BLOG TO COMM

Hiya. Ya still sweating it out out there in Gongo-land, eh? Hope you're all enjoyin' yourself because I sure am, what with me keeping my distance from people thus avoiding the usually stench-y body odors that tend to emanate from a few of the denizens of this town (let's just say that there ain't no run on deodorant around here!). Those masks you hafta wear sure help cut down on the rank-ness as well, tho they do start smellin' like unwashed g-strings after awhile especially if you have one of those strange nose discharges that come off as if they were emanating from an area far below your cyster's olfactory system. Now some of you guys might go for that, but at least I have some taste (and a weak stomach).

Naturally it's also great having more and more time to hang around the house playin' records and re-discoverin' ol' friends (mainly my comic books and fanzines) while washing years of UP WITH PEOPLE propaganda outta my naturally curmudgeonly system with a healthy does of Throbbing Gristle. Scientists, take your time and do a good job finding a cure (the longer the better), and if ya do come up with one maybe ya can put it on sugar cubes and give it to us just like when I was a kid getting my polio vaccine. l still remember the neat taste of that lo these many years later and hope the new one tastes just as good if not better. Yum!

***

What're you lookin' at, squirt?

RIP EDDIE HASKELL, perennial BLOG TO COMM hero and the first real punk to appear on the boob tube back inna fifties. Now that was a time when the early stages of true punkdom were in bloom even tho it really came to fruition in the sixties and sorta exploded all over you a good ten years after that. But as far as Eddie Haskell goes, he was THEE punk and I don't mean punque like we got a whole load of once the eighties were in bloom. Talk about bein' a role model for all of us pushed-around kids even though our parents would most certainly have wished otherwise (personally I strived for Eddie but came out too Lumpy).

The mere appearance of Eddie Haskell as a reg'lar character on a national tee-vee series was a brilliant respite from some of the squeaky clean kids one could find on tee-vee if not REAL LIFE, not only them days but for years to come. Too bad he didn't stay a teenbo goof tho...personally I kinda wish that Eddie's doppleganger Ken Osmond had become a punk rocker 'stead of a cop after his BEAVER tenure (and not exactly Alice Cooper, maybe an Iggy, Reg, Kim, Cyril, Gerry, Jean-Pierre or even Sky) but whatever, the creep's passing has surely gotta be the biggest blow to suburban slobdom at least since they took GILLIGAN'S ISLAND reruns (and BEAVER ones too!) offa local tee-vee oh so long ago. So long Sam, Leroy, Gertrude...

***

I know you've all been champing at the bit! Here are the rekkid revooze, and thanks to Bill, Paul and even that radical type Bob for the donations. It's people like you who know who to dish the charity out to!

Lou Reed-TRANSFORMER CD (RCA Records)

Gosh-darn-it-all, but it does seem strange. Here I am in my old age actually owning a copy of this legendary album after borrowing it (and on a very rare occasion, maybe once or twice AT THE MOST) o'er the entire span of its existence. After years of fingering copies in the record bins taking a look at the front and backs it wasn't until now that I even thought of goin' out and buyin' a copy for myself. All I really did think during the entire time I did come across this album was...was that thingie in the guy on the back cover's jeans for REAL????

I have matured since my rather obtuse teenbo days (of course it's fake!) but as I've said in the above paragraph the mere thought of laying down the proper amt. of buckskins for a copy of TRANSFORMER never really did cross my mind until now. Yeah I mean NOW here in the early '20s, a time when the entire Lou Reed/Velvet Underground/Andy Warhol/New York decadent mystique has been overrun by a buncha prissies with overblown romantic notions about the music and people who were, for the most part, some of the worst specimens of human debris ever to trod upon this planet we call Earth! And that is all despite the fact that, for all intent purposes, the likes of Lou and those he used to sing about were abject epitomes of PURE EVIL and avarice. All except for Warhol himself that is...I mean, you can't blame him because of his IQ of 60 as noted faggot Gore Vidal so succinctly put it.

But I'll cut Warhol and Reed some slack for once. After all, I have been cutting it to a whole variety of people including some who regularly comment on this very blog so why not today's subjects at hand?Anyway, TRANSFORMER does sound great here a good almost decade since Lou had the sense to leave the scene for good (after all, what did he have to offer us since STREET HASSLE stretching things QUITE A LONG WAY) with everything you'd want outta Lou comin' out in full force. I like it all from Lou's voice to the songs to the backing band, who as some guy reviewin' this on the 'net said, were "a poor man's Velvet Underground" and I already went through enough of that in the review of LES IDOLES a few weeks back to get into this particular subject any further than should be allowed. Tho additional searching has me adding SONIC YOUTH to the aforementioned poor man's list in case you are keeping track.

Its great, like a Velvets album that mighta come out in '72, a real reunion one that is (well, a much better one 'n that then-recent Byrds get together was supposed to have been) and by a stretch of the imagination something that was way more VU than that SQUEEZE "sucker the import buyers" effort that almost had me parting with $6.98 AT A TIME WHEN I COULD NOT AFFORD TO BUY ANY RECORD WITH A PRICE TAG THAT HIGH! And frankly given how that 'un woulda made me swear off any VU allegiance if I had heard it age 16, maybe the prohibitive price was a good thing.

Some of it, like "Vicious" and "Wagon Wheel", is straight ahead early-Velvets as good as any of the other "early-Velvets" acts that were hangin' around (hee!) at the time. Others have the right touch of early-seventies emotion-tugging chord moves that used to get my ear perked up in those pre-pubesprout times when "cutting edge" wild side rock seemed like some strange secret club one cold join if they only had the moolah to buy the album and gain entry into a world the Campfire Girls never could offer! Of course the Campfire Girls would never have me, but I wouldn't have minded listening to TRANSFORMER with them if only someone had brought a battery-operated record player on one of their woodland prowls.

Of course the big bit about all those sick New York types you used to hear about makes this more of a period piece you were expecting. Still remember the first time I heard in onna radio after being told it was DAVID BOWIE'S NEW SINGLE by my very cousin...after the first line of "Walk on the Wild Side" I was running away in abject fear that this song just might somehow cause me to be kidnapped by some maniacal boy pimp to be sold to the gypsies for perverted purposes! Donny Osmond it was most certainly not!

But it did grow on me. Of course the hidden meaning of a few things Lou mentioned therein didn't get by the censors as Mark Jenkins mentioned in an article in his Lou-friendly fanzine HYPERION. Mark's own pre-pubesprout kid brother caught the sly slip-in in the song's very first line, F.L.A. standing for Fucking, Laying and Ass Licking which I do admit does give the song an even stranger dimension, at least if you're an adolescent wiseacre who sees DIRTY in everything. I might have mentioned that on this blog earlier, but such facts should never be lost to history!

Yeah, you can get on Lou's case for re-writing "Wild Child" as "Hangin' 'Round". Maybe even for this gaylib anthem "Make Up" which reeks of man/boy "Desmond is Amazing"/"Lactacia" bump 'n twerk-styled pedo pride. And for the obvious fact that "New York Telephone Conversation" really needed Maureen Tucker to sing with Lou 'stead of whatever Thunderthigh was available. While yer at it spew some venom at him for "ruining" those once-great Velvets tracks that didn't sound as good here as they did on those 22 DEMOS tapes. I guess Lou had the license to do whatever he wanted and if you hate him for it well, that's cool. Not for him,good for you. Then again you have the right not to like any of this and frankly I don't blame you considering Lou's post decarock era which, frankly, only seemed to appeal to snobbish rock critics and those kinda people who flocked to the 1992 Velvets reunion and actually held up their flicked bics in virtue signaling appreciation of long-gone musical pioneering that had no real meaning thirty years later. But if you, like I tend to, try to cut any memories of under-the-underground rock 'n roll post-1979 outta your skull this does work wonders. Try it sometimes.

