10 SONGS: 10/26/2023

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 # 1204.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Every Minute

As we prepare to welcome long-time TIRnRR Fave Raves the Grip Weeds for their first-ever Syracuse appearance this Friday, October 27th at The Lost Horizon, there was never any question that we would open this week's radio shindig with Grip Weeds music. It's the very situation for which the word DUH! was invented.

We've been playing the group's cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend" (from the Grip Weeds' 2022 covers album DiG) a lot, and it's a shoo-in for a spot somewhere on the year-end countdown of our most-played tracks in 2023. This week, we saved "Lady Friend" for our post-sayonara WAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT! bonus spot at the very end of the show, and instead got the party started at the top with a spin of "Every Minute," from their 1998 album The Sound Is In You. If I had to pick a single favorite Grip Weeds track, it would be "Every Minute." The sound is in YOU!

But no need to pick a single favorite--the Grip Weeds have lots of favorites! And we'll hear a few of 'em Friday at The Lost Horizon, as the Grip Weeds join 1.4.5., Perilous, Preacher, and Kenne Highland Airforce for a transcendent evening of rockin' pop. You should oughta be there. Sound ain't gonna into you on its own, man.

DiG?

SANTANA: Oye Como Va

On last week's show, following my daughter's wedding earlier this month, we played War's "Low Rider," which was the entrance music for the proud fathers of the happy couple.at the reception. This week, we gave equal time to the newlyweds' mothers with a spin of their entrance music, "Oye Como Va" by Santana. For Susan in Florida, and for my dear Brenda in New York. We're ALL family now. Buena pa' gozar.

CARLA OLSON: Street Fighting Man

Another week, another turn for Carla Olson's rock-solid cover of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." This coming Sunday night will present the start of another week, AND another turn for Carla Olson's "Street Fighting Man." See, revolutions thrive on consistency.

DOLPH CHANEY: Nice

We've been programming tracks from Dolph Chaney's current album Mug with Whac-A-Mole frequency. But for some unexplained reason, while other shows 'n' stations have jumped on the irresistible Mug shot "Nice," we...had not. Where the hell have we been all this time?

Oh, right. Playing "Ice Cream Embers" from the same album. We're not oblivious. We're focused.

No matter. We're here now. "Nice" makes its overdue TIRnRR debut on this week's playlist, and returns for an encore appearance next week. Nice. It's important to be nice.

THE FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache

From my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Like Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You,' the Flirtations' 'Nothing But A Heartache' is a noisy explosion of girl-group popcraft, trading the romantic, near-orgasmic bliss of Dusty's record for a lover's lament that is still no less magnetic, no less exuberant, even as the singer pines for an unattainable lover, a clueless cad who, apparently, doesn't want to be with her.

"I say to hell with him."

NEW MATH: They Walk Among You

"Die Trying" has always been my # 1 New Math track, but the highlight for me at their recent farewell show in Rochester was the performance of this monster slice of psychedelic sci-fi paranoia. "They Walk Among You" is The Day Of The Triffids meets Wild In The Streets, but amped up to scary good measure. It's the title track from a 1981 EP, and it isn't on the recent New Math anthology Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds (1979-1983). Given that They Walk Among You was a step away from New Math's original model, I wasn't sure whether or not the group would include "They Walk Among You" in their final live show.

They did. Checking the basement for pods? Too late! They walk among you already. 

And you are lucky that they do.

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You

Man, I dig this track. "In It With You" is from Love + Glory, the new Kool Kat Musik release by former Soul Engines guitarist Dave Kuchler, and something about it reminds me of the Rubinoos. That, my comrades, is a good thing indeed. We played it last week. We played it this week. And yep, we're playin' it again next week. I'm into it. It's the IN sound! Are you with us, or what?

THE ONLY ONES: Another Girl, Another Planet

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

JUNIPER: Ride Between The Cars

Juniper's absolutely ace 2023 album She Steals Candy has been among our top go-tos all year, and her She Steals Candy rendition of Amy Rigby's "Baby Doll" will be heard alongside the Grip Weeds' "Lady Friend" (and many other fine gems) in that year-end TIRnRR countdown show we mentioned a few paragraphs north of here. We have a brand new Juniper single to play next week, but this week was a prime opportunity for another romp through the She Steals Candy original "Ride Between The Cars." 

