Dedicated to Steve... and to Angeline!
Angeline- Pointed Sticks Part Of The Noise
It Must Be Summer- Fountains Of Wayne Utopia Parkway
Someday's Gonna Come- The Reducers Cruise To Nowhere
She's A Heartbreaker- Radio City Class of '77
Gaygirls Dance- Remod Life Of The Party
Icy Tracks- David Myhr Soundshine
Blow Me Away- The Fingers On The Radio
Never Again- This Perfect Day Don't Smile
^Summertime Girls- Y and T Summertime Girls 7"
For Free- The Tearaways Ground's the Limit
What Should I Do?- Durango 95 Lose Control
World To Cry- The dB's Falling off The Sky
Mallo Cup- The Lemonheads Lick
Midnight- The Revillos Attack of the Giant Revillos
*Constructive Summer- The Hold Steady Stay Positive
*Summer Job- Art Brut Art Brut Vs. Satan
*Dorchester Summer- Future Dads 24 Winship
*Summer Holiday and Me- The Jessica Fletchers Less Sophistication
*Endless Summer- Travoltas Endless Summer
*Hot Summer- The Lonely Boys The Lonely Boys
*It's Summertime, Baby- The Cute Lepers Can't Stand Modern Music
*Summertime Fun- Nikki and The Corvettes Nikki and The Corvettes
Going Nowhere Fast- Joey Ramone ...Ya Know?
Run To The Cities- High Rise Run To The Cities
Now- The Plimsouls The Plimsouls... Plus
>The Door Into Summer- The Monkees Listen To The Band
Right Time- The Crowd A World Apart
Untitled- The Saints Eternally Yours
Met Your Match- Brendan Benson What Kind Of World
Ten Fingers- The Pursuit Of Happiness I'm An Adult Now EP
The Summer Rain- Shoes Shoe's Best
Hawaii Five-0- The Ventures Hawaii 5-0
^Power Pop Peak: #55 Billboard Hot 100 7/13/85
*SacroSet: Summer Songs
>Power Pop Prototype: 1967
Tonight's show is a lot like
life- some sadness but mostly greatness. Yet the cool thing about life,
and this show, is that the greatness makes the sadness easier to take
and the sadness makes the greatness seem even greater. I was very sad to
read about the passing of Reducers' bassist Steve Kaika earlier this
month. As I've mentioned in previous posts, during the early 80's I
interviewed The Reducers a few times when I was working at WERS and the band
even came to Boston once to play on my show "Metrowave."
Singer/guitarists Peter and Hugh did most of the talking in the interviews, but
Steve was always happy to contribute as well. The thing is, from an
aesthetic standpoint I had big problems with Steve when I first started going
to Reducers shows. While Peter and Hugh sported the band's signature
pocket-T/Levi's/Chuck Taylors
look, Steve had what I considered a far less appealing "old
rock and roll dude" style: pointy toe boots/flares/sleeveless
shirt and feathered long blonde hair. Furthermore, his bass playing beyond reproach,
Steve’s singing on the first album came dangerously close to the dreaded
"fake British 
accent." By the band's third album Cruise
To Nowhere though, my opinion of him had changed. Steve sported
the same boots, flares and hair but I'd grown to love his singing, especially on tonight's
selection "Someday's Gonna Come:"
You
can see him standing there
Another
young kid on the subway stairs
You
gotta wonder why they even try
He's
just arrived and he's so bold
He's
gonna reach his hand out and grab a hold
Of
the world that's spinning by
He
say’s “someday’s gonna come for me,
just
you wait and see,
someday’s
surely gonna come for me”
The
weeks turn into months
And
then the months turn into years
It’s
funny now things don’t look the same
But
he’s still waiting for his chance
He’s
gonna dig in and toughen up his stance
He
knows you gotta stick to your guns
He
say’s “someday’s gonna come for me,
just
you wait and see,
someday’s
surely gonna come for me”
You
can see him standing there
An
older man with a wistful stare
He
wonders what went wrong with his schemes
He’s
toed the line and played the game
But
all his dreams were shot down in flames
It’s
not as easy as it seems
He
say’s “someday’s gonna come for me,
just
you wait and see,
someday’s
surely gonna come for me
someday’s
surely gonna come for me
He
say’s someday’s surely gonna come for me”
The compassion in Steve’s voice
gets me every time, I really can’t imagine snide Peter or gruff Hugh singing
the song as well. Cruise to Nowhere also shows Steve in fine form on “Jackpot Fever”
and “Boys Will Be Boys,” the latter another of the band's anti-cop songs (how bad can
the police in New London, CT be?). One of
the great things about The Reducers is that every album is a revelation. Peter is my favorite singer on the first LP
(“Out Of Step,” “Better Homes and Gardens,” “All About You”), on Let’s Go it’s Hugh (“Bums I Used To
Know,” “Your Mother,” Maximum Depression”), Steve on Cruise To Nowhere and on the later albums drummer Tom even steps up
to the mic. The Reducers have been
together for over 30 years and I can’t imagine the group without Steve Kaika-
he will be missed.
Now onto the great news… New music is traditionally not a big part of
ALL KINDSA GIRLS. First, there is so
much of it these days it would be a full time job keeping track of it
all. (The great Ed Slota is the only
person I know who is up to this herculean task.) Second, maybe it’s my age, but a lot of the new stuff I hear these days
doesn’t do it for me. For every great band I discover like The Wellingtons, I have to sift through 50 indie rock
groups who care more about social networking than making great records. Music critics are no help as they throw the
word “pop” around so much it has lost all meaning. Frankly, it all makes me tired, so I’d rather
just put on a Plimsouls or Big Star record and save myself the trouble. That said, there is nothing like hearing a
great new record for the first time and on this week’s show I have FOUR of
them:
David Myhr, a member of 90’s Swedish power pop
giants The Merrymakers, has released his solo debut Soundshine and it is awesome!
The guy has forgotten more than most of us will ever know about crafting
brilliant pop hooks and melodies. Already
a solid “Best of 2012” contender;
- The dB’s are back! Holder, Holsapple, Rigby and Stamey- the four guys that made the iconic Stands For Decibels and Repercussion albums are back with Falling Off The Sky and it is a very fun record. Chris Stamey’s “Before We Were Born” stands among their best songs;
- …Ya Know? compiles a grab bag of Joey Ramone recordings from the last years of his life. It is so good to hear his voice again;
- Brendan Benson has released another glorious power pop album What Kind Of World. This guy deserves serious radio play- hopefully he’ll get it this time.
An embarrassment of riches! I’ll be able to say “new music on ALL KINDSA GIRLS” a lot in the coming week’s- hopefully you’ll join me.
Download this week’s show here
(Right click and “Save Link As”):
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #82
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