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 # 1157. This show is available as a podcast.
THE T-BONES: No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)
I guess it's a measure of our own contented level of snark that I knew--knew!--this year's post-Thanksgiving TIRnRR needed to begin with "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)." The T-Bones hit in late 1965/early '66 with this cover of the background music from a then-recent Alka Seltzer TV commercial. I LOVE the '60s!
Here's the commercial:
And here's a video of the T-Bones miming a performance as action ensues before them:
Say! Some of the shapes in that video look pretty good!
MEN WITHOUT HATS: The Safety Dance [extended dance version]
In the early to mid '80s, there was a great Buffalo area radio station called WUWU-FM.WOO WOO! Wethersfield, East Aurora! The Rock Of Western New York! In my head, I still hear all of that in the unique radio voice of DJ Justin Case. I started listening to WUWU when I was still living in Brockport in 1982, and continued when I moved to the Queen City later that year. It was a wonderfully eclectic station, and I cherish memories of hearing everything from Heaven 17 to Haysi Fantayzee to Dire Straits to the Glenn Miller Orchestra on this weird signal outta Wethersfield. As the station (inevitably) collapsed, I shifted my allegiance to Buff State's WBNY-FM, which was even better. But WUWU was huge for me. (And it was all part of my challenged life in Buffalo in the '80s, chronicled in my memoir The Road To GOLDMINE.)
It was on WUWU that I first heard Men Without Hats' eventual smash "The Safety Dance." It wasn't the (now-) familiar hit version, but a very different and longer take. I was puzzled when the version we all know achieved its uber ubiquity, because it sounded so different from "The Safety Dance" I'd heard on WUWU.
I do love the hit. I still prefer it the way I heard it first.
ROTARY CONNECTION: Love Me Now
Did Rotary Connection have any big hits? Why the hell not...?!
PAT BUCHANAN: Tighter, Tighter
From the fabulous various-artists set We All Shine On: Celebrating The Music Of 1970, Pat Buchanan's confident take on Alive And Kicking's "Tighter, Tighter" prompted me to recall when I heard the song's coauthor and coproducer Tommy James perform it at a club show decades ago. That, in turn, got me thinking about my memories of seeing Tommy James, and compelled me to write about the experience in Tuesday's post Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery: Tommy James. Given the ongoing demand of creating content for a daily blog, I'm very grateful for the inspiration. Thanks, Pat Buchanan! And thank you, We All Shine On!
SPARKLE*JETS U.K.: You And Your Sister
"You And Your Sister" was written and originally recorded by Chris Bell. It was the B-side of Bell's post-Big Star single "I Am The Cosmos," released in 1978. Bell was killed in a car accident later that year.
I knew all of that, of course, but that knowledge didn't stop me from referring to "You And Your Sister" as a Big Star song when we played sparkle*jets u.k.'s tasty cover version on this week's show. Oops? I did realize the error before the show aired, but too late to fix it. Our listeners are a sharp bunch, so it was no surprise when intrepid TIRnRR fan Mike Browning dashed my faint hope that no one would notice the mistake.
(Bell's former Big Star partner Alex Chilton sang backup on Bell's single, so it does at least sound like it coulda been Big Star. And sparkle*jets u.k.'s cover was itself a B-side, the flip of their version of an actual Big Star song ["The Ballad Of El Goodo"]. AND it was released by Big Stir Records, which is, y'know, close to being "Big Star Records." I was still wrong, mind you, but it was all in service of pop music. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)
ANCHOR AND BEAR: Cool Water
Hey, a new release from our pals at Futureman Records! Anchor and Bear features the combined forces of Katy Pearson and Brian Bringelson, and their new album No More Nights On The Roof is dreamy and inviting. Someone oughtta put their ace track "Cool Water" on the radio. Hey! WE can do that! And we'll do that again on next week's show.
THE FLYING LIZARDS: Money
I hate admitting when Dana's right and I'm wrong. Actually, I hate admitting I'm wrong in any circumstance. You'd think I'd get better at that with all this practice.
Dana selected the Flying Lizards' quirky cover of Barrett Strong's "Money" for this week's shindig. I love Strong's original, and I regard the Beatles' version as one of their very best covers (which is saying something, given the Fabs' impeccable prowess as rockin' pop interpreters).
I never liked the Flying Lizards' deconstruction of the tune. Same reason I didn't like Devo's take on the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," and why I so quickly tired of Sid Vicious' pointless warbling of "My Way." I'm a rockin' pop guy. I dig rockin' pop songs that sound like rockin' pop songs. Take your razzafrazzin' quirk elsewhere.
BUT: Dana was right, and I was wrong. Hearing the the Flying Lizards track again while assembling the show, it kinda clicked with me, for the first time ever. I may even put it on my iPod. What the hell. I guess quirk can find an occasional home here.
Yeah, Dana was right. I was wron...not as right as I prefer to be.
HOOVER AND MARTINEZ: What The Heart Wants
Our recent compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 is still scoring a little bit of airplay from your more discerning internet radio outlets. We remain delighted with the album, and very, very proud of it. The first four volumes (released from 2005 through 2017) were all spectacular; I believe Volume 5 is the best of this stellar lot.
We're gonna keep on playing it. Hoover and Martinez's sublime "What The Heart Wants" was the first of three TIRnRR Vol. 5 tracks this week, later joined by Amy Rigby's "Tom Petty Karaoke" and Justine and the Unclean's "Vengeance." Great tracks. Great album. We are honored to have been able to put this all together. You can read all about it here.
THE MUFFS: Saying Goodbye
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE RAMONES: I Wanna Be Sedated
I am absolutely dying to talk more about the Ramones. The American Beatles! The greatest American rock 'n' roll group of all time! Following last week's observance of the 45th anniversary of when "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" became the record that changed my life, it occurs to me that we're coming up on the 44th anniversary of when I first heard the Road To Ruin album, played in its entirety on Rochester radio station WCMF-FM (a story mentioned, oddly enough, in this reminiscence of the Ramones' preceding album Rocket To Russia). That's a good enough excuse to program Road To Ruin's best-known track, "I Wanna Be Sedated."
Yeah, like I need an excuse to play the Ramones. The American Beatles. Got a lot to say. Stay tuned.
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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
