10 SONGS: 12/1/2023

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 # 1209. This show is available as a podcast.

POPDUDES: She's An Obsession

I was chatting recently with my friend and fellow pop journalist John M. Borack. John's power pop bona fides meet the dictionary definition of "unassailable," and he and I agree on much, disagree on a little, and we're fans of each other's informed punditry even when our POVs diverge.

John's also a drummer, and he has a new album with the Armoires due out in the not-quite-near-enough future. One of John's other DBAs is Popdudes, a revolving-member aggregation that usually finds our John working with Michael Simmons of sparkle*jets u.k. Popdudes have just released a new covers collection, gathering sundry swell Popdudifications of material previously done by NRBQ, Paul McCartney, the Five Stairsteps, Elvis Costello, the Guess Who, Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, and more.

The album's called Number Two, but it's # 1 on our playlist this week, as we open this week's show with Popdudes' rendition of 20/20's "She's An Obsession." You know the old saying: Starve a cold, feed an obsession. Happy to do our part here on TIRnRR.

HEY! Speaking of the Armoires, the group has a lovely and brand-new track called "Music & Animals," available on the new benefit compilation Embers Of Aloha: A Maui Wildfire Benefit Project. Let's cut-n-paste a little something about this album, courtesy of Eddie Van Finley:

"All proceeds of this special digital BENEFIT project will go to directly help the victims of the Maui Wildfires, which resulted in loss of property, homes, pets and loved ones. Your generous donation will help to provide immediate relief for the people of Lahaina and West Maui communities in the wake of this horrible disaster.

"Mahalo for the kind contributions of every artist on this compilation that have given of their time and talents to make this project possible. Please consider supporting these artists who have selflessly supported this cause. Artist information is contained in each track's info section.

"I'd like to thank Big Stir Records, JAM Records, JEM Records, Kool Kat Musik, David Beard (Endless Summer Quarterly) for their immeasurable guidance, kind encouragement and advice.

"Special thanks to Lisa Mychols (my tireless co-chair) and Nadja Dee (Artwork) for the constant forward momentum and positivity. And thank you to Michael McCartney, for being our catalyst, positive reinforcement and for Inspiring this project to come together with purpose, meaning and aloha.

"On behalf of everyone involved, "Mahalo nui loa" for supporting such a worthy cause and for making this an amazing compilation of songs!

"May EMBERS of ALOHA live in your heart. Always."

Embers Of Aloha is out TODAY. I bought it. You shoulda oughta buy it, too. Mahalo to the great Michael McCartney, radio's best friend. Mahalo to the island and its spirit. Mahalo to the Armoires. Mahalo to you for doing your part to help the wonderful people of Maui.

LOU RAWLS: Bring It On Home

From a previous edition of 10 Songs (2/23/2021):

"When I was an oldies-obsessed college student in the late '70s, there was one time when I sang an impromptu duet with a woman working at the campus snack bar, me doing most of the warbling on a snippet of Sam Cooke's 'Bring It On Home To Me.' She was surprised someone so young was familiar with the song to begin with, but, y'know, see above reference to oldies-obsessed. Truth to tell, I mostly knew the song from the Animals' cover version, but I knew Cooke's original, too. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I learned the secondary vocal on Cooke's recording was performed by a then-unknown Lou Rawls. You'll never find (dum dum dumdee dum) another secondary vocal like his (dum dum dumdee dum). Bring it on home, Lou."

I didn't realize that Rawls also released his own version of the song in 1970. Cool! I discovered it on a Lou Rawls best-of CD that I just picked up, and figured it would make a more'n appropriate TIRnRR spin. Lou Rawls covers Sam Cooke!

And yeah, I forgot Rawls sang on the original. Intrepid TIRnRR listener Mike Browning pointed out that Rawls' "Bring It On Home" was as much a remake as it was a cover (much like my own oft-cited instance of Merry Clayton's remake of "Gimme Shelter," seeing as how she's the one wailin' WAR, children! on the original Rolling Stones release). Good catch, Mike! Nice to have someone who can bring it when we need it.

THE RONSON HANGUP: Waxes & Wanes

This is stunning. From their new album Centaurus, the Ronson Hangup effectively channel the Hollies in an original song called "Waxes & Wanes." It's not an imitation or an homage; the vocals echo the Hollies without sounding like them, and for all I know I'm just imagining the comparison. But to my ears, this sounds like someone covering an undiscovered, previously unheard Hollies gem, and covering it well enough that I expect one or another Ronson Hangupper to break up the band so he can go hang with David Crosby and Stephen Stills instead. Irresistible.

MICKY DOLENZ: Radio Free Europe

Of the four tracks on Micky Dolenz's new EP Dolenz Sings R.E.M., "Radio Free Europe" is the only one where I don't flat-out prefer Micky's cover to the Athens-bred original. I didn't know R.E.M.'s "Leaving New York," but everyone with a radio and/or MTV knew "Shiny Happy People" and "Man On The Moon." It's a true credit to Dolenz and his musical director Christian Nesmith that they were able to stake ballsy dibs on such familiar work, and emerge with what I think are now the definitive versions.

"Radio Free Europe" presents a tougher challenge, if only because it's probably my favorite R.E.M. track. That specific, emotional tether to a beloved record is difficult to challenge...

...which makes it all the more amazing that Micky does challenge R.E.M.'s primacy on "Radio Free Europe." Dolenz and company manage a convincing, compelling, damned near magical remake of a song I've adored for decades, reimagining it, reinventing it, and giving me pause to consider the sheer audacity and accomplishment of what they've done. I can't quite let go of my entrenched and established affection for R.E.M.'s own "Radio Free Europe," and this shouldn't even be a close choice.

But it is. Damn, this Dolenz guy is good.

JACKIE BRENTSON AND HIS DELTA CATS: Rocket "88"

Jackie Brentson's seminal rock 'n' roll single "Rocket '88' " doesn't have an entry in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but the track is mentioned within the chapters for two other songs. Let's mash 'em up here, from GREM! pieces about Big Mama Thornton and Ike and Tina Turner:

Where and when did rock 'n' roll start? There are a few key records that one could name as possibilities for the first rock 'n' roll record. "Rocket '88' " by Jackie Brentson and his Delta Cats (1951, and really Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm) is the closest we have to a consensus choice, though some would point to "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino (1950). I would at least add Amos Milburn's "Down The Road Apiece" (1947) to the discussion, and no less an authority than Lenny and Squiggy (on TV's Laverne And Shirley) spoke on behalf of "Call The Police," a 1941 single Nat King Cole made with the King Cole Trio. There are other progenitors and trailblazers from across the heady mingling of jump blues, R & B, country, and swing that birthed this bastard child we call rock 'n' roll. What was the daddy of them all? Not even a blood test is going to make that determination.

"Rocket '88' " can lay plausible claim to being the first rock 'n' roll record (though I still say it was Amos Milburn's "Down The Road Apiece"). On merit, Ike Turner should be celebrated as one of popular music's most important most artists. 

History does not remember him that way. He had only himself to blame for that. Revelation of his ongoing abuse of Tina Turner when they were married effectively reduced Ike Turner from headliner to deplorable footnote. 

Charles Manson was a frustrated musician and songwriter. O.J. Simpson was a celebrated athlete. Joe Meek. Gary Glitter. Bill Cosby. It's a long list of the famous and infamous. We celebrate the art. The artist may disappoint us.

Or worse.

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

We play favorites. With pop music, there's no sensible justification for objectivity. Pop music exists for the express purpose of getting into our ears, into our pores, into our vibratin' corpuscles, and into whatever else is ripe for gettin' into. Failure to play favorites would be as dumb as dumb can be.

Kid Gulliver's "Forget About Him" is a favorite, and more: It's a TIRnRR classic, reprised from the group's Kismet album for our own 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. It's one of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's greatest hits. Yeah it's a favorite. Gotta play the favorites.

THE CREATION: Making Time

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Why Is It Always This Way?

More than 1200 shows in, I cannot believe we've never played this Rocket To Russia track on TIRnRR before this week. In last week's 10 Songs, I talked about how I'm starting to wonder if the Ramones' fourth album--1978's Road To Ruin--might really be the group's masterpiece. Whether that's true or not, its immediate predecessor Rocket To Russia also remains a contender, a Love At First Spin album for me, and the long-playing home of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," the record that changed my life. With last week's spin of "Bad Brain" and this week's ritual uppin' of the volume for "Why Is It Always This Way?," TIRnRR has now played each and every one of the tracks on Road To Ruin and Rocket To Russia at least once over the course of our long and bewildering tenure.. Let's see where the road takes that rocket next.

NICK LOWE: I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass

Er...okay? Breaking glass strikes me as an odd sound upon which one might fixate, but what the hell. Dig what you dig.

Smashing!

THE BEATLES: Here Comes The Sun

Syracuse got some snow this week. It wasn't as much as I expected us to get, and not nearly as much as was dumped upon areas to our north. My Tuesday evening commute invited repeated descriptions of Yuck!, but the TIRnRRmobile made its way back home to the suburbs. Accumulation on the ground and in the driveway at stately Carl Manor was minimal. The ol' Cub Cadet stood at the ready, but was not called into service this time. 

'Tis the season. And the season's just starting.

I don't love winter...but I accept it. I'm 63 years old, and I've lived in the Northeast my whole life. As a general rule, snow doesn't get me down. I bundle up. I fire up the ol' Cub Cadet when necessary. I've got the right tires for traction, the right music playing in the car, and (I hope) the right attitude to get through what needs getting through.

I don't know if Dana's pick to close this week's show with the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" was a deliberate Juju against the then-forthcoming lake effect snow warning, or just the welcome result of, y'know, that's a good one, we should play that one. Works for me!

Or maybe it was Dana's way of heralding our next show.

NEXT WEEK: We ignore the actual season, and celebrate an entirely different season. Yes, it's SUMMER IN DECEMBER! Counterprogramming the Holidays. We're either in willful denial or we think we're Australian. We'll have three hours of songs that make us think of summer. Winter can hold its icy water for one more week. This Sunday, December 3rd, we're hangin' ten with SUMMER IN DECEMBER!

SURF'S UP!!!

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

POP-A-LOOZA: THE EVERLASTING FIRST! Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics), The Challengers Of The Unknown, The Dave Clark Five, The Clash, The Creation, The Creeper

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 an Everlasting First look back at my introductions to a mixed bag of rock 'n' roll groups and comic book superheroes: Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), the Challengers of the Unknown, the Dave Clark Five, the Clash, the Creation, and the Creeper.

For supplemental reading on the pop combos, we have links to more about the Clash and the Creation, and the Dave Clark Five are the subject of pieces focused on "Any Way You Want It," Glad All Over Again, and even the DC5's influence on the Beatles.

(The above are not the Captains Marvel you're looking for.)

As for supplemental links to today's comic book subjects...I got nothin'. I've written about the original SHAZAM!-shoutin' Captain Marvel (especially here and here), and reprised the short-lived 1960s M.F. Enterprises Captain Marvel stories here, here, here, here, here, and here, but I haven't had much to say about the Marvel Comics characters that swipe...adopted that name. Superheroes don't swipe. Marvel's Captain Marvel turns up in my memories of the '60s Marvel Super-Heroes comic book series, and that's about it. The Creeper and the Challs are otherwise MIA on this blog, though both are mentioned in my fantasy piece "The Old 52: Imagining A New Pre-Crisis DC Comics."

