5 ABOVE: Albums you need to own on vinyl* [asterisk applied]

 5 Above picks five great things within a specific category. Look out below--these are five that rise above.

Only Three Lads is a weekly podcast devoted to discussion of classic alternative music from the early/mid 1970s through 1999. Hosts Uncle Gregg and Brett Vargo bring their considerable knowledge, passion, experience, and maybe a wee bit o' snark to the proceedings, and the two lads often welcome guests like the Flashcubes, Graham Parker, Dolph Chaney, and the Darling Buds to serve as a designated collective Third Lad. When there's no guest, the audience is the de facto Third Lad. It's great fun, and Only Three Lads is available wherever you find your free-rangin' podcasts, or via this link.

Each episode of O3L poses a Top Five challenge, to be answered by the hosts and the week's guest (if there is one). The assembled Lads 'n' Lasses answer the call with their own ranked lists of, say, top five Saturday night records, top five songs with musical destinations (to which I say it oughta be "Rockaway Beach" five times), top five songs with "Heart" in the title, et al., all drawn from across the O3L era. 

A recent episode promised a forthcoming topic of top five albums you need to own on vinyl. It should lead to an interesting discussion, and I look forward to hearing it. 

Even though I'm not at all a part of the specific target audience.

I'm not a vinyl guy. I'm just not. I respect those of you who are, and I figure you may not share my devotion to say, Batman, or Syracuse University mens' basketball, or Jeopardy!. Dig what you dig. But the vinyl discussion has no relevance to me. I rarely listen to vinyl, and I almost never buy it.

Still, the topic nagged at me. How would I answer, if I had to answer? I figure I'd approach it duly armed with an asterisk: Top five albums you need to own on vinyl* (*because they're not available on CD).

Kobayashi maru, people.

So! Let's employ our asterisk with deliberate intent, and get into the groove already.

But first, an honorable mention, for an album I've never actually heard:

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Rodney Bingenheimer Presents "All Year Party!" Volume One (Martian, 1984)

This one kills me, because this compilation LP is the only way to get the Ventures' version of "Surfin' And Spyin' " (a song written for them [and subsequently recorded by] the Go-Go's) and "Surfin' Safari" by Rodney and the Brunettes. My lack of the latter track is particularly galling, because the Brunettes that are backin' up DJ Rodney Bingenheimer here are the combined forces of Beach Boys-associated girl group the Honeys and none other than THE RAMONES! Yeah, my all-time favorite group not named the Beatles. Outside of a lo-fi rip off of YouTube, I don't own a copy of that razzafrazzin' track.

The compilation also includes Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon backed by the Ventures, a great (but easy to come by) track by Nikki and the Corvettes, and other stuff that might be cool, forgettable, or anywhere in between. I want it for "Surfing' And Spyin' " and "Surfin' Safari." 

But I'd prefer a CD reissue.

CC'S TOP 5 ALBUMS YOU NEED TO OWN ON VINYL

5. ON THE AIR: On The Air (Pulse, 1987)

I might rank this one a little higher if it were a full-length album rather than a six-song EP. On The Air were Karin Coon, Jennifer Dorfman, and Jamie--I have no idea what Jamie's last name was--with some other personnel in place of Jamie on some of their previous recordings. I first heard the group via their track "Even Try," which appeared on Rhino's (then-) contemporary girl group compilation The Girls Can't Help It in 1984. My pal Andrea Ogarrio put another On The Air gem on a divine mix tape she slapped together for me decades ago, and I snapped up the EP itself when I discovered it in a used record shop in Melbourne, Florida in 1994. SCORE!!

I think the On The Air EP track Andrea mixed into her cassette creation was a wonderful li'l number called "You've Got What I Want." My favorite on the record is "This Can't Be Real," written by 20/20's Mike Gallo, a pop gem that remains a fixture on my iPod. Can't play vinyl in the car, man. "Even Try" isn't on the EP, and a quick scan of Discogs suggests there were a handful of other On The Air tracks released on a previous single. Enough for an On The Air CD compilation? I say so!

4. THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Live In Japan (Teichiku [Japan], 1983)

I'm an unapologetic Bay City Rollers fan. Our Tartan-clad pop idols were the subject of my first-ever feature for Goldmine magazine (written and published in '87, revamped and republished here). They were the proposed stars of a wholly imaginary jukebox flick I wanted to write when I was a teenager, they've made more than a few appearances in my weekly 10 Songs column, they inspired the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop," and their absolute power pop classic "Rock And Roll Love Letter" gets a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I also dig the late '70s/early '80s edition of the group, with Duncan Faure replacing Les McKeown at the lead mic. I was delighted to learn recently that O3L's Brett Vargo is also a Rollermaniac. We are legion! Sometimes we dress funny, but we are legion.

Live In Japan is a 2-LP document of a reunion show performed by the group's "Saturday Night"-era line-up--McKeown, Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Eric Faulkner, and Woody Wood--plus late '70s sub-ins Ian Mitchell and Pat McGlynn, but not Duncan Faure. It was only released in Japan, and I originally intended to tuck it into the Honorable Mention section alongside the Rodney Bingenheimer thing, because I'd never had any sort of chance to hear Live In Japan.

However, while working on today's post, I stumbled across a Soundcloud stream, and now I have heard it, or at least part of it. I give demerits to the Rollers for not including their dynamic song "Wouldn't You Like It" in the set list, but I reward 'em a positive for doing "Turn On The Radio" from the first Faure-led album Elevator. 

