THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Who Will Save Rock And Roll?

As the world mourns the loss of Scott Kempner, guitarist with the Dictators and the Del-Lords, I feel an overwhelming need to grab a beer and bash something out. I'm not going to plug in my guitar. This will have to do instead.

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

THE DICTATORS: Who Will Save Rock And Roll?

Written by Andy Shernoff

Produced by Andy Shernoff

From the album D.F.F.D, Dictators Multimedia, 2001

Who will save rock and roll?

In the early to mid 1970s, it wasn't a question one heard asked much. whether in public or private. "Save" rock and roll? Oh, ya big silly! Rock and roll is just fine, dude, better than ever, BIGGER than ever. So big! It fills stadiums, it comes with amazing light shows, epic solos, magical trips, the ritual blowing of your ever-lovin' mind, man! 

We just call it ROCK now, though. Heavier. Intense. The rollin' is what we're smokin', dig? 

Yeah. Far out. I guess.

But there were indeed some asking that question: Who will save rock and roll? The voices were few and far between, whispers at the fringe, underground, fanzine material, beneath the notice of the many.

Embraced with passion by the few.

Nor was the question itself rhetorical. It deserved--demanded--an answer. The answer was not whispered, and it gained volume. Faster. Louder. I can play--BOMPBOMPBOMP--faster and louder! Rock was beyond saving, sinking under its own bloated excess. But rock AND roll? The uncomplicated child of Chuck Berry and Little Richard and King Elvis I, the model for three-chord combos in a million garages? Rock and roll could save itself. It just needed to fucking do it.

An oversimplification, you say? Guilty as charged...but unrepentant. I'll grant you the existence of some greatness within the seeming morass of mainstream Me Decade ROCK. Led Zeppelin's okay. Pink Floyd's okay. Emerson, Lake and Palmer are...okay, let's not get crazy. None of 'em--not one--could match the fascinating, exhilarating passion of real rock and roll.

Real rock and roll like the Dictators. Unpretentious. Enthusiastic. Rock AND roll. The Dictators could play--BOMPBOMPBOMP--faster and louder. 

Punk rock changed my life. Hearing the Ramones in 1977, when I was a 17-year-old college freshman, pointed me toward a thrilling rockin' pop path that has never given me the merest cause to doubt its righteousness. Like the Monkees before me, I'm a believer. The Ramones couldn't have come into being without specific inspiration: The Beatles, the Who, and the Stooges in the '60s; the New York Dolls and the Dictators in the '70s.

The Dictators rarely get credit for their part in kindling the DIY spark of punk. Neither the Dolls nor the 'Taters are in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, because...oh yeah, because people are stupid. The Dolls have at least been nominated. The Dictators have not. They never will be. Such are the namby-pamby whims of that glorified Hard Rock [ROCK!] Cafe in Cleveland.

To hell with them. 

Even more than the New York Dolls, the Dictators reveled in junk culture, raised on wrasslin', sustained by White Castle, informed by black and white TV sets and four-color comic books, with advanced studies in B-movies and AM Top 40 radio, when AM Top 40 radio was the single most magnificent of Almighty God's creations. The Ramones' own subsequent (and delighted) evocation of the divine purity of everyday trash was built from a creased 'n' tattered copy of the Dictators' original mad genius blueprint.

Were the Dictators a cult act? I...I don't know. Maybe. Maybe they weren't even that, even though they were so, so much more. They were one of many acts I first heard of via Phonograph Record Magazine, but my first taste of the Dictators' music came via the unlikely venue of a film called Jabberwalk in 1977. My only memory of this weird, disjointed documentary (if that's even what it was) is that it was...um, weird and disjointed. That, and it included footage of the Dictators performing a live rendition of "America The Beautiful" at the Miss Nude America beauty pageant. See, that's how you break a band! 

At college in Brockport that September, I pestered campus station WBSU to play me some Dictators, and the jocks responded with the pretty ballad "Sleepin' With The TV On," from the group's then-current Manifest Destiny album. Subsequent WBSU requests yielded tracks from the Dictators' first album, Go Girl Crazy! The group bid the pop world farewell after the third album, Bloodbrothers, in 1978. 

They'd be back.