Still, whatever else I've written about these pop entities, they're all on equal footing in The Everlasting First! The stories of my introductions to them serve as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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

POP-A-LOOZA: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Creation, "Making Time"

 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 Greatest Record Ever Made! salute to "Making Time" by the Creation.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. This piece about the Creation was intended for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is one of many--very many--completed chapters removed from the book's blueprint over time. The book itself is done, and I'm a little more than halfway through rereading it with my virtual blue pencil in hand. The self-editing process has been smooth so far. The book's path forward is uncertain, but I like what I've done.

"Making Time" is a dynamic power pop track from 1966. If you don't know it, give it a listen on YouTube. While many power pop fans and pundits start power pop's timeline in the '70s, I insist that if "Making Time" isn't power pop, there ain't no such thing as power pop.

As mentioned here yesterday, the question "Is this power pop?" provides the theme for the latest issue of Big Stir magazine, a publication which includes my thoughts on the matter alongside musings from some of my colleagues in the power pop community. For even more examples of me ranting about pop with power, check out my history of power pop, my debate with Gary Pig Gold about the origin of power pop, my embrace of Bomp!  magazine, my Power Pop 101, my Top 10 power pop acts, my Power Pop Hall Of Fame inductions of the Rubinoos, the Ramones, the Spongetones, the Flamin' Groovies, and Pezband, and Greatest Record Ever Made! bits about Badfinger, Big Star, the Who, the Raspberries, the Bay City Rollers, and the Flashcubes. Oh, and what the hell, check out my fictional history of the Flashcubes, imagining a world in which the 'Cubes became the famous stars they should have been.

Should have been. Stupid real world....

I'm a chatty sort, so there are many more power pop celebrations, diatribes, history lessons, and endorsements scattered throughout this long-running, long-winded blog. For now, a Greatest Record Ever Made! rave about a fantastic 1966 single by the Creation serves as 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.

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Making Time

This was prepared as a chapter for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not in that book's current blueprint. That could change, but for now, here 'tis.

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 CREATION: Making Time
Written by Kenny Pickett and Eddie Phillips
Produced by Shel Talmy
Single, Planet Records [U. K.], 1966

Power pop. I disagree with the widespread notion that while power pop as a genre may be (MAY be...?!) rooted in the '60s, it doesn't really begin until the '70s. No matter how many knowledgeable pundits express that view, I consider it...well, nonsense may be too strong a dismissal, but...wrong. The viewpoint is incorrect. We're talking about a sound, an approach to pop music. You can't limit its discussion to a certain era if there are bona fide examples that predate that era. That would make it a revival. Power pop is not a revival. And we can look to the '60s for many examples that well predate the Raspberries and Big Star.

Examples like the early Who. Examples like the early Kinks. Examples (in my opinion) like the Beatles inventing power pop with "Please Please Me." And examples like "Making Time" by the Creation.

The Creation were a British rock group in the '60s, and "Making Time" was produced by expatriate Yank Shel Talmy, who knew a thing or two about the style from his work with the Who, the Kinks, and the Easybeats. When I was reading about power pop in Bomp! magazine's landmark 1978 issue devoted to that particular clarion call, the Creation's records were among the more elusive sounds cited therein. The Creation had no hits in America, were virtually unknown on these shores, and I had a devil of a time trying to hear any of their music in '78. I finally found and bought an import 45 at Syracuse's Desert Shore Records. Arty Lenin, guitarist for Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, was working the counter at Desert Shore that day, trying to interest me in "The Staircase (Mystery)" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Instead, I purchased a reissue 7" combining two of the Creation's signature tunes, "Making Time" and the British hit "Painter Man."

Both of the songs had been cited in Bomp! as essential power pop; hearing the tracks, I had to agree. Power pop. No matter what decade it was made.

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

10 SONGS: 6/23/2020

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.

L-R: unidentified masked crimefighter, Donna Loren

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1030.

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD: Sit Down I Think I Love You


In an alternate universe, "Sit Down I Think I Love You" was recorded by The Monkees, and perhaps a hit for them. The song's author, Stephen Stills, was one of many musicians and actors who auditioned to be a Monkee; stories differ about whether he was passed over for the role or if he declined it, but either way he recommended his friend Peter Tork for the gig, and I think everything worked out for the best as is. 

So instead of joining The Monkees, Stills helped to form Buffalo Springfield. I discovered the group's music about a decade after the fact, part of my teen embrace of the '60s in the mid '70s. "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong," "Bluebird," "For What It's Worth," and Neil Young's "Mr. Soul" were my gateway tracks at the time. I don't think I heard much (if any) of the rest of the Springfield's catalog until years later.

I did hear "Sit Down I Think I Love You," but not by Buffalo Springfield. The song was covered in 1967 by a San Francisco group called The Mojo Men, and their version was included on the seminal '60s garage/psychedelic/whatchamacallit 2-LP compilation Nuggets. I bought the Sire Records reissue of Nuggets as a cutout in 1979, specifically to score a copy of The Knickerbockers' Beatley "Lies," a track which had eluded my grasp until that point. I knew a couple of other great tracks on the album--"Liar, Liar" by The Castaways and "Dirty Water" by The Standells--before buying it, and I would discover much, much more in short order. The 13th Floor Elevators, The Electric Prunes, The Remains, The Cryan' Shames...yeah, Nuggets was huge for me.



Count The Mojo Men's "Sit Down I Think I Love You" among those discoveries. It's such a lovely pop song, seeming to draw inspiration from The Left Banke, The Beau Brummels, and The Mamas and the Papas, folk goes for baroque. Singin' drummer Jan Errico was one of the very few female players represented on Nuggets, and this track offers a lot of reasons to sit down and fall in love.

I don't remember when I finally heard the Springfield's original. I may have even seen a video of them performing it (or lip-syncing it) before I heard the record itself. It suddenly occurs to me that I don't think I ever owned any Buffalo Springfield LPs, just individual tracks on various-artists sets Do It Now, Heavy Metal, and The Super Groups. That's weird, because I was certainly interested in both Buffalo Springfield and Buffalo Springfield Again--I don't remember ever seeing a copy of Last Time Around--and you'd think I would have at least picked up the basic career summary Retrospective. I bought Rhino's 2001 four-CD Buffalo Springfield boxed set as soon as it was released.

Which version of "Sit Down I Think I Love You" is my favorite? I love both, probably about equally. And I would have loved to hear The Monkees have a run at it, too. A great song needn't have a definitive take. 

THE CREATION: Making Time



Power pop. I disagree with the widespread notion that power pop as a genre may be rooted in the '60s, but doesn't begin until the '70s. No matter how many knowledgable pundits express that view, I consider it...well, nonsense may be too strong a dismissal, but...wrong. The viewpoint is incorrect. We're talking about a sound, an approach to pop music. You can't limit its discussion to a certain era if there are bona fide examples that predate that era. That would make it a revival. Power pop is not a revival. And we can look to the '60s for many examples that well predate The Raspberries and Big Star.

Examples like the early Who. Examples like the early Kinks. Examples (in my opinion) like The Beatles inventing power pop with "Please Please Me." And examples like "Making Time" by The Creation.

The Creation were a British rock group in the '60s, and "Making Time" was produced by expatriate Yank Shel Talmy, who knew a thing or two about the style from his work with The Who, The Kinks, and The Easybeats. When I was reading about power pop in Bomp! magazine's landmark 1978 issue devoted to that particular clarion call, The Creation's records were among the more elusive sounds cited therein. The Creation had no hits in America, were virtually unknown on these shores, and I had a devil of a time trying to hear any of their music in '78. I finally found and bought an import 45 at Syracuse's Desert Shore Records. Arty Lenin, guitarist for Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse The Flashcubes, was working the counter at Desert Shore that day, trying to interest me in "The Staircase (Mystery)" by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Instead, I purchased a reissue 7" combining two of The Creation's signature tunes, "Making Time" and the British hit "Painter Man."

