10 SONGS (plus one): 5/9/2026

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 # 1335

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: The One That Makes You Happy

If you thought the release of another new single by long-standing power pop idols the Greenberry Woods would automatically occupy the lead-off slot in this week's show, you were correct in your thinking. You're pretty good at this thinking stuff. "The One That Makes You Happy" lives up to its titular hype, and we're happy to play it. "The One That Makes You Happy" serves as a sneak peek at the new Greenberry Woods album It's All Good, Sugar..., which is due out May 29th.

And that should make everyone happy. That's what we think.

T. REX: Cosmic Dancer

When T. Rex singer Marc Bolan was killed in a car accident in September of 1977, I was a college freshman and I was pissed that no one else in my dorm knew who Marc Bolan was. It's not like I was an expert on all things related to T. Rexstasy--at the time, I only knew "Bang A Gong (Get It On)"--but I did have at least an inkling of Bolan's importance, and I was disappointed to discover how alone I was in that setting. (Later, "20th Century Boy" assumed the permanent role of my favorite T. Rex track, as detailed here). I remain a Marc Bolan dilletante, and I owe myself a deeper Jeepster dive in the near future.

Although I've owned a copy of T. Rex's Electric Warrior album track "Cosmic Dancer" for decades, I didn't notice it until it popped up in an episode of the (now-cancelled) 2025 Amazon Prime TV series Étoile. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (creators of Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Étoile details the dynamics of a pair of interconnected ballet companies, one in New York and one in Paris. Hijinks ensue, as they often do. The series is most definitely not for everyone, but one doesn't need any proper knowledge of ballet to follow what's going on here (nor in the Palladinos' previous ballet-set series Bunheads). For us rockin' pop enthusiasts, David Byrne makes a cameo appearance in one episode, and Sparks perform "I Married Myself" in the series finale.

In one episode, "Cosmic Dancer" plays in the background, the song's ethereal evocation of dance serving as accompaniment to the visuals while bellying up to the barre in its own right. That was sufficient inspiration to place "Cosmic Dancer" on this week's playlist.

SPECTRAFLAME: Yesterday (Jane)

Sometimes it take us time to get around to things. TIRnRR plays the music of Spectraflame with some frequency, as we oughta. We'd planned to program Spectraflame's "Yesterday (Jane)" a while back, but the track got lost in our self-inflicted shuffle. We're inept, but we're adorable. We got to it now! TODAY, Jane! Today!

GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

FIRST CLASS: Beach Baby

KIRSTY MacCOLL: He's On The Beach

THE GO-GO'S: Beatnik Beach

THE FLASHCUBES: Muscle Beach

THE 'B' GIRLS: Fun At The Beach

Segues are often capable of writing themselves, without much (if any) reliance on prior blueprinting. I had determined ahead of time that I wanted General Johnson and Joey Ramone's sublime beach-soul remake of the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" to occupy this week's Greatest Record Ever Made! slot. This was the sum total of preplanning that went into the forging of what wound up being an entire beach-related set.

Dana followed Johnson 'n' Ramone with First Class and their first-class Beach Boys homage "Beach Boys," a lovely track that earns its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). This prompted me to answer with Kirsty MacColl's "He's On The Beach," a fantastic track that I hadn't had any intention of playing this week. But...it fit! And so it played.

Game on.

Our Kirsty inspired Dana to play "Beatnik Beach," a vibrant li'l number that was the B-side of the Go-Go's' irresistible "Vacation" 45. HuzZAH! I was compelled to follow the Go-Go's with Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, represented by an incendiary 1979 live performance of Paul Armstrong's "Muscle Beach" from the album Flashcubes On Fire. Dana wrote finis in the sand of this beach trip with the 'B' Girls and "Fun At The Beach."

Does big-time TIRnRR DJing seem easy to you? It IS! We always follow the can't-miss two-step formula to programming the best rockin' pop radio. STEP ONE: Know which rockin' pop songs are the best rockin' pop songs. STEP TWO: Play those. Hodads! Honeys! Fall in! The sound of the beach awaits.

THE CHELSEA CURVE: Ride

The same self-inflicted shuffle that delayed us in playing Spectraflame's "Yesterday (Jane)" nearly did similar disservice to the Chelsea Curve's recent single "Ride." But we love the Chelsea Curve, and we made damned sure to navigate that imposing shuffle and guarantee that "Ride" secured its rightful place on this week's playlist. The Chelsea Curve's new album The Rideout is available now. The single rides again on our next show.

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Also The Greatest Record Ever Made! Godspeed, Nedra Talley.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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 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. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 7/12/2025

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 # 1293.

THE BEACH BOYS: Good Vibrations

Although the late Brian Wilson was (of course) the Featured Performer on our June 22nd show, it still felt imperative to dedicate an entire show to Wilson's impact. Hence this week's presentation of GOOD VIBRATIONS! Brian Wilson and the Legend of Summer.

As our chosen title suggests, the intention this week was to pay tribute to the good vibrations of Brian Wilson's legacy. That effort needed to include Brian (with and without the Beach Boys), as well as other artists covering Brian's songs, and work by others inspired by Wilson. We also wanted to throw in some otherwise-unrelated songs about summer, and whatever else felt right in the context of picking up good vibrations.

My book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) has a chapter about the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," a celestial track from the wonder that is Pet Sounds. In that chapter, I write:

"...There is a risk in elevating Pet Sounds and forgetting about the simple wonders Brian and the Beach Boys crafted before that, in the days when they were the living avatars of the beguiling and alluring California myth. There are summer days (and summer nights) when 'I Get Around' is The Greatest Record Ever Made, as is its B-side 'Don't Worry Baby;' hell, arrogant strutting, backed by adolescent insecurity? That's both sides of the teenage experience captured at 45 RPM and wrapped in a picture sleeve. 'Surfin' USA,' 'Help Me Rhonda,' 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' and 'Girl Don't Tell Me,' each in its own infinite turn. 

"The Beach Boys continued to record essential works beyond Pet Sounds, with and without brother Brian. ' 'Til I Die' from 1971's Surf's Up is heartbreaking in its desolate beauty, and that album's title tune is stunning. And honestly, it's ludicrous to even have this discussion of a greatest record ever made without talking about the miracle of 'Good Vibrations'...."

That miracle endures. And its eternal excitations move us toward our deeper dive into the legend of summer. 

GARY FRENAY: It's Like Heaven

I first knew the Brian Wilson-Diane Rovell song "It's Like Heaven" from a cover version recorded by underrated teen pop star Shaun Cassidy. Save your snickering; it's good! I didn't hear the originally-unreleased version by Spring (aka American Spring, which was Rovell with her sister Marilyn Wilson) until a very long time after that. I really wanted to include something by Spring (probably "This Old World"), but I couldn't find my DIY copy of American Spring, and I suspect it has disappeared from my library.

My pick for the definitive "It's Like Heaven" comes from singer-songwriter Gary Frenay's 2015 album File Under Pop Vocal. Gary's a very familiar figure on TIRnRR playlists, as a solo artist and with the Flashcubes and Screen Test. Gary also wrote "Syracuse Summer," an incredible channeling of the sun-and-surf ethos into the mercurial climate of Central New York, an East Coast wonder recorded by the Tearjerkers and later by Gary with the FabCats. It would have taken an act of God-Only-Knows to block that from taking its rightful place in this week's playlist.

So yeah: We had to play Gary's "It's Like Heaven," and we had to play the Tearjerkers' "Syracuse Summer." Recommended if you like Heaven.

MICHAEL SIMMONS: Sail On, Sailor

Like Gary Frenay, Michael Simmons is also a frequent fixture on TIRnRR's sovereign airwaves. We've been playing Michael's superswell combo sparkle*jets u.k. for just as long as Stig has been dead (for ages, honestly), and their most recent album Box Of Letters was one of THE records of 2024 in these quarters. We've also carpet-bombed airplay of Michael with Popdudes, as a solo artist, and as a secret weapon for various 'n' sundry rockin' pop DBAs. Michael is at the mastering helm of the forthcoming various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and sparkle*jets u.k. themselves turn in the title track on that set (which is--full circle!--a Gary Frenay tune). Hell, I think Michael was very nearly a founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but jealous guys Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy blackballed him for flirting with Saturn Girl. Man, teen superkids can be so petty!

