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 # 1124.
TAMAR BERK: Real Bad Day
Hey, remember last week, when I said Tamar Berk's new single "Tragic Endings" was my favorite among the tracks I've heard from her so far? Ah, those were the days. Since then, I've heard more of Tamar's forthcoming new album Start At The End, and the surly swagger of its track "Real Bad Day" propels it to the tippytop of my Tamar Berk's Greatest Hits chart. I'm not fickle; I'm open-minded. Great li'l number, and I expect we'll be playing it again on TIRnRR. And again. And again. I betcha we'll also give a repeat spin to "Tragic Endings." Dear, dear "Tragic Endings." I hope we can still be friends,
GARY FRENAY: Just Like Me
Gary Frenay's "Just Like Me" was among my many favorite Screen Test songs. It only existed as a demo in the '80s, and I always wished they would revisit it. And now, they have! The new recording is by Screen Test--Gary with Arty Lenin and Tommy Allen, their efforts supplemented by Gary's talented son Nick Frenay--but it will be billed as a Gary Frenay solo track when it appears on his next album (presumably in 2023). Wonderful, wistful song under any name.
THE IDES OF MARCH: Girls Don't Grow On Trees
The Ides of March are considered one hit wonders for their 1970 smash "Vehicle." I hate that song. BUT! Before warbling about the friendly, creepy stranger in the black sedan, the Ides of March were a better'n decent '60s garage pop combo. I absolutely adore the group's undeservedly obscure 1966 single "Roller Coaster," and I intended to play that on this week's show. Instead, I figured we ought to spin an Ides of March track we ain't ever played before, and plucked this ace number "Girls Don't Grow On Trees" from my handy-dandy copy of Sundazed Records' pre-"Vehicle" Ides compilation Ideology. Listening again to their '60s beat output reinforces my regret that the world at large only remembers them for "Vehicle."
THE CHELSEA CURVE: Jamie C'mon
The Chelsea Curve's freshly-released debut album All The Things performs the public service of collecting the group's assorted singles (including past TIRnRR Fave Raves like "Top It Up" and "Better Way"). But WAIT! There's MORE! I mean, it wouldn't be ALL the things if there weren't more, right? The album kicks off with the blood-pumpin' rush of the Chelsea Curve's brand-new single "Jamie C'mon," then drags (in-joke) you along for an album's worth of rock 'n' roll kicks run on guitars, drums, amplifiers, lipstick, hormones, and two-for-one well drinks. C'mon! All the things can't just dance with themselves, ya know.
THE JIVE FIVE: My True Story
Although "My True Story" was the Jive Five's only big pop hit (Billboard Hot 100 # 3 in 1961), we've been far more likely to play "What Time Is It?," their # 67 single from '62. This is further illustration of my conviction that the phrase "one hit wonder" doesn't have to be a pejorative. Like the Easybeats, the Bobby Fuller Four, the Knickerbockers, Fontella Bass, and so many other fine acts, the Jive Five created a number of interesting tracks, and it's the pop world's loss that these records didn't receive more recognition and acclaim in their day.
But sometimes (and unlike the case of the above-mentioned Ides of March), there is something to be said for the big hit. "What Time Is It?" is probably on my own all-time Hot 100, but "My True Story" is my # 1 in the broad category of doo-wop records. Now we must cry CRY cryyyyyyyyy oh whoa our blues away. And its Dragnet-inspired conceit--The names have been changed, dear, to protect you and I--make this Joe Friday's greatest hit by default.
THE FLASHCUBES: Gone Too Far
I make no apologies for my ongoing devotion to the music of the Flashcubes. Paul Armstrong, Tommy Allen, Gary Frenay, and Arty Lenin. My hometown heroes, Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse, one third of my all-time rockin' pop Trinity (with the Beatles and the Ramones). Mere hyperbole? Nope. I wouldn't be who I am without the Flashcubes.
As a club-goin' teen at Flashcubes shows in the late '70s, I believed there were a ton of hit-worthy original 'Cubes songs. Arty Lenin's "Gone Too Far" was for damned sure one of those, a pure pop confection that Gary once said reminded him of the Monkees. The group demoed the song at the time (as heard in remixed form on the Bright Lights anthology), but neither that version nor the live 1978 version I had on a bootleg cassette quite captured its effervescent vitality.
Finally, "Gone Too Far" achieves its full potential on Flashcubes On Fire, the recently-released archival live CD of the Flashcubes in their 1979 rock 'n' roll prime. This is the song I fell in love with when I was 18 and 19, reeling under the brightly dim lights at Central New York nightclubs.
Gary said this reminded him of the Monkees? That's high praise in my book. Micky Dolenz coulda sung it, and he still could. I don't think even the mighty Mick could outdo Arty and his fellow 'Cubes on "Gone Too Far."
THE RUNAWAYS: Heartbeat
"Heartbeat" is a power ballad, which makes it something of an anomaly among the Runaways' recordings. The Runaways weren't a punk group, but they were on punk's periphery, and most of their material favored the I-love-rock'n' roll approach that would subsequently propel founding member Joan Jett to solo stardom (and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame).
"Heartbeat" isn't the only slower number in the Runaways' catalog, but it was the one I noticed. It was among my favorite tracks on the 1977 Queens Of Noise album, the second (and last) LP to include original lead singer Cherie Currie. Currie was underage at the time, and "Heartbeat" is about a tryst with an unidentified singer. Backstage, lied about my age/Didn't care that you were older. The story may be fiction, but it has an aura of truth, and probably is true. Stop. Look. Listen.
SUZI QUATRO: Paralysed
Suzi Quatro was my # 1 teen crush; that story was told here, and has since been revamped for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). But even then, I didn't like Suzi Q's 1975 album Your Mama Won't Like Me. Renowned Radio Deer Camp DJ Rich Firestone joked that she should reissue the album under the new title Carl Won't Like This. I ought to go back and listen to the album again, just to see if my opinion revises itself.
"Paralyzed" (or "Paralysed" in the UK, and as it's listed on my CD of The Essential Suzi Quatro) was the one Your Mama Won't Like Me track I did like. I'm gonna spin my web all over this town/If I catch you with your trousers down. I played it often, and now we play it again. The stories you've heard are gonna be confirmed/You won't believe your eyes....
THE JAYHAWKS: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
IRENE PEÑA: In This Room
It's not easy to pick one single favorite Irene Peña track. I'm doing it anyway. Eternal thanks to the mighty Big Stir Records label for making the eleven tracks from Irene's 2011 debut album Nothing To Do With You available as individual digital singles, and thereby introducing grateful me to the sublime "In This Room." The track has never been on a CD release. One hopes that will change very soon.
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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