THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Plimsouls, "A Million Miles Away"

This is not part of my current book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but would seem a strong contender for an eventual Volume 2.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away

Written by Peter Case, Joey Alkes, and Chris Fradkin

Produced by Jeff Eyrich

Single, Shaky City, 1982

Sometimes distance is the problem. Sometimes distance can seem like salvation. If our troubles are here, in too-damned-close proximity, we may wish we could be a million miles away.

The Plimsouls came with a power-pop pedigree. The pedigree began with the Nerves, an L.A.-based trio who released a four-song EP in 1977 before vanishing. The EP was engaging enough, but the Nerves are best remembered for what its members went on to accomplish. Guitarist Jack Lee never made much of a name for himself as a performer, but he did have some success as a songwriter; Blondie had a # 5 British hit with his “Hanging On The Telephone” (the original version of which appeared on the Nerves’ EP). Both “Hanging On The Telephone” and another Lee composition, “Will Anything Happen,” were included on Blondie’s mega-successful Parallel Lines album, and other Lee-written songs were recorded by Suzi Quatro, Paul Young, and the Rubber City Rebels.

Ah, but the other two ex-Nerves--drummer Paul Collins and bassist Peter Case--subsequently achieved power pop immortality after trading in their original instrumental roles for rhythm guitar/frontman spots with their own respective groups, the Beat and the Plimsouls.

The Beat, later renamed the Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British act of the same name (that's the English Beat to us Yanks), were a solid pop act from the word go, and Collins is rightly considered among power pop's finest. (And the Paul Collins song "Walking Out On Love" earns a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]).

To many fans, the Plimsouls remain the definitive post-punk power pop group. Following the dissolution of the Nerves, Case had originally hung together with Collins in a group called the Breakaways. By 1979, Case had joined forces with bassist Dave Pahoa, drummer Lou Ramirez and (eventually) guitarist Eddie Muñoz to form the Plimsouls.  In 1980, the group made its recording debut with Zero Hour, a five-song EP released on the independent Beat label. Zero Hour helped the group snare the interest of Elektra’s Planet Records subsidiary. Planet released the group’s debut album, The Plimsouls, in 1981.

The Plimsouls was an extraordinary effort. But, in spite of irresistible tracks like “Now,” “Zero Hour,” “Hush, Hush” and covers of the Easybeats (“Woman”) and Wilson Pickett (“Mini-Skirt Minnie”), the album stalled at # 153, and the “Now” single didn’t chart at all. Planet and the Plimsouls soon parted company.

Without a label, the Plimsouls self-released their next single in 1982, and guaranteed the group’s place in power pop history. “A Million Miles Away” was simply one of the greatest power pop singles ever, a succinct blast of chip-on-the-shoulder attitude, fist-in-the-air rocking and swooning, swooping heart-on-the-sleeve hooks.

The buzz surrounding “A Million Miles Away” landed the Plimsouls a contract with Geffen, leading to 1983’s Everywhere At Once album. Geffen reissued the “A Million Miles Away” single (which peaked at # 82), but the album never got past # 186. The group appeared in the popular film Valley Girl, lip-syncing to “A Million Miles Away,” “Everywhere At Once” and “Oldest Story In The World.” This was as close as the Plimsouls ever got to the mass popular recognition that should have been theirs. Peter Case moved on to a career as a troubadour. Once again, power pop had skipped the "popular" part.

But those two Plimsouls albums, plus the group's underrated, overlooked nineties reunion album Kool Trash? The Plimsouls left a legacy, a magnificent legacy. These records should be considered a prerequisite purchase for anyone claiming an interest in this broad category iof pop with power.

And "A Million Miles Away" absolutely is one of power pop's defining tracks. 

