SINGLES GOING STROONADIER'N THEY'VE EVER BEEN!
Some of the seven-inchers I've been sampling as of late. Old faves and a few newies in the batch. Take a chance for once you lazy being!
Treponen Pal-"Other Life"/"Solitude" (Gerard Tourier Records)
Haw! I actually snapped this disque up thinking that these Treponen Pal guys were thee same group who released a bunch of hot industrial strength electronic heavy metal records in the late-eighties! Naw, this is another group named after that syphilitic condition who were wallowing about in France a good ten or so years earlier and that, dear pard, is where the coincidence ends!
A-side is total wimp, typical brainless AM at its mid-seventies worst dribble that would appeal to those gals you knew who actually liked the tepid tunes of the day like "Chevy Van" and "Undercover Angel" but you agreed with their musical tastes in the hopes of going farther than first base. Flipster fairs slightly better what with a neo-"20th Century Boy" riff that still doesn't get off the ground but sounds boffo when played against the plug side. Not quite the European experience in under-the-covers rock music that I was hopin' for, but eh!
The Roamers-"Be True To Your School"/"Joanne Kay-"Wonderful Summer" (Hit Records)
Here's one I "inherited" from an older cousin, this undoubtedly one of the efforts of some knockoff label that specialized in releasing cover versions of the latest hits for both the dumbos and the tightwads. Ya know, people who didn't want to dish out the full price for the primo cut or best yet were too stoopid to tell the difference, so's they figured that a budget single would still get 'em in good with precious daughter because maybe SHE was such a stoop that didn't know better herself!
The reasons behind my cuz obtaining this does stymie me, because her parents used to get her and the rest of the brood the real deal items alla time! By no means were they penny pinching pikers like the folk I got! But for the price it musta cost them (and since I got it free!) the purpose was served because hey, these "Roamers" sound fairly close to the original Beach Boys (no cigars tho!) while Joanne Kay coulda been a big enuff singer herself had she made the right connections and the right motel for that matter! And ya gotta admit...back when this came out the seventysome pennies it cost for a single was sure a lotta money to pour down a rathole, as my father would still say!
Jeri Rossi-"I Left My Heart But I Don't Know Where"/"It's a Mans Mans Mans World" (Local Anesthetic Records)
Rossi's yet another one of those oft-loathed early eighties performers who used to dredge up more'n her share of fanzine-related bile. but I never exactly knew why she was thought of in such a disdainful way. After all, her recordings weren't anything calculated to make a full-blooded rock 'n roll maniac cringe and in fact her neo-Patti Smith cum Lydia Lunch posture sure came off better than some of the armchair boho feminist types around not only then but for many years after. This particular single has Rossi stretching her vocal cords and guitar chords for that matter on a couple of trax that still mingle around in late-seventies dark decadence without succumbing to the fetid post-no wave put on shock that always fell flat on its face. The James Brown cover even has that 13/13 lunge to it and if she was nada but a nth rate copycat as many had pegged her as well, we needed MORE nth rate copycats like her ifyaknowaddamean...
Your Funeral-"I Want To Be You"/"Final Abyss" (Local Anesthetic Records)
Another Rossi effort, this time with what I would assume was her reg'lar backing band. An all-gal group too, and boy (girl?) do they make most of those all-femme acts more concerned either with their pudenda or politics sound like the standard eighties above-it-all types they most certainly WERE. More of that dark neo-goth style that did pop up on Rossi's other effort rears its not-so-ugly head here, yet these numbers are still together enough to the point where you sure couldn't call these babes a Go Gos cheap cash-in for the gnu wave bux! I'd only hate to hear what this woulda sounded like a good five years from its 1982 launch, but I have faith that Your Funeral woulda transcended most of the lame punque political fashion post that ruined the entire genre for ages on end.
The Shadows of Knight-"Gloria"/"Dark Side: (Atlantic Golden Series Records)
When I grabbed this 'un up at the Musicland in Niles Ohio way back May 1977 boy was I happy! I kinda thought that bands like the Shadows of Knight and their NUGGETS brethren had totally vanished from the record store scene and here I was actually latching onto this million dollar (or so I thought!) goodie! And it was fantab too, rushing adrenaline into my veins upon first spin with that twangy guitar riff driving that whole mid-Amerigan suburban slob message into me in just the same way those GILLIGAN'S ISLAND reruns did! And hey, if yer a teenbo and that sound doesn't affect you all I gotta say is that you might be ready for that brain pressure reduction surgery a whole lot sooner than you had originally gambled on. Even the bluesy flip was mesmerizing enough too...what a double headed winner that made me feel glad that my mere pittance did got a lot farther than I woulda thunk inna first place!
Oh, and I got a cutout cassette of the first Stooges album that very day which I must admit did NOT affect me in the least! Too muddy with an overdose bass drowning everything out. It wasn't until I heard the album proper that it became a top spin but sheesh, you'd think even a DEFECTIVE copy of the debut Stooges record'd be better than no Stooges at all!
Rob Tyner and the Hot Rods-"Till The Night Is Gone (Let's Rock)"/"Flipside Rock" (Island Records, England)
It definitely was pure genius to team up the former MC5 frontman with England's then-upstart punk rockers Eddie and the Hot Rods, and the resultant spew is naturally about as on target as you would expect. Sure Tyner sounds like an older and battered man far from the pushing twenty pseudo-intellectual he most certainly once was, but the results are pretty snappy and don't make you wanna cringe the way fanz of the original Mothers of Invention mighta once they heard ZOOT ALLURES (well, that was the one that did it for me rather well!). Kinda strange tho---if the entire Tyner/Rods meeting was arranged by the NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS howcum SOUNDS's own Giovanni Dadomo's cyster (and well known photographer in her own right) Eve's singing back up on the thing?!?!?
Bob Dylan-"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You"/"Country Pie" (Columbia Records)
Not bad a-tall Dylan single that shoulda done better than the mid-reaches of the charts. Kinda bounce-y swinger/songwriter approach that is fair enough in the fact that I could even compare it to Elliot Murphy (something I prefer to do when measuring up solo guys with rockist chips on their shoulders). Flipster's once again one of those "double entendre" things that would have gotten you into a lotta hot water had you submitted this for English class...t'is still a good number from a guy who I can't figure on how much I hate him until I hear something like this then I like him until I hear something else that makes me hate him even more!
The Box Tops-"Sweet Cream Ladies Forward March"/"I See Only Sunshine" (Mala Records)
Another one I inherited from my cousin proving that she had a whole lot more taste in the music department than some of the records I got outta her collection would have attested to. Alex Chilton proves his worth even when under the heavy reigns of the record industry on the smooth Southern soul track that I'm surprised didn't hit as big as the other 'uns. Maybe the song was kinda...y'know...dirty what with the title and all. The flip should have been the side to hit tho with its smooth mid-south country soul style. Another boffo effort from Alex Chilton and company long before he became that cult figure that nerdy altrock types look towards as if his magic would ever rub off on their geeky essence.
The Village Stompers-"Washington Square"/"Turkish Delight" (Epic Records)
This single really dredges up the WAY BACK memories since I used to spin this up at my cousin's place where they had a small record player in their basement rec. room, and me and him used to walk around the room while it played because we thought that's what they did on AMERIGAN BANDSTAND. Sheesh, those banjo strains sure make me wanna revert back to age three (which is an easy thing for me to do---no kiddin'!) just so's I could relive a part of my childhood that was rather fun and exciting given all the opportunities us ranch house kids had! Or at least more exciting than anything that's happening these days! The flip's a dixieized version of "Hungarian Rhapsody" that sounds fine to me even if woulda made your 90-year-old gramma upchuck her Geritol---sheesh, who sez 1963 was a lousy year for music anyway???
Ray Charles-"In the Heat of the Night"/"Something's Got to Change" (ABC Records)
An expected-as-usual hot single from Charles long before he didn't have to stoop so low as to record "Ameriga the Beautiful" (even though his take has more verve to it than any jingoistic paens heard from the eighties on). The theme to the moom pitcher of the same name's probably way snazzier than the actual thing (never did see it!) with its moving groove, while the flip goes to show you that even co-author Billy Preston was put to some good use in this world. (Even though you could just tell he was only hanging out with Charles and the Beatles in order to further his own comparatively snoozoid solo career.) I guess Charles was one guy who really deserved getting all those tee-vee roles and commercial endorsements even if I always thought those voice overs of his were actually done by keen imitators!
David Bowie-"Sorrow"/"Amsterdam" (RCA Victor Records)
Only Bowie could have turned the McCoys' track into martinis and munchos mingle music for the better off amongst us. Makes me glad that I sat out the PIN UPS album all these years. Somehow I do cozy up to his take on Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam" even though I never did like that dirty Frenchman's work because well...he was a sicko. Still, these sorta solo acoustic passionate plods can hit 'cha in certain ways and believe-it-or-not but "Amsterdam" does have a certain thrill-chill to it that makes it almost worthwhile. A definite keeper that I'm gonna stick in my collection right next to Arnold Corns.
The Wipers-ALIEN BOY EP (Park Avenue Records)
These guys were pretty much the CRITICS DARLINGS back inna eighties, which just might be one reason why I had shied away from their music for the past three or so decades. But hey, as Aesop's son said, "Time wounds all heels" and maybe now I can settle back and listen to their music without being reminded of Gerard Cosloy!
Anyhoo, Hans Jurgen Klitsch was right when he was callin' the Wipers the best bunch he's heard since the Pink Fairies...after all both groups had the three-piece approach down pat as well as a driving force that seemed absent in the gnashing of teeth that was passing for punk rock during those rather feh days. And the Wipers also had a good extra ten years of rock 'n roll education to absorb which made 'em one of the brighter spots in the under-the-counterculture of the day which was really beginning to fail on all fronts.
This is their first, or one of 'em, back when they were on Park Avenue Records in the Pacific Northwest long before that area became that hippydippy punque anarcho-sissy headquarters of these here United States. If I were payin' more attention, I'd kinda wonder whatever happened to 'em.
Vox Pop-"Cab Driver"/"Just Like Your Mom" (Bad Trip Records)
Neat-o outta-the-way rarity from the same label that gave us the Angry Samoans, featuring the same kinda heavy metal disguised as punk rock that the Samoans proudly featured during their early years. It's got such a great approach to the higher end of ear plummification to it that I'm even tempted to dig into the ol' collection to find that 12-inch single on Mystic Records with Paul Cutler flashing his bod for the sake of all their homo fans. It's one of those records I'm glad I glommed onto before it skyrocketed in price, and if you weren't as smart as I was and shall remain maybe you could hear this via the KILLED BY DEATH series (I'm sure there are a few of those in your collection and if not---why?).
Third Rail-"It's a Surprise"/"Take That" (Long View Records)
Third and I believe final Third Rail single with Richard Nolan and a new group of Rails playing a more pop-oriented rock that don't sound much like their first two releases! An interesting change with synthesizer added in to modify things I guess, and frankly I sure wouldn't mind hearing even more Third Rail if the material I've experienced so far has been that good. Maybe a compilation of tracks from the band's earliest days until the end would be most welcome, complete with annotated notes and all those great things we've come to expect from the few companies still willing to dish out these archival wonders to the few remaining rock 'n roll droolers that are left of this once-high energy planet of ours.
