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 # 1277
THE RAMONES: What's Your Game
I love the Ramones. My first book was about the Ramones, I co-host a radio show that takes its title from a line in a Ramones song, and I regard "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" as the record that changed my life. I'm a fan, and I'm proud to be a fan. My three favorite bands are always going to be the Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. Ain't gonna change at this age.
For all that, there are still some Ramones tracks that have yet to be played on TIRnRR. But I was a little surprised to discover we'd never played "What's Your Game" before. It's from their second album, 1977's incredible Leave Home, and I just figured we must have played everything from the first four Ramones albums by now. Better late than never! It's all in the game.
Given that Sorrows guitarist Arthur Alexander has expressed his affection for the music of mid '60s rockin' Mods the Artwoods, our recent playlists have taken to playing the two acts in close proximity. We're breaking that trend on our next show--my fault!--but I betcha we'll get back to it in short order.
Meanwhile, both of these fine acts are represented this week by covers. The Artwoods' BBC radio performance of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" is influenced less by Her Majesty's Fab Ramones and more by Otis Redding's own soulful version. It jumps, it swaggers, and it doesn't take the easy way out as it tries to please us. Got a good reason!
Sorrows' righteously boppin' run-through of Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" comes to us from their current record Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, an archival release that rescues an irresistible previously-unreleased Sorrows album from more'n four decades ago, and serves now as Sorrows' farewell work. The Artwoods are taking next week off, but we will hear another track from Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow.
In our Ramones entry up above, I mentioned that Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes mingle all celestial-like with the Beatles and Ramones as the Trinity in my rock 'n' roll cosmology. I think my first exposure to Cochran's power pop prototype "Somethin' Else" was provided by the Flashcubes, who used to include the song in their live sets circa 1979; pretty sure I heard the 'Cubes play it before I heard the Sex Pistols' cover, and a couple of years before I heard Cochran's original. So, nice connection here between the Flashcubes and Sorrows.
(Connections between the Flashcubes and Sorrows.... Do we want to get into spoilers? Most of you already know about a forthcoming project we've been teasing for a bit. More details yet to come. A connection between the Flashcubes and Sorrows? On the radio, pop music is their religion....)
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Ship To Shore
This little mutant radio show is wholeheartedly and enthusiastically in favor of Librarians With Hickeys. That's the band Librarians With Hickeys, though I guess we're not opposed to nibbling playfully on Marian the Librarian's neck if she were open to the notion. There were bells on a hill, but we never heard them ringing....
Where were we? Ah, right...pop music. Librarians With Hickeys' current album How To Make Friends By Telephone is a ripe 'n' ready resource for rockin' pop radio picks, and we move now to the latest single "Ship To Shore." Hailing frequencies open, and message received.
(We've also just heard a great new, currently unreleased track from Librarians With Hickeys. Do we want to get into spoilers? Maybe not yet. In saying even that much, I hope we haven't gone too far.)
THE SPONGETONES: Words And Music
No spoiler here: We've been playing the SpongeTones' cover of the Flashcubes' "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young," loving it, and we'll for damned sure be playing it again (and again) in the future. As other tracks from this various-artists project shift from secret to spoiler to HERE IT IS!!, the SpongeTones' "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" has already secured a guaranteed berth on the year-end Countdown show of our most-played tracks in 2025. And we're not even done with March yet!
This week, we wanted to reach back for a spin of one of the 'Tones' own tunes: "Words And Music," from their 1991 album Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! was my first SpongeTones album; I was smitten, I caught up with its predecessors in the SpongeTones library PDQ, and I've been on board ever since. Words AND music. I'm sold!
P. HUX: Better Than Good
As referenced at the tippy-top of today's rant, my first book was 2023's Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, coming soon to a remainder table near you. My second book was 2024's The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.
If/when I do a GREM! Volume 2 book, that volume will include a celebration of "Double Our Numbers," a sublime song from Parthenon Huxley's 1988 album Sunny Nights. You can read that GREM! chapter here.
Speaking of books, Mr. Huxley has his own new tome. Parthenon's memoir Electric Light Odyssey is subtitled "My Zigzag Life And The Iconic Band That Changed Everything," and it chronicles his personal and professional history, including his dbas under his own name and fronting his combo P. Hux, and his tenure with the Orchestra, the current incarnation representing the legacy of the Electric Light Orchestra. A book by Parthenon Huixley covering all of that? To paraphrase Lenny Haise, the great philosopher who used to play guitar in Erie, PA's phenomenal pop combo the Wonders: I bought it, you're buyin' it, we're ALL buyin' it. Do so here.
Some years back, Parthenon allowed us the use of his P. Hux track "Better Than Good" on our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. Thanks again, Parthenon! It seemed high time for a repeat spin, and that is indeed the better-than-good option we chose this week. Better and better!
(Do we want to get into spoilers? That would be premature in this case anyway. I guess we will have to wait another night.)
BADFINGER: Day After Day
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio
The assembled forces of Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols have crafted this lovely statement of intent "Pop Radio," a delicious ditty which serves as manifesto for TIRnRR in all our imaginary glory. We've been playing "Pop Radio" a lot, and we have an even newer track from Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols set to open our next show.
(As for the identity of this new new Super 8/Lisa Mychols track: Do we want to get into spoilers? We DO! And this will be revealed at the top of this coming Sunday night's show, when we close our eyes.)
THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce
Do we want to get into spoilers? Even if we don't wanna do that, this isn't a spoiler at all. The Flashcubes' absolutely ace new number "Reminisce" will be one of three new Flashcubes tracks appearing alongside 21 other artists covering various Flashcubes originals on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. The album is due from our friends at Big Stir Records in September, and "Reminisce" will be the opening track. "Reminisce" will lead into sparkle*jets u.k.'s cover of "Make Something Happen," which will flow into...
...Heh. No more spoilers for now. Stay tuned. Things are about to get brilliantly Cubic around here.
WONDERBOY: Girl Songs
Listen: They're ALL girl songs, man. Our boy Robbie Rist understands. Oh! One spoilery question for Robbie: Is one of the girls named Sybil? Something about a girl with more than one personality...?
And with that, 10 Songs takes five.
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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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