What is it that makes "A Million Miles Away" so unforgettable, so immense, so over-the-top right? There's a feeling of pressure pervading the track, like a soul compressed under the weight of a million broken hearts, the sting of a million broken promises, the spark of a million ideas, everywhere at once, on how to get the hell outta here if that's our best option, or to stand and fight if it that's the better choice. We're damned either way. We may as well go down swingin'. In my ears and in my gut, "A Million Miles Way" channels a flight away from the precipice, even as it leaps so blithely into the unknown. A million miles to cover before dawn? Well! Best be on our way then. Cheers, Luv!

It seems a solo flight. In the end, as much as we wish to share our fortunes with lovers and friends we still can recall, we will at some point walk, run, jump, crawl, and eventually stop in some measure of insistent solitude, whether by intention or just by the cookie's errant method of crumbling.

A million miles away. It fits the times, doesn't it?

Regret or desperation? Are we a million miles away from our goal, or have we finally reached the treasure of an X-marked destination that had been so impossibly distant? When even our sense of everywhere at once brings a curse of bleakness, light itself appears--IS--a million miles away. 

But we'll get to it. It will shine again. We have a song for the journey. And there's nothing left to bring us back. Drifting to a different place. Falling off the edge of one world might mean a chance to build another. One mile down. Less than a million to go.

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: 6/16/2023

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 # 1185. This show is available as a podcast.

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: The Signal Light

This was supposed to be a celebration.

The Signal Light is the first Justine and the Unclean album since Heartaches And Hot Problems in 2018, and also the first since the group made its TIRnRR debut with the fantastic "Vengeance" single in 2020. Love at first spin! We've played each and every one of the singles they've released since then, and we included "Vengeance" on our own compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 in 2022. We were so looking forward to the release of The Signal Light, and the album does not disappoint, collecting all of those great singles (including "Vengeance") alongside more brilliant new music from Justine and the Unclean. If ever an album was primed for carpet-bomb programming on TIRnRR, The Signal Light is that album.

So we opened this week's show with Justine and the Unclean, with the title track from The Signal Light. As most of you must know by now, this show was recorded before we learned of the sudden, unexpected passing of Justine Covault. What a loss. What an awful loss for our shared pop music community. 

We recorded a brief statement to run at the top of this show, expressing our sorrow and our condolences to Justine's family and friends. We left the show itself intact, to stand as a record of our enthusiasm for the work, and for all that Justine did.

This was supposed to be a celebration. It wound up a sadder celebration than we planned. We will pay tribute to Justine on our next show.

THE ANIMALS: We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

Even before we heard the news about Justine, we knew this week's show would include an element of mourning with the loss of songwriter Cynthia Weil. Weil and her husband and writing partner Barry Mann created so many timeless classic songs. The first Mann-Weil song I owned was a 45 of Eydie Gormé's "Blame It On The Bossa Nova;" sure, I was only three years old when the song was a hit in '63, but I knew it and adored it. I may not have acquired any other Mann-Weil works until the mid '70s, when a flea-market purchase of the Monkees' Headquarters LP added their song "Shades Of Grey" to CC's record library. Many more would follow.

One of my favorites was the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," which I borrowed from my cousin Maryann before a rockin' and rollin' emissary of Santa Claus hisself placed the double-album The Best Of The Animals under the Christmas tree for me in 1976.

THE  MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping

I told my story here of the sheer revelation of falling for the Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd a decade after the fact, when I was a high school senior in 1977. "Blame It On The Bossa Nova," "Shades Of Grey," "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," and maybe a 45 of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' by the Righteous Brothers preceded the entry of Pisces into my collection, but its track "Love Is Only Sleeping" knocked me out to the extent that I finally--FINALLY!--took notice of the songwriting credit. Mann and Weil, huh? Awrighty. The search was on. 

THE FLASHCUBES: Wouldn't You Like It

THE FLASHCUBES WITH RANDY KLAWON: Get The Message

The Flashcubes THEN, and the Flashcubes NOW! Sort of. "Get The Message" will be on the Flashcubes' new album Pop Masters, coming soon from the visionary rockin' pop forces of Big Stir Records. Pop Masters is an all-covers effort, and it will be one of your favorite albums this year. It's already one of mine.

