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 # 1086.
THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIMI BETINIS: Baby It's Cold Outside
We've been dyin' to tell folks about this for a while, and now the story's out: Syracuse's phenomenal pop combo the Flashcubes have recorded a brand-new single, covering Pezband's '70s power pop classic "Baby It's Cold Outside." And, like all true pop fans, the 'Cubes get by with a little help from their friends. In this case, the friend is Pezband's own Mimi Betinis, who wrote and originally recorded the song for his group's 1977 debut LP.
The Pezcubes! The Flashband! The Flashpez Cubesband, and the Pezflash Bandcubes! This new version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" kicks, serving further proof that our janglebuzz heroes can still detonate a jukebox with the best of them. The single is out July 30th, courtesy of the visionaries at Big Star Records, and available to preorder RIGHT NOW. Go! Don't be left out in the cold on this one, baby.
THE FLASHCUBES: It's You Tonight
Okay. We got a NEW Flashcubes track reinforced with celebrity guest power-pop oomph. There's also Flashcubes On Fire, an irresistible archival Flashcubes live show due for release in the fall, preserving an incendiary 1979 'Cubes performance. What else can we do in the Cubic realm? Oh yeah, we can note that the Flashcubes' 1993 recording of "It's You Tonight" appears on a fantastic new Big Beat Records compilation called Rockets Of Love!, setting the Flashcubes in their rightful place alongside fellow icons the Knack, Candy, Cheap Trick, the Kinks, the Records, Marshall Crenshaw, the Searchers, Tommy Tutone, the Greenberry Woods, and teen sensations the Wonders, among others. Yeah, it's clear that the people at Big Beat have taste and smarts.
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| The Flashcubes, in a formal setting |
THE GUESS WHO: Rain Dance
A forgotten AM radio hit. Well, I forgot about it anyway. I just picked up a copy of the Guess Who's Greatest Hits last week--my first record store visit since before...y'know--and figured I'd probably plop one of the group's bigger numbers into the ol' playlist as an image song. It's all about the image, folks.
And then I heard "Rain Dance."
And I'm still sittin' with my next door neighbor sayin', "Where'd you get the gun, John?"
Man, I haven't even thought about that song and its undefined aura of menace in years, not since its reign on WOLF-AM and WNDR-AM in 1971. I did not recognize the title, and didn't remember the song...until it played. Don't you wanna rain dance? 1971 again. Radio on.
THE LINDA LINDAS: Never Say Never
I've taken to referring to the Linda Lindas as the buzz band of 2021. They've earned all of that buzz, and I hope we get to hear much, much from this young quartet for years to come. Their song "Claudia Kishi" is currently on a direct flight into our year-end countdown show, and deservedly so. But "Never Say Never" is my favorite among the Linda Lindas tracks I've heard so far. More to come? Never say never.
LISA MYCHOLS & SUPER 8: Pet Sounds (Story)
Here's another go'geous track from the Jem label's go'geous Jem Records Celebrates Brian Wilson, a set which is as fine a tribute album as you could possibly hope for. We've been playing the album's advance track (the Grip Weeds' cover of the Beach Boys' "You're So Good To Me"), and we're delighted to add "Pet Sounds (Story)" to our little Play-Tone Galaxy o' Stars. Lisa Mychols and Super 8 are no strangers to the TIRnRR playlist, having previously scored spins with an ace little number called "Timebomb." "Pet Sounds (Story)" takes the title instrumental from Pet Sounds and adds lyrics from various other Beach Boys songs, all as sung sweetly by Ms. Mychols. It's a gimmick, sure, but it's an agreeable gimick executed by capable hands at this pop music stuff. Rumor has it there may be more Lisa Mychols and Super 8 yet to come from the good folks at Jem. Wouldn't it be nice?
THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Hey Fanzine!
Yeah, I like this. The Peppermint Kicks are Sal Baglio from the Amplifier Heads and Dan Kopko from the Shang Hi Los and Watts. "Hey Fanzine!" is a peppy paean to DIY rock 'n' roll rags, fannish enthusiasm expressed in low 'n' maybe smudgy print runs. MAXIMUM Peppermint Kicks! I betcha the rest of the record's pretty good, but I keep fixating on this one track. See, I'm a fan, too.
THE RAMONES: Judy Is A Punk
I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've ever played a track from Loco Live, the 1992 live album that served as the Ramones' farewell to Sire Records. 1979's It's Alive! is generally our default choice for live Ramones, though we have played a few live Ramones tracks from other resources. Loco Live has never been a favorite, but I'm going to attempt a fresh listen in the near future. In the mean time, as our friend and Radio Deer Camp host Rich Firestone pointed out when we played this Sunday night, "Even for the Ramones, there's such a thing as TOO fast!"
