10 SONGS: 10/21/2023

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 # 1203. This show is available as a podcast.

THE FLASHCUBES: Nothing To Do

On This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio this year, we've been poundin' the livin' chiclets out of Pop Masters, the current album by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. I'm a heart-on-sleeve kind of guy, and I co-host a radio show with the specific intent of poundin' the livin' chiclets outta stuff I think is cool. Why else even have a radio show in the first place?

Given my (and Dana's) long-standing enthusiasm for the 'Cubes, no one is surprised to hear that Pop Masters is my favorite album of 2023, and we play one or another of its tracks almost every week. Masters of pop! The album took a break from our playlist last week, so we could instead program an older Flashcubes track featuring the late Ducky Carlisle. Proper Pop Masters representation returns this week with the Cubic cover of Sparks' Nothing To Do," and two other Pop Masters tracks are already scribbled in place for our next couple of playlists. These chiclets won't just pound out by themselves, man.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

I've mentioned a time or two thousand that my daughter Meghan and I agreed a very long time ago that when she got married, our father-daughter dance would be "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett. Obviously. That happy event took place two weeks ago today, and we made good on our promise. Best night ever. Mazel tov, Meghan and Austin.

As the wedding reception sparkled on, the DJ also played my request for something by the Ramones. You can't have a real party without the Ramones. I gave him a choice between "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Sedated," and he opted for the former. Seeing how the dance floor filled to the music of Forest Hills' Finest--prompted in some part by the father of the bride yelling DANCE! Everybody DANCE!!!--the DJ circled back a bit later to play "Sedated" as well. Hey ho, let's GO!

P. HUX: Til The World Looks Right

The brand-new P. Hux album is called As Good As Advertised, and that album will inevitably accrue scores of on-line reviews saying that its title provides its own review. We rockin' pop pundits are so clever.

Well, consider this just one among that score. I tell ya, I'm glad to be part of the crowd in this case. As Good As Advertised makes its TIRnRR debut with this spin of the delectable track "Til The World Looks Right." It will spin again next week. As advertised! Pretty good, my friends. Pretty damned good.

CARLA OLSON: Street Fighting Man

Awright! The fabulous Carla Olson's ace cover of the Rolling Stones' classic "Street Fighting Man" is an advance single from her new album Have Harmony Will Travel 3. One of my first Stones LPs (perhaps my very first) was a beat-up used copy of Through The Past, Darkly, snagged at either Record Revolution or The Record Exchange in Cleveland Heights when teen me was visiting my sister circa Christmas break 1976.

That second-hand Stones best-of record was my introduction to "Street Fighting Man," about eight years after its original 1968 release. It was an instant favorite, and Olson does the tune justice and then some. Tall Poppy Syndrome's Jonathan Lea is one of the guitarists on her version, and it all rocks like it oughta. What can a poor boy do? We'll hear Carla Olson's "Street Fighting Man" again Sunday night. Hell, we'll even throw in the latest from Tall Poppy Syndrome. A sleepy Syracuse town is just the place for "Street Fighting Man."

THE KENNEDYS: Life Is Large

A big ol' Happy Birthday to the phenomenal Maura Kennedy! A bright light then and now, Maura will always be younger than me, and yet she'll also probably remain wiser than me. We love her nonetheless.

The Kennedys have a NEW album, Headwinds, out now. You can buy yourself a copy, and you can fill in the nagging gaps in your Kennedys library, all courtesy of the Kennedys themselves. I'm also still hoping for a Maura and the Bright Lights album maybe someday (perhaps with a guest appearance by Carla Olson, just like Roger McGuinn guests on "Life Is Large"). Vote for the Kennedys of your choice. But VOTE! And sing. And enjoy! Birthday cake goes great with the Kennedys.

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You

From former Soul Engines guitarist Dave Kuchler's new album Love + Glory, "In It With You" is just insanely, instantly catchy, thoroughly radio-ready, and the irresistible epitome of whatever the hell it is Dana and I do here on The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. It's kinda like when we first heard the Finkers' TIRnRR Fave Rave "Last Thing On My Mind" all those years ago, and I gushed something to the effect that "Last Thing On My Mind" is exactly the sort of record that always made me wish I had a radio show, just so I could play records like "Last Thing On My Mind" on my radio show. Kuchler sounds nothing at all like the Finkers, but my level of immersive thrill is comparable. We HAVE a radio show! We're in it with Dave Kuchler.

WAR: Low Rider

At Meghan and Austin's wedding reception, the DJ also played music to accompany the entrances of various parts of the wedding party. Richard Hernandez and I--the respective fathers of the groom and the bride--bopped in to the percolatin' sound of War's classic "Low Rider." We'll hear the entrance music for the newlyweds' mothers on our next show.

THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

NEW MATH: Die Trying

A week ago tonight, the great Rochester, NY group New Math presented their last-ever live show, and I'm happy to say that TIRnRR was there. Whatta show! Both 1.4.5. and the Presstones put on incredible, invigmoratin' sets, and New Math provided a commanding capper to their career. My first New Math show was back in 1978, when they played with the Flashcubes at The Firebarn in Syracuse. I only saw them a total of three times--maybe (but probably not) four--when I was in my teens and early twenties. I wish I'd had more opportunities to bask in the glory of New Math live. But I'm so glad I was able to see them one last time this month.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Lady Friend

Your intrepid TIRnRR Good Guys will also be in attendance at the Grip Weeds's first-ever Syracuse appearance. That happens Friday October 27th at Syracuse's home of rock 'n' roll The Lost Horizon, on a bill with 1.4.5., Perilous, Preacher, and Kenne Highland's Airforce. HuzZAH!! We'll open next week's radio program with music from the Grip Weeds (plus 1.4.5. and Perilous), and we get set to anticipate with this spin of a track from the Grip Weeds' most recent album DiG. The group's able cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend" is a likely lock for a berth on our year-end countdown show of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2023. Here it comes again, it's going to happen to me....

And at the Lost Horizon next Friday, it can happen to you. BE THERE!

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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: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'

This was written as a potential short entry in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), though it's currently more likely to land in the even-more-hypothetical Volume 2. For now.

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

THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'
Written by Norman Whitfield, William "Mickey" Stephenson, and Edward Holland, Jr.
Produced by Norman Whitfield
Single, V.I.P., 1964

In 1982, the combined forces of Bananarama and Fun Boy Three introduced me to the song "Really Saying Something," a bubbly girl-group number that was immediately catchy and radio-ready. I don't remember when I found out it was a cover of an old Motown single (released at the close of business in 1964) nor when I finally heard that original version by the Velvelettes. Those British chicks and fellows did a fine job with their cover; the Velvelettes blow 'em away. 

The Velvelettes were a third-tier Motown group. If that seems harsh, consider the label's first tier: the Temptations, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and later the Jackson Five. The sheer magnitude of that star power is enough to push even Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Martha and the Vandellas to Motown's second tier, along with the fabulous Marvelettes. (The Isley Brothers, the Spinners, and Gladys Knight and the Pips built too much of their legacies with other labels before and after their Motown runs to be thought of as part of any Motown tier. I guess.)

That leaves the third tier, which could certainly include the Contours and the Velvelettes. That's not bad company to keep, and you'll note that both of those acts receive a spotlight in The Greatest Record Ever Made! Man, has there ever been a label with a top-to-bottom talent roster that could rival Motown? I think not.

Regardless of what tier artist made it, "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'" is a top-tier record. And I can't hear the Supremes or Miracles improving on what the Velvelettes did. 

And that's sayin' somethin'.

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: 9/15/2020

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.

Chuck Berry, Teri Garr, The T.A.M.I. Show

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1042.

THE BEACH BOYS: God Only Knows



My book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is dedicated to the idea that an infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. It's about individual songs, not albums, but its chapter celebrating the grandeur of The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" also pays proper tribute to the greatest album ever made, Pet Sounds:

Ambivalence and certainty can sometimes go hand in hand. It's incongruous, a paradox, but it's true in the sublime case of "God Only Knows." The track is emblematic of the classic album that gave it life: Brian Wilson's 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds.

Pet Sounds is pop music's greatest contradiction: fragile but indestructible, delicate but strong, frail but immortal. Gossamer and granite. It is a wisp of emotion, heartbreak, love, and hope, a precarious house of cards that will still stand long after we're all dust. It is pop, and it is art, but it is not pop art. It is mature, and it as giddy as a teenager in love with the unattainable...

..."God Only Knows" is the most beautiful song that has ever graced our human experience. It is as close to the divine as our mortal ears can receive and relay, as near to celestial presence as man or woman could ever imagine while still tethered to this physical realm. Its music lifts us even as its lyrics remind us of the limits to our flawed perception, our finite grasp, but reinforces our faith all the same....

CHUCK BERRY: Nadine (Is It You?)



TCM ran the 1964 concert flick The T.A.M.I. Show as one of its Labor Day weekend offerings this year. The fact that I have the film on Blu-ray and have already seen it many times over the years didn't stop me from recording it on my DVR to watch again. It's my favorite concert film, and it has no real competition for that title.



Following the opening montage and introduction by emcees Jan & Dean, the first live performer to appear in The T.A.M.I. Show is the one and only Chuck Berry. And he kinda gets short shrift, having to share his time with the British Invasion, embodied in this spot by Gerry and the Pacemakers. The Pacemakers are fine, and that's not meant as faint praise at all. But he's Chuck Berry, and even with his limited screen time, he shines.

Teri Garr dancing to The Supremes on The T.A.M.I. Show

(A then-unknown Teri Garr also shines as one of the dancers in The T.A.M.I. Show. I didn't know her until falling in love with her on a Star Trek rerun. Man, she was cute.)

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT: This Ain't The Summer Of Love



I've written many times about my friend Tom, who killed himself in 1979. The other day, the random thought occurred to me that, if he had lived, Tom and I probably would have parted company somewhere along the line. It was an unsettling, sobering thought. As much as we had been friends, our paths were already starting to diverge when he carried out that final act. He is frozen at a point in time when we were friends. It's been more than forty years, and the memory still aches. Losing a friend is difficult. Losing a friend to suicide leaves a wound that never quite goes away. That mental scar inevitably dominates my recollection of a former friend. 

There are specific songs that always remind me of Tom, songs I first heard when Tom played them. Both David Bowie's "All The Madmen" and The Runaways' cover of The Velvet Underground's "Rock And Roll" are superglued to Tom's memory. And that is likewise true of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," a track from Blue Öyster Cult's 1976 album Agents Of Fortune. I only knew the band from radio play of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," but Tom had the LP, and played it for me. Tom was particularly fond of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," and his enthusiasm was infectious. 

In a previous 10 Songs, I wrote: BÖC's best-known tracks are "Don't Fear The Reaper" and (later on) "Burnin' For You," with maybe an honorable mention for "Godzilla." My favorite remains "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," a lean and efficient LP track from Agents Of Fortune (the album that gave us "Don't Fear The Reaper"). I learned of the song through my doomed high school pal Tom, prompting me to purchase my own battered, used copy of the album in time for college. During my freshman year, Side One of Agents Of Fortune was as much a go-to slab of vinyl as my Sex Pistols and Monkees records, and "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" in particular fit well alongside my steady diet of Ramones, Television, Jam, and Dave Clark Five.

For me, 1979 was the summer of love. I had met Brenda the preceding fall, and we were getting increasingly serious about committing our hearts to each other. She was with me the night I saw Tom for the last time, and she was with me the next morning when a phone call delivered the news of his death. She tried to comfort as best she could. It was a summer of love, no matter what a song said. It was also a summer marked by the start of a lingering sadness that's not ever going to go away. Friendships end. That's the nature of all things in this physical world. 

Friendships shouldn't end like that one did.

SHAUN CASSIDY: So Sad About Us



'70s teen idol Shaun Cassidy's 1980 album Wasp was, I guess, his attempt to transition from that aforementioned teen idol gig into something more serious and mature. Before he attempted that move, he recorded some pop material that is very much underrated; I can do without his covers of The Crystals and The Lovin' Spoonful, but his Eric Carmen-penned hits "That's Rock 'n' Roll" and "Hey Deanie" are simply stellar, and his own composition "Teen Dream" mines a similar vein with giddily successful results. The Flashcubes used to cover "Hey Deanie" (albeit a charged-up read of Carmen's version rather than Cassidy's), and 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay wrote a song called "Boy Scout Pinup," about a girl's Shaun Cassidy and her wish that it would come to life and do serious, mature things with her. But I digress.

For dramatic purposes, the parts of boy scout pinup Cassidy and his fantasizing fan shall be played by Micky Dolenz and Teri Garr respectively

Cassidy's overt pop (even power pop) was the stuff of his first two albums, Shaun Cassidy and Born Late, both issued in 1977. 1978's Under Wraps was an attempted step toward leaving that behind. Being (or trying to sound) grown-up isn't necessarily a good thing, though Under Wraps does include Cassidy's capable take on Brian Wilson's "It's Like Heaven"). It was not as big a hit as Cassidy's previous records. 1979's Shaun Cassidy Live was his farewell to the screamin' girls and boy-scout pinup stardom. It didn't sell. 

So, for fifth and final album Wasp, Cassidy enlisted Todd Rundgren to produce something edgier, something new wave. It was a ballsy move; some thought it desperate, I suppose, but it seems sincere. Wasp includes three songs written by Rundgren, and a fourth written by Rundgren, Cassidy, Roger Powell, and John Wilcox. The rest of the album is filled with covers of songs by David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Four Tops, The Animals, The Who, and Ian Hunter. 

I didn't like it much at the time, but I haven't listened to it in...gosh, it's been ages. I still have it, and I need to give it a fresh spin. I do recall cringing at the version of Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" on Wasp, but Cassidy's cover of The Who's "So Sad About Us" is pretty good, and well worth a slot on the radio.

CHICAGO: Feelin' Stronger Every Day



Chicago's music was certainly a fixture of my prime AM radio-listening days in the '70s. I grew to actively dislike the group in the '80s. I don't remember whether or not that dislike prompted me to forsake the older stuff in an unwise disposal of baby and bath water; if so, I've since regained my earlier affection for "Saturday In The Park." And I can't imagine how I could have ever turned away from "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," a dynamic track that's as rich and invigorating as pop music oughtta be. I like "Saturday In The Park;" I love "Feelin' Stronger Every Day." 

(And I'm bummed that when I saw the 21st century version of Chicago just a few years ago, they did only an abbreviated rendition of "Feelin' Stronger Every Day." Oh, but sure, they had plenty of time for all those '80s hits. Yechh.)

THE DAHLMANNS: Shake Me Up Tonight


The Dahlmanns! Man, this song rocks, and we haven't played it in far, far too long. I received a note from Lindsay Hutton of the venerable rockin' fanzine The Next Big Thing, mentioning some vinyl releases he'd done of this fab Norwegian combo. That mention was enough to send me scurryin' to pull out the group's 2011 All Dahled Up CD and return "Shake Me Up Tonight" to the airwaves. Where it belongs! More Dahlmanns in future weeks. 

JOEY MOLLAND: You Make Me Sick



We're looking forward to former Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland's new album Be True To Yourself, which is due out in October, and which features support from the likes of Micky Dolenz, Julian Lennon, Mark Hudson, and more. While we're waiting, Dana programmed this antiwar track from Molland's 1992 album The Pilgrim for our listening pleasure. I reviewed The Pilgrim for Goldmine when it was released, but I hadn't heard the song in years. It holds up, and I'm eager to hear Joey's new stuff.

THE REVELATIONS: Why When Love Has Gone



I come back to this statement time and time again: any record you ain't heard is a new record. I don't think I had even heard of The Revelations until a few weeks ago, when intrepid TIRnRR listener Dave Murray recommended I treat myself to a spin of their 2014 cover of The Isley Brothers' "Why When Love Is Gone." Six years old, but a new record to me. Make that a great new record to me, as The Revelations ace the difficult task of doing an Isleys song even better than the Isleys did it. 

THE SMALL FACES: You Need Lovin'

Willie Dixon wrote "You Need Love" for Muddy Waters. The Small Faces appropriated it for their own "You Need Lovin'." Led Zeppelin appropriated "You Need Lovin'" for their own "Whole Lotta Love." The Small Faces were fantastic and influential, but not really a superstar mega-selling record company cash cow. Led Zeppelin, on the other hand...well, let's just say that Willie Dixon knew which act it made more financial sense to sue. Dixon and Zep settled out of court in 1987.

Oh, go squeeze your own lemon.

THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'



In 1982, the combined forces of Bananarama and Fun Boy Three introduced me to the song "Really Saying Something," a bubbly girl-group number that was immediately catchy and radio-ready. I don't remember when I found out it was a cover of a 1965 Motown single, nor when I finally heard that original version by The Velvelettes. Those British chicks and fellows did a fine job with their cover; The Velvelettes blow 'em away. And that's sayin' somethin'.




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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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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).