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.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1082.
MIKE BROWNING: Picture Book
Clever lads and lasses know the way to TIRnRR's heart: play a song by our house band, the Kinks. That's not a fool-proof plan, though; screwin' up a Kinks song wouldn't make you any friends (Van Halen's popular but yechhh bludgeoning of "You Really Got Me" notwithstanding), so dedicated followers of fashion must understand that success walks hand-in-hand with failure along dead end streets and Waterloo sunsets.
But Mike Browning knows what he's doing. His cover of "Picture Book" was done for a music production class taught by the one 'n' only Jamie Hoover, who really wanted the class to do this song. Good choice, Jamie! Jamie also plays the drums here, and the result is worthy of attention from all of us in the Village Green. Look to the big sky for Class Act, a forthcoming album collecting Mike Browning's recordings for Mr. Hoover's class. Mike, the well-respected men salute you.
THE DIODES: Tired Of Waking Up Tired
Speaking of the house band, during one of the back-announces this week I started to call this song "Tired Of Waiting For You," but I corrected myself and we all shared a jolly laugh at my error. HA! HahaHA!
But the Diodes' "Tired Of Waking Up Tired" is a power pop classic. I'm delighted to say that I first heard it on the radio, which is where one should be introduced to great songs. This was senior year in college, 1979-80, and it was on either Rochester's WCMF-FM or Toronto's CFNY-FM, probably the former. I had read about the Diodes in Bomp! magazine and/or Trouser Press; I'd previously heard the group's punk-influenced cover of the Cyrkle's "Red Rubber Ball," but none of that prepared me--at all--for how freakin' amazing "Tired Of Waking Up Tired" is. Classic. Classic, classic, classic.
THE FLASHCUBES: I Can't Explain
As mentioned last week, I'm writing the liner notes to Flashcubes On Fire, a CD preserving a kickass 1979 live show by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. The 'Cubes were an absolutely stunning live band, and Flashcubes On Fire captures them at the oomphiest of their considerable oomph.
The Flashcubes established themselves in large part on the strength of original tunes written by bassist Gary Frenay and guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, all of it propelled by drummer Tommy Allen. But, like all the best groups, the 'Cubes are also rock 'n' roll fans, first and foremost, and they had (and have) terrific taste in covers. Flashcubes On Fire provides ample evidence of that, with the Flashcubes' ace takes on material previously recorded by the Kinks, Big Star, the Raspberries, Eddie Cochran, Link Wray, Arthur Alexander, and Larry Williams (the latter two via indoctrination by the Beatles). And really, every power pop group should be expected to cover the Who. "I Can't Explain" has always been my favorite Who song, and the mighty Flashcubes do it justice. Swift, efficient justice. Justice on FIRE!
THE GRIP WEEDS: You're So Good To Me
When TIRnRR started doing whatever the hell it is we do way back at the end of 1998, tribute albums were simultaneously all the rage and universally despised. That's a paradox, likely a function of perception rather than of fact.
For our part, Dana and I tended to disdain big-label tribute albums, and to embrace tribute albums done right. The Not Lame label (run by the visionary Bruce Brodeen) was our prime example of a resource for engaging and entertaining tribute discs--Not Lame's Gene Clark tribute Full Circle still makes occasional appearances on TIRnRR playlists--and Jem Records is a contemporary example of an imprint upholding that fine tradition today. Jem Records Celebrates John Lennon was way cool, and the upcoming Jem Records Celebrates Brian Wilson looks to be a similarly smile-worthy font of good vibrations. Our friends the Grip Weeds provide the first taste of this sweet summer release, with their winning reading of the Beach Boys' "You're So Good To Me."
THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Twist And Shout
A group called the Top Notes did it first, in 1961, though their forgotten original is but a footnote in pop history. A then-unknown (but soon to be very well-known) beat group from Liverpool, England did a screaming, raw-throated cover to close their debut LP Please Please Me in 1963, the start of their own ah-ah-ah-ahhhhhhhh-wow-shake-it-up-baby! shot heard 'round the world.
And the Beatles copied the Isley Brothers' arrangement of "Twist And Shout." In the hands of the Isleys, "Twist And Shout" moved from the pleasant but unremarkable jump of the Top Notes to a swaggering juggernaut well on its way to becoming legend.
KID GULLIVER: I Started A Joke
It did not start as a joke, nor did it ever become a joke. It started, in fact, because we loved the sound of Simone Berk singing. It continued because we love the sound of Simone Berk singing.
A spin of this sprightly reimagination of the Bee Gees' "I Started A Joke" (from the new Kid Gulliver EP Gimme Some Go!) marks the 32nd consecutive week that a TIRnRR playlist has included at least one track featuring the voice of Kid Gulliver's CEO Simone Berk. We've played Simone with Kid Gulliver, Sugar Snow, Berk/Lehane, and WhistleStop Rock, and Kid Gulliver's irresistible "Forget About Him" is now recognized as an all-time TIRnRR Fave Rave. Rightly so.
Alas, all good things must eventually come to a pause for sodas at the side of the road. With special programming plans in place for the July 4th TIRnRR, the Simone Berk streak will end after next week's show, having accumulated an impressive 33 notches on the ol' tote board. That's far and away the longest current streak of any performer on this show, and probably one of our longest unbroken streaks ever. We'll celebrate that streak in style next week, with more Kid Gulliver, and more Sugar Snow, as Simone Berk will be our Featured Performer on June 27th.
No joke.
BRENT SEAVERS: I Wrote A Song
I wrote a song that goes la la lala laaaa....
We introduced this track from the new Brent Seavers album BS Stands For Brent Seavers with a reference to my favorite movie That Thing You Do!, claiming that "I Wrote A Song" sounds like it was commissioned by Andrew White for Play-Tone Records in 1964: I want something snappy! It's a big, big compliment in our pop world, reserved for a pop confection that delivers all of the catchy exuberance the pursuit of snappy! requires.
THE SHIRELLES: Will You Love Me Tomorrow
From my proposed (but possibly imaginary) book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):
"It might be difficult to reach a consensus on which set of singing females was the definitive representative of the early '60s girl group sound. One could make a credible case on behalf of those bad girls the Shangri-Las, who made their name by being tougher than the rest, hangin' out with bikers, doin' it on the beach, and regretting such transgressions a year later while [REMEMBER!] walking in the sand. We have to consider Phil Spector's wall-of-sound studio masterpieces with the Ronettes and the Crystals as emblematic of what the girl-group sound should be. The Angels. The Marvelettes. The Dixie Cups. The Toys, whose "May My Heart Be Cast Into Stone" is such a magnificently over-the-top gush of hormonal, adolescent pinky-swears that it deserves its own genre. I don't think the Supremes are as integral to this conversation, but I'm sure some believe otherwise. Even solo singers like Lesley Gore were a part of this overall sound, this swell of sweet vocals and harmonies soaring above dramatic and catchy pop music crafted by God himself for an AM radio near you. The girl group sound was vast and mighty.
"And the Shirelles were its most undeniable avatars...."
TRACEY ULLMAN: Terry
I think my first exposure to the divine sound of Kirsty MacColl was vicarious, via an AM radio playing Tracey Ullman's hit cover of Kirsty's wonderful song "They Don't Know." It turned out to be not solely a vicarious introduction, as Ms. MacColl is herself present and accounted for on the Ullman single, singing back-up and (I believe) providing the goosepimple-baiting moment of a transcendent cry of BAYbeee! The thrill is still there, with each and every spin.
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| Kirsty MacColl |
I may not have heard any of Kirsty MacColl's own records until late in the '80s. I don't think I heard the 1983 cut "Terry" until the '90s (or later!), and I was surprised to read just now that MacColl and Gavin Povey originally wrote the song for Ullman to record. Both Kirsty's version and Tracey's version are sublime, and ya can't go wrong either way. I remain mystified by the lack of a comprehensive collection of MacColl's work for Stiff Records.
VAN HALEN: Runnin' With The Devil
Van Halen's above-dissed mishandling of "You Really Got Me" was the first VH track I ever heard. I hated it immediately, and it made the group suspect in my ears from that point forward.
Still, I occasionally allowed myself to be open to some of VH's music. I mean, they weren't the worst thing on the radio at the time, and it's not like I could get away from 'em anyway. Like Chickenman and Savoir-Faire, they were everywhere. I grew to secretly like (even love) "Dance The Night Away," and I developed some interest in "Jamie's Crying" and "Runnin' With The Devil."
I still can't stand their meatball take on "You Really Got Me." The devil can have that one.
Betcha he don't want it, either.
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| The only "You Really Got Me" that matters |
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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 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
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