10 SONGS: 1/27/2024

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 # 1217. This show is available as a podcast.

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH: What If?

Anyone who knows me is aware that my devotion to the big beat of the rock and the roll is matched, guitar to cape, by my pervasive and prevailing interest in superhero comic books. And while I have no idea whether or not the members of Vegas With Randolph have ever even read an issue of The Brave And The Bold or Tales To Astonish, I did use an  enthusiastic comics comparison when hyping their 2017 super team-up with Lannie Flowers for our compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. That provides a coincidental bit of symmetry as we open this week's battle for truth, justice, and the Rickenbacker way with a new VWR track that shares its title with a Marvel Comics series:

What If?

That's the central question that sparks all fiction, the fantastic and the everyday alike. It's also the not-so-secret origin of many a relationship, and it serves as inspiration for many a fine pop song. Tell us about it, VWR:

What if, What if
I found you
and you wanted me
And I wanted you
And we were meant to be
What if I could lift the veil and see
Our destiny

Adventures await. It all starts with that question: What if?

"What If?" comes to us from Vegas With Randolph's forthcoming new album The Future Store. You should buy it. I did! And we will hear another of its tracks on our next show.

Will hear. There is no "if." There is just the amazing, the incredible, and the mighty. Excelsior!

THE JACK RUBIES: Heaven Shook Me

THE CYRKLE: Red Rubber Ball [21st century version]

This week's second set opens with two in a row from our friends at Big Stir Records. And while many think of Big Stir as a power pop (or at least power pop adjacent) label, this pairing illustrates that Big Stir is so much more than just one thing. 

The Jack Rubies are a British group that plied their surly craft in the '80s. Usually described as postpunk, the Jack Rubies are back with a new Big Stir album called Clocks Are Out Of Time, a brooding concoction that's as far removed from jangle as Mickey Spillane is from Mickey Mouse. Both great. Both great in different ways.

The Jack Rubies' "Heaven Shook Me" leads into the Cyrkle. Obviously. In the '60s, the Cyrkle annexed the charts with the sunshine pop of their big hits "Turn Down Day" and, of course, "Red Rubber Ball," the latter written by Paul Simon. The Cyrkle's present-day incarnation has signed with Big Stir, and in 2023 they released a single of the autobiographical "We Thought We Could Fly" coupled with a 21st-century remake of "Red Rubber Ball." We played "We Thought We Could Fly" upon its release, and the morning sun's "Red Rubber Ball [21st century version]" shines on this week's playlist. We hear the group is working on a new album for Big Stir. And we think's it's gonna be all right. Full Cyrkle.

BO DIDDLEY: Pills

It seems likely that a lot of folks in the TIRnRR demographic were introduced to Bo Diddley's classic 1961 song "Pills" via the cover version found on the New York Dolls' 1973 eponymous debut album.

Me? I never even knew the song existed before hearing former Dolls lead singer David Johansen warble it live at my first David Jo show in the summer of 1979. Even then, I thought the song was called "Rock 'n' Roll Nurse." I barely knew any Dolls or Johansen material before that show, just "Personality Crisis" and "Who Are The Mystery Girls," maybe "Babylon," and possibly David Jo's solo "Funky But Chic." After that night, I made a point of catching up as fast as I could.

I got to Bo Diddley's own "Pills" in 1990, with the acquisition of the two-CD Diddley compilation The Chess Box. A few years later, I got to see Diddley himself as part of an oldies package tour. I don't think he performed "Pills" in that live set at the New York State Fair, nor did Johansen sing it again in any of the shows of his I caught after my first one in '79. Guess he really didn't dig that jive the nurse was giving him.

We played Bo Diddley's "Pills" this week, and we played his late '60s bubblegum single "Bo Diddley 1969" last week. We'll serve up a third Bo Diddley classic on this coming Sunday night's program. Which one? Well, I tell ya: It ain't no town, and it ain't no city.

MARYKATE O'NEIL: I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Time Will Show The Wiser

On our radio show, Dana's been the one playing Fairport Convention, and I'm the one cheering every time he does. But I first heard Fairport Convention's cover of the Merry-Go-Round's delicate pop treasure "Time Will Show The Wiser" when my boss Lewis mentioned it. Lew loves Fairport Convention, and he saw them in concert some time in the way back when. As much I love the original, I now regard the Fairport Convention cover as definitive. Thanks for the tip, Lew! And thanks to Dana for programming it. Wise move.

HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch

Girls can rock. Girls and boys can even rock together.

In 1980, the members of British metal acts Motörhead and Girlschool merged briefly as Headgirl, with their respective frontpersons--bassist Lemmy Kilmister and guitarist Kelly Jackson--trading lead vocals on a single called "Please Don't Touch." At the time of its release,  I knew Motörhead a little bit, and I was peripherally aware of Girlschool, an all-female group that was part of the then-hyped British New Wave of Heavy Metal, or at least a tangent to it. I guess a tangent is more accurate; their gender prevented them from being considered fairly alongside the boys in Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.

I didn't hear Headgirl's fantastic bludgeoning of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Please Don't Touch" until 2021, but it made up for lost time by immediately becoming a part of my permanent Hot 100. It has a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and it's always ready to pop into the TIRnRR playlist at any time.

(The playlist is the only instance where I'm only going to spin the song once, and move on. Otherwise? It is not uncommon for repeat plays of "Please Don't Touch" to occupy the entirety of the iPod soundtrack for my evening commute. Don'tcha touch me baby 'cuz I'm shakin' so much.) 

THE FLASHCUBES: Gudbuy T' Jane

A few paragraphs north of here, we talked about how Big Stir Records is so much more than just a power pop label. But now, let's speak of one of the label's power pop superstars, the Flashcubes. But first: These words about rock 'n' roll radio.

My love of rock 'n' roll radio was forged by my absolute fascination with AM Top 40, beginning when I was a kid in the '60s, manifesting in earnest when I was in middle school and high school in the '70s. My migration to FM by the time I graduated from high school in 1977 didn't change the fact of the matter: Radio was everything. 

In those days, Top 40 stations in one city weren't necessarily playing all of the same potential hit records as Top 40 stations in other cities. Regional hits. Years later, I was surprised to learn that, say, "Tonight" by the Raspberries and "Blockbuster" by Sweet weren't radio smashes all across the USA. But here in Syracuse, they were. And so was "Gudbuy T' Jane" by UK stompers Slade.

My God, I loved this record. Still do. Slade were huge in their native land, but the colonies didn't catch on until the '80s, first via the numbskull proxy of covers by Quiet Riot and then by the much-belated appearance of Slade themselves on the American pop radar (and on MTV) with "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway."

The members of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes knew (and know) better. I'm sure they heard "Gudbuy T'Jane" on Syracuse's WOLF-AM circa '72, and I know at the very least that 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong is a Slade fan of long standing. So "Gudbuy T' Jane" was a natural choice for the Flashcubes to remake on their superlative 2023 all-covers album Pop Masters. Latter-day New York Dolls guitarist Steve Conte brings additional oomph here, and the Flashcubes provide plenty of oomph of their own. It's what they do!

"Gudbuy T' Jane." Made for the airwaves, then and now. Get with it, America. Jane is all right, all right, all right, all right.

THE WEEKLINGS: Falling Down A Flight Of Stairs

When the Weeklings release new music, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio has a tendency to wanna play it. We have to fill three hours of radio each week, and we very much prefer to fill that spot with irresistible music. Hey! The Weeklings create irresistible music! Let's play THAT!

We debuted "None Of Your Business," an advance track from the Weeklings' new album Raspberry Park,  on last week's show. Dana's been champin' at the bit to play a different track from Raspberry Park, the beguiling "Falling Down A Flight Of Stairs," but we hadda wait until the album's actual release to follow through.

Now: The album's out! And "Falling Down The Stairs" is on the air in Syracuse. Fall in. It's the Weeklings! On the radio, where they belong.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Slow Twistin'

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame is a nice place to visit. But in terms of its relevance to the story (and history) of rock 'n' roll, people keep telling me it's unmimportant, that I should ignore it, that its continuous chuckleheaded snubs of worthy acts are best shrugged off with extreme disdain. These folks are right.

And they're also wrong.

Yes, the Hall is irrelevant, bloated, a joke, a blight, and it probably has bad breath. None of that contradicts my conviction that, in all caps and in bold, ROCK 'N' ROLL SHOULD HONOR ITS OWN. That glorified Hard Rock Cafe on the banks of Lake Erie, flawed though it is, remains the best, highest-profile means to do that. They keep messing it up. I'm gonna keep on calling for them to get it right.

Induct the Monkees. Induct Paul Revere and the Raiders. Induct the New York Dolls, Harry Nilsson, and Warren Zevon, each of whom has at least been nominated. And, for God's sake, induct Chubby Checker.

Come on, baby. Let's do this.

Speaking of acts looooong overdue for induction into The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, our next edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio will program a few tracks by the Shangri-Las, in memory of the late, great Mary Weiss. 

REMEMBER!

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 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, 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.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

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

10 SONGS: 5/5/2023

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 # 1179. This show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach

HEY! WE'RE THE RAMONES AND THIS ONE'S CALLED "ROCKAWAY BEACH!"

1-2-3-4.

The Ramones' 1979 double-LP in-concert document It's Alive is my all-time favorite live album. Nothing else even comes close. One could argue that It's Alive is the Ramones' single finest moment, as they perform material from their first three albums (Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket To Russia), playing the songs faster and louder and faster still, while holding on to the breathless, giddy AM Top 40 spark that made the studio versions so irresistible to begin with.

It's Alive was recorded in London on December 31st, 1977. Happy freakin' New Year! In the interviews included in my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones (https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/), Joey Ramone told me, "Yeah, we wanted to do a live album, and we were like really big in England at the time. And we played, it was New Year’s Eve 1977, and it was a real big show at the Rainbow Theatre. And I guess everybody was there, all the bands at that point. Ya know, the whole audience was mostly bands [laughs], like the Clash, the Pistols, everybody was there.

"And so we recorded that night. And [producer] Ed Stasium, I think he did the recording. It was a mobile situation. And it came out great! I remember, I think it was NME that said it was the best live album ever recorded. Previously it was Thin Lizzy...."

It's Alive opens with "Rockaway Beach." Whatta record. My first Ramones show was just a few months later. Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubblegum. Not hard, not far to reach. It's still alive. Rock, rock!

JOE DILILLO: Superhero Star

BEEBE GALLINI: Nobody Loves The Hulk

Saturday May 6th is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Best holiday ever. And that seemed like a bodacious excuse to program the title track from Joe Dilillo's new EP Superhero St*r. Plus it's, y'know, good. The city is saved! FREE COMIC BOOK DAY IS SAVED!

Thus empowered by the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, but the patience of Johnny Ramone, we circled back for further Free Comic Book Day partying in the form of Beebe Gallini's incredible (HAR!) take on the Traits' obscure classic "Nobody Loves The Hulk." As much as I love the Traits' original recording, Beebe Gallini belts the tune with gamma rays, throwing in an appropriate bellow of HULK SMASH! to certify the mightiness of her avenging. 

THE RAMONES: Pet Sematary

It was a little bit of a surprise to realize we had never before played the Ramones' title song for the film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Granted, it's not one of my favorite Ramones songs, but nor is it one I would deliberately avoid. Hell, I was delighted to hear it on the radio in 1989; airplay for the Ramones was a rarity, and even if I would have preferred to hear "I Believe In Miracles" from the same album (Brain Drain), I do also like "Pet Sematary." Any Ramones airplay is better than no Ramones airplay.

And TIRnRR still hasn't played the studio track on TIRnRR. We'll rectify that at some near-future point. As it is, "Pet Sematary" appears on this week's playlist by default, representing the Loco Live album.

I've never been fond of Loco Live. Johnny Ramone said, "I’m happier with It’s Alive. [For Loco Live] we got some producer that the office found us that didn’t know anything about the Ramones at all. I’m just not happy with it. I don’t really know what’s wrong with it, it’s just not right." In contrast,  Marky Ramone told me, "It was a very energetic album, a lot of energy in that album. I can’t compare it to the Ramones’ It’s Alive. They’re two different albums, but to me I liked the production on It’s Alive better than Loco Live, but I liked the energy on Loco Live better than It’s Alive."

To my ears, Loco Live sounds rushed, slapdash. By rote. By the 1-2-3-4 numbers. I don't think then-new bassist C. J. Ramone is the problem here; the band just doesn't sound into it, and (like Johnny said) it's just not right. And the only reason this live "Pet Sematary" stands out from its Loco Live brethren is because it hides a welcome bonus: an unlisted performance of "Carbona Not Glue" follows "Pet Sematary" within the same track.

The original studio version of "Carbona Not Glue" is one of my top five Ramones tracks. At the time of Loco Live's American release in 1992, "Carbona Not Glue" had been unavailable at retail since 1977, when legal threats from the manufacturers of Carbona Spot Remover prompted its removal from all subsequent pressings of the Ramones' second album Leave Home. Loco Live was the Ramones' final album for their original label Sire Records; the group slipped "Carbona Not Glue" into the album without informing Sire. Joey told me, "Right. We snuck it in because it was our last record for Sire, and we really wanted people to kinda get to hear it." And Johnny said, "Yeah, we snuck that in. We tried to get in other things, but they always tore it off . But that time we just put it down and put it in there—they don’t even know about it [laughs]."

The studio "Carbona Not Glue" wouldn't return to retail shelves until Rhino Records released an expanded reissue of Leave Home in 2001. But from '77 until 2001, the only available "Carbona Not Glue" was the buried treat hidden on Loco Live. It remains the only part of Loco Live that I really like.

THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

The Ramones' last studio album was !Adios Amigos! in 1995. The group continued to tour, and selections excerpted from a 1996 live performance (less than half of the actual show) were released that summer as Greatest Hits Live. Though not the equal of It's Alive, Greatest Hits Live presents a much, much more compelling live document than Loco Live. Other than the album's two studio bonus tracks--covers of the Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It" and Mötorhead's "R.A.M.O.N.E.S."--I don't think we've ever played much of Greatest Hits Live on the show. A spin of the album's "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" earlier this year may have been the sole appearance of a live track from this album on any of our playlists.

Man, Greatest Hits Live is such a cool record of live, in-concert...I dunno, redemption after the disappointment of Loco Live. Joey sounds a lot more invested and in control, the band is tighter by miles and miles, and the result is invigmoratin' like live Ramones oughtta be. Maybe we should have pressed the Free Comic Book Day angle and played the Greatest Hits Live run-through of "Spider-Man," but for me it was a coin toss between "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Don't Want To Grow Up." Both are among my top three Ramones tracks (along with "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"), and the coin toss went in favor of "I Don't Want To Grow Up." 

Greatest Hits Live is an underrated album, and I may have been among those guilty of underrating it. I've grown up a bit since then.

THE RAMONES [with LEMMY]: R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

Hey, speakin' of Mötorhead's song about the Ramones: Mötorhead bassist Lemmy himself turned up on stage at the Ramones' farewell gig, August 6, 1996 at Billboard Live in Los Angeles. The event is preserved on We're Outta Here!, and while part of me wishes the Ramones' final shock treatment was performed without so many special guests, ya can't deny the appeal of Lemmy joining in to help sing and play the anthem he wrote about these American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time. Gabba gabba, see them go....

And they were gone.

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Can't Wait 'Till Summer

Big Stir Records has the hits. This is one of them. Librarians With Hickeys' "Can't Wait 'Till Summer" is guaranteed a berth on 2023's year-end countdown show. And it scores yet another spin next week. See, we play the hits. That's what makes proper rock 'n' roll radio.

THE BEATLES: Tomorrow Never Knows

Her Majesty's Ramones. Some have suggested we amend our billing of the Beatles to HIS Majesty's Ramones, given the ascension of Charles III to new status as (I guess) a pretty nice boy who doesn't have a lot to say. I say timing is everything. Elizabeth II was Great Britain's monarch before, after, and during the entirety of the Beatles' existence as a band. Her Majesty's Ramones. Tomorrow knows that much, at least. 

THE RAMONES: California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You

Even before It's Alive, the very first Ramones live release was this 45 B-side in 1976. Recorded live at The Roxy in Los Angeles in '76, "California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" served as the non-plug side of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" in the US, and of "Blitzkrieg Bop" in the Netherlands. It's the perfect coda for this week's celebration of live Ramones.

NEXT WEEK: the start of a three-part salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

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/

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

10 SONGS: 5/25/2021

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 # 1078.

HEADGIRL [Motörhead and Girlschool]: Please Don't Touch

Yeah, I know I already spent the entirety of this week's playlist commentary a-ramblin' and a-ravin' about "Please Don't Touch," the one-off 1981 consolidation of Motörhead and Girlschool as Headgirl. My obsession remains proudly in place. You could (rightly) call this a bludgeoning of the old Johnny Kidd and the Pirates ditty, but it's an affectionate roughhousing, faithful in its way to the swing and spirit of the original, heavier and more ominous, yet unerringly pop. And righteous. And LOUD! It could do with another spin right now. Obsessive? I am as Headgirl made me.

NELSON BRAGG: Lost All Our Sundays

The biggest single entry on the mighty Nelson Bragg's rock 'n' roll c.v. is his record of service as a percussionist for Brian Wilson, which also led to Bragg participating in The Beach Boys' acclaimed 50th anniversary tour. 

Well. Is that all? 

That's, um...actually that's a pretty big deal, innit? The fact that Nelson has also done a lot of other great stuff outside of the Wilson aegis further illustrates the significance of his rockin' pop propers. He's done some fine work with perennial TiRnRR Fave Rave Anny Celsi, and his solo tracks "Forever Days" and "Tell Me I'm Wrong" have been essential building blocks in this show's ongoing jones for assembling The Best Three Hours Of Radio In The Whole Friggin' Planet. A great show is constructed of great parts. We can rely on Nelson Bragg for that.

Nelson's working on a new album, Gratitude Blues, which is due out before 2021 dims its lights and heads to bed. The album is teased now with an advance single of one of its tracks, a cover of Elton John's "I Want Love," a fresh digital release in the ongoing saga of Big Stir Singles. "I Want Love" will be included on Gratitude Blues, but its virtual B-side "Lost All Our Sundays" will not. So, we figured we oughtta play that one. On a Sunday night radio show. That's how ya win back all those lost Sundays, friends. We're happy to help.

COLD EXPECTATIONS: Summer Dress

Ah, such a cool, yearning summer song. Red On Red Records does it again.

MICKY DOLENZ: Different Drum

At this writing, I have just received my CD copy of the new Micky Dolenz album Dolenz Sings Nesmith. But I've already heard enough of it to know I love it. We've been playing the digital single of "Different Drum," and we'll be playing at least one other track from Dolenz Sings Nesmith on next week's show.

(We will, in fact, be playing a lot of Micky Dolenz material on next week's show: new and old, solo and with The Monkees, and in other incarnations, too. It's been a long time since we've been able to spotlight a Featured Performer on TIRnRR. It's time for that spotlight to fall upon Micky Dolenz.)

THE FOUNDATIONS: Build Me Up Buttercup

Familiarity has not bred anything resembling contempt for The Foundations' signature hit "Build Me Up Buttercup." Great songs are supposed to get played again and again, fercryinoutloud, and the best tunes can survive such saturation spins without losing luster. It's true that I've become more immediately interested in some of The Foundations' other numbers (especially "In The Bad Bad Old Days [Before You Loved Me]"), but I doubt I'll ever become sick of hearing "Build Me Up Buttercup." Hell, I doubt I'll ever get even a little bit tired of hearing it.

LINNEA'S GARDEN: Replacement

Ah, such a cool (if bittersweet) observation of a parting of the ways. Red On Red Records does it again...again!

THE NEW YORK DOLLS: Personality Crisis

A basic rule of this blog: when I complain about The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, don't bother telling me that the RnRHOF doesn't matter; I already know it doesn't matter. But rock 'n' roll should honor is own, and I will continue to rant on behalf of deserving acts that are snubbed by that overblown Hard Rock Cafe on the banks of Lake Erie.

The Monkees remain the Hall's most egregious snub to date. With this year's inductees, long-standing snubs of Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go's, and Todd Rundgren have finally been set right. The New York Dolls were also nominated this round, but they didn't get the damned votes. Oy. The Dolls were among the most influential rock 'n' roll acts of the '70s, and failing to recognize their sheer and ongoing impact is willful lunacy.

DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES: Love Child

Playing the Dolls on the latest TIRnRR had no conscious influence on my decision to also include Diana Ross and the Supremes in this week's playlist. After the fact, it occurred to me that The David Johansen Group used to cover "Love Child" in late '70s live sets. I don't remember whether or not DJ and his boys did the song at my first Johansen show in 1979, but it's on The David Johansen Group Live, which preserves a hot-hot-hot 1978 NYC show, and is a much more compelling live document than Johansen's Live It Up! The Johansen Group's '78 performance of "Love Child" was a conscious influence on Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse The Flashcubes, who subsequently started covering The Supremes' "Stop! In The Name Of Love" in their own killer live shows. As much as I still love The Supremes' original, I really liked the 'Cubes' arrangement of "Stop! In The Name Of Love," which nicked its opening from The Four Tops and sounded perfectly of a piece with the Flashcubes sound.

But "Love Child?" Gotta love The David Johansen Group, sure, but you can't top Diana Ross and the Supremes on "Love Child."

THE RUTLES: Doubleback Alley

Pop fans like us remain fond of The Rutles' music and TV special, which were an effective and engaging parody of some little-known combo called The Beatles. I am reasonably certain you've heard of The Beatles, and I betcha you know The Rutles, too.

But The Rutles' album and show were both relative commercial failures in 1978. Not in my ears nor in my eyes, of course; I adored all of it without reservation, and I still do. In the period between watching All You Need Is Cash in my freshman dorm and receiving an import LP of The Rutles as a gift from my sister, I bought the Prefab Four's U.S. 45, "I Must Be In Love"/"Doubleback Alley." The Merseymania A-side was the song that had introduced me to The Rutles on Saturday Night Live, and the flip was a pastiche of "Penny Lane." As an 18-year-old power-pop punk in '78, I was beginning to distance myself from the post-1966 Beatles sound, and therefore found "I Must Be In Love" intrinsically more interesting than "Doubleback Alley." Dig 'em both now. A legend that will last a lunchtime. 

SPIRIT: I Got A Line On You

Classic rock! In a good way. I became particularly enamored with Spirit's 1968 gem "I Got A Line On You" when I was living in Buffalo in the early '80s. There was no distinctive impetus for this; I must have heard the song on an oldies radio show somewhere, and it clicked.

I do remember seeing a local oldies cover band a few times at a bar near the corner of Kensington and Bailey, a short walk from my rat-infested apartment. My stubborn brain cells have reluctantly conceded that the bar was called McGillicuddy's, but even a quick span of my Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery fails to jog my memory enough to recall the name of the band. I know I liked 'em okay, so it wasn't Phil and the Spectors (whom I didn't like). The true ID of the band in question is likely lost. 

But, whoever they were,  they weren't bad at all: a nice, meat 'n' potatoes oldies bar band, providing the soundtrack to good times. I'll drink to that. And I did! Did I mention the bar was within walking distance? It was within staggering distance, too.

On one of the occasions that I saw them, this capable oldies combo did a more-than-capable cover of Spirit's "I Got A Line On You." As the song finished, I shouted out, "YEAH, THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" The band's leader chuckled and winced at the same time, moaning, "Who said that?"

Lines? I got a million of 'em. One or two might even be funny.

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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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