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 # 1246.
JAMIE HOOVER: War Of The Roses
Jamie Hoover's new single "War Of The Roses" presents a tale of uncivil war, the aftermath of a D-I-V-O-R-C-E that can not be called amicable. Hearts will be broken tonight, as will some joint bank accounts, and maybe some dishes while they're at it. C'mon, Roses! Can't we all just get along?
The story is told with the accomplished pop panache we expect from Jamie Hoover. Oooo, and the song was co-written by long-time TIRnRR pal Rich Rossi, with backing vocals from TIRnRR Fave Rave Elena Rogers. That's a This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio trifecta, and we'll say that on the air this coming Sunday night when "War Of The Roses" returns to the playlist. (And an open memo to the estranged Mr. and [ex-] Ms. Rose: Curb your lawyers. Lay down your arms. War is over. If you want it.)
CIRCE LINK AND CHRISTIAN NESMITH: The Magician
The dynamic duo of Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are so, so adept at the art of popcraft. Everything they do sounds sublime, and their powers and abilities cross genres with authority. Pop music? Classic rock? Folk? Circe and Christian can do it all, and all of it will sound amazing.
That statement applies equally to their ventures into the realm of progressive rock. I'm not a prog guy by any stretch, but man, I love what Circe Link and Christian Nesmith are able to execute while cavortin' in that vast and inventive playground. In the past, they've demonstrated their prog love and chops with well-chosen covers, and with their original prog album Cosmologica in 2021. Their new album Arcana continues and expands that vision.
Prog as pop. The music of Yes was certainly a part of my Top 40 AM radio world in the early '70s, and a chapter discussing my love-hate relationship with Pink Floyd appears in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Even with my short attention span and my enthusiastic embrace of punk, I still recall and recognize prog's appeal, especially when a progressive rock track employs hooks and palpable melody, the irresistible qualities that make the very best rockin' pop music.
Arcana has those qualities in quantity. The songs sound like they could have comprised a hypothetical second LP of Fragile, but with Circe Link replacing Jon Anderson at the microphone. The result is endlessly captivating, almost as if Yes had formed a supersupergroup with Annie Haslam and Renaissance. And this week, we break format just a little bit to program the exquisite eleven-plus-minute Arcana track "The Magician."
Magic.
Even this unrepentant punk can't resist that.
sparkle*jets u.k.: Little Circles
This week's episode of the Material Issues podcast found hosts Mark Hershberger and David Bash welcoming Michael Simmons, Susan West, and Jamie Knight from the mighty sparkle*jets u.k. As always with Material Issues, a splendid time was forcefully mandated for all. (That guarantee may not apply next week, when I'll be the guest on Material Issues, hawking the above-mentioned Greatest Record Ever Made! book. I'm hoping there will be at least a few fleeting moments of interest to you, the discerning rockin' pop fan.)
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sparkle*jets u.k.'s recent release Box Of Letters is most definitely one of this year's very best albums, and you hear all about it on this week's Material Issues. We've certainly been programming Box Of Letters with manic glee on our little mutant radio record party. The album's title tune is likely to score a berth on the year-end countdown show of our most-played tracks in 2024. With this week's spin of "Little Circles," we have now played seven of the twelve selections included on Box Of Letters. We'll add an eighth from Box Of Letters on Sunday.
After that: Four more to go! Plus, y'know, additional play for the title ditty. It's a hit!
We play the hits.
THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping
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The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE GLADIOLAS: Little Darlin'
While on O3L, we also talked briefly about the Gladiolas' forgotten original of "Little Darlin'," a song subsequently whitewashed to chart success by the neither R nor B likes of the Diamonds.
At the time we recorded the podcast, I didn't realize that "Little Darlin'" had been written by Maurice Williams, who was a member of the Gladiolas and who later achieved chart-topping success with Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs and the # 1 smash "Stay."
As we were working on this week's radio show, the news broke that Maurice Williams had passed. The playlist had already been set, but it was an easy feat to slip the classic "Stay" in at show's end, and not too late to alter our eighth set so it could open with the Gladiolas' "Little Darlin'." These are some of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.
Tribute must be paid.
THE RAMONES: She's The One
Writing in Bomp! magazine in '78 or '79, Greg Shaw referred to "She's The One"--a track from the Ramones' then-new album Road To Ruin--as the group's "best fast song ever."
And lemme tell ya: The Ramones did more than just a few fast songs.
In the Gladiolas section above, we invoke the importance of paying tribute. Well, every single TIRnRR playlist is part of an ongoing tribute to the Ramones--the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time--and that tribute is true even on those rare weeks when we don't play any Ramones songs. It's true even on the annual celebrations of Dana's Funky Soul Pit. And that's not just because our show is named after a line in a Ramones song; it's because we wouldn't be doing any of this if not for the Ramones. More than any act outside of the Beatles themselves, the Ramones are our template for what rock 'n' roll radio can be.
So we offer tribute. Easy as 1-2-3-4! Yeah yeah it's the one, it's the one, it's the one.
ELENA ROGERS: Alone (Again)
We opened the show with a track featuring Elena Rogers on backing vocals. And we opened the week's final set with Elena herself on lead, from her wonderful current album Prelude To Whatever.
Gotta pay tribute to the new stuff, too.
MAURICE WILLIAMS AND THE ZODIACS: Stay
Just a little bit longer. Tribute is proper. Godspeed, Maurice Williams.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books.
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.
