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 # 1150.
EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year
Our 1150th show coincides with the release of our new compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. HuzZAH! You can read about the album here, and then select your choice of CD or digital download to purchase for your music library. We'll be glad you did!
We opened TIRnRR # 1150 with the last track on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5: "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" by Brother Eytan Mirsky. This fantastic, fantastic song is one of the defining tracks of TIRnRR's long and storied history. It earns its own chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and it is one of my all-time favorite tracks by anyone at any time.
There was never any doubt that Eytan's "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" was going to be on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. In fact, we built the compilation with the conscious intent that all of its songs in sequence would lead into "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" at album's end. Because after all trials and tribulations, steps forward and back, triumphs, tragedies, and even the mere treading of water, we all try to somehow just keep doing, to the best of our mortal ability. The goal is elusive, maybe illusionary, but always in our eyesight: This year, man. This year.
(We also served up fabulous Volume 5 tracks by Irene Peña and Kelley Ryan, plus one more track we'll discuss shortly.)
TIR'N'RR ALLSTARS: Waterloo Sunset
In addition to the five This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilations, we must also mention 2019's Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a collection put together on our behalf by some of our talented friends. The project was spearheaded by Steve Stoeckel of the Spongetones and Keith Klingensmith of the Legal Matters (and of Futureman Records, which handled the release). We had nothing whatsoever to do with its creation, and didn't even know about it until it was a fait accompli. It ain't actually possible to make us feel humble about anything, but this touching gesture may have accomplished it anyway. Thank you, friends.
The title tune, a cover of the Kinks' classic, was performed by Steve Stoeckel, Keith Klingensmith, Bruce Gordon, Eytan Mirsky, America's Sweetheart Irene Peña, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, and Rich Firestone. It's such a commanding performance, and such a moving gesture. Damn it. Maybe we can feel humble after all.
(This week's playlist also included two more tracks from Waterloo Sunset, performed by the Click Beetles and Gretchen's Wheel. Futureman's original digital-only release of Waterloo Sunset remains available and recommended, and you can also still get Kool Kat Musik's CD version.)
PATTI SMITH GROUP: Ask The Angels
Penthouse magazine was the perhaps-unlikely platform for my introduction to Patti Smith. Journalist Nick Tosches interviewed Smith for the April 1976 issue of Penthouse, and ya know what? Even as a 16-year-old, while it woulda been a fib to say I only read Penthouse and Playboy for the articles, I did indeed read a lot of the articles. Nick's Penthouse chat with Patti was my first-ever peripheral exposure to what would later be called punk rock. My accounts of that experience can be found here and here.
My first actual exposure to this music came about a year later, after reading Phonograph Record Magazine had primed my radar for punk. Before I heard the Sex Pistols on the radio in the summer of '77, the Patti Smith Group appeared on TV's The Mike Douglas Show, singing "Ask The Angels."
I hated it.
That opinion evolved. And how! I was a Patti Smith fan by year's end. Ask the angels, and the devils, too. And it's wild, wild, wild, wild!
THE FINKERS: Last Thing On My Mind
For our 1150th show, we wanted to include four tracks apiece from each of our five This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilations. Our inaugural CD was This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1, released by JAM Recordings in...I forget. 2005 sounds right. For obsessive rockin' pop fans like your Dana and your Carl, the prospect of slapping together our own CD successor to the K-Tel and Ronco various-artists LPs of our misspent youth made us giddy, delirious, and...yeah, we're like that anyway. But this was giddiness with a PURPOSE...!
JAM's Jeremy Morris made it all happen. Among the treats on Volume 1 was "Last Thing On My Mind," a full-throttle irresistible from Australian combo the Finkers. We'd been corresponding with the Finkers' drummer Mickster, and we'd been programming our fair share of Finkers material. But this track absolutely knocked me out on first spin, prompting me to declare on air that "Last Thing On My Mind" was exactly the sort of song that always made me wish I had a radio show, just so I could play songs like "Last Thing On My Mind" on my radio show.
I also wrote the liner notes for Whole Lotta Fun, a Finkers best-of issued in 2002 by the Japanese label Wizzard-In-Vinyl. Yep, an American writer preachin' on behalf of an Australian band for a Japanese label. We are the world. The Finkers may have been our introduction to their lead singer Michael Carpenter, who has accumulated a ton of TIRnRR airplay as a solo artist.
(Other This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1 tracks heard on TIRnRR # 1150 were by Popdudes, the Jellybricks, and the Lolas. The original CD is long, long out of print, but remains available as a download from Futureman Records. We really oughtta look into a CD reissue of Volume 1 some day.)
ANNY CELSI: Empty Hangers
Oh God, I love this song, from songer-songwriter Anny Celsi's 2003 album Little Black Dress & Other Stories. It's like a pop record written by Mickey Spillane, and it was my introduction to Celsi's magic talent. It was predestined that "Emptry Hangers" would find its way ontoThis Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3 in 2013.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3 was our first with Ray Gianchetti's label Kool Kat Musik. Ray gave us carte blanche to assemble Volume 3 and its successors, and we took that as license to stuff the disc with Fave Raves by Mannix, the Tearjerkers, Blotto, Hawaii Mud Bombers, and the Catholic Girls. And Anny Celsi! "Empty Hangers" is absolutely one of the defining tracks of TIRnRR.(The other This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3 tracks we played this week were by Steve Stoeckel and his This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio All-Stars, Mannix, and Hawaii Mud Bombers. We also played Michael Carpenter's "I've Been Loving You" from his 2015 album The Big Radio; that track first appeared on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3. Like Volume 1, the CD of Volume 3 is out of print, but remains available as a Futureman Records digital album.)
