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 # 1269
BOB DYLAN: I Want You
I'm not a Bob Dylan fan to the extent that many of my peers are Bob Dylan fans. I respect him, and sometimes I even like him, but I don't listen to his work with any discernible frequency. My Dylan spin count would uptick slightly if we include his time as a Traveling Wilbury. Otherwise, it's a relative rarity for me to play a record by Bashful Bobby Dylan.
(That's my Marvel Comics name for the Bard of Hibbing, Minnesota: Bashful Bobby Dylan. Surely Stan Lee would approve.)
Don't let any of the above mislead you into thinking I don't appreciate Dylan's talent and (especially!) his impact. In my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), I devote a chapter to "Like A Rolling Stone," my favorite Dylan track:
the folk tradition contains a rich history of social commentary, and Billie Holiday's 1939
rendition of the anti-lynching lament 'Strange Fruit' was as daring and incendiary as
any song ever released. But Dylan's ambitious lyrical rap and proto-punk arrogance
steamrolled the fences and rewrote the freakin' map. Like Chuck Berry and Elvis
Presley bringing R & B to white kids, Dylan brought a raised expectation of what pop
lyrics could or should be...
With all that said, the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown prompted Dana to dip into the Zimmerman library on two consecutive weeks, and Dana's picks (Blonde On Blonde cuts "Most Likely You Go Your Way [And I'll Go Mine]" last week, "I Want You" this week) sounded absolutely aces on the playlist. I finally saw the film on Sunday, and it was fascinating, with flawless performances and a compelling narrative. I've been singing Dylan songs to myself ever since.
In the '70s, my sister Denise had a Dylan poster, and my brother Rob had some Dylan LPs (Greatest Hits, Self Portrait, possibly Blonde On Blonde) that I borrowed and played in my teen years. Dylan was on Top 40 AM radio with "Lay Lady Lay" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door." I didn't own any Dylan until I much later acquired a beat-up used copy of Greatest Hits.
I still have that. Maybe it's due for another spin.
THE NON-PROPHETS: Alibi
The Non-Prophets' CBO (Chief Boppin' Officer) Allan Kaplon was thrilled to hear us describe "Alibi" as "their current hit single." We calls 'em as we sees 'em, my friend, and "Alibi" looks and sounds like a hit to us. It will return to TIRnRR on Sunday. That's what hit singles do.
JIM BASNIGHT: Gotta Get Straight
A new single from Jim Basnight? We play those! Always! We're fans. And like us, Jim is himself a fan of rockin ' pop music, his deep interest in all things a-thumpin' and a-janglin' informing his work as he creates more fine things that go a-thumpin' and a-janglin'. It's a process. Respect the process! Gotta get straight, man. And while we're at it, gotta get it on the radio again.
With the January 17th release of the fabulous new 20/20 album Back To California, it seemed a good time to program two-in-a-row from these Power Pop Hall Of Fame figures. 20/20 THEN....and 20/20 NOW!!! I...betcha we did the same thing when the album's first advance singles came out last year. 20/20 hindsight. But why re-invent the wheel? We have pop music to play!
"Yellow Pills" is considered 20/20's signature tune, but I like "Remember The Lightning" even more. Both songs inspired the titles of essential power pop publications, Jordan Oakes' well-remembered Yellow Pills (which has been preserved in book form, worth grabbing if you can track it down), and S. W. Lauden's current quarterly Remember The Lightning (and his Substack of the same name). Jordan may recall that I wasn't all that much of a fan of 20/20 initially, but lemme declare that I came around to the 20/20 vision years ago. Everybody's feeling groovy!
And I love the new album. "Springtime Love Song" is, I believe, the sixth different Back To California track to achieve TIRnRR airplay, with a seventh choice primed for a playlist berth this coming Sunday night. It may not be springtime yet, but love is in the air: 20/20 then, and 20/20 now.
SORROWS: Out Of My Head
Speaking of long-established rockin' pop acts still serving up new releases: New York City's phenomenal pop combo Sorrows have an album called Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow due out in the near future, with advance single "Out Of My Head" released today. Today? Hooray!
Both the single and album are new to us, but the material was recorded during Sorrows' 1981 hey-hey-HEYday, and unheard by the public until now. On the crunching and triumphant basis of "Out Of My Head," I'd say this stuff has been worth the 44-year wait. Repeat the mantra: Any record you ain't heard is a new record. I'm very much primed to lodge this new record into my head. We'll hear the single again on our next show.
(Word via the grapevine suggests that Sorrows will be recording at least one new track this year, a cover of a song originally recorded by the Flashcubes. If so, it provides a fitting symmetry for me: My introduction to the wonderful world of Sorrows came via my purchase of the "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" 45 by Sorrows precursors the Poppees, a single I bought from Sam Goody at Smithtown Mall a day or two after seeing a Flashcubes show on Bowery in 1979. The Flashcubes are in The Power Pop Hall Of Fame; one hopes that someday Sorrows will be in as well.)
THE DENTISTS: You Make Me Say It Somehow
Here again: Any record you ain't heard is a new record. I don't recall whether or not I'd ever heard the music of the Dentists before Brett Vargo rhapsodized about the group's 1985 album Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now on a recent episode of the Only Three Lads podcast. Brett's recommendation and accompanying song snippet were sufficient inspiration to get me to buy the album (which I downloaded because I'm--in-joke!--a newfangled fancy-pants). Jeez, this record has TIRnRR written all over it, which is a neat trick for a digital album to have something written all over it. Thanks for the tip, Mr. Brett! We'll play another track from this long-titled album on our next show.
THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE CYNZ: You Would Not Miss Me
Notwithstanding the considerable TIRnRR airplay accrued by the Cynz in 2024--they were our # 5 most-played artist, and two of their songs ("Just A Boy" and "Woman Child") were among our most-played tracks--I don't think I fully appreciated the sheer overall oomph of their 2024 album Little Miss Lost until it was kinda late in the game. That happens sometimes; we get caught up in individual tracks and lose sight of their magnificent brethren and sistren. We've recently started to pick up and play a few of the Little Miss Lost gems we missed before, including (fittingly) this fine number "You Would Not Miss Me." Little Miss Lost was definitely one of 2024's best albums, and we look forward to a new Cynz album due some time this year.
We will take great care not to miss that one.
SAM AND DAVE: Soul Man
It felt imperative to pay at least some tribute to the late, great Sam Moore this week. Sam and Dave--Moore with the late Dave Prater--were powerhouses of 1960s Stax Records soul, and I wish I could claim I was aware of them before the Blue Brothers covered "Soul Man" in the '70s. But I got there eventually. We played Sam and Dave's lesser-known hit "Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody" in our opening set, and circled back to the original classic "Soul Man" near the show's end. From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):
"...The song itself is an extended boast. But it's a boast backed up by its collective prowess. Responding to Sam and Dave's command Play it, Steve!, Steve Cropper's guitar work cuts and advances like an agile offensive line, its easygoing sway belying the force and efficiency of its piledriving advance. The Memphis Horns add bounce to spare. Resistance is futile.
"And, above it all, our soul men Sam Moore and Dave Prater testify.
"Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote 'Soul Man' with David Porter, said the song was inspired by the aftermath of a race riot in Detroit in 1967. An expression of defiant pride during troubled times, 'Soul Man' still resonates now as it did then, as an indomitable declaration of will and confidence. Close your eyes, right now, and let your mind conjure Cropper's distinctive guitar lick; you may suddenly feel more sure of yourself than you did just a moment before.
"Most of are neither Sam nor Dave. I know I'm not. Hell, I'm not even Jake or Elwood. Nonetheless, as we listen to this great soul duo reign o'er the musical majesty the Stax studiomen have provided them, their determination...well, it doesn't quite become ours, but we feel it. It's 1967, and all points forward. Faith. Certainty. Walls are gonna fall, change is gonna come. Comin' to ya, on a dusty road. It ain't braggin' if you can do it. They're not called soul men for nothing."
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar.
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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history 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, 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.
