10 SONGS: 10/20/2022

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 # 1151.

THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride

The intrepid Rich Firestone--who is the host of Radio Deer Camp right here on SPARK! and also one righteous rockin' dude--has declared that this track from the Smithereens' recently-released archival discovery The Lost Album is a hit record. Book it! "Face The World With Pride" at a Smithereens-approved Top Of The Pops!

We're with Rich. However, the stupid real world of radio formats that are all myopic all the time may not be prepared to follow Rich's lead. So our Reechie has called upon us--all of us, the independent DJs, bloggers, pundits, and loud 'n' boisterous fans--to intercede on the Smithereens' behalf. We hear and we obey. If you have a platform of your own, we join Radio Deer Camp's recommendation that you play the livin' chiclets outta this one.

TIRnRR will do its part. This was "Face The World With Pride"'s fourth straight appearance on our weekly playlist. I betcha we'll play it again next week, too. Hit records have gotta start somewhere. Face the world. Play it with pride.

ARIELLE EDEN: Sagittarius

We've mentioned that we have a new compilation album out, right!? Of course we have! These things don't just hype themselves, people. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 is available at this very transcendent moment, as a CD or a download, it is THE best compilation we've ever done, and we see no need for silly humility as we urge you to buy it. In fact, we recommend you buy more copies than you actually need. Many more copies.

This is an album full of highlights, and one of those highlights is Arielle Eden's beguilin' li'l pop tune "Sagittarius." "Sagittarius" is sprightly and peppy, impossible to resist, and it could be just as appropriate for airing on a contemporary pop radio format as it is for our little mutant pop radio format. It's versatile. And it's cool! The stars decree it.

THE JANGLE BAND: So Long

The weekly This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio shows are international affairs, proudly playing rockin' pop records from all over this wide, wide world of wonder. That we-are-the-world vibe extends to our compilations, at least a little bit. For Volume 5, we have acts from Japan (the Mayflowers), Canada (Laurie Biagini), Sweden (In Deed), and Australia (the Jangle Band). We've been corresponding with the Jangle Band's Joe Algeri for years, and their ace number "So Long" was one of the first tracks we put on our wish list when we started constructing this new compilation.

When we were putting this week's playlist together, Dana mentioned how the mighty Kurt Reil's mastering makes all of the tracks on TIRnRR Vol. 5 snap in such a spectacular way, and how he's hearing the songs now in a way he never heard them before. I agree. And Dana mentioned "So Long" as a track we maybe oughtta play a little more often. I agree with that, too.

THE BEATLES: Helter Skelter

I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS...!

SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES: The Tears Of A Clown

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

RICHARD ÖHRN: Time's Not Running Out

We mentioned Uppsala, Sweden's phenomenal pop combo In Deed in passing a few paragraphs back. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 also includes "Peace & Quiet," my favorite among favorite In Deed tracks. We'll hear In Deed's TIRnRR Vol. 5 track on next week's show. But THIS week, we're dead chuffed to serve up a track from In Deed guitarist Richard Öhrn's forthcoming solo album Sounds In English. The album is due out November 11th from our friends at Big Stir Records, and the advance digital single "Love And Friendship" is available right now. TIRnRR approves of these Sounds.

THE KINKS: Revenge

Our house band the Kinks, and a nifty 1964 instrumental called "Revenge." REVENGE! Now we're talkin', huh? Yeah, Lex Luthor was rumored to play rhythm guitar on that track. Well, Lex Luthor or Jimmy Page. Same diff.

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Vengeance

Couldn't resist following "Revenge" with "Vengeance," Justine and the Unclean's contribution to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. "Revenge" was our introduction to Justine Covault's fine work a few years back, a prime portal that led us to her own subsequent label Red On Red Records and all sortsa greatness that ensued. She's done so much fantastic stuff, both as a performer and as an ambassador and facilitator for other artists. She is, in short, really, really groovy. "Vengeance" is my favorite. Word on the street suggests there may be a full-length Justine album in the not-too-distant (and not-near-soon-enough) future. Prepare for VENGEANCE! It's FUN!

