POP-A-LOOZA! THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Easybeats

 

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 Everlasting First look back at my introduction to Australian pop gods the Easybeats.

That's the EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEasybeats.

As the piece reveals, Bomp! magazine played a huge part in bringing the Easybeats to my attention. That's an illustration of the important role the rock press can play in educating us about stuff that might turn out to be important to us. In 2018, I started writing a history of my own experiences reading rock 'n' roll magazines as a fledgling young rock 'n' roller. The series, He Buys Every Rock 'n' Roll Book On The Magazine Stands, made its way through three initial entries, covering Circus and Rolling Stone, Phonograph Record Magazine, and--of course!--Bomp! I still intend to go back and continue the series, picking up with the next entry about CREEM magazine. Here's the introductory passage from the CREEM piece:

"Rock 'n' roll was supposed to be about rebellion!

"The above quote has always bugged me. It is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard anyone say about this music I love. Rock 'n' roll was never supposed to be 'about' rebellion. It was a de facto act of rebellion, sure, a loud 'n' proud celebration of dancing, partying, and having sex--and having it often--combined with an inherent disregard for racial boundaries and polite, stuffy decorum. If you wanna say that makes it about rebellion, then we just disagree on our terms. But c'mon, man; 'Johnny B. Goode' is not Das Kapital, 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' for damned sure ain't Steal This Book, and 'Rumble' is a freakin' instrumental. It doesn't even have any words! How can it be about rebellion? How can it be about anything...?!"

I really need to get back and finish that one. One of these days! In the mean time, since we're doing sneak peeks anyway, here's a glimpse at the opening paragraphs of the Easybreats chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Rock 'n' roll has always been working class music. The landed and the privileged may also enjoy it, and many/most of its practitioners share a fever dream of breaking into the exclusive ranks of the upper crust, enjoying all the glittery, golden things money can buy, with an endless resource of the cold, hard cash one needs to buy them all. The same could be said of country, R & B, soul...any popular music. Rich folks aren't the target audience; the rest of us are.

"It's no accident that so many pop songs have reflected that viewpoint, nor that so many have specifically embraced the treasure of the weekend. Work's done! Time for play! From Little Richard's 'Ready Teddy' through any random recognition of the Monday-to-Friday death march ceding way for the wall-to-wall fun of Friday and Saturday night, we dig our weekend party anthems. The Easybeats' 'Friday On My Mind' is the definitive example."

But before that, well, the story had to start someplace. My discovery of the Easybeats is the subject for the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

10 SONGS: 6/3/2020

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.


This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1027. 

THE MONKEES: Good Times


"Good times!" was what we promised for this week's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, as I was intent on saluting The Monkees' amazing 2016 album Good Times! on the occasion of its fourth anniversary. We did not predict what an awful week this would be in the dumb old real world. 

In bad times, of course, we need good times more than ever. Like kicks, they keep getting harder to find.

JAMES BROWN: Please, Please, Please



In my possibly-eventual, possibly-imaginary book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), the chapter on James Brown's incredible "Please, Please, Please" is inspired by Brown's incendiary appearance in the 1964 film The T.A.M.I. Show. I regard Brown's set in that in that film as the single most electrifying live performance ever captured on video. And, in the very midst of Beatlemania, it depicted the hardest working man in show business establishing a beachhead to counter the Redcoat incursion:

The infidels attempted to usurp his crown, his kingdom. He would not have that. He was the king of them all, y'all. The Hardest Working Man In Show Business. The Godfather Of Soul. Soul Brother Number One.

James Brown was not about to surrender his sovereign territory to interlopers, foreigners. James Brown would not bow to the insurrectionists in this British Invasion...

...In truth, there was probably very little arrogance on the part of these British pop stars. The British Invasion succeeded because its practitioners were avid fans of American music, their enthusiasm for red, white, and rhythm 'n' blues driving them to international pop heights no previous generation of English kids could even dream of. The Beatles were thrilled to make it in America, and that visceral excitement was almost certainly shared by all the U.K. hitmakers who followed immediately in The Beatles' Cuban-heeled path, from The Dave Clark Five through Chad & Jeremy...

...Brown took the stage like a tornado barely (and not really) contained, a twister obliterating all objects in its path. He moved like no one on this mortal plane should have been able to do, sizzling, damned near combusting with energy. "Out Of Sight," then "Prisoner Of Love," the latter featuring Brown dropping to his knees, a teasing hint of what was about to transpire:

"Please, Please, Please."

If you're a rockin' pop fan and you've never seen The T.A.M.I. Show, you owe yourself the absolute treat of witnessing what is far and away my all-time favorite concert film, with stellar live turns from everyone involved, from Chuck Berry through The Rolling Stones. But James Brown steals the show. The king of them all, y'all.

EARTH, WIND & FIRE WITH THE EMOTIONS: Boogie Wonderland



In general, I do what my iPod tells me to do. In my car--my preferred place to listen to music--I switch back and forth between SPARK! WSPJ Syracuse on the radio and my trusty ol' iPod as my only mobile music resources. The results of the random music shuffles that power my morning and evening commutes often influence selections I make for the next available This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, as I move through traffic on 81-South and declare with authority, Yeah, we GOTTA play that one on the show this week! That's how "Boogie Wonderland," the masterful 1979 disco smash by Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions, made its way onto Sunday night's playlist. "Boogie Wonderland" is also the most recent addition to The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), as I surrender eagerly to the 20th-century Greek chorus of The Emotions. DANCE! All respect to the amazing EWF, but the chick vocals provided by The Emotions send this one into the stratosphere. 

THE EASYBEATS: Friday On My Mind



My series The Everlasting First has already told the tale of how I belatedly became a fan of The Easybeats in the '70s. The Easybeats' classic "Friday On My Mind" also earns a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

Rock 'n' roll has always been working class music. The landed and the privileged may also enjoy it, and many/most of its practitioners share a fever dream of breaking into the exclusive ranks of the upper crust, enjoying all the glittery, golden things money can buy, with an endless resource of the cold, hard cash one needs to buy them all. The same could be said of country, R & B, soul...any popular music. Rich folks aren't the target audience; the rest of us are.

It's no accident that so many pop songs have reflected that viewpoint, nor that so many have specifically embraced the treasure of the weekend. Work's done! Time for play! From Little Richard's "Ready Teddy" through any random recognition of the Monday-to-Friday death march ceding way for the wall-to-wall fun of Friday and Saturday night, we dig our weekend party anthems. The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind" is the definitive example.

THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night

When discussing the monolithic 1-2 punch of The Kinks' first two U.S. hits, "You Really Got Me" tends to grab all of the loud 'n' grungy glory. It is, after all, the greatest record ever made. But its follow-up "All Day And All Of The Night" is even more savage and relentless, and if it lacks a tiny bit of "You Really Got Me"'s mesmerizing single-mindedness, it compensates with its sheer combustibility. "All Day And All Of The Night" sounds like it's 'bout to explode, and it sounds loud (if never quite loud enough) at even the lowest volume. As revealed in my Everlasting First piece about how I discovered the group, "All Day And All Of The Night" was the first Kinks track I ever owned. There would be many, many more to follow.

KISS: Calling Dr. Love



Trying to satisfy the voracious hunger of a daily blog means I'm constantly kicking around ideas that may or may not lead me to write something. One idea I've noted but not yet pursued is called "The Idea Of KISS." That would be about how I have greater affection for KISS as an abstract (if you will) than I have for their actual records or performances. This is not to say that I don't like KISS. KISS was my first rock concert, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will include a chapter on "Shout It Out Loud," I still wear my KISS t-shirt pretty regularly, and I'm always eager to get right back in the face of any punter who dares to question my right to like KISS if I want to like KISS. 

But my love of KISS is not on the level of my love of The Beatles, The Ramones, The Monkees, The Kinks, The Flashcubes, or any of dozens of other acts. I have a sporadic blog series called All-Time Top 25, wherein I talk about my 25 favorite tracks by a designated artist. I've published All-Time Top 25s about The Beatles, The Monkees, and Paul McCartney, and I've begun drafts of still more: The Hollies, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones...and KISS. The Stones piece is a placeholder, but I'll have no trouble coming up with a long list of great tracks that I'll need to narrow to a mere 25. The Hollies' short list is currently 28. The Kinks' short list is 48! 

With KISS, I only have 20 songs listed, and even a few of those are a stretch. I could do a rock-solid Top 10, and it would include some obscurities as well as some of the more familiar KISS tunes. But my passion for the music of KISS simply doesn't match my interest in the idea of KISS. It's complicated. But I love it loud. And I love "Calling Dr. Love," which would absolutely be in that above-mentioned rock-solid KISS Top 10.

