There ain't much to crow about this week, though crow I must over what GOOD has been happening. Take f'rinstance the bevy of beauteous booty that I had the opportunity to review, a good portion of it what'cha'd call prime listening material if I do say so myself! Big thanx to Bill, Paul, Weasel and HoZac for the donations. Also thanks be to William Burroughs that the anti-gun hysteria is dying down now once it has been realized that the fruits of David Hogg's "acting abilities" have actually SPURRED ON pro-gun attitudes (and raised Laura Ingraham's ratings as well!) and that nobody really cares what that drama queen fluid gender Emma whatzername has to say. I guess those acting lessons weren't all for the better as if I could stand seeing the two head off your typical High School production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Sheesh, weren't high stool kids smarter back in the seventies when they would walk out of class in protest because busing was turning their school into a battle zone what with inner city youth brutalizing (and in at least one case stabbing) the already-established students? Surprisingly enough, this was NEVER mentioned in all of those TV reports on busing I used to see at the time nor in any Norman Lear "comedy" I was tuning in to! Oh how times have changed! And oddly enough alla that negative Don Trump coverage is making his poll numbers go up which might not be so fine for those of you who thought he was gonna be the guy who would tear it all down, but boy does it make those prissy media types get more indignant by the day and that's sure fun to watch!
But hey, let's just talk about the music at hand. Some pretty good wowzers here that I will recommend, even highly, to you which I gotta admit is something that gives me HOPE for a bright future of even more high energy efforts such as these! And so, without any more bloviating here's this week's presentation complete without commercial interruption:
Dane Rousay-AN INEVITABLE SOLUTION (TO) CD-r burn (Kendra Steiner Editions)
Percussion lovers will undoubtedly go gaga over this new Rousay effort which, although easily enough drawing comparisons to a variety of previous solo-banging efforts, really can't be compared to any of those John Cage or Marcel Duchamp efforts that used to pop up on the old Finnedar label. There seems to be an underlying intensity to it, though the performance may come of slightly nonchalant. Whatever, the resultant music does make you draw attention away from whatever you're doing so you can enjoy Rousay's little intricacies and fills here and there which you might miss if you happen to be reading old comic books (like I was when this had been spinning) of doing the connect-the-dots. Yet another limited KSE edition so you better hurry up before it all gets lost to time.
THE WEEPING BONG BAND LP (Feeding Tube Records, available via Forced Exposure)
Yet another beautiful surprise from what is perhaps the most driven-by-their-own-personalist-view vinyl label extant. Dunno who the people behind the Weeping Bong Band are (the hypsheet calls 'em a supergroup of sorts, yet I didn't recognize any of the acts these people came from!) but their music is great lay back and watch the clouds roll by (it would help if you were under the spell of some cough syrup or just zoned your way back to age three) sounds that remind me of various early-seventies kraut-rocky items of worth. Perhaps that jam on side four of Amon Duul II's YETI would be a good reference point or better yet some of the lesser known records that have come out on the infamous Brain label. And not only that, but this album is filled with plenty of "crummy fuzztone leads" as Greg Prevost would have put it! You might be surprised that someone could have recorded and released such an expressive and even warm (ooh!) album here in the cyborg 'teens, but it has been done and perhaps we are all the better for it.
Shutaro Noguchi-LOVE SUPER TERRANEAN LP (Feeding Tube Records, available via Forced Exposure)
Gotta admit that I wasn't as happy about this 'un as I usually tend to be with much of the Feeding Tube catalog. Sure it has its moments of brilliance not only via Noguchi's fluid guitar playing and the almost in-the-background ethereal female vocals but sheesh, a whole lotta this reminded me of some of the frillier moments to be found in various seventies progressive rock recordings. Not that this is as tinkly aerie as say Steve Hillage or the just-pre Buggled version of Yes but I wasn't really enthralled by the thing. Well, the opening strains did recall the Fripp and Eno classic NO PUSSYFOOTING of which I could ooze some listening pleasure but otherwise I wasn't jumping up and down over the thing. Great cover tho.
Weasel Walter-SKHIIZM CD (ugEXPLODE Records)
WW plays all the instruments on this effort, but in no way is this anything akin to a Todd Rundgren album that's for sure! Hard-edged rock (borders on a whole slew of rockcrit-derived genre terms that really do not mean a whit) that sears as guitars wail on while synths create a demonic vision that Chrome never even dreamed of. Should appeal to fans of the eighties over-the-top screedage whether it be of the punk-unto-hardcore-unto-total sonic eruption style (meaning this ain't for ya punks who thought that the music was the then-current update on the ol' hippies throwing bombs at the man radical rabble movement) or of the even newer heavy metal as pure noise transposed into energy that never really did make it with the box boy pimplefarm crowd.
F.U.K.-"Road Kill"/"I Got a Head" 45 rpm single (Hozac Records)
There's so much intermingling with Destroy All Monsters here, from Sue Rynski's imitation of Niagara on "Road Kill" to the members that were shared by both bands, that I could see my four-year-old self being confused just like I was with SUPERCAR and FIREBALL XL-5. But plagiarism/homage aside this is a boffo rec, perhaps one of the year's best. Like you all know, I really miss the punk before pUnquE (I can't HELP writing it like Robot Hull!) style of rock 'n roll that sorta got wooshed over in favor of marketable fashion, and this more or less one-off effort has the same sorta late-seventies Detroit Rock spunk sim'lar to the likes of the likes of the Mutants, Cynecide and other acts that sorta paled in the shadow of the Grande Ballroom days! But hey, what else would you expect because frankly there's nothing WRONG with this! This take me right back to the eighties which were long after the heyday of groups like F.U.K., but boy were those records CHEAP!
TWEN MOODS CD-r burn (originally on Amaden Records, Austria)
European-styled instrumental fluff, the kind that reminds me of the opening and closing theme to some early-seventies afternoon dialing for dollars type program. Ra-daa-daa-daa-dippy-do and all that, but it still serves me well if only to dredge up some memories of funtime-era tee-vee. Credit must go to the Monterey Mood-Mixers and Johnny and the Shamrocks for creating this continental concoction and yes, you could just hear the besweatered locals in their burghs listening to this while eating their strudels midt cream und Museli while wearing ledehosen. Maybe even wearing hats with little feathers in them too!
The Sex Pistols-AUG. 29, 1976 LIVE AT SCREEN ON THE GREEN CINEMA, ISLINGTON, UK CD-r burn
The cruddy sound actually helps out, emphasizing the almost heavy metal levels that the Sex Pistols could attain while nobody was looking. Otherwise the performance is sloppy but sure with a whole lot more drive and even instrumental proficiency than the likes of Anastasia Pantsios would admit. Looking back it's strange to know that many of our associates were knockin' the Sex Pistols and anything under-the-underground in general yet this sounds overall straight-ahead and to the point as far as a rock 'n roll expression goes. I guess that listening to too much Styx will rearrange your listening parameters in ways even Lawrence Welk never would have dreamed of.
Charlie Parker-THE COMPLETE DIAL SESSIONS, DISC 4 CD-r burn (originally on Stash Records)
The fourth and final entry in the Charlie Parker box set I've been reviewing the last four weeks. A bit of a denouement next to the previous editions but still bop enough to make me forget all of those phony hipsters who swore by this guy's name these past sixtysome years. Best moments...the two takes of "Crazeology". The part I probably didn't care for the most..."How Deep is the Ocean" but then again I never really did like it when the new breed of jazz players would dip into the comparatively mild "legitimate" tin can alley sounds as if they were trying to prove to Mr. and Mrs. Front Porch USA that jazz indeed was a serious music as if said Front Porchers would care inna first place!
Various Artists-ORBIT RABBIT TWISTIN' STOP SIGN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Not as top notch as I woulda hoped but that's probably because I am in no way in the mood for the twangy country strains that appear. In fact, I'm not in the mood for any of the instrumental dance tracks or foreign-language pop numbers or black guys trying to imitate white guys imitating black guys soul like we get from Bobby Powell. In fact I ain't in the mood for ANYTHING right now but I won't let that get in the way of this review. What I do like here? Well, the obscure Rascals single gets me right inna brisket (it is an early one before they went total negritude) while the two In Sound US Army radio shows sure bring back more of those middle-of-the-night work shift memories only without the smell of the sewage plant wafting nearby. Sometimes I wish Bill would send me Cee-Dee-Ares with radio ads that reflect a HAPPIER time in my life!
But hey, let's just talk about the music at hand. Some pretty good wowzers here that I will recommend, even highly, to you which I gotta admit is something that gives me HOPE for a bright future of even more high energy efforts such as these! And so, without any more bloviating here's this week's presentation complete without commercial interruption:
Percussion lovers will undoubtedly go gaga over this new Rousay effort which, although easily enough drawing comparisons to a variety of previous solo-banging efforts, really can't be compared to any of those John Cage or Marcel Duchamp efforts that used to pop up on the old Finnedar label. There seems to be an underlying intensity to it, though the performance may come of slightly nonchalant. Whatever, the resultant music does make you draw attention away from whatever you're doing so you can enjoy Rousay's little intricacies and fills here and there which you might miss if you happen to be reading old comic books (like I was when this had been spinning) of doing the connect-the-dots. Yet another limited KSE edition so you better hurry up before it all gets lost to time.
***
Yet another beautiful surprise from what is perhaps the most driven-by-their-own-personalist-view vinyl label extant. Dunno who the people behind the Weeping Bong Band are (the hypsheet calls 'em a supergroup of sorts, yet I didn't recognize any of the acts these people came from!) but their music is great lay back and watch the clouds roll by (it would help if you were under the spell of some cough syrup or just zoned your way back to age three) sounds that remind me of various early-seventies kraut-rocky items of worth. Perhaps that jam on side four of Amon Duul II's YETI would be a good reference point or better yet some of the lesser known records that have come out on the infamous Brain label. And not only that, but this album is filled with plenty of "crummy fuzztone leads" as Greg Prevost would have put it! You might be surprised that someone could have recorded and released such an expressive and even warm (ooh!) album here in the cyborg 'teens, but it has been done and perhaps we are all the better for it.
***
Gotta admit that I wasn't as happy about this 'un as I usually tend to be with much of the Feeding Tube catalog. Sure it has its moments of brilliance not only via Noguchi's fluid guitar playing and the almost in-the-background ethereal female vocals but sheesh, a whole lotta this reminded me of some of the frillier moments to be found in various seventies progressive rock recordings. Not that this is as tinkly aerie as say Steve Hillage or the just-pre Buggled version of Yes but I wasn't really enthralled by the thing. Well, the opening strains did recall the Fripp and Eno classic NO PUSSYFOOTING of which I could ooze some listening pleasure but otherwise I wasn't jumping up and down over the thing. Great cover tho.
***
WW plays all the instruments on this effort, but in no way is this anything akin to a Todd Rundgren album that's for sure! Hard-edged rock (borders on a whole slew of rockcrit-derived genre terms that really do not mean a whit) that sears as guitars wail on while synths create a demonic vision that Chrome never even dreamed of. Should appeal to fans of the eighties over-the-top screedage whether it be of the punk-unto-hardcore-unto-total sonic eruption style (meaning this ain't for ya punks who thought that the music was the then-current update on the ol' hippies throwing bombs at the man radical rabble movement) or of the even newer heavy metal as pure noise transposed into energy that never really did make it with the box boy pimplefarm crowd.
***
There's so much intermingling with Destroy All Monsters here, from Sue Rynski's imitation of Niagara on "Road Kill" to the members that were shared by both bands, that I could see my four-year-old self being confused just like I was with SUPERCAR and FIREBALL XL-5. But plagiarism/homage aside this is a boffo rec, perhaps one of the year's best. Like you all know, I really miss the punk before pUnquE (I can't HELP writing it like Robot Hull!) style of rock 'n roll that sorta got wooshed over in favor of marketable fashion, and this more or less one-off effort has the same sorta late-seventies Detroit Rock spunk sim'lar to the likes of the likes of the Mutants, Cynecide and other acts that sorta paled in the shadow of the Grande Ballroom days! But hey, what else would you expect because frankly there's nothing WRONG with this! This take me right back to the eighties which were long after the heyday of groups like F.U.K., but boy were those records CHEAP!
***
European-styled instrumental fluff, the kind that reminds me of the opening and closing theme to some early-seventies afternoon dialing for dollars type program. Ra-daa-daa-daa-dippy-do and all that, but it still serves me well if only to dredge up some memories of funtime-era tee-vee. Credit must go to the Monterey Mood-Mixers and Johnny and the Shamrocks for creating this continental concoction and yes, you could just hear the besweatered locals in their burghs listening to this while eating their strudels midt cream und Museli while wearing ledehosen. Maybe even wearing hats with little feathers in them too!
***
The Sex Pistols-AUG. 29, 1976 LIVE AT SCREEN ON THE GREEN CINEMA, ISLINGTON, UK CD-r burn
The cruddy sound actually helps out, emphasizing the almost heavy metal levels that the Sex Pistols could attain while nobody was looking. Otherwise the performance is sloppy but sure with a whole lot more drive and even instrumental proficiency than the likes of Anastasia Pantsios would admit. Looking back it's strange to know that many of our associates were knockin' the Sex Pistols and anything under-the-underground in general yet this sounds overall straight-ahead and to the point as far as a rock 'n roll expression goes. I guess that listening to too much Styx will rearrange your listening parameters in ways even Lawrence Welk never would have dreamed of.
***
 |
The fourth and final entry in the Charlie Parker box set I've been reviewing the last four weeks. A bit of a denouement next to the previous editions but still bop enough to make me forget all of those phony hipsters who swore by this guy's name these past sixtysome years. Best moments...the two takes of "Crazeology". The part I probably didn't care for the most..."How Deep is the Ocean" but then again I never really did like it when the new breed of jazz players would dip into the comparatively mild "legitimate" tin can alley sounds as if they were trying to prove to Mr. and Mrs. Front Porch USA that jazz indeed was a serious music as if said Front Porchers would care inna first place!
***
Not as top notch as I woulda hoped but that's probably because I am in no way in the mood for the twangy country strains that appear. In fact, I'm not in the mood for any of the instrumental dance tracks or foreign-language pop numbers or black guys trying to imitate white guys imitating black guys soul like we get from Bobby Powell. In fact I ain't in the mood for ANYTHING right now but I won't let that get in the way of this review. What I do like here? Well, the obscure Rascals single gets me right inna brisket (it is an early one before they went total negritude) while the two In Sound US Army radio shows sure bring back more of those middle-of-the-night work shift memories only without the smell of the sewage plant wafting nearby. Sometimes I wish Bill would send me Cee-Dee-Ares with radio ads that reflect a HAPPIER time in my life!
2 comments:
An awful lot of Cultural Marxism being extolled here. Sheesh...
Maybe I spoke too soon...
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