***

Various Artists-MY MIND GOES HIGH -- PSYCHEDELIC POP NUGGETS FROM THE WEA VAULTS CD-r burn (originally on Wea/Warner Brothers Records)

Now when I think of Nuggets I think of some really trashy crank out single that came and went (but sure left an impression) that one woulda heard on some small off-the-air-by-sundown mom 'n pop rural radio station in the sixties. One that had some high school floor sweeper doin' the dee-jayin' and he mighta seemed like a total fanabla but hey, in many ways he was YOU.
.
Some of the tracks that appear on MY MIND GOES HIGH do kinda sound like the kinda tracks the kids inna carpool woulda heard onna way home from stool one sunny afternoon, but I dunno if I can call all of 'em "nuggets" in a boffo Lenny Kaye sorta way. Maybe in a side four of NUGGETS get into baroque pop and Sagittarius (or even Third Rail!)  kinda way. Still the raga pop really fits in swell. It even has classics like the Association's "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies", the Monkees' "Porpoise Song", Electric Prunes and Music Machine obscuros and (get this!) Kim Fowley's lone trek onto the Reprise label!

The only real turdburger here's this sitar-backed Donovan imitation which shoulda been left in the can until Wea decides to compile LATE SIXTIES DOWNER PRETENTIOUS FOLK PSYCH, a set which I get the idea will be a total winner with many of your readers.

Really, how could anyone who reads this blog not appreciate the loping mid-east rhythms and other nifty psychedelic touches that have been tossed in for added pop punch? Kinda like the modern day equivalent of prowling through some old relative's attic if only to absorb the culture and civilization that those old antiques stashed away ages back continue to permeate. I used to do that, and in many ways when I trek inside a cheap antiques shop I get to relive some of those past glories. And it made a more lasting, historical impression on me and who knows, it just might with you!

***

The Fundamentalists-ONCE/I THOUGHT CD-r burn (see display on left for more info)

Here we go agin w/more aural mangipulations that kinda sound exactly like the same aural mangipulations we've heard from these guys (and many more) ever since OP told alla you cassette culture kids to GO FOR IT! And ya all did, hard-style in fact. It does have a nice repeato-riff chug-a-chug to it at times, the kind that kinda helps ya go to sleep during these rather trying caffeine nerve times. So if electronic steady beats are your idea of a relaxing good time all I gotta say is get as many as your li'l ol' heart desires and WEAR OUT THE GROOVES AS FAST AS YA CAN! Gee, I do hope that Bob Forward ain't one who wants to be taken seriously as an artist!

***

Tin Huey-THE INDUSTRIAL WASTELAND, WKSU-FM 4.6.78; KENT RATHSKELLER 2/23/79 BROADCAST ON WKSU-FM CD-r burn

Sheesh, I mean who coulda imagined it inna first place---a local original music band of some renown being supported and promoted by a local radio station. I mean, can you believe it? Well, things like that usedta happen and although it may be a shocker to some but Kent-area rock 'n rollers Tin Huey were actually recorded and broadcast on Kent State's WKSU-FM at least three times inna late-seventies! The third 'un I know about, taken from the 4/28/79 Kent Creative Arts Festival, ain't here but the other two are and that's fine by me!

The first offerin' here's the "Tin Huey Day" broadcast featuring some live trackage as well as a special fifteen-minute "Tin Huey Story" narrative with funny music and classic tracks which was patched together especially for this show! Sound quality here is wonky and there are a few truncations but if I had this at the time it was aired I'd take it any way I could.

The second bit's from a live show almost a year later...sound is much better and the performance is ripe but for some reason my Cee-Dee kept skipping towards the end. Sheesh, can't a guy get a break no mo'? Whatever, all three of the Huey broadcasts should be slapped together for general consumption because like, they sure represented the band a whole lot better'n I thought the Warner Brothers album did.

