10 (no--13!!) SONGS: 7/25/2026

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!

MONOGROOVE: Back To School

THE MnM'S: I'm Tired

P. J. SOLES: Rock 'n' Roll High School

THE MUFFS: That's For Me

THE RUNAWAYS: School Days

THE RAMONES: 7 And 7 Is

THE COASTERS: Charlie Brown

JUNIPER: Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys!

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....

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Circe Link, "I'm On Your Side"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, s long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

CIRCE LINK: I'm On Your Side

Written by Christian Nesmith and Circe Link

Produced by Christian Nesmith

From The Pop EP, no label, 2013

Our lives are accompanied by ache. The characteristics of the ache--the litany of losses, failures, broken trusts, broken promises, broken wills, and broken bones--are suffered with infinite variety, each collection of aches as unique as fingerprints or favorite records. Our ache is our own ache. Others may sympathize and care deeply, and we bless them all. We are better people if we care. 

But no one else knows exactly what we're going through, no matter how similar their own aches may be. We didn't come off an assembly line. Our mileage varies. We contain multitudes.

Still, it can be nice to know there is someone on our side.

When we can help, we do. We have to. There may not be all that much we can do, sure. Still, we stand, we listen, and we lend a hand when a hand is what's needed. We speak or offer silent support, as the situation demands. When the time is right, we seek a shared comfort in the fragile delights this imperfect life can offer.

Shared comfort. Someone is on our side.

The dynamic duo of Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are so, so adept at the art of popcraft. Everything they do sounds sublime, and their powers and abilities cross genres with authority. Pop music? Classic rock? Folk? Circe and Christian can do it all, and all of it will sound amazing.

I'm not exactly sure when I first became aware of this particular dynamic duo. My This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana Bonn and I saw Christian play live as a member of the Monkees' touring band in 2012, one of the best concerts I've ever witnessed. Some time later, my jaw dropped when I saw a video of Circe, Christian, and company backing up Micky Dolenz on a live medley of "Porpoise Song" and the Beatles' "Good Morning, Good Morning." Chills. Clearly, there was some amazing talent at work here.

You know how social media works. Algorithms constantly suggests new friends to add to your own social network, based on mutual interests and acquaintances. So somewhen around 2017, when Facebook recommended I add Circe Link to my cyber circle (probably based on our shared friendship with Keith Klingensmith of the Legal Matters), I said yeah yeah yeah even faster'n Micky sings no no no in "Last Train To Clarksville." Because why not?

It was a passive friendship, as many Facebook friendships are. Still, when Circe posted a note about a popular Facebook challenge to quote the fifth sentence on the 56th page of whatever book happened to be the nearest to you at the moment, I responded with a link to a blog I'd just written on that very subject. Circe was amused, and suggested she and Christian come on our radio show some time to chat about books and music.

I already knew a little of Circe's recorded work, and some YouTube videos of covers that she and Christian had done. I went to her website for a deeper catalog dive, and was absolutely smitten with a limited-edition release called The Pop EP. My God, this stuff was terrific! I ordered a CD copy immediately, and I contacted Circe to beg for permission to use a Pop EP track called "I'm On Your Side" on our then-forthcoming compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. After an exchange of questions and assurances (and a much-needed, much-appreciated reference from Keith Klingensmith, just to indicate to Circe that Dana and I were sorta kinda legit), Circe was indeed on our side.

And we need friends on our side. We need music, and art, and fellowship, a common belief in something better, a communal commitment to march toward the elusive reward of lives well lived. A happy ending? How about a more perfect union, with truths held to be self-evident, a pursuit of harmony, sought in earnest with all of us on the same side?

That is our true national--and international--anthem.

There is music for every occasion. When my daughter got married, picking Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" as our father-daughter dance perfectly expressed my belief in her independent spirit. When a shattered windshield nearly cancelled a planned trip (which ultimately turned out to be the last time I saw my oldest brother alive), only a spin of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols could properly channel my anger and frustration. When called to deliver eulogies for loved ones, the lyrics of the Kinks' "Days" (for my Dad), the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" (for my Mom), and Jim Croce's "I Got A Name" (for my Uncle Carl) helped me articulate my loss and my gratitude. And forty-two years ago today, Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" expressed the hope and promise of love becoming marriage. Happy Anniversary, Brenda. I'm on your side, and I know that you're on mine.

