10 SONGS: 1/31/2026

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 # 1321

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me

I've been corresponding with Keith Klingensmith of the Legal Matters since well before This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio went on the air in December of 1998. Let's go back to my supplemental liner notes for 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 for an edited recap:

"...Keith's name comes up a lot in the discussion of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Keith is one of TIRnRR's best friends; as a fan, as a listener, as a supporter, as a facilitator (Keith's on-line label Futureman Records curates the digital release of our TIRnRR compilations), and as a performer, Keith has been one of us from the get-go...

"...My first contact with Keith was in the '90s, via some online pop music connection--probably AOL, I guess. At the time, I was among several pop fans who participated in a weekly Monday night power pop chat group. I don't remember whether or not I specifically met Keith through that chat; I suspect it was more a matter (if not quite a Legal Matter) of Keith noticing a comment I made somewhere, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find the Spongetones' Where-Ever-Land CD. Keith to the rescue! Some time later, Keith also provided me with a copy of Here To Observe, the truly hard-to-find debut LP by Springfield, Missouri's phenomenal pop combo Fools Face (Keith wisely kept a copy of the group's incredible third album Public Places for himself), and I'm pretty sure my copy of Artful Dodger's classic debut album came from our Keef...

"...Through Keith, I also met his partner in the Phenomenal Cats, Chris Richards. There's a wealth of cool music for ya. I mean, the Phenomenal Cats' cover of the Left Banke's 'I've Got Something On My Mind' made me appreciate a simply sublime pop song I'd somehow managed to mostly ignore up to that point. The combined and separate threads of Chris 'n' Keith wove through solo tracks by each, plus Hippodrome, the Pantookas, Chris Richards and the Subtractions, Keith Klingensmith and the TM Collective, and the Legal Matters, the latter a trio with Keith, Chris, and Andy Reed. The Legal Matters' eponymous debut was one of 2014's best albums, and follow-ups Conrad and Chapter Three rightly became the toast of the pop world...

"...Keith Klingensmith is an integral part of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's story. Our online comradeship predates the show, and has continued unabated throughout the passing three decades. He's been one of our biggest supporters, helping to spread the good word of TIRnRR, sending fans and artists alike our way, contributing to our quixotic cause, and keeping previous TIRnRR compilations available as downloads via Futureman Records...."

So! Back in the present day: A forthcoming new Legal Matters album, Lost At Sea? Yes, of course we're playing it. To paraphrase Lenny Haise, guitarist for teen sensations the Wonders: We're playin' it, you're playin' it, we're ALL playin' it. And we move on to the album's latest single "The Message" on our next show. After all these years, Keith and his pals are stuck with us. It's a legal matter.

STYX: Everybody Raise A Glass

As an exercise in blogging, I often slap together fake TIRnRR playlists, imagining song selections for themed shows we're probably never going to do, but could. I'm considering the idea of constructing a pretend playlist comprised of sets by acts I didn't appreciate immediately, and in some cases still don't really like.

One such act would be Styx. My God, when I was in my teens and twenties, I absolutely loathed Styx, and time hasn't really mellowed my antipathy for the Styx stuff I hated the most. Mind you, even at the time of my determined loathing--unadulterated loathing--I made an exception for the pop bliss of "Lorelei," which I often cited as proof of my belief that even an artist whose work you generally despise might be capable of creating one track you love. And I kinda liked "Too Much Time On My Hands," as well. Overall, though, my distaste for Styx was greater than my disdain for the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Southern Rock, prog, or disco, and possibly greater than all of those undesirables combined. The upshot of our story: I was not and am not a Styx fan.

That said, the phenomenal latter-day Styx track "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" is an all-time TIRnRR Fave Rave, and there are a handful of vintage Styx tracks that I don't mind. I don't think the day will come when I have any use whatsoever for "Babe" or "Renegade" or goddamned "Mr. Roboto," but I concede that the Styx brand name doesn't necessarily have to prompt an immediate revulsion.

Yeah, y'know...not necessarily.

"Everybody Raise A Glass" is from the 2025 Styx album Circling From Above, and I heard it a couple of weeks ago on another can't-miss episode of The Spoon podcast (specifically on this episode). The men of The Spoon--Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers--are Styx fans, but I love 'em anyway. And the track's winning and accomplished channeling of all things Queen makes it an irresistible addition to our own show's playlist. 

