10 SONGS: 6/7/2025

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 # 1288

TOM KENNY AND THE HI-SEAS: Welcome To The Working Class

Tom Kenny is an international treasure, and he was born 'n' bred right here in our beloved Syracuse, NY. You may know him as the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants, Plastic Man, The Penguin, and a zillion others across a zillion animated credits. In live action, he was the evil Binky the Clown in his hometown buddy Bobcat Goldthwaite's 1991 film Shakes The Clown. To my daughter, he was the voice of both the Mayor and the narrator on The Powerpuff Girls. I tell that story here and here.

But as I like to point out and repeat: Before Tom Kenny was your SpongeBob Squarepants, he was our Tomcat, one of us, a participant in the same vibrant late '70s/early '80s local music scene that Dana and I loved so much, the scene that gave the world the Flashcubes, Maura Kennedy, Chris von Sneidern, the Penetrators, and many others. He found fame as a talented and celebrated voice actor; to us, he's so much more than that. He's a music fan from way back, and he channels that passion as a magnificent live performer. From local faves the Tearjerkers in the early '80s through the simply sublime Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas today, international treasure Tom Kenny remains solid gold on stage and off.

So yes, of course we wanted Tom to record a track for our forthcoming compilation Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. And man, did he and his superlative and uber-tight band o' Hi-Seas deliver. And then some! Credit 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay for suggesting his song "Welcome To The Working Class" as the perfect Cubic choice for Tomcat and company to tackle, and a more perfect match of artist and material will not be found anywhere. Not even in Bikini Bottom, nor in Townsville, nor Gotham City itself.

I have heard that "Welcome To The Working" is the first recording the Hi-Seas have completed since the November passing of their music director, the great Andy Paley. Beyond the blow of  personal tragedy, having to overcome the loss of Paley's enormous talent was no doubt a daunting task. From this bittersweet transition, one hopes there will be many more new Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas recordings yet to come. An international treasure. Welcome, indeed.

GRAHAM PARKER: Back To Schooldays

As I recall, my first awareness of Graham Parker's song "Back To Schooldays" was in 1981, when I read that none other than Rick Nelson had covered it. Even then, I didn't hear Nelson's version nor Graham Parker and the Rumour's 1976 original until a little bit later in the ol' timeline. I caught up eventually. Although we've played a more recent live performance of the song by Graham Parker and the Goldtops, I'm amazed that this is the TIRnRR debut of the studio version, from Graham's album Howlin' Wind. Looks like our trip back to schooldays merits a spell in detention, but consider this a good-faith attempt at extra credit.

(Have we mentioned yet that Graham Parker has also recorded a Flashcubes cover for the much-anticipated Make Something Happen! tribute album? No? Well, I'm sure we'll get around to mentioning it soon. I tell ya, all this detention can slow ya down.)

JIM BASNIGHT: All Summer Long

We love playing new music from Jim Basnight, and we're therefore delighted to add his new single "All Summer Long" to the TIRnRR playlist. Though the song shares its title with a Beach Boys classic, it's all original all the time, so grab the Coppertone and get set to frolic already. Sure, we'll be frolicking on the Bayou, but don't quibble: It's SUMMER!

EYTAN MIRSY: Jessie's Girl

BALLZY TOMORROW: Old Gangsters Never Die

Andrew Curry has compiled a number of superb tribute albums, each one full of accomplished and compelling interpretive salutes to its designated subjects: lite rock, the second British Invasion, the music of 007, Paul Williams, and Andy Gibb. Can't go wrong with any of them, which is why we've played 'em all on TIRnRR.

Second By Second By Minute By Minute: The Songs Of Rick Springfield is the newest release from Curry Cuts, and I won't be surprised if this winds up getting even more Dana & Carl airtime than its illustrious predecessors. 

In 1981, "Jessie's Girl" was Springfield's first breakout hit in the US. He'd been a star in his native Australia, and he played himself in animated form on the 1973 American TV cartoon series Mission: Magic! As an actor, he did a lot of TV work, achieving wider notice in '81 on the soap opera General Hospital. The soap stint coincided with his ascension on the pop music charts.

