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 # 1173. This show is available as a podcast.
POPSICKO: No Better Time
I believe in advocating on behalf of our pop passions. It's the reason I write, the reason I blog, and the reason I cohost a radio show. Whatever soapbox I can find or concoct, I'm gonna hop on and testify.
I can't speak for my friends at the mighty Big Stir Records label, but I betcha they feel the same way. Big Stir's Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko run a business, so they have to mind their bottom line and keep their lights on, but their actions are driven by interest and inspiration. The same can be said of writer S. W. Lauden, as it can be said of my many fellow music journalists, pundits, bloggers, indie enablers, and cheerleaders. We're fans. We do what we do because we're fans.
Popsicko was a group on an upward trajectory in the mid '90s, potentially primed for big things when the death of frontman Keith Brown ended their story in 1995. They left behind an album, 1994's Off To A Bad Start, some cherished memories for their faithful, and some wistful wondering about what might have been.
Today, Lauden and our friends at Big Stir remain faithful. And they're collaborating with the surviving members of Popsicko to continue the band's story past its tragic conclusion, to share that story with new fans, and to keep that story alive.
Big Stir has released two Popsicko digital singles, and the label is now offering the first-ever vinyl release of Off To A Bad Start, accompanied by a 48-page book detailing Lauden's oral history of the group. This is a work of passion. This is a work of belief.
Some years back, I wrote an introduction for the first issue of Big Stir's ambitious and altogether swell Big Stir magazine. The first line from that introduction sums up our shared approach to pop advocacy:
"Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it."
In the '90s, I did not know Popsicko's music. I know it now, and I appreciate it, thanks to Big Stir and S. W. Lauden. Thanks to advocacy. Thanks to fans. Thanks to all of those who believe.
CAT STEVENS: Another Saturday Night
We discover favorite pop songs through many different means, and our first exposure to individual songs can sometimes come by proxy. I heard the Beatles' cover of "Words Of Love" well before I heard Buddy Holly, the Pretenders introduced me to the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing," and I first knew "Do You Wanna Dance" from the seemingly unlikely resource of Bette Midler.
I was fourteen years old in 1974. I remembered Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang," a hit the year of my birth, but which still got sufficient spins somewhere in my early conscious youth for me to recall it as a much-loved classic. I did not know Cooke's "Another Saturday Night." Awareness of that song was provided by a '74 radio hit remake by Cat Stevens.
As a teen, I liked Stevens' hits; I don't dislike them now, but for the most part my taste has kinda migrated away from them. I adore some of his '60s material, especially "Matthew And Son," "The First Cut Is The Deepest," "Here Comes My Baby," and "Come On And Dance." And I still love his version of "Another Saturday Night."
ROBIN SCHELL: Lost In America
Hey, all that stuff I said up top about Rex and Christine at Big Stir, and the redemptive power of enthusiasm? All of that applies equally to Ray Gianchetti, whose own Kool Kat Musik label is an essential pipeline and lifeline for those who love rockin' pop music. Sure, Kool Kat is the home of the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs, but we connected with Ray for our releases because of his demonstrated and unwavering commitment to the greater power pop world and its periphery. Ray's a believer, too.
Kool Kat maintains a very busy release schedule, and the label puts out a lot of very interesting stuff. This week's show includes three Kool Kat Releases (by the Decibels, Stephen Lawrenson, and Robin Schell), plus tracks from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volumes 3 and 4. Next week's show will have new Kool Kat-associated tracks by the Speedways, West Coast Music Club, and Marco Busato. We're Kool Kat boosters, and proud of it.
Robin Schell scored some TIRnRR airplay years ago, when he DBA'd as the Marshmellows, purveyor(s) of the psychedelicized pick hit "Mad Sense Of Alice." The Macchiato, originally released digitally in 2018 and now a minty-fresh Kool Kat CD, is less overtly evocative of the lysergic, perhaps more reminiscent of Stackridge or even Supertramp. I can imagine "Lost In America" trippin' some lights fantastically with "What You Own" from Rent, transferred from the Broadway stage into progressive AOR with an indie edge. Quite a comparison, and maybe quite a leap to consider, but an indication of The Macchiato's ambition and accomplishment.
THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Twist And Shout
Each week's playlist mixes great records from the '60s and succeeding decades with whatever glittery pretties capture our attention in the present day. We reach back to the '50s in some weeks (as we did with this week's Chuck Berry and Little Richard selections), but the '60s and '70s were our formative decades.
When I scrawl out potential playlist ideas prior to my weekly programming call with Dana, I always include some '60s and '70s material. This week, my scribbles of Martha and the Vandellas, the Monkees, the Toys, Millie Small, the Four Tops, and Tower of Power transitioned from notebook to playlist. That's how one builds a better radio show.
By contrast, though I don't remember whether or not the Isley Brothers were penned into my notes come programming time, I know I didn't have any premeditated intention of playing "Twist And Shout." Its appearance this week was a spontaneous generation: Dana picked Graham Parker's "Help Me Shake It," and I immediately blurted out, Shake it up, baby!
See, the act of programming is guided by a higher power. That's also how one builds a better radio show.
EYTAN MIRSKY: Lost You In The Jet Stream
Singer! Songwriter! Performer! Debonaire man about town! Let's face it, Eytan Mirsky is a bit of awright. Brother Eytan is a frequent participant in our weekly playlists, and his song "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" is plainly the greatest record ever made.
"Lost You In The Jet Stream" is Eytan's latest single, and (following "If I Could Only Draw") it's the second of his two recent singles for which he wrote music to someone else's lyrics. Either process works A-OK for us, as long as we can keep getting new Eytan Mirsky tracks to play on the radio.
DAISY JONES AND THE SIX: Regret Me
Ah, my favorite Daisy Jones and the Six track! For those of us at the right young age in the '70s, the band's masterpiece Aurora was a touchstone, no less important than Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. My subsequent embrace of punk may have lessened Aurora's impact within my short teen attention span, as Rocket To Russia and Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (and college life) beckoned, but nor did I forsake this band and this album that meant so much...
...wait. What?
Oh yeah. Sorry! Aurora is a 2023 release by a fake band. A pretty cool fake band, actually. It's part of the soundtrack to Daisy Jones And The Six, a new series currently streaming on Amazon Prime. I'm really digging the show and its music, and I'm looking forward to reading the novel upon which all this is based. No regrets here.
THE RAMONES: I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind
"I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" was an unreleased early '80s Ramones outtake. Shorn of its personal pronoun, "Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" did appear on 1989's Brain Drain album; in 2002, the "I"-equipped outtake was included on Rhino Records' expanded reissue of the Ramones' 1981 album Pleasant Dreams. That's what we played this week.
In my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, the interview with Johnny Ramone revealed his dissatisfaction with the choice of 10cc's Graham Gouldman as the producer of Pleasant Dreams. "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones." Marky Ramone liked the album a lot more than Johnny did (and a lot more than its follow-up Subterranean Jungle), and both Marky and Joey Ramone were aware of Gouldman's impressive '60s songwriting credits for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits.
My opinion of Pleasant Dreams inhabits a DMZ in between Johnny's and Marky's views. I think it's a very good album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Too slick? Maybe. It's not the equal of any of the Ramones' classic first four albums, nor perhaps of '90s albums Mondo Bizarro and ¡Adios Amigos! But I do like it, and one of its tracks ("All's Quiet On The Eastern Front") will probably be included in a forthcoming post about my 25 favorite Ramones tracks. And we'll be playing one of Pleasant Dreams' other original album tracks on next week's show.
AMY RIGBY: Dancing With Joey Ramone
THE RULERS: I Want My Ramones Records Back
When Goldmine contributing editor John Borack reviewed our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, his thumbs-up review mentioned the Rulers' ace Volume 4 contribution "I Want My Ramones Records Back," with John adding: Who wouldn't?
We agree with ya there, John. We agree with ya there.
THE RAMONES: Do You Wanna Dance
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!
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.
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