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 # 1185. This show is available as a podcast.
JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: The Signal Light
This was supposed to be a celebration.
The Signal Light is the first Justine and the Unclean album since Heartaches And Hot Problems in 2018, and also the first since the group made its TIRnRR debut with the fantastic "Vengeance" single in 2020. Love at first spin! We've played each and every one of the singles they've released since then, and we included "Vengeance" on our own compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 in 2022. We were so looking forward to the release of The Signal Light, and the album does not disappoint, collecting all of those great singles (including "Vengeance") alongside more brilliant new music from Justine and the Unclean. If ever an album was primed for carpet-bomb programming on TIRnRR, The Signal Light is that album.
So we opened this week's show with Justine and the Unclean, with the title track from The Signal Light. As most of you must know by now, this show was recorded before we learned of the sudden, unexpected passing of Justine Covault. What a loss. What an awful loss for our shared pop music community.
We recorded a brief statement to run at the top of this show, expressing our sorrow and our condolences to Justine's family and friends. We left the show itself intact, to stand as a record of our enthusiasm for the work, and for all that Justine did.
This was supposed to be a celebration. It wound up a sadder celebration than we planned. We will pay tribute to Justine on our next show.
THE ANIMALS: We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
Even before we heard the news about Justine, we knew this week's show would include an element of mourning with the loss of songwriter Cynthia Weil. Weil and her husband and writing partner Barry Mann created so many timeless classic songs. The first Mann-Weil song I owned was a 45 of Eydie Gormé's "Blame It On The Bossa Nova;" sure, I was only three years old when the song was a hit in '63, but I knew it and adored it. I may not have acquired any other Mann-Weil works until the mid '70s, when a flea-market purchase of the Monkees' Headquarters LP added their song "Shades Of Grey" to CC's record library. Many more would follow.
One of my favorites was the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," which I borrowed from my cousin Maryann before a rockin' and rollin' emissary of Santa Claus hisself placed the double-album The Best Of The Animals under the Christmas tree for me in 1976.
THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping
I told my story here of the sheer revelation of falling for the Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd a decade after the fact, when I was a high school senior in 1977. "Blame It On The Bossa Nova," "Shades Of Grey," "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," and maybe a 45 of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' by the Righteous Brothers preceded the entry of Pisces into my collection, but its track "Love Is Only Sleeping" knocked me out to the extent that I finally--FINALLY!--took notice of the songwriting credit. Mann and Weil, huh? Awrighty. The search was on.
Another passing, as the pop world mourns musician and songwriter Jack Lee. Word of Lee's death reached us as we had just finished recording basic tracks and back announcements for this week's show, but not too late to make any changes we deemed necessary. Saluting Jack Lee was necessary.
Blondie's international hit cover of Lee's song "Hanging On The Telephone" was actually in the playlist already, so Dana suggested adding the song's original version, which Lee recorded with his legendary pop combo the Nerves. We swapped out another track, redid a couple of the back announcements, and paid our own humble tribute to Jack Lee.
THE DRIFTERS: On Broadway
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
BLONDIE: Hanging On The Telephone
Yeah, we kept Blondie's take in as well. I remember that, in college, I knew the song from the Nerves' EP; it's a testimony to how great that EP is that "Hanging On The Telephone" was my third favorite among its four tracks, after two songs written by other members of the Nerves (Peter Case's "When You Find Out" and Paul Collins' "Working Too Hard"), and ahead of Lee's "Give Me Some Time." All four tracks were and remain superb.
But like I said, this was a Nerves song as far as I was concerned. When my pal Jay called to tell me how flat-out jazzed he was with Blondie's then-new Parallel Lines album, his mention of "Hanging On The Telephone" prompted a Wait...WHAT? outta me. Cool moment of connection.
ASTRUD GILBERTO: Where Have You Been?
The late Astrud Gilberto's best-known moment is her vocal turn fronting Stan Getz and company on the massive hit "The Girl From Ipanema." I don't think Ms. Gilberto ever graced any previousTIRnRR playlist, but her recent passing made it seem imperative to at least play the hit.
Upon further review, it felt necessary to go a tiny bit deeper, and include one more Gilberto performance. When news of Gilberto's death broke, our friend and fellow DJ Michael McCartney waxed rhapsodic of his memory of listening to Astrud Gilberto, particularly this track "Where Have You Been?," from her 1972 album Now.
Beautiful and haunting. Beguiling. Irresistible. Outside of our experience and familiarity, but nonetheless undeniable in the moment. There is so much we don't know, so much we haven't heard yet.
Where have we been? Our trail to this point has been obscured. What next? We'll have to find out, won't we? Godspeed, Astrud. And thank you. Michael.
PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS: Kicks
An anti-drug message was not the hippest stance for a rock 'n' roll single to assume in the '60s. And having that message delivered by a costumed combo known for sashayin' their synchronized steps on various TV shows likely didn't enhance its perceived hipness.
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil did not care about any of that.
Their intent was sober and serious, to craft a cautionary tale about the dangers of addiction, and to do so within the catchy parameters of a 45 bound for the pop charts. They pulled it off magnificently, and the mighty Paul Revere and the Raiders did their able part by proving once again that their gaudy Revolutionary War outfits didn't mean they were some sort of freakin' clown act; they were America's answer to the Rolling Stones.
Kicks just keep getting harder to find? On record, man, there are always, always kicks aplenty. Paul Revere and the Raiders were among the many worthy artists that saw to that. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were one of the ace songwriting teams that made it happen. Get your kicks. Get your kicks right here.
IN-PERSON EVENT! On June 29, I will be making an in-store appearance at GENERATION RECORDS, 210 Thompson Street in NYC on behalf of my new book GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES. The book contains my 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J., which were cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as essential reading. I'll be at Generation to chat with fellow Ramones fans, talk about the book, the interviews, and how the music of the Ramones impacted my life. If you are in the New York area on June 29th, I would love to see you at Generation Records. Hey-ho, let's GO!
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.
Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
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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