And we figured we'd include "Get The Message" as the back end of a twin spin of the Flashcubes demonstrating their nonpareil prowess as interpretive artists. That one-two punch began with a dynamic Cubic reading of the Bay City Rollers' "Wouldn't You Like It," which the 'Cubes recorded (at our suggestion) for the 1999 Rollers tribute album Men In Plaid. I've always loved the Rollers' version to begin with, and the 'Cubes absolutely nail their rendition of it.

THE NERVES: Hanging On The Telephone

Another passing, as the pop world mourns musician and songwriter Jack Lee. Word of Lee's death reached us as we had just finished recording basic tracks and back announcements for this week's show, but not too late to make any changes we deemed necessary. Saluting Jack Lee was necessary.

Blondie's international hit cover of Lee's song "Hanging On The Telephone" was actually in the playlist already, so Dana suggested adding the song's original version, which Lee recorded with his legendary pop combo the Nerves. We swapped out another track, redid a couple of the back announcements, and paid our own humble tribute to Jack Lee.

THE DRIFTERS: On Broadway

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

BLONDIE: Hanging On The Telephone

Yeah, we kept Blondie's take in as well. I remember that, in college, I knew the song from the Nerves' EP; it's a testimony to how great that EP is that "Hanging On The Telephone" was my third favorite among its four tracks, after two songs written by other members of the Nerves (Peter Case's "When You Find Out" and Paul Collins' "Working Too Hard"), and ahead of Lee's "Give Me Some Time." All four tracks were and remain superb.

But like I said, this was a Nerves song as far as I was concerned. When my pal Jay called to tell me how flat-out jazzed he was with Blondie's then-new Parallel Lines album, his mention of "Hanging On The Telephone" prompted a Wait...WHAT? outta me. Cool moment of connection.

ASTRUD GILBERTO: Where Have You Been?

The late Astrud Gilberto's best-known moment is her vocal turn fronting Stan Getz and company on the massive hit "The Girl From Ipanema." I don't think Ms. Gilberto ever graced any previousTIRnRR playlist, but her recent passing made it seem imperative to at least play the hit.

Upon further review, it felt necessary to go a tiny bit deeper, and include one more Gilberto performance. When news of Gilberto's death broke, our friend and fellow DJ Michael McCartney waxed rhapsodic of his memory of listening to Astrud Gilberto, particularly this track "Where Have You Been?," from her 1972 album Now.

Beautiful and haunting. Beguiling. Irresistible. Outside of our experience and familiarity, but nonetheless undeniable in the moment. There is so much we don't know, so much we haven't heard yet. 

Where have we been? Our trail to this point has been obscured. What next? We'll have to find out, won't we? Godspeed, Astrud. And thank you. Michael.

PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS: Kicks

An anti-drug message was not the hippest stance for a rock 'n' roll single to assume in the '60s. And having that message delivered by a costumed combo known for sashayin' their synchronized steps on various TV shows likely didn't enhance its perceived hipness. 

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil did not care about any of that.

Their intent was sober and serious, to craft a cautionary tale about the dangers of addiction, and to do so within the catchy parameters of a 45 bound for the pop charts. They pulled it off magnificently, and the mighty Paul Revere and the Raiders did their able part by proving once again that their gaudy Revolutionary War outfits didn't mean they were some sort of freakin' clown act; they were America's answer to the Rolling Stones.

Kicks just keep getting harder to find? On record, man, there are always, always kicks aplenty. Paul Revere and the Raiders were among the many worthy artists that saw to that. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were one of the ace songwriting teams that made it happen. Get your kicks. Get your kicks right here.

IN-PERSON EVENT! On June 29, I will be making an in-store appearance at GENERATION RECORDS, 210 Thompson Street in NYC on behalf of my  new book GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES. The book contains my 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J., which were cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as essential reading. I'll be at Generation to chat with fellow Ramones fans, talk about the book, the interviews, and how the music of the Ramones impacted my life. If you are in the New York area on June 29th, I would love to see you at Generation Records. Hey-ho, let's GO!  

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: 4/7/2023

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 # 1175. This week's show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

The imminent release of my first book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones inspired me to want to pay further tribute to the Ramones throughout April and May on TIRnRR. In our April shows, we'll be playing my single favorite track from each of the Ramones' fourteen studio albums, in chronological order, four tracks per week. We'll top off our April 23 show with my favorite non-LP Ramones single track and my favorite Ramones soundtrack cut. (And, yeah, as much as I love "I Want You Around," it's no spoiler to admit my top Ramones soundtrack song choice is exactly what you expect it to be.) We'll do the live albums on 4/30, and more Ramones mania will follow in May.

That celebration of my # 1 tracks from each of the Ramones' albums begins this week, with the classic first four: Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, and Road To Ruin. And we start with the first track from the first album. "Blitzkrieg Bop" was also the first Ramones song I ever heard, courtesy of my Brockport campus radio station WBSU in the fall of my freshman year 1977. 

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I was 17 in '77, primed for punk by reading Phonograph Record Magazine, aching to claim new and more exciting vistas in my rock 'n' roll. 

That revelation was at hand. "Blitzkrieg Bop" opened the door, setting the stage for another track that would soon knock that door down. Hey-ho. Let's GO!!

NICK PIUNTI: Heart Stops Beating

New music from Nick Piunti is pretty much guaranteed a spin on TIRnRR. Death, taxes, construction on I-81, and spins of new Nick Piunti songs on TIRnRR--see, there are some things in life you can count on.

And for good reason. Nick's stuff is always radio-ready, and his new Jem Records single "Heart Stops Beating" continues that streak of irresistible rockin' pop reliability. Elsewhere in this vast world of radio, "Heart Stops Beating" is also The Coolest Song In The World this week on Little Steven's Underground Garage. 

Rightfully so.

THE RAMONES: Carbona Not Glue

My favorite number on the Ramones' second album Leave Home wasn't even on some folks' copies of Leave Home. Hell, it wasn't on my first copy of Leave Home, though I remedied that sitchyation PDQ. 

Although I think I acquired my Ramones LPs in their proper chronological order--I'm not 100% certain if I picked up Leave Home before or after third album Rocket To Russia, but I do believe I snagged 'em in sequence--the fact that I arrived late to the party meant I got to each individual album after the fact. 1980's End Of The Century was the first Ramones album I bought when it was still a new release. 

By the time I got to 1977's Leave Home some time in (presumably) 1978, the ace track "Carbona Not Glue" had been excised due to threats of legal action from the manufacturers of Carbona Spot Remover. WEASELS! I replaced my incomplete latter-day Leave Home with a used and (fittingly) warped copy of the original issue, and "Carbona Not Glue" instantly became my favorite on the album. 

"Carbona Not Glue" is easily one of my Top Ten Ramones tracks, possibly Top 5. Wondering what I'm doing tonight. It's the goddamned catchiest song about substance I ever did hear. It was finally restored to its proper place on Leave Home when the album was reissued on CD in 2001. Have a heapin' huff of justice served. Take that, weasels!

THE SHIRELLES: Will You Love Me Tomorrow

In retrospect, the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" seems remarkably mature for a pop hit circa 1960. Sex was a taboo subject on Top 40 radio, with any record approaching an even remotely risqué topic essentially dismissed from airplay consideration. This particular record is about doing it; there is no other plausible interpretation. Its sense of uncertainty, its vulnerability, its contemplation of tonight's ramifications on tomorrow add a weight beyond easy dismissal or censorship. It's about love and passion, passion and love, both in equal parts.

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was also the first # 1 hit for its songwriting team, Gerry Goffin and Carole King. King wrote the music, Goffin crafted the lyrics. There is no shortage of irony in the fact that these tender lyrics about intimacy were written by Goffin, who so casually cheated on King throughout their relationship. Tonight the light of loving's in your eyes. Tomorrow's perspective may remain a work in progress.

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

The record that changed my life. I know I've said that a lot, especially lately, because there is just no way for me to talk about "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" without making that specific reference: The Record That Changed My Life. I heard "Blitzkrieg Bop" first, but listening to the "Sheena" 45 in November of 1977 is where and when it all clicked into place. For me, everything--everything--started in earnest when I heard "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker."

Phonograph Record Magazine. WBSU. A Ramones 45, followed by another Ramones 45 ("Rockaway Beach"), and still another 45 ("Do You Wanna Dance"), all from the Rocket To Russia album. In between scarfin' up "Rockaway Beach" and "Do You Wanna Dance," I saw my first Ramones show, with the Runaways and the Flashcubes. I began to buy the albums, starting with the debut. I picked up Rocket To Russia over Christmas break in 1978. My enthusiasm would continue to grow and grow and grow. 1-2-3-4. PRM and "Blitzkrieg Bop" got my notice. "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" made me a fan. The American Beatles. The greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time. I can't imagine my life without the thrill of the Ramones. 

Thank you, Sheena.

BLUE ASH: Jazel Jane

A few of my friends are divided on the merits (or lack thereof) of the recent Amazon Prime TV series Daisy Jones & The Six. The series chronicles the rise and fall of a fictional '70s rock band, and our Fleetwood Mac-inspired Daisy Jones and crew are perhaps the very sort of act that the Ramones were supposed to chase away. But I loved the series, and I also like some of its music. We played this made-for-TV band's engaging "Regret Me" a few week's back, and it returns to the playlist this week.

The soundtrack of the first episode of Daisy Jones & The Six included Blue Ash's "Jazel Jane," from their 1977 album Front Page News. Blue Ash never achieved the massive popularity they deserved, but they were simply wonderful, and their 1973 single "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)" is a legit power pop essential. Any additional exposure for Blue Ash music is a welcome thing indeed, so kudos to the Daisy Jones producers for making it so.

(More coolness points for Daisy Jones & The Six: the series finale included "This Perfect Day" by the Saints--a track that serves as one of the tags for this week's TIRnRR--and Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot" was the TV show's theme song. Good taste there, Daisy. Good taste.)  

THE BREAKAWAYS: Walking Out On Love

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen

Even before I heard "Blitzkrieg Bop," my first direct exposure to punk rock was when Utica's WOUR-FM played "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols. Summer of '77, just a little before tour "Blitzkrieg Bop" entry's photo of 17-year-old me was taken.  That story was told here, and later adapted for use as a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). It remains my hope that Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones will help make the GREM! book a reality. 

No future? I am not yet willing to concede that.

THE RAMONES: I Wanna Be Sedated

"She was asleep, sitting up, her head resting on my shoulder. I was in love with her. And I was already in love with the music of the band whose new album was about to be played on the radio. Love and music. Reasonable goals. I just want to have something to do.

"It was October of 1978. Brenda and I had just met, already exchanged I love yous, and were determined to see where that road would lead us next...."

Those were the opening paragraphs of a Love At First Spin piece I had planned to write about the Ramones' fourth album Road To Ruin. I felt the story would have too much overlap with my Love At First Spin tribute to Rocket To Russia, so the Road To Ruin entry will likely remain unfinished. But the facts remain: I first heard Road To Ruin when Rochester's WCMF-FM played it in its entirety, listening as I sat in my dorm suite with my arm around this girl I'd just met and fallen for. Road to ruin? Road to something better.

"I Wanna Be Sedated" stood out immediately, helped in no small part by its superficial resemblance to Alice Cooper's "Elected," transcending that influence with its paradoxical hybrid of a wish to be numbed combined with a full-throttle approach that couldn't be taken down by a flurry of tranquilizer darts. I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain. Sounds a lot like the act of being smitten. I want it.

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Can't Wait 'Till Summer

Man, I love this track. I love it enough to give it the last word in today's Ramones-centric post, and that's (in the immortal words of the Velvelettes) really sayin' somethin'. From Librarians With Hickeys' 2022 album Handclaps & Tambourines, "Can't Wait 'Till Summer" is likely to get significant burn on the ol' TIRnRR playlist in the weeks to come.

In fact, it's even gonna get played again next week. The vast majority of my selections for the April 9 show will come from the Sire Records catalog, in memory of the late Seymour Stein. For my half of the playlist programming, I'll only have four tracks that weren't ever released on Sire. Two of those are brand new (by the Tearaways and Moonlight Parade), and one is by an act (the Flashcubes) who shoulda been on Sire. Dana provides appropriate balance to make it a proper and nonpareil playlist (though he'll also play more than a few Sire gems, too). I have to postpone playing a lot of superb new tracks to accommodate my ideas for the Sire tribute. 

I still made room for Librarians With Hickeys. "Can't Wait 'Till Summer." Man, I love this track. It returns to the airwaves Sunday night, alongside a bunch of noteworthy sides from Sire Records.

Do you remember rock 'n' roll radio? Your refresher course awaits.

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 for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!

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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Walking Out On Love

From my long-threatened (and maybe even eventual) book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE BREAKAWAYS/PAUL COLLINS: Walking Out On Love

Written by Paul Collins

Produced by Paul Collins

From the various-artists collection Waves Vol. 1, Bomp Records, 1979

The original post has been unpublished for bookkeeping purposes. It can be seen as a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)

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 for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!

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

My Top Ten Power Pop Acts

Jari Mäkeläinen asked me to contribute a sidebar piece to be used in Manifesti, a fanzine published in Finland. The challenge posed to sidebar contributors: name your all-time top ten power pop acts.

In the words of Micky Dolenz: okay, I will.

MY TOP TEN POWER POP ACTS

by Carl Cafarelli

For me, the challenge of naming my all-time top ten power pop acts is in deciding what parameters of power pop I wanna play within. While many view power pop as strictly a post-Beatles phenomenon, I agree with the view expressed by writers Greg Shaw and Gary Sperrazza! in Bomp! magazine's epic 1978 power pop issue: power pop began in the '60s. Greg 'n' Gary traced power pop back to the early Who, while I go a little bit further back to the Beatles' "Please Please Me" in 1963. I've begun to entertain the notion that power pop predates even that; I don't think the music of Buddy Holly, the Beach Boys, or the Everly Brothers is quite power pop, but it's difficult to dismiss the power pop gravitas of some of Eddie Cochran's singles, especially "Somethin' Else" and "Nervous Breakdown."

But I wouldn't list the Beatles or the Kinks among my all-time Fave Rave power pop acts, if only because so much of their work falls outside my idea of power pop. The Who were 100 % power pop until Tommy, and really not power pop after that. 

So my power pop Top Ten doesn't go back to the '60s. By default, and for different reasons, I wind up agreeing with those who won't move power pop's Ground Zero to any date before John, Paul, George, and Ringo settled on separate and individual long and winding roads. I've also come to accept the idea that power pop isn't so much a genre as it an approach, which means relatively few acts are strictly power pop all of the time. With all that said, this list offers ten dynamic rock 'n' roll combos I'm comfortable referring to as power pop acts.

THE WHO

Yeah, I was lying. Upon further review, you can't talk about power pop without talking about the early Who, "I Can't Explain" through The Who Sell Out. It's not just because Pete Townshend coined the phrase; it's because he and his band embodied it. Everything the Who did before Tommy is at least peripheral to power pop, and much of it is the power pop Gospel.

THE FLASHCUBES

My hometown heroes, my favorite power pop act, Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. An incendiary 1979 live show is currently willing itself into imminent release under the title Flashcubes On Fire, and that is pop with power incarnate. In the mean time, Bright Lights collects the '70s stuff plus four then-new '90s tracks, and Flashcubes Forever anthologizes the 'Cubes in the 21st century.

(NOTE: for those power pop fans looking for an excuse to become one of this blog's $2-a-month paid supporters, my liner notes for Flashcubes On Fire will be September's private post for patrons on Wednesday, September 1st: Fund me, baby!)

THE RASPBERRIES

Power pop on the radio, where it belongs. The horny singles--"Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Tonight," and "Ecstasy"--plus the dreamy "Let's Pretend" (also covered by the Bay City Rollers) and album track "Play On" combine for a compact summary of the Raspberries' power pop c.v.

THE RAMONES

A consistently controversial choice for a power pop list, but I side with the Bomp! writers who considered the Ramones an essential part of the power pop story. The first four albums tell the tale: Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, and Road To Ruin, with a little extra oomph provided by the irresistible in-concert document It's Alive!

BADFINGER

This gets back to the idea that some (many, most) power pop bands aren't power pop all of the time. Badfinger certainly wasn't, but then I've also gotta get back to that idea of power pop on the radio, where it belongs. "Baby Blue" may be my all-time # 1 favorite track by anybody.

THE ROMANTICS

On the other hand, the Romantics are generally power pop regardless of their intent. It's their DNA. They tried to make a hard rock album, Strictly Personal, but it came out as hard-rockin' power pop, and I mean that as a compliment. If you do just one Romantics album, you've gotta go with the eponymous debut, which includes "What I Like About You" and "When I Look In Your Eyes." Their early indie singles are likewise essential, especially "Little White Lies"/"I Can't Tell You Anything."

THE GO-GO'S

I continuously waffle on the question of whether or not the Go-Go's can be considered a power pop act. Their debut album Beauty And The Beat comes close at the very least, and its power remains undiminished forty years on. It's not just that album's great singles "We Got The Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed," but also album tracks like "Can't Stop The World" and "This Town" that make the case on behalf of the Go-Go's. Add in subsequent tracks from "Vacation" to "Head Over Heels" to "The Whole World Lost Its Head" to "La La Land," and it's difficult to deny the truth that this is pop with power.

THE NERVES

Cheating, but I don't care. The Nerves' eponymous 1976 EP inspired Blondie with "Hanging On The Telephone" (written by the Nerves' Jack Lee), but Lee's fellow Nerves Paul Collins and Peter Case went on to have significant and prevailing impact on power pop with their post-Nerves work in Paul Collins' Beat and the Plimsouls, respectively.

BIG STAR

Big Star's story also sprawls, spills, and bleeds beyond power pop territory, and I'm sympathetic to those who claim the group's records didn't have the pure power one would expect from power pop. Nonetheless: "Back Of A Car" delivers, and "September Gurls" transcends our silly little labels to assume the description a rock journalist bestowed upon it decades ago: "Innocent, but deadly." First two albums, # 1 Record and Radio City. Third, however, is most definitely not power pop.

THE SPONGETONES

North Carolina's phenomenal pop combo the Spongetones have always taken their love of rock and pop and Beatles and British Invasion and channeled it into something unerringly Fab. You know that can't be bad.

With a limit of ten acts in this exercise, I can't go on to tell you about the Rubinoos, Pezband, Holly and the Italians, the Flamin' Groovies, the Records, Shoes, the Buzzcocks, Generation X, Dirty Looks, the Shivvers, the Scruffs, Sorrows, Artful Dodger, Blue Ash, the Knack, and dozens more, then and now. Good thing that, in real life, we're not limited to just ten favorite power pop acts, right? Play on.

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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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