Is "Jessie's Girl" Springfield's signature tune? I think it is, so we begin our recognition of this magic mission with Brother Eytan Mirsky, coveting his best friend's girl with unashamed longing and aplomb. We follow with Robbie Rist fronting his nom de bop Ballzy Tomorrow for a supercool performance of "Old Gangsters Never Die," a Springfield tune I did not know prior to this.

A great tribute album can do that: Introduce you to deeper cuts and expand your awareness and appreciation of lesser-known gems to be found within an artist's body of work. I have, at best, a slightly better than cursory knowledge of the Rick Springfield canon, going beyond the hits into his lovely 1972 debut single "Speak To The Sky" and partial memory of his 1973 album Comic Book Heroes. Clearly, I have some homework to do. But we have this fine Rick Springfield tribute album to get us started.

(Ballzy Tomorrow also has a track on our Flashcubes tribute album, as do a few other artists on Second By Second By Minute By Minute. The best tribute albums demand the best talent!)

ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN: Why Can't You Come

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Red Beans And Gasoline

Both Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin and Arthur Alexander are among the acts covering the Flashcubes on Make Something Happen!, the latter with his ace combo Sorrows. In the mean time, Rob and Arthur are covering each other! A brand new split single pairs Skin-Tight Skin's cover of Arthur's "Why Can't You Come" with Arthur's rendition of Rob's "Red Beans And Gasoline." Now there's a high-octane meal!

THE MONKEES: I Never Thought It Peculiar

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

LISA MYCHOLS: What Kind Of Fool Am I

One more from Second By Second By Minute By Minute: The Songs Of Rick Springfield, courtesy of Lisa Mychols. This is just fantastic, and yeah, it just so happens that Ms. Mychols will also be on the Flashcubes tribute, collaborating with Super 8. Ain't no fools to be found here.

THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIKE GENT: Reminisce

The Flashcubes' new digital single is out on June 27th, and available for preorder now in advance of its appearance on the Flashcubes tribute album in September. Reminisce AND look forward. It's the most effective way to make something happen.

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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.

10 SONGS: 8/25/2022: In The SOUL PIT!

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 # 1143: The 11th Annual DANA'S FUNKY SOUL PIT!

AL GREEN: I Want To Hold Your Hand

Yeah, we got the feelin' now! For this year's edition of the Soul Pit, Dana wanted to focus on soul and R & B covers of classics from the Beatles' songbook.  With that goal in mind, the obvious choice to open The 11th Annual Dana's Funky Soul Pit had to be the Reverend Al Green's cover of the Fab Four's breakthrough American hit  "I Want To Hold Your Hand." If the good Reverend's winning groove on this track isn't our single most-played Beatles cover over the course of TIRnRR's long and storied tenure, I can't imagine what else could possibly hold that distinction. An absolutely fabulous record. I think you understand.

BILLY PRESTON: Blackbird

Everyone who watched the Beatles documentary Get Back witnessed irrefutable evidence of Billy Preston as a de facto Fifth Beatle. Preston's entry into the disjointed, chaotic mess that had characterized the Get Back sessions up to that point brought sudden life and redemption to the project, energized the Beatles, and (if you will) took a sad song and made it better. Preston is also, I think, the only Apple Records recording artist to appear on this week's playlist.

And Preston appears twice. Preston's "Eight Days A Week" opens our second set, and his "Blackbird" follows Al Green's "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and Aretha Franklin's "Eleanor Rigby" to form the show's introductory triptych.

Paul McCartney has claimed that he wrote "Blackbird" as a song of solidarity for the civil rights movement. I'm not convinced that our Macca didn't maybe apply that motivation retroactively, but what do I know? The lyrics do fit Paul's stated intent. I confess I don't love the Beatles' version quite as much as I did when I got my first copy of the White Album in 1977. Preston's rendition still sounds fresh to my ears.

MARTHA REEVES AND THE VANDELLAS: Something

Much has been written about George Harrison's presumed frustration as a songwriter stuck in a group with a couple of other prolific songwriters. Perhaps the Quiet One had the last laugh, as "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun," his two contributions to the Beatles' final album Abbey Road, were the highlights on one of rockin' pops all-time greatest LPs. I mean, John Lennon and Paul McCartney also brought A-level material to Abbey Road, and Ringo Starr turned in "Octopus's Garden" (which maybe isn't quite A-level, but is way preferable to Paul's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"), but George's songs steal the show.

