10 SONGS: 2/15/2025

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1272: THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO celebrates BLACK HISTORY MONTH.

ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music

As a confederacy of dunces seek to disavow the long-held tradition of recognizing February as Black History Month, I hereby declare this and every month from now on will be National Ridicule The Federal Confederacy Of Dunces Month. This will remain in effect until sanity returns and we consign the odious dunces to go bathing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio celebrates Black History Month right here, and for our opening theme we call on the services of Arthur Conley. Do you like good music? You're in the right place.

BIG MAMA THORNTON: Hound Dog

We open the show proper with a long-distance dedication, going out to a not-so-special someone. No names are necessary. Big Mama Thornton knows who you are...and she knows what you are.

DERRICK ANDERSON: Send Me Down A Sign

I think Derrick Anderson is best known as bassist for the Bangles, but he first entered this little mutant radio show's airspace with TIRnRR Fave Raves the Andersons! Yeah, we were playing the Andersons! from the get-go, and that's an absolutely hilarious in-joke. Trust me! It is!

We've also been big fans of Derrick's 2017 solo album A World Of My Own, and its breakout track "When I Was Your Man" accrued significant Dana & Carl spinnage. This week, we figured we'd dig a little deeper into the album for "Send Me Down A Sign," a track I don't think we've ever played previously. I tell ya, this world of Derrick Anderson's own sounds like a mighty fine place to be.

JOAN ARMATRADING: Eating The Bear

From a previous post:

Some days the bear will eat you. Some days you eat the bear. All due respect to the incredible Ms. Joan Armatrading, but there are days when I believe this even-handed ratio to be overly optimistic regarding our collective and individual odds of surviving wholesale consumption by ravenous ursines. I don't think the Ranger's gonna like this, Yogi. 

"Eating The Bear" was (I think) the first Joan Armatrading track I knew, a cut from her 1981 album Walk Under Ladders. It's not the best-known track on that record; both "I'm Lucky" and "When I Get It Right" wound up on her Greatest Hits collection, while "Eating The Bear" remained native to the original album only. I was exposed to all three of those tracks in the same time frame, so I can't say for sure which one I heard first. But, whichever one was first to cross into my sovereign airspace, "Eating The Bear" was the one that had impact. Its impact came via the radio. Of course.

In 1981, I was a recent college graduate (State University College at Brockport Class of 1980), living in an apartment with my girlfriend (who was still completing her undergrad studies at Brockport), working at McDonald's, drinking beer, listening to my music. Brockport is a small village on the Erie Canal. It's located in Western New York, about 19 miles west of Rochester, and the city of Buffalo sprawls another 64 miles or so farther away. We could usually get radio stations from Buffalo and even from Toronto. Buffalo had a generic album-rock station called 97 Rock, a bland AOR outlet that usually wasn't of much interest to me. Sunday nights were the exception. That's when this cookie-cutter rock station transformed itself temporarily into something greater: A weekly showcase called 97 Power Rock.

97 Power Rock claimed a more adventurous format, programming new wave rock and other fare that was presumably edgier than the station's prerequisite diet of Loverboy and Journey. 97 Power Rock played the likes of The Teardrop Explodes, U2, Psychedelic Furs, Viva Beat, Joy Division, Spandau Ballet, the Vibrators, Mission of Burma, old school rock by Andy Fairweather Low, even reggae by Dillinger. It was sufficiently eclectic and vibrant to secure my loyalty.

Joan Armatrading's music was part of that. Walk Under Ladders had a little bit of a post-punk vibe, partially attributable to Steve Lillywhite's production plus Thomas Dolby's synthesizer work on the album. That perceived level of cool opened 97 Power Rock's playlist for entry, and Armatrading's own songs, singing, playing, and pure presence did the rest. Man, this sounded fantastic on the radio. It didn't quite move me to buy the album--I was still a few years away from grasping Armatrading's brilliance--but it got my attention. I heard the songs, and a radio ad for the album, all of which prompted me to scrawl Walk Under Ladders in my spiral notebook, on the long, long list of LPs I wanted to buy once I'd accumulated enough burger-flippin' cash to buy all of the albums I wanted.

"Eating The Bear" was the Armatrading track for me. In 1981, I'd never heard the phrase Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you, so I had no idea whatsoever of the song's subject matter, no proper understanding of its stubborn fatalism, its determined swig from a half-empty glass that we'll refill if we survive, and smash in the face of any critter that says we won't. I just thought it sounded great, and it still sounds great. 

For years, Armatrading's Greatest Hits was her sole representation in my music collection, and "Me Myself I" is discussed in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). "Eating The Bear" subsequently popped into my head again, and I snagged a CD of Walk Under Ladders, a wonderful album that I wish had made the transition from my notebook list to my record shelf forty-odd years ago. 

Better late than never. Sometimes it takes a while, but radio gets the job done eventually. Bear necessities. Mind your manners there, Yogi. I ain't a-gonna be in no pic-a-nic basket. I'll keep you off my menu if you keep me off yours.

THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: Time Has Come Today

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive

I remember hearing Rihanna's hit "Umbrella" in 2007, and not being especially taken with it. In 2008, the updated version of her Good Girl Gone Bad (Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded) landed into my consciousness via my then-teen daughter, whose interest in "Take A Bow" and "Disturbia" brought those songs to my attention as well. I was a little surprised to discover I liked them (especially "Disturbia"), but I did indeed like them.

I missed out on the track "Shut Up And Drive." I've heard it, but I never noticed it until a random search for playlist ideas brought me to it earlier this month. It was like a brand new song to me, and I loved it.

(How did I know I loved it? The fact that I played it on obsessive repeat would be a pretty clear clue to that.)

Wikipedia describes "Shut Up And Drive" as a new wave song--no, really!--based on "Blue Monday" by New Order. No offense to the mopey British guys, but I prefer it the way Rihanna did it.

RAY CHARLES: Hit The Road Jack

Yep. I direct this sentiment at the precise dunces to whom you would think I'd direct it.

GRANDMASTER AND MELLE MEL: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)

From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"...New Music Radio [WBNY-FM in Buffalo, a station to which I was religiously devoted in the '80s]  included hip hop. Like Herman's Hermits, rap was part of the atmosphere, part of the flavor of WBNY. WBNY was my introduction to Run DMC (with 'Rockbox'), and it was my introduction to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. 'The Message.' Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge. Music journalists told us 'The Message' was the first big hip-hop track to ignore party-time bragging to focus instead on social commentary, to chronicle inner-city living in disadvantaged black neighborhoods. It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under. We didn't need to be told how powerful it sounded on the radio.

"The importance and impact of 'The Message' notwithstanding, 'White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)' meant more to me, then and now. It's more pop than 'The Message,' with its seductive rang-dang-diggety-dang-de-dang melody, propulsive bass, and Melle Mel's cry of 'BASS!,' the latter sucker-punching you when you realize it's meant as a deceptive homophone for 'base,' as in freebase cocaine...

"...'White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)' is a Melle Mel record; former cohorts Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel had parted company prior to 'White Lines,' but the record was credited to Grandmaster and Melle Mel in an attempt to capitalize on the familiar name and the previous success of 'The Message.' It is often referred to as a Grandmaster Flash record, and that's what I thought it was when I heard it on WBNY. Whatever and whomever, I couldn't hear it enough...."

CEELO GREEN: Forget You

Maybe not the first specific "F YOU!" that comes to mind in these troubling times. Though, come to think of it, it wasn't the first "F YOU!" that came to CeeLo Green's mind either. One of the marks of how great this is as a pure pop song is that the original "Fuck You" is incidental; it works just as well in FCC-friendly format. "Forget You" is perfectly radio-ready without the potty mouth, and perfectly pissed-off in any incarnation.

JAMES BROWN: Say It Loud--I'm Black And I'm Proud [Pt. 1]

There is much reason for pride. We celebrate it throughout the year. And we circle it on our calendar every February for Black History Month. Say it loud.

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: 9/8/2023

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 High School # 1197: The 12th Annual DANA'S FUNKY SOUL PIT. This show is available as a podcast.

ERMA FRANKLIN: It's Over

"Over...?!" WE JUST STARTED!!

Erma Franklin is no stranger to the Soul Pit, nor a stranger to non-Soul Pit TIRnRR playlists, with her song "I Don't Want No Mama's Boy" and her Forgotten Original of "Piece Of My Heart" scoring the most attention. "It's Over" is my new favorite Erma Franklin work.

Yes, we know about Erma Franklin's little sister Carolyn Franklin; she's also scored some TIRnRR airplay. And everyone knows about their middle sister. But today: a little respect for Big Sister Erma. Respect is never over.

THE SUPREMES: Love, I Never Knew You Could Feel So Good

We've been playing the Supremes a lot this year, specifically music the Supremes did in the '70s after former lead singer whatsername moved on to her solo career. It's an amazing and largely unrecognized body of work, well worthy of obsession and repeat play. A love Supreme. I never knew it could feel so good.

MEL AND TIM: Backfield In Motion

I don't recall Mel and Tim's hit "Backfield In Motion" from its radio heyday in 1969, though I probably heard it. The song entered my collection in 1977 via a used record purchase at Mike's Sound Center in North Syracuse. 

The used record in question was Do It Now: 20 Giant Hits, a various-artists collection issued by cheap-o label Ronco Records in 1970. I had read about the album in one of Harlan Ellison's books of TV criticism, The Glass Teat or The Other Glass Teat. "Backfield In Motion" did not make any immediate impression on me; it was one of the tracks I often skipped en route to the Association and Jefferson Airplane. I like it a lot more now.

Nor was I much of (or any of) a football fan in '77--I like that a lot more now, too--but I did recognize "backfield in motion" as a gridiron term. I even knew gridiron. I tell ya, I was a Renaissance punk. But my primary image for the phrase in the '70s was from an otherwise-forgotten TV comedy sketch about football, with Bob Hope or Dean Martin or whomever referring to some shapely 'n' sporty starlets' curvy backfields being in motion.

Penalty declined.

DONNA SUMMER: I Feel Love

Donna Summers' first hit "Love To Love You Bab," was basically an extended orgasm set to a disco beat (which is not necessarily a bad thing). But "I Feel Love" is more interesting; still shimmering and sexy--Donna Summer at that time could have covered the Singing Nun, and still been shimmering and sexy--but its European syncopation makes it even sexier, if not quite as sweaty. Or perhaps not as obviously sweaty.

In 1977, Brian Eno told Bowie that Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" was the sound of the future. In that year of potential musical revolution, a year of important and transcendent releases by the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, and Television, Eno was still probably right. An amazing single.

RICK JAMES: Super Freak

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE AD LIBS: The Boy From New York City

Various-artists compilations have played an enormous role in introducing me to a wider range of rockin' pop music. We mentioned Ronco's Do It Now a few metric parsecs north of here; from Heavy Metal and History Of British Rock through Nuggets and Yellow Pills, compilations have opened my ears to an endless array of singers, songs, and sounds. Variety. Context. Any record you ain't heard is a new record.

In the summer of '78, I snagged a copy of a 1976 oldies collection called 15 Original Rock N' Roll Biggies Vol. 2, a cheap set I acquired for the specific purpose of replacing my crappy-sounding 45 of the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought The Law." For bonus value, this album introduced me to a couple of great Standells cuts ("Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" and "Why Pick On Me") I didn't know--any record you ain't heard, yadda yadda--and it introduced me to "The Boy From New York City" by the Ad Libs.

Unlike my previous experience of ignoring Mel and Tim on Do It Now, I did take a shine to "The Boy From New York City" and I played it nearly as often as I played its LP brethren Bobby Fuller and the Standells. Come ON, Kitty!

LARRY WILLIAMS: Slow Down

Last year's edition of Dana's Funky Soul Pit was a soul tribute to the Beatles, a fab 'n' funky soulabration of all things Fab. Most of that show consisted of soul and R & B covers of Beatles songs, but with a closing set of some of the classic soul originals--Arthur Alexander's "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues," Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music," the Cookies' "Chains," Richie Barrett's "Some Other Guy," et al.--that the savage young moptops themselves adored. The Beatles wanted to be a soul group. Lemme hear you say YEAH. THREE times!

The Beatles certainly adored Larry Williams, and most of us know Williams more from the Beatles' covers of "Slow Down," "Bad Boy," and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" than we know Williams' versions. These songs became well-known classics because the Beatles did them.