The Naked Cage House Band-"Track Dog"/"Rolling in Clover" (Shoestring Records)
For all intent purposes this is a Third Rail offering, released in the otherwise dark and dismal year of 1988 when for the most part the rabid sounds and ideals of the guttural seventies had been washed away by the geeky goo passing as music. Or so I was led to believe---Nolan sounds as strong as ever here and although I can detect a number of instances where the music might be veering off into that flashy new-unto-gnu wave style this still beats much of the big-time amerindergroundindie stuff that I had the mispleasure of listening to at the time. Sheesh, if I had only known that Nolan was still up and about at the time maybe I wouldn't have been so down in the dumps about the state of rock 'n roll as prefab showy tee-vee glitz...blame the fanzines, not me kid!
The Cleveland Cuties-"If I Only Had the Bomb"/"Could She Love Me", "Pregnant Molly" 7-inch EP (Precious Records)
Dunno if this actually is the first self-produced independent record to come outta Cle as I've been told, but if it is the whole DIY ethos sure got off to a good start. The Brian Sands/Milk/Brian and the Juniors axis comes together (without Brian) to create some local Power Pop the way it shoulda been done, with loads of hard riffs, punchy melodies and (best of all) a sense of humor that could only come outta the land of Ghoulardi. Side "A" has Al Globekar not only crunching out some top leads but singing about his desire for true justice via the a-bomb, while on the flip Dennis Carleton sings modern love songs that I don't even think Jonathan Richman woulda thought up! And future Juniors drummer Mac Chafer bangs his way through the whole thing with perfect aplomb as well!
The Dillards-"Reason to Believe"/"Nobody Knows" (Elektra Records)
You probably only know the Dillards through their various ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW appearances as the Darling boys, but later on they did have quite a country rock career not only when they were hangin' out with various ex-Byrds but on their lonesome as well. The a-side has the boys tackling a Tim Hardin track and doin' it rather fairly well---maybe if they cracked a fart or two it woulda been more authentic. Flip is an original that, like the plug side, has that late-sixties gloss that actually gives this song a commercial edge that mighta pushed 'em over the "made it" line an' who could blame 'em! Nothing shattering, but it still has a "twing" to it that makes the thing a "keepie"!
Cabaret Voltaire-EXTENDED PLAY EP (Rough Trade Records, England)
This particular platter sure brings up a whole lotta memories, not only of the joys of receiving a new Systematic catalog but wonderin' where I was gonna get alla the money to pay for the records I oh so dearly wanted! This ain't exactly the kind of thing I went for back when the seventies/eighties cusp was up and about, but years later I can easily see just how these not-so-addled electronic rock fans merged the best of the late-sixties rebellion in sound (I'm talking Velvet Underground, not those putrid examples oft banded about by elderly enemies of music as that epitomized everything that was wrong with Teenbo Ameriga) with the new cyborg anti-humanism that was so drastically needed and, come to think of it, still is. Too bad Cabaret Voltaire eventually ended up as yet another post-disco ance band because if they kept up with what they started out with...whew!
Some of the seven-inchers I've been sampling as of late. Old faves and a few newies in the batch. Take a chance for once you lazy being!
Treponen Pal-"Other Life"/"Solitude" (Gerard Tourier Records)Haw! I actually snapped this disque up thinking that these Treponen Pal guys were thee same group who released a bunch of hot industrial strength electronic heavy metal records in the late-eighties! Naw, this is another group named after that syphilitic condition who were wallowing about in France a good ten or so years earlier and that, dear pard, is where the coincidence ends!
A-side is total wimp, typical brainless AM at its mid-seventies worst dribble that would appeal to those gals you knew who actually liked the tepid tunes of the day like "Chevy Van" and "Undercover Angel" but you agreed with their musical tastes in the hopes of going farther than first base. Flipster fairs slightly better what with a neo-"20th Century Boy" riff that still doesn't get off the ground but sounds boffo when played against the plug side. Not quite the European experience in under-the-covers rock music that I was hopin' for, but eh!
***
Here's one I "inherited" from an older cousin, this undoubtedly one of the efforts of some knockoff label that specialized in releasing cover versions of the latest hits for both the dumbos and the tightwads. Ya know, people who didn't want to dish out the full price for the primo cut or best yet were too stoopid to tell the difference, so's they figured that a budget single would still get 'em in good with precious daughter because maybe SHE was such a stoop that didn't know better herself!
