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 # 1089.
THE CHELSEA CURVE: Drag
Another new single from the Chelsea Curve! I was able to pry myself away from my current obsession with their previous single "A Better Way" long enough to serve up the TIRnRR debut of their latest pick-hit "Drag." Which one's better? Silly question. Love 'em BOTH!
CHERIE AND MARIE CURRIE: Since You've Been Gone
Had I heard Cherie and Marie Currie's cover of Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone" on the radio before I bought the 45 at Brockport's Main Street Records in 1980? It's possible, though it's just as likely I picked it up on a whim...maybe more likely, given the conservative nature of Rochester radio, which served the Brockport market. The single was too pop to find its way into the playlist of 97 Power Rock, the Sunday night alternative showcase on Buffalo's 97 Rock, but not sufficiently mainstream-approved for CHR or AOR. WCMF-FM was (by far!) the cooler of Rochester's two main rock stations; its competitor Magic 92 was relentlessly boring. CMF did play Shoes, the Diodes, and a few other gems that dinosaur stations wouldn't program in a million years, and I remember CMF DJ Marty Duda (a fellow Brockport alum) playing my request for a Two-for-Tuesday spin of the Ramones :"WCMF rocks Brockport!" Thanks again, Marty.
A lot of my Main Street purchases were impulse buys, prompted by something that clicked in my noggin while I was shopping. I bought the Beat's eponymous debut album because I recognized Paul Collins from the Nerves. I got a ton of records because I'd read about them in Trouser Press or CREEM. And sometimes--especially with 45s--I'd look at a record's graphics, its look, its personnel, and weigh the probability of its grooves playing well within my sovereign airspace.
With "Since You've Been Gone" (notice the Curries' grammatical adjustment of the title), I knew the song from radio play of Rainbow's 1979 version, and of course I knew Cherie Currie from the Runaways. Currie had run away from her former band by the time I saw the Runaways with the Ramones and the Flashcubes in 1978, and in 1980 I hadn't yet heard any of her post-Runaways recordings. I recall seeing her 1978 solo debut Beauty's Only Skin Deep on the racks at Korvettes on Staten Island in '79, but it was an import LP at an import LP price, so I passed (just as I passed on similarly-priced sets by the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls). Trouser Press compared Beauty's Only Skin Deep to the MOR of Helen Reddy, so it was a good thing I didn't indulge the impulse to buy it, its sultry-seeming image of Currie notwithstanding.
"Since You've Been Gone" was the single from Messin' With The Boys, the 1980 album Cherie did with her twin sister Marie. Neither the single nor the album did all that well on the charts, but the sisters did appear on TV's Sha Na Na to promote it, lip-syncing its title tune and messin' with the faux greaser boys. I never did get the album (which also included their cover of the Raspberries' "Overnight Sensation"), nor have I heard much of it, nor anything at all from Beauty's Only Skin Deep. I should remedy all of that, just in case there's something for me in there, though I'm skeptical that much of it will be my music.
But I did like the single. I still do. Whether it was an impulse buy or an informed purchase, it suited my sovereign airspace just fine.
THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIMI BETINIS: Baby It's Cold Outside
It's OUT! This collaboration between Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes and Pezband's Mimi Betinis (covering Pezband's 1970s power pop classic "Baby It's Cold Outside") is automatically one of the best tracks of 2021. Divine right of power pop kings. We were delighted to play a small role in introducing the 'Cubes to the good folks at Big Stir Records, but we had no idea that this would be the magnificent result. There's only one thing left for you to do: BUY IT!!
HAYLEY AND THE CRUSHERS: Jacaranda
Another one of 2021's best tracks. You know how some great songs invade your consciousness at random moments? Hayley and the Crushers' "Jacaranda" (from their current release Fun Sized on Rum Bar Records) doesn't need to invade my consciousness; it's already there! Always! The jacarandas are blooming! Fantastic, fantastic track, conjuring both the allure of ditching small-town doldrums for merrymakin' fun in the tropical sun and the dull frustration of being stuck firmly in place, with not a jacaranda in sight. Screw the small town.