MANNIX: Highway Lines



"Highway Lines" is a track from Come To California, a rich and rewarding 2001 album recorded by Mannix. Dana played the song shortly after its release, and it went on to be This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's most-played track that year. I was hypnotized by the track from its first spin, and it should rightly be considered one of the defining fave raves of this show's long mutant history. Joe Mannix allowed us to use the song on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3 in 2013; its lyrical conceit of a desperate man listening to the radio as he drives across the country in one last-ditch effort to salvage a discarded love affair is a stone natural for whatever it is we do on TIRnRR. And it most certainly merits its own chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Hitting 95 and I'm feelin' half-alive
But I had to get things straight again
My engine's cryin' and my tranny she is dyin'
And the radio is my only friend"

There are times when the songs on the radio seem to know us better than we know ourselves. That's why we still need the radio.

"Another saga 'bout another love gone wrong
And the DJ knows what I'm goin' though..."

...Mannix's "Highway Lines" is probably the most obscure song discussed in this book. It's less heralded even in comparison to a local Syracuse hit single like Baron Daemon's "The Transylvania Twist," or the occasional cult act or lesser-known gem exalted elsewhere within these pages. Hell, even my favorite why-ain't-these-guys-stars?! underdog combo The Flashcubes have at least received some positive ink somewhere. But Mannix? Many of you don't know Mannix at all. But by God, you should....

No relation to the TV detective played by actor Mike Connors. Or so we've been lead to believe.



MARYKATE O'NEIL: I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around



Marykate O'Neil's "I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around" has made more appearances in 10 Songs than any other individual track. The track itself is wonderfully inviting and engaging, but its lyrical and thematic concerns have made it a particular go-to this year. We've played the song (from Marykate's 2006 album 1-800-Bankrupt) several times over the years, and it returned to the TIRnRR playlist in February. At that time, its airplay was prompted by my own feeling of spiritual restlessness; I had turned 60 the previous month, and had grown frustrated with the long and seemingly fruitless effort to get my book published. I was ready for...you know. The song has taken on a much wider meaning for me since then, as we've tried to deal with all of...this, from a pandemic and an incompetent pretend President through the latest episodes of violence, brutality, racism, and myopic resistance to the simple concept that Black Lives Matter. Marykate O'Neil has provided me with a spark of comfort throughout this weird and troubled time. I can't say it enough: we're all ready for our luck to turn around.

KEN SHARP: The Kids Are Alright



Ken Sharp recorded this cover of The Who's 1965 power pop classic as a 75th birthday tribute to Pete Townshend. When I was a senior in college in 1979-80, a British group called The Pleasers recorded their own determinedly Beatley take on "The Kids Are Alright," produced by none other than the legendary Tommy Boyce. Yay, Monkees pedigree! At the time I preferred The Pleasers' version to The Who's. Ah, the heresy of youth! Ken's new version is even more bubbly and poppy than what Boyce did with The Pleasers, but it please-pleases me just the same. Find out for yourself at https://kensharp.bandcamp.com/

THE WALKER BRIGADE: Fallout



This former digital B-side by The Walker Brigade is contained on Big Stir Records' recent compilation Big Stir Singles--The Sixth Wave, an essential set that benefits Sweet Relief's Musician Assistance Fund, so GREAT tunes, GREAT cause, radio's job is to sell records, and you have an overwhelming obligation to buy the thing already. I don't want want you to feel guilty, which is why you should order one and avoid that dreadful sense of not having done your part. See? I'm here for you!

"Fallout" deserves an extra-special shout-out, because it was originally done by a fab SoCal group called The Bunny Rabbits, whom I loved even though they ignored my suggestion to call themselves The Cherry Hearts. Artists. What can you do? The Bunny Rabbits' Larry Jacobson was an on-line pal in the early '90s, and when he was looking for musicians to join his group, I was among the people he asked for leads, as was another on-line pop acquaintance, Greg Ogarrio. The band that would be Bunny Rabbits was in L.A., Greg was in San Francisco, and I was in Syracuse and, by the way, couldn't play a freakin' instrument if my life depended on it. But Greg and I had another mutual pop friend who was within the greater City of Angels area: one Andrea Ullman. Andrea wound up joining the group, and she co-wrote "Fallout" with her fellow Bunny Rabbits. The Bunny Rabbits never released "Fallout," but their former bassist Mark Fletcher is now with The Walker Brigade, and finally able to bring this terrific track into the light.

Now, if you look at the songwriting credits for "Fallout" on the Big Stir Singles--The Sixth Wave CD, you'll note the lack of an Ullman but the presence of an Ogarrio. Andrea and Greg met not long after that flurry of hands-across-the-internet exchanges, they fell in love, they got married, and they've been together ever since. They remain two of my favorite pop people. I guess there are still some good times out there after all.


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

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).

THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Easybeats

Continuing a look back at my first exposure to a number of rock 'n' roll acts and superheroes (or other denizens of print or periodical publication), some of which were passing fancies, and some of which I went on to kinda like. They say you never forget your first time; that may be true, but it's the subsequent visits--the second time, the fourth time, the twentieth time, the hundredth time--that define our relationships with the things we cherish. Ultimately, the first meeting is less important than what comes after that. But every love story still needs to begin with that first kiss.



This was originally posted as part of a longer piece covering both pop music and comic book characters. It's separated here for convenience.

Building upon our influences plays a large role in shaping who we are, and what we become. As a kid in the '60s, and as a teenager in the '70s, my personality, and my likes and dislikes, were molded in part by the pop culture I absorbed via TV, comic books, movies, and AM radio. A Hard Day's Night. Batman. The Monkees. Pulp paperbacks. Jukeboxes. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Gold Key Comics, all kinds comics. WNDR- and WOLF-AM in Syracuse. Throw in some baseball, some random 45s, some more TV (from Gilligan's Island to The Guns Of Will Sonnett to Star Trek to Supersonic), some books on World War II, some Disney, Marx Brothers, and Jerry Lewis flicks, and some surreptitious glances at Lorrie Menconi and Barbi Benton in Playboy, and you have a partial portrait of the blogger as a young man.


                        Y'know, it ain't polite to stare, mister!

And throw in some rock 'n' roll magazines, too. I've already written at length about the importance of the '70s tabloid Phonograph Record Magazine, and I will still have more to write about PRM in future posts. I saw an issue of Circus some time in the mid-'70s, and I fell in love with Suzi Quatro when I saw her on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Later on, I'd immerse myself in Trouser Press, Creem, New York Rocker, Rock Scene, Punk, The Pig Paper, and also a little thing called Goldmine, for which I freelanced for almost twenty years. But the most important single issue of any rock mag I ever read? No contest; that was the February 1978 issue Bomp! magazine: the power pop issue.



The way I read and re-read and re-re-read that issue, it's a miracle its cover is still attached. I was 18. I was a fan of The Beatles, The Monkees, The Kinks, The Raspberries, and The Ramones. I'd just seen The Flashcubes for the first time, so I was already a fan of theirs, too. The power pop issue of Bomp! was Heaven-sent, a manifesto for what I already believed, but couldn't yet articulate. And its pages contained scores of recommendations for more acts I should check out as a nascent power pop acolyte, bands like The Flamin' Groovies (whom I'd already heard, but needed to hear more), The Creation, The Dwight Twilley Band, and The Nerves; and there was quite a bit of coverage of some band called Big Star, and some group from the '60s: an Australian band named The Easybeats.



Greg Shaw and Gary Sperrazza!, the auteurs behind Bomp!'s power pop extravaganza, cited The Easybeats alongside The Kinks and The Who as power pop's founding fathers. That's pretty heady company to keep, so I certainly wanted to learn more about The Easybeats. If there were any Easybeats records in print in the U.S. in '78, I wasn't aware of them; I don't think I could even find an Oldies 45 reissue of the group's lone American hit, "Friday On My Mind." So Easy Fever had to be deferred for me.

It may seem odd in retrospect that I'd never heard "Friday On My Mind," but I don't think I had. I finally heard it in--I think--the summer of '78. Tip-A-Few, a bar on James Street in Eastwood, specialized in playing oldies while thirsty patrons tipped a few (or, sometimes, more than a few). The DJs at Tip-A-Few were armed with a massive collection of 45s--no need for LPs, because they would only play hit oldies--and I was there with decent frequency, tippin' a few while requesting singles by Gene Pitney, The Beau Brummels, The Knickerbockers, and The Fireballs. And, one night, I requested "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats.

I liked it, of course, It wasn't immediately revelatory, but it was catchy rock 'n' roll music, and that was fine by me. That fall, I picked up a used copy of David Bowie's covers album, Pin Ups, which contained the former Mr. Jones' take on "Friday On My Mind." That track was, in fact, the very thing that prompted me to buy my first Bowie album, so yes indeed, thank you, Easybeats! I did eventually score an Oldies 45 of The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind," a record which I grew to love more and more with each easy spin.



It took me a while to expand my Easybeats stash beyond that one 7" single. In the mid-'80s, Rhino Records' The Best Of The Easybeats rewarded me with a glimpse into the true and enduring greatness of The Easybeats. "Friday On My Mind" was their only Stateside hit, and on some days I'll agree it was their best track. But most days, I'll dig in my heels, and I'll insist, Yeah, "Friday On My Mind" is great, but "Sorry" is better!  "Sorry" struck me as the perfect melding of The Monkees and the early Who, so sign me up for a new religion based on those Australian pop gods, The Easybeats. "Good Times." "Made My Bed (Gonna Lie In It)." "St. Louis." "She's So Fine." "Sorry." "Friday On My Mind." Scripture. Chapter. Verse. Easy!



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

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. 

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 898

"Super 6...? No! THE MAGNIFICENT SIX!

                               
                               
                               

THE MAGNIFICENT SIX! This week's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl belongs exclusively to six Featured Acts: The Easybeats, Cocktail Slippers, The Jam, The Spinners, The Clash, and Circe Link. The result is magic. It's simply what we do.

IN TWO WEEKS: THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO # 900!! This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse on The Spark WSPJ-LP 103.3 and 93.7, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/

Spark Syracuse is supported by listeners like you. Tax-deductible donations are welcome at http://sparksyracuse.org/support/

You can follow Carl's daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) at 
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes, Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.

TIRnRR # 898: THE MAGNIFICENT SIX! 11/19/17

THE EASYBEATS: Gonna Have A Good Time (Retroactive, Gonna Have A Good Time)

--

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: You Do Run (Wicked Cool, Saint Valentine's Day Massacre)

THE JAM: In The Midnight Hour (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

THE SPINNERS: It's A Shame (Motown, VA: Hitsville USA)

THE CLASH: I Fought The Law (Epic, The Clash)

CIRCE LINK: Stars And Stripes (circelink.com, Enchanted Objects & Ordinary Things)

THE EASYBEATS: Made My Bed (Gonna Lie In It) (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

--

THE JAM: The Eton Rifles (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

CIRCE LINK: Absolutely Yours (circelink.com, The Pop EP)

THE EASYBEATS: Say That You're Mine (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

THE SPINNERS: One Of A Kind (Love Affair) (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE CLASH: London Calling (Epic, London Calling)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Keeps On Dancing (Wicked Cool, People Talk)

--

THE SPINNERS: My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) (Motown, The Best Of The Spinners)

THE EASYBEATS: Pretty Girl (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Hold Me (MTG, Rock It!)

THE JAM: Smithers-Jones (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

CIRCE LINK: Black Balloons (circelink.com, Enchanted Objects & Ordinary Things)

THE CLASH: I'm So Bored With The USA (Epic, The Clash) 

--

THE EASYBEATS: For My Woman (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

THE SPINNERS: Ghetto Child (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE CLASH: Gates Of The West (Epic, Clash On Broadway)

CIRCE LINK:  Random Act Of Kindness (circelink.com, California Kid)

THE JAM: David Watts (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: She's A Fool (Wicked Cool, Saint Valentine's Day Massacre)

--

CIRCE LINK: Yellow Dress (circelink.com, Enchanted Objects & Ordinary Things)

THE CLASH: Police On My Back (Epic, Clash On Broadway)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Starlet Cole (Wicked Cool, Mastermind)

THE EASYBEATS: She's So Fine (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

THE SPINNERS: Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE JAM: Down In The Tube Station At Midnight (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

--

THE CLASH: Lost In The Supermarket (Epic, London Calling)

THE SPINNERS: Mighty Love - Pt. 1 (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE JAM: Going Underground (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Soul Salvation Of Love (Wicked Cool. People Talk)

THE EASYBEATS: Bring A Little Lovin' (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

CIRCE LINK: The Kindness Of Strangers (circelink.com, Bird's Amazing Odyssey & The Meaning Of Tea)

--

THE SPINNERS: The Rubberband Man (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE JAM: Move On Up (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Oh Boy (MTG, Rock It!)

THE CLASH: Brand New Cadillac (Epic, Clash On Broadway)

CIRCE LINK: Any Other Day (circelink.com, The Pop EP)

THE EASYBEATS: Sorry (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

--

THE JAM: The Modern World (Polydor, This Is The Modern World)

CIRCE LINK & CHRISTIAN NESMITH: I'm On Your Side (Kool Kat Musik, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4)

THE CLASH: Train In Vain (Epic, The Essential Clash)

THE SPINNERS: I'll Be Around (Rhino, The Very Best Of The Spinners)

THE EASYBEATS: Friday On My Mind (Albert, Absolute Anthology)

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Wicked Cool, Saint Valentine's Day Massacre)
THE JAM: All Mod Cons (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

CIRCE LINK: Circe's Swing (circelink.com, Dumb Luck)