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 # 1329
We play the hits. Our little mutant radio show first invaded the airwaves at the very end of 1998, a few months after power pop force of nature the Andersons! released their debut album Separated At Birth. From that album, an insanely infectious track called "From The Get-Go" was a huge, huge favorite during TIRnRR Year One, and it still occasionally makes its winning way to our playlists even now. Our old pal Robbie Rist was a proud member of the Andersons!; the first time Dana and I appeared as guests on The Spoon (Robbie's podcast with co-hosts Chris Jackson and Thom Bowers), Robbie figured that your Dana and your Carl had probably played the Andersons! on the radio, but he wasn't for-sure certain. "Robbie," I assured him, "We were playing the Andersons! from the get-go."
HA! I slay me.
Robbie's worked with tons of artists. One of his current collaborations is with Florida's phenomenal pop combo Spectraflame, whose recent single "I Always Wanted You To Stay" has already just about locked up a berth on our year-end countdown show. Central 'Flame Steve Burgess knows how to craft and execute a pop tune, and our Robbie knows how to help him deliver it. A hit record. It stays on the playlist for our next show.
Listen: If you're gonna try your hand at playing Bogart, you're gonna wind up sitting in a nest of bad men, whiskey bottles piling high. Any Trouble's "Playing Bogart" into the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" may be the most impeccable segue in TIRnRR's long history of impeccable segues. Pop noir!
DEVIL LOVE: Tell Me You Love Me
Devil Love's wonderful current single "Tell Me You Love Me" has become a welcome earworm, playing inside my delighted li'l cranium with remarkable frequency. TIRnRR airplay has not yet mirrored my love for this track, though that's just a byproduct of programming logistics; for example, I planned to play "Tell Me You Love Me" again on our next show, but it was among several selections bumped aside when the passing of Chip Taylor prompted me to wedge in five songs from the Chip Taylor songbook. Devil Love's fantastic single will be back. I tell you: I love it.
(Incidentally: The Chip Taylor tribute will include two obvious hits, one [in some circles] lesser-known album track, and two covers, one of which I mistakenly refer to on-air as the original version. Oops.)
THE SMITHEREENS: House We Used To Live In
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE SHIRTS: Starts With A Handshake
In 2025, the visionary Think Like A Key Music label released Live Featuring Annie Golden, a previously-unissued 1981 live-in-the-studio exhibition by CBGB vet'rans the Shirts. It's invigmoratin', like getting a brand-new classic Shirts record, and its track "Tears Comin' Down" made our year-end countdown show of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2025.
Now, Think Like A Key once again emerges from the archives with more new old Shirts. Live At Paradise 1979 preserves a Boston gig broadcast on WBCN, and it friggin' kicks, man. The album includes bravura performances of long-time TIRnRR Shirts favorites like "Tell Me Your Plans" and "Reduced To A Whisper," plus a lotta fab shots we ain't played yet. If there are still more vintage Shirts hangin' in the closet, here's hoping Think Like A Key Music can dig them out as well. And if the label could clear rights to reissue the group's two long-outta-print Capitol Records long-players (and the rest of the group's albums to boot), well, those Shirts would provide the best fit ever.
THE HALF/CUBES: Something's Gonna Happen
We have--of course!--been playing selections from the Half/Cubes' superb current album Found Pearls, as any decent rockin' pop radio outlet should. BUT! We now have a brand-new non-album Half/Cubes single, with Special Guest Bat Villain Glen Burtnik of the Weeklings taking on lead vocals for a cover of the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me." That will open our next show this Sunday night.
SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind
From a previous 10 Songs:
"Our little mutant radio show has a long and rewarding history with the mighty Kool Kat Muzik label. Even before Ray Gianchetti (Mr. Kool Kat hisself) made his superfine rockin' pop imprint the home of our TIRnRR compilation albums, we've been programming Kool Kat cuts since the dawn of ever. Every new Kool Kat release is automatically under consideration for TIRnRR airplay, and almost all of them result in at least one track getting a spin on one (or more!) of our playlists. We're FANS!
"And right now, I'm a big fan of Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind, the new Kool Kat Musik release by Sergio Ceccanti. The title track is just perfect--perfect!--for the radio-ready vibe we crave, channeling a '60s garage-pop atmosphere in service of a steely-eyed determination to seek a sure-footed next step forward...."
Like Devil Love's "Tell Me You Love Me," Mr. Ceccanti's "Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind" hasn't yet received the TIRnRR exposure it deserves. But it will spin again this Sunday, and on some future Sundays thereafter. Leave the past. We'll barrel ahead from here.
THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely
Awright, this one we HAVE been playing, and we're not stopping now. So lovely. So right. From their current album Confess, the Cynz supply the love we all need.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. 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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