10 SONGS: 2/9/2024

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 # 1219. This show is available as a podcast.

THE WEEKLINGS: All The Cash In The World

I'm prone to hyperbole anyway, so maybe you should ingest a li'l bit o' sodium when you hear me wonder out loud if the Weeklings' new album Raspberry Park just might be the group's best effort yet. But I tell ya: I'm starting to believe it is.

Exhibit A in that case is the Raspberry Park track "All The Cash In The World." As much as I've loved (and programmed!) the Weeklings' previous Pick Hits, "All The Cash In The World" carries some super-special intangible that elevates its pure sensory delight. "In The Moment,' from the Weeklings' 2020 album 3, has long been my go-to moment of Weeklingness. 

That moment now belongs to "All The Cash In The World."

MELANIE: Peace Will Come (According To Plan)

Our pal and colleague (and Radio Deer Camp host) Rich Firestone recently bemoaned the fact that we're forced to bid farewell to so many of our rockin' pop idols with such numbing, non-stop frequency. On this week's show, we say goodbye to Melanie Safka.

I wrote at length about my introduction to Melanie's music in a Greatest Record Ever Made! piece spotlighting "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)," Melanie's magnificent collaboration with the Edwin Hawkins Singers. As we remember Melanie, it was tempting to play that song yet again this week. But it felt more appropriate to play a Melanie song that we'd never played before.

"Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" opens with a quiet dignity that blossoms into full-body exuberance, an embrace of peace that will accept no substitute. It is the delicate grace and willful power of Melanie in microcosm. Peace will come. 

Melanie said so. 

Godspeed, Ms. Safka.

HUNGRYTOWN: Another Year

Have we ever played Hungrytown before? A check of the ol' stats says...nope, this was the first time. Man, it's a lucky thing for us that we have tenure. Now that Hungrytown's Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson have brought their unique folk vision to the ever-intrepid Big Stir Records label, maybe Dana and Carl can do a better job of getting Hungrytown into The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. It starts with "Another Year," Hungrytown's new single and Big Stir debut. Another year? We say it's another chance. We'll get it right this time.

THE SATISFACTORS: Arrested

Serendipity! When I fell in deep thrall to this track by the Satisfactors, I had no idea the ace lead vocals were supplied by none other than Kurt Reil of TIRnRR Fave Raves the Grip Weeds. HuzZAH!! Kurt was also the studio wizzard (spelling intentional, as it Wood be) who made our own 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 sound so flippin' fantastic.

"Arrested" is also flippin' fantastic. The album is Dramatis Personae. This arrest merits further investigation. Just the facts: I'm on the case.

PAUL COLLINS: I'm The Only One For You

THE welcome earworm of 2024 so far. From power pop icon Paul Collins' forthcoming new album Stand Back And Take A Good Look, "I'm The Only One For You" finds Collins boppin' with righteous aplomb alongside the late Dwight Twilley, and the irresistible result fits right in among the best stuff Collins has ever done, including the Nerves, the Breakaways, and Paul Collins' Beat. I mean, the Beat's eponymous 1979 debut LP is one of the classics of power pop; "I'm The Only One For You" would have felt right at home on the record, mingling as a peer with your "Rock And Roll Girl" and your "Don't Wait Up For Me"" and your "Walking Out On Love." 

We debuted "I'm The Only One For You" on last week's TIRnRR. We played it again this week. And it returns to the air in Syracuse this coming Sunday night. DO wait up for this. And I can't wait to hear the album.

LEATHER CATSUIT: Can't Get You Off My Mind

Speaking of welcome earworms! Leather Catsuit's "Can Get You Off My Mind" comes equipped with a title that mirrors my opinion of the track: I can't get it off my mind. I don't wanna get it off my mind. It's pop music! I wanna hear it again and again. 

SUZI QUATRO: Paralysed

During back-announcements on this week's show, I joked that the set that opened with Leather Catsuit kicked off instead with Leather Tuscadero, mock-corrected myself, and then noted a couple of tracks later that we played Ms. Tuscadero herself, Suzi Quatro. And folks think we never plan stuff out in advance!

