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 # 1346
THE AMPLIFIER HEADS: A Girl Named Chop Suey
A rock 'n' roll riot! That's the promise offered and honored by the Amplifier Heads' new album Super 8. Amplified head Head Sal Baglio has made it clear in whose memory Super 8 is proclaimed:
"The Amplifier Heads' new album Super 8 is dedicated to Paul Armstrong and Ducky Carlisle — two much beloved and missed friends gone way too soon.
"Ducky introduced me to Paul the way he introduced everyone. He said: 'Do you know Paul Armstrong? Yeah, he’s a genius. You two guys should be friends.'
"And that’s exactly what happened. Both Ducky and Paul were crazed rock n’ roll FANATICS and we loved all the same music.
"We played on many stages together, including The Cavern in Liverpool. They both appear on the Amplifier Heads' Loudah album, which was also recorded and mixed by Ducky Carlisle at his Ice Station Zebra Studio.
"Both are missed very much. Super 8 is dedicated to their shining light and crazed rock n’ roll spirit. They live on in all the music we created back then, that we create right now, and that we are destined to create in the future."
TIRnRR offers a great big HELL YEAH!! to all of the above. To the Amplifier Heads, I say Ducky and PA would be proud of you.
THE MONKEES: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
From a previous blog post about my 25 favorite Monkees tracks:
Don Kirshner's last stand, but it's a really, really good last stand. Most regard this Neil Diamond ditty as an inferior follow-up to his SuperMegaSmash Monkees hit "I'm A Believer," but I actually like it better. Part of the reason is circumstantial: the original Colgems 45 of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" pounds and pops in a way no CD (or LP) reissue has ever managed to recapture. "I'm A Believer" is a better song, and arguably a better record, but I feel a vibrant and pervasive connection to "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," a connection its "Believer" big brother can't equal. (For a coincidental commentary on Kirshner's exit from the Monkees project, read the lyrics to this song as an approximation of what I think Kirshner shoulda said to the Monkees at the time. Except maybe not addressing the group as "Girl.")
CIRCE LINK: I'm On Your Side
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
High school reunion time! I'm pretty sure I haven't learned anything. Here's my chance to prove it.
For my share of programming this week's penultimate set, I picked four tracks to sorta kinda represent the high school experience. The set begins with Monogroove's "Back To School," a certifiable TIRnRR Pick Hit found on the group's current 30th anniversary collection Anthology. Let Alice Cooper crow that school's out for the summer; Monogroove has your essential teen guide to navigating the halls and kicking the cliques. Back? It's like I never left.
The MnM's
Following Dana's spin of "I'm Tired" by the MnM's, we inserted a bit of dialogue from the classic--that's motherlovin' CLASSIC, man!-1979 feature film Rock 'n' Roll High School, as the Ramones walk around campus and the evil principal Miss Togar asks them in a shrieking tone, Do your parents KNOW you're Ramones...?! This snippet segues into a performance of the movie's title theme as executed by its star, perfectly-cast actress P. J. Soles in her hypmotizin' role as Riff Randell, rock 'n' roller.
Riff's winning warbling flows into Dana's selection of the Muffs' "That's For Me" (from their farewell album No Holiday), which in turn sets up "School Days" by the Runaways. That song was the subject of a previous Greatest Record Ever Made! post, and it remains my favorite Runaways track. Then--just like when I saw the Runaways open for the Ramones in 1978!--the Queens of Noise lead us into glue-sniffin' temptation, as the Ramones cover Love's supercharged '60s proto-punk nugget "7 And 7 Is."
And then, the Coasters! I've described "Yakety Yak" as the all-time best song about the generation gap, and it would have seemed the likeliest Coasters track to place here. Instead, we return to my introduction to the Coasters; I heard "Charlie Brown" when I discovered a copy of the 45 in the family collection circa 1972-73--eighth grade for me--and delighted in the fee-fee-fi-fi-fo-fo-fum tale of this cat Charlie who was either the high school's biggest troublemaker or just terribly, terribly misunderstood. Dana closes the set with Juniper's "Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys!," which properly places the blame for mischief on those unruly lads. I bet they're ALL named Charlie Brown! WHY'S everybody always picking on me? I'm innocent, I tell ya! INNOCENT!
Right. I'm ditching study hall. Wanna meet up in the smoking area? But in the immortal words of Peter Tork: I don't smoke...those.
THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong
Speaking of high school, the Greenberry Woods' new album It's All Good, Sugar includes a track called "Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong," and that song title describes high school about as accurately as anything ever. The album as a whole is a welcome return for these power pop greats, and "Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong" has become my go-to. We'll play it again on our next show.
THE BEATLES: I'm A Loser
And still speaking of high school....
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My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous 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.
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.
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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