Hmmmm, not as bountiful as I would have liked it this week. You can blame it on Mame, the Bossa Nova, Cain or the current socio/political situation if you like but as usual the blame falls on ME! After all, I do have a life outside of this manic social whirlpool we call the internet, and if those yards don't get mowed and those leaves remain un-raked my standing in the REAL LIFE community is bound to fall. So settle back and be satisfied with the relative pittance you're getting not only in reviews but in my deft insight into various important matters from tee-vee, politics, societal mores and other items that I know will upset the dish it out but can't take it types out there. You know, those "readers" who regularly tune into this unique form of expression that thankfully goes against the tide of what's considered hip and proper and other brownie points that will make you even more popular than all those good looking gals in school who got abortions. Nowadays they're all undoubtedly part of the sag set and here I am...about as fit as a fiddle upstairs as any true music maven on the face of this earth would dare to be!
Chris Spedding-GOOD TO BE ALIVE five-CD-r set (Marshall Records)
When I first heard Spedding via the BACKWOODS PROGRESSION album back '76 way I thought he was some bland kinda singer/songwriter who was trying to get his Dylan nasal down a little more pat'n that guy in Stealer's Wheel let alone Dylan himself. Li'l did I know that this Spedding guy was some sorta bigshot session player who had performed with the likes of John Cale and was latching onto that p-rock thing that alla the high school students talked about in hushed tones. These five platters present Spedding during his new-unto-gnu wave days with two Max's Kansas City shows featuring special guests John Cale, Robert Gordon and Henry Gross, Spedding on his lonesome as well as a Robert Gordon radio broadcast during the days when the motorbikin' one was in the rockabilly boogier's band shortly after he took over Link Wray's chair in the group.
The sound on 'em (if ya really care) is soundboard clear, though as far as performances go I didn't care for Spedding's early-eighties solo live excursions which came off so FM rock in their interpretation of what alla this gnu musik was "supposed" to sound like 'stead of what it shoulda. The Max's shows were snat what with John Cale and Spedding making up after the chicken incident and Gordon's rockabilly howl not as offensive as some made it out. Even Henry Gross rocked out here making me wonder why the former Sha Na Na guitarist hadda go and make that sappy single custom made for that fat thigh'd stuck up gal in Algebra. The all-Gordon broadcast ain't bad either especially if you get outta your mind that story about the Zantees wanting to open a show for him and he said OK only if they supplied him with some heavy duty booty that coulda gotten a whole load of people into trouble! But that's just a mean rumor so forget I even said it inna first place!
Like just about everything else that pops up on this blog this ain't for everybody, but a few people who have followed Spedding throughout the years and even had those Harvest albums in their stacks might want to snatch this up. Ebay seems to have one of these every so often so like, keep them peepers peeled and I don't mean UN CHIEN ANDALOU!
Fadensonnen-CHANDRA CD (Fadensonnen Records)
Talk about throwin' one for a loop! Here Fadensonnen alternates between light vibraphone/percussion pieces that remind me of something Gunter Hampel used to do with hard-out searing guitar play somewhere in between Sonny Sharrock and WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT. Fadensonnen must be one of the busier people out on the do-it-your-way musical scene considering that Razorlegs cassette he sent me just last week. For all out total eruptive music here at the dusk of another decade that did nada for us you can't beat Fadensonnen! So get this one however you can (try the same link to the Razorlegs review that I posted and ye probably shall find).
Various Artists-AZIMUTH TAPE ADJUSTMENT : BEST OF THE OWN THE WHOLE WORLD CASSETTE COMPILATIONS 84-'85 cassette (ubgun12@yahoo.com)
Dunno how I missed out on these early Bob Forward cassettes. Maybe I didn't. Anyway this tape purports to be the "best" of the various tapeage that came out with Forward's OWN THE WHOLE WORLD fanzine and the sounds here are as all over the place which ain't nothing special mind you. Weird free splat goes up against straightforward rock 'n roll then you get an electronic thing that reminds me of the theme to a seventies-era PBS program before some tape mangipulation that seemed to be so the rage in the eighties shows up. This has some items from Akron, Cleveland and even beyond. Not for everyone's tastes but there's something for everyone within these...er..."grooves".
