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 # 1139.
JAMIE HOOVER [with MICHAEL RUIZ and ELENA ROGERS]: Kim Kardashian
I am not putting a picture of K** K********* on my blog. No way. No how.
But we will play this new song about she-who-will-not-be-named (or at least she who's not named beyond noting this track's title). I mean, ya can't go wrong playing Jamie Hoover, Jamie can't go wrong enlisting assistance from Michael Ruiz and Elena Rogers, and we all do right by supporting Pop Aid, the 3-CD Ukraine benefit compilation where you'll find this track. I betcha even K** K********* herself would approve. Hell, I don't know her; maybe she's swell at heart, and has been judged unfairly by pop culture at large. It's possible that K** really isn't as bad as her empty, famous-for-being-famous image implies.
Still not putting a picture of her on my blog, though.
HONEY CONE: One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Part 1)
From a previous 10 Songs entry about Honey Cone's biggest hit "Want Ads:"
"Bubblesoul. Honey Cone's 1971 # 1 smash 'Want Ads' is one of the definitive examples of that late '60s/early '70s hybrid of pure, bouncy AM radio sugar performed by black artists. Think early Jackson Five and Freda Payne's 'Band Of Gold,' or the shoulda-been-hit-singles by Josie and the Pussycats (with the incredible Patrice Holloway on lead vocals) as reference points. 'Bubblesoul.' Nothing else describes it better, except maybe YEAH!"
The visceral appeal of "Want Ads"--WANTED! YOUNG MAN, SINGLE AND FREE!--is undeniable; if Plato had returned in the 1970s to apply his concept of forms to my concept of bubblesoul, he'da proclaimed "Want Ads" as form-ready bubblesoul. That Plato--he was something.
For all that, though, I may still prefer Honey Cone's # 15 hit "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show," also from 1971. When Honey Cone's lead singer Edna Wright died in 2020, I wrote this about the latter song:
"I don't know if pundits consider bubblesoul to be a proper sub-genre. Unlike power pop, I do think bubblesoul is tied to a specific timeframe: late '60s/early '70s, AM radio music, performed (mostly) by black artists but with an unabashed ambition for crossover success...
"...Honey Cone's lead singer Edna Wright passed away recently. We played the group's biggest hit 'Want Ads' not long ago, and we chose to pay tribute to Wright this week with a spin of the lesser hit 'One Monkey Don't Stop No Show,' an effervescent number with both bubble and soul to spare."
The show must go on! And I still owe myself a deeper dive into the Honey Cone catalog.
HAYLEY MARY: Like A Woman Should
As I've mentioned here a time or several (hundred), many of my playlist selections are inspired by whatever random tracks my iPod shuffles through during my daily commutes. Music in the car, man; you can't beat music in the car. Hayley Mary's absolutely awesome 2020 single "Like A Woman Should" was first suggested to us by intrepid TIRnRR listener Dave Murray late last year, and I believe it made its way to our show just once, on 11/14/2021. Even though I adored the track on first spin, the combined distractions of time, choice, and short attention span prevented its return to the ol' playlist until now.
I know I drone on at length about my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I'd apologize for that...but I'm not gonna. One should not regret enthusiasm, and GREM! is built almost entirely from my own giddy enthusiasm for rockin' pop music. My enthusiasm for Hayley Mary's "Like A Woman Should" was sufficient to make me consider adding a chapter about the song in my book. That would have made it the most recent track discussed there; Eytan Mirsky's 2012 "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" and First Aid Kit's 2014 "America" are otherwise the newest things included.
Even though I elected not to include Hayley Mary in the GREM! book, by God, it certainly qualifies. An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Give Hayley Mary one of those infinite turns. Credit Dave Murray for bringing this wonderful record to our attention. And thank my iPod for getting it back on the TIRnRR playlist, where it also belongs. Thanks, iPod. Another job well done.
NICK FRATER: Stuck In My Ways
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO WITH DANA & CARL: On last week's pulse-poundin' episode, we debuted "The Love Songs Of Simon Love," the non-album virtual B-side from the new Nick Frater single "Dancing With A Gertrude." Our promise to follow that with more new Nick Frater music on this week's show may have led you to believe we were finally going to play "Dancing With A Gertrude." Reasonable expectation, right?
But NO! Plot twist! With Nick's new album Aerodrome Motel now available for preorder from our friends at Big Stir Records, we circled around dear Gertrude and went straight for an album track instead. We did this because...look, I have no idea why we do anything. We're just here to play records. "Stuck In My Ways" sounds like a single, too, so it was a natural fit for whatever the hell it is we do on TIRnRR.
With that said, we're not necessarily all that stuck in our ways. Worry not, Gertrude; you're on our dance card for next week. And we hear you cut a really mean rug. Stay tuned.
DOLENZ, JONES, BOYCE & HART: It Always Hurts The Most In The Morning
To fans of the Monkees, the folks at London's 7a Records label are the good guys, heroes rescuing lost, forgotten, out-of-print, and otherwise unavailable solo projects by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith. 7a was also the home to Dolenz's fabulous 2021 album Dolenz Sings Nesmith (and its 2022 EP sequel). MonkeeMen, AWAY!
And now, 7a has given us this new 2-CD set Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, preserving the entire officially-released works of the mid-'70s partnership of Micky and Davy with Monkees songwriters and producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, combining the guys who sang 'em and the guys who wrote 'em. The 7a package includes the group's eponymous 1976 album and the subsequent live document Concert In Japan. The latter serves up on-stage performances of various Monkees classics, Boyce and Hart's own hit "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," and a medley of Boyce and/or Hart songs that were hits for other artists.
The Concert In Japan disc also gives us live renditions of four songs from the DJB&H studio album. And honestly, the studio album is the main reason I bought this package. It's not that the album itself is the equal of the Monkees' best material--it is not--but it's an essential almost, the closest thing to a Monkees reunion album after the group's 1970 farewell Changes (which was just Micky and Davy by then) and until 1987's Micky-Davy-Peter effort Pool It! The 1996 all-four-Monkees album Justus included the Monkees' remake of the DJB&H track "You And I." Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart ain't exactly Headquarters or Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., but it has its moments, and I'm delighted that it's available again.
I have my original copies of both DJB&H LPs, but I'm generally more likely to play the studio stuff. Having it all on CD makes it easier to program into TIRnRR playlists. We've played the album's single "I Remember The Feeling" a time or three in the past, and we've played the "Steppin' Stone"-inspired LP cut "You Didn't Feel That Way Last Night (Don't You Remember)" more than a few times. This week, armed with my copy of 7a's new double-disc edition of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, we played "It Always Hurts The Most In The Morning." And what the hell, we'll get to one of the live tracks next week. We appreciate the efforts of our heroes. To the good guys at 7a: we Monkees fans thank you for your service.
THE VILLAS: Someone To Hold On To
Aw, this is such a nice little pop song. We've been playing Allentown, PA's phenomenal pop combo the Villas since their debut album Secrets in 2000, with a particular emphasis on its irresistible track "Pull You Back." Along the way, I became especially taken with "Someone To Hold On To," this as-yet-unreleased gem produced by the legendary Ed Stasium and featuring alternating lead vocals from Bill and Angie Villa. Goosebumps! When it was time to start slappin' together our own forthcoming Kool Kat Musik compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, the Villas' "Someone To Hold On To" was an automatic selection. Bringing this fine song to retail is our public service. Hold on to it.
