BLOG TO COMM

Like dogs with especially cold noses, these weekend posts can really sneak up on ya! An' why should any of ya complain since well, it's one way for your pooch to say howdy to ya and besides they're really good at tellin' when some female acquaintance is gonna have that special monthly visitor we all know about and fear (that's when doggie starts running away with that high pitched yip-like warning!). Yes, maybe we should have plenty more dogs around us to make sure we know when to herd the missus into the special padded cell for a few days of misery on her part but peace and quiet on ours!

Anyway, welcome to another edition of BLOG TO COMM and although I would like to say that this is a very special entry into the canon it obviously ain't! But as far as being fair to middling well, I won't complain about that --- pretty pedestrian if you ask me. Spent my ever-dwindling free time searching out old faves to play amidst the newies, having zilch luck trying to find a few that I was interested in re-spinning such as MESSTHETICS GREATEST HISS (having the "Greatest Hits" one nearby does help a bit considering how the Puritan Guitars are perhaps my faverave group of the week), but as R. Meltzer once said "wha' th' hey". At least what I have been listening to continues to reaffirm not only my life being but general will to go on, and if you wanna blame anyone for my will to survive blame the music f'r once! 

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As usual, gotta give thanx to those who thanxed me with these goodies, most namely Bill Shute, Bob Forward and Paul McGarry. No special thanx goes to an EX friend of the blog who, probably in a fit of self-righteous flakeitude, disowned having even known me he having decided to side with the eternal enemies of not only me but what I stand for which may not be "popular" or "cool" but certainly are not destined for that ash heap of history ol Barack O used to talk about. Eh, the pickings were slim and anyway I ain't gonna mention this turncoat's name lest I sully up this blog QUITE A BIT. Smarter folk out there will know who I'm referring to, obviously.

Sun Ra and his Mythic Science Arkestra-THE PARIS TAPES 2-CD-r set burn (originally on Kindred Spirits Records)

Never could catch up with these Sun Ra releases and this live effort from '71 (although released in 2010) is but another good one to have and to hold.  I gotta say that these early-seventies Sun Ra albums seem to be some of my favorites and this live effort is no different, what with a heavier than usual percussive bent to it which really does get me into a particularly deep NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC mood. Not quite enough John Gilmore or Marshall Allen for my tastes, but the early analog synth squalls and overall tension always seemed to do this body well and continues to even thought I've grown up since the days my cyster ruined my high stool electronic music term paper what with the "Sien Ra" typo 'n all. As if I'll ever forget her and forget it for that matter, right Brad?

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John Cale/Tony Conrad/Angus Maclise/LaMonte Young/Marian Zazeela-INSIDE THE DREAM SYNDICATE VOLUME  1: DAY OF NIAGARA (1965) CD (Table of the Elements Records)

Upon first spin a good decade or two back I just wasn't in the mood. But that drone sure didn't seem so monotonal once I settled back, picked up an old TV GUIDE to peruse, and sorta let the sounds settle into me. Worked swell. The original Theatre of Eternal Music more or less trying to make even John Cage come off sounding normil. Roots of everything from the Velvet Underground and Stooges to alla those boring performance artists of the eighties can be discerned even without tweaking your parameters in order to "get it".

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Various Artists-TOKYO FLASHBACK VOL. 5 CD (Modern Music/P.S.F. Records Japan)

It's always good getting a dose of this Japanese neu-psychedelic hard rock into my system, especially at a time when such music seems to be rather sparse if not outright banned! Yeah, this collection contains even more of that hard nova sound which, when not heading into the pure realm of atonal cut up,  always came off like the best the closing moments of the sixties hadda offer! Some familiar names here such as White Heaven, Overhang Party and Suisho No Fune (coulda used some Les Rallizes Denudes but we can't have nearly everything in our lives) are intermingled with acts that have slipped through my typically sieve-like mind and well, if this cold steel shank of aural indulgence just doesn't stab you in your musical psyche like it SHOULD I guess there is no help for you, sweetie!

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Ya Ho Wa 13-PENETRATION, AN AQUARIAN SYMPHONY CD-r burn (originally on Higher Key Records)

Didn't care for it that much back when I first heard it, but thirtysome years later I actually got a bitta a kick outta this crazed fambly outing worthy of Manson or at least Amon Duul I. Now it ain't that freakazoid communal, but PENETRATION does have its share of whacked out repeato-riff rock that kept my attention while the third portion of this "symphony" had this nice squeaky violin added to the hard thud beat that kinda reminded me of some doofoid English teenbos in the late-seventies tryin' their best to ape certain Velvets moves and press it up complete with a home-made sleeve. I'll probably never listen to this again but will admit that my opinion has, er, changed some o'er the years.

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DMZ CD-r burn (originally on Sire Records)

This McGarry burn popped up inna pile and kinda made me feel guilty o'er not playing either my vinyl or Cee-Dee proper version for quite some time. 's too bad that this platter, like fellow Bostonian efforts from the Sidewinders, Reddy Teddy and other worthies, hadda get shoved to the side during the Golden Age of Seventies Record Bin Plunging while lesser efforts clogged up the charts and subsequent flea market pules. Like those other Boston-area efforts this holds up really well, enough that I can see just how these guys got a bigtime deal at a time when it wasn't like the major labels were that eager to bank their bucks on rock 'n roll. Interesting fact --- according to producers Flo and Eddie, the porcine former Turtles were the ones who taught DMZ the Wailers Classic "Out Of Our Tree", a song the duo first heard when playing a bill with the legendary Northwest group and eventually performed during their Reprise records day! Wow!

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Various Artists-IN THE NAME OF THUNDERBALL CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Mixie-moshier than usual, but still funzie-wunzie. Some big names like Johnny Nash and 3/4ths of the Monkees in different guises pop up and we do get some strangeties like a soppoid version of "Fools Rush In" produced by famous shower taker Huey Meaux. And yeah, it all makes for a good diversion from this boring thing we call life. A couple PEBBLES/BOULDERS things in the guise of the Gentlemen and Basooties pop up, the latter doing their version of Zappa's "You Didn't Try To Call Me" that might make more'n a few Mother Peoples' ears pop up. And for all you cheezoids out there, this thing ends with Billy Strange's very own rendition of the theme from the infamous moom pitcher none of us were allowed to see when it made it to tee-vee, namely THUNDERBALL.

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Still have a buncha these back issues of BLACK TO COMM to unload on you unsuspecting menials who probably think that ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY is the last word in haute spare time activity wasting. Hey, if you wanna waste your time you can't do better'n these, so like what is keeping you fools and your monies from being soon parted anyway?