Even with the bands we don't like as much as some of our friends do, an open mind can unlock the doors of discovery. Raise a glass! Here's to the Men of The Spoon, and also to our old correspondent Kathryn Francis, wherever she is. Thank you, friends. Domo arigato. It's Styx, babe.

TALKING HEADS: Burning Down The House

Believe it or not, if I were to compile the above-mentioned playlist of acts that didn't appeal to me on first exposure, Talking Heads would be a contender. I revised my initially dismissive opinion of the group in relatively short order, and I remain grateful that I was able to witness a great Talking Heads live performance in the '80s. But in 1977, the first Talking Heads song I heard was their single of "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town," and I hated it. I trashed it in an emeritus contribution to my high school newspaper (a piece carrying the sorta-familiar title "Groovin' [Like The Hip Folks Do]"); in retrospect, I realize I didn't like "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" because it didn't sound at all punk, which was what I expected and craved. I liked "Psycho Killer" better, and became a fan thereafter. I don't even mind "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" any more.

See? I can mature! Just...not usually.

THE HALF/CUBES: Whenever You're On My Mind

For the latest single from the Half/Cubes' fine current album Found Pearls, the lads enlist the aid of Robert Crenshaw and Tom Teeley to accomplish an exquisite rendition of Marshall Crenshaw's already-sublime "Whenever You're On My Mind." This little mutant radio show first played it as a then-unreleased teaser track last February, and I'm starting to believe the Half/Cubes' take edges out both our Marshall and the great Ronnie Spector as the definitive "Whenever You're On My Mind." They're all winners in my mind.

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

And they say ya can't learn stuff listening to the radio.

SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More

Spectraflame's "Love Don't Live Here No More" makes its fourth consecutive appearance on the TIRnRR playlist. As it oughta! The single is now part of the group's new eponymous five-song digital EP, and it will rack up TIRnRR Spin # 5 this coming Sunday.

As it oughta. Love still has a home right here.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

From a previously-posted celebration of my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

The 1-2-3-4! rules of our ABC format dictate that a list of my favorite Ramones tracks starts with its quirkiest selection. "All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" appeared on the Ramones' 1981 LP Pleasant Dreams, an album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Pleasant Dreams was produced by Graham Gouldman, who achieved great success in the '60s as a songwriter for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, and subsequently as a performer with 10cc. And, as Johnny Ramone said in our interview, "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones."

On Pleasant Dreams, Gouldman's production made the Ramones sound...I dunno, smoother than expected? Phil Spector had done something similar with 1980's End Of The Century, another album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. In Spector's hands, the bubblepunk purity of the Ramones got lost in his Wall of Sound; Gouldman turned the Ramones into a new wave pop band. Neither End Of The Century nor Pleasant Dreams is at the same transcendent level as the classic fist four Ramones albums that preceded them.

Ignoring the anomaly of this album's place in the larger Carbona-huffin' picture, though, I need to risk contradicting myself: Pleasant Dreams is a fantastic record. Fantastic. I know Marky Ramone liked it, and we've established that Johnny hated it, but the fact that it wasn't Rocket To Russia doesn't prevent it from being compelling in its own right.

Pleasant Dreams is loaded with great Ramones songs, from "We Want The Airwaves" to "It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World)" to "She's A Sensation" to the superb album closer "Sitting In My Room." "The KKK Took My Baby Away" is the best-known of the bunch. Would the tracks sound better if Ed Stasium or Tommy Ramone had produced them? Possibly. They sound pretty good as-is.

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was my immediate pick when I bought the album in '81, and it has remained so. It's the sprightliest song ever done about a serial killer, stalking the street 'til the break of day, a track delivered with decidedly un-Ramoneslike percussion, and with backing vocals from Dee Dee Ramone asking that musical question, Can't you think my movements talk? Hey, you unsuspecting soon-to-be victims: Pleasant dreams!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

From the High Frequencies' current album Get High, "Cleanup Time" has become one of my top go-to tracks of late. Invigmoratin'! And it plays here again on Sunday, within an added political context. In this country, it is long, long past cleanup time.

SORROWS: Cricket Man

Epic. Power pop greats Sorrows recorded their originally-unreleased farewell album Parting Such Sweet Sorrow in one single night's session in 1981. Decades later, this eminently satisfying record was rescued from the archives and at long last issued by the visionary Big Stir Records label in 2025. It was one of the best albums of the year.