The Fireballs-GUNSHOT CD-r burn (originally on Sundazed Records)
If you liked the String-A-Longs who also recorded at the Norman Petty Clovis New Mexico studio from whence Buddy Holly once a-sprang you might very well like the Fireballs, who I dunno are the same Fireballs as in "Jimmy Gilmer and" but they're Fireballs just the same. These guys had the same sorta creaky and patented safe sound like the group of "Wheels" fame and you kinda get the impression that this music was also meant for the enjoyment of the elderly set as well as the teenbos who pocketed lunch money if only to buy records like these. But so what if I can get a good li'l rise outta their instrumental goodies just like I can most of the other instrumental acts of that sainted era. One vocal does pop up but that seemed to be the rule back then. Now this might not be as all out slam bang as the stuff Paul Revere and the Raiders were crankin' out at the same time but next to what would hit the AM dial once the late-sixties got into gear this might as well be the Stooges!
Scott H. Biram-THIS IS KINGSBURY? CD-r burn (originally on Knuckle Sandwich Records)
Although I probably will NEVER listen to this platter again I gotta admit that this slice of Appalachian folky blooze holler is purty down-home good! Although this kinda music ain't always my cup of tea unless Peter Laughner's doing it, Birum's take on downhome olde tyme folk music sure rings a whole lot truer'n the hippies onna front porch doings many of us have been inundated with for years whether we liked it or not. At times this sounds as authentic as those scratchy 78s that Bill keeps sending me, and the fact that this one's relatively "recent" (well "2000") is testament to the fact that there are still some people who remember what Americana down home goodness is still all about! You might even kick your feet up on the Franklin Stove while listening to this while smokin' a corn cob pipe...who knows?
Various Artists-HOKEY POKEY ROCK CD-r burn (originally on White Label Records, Holland)
The lack of liner notes has me wondrin' more and more about who these ozobs actually were, but from what I can these tracks were taken from various late-fifties/early-sixties flopsters that SHOULDA gone somewhere other'n the local Goodwill. In order not to be so boringly redundant about these things let me just say that you pretty know what to expect from these locally produced rockabilly tracks and it sure ain't the moderne day approach which seems to have lost more'n a little in the process. Next to this, the early-eighties "revival" might have well have been Patti Page!
Various Artists-VOLUNTEERS AT THE VIRTUAL THRIFT STORE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Another rather "varied" selection here. This 'un's got some roughhouse soul from the likes of Little Gigi and the Lafayette Afro Rock Band (who actually sound kinda/sorta authentic as opposed to the more giddy disco-y stuff that came out inna seventies) not to mention different trax from familiarfaces voices like Fats Domino and the Toys of "A Lover's Concerto" fame. The Hispanic rock 'n rollers were fine (I especially liked Alex y los Finders' "Me Siento Feliz" which is an accurate version of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" without the feedback opening) while Sagram's "The Universal Form", a long sitar stretchout, would have been better put to use had it ended up on an episode of DRAGNET. In all (even the avant gardities from Tim Berne and Dominic Lash/Nate Wooley) a fine effort, though if Jim Fullen really is of the male gender I get the impressions that his testicles have yet to drop.
Just a brief note to say that BLACK TO COMM back issues are still available and I do kinda get the idea that more'n a few of you reg'lar tuner inners are in the market for these by-now LEGENDARY, CRUCIAL, NECESSARY and other keen words fanzines! Yes, while other fanzines of the day are nowadays about as relevant as Jane Fonda, these BTC's really stand out inna sea of eighties/nineties home-produced efforts which really don't stand the test of time given how all of the under-the-underground musical trends and political chic moves of them days seem about as archaic as Benjamin Franklin Stoves. That is, That is, unless you still have quite a hankerin' for the "art" of Karen Finley and proudly parade your pock-marked body with a "Silence = Death" placard and if so may I ask you an all-important question which is...why are you still alive?
When I first heard Spedding via the BACKWOODS PROGRESSION album back '76 way I thought he was some bland kinda singer/songwriter who was trying to get his Dylan nasal down a little more pat'n that guy in Stealer's Wheel let alone Dylan himself. Li'l did I know that this Spedding guy was some sorta bigshot session player who had performed with the likes of John Cale and was latching onto that p-rock thing that alla the high school students talked about in hushed tones. These five platters present Spedding during his new-unto-gnu wave days with two Max's Kansas City shows featuring special guests John Cale, Robert Gordon and Henry Gross, Spedding on his lonesome as well as a Robert Gordon radio broadcast during the days when the motorbikin' one was in the rockabilly boogier's band shortly after he took over Link Wray's chair in the group.
The sound on 'em (if ya really care) is soundboard clear, though as far as performances go I didn't care for Spedding's early-eighties solo live excursions which came off so FM rock in their interpretation of what alla this gnu musik was "supposed" to sound like 'stead of what it shoulda. The Max's shows were snat what with John Cale and Spedding making up after the chicken incident and Gordon's rockabilly howl not as offensive as some made it out. Even Henry Gross rocked out here making me wonder why the former Sha Na Na guitarist hadda go and make that sappy single custom made for that fat thigh'd stuck up gal in Algebra. The all-Gordon broadcast ain't bad either especially if you get outta your mind that story about the Zantees wanting to open a show for him and he said OK only if they supplied him with some heavy duty booty that coulda gotten a whole load of people into trouble! But that's just a mean rumor so forget I even said it inna first place!
Like just about everything else that pops up on this blog this ain't for everybody, but a few people who have followed Spedding throughout the years and even had those Harvest albums in their stacks might want to snatch this up. Ebay seems to have one of these every so often so like, keep them peepers peeled and I don't mean UN CHIEN ANDALOU!
***
Talk about throwin' one for a loop! Here Fadensonnen alternates between light vibraphone/percussion pieces that remind me of something Gunter Hampel used to do with hard-out searing guitar play somewhere in between Sonny Sharrock and WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT. Fadensonnen must be one of the busier people out on the do-it-your-way musical scene considering that Razorlegs cassette he sent me just last week. For all out total eruptive music here at the dusk of another decade that did nada for us you can't beat Fadensonnen! So get this one however you can (try the same link to the Razorlegs review that I posted and ye probably shall find).
***
Dunno how I missed out on these early Bob Forward cassettes. Maybe I didn't. Anyway this tape purports to be the "best" of the various tapeage that came out with Forward's OWN THE WHOLE WORLD fanzine and the sounds here are as all over the place which ain't nothing special mind you. Weird free splat goes up against straightforward rock 'n roll then you get an electronic thing that reminds me of the theme to a seventies-era PBS program before some tape mangipulation that seemed to be so the rage in the eighties shows up. This has some items from Akron, Cleveland and even beyond. Not for everyone's tastes but there's something for everyone within these...er..."grooves".
***
If you liked the String-A-Longs who also recorded at the Norman Petty Clovis New Mexico studio from whence Buddy Holly once a-sprang you might very well like the Fireballs, who I dunno are the same Fireballs as in "Jimmy Gilmer and" but they're Fireballs just the same. These guys had the same sorta creaky and patented safe sound like the group of "Wheels" fame and you kinda get the impression that this music was also meant for the enjoyment of the elderly set as well as the teenbos who pocketed lunch money if only to buy records like these. But so what if I can get a good li'l rise outta their instrumental goodies just like I can most of the other instrumental acts of that sainted era. One vocal does pop up but that seemed to be the rule back then. Now this might not be as all out slam bang as the stuff Paul Revere and the Raiders were crankin' out at the same time but next to what would hit the AM dial once the late-sixties got into gear this might as well be the Stooges!
***
Although I probably will NEVER listen to this platter again I gotta admit that this slice of Appalachian folky blooze holler is purty down-home good! Although this kinda music ain't always my cup of tea unless Peter Laughner's doing it, Birum's take on downhome olde tyme folk music sure rings a whole lot truer'n the hippies onna front porch doings many of us have been inundated with for years whether we liked it or not. At times this sounds as authentic as those scratchy 78s that Bill keeps sending me, and the fact that this one's relatively "recent" (well "2000") is testament to the fact that there are still some people who remember what Americana down home goodness is still all about! You might even kick your feet up on the Franklin Stove while listening to this while smokin' a corn cob pipe...who knows?
***
The lack of liner notes has me wondrin' more and more about who these ozobs actually were, but from what I can these tracks were taken from various late-fifties/early-sixties flopsters that SHOULDA gone somewhere other'n the local Goodwill. In order not to be so boringly redundant about these things let me just say that you pretty know what to expect from these locally produced rockabilly tracks and it sure ain't the moderne day approach which seems to have lost more'n a little in the process. Next to this, the early-eighties "revival" might have well have been Patti Page!
***
Various Artists-VOLUNTEERS AT THE VIRTUAL THRIFT STORE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)Another rather "varied" selection here. This 'un's got some roughhouse soul from the likes of Little Gigi and the Lafayette Afro Rock Band (who actually sound kinda/sorta authentic as opposed to the more giddy disco-y stuff that came out inna seventies) not to mention different trax from familiar
***
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