For those who recognize the Dictators' legacy, the groundbreaking D-U-M-B smartassery of 1975's Go Girl Crazy! is the Top, the Coliseum, the Louvre Museum. And ya can't argue with an authoritative rockin' and rollin' statement of intent like that album's "(I Live For) Cars And Girls," nor its trendsetting cover of the Rivieras' "California Sun," two years before the Ramones recorded it for their second album. 1977's Manifest Destiny is a bit slicker, and Bloodbrothers still slick but eminently satisfying. The latter album gave us "Faster And Louder," "Baby Let's Twist," and "I Stand Tall." On our first radio show after 9/11, we opened with a spin of "I Stand Tall." REPEAT THESE WORDS!, like the track's lead singer Handsome Dick Manitoba implored, REPEAT THESE WORDS THAT THE DICTATORS ARE SAYING!

I stand tall. I stand proud of what I am.

I won't attempt even a capsule history of the Dictators. I should, but...no. Tonight is a time for feeling, for emotion. For standing tall, faster and louder. Cars and girls. Rock and roll.

I did not really know Dictators guitarist Scott "Top Ten" Kempner. We had mutual friends, we may or may not have exchanged emails, but I didn't try to speak with him the one time I saw him play a solo show in Syracuse in the early '90s. If he was with the Brandos when I saw them in Syracuse in the '80s, well, I really regret I wasn't aware of his involvement at the time. 

When I heard that Kempner had passed, one of the first things that occurred to me (after my immediate Aw, man...!) was a memory of the Dictators' song "Who Will Save Rock And Roll?"

"Who Will Save Rock And Roll?" is the lead-off track on D.F.F.D., an album the Dictators released in 2001. The song contains a group of lines I like to quote every now and again:

June 1st, '67

Something died and went to Heaven

I wish Sgt. Pepper NEVER taught the band to play!

Scott Kempner saw me cite that passage online in an exchange about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and he politely chided me for giving the impression that the Dictators didn't dig Pepper. They DID like Pepper, he said, and they certainly loved the Beatles, but they were dismayed by the Fabs' many humorless would-be successors. That is, after all, where ROCK began to separate from ROLL. Man, don't teach the bands to play that.

The song says the Dictators saw the Stooges, covered in bruises. I'm glad I've lived in a world where the Beatles and the Stooges and the Rivieras and the Flamin' Groovies and razzafrazzin' Sonny and Cher taught the Dictators to play, where the Dictators taught the Ramones how to play, where the Ramones taught themselves to be the Ramones. 

Where rock and roll was saved.

Out went the call, to one and to all: Who will save rock and roll? It was a collective effort. In the '70s, the Dictators did their part. Rock and roll. Godspeed, Top Ten. We thank you for your service. Faster and louder, Cars, girls, surf, and beer. Saved. We stand tall.

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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

POP-A-LOOZA: CLOSING ARGUMENTS, Neal Adams

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archive. The latest shared post is my recent tribute to the impact of the late artist Neal Adams.

Adams' work and legacy were very important to me, especially his work on The Batman. My appreciation of Adams also informs a piece called "My Two Batmen," which reflects on how I've reconciled the dichotomy of becoming a Batman fan via Adam West's portrayal of the character in the campy '60s TV series and then embracing the Dark Knight as depicted by Adams. My debt to the latter is also part of my obituary of Dennis O'Neil, the writer who often collaborated with Adams on those Batman stories (and on their award-winning Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories).

Commission drawing for Dan Greenfield at 13th Dimension

(And, for a compact illustration of just how important Neal Adams was to the comic book industry, please read Mark Evanier's thoughts on that subject.)

Adams and O'Neil were not the only artist and writer to shape me. My single biggest writing influence was the late Harlan Ellison; I should probably attempt to chronicle my reactions to some of my other primary writing models some day. Among other comics writers, I've also written of the day I met Martin Pasko, and my appreciation of E. Nelson Bridwell. 

As a tangent, my affection for all of this is expressed in a look back at my letters to DC Comics. For a deeper dive into personal reminiscences of how I attempted to channel my influences and inspirations into creation (with varying results), I direct you to He Thought He Was An Artist: Agent 690: Man Of Action, He Thought He Was An Artist: Hero, The Jack Mystery Story, The Undersea World Of Mr. Freeze, the intro to the unfinished Paradise Does Not Believe In Tears, a subsequent stream-of-fantasy about Batman in The Brave And The Bold, my rejected DC Comics submissions, The Green Hornet and Kato in The Beat And The Sting (teaser and introductory script pages), five chapters of my abandoned novel Eternity Man, and even my successfully-SOLD!! short stories "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid," "The Copperhead Strikes!," "The Copperhead Affair," and "Chaos At The Copperhead Club." A fifth story in that continuity, "Flight Of The Copperhead," has also been purchased by the good folks at AHOY Comics, and is awaiting publication.

To paraphrase the Jam: Direction Reaction Creation. Most of my limited success as a writer has been nonfiction. But whether speaking truths or telling lies, those who make that attempt to put words and/or pictures on the page are standing on the shoulders of giants. Neal Adams was a giant. My memories and gratitude provide the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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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

CLOSING ARGUMENTS: Neal Adams

 

It is impossible to overstate the impact of artist Neal Adams on American comic books. Whatever grand impact you want to assign to Adams, you can double that, triple it, and keep going to absurd lengths, and you still won't be able to give Adams more credit than he deserves. 

There have been many tributes written in the wake of Adams' passing last week at the age of 80. Writers, fans, associates, and pundits have done a wonderful job of recognizing and celebrating his legacy. There is the legacy of his artwork itself, how he revolutionized the way comic book art can be created and appreciated, and how his visual interpretation of The Batman was essential--absolutely essential--in transitioning the character's image from camp crusader to dark knight; I mean no disrespect to the 1960s Batman TV series (which was also extremely important to me), but there is no way the public's perception of Batman gets from Adam West to the pop culture dominance of THE Batman without Neal Adams. I recommend a visit to 13th Dimension for further reading on this subject.

Beyond the artwork, Adams was also a tireless and passionate advocate for the rights of creators. His highest-profile battle for truth, justice, and the American way was his role in publicly shaming the publishers of DC Comics into giving credit and (some) compensation to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the '70s. Adams was not the only one involved in this valiant effort, but his voice was the loudest, and he helped get the job done.

That's the larger picture of Neal Adams and his work, and I encourage you to bop around the web and read more of his story. That would give you a better understanding of just why the comics world is in mourning now.

But I just want to speak for a minute about my own relationship with this body of work. I became more conscious of Adams in the very early '70s, when I was ten to fourteen years old. I had seen his work before; I have no recollection of where or when I first saw Adams' dynamic comic book images, though it was probably in DC Comics house ads in the mid to late '60s. He drew the covers for my first issues of Action Comics (# 356, cover dated November of 1967) and Adventure Comics (# 368, May 1968), and the cover of Batman # 200 (March '68) in between those. My first Neal Adams interior work was The Spectre # 3 (February-March 1968), followed later that year by World's Finest Comics # 175 and The Brave And The Bold # 79.

Adams had been bugging regular Batman and Detective Comics editor Julius Schwartz for a chance to draw Batman, but Schwartz was adamantly not interested. Another DC editor, Murray Boltinoff, was more open to the idea. Adams drew a couple of Batman-Superman team-ups in World's Finest Comics, and Boltinoff assigned Adams writer Bob Haney's script for The Brave And The Bold # 79. This was a team-up of Batman and Deadman, a character Adams was already depicting in the pages of DC's Strange Adventures.

Don't worry about those two issues of World's Finest. They're like the forgotten singles the Kinks did before "You Really Got Me." Neal Adams really began drawing Batman in The Brave And The Bold # 79.

This issue, this single issue, was Ground Zero for the return of The Batman, the reclaiming of the character's long-lost pulp roots. It's no snub to Haney to say this was entirely because of Neal Adams. Adams knew how Batman--sorry, THE Batman--should look. The dark shadows, the visual sense of noir, weren't in the script; Adams brought all of that in himself.

As Adams continued to draw a few more issues of B&B, legend has it that Julie Schwartz saw letters from readers wondering why that Batman, the REAL Batman, was only appearing in The Brave And The Bold. Schwartz was known to be stubborn, but he was no dummy. Adams was soon drawing Batman stories for Schwartz, usually with writer Dennis O'Neil, who shared Adams' preference for Batman as a dark knight. In these stories, the definite article in the character's name was reclaimed after decades of disuse. We caught our first glimpse of The Batman in Adams' Brave And Bold stories; the stories done by O'Neil and Adams (and Frank Robbins, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Bob Haney, and others) made the change official. The Batman. THE Batman. 