SORROWS: Christabelle
This may come as a shock to some of you, but the history of the record industry is littered with examples of avarice, treachery, betrayal, and heartbreak. Yeah, I was surprised to learn that, too. In the late '70s, a New York City-based group called the Poppees plied their British Invasion-influenced popcraft on stage and on vinyl. I recall buying their Bomp! Records 45 "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" on a 1979 trip downstate; I saw the Flashcubes at a Bowery club called Gildersleeves (where I bought the 'Cubes' then-new single "Wait Till Next Week" directly from the song's author Gary Frenay), and visited my friend Jay at Stony Brook (where a jaunt to Smithtown Mall included snagging Poppees and Siouxsie and the Banshees 45s at Sam Goody). I hadn't heard either the Poppees or Siouxsie singles prior to purchase, but I dug 'em both.
By 1980, the Poppees had evolved into Sorrows, who were less overtly Beatley, with a goal of competing with the Knack or the Romantics rather than with, I dunno, the Rutles. Sorrows signed to the CBS-associated label Pavillion. The group's debut LP Teenage Heartbreak featured a killer title tune, and if the record didn't set any new sales landmarks, it served notice that Sorrows could be prime power pop contenders.
So: second album! Great! The suits at Pavillion call in legendary producer Shel Talmy, veteran overseer of certified '60s classics by the Who, the Kinks, the Easybeats, and the Creation, and that shoulda been a match made at the Marquee or Radio Caroline.Didn't quite work out that way.
The resulting album, 1981's Love Too Late, was not at all the record Sorrows wanted to make. Label interference, significant creative differences, the copious use of session players (against the actual band's will)...let's let it go at that. Success did not follow. Whether a consequence of evil intent or inept execution, nothing screws up the best interests of music and artists with greater overall mishegas than a lousy record label.
In 2021, Sorrows have aligned with a good record label--a great record label--in Big Stir. You remember Big Stir, discussed up top in the section about the new Flashcubes/Mimi Betinis single. Under Big Stir's aegis, Sorrows have gone back to the original blueprint and remade Love Too Late as it should have been: as an actual Sorrows album. I'm generally not a fan of a band remaking its old material, but Love Too Late--The Real Album is a stellar exception to that. We played its first single "Christabelle" on this week's show, and we'll get to one of the album tracks on Sunday. The history of the record industry is littered with examples of injustice. Every once in a while, there's an example of justice served. It's never too late for love.
STEVE STOECKEL: Birds
If we weren't so intent on remaining stubbornly averse to the concept of humility, we'd admit the fact that it's such a rush that TIRnRR grants us this ongoing opportunity to connect with musicians we've admired for so many years...decades, even. Jeez, through the cockeyed portal of this little mutant radio show, we've been able to communicate back 'n' forth with members of Sorrows, Pezband, the Rubinoos, the Records, the Beat, the Pandoras, the Cowsills, the Smithereens, Nikki and the Corvettes, Wednesday Week, Blue Ash, the Catholic Girls, 20/20, and many, many others. It grants us an illusion of relevance we may not really deserve, but I dunno...they make the records, we play the records, and we're delighted to be involved in that process in whatever way we can.Count the Spongetones among those artists we've been so dead chuffed to connecticate with. The Spongetones are friends of TIRnRR, and while we've never met, we've broken virtual bread with the group's Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel a time or several. We're alway eager to hear about their new projects, and honored when they send us something new to play on the radio.
"Birds" is a new Big Stir single release from the above-mentioned Mr. Stoeckel, and it's a beguilingly unassuming little number that enchants the airwaves with its delicate flight. Fly, Steve Stoeckel, fly.
STEVIE WONDER: Higher Ground
Have you seen Summer Of Soul yet? I'm naturally prone to hyperbole--it's my super power--but this 2021 release may be the best live music documentary I've ever seen. Filmed over the course of six weeks at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, the footage was mostly unseen by the public (beyond a few YouTube videos), literally sitting in a basement for decades. Questlove has used some of that footage to craft an amazing and effective permanent record of what should have been a positive flashpoint in popular music and popular culture (and would have been if people had the chance to see it 50 years ago). The classic performances mingle with moving and emotional contemporary interviews with people who were there, artists and attendees, creating a riveting musical and cinematic experience.
And it's tough to pick out a favorite performer in the film. Maybe the 5th Dimension, whose live set so thoroughly transcends any preconceived notion of who or what that group was. Or Gladys Knight and the Pips, who personify Motown in all of its best aspects. Or Sly and the Family Stone, who are Sly and the Family Stone. The Staple Singers? David Ruffin? The Chambers Brothers? Too many good choices. Best thing to do is to just pick everyone.
And obviously that includes 19-year-old Stevie Wonder. The events of Summer Of Soul predate Wonder's full ascension to superstar status (and well predates my belated realization of Wonder's genius), but he was on the verge, and had already enjoyed significant success on both the R & B and pop charts. Wonder is on fire in Summer Of Soul, his set highlighted by an extended drum solo--Stevie Wonder on the drums!--that's far more fascinating to watch than you might expect of a drum solo.
Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" came later, a Top 10 hit in 1973, part of the incredible run that made Stevie Wonder into STEVIE WONDER!! Higher ground. The goal remains relevant. We're still in search of higher ground this summer, every summer, every season. It's out there somewhere. In this life or the next. Gonna keep on trying.
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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.
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Volume 3: download
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