***

The Sea Ensemble-WE MOVE TOGETHER CD-r burn (originally on ESP-disk Records)

Sheesh, Bill shoulda knowed that I already had this 'un in my collection...maybe he sent me this burn to coax me into reviewing it again! Good for you Bill, and good for all of use tuned in because WE MOVE TOGETHER, besides being one of the last ESP releases before that label 86'd, is a pretty hotcha set featuring the team of Donald Rafael Garrett and his wife Zusann Fasteau performing this free-flow sound featuring a nice li'l asst. of woodwinds, strings and Far Eastern soundmakers that give this a sorta stripped down AACM feel that might getcherself yelled at if you play it in front of the parents. Heck, the KIDS will sneer as well but it all goes well if you like that neo-chamber new thing jazz that veers into not only world music but classical realms when the mood fits. Aw heck, let your folk listen to their Current 93 albums...I mean, you got this...

***

THE ORIGINAL NORTHWEST SOUND OF DON AND THE GOODTIMES CD-r burn (originally on Beat Rocket Records)

The group that gave us ex-Kingsmen keyboard player Don Gallucci and future Paul Revere and the Raiders Jim "Harpo" Valley, these Goodtimes are probably best remembered (but not by me!) for their tenure on WHERE THE ACTION IS some while before that 'un finally got axed by ABC. Dunno why I forgot all about 'em, since the Goodtimes were pretty stylish and commercial yet strong enough Pacific Northwest group that woulda made a good impression on any single-digit blubberfarm who was tuned in for Dick Clark's afternoon rock 'n roll fest.

It's typical Northwest rock that teeters in between the hard raunch and the frat splat, with ample Sonics and Wailers covers mixed with trashy post-fifties r 'n b redo's and yet another one of those NW tee-vee commercial themed tracks that I'll bet the Goodtimes were hoping'd get them sued thus gettin' a whole lotta free publicity inna process! Take it from me guys, bad publicity DOESN'T WORK!!!!

Maybe the Goodtimes weren't as rough as the Etiquette label roster but these guys could probably fill a dance floor pretty fast and they had the right sound and approach. An' sure you kinda get the idea that they, like most of the Northwest contingent, woulda sunk deep into slick pop slop as the sixties crept to an end. But these mid-sixties recordings really do present these guys as a fairly good contender in the local hard rock sweepstakes and if you were one (like me) who spent a good portion of the eighties hunting down whatever rare reissue or expensive sixties original that passed your eyes well, need I tell you any more???

***

Various Artists-LET IT ALL HANG OUT VOL. 1 CD-r burn (originally on Alopecia Records)

Wow man, a buncha "modern" groups doin' the mid-sixties English Big Beat sound! Of course for me "modern" can mean anything done after Og the Caveman invented the double dildo, but this mid-nineties effort does have the bop even if it ain't anything that'll draw me in the same way the originals had way back when. Some familiar names pop up in the mid but most of 'em are newies who probably came and went. Squint your ears a bit and it might sound like the real thing. (By the way, didja know that when I was a kid I got hollered at for singing "SOCK IT TO ME BABY LET IT ALL HANG OUT!"??????) 'n I didn't even know it was dirty!

***

Various Artists-BEAUTIFUL CREEL ELROD BLUES CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Starts out kinda middling with a half-there psychedelic popper that doesn't take me on trips to worlds unknown (more or less takes me on trips to Coraopolis PA) but it gets better. The Creels' low-budget gal group thing works its magic halfway, while Major Lance works all the way through even to the point where you don't mind the monotone shrieks that come afterwards.

From there it goes from and old 78 to lounge soul and radio ads (rock 'n roll and not) along with some surprisingly primal rock 'n roll (the Rope River Blues Band) and even more of those "song poems" that all you sophisticates like to snicker over. Its a barrel of funzies featuring things that'll really catch you by surprise, but boy did I think those later-on Kingsmen sides to be totally doof-esque! Well, it was probably a TOTALLY DIFFERENT GROUP than the one that did "Louie Louie" by the time that 'un was laid down but still...

***

And now for my weekly plea for you to purchase one, or many , or perhaps ever ALL of these wondrous back issue of BLACK TO COMM that I've had hanging around the abode taking up precious space where I could be storing my torture chamber. Now's the time for you to fill in the cracks in your collection, or fill in the crack between your butt cheeks if you're that kinda guy. Hey, I don't care what ya do with 'em once ya buy 'em!