THE GRIP WEEDS: Rainbow Quartz

You guessed it! ANOTHER of my favorite Grip Weeds tracks, this one radiatin' off their 2015 album How I Won The War. Winners will gather at The Lost Horizon this Friday, October 27th. Be there! Musketeer Gripweed would accept nothing less.

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

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

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

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 4/28/2023

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 # 1178. This show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: 7 And 7 Is

This week's show concludes our four-week tour through the Ramones' studio album discography. Throughout the month of April, we've been playing my # 1 top track from each of the group's albums, four per week, and we begin our latest bopathon with representation from the Ramones' thirteenth album Acid Eaters.

Released in 1993, Acid Eaters is the Ramones' only all-covers album, sporting da brudders' piledriving takes on 1960s classics by the Who, Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, the Seeds, Eric Burdon and the Animals, et al. The Ramones had included a cover or two on most of their previous albums, so this seemed like an intriguing project.

Bassist C. J. Ramone wasn't so sure about it. In the 1994 interview reprised in my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, C. J. told me, "...I really wasn’t for it. I thought it was a bit too nostalgic, kind of concentrating on a...something that could almost be detrimental to our image. It seems like people think of too much of the past when it comes to the Ramones. You hear so much of the Ramones’ history and not enough about what’s going on about the Ramones now. And I think that hurts them sometimes. And I thought that this album was just contributing to that. I still think it is...."

Me? I raved about Acid Eaters when it was new, and cooled to it some time thereafter. To represent the album on this week's show, I figured I'd default to the C.J.-sung version of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages," a track that stood out for me at the time of its release. But in prepping for the show, I listened to Acid Eaters again, for the first time in...well, I can't count that high. I was surprised by how much I flat-out dig the album in the here and now, not just more than I expected to dig it, but possibly even more than I liked it in '93.

"My Back Pages" was still in the potential mix for this week's playlist, as was the Pete Townshend-augmented cover of "Substitute." I went with this steamrollin' version of Love's "7 And 7 Is," and delighted in the ongoing revelation of rediscovering old favorites.

MICKEY AND SYLVIA: Love Is Strange

A spin of Mickey and Sylvia's "Dearest" on last week's show led us back to their big hit "Love Is Strange" this week. What a great record, and its been far, far too long since its last appearance on TIRnRR. In our chat group Sunday night, intrepid listener Joel Tinnel commented, "The guitar is pretty hip for its day. I believe Mickey (of 'Mickey and Sylvia' fame) is the player as well as the vocalist." Our pal (and Radio Deer Camp host) Rich Firestone added, "I thought it sounded great coming out of '7 And 7 Is' because the Ramones didn't do the closing vamp from the Love record. Almost sounded like Mickey's guitar was gonna play it!"

MR. BRUCE GORDON: One Last Dance

Mr. Bruce Gordon is a long-time friend of this show. Bruce is also a welcome perennial fixture on our playlists, both as a member of the mighty Pop Co-Op and under his previous nom de bop Mr. Encrypto. Ditching "Encrypto" and retaining the honorific, Mr. Bruce Gordon has a new album due in May, courtesy of the good folks at Futureman Records. One Tall Order is the first record this peerless pop mister has done under his own name, and we are firmly on board. One LAST dance? Nuh-uh. First of many. First of many.

THE FLIRTATIONS: How Can You Tell Me?

My gosh, why weren't the Flirtations bigger stars? Their lone hit "Nothing But A Heartache" was phenomenal, and granted, nothing else in their catalog quite equals the sheer splendor of that track. Nonetheless, there's more fabulous Flirtations material beyond just the one big record. Their 1969 album Sounds Like The Flirtations (titled Nothing But A Heartache in the US) is worth a listen or two thousand. This week's radio exercise includes "How Can You Tell Me?," which was the B-side of "Nothing But A Heartache" in the States. We'll hear more from the Flirtations next week.

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

The Ramones' final studio album ¡Adios Amigos! saw the group go out with a blitzkrieg bang. And the album opens with a cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want To Grow Up," one of the greatest tracks ever to bear the Ramones brand name. It's not merely my favorite from ¡Adios Amigos!; when S. W. Lauden interviewed me last week for Remember The Lightning's feature on my Ramones book, he asked me to name my top five Ramones tracks, and "I Don't Want To Grow Up" is perched firmly at # 3 (behind only "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"). 

