10 SONGS: 4/13/2024

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 # 1228. This show is available as a podcast.

DAVE COPE AND THE SASS: One Hell Of A Ride

The music of Dave Cope and the Sass annexed its rightful share of TIRnRR airplay with the group's 2022 album Julee. I was (and remain!) fully in thrall of Julee's title track in particular, an irresistible rockin' pop nugget that earns the technical description razzafrazzin' FANTASTIC!! 

Restraint is for suckers. Embrace the enthusiasm awready.

And NOW! Dave Cope and the Sass return with another fine new release on the mighty Kool Kat Musik label. New album Hidden From The World serves up the prerequisite MORE! that TIRnRR craves. This week's show opens with "One Hell Of A Ride," and we'll hear another Hidden From The World track on this coming Sunday night. Razzafrazzin' fantastic. And one hell of a ride.

MONOGROOVE: I Think Of You

Essential pop act Monogroove includes the talents of the one 'n' only Rin Lennon. Rin should be familiar to the TIRnRR faithful from her work in the '80s as a member of the way-fab combo On The Air. From a previous post:

"On The Air were Rin Lennon (alias Karin), Jennifer Dorfman, and Jamie Garcia, with some other personnel in place of Jamie on some of their previous recordings. I first heard the group via their track 'Even Try,' which appeared on Rhino's (then-) contemporary girl group compilation The Girls Can't Help It in 1984. My pal Andrea Ogarrio put another On The Air gem on a divine mix tape she slapped together for me decades ago, and I snapped up the EP itself when I discovered it in a used record shop in Melbourne, Florida in 1994. SCORE!!

"I think the On The Air EP track Andrea mixed into her cassette creation was a wonderful li'l number called 'You've Got What I Want.' My favorite on the record is "This Can't Be Real," written by 20/20's Mike Gallo, a pop gem that remains a fixture on my iPod. Can't play vinyl in the car, man. 'Even Try' isn't on the EP, and a quick scan of Discogs suggests there were a handful of other On The Air tracks released on a previous single. Enough for an On The Air CD compilation? I say so!"

Well! While there ain't no On The Air CD collection as of now, Bandcamp does have an expanded version of On The Air available to purchase as a download. HuzZAH! Bandcamp is also where you can find Monogroove's current album The Flip Side, as well as some previous Monogroove works. We live in a world of plenty!

And we're plenty interested in playing Monogroove on the radio. We'll start with "I Think Of You," a sprightly pop ditty from The Flip Side, and we'll renew our pursuit of plenty this Sunday, with a Flip Side cover of a '60s classic. Monogroove is on the air.

MIKE BROWNING: Just One Day

They say Buddy Holly lives. Mike Browning has proof.

DEAN LANDEW: Job

Dean Landew's 2018 gem "After Work" very quickly accrued lots of acclaim and airplay on this little mutant radio show, and I consider it one of the many defining tracks of whatever the hell it is we do here. Dean's new single "Job" is very nearly the equal of "After Work," and that's high praise from me. "Job" leans forward in the way rockin' pop oughta, implying a seething inner pissed-offedness while barrelin' head like there's no such thing as a care in the whole freakin' world. Catharsis is best when it's catchy.

BIG MAMA THORNTON: Hound Dog

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

WONDERBOY: Arms Of Regret

STILL not Wonderboy's Robbie Rist

In last week's exciting edition of 10 Songs, we mentioned that three tracks--Elena Rogers' "I Feel Alive," Leather Catsuit's "Can't Get You Off My Mind," and Paul Collins' "I'm The Only One For You"--had already punched their virtual tickets for spots somewhere on TIRnRR's 2024 year-end countdown show. Quick work there, people! We gave all of these one more spin this week, and now each will be taking a little well-earned time off. Instead, we'll hear new singles from Paul and Elena this Sunday, and I betcha Leather Catsuit will also return to the ol' playlist afore very long.

We also mentioned that Wonderboy's epic ode to infatuation "Girl Songs" was THISCLOSE!! to likewise locking up a berth on the countdown. Like, probably already there, and definitely at least a probability if not quite a dead-to-rights certainty.

If we stopped playing it right now.

The season doesn't end today. We're not even half-way through, and regardless of whether or not "Girl Songs" has already guaranteed itself a place on the countdown, c'mon--WE'RE GONNA BE PLAYING IT AGAIN! Probably more than once, and I tell ya, its already-recorded appearance on our very next TIRnRR pretty much seals the deal anyway.