(And how mixed must George's feelings have been when none other than Frank Sinatra performed "Something" in concert, but referred to it as his favorite Lennon-McCartney song? Ouch, Mr. Blue Eyes.)

"Something" does lend itself to interpretations across styles. I don't think a metal or punk version would work as anything beyond pointless parody, but the song fits Sinatra, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas make it sound like a natural-born Motown hit. Something in the way they move.

SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS: A Hard Day's Night

Much of the appeal of a show like this year's Soul Pit is the thrill of hearing familiar songs in unfamiliar and novel versions. Prior to hearing Dana's selections, I wouldn't have even imagined manic "I Put A Spell On You" auteur Screamin' Jay Hawkins attempting a Beatles cover. But he did! And it's friggin' GREAT! I don't think ol' Screamin' had any real affinity for the song, and I wouldn't be shocked to find out it wasn't his idea to record it. Nonetheless...that growl! That SCREAM! Yeah yeah YEAH!!

THE SUPREMES: A World Without Love

Never recorded by the Beatles, "A World Without Love" is a song Lennon and McCarney gave away. They just GAVE it away! And then collected royalties on Peter and Gordon's hit version. After Peter and Gordon were done with it, I guess the Supremes picked it up second-hand. One group's trash, another group's treasure. From the Supremes' British Evasion LP A Bit Of Liverpool.

EARTH, WIND & FIRE: Got To Get You Into My Life

A superb track from a shitty movie.

I'm one of the many dozens of people who saw Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in a theater at the time of its release in 1978. Ask me why, I'll say...I dunno. My tastes ran to punk, power pop, and '60s rock 'n' roll, certainly not the disco sounds of the film's stars the Bee Gees, nor really the AM/FM fare offered by its other star Peter Frampton. I was sufficiently open to Aerosmith to allow their version of "Come Together" (but agreed with a contemporary film reviewer who said a punk band like the Dead Boys would have been a more appropriate choice to play the dangerous 'n' evil rock band). Otherwise? Not even the presence of Steve Martin and Alice Cooper could redeem this cinematic disaster.

I didn't appreciate Earth, Wind and Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life" until much, much later. At the time, I was enough of a Beatles purist to be shocked--SHOCKED!--that any act would have the gall to rearrange a Beatles song to suit their own style. Imagine!

Now? I prefer Earth, Wind and Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life" to the Beatles' original, and I do still like the Beatles' original. The song was not my gateway into embracing EWF's music; that entry came via Brenda, a girl I met at school later that same Sgt. Pepper year of '78. 

Brenda loved Earth, Wind and Fire; over time, I gave EWF a fair listen, and eventually realized I love 'em, too. Brenda, in turn, gave the Ramones and the Kinks--and the Beatles!--a fair listen, and she became interested in them as well. New 1978 Girlfriend Brenda has been Lovely Wife Brenda since 1984. I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there.

Last week, Brenda and I saw Earth, Wind and Fire in concert, on a bill with Santana (another of Brenda's favorites). It was our first time seeing Santana, our second time seeing EWF. What a great, great band, both live and on record. "Got To Get You Into My Life" isn't my # 1 favorite EWF track--that would be either "Let's Groove," "Boogie Wonderland," or "September," followed by "After The Love Has Gone"--but it's one of my favorites, it's fantastic to hear in concert, and it's one of but a handful of Beatles covers I think surpasses the original. 

Thank you, Brenda, for turning me on to Earth, Wind and Fire. The music and the love continue. Got to get you into my life, into my life.

LITTLE RICHARD: Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey (Goin' Back To Birmingham)

For the final set of 2022's Soul Pit, Dana turned from soul and R & B covers of the Beatles to a few of the soul and R & B legends who inspired the young Beatles in the first place. As an unknown act playing dives (and worse), the early Beatles wanted to be a soul group. Little Richard provided one of their biggest influences, a flamboyant explosion of WOW! emanating with incendiary intent outta Macon, Georgia. 

Little Richard taught Paul McCartney how to scream. Perhaps more than any other among the many acts the Beatles wanted to copy, Little Richard gave John, Paul, and George (and, one presumes, Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) a working model of dynamism, of rock 'n' roll assault with intent to thrill. 