(They're usually right about that. But I digress.)

My original intent was to play Suzi Q's "I May Be Too Young," the first Suzi Quatro track I ever heard, and the subject of a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). But, as often happens when we're trying to shoehorn the show into its three-hour slot, we had to look at where we could sub in shorter selections. In that process, I switched my Quatro choice to "Paralysed," from her album Your Mama Won't Like Me.

Although I bought Your Mama Won't Like Me (at Record Revolution in Cleveland Heights, Ohio) when I was still a 1970s rock 'n' roll teen with a crush on Suzi Quatro, it's been established that I didn't really like this album all that much. The above-mentioned Rich Firestone has suggested Suzi should have called it Carl Won't Like This. I need to give it a fresh listen one of these days, just to see if I like it better now.

Even back then, though, "Paralysed" was the one track I did like. Still do. The stories you've heard are gonna be confirmed. Sing it, Suzi.

ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN: Hey You (We're Sick Of You)

"Hey You (We're Sick Of You)," the latest single from Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, has the good sense, good taste, good breeding, and good rockin' tonight to enlist the aid of the Flashcubes' irresistible force of nature Paul Armstrong on Special Guest Bat-Villain guitar. Holy Search and Destroy! It's a match made in Boston. Probably at The Rat. It's loud. It's proud. It's skin-tight. And it's on the radio in Syracuse.

TEGAN AND SARA: Walking With A Ghost

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty

I'm told our next show has some heavy duty competition from a big football game on TV this Sunday. If the Buffalo Bills were playing, I'd even watch the game. But I would watch with the radio on.

But anyway, our congratulations to Taylor Swift. I've forgiven her boyfriend's team for ending the Bills' postseason this year--we'll get 'em next year!--and she is most definitely THE pop person of the moment. I don't listen to all of her work, but I admire her talent and her character. Plus she pisses off many of the same people who piss ME off. "The Last Great American Dynasty" (from her 2020 album folklore) is a truly wonderful track, and I think its Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac vibe is of a piece with whatever the hell it is we do here on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio.

And regardless of whether or not the team Taylor's rooting for at the Super Bowl prevails or comes up short, one thing's for sure: She's still gonna be Taylor Swift.

Winner!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Walking With A Ghost

This chapter will appear in my  long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), presuming that book ever becomes, y'know...a book.

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!

TEGAN AND SARA: Walking With A Ghost

Written by Sara Quin

Produced by Tegan and Sara, with John Collins, David Carswell, and Howard Redekopp

From the album So Jealous, Vapor Records [Canada], 2004

The original post has been unpublished for bookkeeping purposes. It can be seen as a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 6/10/2023

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 # 1184. This show is available as a podcast.

TEGAN AND SARA: Girls Talk

The fifth and final season of the Amazon Prime TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was top-to-bottom marvelous indeed, and the series finale two weeks ago hit all the marks it needed to hit. No spoilers. The glow of satisfaction lingers, and I know I'm going to remember Maisel as one of my all-time favorite series. 

(The first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel also inspired me to write a tangent that is one of my favorite blog pieces, a fantasy about a make-believe 1950s rock 'n' roll movie called Jukebox Express. Somebody get Sophie Lennon on the phone!)

Also mixing Maisel and music, the finale's end credits rolled to the tune of Tegan and Sara's irresistible new cover of "Girls Talk," a song written by Elvis Costello and a long-time Fave Rave as rendered by Dave Edmunds in 1979. We played Linda Ronstadt's version just a couple of weeks back. 

Tegan and Sara's "Girls Talk" doesn't quite displace the Edmunds version in my rockin' pop cosmology, at least not yet, but damn, it's a solid, beguiling performance that is absolutely what I wanna hear again right now. Hits up. And Tegan and Sara's "Girls Talk" returns to the playlist next week.