Both of the songs had been cited in Bomp! as essential power pop; hearing the tracks, I had to agree. Power pop. No matter what decade it was made.

ARETHA FRANKLIN: Eleanor Rigby



Credit the finder's fee for this one to my lovely wife Brenda. "Eleanor Rigby" has been Brenda's favorite Beatles song for decades, going back to when she was a kid not otherwise interested in The Beatles. Um...she got better at that. When we went to see Paul McCartney in 2017, I purposely didn't tell her that he had been performing the song in his concerts. The pleasant surprise of suddenly hearing Ah, look at all the lonely people echoing in the canyon of The Carrier Dome inspired her to promptly flip out. In a good way.

Brenda's generally not much on covers that take too many liberties with a cherished original. On a recent TIRnRR, when Dana played Lesley Gore's version of Lulu's "To Sir, With Love," Brenda was appalled by Gore's unfaithful attempt to adapt what is possibly Brenda's all-time favorite song.

Aretha Franklin takes a lot of liberties in her rendition of "Eleanor Rigby." The tempo is faster, the groove and rhythm entirely different from the familiar Revolver cut. The approach is all Aretha, with merely a trace of John and Paul. Brenda should not have liked this at all.

But.

Well...

...it's Aretha.

Brenda heard it on the radio earlier this month. Brenda's a frequent listener of the Soul Town channel on Sirius XM. Aretha Franklin's "Eleanor Rigby" played as Brenda was driving, and at first she was taken aback by its sense of...different. But she liked it. It's Arertha! And she came home to tell me about the song she'd heard.

And so, Brenda had a request for the next This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Okeydokey. This is dedicated to the one I love.

JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS: Light Of Day


Noted rock 'n' roll lover Joan Jett made her acting debut in the 1987 film Light Of Day, playing with Michael J. Fox as a sister and brother fronting a workin' class band called The Barbusters. The film's director Paul Schrader had approached Bruce Springsteen to write a title song back when the movie was to be called Born In The USA. And Springsteen wrote that song! He did! He just didn't give it to Schrader, that's all. Schrader switched the film's nom du bijou, Springsteen crafted a new song called "Light Of Day," and Joan Jett belted it out in one of her best-ever recordings. I'm a Jett fan to begin with, and "Light Of Day" is one of my top three Joan Jett tracks (along with "Bad Reputation" and "Love Is Pain"). It's better than "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," and it's probably my favorite Springsteen cover.

When I interviewed Joan Jett for Goldmine in 1994, seven years after the so-so box office of Light Of Day, she still wanted to publicly express her gratitude to Fox for helping her to feel at home in her first on-camera acting experience. In return, she arranged an actual live gig for the film's fictional band--her, Fox, Spinal Tap's Michael McKean, and Paul J. Harkins--at a Cleveland nightclub, so they could get a feel for the experience of playing together as a bar band. In our interview, Jett stressed how nice Fox was to her, and added that he could really play guitar.

And she oughtta know. Joan Jett loves rock 'n' roll.

DONNA LOREN: Just A Little Girl


Reversing the segue heard on this week’s show. A segue of Donna Loren into Joan Jett (or vice versa) doesn’t happen as often as it should. As intrepid TIRnRR listener Rich Firestone said when we did this, "I love segues that look weird on paper, but sound perfect!" See, it's ALL pop music.

Singer and actress Donna Loren didn't achieve superstardom in the '60s, but I'm sure you've seen her even if you can't associate the name with a pretty face. In advertising, she was the Dr. Pepper Girl, the marketing embodiment of attractive and vivacious American youth. She was in beach movies, including the Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello benchmark flick Beach Blanket Bingo. She was on a two-part episode of Batman, playing The Joker's teen moll Susie. She was on The Monkees, playing Davy Jones' almost-betrothed Princess Colette of Nehudi. She was a featured performer on Shindig!, the best of all the 1960s jukebox TV series. Charming and adorable, Donna Loren was the face of the '60s.





She also made records. She didn't have any hits, but she kept working until she retired from performing in the late '60s. She returned in the '80s, and again in our current shiny new century. She collaborated with writer Domenic Priore on the 2017 book Pop Sixties: Dick Clark, Beach Party, And Photographs From The Donna Loren Archive. She remains charming and adorable. You can order an autographed copy of the book from Donna at her website, donnaloren.com. We're putting her back on the radio where she belongs, with this lovely record from 1964, Donna's rendition of the Gerry Goffin-Carole King composition "Just A Little Girl." Eat your heart out, Joker.



Oh, and Joan Jett 'n' Donna Loren go great together! The segue prompted this response from Donna herself: 

"Thank you Dana and Carl, you are transforming a consciousness for your audience that our world is mandating: unity!! Coming togerther collectively, holistically, as you combine a west coast brunette from the Swingin' Sixties w/ another west coast brunette who 'Loves Rock n Roll!' You found a link in these two young women: using their voices to reach a massive Youth Culture hungry for freedom."

Well. I'm smitten. 



GRAHAM PARKER & THE RUMOUR: Discovering Japan


"Hotel Chambermaid" was the first Graham Parker & the Rumour I recall hearing, a favorite on Utica's WOUR-FM circa '76-'77, my senior year in high school. For some reason, I thought it was by Greg Kihn, whose take on Bruce Springsteen's "For You" was also getting some significant airplay on OUR, and I don't know why my mind put those two songs together. But both were part of my early FM radio listening, along with Nick Lowe's "So It Goes," The Kinks' "No More Looking Back," Joan Baez's "Time Rag," Michael Nesmith's "Rio," and, eventually, The Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen." Radio's been good to me.

While I'm sure I also heard Parker's cover of The Trammps' "Hold Back The Night" somewhere early in the timeline, it was really "Discovering Japan" that tickled my tickle zone. I don't remember where I heard it for the first time, but wherever and whenever, it compelled a purchase of a used copy of its host album, 1979's Squeezing Out Sparks, at Brockport's Main Street Records. The album's first side--"Discovering Japan," "Local Girls," "Nobody Hurts You," "You Can't Be Too Strong," and "Passion Is No Ordinary Word"--got significant turntable time when I graduated from college into apartment living in 1980.

(About three years later, a slightly younger co-worker named Patti heard me singing "Discovering Japan" to myself [and anyone else within earshot], and Patti thought the lyrics But there's nothing to hold on to when gravity betrays you were silly beyond description. She needled me about "The Gravity Song" for weeks thereafter, but I don't think it was a laughing matter at all. Gravity's not just a good idea--it's the law!)

For dramatic purposes, the role of Patti will be played by Donna Loren

IRENE PEÑA: Shimmer Away


Aw, how could anyone not love Irene Peña? Her track "Must've Been Good" was one of the many highlights of our 2017 compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, and I continue to thank my pal and former Goldmine colleague John Borack for hipping us to the beauty, the splendor, and the wonder of Irene and her music. This new acoustic number "Shimmer Away" is available at Irene's Patreon page, and it's a tease for an electric version to follow. Whether it's unplugged or louder'n all the wattage in the world, ya gotta love it. C'mon. How could anyone not love Irene Peña?



WILSON PICKETT: Sugar Sugar



There are some people who are offended by the very existence of this track. The offended parties tend to be those who rightly view the great Wilson Pickett as one of the great soul voices, but view the idea of the wicked, wicked Pickett lowering himself to sing a lowest-common-denominator weenybop tune by a crass, artless, and, by the way, imaginary cartoon concoction such as--ACK!!--The Archies to be blasphemy. I guess there are maybe some Archies fans who don't dig it either. 

Aw, but man--that's so limiting.

Wilson Pickett's "Sugar Sugar" is an audacious mix of swaggering soul with the sweetest of sweet, sweet bubblegum. I'm an unapologetic bubblegum fan; the music of The Archies easily transcends its purely-commercial origin as Saturday morning television soundtrack music spun off as cash-grabs for an undiscerning younger audience. The records are good--well-produced, catchy, with compelling lead vocals from the great Ron Dante.  Wilson Pickett was--how shall I put this?--WILSON FREAKIN' PICKETT. A force of Southern R 'n' B nature, the source of 1,000 dances in the midnight hour. If you don't like Pickett, I question your possession of a pulse. I just happen to have a pulse. Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" earns a chapter in my book, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Rightly so.

I also love The Archies. My favorite Archies track is "Jingle Jangle," with honorable mentions to "Get On The Line" and "Who's Gonna Love Me, and certainly props to "Sugar Sugar," which was my favorite song on the radio when I was nine. I still like it, and the fact that I like Wilson Pickett's version even better isn't a slam against the original; they're both wonderful. Purists? Please show yourself out. Thanks for stoppin' by. For the faithful: Let the summer sunshine pour its sweetness o'er us. Amen.

SUZI QUATRO: Wake Up Little Susie


After falling in hopeless-but-happy teen crushdom for Suzi Quatro in the mid '70s, I wasn't initially all that taken with her music. I loved "I May Be Too Young" when I saw her lip-sync it on the UK import TV show Supersonic, but that non-LP single eluded my grasp for years and years. My first Suzi Q purchase was her eponymous debut album from 1974, scarfed outta the cutout bin in '76 or '77, and that record didn't immediately connect with me the way the song on Supersonic had. My next Quatro acquisition, an after-the-fact cutout of the '75 album Your Mama Won't Like Me, likewise left me cold.

The import-only album Aggro-Phobia was a different story. I don't remember if I bought it in the summer of '78, when I was working as a janitor at Sears' Penn-Can Mall store in Cicero, NY, or if it was the following summer, but either way, it was a Gerber Music purchase. And if I wasn't quite blown away with the album as a whole, I was absolutely taken with Side One's closing track "Tear Me Apart," an irresistible companion piece to that hard-to-find "I May Be Too Young" thing. 

At the time, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the album's last track, a cover of The Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie." I pulled it out on a whim last week, and listened to it for the first time in...well, I can't count that high. But even if I didn't appreciate it then, I sure do appreciate it now. I guess it just took me a while to wake up.

JEFF SHELTON: All Our Friends

TIRnRR has been playing Jeff Shelton's music for a good long time, commencing early in our 21+ year run with stuff by Shelton's old combo Spinning Jennies. "See For The First Time," a song Shelton wrote and recorded with The Well Wishers, would be a strong candidate for inclusion in my All-Time Hot 200, or better. We've played him with Spinning Jennies, The Well Wishers, Hot Nun, Trip Wire, and maybe in some other incarnation my aging memory prefers to keep hidden from me at the moment. We're fans. We have a radio show dedicated to the specific goal of playing music we like.

Jeff's new Big Stir digital single "All Our Friends" is another fine example of music we like. Its virtual companion, "In Another Life" by Bradley Skaught of The Bye Bye Blackbirds, is also compelling, and it's worth noting that "All Our Friends"was written by Skaught and "In Another Life" was written by Shelton. Yep, it's Jeff Shelton covering The Bye Bye Blackbirds c/w Bradley Skaught covering The Well Wishers. The whole beguiling pop package benefits the nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization Color Of Change. Worthy cause supported by worthy music, as we remind you once again that radio's job is to sell records. 

Please do your part. Operators are standing by.



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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.

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 134 essays about 134 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).