10 SONGS: 1/31/2025

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 # 1270

STEVE CONTE: Shoot Out The Stars

Guitarist Steve Conte first entered TIRnRR's sovereign airspace as a member of the latter-day incarnation of the New York Dolls, and again when he augmented our power pop heroes the Flashcubes on their invigmoratin' 2022 cover of the Slade classic "Gudbuy T' Jane." Rock AND roll!

Now, Steve has a new album called The Concrete Jungle, and of course we're playing it. Hell, we played the advance single "Fourth Of July" in August of 2023, and we played "Motor City Love Machine" on last week's show. When I was previewing the album, "Shoot Out The Stars" struck me as a track constructed from the same essential rockin' pop DNA as this little mutant radio show. We have the stars in our crosshairs. Ready, aim.... 

SORROWS: Out Of My Head

Second week in a row TIRnRR airplay for "Out Of My Head," the teaser single for Sorrows' forthcoming album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow. Recorded in 1981, unreleased until right about NOW!, Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is immediately, jaw-droppingly irresistible. We'll move on to another one of the album's tracks Sunday night, and the damned thing deserves--and gets--our highest recommendation. The single is great; the album as a whole is even greater.

THE WELL WISHERS: All My Friends

The Well Wishers (and Jeff Shelton's other gotta-play-this dbas) are perennial picks t' click on our show. So it was a given that we would immediately start programming tracks from the Well Wishers' new all-covers collection Covered 2. Fortune favors the bold, but fans often favor the familiar, and I confess we were orginally set to play the Covered 2 version of Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News," a song I've loved since I was a senior in high school (contemporary to the reign of Rumours).

Upon further review, I was drawn instead to the Well Wishers' Covered 2 interpretation of "All My Friends," a song previously done by the Primitons. I had no previous awareness of the Primitons' original--nor, in fact, any real previous awareness of the Primitons themselves--but I do know a radio-ready record when I hear it. And we'll hear the Well Wishers' "All My Friends" again next week.

THE FOUR TOPS: If I Were A Carpenter

I consider the Four Tops' interpretation of "If I Were A Carpenter" definitive. Its spin this week gave me an opportunity to re-visit my own alternate-lyrics take. With apologies to the late Tim Hardin, I present "If I Were The Carpenters:"

If I were the Carpenters
And you were Pink Lady
Would Chuck Berry play anyway?
Or would we have the Babys?

If I think of Rain Parade

Would Cowsills find me?

"Carrie Annie," the Hollies brayed

How ELO reminds me

Shave Mike Love for orneriness

Replace Mike Love with Sorrows

Mike gave Beach Boys severance checks

Wondermints, tomorrow!

If I were Steve Miller

With Detroit Wheels grinding

Would you miss the Orgone Box

And Yusef's shrewd whining?

If I were a band, Roy Wood

Would Move still shun me?

If I could join Yes, I would

What would U2 think of me?

If I were the Carpenters

And you were Pink Lady

Would Chuck Berry play anyway?

Or would we have the Babys?

Would Chuck Berry play anyway?

Or would we have the Babys?

The late Tim Hardin looks on in stunned, horrified silence

THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

Well, given that Buffalo Bills fans always play a slight rewrite of the classic "Shout"--The Bills make wanna SHOUT!--whenever the Bills score a touchdown, I was really hoping this week's spin of the Isley Brothers' original would play in a happier context. It was not to be. But let's go, Buffalo--we'll get 'em next year.

(And I say we start by tackling the razzafrazzin' refs.)

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

THE KENNEDYS: Walking Through The Park

POP CO-OP: Wait Til Next Week

sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happening

Four as-yet-unreleased tracks, each a cover of a song written by one or another member of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, and all four of them created for a forthcoming project we've been referring to as [REDACTED].

Yeah, one needn't be a rocket surgeon to figure what the [REDACTED] project has gotta be, especially if it brings together these specific ace recordings by the SpongeTones, the Kennedys, Pop Co-Op, and sparkle*jets u.k. We will remain coy about it for just a few more days.

On this coming Sunday night's show, we will finally reveal the actual title of [REDACTED]. And we'll do so with a spin of a [REDACTED] track we ain't played yet: A brand new original recording by the Flashcubes themselves. Brighter lights await. Stay tuned.

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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.