10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday 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.
WENDI DUNLAP: Season Of Loss
Wendi Dunlap made her TIRnRR debut last week with a spin of a song called "Buildings." "Buildings" comes from her new album Looking For Buildings, and we figured we'd maybe oughtta follow that with more Wendi Dunlap this week. A song called "Season Of Loss" might seem a deliberate selection to play as we head into the holidays, but that's too glib, and it's not what the song's about anyway. We played it because it's a great song that sounds wonderful on the radio. The catharsis of pop music. Sometimes that's all you can ask for.
THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Yes I Am
I'm on an abundance of public record as a fan of the Flamin' Groovies. What, you want proof of that? Fine: here, here, here, and here. I like all phases of the Groovies' long and storied career, but I have a particular affection for the Sire Records era in the late '70s. "Yes I Am" was a track on the 1979 Jumpin' In The Night LP, and it's an absolutely aces track that doesn't get nearly enough attention.
THE GRIP WEEDS: Making Time
Oh, we love the Grip Weeds. We've been serving up what amounts to a carpet-bombing approach to programming tracks from the group's new covers album DiG, because in spite of what some clueless minimalists may have told you, "less" isn't more, MORE! is more.
So this week, we turn to another DiG track, a confident 'n' capable take on the Creation's Mod power pop '60s classic "Making Time." The original's unbeatable. Damned if the Grip Weeds don't match it, though, and that oughtta be impossible. It's not impossible for the Grip Weeds. We love the Grip Weeds.
THE GUESS WHO: No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
The music of the Guess Who was such an integral part of my essential AM radio experience and overall pop music soundtrack in the late '60s and early '70s, and I can't explain why I became...well, it would be a stretch to say that I became estranged from the group's records, but I definitely lost interest. That's a shame, because so much of this stuff is five-alarm level superb, and "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" is just an incredible, incredible rockin' pop record.
HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch
I had a dream last week, in which I was chatting with Lita Ford at a nightclub. In the dream, she had just finished a live duet with Lemmy from Motörhead, covering Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' pre-Beatles British rock 'n' roll nugget "Please Don't Touch."
The dream was set in the present day; yeah, even though Lemmy left this too-quiet world behind at the end of 2015--you know how dreams are. But it was the mature Lita of today (still a knockout in her sixties), not the young Lita that played guitar with the Runaways in the late 1970s. I gushed to her about how much I loved seeing and hearing her 'n' Lemmy singing "Please Don't Touch," mentioned that the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" is discussed in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but that "School Days" was really my favorite Runaways track. She smiled indulgingly (though she seemed to grimace at the mention of "Cherry Bomb," as if to say, Not friggin' "Cherry Bomb" AGAIN....!), and she was polite and friendly before moving on to talk with other people.
I have no idea why my dream about "Please Don't Touch" substituted Lita Ford for Girlschool guitarist Kelly Johnson, since Johnson is the one who actually sang and played with Lemmy when Girschool merged with Motörhead (as Headgirl) for the 1980 single of "Please Don't Touch." I guess that's just how dreams are. No slight to Ms. Ford, but I don't think anyone could do this song better than Kelly Johnson and Lemmy did it.
JOHNNY JOHNSON AND THE BANDWAGON: Let's Hang On
Speaking of covers, the underrated late '60s/early '70s soul group Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon had a knack for rendering unique and appealing remakes of familiar tunes. Their bubblesoul version of Bashful Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is an alchemic interpretation surpassed only by the Byrds. The Bandwagon were likewise able to grab ahold of the Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On" and make it their own, respecting the original but steadfastly hanging on to their own vision of what this song should be. I like the Four Seasons' version and I like the Spinners' subsequent hit version, too. But the Bandwagon? Man, that's the one I'm hanging on to.
KID GULLIVER: Susie Survived Chemotherapy
Given how much airplay we've gleefully given to Kid Guilliver and our full-throated endorsement of their debut album Kismet, I was surprised to discover we'd never played their Ramonesified cancer diatribe "Susie Survived Chemotherapy" before. Impossible but true! This paradox could not stand, so Dana prescribed a cure. Ask your doctor if Kid Gulliver is right for you. If your doctor says no, GET A NEW DOCTOR.
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: When The Time Comes [alternate version]
My first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers record was the You're Gonna Get It LP in 1978. I bought it after seeing Tom and his heartbreakin' band o' brothers on The Midnight Special, singing (if memory serves) "American Girl," "I Need To Know," and "Listen To Her Heart." And lemme tell ya, if those three songs had been the only three songs that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ever did, I'd still say they were worthy of induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with that resumé alone. "American Girl" had been on the group's eponymous debut, but the other two were on You're Gonna Get It. So I got it. Get it?
The album also included "When The Time Comes," a song represented by an alternate version on this week's playlist. A long time ago, I embraced that song's opening lines as my ongoing mantra: This might sound strange, might seem dumb. Words to live by.
SPYGENIUS: So You Say You Lost Your Baby
It's an odd thing for a little mutant radio show to hang its hat on, but TIRnRR has always had a thing for Gene Clark covers. That's mostly attributable to Full Circle, a simply swell 2-CD Gene Clark tribute put out by Not Lame Recordings in the late '90s. We played the hell out of that one, and some of its tracks still routinely turn up on TIRnRR more than two decades later. Not long ago, we dug out Fireking's engaging 2015 cover of Clark's "So You Say You Lost Your Baby." It was only a matter of time between afore we got to this version by Spygenius, from their new covers album Spygenius Blow Their Covers. It's all right, Gene.
MAURICE WILLIAMS AND THE ZODIACS: Stay
Balance. Having granted nearly five minutes of air time--basically, the length of two songs--to the Guess Who's "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" earlier in the show, I needed something short and sharp to even out the playlist time. At something like 1:36 or so, "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs is the shortest song ever to reach Billboard's top pop spot, and it was just what the timekeeper ordered. Hit the hook. Hit the road. Leave us wanting more. That's what a pop record does.
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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
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.
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