BLOG TO COMM

ITS FANZINE FANABLA TIME AGIN!

"Chrissy, Chrissy, Old and Pissy, How Does Your Fanzine Collection Grow?"

Judging from this week's post pretty good, what with a number of obscuros and crucially-needed publications having made their way to the stacks of fanzine cluttering up a closet where I should be stashing my shoes! Which are under my bed where I should be storing my fanzines!!! Anyhoo got a nice 'un this go 'round featuring fanzines that have been produced in nations other than the good ol' US of Whoa, which goes to show you that people outside the borders were hippity hoppin' when it came to music and perhaps even more so than most of the dorks who pass as many of the human beings herein the United States of Whoa  as well!

Considering how the seventies-era under-the-underground rock 'n roll fanzines from Ameriga have ceased entering into my collection as of late maybe it's time that I start searchin' out more of the other fanzines of that time and space which just might sate my cravings for good writings regarding even greater music. Fortunately I've found a few of these rags o'er the past few months and let's just say that ALL of 'em really not only made me feel nice 'n all knowledgeable inside but really helped get me through my daily doodies keepin' my mind off the fact that I'm goin' through yet another rough bowel movement with all the mental strain (amongst other things) one of those can cause.

First onna list's this li'l forgotten effort, a fanzine that I probably never would have sniffed about for lest I happened to see the cover of the fifth issue and the roster of acts that were being paraded about inside. And hey, if I had found out that the guy who put this out later on spent time with the likes of such acts as the Waterboys and Oasis I never would have picked up a copy of JUNGLELAND inna first place, but like the best fanzines of the seventies this one straddles a whole slew of genres and is written up as a fan to fan effort and like, why would anyone wanna knock something like that!

Managed to get three issues via PDF thanks to one Lindsay Hutton of THE NEXT BIG THING fame,a man who proved that he is NOT one true Scotsman because he wouldn't even accept anything in return for his efforts! Sheesh, now I am glad that I did get to save some mighty scarce dinero thanks to the efforts of this man, but now all I really wanna know it...does he put sugar on his porridge?

All kiddin' aside the three mags he did wing my way kinda/sorta are EVERYTHING that I really like about those fanzines of the mid-to-late seventies. Y'know, the ones that decided to deal with the Big Beat their own special personalist way. JUNGLELAND reminds me a bit of Hutton's earlier editions of THE NEXT BIG THING right down to the double-up reduced paged along the same breed of musical tastes...punk and its precedents...and while the title is clearly an allusion to a certain singer best known for his sperm-coated throat there was only ONE article devoted to the man which appeared in JUNGLELAND's nine-issue run. Maybe that's one Springsteen article too many but hey, I'll read it anyway because JUNGLELAND, like BACK DOOR MAN or DENIM DELINQUENT was so good in delivering the rock views on a more base, gnarly level that you'd wanna read the whole thing cover to cover despite occasional affronts to your own personal tastes!

(By the way, there was a JUNGLELAND that was devoted 100% to the man some call "Boss" and in no way shall these two be confused even if some Springsteen sites have insisted that this JUNGLELAND was in fact a "Springzine" which is most certainly was not!)

The entire JUNGLELAND run sans issue #5, which can be seen above anyway in case you're that sensory-deprived enough not to notice.

A better view of JUNGLELAND #1 with the WHITE HEAT 
bootleg cover!

Ish #5's whatcha'd call a rather spiffy effort in the annals of seventies British fanzines what with a Velvet Underground history that ain't factual (but considering the info that was dished out on 'em in '77 rather outstanding in what is did reveal!), a review of the latest Iggy and Bowie efforts which really did seem to capture the imaginations of quite a few fanzine writers of the day, and things on Springsteen and Blue Oyster Cult which does show some bravery in light of a whole lotta rock fans wanting to slit the throats of everyone who would have admitted to cozying up to those two acts!  There's also the second part of a John Lennon summary continued from the previous ish, Richard Hell circa the Ork EP,  the Heartbreakers' LAMF and the usual tons of new under-the-underground reviews that seemed compulsory for these kinda home-made mags that had no overseer to tell 'em how to think so THEY THUNK FOR THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!!!!