TINA TURNER: What You Get Is What You See

I think my first real awareness of the late Tina Turner came via her TV appearances in the early '70s. I must have heard Ike and Tina Turner's hit cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" on AM Top 40 in '71, but I have no recollection of it. To me, Turner was the dynamo I saw on television, beltin' out stuff like "Nutbush City Limits," probably with Cher, or maybe on Midnight Special. In '75, Turner's version of the Who's "The Acid Queen" became the first Tina Turner tune to have direct impact on teen me, and the first to enter my record library when my sister bought me the Tommy soundtrack LP. So: TV and turntable. That's how I knew Tina Turner. I didn't know her from radio.

That changed in the '80s. Freed from tethers to her abusive ex-husband, Tina Turner annexed the airwaves as her own, on her own. I remember hearing her then-new cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" on a Buffalo FM station in '83, with no inkling of the massive uptick Turner's popularity was about to enjoy.

What's love got to do with it? Everything. I bought Private Dancer, and while I confess I haven't retained my affection for '80s Turner--I've come to prefer her older material, notwithstanding the involvement of the schmuck to whom she had been married--my interest in Private Dancer was genuine at the time.

I saw Turner in concert in the late '80s, with the incongruous choice of Wang Chung as her opening act. She was great. Of course she was great. She was Tina friggin' Turner. Simply the best.

Knowing we were going to play Ike and Tina's "River Deep--Mountain High" in this week's Greatest Record Ever Made! spot, I wanted to be sure to play something credited to Tina Turner as a solo artist. "What You Get Is What You See" has long been my favorite example of '80s Tina Turner. It bops like nothing else, recalling Dire Straits while bustin' through the plasticized morass that characterized so much '80s pop music. 

What you get is what you see. We were fortunate to live in a world that got to see Tina Turner.

THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride

A big ol' WELCOME BACK to Rich Firestone, whose essential rockin' pop wireless shindig Radio Deer Camp returned to the airwaves this week, right here on SPARK! And we figured we'd roll out the red carpet with this simple directive from one of Rich's favorite beat groups, the Smithereens. 

"Face The World With Pride" was recorded in 1993, but remained unreleased until just this past September, when it finally saw daylight on The Lost Album. Rich, as a Smithereens insider, knew about the track for the better part of three decades; when it finally came out on The Lost Album, our Reechie urged his fellow DJs to carpet-bomb playlists with spins of "Face The World With Pride," to make the damned thing the hit he always knew it was.

We heard. We obeyed. "Face The World With Pride" was TIRnRR's # 1 most-played track in 2022, which is pretty impressive for something released about a week before the year's last quarter. 'Cuz Rich Firestone said so.

With Radio Deer Camp back on the air where it belongs, there could be no track more appropriate to mark Rich's return to the airwaves. Face the world with pride. Good advice. Welcome back, Reechie.

DAVE COPE AND THE SASS: Circles

Another one of my favorite 2022-released tracks is the title tune from the album Julee by Dave Cope and the Sass. The group has a brand-new album Killer Mods From Inner Space, courtesy of Kool Kat Musik, and it's gonna get a little airplay on our little mutant radio show. It's what we do! That airplay begins with "Circles" this week; we'll hear another Killer Mods From Inner Space track on our next program. Julee would demand nothing less. 

THE RAMONES: Pet Sematary

It wasn't exactly an oversight when we omitted "Pet Sematary" from our recent three-part salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES. Well, it kinda was an oversight, but I'd do it again. For THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES, I wanted to pay full and proper tribute to Ramones tracks heard in their 1979 film Rock 'n' Roll High School, I wanted to play some recognized Ramones classics ("Rockaway Beach," "I Wanna Be Sedated," and "Blitzkrieg Bop") that turned up in films otherwise unrelated to the Ramones, I wanted to squeeze in "Chop Suey" from 1983's Get Crazy, and it felt important to include "I Believe In Miracles," which the Ramones' lip-synced on-screen in Car 54, Where Are You?, their final film appearance. 

That plan occupied all twelve of the spots we had available for Ramones tracks over the three-week span of THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES. There was no room for "Pet Sematary."

It was a glaring omission nonetheless. As the title theme from a movie based on a Stephen King book, "Pet Sematary" was one of the Ramones' highest-profile tracks during their career, and we should have gotten to it. We did play a live version in April. The studio version at long last makes its TIRnRR debut this week. 