"Never Mind" became our show's pick hit from the record--it was our # 15 most-played track in 2025--but the mic-drop moment is "Cricket Man," Sorrows' immense and heartfelt tribute to the recently-slain John Lennon. It takes TIRnRR a while to find sufficient airspace to accommodate a five-and-a-half-minute track in our short-attention-span format, no matter how utterly wonderful the track is. "Cricket Man" was worth waiting for. Nothing is Sorrow-proof, and "Cricket Man" provides a stunning salute to one of the prime architects of the music we love, and a stirring farewell from a great band deeply affected by the pop world the Beatles helped build.

Fab. Sweet. Unforgettable.

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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 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: 2/10/2023

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

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1167. This show is available as a podcast.

TELEVISION: Marquee Moon

Much of this week's playlist was programmed in reaction to the death of Television's Tom Verlaine. When I was 17 in 1977, Television's debut album Marquee Moon was an integral part of my enthusiastic assimilation into punk and what would later be called new wave. That impact was immense, and it's still with me.

So both Dana and I wanted to play a few tracks from relevant acts of that era, culminating in a closing set of NYC artists. Over the course of the show, we figured we needed to play four songs by Television, and we supplemented those with a bunch of others we felt were also part of this general discussion of '70s punk and its periphery: Blondie, Gang of Four, the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, Tom Robinson Band, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, the Shirts, Public Image Ltd., Richard Hell and the VoidOids, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the Flashcubes, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Johnny Thunders (with the other Heartbreakers), the Dictators, and the late Robert Gordon with Tuff Darts. The acts are too varied to be lumped together within one genre. But trust me: at the time, each of them was part of our full-tilt embrace of NEW MUSIC! When I was a young punk, all of these acts were part of the punk conversation.

Our little mutant radio show is named after a spoken line in a Ramones song, and a show-specific edit of "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" serves as our usual opening theme. This week, Dana suggested replacing the regular theme song with the ten-minute title track from Television's Marquee Moon. I thought that was a superb idea, and we went with it.

I don't want to exaggerate how important Marquee Moon was to me...but I don't wish to understate it either. I bought my copy of Marquee Moon before I owned Ramones, probably before I got My Aim Is True, maybe before Blank Generation, definitely before Blondie or Go Girl Crazy or Talking Heads 77, maybe just before or just after my girlfriend gave me Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. I played Marquee Moon in my dorm room, and I most especially played its track "Elevation" over and over and over. But I listened to all of its tracks, including the long one that gave the album its title:

I remember

How the darkness doubled

I recall

Lightning struck itself

I was listening

Listening to the rain

I was hearing

Hearing something else

At the age of 17, "something else" was what I needed to hear. I heard it in Television.

BLONDIE: Little Girl Lies

When I got to college in the fall of '77, one of my first and most pressing bits of business was getting the campus radio station at Brockport to play me some of the punk and associated records I'd read about in Phonograph Record Magazine. 

Blondie's "X-Offender" was near the top of my list of requests. The prurient 'n' pulchritudinous appeal of singer Debbie Harry was irresistible to this teen, and I was reeled in hook, line, and more hooks by PRM writer Mark Shipper's description of Blondie as looking like Marilyn Monroe backed by the Dave Clark Five. See, THAT'S playing directly into the CC demographic.

My first Blondie record purchase was the "Rip Her To Shreds" 12" single, acquired specifically as a budget approach to owning "X-Offender" without springing for the cost of the whole LP. Efficient! I did hear more of the eponymous debut album as well, either on the radio station or at the on-campus bar the Rat. That exposure included tracks "You Look Good In Blue" and "Little Girl Lies."

When I finally did buy a copy of Blondie's first album in the summer of '79, I was staying at my girlfriend's apartment and gave my newly-acquired record a spin on her turntable. One of the other girls living there heard "Little Girl Lies," and declared it the worst excuse for music she had ever experienced.

Heh. And you thought Blondie wasn't punk?

28 IF: Hold Tight

Our friend Ray Paul's group 28IF is prepping release of their new single, a cover of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich's fabulous "Hold Tight." We played it on the radio, because that's where ya play stuff. And if you'd like to hear 28IF perform the song live, proximity to Rochester, NY this weekend will give you a chance to realize that dream. 28IF are playing a show at Lovin' Cup in Rochester on Saturday February 11th, celebrating the 59th anniversary of the British Invasion. Their music is just, well, their music. We say thee FAB!

STYX: Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

THE WEEKLINGS: I've Just Seen A Face

We've been playing the Weeklings' ace new cover of the Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face;" SPOILER ALERT: we're playing it again next week, at a deliberately climactic part of the program. Showmanship. We're all about the showmanship. 

Last week, we received a note from Weekling Glen Burtnik--I can never remember if Glen is the Shy One, the Smart One, the Cute One, or the Endowed-With-Powers-And-Abilities-Far-Beyond-Those-Of-Mortal-Men One--acknowledging the airplay on TIRnRR.

We were gonna play "I've Just Seen A Face" again this week anyway, but hearing from Glen also inspired us to dig out Styx's "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye," an incredible, incredible song Glen wrote a few years back. Glen was (briefly) a member of Styx at the time, and he also recorded the song as a solo track. But we knew it from Styx, and we were blown away by how an act that was, frankly, one of my designated bands to hate when I was a young punk and power popper, could be capable of such a flat-out great and explosive number.

Styx absolutely was not and should never be considered a power pop group. But if their version of "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" isn't power pop, there ain't no such thing as power pop.

MAJOR LANCE: You Don't Want Me No More

Dana's been on a major Major Lance kick lately, and that interest is resulting in some terrific additions to the ol' TIRnRR playlists. I remember Lance's 1964 hit "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" from when I was a kid--someone in the family circle had the 45 on Okeh Records--and I eventually knew his previous hit "The Monkey Time," but never did any kind of deeper dive into the Major Lance songbook. Now, Dana's playing different Major Lance gems, and I'm lovin' each and every one of 'em. More, Dana! MORE!!

THE FLASHCUBES: You Really Got Me

The Flashcubes' unreleased live cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" comes from a show at the Jabberwocky in Syracuse in early March of 1978, a little more than a month after my first Flashcubes show. The Flashcubes' prowess as an exciting live rock 'n' roll group and their ability to craft killer original power pop tunes are a large reason why they became my all-time favorite act not named the Beatles or the Ramones. 

And when it comes to executing cover versions of essential ditties written and previously recorded by someone else, the Flashcubes' super powers are also nearly nonpareil. It's evident on this live Kinks cover, and it's equally evident in the superfine series of covers they've done recently as digital singles for the mighty Big Stir Records.  There's more to come in that category. I've heard them, and I do believe you're gonna love them.

TELEVISION: Elevation

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

The record that changed my life. It's not an exaggeration. This radio show, my blog, the book I have coming out the spring--man, none of it happens for me if not for my first spin of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in late '77. Music matters. Musicians matter. A record can change your life. I'll testify to that under oath.

SYD STRAW: CBGB's

I regret that I never once set foot inside CBGB's. I think I walked by the club once, Spring '79, heading to or from a Flashcubes show at Gildersleeve's. That 'Cubes gig is the only NYC club show I ever saw; like Arty Lenin said in the Flashcubes' "Angry Young Man," I'm a million miles away from all the clubs I wanna play.

(Dana says that on his first visit to CBGB's, he was met at the door by a bum stumbling out, who then promptly puked on Dana's shoes. Ah, concert memories....)

Syd Straw made it to CBGB's. And there's a song about it on her 1996 album War And Peace, an album she did with members of the amazing Springfield, Missouri band the Skeletons. This week, we offer that song as a toast to a place I never knew first-hand, but which impacted me in ways beyond measure. In memory of Tom Verlain. In memory of Robert Gordon. In memory of the Ramones, and in recognition of sounds that still play in our heads, inspirations that live on eternally. 

At CBGB's. And everywhere else, too.

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.

10 SONGS: 5/19/2022

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 # 1129.

POP CO-OP: Short Fuses

Our pre-release campaign on behalf of Suspension, the forthcoming new album from the irresistible melodic buzz force called Pop Co-Op, enters its second week with a spin of another exclusive track. We feel taller! "Short Fuses" pops 'n' sizzles in all the right places, and it opened the big show this week. Yep, just like the Suspension track "I Just Love To Watch Her Dance" kicked off last week's show, and how next week's show and then the next week's show after that will open with...

...well, that would be telling. Stay tuned.

POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart

In the same spiffy category as "Short Fuses," "I Just Love To Watch Her Dance," [redacted] and [redacted], "Extra Beat In My Heart" is another irresistible new 2022 track from Pop Co-Op. BUT! It will not be included on Suspension; it's from something else. It's not currently available from any resource. It will be. And it is indeed something else.

ARIELLE EDEN: U-Turns

Speaking of something else!, a previous edition of 10 Songs said this about "Sagittarius," a wonderful track from rockin' pop chanteuse Arielle Eden: "Well, now, this is pop music. Arielle Eden first came to TIRnRR's attention last year, through a recommendation from our pal, America's Sweetheart Irene Peña. 'Sagittarius' is Arielle's best yet, a bubbly and inviting track that easily earns this Capricorn's eager approval. This is the dawning of the age of Arielle."

Ms. Eden's recent singles have taken more a country-pop turn, and we continue to play those, too. Her latest effort "U-Turns" cruises on the periphery of modern mainstream country, and contemporary country radio would be improved by programming it. It's ALL pop music! And pop music is something else, man.

SOLOMON BURKE: Cry To Me

The great Solomon Burke: denying efforts to put Baby in the corner since 1962. At its core, "Cry To Me" is really a country song, but country (or any other damned thing) became soul when it was sung by King Sol. 

(And, while I have neither a particular affinity for nor a spiteful grudge against the popular film Dirty Dancing, I have seen it--way, waaay after the fact--and I believe Burke's "Cry To Me" plays on the movie's soundtrack when Patrick Swayze's character was trying to teach Jennifer Grey's character the flick's titular moves. Take it, Baby!)

PERILOUS: Rock & Roll Kiss

Also something else! And really, really good. BUY IT!

BRAD MARINO: Another Sad And Lonely Night

Although a myopic pop world remembers the Bobby Fuller Four as a one-hit wonder for the superb 1966 smash "I Fought The Law," that song is either my third- or maybe even fourth-favorite BF4 track. And there's a fistful of other Fuller cuts that are nearly as good. One-hit wonder? The world is a ninny.

Brad Marino recognizes the richness of the Bobby Fuller catalog. Marino's latest Rum Bar Records single is an ace, blood-pumpin' cover of Fuller's "Another Sad And Lonely Night," a sturdy little ditty that is my # 1 BF4 track on the days when "Fool Of Love" isn't my # 1 BF4 track. ("Let Her Dance" rounds out my Bobby Fuller Top 4.) 

And I tell ya, Mr. Marino rises to the occasion of honoring Fuller's legacy. Whether you're investigating the great originals or immersing yourself in our Bobby's many able proxies, there is a world of treasure to discover beyond the well-known bop of breaking rocks in the hot sun. We'll be playing Brad Marino's "Another Sad And Lonely Night" again on next week's show.

STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: Incense And Peppermints

Going out to the Z-man, wherever he is. It's my happening, and it freaks me out!

I don't remember if I knew Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense And Peppermints" at the time of its 1967 chart reign--I was seven years old, but it's possible--or if I came to embrace the song after the fact. If the latter, I may have heard of the 1970 sexploitation film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls before I knew "Incense And Peppermint;" I certainly didn't see the movie itself until many, many years later, and I didn't know that Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared in it, but I saw a Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls pictorial in Playboy, and that got my adolescent attention. (What business did a ten-year-old have reading Playboy? The business of staring at unclothed women. Plus articles, I guess.)

But yeah, in addition to the pulchritudinous charms of its actresses, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls presented Strawberry Alarm Clock in a party scene, lip-syncing their hit from a few years back, and then doing the same with two new songs for the soundtrack LP (as well as pretending to back up the film's fictional combo the Carrie Nations).

Unlike the Carrie Nations, Strawberry Alarm Clock kept their clothes on.

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: I Wanna Be With You

Recently, Pop Co-Op's Steve Stoeckel referenced something I wrote for the first issue of Big Stir magazine in 2018: "Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it." I wholeheartedly agree with me on that point.

I bring this up again because it applies specifically to the enthusiasm musical performers can bring to their efforts, and how their own passion for acts that inspired them manifests in fresh magic, magic that can inspire others. That mystic mojo can be in the grooves of original work, or it can be expressed in covers.

