10 SONGS: 2/21/2025

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 # 1273

JOE GIDDINGS: Tonite Tonite

A few weeks back we played "Adrenalin," an advance track from Star Collector superstar Joe Giddings' then-forthcoming new album Stories With Guitars. Great as that was, I was further blown away when I heard "Tonite Tonite," another track from the same album, kick off a recent edition of The Spoon podcast. Hey HEY! I've since heard the whole album, and I say it's a strong early candidate for one of 2025's best. See, ya learn stuff listening to The Spoon. And we'll put that edumacation to higher-falutin' use with another spin of "Tonite Tonite" on our next show. 

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

This as-yet-unreleased ace new number from Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes is my favorite track of 2025 so far, and I betcha it will still be at least in the running for that designation ten months from now. "Reminisce" will probably be the opening track on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, which is set for September release from the visionary angels at Big Stir Records. On the album, "Reminisce" will be joined by two more new Flashcubes tracks and 21 Flashcubes covers as rendered by an all-star array of various TIRnRR Fave Rave artists. The SpongeTones! sparkle*jets u.k.! The Kennedys! Pop Co-Op! Chris von Sneidern! And...er, the identities of other participants are still [REDACTED] at this time.

But not for very much longer. 

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Saturday Night

I will proclaim the power pop bona fides of the Bay City Rollers from here to S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! NIGHT! Longer, even. I don't love everything that Scotland's phenomenal pop combo put on wax, but the stuff I do love I love without reservation. You can read more about my own Rollermania here, here, here, here, and here, plus "Rock And Roll Love Letter" earned its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

The Midnight Callers are one of the most consistently dynamic rockin' pop combos on the scene today. Their new single covering the Rollers' first US hit "Saturday Night" is a match made in Tartansville, baby, capturing the spirit of Les, Woody, Derek, Eric, and Alan's original version in a new arrangement that is both inventive and respectful. Let's ALL keep on dancing on a Saturday night. Sunday nights, too!

(And I'm contractually forbidden to talk about this Bay City Rollers track without referencing its influence on the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, the Ramones: Blitzkrieg Saturday Night Bop. Let's hear it for a good ol' rock 'n' roll road show.)

SORROWS: Never Mind

Can't get enough of this one. Let's face it, I'm a man of constant Sorrows, and that makes me happy.

I was a relative latecomer to the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of Sorrows. I bought their preceding dba the Poppees' "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" 45 in 1979, but I didn't get to anything bearing the Sorrows brand name until many years after the fact. Rest assured, when I got there, I got there, and I regard the title tune from Sorrows' 1980 album Teenage Heartbreak as an all-time power pop classic.

"Never Mind" is the leadoff track on Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, a lost album recorded in 1981 and released for the first time right razzafrazzin' now. And take it from this man of constant Sorrows: "Never Mind" is very nearly the equal of "Teenage Heartbreak." Never mind the heartbreak; we're old enough to embrace the sweetness.

(Sorrows will also have at least one NEW track--a cover--out in September. I would tell you more about it, but it's [REDACTED]. So for now: Never mind.)

THE PENROSE WEB: I Dreamt I Woke Up Dead

The music of the Penrose Web comes to us courtesy of a tip from every rock 'n' roller's best bud Bill Kelly, host of the irresistible Bill Kelly's Blackhole Bandstand on SiriusXM's Underground Garage channel. When Bill Kelly talks, people listen, especially if the people happen to be discerning and enthusiastic fans of pop with power. So WE listen--we're fans!--and the buzz of the group's recent EP It's...The Penrose Web is perfectly perfect for the mutant perfection our little radio shindig has in its imperfectly pointed little head. Great stuff--thanks, Bill!

