Trudge on I must no matter how many times people yell at me to "get a bra!" whenever I do wobble down the street. In udder news, one way I wiled away the hours this week (besides waffling down bags of kettle cooked potato chips) was creepy crawling through the GOLDEN AGE REPRINTS site hoping to scam some MUCH NEEDED comic strip and book reprints dating from the fifties and even further back. And boy, did their new wares look good from a whole slew of FRECKLES comic books to a collection of DIXIE DUGAN (hubba!) strips not to mention some Dell FRITZI RITZes that just might have zoned me back to that late-fifties suburban slob upbringing I sure wish I was old enough to have lived through! Sad to say, after about clocking in over $200 of intended ware I figured out that in no way could I afford any of this, so I just let the order wither away into oblivion until my financial straits are a lot more...er...secure than they may be at this very minute.
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| From GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY #1 |
***N-E-whey, I hope you like this batch of reviews I decided to whip up for you out of the goodness of my heart. Actually, I don't care if you like 'em or not...here they are for your own value judgement, which I know will be lopsided against me. Once again there's nothing here that I actually purchased with the sweat of my toil or some such other old tyme cliche that I most certainly go for, but then again is there anything out there that I exactly feel like parting my hard-begged with these sad 'n sorry days? Once again thanks to the BIG THREE (Bill Shute, P.D. Fadensonnen and Paul McGarry) for their offerings....naturally I'll be getting to more of their wares next week unless something DRASTIC happens before that (like a major release featuring the legendary ? and the Mysterians/Stooges jam session) which I most sincerely doubt, but we can hope now, can't we???
Well whaddaya know! A recent (in this case late oh-ohs) group that not only pays homage to the hard pop scene of the mid-seventies, but sounds good enough that it could have been passed off as the Real McDeal! As you probably woulda expected, these Crash Kids do have a whole lot of Mott the Hoopleisms worked into their sound, but you can also figure in the likes of the Move and maybe even some early Todd Rundgren into their makeup and the resultants are what you wish more local bands in your burgh sounded like way back when 'stead of them copping the latest Chicago riffs. So great not only in mid-seventies attempt but pure execution that even the orchestration doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. Perfect for those of you who have fond memories of scouring not only the import bins but the cutout racks and flea markets trying to grab onto as much rock 'n roll energy as your pennies would take you.
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If Aunt Flabby was wont to get you alla those budget rack folkie and Beatle knock-off albums for Christmas between the years 1963 and 1966, I get the impression she wouldn't be coughing up the ninety-nine cents to get you this album for the 1969 season. Not with the pic of the gal flashing some suckem on the cover. Too bad, because this particular spinner, despite having a song titled "Woodstock Hour" innit which I'm sure conjures up such fear and hatred in you, ain't so bad. It's mostly early/mid-sixties styled cheezo instrumental music which has none of the overbearing aspects of hippiedom to pollute its purity, and as far as snappy cheap instrumental albums go something like this would satisfy ya just about as much as a---say---more expensive Dave Allan and the Arrows album on Tower. Frankly, I think you would have preferred this 'un over the Charlie Brown Bubble Bath that Aunt Flabby ultimately did get ya because I know I would!
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Dunno who these guys really are or from whence they came, but if you're fond of those hard-rock trios of the sixties (and even seventies!) who used to blare out Hendrix/Cream-inspired rock rants from their outhouse you'll probably like these guys. Nothing offensive or "hey-look-at-me!" about this performance either which sounds like it was recorded at the local cheap studio and paid for in bottle pop money. Gets into its own groove which really does envelop ya into its own guttural world...if you were the kinda kid who used to listen to these type of strains that weird band down the street cranked out back '69 way well you know what to do now, if you can only latch onto this thing that is (try scouring the web for a download).
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I should be surprised, but I'm not. Really, these avant improv recordings are getting better and better, and frankly this one is no exception. Made up of a buncha Norwegian and Eyetalian free players, DET KRITISKE PUNKT screams on like those early Peter Brotzmann albums did mixed in with a little AACM small-instrument style and a lotta Last Exit overdrive to keep you satisfied, and I'm sure there's even a whole load of references that a not-that-up-on-it guy such as I am not aware of! The resulting sound sure dredges up a whole lot more memories other'n yer dad ripping this thing offa the turntable. If you are still weepy over the demise of the NMDS you might want to hear this 'un if only to perk your ears up just a tad bit.
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Like just about every sorta/kinda big city in the mid-sixties, Columbus Ohio had its share of local rock groups aping the sounds of the big names with varying results. Thankfully the Hillside record company was there to document a whole load of these groups and soon enough for us some of 'em were collected on this neat-o compilation platter that has been pressed to disque for my personal dancing and dining pleasure. Nothing but covers here true, but the results are rather striking from honest depictions of the Byrds (the Possums) to close enough for jazz (the Eggs' rendition of "My Little Red Book") and like a good portion of these under-the-counter sixties bands these do stand on their own suburban slob ranch house appeal. Pick of the litter---Terry Davidson and the Barracudas' "Hooray For Hazel" sung by a kid so young you would have thought he was the president of the local chapter of the Gary and the Hornets fan club!
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Bill Shute has always had more...uh...universal tastes than horse-blindered me ever did, and that's (once again) the reason he sent me a burn of this big ten inch. He knows I'm such a dumbass regarding these kinds of definitely non high-energy rock styled musings. If I were one of those typical historical nerd kinda rock critic guys who all got fired from their big city newspaper jobs about ten years back I'd be waxing eloquent about how it was this kinda music that obviously led to the rock 'n roll these guys pretend to pay eternal homage to (especially that early-seventies laid back stuff!) but I won't. I mean, what else can be said other'n this is the real tuff mid-twentieth century hard-edged bluesy jazz complete with a nice tribute to Gaillard's own Cuban upbringing tossed in here and there...without coming off total felch that is.
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The '67 tee-vee season really must've been a turdburger considering that I can't remember any of the theme songs presented on this budget platter...'cept for DRAGNET and I SPY that is. Still good enough to prove to alla your "enlightened" friends that the world wasn't all hippydippy love and peace during those days when most of the populace was smart enough to look down upon those smelly savages. The music from these shows still had a '63 sense of urgency about 'em (as I supposed the programs they accompanied did), and it sure does warm the cockles of my heart to know that the hip 'n new styled entertainment that I remember throughout the seventies (for all of the good that it may have been, once ya got used to it) wasn't evident on the boob tube at this time. Sure nothing here 'cept Jack Webb's creation really captured the fun tee-vee zeitgeist but then again it was sure better'n HILL STREET BLUES as far as deliverin' on the action, eh?
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Various Artists-PAGAN LIMIT KANDELL VISION CD-r burn (Bill Shute)Dunno what the Walk Disney "Alice" comedy shorts have to do with this disque (did I ever tell you about the time I saw one of these on OLD MOVIES, THE GOLDEN ERA and host Stu Levin was less than enthusiastic not only about the animation but the music on the thirties-vintage reissued soundtrack?), but with a selection like this who cares! Lotsa good punk rock of both the sixties and seventies variety including the Pagans (one of many sixties groups with that moniker and not the seventies Cleveland aggregation), the Herd, the Kandells and the Friedles doing some good next door neighbor kinda mid-sixties workouts that you probably wish you were around to hear if only so they could pay you to quit bothering 'em.
If your tastes tend to veer yet another way the Limit and Visions do some of the late-seventies local rock workout stuff sounding pretty hard powerpop punk-ish, and though I'm not exactly the #1 rah-raher over these sounds I can still appreciate the energy and hard work of this for what its worth (which is more than these guys'll ever get)! Also included are an early Bing Crosby radio broadcast, an episode of ADVENTURE IS YOUR HERITAGE dealing with the invention of radar, and two-count-'em-two Ellery Queen minute mysteries that'll have you twangin' your brain tryin' to solve the case (though the first one dealing with barbed wire was sorta easy if I do say so myself!).
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