Welcome back to yet more battling of dead rock 'n roll causes and re-fighting of old wars this blog is known for. If you're expecting anything new and fresh as far as mental stimulation you certainly won't find it here, but if you like regurgitated seventies phony neo-Bangsian/Meltzer-ish prattle (with none of their deep insight or virtue signalling of course) non-journalistic pseudo-hack rant then man, didja come to the RIGHT place!
Howzabout some current events, just like we usedta do for extra credit way back during our stool days! Yah---for starters we can all osmose in nice communal fashion the recent death of Kobe Bryant! Not being a sports fan (really, it sure takes the wind outta me watching people run around for no particularly good reason!) Bryant's death really doesn't affect me the way that Lou Reed's would have, even if Reed's own passing didn't affect me in the least.
However I gotta say that I like the way almost everyone but a few brave souls commenting on his rather fiery demise seem to fluff over that episode a short while back where he ended up playing hide the salami in the cheese storage bin with some underage piece as if it was but a mere aberration in an otherwise stellar existence. Well, the whole thing did end up with Bryant's marriage becoming even STRONGER thanks to the guy reportedly having some redeeming shard of good ol' moral decency, so he can't be as a great a human being type if you go by current acceptable sexual behavior mores in which everything is good and pure and wholesome just as long as the poke-ee mutters something even vaguely in the affirmative.
And while we're at it, howzbout the impeachment! Yeah, howzbout it...talk about something of little interest going nowhere especially when you consider that Prez Trump has about as much of a chance of getting kicked outta office as Amy Gelman has of being a complete and totally compassionate human being. (Actually I dunno what her current state of existence or demeanor is like, though I do get the idea that she spends here free moments pursuing cat toys and boxed wine cursing out a gigantic portion of the human race.) Let's face it, even if some loops of Trump savagely raping a four-year-old girl pop up he's still gonna be the commander in chief, and probably for a loooooong time because what does the opposition have other'n a buncha whiny spoiled brat upper class kids playing Che Guevara or their stuck up parents who probably still creem to glossies of FDR trying to cop some cooze in his wheelchair. At least you really can say that Trump is a choice not an echo, and in these days boy are the soundwaves flyin' around to cavernous effect!
If they really wanna up the ratings on this 'un they should do something snat like throw some spiffy Johnny Carson-esque patter into the opening statements and maybe dig up Rich Little from wherever he is to do some spot on impersonations of the politicians at hand. At least watching self righteous politicians putting on airs of morality while takin' that route to higher ground's always a good reason to LAUGH YOUR ASS AWAY!
When it comes to tee-vee in general I can't say that I tune in that much I care to turn on these days. Maybe I'll check in on a blue moon to see what Lou Dobbs is up to if the boob tube ain't already being occupied by my cyster watching some of those HGTV bornados where some "expert" fixes up your house to look like a gay bordello. Even the shows that I do enjoy watching on a regular enough basis seem to be running on zilch...I continue checking out LOONEY TUNES on Boomerang but there are way too many re-re-reruns for me to handle even if the animation and general production values make today's cartoons look like Mr. Bill. It's worse than when I was a kid and the local stations would air a LITTLE RASCALS or BUGS BUNNY that was on only last week but ya watched it because well...it was ol' Bugs!
There are plenty of Warner Brothers cartoons out there only I get the strange feeling that many of the stations that would air something along the lines of a World War II WB 'toon are skittish about offending someone (someone they think should not be offended, that is---people like me are fair game of course!). Perhaps they are just too lazy to pack up the proceedings thinking that the audience changes so rapidly that it doesn't matter if they show YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY (one of the early-forties cartoons they do happen to show) ten times a week. C'mon people---OFFEND SOMEONE!!!! Show some Speedy Gonzales and The Rover Boys with Dora Standpipe and throw in a few Sniffles for good measure. Even Tom Thumb! How long has it been since you heard "Mutiny in the Nursery" while that Frankenstein Monster began approaching our Sniffles and his bespectacled book worm pal anyway??? Man that one scared me as a kid and I'm sure it would frighten the bejabbers outta me this far down the ol' line we call life!
I'd also really enjoy seeing Porky Pig recite the Pledge of Allegiance along with all of that great rotoscoped animation of Amerigan history passing before one's very eyes at least once before I finally click outta here! And somehow I see the youth of this world of ours being way more informed, inspired and stimulated in a right proper way by watching ol' Bugs get the best of Elmer Fudd (an' I ain't talkin' those post-1963 recreations!) than I do them watching those twisted morality plays they call modern kiddie programming!
When the mood hits me sometimes I'll get up real early Saturday mornings and watch THE RIFLEMAN on AMC of all places...as far as a series that always delivered on a good story and could be downright homey and suddenly sadistic with the drop of a hat this 'un can't be beat! Also like tuning into both TOMBSTONE TERRITORY and BAT MASTERSON weekends on FETV if I happen to remember they're on...somehow the idea of a relatively lone wolf type searching for justice in the midst of totalitarianism or anarchy (not the sissy neo-communist anarchy stuff we have nowadays!) which are plentiful in these fifties/sixties-era tee-vee westerns really does touch this oft-touched inna head sorta guy...really gets ya in the brisket stuff that shows that you still have your head in the right place 'stead of up some quickie pickup's hindquarters.
Also viewed when the opportunity arises...the hour long black and white GUNSMOKEs on Insp. (way better'n the color ones though slightly lacking next to the half-hours that preceded) and LAREDO with all time tough guy creep Neville Brand who's been a fave of mine ever since I watched his performance as the sadistic wanko in THE MAD BOMBER. Hey someone out there...bring back HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and even RANGO which I'm sure will be judged a whole less harshly next to the mire of current day entertainment.
Crazy Doberman-WOZ/ACOUSTIC/HEATH'S 1 CD-r burn
Can my ears be deceiving me or am I experiencing a real-deal modern day reproduction of the classic 4-piece Art Ensemble of Chicago sound? Sure reminds me of an outtake from THE PARIS SESSIONS as it moves in and out with a sax/flugelhorn interweaving complete with what sounds like a plunked zither and some percussive clang. It coulda fooled me, its that authentic to the old free play that many of us reg'lar readers discovered much to our joy in the seventies. The sax player doesn't have the intestinal fortitude of either a Mitchell or a Jarman but he sure knows how to tackle putting the O-mind into his approach! Somewhere the spirit of Leonard Feather is belching.
Kraftwerk-RECORDED LIVE IN SOEST GERMANY, WINTER 1970 CD (Eye of the Storm Records)
First four tracks have been heard via many a download before, but the rest is new enough to my ears. Especially interesting (and entertaining too---don't forget that!) is the Organisation take of "Ruckzuck" which I never even read about in the assortment of Kraftwerk-related articles I have at my disposal! This even has yet another version of "Truckstop Gondolero" which ain't the BEAT CLUB take, not forgetting a number I never knew existed called "Kakteen, Wuste, Sonne" which is one of those nice drifty instrumentals that kinda goes on and on like some sort of Teutonicized raga jag! This number even sounds a lot like early Amon Duul II which does surprise me considering how much AD and Kraftwerk have about as much in common as my writing style does with Bill Shute's! Import hustlers of yore, you know your duty!
THE PRIME MOVERS BLUES BAND CD-r burn (originally on Modern Harmonic Records)
I wonder how this 'un slipped by my usually astute Detroit high energy consciousness? Yup, finally a long-player from the very same white blues band that not only set one Iggy Pop off on a life of crime and a Blue Gene Tyranny ready for the New York avant chic record collections but nestled White Panther Minister of Information Brother J.C. Crawford into the drum chair after the Pop headed for brighter pastures. As far as these white blues groups go the Movers are pretty successful in getting the gritty bar feeling down pat, but this ain't quite the EAST/WEST that I thought it would be (but then again what is?). As far as historical tombstones go, it serves well.
The Rolling Stones-SATANIC SESSIONS VOL,1, discs 2 and 3 CD-r burns
Dunno if Bill burned me disque #1 (can't locate it if he did), but two 'n three are strictly for the kinda Stones fans with puckered anuses and rooms filled with Stones ephemera that you know the nephews are gonna toss out with the trash once the owner's dead 'n gone. Backing tracks, fragments and other unused bits from SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST slapped right at ya straight from the board. Wanna lissen to about twenty opening takes of "She Comes in Colours" inna row until you can't stand it? To misquote Bob Hope, when they capture al-Quirayshi they're gonna make him sit through this twice!
JERRY LEE LEWIS AT SUN RECORDS - THE COLLECTED WORKS DISC NINE CD-r burn (originally on Bear Family Records, Germany)
It really must be studio outtakes week here at BLOG TO COMM what with the Rolling Stones platters above and now this spinner taken off an 18 Cee-Dee Jerry Lee Lewis box set! Not being as big of a fifties rockabilly fan as I am of various post-Brylcreem forms I gotta say that I found these tracks with Lewis working out a whole slew of early rockers and country schmoozers to be---downright copasetic with my generally easy going disposition. A whole lot better'n listening to the works in progress as it was with the Stones platters above, this fly onna wall approach is not only a whole lot more entertaining, but a whole lot more nerve-soothing! I guess Lewis coulda been a nice enough guy as long as he was kept in check by whatever it is that could keep him in check!
Lucky Thompson-SMOOTH SAILING CD-r burn (originally on Indigo Records)
There goes Bill, tryin' ta edjookate me about the finer aspects of mid-twentieth century Amerigan music! Well, I don't mind being informed about some of the finer moments of the past few thousand years of civilization, just as long as Bill doesn't gimme some sorta quiz about it afterwards! Saxophonist Lucky Thompson (one of the original soprano players in the world of jazz, at least between Bechet and Coltrane!) does everything from boogie woogie blues to swing and early bopsterisms that might get your insides chuggin' to the rhythm if not your feet movin' to the beat. Fine enough by me, for it gets me ready for the huge ONSLAUGHT that was gonna hit a whole loada unsuspecting ones out there by surprise within the span of a few short years, even if I must admit that I prefer Ricky Nelson's version of "For You".
***Yeah, I know there's a ton of things that I can talk about here in the opening reaches of this post. Besides music that is, something of which you'll get more'n enough once you mosey on down a spell. After all, this is a weblog which I guess is the modern day equiv. of both putting out a fanzine and having an argument with someone over the phone (at least a one-way one that you WIN!), and I'm sure you want to know way more about what music is spinnin' my stirrups given how, in this day and age, the reader wants to be about as one with the writer as humanly can be possible. Barring acts that used to be illegal for ages, that is.
Howzabout some current events, just like we usedta do for extra credit way back during our stool days! Yah---for starters we can all osmose in nice communal fashion the recent death of Kobe Bryant! Not being a sports fan (really, it sure takes the wind outta me watching people run around for no particularly good reason!) Bryant's death really doesn't affect me the way that Lou Reed's would have, even if Reed's own passing didn't affect me in the least.
However I gotta say that I like the way almost everyone but a few brave souls commenting on his rather fiery demise seem to fluff over that episode a short while back where he ended up playing hide the salami in the cheese storage bin with some underage piece as if it was but a mere aberration in an otherwise stellar existence. Well, the whole thing did end up with Bryant's marriage becoming even STRONGER thanks to the guy reportedly having some redeeming shard of good ol' moral decency, so he can't be as a great a human being type if you go by current acceptable sexual behavior mores in which everything is good and pure and wholesome just as long as the poke-ee mutters something even vaguely in the affirmative.
And while we're at it, howzbout the impeachment! Yeah, howzbout it...talk about something of little interest going nowhere especially when you consider that Prez Trump has about as much of a chance of getting kicked outta office as Amy Gelman has of being a complete and totally compassionate human being. (Actually I dunno what her current state of existence or demeanor is like, though I do get the idea that she spends here free moments pursuing cat toys and boxed wine cursing out a gigantic portion of the human race.) Let's face it, even if some loops of Trump savagely raping a four-year-old girl pop up he's still gonna be the commander in chief, and probably for a loooooong time because what does the opposition have other'n a buncha whiny spoiled brat upper class kids playing Che Guevara or their stuck up parents who probably still creem to glossies of FDR trying to cop some cooze in his wheelchair. At least you really can say that Trump is a choice not an echo, and in these days boy are the soundwaves flyin' around to cavernous effect!
If they really wanna up the ratings on this 'un they should do something snat like throw some spiffy Johnny Carson-esque patter into the opening statements and maybe dig up Rich Little from wherever he is to do some spot on impersonations of the politicians at hand. At least watching self righteous politicians putting on airs of morality while takin' that route to higher ground's always a good reason to LAUGH YOUR ASS AWAY!
There are plenty of Warner Brothers cartoons out there only I get the strange feeling that many of the stations that would air something along the lines of a World War II WB 'toon are skittish about offending someone (someone they think should not be offended, that is---people like me are fair game of course!). Perhaps they are just too lazy to pack up the proceedings thinking that the audience changes so rapidly that it doesn't matter if they show YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY (one of the early-forties cartoons they do happen to show) ten times a week. C'mon people---OFFEND SOMEONE!!!! Show some Speedy Gonzales and The Rover Boys with Dora Standpipe and throw in a few Sniffles for good measure. Even Tom Thumb! How long has it been since you heard "Mutiny in the Nursery" while that Frankenstein Monster began approaching our Sniffles and his bespectacled book worm pal anyway??? Man that one scared me as a kid and I'm sure it would frighten the bejabbers outta me this far down the ol' line we call life!
I'd also really enjoy seeing Porky Pig recite the Pledge of Allegiance along with all of that great rotoscoped animation of Amerigan history passing before one's very eyes at least once before I finally click outta here! And somehow I see the youth of this world of ours being way more informed, inspired and stimulated in a right proper way by watching ol' Bugs get the best of Elmer Fudd (an' I ain't talkin' those post-1963 recreations!) than I do them watching those twisted morality plays they call modern kiddie programming!
When the mood hits me sometimes I'll get up real early Saturday mornings and watch THE RIFLEMAN on AMC of all places...as far as a series that always delivered on a good story and could be downright homey and suddenly sadistic with the drop of a hat this 'un can't be beat! Also like tuning into both TOMBSTONE TERRITORY and BAT MASTERSON weekends on FETV if I happen to remember they're on...somehow the idea of a relatively lone wolf type searching for justice in the midst of totalitarianism or anarchy (not the sissy neo-communist anarchy stuff we have nowadays!) which are plentiful in these fifties/sixties-era tee-vee westerns really does touch this oft-touched inna head sorta guy...really gets ya in the brisket stuff that shows that you still have your head in the right place 'stead of up some quickie pickup's hindquarters.
Also viewed when the opportunity arises...the hour long black and white GUNSMOKEs on Insp. (way better'n the color ones though slightly lacking next to the half-hours that preceded) and LAREDO with all time tough guy creep Neville Brand who's been a fave of mine ever since I watched his performance as the sadistic wanko in THE MAD BOMBER. Hey someone out there...bring back HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and even RANGO which I'm sure will be judged a whole less harshly next to the mire of current day entertainment.
***Gotta lotta goodies to talk about, and a big heapin' hunkin' thanks goes to (as usual) the likes of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and even Bob Forward who sent a number of things I'm gonna stretch out o'er the next few weeks in order to beef those posts up a li'l more'n usual. Ditto for the packages from Shute and McGarry which came in today's mail. Gotta lotta hot stuff to cook up for you with these spinners, and you can bet that the immediate future's gonna be some sorta high point in the evolution of the blog as gonzo personification or my name isn't Brad Kohler!
Crazy Doberman-WOZ/ACOUSTIC/HEATH'S 1 CD-r burnCan my ears be deceiving me or am I experiencing a real-deal modern day reproduction of the classic 4-piece Art Ensemble of Chicago sound? Sure reminds me of an outtake from THE PARIS SESSIONS as it moves in and out with a sax/flugelhorn interweaving complete with what sounds like a plunked zither and some percussive clang. It coulda fooled me, its that authentic to the old free play that many of us reg'lar readers discovered much to our joy in the seventies. The sax player doesn't have the intestinal fortitude of either a Mitchell or a Jarman but he sure knows how to tackle putting the O-mind into his approach! Somewhere the spirit of Leonard Feather is belching.
***
First four tracks have been heard via many a download before, but the rest is new enough to my ears. Especially interesting (and entertaining too---don't forget that!) is the Organisation take of "Ruckzuck" which I never even read about in the assortment of Kraftwerk-related articles I have at my disposal! This even has yet another version of "Truckstop Gondolero" which ain't the BEAT CLUB take, not forgetting a number I never knew existed called "Kakteen, Wuste, Sonne" which is one of those nice drifty instrumentals that kinda goes on and on like some sort of Teutonicized raga jag! This number even sounds a lot like early Amon Duul II which does surprise me considering how much AD and Kraftwerk have about as much in common as my writing style does with Bill Shute's! Import hustlers of yore, you know your duty!
***
I wonder how this 'un slipped by my usually astute Detroit high energy consciousness? Yup, finally a long-player from the very same white blues band that not only set one Iggy Pop off on a life of crime and a Blue Gene Tyranny ready for the New York avant chic record collections but nestled White Panther Minister of Information Brother J.C. Crawford into the drum chair after the Pop headed for brighter pastures. As far as these white blues groups go the Movers are pretty successful in getting the gritty bar feeling down pat, but this ain't quite the EAST/WEST that I thought it would be (but then again what is?). As far as historical tombstones go, it serves well.
***
Dunno if Bill burned me disque #1 (can't locate it if he did), but two 'n three are strictly for the kinda Stones fans with puckered anuses and rooms filled with Stones ephemera that you know the nephews are gonna toss out with the trash once the owner's dead 'n gone. Backing tracks, fragments and other unused bits from SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST slapped right at ya straight from the board. Wanna lissen to about twenty opening takes of "She Comes in Colours" inna row until you can't stand it? To misquote Bob Hope, when they capture al-Quirayshi they're gonna make him sit through this twice!
***
It really must be studio outtakes week here at BLOG TO COMM what with the Rolling Stones platters above and now this spinner taken off an 18 Cee-Dee Jerry Lee Lewis box set! Not being as big of a fifties rockabilly fan as I am of various post-Brylcreem forms I gotta say that I found these tracks with Lewis working out a whole slew of early rockers and country schmoozers to be---downright copasetic with my generally easy going disposition. A whole lot better'n listening to the works in progress as it was with the Stones platters above, this fly onna wall approach is not only a whole lot more entertaining, but a whole lot more nerve-soothing! I guess Lewis coulda been a nice enough guy as long as he was kept in check by whatever it is that could keep him in check!
***
There goes Bill, tryin' ta edjookate me about the finer aspects of mid-twentieth century Amerigan music! Well, I don't mind being informed about some of the finer moments of the past few thousand years of civilization, just as long as Bill doesn't gimme some sorta quiz about it afterwards! Saxophonist Lucky Thompson (one of the original soprano players in the world of jazz, at least between Bechet and Coltrane!) does everything from boogie woogie blues to swing and early bopsterisms that might get your insides chuggin' to the rhythm if not your feet movin' to the beat. Fine enough by me, for it gets me ready for the huge ONSLAUGHT that was gonna hit a whole loada unsuspecting ones out there by surprise within the span of a few short years, even if I must admit that I prefer Ricky Nelson's version of "For You".
***
Chris Burden said that art is whatever you can get away with, but do you think that """""I""""" should let whoever it was that created this tape of off-station radio chatter that sounds like something one'd pick up on the ol' AM while waiting for daughter to finish her piano lesson in the car on some dark and rainy night "get away with it"? As usual, your response will hopefully sway my opinion one way or the other.
***
I usually tend to look upon some of these more modern day releases that head my way (this one dating way back to 2014) as being something that I might be able to ooze some listening pleasure outta but ultimately must file away forever. However Groovy Uncle seem to break all of my preconceived notions regarding post-sixties music that retains a good portion of the spark and drive that made it so entertaining in the first place. The 1966 pop rock sound is down pat as is the production that goes along with it, and other'n the gloppy string quartet track (which I would have originally thought was a blatant "Eleanor Rigby" cop had this actually come out way back when!) this captures the proper spirit and swerve that many a teenbo gal with Monkees pics on her wall and blind pimples on her butt would have cried buckets over. If you're a spiritually overweight sixteen-year-old zitfarm with stretch marks and an odor you just can't control this might be the one for you!
***
Various Artists-ORIGINAL OUTER LACERATIONS CD-r burn (Bill Shute)Even though this one clocks in at barely over a half-hour it sure supplies that much-needed break for the same old that can get a little too mind-rotting at times. The Outer Limits do their best to keep the early-sixties relevant as it slips into the middle portion of that decade while the Dora Hall sides remind me of those television specials of hers that used to pop up when you least expected 'em, usually during the slow summer months in the mid-seventies! I must admit that I was "touched" by the Barry McGuire-influenced folk rocker "Our Generation" which really woulda gotten the parents mad if this had only gotten out, and the tracks from those all-out garage bands the Original Sins and the Alibi got me up and hoppin' more'n chili powder on a piece of toilet paper! In all a much better way to spend a half-hour than getting your fingernails torn off but Bill, are you trying to tell me something with all of those Airwick ads???
***When was the last time you leaned back in your favorite recliner, kicked off your shoes and immersed yourself in a nice, action-packed issue of BLACK TO COMM? Yes, after a long, hectic day at the salt mines the best way to ease tension caused by too much piped in Sirius XM and stimulate your rockist-oriented back-brain is to slip on some recommended high energy music and read what ALL practitioners of the O-mind do to keep their spirit of sound alive. We at BLOG TO COMM heartily endorse BLACK TO COMM and why not??? After all, it's we who put these monstrosities together and they're really beginning to tie us down like that proverbial albatross around the neck! Help relieve the asphyxiation and buy a buncha copies TODAY!
5 comments:
lol jerry lewis played the piano? lol who'd a-thunk it! lol
re: Crazy Doberman- that sax player is John "Inzane" Olson.
Lou Reed is in Hell for eternity.
Idiots, lunatics, and scared kids think Hell is real. No one else does. Which is too bad, in a way, given the spiffy Limbaugh news today.
Boy are YOU gonna be surprised!
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