Even beyond our chosen Penrose Web track's inherent zip 'n' zing, I confess I was instantly drawn to "I Dreamt I Woke Up Dead" on the basis of its title, which reminded me of a (fictional) song by the Incredible Hulk's former teen sidekick Rick Jones. After the Hulk went solo--as emerald behemoths will eventually do--Jones became a teen sidekick to Captain America, and later a post-teen sidekick to Marvel Comics' space-born superhero Captain Marvel. Our Rick was also a pop-star folk singer at this time, and in Captain Marvel # 20 (July 1970) we witnessed Mr. Jones on stage at a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village, singing a presumably peppy li'l tune that warned, "One of these mornings you may wake up dead."

 I'm convinced. Penrose Web, ASSEMBLE!

THE SHANG HI LOS: Monsieur Valentine

Granted, a February 16th broadcast was a little bit late to program a Valentine's Day track. In our defense, let me remind you that we're, y'know...guys.

That said, the Shang Hi Los' "Monsieur Valentine" offers a pumpin' pop gem, its candy-hearted devotion to '60s girl groups stapled with care upon its sleeve, revved up like a breedin'-on-Bowery bop between Debbie Harry and Johnny Thunders. Except in New England. Close enough! From the Shang Hi Los' 2023 album Aces Eights & Heartbreaks, and it's an enduring Valentine for all seasons.

Yeah, even guys can see that.

YOKO ONO: Kiss Kiss Kiss

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RUBINOOS: Wouldn't It Be Nice

If I do another Greatest Record Ever Made! book--and I almost certainly will--I have a choice of two songs by the Rubinoos for which I've already written complete chapters. The obvious pick is the Rubinoos' signature tune "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," the one track most Rubes enthusiasts would agree should have been the group's massive, monster, big-big-BIG hit record. You can read an early draft of that chapter here.

But if it's gotta be just one Rubinoos song getting a GREM! spotlight in the next book--using both feels redundant--I'm currently favoring my chapter about "Wouldn't It Be Nice." That was my first favorite Rubinoos track, and what I wrote about it seems to fulfill the book's needs better than the "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" chapter would. 

Ain't no losers in this. 

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio is a pop radio show. There's a new Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols track called "Pop Radio?" We're playin' it. And we're playing it again on Sunday. It's what a good pop radio show does.

sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happen

We're working on it. These things don't just happen overnight.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

10 SONGS: 12/14/2024

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 # 1263.

20/20: Spark

Any serious list of power pop's all-time definitive groups will include 20/20. Their 1979 track "Yellow Pills" is a recognized classic, and it inspired writer Jordan Oakes to start a cool power pop publication (and an essential subsequent series of various-artists pop anthologies) named after the song. In my exhausting...er, exhaustive history of power pop, I wrote of 20/20:

"20/20 was formed by guitarist Steve Allen and bassist Ron Flynt, both Tulsa natives who subsequently moved to L.A. They befriended fellow Tulsa expatriate Phil Seymour, and played on the demos that helped Seymour get his own record deal. Bomp! magazine’s Gary Sperrazza! recommended drummer Mike Gallo to the group, completing 20/20's initial configuration.

"The first 20/20 release was the Bomp! single 'Giving It All,' which was actually a Steve Allen solo track that predated the group. Guitarist Chris Silagyi joined 20/20 in time for the group’s eponymous debut album, released by Portrait in 1979.

"Though perhaps a bit too dominated by new wave synthesizer styles in spots, the 20/20 album was still a triumphant melange of catchy music with an occasional dark edge. The single 'Cheri' was pretty good, but 'Yellow Pills' and 'Remember The Lightning' were the real standouts. The album got no higher than # 138 on the Billboard chart, but it remains a pop classic.

"Mike Gallo had left the group by the time of 1981’s Look Out!, replaced on drums by Joel Turrisi. Look Out! was not quite the equal of the debut, but it came very close (and charted slightly higher at # 127). The leadoff track, 'Nuclear Boy,' offered a signal that the band was delving further into the dark side hinted at on the first album, while 'The Night I Heard A Scream' deftly mixed its downbeat tale with a gorgeous, buoyant melody.

"20/20 was dropped by Portrait after Look Out!, and released a final record, Sex Trap, on the Mainway label in 1982. Although the group itself faded away, its legacy didn’t...."

And now, 20/20's legacy includes a forthcoming new album, Back To California, brought to you by the combined rockin' pop forces of Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records. The legacy stands, and I'm kinda tickled that its release date coincides with my latest in a long line of birthdays on January 17th.

We've already played the title track from Back To California a couple of times as an advance single, and we'll have much further airplay from this album as 2025 barges its way into being. This week, we couldn't resist opening the show with a new 20/20 track that shares its name with our own beloved radio station. Here on Spark Syracuse, we are delighted to present new music from 20/20. Legacies begin with a spark. Sometimes, legacies can continue with a spark as well.

SPARKS: The Decline And Fall Of Me

Also couldn't resist following a song called "Spark" with a track by Sparks. Humor ain't exactly rocket surgery, man. 

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: The Eraser

YouTube sensation Matthew Street recently granted a big ol' video thumbs-up to my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), so I figured we'd say Thanks, Matt! by spinning a little spin of one of Matt's favorite groups on the whole friggin' planet, the Midnight Callers. Matt, in turn, was so pleased with the reciprocal shout-out that he posted another video extolling the virtues of TIRnRR. Mutual admiration society here!

Our Matt requested another Midnight Callers gem for our next show. We'd already planned to repeat play of their single "The Eraser," but what the hell--TWO Midnight Callers tracks on the radio in Syracuse this coming Sunday night. It's the least we can do for a YouTube sensation.

THE CYNZ: Room Without A View

We've been playing the Cynz a lot this year, and I am dead certain they will have at least one track in our year-end countdown of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2024. We like the Cynz.

But somehow we never got around to playing this fantastic track from the group's current album Little Miss Lost until now. The precipitating event moving this onto our playlist was hearing Rich Firestone program it on Radio Deer Camp, right here on SPARK! I didn't even recognize that it was a song originally done by the Smithereens, 'Reens guitarist Jim Babjak's involvement in the remake notwithstanding. My brain no am function goodly. Thanks to Reechie for inspiring its play here, thanks to Dave Murray for pointing out That's a superb cover of A SMITHEREENS SONG, YOU DOLT!, and thanks to the Cynz and the Smithereens for being the Cynz and the Smithereens.

THE HUMBUGS: She's Not Sad

THE HUMBUGS: Be Careful What You Wish For

Two in a row by the Humbugs. The Humbugs THEN...and the Humbugs NOW!! "She's Not Sad" is an all-time TIRnRR classic, one of the defining tracks of this little mutant radio show's long and storied history, a gem introduced to eager listeners via the group's 2006 album Twist The Truth. LEGACY! 

Ah, but now the Humbugs have a new album, AM Operetta, and we've been playing its lead-off track "Be Careful What You Wish For." This calls for a two-fer! Then, now, always. Don't be sad. Your wish is granted with care.

JOAN ARMATRADING: Eating The Bear

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

ELENA ROGERS: Mercy Mountain

Like the Cynz, Elena Rogers seems a lock for an appearance on TIRnRR's year-end countdown. Also like the Cynz, it seemed high time to play something else beyond what we've already been playing. From Elena's current album Prelude To Whatever, "Mercy Mountain" is as audacious and accomplished as anything in pop music, stunning in both its inventive intricacy and its delightful accessibility. Yeah, just like the rest of Elena Rogers' work. Yet another example of the best of 2024.

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

THE best track of 2024. My favorite anyway. Buy it here.

THE FLASHCUBES: It's You Tonight

At the top of this week's 10 Songs, we celebrated the ongoing and expanding legacy of power pop heroes 20/20. We are so fortunate to have so many of our rockin' pop idols still active, still vital, still doing. In July, I finally got to witness a performance by the Rubinoos--dream come true! Paul Collins' 2024 album Stand Back And Take A Good Look is one of this year's best, the SpongeTones are working on new recordings, and for all of my fellow long-time fans of pop with power, our gods are in their Heaven and all is right with the world.

Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes have always been at the toppermost of my poppermost, and they're still with us, too. Their 2023 all-covers album Pop Masters was my # 1 for that year, spinoff group the Half/Cubes (with 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay and 'Cubes drummer/producer Tommy Allen) have their own exquisite 2024 covers collection Pop Treasures, and the Flashcubes (Gary, Tommy, and guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin) have a few new tracks in the works. I've heard early mixes of two of those tracks, and I can't wait to share the finished versions on the radio in 2025.

I'm writing a book about the Flashcubes, Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. Similar in format to my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, my Flashcubes book will be an oral history of the group, as recalled by the 'Cubes themselves and a few others who were there to witness and/or participate. There is yet another 'Cubes-related project percolatin' in the background. We'll hear more about that when we arrive at the right time to make something happen.

In the mean time, this week's radio rendezvous looks back to the spark--that word again--of the Flashcubes' resurgence. The Flashcubes formed in 1977, but the original line-up splintered in 1979 and the remaining 'Cubes retired the brand name in 1980. They came back in the '90s, all four of the founding members, and they've been with us ever since.

The first latter-day original Flashcubes recording was "It's You Tonight," a Gary Frenay song that dates back to the old days, but given a completely fresh full studio version circa 1993. The new recording was done at the request of Jordan Oakes for his first Yellow Pills compilation.

See how these power pop legacies interconnect?

From small things, Mama. We look back, we look forward, and we look at the splendor of all that dances around us in the here and now. Great records don't care what year it is. There's always room for something new. And there's always time to revisit a memory. It happens to me every time we meet. Legacy is its own reward.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

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.

10 SONGS: 5/18/2024

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 # 1233.

DUANE EDDY: (Dance With The) Guitar Man

The late, great Duane Eddy was a giant of rock 'n' roll guitar. His signature number "Rebel Rouser" closes out this week's show, but I also wanted to spin a less-recognized Eddy treat within our opening set. 

Duane Eddy built most of his legacy with twangy instrumentals. 1962's "(Dance With The) Guitar Man" sported sassy girl-group vocals by the Rebelettes, who were in reality sassy girl group the Blossoms. I knew the song from its use in a TV commercial for Rochester, NY's great, great House Of Guitars, but fantastic records don't care how you get to them. All that matters is the getting. Come on and dance.

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Jumpin' Jack Flash

Last week's show offered our first taste of the forthcoming tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards, debuting with king of power pop Paul Collins taking on the Rolling Stones' "Tell Me." This week, we have the Midnight Callers rising to the challenge of covering "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Remaking such an established classic rock tune can be a daunting task indeed, but our Midnight Callers cede not an inch while lookin' Mick and Keith straight in the eyes in pursuit of a gas-gas-gas-gas. It IS all right now! In fact...

...you know.

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH: Triple Play: Saturday/Best Day/Rock Beside Me/Heartsick/Days & Days/Wheels Of Love/Every Time

Our radio program's built-in short attention span means this week is probably the only time we'll ever play this particular gem, but its single spin was totally, totally worth it.

"Triple Play" is a just-under-ten-minute song suite from The Future Store, the tres nifty new album by TIRnRR superstars Vegas With Randolph. Our playlists thrive on shorter song selections...but my gosh, "Triple Play" is just so, so cool. It's my immediate initial favorite on The Future Store; the very first time I heard it, I knew we had to--had to--make room for it on the next available playlist.

And we did! Such a swell-sounding track, our short attention span be damned. We'll hear another example of The Future Store's splendor on our next show.

HUNGRYTOWN: Tuesday Sun

The third teaser single from Hungrytown's forthcoming new album Circus For Sale builds upon the already-compelling stream of lush Americana heard in preceding sneak-peek tracks "Feel Like Falling" and especially "Another Year." If "lush Americana" seems like an oxymoron, imagine, say, Nanci Griffith produced by Brian Wilson, or Emmylou Harris fronting the Wondermints in a reflective mood. Or a more grounded Renaissance. 

None of these fantasy scenarios is truly descriptive of the Hungrytown sound, but I hope they kinda conjure a mental image of pretty pop music with blue-highway roots: Indie folk that's not afraid of a little bit of sheen. The sheen enhances its truth.

Circus For Sale is out June 21st. We'll hear more as its release date draws near. Satisfaction awaits you in Hungrytown.

SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET: Exit From Vince Lombardi High

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

This two-fer serves as a de facto salute to the late B-movie king Roger Corman, whose many film credits include 1979's Rock 'n' Roll High School. The fact that the show was recorded before we heard of Corman's passing makes the tribute a coincidence, but no less sincere.

And we never need an excuse to celebrate Rock 'n' Roll High School. Given the fact that I routinely refer to the Ramones as the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, it falls waaaaaay short of revelatory for me to say, yeah, the Ramones' movie Rock 'n' Roll High School is one of my fave rave jukebox flicks. Duh. Most of the film was set at the fictional Vince Lombardi High School, so Dana's spin of "Exit From Vince Lombardi High" by Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet led inevitably into Riff Randall, Rock 'n' Roller, as played by actress P. J. Soles. 

SHONEN KNIFE: The KKK Took My Baby Away

THE RAMONES: I Don't Care

Demonstrating the mutant synergy of TIRnRR, Dana followed Riff Randall's "Rock 'n' Roll High School" with Osaka, Japan's phenomenal pop combo Shonen Knife covering the Ramones. Hey-HO! Shonen Knife's 2011 album Osaka Ramones is one of the best Ramones covers album, maybe THE best (though I do also have a great deal of affection for the easy-listening audacity of the Nutley Brass' Ramones Songbook). Osaka Ramones has been a reliable resource for many recent TIRnRR playlists. As it should be.

And I hadda segue that into the Ramones themselves. "I Don't Care." It's FUNNY! The KKK took my baby away? I don't care, man. I don't care. But we shouldn't take the title literally, at least not in this context. TIRnRR couldn't do whatever the hell it is TIRnRR does if we didn't care.

(And Dana concluded the above set with the Donnas covering Alice Cooper's "School's Out." I love this show.)

THE KINKS: Juke Box Music

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Make Something Happen

Two initial interviews done, a third initial interview scheduled next week. The book's publication is still a year away, but work on Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES has officially begun.

No promise, no guara..no, scratch that. You got my promise. That's what making something happen! is all about.

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 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is 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: 8/18/2023

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 # 1194. This show is available as a podcast.

THE FLASHCUBES: Do Anything You Wanna Do

I've been itching to do another all-covers TIRnRR for a while. They're fun to put together, they present a deep range of programming choices (as evidenced here), and the result is always cooler'n cool. 

The August 11th release date for both the Flashcubes' incomparable new covers album Pop Masters and the new various-artists Kinks tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies presented a no-time-like-NOW! opportunity for an all-covers rockin' pop radio show. 

Pop Masters is magnificent, an utterly ace new album from my long-time Cubic Fave Raves. The album's current single is a cover of the Motors' "Forget About You," and that was a carved-in-stone prerequisite for this week's all-covers playlist. We would not forget about that.

Still, I wanted to open the show with one of the Flashcubes' older covers: "Do Anything You Wanna Do." The 'Cubes did the song for their 2003 album Brilliant, and theirs is the definitive version. Yeah, even though Eddie and the Hot Rods' superswell original rendition earns a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The Flashcubes' cover is even greater.

(What? Ya can't qualify an absolute? Nothing can be greater than greatest? Sorry: Objection overruled. It's what I wanna do.)

HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch

God, this is such an irresistible steamroll through a Johnny Kidd and the Pirates tune most Americans never knew about in the first place. Hell, most of us didn't know about Headgirl, the one-time-only 1981 team-up of piledrivin' British metal groups Motörhead and Girlschool. I did hear (and dig) the Pirates' original many years ago, but I encountered the Headgirl headbang for the first time in 2021. For several days after that initial exposure, it was the ONLY track I played, over and over. I could stand to hear it again right about now. It's such an incredible, storm-the-barricades assault, yet still as pop as anything. It's as great as, like, the Ramones, and c'mon--there ain't anything as great as the Ramones! Impossible but true. I wish I knew this record decades ago.

BEN VAUGHN: My Reservation Has Been Confirmed

Ben Vaughn is a colleague, at least technically. We've never met, though I did interview him (via telephone) for Goldmine magazine in the '90s. More to the point is the fact that his weekly radio show The Many Moods Of Ben Vaughn is carried in Syracuse by our own SPARK! WSPJ. Yes! The same mutant radio outfit that brings you This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio With Dana & Carl also serves up your recommended weekly allotment of Ben Vaughn's wireless audio mood menu. So: colleagues! Sort of.

Anyway, like the new 'Cubes album and Jem's Ray Davies tribute, the release of Ben's new covers EP Interpretations coincided with the planning for TIRnRR's covers show. Can't exclude a colleague! We opted to spin Ben's interpretation of Herman's Hermits' "My Reservation Has Been Confirmed;" independently, SPARK!'s own Rich Firestone also opted to program the track in Sunday's edition of Rich's show Radio Deer Camp. All good. We have no reservations about the appeal of a heapin' helping of Vaughn-accomplished Hermitage. Here's to our colleagues!

THE SUPREMES WITH THE FOUR TOPS: Love The One You're With

Continuing my current obsession with '70s works by the Supremes, our covers show turns to an agreeable take on Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With." This li'l gem comes from the 1973's Dynamite, which was the third (and last) album by the combined forces of the Supremes and the Four Tops. Magnificent, and I very much prefer this to Stills' original. 

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Come Dancing

From Jem Records Celebrate Ray Davies, the Midnight Callers take on one of the Kinks' two all-time biggest U.S. hits. The original Kinks version's # 6 berth on the Hot 100 matched the pop sales position of 1965's "Tired Of Waiting For You," but I think "Come Dancing" enjoyed slightly more chart dominance than its '65 predecessor. I've never disliked "Come Dancing," but it's certainly not my favorite Kinks song. Most casual fans would be amazed to learn that it outperformed "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," and "Lola"--the Kinks' only other U.S. Top 10 hits--but I guess that's what the Electoral College picked, or something.

The Midnight Callers do an excellent job of boppin' this one up. It's not a radical remake, but it does up the oomph factor enough for us to dig it anew. Don't be afraid--come dancing! It's only natural. And yet another track from Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies will make its TIRnRR debut on our next show.

TIRnRR ALLSTARS: Waterloo Sunset

Well. We certainly couldn't attempt an all-covers TIRnRR without playing this, could we? Once again, we thank our friends for their support. Ray Davies was wrong. We do need our friends. And with them, we are in paradise.

AL HIRT: Green Hornet Theme

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Listen, The Snow Is Falling

Librarians With Hickeys cover Yoko Ono. Because what's an all-covers playlist without an earnest attempt at Yokomania?

THE RUBINOOS: I Think We're Alone Now

The Rubinoos' splendid cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells classic "I Think We're Alone Now" just missed the Top 40 in 1977, standing alone at a peak position of # 45. It is somehow the only one of the Rubinoos' many, many superlative records to ever breach the Billboard Hot 100. The fact that the Rubinoos didn't have the long string of monumental chart hits their work merits is nothing short of a crime against music. At the very least, the Rubinoos' original song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" shoulda been huge. Huge.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Album of the year. Maybe single of the year, too. You should maybe oughta buy it.

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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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl