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 # 1338
THE HALF/CUBES: Starless Summer Sky
It was a rare treat for us to preview no less than three new and as-yet-unreleased tracks from the Half/Cubes. Their next single (a cover of Jellyfish's "Ghost At Number One") is due out soon, and we gave that li'l gem its debut airing in this week's closing set. We placed the Half/Cubes' ace cover of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Get Down" in the middle of the show, and we kicked our shindig off with their superb rendition of Marshall Crenshaw's luscious pop treasure "Starless Summer Sky." AND! We threw in another spin of the Half/Cubes' current single, joining forces with Glenn Burtnick for a bravura rendition of the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me." The three new tracks will surely return in eventual future playlists. "Bend Me, Shape Me" plays again this Sunday night.
THE KNACK: Pop Is Dead
Get the Knack! Dana has been quite taken with the new Knack retrospective Knackology: The Zen Recordings, a set that mixes studio and live tracks from the 1990s and early 2000s, supplemented by demos and a live "Let Me Out" from 1979. The Knack's 1998 album Zoom was my favorite album that year, and it's possible that I like Zoom even more than I like Get The Knack. I'm delighted that Dana programmed Zoom's "Pop Is Dead," and you can bet on more Knackology to come on TIRnRR.
GRAHAM PARKER AND THE GOLDTOPS: Hotel Chambermaid
As pop fans worldwide clear space in their music libraries for Quality Footwear: Live At The Brook, the forthcoming new live album from the mighty Graham Parker and the Goldtops, we've been playing the album's advance singles. This week, I wanted to program a live version of a Graham Parker song that has specific meaning for me.
From a previous 10 Songs:
"Hotel Chambermaid" was the first Graham Parker and the Rumour I recall hearing, a favorite on Utica's WOUR-FM circa '76-'77, my senior year in high school. For some reason, I thought it was by Greg Kihn, whose take on Bruce Springsteen's "For You" was also getting some significant airplay on OUR, and I don't know why my mind put those two songs together. But both were part of my early FM radio listening, along with Nick Lowe's "So It Goes," the Kinks' "No More Looking Back," Joan Baez's "Time Rag," Michael Nesmith's "Rio," and, eventually, the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen." Radio's been good to me.
THE AMPLIFIER HEADS: A Song Called Sha La La
And the song chose its name well! The Amplifier Heads' new single "A Song Called Sha La La" is a perfect addition to our sovereign airwaves, channeling the Troggs and fortifying each Sha, La, and La with the essential oomph we require. Sha la LA! All three syllables (and, y;know, the rest of the record, too) return to the playlist on our next show.
THE SMALL FACES: Sha-La-La-La-Lee
Well, how else could you follow our first spin of "A Song Called Sha La La?" The Small Faces answer the call!
THE FLASHCUBES: Got No Mind
I've come to regard the Flashcubes' "Got No Mind" as 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's signature song. "Got No Mind" made its retail debut in a 4-track recording found (alongside a 4-track of 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay's "Guernica") on the B-side of the Flashcubes' debut single "Christi Girl" in 1978. The definitive version was recorded live at The Firebarn in Syracuse in 1979, included on the group's 1997 anthology Bright Lights, and eventually reprised on the live at The Firebarn CD document Flashcubes On Fire. In the wake of PA's recent passing, we've been playing it a lot, and we will continue to do so. A friend recently told me that she used to think "Got No Mind" was a Sex Pistols cover rather than a Flashcubes original, and I say that's a testament to the great Paul Armstrong's ability to embody the raucous best of punk, and the Flashcubes' collective knack for making punk pop, and pop punk. Got no mind? I don't mind.
THE RUNAWAYS: Wait For Me
When I was a college student in the late '70s, I became a huge fan of the Runaways, and I consider myself fortunate to have seen them on a 1978 live bill with the Flashcubes and the Ramones (a concert memory recalled here). I played their third album Waitin' For The Night a lot--a lot--and I'm a little surprised we never got around to playlisting the album track "Wait For Me" until this week. Glad they were willing to wait!
THE CYNZ: Ghost Rider
My new book Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is finished, with a fingers-crossed publication date of June 12th. HEY! That's an excuse to display the book's cover graphic again right here!
Well, that felt good. The book is a collection of some of my short fiction, and the rock 'n' roll in its DNA mandates passing references to a long list of real-life music performers (and you can read that list here). The Cynz are, of course, among TIRnRR's Fave Raves, so it makes sense that my imaginary planet-hoppin' combo Guitars Vs. Rayguns likes to include the occasional Cynz cover in their own outer space live sets:
"...Now, Leiko, Beckie, and FeeFEE! were all dressed the same as me (though each of 'em considerably better-looking than your boy Rocky), like co-ed Beatles at CBGB. The setlist was still peppered with covers, everything from the Buzzcocks and the Selecter to the Cynz and Etta James...."
Literary immortality! This week, we celebrate the notion of the Cynz as intergalactic superstars by returning their recent single "Ghost Rider" (from their current album Confess) to the real-world airwaves.
RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE RAMONES: Surfin' Safari
From a previous 10 Songs:
In my continuing efforts to fool people into thinking I'm way cooler than I really I am, I'll casually mention that I first learned that the Ramones had recorded a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" when Joey Ramone told me that the Ramones had recorded a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari." Gabba Gabba HEY!
The revelation came during my 1994 telephone interviews with the Ramones [as detailed in my first book, Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones]. Our Carbona-huffin' heroes had tackled the song previously, their version used as a backing track for a 1978 single by Rodney and the Brunettes. That would be legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, with the Honeys handling the vocal heavy lifting. The Ramones had hoped to exhume their original parts (minus Rodney and his Brunette Honeys) to use in their All The Stuff (And More) reissue series, but the tracks could not be located.
Instead, the Ramones wound up recording it again during the sessions for their 1993 all-covers album Acid Eaters. Their '90s "Surfin' Safari" was only used as a bonus track on the album's Japanese edition, though it did eventually appear on a British reissue of Acid Eaters. It has never been released in America.
And lemme just add here in the present day: Surf's UP. A safari awaits.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is due out soon; meanwhile, you can get an autographed copy of my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) here, and you can still get my previous 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. You can read about our history here.
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