10 SONGS: 12/16/2023

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 # 1211. This show is available as a podcast.

SCOTT KEMPNER: Livin' With Her, Livin' With Me

When news broke that Scott Kempner had passed, I felt compelled to add his former group the Dictators' "(I Live For) Cars And Girls" into last week's SUMMER IN DECEMBER!  special, and I knew we should spotlight Kempner as our Featured Performer this week. Between his solo work and his work with the Dictators and the Del-Lords, there was no shortage of compelling material to pull together in compiling a proper tribute to Scott Kempner.

We opened with a track from Tenement Angels, a Kempner solo album released in 1992. Kempner showed exquisite taste in selecting America's Coolest Band the Skeletons to join him for the making of Tenement Angels and to support him on the record's tour. 

The tandem Tenement Angels tour did make it to Syracuse, and I was right primed for that show. Alas, some circumstance prevented Kempner from getting here, so the Skeletons performed without him. The Skeletons were amazing, as they always were, and I was beyond  delighted to see them again, but disappointed that I couldn't see Kempner, too. 

That experience had to be deferred.

WINGS: Again And Again And Again

For pop fans my age--old enough to remember the Beatles' impact firsthand, too young to experience new Beatles music on the radio as adolescents and teens--the late Denny Laine was an integral part of our AM Top 40 experience. 

That is not a small thing. My allegiance to AM Top 40 in the '70s is the largest part of why I wanted to do radio in the first place, why I wound up writing about rock 'n' roll music, why I committed to the clinically dunderheaded idea of maintaining a daily blog. Syracuse's WOLF-AM and WNDR-AM filled my young ears with possibilities. Denny Laine was an active participant in those possibilities.

I didn't know his name at the time, at least not initially. But I knew some of his work, playing alongside a former Beatle. With Paul and Linda McCartney themselves, Laine was the only other consistent member in all incarnations of Wings. Yeah, sure, everyone thought of Wings as Paul's group, and for good reason. The presence of a Beatle does kinda draw one's focus. 

But Wings wouldn't have been a band at all without Denny Laine.

So I heard Laine on the radio, playing his part in Wings hits from "My Love" to "Hi Hi Hi" to "Helen Wheels" to "Live And Let Die" and more. I saw him on TV, strum-syncing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" on The Flip Wilson Show, appearing with the band on the special James Paul McCartney. And if I didn't know Laine's name before, I certainly knew it by the time of the Wings Over America tour in 1976.

No, I didn't see Wings live; the tour didn't come anywhere near enough to Syracuse for this sixteen-year-old to even consider that possibility. But I read as much as I could about it, and that research informed me that Wings' concerts included Laine performing "Go Now!," which had been a huge hit for our Denny in 1965, when he was with the Moody Blues.

Instant respect. And it inspired me to track down and purchase my own copy of "Go Now!," the only bit of Moody Blues vinyl I've ever owned.

"Again And Again And Again" is a Denny Laine song from 1979's Back To The Egg, the final Wings album. It did not get AM radio play, and by '79 I wasn't listening to AM anymore anyway. I came to the song much later--in our current millennium--and I think Denny Laine may have performed it when I saw him play in 2016.

And I love it. It reminds me of the splendor of the AM Top 40 that so captivated me in the '70s, particularly of Badfinger, or like the Badfinger tangent "Don't Know What You're Doing" by the Dodgers, which didn't get much AM or FM play, but should have. As we bid farewell to Denny Laine, it seemed appropriate to spin "Again And Again And Again" on the radio.

Paul McCartney was in a group after the Beatles. Denny Laine was in that group. Wings take flight. Hear 'em soar. Thank you, Denny.

THE ARMOIRES: Music & Animals

The Armoires' new single "Music & Animals" provides a lovely tease of their forthcoming new album, a record this little mutant radio show is very eager to hear (and play). For the moment, though, "Music & Animals" is part of a sublime new compilation album called Embers Of Aloha: A Maui Wildfire Benefit Project. The damage the wildfires inflicted upon Maui and its people is heartbreaking, and we urge you to buy the benefit album (an act of giving that gives back), and/or to consider a direct donation via Operation USA (or whatever charitable infrastructure you favor). 

Meanwhile, both This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio and our SPARK! comrade Rich Firestone on Radio Deer Camp played "Music & Animals" this week. And on this coming Sunday, December 17th, Radio Deer Camp will be playing more tracks from Embers Of Aloha, an idea so great that we're stealing it. We're thieves, but we're thieves with a vision...and a purpose! Expect lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots of Embers Of Aloha--eight different tracks in all--on SPARK! this Sunday, starting on Radio Deer Camp from 5 to 7 pm Eastern, and beginning again at 9 pm when we kick off our next TIRnRR with another spin of "Music & Animals." For Maui. For our friends on The Time Machine. For all of us, from all of us, and back again. 

Mahalo.

THE GRIP WEEDS: 2000 Miles

I'm very rarely ready for Christmas music before Christmas week. Your sleigh mileage may vary. But even though my eight-year-old self absolutely embodied the title role in our third grade production of How The Grinch Stole Christmas in 1968, my heart grows three sizes with thoughts of the Grip Weeds' newly-reissued holiday album Under The Influence Of Christmas. Deck the halls with Buddy Holly! This week's show included the Grip Weeds' cover of the Pretenders' "2000 Miles," and we'll return to Under The Influence Of Christmas come December 24th, with The 25th Annual THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Christmas Show. 

Humbugs need not apply.

PERILOUS: Band-Aid

Yes! Or rather: YEAH!!! That's the title of the freshly-released first album from Perilous, and we approve of this message. YEAH!!! includes all of your past Perilous Fave Raves (like the utterly fantastic "Rock & Roll Kiss," which also appeared on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5) and other new irresistibles you may have seen them play live (like at my book release party in May, or on the bill with the Grip Weeds, 1.4.5., and Kenne Highland's Airforce in October). IF you've been fortunate enough to witness a Perilous live show. Whatta band!

Perilous is a rock 'em sock 'em New York State supergroup, with drummer Paul (from Syracuse!), lead singer Pauline (from Buffalo!), bassist Renee (from none of your damned business!), and guitarist Bob Cat (from the entire Empire State!). One of the highlights of Perilous shows has been their rendition of "Band-Aid," a song originally done by Paul's previous group, the Trend. The Trend's "Band-Aid" is an unassailable classic of Syracuse punk and new wave; with the inimitable Pauline taking over lead vocals, Perlious' rendition carries the song's legacy with pride and distinction.

THE RAMONES: Judy Is A Punk

As I said about "Judy Is A Punk" in a piece celebrating my 25 favorite Ramones tracks: "Pure Ramones. I mean, one of the purest--if not the purest--of all Ramones tracks. No waste. No clutter. Just a minute and thirty-one seconds of everything great about the Ramones: the tempo, the hooks, the defiant melody, the inherent sense of pop history (including a Herman's Hermits quote), the backing ooooos, the absolute Ramonesness of it all. 1:31. Not a second to spare. Perfect."

About a minute and a half of pure punk (and pop) perfection. With the May publication of my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, I've been referring to 2023 as my year of the Ramones. But, of course, I wrote a book about the Ramones because every year is, for me, another exuberant year of the Ramones. Ever since my first spin of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in 1977. I wouldn't have it any other way.

THE DICTATORS: Who Will Save Rock & Roll?

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE DEL-LORDS: Cheyenne

After the Dicators, Scott Kempner formed his own group, the Del-Lords. I don't recall hearing the Del-Lords' 1984 debut album Frontier Days contemporaneously to its release (though I presume it must have gotten some airplay on Buffalo's WBNY-FM). I heard the group's next two albums--1986's Johnny Comes Marching Home and 1988's Based On A True Story--courtesy of the Liverpool Public Library after I moved back to Syracuse in '87. I was taken with the former's "Saint Jake" and the latter's "Judas Kiss," but the Based On A True Story track "Cheyenne" was easily my first favorite Del-Lords song. 

Sweeping. Elegiac, but down to Earth even in its Panavision Americana. I guess dreams were invented by God in His infinite mercy. A Dictator rides the high plains.

THE DEL-LORDS: About You

Scott Kempner eventually made up his missed Syracuse date, albeit without accompaniment from the Skeletons. My memory says it was a solo acoustic gig at the same Armory Square venue (known at various times in the '90s as Club Zodiac and Styleen's Rhythm Palace) where he'd been scheduled to play with the Skeletons. I believe it was part of the Zodiac/Styleen's Syracuse Songwriters' Showcase series, which presented songwriters playing their own tunes in an unplugged format. 

Please remember that my memory is not currently under oath.

Over the course of many different evenings, Syracuse Songwriters' Showcase included acoustic performances by 3/4 of the Flashcubes (Paul Armstrong, Gary Frenay, and Arty Lenin, sans drummer Tommy Allen, in a set I believe was a defining moment in the 'Cubes' eventual return [and the road to Pop Masters, my favorite album of 2023]), Chris von Sneidern, Ani DiFranco, Kate Jacobs, and others, both local and not local. It's possible that DiFranco and Jacobs played on the same night Kempner played. But like I said: Not under oath here.

I very much enjoyed Kempner's set, but the only specific I can recall is his performance of a Del-Lords song called "About You." I was not at all familiar with "About You" (from the Del-Lords' 1990 album Lovers Who Wander) before witnessing Kempner at Armory Square, but man alive, it was friggin' riveting. You can call it a song about love, maybe a song about obsession or devotion. Whatever else it is, "About You" is a tribute to the pervasive and prevailing allure of one classic 45:

"Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen.

Not the original by Richard Berry. Not Rockin' Robin Roberts, not the mighty Paul Revere and the Raiders, not the Sonics, not Rice University Marching Owls, and for damned sure not the Kinks (whose "Louie Louie" is the most egregious example of one of THE all-time great rock 'n' roll bands making a shitty record). No. The Kingsmen, back in nineteen-sixty-X. Let's give it to 'em, right now.

Watching Kempner play "About You" in Syracuse, I was caught up in the music fan's reverence for one song, the importance of that reverence, how that connection can feel like a platform for more, a springboard for even more still. The connection may be an illusion, the platform precarious, the springboard a leap into nothingness. But we feel it. We play the song. We hear the music. The connection's there, regardless of whether or not it exists in any real sense. Believing in the connection is of greater importance than verifying its veracity.

Scott Kempner believed. That belief informed his work, and it connected with others who also wanted to believe. Oh yeah oh yeah. In "About You," the familiar riff is only implied--y'know, that riff, the one invented by the Kingsmen in (let's face it) inept approximation of Rockin' Robin Roberts, yet an immortal template thereafter--but not delivered until the song's end. 

BADADA-BADA-BADADAA!

The connection endures. Let's go!

THE MOODY BLUES: Go Now!

We've already said goodbye. Godspeed, Denny Laine.

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: 7/8/2021

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.

For this week's epic July 4th blowout, we presented a countdown of TIRnRR's 55 all-time most played artists, with each artist's all-time # 1 most-played track. Thanks again to the mighty Fritz Van Leaven for programming the countdown. And in the spirit of the countdown, we'll have three editions of 10 Songs this week, celebrating our 30 most-played acts with their most-played songs. As befits a greatest-hits revue, most of the individual song entries have been seen before on this blog, with maybe a couple of previously-unreleased selections as needed.

You can read part one of this trilogy here. This second of this week's three celebratory 10 Songs begins with the second of two acts tied at # 20 among our most-played artists.

20 [tie]. THE JAM: In The City

In the summer of 1978, as I tried to reassemble my own scattered pieces after a tumultuous freshman year in college, I got a job at Penn-Can Mall. I was a part-time morning maintenance man--i.e., a janitor--at Sears, part of a mostly-young crew that cleaned the store each AM prior to the start of the business day. My friend Tom was on the crew, and he helped me get the job to begin with. Money in my pocket. I could go out, see bands, try to be better. 

Great. Fine. Worthy goals! But let's not forget the reason God created cash in the first place: I could buy records.

I still tried to stay within a reasonable budget. But c'mon, I now worked under the same big ol' roof as a Gerber Music store! I wouldn't and couldn't resist the allure of import 45s at Gerber. My preferred rock magazines--Bomp!, Trouser Press, and CREEM--gave me an information pipeline to some of what was out there. I read about the U.K. punk/power pop group Generation X, and snapped up their "Ready Steady Go" and "Your Generation" singles at Gerber. I may have gotten my red-vinyl 45 of the Rich Kids' "Rich Kids" and/or the single of Rich Kids bassist Glen Matlock's former group the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" on one of my frequent Penn-Can Sears-to-Gerber beelines. Beyond punk, the sight of George Thorogood and the Destroyers on TV's Midnight Special prompted a cash transaction at Gerber to secure my copy of the "Move It On Over"/"It Wasn't Me" single. I also bought teen pop star Shaun Cassidy's hit single "Hey Deanie" and local group the Alligators' "I Try And I Try." My main interests were rock 'n' roll, punk, new wave, and (especially) power pop. But I wasn't strict. If I liked something, I liked it.

My specific interest in power pop was stoked by Bomp! magazine, which had published a special power pop issue earlier in '78. Gospel to me. And it turned out Syracuse combo the Flashcubes' idea of punk kinda dovetailed with a power-pop approach, evidenced by their original songs and their chosen covers, of acts like the Kinks, the Raspberries, Big Star, Badfinger, the Hollies, and the early Who alongside your prerequisite punks the Sex Pistols. Their originals were fantastic, and they had excellent taste in covers.

And they covered the Jam, a great new British group that came out of punk but were clearly and proudly beholden to the model of '60s Mod, particularly the Who. The Flashcubes covered at least three of the Jam's many fine tunes: "The Modern World," "In The City," and "I Need You (For Someone)." Following my own weird introduction to the Jam's music, my fascination with them had grown by leaps and bounds. I bought the Jam's U.S. single of "I Need You (For Someone)"/"In The City" while away at school, and dutifully trekked to Gerber after Sears shifts that summer to snag import 45s of "The Modern World" and "All Around The World." 

Years later, my wife Brenda and I were watching a collection of Jam videos. As the image showed the lads slamming their way through "In The City" in 1977, Brenda remarked, "They remind me of the Flashcubes." As well they should. Pop with power. In the city there's a thousand things I wanna say to you.

19. THE SMALL FACES: Tin Soldier

The Jam were also influenced by '60s Brits the Small Faces, whom the Who's Pete Townshend cited along with the Beach Boys and his own group of guitar-smashers when he coined the phrase "power pop" in 1967. "Tin Soldier" isn't in the same power-pop landscape as earlier Small Faces tracks like "All Or Nothing" or "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" or "Whatcha Gonna Do 'Bout It," which were 1965-66 Decca Records singles. With the group moved to the Immediate label, 1967's "Tin Soldier" is headier, less overtly pop, a follow-up to their we'll-get-HIGH! anthem "Itchykoo Park," the sound of a group on its way to Ogden's Nut Gone Flake.

18. DAVID BOWIE: Queen Bitch

When Dana and I were guests on The Spoon in May, I mentioned how the death of David Bowie in 2016 somehow compelled me to start a daily blog, a foolish commitment that has nonetheless never missed a day yet. Hosts Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers joked that they'd be worried if each daily blog post was still about Bowie, but while there'd certainly plenty to worry about where I'm concerned, I actually did just the one, and then one updated version of it. The vast majority of Bowie's TIRnRR airplay has been courtesy of Dana, including our # 1 Bowie track "Queen Bitch," from Bowie At The Beeb.

17. ASTROPUPPEES: Over Her Head

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio has been happily aboard the Kelley Ryan bandwagon since 2001, when Kelley (then recording under the boppin' dba astroPuppees) placed a track on Shoe Fetish, a fabulous tribute to the pop group Shoes. We began to correspond with Kelley, and astroPuppees' first TIRnRR spin was from Shoe Fetish, a cover of Shoes' "The Tube." Soon thereafter, we started playing a song called "Don't Be" (from astroPuppees' 1996 album You Win The Bride), which I recalled hearing in the 1997 TV movie Friends 'Til The End. Friends 'Til The End was a movie I originally wanted to see because our pals Cockeyed Ghost made a don't-BLINK! cameo appearance. And in the film, actress Shannen Doherty lip-syncs to a made-for-TV cover of astroPuppees' "Don't Be." 

We've gone on to play many, many more astroPuppees and Kelley Ryan tracks many, many times over the course of these last two decades. Her current single "The Church Of Laundry" is a shoo-in for 2021's year-end countdown. And "Over Her Head," the lead-off track from astroPuppees' 2001 album Little Chick Tsunami, remains Kelley's biggest TIRnRR hit among her many TIRnRR hits.

16. THE PRETENDERS: Talk Of The Town

In the '70s and '80s (and still sporadically since then), it wasn't at all unusual for me to read about an artist well before I heard any bit of their music. I read about the Pretenders (probably in Trouser Press), and I was intrigued about news of this four-piece, with female lead, whose first single was produced by Nick Lowe. Oh, and that first single was a Kinks cover, "Stop Your Sobbing," so the rock rags had done their due diligence in attracting my interest in these Pretenders. I missed seeing "Stop Your Sobbing" on retail racks, but snapped up the Pretenders' second single "Kid" at first opportunity. 

And...I didn't like it.

I mean, not at first. Can't explain the why or why not. I got fully on board by the time debut LP Pretenders hit the shops, and I was a full-on Pretenders fan in short order. Saw 'em live at Syracuse nightclub Uncle Sam's in 1980, with opening act the Necessaries (featuring guitar god Chris Spedding!). Great show, though one of my principle memories of it is watching Chrissie Hynde on-stage as she told a concert-goer to hit the road. "You! OUT!!" Talk of the town.

"Talk Of The Town" wasn't on that debut album, though most of us owned it subsequently as part of the Extended Play EP the Pretenders released in '81, a stopgap between Pretenders and Pretenders II. Pretenders II reprised "Talk Of The Town" and its EP comrade "Message Of Love," but the rock magazines declared the album a step down from the debut. And who were we to disagree? The original quartet disintegrated after that, and drug use killed bassist Pete Farndon and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. Drummer Martin Chambers returned with Hynde for 1984's Learning To Crawl. 

15. SEX CLARK FIVE: Fool I Was

Huntsville, Alabama's phenomenal pop combo Sex Clark Five began their reign of quirky brilliance in the ‘80s, commencing with 1987’s Strum & Drum! album. Masters of short songs with unconventional titles (e.g., “Too Much Mongol Business,” “The Men Who Didn’t Know Ice,” “The Wreck Of The Ella Fitzgerald”) and hook piled upon hook piled upon hook, they have remained consistent purveyors of intelligent, catchy pop tunes that are utterly, uniquely Sex Clark Five. They continue unabated today. "Fool I Was" is my top SC5 pick, and one of TIRnRR's defining tracks.

14. PAUL McCARTNEY: Maybe I'm Amazed

My favorite Paul McCartney solo track. "Maybe I'm Amazed" is the equal of anything the Beatles did from 1967 on, fully worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of Abbey Road, and better than anything on Let It Be (and I do like Let It Be, honest!).

13. THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne

Where and from whom did I first hear about the Spongetones? My gut and aging memory both claim I learned about the fabulous 'Tones online from my friend Greg Ogarrio in the early '90s. Greg was among a handful of power pop pals I met via Prodigy, an online service that flourished briefly and then disappeared entirely. Prodigy was my introduction to the wonder of the internet, and it was through Prodigy's auspices that I found myself within a small pop community, talking about things like Big Star and the Raspberries, trading mix tapes, and trying to turn new friends on to personal fave raves. I introduced Greg to the music of the Flashcubes. Greg introduced me to the music of the Spongetones. We both did pretty well in that exchange.

"(My Girl) Maryanne" is a Steve Stoeckel composition from the group's 1984 EP Torn Apart. Its matrix was crafted in Liverpool, a root design shared by the Knickerbockers, Utopia, and all things Fab, assembled with justifiable pride in the U.S.A. The influence is evident and eager, yet more than mere imitation, in the same sense that the Beatles' "Thank You, Girl" was more than a mere imitation of the Isley Brothers. It's something new. 

And it's irresistible. The guitars combust, the harmonies sail, the beat and the music surge, and the singer expresses his own giddy delight in the rat-a-tat sound of his chatty lover's extended soliloquy. Pop songs that complain about a woman who talks too much are a dime a dozen; in "(My Girl) Maryanne," Maryanne has a lot to say, and not enough minutes in the day. Our hero hangs on each syllable, reveling in the reward of how every word makes him love her more. YES! The word is love. And that love is as pure as the pop music we adore. Keep talking, Maryanne.

12. THE HOLLIES: I Can't Let Go

Oh I try and I try but I can't say GOODBYE!

A perfect pop record. There has never been a more exquisitely constructed pop single than "I Can't Let Go" by the Hollies. It aches with longing, apprehension, and anticipation, soars with possibility, teases a promise of redemption, and hints at a hope that maybe--just maybe--we might actually get the girl when all is said and sung. Harmonies. Guitars! Love. A perfect pop record? That's selling it short.

There was a three-year span on TIRnRR where I decided I wanted to pursue some long-form programming gimmick throughout the course of a year. In 2009, we did The 50 KISS Strategy, which was a promise to play 50 different KISS tracks between New Year's Day and New Year's Eve. We dedicated 2011 to 301 Songs About 301 Girls, a very well-received effort to play a whole bunch of songs with girls' names in the title.

In between KISS and the girls, 2010 brought us The Hundred Hollies Initiative. We announced the gimmick with the playlist for our 1/10/2010 show:

Beginning with our spotlight on the Hollies last week, we have made a solemn vow to play 100 different Hollies tracks on TIRnRR before the end of 2010. A daunting task? You betcha! But the Hollies have a lot of terrific tracks to choose from, so we should be equal to the task.  Besides, the price of failure is too terrible to consider: if we fail in our effort to play 100 different Hollies tracks this year, our penance will be to play something so horrible, so SICKENING that it offends the mind, the heart and the soul. I can barely bring myself to type it, but it must be entered into the public record:

If we play less than 100 different Hollies tracks this year, then we've gotta play "Old Time Rock And Roll" by Bob Seger as our punishment. (Y'know, it's difficult to type while holding one's nose.) But don't worry! We won't let you down! We've played 16 Hollies tracks already, so it's only 84 to go. You can count on us! We hope....

Yeah. We made dead certain to play 101 different Hollies tracks. Just to be sure. And that's part of the reason the Hollies are among our all-time most-played artists.

And here's to the power of radio. Our friend and listener Rich Firestone credits the Hundred Hollies Initiative with rekindling his own interest in the Hollies. Radio's job is to sell records. We were happy to do our part.

11. KISS: Calling Dr. Love

Trying to satisfy the voracious hunger of a daily blog means I'm constantly kicking around ideas that may or may not lead me to write something. One idea I've noted but not yet pursued is called "The Idea Of KISS." That would be about how I have greater affection for KISS as an abstract (if you will) than I have for their actual records or performances. This is not to say that I don't like KISS. KISS was my first rock concert, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will include a chapter on "Shout It Out Loud," I still wear my KISS t-shirt pretty regularly, and I'm always eager to get right back in the face of any punter who dares to question my right to like KISS if I want to like KISS. 

But my love of KISS is not on the level of my love of the Beatles, the Ramones, the Monkees, the Kinks, the Flashcubes, or any of dozens of other acts. I have a sporadic blog series called All-Time Top 25, wherein I talk about my 25 favorite tracks by a designated artist. I've published All-Time Top 25s about the Beatles, the Monkees, and Paul McCartney, and I've begun drafts of still more: the Hollies, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones...and KISS. The Stones piece is a placeholder, but I'll have no trouble coming up with a long list of great tracks that I'll need to narrow to a mere 25. The Hollies' short list is currently 28. The Kinks' short list is 48! 

With KISS, I only have 20 songs listed, and even a few of those are a stretch. I could do a rock-solid Top 10, and it would include some obscurities as well as some of the more familiar KISS tunes. But my passion for the music of KISS simply doesn't match my interest in the idea of KISS. It's complicated. But I love it loud. And I love "Calling Dr. Love," which would absolutely be in that above-mentioned rock-solid KISS Top 10. It was my first KISS favorite, from my first KISS album (Rock And Roll Over), which my sister Denise gave me as a high school graduation gift in 1977.

I'm used to people rolling their eyes whenever I say something positive about KISS. When that happens, I have a wide variety of two-word replies at the ready, and I usually settle on "Okay, then," because I'm, y'know...polite. 

I like KISS. I don't like 'em without reservation, and I don't bother trying to make excuses for bassist Gene Simmons and his frequently boorish behavior. I don't like everything they've done (nor even most of it), but what I like, I like a lot. Call the doctor. The doctor is in.

This 10 Songs trilogy concludes here tomorrow, with TIRnRR's all-time Top 10 most-played artists. Anxious about who edged out KISS to take the # 10 spot? Don't worry, baby.

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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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10 SONGS: 1/19/2021

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 is drawn exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1060.

THE CATHOLIC GIRLS: Someone New

I saw the video for The Catholic Girls' early '80s single "Boys Can Cry" on MTV, probably just once; I didn't have cable at the time, and just happened to catch it when I was staying at my parents' house for a visit. I liked the song, but it was my only exposure to the group until many years later. 

Some time in (I think) the '90s, I picked up a used copy of Catholic Girls, the LP that gave the world "Boys Can Cry," and discovered that I liked its lead-off track "Someone New" even more than I liked "Boys Can Cry." I don't remember if I got the album in time to play a track on any of the pre-This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio Dana & Carl radio shows 1992-95 or so. But The Catholic Girls certainly became a presence on TIRnRR. I began corresponding with the group's guitarist Gail Petersen around 1999 (when that debut album was reissued on CD), and we ran with it, and with their sublime 21st century recordings, too. They even let us use "Should Have Been Mine" (from their 2005 album Meet The Catholic Girls) on our 2013 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3. Heaven, here we come!

And now, The Catholic Girls have a new two-CD archival set, Rock N' Roll School For Girls, which tethers together one disc of demos and alternate takes with a disc of The Best Of The Catholic Girls. Bless us. We played the demo version of "Someone New" on this week's show.

THE COASTERS: Yakety Yak

Is "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters the single best-ever song about the generation gap? Yes. Unequivocally. You can argue on behalf of The Who's "My Generation," but that track falls short of The Coasters' wiseass pinnacle. Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is a very close second, but even You can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick can't quite match Tell your hoodlum friends outside you ain't got time to take no ride. "Yakety Yak." Don't talk back.

(And, in a minor bit of pop culture serendipity, this week's playlist was settled and the show recorded prior to the Friday premiere of the new Marvel Comics TV show WandaVision on Disney+. The first episode of WandaVision makes specific and effective use of "Yakety Yak," and if we were doing live shows instead of prerecorded remote shows, the song's appearance on WandaVision would have probably influenced me to include it on our show, too. Happy coincidence.)

THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise

In January of 1978--43 years ago this month--The Flashcubes for the first time. Guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay, and drummer Tommy Allen created a Wall Of Noise that captured my attention at first pummel. They've been one of my all-time favorite groups ever since. My eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) includes a chapter about The Flashcubes' most extraordinary shoulda-been-a-hit gem, "No Promise:"

The Flashcubes. Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. I saw my first Flashcubes show in January of 1978. That night ranks with seeing The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night at the drive-in in 1964 and the first time I heard The Ramones' "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in 1977 to form my Holy Trinity of rock 'n' roll epiphanies.

All politics is local. The same could be said of musical combos, the local rock group down the street that's trying hard to learn their song. In the garages, in the clubs, in practice spaces, school dances, rec hall hops, coffeehouses, open fields, and cellars full of noise, plugged in or unplugged, sparks ignite when someone says Let's put on a show! Aping Chuck Berry or Chuck D, Joan Jett or Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones or The Banana Splits, mighty things can happen when a musician near you starts to play.

In Zion, Illinois. In Minneapolis. Fort Worth. Nashville. Arlington. Bethesda, Maryland. Springfield, Missouri. Toronto. Liverpool. Osaka. Don't forget the Motor City. The beat goes on, and renews itself everywhere. Sweat and adrenaline, soft drinks or beer, virtue and vice, the love of a sound, an urge to participate. Band, meet audience. Audience, meet the band.

A lot of the great local acts across the decades, across the country, and across the globe should have become household names. Most remained obscure. In the eyes of their fans, though, they were stars. Stars.

Just like The Flashcubes are stars to me...

...The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones channeled Chuck Berry to build something new. The Ramones took inspiration from The Beach Boys to make glue-sniffing into potential AM radio fare. Gary Frenay took the inspiration of Raspberries' Best--the horny singles ("Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Tonight," and "Ecstasy") written by The Raspberries' Eric Carmen--and wrote "No Promise." 

How do you see me?

Do you trust what you see?

Don't you know it's not easy

Being what I'm trying to be?

Guess I'm just a romantic

I only wanna fall in love

But you do something to me that I never thought I'd feel

And it makes it harder to say

No promise

No guarantee

No promise, baby

You'll never get one from me

Pure pop, earnest in its goals and earthy in its desires, a bruised heart stapled to a torn sleeve. The guitars from Armstrong and Lenin cut, slice, and soar above love and lust, Tommy Allen's propulsive drumming could drive a freakin' rocket to the moon, Frenay's deep bass lines and sweet vocals agree to disagree on their differences, and everyone rocks the house with the seismic authority of the San Andreas Fault. The shimmering, incandescent result embodies the Bomp! magazine power pop ideal: power pop means pop with power, not some whimpering simp in a Beatles haircut...

Yeah. I do like The Flashcubes.

NEIL HEFTI: The Batman Theme

The Batman TV series debuted 55 years ago this month, and six-year-old me had his life changed by that colorful explosion of POP and POW! in short order. Although the CD collection The Music Of DC Comics: Volume 2 credits this version of "The Batman Theme" to the song's author Neil Hefti (who did record it), it is actually the TV version, performed by Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. This is the version I consider definitive, and it's the one discussed in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

I grew up in a time when TV theme songs routinely entered the public consciousness. The catchy ditties that opened shows like Gilligan's Island, F Troop, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Patty Duke Show, and Car 54, Where Are You? weren't hit records in the usual sense, but within our shared pop culture they were nonetheless as big as any 45 spinning on the radio. 