But we did give "Girl Songs" this week off. Instead, we widened TIRnRR's dim widdle spotlight to include another track from Wonderboy's Hero Isle album: "Arms Of Regret."

We regret nothing. As a line from one of my three current secret projects says, "this would be a cautionary tale if its central figure were, y'know...repentant."

Regrets? We have a few. Playing Wonderboy isn't one of them.

THE FLASHCUBES: Gudbuy T' Jane

From the album Pop Masters--my favorite record of 2023--we've played the Flashcubes' cover of Slade's "Gudbuy T' Jane" on several occasions. Prior to this week, its most recent spin was on our March 18th show, which was recorded and aired after Pop Masters won the SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Awards) for Best Rock Album. "Gudbuy T' Jane" was what played as Flashcubes Paul Armstrong and Gary Frenay strode to the stage to accept the award on behalf of fellow 'Cubes Tommy Allen and Arty Lenin). 

I wanted to acknowledge the moment and the great track that accompanied it, and I did so on the show itself. But that was also the week we paid tribute to the late Eric Carmen, so that week's associated 10 Songs column was devoted entirely to Carmen's legacy.

It's never too late to congratulate. Congratulations as well to our friends Perilous, whose album YEAH!!! was nominated in the same category. We'll hear a track apiece from Pop Masters and YEAH!!! on Sunday night.

RIDEL HIGH: Self Destructive [demo]

Our introductory spin of Ridel High's demo version of "Self Destructive" (from the Big Stir Records/SpyderPop Records book 'n' vinyl LP compilation package Generation Blue) marks the fourth week in a row that a track from Generation Blue has appeared on our playlist. Let's go for FIVE in a row. Hey, teen sensations Ridel High! Stay after school. We're gonna need you here again on Sunday.

THE CYNZ: Just A Boy

We've been all-in on behalf of Little Miss Lost, the current album by TIRnRR Fave Raves the Cynz. Without checking stats, I think "Just A Boy" is the fourth different track we've played off this album, and that's not counting the singles we programmed before they appeared on the album ("Narrow Hips" and a cover of Holly and the Italians' "Tell That Girl To Shut Up"). All in.

"Just A Boy" may be the best of the lot. It gets another spin this Sunday. With apologies to the Shangri-Las: When we say we're all in you best believe we're all in, I-N-Z!

THE B-52'S: There's A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)

What else can you play the night before a total solar eclipse? After spins of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black" and the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," we greeted the darkness of midnight with the B-52's and  "There's A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon.)"

It was overcast on Monday. I decided to leave work for a bit and head back home so my wife and I could try to watch whatever Totality we could spy, and spy it together.

At the moment of totality, the clouds thinned. Just enough. The air darkened. The street lights came on. And Brenda and I could see the moon completely block the sun. It was a magic moment, and we were able to experience it at each other's side.

As I write these words, I'm dealing with a professional setback. It's depressing and sobering. I'll fight my way back to the light. Maybe not today, but soon. 

In the mean time, I can reflect on the cosmic beauty of that moment on Monday, when Brenda and I looked to the heavens and witnessed something spectacular, something we will never see again in this life.

It's worth remembering. It's worth celebrating. It's worth appreciating within the disappointments and failures. The sun comes out again. There will be chances to shine.

If we can.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 11/24/2020

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 # 1052.

1.4.5.: She Couldn't Say No

Guitarist Paul Armstrong split from my favorite power pop group The Flashcubes in 1979, initially playing with his girlfriend Dian Zain in varying lineups of The Most. By the end of the summer of 1980, as Zain left The Most, that group's musical core of Armstrong, bassist Dave Anderson, and drummer Ducky Carlisle became 1.4.5. And lemme tell ya, 1.4.5. cooked, a potent and spunky three-piece raised on rock 'n' roll and seasoned by punk. The 1981 Pink Invasion EP was the only contemporary audio document of the original 1.4.5., though the EP was much later combined with previously-unreleased material to form the CD anthology 3 Chords & A Cloud Of Dust, for which I wrote liner notes.

From Pink Invasion, "She Couldn't Say No" remains my favorite among favorite 1.4.5. tracks. Word reaches us that the song will be used in the pilot episode of the new TV series Firefly Lane, which will debut on Netflix at the end of December. Toppermost of the poppermost, lads!

THE B-52'S: Planet Claire

Best-ever appropriation of "Peter Gunn." Outside of, y'know, "Peter Gunn." I adored The B-52's from the moment I first heard them in 1979, and we really oughtta play them more often. There's a lot to love throughout the decades of the group's long career, but the debut LP is a special memory that actually lives up to that memory.