The Beatles were a great cover band. A great, great cover band. Most of the covers the Beatles recorded improved on the originals. 

Not even the Beatles could improve upon Little Richard.

CHUCK BERRY: Rock And Roll Music

Just let me hear some more of that rock 'n' roll music.

If we try to assess the overall impact of individual rock 'n' roll performers, two names stand high above all others: Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. No one else comes close to the importance of Elvis and Chuck; the Beatles were immensely important, but there wouldn't have been a Beatles if both the brown-eyed handsome man and the King hadn't made rock 'n' roll rock in the first place. Rock 'n' roll predates the debuts of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Without Chuck and Elvis, we're not still talkin' about rock 'n' roll all these decades on.

John Lennon named Elvis as his own prime inspiration. But Chuck Berry's influence is easier to hear within the Beatles' work, not just in the Berry covers the Fabs did, but in wordplay, in groove, and in playin' guitars just like a-ringin' a bell. And in "Back In The USSR." King Elvis I made the Beatles want to become the Beatles. Chuck Berry showed 'em how it's done.

The Beatles introduced me to Chuck Berry, just like they introduced me to Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Larry Williams, and more. I didn't hear any version of "Roll Over Beethoven" until much later; The Beatles' Second Album wasn't one of the LPs I heard in my formative years, but Beatles '65 was, and its scorchin' rendition of "Rock And Roll Music" remains my # 1 Chuck Berry cover. It's the only Chuck Berry cover I prefer to the original.

THE MARVELETTES: Please Mr. Postman

The Beatles also loved the girl group sound. They covered the Shirelles, the Cookies, and the Donays, and the above-cited record The Beatles' Second Album (or With The Beatles in the UK) gave us their version of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman." 

The Beatles own the song. Own it. But the Marvelettes did record something else that is The Greatest Record Ever Made!

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues

Yep. The Beatles wanted to be a soul group. Specifically, Paul McCartney said that the Beatles wanted to be like Arthur Alexander. The late, great Arthur Alexander didn't enjoy much chart success--only 1962's "You Better Move On" breached Billboard's Top 20, and only "Anna (Go To Him)" was a real success on the soul chart (# 10, also in '62)--but he had fans. 

Fans like the Beatles. Fans like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and many more. Though not a musician himself, Alexander wrote a number of his songs, and he could likewise make a song written by someone else into something uniquely Arthur Alexander. He was an incredible talent, and it's unfortunate that most who do know his works know them via better-known covers by those Beatles, Stones, Dylan, and others.

But without those covers, maybe we wouldn't know Alexander at all. Alexander's versions are nearly always the superior; about the only exception I can think of is Elvis Presley's "Burning Love," which Alexander didn't write but did record first. Alexander's disciples spread his Gospel as best they could. "Anna" was the only Alexander cover the Beatles released in a finished studio recording, but "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" and "Soldier Of Love" were staples of their early, pre-fame live shows, and their renditions survive in tapes of BBC radio performances.

The Beatles wanted to be like Arthur Alexander. That was a pretty high goal, and it was a goal they could not achieve. But they did pretty well for themselves, didn't they? And that means we all owe Arthur Alexander a huge debt of gratitude. 

We can start to repay that by playing his records. If you don't know Arthur Alexander, man, it is waaay past time you fixed that. Get a shot of rhythm and blues, and just a little rock 'n' roll on the side. Just for good measure. It was good enough for the Beatles. 

So here's the thing that you should do...

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed 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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 6/30/2022

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.

Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde in the mini-series Pistol

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1135.

THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING STEVE CONTE: Gudbuy T' Jane

Man, I am really, really enjoying these continued opportunities to speak the phrase "new music from the Flashcubes." Here, my all-time favorite power pop combo enlists the aid of guitarist Steve Conte, a latter-day member of the New York Dolls, to cover one of my top-of-the-pops AM radio hits from the '70s.

Slade was, commercially, a much bigger deal in their native England than they were here in the Colonies. Nonetheless, although Slade's 1973 single "Gudbuy T' Jane" peaked at # 68 on Billboard's Hot 100, it was a legit smash on Syracuse's WOLF-AM when I was in eighth grade, proving once again that Syracuse is just cooler than the rest the country. I'm sure the young Flashcubes heard it, and it impacted them like it impacted me. What a great record! What a great, great record.