THE JACKLIGHTS: Beach
Beach motif! Like the above-lauded Chelsea Curve, the Jacklights release their pop essentials through the good graces of Red On Red Records. "Beach" is the single and lead-off track from the Jacklights' new EP Drift. Surf's up! Or surf's down, as the case may be, with the Jacklights bestowing peppy guitars-bass-drum-vocals to a bikini-clad but tear-stained reminiscence of summer romance drifted out to sea.
LES HANDCLAPS: Who We Are
Dana thinks 2021's buzz band the Linda Lindas should cover this fab tune from Montreal's finest, Les Handclaps. I think Dana's correct in that belief.
LITTLE RICHARD: Keep A-Knockin'
Dana had the characteristic good sense to program Little Richard's "Keep A-Knockin'" on this week's show, in memory of Little Richard's drummer Charles Connor. Given the extent that Connor's distinctive percussive opening for "Keep A-Knockin'" has imbedded itself into rock 'n' roll culture (albeit by Led Zeppelin appropriating it for their song "Rock And Roll"), it was the obvious, inevitable, and righteous choice.
THE MYNAH BIRDS: I'll Wait Forever
The what-could-have-been aspect of the Mynah Birds--a group signed to Motown in the mid '60s, including then-unknown future superstars Rick James and Neil Young, poised for potential hit status when James' arrest for deserting the army broke up the band and killed Motown's intention to release any Mynah Birds records at all--overshadows what little Mynah Birds music has been available to be heard. Only a handful of tracks have seen the official light of day, but they're intriguing at the very least. If there's still more Mynah Birds material in the vaults, I'd really, really like to hear it all.
PSYCHOTIC YOUTH: On The Route Again
I have no acceptable excuse for not knowing more about Sweden's phenomenal pop combo Psychotic Youth. Yeah, some poor substitute for a proper pop pundit I am. Fortunately, the visionary Kool Kat Musik label stands ready to edumacate me on all matters of the youth psychotic, with a new archival release called New Wonders 1996-2021. Among its fast-paced and/or groovifyin' treats, the set includes a quartet of able ABBA covers--Swedish popsters represent! We opened this week's extravaganza with "On The Route Again," a pumpin' statement of rock 'n' roll intent. Psychotic? I dunno. Seems pretty rational to me.
JOEY RAMONE AND GENERAL JOHNSON: Rockaway Beach
More beach motif. I first heard about this beach-music team-up of Joey Ramone and former Chairmen of the Board singer General Johnson when Joey Ramone called to tell me about in 1994. Yes, I am cooler than you are. (I should probably let that illusion stand in place, but Joey's call to me was just a follow-up to a Goldmine interview we'd done within the previous week, as he wanted to make sure I was aware of a number of projects he was doing outside the Ramones' aegis. He never called again. My claim to being cooler than you are is, y'know, suspect at best.)
But: back to the record! It's an ongoing testimony to the greatness of Ramones songs that they can thrive in different interpretations. The Swedish girl-pop group Shebang did a girl-pop bubblegum version of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker." Ronnie Spector covered "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" and "She Talks To Rainbows." KISS did "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" with more kitchen-sink Phil Spector than the Spector-produced original. The Nutley Brass and the Ramonetures did entire albums of Ramones covers, in the respective styles of elevator music and surf instrumentals. It all worked. These Blitzkrieg bops remain more versatile and universal than anyone realized at the time.
Remaking the power-pop bubblepunk of "Rockaway Beach" as a soulful slow-groove Carolina beach shag would seem a preposterous notion...until you hear it. Whoa! Grab a blanket, grab your honey, and snuggle by the fire as the sun descends. It's not hard, not far to reach. Hitch a ride, baby.
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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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Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
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