Think of it as a return engagement. THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES. Held over! By popular demand.

THE MONKEES: Birth Of An Accidental Hipster

2016 was not a good year. No, 2016 was not a good year at all. 

Still, even lousy years are allowed a positive moment. 2016's best moment was the release of Good Times!, a triumphant new album by the Monkees. Leading up to the album's appearance, I wrote that I was less than captivated by its first teaser single "She Makes Me Laugh," fully taken with its second teaser "You Bring The Summer," and just awed by third single "Me & Magdalena." By the time the album itself was released at the end of May, my anticipation was at Defcon 1. 

The album lived up to my expectations--surpassed them, really. I had retired--PERMANENTLY!!!!--from writing record reviews years before. I came out of retirement just long enough to write my Good Times! review. I followed with a supplemental piece on the album's bonus tracks, and circled back later to craft my hypothetical speech inducting the Monkees into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Yeah, that hasn't happened yet. But it shoulda.

"Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" was the key track for me, even more than "Me & Magdalena." Written by Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher, "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" could have been on the Monkees' 1968 Head soundtrack album, while still sounding like 21st century Monkeeshines. Good Times! stands as one of the Monkees' best albums, and I like a lot of Monkees albums. 2016 can suck it. I'm heading out to the sunshine, babe.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes have a new album due out by the end of the summer. It's called Pop Masters, it will be released by the mighty Big Stir Records, and it collects all of the Flashcubes' Big Stir digital singles, a series of tracks which find our 'Cubes covering pop masters by Shoes, the Spongetones, Pezband, and more, often with a little assistance from members of the original acts. It's GREAT, I wrote the liner notes (teased here), and I can't wait for everyone to hear this. It is to 2023 what the Monkees' Good Times! was to 2016.

Pop Masters will also include a few tracks that have not yet been released, like this absolutely ace take on the Motors' "Forget About You." We'll hear one of the familiar Pop Masters singles on next week's show, as part of a Flashcubes THEN and Flashcubes NOW! two-fer, paired with a cover tune the 'Cubes recorded for a compilation album some years back. 

IKE AND TINA TURNER: River Deep--Mountain High

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE CYNZ: Tell That Girl To Shut Up

Confident and assured, the Cynz firmly reject irrelevant backtalk on this cover of Holly and the Italians' classic "Tell That Girl To Shut Up." We've been playing this a lot, and it seems guaranteed a spot on our year-end countdown of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2023. We'll give it another spin this coming Sunday, too. Don'tcha give me no lip. The record can speak for itself.

MAX FROST AND THE TROOPERS: Shape Of Things To Come

This week's show was recorded before we learned of the passing of legendary songwriter Cynthia Weil. With her husband Barry Mann, Weil created a rockin' pop body of work that will live on forever and ever. We'll hear four of my favorite Mann and Weil compositions on our next show.

The appearance of Mann-Weil song on this week's show is neither design nor coincidence. Nearly every installment of TIRnRR gathers nonpareil material from across a span of decades, and that often includes a little something from the Mann and Weil songbook. I don't remember where, when, or how I first heard "Shape Of Things To Come" by Max Frost and the Troopers; I've never seen Wild In The Streets, the film that gave us this song on its soundtrack, though I know enough to shout 14 OR FIGHT! whenever Dana plays the track. My introduction to the song came courtesy of the Raiders, for whom it was an LP track on their Indian Reservation album. 

I picked up my used copy of Indian Reservation for fifty cents at Mike's Sound Center in North Syracuse, Spring of 1977. It happened to be around the time I was becoming specifically aware of Mann and Weil's work. Greater awareness would follow. The shape of things to come. Rest in peace, Ms. Weil. 

IN-PERSON EVENT! On June 29, I will be making an in-store appearance at GENERATION RECORDS, 210 Thompson Street in NYC on behalf of my  new book GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES. The book contains my 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J., which were cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as essential reading. I'll be at Generation to chat with fellow Ramones fans, talk about the book, the interviews, and how the music of the Ramones impacted my life. If you are in the New York area on June 29th, I would love to see you at Generation Records. Hey-ho, let's GO!  

