BLOG TO COMM

Hey, wasn't that a week we had! Well, not really because for the most part it was just another eat 'n poop rut just like any other week in my life, but there were a few li'l bright spots that made life bearable in between the gulping and wiping, some of which you will read about below.

I'm sure some of you are wondering just what my opinions are regarding various current events that have been plaguing us as of late. Well, if you REALLY wanna know...first off that second impeachment of the president sure was a nasty knife twist what after the Powers That Be first fixing elections then destroying just about every form of dissent there might be from the lumpen proles out there. Sure it was all just for show, a massive cock strut of moral superiority that has no real basis over anything, but in these days you know it's all touchy-feely intentions and showing off in front of the crowd than downright action and getting things done...as the mooshes in our lives say IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS and as of the last twenny or so years of any Political Theatre out there tells us it's always been sizzle over steak what with alla these politicians stumbling over themselves to out-emote each other to the point of nausea.

Anyway I do feel pretty disgusted that alla the Big Mouths won't have Donald Trump to kick around (at least Donald Trump in his God Emperor role) anymore because hey, it was great to watch 'em go off the rails even more'n I tend to what with their self-righteous rants where were pretty amusing in their own twisted way at that. Gonna find a new target, but of course you know they'll be blaming everything that counters their Great Leap Forward on the guy just like they did with every other republican prez (bad or atrocious) there has been for a good half-century or so. Sheesh, the loss of the best president that the  working guy ever had (something more/less stated by none other than astute political activist John Lydon) will be something to reckon with no matter which side of the great divide you happen to be on (maybe he shoulda been doing something about Big Tech back when they were silencing Jared Taylor) and, given the strange state of "woke" these sad 'n sorry days who in their relatively short political lifespans amongst us woulda ever thought that the radical likes of a Tim Yohannon (and his spiritual successors) and the bigtime moneygrubbing corporations would have ever been aligned via the same socially/politically pompous plane!

It's gonna be an interesting time ahead, and I just hope I'm stocked up with enough bunker goodies to munch on while I watch the fireworks display. Might actually be entertaining between the high drama and carnage (the latter hopefully being more on their side than mine).

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Recordwize things are definitely picking up a bit. Surprises from Bill Shute (I think I maxed out alla Paul McGarry's spinners, though I might be requesting more from him real soon!) and best of all P.D. Fadensonnen who actually sent me a belated X-mas gift addendum. I think they celebrate the Holiday Season in Holland later than we do here, though whether Fadensonnen is Dutch I do not know. And Black Pete was nowhere in sight so maybe not, even if Kris Kringle's helper has been pretty much airbrushed outta the culture clime! There's also the mysterious inherited from an old pile of discs entry as well as an album I actually bought with my own moolah, so you can bet that I am somewhat proud of these reviews in my own provincial suburban slob way.

'n while I'm at it...not-so-late-breaking news...goodbye to Sylvain Sylvain and for all intent purposes, the New York Dolls.

Anyhoo, here goes...

Various Artists-BOOTBOY DISCOTHEQUE (14 BOVVER ROCK BRUISERS) LP  (You Better Run Records)

And here I thought that I've heard all of the rare English under-the-underground singles that were up and about to be heard! Wrong again boyo, for BOOTBOY DISCOTHEQUE collects a whole slew of early and relatively rare skinhead strutters that should be proudly placed right next to alla those other seventies collections you've been spinnin' for the past umpteen years. The songs range from Caribbean-influenced to glam stomp and early punk rock, all with that great cheap lower class English feeling you got with those Oi platters that scared the bejabbers outta precious petunias during the early-eighties. Highlights include the Boots' Young Rascals cover, a skinhead saga about "The Yob" done up rather row house-like by some astute youth named the Knuckle Draggers, not forgetting the hard rock soundriver from 32nd. Turnoff featuring wayward Equal and future MTV star Eddy Grant. Wow!

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The Lyres-LIVE AT THE RAT LP (Crypt Records, Germany)

Here's one that Mr. Fadensonnen sent my way, a pretty good live recording from the legendary Boston group featuring a frontman who I don't think anybody that I know who's met him likes. Hotcha Northwest Rock vibe to this featuring a strong Wailers/Sonics bent which, along with the other covers 'n original material makes this almost like living through 1966 again! If you think of "the sixties" more in terms of afternoon monster moom pitchers on tee-vee and Shake-A-Puddin' than you do with being a sensitive Freedom Riding creep then man, you should love this 'un with every kidney stone and sinew in your pathetic system!

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Frank and the Hurricanes-LOVE YA LOVE YA LP (Feeding Tube Records in conjunction with Sophomore Lounge Records)

Snatched this 'un outta the pile because I thought the cover was remarkably International Artists-esque. Turns out that the music is too, or at least it reminds me of a late-sixties Texas haze sorta thing worked out by some rural heads in a barn loft. Parts of it sound like various late-eighties revampings of late-sixties lysergic wonderments which also lends a sorta late-period SST feel to the thing. Great melodies and lyrics coupled with straight-ahead non-frilly playing make this an effort that goes to prove that if you look hard enough there's more good stuff out there'n even I would wanna give credit for!

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John Cale-McCABE'S GUITAR SHOP SANTA MONICA, CA 1979-09-22 CD-r burn

This is one of those solo Cale shows the guy would do on and off throughout the 70s/80s cusp and beyond (I have a tape of an '82 Mudd Club appearance somewhere in the collection) featuring the former Velvet Underground star accompanied by nothing but his guitar and piano. I remember some wag out there mentioning how this music got the coeds of the day weeping uncontrollably at the beauty of it all and whoever wrote that probably was right. If you go for the Island-period Cale before he was rediscovered as some new unto gnu wave father of it all I'll bet you'll be listening to this in between alla those import bin finds that still wiggle about in your collection lo these many years late.

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Tony Irving and Massimo Magee-THE FOG CD-r burn (originally on Astral Spirits Records)

Haven't heard any Magee since the glory days of Kendra Steiner Editions so getting to hear his alto soar to similar heights previously scoured about by the AACM was a nice li'l surprise indeed! Drummer Irving does his darndest to keep up with it all (and does) an' in NO WAY can ya compare Magee's stylings to soaring cathedrals of sound or any such sixth grade English Class descriptors extant. Best titles seen in ages..."Blinking Wheezing & Choking", "Pea Super", "Anthropocene Shuffle"...

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WARREN BARKER IS IN CD-r burn (originally on Warner Brothers Records)

West Coast "Crime Jazz" as they say from the pre-rock 'n roll days at Warner Brothers Records. If you go for those old soundtrack albums from them early-sixties ABC mix 'n match detective shows (didja know that the first ever album I bought was the soundtrack to 77 SUNSET STRIP for a mere dime?) this will help stimulate the ol' nerve nodes a lot more than Vigero. Expressive pre-hippoid cool cultural classics like "Harlem Nocturne" are given strong 'n sexy arrangements that'll remind you of the days when men were more concerned with the amount of hair on their chest than they were tryin' to act more sensitive than Alan Alda and Phil Donahue combined! 

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THE VERSATILE VENTURES LP (Liberty Records)

Yeah, maybe you can use a rubber stamp to review these old Ventures albums, and of course the rubber stamp would be affixed with a writeup that's nothing but abject praise for these guys' musicianship, versatility and abilities in the way they defined the heart and spirit of sixties-era teenbo blubberfarm suburban slob living. Great instrumental efforts played as if the spectre of the Beatles never did rear its mop-topped head. Listen, if that particular plane got downed while headin' New York way this is ALL we woulda been listening to throughout that coulda been even better decade.

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The Pretty Things-PROGRESS EP CD-r burn (originally on Fontana Records, France)

Good 'nuff sampling for the French market, but other people can enjoy it too. Features some favorites like "Get The Picture" which you probably have on a dozen other platters in your collection but you can always use another one, eh? (See how I counter the stodgy MELODY MAKER opinions that you don't need a whole slew of "White Light/White Heat"s in your record collection like you do copies of CLOSE TO THE EDGE, or something like that!)

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Various Artists-STEAL LOUIE A LITTLE ROPE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

I dunno, but it may be because the thing sure reminded me of my 99-cent childhood that I couldn't work my way through the Columbia Record Club TOP POP SONG HITS LP that closes this effort out. Hearing cheapoid versions of tuneage you could hear onna radio for free before they hit the oldies circuit only reminds me of how my penny-pinching parents would buy up the budget albums featuring not-so-adept versions of the current movie soundtracks thinkin' they're both satisfying the kiddies and saving loads of dough at the same time, failing miserably at least on the first count!

The rest is hokay from the country twangsters to NUGGETS rarities (that is, if you consider Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Louie Louie" to be that much of a rarity) and although I sure wish I coulda rang in 2021 on a much gnarlier note this thing did its work swell-like. Nothing to sneeze and, and perhaps a harbinger of a new year that'll finally deliver on the sonic nerve-twitches that I most certainly deserve.

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Hey, yer snowed in and all you have to occupy your time until the rescue crew arrives is a stack of ROLLING STONE magazines. Don't you wish you had some of those BLACK TO COMM back issues to keep your mind at ease while you slowly freeze to death? It's not to late, that is if you survive the current arctic blast cataclysm that's bound to be headin' yer way any day now!