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING THE PALEY BROTHERS: Come Out And Play
The mighty Big Stir Records label has become a playlist perennial here, placing at least one track (and usually more) in almost every one of our weekly shows. That's been the case since even before Big Stir started releasing singles by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. But, y'know, releasing Flashcubes singles doesn't exactly hurt, dig?
That trend will continue. Looking ahead to next week's show, I see three Big Stir tracks firmly perched within the playlist, including one brand-new track, one other track from earlier this year, and--obviously!--this fab current single by the Flashcubes featuring the Paley Brothers. We thank our friends at Big Stir for their role in getting us new music to play from my favorite group.
MR. ENCRYPTO: The Last Time [a cappella]
I have mixed feelings about 2006's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2. It has a lot of great stuff, and it features an absolutely incredible '90s track by the Cowsills. I mean, whatever else we do or don't do with this little mutant radio show, Dana and I can puff with pride at the memory of the Cowsills letting us use one of their greatest songs on one of our CDs.
But whatever fond recollections I have of Volume 2 come equipped with an asterisk. It did not turn out like what we envisioned; there were disagreements with the label, nothing earth-shattering, but enough to change the result. Let’s let it go at that. I still have a big box of unsold Volume 2 CDs in my garage, and we wound up parting company (amicably) with JAM Recordings after its release. Dana may not share my disappointment with Volume 2, and the CD does have a bunch of very cool tracks contained within its digital grooves. Honestly, Volume 2 deserves better appreciation than what I'm saying about it now. Mixed feelings. Mixed feelings.
For TIRnRR # 1150, we programmed Volume 2 treats by the Spongetones, the Fire Apes, the B.A.R., and Tim Anthony. And we played a non-album expanded mix of Mr. Encrypto's amazing Volume 2 cut "The Last Time [a cappella]," a stunning vocals-only recording that still gives me chills to experience.
(The This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2 CD is officially out of print, but you can buy it from me on eBay. C'mon! Help me clean out my garage! You can also, of course, get the Futureman download.)
THE WONDERS: That Thing You Do!
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE RUBINOOS: Nowheresville
Over the course of a whole lot of years doing this, TIRnRR has given us an extraordinary opportunity to connect with so many great artists whom we've admired for an even greater number of years. Our five TIRnRR comps have included contributions from the likes of the Cowsills, the Spongetones, Paul Collins' Beat, the Smithereens, John Wicks and the Records, Carolyne Mas, the Catholic Girls, the Grip Weeds, the Rooks, P. Hux, and Amy Rigby, as well as work from members of the Pandoras, Blondie, the Bee Gees, the Stems, and a big ol' list of more. We have been very lucky, and we are well aware of our good fortune.
I've been a fan of the Rubinoos since I was a senior in high school, during that same Spring '77 timeshot when I saw the Patti Smith Group on The Mike Douglas Show. I heard the Rubinoos on the radio (AM and FM), saw them on American Bandstand, and purchased their debut album. And their second album. And more after that.
Flash-forward: many years later, I wrote the entry for the Rubinoos' induction into The Power Pop Hall Of Fame. I've corresponded a little with Tommy Dunbar and Al Chan; Tommy saw that we were playing Beserkley Records-era Rubinoos material from a source he felt was substandard, so he upgraded us to the boxed set Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The Rubinoos. Well...all right!
And, best of all, the Rubinoos let us use their luxurious pop pulp noir track "Nowheresville" on 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. That story is told here. And we remain grateful for this ongoing opportunity. With such continued good fortune, that's how we do it here in Somewheresville.
(This week's playlist also included Volume 4 tracks by Circe Link and Christian Nesmith, the Slapbacks, and the Hit Squad. Both the CD and the download can still be grabbed and loved by discerning rockin' pop fans.)
THE VILLAS: Someone To Hold On To
One more from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. The Villas' previously-unreleased masterpiece "Someone To Hold On To" is not only a gorgeous and endlessly inviting pop number, it also served a specific purpose for Volume 5's concept.
Volume 5's sequence and flow was inspired in part by a song cycle I did several years ago. I like the idea of assembling songs from different artists, and letting the songs chat with one another. A girl speaks. A boy speaks. A girl speaks. A boy speaks. And a story unfolds.
As This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 plays, the girls and boys take turns relating where they think they are and what this place looks like today. And then, a girl and a boy speak together: Angie and Bill Villa. At last, after all was said and done, they had found someone to hold on to. As the Villas dance off together, our Volume 5 concludes with the wistful determination of Amy Rigby's "Tom Petty Karaoke" and, of course, Brother Eytan Mirsky.
There is something to hold on to. Maybe we never thought we'd find it. Maybe it's still out there (as Ballzy Tomorrow's Volume 5 track suggests), awaiting discovery. But it exists. Hold on. We'll get to it yet.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
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