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 # 1170. This show is available as a podcast.
IRENE PEÑA: Must've Been Good
America's Sweetheart Irene Peña invited Dana and I to appear on her Twitch TV channel last Sunday, and we were delighted to do so. Evidence? Right HERE. But we had no idea that she was also going to surprise us with live cameos by our musical friends Dolph Chaney, Bruce Gordon, and Steve Stoeckel, and we had no clue whatsoever that this fantastic four had wrangled others to join them in a secret fundraiser for Syracuse Community Radio. We're told the looks on our faces when they announced a $500 donation to SCR tells the story of our shock and gratitude.
Maybe it's not enough to just say "thank you," but...thank you. Thank you Irene, and thank you everybody, all who participated and all who contributed.
This week's TIRnRR was already recorded well before all of the above occurred. Knowing we were gonna be on the air (prerecorded) right after Irene's Twitch-and-shout presentation, we opened our own show with "Must've Been Good," the track that introduced us to Irene's music in 2016.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio has the best listeners--the best friends--a little mutant radio show could ever want. And next week? Well, next week's TIRnRR playlist will be our chance to offer a proper thank you after all.
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING RANDY KLAWON: Get The Message
At this writing, "Get The Message"--the 2022 digital single from the irresistible combined pop forces of the Flashcubes featuring Randy Klawon--has been the most recent 'Cubes release from the visionaries at Big Stir Records. It's a good one, so we keep playing it.
Still, we want more. Listen, greed ain't so much a sin when you're seeking bounty on behalf of the greater good. For the people! For the FANS!
(I mean, for us, too. Let's not get crazy. DJs need cool stuff to play just like you need cool stuff to play.)
Luckily, there will be more. I can speak with authority that the Flashcubes are working on [redacted].
Um...[redacted]?
Er...lemme try saying it louder, like Garrett Morris on Saturday Night Live: THE FLASHCUBES ARE WORKING ON [redacted]. I said [redacted]. [Redacted]. [REDACTED!] That's [REDACTED!!!].
Damn these NDAs! You'll find out soon enough. Just remember: you got the [redacted] message here first.
OSCAR TONEY JR: Moon River
Gotta admit I'd never even heard of Oscar Toney Jr. until last year. Yeah, late to the party again. But I brought tunes! Here's what I said in 2022:
"One of the many truths in our lives as pop fans is that there is always so much more magnificent music awaiting our discovery: new music, of course, and also old music that escaped our attention.
"I don't recallI hearing (or hearing of) '60s soul singer Oscar Toney Jr. before last week. Maybe? Even if so, Toney didn't register with me until, like, now. A chance dive into the CD bins at Sound Garden in Syracuse netted me The Soul Of The Memphis Boys, a compilation CD collecting some Memphis sides by Ben E. King, Elvis Presley, Arthur Conley, James and Bobby Purify, Arthur Alexander, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, Ella Washington, and more. Impulse purchase, come to Poppa!
"On this disc, Toney's 'Ain't That True Love' freakin' knocked me out. On the radio it went, and on the radio it will return next week. This is a bona fide soul classic, even if hardly anyone knows it. Classic.
"There's so much out there, waiting for us to open our ears, eyes, and minds and just notice. The hunt continues. Ain't that...something?"
That hunt led me to a Toney best-of CD called Oscar's Winners, which made its TIRnRR debut with last week's spin of the exquisite "No More Sad Songs." Go'geous! Toney's heavenly take on Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's stalwart "Moon River" crossed in style past dreammaker and heartbreaker alike to join this week's cavalcade o' hits, and we'll tune up more Toney next week. You know the mantra, mis amigos: Any record you ain't heard is a new record. Open up. Say OSCAR!
THE CYNZ: Tell That Girl To Shut Up
With this week's spin on the ol' playlist, the Cynz' current cover of Holly and the Italians' "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" has probably locked a berth on TIRnRR's year-end countdown of our most-played tracks in 2023. How high will it place? Remains to be seen, and it's gonna have competition. Still, it seems safe to predict it will be on the Countdown show.
The track's taking a break next week. It'll be back. Don't even waste your breath tellin' this girl to be quiet. Quiet is not her nature. Lucky for us!
THE MONKEES: You Told Me
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| Peter Tork, Davy Jones, producer Chip Douglas, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith |
The Monkees will always, always be one of my all-time favorite acts. As the group's sole surviving member, Micky Dolenz is currently preparing a new concert tour in tribute to the Monkees' 1967 album Headquarters. Their third album, Headquarters (along with the non-LP B-side "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," which immediately preceded Headquarters) presented the Monkees as a working studio band for the first time. Following two albums of not being allowed to play at all on the records that bore their name, the Monkees played on every track on Headquarters. There were a few essential sidemen, and producer Chip Douglas served in spots as a de facto fifth Monkee, but it was mostly the Monkees themselves. The result was a solid win, both artistically and commercially. With Headquarters and a 1967 concert tour, the made-for-TV combo had become real.
