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 # 1250.
sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happen
POP CO-OP: Wait Til Next Week
THE KENNEDYS: Walking Through The Park
Three as-yet-unreleased tracks from a compilation album coming from Big Stir Records in 2025. We have little more to say about this at the moment, except to note that each of these tracks is stellar, and that one of them will be the album's de facto title tune.
Beyond that?
Well. Wouldn't YOU like to know.....
THE HALF/CUBES: My Girl
Oh, this is splendid. Splendid AND sublime! The Half/Cubes, of course, are two of the Flashcubes--bassist Gary Frenay and drummer Tommy Allen--working with Randy Klawon and a legion of super guest-stars to remake a few ace rockin' pop tunes from the past. Some you know. Some you don't know. Hell, some I don't know. The result is their debut album Pop Treasures, one of this year's best records and the best covers album since the Flashcubes' own Pop Masters.
For their Pop Treasures rendition of Eric Carmen's "My Girl," the Half/Cubes enlist the aid of Darian Sahanaja (of Wondermints and Brian Wilson's band) to apply just the right balance of shine and oomph. Gorgeous! And I tell ya: I would love to hear the Half/Cubes take on the Flashcubes' 1978 debut single "Christi Girl," written by Arty Lenin. Bright lights illuminate pop treasures of their own.
(And keep an eye out for an upcoming This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio special, casting its spotlight on some of the individual tracks that so influenced the Flashcubes and the Half/Cubes. Brilliant!)
WAR: Why Can't We Be Friends?
I wrote this in 2020. Still applies:
"We can be friends. But politics do matter. What happens in politics affects all of us, as we determine the way our society should function on a day-to-day basis. Friends care about what happens to friends, about what happens to friends of friends. Friends don't vote with the specific shallow goal of making liberals cry again. Friends don't delight in the notion of progressive heads going all Scanners if America's Biggest Mistake somehow wins a second term. And friends, on the right or the left, don't gloat when the other side loses. That's crass and insensitive. We go high. That's what friends do. That's what everyone ought to do.
"Man, we don't have to agree on everything. We don't even have to agree on all that much. Why can't we be friends? At the end of all of this: Why the hell can't we be friends?"
2024 update: With that said....
None of the above should be misread as willingness to compromise my values. If our values don't mesh in some way, then maybe we shouldn't have been friends to begin with.
OASIS: Digsy's Dinner
Well, this would have been an eensy bit more of a statement if we'd had time to play "Rock 'n' Roll Star" or even "The Hindu Times," but you go to the airwaves with the playlist that fits into a three-hour time slot, not the playlist you wish fit into a three-hour time slot. I've never been much of an Oasis fan, but I've been taken aback by the backlash against recent news of their upcoming reunion shows. Jeez, man, dig what you dig. This reunion means a lot to legions of Oasis faithful, and I'm delighted on their behalf.
This is the only previous thing I've ever had to say about Oasis on this blog:
"In the mid '90s, a coworker named Bob Ketcham was hooked on the first Oasis album, Definitely Maybe, and he shared his enthusiasm with me. Or maybe it was the second album, (What's The Story) Morning Glory? I don't remember, because Oasis just left me cold at the time. My friend Chuck Higbie in Key West also tried to recruit me into the Oasis Army, but I was a resister, I was. The Flashcubes opened a late '90s live show with an ace cover of Oasis' 'Rock 'n' Roll Star,' and that was a bit of all right, awright.
"One evening in 2002, my daughter and I were watching Top Of The Pops on BBC America, and I fell in helpless thrall to the then-new Oasis single 'The Hindu Times.' I didn't even mind when Oasis themselves turned up on a subsequent TOTP, and were introduced as 'The greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world!' Nonetheless, my favorite Oasis-related track is 'Birth Of An Accidental Hipster,' the fab song co-written by Noel Gallagher of Oasis with the Jam's Paul Weller for the Monkees' 2016 album Good Times!"
And yeah, for this week's Oasis spin, I wanted to say, "Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star," but time restraints forced us to sub in the much shorter track "Digsy's Dinner." Guess we'll settle for saying, "Eat it, haters."
THE BUZZCOCKS: I Don't Mind
I'LL MIND IF I DAMNED WELL WANNA MIND...!!
ROY CRANK: Don't Kill That World I'm Living In
I wasn't familiar with Ukrainian performer Roy Crank prior to the current release of his ace number "Don't Kill That World I'm Living In." That track is paired with the Armoires' "Snake Island Thirteen" as Songs For Ukrainian Independence Day. And while this show is obviously gonna play TIRnRR Fave Raves the Armoires (see below), Crank's track is also good, really good. "Don't Kill This World I'm Living In" reminds me of Queen at their best, and I think a lot of other pop music addicts will likewise appreciate it. I'm gonna need to take a deeper dive in Roy Crank's body of work. Time to thrill that world we're living in.
THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Yesterday's Hero
THE ARMOIRES: You Oughta Be Cut In Half
Pop music as manifesto. The Armoires' Octoberland is nothing short of breathtaking, a firm planting of feet and raising of banner on behalf of values and virtues that are even larger than the music itself. The album opens with "We Absolutely Mean It," closes with "Music & Animals," and threads the sentiments together with nine more tracks of resolute sincerity, empathy, and accomplishment. It is a whole-album experience, as all of the superb advance singles somehow sound even better in context. The influences, whether deliberate or God-given, unite pop, rock, folk, Americana, Europa, Broadway (no, really!), rural soul, California sun, and--to quote an older Armoires song title--Appalachukrania, blended to form a unique and sublime tapestry. The production just sounds amazing, so inviting and warm, enhancing hooks and melodies unwilling to shy away from deeper meaning, hummable tunes unafraid to embrace their own essential kickass identity. The Armoires absolutely mean it.
I'm convinced.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books.
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.
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