La Fin De La Semaine Essay Question: Special "A Study in Scarlet" Edition

Okay, I can now die happy -- that "bands that played at CBGB" box set (featuring a track by my 70s group The Hounds) that I've been tediously bending your ears about recently is officially released today, at last.

On Cherry Red Records, a/k/a the Coolest Label in the World™.

I promise I won't bore you about it further in the future, but at this juncture I feel obligated to mention that my candidate for the most underrated of the big time bands out of CBs -- and by far my personal favorite of all of them -- is without a question Mink DeVille.

Seriously -- those guys sounded like an unholy out of this world shtup between the Stones, Dylan, the Drifters/Ben E. King and some half-remembered NYC latin rock group. And their two albums on Capitol (produced by the great Jack Nitzche) remain astounding. I should also add that a) it is one of the great regrets of my adult life that I never got to see them live and b) that if you get me drunk sometime, I will tell you an absolutely terrifying story about what happened when I interviewed front man Willy DeVille in 1981.

But anyway, speaking of Cherry Red, now comes word that they're giving a similar deluxe box set treatment to -- be still my beating heart -- The Lovin' Spoonful.

From the official press release:

7 CD, 170-track box set compiling the complete 1960s recordings by The Lovin’ Spoonful.

• Mastering is by Grammy nominated archivist/producer Alec Palao.

• Includes their first four studio albums 'Do You Believe In Magic' (1965), 'Daydream' (1966), 'Hums Of The Lovin’ Spoonful' (1966) and 'Everything Playing' (1967) in both stereo and mono plus stereo mixes of their two soundtrack albums 'The Lovin’ Spoonful In Woody Allen’s ‘What’s Up Tiger Lily?' (1966) and 'You’re A Big Boy Now' (1967).

• Also contains the Joe Butler-helmed final album 'Revelation: Revolution ’69' (1969), original guitarist Zal Yanovsky’s solo album 'Alive And Well In Argentina' (1968) and stereo and mono versions of the early Lovin’ Spoonful tracks included on Elektra’s 1966 compilation 'What’s Shakin’, the mono mixes appearing on CD for the first time.

Including all of their hits: ‘Do You Believe In Magic’ (US #9), ‘You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice’ (US #10), ‘Daydream’ (US #2, UK #2), ‘Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind’ (US #2), ‘Summer In The City’ (US #1, UK #8), ‘Rain On The Roof’ (US #10), Nashville Cats (US # 8, UK #26), ‘Darling Be Home Soon’ (US #14), ‘Six O’Clock’ (US #18) and ‘She Is Still A Mystery’ (US #27).

Bonus tracks include ‘Alley Oop’, an out-take from their debut album sessions plus demos, alternative versions and instrumentals.

The Lovin’ Spoonful’s first seven singles gave them seven consecutive US Top 10 hits. Often described as Americas answer to The Beatles, The Lovin’ Spoonful were so much more. They rose out of the Greenwich Village folk boom and adjacent to the British Invasion hit big with their ‘good time music’, an exhilarating mix of jug band, blues, folk, rock and roll and big-hearted pop. MOJO Magazine’s Lois Wilson describes the members in the notes as “John Sebastian, a hugely talented, often underrated songwriter with a preternatural command of words and melody; Zalman Yanovsky, a protean guitar player, capable of fuzzed out psych, mercurial blues and fingerpicked folk; then Steve Boone and Joe Butler, bass and drums respectively, who provided a rock ’n’ roll framework with a jazz player’s lightness of touch”.

Just to let that sink in -- that's pretty much every single note they ever recorded in one handy dandy package.

The set is due to be released on March 27th, and let me just say that if anybody reading this here blog wants to get me a copy for my birthday I wouldn't say no. 😎

Anyway, that leads us to the subject of the weekend's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) track by John, Zal, Steve and Joe is...???

Discuss.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, here's my fave, which I think will surprise you.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

The Boss Speaks For Me

He names names, too.

Lyrics at the link.

You know, I've described myself as sort of a lapsed Springsteen fan for a while now, but the above is the kind of thing that made me a fan in the first place.

