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 # 1155. The show is available as a podcast.
Much of this week's show was programmed as a salute to our friend and colleague Rich Firestone, the host of Radio Deer Camp right here on SPARK! Our Reechie has been facing significant health issues and associated expenses, and we want to draw attention to a campaign to help Rich and his comparably cool partner Kathy Firestone (aka Frodis) in their time of need:
SUPPORT RICH'S TRANSITION TO DISABLED LIVING!
We hope you'll reach deeeeeeeep into the ol' pockets and do whatever you can. We thanks ya!
Let's get to 10 SONGS!
THE SMITHEREENS: Drown In My Own Tears
So we wanted this week's shindig to include a number of performers near 'n' dear to Reechie's interests. Carteret, New Jersey's phenomenal pop combo the Smithereens would be near the top of that list, and "Drown In Your Own Tears" (from their 1988 album Green Thoughts) was Rich's gateway into the realm of 'Reen thoughts. Rich heard that song playing in a record store, and his life was changed. Reechie himself tells the story here, and I added my own spin on his Smithereens journey here.
THE MONKEES: The Door Into Summer
Reechie likes to say that the Monkees have been good to him. Hell, as a young MonkeeMan, he met, courted, and married a young MonkeeWoman nicknamed Frodis (a reference to "The Frodis Caper," the final episode of The Monkees TV series). If that ain't Monkeemania, there ain't no Monkeemania.
Monkeemania was also the name of a 2-LP Australian import collection that helped hook Reechie on all things Micky-Davy-Peter-Michael. Prior to stumbling across Monkeemania in (I guess) the early '80s, that Firestone boy was aware of the Monkees--their TV show and their biggest hits--but it was Monkeemania that started him down a more intrepid walkin'-down-the-street-gettin'-the-funniest-looks-from-everyone-we-meet worldview. Were the Monkees more than their hits and their televised romps? The Monkeemania compilation indicated an affirmative answer.
And that, in turn, led Reechie to the Monkees' 1967 album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones. Ltd. That album was also my Monkees tipping point (read here and here), serving to help elevate my own fascination with the Monkees into the stratosphere (and phantasmagoric splendor). We chose the Pisces track "The Door Into Summer" to represent that portion of Reechie's rockin' pop fandom.
If memory serves, I first came into contact with Reechie and Frodis via online Monkees fandom on Prodigy. We've been friends now for more than thirty years. I'm grateful for that opportunity. I guess the Monkees have been good to me, too.
P. P. ARNOLD: When I Was Part Of Your Picture
You don't have to tell Dana & Carl about the magnificence of singer P. P. Arnold. We love P. P. Arnold! Her dynamic original version of the all-time classic "The First Cut Is The Deepest" earns a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). In those halcyon days when TIRnRR was done live in the studio, a P. P. Arnold best-of set owned a permanent berth in my CD carrying case, ever at the ready when it was time to program a little of Ms. Arnold's wonderful music.
But I first heard Arnold's lovely tune "When I Was Part Of Your Picture" when Reechie played it on Radio Deer Camp. The track comes from 2019's The New Adventures Of...P. P. Arnold, a latter-day work that found the soul legend working with the likes of Paul Weller, who also wrote this particular number. Any record you ain't heard is a new record. Thanks, Reechie!
THE COUNT FIVE: Psychotic Reaction
What? Did you think I was the only rockin' pop fan declaring The Greatest Record Ever Made! an infinite number of times? Pshaw. Here's Reechie's choice. Or one of 'em, anyway. From the Count Five--the American Yardbirds, because why not?--"Psychotic Reaction" serves as today's Greatest Nugget Ever Made.
ABBA: SOS
Y'know, we love Reechie like a distant cousin, but let's face it: he ain't perfect. His stubborn refusal to play a friggin' ABBA song awready is a source of endless tsuris around here...or it would be if we actually, y'know...cared. Reechie claims his beloved Corgi Harry (who is also, of course, the producer of Radio Deer Camp, and perhaps not the only producer in radio who literally barks at on-air talent) ate all of the ABBA records in the Firestone family library. The closest surviving exception was Frida's solo hit "There's Something Going On," which Harry spared because he likes Phil Collins. Obviously.
To which we say: Reechie! BUY ANOTHER ABBA RECORD!!!
Or don't. It's your show.
EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year
From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, because even a tribute show has bills to pay. And so we have Eytan Mirsky with "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year."
Maybe optimism isn't the proper response in the face of adversity. But maybe defiance is. This year? It's hit us all, but its time is nearly done. Another year awaits. Perhaps that will be the year when we hit back. Sing it, Brother Eytan. Sing it.
MICKY DOLENZ: Daybreak
Reechie's also a big fan of Harry Nilsson. In recognition of this, we programmed a very nice (and obscure) '60s Nilsson track called "Sister Marie," and we also played a cover of Nilsson's big smash "Everybody's Talkin'," as performed by Rich and Steve, which is our Reechie teamed with Steve Stoeckel of the Spongetones and Pop Co-Op.
But we figured we needed one more Nilsson song. And we went with Harry's old friend Micky Dolenz, singin' a song that was a hit for Nilsson (at least as far as AM radio in Syracuse was concerned in 1974).
THE MONKEES: Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: I Better Get Home
"I Better Get Home" is a track from Handclaps & Tambourines, the current album by the ever-fab Librarians With Hickeys. HEY! I have this compulsion to yell out HEY! whenever I mention "I Better Get Home." HEY! Best to just give in to it.
This is also the latest single from the album. We've already been playing it for weeks now, and it's about damned time the world caught up to our visionary single-sniffing acumen. HEY! But we played it this week as a specific wish on behalf of Reechie and Frodis. Enough with the hospitals. HEY! Rich better get home...and he did. He listened to this week's mutant radio party from the relative comfort of his own Deer Camp digs. Challenges await. But he's home. And that's better.
THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride
A hit record. A BIG hit record. Radio Deer Camp says so. Don't argue with our Reechie.
And if you wanna face the world with pride, we direct you to do the right thing:
SUPPORT RICH'S TRANSITION TO DISABLED LIVING!
See, facing the world with pride is its own reward.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.
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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