The 'Cubes and Conte do it justice, retaining Slade stompin' swagger and enhancing it with the pure pop panache we expect from Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. We'll be playing this new "Gudbuy T' Jane" single again on next week's show.

(We will, in fact, be playing ALL of the Flashcubes' singles next week, from the '70s through today, from the old Northside Records days into their current series of classic power pop covers for the good folks at Big Stir Records. It's all part of a July 3rd TIRnRR extravaganza called COME ON LET'S GO!, which combines the Flashcubes' singles discography with a celebration of power pop's past, serving up classic '60s, '70s, and '80s power pop, pure pop, and the power pop periphery. We will even throw in another new, as-yet-unreleased Flashcubes single. We humbly recommend you ditch any other commitments and join us for COME ON LET'S GO!, TIRnRR's classic power pop celebration on July 3rd.)

THE BEACH BOYS: God Only Knows

When we were programming this week's show, Dana asked me if I'd yet seen the 2021 documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, which recently aired on PBS. Dana tsk tsked my reply that I had not, and then waxed rhapsodic about a scene therein where Don Was isolates the vocals on the Beach Boys' recording of "God Only Knows." That vocals-only snippet mesmerized Dana, prompting the inclusion of the familiar, timeless Pet Sounds track on the ol' playlist.

I have a complicated history with the Beach Boys, a group I once spurned in ignorance but later embraced as wisdom and heart prevailed. Seeing Carl Wilson sing "God Only Knows" at a Beach Boys concert in the late '80s remains one of the all-time most magical moments in my live music memories. Years later, a 2016 experience witnessing Brian Wilson and his band perform Pet Sounds live compelled me to write an emotional piece that is one of my favorites among the many things I've written for this blog.

Tsk tsks have their value. On Saturday, my wife Brenda and I watched Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road. Mesmerizing. Just like Dana said it was.

PERILOUS: Rock & Roll Kiss

We've been (rightly) making a big deal that we're fortunate enough to include this boppin' track "Rock & Roll Kiss" by Perilous on our forthcoming compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. But the track is also a part of the group's freshly-released three-song set Perilous, and that merits a little bit of attendant hoopla, too.  And it goes like THIS...!

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Shot Of R & B

There is ample evidence that the Beatles adored Arthur Alexander's records. Paul McCartney himself said something to the effect that the Fab lads set out to be a soul group, wanting to sound like Arthur Alexander. Yes, much as the American Beatles, the Ramones, tried to be a bubblegum pop group like the Bay City Rollers. While the Ramones never actually covered the Rollers, the Beatles covered Alexander's "Anna" on Please Please Me, and they did his "Soldier Of Love" and "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" in early live shows and BBC sessions.

My first exposure to "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" came via the Beatles on The Deccagone Sessions, my first bootleg album. The Flamin' Groovies covered it, too--I'm sure they also learned the song from a Beatles bootleg rather than from Arthur Alexander. No matter. We come to great songs by whatever paths brings us. Get a shot of rhythm and blues, with a little rock 'n' roll on the side. Just for good measure.

(My Razor & Tie Arthur Alexander best-of CD lists this track as "Shot Of R & B," so I've continued that listing when we play it on TIRnRR.)

R.E.M.: Superman

Unlisted bonus tracks were an occasionally-common thing on CDs--the precursor of mid-credits scenes in Marvel movies, the successor of the post-credits scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off--but I don't recall many occurrences of unlisted bonus tracks on LPs. The only example that comes to mind is "Train In Vain" on the Clash's London Calling. 

R.E.M.'s cover of the Clique's "Superman" half qualifies. The track isn't listed among its LP brethren on the back cover of R.E.M.'s 1986 Lifes Rich Pageant album, but it is on Side Two's label:

The fact that the label lumps "Superman"'s songwriting credit in with the songs written by R.E.M. (rather than actual "Superman" tunesmiths Gary Zekley and Mitchell Bottler) is evidence that the track may have been an afterthought. Great song, though, and ultimately a better-known version than the Clique's fine original.