Covers can be perfunctory, sure. But they can also serve as sincere and enthusiastic tribute, a thank-you note to the sounds that formed us. As Pop Co-Op's Bruce Gordon says, Let's be the Beatles! Or let's channel Chuck Berry, or Janis Joplin, or the Miracles, Buddy Holly, the Kinks, Otis Redding, the Velvet Underground, the Sex Pistols, Joan Jett. For the Flashcubes--my favorite power pop group--one can picture them imagining themselves as the Raspberries.

The Flashcubes have always been avid fans of pop music, rock 'n' roll, the vibrant sound of hooks and la-la-las played at a louder volume than decorum would prefer. The 'Cubes had dozens of influences, from British Invasion through punk, the Who through the Jam. I don't think there's any single act that served as the Flashcubes' biggest overall influence, but the Raspberries would be a huge part of that discussion. The Flashcubes positioned themselves--enthusiastically!--as a power pop band in the late '70s. That power pop approach was embodied by the Raspberries' hits, by "Go All The Way," "Tonight," and "I Wanna Be With You." The 'Cubes were Raspberries fans. That was evident. A power pop band is proud to wear its heart on its sleeve.

I remember witnessing the Flashcubes cover both "Tonight" and "I Wanna Be With You" at club shows when I was a street-legal teen. Their live version of "I Wanna Be With You" is one of the assorted shots o' gusto contained on the recent release Flashcubes On Fire, which preserves a 1979 'Cubes live show and captures the band at the height of their prowess. 

And the height of their enthusiasm. Covers and originals. The value of enthusiasm endures.

(That same enthusiasm carries through the Flashcubes' current series of Big Stir digital singles, covering the likes of Pezband, the Dwight Twilley Band, and Shoes. Chris Carter's British Invasion show recently debuted the 'Cubes' cover of Slade's "Gudbuy T' Jane" [and we'll start playin' that as soon as we get our hands on it], and next week's TIRnRR will include the combined forces of the Flashcubes and the Spongetones remaking the latter's "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?" There's still much more to come. We're enthused about the possibilities.)

STYX: Lorelei

Even the act you actively despise may be capable of creating one or more tracks you flat-out adore. As much as I hated Styx in the '70s and '80s--and, believe me, I hated Styx in the '70s and '80s--even then I knew I liked their peppy pop song "Lorelei." I still do like it, singer Dennis DeYoung's bombast notwithstanding, while retaining my decades-old disdain for most of the familiar Styx songbook.  (I was also okay with "Too Much Time On My Hands, and I worship a 2003 Styx track called "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" as just over-the-top friggin' fabulous. So: three. Three cool tracks from an act I otherwise shun. Here's to ya, Lorelei.)

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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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 3/9/2021

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 # 1067.

THE BEAT: There She Goes

The Beat, the 1979 debut album by the fabulous group now called Paul Collins' Beat, is one of those records that one absolutely has to own if one happens to be some kind of power pop fan. It's a basically perfect album to begin with, and its eventual CD reissue added this non-LP track "There She Goes," a song originally heard in the movie Caddyshack. Paul Collins is one of the kings of power pop.

This Sunday, March 14th, at 6 pm Eastern, Collins will be performing a solo show on Facebook Live. Take it away, Paul:

"Dear friends, family and fans, here is what i would like to do: its time for me to do what I do best; play my little pop songs for you. During the pandemic I really felt like I was done, there would be nothing for me to return to. I was too old and it just didn't make sense. Tonight I watched PBS and I saw Judy cry and I cried with her, so many senseless losses of people who were just trying to live. So here is my proposal, I would like to play for about an hour, hopefully all my best songs, for you. You in turn agree to and prove that you will send some money, whatever you can afford, to someone or some group that really needs it. I need money but I don't need it as bad as so many people that are struggling to get by. It would really make me feel like I am doing something worth doing. .. DEAL? PS, if you agree please repost this so we can get as many people as possible. Someone please post this to Instagram! Thanks"

The event is called C'mon Let's Go! I'm in. Join. Give. LET'S GO!

The event is called C'mon Let's Go, and I'm in for $50. Join us, all you rock 'n' roll girls and boys: LET'S GO!The event is called C'mon Let's Go!, and I'm in. Join. Give. LET'S GO!

SAM COOKE: Good Times

We've been playing Leslie Odom, Jr's able cover of this Sam Cooke song, a number Odom sings in his incredible portrayal of Cooke in the movie One Night In Miami.... It seemed high time to play the original version. 