But, even before Liverpool's Finest grabbed these songs and took 'em along on that left turn at Greenland, they were already GREAT songs. The Beatles had impeccable taste. 

Among all songs covered by the Beatles, their take on "Slow Down" edges out their well-known workout of the Isley Brothers' "Twist And Shout" as my favorite. The original's cool, too. The original's fantastic. I want that love to last.

MAJOR LANCE: It's The Beat

It's the BEAT, man, the BEAT! Like '70s Supremes, the mighty Major Lance has also established a presence on TIRnRR playlists. One of my older siblings had the 45 of Lance's 1963 smash "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um," and I'm delighted to say I typed the correct number of titular Ums without checking first. I'm a SUCCESS! 

I liked that record when I was a kid, and i still do. But man, it is so cool to hear deeper tracks from the Major Lance catalogue o' wonder; whenever Dana programs a Major Lance song I don't know, my inner self executes an enthusiastic li'l fist bump. Can't beat that. Keep 'em comin', Dana!

THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: All Strung Out Over You

From a previous edition of 10 Songs:

"The Chambers Brothers are one-hit wonders, but man, what a hit that was. Their 1968 smash 'Time Has Come Today' is a freakin' wall of rock and soul, and I'm probably going to add it to my ever-forthcoming book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I haven't listened to the full eleven-minute version in far too long, but I owe myself that pleasure in the near future. Even the single version is a bit lengthy at nearly five minutes, but it's five minutes well spent. TIME!! The Ramones did an incredible cover of the song in the early '80s; even they couldn't improve on the original.

"As is often the case with one-hit wonders, the Chambers Brothers cut more good stuff beyond the solitary Chosen One everyone knows. I've begun a casual dive into some of that recently, picking up both a CD best-of set and an expanded CD reissue of the group's The Time Has Come album. "All Strung Out Over You" was on that LP, a great track that only charted regionally. It deserved better."

To the above, I will add a supplemental Oh YEAH! on behalf of "All Strung Out Over You," and assure all 'n' sundry that, since writing that entry in 2021, I am now fully in the thrall of the longer cut of "Time Has Come Today." My soul has been psychedelicized.

RAY CHARLES: Let's Go Get Stoned

As always, it's important to have goals. Our goal is to hang tight, hang tough, and meet you back here next year for The 13th Annual Dana's Funky Soul Pit. 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/

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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Hit The Road Jack

Based on an entry in my 10 Songs series, this (unfinished) piece was intended to be a part of an earlier draft of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but was removed in subsequent plans.

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!

RAY CHARLES AND HIS ORCHESTRA: Hit The Road Jack
Written by Percy Mayfield
Supervised by Sid Feller 
Single, ABC-Paramount Records, 1961

While I'm pleased that my concert-goin' resumé includes that one time I got to see Ray Charles perform live, I've gotta admit I wish his set had included my single favorite Ray Charles tune, "Hit The Road Jack."

Yeah. I was surprised he didn't play it either.

But he did play "What'd I Say" and "Georgia On My Mind," among many others, and it was Ray friggin' Charles, so you won't hear a peep of a complaint from me. It was an outdoor show at the New York State Fair, either late '80s or early '90s, the same free-with-Fair-admission concert series that gave me opportunities to see Brian Wilson, the Everly Brothers, Don McLean, Gene Pitney, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Chicago, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, various oldies package shows (featuring performers from Bo Diddley to Cub Koda to Alex Chilton), and Earth, Wind and Fire over a span of decades. This is not a complete list. 

I'm not sure, but I think--I think--my one Ray Charles show occurred prior to the early '90s Diet Pepsi commercials that earned Charles another notch on his pop culture c.v. You've got the right one, baby. Ray friggin' Charles. I'm okay with him skipping "Hit The Road Jack."

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.

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: 2/2/2021

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 # 1062.

THE BUSBOYS: Minimum Wage

I mostly missed out on The BusBoys in the '80s. I had heard of them; I read about them in Trouser Press, and maybe in CREEM, and of course I saw them sing "New Shoes" and "The Boys Are Back In Town" (not the same-titled Thin Lizzy tune) in the 1982 Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte film 48 Hours. Maybe I saw them on Saturday Night Live. That's probably all I heard of them at the time. Were they getting any significant radio play anywhere? Maybe Buffalo's adventurous and engaging WBNY-FM programmed a BusBoys track or two, but I couldn't tell ya either way.

