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 # 1188. This show is available as a podcast.
THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: What Goes Around
We've been poundin' pretty good with "Baby Let Me Be," the advance single from the Midnight Callers' fantabulous new album Rattled Humming Heart. The album itself is finally out now, and it seemed high time to play one of its other fantabulous tracks. We opted for "What Goes Around," but we had a lot of superstellar choices at our disposal. We're switching back to the single on our next show, but expect more from Rattled Humming Heart as these weekly radio bopathons continue. Saturation airplay suits the Midnight Callers just fine.
GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Midnight Train To Georgia
"Midnight Train To Georgia" dominated my beloved AM radio stations in 1973, but I wasn't initially much of a fan of the song. Don't know why this was so, but the track didn't clickety-clack in place for me until I saw Gladys Knight and the Pips perform it on some TV show. I have no idea what show it was, and I can't even swear whether Gladys and her Pips were actually singing or just lip-syncing, but whatever: the performance fascinated me. And it wasn't the visual of the Pips' dance moves that got to me; it was the singing. Gladys Knight. And the Pips. I didn't notice how great they sounded until I listened to 'em on TV. I've adored this song ever since that night.
I recently got the chance to witness Gladys Knight sing live. My God, she's magnificent. My slight disappointment that the concert ended with an abbreviated version of my favorite Gladys Knight song--omitting the entire verse about He kept dreaming that some day he'd be a star--didn't matter. I'd still heard her sing that song, and so many others, in live performance, and I'd heard her deliver them with absolute mastery. If you have a chance to see Gladys Knight, man, you need to get on board.
I know you will.
THE FLASHCUBES: Nothing To Do
Of course we've heard Pop Masters, the forthcoming new rockin' pop covers album from Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes. We've had the digital files for months, I wrote part of the liner notes, and we've been carpet bombing the playlist with Pop Masters, because why even have a playlist if you can't carpet bomb it with the Flashcubes?
That's all well and good. But I can't wait for the razzafrazzin' thing to be released. I wanna hold the CD package in my indifferently-manicured hands, and I wanna revel in the physical manifestation of a new record by one of my all-time favorite groups. The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. That's my Trinity.
There's another new digital single from Pop Masters due out soon (and up for preorder now), with the album itself slated for August release. We've been playing that track, an ace cover of the Motors' "Forget About You," and we're set to pound it into your cranium again in the coming weeks. For this week's show, since Dana closed our first set with "The Mona Lisa's Packing, She's Leaving Tonight" from the new Sparks album The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, we opened our second set with the 'Cubes' Pop Masters take on Sparks' "Nothing To Do." Nothing to do? Everything to do! And we do it all for you, our loyal listeners. Radio's job is to sell records. We've done our part. Now you do yours.
(Beginning with the 2021 release of the Flashcubes' first Big Stir Records single [and eventual Pop Masters track] "Baby It's Cold Outside," TIRnRR has played eleven out of the twelve tracks on Pop Masters. We've been holding the remaining one in reserve, and we'll get to it very soon.)
JOHNNY JOHNSON AND THE BANDWAGON: You
Whether they're billed as the Bandwagon, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, or their come-on-now! over-specification as Johnny Johnson and HIS Bandwagon, we love playing stuff from this magnificent, underrated soul combo. "Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartbreak" (by the Bandwagon) is a stone classic, "(Blame It) On The Pony Express" (by Johnny Johnson and his Bandwagon) is the epitome of 1970 bubblesoul, and the group (by whatever name) absolutely nailed a bunch of distinct and delightful covers of everyone from Bob Dylan to the Monkees to the Four Seasons to the Rascals to the Hollies and more. More pop fans need to jump on this particular Bandwagon.
Our latest recruit is none other than intrepid listener and Radio Deer Camp host Rich Firestone, who responded to this week's spin of the Bandwagon's "You" by saying, Okay, you finally broke me with that last song...I finally bought that Johnny Johnson CD!
Radio at work, my friends. Radio at work.
sparkle*jets u.k.: Mahnsanto
The new sparkle*jets u.k. album Best Of Friends has been a big hit here on The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. It's a stunning tribute to the indie pop scene that thrived as the 20th century ceded space to the 21st, the scene that brought us sparkle*jets u.k. in the first place. Best Of Friends is loaded with superfine covers of everyone from Big Hello to the Shazam, Linus of Hollywood to the Masticators, Cockeyed Ghost to Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings.
I'm not familiar with the Negro Problem's original version of "Mahnsanto;" I know a little bit of TNP's work, but my lack of awareness of the bulk of their well-regarded catalog is a gap in my pop consciousness, and I need to remedy that. The TIRnRR archives say we've played the Negro Problem's "Submarine Down," "Monica Oyster," "She's Flying Naked Through The Air," "The Magic Touch," and "Sabrina Drill" at some points in our storied past, as well as TNP leader Stew's "North Bronx French Marie." But it's been a while, and we should probably oughtta do something about that. Hell, Cockeyed Ghost's early TIRnRR Fave Rave "About Jill" was about TNP accordionist Jill Meschke Blair, so Stew and company are certainly part of this radio show's DNA. Even if we don't know them all that well.
"Mahnsanto" is tabula rasa for me, but sparkle*jets u.k.'s rendition is instantly catchy, and a loop of the band's Susan West rapping To Disneyland in winter, to Disneyland in winter has been blasting non-stop in my pop-obsessed noggin all week. We'll hear a different Best Of Friends track on our next show, as sparkle*jets u.k. cover a song familiar to long-time listeners from its appearance on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1.
PARALLAX PROJECT: Put It Out
The next time someone tries to tell you that there's no good music being made anymore, you are within your God-given rights to call that ninny a freakin' ninny. Each and every week, Dana and I sort through stacks of new stuff, some of it negligible, but some of it fantastic. We are determined to mix new, old, and in-between in every show. It's an ongoing challenge to play some reasonable representation of all the fine tracks we want to play.
That situation also results in a lot of things we like getting played once on the show, and then never played again. I keep a list of TIRnRR airplay possibilities, and I refer to that list each week when Dana and I are assembling the new playlist. A quick scan of that reference list shows tracks by the Crushing Violets, Earth Quake, Rose Guerin, Dave Cope and the Sass, Barry Holdship, Popular Creeps, Carol Martini, Råttanson, Brad Marino, Janne Borg, the Gypsy Moths, the Weeklings, the Summertimes, Rooftop Screamers, and more, each one awaiting its return to the TIRnRR playlist, each one in the potential mix for this week's show, and each unable to secure a slot in this week's program, nor in our July 9th show. They remain on the list, and the list carries on. There's always another show to build, next week.
That big ol' roundabout above finally brings us to "Put It Out" from the new Parallax Project album Autologous. It's a nice, radio-ready offering that merits repeat play. But it elbowed aside another Kool Kat Musik release by the Parlophonics to get into this week's show, and the Parlophonics in turn squeeze past Parallax Project to score a berth on our next show.
Parallax Project will return. They're on the list. The list abides.
THE RUBINOOS: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
JAMIE HOOVER: Bourbon Understands
"Bourbon Understands" is the brand new single from the mighty Jamie Hoover, a countryesque number that Jamie co-wrote with TIRnRR's longtime pal Richard Rossi. We'll drink to that.
THE SUPREMES: Where Did Our Love Go?
Timing is everything. We've seen that demonstrated again and again since we began prerecording our shows more than three years ago. There was the time we closed a show with a spin of Ray Charles' "Hit The Road, Jack," which wound up airing the week that malevolent putz Putin invaded Ukraine. There have been several occasions when a beloved performer passed in between a show's recording and airing, and a work by that performer just happened to be on the playlist that week. There's no relevant intent, because we didn't know what context the world would provide after we'd already prepped our little mutant radio show; we just wanted to play the damned song.
This week, I felt like playing something by the Supremes. No real reason, just whim. A check of the database revealed that we'd never played "Where Did Our Love Go?," so that became my pick. Move on to the next song.
Cruel context arrived on June 30th, the Friday before the show. It happened to be the day after my wife and I stopped for a drink at Stonewall in Greenwich Village. I wrote about our NYC trip here, but this short passage bears a repeat in this spot:
"Stonewall is a bar in Greenwich Village, recognized as the place where Pride began. It's not the same bar that stood in 1969, when a riot became the flashpoint for recognition of gay rights. The Stonewall of today remains in that spot as a monument to the importance of what happened there. By coincidence, our visit to Stonewall was one day after the 54th anniversary of the riots, and one day before six reactionary justices on the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ruled that religious-based discrimination against the LGBTQ community is, in the Court's view, just fine and dandy. That is, in MY view, a big ol' pile of piggy poop. Love is love is love. The fight goes on."
Where did our love go? Love is love is love. Timing is everything...and nothing. We'll apply deliberate intent to open our next show.
MAURICE WILLIAMS AND THE ZODIACS: Stay
Just a little bit longer?
But no, this week's show has run its rockin' pop course. Hope you can join us again next time.
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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/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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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