The reasons behind my cuz obtaining this does stymie me, because her parents used to get her and the rest of the brood the real deal items alla time! By no means were they penny pinching pikers like the folk I got! But for the price it musta cost them (and since I got it free!) the purpose was served because hey, these "Roamers" sound fairly close to the original Beach Boys (no cigars tho!) while Joanne Kay coulda been a big enuff singer herself had she made the right connections and the right motel for that matter! And ya gotta admit...back when this came out the seventysome pennies it cost for a single was sure a lotta money to pour down a rathole, as my father would still say!
***
Rossi's yet another one of those oft-loathed early eighties performers who used to dredge up more'n her share of fanzine-related bile. but I never exactly knew why she was thought of in such a disdainful way. After all, her recordings weren't anything calculated to make a full-blooded rock 'n roll maniac cringe and in fact her neo-Patti Smith cum Lydia Lunch posture sure came off better than some of the armchair boho feminist types around not only then but for many years after. This particular single has Rossi stretching her vocal cords and guitar chords for that matter on a couple of trax that still mingle around in late-seventies dark decadence without succumbing to the fetid post-no wave put on shock that always fell flat on its face. The James Brown cover even has that 13/13 lunge to it and if she was nada but a nth rate copycat as many had pegged her as well, we needed MORE nth rate copycats like her ifyaknowaddamean...
***
Another Rossi effort, this time with what I would assume was her reg'lar backing band. An all-gal group too, and boy (girl?) do they make most of those all-femme acts more concerned either with their pudenda or politics sound like the standard eighties above-it-all types they most certainly WERE. More of that dark neo-goth style that did pop up on Rossi's other effort rears its not-so-ugly head here, yet these numbers are still together enough to the point where you sure couldn't call these babes a Go Gos cheap cash-in for the gnu wave bux! I'd only hate to hear what this woulda sounded like a good five years from its 1982 launch, but I have faith that Your Funeral woulda transcended most of the lame punque political fashion post that ruined the entire genre for ages on end.
***
When I grabbed this 'un up at the Musicland in Niles Ohio way back May 1977 boy was I happy! I kinda thought that bands like the Shadows of Knight and their NUGGETS brethren had totally vanished from the record store scene and here I was actually latching onto this million dollar (or so I thought!) goodie! And it was fantab too, rushing adrenaline into my veins upon first spin with that twangy guitar riff driving that whole mid-Amerigan suburban slob message into me in just the same way those GILLIGAN'S ISLAND reruns did! And hey, if yer a teenbo and that sound doesn't affect you all I gotta say is that you might be ready for that brain pressure reduction surgery a whole lot sooner than you had originally gambled on. Even the bluesy flip was mesmerizing enough too...what a double headed winner that made me feel glad that my mere pittance did got a lot farther than I woulda thunk inna first place!
Oh, and I got a cutout cassette of the first Stooges album that very day which I must admit did NOT affect me in the least! Too muddy with an overdose bass drowning everything out. It wasn't until I heard the album proper that it became a top spin but sheesh, you'd think even a DEFECTIVE copy of the debut Stooges record'd be better than no Stooges at all!
***
It definitely was pure genius to team up the former MC5 frontman with England's then-upstart punk rockers Eddie and the Hot Rods, and the resultant spew is naturally about as on target as you would expect. Sure Tyner sounds like an older and battered man far from the pushing twenty pseudo-intellectual he most certainly once was, but the results are pretty snappy and don't make you wanna cringe the way fanz of the original Mothers of Invention mighta once they heard ZOOT ALLURES (well, that was the one that did it for me rather well!). Kinda strange tho---if the entire Tyner/Rods meeting was arranged by the NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS howcum SOUNDS's own Giovanni Dadomo's cyster (and well known photographer in her own right) Eve's singing back up on the thing?!?!?
***
Not bad a-tall Dylan single that shoulda done better than the mid-reaches of the charts. Kinda bounce-y swinger/songwriter approach that is fair enough in the fact that I could even compare it to Elliot Murphy (something I prefer to do when measuring up solo guys with rockist chips on their shoulders). Flipster's once again one of those "double entendre" things that would have gotten you into a lotta hot water had you submitted this for English class...t'is still a good number from a guy who I can't figure on how much I hate him until I hear something like this then I like him until I hear something else that makes me hate him even more!
***
Another one I inherited from my cousin proving that she had a whole lot more taste in the music department than some of the records I got outta her collection would have attested to. Alex Chilton proves his worth even when under the heavy reigns of the record industry on the smooth Southern soul track that I'm surprised didn't hit as big as the other 'uns. Maybe the song was kinda...y'know...dirty what with the title and all. The flip should have been the side to hit tho with its smooth mid-south country soul style. Another boffo effort from Alex Chilton and company long before he became that cult figure that nerdy altrock types look towards as if his magic would ever rub off on their geeky essence.
***
This single really dredges up the WAY BACK memories since I used to spin this up at my cousin's place where they had a small record player in their basement rec. room, and me and him used to walk around the room while it played because we thought that's what they did on AMERIGAN BANDSTAND. Sheesh, those banjo strains sure make me wanna revert back to age three (which is an easy thing for me to do---no kiddin'!) just so's I could relive a part of my childhood that was rather fun and exciting given all the opportunities us ranch house kids had! Or at least more exciting than anything that's happening these days! The flip's a dixieized version of "Hungarian Rhapsody" that sounds fine to me even if woulda made your 90-year-old gramma upchuck her Geritol---sheesh, who sez 1963 was a lousy year for music anyway???
***
An expected-as-usual hot single from Charles long before he didn't have to stoop so low as to record "Ameriga the Beautiful" (even though his take has more verve to it than any jingoistic paens heard from the eighties on). The theme to the moom pitcher of the same name's probably way snazzier than the actual thing (never did see it!) with its moving groove, while the flip goes to show you that even co-author Billy Preston was put to some good use in this world. (Even though you could just tell he was only hanging out with Charles and the Beatles in order to further his own comparatively snoozoid solo career.) I guess Charles was one guy who really deserved getting all those tee-vee roles and commercial endorsements even if I always thought those voice overs of his were actually done by keen imitators!
***
Only Bowie could have turned the McCoys' track into martinis and munchos mingle music for the better off amongst us. Makes me glad that I sat out the PIN UPS album all these years. Somehow I do cozy up to his take on Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam" even though I never did like that dirty Frenchman's work because well...he was a sicko. Still, these sorta solo acoustic passionate plods can hit 'cha in certain ways and believe-it-or-not but "Amsterdam" does have a certain thrill-chill to it that makes it almost worthwhile. A definite keeper that I'm gonna stick in my collection right next to Arnold Corns.
***
These guys were pretty much the CRITICS DARLINGS back inna eighties, which just might be one reason why I had shied away from their music for the past three or so decades. But hey, as Aesop's son said, "Time wounds all heels" and maybe now I can settle back and listen to their music without being reminded of Gerard Cosloy!
Anyhoo, Hans Jurgen Klitsch was right when he was callin' the Wipers the best bunch he's heard since the Pink Fairies...after all both groups had the three-piece approach down pat as well as a driving force that seemed absent in the gnashing of teeth that was passing for punk rock during those rather feh days. And the Wipers also had a good extra ten years of rock 'n roll education to absorb which made 'em one of the brighter spots in the under-the-counterculture of the day which was really beginning to fail on all fronts.
This is their first, or one of 'em, back when they were on Park Avenue Records in the Pacific Northwest long before that area became that hippydippy punque anarcho-sissy headquarters of these here United States. If I were payin' more attention, I'd kinda wonder whatever happened to 'em.
***
Neat-o outta-the-way rarity from the same label that gave us the Angry Samoans, featuring the same kinda heavy metal disguised as punk rock that the Samoans proudly featured during their early years. It's got such a great approach to the higher end of ear plummification to it that I'm even tempted to dig into the ol' collection to find that 12-inch single on Mystic Records with Paul Cutler flashing his bod for the sake of all their homo fans. It's one of those records I'm glad I glommed onto before it skyrocketed in price, and if you weren't as smart as I was and shall remain maybe you could hear this via the KILLED BY DEATH series (I'm sure there are a few of those in your collection and if not---why?).
***
Third and I believe final Third Rail single with Richard Nolan and a new group of Rails playing a more pop-oriented rock that don't sound much like their first two releases! An interesting change with synthesizer added in to modify things I guess, and frankly I sure wouldn't mind hearing even more Third Rail if the material I've experienced so far has been that good. Maybe a compilation of tracks from the band's earliest days until the end would be most welcome, complete with annotated notes and all those great things we've come to expect from the few companies still willing to dish out these archival wonders to the few remaining rock 'n roll droolers that are left of this once-high energy planet of ours.
***
For all intent purposes this is a Third Rail offering, released in the otherwise dark and dismal year of 1988 when for the most part the rabid sounds and ideals of the guttural seventies had been washed away by the geeky goo passing as music. Or so I was led to believe---Nolan sounds as strong as ever here and although I can detect a number of instances where the music might be veering off into that flashy new-unto-gnu wave style this still beats much of the big-time amerindergroundindie stuff that I had the mispleasure of listening to at the time. Sheesh, if I had only known that Nolan was still up and about at the time maybe I wouldn't have been so down in the dumps about the state of rock 'n roll as prefab showy tee-vee glitz...blame the fanzines, not me kid!
***
The Cleveland Cuties-"If I Only Had the Bomb"/"Could She Love Me", "Pregnant Molly" 7-inch EP (Precious Records)Dunno if this actually is the first self-produced independent record to come outta Cle as I've been told, but if it is the whole DIY ethos sure got off to a good start. The Brian Sands/Milk/Brian and the Juniors axis comes together (without Brian) to create some local Power Pop the way it shoulda been done, with loads of hard riffs, punchy melodies and (best of all) a sense of humor that could only come outta the land of Ghoulardi. Side "A" has Al Globekar not only crunching out some top leads but singing about his desire for true justice via the a-bomb, while on the flip Dennis Carleton sings modern love songs that I don't even think Jonathan Richman woulda thought up! And future Juniors drummer Mac Chafer bangs his way through the whole thing with perfect aplomb as well!
***
You probably only know the Dillards through their various ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW appearances as the Darling boys, but later on they did have quite a country rock career not only when they were hangin' out with various ex-Byrds but on their lonesome as well. The a-side has the boys tackling a Tim Hardin track and doin' it rather fairly well---maybe if they cracked a fart or two it woulda been more authentic. Flip is an original that, like the plug side, has that late-sixties gloss that actually gives this song a commercial edge that mighta pushed 'em over the "made it" line an' who could blame 'em! Nothing shattering, but it still has a "twing" to it that makes the thing a "keepie"!
***
This particular platter sure brings up a whole lotta memories, not only of the joys of receiving a new Systematic catalog but wonderin' where I was gonna get alla the money to pay for the records I oh so dearly wanted! This ain't exactly the kind of thing I went for back when the seventies/eighties cusp was up and about, but years later I can easily see just how these not-so-addled electronic rock fans merged the best of the late-sixties rebellion in sound (I'm talking Velvet Underground, not those putrid examples oft banded about by elderly enemies of music as that epitomized everything that was wrong with Teenbo Ameriga) with the new cyborg anti-humanism that was so drastically needed and, come to think of it, still is. Too bad Cabaret Voltaire eventually ended up as yet another post-disco ance band because if they kept up with what they started out with...whew!
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