BLOG TO COMM

Nice enough past seven earthspins for you? Gotta say I did a pretty good job livin' thru it...after all I SURVIVED! But I was eaten alive for all you Kongress fans out there. Anyway I sure had fun comin' out intact what with the new records I've been listenin' to as well as the gigundo fortysome-plus years of music, fanzoonies and comix that have been pilin' up in my fart encrusted bedroom (leading to some fart encrusted reading, but I got used to that) that does a good job puttin' a smile on my face and a tap in my toe. An' who knows, if yer brave (or rich) enough to tackle some of the sounds that have been violatin' my turntable as of late you might just agree with me that although music as we knew it may be dead today, at least music as we knew it wasn't dead yesterday, or somethin' like that.

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Hadda big 'un planned for you this week, only I hadda transfer about half of the planned reviews to next week's post because of one of those HTML problems where everything ended up in bold print and blockquoted making this thing look even less pro than it tends to be! While trying to rectify things I lost a few album covers which was a real turdburger of a fact to get through my usually stoic being, but after some perseverance and loads of ship in a bottle-level work I managed to make this 'un look at least trite 'stead of   Quinlanesque  So be appreciative of all the hard work and effort it takes not only to fulfill your own rockist vicariousness, but my own self-satisfaction in puttin' this well-known and loved blog out to you! After the ordeal I've just been through all I gotta say is (tryin' t' be positive about my misfortunes 'n all) I don't hafta knock myself out tryin' t' get NEXT WEEK'S POST outta the gate!!! heeeeeeeeeee....

But why quibble about things other'n to pad this post out a li'l given the major UPHEAVAL that's just transpired. Got a good selection of gunk for you to read about (some of which might even inspire you on to greater things, like remembering to replace the toilet roll after yer done wipin' up .Lord knows we need more people 'round these parts to do that, right cyster? But anyway thanks to those who sent some goodies in like Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and the guys at Feeding Tube. If it weren't for these people you'd be reading about things like my recent ringworm infestation and some of my rather abstract rock 'n roll dreams having to do with meeting Dennis Yost at a Frankenstein convention before he turns into Berk Parks?!?!?

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Jester few of the non-reviewable (due to the fact that I've written 'em up many a time in my illustrious career) recordings that have graced my ears during the period it too me to create this particular post...Guru Guru UFO (Ohr), Cabaret Voltaire LIVE AT THE YMCA (Rough Trade), BLACK PEARL CD (Wounded Bird), the Electric Eels portion of THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES (Scat), the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Sister Ray" from CAUGHT BETWEEN THE TWISTED STARS (of course) and not much more unless you want me to bring up Mahogany Brain and Red Noise again. Vive le revolucion en musique energique (I hope I got that right)!

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Yeah I know. cut the crap and get on with it!!!

Maxine Funke-HOME FI 12-inch 45 rpm record (Feeding Tube Records)

's funny, but I pulled  this 'un outta the sleeve the VERY SAME DAY some guy went and blasted a whole buncha muzzies down New Zealand way. This Funke gal's from there too, but I don't think there's any connection between  her and hom. But sheesh, I thought the place was one of those outta-the-sphere snoozarama areas where nothing exciting happens! Boy was I wrong! Otherwise Miss Funke stays true to her national heritage with this singer/songwriter-y effort that is so quiet and practically nondescript that it withers into the ether upon escaping from your speakers. Makes Mary Hopkins sound like Blue Cheer.

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Eugene Chadbourne-SOLO GUITAR VOLUME 2 1/3 LP (Feeding Tube Records)

After this particular piece of hardened post-Cageian expression it was all downhill for Chadbourne. Well, not exactly and I shouldn't be so judgmental considering that I ain't heard everything the guy did since those early excursions into tackling a special approach to the six-stringed thing that came a whole lot closer to Derek Bailey than it did Montoya. Interesting clanks, clunks and the proper usage of the guitar as machine, all ending with a solo "proper" that will still twist your beanie into contortions it's never been in before or at least since you gave a Lol Coxhill record a spin.Worthy enough for alla you guys who saw this in the NMDS catalog and just didn't have the moolah to pick it up just like you didn't with DAILY DANCE and a whole batch of now-desirable spinners that are now all but impossible to find. And when you do, be prepared to empty that ol' wallet out...

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The Rockets-"Even Money"/"Steppin' Outa Line" 45 rpm single (Munster Records, Spain)

This fresh off the press platter really put the kick in this week's record session! This pre-Warsaw Pakt group with future Deviants/Pink Fairies crony Andy Colquhoun's got that early punk rock pounce that fans of those old Stiff and Skydog records should really enjoy, especially when you consider just how outta place these kinda acts got once 1980 began to clock in and new became "gnu". High energy jamz with a hefty rhythm 'n blooze input that took too long to get out to the public, but now that it's here I can see why all those mentions in the AYLESBURY ROXETTE were warranted way back before any of you readers really cared!

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Gram Parsons-HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN VOLUME 1 4-CD set (Country Records)

Who in their right mind woulda ever thunk that these once hard-to-find Gram Parsons sides would ever get what I believe is a legitimate release, and all I gotta say about it is BULLY FOR US! Within a nice package (none of that cheap same old snaps we've seen for the past hundred years stuff) we get a whole load of things detailing Parson's entire musical career from his '64 combo the Legends up through the International Submarine Band and Byrds until the final Fallen Angels days when a pre-brown eyed blue Emmylou Harris sang harmony. Byrds live in England, live on WBCN in Boston, Max's Kansas City...it's all here and more. And sheesh, this countrified rock 'n roll music is so good that you can even stomach the track where Neil Young and Linda of the reconstructed nostrils joins Parsons on-stage!

For a mere few smackers you can now have what it once took thousands in tape trade lists and bootleg catalogs to come up with. Of course here in 2019 buying a Gram Parsons set would be akin to your elders dishing out the $$$ for one of those nostalgic Big Band collections 'round '71 way but eh, aren't we in the here and now the spiritual successors to what those old scolds were way back when?

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SCAT RAG BOOSTERS CD-r burn (self released)

It sure is heart-cockle warming to know that there still were primitive rock 'n roll groups---OF WORTH---cranking out their own low-fi and definitely non-DeMeolaesque guitar-fashioned playing as late as 2004. That's when the Scat Rag Boosters put this effort out and it holds up better'n Penelope Playtex lo these many years later'n you;d think. Trash neo-bluesy garage band crankers sort sounding like the Heartbreakers vying for a spot on NUGGETS VOLUME TWO or at least the WZZZ-AM top 40 in Bumfug Indiana circa 1967. Flamin' Groovies circa Skydog run through a Veg-O-Matic. About an hour or so of nonstop trashpunk with solid chops and a sound to make the most sincere hi-fi nut leap off his speakers. A must for those of you who prayed at the altar of high energy hijinx for a longer time than any of us could remember.

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Rolley Polley-MAD DRUMS CD-r burn (originally on Capitol Records)

If you like e-z listening and LOTSA DRUMS AND CLANKING THINGS you might just like this Rolley Polley (and this ain't no puddin'!). Brings back that flea market spirit of 1979, or at least the stuff you came across while looking for the goodies. A must for the spiritual hi-fi nut circa. 1960 living in the old folks home of your choice, or your mind for that matter.

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Chet Baker-IN PARIS 1955-1956 2 CD-r set (originally on Fresh Sounds Records)

One of jazz's bigger creeps does good on these mid-fifties sides that were originally laid down for the Barclay label. Naturally this is a far cry from the usual fire music that gets the jazzbo rah's here at BLOG TO COMM but I find Baker's horn playing to be rather copasetic with my usual post-work-a-day moods. The moments where he ventures into more of a mid-fifties West Coast new thing makes me wish the guy woulda gone white chamber jazz style a la Jimmy Giuffre, but what we got is what we got. And this does sound a whole lot less bowtie and tux than I thought it would so bully for it all!

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Various Artists-LIVERPOOL ROCKET TOBACCO PASSAGE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Usual mix 'n match with some pretty high-larious moments like the radio ad for Peter and Gordon' OF CABBAGES AND KINGS along with some good strangities (or is it strange goodities?) from the likes of the Jam long after anyone thought they'd do a thing of worth, a tough groover from the Orlons and this really nice neo-something jazz rocker from an act called Calexo whose "Attack el Rocket Attqack" (really!) comes off like something I woulda thought the latterday original Mothers of Invention woulda worked up during one of their less boogied moments. Jerry Lee Lewis' ode to the Kennedy Assassination is also a good hoot and it even got a boff country backing! The various commercials are also a laff riot (and how can ya ignore the Every Mother's Son appearance on the IN-SOUND show promoting "today's action army"!), but I sure coulda used less of that singer/songwriter quap a la Rob Carpenter and Kris Kristofferson...sheesh!* (But hey, Gal Costa is always welcome here since we at BLOG TO COMM support hotcha femininity whenever the occasion, amongst other things, arises.)

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There was a time when BLACK TO COMM was considered one of the more cutting-edge, tell-it-like-it-is no bullshit rock reads one could find throughout the tepid eighties, nineties and beyond. Of course if you were one of many who thought that the innovations of rock videos, hair metal and general squeaky clean visages were the organs and blood vessels that made rock 'n roll so sparkly back during those days you might beg to differ. However, I do hope there are at least a few thousand of you out there who believe otherwise. I mean, how else am I gonna sell off these leftover rags and retire like a true Suburban Slob well stocked with pork rinds and comic book reprints anyway?

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*Actually I really do like the Kristofferson track which kinda reminds me of one of those introspective late-night Peter Laughner musings that you'll all hopefully hear once the box set is released. But sheesh, how can I present myself as being the ultimo top notch cooler-than-thou supreme being 'fessin' up to a truthism like that? Unless I present myself as a contra-hip hipster who likes a wide variety of things in my own individualist anti-cool is the true way to musical universalism way just like Laughner and many other rockscribe faves of mine (Nick Kent and Charles Shaar Murray, not to mention Jonh Ingham and even ol' Lester Bangs) have for quite a long time. Dunno, do you think that'll work?