HEART: Kick It Out

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

(Powered by '70s teen pheromones.)

THE FLASHCUBES: Nothing To Do

IT'S A SECRET! Man, why am I even mentioning this to you?

THE RAMONES: Babysitter

With the Ramones' fourteen studio albums accounted for, we turn to my favorite among the group's non-LP tracks. "Babysitter" did appear on later European pressings of 1977's Leave Home album, but in America it was the non-LP B-side of the 1978 "Do You Wanna Dance" 45. At the time, I believed both sides of this single were destined to become irresistible, inescapable rock 'n' roll radio/Top 40 juggernauts. 

And they should have been. 

THE PALEY BROTHERS AND RAMONES: Come On Let's Go

Before we move from the Ramones' studio works into their live albums on next week's show, we celebrate the best of the group's soundtrack contributions. Ignoring "Chop Suey" (from the 1983 film Get Crazy), all of the main contenders come from the Ramones' own movie Rock 'n' Roll High School, which includes the absolutely ace title tune, the wonderful ballad "I Want You Around," and an eleven-minute live track (billed as a medley, encompassing blistering in-concert performances of "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Teenage Lobotomy," "California Sun," "Pinhead," and "She's The One"). Each of these has something to recommend it: the teen rebellion of "Rock 'n' Roll High School" emphasizing the film's rockin' raison d'être, the engaging chime of "I Want You Around" (accompanied on-screen by the image of actress P. J. Soles in her underwear), and, y'know, ELEVEN MINUTES OF LIVE RAMONES! Can't go wrong here.

Going into this, I presumed "Rock 'n' Roll High School" would be a given. Instead, I picked "Come On Let's Go," a dynamic cover of the Ritchie Valens gem, as performed by the Ramones backing up the Paley Brothers. The track had previously been released as a single in 1978, recorded when Joey Ramone was sidelined by an injury. Joey recalled, "It was a single before it was on the soundtrack. I was laid up, and John and Tommy and Dee Dee, they did the track with the Paley Brothers singin’ the lead. It sounded very Everly Brothersish. I thought it came out great."

Johnny Ramone also remembered the circumstances of the recording. "We negotiated a hundred bucks each [laughs], big money. And I said, 'Great! Hundred bucks for the night here, I’ll go in and do it.' Went in, put the record on, had Tommy figure out how to play it, [and he] showed me how to play it. I think I did two takes and said, 'that’s it, that’s as good as I’m gonna play it. I’m done.' And it came out good. The faster you do it, the better it comes out."

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

Still hadda get "Rock 'n' Roll High School" into this week's playlist. Enter Riff Randell. rock 'n' roller, the Ramones' # 1 fan. Take it, P. J.!

NEXT WEEK: we finish April with a track apiece from the four official live albums the Ramones released during their career. We'll begin with a track from my favorite live album ever.

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.

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!!

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

10 SONGS: 12/22/2022

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

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for The 24th Annual This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio Christmas Show. This show is available as a festive podcast.

JOHN & YOKO: Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

From 2020:

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was my favorite rock 'n' roll Christmas song for a long, long time, and it's still probably my all-time # 3 (and yes, the two that surpassed it will appear in the paragraphs below). I know that some folks don't like it or are sick of it, and that some even prefer that dishwater Paul McCartney thing (aka "The Cringe That Stole Christmas") when 'tis the season. 

I don't get that. Dig what you dig, of course, but man...I don't get that. To my ears, John and Yoko's Christmas single remains a stirring and engaging plea for peace on Earth, good will toward all. An obvious sentiment? I'm not looking for Proust here. "Happy Xmas" supplies the feels I want in my holiday music, its childlike hope (and children's chorus) never falling prey to the cynical or the overly earnest. It added an aching sense of melancholy forty-two years ago this month. But I never get tired of hearing it.

I'm not one of those who blithely bash Paul McCartney, either. Seeing Macca perform live in 2017 was the highlight of my concert-goin' career, I listen to solo Paul more often than I listen to solo John, and they were equal partners in the greatest rock 'n' roll band this world will ever experience. Nonetheless: I can't stand "Wonderful Christmastime." I absolutely adore "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)."

LAURIE BIAGINI: Christmas In The Air

Each year's annual TIRnRR Christmas show has to accommodate a number of classic Dana & Carl holiday perennials, whether it's Dana spinning Marvin Gaye's "Purple Snowflakes" or me making sure to include "The Man In The Santa Suit" by Fountains Of Wayne. A three-hour time slot doesn't allow anywhere near enough airspace to squeeze in all of the Christmas music we wanna play.

But we always try to make some time for a few new Christmas tunes alongside your Pretenders and your Ronettes. Laurie Biagini scored some significant TIRnRR spinnage throughout 2022--it's no spoiler to say that Ms. Biagini's music will appear in our big year-end COUNTDOWN!! show on January 1st--and we were delighted to open The 24th Annual This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio Christmas Show with Laurie's "Christmas In The Air." 

BIBI FARBER WITH THE MICHAEL LYNCH ORCHESTRA: Gonna Ask Santa Claus

From 2020:

My favorite pop-rock Christmas song of this young century so far, and my second favorite all-time. (We'll talk about my # 1 pick in just a sec.) This track is magic, and I mean it as a compliment when I say it sounds like something of a much older vintage, classic '50s or '60s rather than 2013. It's never been issued on CD. Somebody should remedy that.

DOLPH CHANEY: Jingle Bells

HA! It's a Van Halen Christmas, except without Van Halen! From the 2020 holiday sampler album Big Stir Singles: The Yuletide Wave, TIRnRR stalwart Dolph Chaney shrugs off his good twin--that's an in-joke for the TIRnRR faithful--and embraces the nice 'n' naughty notion of remaking "Jingle Bells" as it would be if the li'l ditty self-indentified as VH's "Panama." Preposterous? You'd be surprised by how many songs you think you know that believe themselves to be something else entirely. Especially Christmas songs! Must be something in the eggnog.

THE FLIRTATIONS: Christmas Time Is Here Again

I often whine about the legions of one-hit wonders who well and truly deserved greater acclaim than the mere fifteen minutes (if that) a fickle public allowed them. From the Knickerbockers to the Bobby Fuller Four to the Easybeats and more, it's clear that a lot of acts capable of coming with ONE!! killer record--seemingly outta nowhere--probably also made other records of note. If more people had heard them, more people would have loved them, and a one-hit wonder woulda been a two-hit wonder, a five-hit wonder, maybe even a friggin' superstar. There is so, so much great stuff out there. And we miss out on hearing so, so much of it.

The Flirtations were one-hit wonders for their fabulous 1969 smash "Nothing But A Heartache." It was not their only fab soul-pop triumph, but it was the only one that got played. Its B-side was a groovy seasonal shot called "Christmas Time Is Here Again," and it oughtta be on everyone's Yuletime playlist.

(And yeah, we deliberately played the Flirtations' "Christmas Time Is Here Again" immediately prior to spinning the Beatles' 1967 Christmas message, which is also called "Christmas Time Is Here Again." Different song, sure, but we hope Santa will make note of our ingenuity on behalf of the greater pop good.)

TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween) [holiday mix]

Here's the holiday mix of Tall Poppy Syndrome's "Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)," a track also heard in its original mix on our irresistible 2022 compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. And I tell ya, that compilation makes a superswell gift ANY time of year.

THE MONKEES: Riu Chiu

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE IDEA: It's About That Time

From 2020:

I can't fully explain why I love this song so much. Oh! I know! Because it's perfect. Perfect blend of giddy abandon and cool control, perfect embrace of December joy, perfect use of casual holiday elements--streets painted white, windows aglow with colored lights, on the TV It's A Wonderful Life--to craft a perfect Yuletune like no other. Yuletunes is the name of the 1991 Christmas compilation that gave us "It's About That Time" by the Idea (later Phil Angotti and the Idea), and it remains one of the all-time greatest Christmas albums. "It's About That Time" will likely always be my all-time favorite rockin' pop Christmas songs. Perfect.

NAT KING COLE: The Christmas Song

Phil Angotti's "It's About That Time" is my favorite rockin' pop Christmas track. Nat King Cole's rendition of "The Christmas Song" is my favorite holiday standard. Nothing else is in its class.

A few days ago, we talked about my favorite Christmas story, which is writer Mark Evanier's lovely account of an afternoon when "The Christmas Song" co-author Mel Tormé was...oh, just go read it. That story reinforces the connection I feel with the song, how it conjures my emotional concept of Christmas spirit, of an idealized Christmas from the POV of tiny tots with their eyes all aglow, and a simple phrase offered to kids from one to ninety-two (and beyond).

I wrote this a few years back, and it remains in my mind every Christmas:

The holiday season can invite reminiscence, a collective conjuring of the Ghost of Christmas Past. We remember things as we think they were. We rejoice in memories of good times, wince at the lingering ache of sad times. We picture family, friends, lovers, many of them now gone from our own lives. Death. Distance. Discord. Time.

I remember being a kid in the '60s, excited to open the colorful gifts that Santa left under our Christmas tree for me to discover far too early on the morning of December 25th. Games! Toys! Captain Action! Christmas Eves with family, gathered at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary's house. FOOD! A 1970 road trip to see my grandparents in Missouri, delayed by car trouble that turned into a struggle half-way across Indiana. Singing carols with other kids at the Italian-American Athletic Club Christmas party. Aging (in theory) out of a personal belief in Father Christmas, and playing Santa's helper (specifically, Santa's Chief Elf Myron) in a phone call to the child of one of Dad's co-workers. 

A little kid becomes a teen, with Doc Savage paperbacks and Beatles records on Christmas morning. A college student. There is another family trip to Missouri, spent recovering from a stomach bug and missing a girl I'd met at school. The college student becomes a college graduate. And suddenly, a young adult, alone one Christmas morning with a stack of old comic books and a bottle of Jack Daniels, knowing solitude won't last, but knowing it has to be that way in the moment, knowing a loved one is dealing with something much worse. Years fly by. Jobs change, addresses change, circles of friends change. Faces that were always there aren't there anymore. We deck the halls, but feel this loss we may be able to define, but can't deny.

So we close our eyes. And we wish.

In the mind's eye, all is as it was. Everyone we ever loved remains with us. I remember the bright and the dark: coming home from an overnight Christmas Eve shift to share a bottle of champagne and a Christmas kiss with my girlfriend, whom I would marry the following year; my chicken pox Christmas, when I was 36; Christmas Eves with my wife and daughter, eating Chinese food and cruising through Lights On The Lake; doing a Christmas radio show while trying to cope with tragedy, playing Gary Frenay's "Christmas Without You" and becoming too choked up to speak, unable to continue; watching the wide eyes of my daughter as she grew up under the bright glow of the season, and delighting again this week in the sight of her and her mother lighting the Chanukah candles together; seeing fewer and fewer places and faces at family gatherings, always aware of the price that time demands of us all.

And still I believe.

I may not believe what you believe. I may not believe what you think I believe. But I believe. I believe in our promise. I believe in our capacity to grow, to be better. I believe in a magic we make together.

I wish you magic. I wish you hope. I wish you love. I wish you the merriest. Somehow. Santa will find you. Light will find you. Believe in light. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

GEORGE HARRISON: Ding Dong, Ding Dong

Ring out the old, ring in the new. Happy Holidays from Dana & Carl.

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.

10 SONGS: 10/19/2021

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 # 1099.

THE BROTHERS STEVE: Better Get Ready

Yeah, you better get ready! The Brothers Steve have become consistent TIRnRR Fave Raves, so of course we're goin' full-throttle with their latest Big Stir Records release Dose. (To review: second album Dose follows the Brothers Steve's debut album # 1, and we repeat our earlier urgent note that the next one's gotta be called Dry.) We've been playing the new single "Next Aquarius," and figured it was time to dig into an album track. Our big 1100th show is coming up next week, so what could be a more appropriate track to play this week than "Better Get Ready?" NONE! None more appropriate! And I think we're gonna hear the Brothers Steve again next week on TIRnRR # 1100.

FANNY: Let's Spend The Night Together

Even into the mid '70s, it was still a little bit uncommon for a Top 40 pop song sung by a woman to directly suggest spending the night together. Hell, a decade before that, the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend The Night Together" were deemed sufficiently scandalous that ol' Stoneface Ed Sullivan insisted that noted male singer Mick Jagger oughtta warble Let's spend some time together! while rolling his eyes as the Stones performed on Sullivan's really big shoe. Um, show. I recall seeing the all-female combo Fanny lip-sync this (as well as their ace cover of the Bell Notes' "I've Had It") on American Bandstand while I was vacationing in Missouri in 1974. I don't think I'd heard Fanny prior to that. I recall members of the band telling Dick Clark that they'd put a female POV on "Let's Spend The Night Together," though it really seemed then (as now) as just a matter of fact. If you wanna spend the time.

THE  FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache

Unrequited love. It hurts like nobody's business. But it sure does sound terrific on the radio. The Flirtations tell the story like no other can.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Shape Of Things To Come

A teaser single covering Max Frost and the Troopers' "Shape Of Things To Come" heralds the not-soon-enough release of DiG, a covers collection from the rockin' pop force of nature that is the Grip Weeds. The shape of things to come? Sign us up!

THE JAM: Start!

My silly notion to start TIRnRR # 1099 with "Taxman" by the Beatles inspired Dana to follow with the Jam's "Start!," a 1980 track very obviously influenced by George Harrison's Revolver opener from '66. I was at first going to follow "Start!" with Prince's "Hot Summer," but realized while recording the show that we had to put the Bangles' "Start!"-influenced "I'm In Line" in that spot instead. Just had to. There was time to move Prince down a couple places in the same set--our apologies to the Pleasers, who wound up getting unceremoniously bumped--and still revel in the pop-fueled oomph of a radio show opening with the groovy triumvirate of "Taxman"-"Start!"-"I'm In Line." I only regret I couldn't squeeze "The Batman Theme" in before "Taxman." 

But it was, y'know...a start.

MAURA AND THE BRIGHT LIGHTS: Perfect Girl

The Maura of Maura and the Bright Lights is Maura Kennedy, one-half (with husband Pete Kennedy) of the world-renowned coffeehouse pop duo the Kennedys. Maura and the Bright Lights initially willed themselves into being in 2014 for the first-ever Bright Lights! Syracuse new wave rock 'n' roll reunion show. We have a handy-dandy history of Maura and the Bright Lights available for your reference right here. 

Gary Frenay of the Flashcubes is also a charter member of Maura and the Bright Lights. Recently, Gary was tasked with the challenge of creating an original song in the style of late '50s/early '60s girl-singer pop like Marcie Blaine's "Bobby's Girl" and Shelley Fabares' "Johnny Angel." The result was the dreamy "Perfect Girl," a swoon-worthy little number for Maura to sing. It's intended for a forthcoming film project, but we're thrilled to offer you this perfect little preview of coming attractions. (Today's Bright Lights are Maura on vocals, Pete on guitar, Gary on bass and guitar, Mike Kallet on piano, and the track's producer Tommy Allen on drums, percussion, and synth strings.) Let swooning commence.

SUZI QUATRO: There She Goes

This tune by my # 1 teen rock 'n' roll crush Suzi Quatro was recorded in 1982 for an album, but the album was shelved. The project eventually saw the light of day as a limited issue called Unreleased Emotion, which was much later exhumed for more general availability by the public servants at the Cherry Red label. There ya go!

KEN SHARP: Hellcat

Hey, speakin' of the Supersonic Suzi Quatro, here's another track infused with glam and glitter, this one courtesy of pop music's best friend, Ken Sharp.  We debuted Ken Sharp's new single "Hellcat" on last week's program. An immediate positive response to that (with a listener in Pennsylvania expressing specific delight) prompted a repeat spin this week. Plus, y'know, I like it. That usually helps.

TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)

Hey, it's a supergroup! Paul Kopf and Jonathan Lea (both of Stranger In A Strange Land, the former also of the Seeds, the latter also of the Jigsaw Scene)! Vince Melouney, from the original '60s lineup of the Bee Gees! Clem Burke of Blondie! Cream Puff War scribe Alec Palao of...we don't have space to list all of Alex's credits! I gotta start paying myself by the word. With all that firepower in its arsenal, it's no surprise Tall Poppy Syndrome's debut single "Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)" hits what needs hittin', and merits airplay by divine right. 

THE KINKS: You Really Got Me

Did we mention that next week's show is This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1100? Well, we just mentioned it again. You should oughtta join us for that. In the mean time, here's our house band the Kinks with the greatest record ever made.

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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.