, part of Varese Sarabande's yummy-yummy Bubblegum Classics series. I need to investigate Ocean's eponymous album from '76, to see if there may still be more love available to schedule for delivery.
I'll pay C.O.D. Love, CC
IRENE PEÑA: One More Night
One of the many greater goods understood on this little mutant radio show is that when Irene Peña puts out a song, we play it. Duh. "One More Night" is the fifth and latest release in Big Stir Records' current campaign to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Irene's debut album Nothing To Do With You by releasing each of its tracks, one by one, as digital singles. A greater good indeed.
THE RAMONES (WITH EDDIE VEDDER): Any Way You Want It
I'm working on something. I'll tell you about it eventually. It doesn't really have anything at all to do with this track, but what the hell. Here's the very last song from the very last live performance by the Ramones, joined on stage by Eddie Vedder for a run-through of the Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It." August 6, 1996. And we're outta here!
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
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
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.
No comments:
Post a Comment