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 # 1254.
THE ON AND ONS: Long Ride
Australia's phenomenal pop combo the On and Ons have been TIRnRR Fave Raves for several years already, and news that the lads are now affiliated with the mighty Jem Records label makes us kvell. Kvelling is a good thing, expressing a giddy 'n' delighted feeling inside. Rockin' pop music makes us kvell. As it oughta.
Two new tracks from the On and Ons' forthcoming Jem Records debut Come On In reinforce our confidence in the kvell-worthy nature of this alliance. We opened this week's broadcast with the better'n nifty Come On In Jem gem "Long Ride," and circled back to open our closing set with its equally-effervescent album mate "Sunny Jim." We'll have a third Come On In treat on our next show. Come on in! The On and Ons have granted us a license to kvell.
DWIGHT TWILLEY: Alone In My Room
I intended to play this great Dwight Twilley track (from his 1979 album Twilley) on last week's epic Cubic Roots salute to songs that inspired the Flashcubes and the Half/Cubes. Recognizing the need to program something from the Flashcubes' sublime 2023 all-covers album Pop Masters, we subbed in the Pop Masters version of "Alone In My Room" and postponed the Twilley original to this week. I give the edge to the Flashcubes' take on this, but ya can't go wrong either way.
CARLA OLSON AND TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Is It True
As pop fans, when we listen to multiple versions of the same song, we often develop an allegiance to the version that hooked us first. For example, with the Dwight Twilley song that opens this week's 10 Songs, my first real awareness of "Alone In My Room" came via the Flashcubes' cover; I probably heard Twilley's original some time before the last couple of weeks, but it was the Cubic rendition that got my attention, and kept it.
So even the combined forces of Carla Olson and Tall Poppy Syndrome may face long odds in trying to pry my devotion away from Brenda Lee with their new cover of our Brenda's 1964 single "Is It True."
"Is It True" is far and away my favorite Brenda Lee track. It wasn't a hit in America, and I didn't hear it until Rhino Records included "Is It True" in the fabulous 2005 various-artists boxed set One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost And Found. This amazing 4-CD compilation is like the Nuggets of the '60s girl-group sound, and Brenda Lee's "Is It True" is one of its absolute highlights. I adored the song immediately, and have never stopped loving it.
So my gosh, Carla and her Tall Poppy comrades deserve mega accolades for holding their own here. It's not just that their "Is It True" is accomplished and well-performed--I would have expected nothing less from that level of talent--it's that the elusive mojo is there. You believe them. I believe them. I'm not prepared to relinquish my torch for Brenda Lee's original, but I'm very happy to say that I now have two go-to versions of "Is It True." Is it true? Yep. I'll testify to that under oath.
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: No More Goodbyes
What could sway TIRnRR from its single-minded determination to program recent Librarians With Hickeys single "Hello Operator" with the subtle restraint one expects from carpet-bombing? The release of another new Librarians With Hickeys single. Duh. In truth, we played both "Hello Operator" and its brand spankin' new brother "No More Goodbyes" this week, and "No More Goodbyes" will return next week. Even there, I almost played "Hello Operator" again in place of "No More Goodbyes"--I really, really dig "Hello Operator"--but then I realized that I also really, really dig "No More Goodbyes." Both singles serve as teasers for the group's forthcoming new album How To Make Friends By Telephone, and I am secure in the certainty that I am really, really going to dig the whole album when it appears. No more goodbyes. Hello...!
THE CYNZ: Woman Child
Like Librarians With Hickeys, the Cynz are another A-list rock 'n' roll group whose each new release is likely a given for some TIRnRR airplay burn. No reason to make an exception here, as the new Cynz single "Woman Child" offers further empirical evidence of their essential asskickin' capability. Deadly Cynz! "Woman Child" will spin again on our next show.
THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Rebel, Rebel
During my recent guest appearance on Dedication--Fans Remember The Bay City Rollers, I mentioned the slow evolution of my interest in the Rollers. When I was a college student bin the late '70s, I put a Bay City Rollers poster on the wall of my dorm room as an act of defiance...but I didn't actually own a lot of Rollers music at the time. I had two 45s ("Saturday Night" and "Rock And Roll Love Letter") and two LPs (Dedication and It's A Game), and an intense curiosity about one other Rollers song that I didn't yet own. It took a while, but my Rollers collection did grow in time.
On Dedication, hosts Laura Brady and Suz Rostron invited me to list my ten favorite Rollers tracks. My list includes two selections from the It's A Game, but not the track from that album that scored the most turntable time when I was matriculatin': The Bay City Rollers' cover of David Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel."
Nowadays, I rarely play the Rollers' version of "Rebel, Rebel." It's not that I dislike it, but nor is it in the front quarters of my consciousness anymore. I wasn't all that much of a Bowie fan in '78; a Bowie-loving college pal despised the Rollers' version, but I liked it either about the same as or a little more than I liked Bowie's original. At the time. That time changed, as time will do. I have other Rollers tracks I like or love a lot more.
Nonetheless, after mentioning it on Dedication, it seemed high time for "Rebel, Rebel" by the Bay City Rollers to make its return to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. I do now prefer Bowie's original...but I retain my long-ago affection for Tartan-clad rebellion as well. Hot tramp, I love you so. She's a rebel.
DAVID BOWIE: I Dig Everything
So noted, David. So noted.
DONNA SUMMER: Hot Stuff
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE HALF/CUBES: Let Me Make Love To You
During a couple of previous TIRnRR broadcasts, legendary Maui DJ Michael McCartney expressed his appreciation for some of our intrepid programming decisions, specifically noting his delight in blastin' his speakers as we played Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and delighting in our Cubic Roots spin of Flo and Eddie's "Let Me Make Love To You." This week, we played "Hot Stuff" and the Half/Cubes' cover of "Let Me Make Love To You" (from the Half/Cubes' recent Pop Treasures album) in the same set, and offered both of 'em as a tip o' the hat to everyone's pal Michael. Blast away, Michael! Blast away.
THE FLASHCUBES: Christi Girl
The decision to program the Flashcubes' "Alone In My Room" last week forced us to cut another 'Cubes track we'd planned to play, specifically guitarist Arty Lenin's "When We Close Our Eyes." We figured we would make up for it by spinning an Arty song this week, but instead of "When We Close Our Eyes," we reached all the way back to 1978 for a fresh play of the Flashcubes' debut single.
"Christi Girl" was the Flashcubes' first record, a 45 (backed with "Guernica" and "Got No Mind") released in 1978. It's a pretty pop ballad written by Arty, and it also made its way to a Bomp Records various-artists set called Waves, Vol. 1, and years later it was exhumed for a Rhino Records power pop compilation CD. Since the Flashcubes only released a grand total of two records during their original late '70s run--1979's "Wait Till Next Week"/"Radio" 45 was the other one--"Christi Girl" was, by default, the Flashcubes' best-known song, at least to the extent that any Flashcubes song could be described as "best-known."
Prior to its release in 1978, I haunted Gerber Music in North Syracuse, badgering clerks there nearly every day about when the damned thing would be available for me to buy. The store had an advance promo copy of the 45 at the store, and they indulged me by playing it on the store's stereo, and then instructing me to go away and come back when it's actually released, ya pesky kid.
And I did. Er...plus a few more stops at Gerber in the interim, asking that musical question, Is it in yet? Is it in yet? Is it in yet...? I bought it the first day it was available.
I cannot overstate how important the Flashcubes have been to me. As I've said elsewhere, it's possible that I would have gotten around to writing about pop music and co-hosting a weekly rock 'n' roll radio show even without the Flashcubes' influence, but it would be a stretch for me to imagine how that would have been. When I was given the honor of inducting the Flashcubes into the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2014, I noted once again the three groups that had the greatest and most lasting influence upon my life as a pop fan: The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes.
A few months back, I bristled when someone referred to the Flashcubes as a cover band. No. No. I get the genesis of that presumption, given that that the Flashcubes' last two non-compilation albums have indeed been all-covers. But people need to dig a little deeper and discover the brilliance of their originals, a collection of ace tunes crafted by Arty Lenin, Paul Armstrong, and Gary Frenay. I tell ya: More artists should be covering them.
In 2021, a supercool Japanese pop group called the Choosers posted a video of their fab in-studio live performance of "Christi Girl." It would be WAY Fab if the Choosers would...um, choose to record an official version of "Christi Girl." It's time for the world to know the things that only we can know.
Somebody: Make something happen.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
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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