10 SONGS: 4/1/2022

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.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1122.

MICKY DOLENZ: Some Of Shelly's Blues

Micky Dolenz returns with a four-song sequel to Dolenz Sings Nesmith, which was one of my favorite albums of 2021. Like its full-length predecessor, the 2022 release Dolenz Sings Nesmith--The EP collects new recordings of Dolenz performing songs written by his friend Michael Nesmith, whom we lost in December. One of the EP's tracks, "Grand Ennui," appeared on the album's CD issue (and was played on TIRnRR), while the other three are previously unreleased. One of the songs, "Soul-Writer's Birthday," has never been released by anyone, but we figure our pal Rich Firestone might wanna spin that on Radio Deer Camp afore we get to it. We cede the dibs to you, Reechie. That leaves us with "The Crippled Lion" and "Some Of Shelly's Blues," and we happily opened this week's show with the latter.

SYD STRAW: Think Too Hard

Although Syd Straw also sang with the Golden Palominos, her 1989 MTV hit "Future 40s (String Of Pearls)" was my conscious introduction to her music. I didn't realize (or didn't remember) that she sang on the dB's' 1987 album The Sound Of Music, but I did know (and remember!) that she covered "Think Too Hard," a song from that very dB's album. With a recent acquisition of a used CD copy of her '89 debut solo album Surprise, I figured it was overdue for our Syd to return to the TIRnRR playlist, for the first time in a long time. I didn't realize just how long a time until our friend and intrepid stats man Fritz Van Leaven pointed out that we hadn't played her since...wait, 2016?! Oy. She'll be returning to the ol' playlist in a far more timely manner now.

Presumably. I don't want to think too hard.

AMOEBA TEEN: New Material World

ADDISON LOVE: Wee & Nancy Lee

THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING SHOES: Tomorrow Night

Courtesy of the mighty Big Stir Records label, the single release of Amoeba Teen's "New Material World" (just barely in advance of the group's new eponymous album) compelled immediate airplay. So "New Material World" opened our second set this week, and Dana followed it with another Big Stir release, "Wee & Nancy Lee," from the Addison Love album that asks that musical question, Thoughts On Lunch? Sensing the inevitable allure of a stand-up triple, I followed "Wee & Nancy Lee" with "Tomorrow Night," the recent Big Stir single from the combined forces of the Flashcubes and Shoes. We're ALL winners in this 1-2-3 play. More from the new Amoeba Teen album on next week's show.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everyday People

I confess to being a Sly and the Family Stone dilettante, in that I'm mainly aware of the singles rather than deep cuts. But man, those singles! I owe myself a more extensive dive into the group's albums. My favorite is "Everybody Is A Star," which was actually the B-side of "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin," the record I suspect may have taught the British band Slade how to spell. Like "Everyday People" says: Different strokes for different folks

THE FLASHCUBES: She's Leaving

I continue to pummel the console on behalf of Flashcubes On Fire, the new archival set preserving a pulse-pounding 1979 live show by my favorite power pop group. The 'Cubes were blessed with three prolific songwriters--bassist Gary Frenay and guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin--with drummer Tommy Allen power-shifting the tunes into transcendent overdrive. Especially in a live setting.

The wealth of material at the Flashcubes' disposal meant a lot of great songs got left behind, many of them not even making it to demo stages. Flashcubes On Fire rescues Arty's Big Star-inspired "Cycle Of Pain" and Paul's "You For Me" and "Face In The Crowd," three flowers in the dustbin. The album also includes Gary's "Suellen," which he subsequently recorded as a single with the post-'Cubes combo Screen Test.

Three other songs on Flashcubes On Fire are familiar from studio versions found on Bright Lights, the 1997 compilation that resurrected 'n' refurbished some of the group's original '70s demos. As heard on Bright Lights, though, Arty's "Angry Young Man," Gary's "Beverly," and Paul's "She's Leaving" were new '90s recordings, not old demos. Originally, each of those Flashcubes favorites was as forgotten as "Driving Me Away," "Got To Have A Reason," or "I'm Not The Liar." Still, a song is only forgotten until someone remembers it, and does something to preserve it.

"She's Leaving" is one of my favorite Paul Armstrong songs, maybe my # 1 favorite. I love the version on Bright Lights, but I've always preferred it in its original live arrangement. I had it on a live bootleg cassette (my main Flashcubes artifact during the lean years until the 'Cubes archive started to open in the '90s), and I'm delighted that everyone can now hear it in that invigorating form. 

THE BEATLES: Slow Down

A few years back on this blog, I fabricated a fictional album called Leave My Kitten Alone!, which was a collection of some of the cover songs recorded by the Beatles. The Beatles did some killer covers, and my favorite among those is their rendition of Larry Williams' "Slow Down." (Runners-up: covers of Buddy Holly's "Words Of Love," Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music," the Top Notes' [via the Isley Brothers] "Twist And Shout," and their other two Larry Williams covers, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy." Honorable mention to "Please Mr. Postman.")

THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SPORTS: Who Listens To The Radio?

Who listens to the radio? With us, that may be a rhetorical question.

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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