Since we're always looking to add tracks to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's master playlist, I determined some time back that I wanted to get The BusBoys into our little Play-Tone Galaxy O' Stars. I did not want TIRnRR's first BusBoys spin to be "The Boys Are Back In Town," so we opted for this de facto title track from their 1980 debut album Minimum Wage Rock & Roll. 

RAY CHARLES: Hit The Road Jack

While I'm pleased that my concert-goin' resumé includes that one time I got to see Ray Charles perform live, I've gotta admit I wish his set had included my single favorite Ray Charles tune, "Hit The Road Jack."

Yeah. I was surprised he didn't play it either.

But he did play "What'd I Say" and "Georgia On My Mind," among many others, and it was Ray friggin' Charles, so you won't hear a peep of a complaint from me. It was an outdoor show at The New York State Fair, either late '80s or early '90s, the same free-with-Fair-admission concert series that gave me opportunities to see Brian Wilson, The Everly Brothers, Don McLean, Gene Pitney, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Chicago, Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, various oldies package shows (featuring acts from Bo Diddley to Cub Koda), and Earth, Wind & Fire over a span of decades. This is not a complete list. 

I'm not sure, but I think--I think--my one Ray Charles show occurred prior to the early '90s Diet Pepsi commercials that earned Charles another notch on his pop culture c.v. You've got the right one, baby. Ray friggin' Charles. I'm okay with him skipping "Hit The Road Jack."

THE CHEAP CASSETTES: Get Low

The Boston-based Rum Bar Records label has proven to be a reliable resource for records that rock, platters with pizazz, music that moves your ass and doesn't care whether or not your mind follows. We've been playing fine Rum Bar releases from Justine and the Unclean, Gallows Birds, The Shang Hi Los, Natalie Sweet, The Real Impossibles, Ken Fox, Brad Marino, Heatwaves, Stop Calling Me Frank, Geoff Palmer and Lucy Ellis, The Yum Yums, and I betcha I forgot someone I shouldn'ta oughtta've forgotten. But the point is that all of these mighty Rum Bar acts provide the volume and the fun with action-packed impunity. It's not grunge. It's not left-of-the-dial, at least not in the sense you might expect. It's pop music. Loud and proud pop music. Even the ballads bounce, man.

Now we add The Cheap Cassettes to that roll of in-your-face honor. From Rum Bar's 2017 reissue of the group's album All Anxious, All The Time--hey, it's a concept album about me!--The Cheap Cassettes' "Get Low" leaps from radio speakers to establish eminent domain. 

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: Doctor Rhythm

I was four to six years old in 1964-1966, and I had at least a peripheral awareness of the British Invasion. Everyone knew The Beatles--duh--and I kinda knew Herman's Hermits, knew of Chad And Jeremy, adored Petula Clark's "Downtown," and heard The Rolling Stones' "Get Off Of My Cloud" on the radio. And I knew The Dave Clark Five's "Bits And Pieces;" my sister had the 45. I'm sure I heard them on the radio, and I probably saw them on TV, whether it was on The Ed Sullivan Show or in a TV special with Lucille Ball. But the concrete memory is elusive. I was four, five, six years old. I remember "Bits And Pieces."

My greater understanding and appreciation of the British Invasion in general and the DC5 in particular came in the mid-to-late '70s, when teen me commenced an active embrace of '60s music. I borrowed a small stack of my cousin Maryann's old albums and singles, a stash which included Beatles For Sale, The Beatles' Second Album, Meet The Beatles, Meet The Searchers, The Best Of The Animals, The Best Of Herman's Hermits, some Beach Boys, singles by the Stones and The Lovin' Spoonful. And there was a pair of Dave Clark Five LPs, Glad All Over and The Dave Clark Five Return! I thought I recognized the "Glad All Over" title, and a spin of the record confirmed my memory of a song I must have known and then forgotten. Ah'm feelin' WHOMP! WHOMP! glad all ovah! The Tottenham Sound. Familiar and invigorating. I was a fan immediately.

