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 # 1195. This show is available as a podcast.
TAMAR BERK: Sunday Driving
The commentary accompanying this week's posted playlist waxes rhapsodic over Tiny Injuries, the new album from Tamar Berk. We've been playing Tamar's music for a few years now, beginning with "Skipping The Cracks" in 2021. Her song "Real Bad Day" was one of our most-played tracks in 2022, placing at # 16 on our year-end countdown. Tamar has a new album out? Well, yeah, of course we're gonna play it. It's what we do. And we'll hear another track from Tiny Injuries on our next show.
THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You
The word's getting out about Pop Masters, the fabulous new all-covers album by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes. Now, no one should expect me to be unbiased about this; the 'Cubes have meant a great deal to me for a very long time, and, as I've said in other context elsewhere, why in the world would anyone ever want to be objective about pop music? That's no friggin' fun at all, my friends. Staple heart to sleeve. Testify. Believe.
I will direct you to someone else's testimony on behalf of Pop Masters: YouTuber Matthew Street, who preaches about Pop Masters in this video. Matt also spoke at length with 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong here, and this proudly biased 'Cubes fan appreciates it. Go, Matthew! Go, FLASHCUBES!!
THE NUMBERS: Can't Sleep At Night
Matthew Street also digs the Numbers, and he's right on that count as well. The Numbers were an early '80s combo whose lone album Anthology '64-'67 presented them as if they were a long-lost band from the '60s rather than Reagan-era garage pop kings besotted with the sounds that flourished a decade and a half before them. The LP's liner notes even claim that the Numbers passed on the opportunity to star as the Monkees, leaving the prospect of televised Monkeeshines for, y'know, the actual Monkees. All in good (clean) fun. Anyone who refers to this as a hoax isn't paying attention. It's not a hoax if the intended audience is fully aware of the put on.
Anthology '64-'67 includes covers of the Easybeats' "You Said That," the Tremeloes' "Here Comes My Baby," and--of course!--the Monkees' "Take A Giant Step," plus a passel o' like-minded originals. Album opener "Can't Sleep At Night" is nothing short of magnificent. This album is long, long overdue for a reissue.
JOSIE COTTON: Here Comes My Baby
Hey, speakin' of "Here Comes My Baby," apparently the Tremeloes and the Numbers weren't the only ones to turn in able covers of this Cat Stevens composition. Josie Cotton's version comes from her originally-unreleased 1986 album Everything Is Oh Yeah. That album was finally released in 2010, and it's been a frequent 'n' lovable playlist resource for TIRnRR. Look! Here she comes NOW!
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: I Better Get Home
It's the HEY!, man. Seriously. Never underestimate the power of HEY!
THE PATTI SMITH GROUP: So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star
True story: When country superstar Garth Brooks did his brief conceptual rocker turn under the alias Chris Gaines in 1999, I summoned all my practiced snark with an intention to open that week's TIRnRR with a spin of the Patti Smith Group's cover of the Byrds' "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star," dedicated to ol' Chris. Clever? That's me! BUT! We didn't have a digital copy of the track handy, and the studio's turntable was unreliable. We let the notion slide and moved on with something else.
Nowadays, I'm more appreciative of Brooks as a person, even if his music ain't quite my cuppa. What was the recent meme? In a world full of Jason Aldeans, be more like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Garth Brooks. Something like that. In this context, Dolly, Willie, and Garth are rock stars. Hell, I may even track down the Chris Gaines thing, just to see if I might like it. Ya never know until you try that, in any size town.
As for "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star," I think I prefer the Byrds to Patti Smith here, but it's pretty damned close between 'em. The great Syracuse new wave combo the Most used to include it in their live sets, hewing closely to Smith's arrangement. The money. The fame. The public acclaim. Don't forget who you are...
...no. Screw being what others expect you to be. Be who you wanna be. Come back, Chris. All is forgiven.
ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music
Sweet soul music. TIRnRR will be returning to this subject in force very, very soon.
THE EVERLY BROTHERS: Gone, Gone, Gone
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
KISS: Anything For My Baby
I've started writing a 5 Above blog post about my five favorite KISS tracks. You wanted the best? You got...well, me, but I work cheap. Four out of my five KISS picks are obvious big crowd-pleasers among the band's fans; "Anything For My Baby" is the exception, an LP track from KISS' third album, 1975's Dressed To Kill. Yeah, the album that introduced the world to a li'l sumpin called "Rock And Roll All Nite," which [SPOILER ALERT!] is also part of my 5 Above KISS piece. You wanted the best....
And "Anything For My Baby" is absolutely among the best of KISS. Shoulda been a single. Shoulda been a hit.
THE MONKEES: She's Moving In With Rico
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. And as our Patti Smith entry a few paragraphs north of here proved: There has never been a joke so banal or obvious I wouldn't use it anyway. In the immortal words of Davy Jones as she moves in with Rico, "What can I say? This is the end."
Beginning of the end, anyway. At least I hope it is.
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| For dramatic purposes, the role of our accused RICO offender will be played by famous criminal mastermind Lex Luthor...although Luthor is way, WAY smarter than that |
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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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