OSCAR TONEY JR.: Ain't That True Love

One of the many truths in our lives as pop fans is that there is always so much more magnificent music awaiting our discovery: new music, of course, and also old music that escaped our attention.

I don't recallI hearing (or hearing of) '60s soul singer Oscar Toney Jr. before last week. Maybe? Even if so, Toney didn't register with me until, like, now. A chance dive into the CD bins at Sound Garden in Syracuse netted me The Soul Of The Memphis Boys, a compilation CD collecting some Memphis sides by Ben E. King, Elvis Presley, Arthur Conley, James and Bobby Purify, Arthur Alexander, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, Ella Washington, and more. Impulse purchase, come to Poppa!

On this disc, Toney's "Ain't That True Love" freakin' knocked me out. On the radio it went, and on the radio it will return next week. This is a bona fide soul classic, even if hardly anyone knows it. Classic.

There's so much out there, waiting for us to open our ears, eyes, and minds and just notice. The hunt continues. Ain't that...something?

TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)

"Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)" was written by Robin Gibb, an obscure ditty eventually included on deluxe reissues of the Bee Gees' 1968 album Idea. In our newfangled 21st century, Tall Poppy Syndrome reimagined it as (in their words) "a Mod-era Who performing the Zombies' Odessey And Oracle." Ah, these musicians and their ideas!

Oh, and it was a sublime idea. Tall Poppy Syndrome includes former Bee Gees guitarist Vince Melouney, which gives their Robin Gibb cover a sort of legacy status. Tall Poppy Syndrome's version of "Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween" radiates confidence and vulnerability in paradoxically equal measure, the fragile emotion at its center granting it emotional gravitas, the surefire swagger of its execution commanding our attention and demanding volume far, far north of a mere 11. We are so, so proud to present this superlative Tall Poppy Syndrome track as part of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. Get it. Crank it. Love it. Stand tall, you poppies. Stand tall.

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: 9/9/2021

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 # 1093.

THE BROTHERS STEVE: We Got The Hits

The Brothers Steve say, "We got the hits!" Yes we do, friends. Yes we do. Lemme tell ya 'bout a few of them....

THE CHELSEA CURVE: Inconceivable

Are the gal and guys of the Chelsea Curve really releasing a new single every month? Man, I hate overachievers, mainly because I'm jealous of, y'know, ambition. I forgive 'em quickly because each of these singles has been pretty damned swell, which is why we play them all on the radio. "A Better Way" has been my fave of the lot to date, but "Inconceivable" may give "A Better Way" a run for its overachieving money. Awright. Keep 'em coming, you lot.

GREAT BUILDINGS: Hold On To Something

They'll be there for you. Long before Danny Wilde and Phil Solem found fame as the Rembrandts, they were (wait for it!) friends in an ace early '80s combo called Great Buildings. Their lone major-label LP Apart From The Crowd was released by Columbia in 1981, and it did not ship 'n' sell the units it deserved. I bought the album (prompted by a rave mention in either CREEM or Trouser Press), but didn't really appreciate it until a year or two later. "Hold On To Something" is the album's lead-off track, and it remains a peer to any and all of the greatest rockin' pop tracks from that decade.

KISS: Detroit Rock City

My first KISS record was the Rock And Roll Over album, a high school graduation gift from my sister in 1977. I'm not exactly sure of the subsequent chronology of my KISS acquisitions. Both Love Gun and Destroyer likely came to me via record club purchases, Alive II was a Christmas present from Mom and Dad in December '77, and a beat-up copy of Alive! came from The Record Exchange in Cleveland Heights. I also picked up a very used copy of Hotter Than Hell somewhere in this '77-'78 time frame, establishing my KISS collection through my first year at college. Dressed To Kill came later, a free-with-purchase, get-this-OUTTA-here! used copy scarfed up at Brockport's Main Street Records. Other than Ace Frehley's "New York Groove" 45 and (maybe) a used copy of Dynasty, this was the totality of my personal KISS library until I decided to go back and get 'em all circa 1989.

