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.
NICK FRATER: Buggin' Out
This little mutant wireless TIRnRR shindig has found Nick Frater's 2021 album Earworms to be a productive resource for the sacred task of programming better radio. I mean, you've got the plethora of spotlight-ready pop ditties on the album itself, and you've got the sundry li'l shots of Fab courtesy of the Rubutles, Frater's answer to the rhetorical question of the Rutles and a bonus tangent to Earworms. A tangent known by its trousers. Yeah, of course we're playing Earworms.
And Earworms is the gift that keeps on giving. Its track "Buggin' Out" has been released as a digital single, paired with the non-album "How About It Girl? (Sara Pt. 2)." And that gives us an excuse to open the show with the A-side. Better radio. We thanks ya, Nick.
THE BUSBOYS: Love On My Mind
While I believe the BusBoys shoulda been bigger in the '80s--neither "New Shoes" nor "The Boys Are Back In Town" made the Billboard Hot 100, and their Ghostbusters track "Cleanin' Up The Town" only scared its way up to a chart peak of # 68--they were nonetheless a legit and large part of that decade's pop culture. My favorite BusBoys track is "Minimum Wage," from their 1980 debut LP Minimum Wage Rock & Roll, though I don't remember whether or not I saw them perform the song on ABC's late-night SNL ripoff Fridays. The most indelible '80s memory of the BusBoys remains the sight of them singing "The Boys Are Back In Town" in Eddie Murphy's 1982 breakout flick 48 Hours. C'mon--how was that song not a hit?!
Pfui...but water under the bridge. In our shiny, shiny 21st century, the BusBoys are back with a new single, "Love On My Mind," and it's a worthy continuation of the A-list material that shoulda been top of the pops during the Reagan regime. No nostalgia moves here; good stuff is timeless, and this is good stuff.
AMOEBA TEEN: New Material World
Listen: we know a good idea when we steal it.
When we were programming this week's show, Dana asked me if I was planning on playing Amoeba Teen. "Why, yes!," I replied, "I am going to play Amoeba Teen!" And then Dana informed me of his plan....
Now, UK pop sensations Amoeba Teen have a new album, Amoeba Teen, its release preceded by a digital single of its track "New Material World," which we already played on a recent edition of TIRnRR. Norman Weatherly reviewed the album for Weathered Music, and gave it the appropriate rave. In his piece, Weatherly noted that "The single...is as New Wave as a song can get. It bristles with guitar lines that would have been at home in a New Wave playlist nestled between Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile."
We know a good idea when we steal it.
Dana played Brinsley Schwarz' "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?" I swapped out my original intent to spin Amoeba Teen's "Melody Told You" and reprised "New Material World" instead. Dana followed with Rockpile's "Heart." We conceded credit to Weatherly on air; it was his idea.
But it's ours now!
GYMNASIUM: Coast To Coast Companion
Aw, I like this. We're predisposed to dig stuff from the mighty Red On Red Records label anyway, and this latest single from Gymnasium rewards that interest with exactly the sort of toe-tappin' sense of invigmoration we seek. The track will be on Gymnasium's forthcoming album Hansen's Pop 'n' Rock Music '22, and I betcha we'll be predisposed to dig that, too.
POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart
Great song. Fabulous song. And I know something about it that you probably don't know. It has something in common with [redacted]. It's enough to put an extra beat in any heart.
THE FLASHCUBES: Soldier Of Love
Unsung soul legend Arthur Alexander's classic "Soldier Of Love" is probably best-known as a Beatles performance originally heard only on bootlegs. I certainly heard the Beatles' then-unreleased "Soldier Of Love" well before I heard Alexander's original, and I may have heard Marshall Crenshaw's cover even before I heard John Lennon pleading for his lover to lay down her arms.
But, before Arthur Alexander, Marshall Crenshaw, or the Beatles, I was introduced to "Soldier Of Love" by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. Visiting my girlfriend in NYC over spring break in 1979, I dragged her to a Bowery club called Gildersleeves to see the 'Cubes.
They were fantastic, of course. The Flashcubes were always a great live band, and they were at their peak in 1979. And they included "Soldier Of Love" in their set, as they piledrived their way through covers and originals in a performance that caused even supposedly jaded New Yorkers to yell up at the 'Cubes on stage, "Hey, you guys are good!"
A couple of months later, in May of 1979, the Flashcubes were still playing "Soldier Of Love," and it's on the tape of an incendiary live show captured on the recent archival release Flashcubes On Fire. Before Arthur Alexander, Marshall Crenshaw, or the Beatles, the Flashcubes were the first to teach me a song called "Soldier Of Love." Jaded New Yorkers knew they were good. The rest of the world is still trying to catch up.
FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
HOOVER AND MARTINEZ: The Scene Of The Cryin'
We've been corresponding with Jamie Hoover for ages, honestly. The Spongetones! The Van deLecki's! Jamie and Steve! Stepford Knives! Whatever rockin' pop dba Jamie utilizes in the moment, it's likely gonna score a berth on the ol' TIRnRR playlist. Hoover and Martinez, our Jamie's current collaboration with Christine Martinez, is no exception to established pro-Hoover policy. Plus it's, y'know, swell! The 3P is their debut three-song digital single--available NOW!!!--and it commences airplay with this week's spin of "The Scene Of The Cryin'." We'll have another track from Hoover and Martinez next week. Policy, man. Gotta stay with our policy.
THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping
I love sooooooo many of the Monkees' tracks. "Porpoise Song" is my top pick, but I had difficulty narrowing my Monkees faves raves to even a Top 25.
"Love Is Only Sleeping" is for damned sure one of my Monkees essentials. I discovered it in mid-'70s reruns of the TV show; even though I watched the show in prime time during the '60s and on Saturdays in the early '70s, I don't recall noticing that song until I was a teenager watching cable TV out of New York. And I really tuned into the song when a girl I knew somewhere let me borrow her copy of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. during my senior year in high school, spring 1977.
It made an impression.
LINDA RONSTADT: You're No Good
There is no progress to report on the status of my above-mentioned, long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). A publisher has the completed manuscript, and is reviewing it to determine if it's a suitable project for his company. It's a long shot, but it's within the realm of plausible possibility.
This wonderful Linda Ronstadt song is among the 175 tracks discussed in the book's current draft, and it's also in the slightly shorter back-up blueprint I've prepared. I remain hopeful that you'll get to read it someday.
Wouldn't that be good?
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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.
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
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