This is the 21st entry in my 10 Songs series, and it achieves a specific milestone I'll talk about tomorrow. This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1026.
P. P. ARNOLD: The First Cut Is The Deepest
Well, let's get in our first obligatory plug for my book-in-progress The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), as always dedicated to the simple truth that an infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Soul singer P. P. Arnold's forgotten original version of the oft-covered classic "The First Cut Is The Deepest" certainly deserves that breathless accolade:
"The First Cut Is The Deepest" is well-known via hit covers by Rod Stewart in 1977 and Sheryl Crow in 2003. Each of these is, really, a good record on its own, though neither is within hailing distance of the version recorded by the song's author, Cat Stevens. And no version--no version--is within light years of the beguiling, seductive, flawless original release by P. P. Arnold.
Like most American pop fans, my introduction to this composition came in 1977 with Rod Stewart's hit cover. I liked Stewart's record, but then my girlfriend played Stevens' version for me. Whoa! Instant fave rave, and I eventually scored my own copy on a double-album compilation called Hard-Up Heroes. I don't know how long it was before I realized that Stewart had omitted a line from the chorus, and everyone else has likewise skipped the same line after that. All versions include "When it comes to being lucky, she's cursed/When it comes to loving me, she's worse," but then Rod and Sheryl Crow and all other punters leave out "But when it comes to being loved, she's first," which strikes me as a pretty important line. "That's how I know!" For many years, I thought Cat Stevens released the first version of his own song, but P. P. Arnold's exquisite rendition actually predates Stevens' record. I say P. P. Arnold is also considerably better-looking than either Stevens or Stewart, but that's me. Even if we close our eyes and just listen to her absolute mastery of every syllable, every nuance of longing and regret, hope and fear, it's clear that P. P. Arnold's standout performance of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" is The Greatest Record Ever Made.
JIM BASNIGHT: This Is Where I Belong
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio routinely refers to The Kinks as our house band. We're also fond of Jim Basnight, a durable interest that dates back to his work with the fabulous punk-pop group The Moberlys and extends through his subsequent solo career. So, the idea of Jim Basnight covering The Kinks is just A-OK with us, and here's ample evidence our Jim is up to the task. Jim's ace cover of "This Is Where I Belong"--one of my many favorite Kinks songs to begin with--was previously in Big Stir Records' digital singles series, and recently included in irresistible physical form on the collection Big Stir Singles--The Sixth Wave. Purchase of that singles collection benefits Sweet Relief's Musician Assistance Fund, so you probably oughtta buy one right now. Jim's considering doing a covers album, so we look forward to hearing more.
THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Saturday Night
Never feel guilty for digging a pop song. I reject the ludicrous notion of guilty pleasures in music; you either like something or you don't like something, and no amount of misplaced hipsterism should be allowed to alter that. Stand your freakin' ground, and dig what you dig.
I dig The Bay City Rollers. I pretty much always have, at least once I got over the absurdity of them being hyped as the next Beatles. In 1987, they were the subject of my first feature article in Goldmine, and The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will include a chapter on their fantastic recording of "Rock And Roll Love Letter." As a teen, I owned the Rollers' "Rock And Roll Love Letter" and "Saturday Night" 45s. I did not care whether or not my peers approved of the choice. Guilty? Not me, man--your rules do not apply.
THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: Glad All Over
The mid '60s British Invasion is my most prominent prevailing touchstone in music; as a flashpoint in time, only '70s punk even comes close to rivaling the importance of that era for me. I was four years old in 1964, and although I already loved music (of course!), the impact of Beatlemania and its aftermath had both an immediate and an everlasting impact on me. From soul to bubblegum, glam to power pop, rhythm and blues to folk rock, ska, new wave, metal, or what have you, my taste in pop music is firmly rooted in that giddy, transcendent moment of yeah, yeah, YEAH!
But when I think of the British Invasion, the first songs that come to my mind aren't Beatles songs. I think even my subconscious mind puts The Beatles into their own separate and exclusive class. No, mention of the British Invasion instantly conjures two songs before all others in that swirling mess o' everything I call my brain: "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks and "Glad All Over" by The Dave Clark Five.
I don't really remember either song contemporary to their release. I remember the DC5's "Bits And Pieces," and I remember The Searchers' "Needles And Pins," Herman's Hermits' "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter," and The Rolling Stones' "Get Off Of My Cloud" from that impressionable time when I was four and five in '64-'65. And of course I remember The Beatles. Awareness of The Kinks, and of DC5 songs that weren't "Bits And Pieces," came later, when I was a high school student in the '70s. And both of those songs took over as my enthusiasm for the British Invasion reached a fevered zenith that has never subsided, and likely never will.
THE EQUALS: Baby Come Back
I have no recollection whatsoever of when I may have first heard The Equals' 1968 hit "Baby Come Back." The Equals were never quite as well known in the U.S. as they were in Europe, and even "Baby Come Back"--their sole Billboard hit--peaked at # 32. It's still possible I heard it on the radio in those dearly-missed days of regional hits that prevented radio stations in one city from sounding exactly like radio stations in another city. But I digress....
When Eddy Grant's fabulous "Electric Avenue" took over my '69 Impala's AM radio in 1983, I'm sure I had no idea that Grant had been in The Equals (if I'd even heard "Baby Come Back" by then, though I'm sure I had), nor probably that The Equals had recorded the original version of Grant's "Police On My Back," a song I only knew from a then-recent cover by The Clash. I learned. The Equals' original recordings can be a little hard to find now--beware of Equals CDs polluted by remakes rather than the rockin' real deal--but it's worth the effort. If you can find it, a 1994 2-CD best-of set called First Among Equals is your recommended resource for all things being Equal.
RICH FIRESTONE: If The Sun Doesn't Shine
Rich Firestone returns to the playlist and to 10 Songs in the wake of the third anniversary of his first solo show for our charming little radio station. Nowadays, the esteemed Mr. Firestone hosts the always effervescent Radio Deer Camp on SPARK! WSPJ Syracuse every Sunday afternoon from 5 to 7 Eastern. Several years back, before they relocated from Maryland to Michigan, Reechie and his wife Kathy Firestone twice visited Syracuse to guest-host episodes of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio.
But on May 21st of 2017, after the Firestones had moved too far away to make a trip to Syracuse for a long weekend, Dana and I needed a night off. Dana, as I recall, had a secret mission that Sunday, probably teaming up with The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. to combat the evil machinations of T.H.R.U.S.H., those bastards; details of that affair remain classified. Me? My wife Brenda and I were in Ithaca for our daughter Meghan's college graduation, and my heart bursts with pride at the summa cum laude memory.
So Reechie stepped in. He programmed and recorded his own episode of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, and he saw that it was good. Ever since then, Dana and I have wanted Rich to do more shows for our station, and the need for fresh programming during sequestration gave us the opportunity to make it so. The seed of Radio Deer Camp first took root in that 5/21/2017 TIRnRR, and we remain grateful to Rich for all of that.
The boy can sing pretty good, too.
THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: First Plane Home
In August of 1992, Brenda and I were preparing for our first-ever trip across the Atlantic, set to visit my sister and her family in England. The first Dana & Carl radio series We're Your Friends For Now had just ended abruptly in June. With minds fixed on finally making a pilgrimage to the land that birthed my beloved British Invasion, we got up early on the morning of our departure, all packed and ready. Just prior to leaving the house and cruising to the airport, I had one important task to accomplish. I grabbed a record by an American group, The Flamin' Groovies. I don't remember if it was the Jumpin' In The Night LP or the CD best-of Groovies' Greatest Grooves. Either way, I needed to crank one song before we left: "First Plane Home."
"First Plane Home" is occasionally my favorite Flamin' Groovies track, which is quite a thing to say when you realize their song "Shake Some Action" is The Greatest Record Ever Made! If a song about catching the first available return flight seems an odd choice for the soundtrack to starting one's trip abroad, you've gotta understand that I was focused on one key line in the song:
I'm bound for ol' HEATHROW!
My words can't convey that feeling. It was an indescribable flame of bliss, anticipation, excitement, wonder, reverence, and disbelief. I was 32. After decades spent as an unabashed Anglophile, I was at long last bound for ol' Heathrow. My senses preen and tingle at the recollection.
I love England. I love London. I love a lot of places that fortune has favored me with the opportunity to see, from New York to Cleveland to Toronto to Key West to San Francisco to Malaga to Mechelin to Morocco to Washington, DC, and more. London! We never made it up to Liverpool, but we were in England. Cheers!
As we shelter at home, and even before the pandemic fixed us in place, I have wished we could travel more. It's difficult and daunting. There are more places I still want to see before the sun does set on my own mortal empire. And I want to return to London, to England. I so, so want to be bound for ol' Heathrow once again.
CAROLYNE MAS: In The Rain
Although singer 'n' songwriter Carolyne Mas' widest notoriety came during her late '70s-early '80s run as a Mercury Records artist, she continued to perform and record after parting company with the label in 1981. A 2003 compilation with the fitting title Beyond Mercury provides a partial document of the richness of her work during that post-'81 period. Beyond Mercury includes some of her '80s recordings with The Skeletons--America's coolest band--and it also includes this otherwise-unavailable 2001 gem "In The Rain." I'm in the process of trying to track down a CD copy of Beyond Mercury, and I aim to continue playing this particular track for the foreseeable future. (And, in the mean time, Beyond Mercury is available as a digital download. Blue skies, baby!)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Girls In Their Summer Clothes
I do not dislike Bruce Springsteen, and in fact I do like (and even love) a number of his works even though I don't think l would include him on a list of my 200 all-time favorite rockin' pop artists. "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is an oddball selection for one's go-to Springsteen track, but I tell ya, it just has a sublime majesty that touches me in a way no other Springsteen track ever really has. And yes, "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" gets its own chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
THE TEARJERKERS: Syracuse Summer
In early June of 1992, Dana and I arrived at the studio of WNMA, which was then the host of our five-month-old radio show We're Your Friends For Now. We were there to record a theme show, "The Sounds Of Summer," as gloomy downpours turned Syracuse into a rain-gray town not sufficiently well-known for its sound.
That's when we were informed that WNMA would be signing off for good by the end of the month. It would be the end of We're Your Friends For Now, and presumably (and plausibly) the end of any Dana & Carl radio shows. The decision to shutter WXXE had not yet been announced, so we weren't allowed to say anything about any of it on our show that night. We went about the drudgery of playing happy and exuberant summer music as our moods faded to black. At the end of the show, we played The Tearjerkers' fabulous Central New York seasonal celebration "Syracuse Summer" at the same time as we played a sound effects record of a thunderstorm. The Beach Boys-inspired good vibrations of "Syracuse Summer" mixed with the dreary noise of dark clouds shedding Heaven's tears as we prepared to bid a final farewell to our short radio careers.
(We, um, came back eventually. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl: the sunshine after your rain since 1998.)
"Syracuse Summer" was written by Gary Frenay of The Flashcubes, and it has occupied a permanent berth on my all-time Hot 100 since its 45 rpm release in 1980. Its sound fills my soul with local pride, with hope for deliverance from inclement weather, with dreams of magic summers that don't last as long, so they mean a little bit more. The beach awaits. We'll get there when we can.
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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
Volume 3: download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 134 essays about 134 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).
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 134 essays about 134 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).
