Category: Power Pop

We Close The Work Week With Our ‘Here Comes The Night’ EP, and The Original All-Girl Revue, Friday, June 3, 2022

Well, here we are again at the end of another work week. And this time it really is the end of the work week for me because I am taking Saturday off. We’ve got a great EP and a visit from the women of music for you today. A great way to end the week.

These are just some of the women you’ll hear tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Here’s today’s musical landscape:

10:00 a.m. Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

You know, some of us are night owls. Some of us are at our best in the morning. This one’s for the night owl in all of us. We’ve got songs about the night from Warren Zevon, the J. Geils Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Them, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, The Electric Prunes, Phoebe Snow, Joe Walsh, The Eagles, The Ronettes, John Cougar Mellencamp, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, The Doors, Poco, Neil Diamond, The Animals, The Band, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, The Traveling Wilburys, and more!

7:00 p.m. The Original All-Girl Revue: Various Artists

This was the very first all-girl playlist we ever put together, and it remains the same since. You’ll hear Ann Peebles, Aretha Franklin, Bobbie Gentry, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Carole King, Chi Coltrane, Trio (Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris), Dusty Springfield, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Lulu, Mary Wells, Nicolette Larson, Patti Smith, Shawn Colvin, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and more!

As always, we run 24/7 totally free. That means before, in between and after our programming, we give you our great wide Open Stream from our 27,000+ song rotation. You’d be hard pressed to hear the same song twice in a week, let alone in a day. Tune us in. You won’t know unless you try. And it won’t cost a cent for you to find out.

TUNE. US. IN.

Sunday We Celebrate Tom Petty’s Top 100 Songs, Intro Our New AOW by Alison Krauss, and Take You Through The Night With Our ‘In Your Dreams’ EP, May 29, 2022

We’re shaking things up a bit here for the Memorial Day Weekend. It has nothing to do with patriotism. That’s an ugly word these days. It’s about the music, people. And we’ve got plenty of it.

Today we give you Tom Petty’s Top 100, as a solo artist, a Heartbreaker, with Mudcrutch, and as Charlie T. Wilbury Jnr.

Here’s your Sunday lineup:

8:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Forget About It by Alison Krauss NEW!

Released in 1999, this album by Alison Krauss is categorized as “country, bluegrass, and adult contemporary” (whatever that means). Critical commentary on this one is that in spite of the dobro and mandolin, Alison Krauss is a pop star at heart. Please. I never listen to critics. If I did, I wouldn’t have the album collection I do. Music is in the ear of the beholder. And life is too short to listen to shitty music. Regardless of what they call it, this is a great album.

10:00 a.m. Tom Petty’s Top 100 Songs UPDATED!

We started at 50 songs the first time we aired this; then moved up to 65. To hell with it, Petty’s up to 100 now and he deserves to be there. We’ve got Petty solo, as a Heartbreaker, with Mudcrutch, and as Charlie T. Wilbury Jnr. Most are original compositions. Some are covers. Some were only ever done as part of ‘live’ performances. No matter. The man is a musical godsend. I think we’re pretty measured on this station, and tend to underplay our house bands to remain in control. Today, we get to do the opposite.

7:00 p.m. In Your Dreams: Various Artists

We do not normally play an EP at 7:00 p.m. but that changes today. We take you into the evening hours with our ‘In Your Dreams’ multi-artist EP. We have a lot of listeners at night from other countries, and it’s only fair they get exposure to some of these. So, there you have it. You’ll hear Nanci Griffith, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Aerosmith, Crowded House, the Moody Blues, Van Morrison, The Eurythmics, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Roy Orbison, The Mamas & The Papas, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Jimmy Buffett, The Allman Brothers Band, Supertramp, Randy Newman, Aretha Franklin, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Widespread Panic, The Youngbloods, Jimmy Ruffin, Jackson Browne, Mudcrutch, Patsy Cline, Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Dusty Springfield, and more!

Get on it, people. We’re moving into the bowels of summer in fine form here with our house bands at the helm. Join your friends from around the world who know what we’re all about! We’re free 24/7, and our rotation is unmolested by advertising. You can’t go wrong here.

Petty’s Top 100!

We Kick Off Memorial Day Weekend With The Beatles’ Top 100, The Final Airing of Our AOW, and LIVE DEAD! Saturday, May 28, 2022

We are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend in style by featuring our two house bands! We start today with The Beatles’ Top 100 songs. Wherever you are, tune us in at 10:00 a.m. (or right now, for that matter).

The Beatles changed everything.

Here’s your Saturday lineup:

10:00 a.m. The Beatles Top 100 Songs!

The Beatles landed at John F. Kennedy Airport on February 7, 1964. That was my tenth birthday. A few days later, we’d all be sitting around the TV watching them on The Ed Sullivan Show. Today we give you The Beatles Top 100 songs to kick off the holiday weekend. Grab whatever the hell you’re drinking and pull up a tab.

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: The Delta Sweete by Bobbie Gentry FINAL AIRING!

Today we bid farewell to this great album, a very ambitious concept album by Bobbie Gentry, who was incredibly talented. She was also incredibly private and never wanted the limelight. It found her, nevertheless. Tomorrow we’ll have a brand new one for you.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at Winterland, San Francisco, December 31, 1977

A rare repeat here for us, but it’ll be like new. The last time we aired this one was early in 2020. A classic band from a classic venue.

We’ve already got Spain, the UK, Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Australia, Belgium, France, Portugal, Russian Federation, Brazil, Netherlands, Dallas, San Francisco, and New York all tuned in and ready to go. Where are you today?

The Beatles’ Top 100!

On Sunday Bobbie Gentry Makes a Return Visit, and Then It’s Volume Two of Our Sixties Rotation, May 22, 2022

Good Morning, Sixties Music Lovers! This is your day as Bobbie Gentry makes a return engagement with her innovative album, The Delta Sweete, and we bring on volume two of the Sixties Rotation.

Here’s your musical landscape for today:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: The Delta Sweete by Bobbie Gentry NEW!

We bring back Bobbie Gentry this week with her ambitious concept album, The Delta Sweete, a musical projection of life in her ancestral home of Chickasaw County, Mississippi. She went into the studio in 1967, and the album was released in 1968. The Beatles had already released their amazingly epic concept album, Sargeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, and other artists joined in as well, including The Moody Blues, The Kinks, and The Beach Boys, to name a few. Frank Sinatra even did it in the 50s. Few understand how talented Bobbie Gentry truly was because she remained low key throughout her short career. We hope you enjoy this one.

3:00 p.m. The Sixties Rotation: Volume Two

The second portion of our Sixties obsession is upon us for another month. This EP covers mostly the mid-to-late sixties. I say mostly because I know how I am and I’m sure some early sixties stuff has slipped in. Nevertheless, you’ll hear The Mamas & The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Sly & The Family Stone, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roy Orbison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, Linda Ronstadt, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Blind Faith, The Spencer Davis Group, The Box Tops, Elvis Presley, The Doors, Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, The Band, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, The Ronettes, The Kinks, Jimmy Cliff, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Donovan, B.B. King, The Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin, and many more!

We’re on fire this morning with listeners from Germany, the UK, The Netherlands, Australia, Greece, France, Spain, Portugal, Faroe Islands, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, and let’s toss in Dallas, Texas; Natick, Massachusetts, Long Island, and points beyond! What are you waiting for?

Welcome Weekenders!

The Ladies Take Over The Lounge, The Final Airing of “External Combustion,” and LIVE DEAD! Later, Saturday, May 14, 2022

Good Morning, Music Lovers! Today we celebrate the women of music, say farewell to Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, and close out the programming later with this week’s LIVE DEAD!

Here’s today’s lineup:

10:00 a.m. Ladies Day Out: Various Artists

The women of music are back and are taking over the mike today for five hours of uninterrupted music. You’ll hear Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Carly Simon, Chrissie Hynde, Petula Clark, Laura Nyro, Cilla Black, Irma Thomas, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Etta James, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Maria Muldaur, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Eva Cassidy, Wendy Waldman, Shawn Colvin, The Ronettes, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Norah Jones, Phoebe Snow, Nicolette Larson, Sheryl Crow, Valerie Carter, and many more!

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: External Combustion by Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs. FINAL AIRING!

We say this every week, so why stop now: This is your last chance on this one. When you roll out of bed tomorrow morning, there’ll be a brand new selection here.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at The DuPont Gymnasium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, May 7, 1970

A rare repeat performance, but this one hasn’t been heard in these parts since summer 2020, so it’s like brand new. But then again, isn’t every one of their performances like brand new?

Here we are again, weekenders. It’s shaping up to be a good one, so this is the perfect day to tune us in for a little bit of a different approach to music on the airwaves.

Ladies Day Out!

It’s Sunday and We’ve Got Our ‘Travelin’ Fever’ EP and The Dirty Knobs With Our Album of The Week, May 8, 2022

Good Morning, Music Lovers and Mothers everywhere! Today we celebrate Mother’s Day here in The Mermaid Lounge with our ‘Travelin’ Fever’ EP and a brand new Album of The Week!

Today we’ve got Travelin’ Fever, even though we’re going nowhere!

Here’s your Sunday lineup:

11:00 a.m. Album of the Week: External Combustion by Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs NEW!

Today we have the second full outing of music from Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, and some of it sounds very Pettyesque. And that is always a good thing from our perspective. It’s also to be expected since some of the songs were written while Campbell was lead guitarist and co-songwriter with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. That’s not to say that Campbell and his gang aren’t their own band. They surely are, but the influence is unmistakable.

3:00 p.m. Travelin’ Fever: Various Artists

We bring back our Travelin’ Fever EP today. It’s starting to warm up here and people are getting the travelin’ bug. Pretty soon, I’ll be bitching about the heat because here in New England, we go from 50 to 80, according to next weekend’s predictions. But I digress, today you’ll hear Canned Heat, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Steve Miller Band, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Dan Fogelberg, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney & Wings, The Doors, The Eagles, Little Feat, The Band, Willie Nelson, Edwin Starr, Janis Joplin, Guy Clark, The Travelin’ Wilburys, Asleep at The Wheel, The Byrds, Joan Baez, Mudcrutch, Loggins & Messina, Buffalo Springfield and more!

Sunday is a day of rest and it’s Mother’s Day to boot. Allow me to say again, ad nauseum, that it’s a great day to tune us in. We’ve got Germany, the UK, France, Greece, Faroe Islands, Russian Federation, Chile, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Texas and California on already this morning. Tune us in.

Mother’s Welcome!

It’s Saturday in The Lounge and We’ve Got ‘The Female Species’ EP, The Final Airing of Valerie Carter’s AOW, and LIVE DEAD! Later, May 7, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists and Deadheads alike! We’ve got our usual great Saturday in front of us today with a great EP on tap to start the day’s programming off.

We start our day with songs including the words women, ladies, and girls in the title, lyrics, or both!

Here’s Saturday’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. The Female Species: Various Artists

It’s not an all-women’s music day. That’s coming up later this month. But this EP is music with the words, women, girls, ladies and other entreaties in the title, lyrics or both. Women have been inspiring music since the beginning of time. We’ve got some great stuff for you here today, good and bad, happy and sad, you’ll hear Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Jackson Browne, The Boogaloo Swamis, John Mayall, Hot Tuna, The Eagles, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Electric Light Orchestra, Percy Sledge, The Beatles, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, America, Roy Orbison, Billy Joel, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, Linda Ronstadt, and more!

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: The Lost Tapes, Volume Two by Valerie Carter

This evening it’s the final airing of this great, new album from Valerie Carter, but listen up. In the very near future we’re planning a back-to-back airing of volumes one and two. Stay tuned. In the meantime, we’ll have a brand new album for you tomorrow!

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at Frost Amphitheatre, Palo Alto, CA, October 10, 1982

Another new one from the Dead, this one from Palo Alto. No two shows are ever the same from these guys, even on the same tour.

It’s Saturday and the official beginning of the weekend for most people. (Some of us have to endure the general consuming public for one more day.) It’s a great day to kick back, tune in, turn on, and drop out as one famous hallucinogenic master said. Just do it.

Tune In. Turn On. Drop Out.

Friday Brings ‘The Original Sixties Rotation’ EP and Little Richard In the Spotlight, May 6, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists! We’ve decided today that we’d focus on the original purveyors of what we call rock n’ roll, the first generation, if you will, of what we’re all about here in The Mermaid Lounge.

Yeah, people, it’s the original rock n’ roll DNA today!

Here’s Friday’s musical landscape:

11:00 a.m. The Original Sixties Rotation: Various Artists

This is the very first playlist we ever created, even before our house playlist, and it was just a little over 1.5 hours long originally. Now, it’s an EP with five hours of uninterrupted play where you will hear Del Shannon, Little Eva, The Drifter, The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Hollies, The Walker Brothers, Mary Wells, Dusty Springfield, The Searchers, The Monkees, Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, Glen Campbell, Johnny Rivers, The Dave Clark Five, The Supremes, Harry Nilsson, The Band, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, Simon & Garfunkel, Blind Faith, Janis Joplin, Tony Joe White, Barry McGuire, Marvin Gaye, The Who, Procol Harum, The Temptations, Fats Domino, Little Richard and others.

7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: Little Richard

One of the founding fathers of rock n’ roll takes the spotlight tonight. Richard Wayne Penniman was an American musician, singer and songwriter who was influential in rock n’ roll for seven decades. When his first song was released, Tutti Frutti, it was an immediate number one. This was followed by another number one, Long Tall Sally. After that, he released fifteen more singles in just three years. He is one of our Founding Fathers.

Great day to tune us in because we talking about the stuff that inspired our little radio station. We are totally free 24/7. No subscriptions, credit card numbers or personal information required. We don’t even have a form. Go ahead. See for yourself.

The Founders!

It’s a Typical Saturday Here with ‘Live’ Linda Ronstadt, Our Laurel Canyon EP, Bonnie Raitt’s AOW, and LIVE DEAD! April 30, 2022

The place will surely be jumpin’ today and it starts a bit early as well, at 9:00 a.m. EST! We’ve got a full slate of stuff on tap. Tune us in!

Today’s EP is Music From Laurel Canyon!

Here’s today’s line-up:

9:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Just Like That… by Bonnie Raitt FINAL AIRING!

Today we bid a fond farewell to Bonnie Raitt’s first new album in six years. Now, it heads to our standard rotation. Tomorrow, we’ve got a brand new selection coming your way!

11:00 a.m. Music From Laurel Canyon: Various Artists

Those echoes reverberated around the globe. It was a time of cross-fertilization in music (I am dead sure the Republicans are concerned with such stuff) with country marrying rock and the British invasion here coming to our shores and the echoes from the canyon reaching there. You’ll hear The Byrds, The Mamas & The Papas, Linda Ronstadt, Buffalo Springfield, The Beach Boys, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Doors, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, The Monkees, CSNY, Manassas, John Mayall, The Eagles, J.D. Souther, Harry Nilsson, Canned Heat, Carole King, James Taylor, and more!

7:00 p.m. Linda Ronstadt Live at The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA, March 17, 1976

Speaking of those echoes, this was Linda Ronstadt as she began her meteoric rise, just after the release of Heart Like A Wheel, and in one of the greatest music venues in popular music history. This was a starting point for many artists.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin, July 19, 1989 NEW!

It’s time for our Saturday night staple. Another new outing tonight, this one live from East Troy, Wisconsin. Enjoy, Deadheads.

Whew. I’m done now. And let me say it again: This is a great day to tune us in and see what we’re all about. If there’s any one day when you can catch our total picture drift, Saturday is it. The day is here, people. Get on it.

Saturday in The Lounge!

It’s Raining Outside The Lounge and We’ve Got Our ‘Water Water Everywhere’ EP, Plus The Who In The Spotlight Later, Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists! It may be dreary and dismal outside, but our ‘Water, Water Everywhere’ EP is anything but. We also put The Who In the Spotlight later!

Not a fan of Pete Townsend’s right-wing politics, but the music of The Who? That’s another story.

Here’s your midweek line-up:

10:00 a.m. Water, Water Everywhere: Various Artists

Scientific fact: The earth is composed of 71% water. It’s only fitting that water, therefore, has its own playlist…in all its forms. You’ll hear Paul McCartney, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Otis Redding, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Elton John, The Doobie Brothers, Valerie Carter, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Loggins & Messina, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Linda Ronstadt, Spirit, The Grass Roots, The Beach Boys, Lindisfarne, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, Steely Dan, Tom Rush, Johnny Rivers, America, Donovan, and more!

7:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of The Who NEW!

Yes, it’s true. This is the very first time we put The Who In the Spotlight here in The Mermaid Lounge. I confess a love-hate relationship with The Who, although I have long been a fan of their music. I saw them back in the day at Boston Garden. It was the night that Keith Moon collapsed on his drum set and the show had to be rescheduled. We saw them again and they were great. Moon would pass away not long after that. I am happy I saw them once, but I am thoroughly ambivalent about seeing them live ever again. In spite of that, this is a great playlist of their best stuff, and it’s formidable.

Tune us in, folks. We’ve got a full house this morning from Germany, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russian Federation, Netherlands, South Africa, not to mention Cleveland, Buffalo, and Portsmouth. What are you waiting for?

Spotlight: The Who!