Let's Rock (notes on what's playing now)

Peter Frampton, "Do You Feel Like We Do." Frampton Comes Alive was a huge seller, and catapulted the former member of Humble Pie to solo star status, as well as ushering in a whole new era of 'live' albums. But here's why: Frampton Comes Alive was the first to take full advantage of multitrack live recording, enabling the artist and production team to "sweeten" the original recordings in post-production. In other words, Frampton came alive, but then he had plenty of time to check his hair in the mirror before anyone saw his arrival.
Squeeze, "Mumbo Jumbo." English songsters Squeeze are best (and usually only) known in the US for their classic "Tempted," which appears on this album, East Side Story. But like that song, this and every other track is a gem of songwriting skill, too. (Although only "Tempted" was produced by Elvis Costello.)
Billy Joel, "Roberta." Streetlife Seranade is, in my opinion, the Piano Man's artistic high-water mark. It spawned only one very minor hit, "The Entertainer," yet it showcases both Joel's compositional skills (the album includes two instrumental tracks) and his lyrical affinity for his own blue-collar working-class roots, as in the autobiographical "Streetlife Serenader," or the inevitablity expressed in "The Great Suburban Showdown," or in this track, which at first glance seems a simple tale of unspoken longing, but is actually about the futility of romance with a Woman of Shady Means: "Roberta, how I've adored you/I'd ask you over, but I can't afford you/It's tough for me/It's tough for you." A far cry from the later smugness of "Uptown Girl."
The B-52s, "Hot Corner." 2008's reunion/comeback album Funplex is chock-full of danceability, and this track's a good example. The interplay of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson's harmonies with Fred Schneider's half-spoken exclamations, always a hallmark of the group, is well executed. Gone, though, are the spastic arrangements that sometimes plagued the group in their earlier years, and here as elsewhere on the album, you get a steady groove that's hard to argue with. Or as Schneider puts it, "Hey, y'all! Last call! Last chance to dance!"