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

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: 3/3/2022

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 # 1118.

EYTAN MIRSKY: Conversation

As we were preparing this week's show, we heard the sad news that drummer Chris Garges had passed. We didn't know Chris personally, but our hearts and condolences go out to his family and friends, especially to some of our friends who did know Chris, and for whom this is a personal loss. We hear Chris' voice in nearly every weekly edition of TIRnRR, speaking with his fellow members of the Spongetones in the superswell show ID bumper they recorded for us. You'll likely continue to hear that for as long as we have a radio show.

Dana and I had already set this week's playlist before we learned of Chris' passing. But we felt it was important to open the show with at least some brief tribute to him, and it was fairly simple to swap out and rearrange a few tracks and sets to accomplish that. We figured we'd reach back to what must have been the first of Chris' work we ever heard: Songs About Girls (And Other Painful Subjects), the 1996 debut album by Eytan Mirsky. Our best wishes and commiseration to all who knew Chris. He sounds like he was a hell of a guy.

ROTARY CONNECTION: Love Me Now

The music of Rotary Connection is still mostly undiscovered to my ears; I know of Rotary Connection more than I know Rotary Connection, and I don't know all that much of them, either, other than the fact that one of the many members over the group's timeline was the late Minnie Riperton. Much of what I have heard is intriguing, reminding me (perhaps incongruously) of a more soulful Renaissance or a more progressive 5th Dimension, though neither impression is accurate. I aim to learn more, much more, and the best way to learn more about Rotary Connection is to hear more Rotary Connection. Stay tuned. 

ANTON BARBEAU: Rain, Rain

The new album from Anton Barbeau is called Power Pop!!!, and I very much dig how the good folks at Big Stir Records hyped its representation on our little mutant radio show this week:

"Anton Barbeau hits the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio playlist with music that may or may not be power pop (it isn't!) along with the Flashcubes featuring Shoes (both of which are) and Addison Love and Irene Peña (who may vary from track to track)... but like it says, it IS Rock 'N' Roll as only Dana and Carl can bring it to you!" TESTIFY, brothers and sisters!

"Rain, Rain" is the first single off Power Pop!!!, and I would concur that it's not power pop as I envision power pop. But it is a glorious example of catchybuzz--I just made that up--a luxurious blend of psych-tinged, '80s-influenced left-of-the-dial pretty noise. Dana felt compelled to follow it with a track from Let's Active's Big Plans For Everyone, and I felt compelled to turn it all up for maximum boppin' accomplishment. Catchybuzz. We'll have another track from Power Pop next week. It's also not power pop. But we like it anyway.

SCOTT ROBERTSON: Hours Feel Like Minutes

We've played music from the Vapor Trails a time or several on TIRnRR. The fabulous Vapor Trails are piloted by Kevin Robertson, and Kevin's son Scott Robertson has a likewise-fabulous new EP called Physical Education. The EP comes courtesy of Futureman Records, the same visionary label that introduced us to the Vapor Trails. Of course we played it! It's what we do! We'll play it again next week. Nice, nice stuff.

THEE OH SEES: No Spell

Nope; I've never heard of Thee Oh Sees before. I really need to get out more. The almighty Wikipedia says the group has been around since the late '90s, and is currently known by the truncated moniker Osees. All I know is that Dana played Thee Oh Sees' "No Spell" (from the 2013 album Floating Coffin), prompting listener Rich Firestone to comment, "Mind blower of a song playing right now!" We agree, Rich. We agree.

CAROLYNE MAS: In The Rain

Hey, congratulations to the incomparable Carolyne Mas, who's just entered into a deal with the German label MIG Music. The Mas/MIG alliance will bring some of Carolyne's music back within the reach of an eager buying public, and we're in favor of that. "In The Rain" is my favorite Carolyne Mas track, a song I love even more than I love her MTV classic "Quote Goodbye Quote." I have a feeling we're gonna be giving some significant spinnage to "In The Rain" this year. It's all part of our ongoing service to you, the loyal TIRnRR listener. As always: playing pop music is its own reward.

TEGAN AND SARA: Walking With A Ghost

"So I heard a song on the radio...."

That's the first line of a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), the beginning of an entry celebrating "Walking With A Ghost" by the Canadian duo Tegan and Sara. "Walking With A Ghost" was indeed a song I heard on the radio, and its wraith-like ambiance hypnotized me on first spin.

"...If I never learned anything else about Tegan and Sara, if I never heard another note of their music, 'Walking With A Ghost' would be enough to haunt me, a spirit to possess me, a reminder of secrets thought to be dead and buried, yet rising from their graves to float beside me. Torments? No...well, sometimes. But always: reminders. Traces of what was and what could have (or should have) been, and the depressing gap between the two.

"The ghosts of our past walk beside us. I know I'm not unique in this. The spirits of past missteps and misdeeds are with us every day, sometimes with greater presence than others. No medium or ghostbreaker can dispel these particular poltergeists. It's not every minute of every day; we can apply context and balance, and we can concede that being human--mortal--comes with the certainty of fallibility, the inevitability of imperfection. But we also have to acknowledge the sins and the regrets, the times we were victim or villain, the aggressor or the aggrieved. I hope lessons were learned along the way. The ghosts remind us how much we still have to learn."

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: So Much In Love

"So Much In Love" was the B-side of the Flamin' Groovies' cover of Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep Mountain High," both tracks coupled as a non-LP 45 issued in France in 1981. It was, to all intents and purposes, the final release by the Groovies during their initial lifespan, a continuity that stretched back to the '60s and through varying lineups. Original lead singer Roy Loney had split in the very early '70s, and he was replaced by Chris Wilson. Chris himself left somewhere 'roundabout this single's release. Original Groovies Cyril Jordan and George Alexander attempted to soldier on for a bit, but the flame died, and the Groovies were gone, at least for a little while. They would return.

This B-side was something of an orphan track; not exactly lost, but kind of, I dunno...sidelined? Both the A- and B-sides were collected on The Gold Star Tapes, an LP of dubious legitimacy. Or a bootleg. Or a rare import. You bought it, you name it. "River Deep Mountain High" was later included on the wonderful Groovies CD compilation Groovies' Greatest Grooves, while "So Much In Love" remained in the wild. It was given proper reissue as part of Between The Lines, a 2019 CD subtitled The Complete Jordan-Wilson Songbook '71-'81. Between The Lines is my go-to Flamin' Groovies collection.

WILSON PICKETT: In The Midnight Hour

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm mulling a plan to renovate my GREM! book, a work that has been in development for years and still hasn't found a path to publication. Even if I do split the book into two parts, my chapter about Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" will almost certainly remain a part of Volume 1. That chapter begins as follows:

"Sometimes even a great record--the greatest record--is taken for granted. For all the classic 45s or album tracks that tackled you and gloriously pinned you to the pavement on first exposure, there are many other shots o' sonic bliss that you just didn't quite get immediately, songs you didn't fully appreciate on first spin, or third spin, or even for a long while after that. Maybe some of these are records you initially deemed merely 'Okay, I guess,' if you gave them any thought at all; perhaps some are little ditties you ignored, or even actively disliked. And then one day or night--preferably night--you hear the song again, and it suddenly clicks, as if you're hearing it for the very first time. And it's like the trite old story of the presumably-mousy secretary whose beauty suddenly reveals itself when she removes her glasses...except that she was always beautiful, with or without the glasses, ya freakin' dimwit. You just didn't notice. 

"But you're paying attention now. And whether it's a girl or a song or some other sublime gem, you've fallen in love. What took you so long?"

THE MIGHTY LEMON DROPS: Inside Out

Gilmore Girls was one of my favorite TV series. The opening scene in its first episode played out to a soundtrack of "There She Goes" by the La's. The final scene of the last episode of its original run used "Inside Out" by the Mighty Lemon Drops. So this one goes out to Lorelai and Luke in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Here's to your little corner of the world.

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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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