I'm pretty sure Destroyer was my second KISS album, my first after Rock And Roll Over. I confess that there was never really a KISS album that I loved; with KISS (as with many other acts), I was an individual song guy rather than a whole LP guy. Side Two of Destroyer had "Shout It Out Loud," a track I loved and have proclaimed The Greatest Record Ever Made! But in the '70s, my primary Destroyer go-tos were the first two tracks on Side One, "Detroit Rock City" and "King Of The Night Time World," and then "Shout It Out Loud" on Side Two. I tried to get into the rest of the album, and I would have probably liked "God Of Thunder" without its special effects, but I likely would have been just as good with a four-song Destroyer EP of "Detroit Rock City," "King Of The Night Time World," "Shout It Out Loud," and the hit AM ballad "Beth." I am as a god of thunder made me.

"Detroit Rock City" remains a favorite. Get up, everybody's gonna move their feet, get down, everybody's gonna leave their seat. I avoid getting sucked into arguments about whether or not KISS is power pop; they're not, but honestly, I think some of their songs come closer to my idea of power pop than, say, 20/20 does. 

Your mileage may vary. But look out for that truck ahead.

THE MIRACLES: Going To A Go-Go

I wish. I miss live music, but I'm generally not in any big hurry to mix with crowds nowadays, since crowds almost always include at least some people who are--what's the word?--stupid. I've only attended two live music events since the shutdowns, with a third coming up soon; I'm masked and fully Moderna'd, but...people. I look forward to seeing more shows when it feels appropriate to see more shows. In the mean time, the Miracles have a song to rev us up for our eventual return to that exciting, vibrant environment. Live music! Oh, I wanna go. 

NICK PIUNTI: Heart Inside Your Head

So much fantastic new pop music being released, and so little time to squeeze it into a mere three-hour weekly showcase. Dana and I would start our own radio station, but we've already established that we hate overachievers. Wouldn't wanna contradict ourselves. Nonetheless, Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men are no strangers to TIRnRR airplay--their track "Upper Hand" scored significant spins in 2020--and new single "Heart Inside Your Head" merits attention from all ears, minds, and attention spans. This is a hit record.

OTIS REDDING: You Left The Water Running

I had no idea that Otis Redding's 1967 gem "You Left The Water Running" was originally unreleased, appearing only on an unauthorized 45 in the '70s and finally seeing legit issue in the late '80s. Well, some things are worth waiting for. I knew the song from Rhino Records' Redding box Otis!, which my lovely wife Brenda gave me as a Christmas gift a couple of decades ago. Thanks again, darlin'!

THE ROLLING STONES: Get Off Of My Cloud

"Get Off Of My Cloud" is the first Rolling Stones song I remember hearing, a hit on the radio in 1965, when I was five years old. In memory of the late Charlie Watts (whose distinctive drum intro to this song means Charlie was the first individual Rolling Stone I ever heard), this is The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM: 2 + 2 = ?

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Even with an infinite number, though, some turns are perhaps less likely than others.

Some may be surprised that Bob Seger gets two chapters in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I have given frequent public testimonial regarding how much I despise much of Seger's most popular work, and indeed a GREM! chapter about "Old Time Rock & Roll" is mostly about how much I hate that goddamned song. 

But for all that, a lot of Seger's earlier work is fantastic. Let's have a peek at a little bit of the book's chapter about "2 + 2 = ?"

"Maybe you never knew that Bob Seger made a punk record. If you didn't know, it's not your fault; neither music history nor Seger himself has seemed interested in the secret revelation of a dynamic, furious 1968 record called '2 + 2 = ?'

"It's a difficult dichotomy to reconcile. Seger's mass-market reputation is built largely upon a series of popular mid-tempo heartland ballads and MOR rockers, beloved by many, despised by others. They are soundtracks for truck commercials, banal and inoffensive radio fare with the bland personality of margarine. Even as I type that, I really don't mean any disrespect to those who love 'Like A Rock' or 'Against The Wind' or even--shudder--'We've Got Tonight' and 'Old Time Rock & Roll.' There are no guilty pleasures in pop music. If you like something, a guy writing dismissively about your familiar favorites is unlikely to alter your tastes, nor should it. Dig what you wanna dig. Just, y'know, forgive me for cringing when I hear any of that stuff. I have to dig what I wanna dig, too...