Circe Link's "I'm On Your Side" stands as testament and foundation for all of the above, and more. Our nation is flooded with heartbreak, and the same sorry status applies to the world at large. It applies in ever-changing degree to people we hold dear. It applies to us.

We can't defeat the ache. That doesn't mean we have to accept it. We resist, with will and determination. We resist with the audacity of joy.

Joy embraces us and ours. The ache doesn't vanish. Maybe our joy can sing a little louder, at least for a little while. 

The betting line favors the ache, I guess. I'm still placing my chips on joy. 

With Circe and Christian singing and playing, we seek that joy together. Bound for glory.

Side by side. 

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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

10 SONGS: 8/17/2024

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 # 1246.

JAMIE HOOVER: War Of The Roses

Jamie Hoover's new single "War Of The Roses" presents a tale of uncivil war, the aftermath of a D-I-V-O-R-C-E that can not be called amicable. Hearts will be broken tonight, as will some joint bank accounts, and maybe some dishes while they're at it. C'mon, Roses! Can't we all just get along?

The story is told with the accomplished pop panache we expect from Jamie Hoover. Oooo, and the song was co-written by long-time TIRnRR pal Rich Rossi, with backing vocals from TIRnRR Fave Rave Elena Rogers. That's a This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio trifecta, and we'll say that on the air this coming Sunday night when "War Of The Roses" returns to the playlist. (And an open memo to the estranged Mr. and [ex-] Ms. Rose: Curb your lawyers. Lay down your arms. War is over. If you want it.)

CIRCE LINK AND CHRISTIAN NESMITH: The Magician

The dynamic duo of Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are so, so adept at the art of popcraft. Everything they do sounds sublime, and their powers and abilities cross genres with authority. Pop music? Classic rock? Folk? Circe and Christian can do it all, and all of it will sound amazing.

That statement applies equally to their ventures into the realm of progressive rock. I'm not a prog guy by any stretch, but man, I love what Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are able to execute while cavortin' in that vast and inventive playground. In the past, they've demonstrated their prog love and chops with well-chosen covers, and with their original prog album Cosmologica in 2021. Their new album Arcana continues and expands that vision.

Prog as pop. The music of Yes was certainly a part of my Top 40 AM radio world in the early '70s, and a chapter discussing my love-hate relationship with Pink Floyd appears in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Even with my short attention span and my enthusiastic embrace of punk, I still recall and recognize prog's appeal, especially when a progressive rock track employs hooks and palpable melody, the irresistible qualities that make the very best rockin' pop music. 

Arcana has those qualities in quantity. The songs sound like they could have comprised a hypothetical second LP of Fragile, but with Circe Link replacing Jon Anderson at the microphone. The result is endlessly captivating, almost as if Yes had formed a supersupergroup with Annie Haslam and Renaissance. And this week, we break format just a little bit to program the exquisite eleven-plus-minute Arcana track "The Magician."

Magic. 

Even this unrepentant punk can't resist that. 

sparkle*jets u.k.: Little Circles

This week's episode of the Material Issues podcast found hosts Mark Hershberger and David Bash welcoming Michael Simmons, Susan West, and Jamie Knight from the mighty sparkle*jets u.k. As always with Material Issues, a splendid time was forcefully mandated for all. (That guarantee may not apply next week, when I'll be the guest on Material Issues, hawking the above-mentioned Greatest Record Ever Made! book. I'm hoping there will be at least a few fleeting moments of interest to you, the discerning rockin' pop fan.)

sparkle*jets u.k.'s recent release Box Of Letters is most definitely one of this year's very best albums, and you hear all about it on this week's Material Issues. We've certainly been programming Box Of Letters with manic glee on our little mutant radio record party. The album's title tune is likely to score a berth on the year-end countdown show of our most-played tracks in 2024. With this week's spin of "Little Circles," we have now played seven of the twelve selections included on Box Of Letters. We'll add an eighth from Box Of Letters on Sunday. 

After that: Four more to go! Plus, y'know, additional play for the title ditty. It's a hit!

We play the hits.

THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE LINDA LINDAS: Too Many Things

JOSIE COTTON: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

A couple of weeks ago, Dana and I recorded an upcoming appearance on Only Three Lads, the fab weekly podcast devoted to classic alternative rock of the '70s, '80s, and '90s. During the course of our conversation with O3L hosts Brett Vargo and Uncle Gregg, we mentioned Josie Cotton's cover of the Ramones' "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," from Cotton's recorded-in-the-'80s/released-in-friggin'-2019..?! gem Everything Is Oh Yeah. And Dana commented that he'd love to see our Josie team up with young punks the Linda Lindas for more Ramones-inspired Rock 'n' Roll High School razzmatazz.

GREAT idea!

And we used that idea to program a two-fer spin of an advance track from the Linda Lindas' forthcoming album No Obligation into Ms. Cotton's rendition of the Ramones' nonpareil statement of New York City really having it all. Oh yeah, oh yeah...EVERYTHING'S oh yeah! 

THE GLADIOLAS: Little Darlin'

While on O3L, we also talked briefly about the Gladiolas' forgotten original of "Little Darlin'," a song subsequently whitewashed to chart success by the neither R nor B likes of the Diamonds.

At the time we recorded the podcast, I didn't realize that "Little Darlin'" had been written by Maurice Williams, who was a member of the Gladiolas and who later achieved chart-topping success with Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs and the # 1 smash "Stay."

As we were working on this week's radio show, the news broke that Maurice Williams had passed. The playlist had already been set, but it was an easy feat to slip the classic "Stay" in at show's end, and not too late to alter our eighth set so it could open with the Gladiolas' "Little Darlin'." These are some of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand. 

Tribute must be paid.

THE RAMONES: She's The One

Writing in Bomp! magazine in '78 or '79, Greg Shaw referred to "She's The One"--a track from the Ramones' then-new album Road To Ruin--as the group's "best fast song ever."

And lemme tell ya: The Ramones did more than just a few fast songs.

In the Gladiolas section above, we invoke the importance of paying tribute. Well, every single TIRnRR playlist is part of an ongoing tribute to the Ramones--the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time--and that tribute is true even on those rare weeks when we don't play any Ramones songs. It's true even on the annual celebrations of Dana's Funky Soul Pit. And that's not just because our show is named after a line in a Ramones song; it's because we wouldn't be doing any of this if not for the Ramones. More than any act outside of the Beatles themselves, the Ramones are our template for what rock 'n' roll radio can be. 

So we offer tribute. Easy as 1-2-3-4! Yeah yeah it's the one, it's the one, it's the one.

ELENA ROGERS: Alone (Again)

We opened the show with a track featuring Elena Rogers on backing vocals. And we opened the week's final set with Elena herself on lead, from her wonderful current album Prelude To Whatever. 

Gotta pay tribute to the new stuff, too.

MAURICE WILLIAMS AND THE ZODIACS: Stay

Just a little bit longer. Tribute is proper. Godspeed, Maurice Williams.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. 

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.

10 SONGS: 5/11/2024

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 # 1232. This show is available as a podcast.

PAUL COLLINS: Tell Me

King of power pop Paul Collins brings us this sublime first tease of Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards, the latest in the label's series of various-artists salutes to classic rock songwriters. This radio show has been all in for Jem's previous celebrations of John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Pete Townshend, and Ray Davies, and we've for damned sure been all in for Paul Collins' recent Jem work. For us, Paul Collins covering the Rolling Stones' "Tell Me" is a match made at our Satanic Majesties' request. We'll have the Midnight Callers' contribution to Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards on our next show.

(And, while we presume future Jem Records Celebrates volumes will get to Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and/or Bob Dylan anon, consider this an early request for Jem Records Celebrates Michael Nesmith. It doesn't seem immediately likely, I guess. But it just might be the one...?)

THE FOUR TOPS: I'm A Believer

Speaking of Michael Nesmith and his prime mates the Monkees....

The Four Tops are my favorite Motown act, but I confess I mostly know their incomparable singles and not so much their album tracks. Time for a deeper dive! 

This cover of the Monkees' Neil Diamond-penned hit "I'm A Believer" is one of two Monkees covers on the Four Tops' Reach Out. Maybe we'll get around to spinning Levi Stubbs wailing "Last Train To Clarksville" on some near-future show. The idea of the Four Tops covering the Monkees seems odd to me, not because it doesn't work--I'm a big fan of Monkees songs, and I'm a believer that the Four Tops could pull off just about any material they wanted to do--but because I find it weird to a hear big hit act covering another big hit act's contemporaneous material. It comes across as filler, but it wasn't uncommon in the '60s, especially for entities viewed as primarily singles acts. And in the hands of the Four Tops, it's compelling filler. Yeah, a deeper dive into the Four Tops' LP tracks is way overdue.

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

I wanna repeat some previous blog comments about this track. Consider this the prologue for our next selection by Rome 56: 

My enthusiastic immersion in punk, new wave, and other assorted rock 'n' roll labels in the late '70s did not include the music of the Shirts. It wasn't a rejection of the Shirts; I just wasn't exposed to their recordings until many years later. Lack of opportunity? I guess. The only thing I remember hearing from them at the time was a track on the various-artists LP Live At CBGB's, wherein singer and actress Annie Golden's greeting to the Bowery audience was something like, We're the Shoits, from Brooklyn. She exaggerated the accent deliberately...

 Nice shoit, Annie

...Still, I didn't really hear the Shirts until a very long time after the fact. I snapped up a used CD reissue of their 1979 eponymous album in, I dunno, the early '00s?  I was immediately and overwhelmingly taken by that album's opening track "Reduced To A Whisper," hypnotized by a guitar sound that reminded me of the Shirts' CBGB's contemporaries Television. 

As a whole, the Shirts didn't really sound at all like Television; the comparison was based almost entirely on a similarly serpentine six-string thrum and the two groups' shared stomping grounds. The Shirts were...well, I don't wanna call them more mainstream than Television, 'cause that ain't exactly it either. But there were hints of connection to some things beyond the Bowery, to, say, the progressive-folk mix aura of Renaissance, or maybe even post-Woodstock FM radio, but at least a little more aggressive. It all still felt like part of Television's world, the Ramones' world, the world of Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Max's Kansas City. CBGB's. New York City really has it all.

From that first album, the track "Tell Me Your Plans" just clicked with me recently. Its simmering blend of regret, resignation, yearning, and unmeasured dollops of uncertainty suggests a love affair approaching a crossroads without benefit of a map. Or a plan. There is, at best, a bumpy road ahead. There may not even be a road at all.

What's the plan, then? It's hard to tell.

ROME 56: The Man Behind The Man With The Gun

The immediate plan is to start playing Rome 56. The connection to the Shirts track extolled above is Rome 56 guitarist and "Tell Me Your Plans" author Arthur Lamonica, who was himself one of the Shirts. See, I love it when a plan comes together. From Rome 56's uberswell current album Paradise Is Free, "The Man Behind The Man With The Gun" is an absolutely ace slice of pop noir, like a Gold Medal paperback translated into irresistible, radio-ready rockin' pop music. Hardboiled radio-ready rockin' pop music. Perfect crime. And we'll return to the fascinating scene of that crime on our next show.

Sounds like a plan.

ELENA ROGERS: Goodbye Neighbor

It has become TIRnRR's unofficial policy to play each new Elena Rogers single as it's released, and we will often continue playing it until Elena releases a newer single. Works for us! We gave Elena last week off, and this week sees the debut of latest Elena Rogers single "Goodbye Neighbor." "Goodbye Neighbor" usurps the playlist spot that had been occupied by her previous single "Queen," which itself elbowed her previous previous single "I Feel Alive" out of its way. It's a song-eat-song world out there. 

"I Feel Alive" has already locked up a berth on TIRnRR's year-end countdown show. And this coming Sunday night's shindig will include TWO Elena Rogers songs: Another spin of "Goodbye Neighbor," and a new cover of an older Elena Rogers track, the latter courtesy of Mike Browning. See, this policy benefits all of us.

BONEY M: My Friend Jack

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

CIRCE LINK AND CHRISTIAN NESMITH: Satellite

The nonpareil combined forces of Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are working on a new progressive rock album called Arcana. It's a follow up to the duo's 2021 prog album Cosmologica, and donations/preorders for Arcana can be placed here. Meanwhile, Dana's spin of a Curved Air track inspired me to follow with "Satellite," a past favorite from Cosmologica that we haven't played in a while. "Satellite" reminds me a bit of both Renaissance and Yes, at least in the sense that I could imagine it as performed by the early '70s incarnation of either of those bands. Progressive as we wanna be!

THE SPEED OF SOUND: Question Time

The physical release of the Speed Of Sound's new album A Cornucopia: Minerva is cornucopia indeed: A three-CD or three-LP set, supplementing the main record with two additional full-length albums. A big, big wall of sound delivered at the speed of sound!

 "Question Time" is the last track on the first platter, and it provides its own authoritative answer, a lovely statement of indie-bred UK pop, raised in the underground with an eye on the sky and an ear to the airwaves. Cornucopia! We live in a time of plenty. 

THE BEATLES: I've Just Seen A Face

The Beatles, with the opening track from their classic album Rubber Soul.

Don't even try telling me it's from a different Beatles album instead. I know. But this is how I heard it, as the beginning of the American version of Rubber Soul rather than an LP track on the UK Help! And that has meant far too much for me to let go of it easily. 

THE MARTINI KINGS: Take Five

Vermouth, forsooth. The subtitle for the new Martini Kings retrospective Enchanted Lovers says it all: "Celebrating 40 years of intoxicating sounds in jazz, exotica, tiki, and lounge." I'll drink to that! And we bellow LAST CALL! for this week's extravaganza with the Martini Kings' demonstrating olive supreme with their confident take on the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five." Grab the designated drivers. It's time to see ourselves home.

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 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is 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: 9/15/2022

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.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1146.

KELLEY RYAN: The Church Of Laundry

Ahem. From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. Coming very soon!

MICHAEL SIMMONS: All By Myself

The music of Michael Simmons has been part et parcel (or party parcel) of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio for almost as long as there has been a This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. I think we started our Simmonsmania with sparkle*jets U.K., and subsequently programmed some of Michael's stellar work as a solo artist, and his work with Popdudes. I believe Michael was also a founding member of the original Teen Titans, a Howlin' Commando, the finest swordsman in all of France, and the quicker picker-upper. And a Beatles fan. He gets around, he does. And his music is just, well, his music. Ours, too.

And now Michael's back with more of his/our music, courtesy of Big Stir Records' release of the new Michael Simmons release Happy Traum EP. His? Ours? Doesn't matter. It's good. We're playin' it.

THE FOUR TOPS: Standing In The Shadows Of Love

The Four Tops are probably my # 1 favorite Motown group, thanks in large part to the unstoppable juggernaut that was lead singer Levi Stubbs. I started late, with "Are You Man Enough" on AM Top 40 in 1973, but by the end of the '70s I'd discovered and embraced the motherlode of the Four Tops' '60s hits. "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." "It's The Same Old Song." "Reach Out I'll Be There." "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." 

So, by the time I was a college senior in 1979, I had no friggin' patience for the stupid idea of Rod Stewart covering "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." And covering it badly.

This particular crime against music actually came out in 1978, on the Rodster's mega-belchin' hit album Blondes Have More Fun. Yeah, the same record that infected radio with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Even when I was in my late teens, and nowhere near as enlightened as I wish I coulda been, the album as a whole struck me as tawdry and sexist. Inserting [ugh] the line Didn't I screw you right now baby, didn't I? into the Four Tops' classic "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" is a minor example of the album's overall yechh. 

(People may think I object to "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" because I hated disco, and I'll cop to that, at least at the time of the offense. But I came to terms with disco, and I even came to like some disco; that evolution of opinion does not apply to Blondes Have More Fun.

And nor is this just a diatribe against Rod Stewart. Stewart did some stuff I like [especially with Faces], and Stewart did a whole lot of stuff I detest. It's worth noting that, as much as people mistakenly think my cherished '70s punk was a reaction against disco, it was really a reaction against bloated dinosaur rock. Gimme the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, and throw in some Trammps and Donna Summer. You can keep Blondes Have More Fun.)

I bring all of this up again now because that memory of Stewart's mishandling of the song lingers; its oily specter haunts even fresh spins of the real version, the Four Tops' version. 

But only for a moment. Levi Stubbs, man. That juggernaut will send smarmy pretenders back to the shadows.

CIRCE LINK: Yellow Dress

Oh God, this is such a gorgeous track. Circe Link is a force of pop nature, and her superfab track "I'm On Your Side" (recorded with partner Christian Nesmith) was a highlight of This Is Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 4 and our #1 most-played track in 2017. We dig "I'm On Your Side" with unfettered glee.

The just-as-sublime "Yellow Dress" comes from Circe's 2017 album Enchanted Objects & Ordinary Things, and it also made our 2017 year-end countdown (tied with TIRnRR Vol. 4 track "Maybe Someday" by Maura and the Bright Lights at # 23). While working at home on another project last week, "Yellow Dress" popped up on shuffle play, and I heard it again for the first time in waaaay too long. Its sheer magnificence remains intact. Chew me up and spit me out, but don't have a lick of doubt that I can fly. Up, up and away, Circe and Christian. Up, up and away.

THE BANDWAGON: On The Day We Fall In Love

THE MONKEES: Sunny Girlfriend [acoustic remix of master vocal]

Underrated '60s and '70s soul group the Bandwagon--aka Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon and Johnny Johnson and HIS Bandwagon--are no strangers to this show, and we've played their cover of the Monkees' "The Day We Fall In Love" (which the Monkees listed without the "On") a time or several. I'm a huge fan of the Monkees, but I regard "The Day We Fall In Love" as one of the very worst tracks ever released under the Monkees brand name. The Bandwagon rescue the song, and they make it work.

"On The Day We Fall In Love" happened to be the second of three Monkees covers we played this week, immediately following the Flies' "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" and preceding a set that included Gary Owen's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere." It seemed imperative to play something by the actual Monkees, and we went as actual as actual gets: an acoustic remix of master vocal of Michael Nesmith's "Sunny Girlfriend," recorded in 1967 by the hey-hey-we're-a-real band Monkees and heard in this form on the deluxe Headquarters Sessions set. Come and hear 'em sing and play. This is my preferred take of "Sunny Girlfriend," and one of my 25 favorite Monkees tracks.

THE DONNAS: Dancing With Myself

Yep, another great cover by the Donnas makes its rockin' way back to the TIRnRR playlist. The Donnas are really, really good at pulling these things off--hell, we play their Billy Idol and Judas Priest covers way more often than we play the familiar hit versions--but it's been a while since we've played any of the Donnas' original tunes. We'll program something from the Donnas' own catalog o' gems on next week's show. 

NELSON RIDDLE: The Batman Theme

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

sparkle*jets U.K.: Sunshine

Hey, it's that Michael Simmons guy again. Michael's Popdudes pal (and my former Goldmine colleague) John M. Borack is the auteur at the helm of We All Shine On: Celebrating The Music Of 1970, an irresistible confection/collection that we've been programming with the restraint and subtlety of carpet bombing. I'm surprised it took us this long to get around to sparkle*jets U.K.'s contribution to We All Shine On, but let the sun shine at its due time: Simmons and company (including Mr. Borack hisself on drums) do an absolutely ace rendition of "Sunshine," the title tune from an underrated album by the Archies. I know that John Borack has great affection for the Archies' original, and I'm furthermore confident that John is pleased with this new sparkle*jets U.K. version. 

And John is justified on both counts.

POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart

Ahem. FROM THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO, VOLUME 5. Coming very soon!

Don't worry, citizen! THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO, VOLUME 5 is on its way!

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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