THE BATMAN!

Within this time frame, very late '60s into very early '70s, Adams also did some incredible work for Marvel Comics, notably with writer Roy Thomas in the pages of X-Men and The Avengers. An artist working for Marvel and DC at the same time was a rarity, and certainly something stodgier minds (especially at DC) discouraged and often prohibited. Neal Adams did not care. He made his own rules, and modeled an approach for other creators to follow and expand. His talent was too great for any publisher to even think about blackballing him. Restrictions? Pfui. He was Neal freakin' Adams. He didn't draw outside the lines. He redrew the lines.

At either side of ten years old near the turn of that decade, I loved Adams' X-Men and Avengers. But I associated him with DC, at least as I became more aware of artist and writer credits in the early '70s. O'Neil and Adams' headline-grabbing Green Lantern/Green Arrow tales of topical relevance knocked me out, but my favorite was The Batman. 

The Dennis O'Neil-Neal Adams version of The Batman debuted in Detective Comics # 395 in 1970, but I didn't see that one until a few years later (in the hardcover collection Batman From The '30s To The '70s). After Adams' Brave And Bold run, I started with "Ghost Of The Killer Skies" in Detective Comics # 404 (October 1970), Adams' single-issue return to The Brave And Bold (with O'Neil) for # 93's "Red Water, Crimson Death" (December 1970-January 1971), and the return of Golden Age Batman villain Two-Face in "Half An Evil" (Batman # 234, August 1971). That last one thrilled me no end. I was eleven years old. I still wasn't following creator credits yet (other than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby). I would start to know the names of the writers and artists very soon.

And, by the summer of '72, I knew who my favorites were. And I knew exactly who knew how to write and draw The Batman.

1972 gave us The Batman's serialized battle with Ra's al Ghul, an adversary created by Adams and O'Neil. At the age of twelve, I thought this was the most epic thing I had ever seen. I'm still not convinced I was wrong about that. Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams were absolute superstars to me. The following year, when they brought back The Joker and returned him to his original murderous characterization in "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" in Batman # 251, I couldn't stand the anticipation of waiting for the issue to hit the stands. I read it obsessively, over and over. It will always be among my favorite individual comic books.

"Moon Of The Wolf" in Batman # 255 (March-April 1974) was Adams' final Batman work for DC Comics, at least until many years later. Other paths beckoned. Other writers and artists continued the work, some of them rivaling or even surpassing what O'Neil and Adams had done. But I say none of that subsequent great stuff--hell, The Batman himself!--none of it would have happened if not for Neal Adams.

I confess I had less interest in much of Adams' later work. I did absolutely adore O'Neil and Adams' slam-bang 1978 tabloid Superman Vs. Muhammed Ali, as well as his cover illustrations for Tarzan paperbacks, his illustrations for Harlan Ellison's short story "The New York Review Of Bird" (in the 1975 paperback anthology Weird Heroes, Vol. 2 ), and the sublime 1976 DC superheroes calendar, most of which was drawn by Adams. But Adams' creator-owned material and even his decades-later return to The Batman wasn't my cuppa. Doesn't matter. The stuff I loved will always be the stuff I loved, the stuff I love still. I can't exaggerate the importance of that work to me. It was everything.

1972 was when I made the connection that my favorite Batman stories were created by these guys, Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams. 1972 was also the year I started writing in...well, not in earnest, but maybe in pursuit of earnest. I was twelve. In social studies class, rather than do a boring research project about the Revolutionary War, I scripted a science-fantasy story about traveling back in time to participate in the Boston Tea Party, and corralled classmates to help me perform the piece on video tape. For English class, our study of Bram Stoker's Dracula prompted me to write a (terrible) Gothic horror story, performed as an audio tape. By 1973, I was submitting scripts to DC Comics. They were awful, sure, and they didn't get me anywhere. But I'd made a decision: I was going to create. I couldn't draw like Neal Adams, but I could write. I'm still doing that.

Is it a coincidence that this conviction, this decision to create, occurred at the same time I was reading The Batman? Please. I may not be Neal Adams or Dennis O'Neil, but I know for damned sure where I drew my inspiration.

I met O'Neil and Adams in 1976. It was a brief can-I-have-your-autograph? encounter at the Super DC Con in New York. I felt like I'd met the Beatles.

Neal Adams was the Beatles. He was Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and whatever other reference you care to use to indicate he was the best, THE best, at what he did. Nonpareil. It is impossible to overstate the impact of artist Neal Adams on American comic books. That's not hyperbole. That's just the way it is. The artist. The crusader. The storyteller. A definite article carries specific meaning.

Just ask The Batman.

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

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1110

"Wool Hat." The producers of a TV show wanted to call him "Wool Hat."

Michael Nesmith would have none of that.

Nesmith had been cast alongside Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork as the co-leads of a weekly TV sitcom. They played a fictional group called the Monkees. The fact that these made-for-TV Monkees also became a real-life group was thanks in no small part to Nesmith's stubborn determination. It would be a mistake to give Nesmith a disproportionate amount of the credit here--each of the four Monkees was integral to the process of transcending limitations, of making the Monkees matter--but there's simply no way in hell it could have happened without Nesmith's own strong will as catalyst.

"Wool Hat?" Please. The name was Michael. Michael was the one who brought his laundry with him to his audition, the one who immediately insisted that this (originally) prefab project include songs he'd written, and that he be the one to produce the sessions for his songs. When the Monkees began to seek some measure of autonomy, to play on the records that bore their name, it was Michael who responded to corporate resistance by putting his fist through a wall, looking a suit square in the eye, and warning, "That could have been your face." 

(Nesmith added a multi-syllable word at the end of that statement, but decorum suggests we only reveal that the word started with "Mother.")

The make-believe Monkees became real. We can't say that was all Nesmith's doing, because it wasn't. But nor can we imagine that sequence of events without him. And his fist.

Of course, Nesmith was more than merely ("merely...?!") a Monkee. He was a songwriter, a musician, a producer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, a businessman, an author, a dreamer, a realist, a personality, a person. Darkened rolling figures move through prisms of no color. He wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit. He invented the concept of MTV. He was the recipient of the first-ever GRAMMY Award for a video album. He was the only member of the Monkees to have a U.S. Top 40 single outside of the Monkees' aegis. He ran a company. He produced videos and films. He wrote books. He was respected. He was admired.

And he was also a Monkee. Perhaps he was once a reluctant Monkee, but he came to understand, to accept, and to appreciate the fortune he found beneath a wool hat. Weren't they good? They made me happy. That would have been enough. But he gave us more. Rising, rising, rising up again. We tip our own wool hats in tribute, and in gratitude. Godspeed, Michael Nesmith. Here's to the beat of a different drum.

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 all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). 

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TIRnRR # 1110: 1/2/2022

TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain't played before are listed in bold

THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (Rhino, End Of The Century)

--

MICHAEL NESMITH: Rising In Love (Pacific Arts, "...tropical campfire's...")

THE BENT BACKED TULIPS: Sweet Young Thing (eggBERT, Looking Through...)

MICKY DOLENZ: Circle Sky (7a, Dolenz Sings Nesmith)

SUSANNA HOFFS: You Just May Be The One (n/a, Bright Lights)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND: Nevada Fighter (Awareness, Nevada Fighter)

THE MONKEES: Sunny Girlfriend [acoustic remix of master vocal] (Rhino Handmade, Headquarters Sessions)

--

POP CO-OP: The Only Thing I Really Want (Futureman, VA: Happy Holidays 2021 From Futureman Records)

THE ENGLISH BEAT: Best Friend (Shout Factory, Keep The Beat)

MICHAEL NESMITH WITH RED RHODES: Grand Ennui (7a, Cosmic Partners--The McCabe's Tapes)

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: You Ain't No Big Thing (Vinyl Japan, Laugh It Up!)

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS: Some Of Shelly's Blues (Razor & Tie, Continental Drifters)

THAT PETROL EMOTION: It's A Good Thing (Rhino, VA: Children Of Nuggets)

--

THE MONKEES: Nine Times Blue (Rhino Handmade, Instant Replay)

THE ZOMBIES: Hung Up On A Dream (Big Beat, Zombie Heaven)

JIM BASNIGHT & THE MOBERLYS: Ugly Side (Power Popaholic, Seattle-New York-Los Angeles)

THE WHO: Armenia City In The Sky (MCA, The Who Sell Out)

MICHAEL CARPENTER & THE CUBAN HEELS: Tapioca Tundra (Big Radio, By Request--Vol. 2)

ONE IN A MILLION: Fredereek Hernando (Grapefruit, VA: Think I'm Going Weird)

--

JEREMY: Live For Today (JAM, Live For Today)

THE OUTSIDERS: Bend Me Shape Me (Ace, VA: You Heard It Here First! Volume 2)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE SECOND NATIONAL BAND: Mama Rocker (Awareness, Tantamount To Treason Volume One)

D.B. COOPER: Ram On (Rhino, Buy American)

THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: Propinquity (Capitol Nashville, Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy)

THE ATLANTICS: Teenage Flu (Something Hot Communications, Power Pop)

--

IRENE PEÑA: Shut It Down (Big Stir, single)

DAVID BOWIE: Andy Warhol (Virgin, Bowie At The Beeb)

GARY OWEN: The Girl I Knew Somewhere (7a, VA: Listen To The Bands)

THE WEEKLINGS: Baby You're A Rich Man (Jem, 3)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND REDUX: Calico Girlfriend (7a, Live At The Troubador)

CHRIS SPEDDING: Bedsit Girl (Cherry Red, VA: Surrender To The Rhythm)

--

MICHAEL NESMITH: Rio (Rio, From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing)

JUNIPER: Best Kept Secret (Confidential Recordings, Juniper)

BO DIDDLEY: Bo Diddley 1969 (MCA, The Chess Box)

MICKY DOLENZ: You Are My One (7a, Dolenz Sings Nesmith)

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: Sweet Jane (Polydor, Peel Slowly And See)

--

ORBIS MAX: On Time (Power Popaholic, VA: Stone Ridge 2022 Tribute)

COCKEYED GHOST: About Jill (Big Deal, Keep Yourself Amused)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND: American Airman (Real Gone Music, Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings)

THE PRETENDERS: Message Of Love (Sire, The Singles)

THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND: Mary, Mary (Elektra, East-West)

R.E.M.: Love Is All Around (TAG Recordings, VA: I Shot Andy Warhol)

--

MICKY DOLENZ: Don't Wait For Me (7a, Dolenz Sings Nesmith)

BIG STAR: I'm In Love With A Girl (Ardent, # 1 Record/Radio City)

FLOYD CRAMER: Papa Gene's Blues (RCA, Floyd Cramer Plays The Monkees)

CILLA BLACK: A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues (Ace, VA: She Came From Liverpool!)

MICHAEL NESMITH: Release (Rio, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash)

THE ROLLING STONES: Not Fade Away (Abkco, Singles Collection: The London Years)

--

THE MONKEES: Me & Magdalena (Rhino, Good Times!)

SHOES: The Things You Do (Elektra, Tongue Twister)

SPARKS: Lawnmower (BMG, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND: Silver Moon (Awareness, Loose Salute)

SQUEEZE: Farfisa Beat (A & M, Argybargy)

THE STONE PONEYS: Different Drum (Rhino, LINDA RONSTADT: Greatest Hits I & II)

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND: Joanne (Awareness, Magnetic South)

THE MONKEES: Listen To The Band [single version] (Rhino, 50)

POP-A-LOOZA: Les McKeown, the voice of the Bay City Rollers

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is my tribute to Les McKeown, the voice of the Bay City Rollers.

This piece, assembled in the immediate aftermath of McKeown's death in April of this year, includes entries I've written about the Bay City Rollers in my weekly 10 Songs feature, plus links to most of what else I've written about the Rollers for this blog. This one 10 Songs entry appeared subsequently:

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Ain't It Strange

As far as I know, this obscure track from the Bay City Rollers' 1974 debut album Rollin' has never been issued in the U.S. "Ain't It Strange" was written by Rollers Eric Faulkner, Woody Wood, and Les McKeown, and it doesn't sound much like any of the group's best-known material; in my head, it sounds more along the lines of a ballad by the likes of Ronnie Lane with the Faces, or maybe a Badfinger album track, rather than a "Saturday Night" or a "Rock And Roll Love Letter." That comparison isn't exact, and probably not even accurate. But it's what my mind is telling me as I hear the song play. Ain't it...y'know?

I betcha I'll write more about the Bay City Rollers in the future. For now, this salute to the group's late lead singer Les McKeown serves as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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