Over the next few years, as I escaped high school and entered college, and as punk, new wave, and power pop supplemented my existing affections and obsessions, I went about the business of buying as many DC5 records as I could. All used, of course, some very, very used, scored at flea markets and second-hand shops. I established a decent collection, albeit an incomplete one. I still own every one of the DC5 LPs I accumulated decades ago, periodic collection-purges be damned.

1967's You Got What It Takes was an early '80s purchase. I think I bought it in Cleveland Heights on a visit to see my sister circa '81 or so, right around the time she got married, but I'm not exactly under oath here. In this time frame, one of the cool things about acquiring later, post-1965 DC5 albums was that you might not know a single one of the songs before you played the damned thing at home. Two of this album's tracks, "You Got What It Takes" and the fabulous "I've Got To Have A Reason," had been hits, but I didn't know them. Tabula rasa, baby. In addition to "I've Got To Have A Reason," I liked the album's goofy novelty number "Tabitha Twitchit," but I was disappointed that a cover of "Blueberry Hill" didn't live up to my high expectation of what the DC5's incredible and underrated lead singer Mike Smith would sound like as he wailed away on a Fats Domino cover.

"Doctor Rhythm" should have been a single, and it should have been a hit. It's a boppin' little thing, unpretentious and pounding, simple and invigorating. The Tottenham Sound. Ask your doctor if rhythm is right for you.

EMPEROR PENGUIN [featuring LISA MYCHOLS]: Planet Of Love

I was a Star Trek fan. I have (almost) always flown my geek flag high, defiant in proclaiming my affection for comic books, superheroes, science-fiction, and similar exercises in flamboyance and fantasy. There was a time when peer pressure and fear of ridicule prompted me to downplay that interest in public, but I outgrew that. I haven't outgrown much in my life of willful immaturity, but thank God I at least outgrew the notion that anyone else could ever tell me what I could or couldn't like. Dig what you dig. Naysayers can go straight to Hell. Please provide your own handcart.

So yeah, Star Trek. I was aware of the show during its original '66-'69 prime time run (same era as my beloved Batman and The Monkees, although those were both cancelled in '68); I remember the image of Mr. Spock, and I remember my neighbor Lenny making references to phasers when the kids on the block were playing rough 'n' tumble action games. But I didn't watch the show, not regularly, perhaps not at all. I became a fan in the '70s, when the syndicated Star Trek reruns aired every weekday afternoon. Man, I was hooked. In high school, I even did an off-the-cuff video discussion of the show for a friend's TV production project. I, Geek. Proud of it. My teen obsession with Star Trek merits a full-fledged post of its own some day.

But I mention it here because Emperor Penguin's track "Planet Of Love" (from the new album Corporation Pop!) makes use of audio clips from Star Trek, specifically a clip from the 1969 episode "The Way To Eden" (aka, "the one with the space hippies"). Listen: a hook's a hook. 

With or without the Star Trek reference, "Planet Of Love" is a sprightly and fun track, with a typically engaging guest lead vocal from the lovely and talented Lisa Mychols. We'll be playing this again. 

KID GULLIVER: Beauty School Dropout

It's a safe bet that I'm never going to look back on 2020 as my Best Year Ever. Still, even the lousiest of lousy years offers music, and 2020 introduced TIRnRR to the voice of Simone Berk. 

The initial connection came in roundabout fashion via the above-mentioned Rum Bar Records, as we started carpet-bombing our playlists with "Vengeance," a Rum Bar single by Justine and the Unclean. From there, the perfectly-clean Justine Covault directed us to her involvement with WhistleStop Rock, a collective of female musicmakers that had been putting on live shows in those halcyon pre-pandemic days. Ah, those were the days, my friend. As COVID cooties shut down the notion of live shows, WhistleStop Rock collaborated on the socially-distanced recording of a single, "Queen Of The Drive-In." This was where we first heard the track's lead singer. Yeah, that would be Simone Berk.

We liked what we heard.