JIM BASNIGHT: New Guitar In Town

As music lovers, one of the many things we can appreciate about Jim Basnight is that he's one of us. The cat loves music like we love music. That shows in his work, starting with The Moberlys in the late '70s, continuing through all he's done since then. And it's certainly evident in his current all-covers album Jokers, Idols & Misfits, a 21-song salute to The Kinks, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Real Kids, The New York Dolls, The Sonics, The Who, and more. TIRnRR # 1052 marks the second week in a row of airplay for Basnight's invigmoratin' take on The Lurkers' "New Guitar In Town," and one suspects it won't be the last. We're fans. Jim Basnight's a fan, too.

THE BEATLES: Two Of Us

We closed this week's show with a double shot of our favorite group, The Beatles. If my spin of "Thank You, Girl" (the superior U.S. Capitol Records mix, of course) was a bit of an obvious choice to play on Thanksgiving week, Dana's selection of "Two Of Us" was perhaps less telegraphed but no less appropriate. 

We're on our way home/We're on our way home/We're going home

I guess that's only true in our hearts this year. It's as okay as it can be. The heart is where it matters the most.

THE FIRST CLASS: Beach Baby

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HOLLIES: Look Through Any Window [French lyric version]

HA! Dana's ongoing nefarious plan to play foreign language tunes and then snicker in the background as I mispronounce every syllable in sight falls short this time. With its English title intact, The Hollies do all of the linguistic heavy lifting in this French lyric version of their shiny pop gem "Look Through Any Window," leaving me free to concentrate on mispronouncing English words instead. Mais oui!

LULU: To Sir, With Love [museum outings montage]

As much as I love Lulu's smash hit single of "To Sir, With Love," my heart well and truly belongs to this alternate version from the To Sir, With Love soundtrack, which contains an important extra verse and a different arrangement. Here's part of what I have to say about it in my eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

...Lulu's familiar hit single of "To Sir, With Love" is fabulous and unforgettable, a worthy candidate for proclamation as The Greatest Record Ever Made. This different version, the "Museum Outings Montage" from the soundtrack of the film To Sir, With Love, is even better.

"To Sir, With Love" is one of my wife's favorite songs, perhaps even her all-time # 1. Brenda was surprised to discover some years back that I also love it, and more surprised to learn that my This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana loves it, too. I dunno, maybe she thought we thought we were too cool for the song.

As if anyone could possibly be too cool for Lulu....

THE MONKEES: Me &  Magdalena [Version 2]

I remain puzzled that there has not yet been an expanded physical edition of The Monkees' 2016 triumph Good Times! There were four bonus tracks issued at the time of the album's original release. "A Better World" was only available on the version of the CD sold at FYE. "Love's What I Want" was only on the Japanese release. "Terrifying" and "Me & Magdalena [Version 2]" were on the iTunes digital version. The four tracks have (I think) since been gathered together on a limited-edition Record Store Day vinyl EP, but I want the whole thing in one place, on a legit CD. If there's more as-yet-unreleased stuff to add to such a package, all the better. I don't understand what Rhino Records is waiting for.

THE ROMANTICS: Open Up Your Door

To me, this cover of Richard and the Young Lions' ace 1966 nugget is the highlight of The Romantics' 1983 album In Heat. Considering the fact that this album also includes Romantics perennials "Rock You Up," "One In A Million," and the group's biggest chart hit "Talking In Your Sleep," that ain't faint praise. (Yeah, 1979's "What I Like About You" is The Romantics' best-known song, but it missed the Top 40 entirely.) "Open Up Your Door" sure sounds like it could have been a Romantics original; I didn't even realize it was a cover until years later, when the original appeared on Rhino's Nuggets boxed set. 

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Success. Stardom. Excess. Sly and the Family Stone generated hits, created influence, made some cash, and fed some bad habits along the way. The music was often phenomenal, a uniquely psychedelic hybrid that was absolutely rock and absolutely soul. The personal toll of this success, the weight of its numbing and high-flying rewards, would not be small. Its cost to Sly Stone in particular would be considerable.

The above paragraph is from The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), part of a chapter discussing Sly and the Family Stone and the group's GREM! entry "Everybody Is A Star." That song was a B-side. The A-side was "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)."

In a year that has made a sense of gratitude feel elusive, maybe even pointless, we should remember that every year--each and every year--is someone's worst year ever. It may be the year someone lost a job. It may be the year a love finally ran its course, bitterly and tearfully. It may be the year one is forced to say a goodbye one does not wish to say. It may be the year when there was not even that chance to say goodbye.

In that context, it may seem petty to whine about not being able to go out dancing. But as we navigate the odd path that 2020 provides, as we wish we could hold friends and family once again, as we remain aware of the ever-present possibility of last farewells both spoken and unspoken, we still try to retain a longer, wider perspective. If we can. It's easier to say than it is to execute. But we try. And we're grateful for the opportunity to try.

Someone has it a lot better than we do. Someone else is going through something far worse. Words and wishes can't make life fair. Even actions may well fall short. But light is better than darkness. Hope is better than despair. 

And hope is what we're thankful for. The opportunity to try. Stay safe, my friends. And thank you.

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You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).

10 SONGS: 2/4/2020

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 # 1011.

THE B-52's: 52 Girls



When I was in college, there was a girl (whom I'll call Roxy) from somewhere downstate in the dorm room kitty-corner from mine. Roxy felt her musical taste was jarringly outta step with that of our peers at our school. I felt her pain; I was roughly as much of a musical oddball as she was. Roxy liked punk and its anti-mainstream ilk, and she had no use for the prevailing Deadheadedness that was the preferred soundtrack of our fellow students. We weren't exactly friends, but I was one of the very few sympathetics she encountered. I was impressed that she had seen Sid Vicious at Max's Kansas City. And she was one of the first people I met who liked The B-52's; in our dorm in 1979, before "Rock Lobster" became an alt-pop staple and long before "Love Shack" became a hit, Roxy, my roommate, and I seemed to be the only prospective members of any hypothetical Perry Hall B-52's Fan Club. 

Even more than "Rock Lobster," "52 Girls" was my early B-52's favorite, a chugging milkshake of catchy, spastic pop. Roxy's frustration with her four-cornered surroundings likely contributed to her decision to hightail it outta there; she didn't finish the semester, and may have been gone within the first month. The following spring, my roommate and I helped to put on a successful Punk Night at a bar in town. Maybe Roxy shoulda tried to stick it out?

For dramatic purposes, the role of Roxy shall be played by singer and actress Debbie Gibson

BLUE OYSTER CULT: This Ain't The Summer Of Love



BOC's best-known tracks are "Don't Fear The Reaper" and (later on) "Burnin' For You," with maybe an honorable mention for "Godzilla." My favorite remains "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," a lean and efficient LP track from Agents Of Fortune (the album that gave us "Don't Fear The Reaper"). I learned of the song through my doomed high school pal Tom, prompting me to purchase my own battered, used copy of the album in time for college. During my freshman year, Side One of Agents Of Fortune was as much a go-to slab of vinyl as my Sex Pistols and Monkees records, and "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" in particular fit well alongside my steady diet of Ramones, Television, Jam, and Dave Clark Five. My friend Ronnie Dark mentioned Agents Of Fortune last week, and that was sufficient motivation for me to play this great track once again.

THE DARLING BUDS: Let's Go Round There



The Darling Buds' 1989 debut Pop Said... is the only album I can recall buying just because Rolling Stone magazine told me to. A review of the record in RS name-checked The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, and Blondie in its attempt to describe the group's sound, and I was sold on it, unheard, right then and there. I think I made the purchase before hearing "Let's Go Round There" on MTV's 120 Minutes, a show I committed to VHS every Sunday night, and it certainly became my favorite Darling Buds track (edging out "The Other Night" and "Hit The Ground").

THE JACKSON FIVE: I'll Be There




Simply exquisite. This is such a magnificent pop single, and it rates a chapter in my (theoretically) eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Enjoying the innocent sound of the young Michael Jackson requires a disconnect with the (credible, I think) accusations of his crimes as an adult. If we can make and maintain that separation of art and artist, The J5's "I'll Be There" offers sheer, sweet joy. A friend advised me last week that it's probably okay to make that separation, especially in this instance of records made decades before MJ's alleged misdeeds. He's probably right. Your mileage may vary.

THE KINKS: Dedicated Follower Of Fashion



When I was in the process of becoming a Kinks fan at the age of 16 and 17 (circa late '76 and into '77), "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" was a mystery track. I had seen the title listed in reference works, but it wasn't a Kinks song I knew, like "Lola" or "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," "Tired Of Waiting For You," "A Well Respected Man," or even "No More Looking Back" from Schoolboys In Disgrace.  I recall hearing Status Quo's "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" on the radio, and wondering (with no real-world justification) if that might be "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion." I have no memory of where, when, or how I finally heard "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," but I do remember that I was initially underwhelmed by it. 

Well, that reaction sure changed over time. In the summer of 1979, the first time I saw the fab local combo The Dead Ducks, my pal Joe Boudreau and I bellowed along with the Oh yes he IS! as the Ducks covered the song. Many, many years later, I have a specific memory of strolling through a shopping mall with my wife and daughter as "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" came on the sound system. Just as I'd done as a teenager, I began to bellow along, Oh yes he IS! My then-teen daughter was mortified. Hmph. It's as if she didn't think her Dad was in fashion.

KISS: Anything For My Baby



"Anything For My Baby" is an LP track from the 1975 KISS album Dressed To Kill, the record that gave the world "Rock And Roll All Nite." The song was written and sung by Paul Stanley, but for some reason Stanley all but disowns the tune. I'm unashamed in my continuing affection for some of KISS's work, and "Anything For My Baby" would be a candidate for my all-time KISS Top 10.

THE MONKEES: For Pete's Sake



From The Monkees' 1967 album Headquarters, their third LP but the first where they were allowed to be the musicians in the studio. The song was co-written by Peter Tork and Joseph Richards, it was used as the closing theme during the second season of the group's TV series, and it shoulda been a single. At this year's GRAMMY telecast, a snippet of "For Pete's Sake" played when Tork's face appeared during the memorial segment honoring artists we lost during the previous year. We were born to love another, this is something we all need. Frankly, I'd expected the awards show to use a more familiar Monkees hit, either "I'm A Believer" or "Daydream Believer," and I'm delighted that the producers made the right choice instead.

THE SOFT BOYS: I Wanna Destroy You



If I had heard The Soft Boys' 1980 album Underwater Moonlight some time contemporary to its release, it would have been one of my favorite albums of that decade. Instead, I didn't hear it until its CD reissue on the Matador label in 2001. I did hear the group's classic Underwater Moonlight track "I Wanna Destroy You" somewhere in between, probably from Dana (who played it again on this week's show). But my introduction to the song itself predates that spin, and is about as weird as it gets. In the '90s, former teen pop star Debbie Gibson was said to be involved with the producer of Circle Jerks, the hardcore group perhaps best known for "Golden Shower Of Hits," their thrashing covers medley of cheeseball blechh like "You're Having My Baby." Realizing a match made in Perdition, Gibson sang backup on Circle Jerks' cover of "I Wanna Destroy You," and even joined them on stage to perform the song at CBGB's in 1995. Well, that all sounds ducky so far, right? I'm not sure if it was a one-off where she jumped on stage to join those Jerks in concert, or if it was staged as an MTV event, or what. But I learned about it in a report on MTV News, and I submit that no one else had a weirder introduction to this song than I had.



TIN TIN: Toast And Marmalade For Tea



A throwaway line in my Sunday hype for this week's TIRnRR inspired a need to include this on the show. Some time back, when Dana and I were attending an acoustic show by The Flashcubes' Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin, Gary and Arty performed a cover of "Toast And Marmalade For Tea," then defied us to name the original artist. In yet another stunning display of the boundless mastery of pop information that drives This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, we...yeah, we didn't have a freakin' clue. Heads will roll, my friends, heads will roll. Oops--eyes will roll. Sorry, I read that wrong. Man, it's good thing Dana and I have tenure.

The palpable Bee Gees vibe of "Toast And Marmalade For Tea" is partially attributable to the fact that the record was produced by Maurice Gibb, who also plays bass on the track. But I've retroactively decided that it wasn't Tin Tin at all; it was Debbie Gibson, using a time machine to go back and make a record before she was even born, disguising her voice so she sounds like two guys from Australia. Of course.

Toast and marmalade for tea...FROM THE FUTURE!

STEVIE WONDER: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)



This song comes from Stevie Wonder's 1972 album Talking Book. My point of entry for this wonderful number comes via the 2000 film adaptation of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. The song is used so effectively in the movie's climactic scene, and it's been lodged in my consciousness ever since. My entry for this song in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) likewise serves as the book's climactic chapter. I hope you get to read it someday.

DEBBIE GIBSON: Read his book? He's crazy!
TIFFANY: He IS crazy--but it's HIS BLOG...!

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 125 essays about 125 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).