I own almost all of the Rollers' official studio albums on commercially-released CDs. I have Rollin', Wouldn't You Like It, Once Upon A Star, Dedication, It's A Game, and Strangers In The Wind, the Faure era Elevator, Voxx, and Ricochet, a single-disc best-of, and a vintage 1977 Tokyo concert preserved on a legit CD release called Rollerworld: Live At The Budokan 1977. I'm missing the 1985 album Breakout (which I've heard, and it's awful, but I still want it anyway), the damned elusive Burning Rubber cassette, and Live In Japan. Reissue 'em all, preferably on shiny shiny CD. Gimme an S! Gimme an A...!

3. 1.4.5.: Rhythm n' Booze (Beautiful Sounds, 1988)

Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes are the third lad in my rockin' pop trinity: The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. After the 'Cubes split at the end of the '70s (the end of the century), 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong piloted an evolving membership of unrepentant rock 'n' rollers as 1.4.5. The legacy of 1.4.5.'s original trio--PA hisself, bassist Dave Anderson, and the late, great Ducky Carlisle on drums--is well represented on the compilation 3 Chords & A Cloud Of Dust, and that collection also provides proper representation of the latter-day 1.4.5. following the original formula. Hey! It's 1.4.5.! Let's GROOVE!

Missing in action is the late '80s version of 1.4.5., a combo who morphed into the Richards. The late Norm Mattice sang lead during this period; the Richards' 1995 album Over The Top is out there, and their non-album masterpiece "Five Personalties" (later redone by the reunited Flashcubes) was one of many highlights on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3.

But the Richards started out billed as 1.4.5., and their 1988 album Rhythm n' Booze is an undiscovered gem. The confident strut of the album-opening "Right Now," the pretty pop of "Girl In The Window," vibe-establishing covers of Slade and the Swinging Blue Jeans, the tongue-in-cheek "Famous Local Hero," and the just incredible "Your Own World" (which original-formula 1.4.5. subsequently remade) combine for a record that freakin' cries out for wider acclaim. We were able to use the Rhythm n' Booze "Your Own World" on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. The rest of the album still awaits overdue discovery by the pop world at large. Right here. 

2. FOOLS FACE: Tell America (Talk, 1981)

Outside of a splendid eponymous reunion album in 2002 and a subsequent live set preserved as Live At Last in 2005, Springfield, Missouri's phenomenal pop combo Fools Face have been completely unrepresented in the CD format. I think one of the 2002 tracks made its way to an IPO compilation. And even the Fools Face and Live At Last discs are difficult-to-impossible to snag nowadays. Fools Face's album output during their original 1979-1984 album career--Here To Observe, Tell America, Public Places, and the cassette-only self-titled sayonara usually referred to as "The Red Tape"--are rarer'n rare. I remember once seeing a copy of Here To Observe at a record store in Arlington, Virginia. I own the only other copy of that album I've ever seen, and I've never seen any copies of Tell America or Public Places except for the ones I bought and have held on to for years. (I've never seen the Red Tape either, but I have a CD-R a friend made for me.)

The Fools Face library is one of American indie pop's greatest gaps. I have heard that there are labels who would love a chance to bring this magnificent stuff back to retail. I have also heard that members of the band just ain't interested in that prospect.

My first exposure to Fools Face was via Trouser Press magazine, my first listen to their sound courtesy of a Trouser Press flexi-disc single of "L5" from Tell America coupled with the title tune from Public Places. Tell America absolutely blew my mind on first spin, and it's been one of my all-time favorite albums for four friggin' decades. I wrote about it here. And I wish you could all experience its wonder, on vinyl, CD, mp3, 8-track, streaming, a series of cereal box 45s, whatever. "Nothing To Say" is the greatest end-of-the-affair teen kiss-off you've never heard. And it's only one of the incredible treats to be found on Tell America.

In the unlikely event you could find it all.

1. THE RAMONES: Road To Ruin (Sire, 1979)

Awright, I'll buy into the intended spirit of today's question with my # 1 pick. Of course all of the Ramones' albums are readily available on CD. They're the American Beatles! The greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time! I started buyin' 'em on CD with Brain Drain in 1989, and later picked up all of the preceding albums in that format as they were reissued, all of the succeeding albums in that format only. But when I trimmed my LP collection of titles duplicated on CD, I kept my Beatles, and I kept my Ramones. Ramones through Halfway To Sanity. I have no intention of relinquishing them.

Maybe that is in itself a small part of the reason vinyl enthusiasts have such passion for LPs and 45s rather than for compact discs or digital air. Albums have a presence. They feel real, substantive, in a way digital editions can't equal. The artwork is something to admire, not something to squint at. Nostalgia plays a role. Nostalgia is not the only element in play.

I've said in the past that the Ramones never made a bad album, but that some are better than others. I've always regarded the first three Ramones albums--1976's Ramones and 1977's Leave Home and Rocket To Russia--as their finest long-players; I've identified 1983's Subterranean Jungle as their most underrated work. And, although I've always cherished 1978's Road To Ruin, I've also felt it was a slight step down after Rocket To Russia.

And that's nonsense.

The process of prepping for the May 2023 publication of my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones gave me a chance to immerse myself once again in the magic of the Ramones' individual albums. It's not like I was ever far from them in the first place; a day without the Ramones would be like...I can't imagine what a day without the Ramones would be like. I've reviewed and compiled a list of my 25 favorite Ramones tracks. I've significantly upgraded my opinion of 1981's Pleasant Dreams, to the point where I might even prefer it to Subterranean Jungle.

And Road To Ruin? That may be the Ramones' masterpiece.

I'll stop just short of proclaiming that. But it is, without question, at least one of their very greatest works. Its cover graphics are even more eye-popping and irresistible than the iconic image of their debut. It looks best in 12" format. The sounds are more varied than the fast-n-loud charge of the first three albums, but it retains its own certified sedated identity. I just want to have something to do.

And it's something I want to--I've gotta--have on vinyl.

Don't argue with this lad.

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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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl