13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation - Vol. 18
Featuring songs by Todd Rundgren, Too Much Joy, The Connells, General Public, the Dukes of Stratosphear, Brian Wilson, and many more
That’s right, it’s time for another installment of 13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation, a series of playlists which are, in fact, in no way distinguishable from the original incarnation of 13 Wonderful Will Songs playlists. So don’t feel as though you need to have listened to those in order to appreciate these, because that’s not the case at all.
Hit “play,” and here’s hoping you enjoy what you hear!
1. Todd Rundgren featuring Moe Berg, “Let’s Do This”
I’ve had Rundgren on the brain for the past several days as a result of picking up a used vinyl copy of his Hermit of Mink Hollow album, but rather than include a track from that particular LP, I decided to go with one that most folks might not be familiar with. It’s from his 2017 album White Knight, and it’s a collaboration with Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, a band which - as you may or may not know - had a couple of albums produced by Rundgren, including the one that gave us “I’m An Adult Now.” But I digress. I picked this track because, well, how can you resist kicking off a playlist with a song called “Let’s Do This”?
2. Secret Monkey Weekend, “Na Na Na Na”
I have Facebook to thank for discovering this North Carolina band, although I’m afraid I can’t remember which of my FB friends actually put them in their feed. Whoever it was, I’m grateful, because they’re a great group, full of a lot of jangle. They’re got plenty of swell originals, but I went with this cover - oh, sorry: OBLIGATORY COVER ALERT! - because I have a history with the original version by the Squalls. I discovered it because of its inclusion on the soundtrack of Athens, GA: Inside/Out, which was the first record I ever reviewed. It was for my high school newspaper, and the less said about the review, the better, but I sure did love the album, and I still do. I also love the new Secret Monkey Weekend album, Lemon Drop Hammer, so be sure to check it out!
3. Cosmic Rough Riders, “Revolution (In the Summertime?)”
Speaking of Facebook (not to mention jangly tunes), I’ve been FB friends with Daniel Wylie, onetime Cosmic Rough Riders frontman, for many years now, but the reason I requested his FB friendship in the first place was because of how much I loved the band’s 2000 album Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine. I was obsessed with Alan McGee’s Poptones label throughout its brief existence, and the Cosmic Rough Riders were a big reason as to why.
4. Too Much Joy, “Crush Story”
I can’t claim to have been a Too Much Joy since their indie beginnings, but I did stumble upon them when their second album, Son of Sam I Am, was reissued on Giant Records. Yet another case of discovering a band because I was working at the record store at the time, I immediately fell in love with their covers of LL Cool J’s “That’s a Lie” and Terry Jacks’ “Seasons in the Sun,” but it was catching the video for their original tune, “Making Fun of Bums,” that cemented them as a band to keep my eye on for the long haul. This song is from their subsequent album, Cereal Killers, and as someone who spent his teens and twenties in a semi-permanent state of having crushes on girls, you can imagine how many mix tapes this landed on.
5. The Longplayer Orchestra, “Silicone Sue”
I discovered these guys when I was compiling a Spotify playlist called How Swede It Is (Unless It’s Norse, Of Course), and not to spoil the major, major influence on the band, but let’s just say that the word “Orchestra” plays into it…and also “Electric” and “Light.”
6. Stephen Duffy, “You Are”
I’ve been a fan of Stephen Duffy since picking up the self-titled debut of The Lilac Time back in 1988, and it led me to delve into the solo material that preceded the band’s existence. I’ve continued to follow his career ever since, which made it a particular thrill that I was able to do such a long and detailed interview with him for Q Magazine in late 2023. Duffy has bounced back and forth between solo work and Lilac Time albums over the years, and this is from his 1998 release, I Love My Friends.
7. The Connells, “Over There”
A few weeks ago, my wife and daughter and I went to see The Connells perform on the sand of Jockey’s Ridge Park in North Carolina, and I really enjoyed the fact that we’ve got a family that enjoys seeing this band live together. In fact, my daughter left us in the dust - with our permission, of course - and went straight up to the front of the stage, wearing my archival Fun and Games tour shirt. This song is from the first Connells album I ever owned: Boylan Heights. As soon as I heard Bill Spencer’s trumpet, this officially became my favorite track on the album, and it’s still one of my all-time favorite Connells tracks…and that’s a serious accomplishment, because that’s not in any way a small list.
8. General Public, “Hold It Deep”
I’ve been waiting for this track to show up on Spotify for the longest time. I have no idea why it took so long for it to make its way onto streaming, but my guess is because A) it’s on a different label than their other two albums, and B) the only song from the album that was a hit - their cover of “I’ll Take You There” - was already streaming, so why rush to get Rub It Better as a whole online? To be fair, it’s definitely the least of General Public’s three albums, but I’ve loved this song since the first time I heard it, so it’s good to finally be able to put it into one of my mixes.
9. The Beach Boys, “Here She Comes”
As this playlist progresses, you’ll see that I’ve devoted the remainder of it to songs that pay tribute to the late, great Brian Wilson and the instantly recognizable sound that he created. With that said, however, I’m starting the run with a complete left turn, as this is one of those Beach Boys songs that Brian had nothing to do with. I mean, seriously, not only did he not have a hand in writing it, but he doesn’t even play on it. It’s a Ricky Fataar / Blondie Chaplin co-write from the band’s oft-underrated 1972 album, Carl and the Passions, one that Brian had relatively little to do with. (He’s only on three songs, which - not coincidentally - are the only three songs he co-wrote). As such, it doesn’t really sound like a Beach Boys song, per se, but it’s one that caught my ear immediately when I finally got around to investigating this LP.
10. Flo and Eddie, “Keep It Warm”
You may know Flo and Eddie as Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, founding members of the Turtles, but after the Turtles effectively called it quits in 1970 and they were contractually prohibited from using the name “the Turtles” or even their own names in a musical context. (Is it just me, or is that a seriously fucked-up contractual requirement?) As such, they took on the names Flo and Eddie and released a series of eccentric albums that were packed with great tunes but never found commercial success. If this song had been released in the ‘60s, however, it would’ve been a smash, because it’s an amazing homage to the Beach Boys’ sound.
11. Dinosaur Jr., “Take a Run at the Sun”
In 1996, writer/director Allison Anders released the film Grace of My Heart, a period piece which starred Illeana Douglas as Denise Waverly, a singer-songwriter who finds herself forced into the role of a songwriter for other artists despite yearning to have a musical career of her own. The soundtrack of the film features a collection of original songs penned to sound like the music of the ‘60s, i.e. the period when the film was set, and although the most famous song to emerge from the soundtrack is the Elvis Costello / Burt Bacharach collaboration “God Give Me Strength,” J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. contributed this Beach Boys soundalike, which later found its way into the bonus material on their 1997 album Hand It Over.
12. The Dukes of Stratosphear, “Pale and Precious”
Right around the time I was finding my way into the discography of XTC, which was just after the release of Skylarking, I was highly entertained to discover that the band had released a new album under a pseudonym. Calling themselves the Dukes of Stratosphear, this moniker provided them with the opportunity to get all of their ‘60s psychedelia out of their system without having it count against them commercially…or something like that. Anyway, I loved Psonic Psunspot so much from first listen that it’s always depressed me that they’ve never released another Dukes album, but at least we’ve got this one and the EP that preceded it (25 O’Clock). As for this song, yes, it’s another Beach Boys homage, and it’s one of the best.
13. Brian Wilson, “Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight”
When I told my daughter that Brian Wilson had died, she said, “Oh, that’s so sad! Do you need a hug?” And I accepted that offer, because even though I didn’t actually cry, she was right: it was very, very sad. I got into the Beach Boys in a way that only a Dead Milkmen fan can appreciate: through their cover of “California Dreamin’.” It was a track that was tacked onto the band’s 1986 best-of compilation, Made in U.S.A., and I just loved it…and still do, mind you, despite fans of “Punk Rock Girl” saying, “Hey, the Beach Boys didn’t do ‘California Dreamin’,’ that was the Mamas and the Papas. It was both, dammit! Anyway, that compilation was my gateway drug into the Beach Boys’ catalog, but I hadn’t actually bought anything else by the band when Brian Wilson’s debut solo album was released, so I guess you could argue that that was my real gateway drug into Pet Sounds, since it was talked about so much in the articles that appeared in conjunction with Brian’s solo debut. I guess it would’ve been perfect to close this mix with his signature song from the album, “Love and Mercy,” but this has always been my favorite song on the album, so I’m going with this one.
Goodbye, Brian. Thanks for the music.