THE FLASHCUBES: Wouldn't You Like It

Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse The Flashcubes contributed this rockin' cover of The Bay City Rollers' "Wouldn't You Like It" to Men In Plaid, a Rollers tribute album put out by Bullseye Records in 2000. Your future blogger's review of the album appeared in Goldmine, and this blurb was exhumed for the album's expanded edition in 2004:

If you're a fan of pop, power pop or any other catch-phrase related to melodic rock 'n' roll, you should check your hipper-than-thou attitude at the door and check out this surprisingly solid and entertaining disc, wherein contemporary pop acts try their hands at bits 'n' pieces of the Rollers' canon--perhaps incongruously--[for] one of the most satisfying tribute albums ever assembled. All those in favor, say it with us now: S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! NIGHT!!

I agree with me wholeheartedly.

And credit TIRnRR with the assist on this one. When we heard of plans for a Bay City Rollers tribute album, we contacted Bullseye's Jaimie Vernon and said, "Oh, you simply must use The Flashcubes' version of 'Wouldn't You Like It.'" Never mind that the 'Cubes had never recorded "Wouldn't You Like It," had never performed "Wouldn't You Like It," and as far as we knew may not have even liked the damned thing. No matter. Trust us! We're DJs!

Somehow, that argument...worked? No, I don't understand it either. But Bullseye gave the slot to The Flashcubes, The Flashcubes agreed to record it, and all was right with the world. See? This is how things work out when people do as we say!

THE GOLD NEEDLES: Have You Ever Loved Somebody

We just adore The Gold Needles' current album What's Tomorrow Ever Done For You?, and our prevailing affection has manifested in repeated play on TIRnRR. This cover of The Hollies' durable pop stalwart "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" is the fifth track from that album to find its way to one of our playlists. Covering The Hollies can be a thankless task, simply because a majority of acts who make that attempt are, by definition, not The Hollies. The Searchers recorded a very nice version of "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" (the first version I knew), The Everly Brothers collaborated with The Hollies themselves for an ace take on it, and The Flashcubes assumed ownership of the song for their live set one memorable night in the '90s. Yeah, it ain't easy to cover The Hollies. Add The Gold Needles to the short list of acts that can pull it off.

GEORGE JONES: The Race Is On

Although programming by remote can compromise the practiced (but still impromptu) synergy of TIRnRR playlists, I think Dana and I still manage to approximate that off-the-cuff dynamic in our current circumstances. This week, Dana selected "Getting High For Jesus" by Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, told me it was a countryish track, and suggested I follow it with an actual country tune. Okeydokey! The George Jones classic "The Race Is On" popped into my head immediately.

JUDAS PRIEST: Diamonds And Rust

I believe this agreeably heavy-handed cover of the familiar Joan Baez song was the first Judas Priest track I ever heard, probably courtesy of Utica's WOUR-FM in the mid '70s, or possibly 95X in Syracuse in the late '70s. I liked it, but I never really got around to being much of a Priest fan. A bit later on, I very much liked JP's "Living After Midnight," and I really liked "Heading Out To The Highway." I don't rank "Diamonds And Rust" as high as those two. But I still appreciate its effective bludgeoning of Baez's song, and I dig that it manages said bludgeoning while somehow retaining a clear line of sight to the original. That is, it's not just a bludgeoning. It's a bludgeoning with a vision.

GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Here Are The Pieces Of My Broken Heart

Most would consider it an insult to describe any creative artifact as the product of an assembly line. But at Motown Records in the '60s, the pop music assembly line was transcendent, and it was well capable of achieving artistic heights. That particular hit factory churned out nonpareil works by The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles, The Four Tops, and more, stellar creations that no one in their right mind could disregard as crass or Philistine, as lesser. Art wasn't the specific goal; Motown's head Berry Gordy Jr. wanted records that sold, sold in big, big numbers. The Sound Of Young America. Gordy and his immensely talented line workers just figured the best way to manufacture records that sold was to craft great records. Art for art's sake? Absolutely not. It was art for commerce's sake. It was art nonetheless.

Motown's quality control was such that even its castoffs were often essential. When the 2-CD vault raid A Cellarful Of Motown! was released in 2002, I noted something to the effect that it was nearly the equivalent of discovering a previously-unreleased Beatles album. Yeah yeah yeah. My top pick on the set was (and remains) "Here Are The Pieces Of My Broken Heart," an originally-unreleased Gladys Knight and the Pips cut that woulda sounded great on AM Top 40 in 1966, the year it was recorded. It still sounds great on the radio now. The art of the assembly line. An artist can create greatness with whatever tools are at hand.

