Snap, Crackle, POP! with Alec Cumming

Can't Get Used to Losing You – Andy Williams
There's A Place - The Beatles
At the Zoo – Simon & Garfunkel

The Only Living Boy in New York – Simon & Garfunkel/
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (live) – Simon & Garfunkel

Our Prayer – The Beach Boys/ 
Colour of Anyhow – Beverly-Glenn Copeland

Love's Theme – The Love Unlimited Orchestra
Sun 100 – Bite the Wax Godhead
Ram On – Paul & Linda McCartney
Bled White – Elliott Smith

Gentle On My Mind – Glen Campbell
Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town – Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Thirteen – Big Star
1,000,000 – R.E.M.

I Will Dare – The Replacements/
John, I'm Only Dancing – David Bowie

I Forgot – The Moldy Peaches
Don't Let the Record Label Take You Out to Lunch – Jeffrey Lewis
Robert Holiday – Corn Mo

Don't Worry About the Government – Talking Heads
Old World – The Modern Lovers
Busy Doin’ Nothin’ – The Beach Boys
Uglatto – Devo

Love Me Like You – The Magic Numbers

Tiny Spark – Brendan Benson
Watching The Credits – The Beths
There She Goes Again – The Las

 
Thinking About You – Beck
Breathe In – Frou Frou
Angelnumber 1210 – Goon

A 1000 Times – Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam
Otherside – Sunflower Bean
Waltz for Koop – Koop

Aquarius – Boards of Canada
Tonight – Phoenix (ft. Ezra Koenig)
Come On Let's Go – Broadcast

 
Who Put You Up To This? – Sunflower Bean
Mandocello – Cheap Trick
Promises I've Made – Emitt Rhodes

Any Time Of Day – The Lemon Twigs
Here You Come Again – Dolly Parton

The Book of Love – The Magnetic Fields
Summer Fool – Paul Bender

Mountain Top – Daniel Johnston
That I Remember – Dwight Twilley Band (feat. Phil Seymour)

Sweet Dreams – StilLi
Jacques Lamure – of Montreal

Birthday – The Sugarcubes

This is my WPKN Peter Noone interview and special from April 2023. At the time, I was interviewing Peter at the time for gig he was promoting in Norwalk CT, and he was charming and funny and oh-so-British. You'll hear lots and lots of Herman’s Hermits (and even a bit of Beatles) music as I tell this relentlessly cheerful chappie's fascinating back story with this interview plus soundbites and songs, with Peter's cheerfulness as a constant. (Even though he didn't want to talk too much about The Tremblers.) What a lovely man.

(All songs are performed by "Herman's Hermits" unless otherwise indicated.)

I'm Into Something Good

Can't You Hear My Heartbeat

Silhouettes

Just A Little Bit Better

Eight Days a Week – The Beatles

Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter

I’m Henry the VIII, I Am

Listen People

A Must To Avoid

Dandy

No Milk Today

There’s a Kind of Hush

Museum

For Love

Moonshine Man

It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning

Oh! You Pretty Things – Peter Noone

She Was Something Else – The Tremblers

Ooh Girl – The Red Button with Peter Noone

Wonderful World

I've done this more than once - and I really went to town on the REVOLVER one (1/27/26) - but here I take a syndicated radio special, created by classic NYC FM deejay Dan Neer, about The Beatles WHITE ALBUM, and played it whilst surrounding it with even more tracks from the then-new re-release. 

================================

A Beginning (Anthology 3 version) 
Blackbird - Brad Mehldau
Back In The USSR (Take 5 instrumental) 
Back In The USSR (2018 mix)

DAN NEER SPECIAL PART 1 
Birthday (2018 mix)  
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Esher demo excerpt)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (2018 mix excerpt)
Glass Onion (2018 Mix)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da (demo excerpt) 
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da (take 3 excerpt)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da (2018 mix excerpt) 
Dear Prudence (2018 mix) 
Blackbird (2018 mix)

Across the Universe (Take 6)
Child Of Nature (Esher demo excerpt)
Jealous Guy (Ultimate Mix) - John Lennon
Mother Nature's Son (Take 15) 
Mother Nature's Son (2018 Mix)
Junk (Esher demo excerpt)
Glass Onion (early mix - Anthology 3 version)

DAN NEER SPECIAL PART 2 
Revolution (Esher demo excerpt)
Revolution (2018 mix excerpt)
Don't Pass Me By (2018 Mix)
Julia (2018 Mix)
Yer Blues (2018 Mix)
Helter Skelter (2018 Mix)

Revolution (Take 18) 
Revolution 9 (excerpt) 
What's the New Mary Jane (take 1) 
Cry Baby Cry (unnumbered take) 
Can You Take Me Back 
I Will (2018 mix)

Let It Be (outtake)
Good Night - unnumbered rehearsal
Good Night - Take 10 with a guitar part from Take 5)
Good Night - Take 22 
Julia (two rehearsals)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Take 2)

I love love LOVE One-Hit Wonders - the good ones, at least - and think they make for a great show. So I've done a few of these since. There is SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC HERE that is far too overlooked... but these tracks are ALL stone-cold classics and important parts of pop/rock history, even though pop/rock historians don't know how to deal with them. Meanwhile, I got so much feedback from listeners, many from Long Island - with corrections! - that it made me think "hey, maybe people ARE actually listening!".

Summertime, Summertime - The Jamies 

Friday On My Mind – The Easybeats

Joy - Apollo 100

That Thing You Do - The Wonders 

Judy In Disguise With Glasses - John Fred & his Playboy Band

The Rapper - The Jaggerz 

Ah, Leah! - Donnie Iris 

More, More, More - The Andrea True Connection 

Steal My Sunshine - Len 

Green-Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf*

Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye - Steam 

Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead - The Fifth Estate 

Ça Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand 

Turning Japanese - The Vapors 

Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles 

Girl of My Dreams - Bram Tchaikovsky

Brandy - Looking Glass 

Couldn't See the Light - Climax Blues Band 

Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image

Magic - Pilot 

Oh Babe, What Would You Say? - Hurricane Smith

Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders

Precious and Few - Climax 

Rock On - David Essex 

Love Jones - Brighter Side of Darkness

Basketball Jones - Cheech & Chong

Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 +2 

Come on Down to My Boat Baby - Every Mothers Son 

Popsicles and Icicles - The Murmaids 

Goodbye Girl - David Gates

Tubthumping - Chumbawumba 

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye (feat. Kimbra)

Under the Milky Way - The Church 

Ariel - Dean Friedman 

In The Summertime – Mungo Jerry

* It turn out Sugarloaf is a two-hit wonder. "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You". I got a call and an FB message about it!

My first try at one of these - I've done the One-Hit Wonders thing a few times since, and absolutely love these. The phones really lit up for this one, with callers - mostly from Long Island, fwiw - either cheering me on or correcting me. There is SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC HERE that is far too overlooked... but these tracks are ALL stone-cold classics and important parts of pop/rock history, even though pop/rock historians don't know how to deal with them. 

Joy - Apollo 100

Summertime, Summertime - The Jamies 

That Thing You Do - The Wonders 

Judy In Disguise With Glasses - John Fred & his Playboy Band

The Rapper - The Jaggerz 

Ah, Leah! - Donnie Iris 

More, More, More - The Andrea True Connection 

Steal My Sunshine - Len 

Green-Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf*

Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye - Steam 

Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead - The Fifth Estate 

Ça Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand 

Turning Japanese - The Vapors 

Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles 

Girl of My Dreams - Bram Tschaikovsky 

Brandy - Looking Glass 

Couldn't See the Light - Climax Blues Band 

Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image

Magic - Pilot 

Oh Babe, What Would You Say? - Hurricane Smith

Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders

Precious and Few - Climax 

Rock On - David Essex 

Love Jones - Brighter Side of Darkness

Basketball Jones - Cheech & Chong

Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 +2 

Come on Down to My Boat Baby - Every Mothers Son 

Popsicles and Icicles - The Murmaids 

Goodbye Girl - David Gates

Tubthumping - Chumbawumba 

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye (feat. Kimbra)

Under the Milky Way - The Church 

Ariel - Dean Friedman 

In The Summertime – Mungo Jerry

* It turn out Sugarloaf is a two-hit wonder. "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You". I got a call and an FB message about it!

