SOMETHING OLD
The Action - Something to Say
1968
The Action were a London group you've probably never heard of, because they were sabotaged by their own talent. Their ability to dip their toes into and seamlessly blend different popular sounds of the time (soul, pop, psychedelia, and garage rock) should have made them a smashing success. Lead singer and songwriter Reg King should have become a household name for his soulful voice, if not for his golden blond mop top. This group should have been mentioned in the same conversations as The Beatles for catching the attention of the legendary George Martin, who took them on as producer. The Action should have shared fans with The Who when they were scheduled to be their opening act — but that very well may have been their downfall.
The Action - Something to Say
1968
The Action were a London group you've probably never heard of, because they were sabotaged by their own talent. Their ability to dip their toes into and seamlessly blend different popular sounds of the time (soul, pop, psychedelia, and garage rock) should have made them a smashing success. Lead singer and songwriter Reg King should have become a household name for his soulful voice, if not for his golden blond mop top. This group should have been mentioned in the same conversations as The Beatles for catching the attention of the legendary George Martin, who took them on as producer. The Action should have shared fans with The Who when they were scheduled to be their opening act — but that very well may have been their downfall.
By late 1965, The Who were a new band who had already achieved immediate success with I Can't Explain (which will be coincidentally discussed later in this edition), followed by the era and genre-defining youth anthem, My Generation. In the heart of the West End of London sat a small, popular music venue called the Marquee Club. This was where The Action, known at the time as The Boys, were set to open for The Who until the bigger band's manager, Kit Lambert, decided this opening act was too much competition. Lambert genuinely believed they were too good and dropped them.
The good news is that the Marquee Club decided to take The Action on for a residency of concerts, which garnered a small cult following. But the story sort of ends there. Leader Reg King left the band by 1968, and this era of their output, including their record Rolled Gold, was shelved for decades. These songs did not see the light of day until 1997 and were then remastered in 2002.
Something to Say, one of those deserted songs, is nearly perfect to me. It's defined by compelling key changes, fuzzy instrumentation juxtaposed with rich and clear vocals, and mysterious lyrics about a "list of dreams" that guide the narrator to some sort of admission to his lover. I wish this, and their now slightly popular song Brain, had made it to sixties audiences. I suspect they would have loved it all.
SOMETHING NEW
Charli xcx - Rock Music
May 8th, 2026
Charli xcx - Rock Music
May 8th, 2026
Wow, I'm really banging my head
I'm really hurting my neck
The nerve damage is real
But it's the only way to feel something
Hurt yourself
I'm really hurting my neck
The nerve damage is real
But it's the only way to feel something
Hurt yourself
Charli xcx's Rock Music, which lasts just under two minutes, is pop music. It's drenched in heavy, distorted guitars and crashing drums, but still uniquely fits into the dance pop/hyperpop feel with its autotune and electronic loops. It's certainly Charli.
Following the tremendous success of Brat, Charli told Vogue UK that making another dance album "would have felt really hard, really sad." And while she also said it's "fun to flip the form," she simultaneously has made it very clear that she is not strictly recording a rock album.
Following the tremendous success of Brat, Charli told Vogue UK that making another dance album "would have felt really hard, really sad." And while she also said it's "fun to flip the form," she simultaneously has made it very clear that she is not strictly recording a rock album.
Like most of her music, which is always flying courageously and recklessly toward extremes of sound and expression, this single took some time to grow on me. But between the energizing rock influence and funny and self-aware lyrics, it's become a favorite new release.
SOMETHING BORROWED
Yvonne Elliman - I Can't Explain (The Who)
1973
Yvonne Elliman - I Can't Explain (The Who)
1973
Well, I've been planning on including this cover for a while, but only discovered the connection to The Who in "Something Old" while writing this. So you already got a little history; I Can't Explain was the first hit for The Who. It's a tight, brilliant little rock song that has influenced countless songs that followed.
Hawaiian singer Yvonne Elliman graduated high school and instantly left the Pacific to head toward the home of The Who: London. This is where she was cast for Jesus Christ Superstar and got her name known. Between the Andrew Lloyd Weber rock opera and her 1977 disco smash hit If I Can't Have You was a strange nugget of an album called Food of Love. Sandwiched between kitschy food-inspired song titles like Casserole Me Over and Meusli Dreams, all tucked behind a photo of Elliman eating a mysterious green jello, is a fantastic rendition of I Can't Explain.
The album even features Who guitarist Pete Townshend, which makes this cover feel like it has an unspoken seal of approval from the group. It dives more into a 70s rock sound than that of the mid-60s, which I think gives it a little more edge. Her versatile voice shines in this rock setting, and her little changes in vocal arrangements add a lot.
Plus, I love highlighting songs that feature the word "dizzy." Both Elliman and The Who were both dizzy in the head and feeling bad.
SOMETHING... FOR NATIONAL MARITIME DAY
Morcheeba - The Sea
1998
Morcheeba - The Sea
1998
On this day, May 22, 207 years ago, the SS Savannah became the first steam-powered ship to voyage across the Atlantic. The ship voyaged all the way from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England. In 1933, US Congress memorialized the date by calling it National Maritime Day. There were cheering audiences celebrating the accomplishment, as were there anxious skeptics about the use of steam power. It's strange to think about steam engines being the latest scary technological advancements in comparison to the harrowing AI takeover we're currently enduring.
Meanwhile, 1998 saw the advent of both Google and the iMac. Having access to almost anything you wanted was becoming easier and easier, which was a huge and potentially overwhelming cultural shift. Perhaps this played into why English electronic band Morcheeba wrote The Sea, a song that bleeds serenity. Singer Skye Edwards sings gorgeously about leaving her soul by the sea, where "worries vanish." She refers to the "hassles, fuss, and lies" of her life in the city. A fast-moving world that throws man-made drastic changes in our footpaths seems to have become the norm, and it's easy to forget the slow and natural world, where the ocean takes months to warm up between seasons and where trees take close to eighty years to reach their maximum size. How many times have you heard disgruntled peers say they want to throw their phones in the ocean? This desire to abandon everything and join the sea or the forest, or even live off the grid by a pond like Thoreau, is not new or unique. We cannot all be ascetics befriended by seagulls, but at least we have music like this to help us through this highly manufactured world.
So on this National Maritime Day, let's celebrate our human achievements, but let's also be grateful for the water that made it possible to sail that steamboat in the first place.