Loudest New Song of the Week

Spın̈al Tap's great bassist Derek Smalls has a new single out.

Inspirational verse:

"IT TAKES BALLS TO MAKE A PIZZA WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK."

I think we can all agree that goes to eleven. 😎

Incidentally, the highly anticipated third Tap movie -- Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale, a concert flick shot live in 2025 at the actual Stonehenge -- is apparently on hold as a result of the tragic murder of director Rob Reiner and his wife last December.

Well, This Seems Pertinent

Veteran British punk folkie Billy Bragg and "City of Heroes." A tribute to the people of Minnesota that apparently he wrote and recorded just the other day, for obvious reasons.

I've been saying it a lot lately, but one way you can tell when you are living in troubling times is when the folk music starts to get good again. 😎

Tuesday's Cartoon Chortles

The Byrds one absolutely slays me, for obvious reasons. 😎

Your Monday Moment of Words Fail Me

Oh. My. God.

From the brilliant but short-lived (only four episodes) 1977 The Richard Pryor Show please enjoy ...and the Pips!!!

Without you-know-who, obviously. 😎

I actually saw that when it was originally broadcast and I remember a) thinking that it was an absolute genius bit and b) almost falling off my couch laughing.

I should add that the extremely funny black woman who's bracing Pryor at the beginning of the clip is (another) ground-breaking L.A. stand-up comic -- Shirley Hemphill, who went on to star in both the sit-com What's Happening!! and its later syndicated sequel What's Happening Now!!.

You know what? Seeing stuff like the above again, it occurs to me that the '70s were actually a lot better, pop culture-wise, than their current reputation suggests. 😎😎

Weekend Listomania: Special "If Brevity is the Soul of Wit, How Come the Minimalists Aren't the Funniest Guys Ever?" Edition

Hey, we're all busy these days, so let's get directly to the business at hand! To wit --

Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Soul/Folk/R&B/Country/Hip Hop Record Immediately Identifiable by Its Opening Riff/Instrumental Intro!!!

No arbitrary rules, you're welcome very much, but I have to say that after putting this together I was struck -- to my surprise, actually -- by how heavily slanted towards music from the Sixties it is. Then when I thought about it, however, I realized that yeah, opening riffs/intros are pretty much a lost art in contemporary pop.

More to the point, I was in an Uber the other day for about 45 minutes, and the driver had the radio tuned to WKTU, which is a New York station that used to be Disco Central and is now just the link you click that plays all the hits, or the genre officially called Adult Contemporary (yecch!). And I heard recent songs by Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and a few others of that ilk and not one of them had anything like an interesting intro (or even an intro per se period. And don't get me started on the drum parts, none of which were played live on real drums).

Anyway, my Totally Top of My Head Top Ten is...

10. Tone Loc -- Funky Cold Medina

Sampled guitar riffs from Foreigner and Kiss get smushed together and then they all go out to Chipotle.

9. Cream -- Sunshine of Your Love

Hey, when Cream were bad, they really sucked. I mean, that ponderous pompous insufferable riff...yeesh. Seriously, if they were trying to write the "Louie Louie" of the late '60s, couldn't they have rocked a little harder?

8. Norman Greenbaum -- Spirit in the Sky

I don't hate this song as much as a certain Shady Dame of my acquaintance does, but I gotta say that when that opening fuzz riff comes on the radio or in a TV commercial I generally (to paraphrase Mission of Burma) start to reach for my revolver.

7. The Beatles -- A Hard Day's Night

The most famous opening (G7sus4) chord in music history, justifiably.

6. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles -- The Tracks of My Tears

From Motown, the home of the Great Opening Riff©.

I gotta tell you, every time I hear that chiming guitar and bass thing at the top of this one I get all warm and runny.

5. Nirvana -- Smells Like Teen Spirit

Well, those kids certainly knew how to grab your attention, didn't they?

4. The Byrds -- Mr. Tambourine Man

Actually, this should be a tie with the Byrds' subsequent hit "Turn Turn Turn," whose opening is equally memorable.

3. Eddie Cochran -- Summertime Blues

Rockabilly anticipating metal, and if you prefer the Who's version, I won't hold it against you. I like the twang on the original a lot, though.