THE MONKEES: Terrifying

Zach Rogue's song "Terrifying" was recorded by The Monkees as part of their 2016 album project Good Times! The track was left off the physical release of the album, and it appeared only as a bonus track on the digital version of Good Times! It has never been given a legitimate CD release, and its only physical media release was on Good Times Plus!, a limited edition 10" vinyl EP issued for Black Friday Record Store Day in 2016. 

Sputter. Must remind myself: too busy singing to put anybody down, too busy singing to put anybody down, too busy singing to....

Why in the name of Wizard Glick has there has not yet been a deluxe CD of Good Times!, finally gathering all of the album's original 13 tracks and its four scattered bonus tracks for the first time in one place? Sure, I have a CD-R of all of these tracks. I want an official release. Like, by the end of business today. I may not be the young generation, but I've still got something to say. "Terrifying" was one of THE best tracks of 2016, yet it remains an obscurity, then and now. Get me Rhino on the phone...!

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: If Not For You

My introduction to Olivia Newton-John. Hi, Olivia. I'm Carl. You're cute. Olivia's version of Bashful Bob Dylan's "If Not For You" was also my introduction to the song itself; I'd not heard Dylan's rendition, nor George Harrison's cover, when Olivia's own sweet sound first appeared on American AM radio in 1971. 

This was, of course, merely the start of Olivia's hit-makin' reign. I liked some of her subsequent radio smashes, and I was indifferent (or dismissive) of some others. The only ON-J product I ever owned was the Grease soundtrack and its attendant "Summer Nights" 45. "If Not For You" remains my favorite, and it remains my preferred version of the song. Apologies to Bob and George; ya never forget your first.

STYX: Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

Writer S. W. Lauden (alias musician Steve Coulter of The Brothers Steve) recently posted an excellent piece called "Let's Argue About Power Pop!," wherein our Steve ably takes on the endless battles among power pop fans to agree on...anything. ANYthing. Roses are red. Water is wet. The sky is above, not below. Bounty is the quicker picker-upper. Anything! Steve's piece gets it. And I can say that even though I (predictably) disagree with some aspects of its power pop description. Those are just details. Steve gets the essence exactly right.

One of the things that drives power pop traditionalists batty is suggesting that some popular mainstream rock band is a power pop act. Styx comes up as an occasional example, and trust me, Styx is not and has never been power pop.

I mean, except for the time that Styx was power pop.

Listen, man: I hated Styx. Hated 'em. In the late '70s, when I was a power pop punk in college, with a chip on my shoulder and The Ramones in my heart, Styx was the freakin' enemy, THE enemy, more than disco, more than prog, more than Eagles, even. Styx. Their music represented everything I despised. One night out drinking, I used my jackknife to carve STYX STYNX into the tabletop at a local nightspot. It is safe to say that I was not a fan of Styx.

For all that, I usually declared a ceasefire in my war on Styx when their song "Lorelei" came on. Unabashedly pop, loaded with harmonies, the group's prerequisite bombast largely held in check, a bit too slick but still energetic, "Lorelei" is almost power pop. Its path to true 'n' everlasting janglebuzz is blocked only by lead singer Dennis DeYoung sounding annoyingly and whiningly like Dennis DeYoung. And it's still a great track anyway.

There's no such qualifier for "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye." This track from the 2003 Styx album Cyclorama is certified 100% DeYoung-free. Glen Burtnik wrote it and sings lead, and the result is as power pop as The Raspberries or The Rubinoos. Hell, Burtnik even sounds a bit like noted pop fan Robbie Rist, and that is a compliment for damned sure. Perfect pop. Perfect power pop. By Styx. As hell freezes over and the power pop curmudgeons rail in protest, this track invites naysayers to pucker up already.

We should also note that the above-lauded S.W. Lauden is co-editor (with Paul Myers) of a two books of power pop commentary published by Rare Bird Books: 2019's Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation Of Power Pop and the forthcoming Go Further: More Literary Appreciations Of Power Pop. In my hard-won capacity as a power pop...well, a power pop nobody, I declare these both essential and highly recommended. 

Don't argue with me.

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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.

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
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Volume 4: CD or download
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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl