Top Ten Of The Week-On The Highway Of Storms

June sucks around here. We have had the majority of days being hit by storms and more storms and as I type this, I noticed that the storms are up to the north and west of here. Looks like they will stay away for another four hours but come before sunrise I'm sure we'll get another round of heavy storms.

Been a warm and muggy month, lots of humidity, lots of angry sun and even more lots of heavy rains. While channel 7 keeps me up to date of the storms out west, it's time for me to put together another top ten of songs of the week. Lots of new wave, some new stuff and of course my classic faves, it's all here in one way or another. Cue em up.

1. Never Say Die-Black Sabbath 1978 Lotta BS fans that call this the worst of the Ozzy Osbourne years I beg to differ. I played this in the car in my senior year and today still think most of this holds up quite well. Actually kind of sounds punkish. Nevertheless, Ozzy would move on to a equally successful solo career and Black Sabbath would catch a second wind with new vocalist Ronnie James Dio with Heaven And Hell 2 years later.

2. 12XU-Wire 1977 They started as punk rockers and then became a bit of art-gothic rock but I believe this is my favorite Wire song, taken from the infamous Live From The Roxy sessions. Was the bonus track on the CD version of Pink Flag.

3. If You See Kay-April Wine 1982 Failed single from their Power Play album which flopped after the big success of Nature Of The Beast a year ago. Smartassed pundits swore that it sounded like they were spelling out fuck with the if you see kay chorus and perhaps they did, although i didn't catch it back then. However, poptart slut Brittney Spears would do her own version of this, renamed If You Seek Amy and not the same song. Fact of the matter is less said about BS the better, and the BS is not related to Black Sabbath BTW.

4. Dear God 2.0-The Roots With Monsters Of Folk 2010 Ya know I do like The Roots, still think of them as the ultimate rap group that have guys play real instruments. In Fact ?uestlove remains one the tightest drummers out there, I'm sure I can rap to his beats. I guess you can call this a alternative cut by having the Monsters Of Folk dudes playing on this. From their new How I Got Over CD, which continues their hit streak of critically acclaimed albums.

5. Sea Of Love-Del Shannon 1981 Recorded with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers this charted fairly high on the Billboard charts. Supposely Del was rumoured to take over Roy Orbinson's spot in the Traveling Wilburys but that didn't happen. Over twenty years have gone by since Del took the easy way out. Still missing him like it was yesterday.

6. Family Entertainment-The Undertones 1979 These guys came from Northern Ireland and made a heck of a debut for Sire Records. Lead vocalist was Fergal Sharkey who would score a number one hit in 1985 on his own but this was fine power punk pop. Rykodisc reissued this on CD and later moved over to Sanctuary Records. Tip: if you find anything in the cutout bins from Sanctuary/Castle/Trojan CDs pick them up.

7. Thing About You-Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 1981 If you seeing a trend of music from the late 70s and early 80s you're right. Last weekend was the reunion class of MHS 1980 so even though I gradurated a year earlier, I had a few friends and couple ex GFs that was a year behind me. Not that I really wanted to meet any of the EX GFs, I know one was there but the other one seemed to have a hatred of this area and stayed in her neck of the woods. Last week I previewed a track from TPs latest Mojo, to which I didn't like all that much. But thought I pull out Hard Promises and feature one of TP's lesser known. This later became a country hit for Southern Pacific a few years later and features Emmy Lou Harris. Fun tune.

8. Talkin' About-3 1988 After Emerson, Lake & Powell closed up shop, Keith Emerson got back with Carl Palmer and somebody named Robert Berry to make a one off for Geffen Records and reviews were mostly negative but they had a minor hit with this song.

9. Poor Planet Earth-Sonny Hill 1968? Something from the Epitaph For A Legend compliation, this sounds like stoned out Chipmunks. Could have been the basis for Funky Tonk by Moby Grape, but maybe not.

10. Later Is Now-Devo 2010 Just in time to revive the music business, a brand new Devo album to make you get back on the dance floor once again. After Oh No It's Devo, the guys made four subpar albums that flopped but the new one Something For Everybody is their best since Oh No. Sure it's no Are We Not Men? and no there's no sure fire hits like Whip It but it is fun music to listen to. And Devo has returned into making fun music again. Check it out and see if I'm not right on that one.