And like...well, all of us, Michael was affected by the passing of Brian Wilson, and therefore compelled to express himself. Unlike most of us, Mr. Simmons possesses the talent to transmogrify that sorrow into art, and he absolutely nails this cover of the Beach Boys' "Sail On, Sailor," offered in Brian Wilson's memory. See? THAT'S why Michael Simmons is a TIRnRR FaveRave.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Girls In Their Summer Clothes

For this track from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 album Magic, these words from my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"..I think I read somewhere that Bruce Springsteen was heavily influenced by Brian Wilson--specifically, by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds--while he was making Magic. If that's not true, it should be. Its first two tracks, 'Radio Nowhere' and 'You'll Be Coming Down,' capture that elusive wispy quality of goals just beyond our reach, happiness that escapes our grasp. The result is mesmerizing. It doesn't sound anything at all like the Beach Boys. Yet it's difficult to imagine it existing in a world where Pet Sounds didn't exist first.

"None of this prepared me for 'Girls In Their Summer Clothes.'

"As pop fans--dedicated, dyed-in-the-wool pop fans--there are moments when our grandest ideas and ideals of the universe align within the concise running time of a new song we're hearing for the very first time. These are the all-too-rare moments when an unfamiliar track annexes us as its own. Body. Mind. Heart. Soul. Sometimes the feet as well. The purity and majesty of the experience is incomparable.

"That feeling that engulfed me the first time I heard 'Girls In Their Summer Clothes,' the same feeling that still claims me every time I hear it again. And the girls in their summer clothes pass me by. It is a flawless, gorgeous ache, a mournful ode to whatever has slipped away, and continues to pass us by. It is, like much of Springsteen's best work, a drugstore-rack paperback novel brought to life as a pop song. It means more than it says. It implies more than it reveals...."

THE KRAYOLAS: Surf's Down

Inspiration can be immediate and undeniable. It can also be finicky and introspective, even shy, waiving its right to reveal itself. Consider this message from Hector Saldana of the ace American rockin' pop combo the Krayolas regarding "Surf's Down," an inspired Krayolas track from the vaults:

"...When I heard the news of [Brian Wilson's] passing, I wanted to make some gesture to show how much he meant to me and the Krayolas. I decided to release a never-heard unreleased recording from spring 1979. I found the audio recorded at a small studio on an analog 8-track 1/2 inch Otari tape machine. I sent it to legendary mastering engineer Richard Dodd in Nashville and rush released it via The Orchard. We were super young and could sing high around a mic to get that sound...."

Inspiration deferred does not have to be inspiration denied. We were inspired to play "Surf's Down" as an integral part of our Brian Wilson tribute. "Surf's Down" is UP! And it's up again on our next show.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

It would probably be a stretch to suggest that Sly Stone wrote "Hot Fun In The Summertime" under the influence of Brian Wilson. I don't quite believe any of Sly and the Family Stone's brilliant work was shaped by Wilson's pet sounds of the soul, at least not willfully. But it would also be a stretch to insist that Wilson wasn't a possible influence; Sly Stone was aware of everything going on in pop music in the '60s, and--to paraphrase something famously uttered by someone else in the Wilson family--Sly Stone was a genius, too. "Hot Fun In The Summertime" doesn't sound like the Beach Boys. Doesn't matter. Sly and Brian sound great in the same radio show. Hot fun, fun, fun in the summertime.

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

Brian Wilson was obsessed with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," and the record was an enormous influence on what his own genius went on to create thereafter.

THE FIRST CLASS: Beach Baby

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

"Can a pastiche touch the divine? Can a copy become more than it is? Can mere imitation transcend its mundane genesis, and live on its own as something great?

"In rock 'n' roll? Yeah. It happens all the time.

" 'Beach Baby' conjures the classic sound of the Beach Boys without calling to mind any specific Beach Boys track. Perhaps there are hints of 'In My Room,' or 'Don't Worry Baby,' or 'California Girls,' or other lush, luxurious, mid-tempo hits from the pride of Hawthorne, but we're just grasping at straws in the sand to say so. Really, 'Beach Baby" sounds like none of these. 

"And yet it sounds like all of them. Surf’s up...

"...And it’s not Beachmania; it isn't the Beach Boys, nor is it an incredible simulation. Lead singer Tony Burrows doesn't sound at all like Brian Wilson or Carl Wilson or Dennis Wilson, not Al Jardine nor David Marks, and for damned sure nothing like Mike Love. No one with ears would mistake it for a Beach Boys record. 

"But the homage is clear and true, the tribute seemingly sincere, the result unerringly effective and moving. It’s sad, like a memory of summer love long gone. It’s festive, like the songs shared as one by revelers gathered around the fire, as the moon lights the sand and the promises of the stars above reflect in the irresistible spark you could swear you see in the eyes of someone you just might want to love for ever and ever.