I'm sure I have a lot of these late-late-Saturday night shows in my stash. I would come in after Mikki's (RIP) 10pm-2am shift, the last hour of which she would dedicate to the prisoners who were staying up to listen to her, and she would be so compassionate and comforting... it was such a wonderful service she did. We still call Saturday night's 10 - 2 shift "Mikki's Room". She was a sweet, tiny little old lady, dedicated to the forgotten amongst us, and she'd often ask me to grab albums for her that were high up in the WPKN stacks. I miss her. Her spirit is very much alive. 

What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) - Tony Joe White 

Mama Told Me Not To Come - Randy Newman 

Night Life - Ray Price 

You Never Really Wanted Me - Charlie Rich 

Kisses for the Misses - Richard Swift 

Warm Self-Sacrifice - Emmitt Rhodes

From Blown Speakers - The New Pornographers

Wow and Flutter - Stereolab 

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu 

The Things We Do for Love - 10cc

In My Arms Again - The Shoes

Bring On The Night - The Police 

Behind The Mask - Yellow Magic Orchestra 

Beverly - Low Cut Connie

Disciples - Tame Impala

Catch The Sun - Doves

It's Different For Girls - Joe Jackson 

Boy Child - Scott Walker

The Man With the Child In His Eyes - Kate Bush 

Brooklyn Roads - Neil Diamond 

Eloise - Barry Ryan 

Come To Me - Marlon Williams 

Bring It On Home - Ted Hawkins 

Come All Ye - Fairport Convention 

The Beehive State - Harry Nilsson

Jerry - Boy Azoogs

Autumn - Edgar Winter 

Atlantis - Dory Previn

In a Station - Karen Dalton

Forge Your Own Chains - D.R. Hooker 

Go Easy - John Martyn

Etho Invention No. 1 - Andrew Bird 

Hoover Factory - Elvis Costello 

Reconsider Me - Warren Zevon 

The Night David Bowie Died - Lily Hiatt

At Last I Am Free - Robert Wyatt

A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond - Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

The Morning of Our Lives (live) - Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers

Sunrise - The Who

This was a nice 2-hour fill-in, and my second one of the day - apparently I did a Grateful Dead shift earlier. I was in a surreptitious love affair with a girl from France and I'm remembering some of these songs were for her. I communicated with her a lot via these radio shows. In retrospect, it seems sort of wistful, because we Facebook Messengered each other a LOT, but only met in person a few times. She was beautiful, though.

(What Does It Take) To Win Your Love - Jr. Walker & the All-Stars 
Add Some Music to Your Day - The Beach Boys

I Go To Sleep - The Pretenders

Wishing You Were Here - Chicago w/ the Beach Boys

Suavecito - Malo

Every Morning - Sugar Ray 

Temptation Inside Your Heart - Velvet Underground 

My Baby Left Me - Elvis Presley 

Stuck On You - Elvis Presley 

Marie's The Name (Of His Latest Flame) - Elvis Presley 

Tomorrow is a Long Time - Elvis Presley 

Jewel-Eyed Judy - Fleetwood Mac 

Sands of Time - Fleetwood Mac

Earl Gray - Fleetwood Mac 

Martha - Jefferson Airplane 

Early in the Morning - Harry Nilsson 

Bad Girl - Lee Moses

You're the Reason Why - The Ebonys 

People Make the World Go Round - The Stylistics

Theme from “The Valley of The Dolls” - Dionne Warwick 

Barcelona - Dean Jones/Susan Browning (COMPANY)

Music Is Love - Crosby, Nash & Young 

San Francisco Bay Blues - Richie Havens 

Part of the Wind - Tim Hardin 

Coconut Grove - The Lovin' Spoonul 

After the Ball/Million Miles - Wings 

Donna Lee - Jaco Pastorious 

Can't Find My Way Back Home - Blind Faith 

Misty Roses - Colin Blunstone

PS - the photo is of Judy Wong, the "Jewel Eyed Judy" of the 1970 "Kiln House" Fleetwood Mac song. She was Fleetwood Mac's secretary/office manager for many years, and friend to many rock stars of the day - rumor has it that the last event Jimi Hendrix attended was a birthday party for her. Formerly married to brilliant bassist Glenn Cornick of Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac's 1987 album 'Tango in the Night' is dedicated to her.