"...It can be galling to admit when you've been wrong. In this case, I comfort myself with a reminder that I still loathe the songs that made me critical of Seger's work to begin with, and (more importantly) that it's good to discover a redemptive portion of an artist's body of work. Seger's supposed to be a good guy; I'm happy to find concrete evidence that he made some records that I can love without reservation. Some of this has since been reissued on a 2018 collection called Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967. All of it remains relatively obscure.

"...'Get Out Of Denver' had been far and away my favorite among Seger's records. I also kinda liked 'Hollywood Nights' among the more famous choices. But this fresh treasure trove of archival nuggets introduced me to new favorites, recorded and originally released under the names Bob Seger & the Last Heard, the Bob Seger System, and Bob Seger solo. 'Noah.' 'Rosalie.' 'Lucifer.' Renewed spins of the still-great 'Get Out Of Denver' and the now-welcome 'Heavy Music (Part 1).' Rockin', man. And there was the immense, irresistible 'East Side Story,' a triumphant appropriation of Van Morrison's 'Gloria' riff in service of a tenement tragedy that was absolutely The Greatest Record Ever Made for the approximately two and a half minutes of my first spin of its cantankerous glory.

"'2 + 2 = ?' is even greater...

"...How did this happen? How could the Bob Seger of the wretched peacenik-baiting diatribe 'Ballad Of The Yellow Beret' also be responsible for the gooseflesh-raising intensity of the antiwar '2 + 2 = ?' And how did that guy go on to produce such mundane background noise to such numbingly popular effect? Seger's large. He contains multitudes. 

"But the multitudes need to hear '2 + 2 = ?' It's at least as savage as the Sex Pistols, as angry as the Clash, as explosive as the Stooges or the MC5. Never mind the bollocks, here's Bob Seger. Seger is a punk rocker."

THE SPEED OF SOUND: Tomorrow's World

Museum Of Tomorrow, the new album from Manchester's phenomenal pop combo the Speed of Sound, will be released by Big Stir Records on September 17th. It's very, very good. Very good. Find out more here, and get your wallet out. They got the hits. Tomorrow is coming atcha at the speed of sound.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

10 SONGS: 12/15/2020

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 # 1055.

KING MIXER: Talking Down To Me

Man, this radio gig has some fab perks. I don't believe King Mixer has released any music to the public yet, so this track comes to us courtesy of our mutual pal Steve Stoeckel. Now, Steve's a TIRnRR legend. The Spongetones! Jamie & Steve! The THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO All-Stars! I probably forgot one of Steve's essential credits, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn he was also the fifth Beatle, the finest swordsmen in all of France, and the only person who knows to whom the voice of the invisible Shadow belongs. Nice guy, too. Hella talented. Reportedly a better'n decent cook. Can't rap to save his life, but nobody's perfect.

Anyroad. King Mixer is piloted by a band o' brothers, Danny Stevenson and Bruce Stevenson, and they're working on a CD. They let Steve have a listen, and the song "Talking Down To Me" caught his fancy. Steve added some sublimely Spongetoney bass to the track, and presto: Instant hit! And because we just so happen to play the hits, Steve forwarded us the track for immediate broadcast. We will hear more from King Mixer. Even if it costs us a fortune in Breach of Promise cases, we're dead pleased. 'Ello, Grandfather! The perks of radio, my friends. The perks of radio.

THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping

In 1967, "Love Is Only Sleeping" was almost released as The Monkees'  fourth single, a plan nixed when some label or network stiff realized the potential scandal of suggesting that love = sleeping (i.e., bouncin' with frisk-filled intent). It would have been the first Monkees 45 cut with lead vocals by Michael Nesmith instead of Micky Dolenz or Davy Jones. Peter Tork never got anywhere near singing lead on a Monkees A-side. The song is a highlight of my favorite Monkees album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., and this is what I said about it in a blog piece about my Top 25 Monkees tracks:

I've written elsewhere of my discovery of the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. and Head albums as a high school senior in the Spring of 1977. I had already heard "Love Is Only Sleeping" in TV reruns, but it really hit me for the first time in '77. Lyrically, this Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil song may be about female sexual dysfunction (more so than Sandie Shaw's deceptively-titled "Girl Don't Come" anyway), but it's so much more than that. It's a tale of hope. It's a tale of frustration and despair conquered by passion and persistence, sweet deliverance earned and embraced. Chip Douglas' bass and Nesmith's guitar slice, as Michael's lead vocal shimmers with cool, calm confidence, all made breathier and more inviting by harmony from Dolenz. Love is only sleeping. Try it! It can work for you, too!

When speaking to my peers in '77, "Love Is Only Sleeping" was Exhibit A in pleading my case on behalf of The Monkees. Teenagers in the '70s deemed The Monkees uncool. I knew better. This track helped me prove it.

ORBIS MAX WITH LISA MYCHOLS: Ooh Baby Baby

The combined talents of Orbis Max and Lisa Mychols bring us this dreamy cover of The Miracles' classic "Ooh Baby Baby," a song which I first knew from Linda Ronstadt's hit cover in 1978. This new version made its SPARK! Syracuse debut Sunday afternoon on Rich Firestone's essential Radio Deer Camp show. We played it again on TIRnRR Sunday night, and our Lisa's silky-smooth and swoon-worthy delivery prompted loyal RDC and TIRnRR listener Joel Tinnel to quip, "I don't smoke, but after hearing that twice, I feel like I need a cigarette." Swoon away.

IRENE PEÑA: Ridiculous

Attempts at branding are part and parcel of my silly ambition to pretend TIRnRR is a force in pop culture. Humor me; I'm harmless. So we become The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet, preaching The Joy Of Radio, noting that Radio's Job Is To Sell Records. The Kinks become The House Band. The Ramones are The American Beatles, The Greatest American Rock 'n' Roll Band Of All Time. And Irene Peña is America's Sweetheart.

Because she is. Here's further proof. Sometimes branding gets it exactly right.

POP CO-OP: Persistence Of Memory

Hey, it's that Steve Stoeckel guy again! Oh yeah, that's the Stoeckel group I forgot to mention: POP CO-OP! Our above-mentioned branding initiative lists Pop Co-Op's Factory Settings as Your Favorite Album Of 2020, and who are we to argue with that? 

SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES: The Tears Of A Clown

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. From my eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

I've written extensively about how important AM Top 40 radio was to me when I was (in theory) growing up. In the period from, say, 1970 to 1975, maybe 1976, my ears were surgically attached to WOLF-AM and WNDR-AM in Syracuse, the soundtrack of my sentence as an adolescent and teen. The giddy thrill of enjoying pop songs on the radio--the very place where pop songs were most meant to be enjoyed--shaped me in ways I had no idea about at the time. Amidst the splendor of Badfinger and Johnny Nash and Gladys Knight & the Pips, Alice Cooper, The Raspberries, Isley Brothers, Sweet, a Chuck Berry oldie, and some guys who used to be in The Beatles, AM radio gave me the gift of Motown's greatest miracle: the gift of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

"The Tears Of A Clown" was a song out of time. It had been an album track on the Miracles' 1967 LP Make It Happen, but it was not originally released as a single; "More Love" and "The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage" were the chosen 45s off Make It Happen. A year passed. Two years, three years, a freaking eternity in the ephemeral world at the top of the pops. In 1970, this by-now-ancient track was exhumed and dusted off as a single release in England, and it cried all the way home to a UK # 1. British success prompted an American single release, which also hit # 1, the only Smokey Robinson & the Miracles single ever to top Billboard's Hot 100.

The motif of the clown who cries is held in disdain as trite, hoary. I remember once seeing a TV movie scene that took place in a writers' workshop. The scene contrasted the approaches of two would-be writers: a pretty young woman (our heroine) whose elegant and aching study in quiet desperation depicted her protagonist's nearly-empty refrigerator as a long-term effort to slowly commit suicide by starvation; and a middle-aged hack in the making, writing cloyingly about the tears of a clown. The former creative effort could be art; the latter could only be rubbish.

But we forgive and embrace the use of this motif when it transcends itself, in Pagliacci, and in the careful grace of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. Robinson had touched on the allusion previously in The Miracles' 1965 gem "The Tracks Of My Tears," with its couplet "People say I'm the life of the party 'cause I tell a joke or two/Although I might be laughing loud and hearty, deep inside I'm blue." Robinson used the lines "Just like Pagliacci did/I'll keep my sadness hid" in "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)," a song he co-wrote and produced for Carolyn Crawford in 1964. It's familiar, it's pat, but it works just fine as a pop lyric. Hell, in the right context, it approaches genius as a pop lyric....

SPARKS: Lawnmower

I was a relative latecomer to the music of Sparks. I betcha I heard them at some point in the '70s; it seems likely that Utica's WOUR-FM must have played somethin' Sparky during that 1976-78 time frame when I was moving from AM Top 40 to freer-form FM. But the closest memory I can conjure would be the similar sound of The Quick's 1976 cover of The Beatles' "It Won't Be Long." I did see an ace New York City group called The Fast on a bill with The Flashcubes in 1978, and The Fast were also a little influenced by Sparks. 

Other than that, Sparks was just an act I read about in the rock press. My first conscious exposure to the sound of Sparks was "Tips For Teens," a track I heard and loved via a 1981 budget compilation LP called Blitz. '81 was also the year I was introduced to the 1979 Sparks song "Beat The Clock," albeit by the incongruous second-hand means of Stars On 45's hit disco medley. I discovered more Sparks over time (including the actual "Beat The Clock," which I specifically associate with a memory of crossing the bridge to Canada on an early '90s visit to Montreal). "Tips For Teens" remains my favorite Sparks track. You never forget your first kiss.

And decades later, I'm delighted that Sparks is still with us, and still making new tunes that are quirky, engaging, and fun. "Lawnmower" comes from Sparks' 2020 album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, and it continues the proud Sparks legacy of peerless, percolatin' pop music.

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH FEATURING KEN STRINGFELLOW: Howl At The Moon

When the mighty Vegas With Randolph joined forces with the likewise-mighty Lannie Flowers for the 2017 track "The Weekend's Coming" (heard on our CD and digital compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4), I wrote:

As a life-long fan of comic books, I very much appreciate the idea of two separate favorites joining forces as one. Superman and Batman! Spider-Man and Red Sonja! Wonder Woman and Jerry Lewis! The list goes on and on, from Mary Marvel and Bulletgirl to KISS and Vampirella, Archie and The Ramones. Your two fave raves in one adventure--who can resist that?

So Dana and I feel like the power pop equivalent of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as we announce this epic team-up of Vegas With Randolph and Lannie Flowers. Face front, True Believers--this one's got it all!

The above applies equally to "Howl At The Moon," a new super team-up uniting VWR with Ken Stringfellow of The Posies and Big Star. So...go ahead and howl. Heroically!

WAR: Low Rider

Has anyone ever used the word "imperious" to describe the rhythm of War's 1975 hit "Low Rider?" I'd presume it hasn't been done, and it may be a stretch to use it now. But GodDAYum, that regal riddum rules by divine and absolute right. Imperious War!

THE YES IT IS!: The Night I Heard A Scream

Well, make that the YEAR I heard a scream. Nonetheless, great cover of 20/20's fab original, done now by a jingle-jangle bubbletoon group called The YES IT IS! Yep, The YES IT IS! is a contemporary Saturday morning TV cartoon combo lacking only a Saturday morning TV cartoon show to accompany them. You can read their story and buy their digital single (complete with its virtual B-side cover of XTC's "Senses Working Overtime") right here. I'm grabbin' a bowl of cereal, then I'll meet you on the dancefloor.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

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.