The seventh has a thingie on Tom "Whatever Happened to HIM?" Robinson which  I skipped thus breaking my own "gotta read it all!" rule mentioned above (don't worry, I'll get around to it once 2040 rolls around), lengthy interviews with John Cale plus the Damned and the usual definitely non-punk enclosures (Brian Wilson's "Surf's Up". Donovan???...) to add just the right touch of fanzine dignity. The true makings of a well-rounded rock magazine with that teenage fan attitude that always seemed to be in short supply even within the teenager realm.

The final (#9) issue from '79 seems more or less a sorry goodbye from editor Mike Scott given its hodgepodge-y layout using comic book art to the lack of anything really cohesive. It's a goodie if you do want a complete JUNGLELAND collection and I sure do, so if any of you have issues laying about and want to exchange them for money or better yet back issues of BLACK TO COMM then hooray for me! If you want to make copies of JUNGLELAND for me that are so good they could fool an expert hooray for me as well. Yeah I know that none of you snobbish readers would dare respond to my plea given your superiority complexes, but I'd kill myself if I didn't at least give it the ol' college heave-ho! Remember, THIS IS FOR HISTORY and not just my usual funtime reading desires (yeah, right!).

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Sheesh, I just wonder exactly what a "gun rubber" is. Is it something you put on the barrel of a gun so's you can practice "safe shooting"? Anyhoo, there actually was a classic '77-era English fanzine called THE GUN RUBBER, I managed to download a copy an' it's a pretty good one in the trad of the various mags that were comin' outta the Isles back then that weren't so full of either themselves or the flashier part of the moo-ment that seemed kinda tiresome what with alla those kids who were imitating the look but not the backbone.

This "Summer 1977" one has the feel and swerve of the day long before things began petering out into various "post-punque" fragments to the point where it all might as well have been on the Anastasia Pantsios Top Ten list. It's got interviews (The Stranglers and Saints!), reggae ruminations and live rundowns as well as the expected rec reviews and fannish raves that really represent just why alla those layabout punk rock types were the only real faction keeping rock 'n roll alive during those rather fetid (at least as far as everyday affairs went) times.

The biggest things that lit a spark in this ish, at least for me, was a mention of a South African punk rock group called Dirty Stuff who reportedly were gettin' heck from the locals not only for their long hair but the fact they had some black guy on bass guitar! Now that's a bit of news that seems to slip by whenever anyone goes on discussing the apartheid era! Any of you South African readers (I know there is at least one of you out there occasionally!) have the goods on these guys?

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While we're on the subject of English punk rock fanzines I gotta admit that the early issues of Mick Mercer's
PANACHE were top notch fanzine fodder for any tru blu suburban slob! Top notch enough to the point where I'm champing at the bit to get hold of a photocopy (or very inexpensive original) of the first ish with a pic of RAW POWER-era Iggy onna cover and hypes for Linda Ronstadt, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Runaways bootlegs proudly listed below! The early PANACHEs were definitely more of a "genzine" than one purely fixated on a specific feature of the rock 'n roll experience, though later issues were somewhat different.

Managed to get PANACHEs #'s 12 and 24 in the meanwhile, and while I must marvel at the intriguing layout with the use of fifties-vintage cartoon work 'n all I gotta say that they do lack a lotta the spirit of many of the early p-rock fanzine efforts which were so open to all sorts of "rebel music" that made 'em look even more universal than CREEM was during their height in Bangs-for-the-buck.. Or maybe it is the plain fact that I can't immerse myself into a mag that has gone from a Skydog-approved credo to Toyah and Adam and the Ants within the span of a few issues. Either way you can find some worth in the reviews as well as in the coverage of various types of English acts which you might have learned about via an old Renaissance Records flier yet passed on because of...well...maybe you were subject to the same depression-era wages I hadda endure back when records were cheap but yardwork pay even cheaper...

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Never did get hold of any issues of KID'S STUFF before, so this 'un was a bit of a surprise what with the photo layouts on such noted acts as Crime, Siouxsie and the Banshees pre-eighties goth glop and Destroy All Monsters. 

Still, there's not that much here to read other'n Steve Morrissey's billionth piece on the New York Dolls which at least has that spark considering what a madman Morrissey was about these guys! But otherwise I didn't quite get "into" that fanzine sorta sense of awe looking through KID'S STUFF #8 even if the pics are properly reproduced and the spirit is there and does seem rather willing. Tried gettin' other issues of this which seem pretty good perhaps because of their lower fidelity but to no avail. And like I once said, if any of you readers can help me obtain some of these rags either in original or neatly copied form I would be grateful, but knowing you readers why should I waste my breath even trying to connect with ya??? That's what ya ALL are...creeps!