THE FLASHCUBES: Christi Girl [live at the Firebarn, May 26 1979]
This week's playlist commentary detailed my history with the Flashcubes' first single "Christi Girl" in 1978, and pounded the console on behalf of this great new Big Stir single of "Christi Girl," recorded live at my favorite Syracuse nightclub in 1979. Today's "Christi Girl" entry in 10 Songs serves as another urgent reminder to buy the damned single awready. If you never had the honor of witnessing the Flashcubes perform, this single (and the Flashcubes On Fire album from which it's taken) offer you a next-best chance to compensate. And if you were there, this is a souvenir you should not resist.
OFF BROADWAY USA: Stay In Time
As the pop world mourns the loss of Off Broadway USA singer Cliff Johnson, I recall that I came to his group's wonderful body of work well after the fact. Off Broadway's debut album On was released in 1979, but I don't think I had even heard of them prior to the early '90s. If memory serves (as it occasionally does), I first heard of the group via a Goldmine reader named Anthony Gliozzo, who enjoyed my 1993 GM piece about the Flamin' Groovies and attendant interview with the Groovies' Cyril Jordan. Anthony got in touch with me, and we talked about pop music. His enthusiastic recommendation of Off Broadway provided my first conscious awareness of the group.
That same year, Off Broadway's "Stay In Time" was included on Shake It Up!, the second of two American power pop compilations in Rhino Records' superswell DIY series; its companion volume Come Out And Play provided the Flashcubes' first-ever appearance on CD. A spin of "Stay In Time" confirmed that Mr. Gliozzo was justified in his praise of Off Broadway USA, and I dutifully tracked down On and its 1980 follow-up Quick Turns.
Before forming Off Broadway, Cliff Johnson had been a member of the mighty Pezband, though he left that group before their 1977 debut album; Pezband bassist Mike Gorman joined Off Broadway in time for Quick Turns, and Pezband's frontman Mimi Betinis pitched in for 1997's Fallin' In, Off Broadway's third and final studio album.
Fallin' In is a very good album, and we'll hear one of its tracks on next week's show. But this week, as we remember the life and work of Cliff Johnson, we play Off Broadway's signature tune from '79, the hit that almost was, peaking at # 51 on the Hot 100. Shoulda been Top Ten. Stay in time, boy, don't get out of line, boy. Rest in peace, Cliff. Now and forever: it's On.
LITTLE RICHARD: The Girl Can't Help It
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE MONKEES: Birth Of An Accidental Hipster
This week's show was already programmed and prerecorded well before the news broke that director and producer Bob Rafelson had passed. Beyond Rafelson's accomplishment in the world of film, he really looms largest in TIRnRR's legend as the co-creator (with Bert Schneider) of The Monkees.
Some may consider The Monkees a footnote in Rafelson's long and celebrated career, a novelty worthy of passing note in charting his path to direct, write, and/or produce Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, and The Last Picture Show, among others. But the Monkees--the TV show, the band, the brand, all of it--impacted me to a degree that far exceeds my ability to measure it. Like my friend Rich Firestone says, the Monkees have been good to me. And the Monkees wouldn't have happened if the Raybert duo of Rafelson and Schneider didn't create them.
We play the Monkees pretty often on TIRnRR. They're one of our all-time most-played acts, and the stack of TIRnRR playlists that include at least one Monkees track is way, way taller than the stack of Monkees-free TIRnRR playlists.
I dig the unintended Oh, but of course...! that the Monkees track we played the night after Bob Rafelson died was "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster." Not that there was anything accidental (nor remotely--ugh--hipster) about Rafelson himself; he seemed to always know what he was doing, or if he didn't know, he could figure out what to do next. But I do believe the Monkees' prevailing relevance, decades after the fact, surpassed Bert and Bob's expectations. From the Monkees' triumphant 2016 album Good Times!, "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" had nothing whatsoever to do with Raybert. But it was nonetheless part of the end result of the maverick creative fire they sparked so many years ago. High on a roof top, singing a song, choirs of angels all sing along. Accidents will happen. Brilliance is deliberate. And here it comes, walkin' down the street. Godspeed, Raybert.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
