Saturday, June 25, 2016

So like, what should I talk about before we get into the meaty potatoes and all? As far as polly-tix go I'm sure glad that Brexit passed not only because of the international uproar over it and the fact that Europe as a unified glob just isn't the right way to go, but  man is it good seeing alla those talking head nimnul types (and I don't mean David Byrne, who is the subject of a whole 'nother nimnul column) shrieking like a pack of rabid boars over said vote thinking that the Fourth Reich is imminent or something along those lines. Sorry guys, but you were the Fourth Reich though you never would cotton up to the fact. As far as my personal life goes not much, unless you want to hear about all of that thrilling paperclip inventory that I had to endure at the orifice this past week. At least I got to hear some interesting platters that helped make the past seven a little easier for me, sorta like stool softener for the soul or something like that. Thank you Bill, Bob, and ME for the opportunity to listen to and write about a whole slew of platters that I think you might wanna read about, but you probably won't.


THE BECKIES CD (Real Gone Music )

Yesirree, it's Mike "Left Banke" Brown's final foray into major label musings with this platter that, although pumped up plenty by the various "It's All Coming Back!" Shawvinists of the day (1976 to you) became instant cutout fodder alongside a whole bunch of platters also featuring the famed recluse who unfortunately passed away last year. It's kinda like the first Stories album, though with a more mid-seventies hard-pop approach to it that frankly mirrors a whole lotta the powerpop sounds that were comin' outta garages nationwide. If you've been in on the likes of the Atlantics or Miamis for some time you probably already have this one as well. If not, GO GET IT! Features boffo liner notes from one Jeremy Cargill, a guy who all of you UGLY THINGS readers should be aware of considering his massive carbolic footprint on that particular pub!
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LOS LICHIS CD-r burn

Dunno if this is the actual album or some other sorta configuration but it's pretty ear opening. Kinda like chop shop electronic rock that mighta been chic with the newer than thou wave inna eighties, but it woulda set you back a good thirty bucks to get these wares via Systematic. Sometimes it sounds like some ethnic kinda music with the guitar strings tightened to the point of breaking, at others like some seventies synthesizer art project done up right. At even others it reminds me of that great avant garde jazz-fusion act Noisetet who used to play the CBGB Lounge a whole lot. Now this is nothing I'm gonna spin constantly but a good 'un to have heard at least once, courtesy of Bob Forward.
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Billy Vaughn-GREATEST BOOGIE WOOGIE HITS CD-r burn (originally on Dot)

Alla yer favorite standards jazzed up by the infamous Vaughn, though for the life of me I really don't know what audience Dot Records was aiming for with this 'un. Too grown up for rock 'n roll, too raucous for the old timers, I kinda get the feeling that this one was being pushed on the latter crowd who wanted something a little more upbeat yet far away from the rock 'n roll screamathons dominating the charts. Kinda reminds me of the background music one woulda heard on those old Warner Brothers detective shows of the early-sixties, especially in a lounge scene where some gal is doin' the cha-cha-cha with Robert Conrad.
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Bob Bailey in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar-THE LANSING FRAUD MATTER CD-r burn

I've been enjoying all of the JOHNNY DOLLARs I could lay my ears on (either via Bill's burns or Sirius XM) and this one (back when the show was being broadcast in fifteen-minute daily installments) is perhaps one of the better of the batch. A bum with a $50,000 insurance policy is found dead onna streets from malnutrition and inner workings problems, only the strange thing is that when the guy was checked out a coupla years earlier he was in perfect health! Sounds kinda fishy which is why Dollar's on the job, only he's running up against the usual roadblocks from the man's sis who is the beneficiary to the doctor who performed the checkup and especially the creepy agent who made out the policy. Don't miss the surprise ending which wasn't exactly telegraphed like a lotta these shows tend to do. I'll tell ya, I sure got a whole lot more outta these programs than I have on most anything seen on tee-vee these past few eons
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Xavier Cugat-TWIST WITH CUGAT CD-r burn (originally on Mercury)

Wow, I'll bet you can just imagine your Aunt Maud 'n Uncle Ferd doin' the twist to this one just for gags back at some early-sixties fambly get-together, right? Heck, there might even be a home move showin' this flab-flanking magic moment for all to see lo these many years later!!! Rumba king Cugat works over the classics with a bossa nova beat that really doesn't sound as twistaroonie as say, Chubby Checker or Joey Dee, but hey I guess back then you coulda twisted to Conelrad as Jackie Vernon usedta say and gotten away with it! I'm sure the hi-fi nuts of the day CHERISHED blasting this 'un outta the knotty pine den until wifey started banging on the locked door tellin' her spouse that the Rice-a-Roni was ready.
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Minton's Playhouse Allstars-LIVE AT BERLINER JAZZTAGE 1971 CD-r burn

I usually don't cotton up to much of this pre-new thing jazz unless there's something about it that might happen to strike my fancy (like, maybe I read something about a certain so-and-so that piqued my curiosity), but this live set featuring some of the better postwar bopsters really cooks more than Ed Gein. Nothing here what I'd call earth-shattering, but these guys really play full force and the overall performance is way more than what anyone'd care call spirited. Particularly hot piano work from Theolonious Monk (he set the stage for the even newer thing) and the likes of Sonny Stitt and of course the ever-ominous Dizzy Gillespie help boost the value in this quite a bit. If I had heard this one back when it was performed I might have buckled down in front of the ol' flute-o-phone a whole lot more than I had!

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004's-IT'S ALRIGHT CD-r burn (originally on CBS South Africa)


Wow, another South African beat group! And these 004's are pretty good at the mop top game too. They might not be as flashy as the English bands were, but they sure had the spirit complete with covers of not only "On Broadway",  "Nobody But Me" and the Dave Clark Five's "You Got What It Takes" but "Parchment Farm", and that's not even counting the country and western goof worthy of Ringo Starr. Dunno exactly why this one didn't get out the way I kinda think it should...maybe it's because they were from South Africa and well, y'know, there was a lotta apartheid goin' on back then and some people mighta been upset about them for comin' from there and all...
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Various Artists-BABA BONZO JIMMER FRINGE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

A strange one from Bill, starting off with a rare Bonzo Dog Band cover (taken from an acetate) of Cher's "Bang Bang" (a song I remember my mother loathing when it was a hit, perhaps because it sounded too much like the younger generation making fun of the oldsters again) followed by tons of late-sixties pop of varying degrees that excited me in varying degrees as well. Some of it just tingly-mildly while others sounded hey, good enough. Still others, like the Baby Scholae ones, reminded me of what I think people who liked Jethro Tull heard in 'em, maybe during their first LP days when it seemed as if just about everyone was a fan of theirs. And then there's a Chubby Checker imitator (I think he is---his name's Andy Nevison in case you're keeping track), a big band schmoozer and a whole buncha trackage of varying bizzarities. In all a weird mish-mosh of various rare slabs that nobody has heard before and probably will never hear again, but then again in the great shape of things SO WHAT!

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