2. The Easybeats -- Friday on My Mind

Those chiming introductary octaves -- be still my beating heart!!!

And the Number One You Know What It Is From The Very First Note song obviously (and don't even try to change my opinion on this) is...

1. The Rolling Stones -- Satisfaction

I should add that I've always loved the fact that the riff came to the song's co-writer Keith Richards in a dream (or so he claims), and that he immediately woke up and recorded it on acoustic guitar onto a cheap mono cassette and went back to bed. And that when he woke up again afterwards, he had forgotten how to play it until he listened to the tape. I mean -- talk about a mysterious creative process.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

[Oh -- and a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© goes to reader Anonymous RS who came up with this week's theme! Congratulations, my elusive pal!]

Closed for Monkey Business

Oish -- I was gonna post something today that Friend of PowerPop© Sal Nunziato had already posted at his place yesterday. Way to go, Steve. Not.

Anyway, an absolutely fabulous new Weekend Listomania goes up tomorrow. Cross my heart etc. 😎

The Kids Were Alright

Eight year old Emily Christine conducts a drum tutorial to show how it's done.

That was shot in 2012, so Emily is now a ripe old 22 if she's still around, which hopefully she is. (I've looked -- so far I haven't found any info about her online that's more recent than 2019).

But wouldn't it be great if she was playing in a band somewhere?

God, I hope so.

[h/t Frank De Stefano]

Tuesday's Cartoon Guffaws

You know, some days I really miss the late Sam Gross. 😎

Insert Pronoun Joke Here

From their soon to be released (end of March) Burning at Both Ends, please enjoy the charmingly monikered Hit Like a Girl and the new album's second single "Only Have Myself."

Okay, that song takes a while to get going, but trust me -- it's worth the wait. And as you can see, the video is freaking priceless. And I'm not just saying that because the band's name takes me back to my youth -- specifically, around 3rd grade, when the expression "He throws like a girl" first impinged on my consciouness.

More to the point, I am absolutely head over heels in love with the Goth chick with the black hair who fails the audition for guitar in the video. Hey -- what can I tell you, I'm a sucker for the look.

Anyway, these kids (who I was previously unaware of) have been around since 2017, and apparently they're quite highly regarded in post-hardcore/power pop/emo circles. You will also probably not be surprised to learn that front person Nicolle Maroulis (they/them) is the founder of No More Dysphoria, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization created to help transgender individuals pay for major aspects of their transition.

Alrighty then, you can (and should) find out more about the band -- including lotsa info on the new album and upcoming tour dates -- over at their official website HERE, you're welcome very much.

Oh...and in case anybody out there has that Goth guitarist's email addy, let's talk. 😎

Weekend Listomania: Special In the Jingle Jangle Morning I'll Come Following You/"Bob Dylan -- Poetic Musical Visionary or CIA Spook?" Edition

Okay ladies and germs -- let's get right to the weekend's business.

To wit:

Best Post-Mr. Tambourine Man Pop/Rock/Folk/Soul Song/Record featuring electric or acoustic 12-string guitar riffage that's NOT the work of either The Beatles or The Byrds!!!

No arbitrary rules here; we're basically talking about the stuff played on the radio after Roger (nee Jim) McGuinn changed the sound of contemporary music back in June of 1965.

I remember where I was -- do you? 😎

And my totally Top of My Head Top Six is:

6. The Who -- I Can't Explain

Once heard -- particularly at an impressionable age (I was 17) -- that riff can never be unheard. And Pete Townshend's 12-string sound on that is pretty much the definitive non-folk rock/non-arpeggiated guitar examplar.

5. We Five -- You Were on My Mind

This pretty much defined the electric folk-rock sound (non-"Like a Rolling Stone" organ and keyboard version) in the immediate wake of The Byrds. I'm not sure if any of these guys were actually playing the jangly/percussive guitar parts, but whoever LA session players were doing it, the 12-string licks are about as good as it gets.

4. The Beach Boys -- Dance Dance Dance

Utterly killer, and apparently inspired by Carl Wilson having purchased a Rickenbacker 12-string in England after a Beach Boys British tour where he saw George Harrison playing one onstage. And yeah, I know, a lot of the backing stuff on Beach Boys records from this period was actually the work of the legendary (uncredited) session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, but this one seems to be just the actual Boys doing all the great guitar and drum parts, including the 12-string solo in the middle.

I mean my god -- that opening riff!!!

3. You Am I -- Mr. Milk

These guys are (justifiably, as you can hear from this song) gods in their native Australia. I should add that I was introduced to them (and this) one afternoon in 1996 when I wandered into my favorite neighborhood (then the Upper West Side) record store NYCD, and proprietor (and friend of PowerPop©) Sal Nunziato was blasting it over their sound system.

An instant life changer, and I bought the CD on the spot. Thanks, Sal!

2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- The Waiting

Oh god, that guitar at the top. I remember hearing the record on the radio for the first time in 1981 (when it came out) and thinking "oh my god, that validates me on a million levels." 😎

And the bestest chiming geetar work evah, as if you didn't see this coming, is...

1. The Floor Models -- Getting Back Into My Life

Oh right. Like you didn't know this was gonna go to something by my old band. 😎

In all seriousness, that song is by power pop legend Marc Jonson (who also does the beyond gorgeous background vocal harmonies, and who claims to have written it for us, which may well be true; in any case, we played it live all the time back in the early '80s). I should add that the perfecto 12-string stuff on the 2019 version above is the work of my long-time bandmate/friend of PowerPop J.D. Goldberg, who also gets a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© for having suggested the theme of the week's Listomania. Way to go, my friend!!! 😎😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Only in New York

From the NY Times "Metropolitan Diary," January 11, 2026.

Dear Diary:

I’ve been obsessed with the Dirty Projectors’ song “Remade Horizon” since it came out in 2009. It’s one of the few songs I keep permanently downloaded on my phone, so I don’t need Wi-Fi when I want to hear it.

When the mood strikes — and it often does — I press play, and there it is: a strange, beautiful bit of art pop with a wild passage at the end where two women’s voices trade off notes so quickly it sounds like one instrument.

Some years after first hearing the song, I moved from Dallas to the Lower East Side. Not long after that, I was at my favorite neighborhood bar, talking with my favorite bartender, Kayla, when her two roommates walked in. They joined us, and I ended up chatting with one of them, Haley, who took the stool next to mine. I asked the usual New York question: “So, what brought you here?”

“Oh,” she said, “I moved to Brooklyn to sing with a band.”

“Would I have heard of them?” I asked.

“Maybe,” she said. “They’re called Dirty Projectors.”

I didn’t say anything, just pulled out my phone, opened my music library and turned the screen toward her so she could see the title: “Remade Horizon.”

“Are you on this track?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, as if it were nothing.

It turned out that the voice I had been hearing for more than a decade leaping through that final passage belonged to the woman now sitting next to me.

We became friends, and I still have “Remade Horizons” on my phone. Now, when it comes on during a crowded subway ride, New York feels exactly like the place I wanted it to be when I moved here.

— Steve Crozier

I'm sorry -- and I say this not out of New York City chauvinism -- but that is like the coolest story I have ever heard.

P.S.: Here's the song in question.

Heh.

Your Wednesday Moment of Words Fail Me: Special "Heart Full of Seoul" Edition

Power Pop from...South Korea?

Anyway, enjoy HOA (not sure how that's pronounced) and a pretty astonishing live performance medley of their "Push Man" and "I Don't Know Why".

Wow. Seriously.

For the record (as it were) I can find very little info about those kids, but apparently they've been doing stuff like the above (those songs seem to have been hits somewhere) since 2015. And they are currently on tour in Asia.

I gotta say I had absolutely no idea that music like that was being made in their, er, neighborhood. Not sure I totally dig the choreography, but stylistically that's some interesting stuff anyway, no? Kinda like Liverpool meets the Demilitarized Zone. 😎

Tuesday's Cartoon and Photo Guffaws

That last one is my favorite. For obvious reasons. 😎

Okay, I Didn't See This One Coming Down Broadway

Seriously...words kind of really fail me on that.

Aside from being musically quite gorgeous (and I love that thing she's playing in lieu of a guitar -- it's called a strumstick), Grant (who made her commercial bones as a so-called Christian artist) is not exactly the first person you'd expect the song's lyrical sentiments from. I mean, if I'm reading it right, her metaphorical equation of the secessionists' attack on Harpers Ferry and the titular more recent dark day in American history is pretty damned explicit.

In any event, pretty damned great, and good for her.

I should add that she actually released it last Tuesday, which of course was January 6.

Weekend Whatsis/Whatchamcallit?: Special "A Desperate Cry for Help" Edition

So -- here's the deal, kids.

For a variety of reasons -- annoying if minor old age-related health issues (you don't want to know), my general angst over what's going on in the world thanks to President Metamucilini, fear that One Battle After Another won't win the Best Picture Oscar -- I found myself absolutely unable to come up with a new idea for either a Weekend Listomania or a Weekend Essay Question.

There. I've said it.

Seriously, I was gonna recycle an old one, as has been my wont when this kind of malaise has struck in the past, but even that seemed to me too exhausting to contemplate. I mean, I suppose I just could chalk it up to writer's block, which it kind of is, actually, but that's an obvious cop-out, right? So what to do?

And then BOOM! It hit me!

I could ask YOU guys for an idea!!!

So here we go: I'm officially soliciting a subject/theme/whatever for either a Listomania or an essay question for next week.

From YOU -- the readers!!!

In the case of the lists, you don't have to supply the actual individual entries -- I'll be able to do that -- and the essay questions are self-explanatory.

But as Madeleine Kahn said so poignantly in Blazing Saddles -- I'm tired. So can you guys help me?

And just to sweeten (heh) the deal, the reader whose suggestion I take for next week's entry will receive an extra-special/combat valor version of the coveted PowerPop No-Prize© at no extra cost.

Okay, and just because I don't want you to think I'm a total slacker, I'm gonna leave you with this.

From their just released new album Psychology, please enjoy splendidly monikered L.A. wise guy pop punksters Drool Brothers and their aptly titled new single "Have Fuzz Will Travel."

I only just accidentally discovered the Brothers -- who have apparently been making noises like the above for quite a while now -- the other day; you can (and should) hear more of their music and find out more about them in general over at their official website HERE.

What can I say -- for obvious reasons, I'm sensitive about drool jokes, but those guys got to me.

Okay -- apologies again for being such a tool today, and thanks in advance for all your help. I look forward to pondering your brainstorms, which I have no doubt will be absolutely and uniformly brill.

So let's hear from you. The phone lines are open. Our operators are standing by. This is a free call.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend, everybody! See you on Monday with a normal posting featuring the high level of groovieness you've come to expect from me.

Poppin' the Cherry Part III: Blame It All on the Nights on the Bowery

Okay -- as attentive readers will recall, we alerted you back in November to the news that the good folks at Cherry Red Records (aka the Coolest Record Label in the World) had seen fit to include a track by The Hounds (i.e. the 70s pop/rock band I toiled with beginning in college) on a new 4 CD (101 songs!) boxed set devoted to groups who played at the legendary New York City club C.B.G.B.

Well, I just got my review copy, and wow -- Cherry Red knocked it out of the park.

You can get more details about the collection at the first graf link above; for now, let me just say that ace rock critic Rob Tannenbaum, who compiled the set, contributes absolutely fabulous liner notes, and that the packaging and mastering are across the board terrific; everything here looks and sounds great (our track has never jumped out of the speakers quite so adroitly, for which I'm profoundly grateful).

The official release date is January 30th; in the meantime, you can pre-order it at Amazon, or if Jeff Bezos offends you (as well he should) directly from Cherry Red over HERE.

Hey, what are you waiting for? 😎

P.S.: If you want to hear the Hounds song, it's at the link in the first graf as well. On the actual box set, it's on disc one, between The Dictators, Patti Smith, The Dead Boys and The Ramones. How cool is that?

[cross-posted at FLOOR YOUR LOVE]

Songs I'd Forgotten I Loved From Albums I Haven't Listened to in Ages (An Occasional Series): Special "And Speaking of Gorgeous" Edition

From their 1971 classic Muswell Hillbillies, please enjoy -- I recommend under the headphones -- The Kinks and their lightyears beyond poignant ode to "Oklahoma U.S.A."

I used to listen to that album with near-religious fervor back in the day, but I can't for the life of me recall the last time I even thought about it. Until the above YouTube clip popped up on the feed of a Facebook acquaintance the other day.

Words, as I so often say of late, fail me. 😎

I should add that the real-life pub in the album cover photo -- the Archway Tavern -- apparently is still in business; if I ever get back to London, I'm gonna make it a point to have my picture taken at the end of the bar, where Kinks Dave Davies and Mick Avory are seen hanging out.

Bucket list and all that, know what I mean? 😎😎

Tuesday's Cartoon and Photo Chuckles

I particularly like the Fabs meeting Bigfoot. 😎

BTW, the supposed 8mm home movie that the photo-shopped pic of the creature with the Abbey Road Beatles derives from has been pretty definitely proven to be the work of John Chambers, the legendary Hollywood makeup guy who did Mr. Spock's ears on the first iteration of Star Trek and the costumes in the original Planet of the Apes movies.

As hoaxes go, it was a pretty good one, though. 😎😎

How Do You Say "More and More I'm Digging That Rock en Español" in Yiddish?

A friend writes:

"ThIs Argentinian hit is THE PERFECT ROCK SONG!! Everything about it is spot on!
If there were any market these days for rock music on the charts (which I suspect there isn’t), someone should do for this what McCartney did with his demo for Badfinger's “Come and Get It”: Find a band to record it in English and tell them “PLAY IT EXACTLY LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING HERE!”

You know -- on balance, I think he's right.

I should add that these Soda Stereo guys were apparently the biggest band in Argentina ever (the song above is from 1990 -- the band broke up in '97), and I love their look.

It's kinda like Paul Westerberg meets Slash meets Zal Yanovsky and then they all go out for a shot of tequila. 😎

Oh, and you can find out more about them (it's a very interesting story) over HERE.

De nada! 😎😎

Post-New Year's Day Weekend Listomania: Special "Big Noise From Across the Pond" Edition

Blah blah blah I hope you're all completely recovered from yesterday's holiday festivities blah blah blah.

So let's get immediately to the first new business of 2026. To wit:

Best or Favorite Hit Singles (in America) of the British Invasion NOT Recorded by the Holy Trinity of Beatles/Stones/Kinks!!!

No arbitrary rules, you're welcome very much, but let's stipulate that for purposes of our discussion we're defining the Brit Invasion as lasting from the years 1964 through mid-1966. And, come to think of it, let's reiterate that your nominees have to have been played on the radio here in the US of A. So don't try to sneak anything in by otherwise estimable Brit bands or artists like The Fourmost or The Creation, who never charted in the States.

Oh, and no -- the songs don't have to been written by the artists in question, as the following list will demonstrate.

Okay then -- and my totally Top of My Head Top 12 is...

12. Sandie Shaw -- Girl Don't Come

It's a two-fer -- she's a total cutie, and I just love the vibrato.

11. The Who -- Can't Explain

It's funny how nobody really thinks about the 'Oo as a singles band anymore. No larger point, I just think it's funny.

10. The Animals -- Boom Boom

God, I wanted to be able to play that Alan Price organ solo.

9. The Zombies -- Tell Her No

The echoed handclap at the end. Words fail me.

8. The Troggs -- With a Girl Like You

I had completely forgotten how cool this song is until I heard it last weekend in a Farmer's Dog tv commercial. If you had told me this would be true back in 1966, swear to god I would have taken a hostage.

7. The Dave Clark 5 -- Glad all Over...

...and -- it's a tie -- Because

At this point it's not exactly a secret, but was Mike Smith the most underrated singer of the Invasion or what?

6. The Searchers -- When You Walk in the Room

Written by the great Jackie DeShannon -- Byrdsian folk-rock begins here.

5. Unit 4 Plus 2 -- Concrete and Clay

Kind of unclassifiable genre-wise -- is it funky? vaguely Latin? -- but damn it's pretty, and the band (featuring future members of Argent) kills. BTW, the b-side of this -- a vaguely doo-wop-ish cover of the pop standard "When I Fall in Love -- is absolutely to die for, and you need to hear it. Trust me.

4. The Moody Blues -- Go Now

Have I mentioned I really really don't like the post-Denny Laine mellotron incarnation of the Moodies? But that's a subject for another posting. I should also add that I could (and still can) do the piano solo from this one.

3. The Hollies -- Look Through Any Window

Uh -- those harmonies? That 12-string riff? Like you didn't see that one coming.

2. The Yardbirds -- For Your Love

The official beginning of my life-long love affair with Graham Gouldman.

And the Number 1 it-totally-slays-me record of the era that kind of surprised me when I compiled this list is...

1. Dusty Springfield -- Wishin' and Hopin'

Jeebus, what a voice. And don't think I don't tend to compare it to the contemporary girl singers currently selling in the squillions and find theirs wanting by comparison. (I'm looking at YOU, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter!) 😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

It's New Years Day: Special "Oh No, Not This Stupid Story Again!!!" Edition

[I first posted this one on January 1, 2013, and, while I'm not trying to turn it in into some kind of internet tradition, I do find it amusing enough to give it the old "One More Time!". So sue me. I should add that I'm wishing all you kids the happiest of happy 2026's; please, Flying Spaghetti Monster, make it an improvement on the hell year we've all just lived through. -- S.S.]

This is, as I have been wont to say here on many previous occasions, a very sad story, so please try not to laugh.

It also has a certain relevance to today's festivities, which will be revealed later in the narrative. Please be patient.

Anyway, so the other day I was in a cab heading down the West Side Highway in a snowstorm, and the driver had the radio tuned to whatever soft-rock Lite FM station they inevitably have on when they don't have WINS News Radio blasting or some guy from Queens yelling about sports.

I wasn't particularly paying attention, but suddenly some soft-rock Lite FM staple song came on, and immediately I knew three things.

1. I had definitely heard it before.

2. It was probably from the 70s or the 80s, although I couldn't rule out the possibility that it might have been more recent, and it had that whole California soft-rock vibe, which I usually detest, in spades.

3. I had no idea who the guy or the group singing it was, although I was painfully aware that when and if I found out I was gonna kick myself. Because pretty much everybody in the world, at least of a certain age, would have been able to recognize it instantly.

The truly insidious part was that there was something about the damn thing that grabbed me. Yes, the vocals had that laid-back L.A. Mr. Sensitive shtick that usually makes my gorge rise. But the tune was charming, the voicings of the harmony parts in the chorus were really quite lovely, and -- try as I might to deny it -- it was getting under my skin.

Fortunately, because of the roar of traffic, I couldn't really hear the lyrics, although one word -- "architect" -- jumped out. "Hmm," I thought. "There's a word you don't hear in a pop song everyday."

Anyway, I then went about the rest of my weekend, but I knew with an absolutely dread certainty that I was gonna break down sooner or later and look the song up on the Intertubes.

So, late on Monday, I googled "Soft Rock song with the word architect in it" and up it popped.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...and my fingers are shaking as I type these words....Dan Fogelberg (the horror, the horror!) and his 1980 smash (which I had apparently put out of my mind, probably deliberately, ever since its original vogue) "Same Old Lang Syne."

Well. In case you're wondering, no -- I have no interest in revisiting the rest of Fogelberg's body of work, and yes, I still basically can't stand the whole genre he represents, but goddamn it -- this damn song works and it gets to me. Like I said, it's melodically quite charming, and now that I've actually deciphered the lyrics, it turns out that -- despite a certain smugness that kind of rankles -- they actually make a pretty good little literary narrative vignette.

Sticks in my craw a bit, though.

As I said, this was a very sad story, so please try not to laugh.

I should add that Fogelberg departed this sad vale of tears during the holiday season in 2017. That doesn't excuse him for any of this stuff, but I just thought I'd mention it. 😎

And again, Happy New Year everybody!!! Oh -- and a guaranteed to be fun Weekend Listomania arrives tomorrow. 😎😎