(My apologies - I can't find my song list for this show... yet. I'm certain it lives somewhere on my computer, but further digging is required. Stay tuned - Alec, 1/18/26)

 
This late evening/early Saturday morning I was filling in for the great Rich Kaminsky, so I decided - apropos of nothing - to do a show I called "Late-Night Beatles".  In other words, a show consisting of Beatles songs and Beatle solo songs that sound good late at night. Hushed, downbeat Beatles. 

So yes to "Long, Long, Long", no to "Good Day Sunshine". Yes "Here Comes the Moon", no "Here Comes The Sun". Yes "Waterfalls", no "Take It Away". Yes "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", no "Power To The People". Yes "Blindman", no "No No Song". 

Maybe it was a daft idea, but I tried to stick with good and underappreciated "deep cuts", mainly of the solo Beatle variety, as yes, I know there aren't many Beatles "deep cuts". (And yes, I played a Yoko cut or three. But I need a re-listen to figure that out!) I remember thinking the show came out well, so... there's that. Enjoy, and fall asleep, if that seems appropiate.

This is a good one. It's December 27th 2025 as I write this, and I'm remembering now how I used to have to get to the WPKN studios at the University of Bridgeport an hour early so I could go through the stacks and pull lots and lots of the station's own vinyl, with most of the records sent originally at the time of that album's release as a radio promotional for-airplay copies. (An arduous task, as the stations albums are listed chronologically instead of alphabetically.) A lot of the records are scratchy as f*ck, hence the name Snap CRACKLE Pop. Regrettably - perhaps - I've gotten much lazier, and I rely much less on the station's crackle-filled record stacks and the more on my collection of "clean" individual song WAVs as channeled through my laptop's DJ Pro software. 

This night I was filling in for two two-hour shows, one right after the other: "Railroad Dave" Schartz and KC Vaz (Paralelo Zero-Radio Brazil). This show is pretty adventurous and plays lots of good obscure music, and it's making me think I should try to add a bit more of this dreamy/mysterious/old-school free-form FM vibe into my curent morning show, and even more so for the occasional fill-ins I still do, especially those at weirder hours. The more crackles each record has, the more plays it must've gotten on the WPKN airwaves, and the more soulfully deep cosmic vibrations get re-released into the ether. 

(What Does It Take) To Win Your Love – Jr. Walker & the All-Stars

Comes The Sun – The Archies
Head Held High – The Velvet Underground
Kings Lead Hat – Brian Eno
The Girls Want to Be With the Girls – Talking Heads
Electrical Way – Zoos of Berlin
I Feel Fine (Really) – The Monochrome Set

Smiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed Truth (producer: Norman Whitfield)
Year of Decision – The Three Degrees
Light My Fire – Four Tops
Baby That's Backatcha – Smokey Robinson
Don't Ever Be Lonely – Cornelius Brothers and Rose
Summer Breeze – Isley Brothers

On the Beach – Neil Young
River Man – Nick Drake
By the Time It Gets Dark – Sandy Denny
I Don't Believe in Miracles – Colin Blunstone
Two Winters Long – Irma Thomas

Aubrey – Bread
With You With Me – Milkwood
First Girl I Loved – John Hammond
If Not for You – Bob Dylan
Blues Run the Game – Jackson C. Frank
Not Because It's Easy But Because It's Hard – Jens Lekman

The Kiss – Judee Sill
Calvary Cross – Richard Thompson
Days – Television
Child's Christmas in Wales – John Cale

Sands of Time – Fleetwood Mac
Sunshine – Sparklehorse
Fuga No. 2 – Os Mutantes
Seabird – Alessi Brothers
How Can I Make You Love Me – NRBQ 
Lovin' You Ain't Easy – Pagliaro
Speak Your Mind – Marc Benno

Birth of an Accidental Hipster – The Monkees
Along Comes Mary – The Association
I Wanna Know Girls – Portastatic
Is It Like Today? – World Party
Conquistador – Procol Harum

Flash – Wreckless Eric
Playing Pittsburgh – Amy Rigby
Blink of an Eye – Laish
Optimist – St. Vincent & David Byrne
I Love Every Little Thing About You – Syreeta & Stevie Wonder

Godspell – The Cardigans
Complicated Girl – The Bangles
Country Fair – Joe Walsh
Waste – Smash Mouth

Wild Bird – John Surman & Karin Krog
Hush – Calexico

Have You Seen the Stars Tonight? – Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship