If there is any sort of theme to this particular Christmas I would gander that it would be that the 2016 season is definitely MAD oriented. Not as if anger'r anything but the magazine itself. Or shall we say the paperback, because what did I do but buy yet another big box of old MAD books if only in the hope that I could have scored the ultra-rare MAD ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KLUTZ II being offered with 'em which I discovered, after winning the ebay auction THEN reading the fine print, was taken out of the package deal. Some of the paperbacks are in good condition while others are feh, and now that I have these in my mitts all I can say is that this year's horrorday season will be about as MAD as Christmas '69 (which was saturated with my reading and re-reading of GOOD AND MAD) or better yet Christmas '72 where I scored that MAD SPECIAL which reprinted some of the old MAD comics (in comic book enclosure form!) that were hard to come by what with the Ballantine series having temporarily gone out of print. Not as potent as Christmas '71 ("Bang a Gong" still riding high on the radio and plenty of DC and Marvel Comics galore) but eh, still good enough to elicit fond enough memories of school free jamz.
Many of the books I had for years and the newer titles were just as bad as I remembered the mag to be from the late-seventies onward, but THANKFULLY I got a few new ones to sparkle my imagination and keep me awake past eight o'clock. After all of these years I finally get to once again see that infamous DENNIS THE MENACE cartoon reprinted in THE NON-VIOLENT MAD and of course it helps to have as many copies of MAD IN ORBIT as you can on hand if only because of the two comic strips spoofs, one which happens to show Nancy and Sluggo in a political cartoon situation and the other with them done up as Mickey Spillane would have envisioned. My biggest thrill of the entire package was (surprisingly) the two MAD'S SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS books, not because they were anything special but because the previous owner actually filled up the blank balloons with his own answers, and boy are they stunningly lame! But still fun, and the kiddo even hit the spot with a few answers that Bill Gaines would have never let Al Jaffee get away with in a millyun years!
Of course none of these X-mases were as hot as Christmas '62 (the earliest one I can remember and have discussed wit'cha often enuff), '63 (finally got a litho gas station the kind I bit my cousin on the neck the previous year because he wouldn't let me near his!) or even 1975 even though I got sick to my guts after eating at a Red Lobster for the first time ever the next day (that'll teach me to pass up on that copy of Nico's CHELSEA GIRL I espied [first time ever!] in a Cle record shop despite some shallow pondering) but good enough even if I am existing here about thirty-five years CE (which, in these case stands for "Crappy Era"). Somehow I get the feeling that I'll never experience the kinda Christmas fun and jamz that I did when I was young, but then again all I gotta say is...what else is OLD?????
Anyhoo, I hope SOMEONE out there has had a nice Christmas. Thanks to Bill, Brad, P. D. and Robert for their gifts (even if Robert sent his a few months back!)...will get to open them eventually since I stashed 'em somewhere and just can't remember where. Just consider this paragraph a thank you note because I don't have the time to send each of ya a personalized one. Those are the breaks of being a busier than ever blogger, so I hope you understand.
***Here's this week's bunch of newies (which I tried to be succinct with...nothing too long-windy) which I hope you'll enjoy reading about, if not actually get the urge to buy any of 'em! Even with all of the trials and tributaries I have experienced this past year at least I'n thankful that still got the ears to listen to this stuff, even if I also have the ears to fill my head with lots of extraneous junk that has nothing to do with my personal existence. And so, while you're digesting the roast turkey with chestnut stuffing settle back and digest on these for awhile...
Every so often I dish out a few hard-begged bucks to buy an album by an act that is now up and running, and considering the hotcha comeon that Forced Exposure gave this item I just hadda go for the bait-laden hook in typical Charlie Tuna fashion!
Glorias Navales hail from Santiago Chile and put up one real nice and trance-y wail with their hypnotic repeato-riff acoustic music. At times I am reminded of Robbie Basho and the Seventh Sons because COFRADIA NAUTICA is so mesmerizing that it makes you feel as if you're in some college dorm circa 1965 and listening to a buncha beat neer-do-wells strumming away while under the influence of the latest psychotropic flash! But it sure works a hegguva lot better because it's even more stoned! Heck, you might have even had the wherewithal to record a platter like this back inna mid-seventies on one of those sick days off from school under the addling forces of Ny-Quil! Well, I could see some muddled fifteen-year-old strumming the guitar parts while dazed on whatever cold-relief medicine he was on while surrounded in soggy Kleenex and a half-crumpled attempt at his algebra II homework!
A surprising platter that makes me wonder what other riff drone has been coming outta South Ameriga lo these many eons! And somehow I'm sure there was more.
***
I must admit that I did have some "reservations" about this particular spinner if only because the name of this group reminded me of not only this annoying kid I sat next to in second grade but that equally upchucking boy from FAMILY AFFAIR who had a twin sister named Buffy not to mention an older sibling who sure made teenagers look bad what with her pseudointellectual airs making us wannabe pseudointellectual teens look pretty bad. Turns out these guys from Uruguay via Germany were pretty good what with these home-made recordings (released 1971) that recall mid-sixties continental pop rock (of the German variety natch!) more'n anything. If you like all of those German teen groups like the Rattles and Lords who were aping the English beat acts in their own inimitable style you'll most definitely like this.
***
While listening to VIDEO NASTIES I was reminded of those many cassette culture groups that had popped up throughout England in the early-eighties who were recording some mighty exciting tapeage in the privacy of their own boudoirs. It just has that (pardon the expression) "DIY" feel and besides, it could still rock and roll out like the best punks with a tape recorder and some cheap gear could. And really, what is wrong with hearing someone's umpteenth take on the Velvet Underground which I guess is better than their umpteenth take on the Eagles 'r something like that.
Turns out that these Nasties ain't even English but from Maine, but they also released their items via cassette and sure do their best to recall some of the less-stifling moments of the early-eighties, at least before those days became very stifling as the decade got into full sunny side up swing. At times this does sound like cheap casio clunk, but moments do dredge up all of those under-the-gulcher favorites like Suicide, Silver Apples and even those homo groups that were all glitter and gloss w/o any real steak to 'em. And when you're not looking the Nasties blast into a hard-edged electronic thunderstorm that reminds me of none other than Hawkwind which makes this all the more tastier!
A very sharp album made up of gunch that was, yeah, "previously released", but if you missed those try not to pass this one up!
***
Electronic pioneer Dick Hyman (who I am told had the best name in entertainment since Beaver Cleaver) and Mary Mayo do the early space music swing swimmingly on this '63 jaunt, and if you (like me) somehow envisioned (or even remembered) the 1959-1963 season as the destiny we should all have strived for only we got what we have now this one'll really satisfy ya!
Like Joe Meek and THE JETSONS, the hope of a flashy future of space exploration and mechanical ease complete with the same early-sixties verve and feel can be felt in these jazzy/lounge-y tracks. Resplendent in early electronic oscillating instrumentation meshing with Mayo cooing some great ethereal vocals, the music brings those heady times all back to you just like your favorite OUTER LIMITS rerun. Whether they be originals or well-known covers, that feeling us oldsters all had about what we thought 2016 was really gonna be like will just come rushing back to us, and the effect is surely bound to last---as long as you don't click on yer tee-vee 'r sumpin'!
***
Forced Exposure)
This mid-eighties vintage (recorded '73) live album has gotten its raps over the years but if you're a true blue space rock kiddette like, does it matter??? Despite the high school gym acoustics this is a pretty fair approximation of what a live Hawkwind show during that period (when Robert Calvert was front and center as our tour guide) was like, and the cassette quality does tend to add a certain amount of interstellar distortion akin to listening to this via Skylab. Hey, if your'e an enterprising soul howzbout chronicling all of those English punks from the late-seventies who were playing in Hawkwind-inspired groups just a year or two prior? Maybe even enclosing an album to accompany the book would be great, what with all of those acts who were doing the space trip complete with waist-length hair before going the vacant route! You'll be sure to make some waves out there and if you do just this, don't ferget who gave you the idea!!!
***
Other'n the title track I dunno how many of you have heard Ronny and the Daytonas. Neither have I but at least this album gives us a little insight into the world of these quick-flash surf rockers. Actually the rest of the Daytonas output ain't as potent as I would have hoped, but these days I've come to the conclusion that the mid-sixties on slow-cook beats today on full-blast all hollow! Temperate but still pleasurable numbers including a fairly decent version of the Jan and Dean (not to mention the Who) favorite "Bucket T" aka "Jennie Lee the Boom Boom Queen" (or something like that).
***
These self-released albums of the early-seventies can be a chance-y proposition and Brigade is no diff 'n the rest. Nothing here to really stir the imagination although the Doors-inspired instrumental tracks are at times pleasing. Otherwise this one is marooned in the miasma of 1970 and sounds more like it was recorded by a buncha guys who were worried about being drafted than it was by...a buncha guys who wanted to spend their days roaming the environs and making as much of a ruckus as they could under the influence of a variety of concoctions both legal or not. Well at least Brigade refrained from any versions of "One Tin Soldier" for which we can all be thankful!
***
Not quite into their psychedelic groove yet, the Action rock on like the good li'l geeks they were all obsessed with Amerigan soul music and the like. And like the good li'l geeks they were the Action did a pretty good job of taking early-sixties Motown riffs and making them more'n safe for the local mod clientele who liked a little of the grit lost in the translation. This particular EP proves that the Action were about as good as the Who even though they could get a little bogged down with their variations of the form. Ah, but catch me in a weak moment and I'd probably take anything on here over the rill thing anyday. Can't tell you what these guys were like by the time they all went the route to Islam and would pray to the east before beginning their first set, but I get the idea that even then they would have beat a hefty portion of the competition all hollow.
***
Various Artists-SWEET SHOTGUN SOOKIE ARABY CD-r burn (Bill Shute)Here's an old one that sorta got shoved to the back of the Bill box, which I guess is better than getting shoved to the back of the bus. The soul raves from the likes of Tina Britt (doing the old Steppenwolf fave "Sookie Sookie") and Aleene Strawn are funtime enough for the ears, though Japan's Zigzag present for us some particularly potent punk rock and none other than Rosemary Clooney in her pre-beef days wails on with "Shotgun Boogie"...a surprising sleeper if you ask me. Personal faves include Henry Threadgill doing some of that intricate late-seventies avant jazz, Faud Hassan's xylophone-featured "Jazz Araby", the tough film theme to DON by Kalyanji-Anandji which stands out on its own w/o any visuals and Los Cheynes' downright swinging Latin Amerigan garage band thump which had me doing a few headspins in classic Sherwood fashion.
1 comment:
Dear Friends
Thanks for your comments for JODI-POPS DE VANGUARDIA.
I want to share with you a new video from 1971 JODI...BLUE REMEMBER
I hope you like it
Greetings from Paraguay
joern wenger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKyOWCkIhwY
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