"Long hot days. Cool sea haze. It seems so long ago, if it ever really existed in the first place. 

"And now it’s fading away...."

THE BEACH BOYS: Wouldn't It Be Nice

THE BEACH BOYS: Pet Sounds

Two from Pet Sounds, empirical evidence of a benevolent deity beaming a signal to mortal ears. In the words of a Beach Boys song we'll hear on this coming Sunday night's show: That's why God made the radio. And that's why the Benevolence gave as a mortal angel named Brian Wilson.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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. You can read about our history here.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"

This chapter appears in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), immediately following a chapter about Ike and Tina Turner and that Phil Spector guy.

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

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector

Produced by Phil Spector

Single, Philles Records, 1963

Was the late Hal Blaine pop music's all-time greatest drummer? Very possibly so. And the accolade isn't just because of the sheer volume of his body of work, though that sure doesn't hurt his case; in our lives as pop fans, we've probably heard Blaine more often than we heard Ringo and Bernard Purdie combined. That's not exaggeration; that's just how much work Hal Blaine did on so many records we all know.

Blaine didn't get all those gigs just because he was available; he was good. He was great. 

Blain's credits include essentials by the Mamas and the Papas, Beach Boys, Byrds, 5th Dimension, Monkees, Ike and Tina Turner, Love, Everly Brothers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Grass Roots, Vogues, Carpenters, Crystals, Simon and Garfunkel, Tommy Roe, Nancy Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Glen Campbell, Sonny and Cher, Barbra Streisand, the Association, and so many more. Hal Blaine is responsible for the single most iconic drum intro in rockin' pop history, the majestic boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. If you loved pop music in the '60s and '70s, then Hal Blaine was a part of your life. He always will be.

"Be My Baby" doesn't just have that iconic Hal Blaine intro. It has iconic vocals, iconic production, the iconic Phil Spector Wall of Sound. While pundits overuse the word "iconic," if we can't call "Be My Baby" iconic, what other song could possibly qualify instead?

Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk.

"Be My Baby" also has teen singer Veronica Bennett. That is not a minor point. Bennett's waifish voice seems chaste and innocent while implying a sensuous something more. Her producer certainly noticed, and before long they were married, her new (iconic) name as Ronnie Spector far outlasting the troubled, tempestuous relationship itself. Like Tina Turner surviving her marriage to Ike, Ronnie Spector survived Phil Spector.

And like Ike, Phil Spector's accomplishments do not absolve him of...anything. But he deserves the credit for masterminding this incredible record, the single shiniest cornerstone of his lauded wall of sound. "Be My Baby" inspired Brian Wilson to be better, more ambitious, greater in his vision and in his accomplishment. A wall of sound, a sound made for radio and the dreams that radio can conjure. Spector. Hal Blaine, and his invincible studio compatriots. Sublime vocal support from some teens named Estelle Bennett and Nedra Talley (Ronnie's sister and cousin, respectively). And a teenager named Veronica--Ronnie--singing sweetly of love's promise while on the precipice of plummeting into its abyss. Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk. I guess that says it all.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 1/27/2022

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 # 1113.

RONNIE SPECTOR AND THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

A listener once joked that the only way Billy Joel would get airplay on TIRnRR would be via Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band's fantastic cover of our Billy's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood." We actually have played Billy Joel a few times, and I wouldn't rule out playing him again when the whim strikes. 

But yeah, we clearly have played Ronnie's version of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" more than we've played all other Billy Joel songs combined. As the pop world mourns her passing, it seemed a given that we should close this week's show with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," open with "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," and thread more Ronnie Spector performances throughout the playlist. 

THE BLUSTERFIELDS: January Jones

It's no shade against the music of the Blusterfields--whose new album The Vicious Afterglow is really good--to confess that their song "January Jones" appears on this week's 10 Songs in part because it gives me an excuse to post a picture of the actress who shares that name.

What was Don Draper thinking? Anyway, the song's great, too. More Blusterfields to come on future playlists.

CHRIS CHURCH: We're Going Downtown

Chris Church's 2011 album Darling Please was originally kind of a stealth release, but it's just been given a fresh shine and a factory-fresh spotlight. Yes, it's another public service from Big Stir Records, bless 'em. More! Please?

RONNIE SPECTOR [with JOEY RAMONE]: You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

The combined forces of the Ramones and producer Phil Spector did not create a match in Heaven. On the other hand, Ronnie Spector and Joey Ramone were a good fit. Ronnie had covered Joey's Ramones ballad "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" on her 1980 album Siren, and Joey produced her 1999 EP She Talks To Rainbows. The EP's title tune was one of two more Ramones covers on the record (along with "Bye Bye Baby"), which also featured Ronnie's version of the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" and a remake of the Ronettes' "I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine." Joey provided backing vocals for a cover of Johnny Thunders' tough/tender lament "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory." Perfect match all around. 

WENDI DUNLAP: Baby Blue

As often as I talk (sincerely!) about an infinite number of tracks each being THE greatest record ever made as long as they take turns, my own all-time # 1 favorite is probably Badfinger's "Baby Blue." I mean, on the days that it's not something by the Beatles or the Kinks or...skip it. It ain't easy for an artist to cover a song that's already perfect, but Wendi Dunlap manages a rendition of "Baby Blue" that's compelling on its own merit. The track is available on this free-for-nothing-gratis compilation album, a gift from the good folks at Futureman Records.

RONNIE SPECTOR: Something's Gonna Happen

Ah, curse whatever random mix of personal cluelessness and general obscurity kept this release outside of my awareness for so damned long. In the very late '80s, maybe into the early '90s, Ronnie Spector recorded a handful of tracks with every pop fan's pal Marshall Crenshaw. Working with Crenshaw and his combo, Spector cut five Crenshaw songs--"Something's Gonna Happen," "Favorite Waste Of Time," "For His Love," "Whenever You're On My Mind," and "Communication"--but the world at large wasn't interested. The tracks remained unreleased until 2003. 

Stupid, stupid world at large.

This is a magnificent little treasure trove of stirring pop music. If only this had gotten some traction at the time, prompting a full-length album by Ronnie, MC and company, we would all have a cherished memory of what would have been one of the best albums of the '90s. But it wasn't to be.

Nonetheless: it should have been. If you don't have the eventual Something's Gonna Happen EP, I must humbly recommend you remedy that ASAP. What a record. And what a missed opportunity.

LANNIE FLOWERS: Don't Make Me Wait

A new collection of tunes from Lannie Flowers! The partnership between Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records has already yielded a wealth of maximumYEAH! for rockin' pop fans. Big Stir has given wider release for previous SpyderPop albums (like Danny Wilkerson's TIRnRR Fave Rave Wilkerson, represented on this week's radio extravaganza by the irresistible "Let It Go Tonight"), and BSR and SPR have pooled resources on behalf of new stuff, too.

Lannie's long-awaited new album Flavor Of The Month gathers remixed versions of the digital-only singles Lannie released prior to his 2019 album Home. The new album was cleared for airplay just in time for this week's shindig, so over the wireless it went. Fantastic stuff, and another invigmoratin' product of the partnership between SypderPop and Big Stir.

THE RONETTES: He Did It

With "Be My Baby" set as this week's finale, and with spins of the Ronettes' "Walking In The Rain" and "Baby, I Love You" programmed elsewhere in the playlist, we still wanted to include one more Ronettes track. We opted for "He Did It," a 1965 release on the Colpix label. I'm pretty sure the track is older than its release date, presumably recorded before Ronnie, Estelle Bennett, and Nedra Talley got involved with, y'know...that guy. The murderer. Good enough for us! Who needs a wall of sound when you've got Ronnie Spector?

RONNIE SPECTOR: I'll Follow The Sun

Former hitmakers forsaken by the record biz often find themselves recording remakes of their own material and/or covers of other hitmakers' material. Ronnie Spector's 2016 album English Heart offers the fabulous Veronica interpreting some 1960s sides previously done by British acts the Dave Clark Five, the Zombies, Lulu, Sandie Shaw, the Kinks, the Fortunes, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Bee Gees, plus the lesser-known "I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls," a song the Rolling Stones gave away. My initial impression of the record wasn't terribly enthusiastic, but I owe it another spin to see if it rings in better with repetition. 

I do like Ronnie's English Heart cover of the Beatles' "I'll Follow The Sun." Maybe it was just because I heard it for the first time shortly after Ronnie had passed, but it seems a sad and touching moment, a moving farewell as we bid her goodbye. 

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuck Godspeed, Ronnie Spector.

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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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