THE SEX PISTOLS: Pretty Vacant

I don't know what I think of Pistol, the six-part Sex Pistols biopic based on Pistols guitarist Steve Jones' autobiography Lonely Boy. I haven't read Lonely Boy, but I have seen Pistol in its entirety. I found the first few episodes compelling, and actress Sydney Chandler is riveting as Chrissie Hynde, but I felt an increasing sense of disconnect as the series went forward. Does it present an accurate account of the Sex Pistols' short and explosive lifespan? I'm not sure. 

But probably not.

Listen: I expect some fudging of facts when translating real life into entertainment, into a pop presentation. There were a few moments in Pistol where the narrative strays from the facts as I think I know them (though perhaps not as far astray as the jumbled timeline of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, nor as horrifyingly off-model as the film CBGB's), but I accept that. What's more jarring is a perhaps-unavoidable end result that reduces the seismic transcendence of the Sex Pistols--the filth and the fury--to something...lesser. Shallower. I'm glad I watched it. I'm not sure if I liked it.

I loved the Sex Pistols; I told that story here. Elsewhere, I wrote, "As a band, they are criminally underrated, as so many have focused on the clatter and the noise of punk while ignoring the solid rock 'n' roll combo--guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and original bassist Glen Matlock--chuggin' away beneath Johnny Rotten's (effective) wailing. Sid Vicious could neither sing nor play, and replacing Glen with Sid threw the group's musical aspect out the broken window."

"God Save The Queen" is my favorite among the Sex Pistols canon, with "Pretty Vacant" a very close second, and much else similarly worthy of saturation airplay (though we will never in a million years be able to play "Bodies"). Never mind the bollocks. And never mind the biopics. Here's the Sex Pistols. And we do care.

MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

(For absent friends, 43 years on.)

JESSIE BRYSON: Come Back

Next week's COME ON LET'S GO! classic power pop TIRnRR shindig is about legacy, honoring and playing a bunch of great tunes from the past. I guess that approach (for one week only) contradicts our oft-stated commitment to mixing new stuff with old stuff, the way all rockin' pop radio shows should (and which all of the best ones do). 

Still, there's something to be said for pausing every once in a while and exulting in the sounds that made us. So: a legacy show, comprised almost entirely of tracks from the 1960s through the '80s. BUT...still including the Flashcubes' recent singles, bridging the time between. And also including Jesse Bryson's current Big Stir single cover of Fotomaker's "Come Back." I mean, Jesse's "Come Back" features members of the 'Cubes and Fotomaker, it was written by Jesse's Dad Wally Bryson (of the Raspberries and Fotomaker), and it's almost a tangent to what the Flashcubes are doing in their Big Stir singles. So yeah. while next week's show is mostly about yesteryear, mixing in a little bit of NOW! never hurt anyone. 

GLADHANDS: Forget All About It

I reviewed Gladhands' 1997 album La Di Da for Goldmine. I don't remember much of what I said about the album at the time, but I'm sure I liked it. I was particularly taken with "Forget All About It," an irresistible number that I think I called "Rundgrenesque." Which is fair, since Todd Rundgren did write the damned thing, and had originally recorded it with his old group the Nazz in 1969. I hadn't noticed the songwriting credits. 

Oops?

I think I realized my oversight well before I eventually heard the Nazz's original version of "Forget All About It." I'm not sure which version is my favorite, though we should offer an honorable mention of Game Theory's sturdy and appealing home recording of the tune (contained on the collection Across The Barrier Of Sound, and also a part of this week's radio party). But Gladhands introduced me to the song, and they did an absolutely ace rendition. We'll hear from the Nazz on next week's show.

THE FLASHCUBES WITH THE SPONGETONES: Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?

Ready for next week's show? Awright! Come on, let's GO!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed 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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 8/4/2020

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous 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 # 1036.

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Soldier Of Love



Songs The Beatles taught us. The great soul singer Arthur Alexander never achieved the pop success that should have been his due. 1962's "You Better Move On" was his only Billboard Top 40 hit, but The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bashful Bob Dylan were fans, each recording at least one Arthur Alexander tune. Arthur Alexander is the only songwriter to have his material covered by all three of those rock icons. Paul McCartney has said that the early Beatles really wanted to be a soul act, and he cited Arthur Alexander as an example of the sort of performer they had in mind as a model for what they did.

The Beatles covered Alexander's "Anna (Go To Him)" on their debut album, shortening the song's title to just "Anna." The Fab Four also covered his "Shot Of R & B" and "Soldier Of Love" in radio performances, and those cuts found a larger clandestine audience via Beatles bootlegs in the '70s. The Flashcubes used to cover "Soldier Of Love" in their 1979 live sets, stating that they'd learned the song from Beatle boots (the vinyl sort rather than the footwear, I'm guessing). Marshall Crenshaw also covered it on his eponymous debut. The Beatles' recording has since been made available as an official release.

Arthur Alexander's original version remains definitive. Having written it, of course, he gets the words right, which puts him one up on John Lennon's (nonetheless great) attempt to approximate the lines he thought he heard on a 45 brought by boat from America to the docks of Liverpool. Alexander's performance has a soulful sway that The Beatles couldn't quite match...though they did pretty well with it, didn't they? They wanted to be a soul act, like Arthur Alexander. The Beatles' cover of "Please Mr. Postman" surpasses The Marvelettes' original, and John, Paul, George, and Richard likewise acquitted themselves admirably with their takes on Chuck Berry, The Miracles, and Little Richard, demonstrating their ability to process their influences and make them their own.

But there was only one Arthur Alexander. Lay down your arms, soldier of love. Surrender to Arthur.

ALICE COOPER: School's Out


This was the clarion call for summer in the '70s, as each June traded pencils, books, and teacher's dirty looks for the presumed pleasures of the sunny school's-out season. Of course, as a teenage wannabe-writer, I kept right up with pencils (or pens) and books, but at least I was out of range of any disapproving glances a school administrator might cast with scorn in my direction. Plus: swimming!

From the Alice Cooper chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

To an adolescent or young teen in the early to mid 1970s, nothing in the world was cooler than Alice Cooper. Before KISS, before punk, Alice Cooper was gaudy and dangerous, potentially the most scandalous, depraved character on AM radio. It didn't matter that it was all an act--show biz!--or that David Bowie was ultimately a far more potent threat to the straight-laced status quo; at the time, Alice Cooper seemed the most dangerous, and therefore the most alluring. Within this fist-pumpin' time frame, a kid that couldn't relate to "School's Out," or didn't want to turn the radio up louder than it could actually go whenever that song came on...well, that kid just would not have been me....

ELVIS COSTELLO: Watching The Detectives


I've written elsewhere of my experience seeing Elvis Costello & the Attractions live on campus during my freshman year at college. Although I had read about Costello (primarily in Phonograph Record Magazine), "Watching The Detectives" was the first Costello song I actually heard, delivered to me when ol' Declan and his Attractions subbed for The Sex Pistols on Saturday Night Live in December of 1977. I thought the performance was riveting, though ya can't beat the incendiary cool of their second song on the show, as they started and suddenly stopped playing "Less Than Zero" and switched to "Radio, Radio" instead. The readers of Trouser Press later crowned that as TV's all-time # 1 rock 'n' roll moment. 

"Watching The Detectives" is pulp fiction made into music, a quick distillation of film noir and Gold Medal paperbacks rendered with a jagged, reggae-influenced beat and simmering punk anger. The record was not produced by Mickey Spillane...but it coulda been.



FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie



Ahem. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE GO-GO'S: Club Zero



A new single by The Go-Go's! And it's fabulous, continuing the group's streak of always meeting and surpassing expectations. From their original early '80s heyday through sporadic reunions, The Go-Go's have never disappointed.

Yet they're still criminally underrated, and that pisses me off more than I can articulate. We'll talk a little bit more about The Go-Go's tomorrow.

HOLLY & THE ITALIANS: Youth Coup


I can't pinpoint my specific introduction to Holly & the Italians, but I can narrow it down a little bit. There was a Holly & the Italians flexi-disc for those (like me!) who subscribed to Trouser Press magazine, and there was a CBS Records loss-leader various-artists set called Exposed II: A Cheap Peak At Today Provocative New Rock, both in 1981; the former offered a song called "Poster Boy" backed with a medley, and the latter included "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" and "Rock Against Romance" alongside its Tommy Tutone (not that song), Gary Myrick & the Figures, Psychedelic Furs, Karla DeVito, and Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons. And there was CREEM magazine's rave review of the group's debut album The Right To Be Italian, which compared the Holly sound to Lesley Gore or The Angels backed by Leave Home-era Ramones. Okeydokey. SOLD! Where do I sign?

I scored my copy of The Right To Be Italian at a used record store in Manhattan, probably in or near the Village, though I don't really remember for sure. It was my last trip to the city for many, many years. The LP's cover was water-damaged, but the record played fine, and it was an immediate favorite. Among many great tracks, "Youth Coup" eventually became my single biggest go-to cut. A fantastic album overall, and it was the only album Holly & the Italians did. Lead singer Holly Beth Vincent later did a single with Joey Ramone (as "Holly & Joey") and uncredited Italians covering Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe," and went on to a solo career thereafter.

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: I Enjoy Being A Boy (In Love With You)


Librarians With Hickeys have a brand-new album, Long Overdue, out on the ever-cool Big Stir Records label. Long Overdue is very, very good, and we opened this week's show with a spin of its current single "That Time Is Now," a lovely tune which finds our passionate bibliophiles supplemented by the able talents of Lisa Mychols. Later in the show, we also played the single's non-album B-side, which is this cover of a song originally done by Saturday morning's phenomenal pop combo The Banana Splits. 



Everybody remembers the insidiously catchy theme song from The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, and if mention of The Banana Splits didn't immediately set off a resounding TRA-LA-LAA! TRA-LA-LA-LAAA! to drown out your inner monologue, I betcha it has now. No need to thank me; consider it a public service courtesy of Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). I did watch the show during its original 1968-1970 run (and in mid '70s cable TV reruns), and "I Enjoy Being A Boy (In Love With You)" is the only other Banana Splits song I can recall. I can still picture Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky cavorting on my screen as the song played in all its psychedelic bubblegum glory. Librarians With Hickeys do a fine job channeling that vibe.

THE O'JAYS: Put Your Hands Together


From The O'Jays' chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

Put your hands together.

We've talked about rock 'n' roll as The Devil's Music. But what about rock's celestial roots? In the wicked consummation of the orgiastic union of the rock and the roll, Gospel music was a participant no more reserved and no less sweaty than R & B, country, honky tonk, and blues. Now that was a party! Bless us, Lord!....

Although I heard The O'Jays on the radio quite often during my prime AM Top 40 years, and frequently heard my suitemates' copy of their live album during my second year at college, I don't remember "Put Your Hands Together" at all. It's so uplifting, so infectious, so absolutely irresistible. Put 'em together. PUT 'EM TOGETHER! Now, dammit!

SQUEEZE: Goodbye Girl



My favorite Squeeze song. Although I was a relative latecomer to Squeeze fandom, I fell hard for "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)," and also liked "Annie Get Your Gun." Then they broke up. Then they got back together! I didn't own any of Squeeze's stuff until the late '80s, when Singles--45's And Under became one of my early CD purchases. More purchases would follow. I now have many favorite Squeeze songs. "Goodbye Girl" remains my # 1.

UTOPIA: I Just Want To Touch You



As my friend Bruce Gordon says: Let's be The Beatles! The urge to imitate and even try to effectively become the act we've known for all these years is widespread and enduring. The Knickerbockers pulled it off on an incredible single called "Lies." The Rutles created a mirror image that was at least as much affectionate pastiche as it was parody. And somewhere in between The Knickerbockers and The Rutles was Deface The Music by Utopia.



I guess the album's supposed to be something of a lark, which is fine by me. It's been said that Utopia's Todd Rundgren finds the process of writing and recording pure pop songs too limiting, too predictable, too boring. But I have loved this album ever since its release. It's far and away my top Utopia record; it is, in fact, the only Utopia record I'm ever likely to listen to. Other than "Couldn't I Just Tell You," "We Gotta Get You A Woman," and some of Todd's 1960s stuff with The Nazz, Deface The Music is also my favorite Rundgren work overall. Hell, I like it better than "I Saw The Light" or "Hello It's Me," but that's just me. Deface The Music is willfully derivative, a deliberate and almost wiseass rip of The Beatles. Original? Nope, not a chance. Pure pop fun? Three loud YEAHS should answer that. Let's be The Beatles? Sounds like a worthy goal to me, mate.


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