Airplay and adulation. Simone appreciated our appreciation, and sent us her stuff, recorded as Sugar Snow and Kid Gulliver. Justine decided to start her own label, Red On Red Records, which released a flippin' awesome Kid Gulliver single, "Forget About Him." More adulation and airplay. And more music, including this latest Red On Red single of "Beauty School Dropout" by Kid Gulliver. No, it's not the song from Grease; aim higher, people. It's an original, it cooks, and it sounds like it oughtta be on the radio. Our discovery of Simone Berk is the glorious result of a miserable year.

THE KINKS: Set Me Free

1977: I was just 17, if you know what I mean. And my girlfriend and I were moving way too fast. It was almost entirely my fault, maybe even my fault alone. But I had to stop it.

Over the course of '77, I had become a fan of The Kinks. In August, I went off to college with the tentative beginning of a Kinks collection, which included the Kinks-Sized, Sleepwalker, and possibly Schoolboys In Disgrace LPs. I was still learning about this great band and its cavalcade of wonder. Late in that fall semester of my freshman year, I picked up a Kinks compilation, The Pye History Of British Rock. That revelatory set included just two Kinks tracks I already owned ("You Really Got Me" and "I Gotta Move"), and introduced me to "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," "Where Have All The Good Times Gone," "Till The End Of The Day," "Sunny Afternoon," "The World Keeps Going Round," "So Mystifying," "Long Tall Shorty," and a superb, rockin' B-side called "I Took My Baby Home." Fantastic stuff, and an essential plank on my path to greater Kinks devotion.

And it included a song called "Set Me Free."

Set me free, little girl

All you gotta do is set me free, little girl

You know you can do it if you try

All you gotta do is set me free, free....

It wasn't her fault. It was mine. Yeah, probably all mine. I was 17. That's explanation, not excuse. I listened to the song playing on my roommate's stereo in our dorm room, looking at my girlfriend, feeling guilty for what I was thinking. But I was beginning to realize what had to happen.

We lasted until Christmas break. I wrote her a letter. It hurt her, and I regret my actions that made that seem necessary. Damn me. But it was time. Set me free.

THE MONKEES: Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) [TV version]

I've been into The Monkees since I was six; never paused, never ceased, never will pause or cease. I bought all of the records, and resurgent Monkeemania in the '80s gave me the chance to see all of the episodes of their TV series. I'd seen them all before, mind you; I'd seen a few in prime time circa '66-'68, probably all of them in Saturday morning reruns in the early '70s, and again in syndicated afternoon reruns in the mid '70s. 

But in the '80s, I was theoretically an adult, and able to notice things I hadn't picked up on when watching The Monkees as a younger fan. While enjoying a late '80s rerun of  the 1967 first season episode "The Monkees In Manhattan," I realized that the version of Neil Diamond's "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" (a favorite of mine since I was six or seven) was longer than the version I knew, containing a keyboard break unique to this TV track. It instantly became my preferred version, though I had to wait until its eventual release on the 2001 Monkees boxed set Music Box to own a copy of it.

POPDUDES: O-o-h Child

Popdudes' lovely cover of The Five Stairsteps' sublime 1970 hit "O-o-h Child" was released as a Big Stir Records digital single in 2020, with proceeds from its sale benefiting the homeless and hungry in Orange County, California. We played its virtual B-side (a cover of The Guess Who's "Share The Land") on the show, but the fact that we were playing the original Five Stairsteps "O-o-h Child" postponed a TIRnRR spin of Popdudes' version. Until now! The track also serves as a teaser for We All Shine On, a various-artists tribute to the music of 1970, due out later this year from the good folks at SpyderPop Records. I can not wait to hear that. 

THE SHANG HI LOS: Saturday In The Park

The Rum Bar and WhistleStop Rock connection continues. Rum Bar Recording artists The Shang Hi Los were a consistent TIRnRR Pick Hit in the latter part of 2020, thanks to their irresistible little number "Sway Little Player." A line from "Sway Little Player" provides the band with the title of their recently-released mini-album, Kick It Like A Wicked Bad Habit. 

Kick It Like A Wicked Bad Habit also includes this nice cover of Chicago's "Saturday In The Park," and it occurs to me that this was actually the very first Shang Hi Los performance I ever heard. The band performed it as part of the video release party for WhistleStop Rock's "Queen Of The Drive-In" this past summer. We were delighted to make that acquaintance. 

Can you dig it? Yes I can.

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