I've seen a video of Micky and his ace ensemble rehearsing for this new tour, singing the album's opening track "You Told Me." It's a Michael Nesmith song, and Micky channels his departed friend's original presence in his own charismatic style. I'd love to hear what he does with more songs originally sung by Nesmith ("Sunny Girlfriend" and "You Just May Be The One"), Davy Jones (particularly "Early Morning Blues And Greens" and "Forget That Girl"), and Peter Tork (whose only lead vocal on the album was the second verse and one line of the chorus of "Shades Of Gray;" on this tour, Micky will presumably sing both Peter's and David's parts on this one). And I wanna hear Micky's live versions of songs he did sing on the Headquarters album, songs like "Mr. Webster" and "For Pete's Sake." It's gonna be a great show.
Alas, he may not--won't--be coming to my town, as the tour isn't planning stops anywhere near Syracuse. ADD MORE DATES!, I cry. But I know there are only so many shows they can do.
I have a great memory of seeing the Monkees in 2012, after Davy passed, but with Micky, Michael, and Peter. It was magic, one of my most-cherished concert experiences. We play the Monkees' records nearly every week on TIRnRR. This week, we played "You Told Me," the opening track from Headquarters, which remains the Monkees' most-respected full-length work. Next week, we'll play the opening track from one of the Monkees' least-respected albums. It's a great track nonetheless. Hey-hey. We're fans.
DONNA SUMMER: He's A Rebel
This one made it to the playlist outta nowhere. Dana played "Rebel Girl Rebel Girl" by Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, and I figured I'd follow with "Rebel Rebel." Rather than play David Bowie's original, I opted for a cover by the Bay City Rollers.
But I didn't want to play the album track (from 1977's It's A Game); I wanted to go with a live version. We've spoken in recent weeks about Voxx, the 1980 album the post-fame (and post-"Bay City") Rollers submitted as their contract-breaker with Arista Records. It's a very good record, I remembered a live cover of "Rebel Rebel" lurked in between its studio tracks, so I plopped the live Voxx "Rebel Rebel" into place as we set up the show.
It didn't work.
Not in the context, not in the specific flow of the show. It's a fine track, but it wasn't the right track for the moment. Maybe the Crystals' "He's A Rebel" instead? Hmmm. Or maybe a cover of "He's A Rebel?" Or maybe, I dunno...
...maybe an entirely different song that happened to share that title? Yeah. That worked.
The only tracks I remembered from Donna Summer's 1983 hit album She Works Hard For The Money were the superb title track and "Unconditional Love," her collaboration with Musical Youth. "He's A Rebel" was an original song on that album, I stumbled across it while fumbling through "Rebel"-titled choices, and had my EUREKA! programming epiphany.
I work hard for no money. That's...the opposite of being a rebel, innit? No matter. As long as the right songs get on the radio, my work is complete.
AMOS MILBURN: Down The Road Apiece
Awright, maybe we're no more likely to get a consensus about identifying the very first rock 'n' roll record than we are to agree on a definition of power pop. But I have yet to hear compelling evidence that anything other than Amos Milburn's 1947 boogie-woogie jumper "Down The Road Apiece" could claim that title. Um, I mean that First Rock 'n' Roll Record title. Calling it power pop would be a little bit of a stretch.
THE CLASH: Train In Vain
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
BLOTTO: Twist And Shout
RECORDED LIVE IN SYRACUSE! I may have even been at this September 1981 show at the Jab, because trust me: given the state of ME in the early '80s, the fact that I don't remember being there has no legit bearing on how likely it was that I was there anyway. Shake it up, baby.
THE KINKS: Destroyer
This is the first time we've ever played "Destroyer" on TIRnRR. I've never fully embraced this willfully bludgeonsome track from the Kinks' 1981 album Give The People What They Want. Other than the flat-out stellar "Better Things," Give The People What They Want isn't one of my favorite Kinks albums; it's always felt to me like a continuation of the arena-rock of 1979's Low Budget, and while I do like both albums, neither would be among the first ten non-compilation Kinks records I'd pick to play during free time.
That said, even if "Destroyer"'s stadium bluster and self-referential nods to "Lola" and "All Day And All Of The Night" are a tiny bit off-putting, I do still like it. The arena-rock phase helped the Kinks remain commercially viable, both Low Budget and Give The People What They Want have their share of well-respected moments, and their next two '80s albums State Of Confusion and Word Of Mouth are even better.
(And I wonder if, in this stadium period from the late '70s to the early/mid '80s, Ray Davies thought of a heavy-handed number called "Destroyer" as a callout to the bombast of KISS, who had a 1976 album called Destroyer. Probably a coincidence, but ya know what? I wanna rock 'n' roll, all day and all of the night. Maybe Ray did, too.)
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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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