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Proudly making an appearance in my fanzine collection's this nineteenth issue of NINETEEN, the eighties-era fanzine which I must admit continues on that high-quality French fanzine tradition which started out with the likes of ROCK NEWS INTERNATIONAL, I WANNA BE YOUR DOG, FEELING and quite a few other publications of worth and general spiffiness that cluttered up many a Francophile bedroom back inna seventies. Only thing is that NINETEEN was more or less reporting on the flotsam and jetsam left over from the massive under-the-counterculture rock screech of the seventies 'stead of documenting it as it hit the eardrums of many-an-inquiring suburban slob looking for a new hook. Still 'tis good, a nice thick ish with the likes of X, Sky and the Seeds, Radio Birdman and many more acts that you just weren't gonna read about in the pages of ROLLING STONE or hear on WMMS because well, even though they were trailblazers in exposing the daring and helped mold teenage tastes in a more "feral" direction (somewhat) I guess alla that wild stuff hadda be jettisoned in order to appeal to the flitzier side of pre-adult existence ifyaknowaddamean...

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SUMMER SALT was another nice li'l English fanzine that featured nothing but contributions from others. Not that something like that is a reason to call up the people at the six o'clock news but it was an interesting effort where a buncha nobody slobs could send in their articles and get published just like the big guys. And considering how the guys who published SUMMER SALT (whadevva that means!) were probably slobs themselves that's no mean feat!

Overall SUMMER SALT was a humble li'l affair that mostly concentrated on the then-up 'n comin' hipster stuff which, at least by this time, was really hipster in the purest sense and not just another hype aimed at the usual gullible teens stoopid enough to fall for just about every scam that came their way. Good times are to be had tho, what with the pieces on everyone from Patti Smith and Generation X to Steel Pulse and Lou Reed that people JUST LIKE YOU AND ME sent in if only to see our names in print. Well, it is a whole lot better'n goin' out and causin' trouble if only to read about yourself in the paper marveling at the high bond that your criminal activities were worth!

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Gotta admit that FAT ANGEL ain't one of my favorite rock fanzines, English or otherwise. A strangetie in itself since I really enjoyed that other ZIGZAG fanzine spinoff AYLESBURY ROXETTE, but maybe that's because Kris Needs was at the helm there while FAT ANGEL was the brainboom of Andy Childs, a guy whose tastes in music seemed closer to the original ZIGZAG spirit of Amerigan West Coast grumbles that came off rather tiring even when those kinda sounds were sellin' like little boys at a NAMBLA convention. Still I gotta admire FAT ANGEL's quality and adherence to the whole ZZ ethos, and once in awhile Childs does surprise what with a Stooges cover story in which he spends a good portion of space apologizing for liking 'em, a fact that might have turned off a good portion of his laid back readership who probably never could handle anything wilder 'n David Crosby on a barbiturate fix.

This "Winter '76" ish is fairly good what with a cover story on former Hampton Grease Band and then solo star Glenn Phillips, where a couple unknown (or at least forgotten) by me facts are revealed such as Phillips' jamming with Little Feat thus eliciting a positive comment from Lowell George. Also featured is a revealing article on Buzzy Linhart which does kinda skimp on the Seventh Sons info but still fills in a few blanks about 'em that I didn't know about before so hooray! There's even a rather informative even if we've known all this info for years Chris Bell piece, and even if things like the music of the Bahamas or Andy Roberts really ain't that important to a mind like mine I can't fault FAT ANGEL for being a better than many would expect fanzine. It's all done in that olde tymey pre-punk unto punque style that did manage to redeem itself in an underground fashion as time went by (as evidenced by that issue which reprinted the Crocus Behemoth interview from NY ROCKER and also featured a Modern Lovers appraisal!).

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While we're on the subject of English fanzines that should be paying ZIGZAG hefty royalties for their entire existence how can ya leave NUGGETS outta the equation? Yet another one of those all-encompassing mags that came and went in the late-seventies mileau of so many fanzines to choose from and digest in your rock 'n roll saturated mind, NUGGETS has the same sorta professional air as the other fanzines aspiring to ZIGZAG greatness coming up to snuff or falling flat on their faces in the process. I gotta admit that NUGGETS does lack a lotta that fanzine zip that would make a cruddier affair all the rage despite the print job, but Giovanni Dadomo liked it so it can't be all bad.

Any way you slice it, NUGGETS is something I definitely would say is good to have around the house especially when you just happen to hanker upon reading an article on people as diverse as Don Williams, Stephen Stills, Lenny Kaye (talkin' 'bout what else but NUGGETS, his NUGGETS that is!) and the Doctors of Madness...all in the same issue! Issues still seem to by flyin' 'round if you look hard enough, so if I were you I would definitely keep them peepers WIDE open because, in a world saturated with ROLLING STONE-inspired "rock journalism" it's sure nice reading something that's intelligent yet not so full of that post-hippie stuck-upness that seems to have metastasized itself into the public consciousness to the point of why bother!

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An' now for an oldie...a mag dedicated to the rock 'n roll of the fifties written for humorless fans and collectors by humorless fans and collectors! RUMBLE was a nice and informative li'l mag mind ya, but with the lack of illustrations and the writing which surely does lack the verve and swing that the music had, it just lags about and lacks all of the fun and charm of similar mags devoted to a certain niche in the r/r canon. Of course there's a LOT of information dished out here and much of it has to do with groups I'm sure most outside of the instrumental rock fanbase haven't even heard of, but I sure coulda used a lot more slip, slide, slam and an early-sixties pre-Beatle pounce to the proceedings. IN OTHER WORDS, I can just see some aficionado of the form pouring through RUMBLE looking at the discographies suddenly a-lighting face and feeling so proud that they own the Chantays' "Three Coins in the Fountain" single after seeing it mentioned in these pages. And you too can do the same!

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It ain't exactly a fanzine, but JAZZ FORUM is a mag that I wouldn't exactly wanna poo-poo. Of Polish origin (no jokes please), JAZZ FORUM is definitely a rag that's more'n anxious to cover  the New Jazz that is being performed in that famous country, and although I can't understand the language I sure can tell from the illustrations and the general feel that it's the kinda mag that would stimulate more'n a few Polish teenagers to ditch the polka and head straight for the jazz bins where they can find some of that decadent western sound that really does set one on a tangent you just can't get from boiled cabbage!

Buying point for me was the cover story on the punk funk moo'ment in music which really was getting a whole lotta traction in the eighties and still seems to linger on even a good four decades afterwards if my interests in the late Ronald Shannon Jackson is any indication. This article was written by famed Euro jazz critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt so I think it might have been translated into English, plus the James "Blood" Ulmer piece by Mike Zwerin and Jackson by Jurg Solothurnmann might be as well for all I know. But sheesh, this mag sure looks nice inna collection and when archaeologists go through my bedroom in the distant future boy will they be impressed!

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Strange as it may seem to those who seem to see strange things hiding under their beds, I latched onto this particular issue of THE PANIC BUTTON (#7) shortly after I got hold of the one mentioned in the previous FANZINE FANABLA! Gotta say that the quality of this particular one was pretty much in the same line of thinking 'n all with the usual HELP!-inspired "fumettis" and some weird cartoon contributions that look like all of those other early-sixties (and beyond) fanzine cartoons that don't seem to make sense, but the inclusion of everything from poetry (including one from then-fanzine regular Roger Ebert) to a sci-fi art portfolio prove that THE PANIC BUTTON was more than just a satire fanzine in the FOO tradition. Some of the opinions expressed in this issue really tend to be part and parcel of that whole free thinking anti-bourgeois morality and hypocrisy of people who work for a living sorta mindset that seems to have gone full-tilt these days, but as far as I can tell THE PANIC BUTTON must have been the first fanzine ever to do an article on the CND long before a buncha English hippie punks decided to take up the no nukes banner! And that also includes the peace symbol that pops up on page 18 at a time when everyone probably thought the thing had something to do with Mercedes Benz! PANIC BUTTON is a rag that's part of the fanzine tradition bub, and being without a copy is just as bad as being without that special thing in your wallet when you're on a hot date! Talkin' 'bout money of course...sheesh, why do you think some gal'd wanna go out with somebody as ugly as you other'n for a free meal!