Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do)

My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli

Friday, February 11, 2022

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1): a summary so far

Our favorite records don't live in isolation. Each one has a story to tell.

My long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is based on a conviction that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. I began poking at the concept in 2016, and I began trying to turn it into a book in 2018. There have been steps forward and steps back along the long-threatened book's path to will itself into existence.

But the book itself was completed a little over a month ago. The current draft totals just under 152,000 words. As I go through revisions and try to get the work to someone who can help make things happen, I want to consolidate a few points in one handy-dandy GREM! reference spot.

You can see links to each of my 34 GREM! video blogs here.

You can read the book's foreword, introduction, and first few chapters here. (These are earlier drafts, so some changes have been implemented since these were posted. Still gives you the gist of what I'm doing.)

Here are a few other sample chapters (also in earlier drafts):

PATTI SMITH: Gloria

GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Midnight Train To Georgia

JOHNNY NASH: I Can See Clearly Now

THE MONKEES: Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Girls In Their Summer Clothes

MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress

DAVID BOWIE: Life On Mars?

THE GRATEFUL DEAD: Uncle John's Band

STEVIE WONDER: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

The book's current Table of Contents appears below. But before you dive in to experience its splendor, it's worth repeating this caveat from one of the book's introductory chapters:

"This specific disclaimer is worth highlighting in bold and all-caps: THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF THE BEST RECORDS EVER MADE! Jesus, no! The chapters in this book cover a number of popular and personal favorites, but it's nowhere near comprehensive, and it's not meant to be. It's a discussion and a celebration of pop's infinite promise--nothing more, nothing less."

Ready? Let's GO!

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1)

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

DISCLAIMERS AND DECLARATIONS (A User's Guide To The Greatest Record Ever Made!)

A Fistful Of 45s

OVERTURE THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

1. BADFINGER: Baby Blue

2. CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land

3. DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: I Only Want To Be With You

4. THE SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen

5. ELVIS PRESLEY: Heartbreak Hotel

6. WILLIE MAE "BIG MAMA" THORNTON: Hound Dog

7. PATTI SMITH: Gloria

8. LITTLE RICHARD: The Girl Can't Help It

9. NEIL DIAMOND: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

10. CRAZY ELEPHANT: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'

11. WILSON PICKETT: In The Midnight Hour
12. THE HOLLIES: I Can't Let Go

13. MELANIE WITH THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

14. THE ROMANTICS: What I Like About You

15. SAM COOKE: Chain Gang

16. PETULA CLARK: Downtown

17. ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Soldier Of Love

18. TRANSLATOR: Everywhere That I'm Not

19. LESLEY GORE: You Don't Own Me

20. THE SHANGRI-LAS: Leader Of The Pack
21. THE SHIRELLES: Will You Love Me Tomorrow

22. THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

23. AMY RIGBY: Dancing With Joey Ramone

24. PINK FLOYD: Wish You Were Here

25. GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Midnight Train To Georgia

26.THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: I Fought The Law

27. MERLE HAGGARD: Mama Tried

28. THE TEMPTATIONS: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone

29. BUDDY HOLLY: Peggy Sue/Everyday

30. ROBERTA FLACK: Killing Me Softly With His Song

31. JOHNNY NASH: I Can See Clearly Now

32. ELTON JOHN: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

33. SUZI QUATRO: I May Be Too Young

34. ALICE COOPER: School's Out

35. THE RARE BREED/THE OHIO EXPRESS: Beg, Borrow And Steal

36. ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music

37. OTIS REDDING: (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

38. ARETHA FRANKLIN: Respect

39. THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere

40. THE MONKEES: Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)

41. PRINCE: When You Were Mine

42. THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

43. THE ROLLING STONES: Get Off Of My Cloud

44. PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS: Just Like Me

45. BOB DYLAN: Like A Rolling Stone

46. THE KINGSMEN: Louie, Louie

47. BARON DAEMON AND THE VAMPIRES: The Transylvania Twist

48. THE MARVELETTES: I'll Keep Holding On

49. THE WHO: I Can't Explain

50. TODD RUNDGREN: Couldn't I Just Tell You

51. SHOES: Tomorrow Night

52. THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise

53. TELEVISION: Elevation

54. DONNA SUMMER: I Feel Love

55. SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES: The Tears Of A Clown

56. JUDAS PRIEST: Heading Out To The Highway

57. THE DIXIE CUPS: Iko Iko

58. THE NEW YORK DOLLS: Personality Crisis

59. MILLIE SMALL: My Boy Lollipop

60. THE EASYBEATS: Friday On My Mind

61. IKE AND TINA TURNER: River Deep Mountain High

62. THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

63. RONNIE SPECTOR AND THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

64. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Girls In Their Summer Clothes