Many theme songs were sufficiently hook-laden to prompt release as a single, sometimes by the original artist and sometimes in cover versions, and sometimes to chart success. The Cowsills' swell cover of "Love American Style" wasn't a hit, but it should have been, and it remains a staple of their live act. The Ventures, Perry Como, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Rivers all made the Top 40 with their respective renditions of themes from Hawaii Five-0, Here Come The Brides, Peter Gunn, and Secret Agent Man. Television tunes continued to maintain a radio presence throughout the '70s and '80s. In June of 1995, The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There For You," the theme from the NBC sitcom Friends, was the # 1 song on radio the week my daughter was born. I thought that was appropriate, and pretty cool.

The campy 1966 Batman TV series had a seismic effect on me when I was six. No other television program could ever equal Batman's lasting impact on impressionable li'l me, creating a life-long interest in comic books and superheroes in general, and in the Caped Crusader specifically. I didn't understand that the show kinda poked fun at the character, because actor Adam West played the title role straight, and to perfection. As West said decades later in a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory: "I never had to say 'I'M BATMAN!' When I showed up, people knew who the hell I was...."

One evening in 2016, when I was chatting with actor/comic/voice artist/singer/swell person Tom Kenny, he told me about the time he introduced Neil Hefti to the great voice actor Gary Owens, which is a tough story to top in casual conversation. Best I could manage was, "I once got a phone call from Joey Ramone!" It's the only item on my standing-next-to-greatness resumé, so Tom politely let me have the imaginary win. Like I said: swell person.

THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night

It's important to note the significance of "All Day And All Of The Night" in the story of how I became a fan of The Kinks. "Lola" was the first Kinks song I ever knew. My sister's copy of The Live Kinks was the first Kinks album I ever saw. But "All Day And All Of The Night" was the first Kinks track I ever owned, contained on the 2-LP compilation History Of British Rock Vol. 2 I received as a Christmas present in 1976, less than a month prior to my 17th birthday. Essential. And loud! The track was also on my first Kinks LP, Kinks-Size, purchased early in '77. I've accumulated a few more Kinks tracks since then.

PAUL McCARTNEY: Another Day

A previous post about my all-time top 25 favorite post-Beatles Paul McCartney songs included "Another Day" in its roll of honor: 

When your first band is the greatest rock 'n' roll group of all time...man, how do you follow that? Paul McCartney was about 28 years old when The Beatles rolled up their Long And Winding Road and filed it away. What now? 28 is an awfully early age to start your twilight years, to just do nothing, no matter how much money you've made. So McCartney re-invented himself. It wasn't a radical re-invention; he was still the Cute One who'd sung "Blackbird" and "Yesterday," the pop balladeer with a wink and a smile. But he was also the keen songwriter who'd chronicled a disintegrating love affair with such devastating precision in "For No One" on Revolver. The 1971 non-LP single "Another Day" is a spiritual descendant of "For No One," similarly telling a sad, so sad story of a lonely life yearning for meaning and connection.

MELANIE AND THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

Why am I suddenly obsessed with this song? Part of the answer is its newly-minted availability to me: it was on a CD-R I received in December from Radio Deer Camp host Rich Firestone, and a spin of that rekindled my interest in a song I always loved. It also reminded me that I had a little crush on Melanie when I was a pre-teen, and it immersed me in a belated realization of how friggin' transcendent The Edwin Hawkins Singers are as they back up Ms. Safka on a simply incredible, transcendent recording. There's a great YouTube clip of them performing the song together on a TV show in The Netherlands, I will not deny my obsession, and the track is gonna be in my GREM! book. Lay down already.

POP CO-OP: You Don't Love Me Anymore

We love Pop Co-Op, as evidenced by how much airplay we eagerly gave to their two albums (so far), 2017's Four State Solution and 2020's Factory Settings. I have a lot of Pop Co-Op fave raves, but it occurs to me that "You Don't Love Me Anymore" is my fave among faves. The lads gave us use of the track for 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, and there's something about it that resonates. I know I'm generally an uptempo rockin' pop guy, but I'm also a sucker for songs of regret, songs that effectively convey the ache of love slipping away, chances slipping away. The Factory Settings track "Persistence Of Memory" has that ache in spades, and so does "You Don't Love Me Anymore." It's like Chad and Jeremy playing with The Smithereens, and--as another versatile pop group noted elsewhere--you know that can't be bad.

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

Wednesday at Noon Eastern. At long last.

STEVIE WONDER: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

That's this Wednesday at Noon. Time to make America good again.

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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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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.