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.
BIG STIR RECORDS and producer/curator Carl Cafarelli bring you a very special collection saluting – and featuring – Power Pop Hall Of Famers THE FLASHCUBES: the all-new new album MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! A TRIBUTE TO THE Read more
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1297.
PAUL COLLINS: Hang On To Yourself
Another ace new track from the forthcoming tribute album Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie, as Power Pop Hall of Famer Paul Collins takes on "Hang On To Yourself." The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars was my favorite David Bowie album during my misspent (but perfectly soundtracked) youth, and it's an absolute kick to hear Paul Collins bring his own American Beat to bear on one of my top Ziggy picks. As Paul's Bowie cover makes its TIRnRR debut this week, it's joined by another gem from Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie ("Can't Help Thinking About Me" by the Cynz) in its third straight week on our playlist. Both of these will return on our next show, and we'll also offer our first spin of the High Frequencies' Bowie tribute cover of "Modern Love." Hang on!
CAST FEATURING P.P. ARNOLD: Poison Vine
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Apologies to fans of Oasis and Blue, but my favorite '90s Britpop combo was Cast. It didn't hurt that Cast included John Power, formerly of the La's, but I'm not sure I even knew that when I fell into the thrall of Cast's "Alright" and "Promised Land." When Rhino Records contracted me to write the liner notes for a compilation album called Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s, I know the good folks at Rhino really wanted to include a track by Cast, but they were unable to clear the rights for it.
P. P. Arnold is one of my favorite singers, and possibly my very favorite among female soul singers. Her incredible rendition of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" is the song's definitive version, and it rightly earns its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I'm delighted that she is still making music, and still unerringly excellent.
So: The combined forces of Cast and P. P. Arnold on a new single in 2025? I'm IN! "Poison Vine" is vintage Cast, grand, sweeping, and powerful, and P.P. Arnold is, y'know, P. P. ARNOLD!! Everyone sounds as great as ever. Its five-minute running time will make it difficult to squeeze into our short-attention-span format very often, but it is five minutes well spent. No power in the known or unknown universe could prevent us from playing it at least once. Cast AND the mighty P. P. Arnold. Most inviting poison vine ever.
RICHARD TURGEON: Signs
Ever-reliable rockin' pop performer Richard Turgeon has a supercool new album on the likewise-supercool Kool Kat Musik label. His new record Shungite is named after the radioactive element that's deadly to natives of the planet Shung, and...okay, that's not even remotely true. But I'm sticking with it! You'll BELIEVE a record can fly! Ain't nothing mild-mannered about Richard Turgeon.
THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot
Awright. Go time!
"The Sweet Spot" is the second of three new singles from Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes. "The Sweet Spot" is available here, its rockin' predecessor "Reminisce" can still be scarfed up here, and the go'geous forthcoming single "If These Hands" can be preordered here. Everything's coming up Cubic!
All of the above serve as integral components of the September 12th release Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, as the three new Flashcubes tracks rub Rickenbackers with 21 great acts serving up 21 inspired covers of original tunes from the Flashcubes' songbook. Our Cubesmania participants include sparkle*jets u.k., Librarians With Hickeys, Chris von Sneidern, Graham Parker and Mike Gent, Joe Giddings, Ballzy Tomorrow, the Kennedys, the Verbs, Dolph Chaney, Pop Co-Op, the Peppermint Kicks, Tom Kenny & the Hi-Seas, the Choosers, Hamell On Trial, the Armoires Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, the Mayflowers, Super 8 featuring Lisa Mychols, Callan Foster, Sorrows, and the Spongetones. It is indeed a tribute fit for the brilliance of the Flashcubes.
At long last, Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes is beginning to appear as available for preorder. It's already listed on Amazon, but c'mon, there are better options than that. You can get it directly from its visionary record label Big Stir Records. It's up on Bandcamp, complete with a first look at my liner notes for the album, plus its individual track credits. I imagine Kool Kat Musik will start accepting preorders soon, and we love Kool Kat.
Bottom line: You have purchase options to enrich your music library with the addition of your own soon-to-be-cherished personal copy of Make Something Happen! We've done our part. Now it's YOUR turn to make something happen.
THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Too Sweet (Oh Yeah!)
Oh Yeah! for SURE! Make Something Happen! superstars the Peppermint Kicks' new album Pop Rocks In My Chewing Gum is bad for you in all the best ways, risking potential damage to dentures while redeeming its dietary dangers with sweet, sweet confections that stick to your ribs and to the underside of your desk. My current Pick T'Click is "Too Sweet (Oh Yeah!)," but nine out of ten dentists will agree there's much to taste and savor on Pop Rocks In My Chewing Gum. (Nine out of ten dentists will also gang up to beat the livin' chicklets outta that stubborn tenth dentist. Irascible lot, those dentists.)
THE VIBEKE SAUGESTAD BAND: Hey Now Sunshine
"Hey Now Sunshine" is a thoroughly effervescent and endearing new track from the Vibeke Saugestad Band, an advance treat from a forthcoming EP called The Sun Sessions. Norwegian pop singer Vibeke, originally billed under just her first name, has been bringing the sunshine for quite some time now, and I'm mortified that I butchered the pronunciation of her name on-air during this week's broadcast. VEE-buh-kuh SAUWguh-stah. VEE-buh-kuh SAUWguh-stah. Although screwing up the names of musicians may continue in the tradition of Ed Sullivan introducing "Diane Warwick" on his really big show, I know that my own last name has been routinely mispronounced by many, so I'm further bummed when I screw up someone's name. The song's great, the singer and her band are great, and I'll get a little closer to announcing the band's name correctly when "Hey Now Sunshine" plays again on our next show this Sunday night.
THE JACKSON 5: I'll Be There
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
ELENA ROGERS: A Little Bit Of Lovely
The newest Elena Rogers EP Song About Me arrived a few days too late to be considered for this week's show. Unabashed, we played our familiar programming choice from Elena's previous EP Always Trying, with a vow to get something from Song About Me into the mix on the next available playlist. You'll hear that vow fulfilled on Sunday.
BALLZY TOMORROW: Five Personalities
We couldn't let 10 Songs play to its inner groove without one more track from Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. Operating under his rockin' pop dba Ballzy Tomorrow, everyone's pal Robbie Rist gives us an interpretation of the Flashcubes' "Five Personalities" that our friends at Big Stir describe as "majestically Queen-like whimsy." We concur!
On our next show, we'll hear further evidence of Robbie Rist's interpretive ability, delivered in the form of another, different cover tune he also recorded as Ballzy Tomorrow. And it's one we ain't ever played here before. Well! We're gonna play it Sunday. We have that specific plan written on the back of my hand.
THE BEATLES: She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
And we're heading out the way she came in. Lend me your comb. It's time to go home.
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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. You can read about our history here
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