65. KISS: Shout It Out Loud

66. THE LEFT BANKE: Walk Away, Renee

67. THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Rock And Roll Love Letter

68. THE KNICKERBOCKERS: Lies

69. THE WONDERS: That Thing You Do!

70. THE GO-GO'S: We Got The Beat

INTERLUDE The Tottenham Sound Of...The Beatles?!

71. THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: Any Way You Want It

72. JAMES BROWN: Please, Please, Please

73. GRAND FUNK: We're An American Band

74. THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'

75. THE FIRST CLASS: Beach Baby

76. THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Summer Breeze

77. THE RUBINOOS: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

78. THE PANDORAS: It's About Time

79. THE MUFFS: Saying Goodbye

80. BIG STAR: September Gurls

81. PAUL COLLINS/THE BREAKAWAYS: Walking Out On Love

82. LINDA RONSTADT: You're No Good

83. P. P. ARNOLD: The First Cut Is The Deepest

84. THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS: All For Swinging You Around

85. THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET: Take Five

ENTR'ACTE THE BEATLES: Yesterday

86. THE BEATLES: Revolution

87. YOKO ONO: Kiss Kiss Kiss

88. THE MC5: Kick Out The Jams

89. THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: Time Has Come Today

90. MARVIN GAYE: I Heard It Through The Grapevine

91. SAMMY AMBROSE: This Diamond Ring

92. THE MYNAH BIRDS: I Got You (In My Soul)

93. RICK JAMES: Super Freak

94. BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY: Piece Of My Heart

95. THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action

96. THE DANDY WARHOLS: We Used To Be Friends

97. THE CARPENTERS: Only Yesterday

98. MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress

99. THE 5TH DIMENSION: Medley: Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In (The Flesh Failures)

100. THE JACKSON FIVE: I'll Be There

101. SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everybody Is A Star

102. LOVE: 7 And 7 Is

103. THE BANGLES: Live

104. THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes

105. THE FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache

106. THE SPINNERS: I'll Be Around

107. TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl
108. THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY: I Woke Up In Love This Morning

109. EDDIE COCHRAN: Somethin' Else

110. DAVID RUFFIN: I Want You Back

111. LED ZEPPELIN: Communication Breakdown

112. FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie

113. THE BANDWAGON: Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache

114. HEADGIRL/MÖTOR HEADGIRL SCHOOL: Please Don't Touch

115. DON HENLEY: The Boys Of Summer

116. THE CLASH: Train In Vain (Stand By Me)

117. BEN E. KING: Stand By Me

118. GENE PITNEY: Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

119. RUFUS: Tell Me Something Good

120. THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne

121. THE TRAMMPS: Disco Inferno

122. HAROLD MELVIN AND THE BLUE NOTES: Don't Leave Me This Way

123. GRANDMASTER AND MELLE MEL: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)

124. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: I'll Be Your Mirror

125. DEL SHANNON: Runaway

126. THE EVERLY BROTHERS: Gone, Gone, Gone

127. THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: St. Valentine's Day Massacre

128. SAM AND DAVE: Soul Man

129. T. REX: 20th Century Boy

130. HEART: Kick It Out

131. THE RUNAWAYS: Cherry Bomb

132. AMERICA: Sister Golden Hair

133. THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset

134. THE KINKS: You Really Got Me

135. HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: Time Will Tell

136. THE SMITHEREENS: Behind The Wall Of Sleep

137. THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

138. ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?

139. THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There

INTERLUDE Old Time Rock 'n' Roll

140. THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM: 2 + 2 = ?
141. THE JIVE FIVE: What Time Is It?

142. LULU: To Sir, With Love [Museum Outings Montage]
143. FREDA PAYNE: Band Of Gold

144. THE CONTOURS: Do You Love Me

145. WHAM!: Freedom

146. THE COOKIES: Wounded

147. THE SUPREMES: You Keep Me Hangin' On

148. THE BEACH BOYS: God Only Knows

149. JOAN ARMATRADING: Me Myself I

150. THE SELECTER: On My Radio

151. TRACEY ULLMAN: They Don't Know

152. MANNIX: Highway Lines

153. THE DRIFTERS: On Broadway

154. FIRST AID KIT: America

155. THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS: O-o-h Child

156. SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

157. THE JAM: That's Entertainment

158. THE COASTERS: Yakety Yak

159. CHEAP TRICK: Surrender

160. TEGAN AND SARA: Walking With A Ghost

161. DAVID BOWIE: Life On Mars?

162. THE O'JAYS: Put Your Hands Together

163. THE GRATEFUL DEAD: Uncle John's Band

164. RITA MORENO, GEORGE CHAKIRIS, SHARKS & GIRLS: America

165. EDDIE AND THE HOT RODS: Do Anything You Wanna Do

166. JOAN JETT: Bad Reputation

167. STEVIE WONDER: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

168. MARYKATE O'NEIL: I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around

169. EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

170. THE JAYHAWKS: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me

An Infinite Number

INTERLUDE Underrating The Beatles

ENCORE! THE BEATLES: Rain

ENCORE!! THE T-BONES: No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)

Cruisin' Music

CODA THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

AFTERWORD

Repeating the disclaimer: These selections are not ranked in any way, and this is most definitely NOT intended as an inclusive list of the all-time best songs. There are an infinite number of worthy prospects; these are the ones I choose to write about in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Voume 1).

I believe very, very strongly in this book. I think a few of you just might dig it, too. The work continues. Into the infinite!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

Thursday, February 10, 2022

10 SONGS: 2/10/2022

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 # 1115.

CHEAP STAR: Flower Girl

Man, ya gotta appreciate a band that creates its name by mashing up the monikers of power pop touchstones Cheap Trick and Big Star. Playin' directly into the ol' TIRnRR demographic. Rather than bludgeoning the idea by calling their new album Heaven City or Radio Tonight, Cheap Star's latest is Wish I Could See, and we opened this week's extravaganza with a spin of "Flower Girl." Intrepid TIRnRR listener Mike Browning found the track pleasantly reminiscent of Nada Surf, and we approve of that message.

BALLZY TOMORROW: Double Our Numbers

Everyone's musical pal Robbie Rist is a big fan of Parthenon Huxley. That's a right worthy thing to be, and our own story of falling under the delightful thrall of P. Hux was told way back here. My favorite among Parthenon Huxley favorites is the sublime "Double Our Numbers," an absolutely irresistible little--no, BIG!!--number that appeared on Parthenon's 1988 album Sunny Nights. We know Robbie also loves the song; he's said so more than once, and several years ago he posted a video of himself performing an acoustic cover of the song. More recently, Robbie recorded a new version of "Double Your Numbers" under his nom du pummel Ballzy Tomorrow. It's a wonderful cover of a wonderful song. I wish some sort of Powers That Be would return Sunny Nights to proper retail availability, and I really wish more and more people recognized "Double Our Numbers" as the rockin' pop classic it is. In the mean time: take it, Robbie!

THE LINDA LINDAS: Growing Up

All last year, we routinely referred to the young quartet called the Linda Lindas as "the buzz band of 2021." It looks like Bela, Eloise, Lucia, and Mila have their eye on claiming 2022 as well, with the forthcoming release of their first album, Growing Up. The album's due in April, but available for preorder right now. The preorder gets you the title track (and previous single tracks "Oh!" and "Nina") in that very same right-now time frame. GO! Get it! Buzz waits for no one.

PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG: Lucky In Love

For someone who is--in theory!--wired into the phantasmagoric splendor of today's now sound, it's appalling how much stuff I just miss. Y'know, if I could afford to pay attention, I would pay attention. Will attention accept an IOU?

Case in point: this yummy digital single from Palmyra Delran and the Doppel Gang. "Lucky In Love" (virtually backed by a cover of Tuff Darts' tres pop "Who's Been Sleeping Here?") came out a freakin' year ago, and I just managed to hear it in this far-future world of 2022. I need better minions. Or maybe some minions. A minion. Or at least something resembling peripheral awareness.

Ah, but any track you ain't heard is a new track, and "Lucky In Love" is for damned sure worth waiting for anyway. Famed rocker and Underground Garage personality Palmyra's gang o' doppels includes the one 'n' only Michael Lynch, and both tracks are as fab as fab can be. Fabber, even. I wish we'd played 'em last year. We're happy to play 'em now.

TONY VALENTINO: Barracuda

Like many of my fellow Americans, my first exposure to the Standells was when the group guest-starred as domestic ersatz Beatles on a 1964 episode of TV's The Munsters, wherein unassailable pop pundit Herman Munster indicated he would sleep easier knowing the future of our country was in the hands of fine young men like the Standells. They would go on to become one-hit wonders for "Dirty Water" in 1966, but they also had a number of lesser chart hits that deserved wider notoriety. The rise of the Nuggets critical aesthetic in the '70s and '80s brought an embrace of '60s garage and punk, and that embrace proudly acclaimed Standells perennials like "Riot On The Sunset Strip," "Why Pick On Me," the pounding "Dirty Water" B-side "Rari," and (my favorite) "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White."

Guitarist Tony Valentino was a founding member of the mighty Standells, and he's still active as a recording artist for Big Stir Records. Tony made his post-Standells TIRnRR debut as a guest of the Forty Nineteens, playing on that group's single "Late Night Radio" (which then appeared on the Forty Nineteens' 2021 album New Roaring Twenties). Now, Tony returns with a new single, offering a new version of the Standells' "Barracuda." Somewhere, Herman Munster is smiling. Right here, we're smiling, too.

THE JIVE FIVE: Hully Gully Callin' Time

While the Jive Five's biggest hit was the 1961 doo-wop gem "My True Story," TIRnRR's go-to Jive Five track has generally been "What Time Is It?," a dreamy recording that earns a place in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). We've played a couple of other Jive Five selections over the years, but this week offers the first-ever TIRnRR spin of "Hully Gully Callin' Time." And it makes its way to the playlist because I discovered that one of the song's credited songwriters was one Joyce Cafarelli. I have no idea whether or not this Joyce Cafarelli was any distant relation to my family--Third Cousin Joyce? Honorary Aunt Joyce? Jivin' Sister Joyce, who never writes, never calls, never shows up at weddings or funerals?--but I can state with some authority that we have yet to see any royalties. Hey! Joyce! What about your family...?!

(Oddly enough, though I'm actually pretty sure I'm not really kin to Joyce Cafarelli, the song's title does make me remember something about my Dad. Dad wasn't really a rock 'n' roll fan, saying he preferred "pre-Pearl Harbor music" to the bangin' and twangin' that captured his youngest son's fancy. In our sporadic and amiable conversations about the rock and the roll, Daddy almost always made some reference to the Hully Gully. Like, many times, over the course of decades. Coincidence? I think so. But...maybe not? It would be a cool connection if true.

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: I Only Want To Be With You

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE MONKEES: Listen To The Band

No, it was not a surprise when the Monkees were once again snubbed by this year's list of nominations for The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Just because the RnRHOF nominating board is clueless doesn't mean we have to be. Listen to the band.

THE BLUSTERFIELDS: Insomnia

Let's talk about the Blusterfields. The North Carolina lads' debut album The Vicious Afterglow opens with all the bluster 'n' aggro of an arena show, but all in service to a higher pop calling. You've got your sway. You've got your hooks. You've got your volume, and you've got your sweet, anthemic-sounding singalong vocals. The Blusterfields do not seem to be lacking in confidence, and their confidence is justified. Let's talk about the Blusterfields. And let's say those three little words we need to say: Turn. It. UP.

TODD RUNDGREN: Couldn't I Just Tell You

Todd Rundgren's essential double album Something/Anything? just turned an ever-spry 50 freakin' years old. I'm not quite the Todd fan that many of my peers are, but I am very fond of a number of individual things he did, including his '60s days with the Nazz and his '80s Fab Four pastiche Deface The Music. I've owned a copy of Something/Anything? for more than 40 years, a set secured when I traded a gift of Eagles' Greatest Hits for this sprawling 2-LP magnum opus.

I got it specifically for "Couldn't I Just Tell You." I had seen Rundgren perform the song

with Utopia on a 1978 TV appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. Our Todd introduced it as "an example of the latest musical trend. It's called power pop." I knew the song before that, but this was when it really grabbed my attention. Here's an excerpt from the song's entry in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Even though 'Couldn't I Just Tell You' wasn't a hit, I knew the song from somewhere. Maybe it got some play on WOLF-AM, falling into the airwaves in between our Todd's big hits 'I Saw The Light' and 'Hello It's Me' [both from Something/Anything?]. Maybe I picked up on it some time later, perhaps as an older track dusted off for a fresh spin by an FM radio DJ after I switched preferred frequencies.

"I wasn't necessarily a Todd Rundgren fan, at least not specifically. He was fine, but aside from hearing "Hello It's Me" and later his remake of the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations,' he wasn't really part of my conscious pop thought. I knew him more as a guy who (I'd read somewhere) sported multi-colored hair, and whose ladyfriend was Playboy centerfold Bebe Buell. I liked him, but didn't think much about him.

"But that song....

"'Couldn't I Just Tell You' lurked within the gauzy borders of my subconscious, a welcome guest however it was that it got there. It settled comfortably in my mind's terra incognita, itself a phrase I picked up from a girl I fancied. I could have sung the song to her if I'd thought of it.

"The tentative dance of teen infatuation, captured in microcosm, made pretty with the sound of (apparently) the latest musical trend.

"Seeing and hearing Utopia perform 'Couldn't I Just Tell You' on The Mike Douglas Show in '78 brought all of this subconscious thought to the surface, elevating the song immediately and forever thereafter to my own Top of the Pops. Immediately after the show was over, I phoned another girl I knew, just to say, Did you see THAT...?!

"By 1978, my eighteen-year-old self had already suffered and--damn me--inflicted some broken hearts. I had also discovered a name for my favorite sounds: power pop. The latest musical trend. Todd Rundgren may not have thought much of it. I sure did. And on this song, Todd Rundgren accomplished it, fully and with great authority. Why don't you lend me an ear, I'll make it perfectly clear, I love you. Harmonies and guitars. A crush can lead to more. And it can sound magnificent, regardless of whether or not it ever starts to trend."

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

On Twitter @CafarelliCarl

I have invented a new phrase to describe an airball in basketball: nothing but not.

POP-A-LOOZA: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Four Seasons, "Walk Like A Man"

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a Greatest Record Ever Made! spotlight on "Walk Like A Man" by the Four Seasons.

This was written as a potential chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not part of that book's current plan. I've been working at implementing that plan, both in terms of streamlining and consolidating some of the references to GREM! on this blog (starting with yesterday's gathering of my GREM! video rants) through determining whether I'm best-advised to secure another agent or to approach publishers on my own. The book itself is done, at least in its current draft form. I have a summary of the project set to run here on Friday.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. "Infinite" is a waaaay bigger number than can be fit into one book, so there are still scattered chapters to consider elsewhere. Like, y'know, here, and at Pop-A-Looza. Today, a Greatest Record Ever Made! celebration of a song by the Four Seasons takes its own infinite turn as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1): My Video Rants

As I think I've mentioned here a time or too much, I've been writing a book called The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. I finished slapping together that long-threatened book in January, and I'm currently going through revisions and trying to figure out where to go next. It's my hope that this labor of love will find a viable path to publication. Wouldn't that be nice?

In 2020 and 2021, when the GREM! project was still taking shape, I started a series of video rants on its behalf. I did a total of 34 of these videos, roughly one a week, from October of 2020 until June of 2021. By then, I'd grown frustrated with the book's lack of traction, but especially with people complaining that a video blog intended to promote a book of my essays featured...me, talking about a song in my book, rather than a video of the song itself. Yeah, I've got a lot of nerve.

Anyway, here's a complete list of links to my Greatest Record Ever Made! videos. THERE ARE NO ACTUAL SONGS AT ANY OF THESE LINKS. I may return to do more videos as plans for the book materialize. These are the ones I've done so far.