BLOG TO COMM

Yup, another rather mundane (even given the general mundaneness of my entire life) week has gone by, and I kinda get the feelin' that a few of you lumpy prole types were just sittin' around the whole time waitin' for this to appear as if it were the highlight of your otherwise dreary existence. Well here it is, but really don't you think you should try macramé?

Yeah, I believe I used that quip in a much earlier post but hey, what in BLOG TO COMM isn't just more of that mish-mosh rehash that I've built an entire "career" on. Still, welcome aboard, especially if you're willing to read a rock 'n roll history written from a suburban slob as opposed to feminist/queer/left-handed herniated Hopi for that matter revisionist standpoint. Sheesh, we've had more'n enough of that ever since the eighties ushered in the age of self-important non binary precious petunia rock "criticism" as if you couldn't tell from the reams of sub-dire musical reporting that's been seen these past fortysome years. 

Feel grateful anyway. After alla those eighties-era hacks have packed it up and vamoosed from the writing game at least I have the courage and wherewithal to keep up this charade of presenting solid neo-gonz rockscreeding they way nature intended! And really, what use are ANY of those nattering nabobs who used to berate me way back when to the cause of rockism these sad and sorry days???

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I wonder what the thief who stole this one
thought after spinnin' it and finding out it
was not Justin Beiber.

Life has been more'n just the proverbial screwed as of late what with phone lines down and frequent internet interruptions, but when you gather all of the indignations and clump 'em into one ball of boogers things can get pretty unbearable. The latest insult to none other'n the turdburger who's typing this out just has to be the downright theft of a Cee-Dee I ordered via the usually reliable internet, a short miserable few weeks ago. And yeah, I was really anxious to listen to the George Russell COMPLETE SMALLTET AND ORCHESTRA RECORDINGS featuring the noted avgarde arranger's earlier efforts but (now get this!) even though the package tracking said that the disque was to have arrived two weeks ago this Monday and was in fact on board the ol' mail truck just rarin' to be delivered, some guy actually went to the local post office and was GIVEN my package for whatever nefarious reasons there may be! Dunno if this was just an honest error and if so why the recipient did not return the thing, but the mail people are putting on the innocent routine as if they actually wanna face up to the fact that they're giving out mail to anyone willy nilly without asking for proper ID or any sorta meaningful credentials! So more or less, it seems that at this time I am out not only one Cee-Dee but the hard-begged moolah it took to buy the thing! Makes me wonder just how much lost mail that was due to come my way was pilfered by people for whatever nefarious reasons they may had had for doing so, and if you think that I'm not the least bit pissed off at what has happened you of course would be wrong again. Well, things like this DO reinforce my long-held beliefs in the true nature of that primitive beast they call human.

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Found out about this one via the Vox Popoli blog who got it from Milo. Thought I'd post it for alla you San Francisco (ex) readers out there who love to lecture me about the moral superiority of your peculiar lifestyle and all of those sad facts you never did have the gumption to face up to. 'n hey, despite what the straight lackeys at the Huffington Post  might say in no way can this be taken as satire especially with  3/4th of the participants being forbidden to be within two thousand feet of any playground, nursery or grade school extant! (Oops, seems that the homos were even able to take down the link that Milo posted which only goes to prove you that maybe "satire" really is something that closes on Saturday night, or in this case Saturday morning. Here's a relevant news story regarding the brouhaha that should help out)

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Got a few freshies here amidst the old clutter of disques that usually permeate these posts. Thanks goes to not only Bill, Paul and Feeding Tube Records but a certain ex-pal who sent me a whole batch of Cee-Dee-Are about twenny years back only I'm gettin' to a good batch of 'em now because well, I am hard up. Too bad you're now incognito you former friend, otherwise I'd like to tell you what a loathsome being you really are, right to your face if that would ever dare happen. And yes, maybe somehow with whatever little is left of my conscience (and dignity) I can forgive, but forgetting is a whole 'nother matter which I never doubt will go away.

Orchid Spangiafora and Glands of External Secretion-COUSCOUS BIZARRE LP (Feeding Tube Records)

Legendary soundscapader OS teams up with fellow creepy music makers Glands of External Secretion for the usual "weird juxtaposition of sounds" (copyright 1980 Anastasia Pantsios) that not only makes for a pretty fun merger of tape cut ups with sonic backdrop but reminds one of the vastly greater efforts in total deconstruction that were found in the fifties/sixties/seventies long before suburban doofs such as myself discovered such things via by-now ancient library books. There's even a funny bent to a lotta these "juxtapositions" where phrases are slipped together to produce meaning that's bound to make you chuckle even as yer pop beats you up for listening to such  aural offal as this. For those of you whose sense of avgarde wonderment stopped around 1979 this one is for you!

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Skyhooks-EGO IS NOT A DIRTY WORD LP (Mercury Records)

If curiosity did indeed kill the cat there'd be a heapin' stinkin' pile of 'em around here. And in related news there's a stinkin' pile of records around here with this mid-seventies effort from some Australian neo-glamsters right smack dab on top of 'em all. Given that true-to-life-and-really-happened story about how their lead singer went out of his way to call Deniz Tek a fascist (well, I know he couldn't have found any greater praise especially in these uber-leftoid times) after a seemingly friendly tete-a-tete I am sorta glad I don't care for this quasi-decadent mimicry one bit. Bargain bin fodder of 1977 becomes retrogarde loathing of 2021.

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Cuby and the Blizzards-SINGLES A'S & B'S 2-CD-r burn set (originally on Major Music Records)

Didn't know that the Blizzards were so prolific what with a good 44 sides to their moniker being presented on these disques. And the early stuff is pretty good in that cheap continental knock off of the English groups sorta way. The later stuff (done by various post-Cuby knockoffs 'n related jetsam) reminds me of the late-sixties horn rock blahs sorta in the Tasavallan Presidentti vein of which the less said the less said. An' that's complete with the David Clayton Thomas growl which had been imitated all through the medium way back in those days when you just couldn't hide from it. Buy this only if you really do want to listen to a band degenerate into pointless moosh right before your very ears.

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Brigid St. John-SONGS FOR THE GENTLE MAN CD-r burn (originally on Dandelion Records, England)

I thought I gave this 'un a listen-to a good fifteensome years back but am not too positive about it. Checked the archives and turned up nada but it sure does sound familiar. Anyhow, dunno about you but when I hear this all I can think of is another Joni Mitchell only with an English stodginess to it 'stead of a Canadian via Laurel Canyon dingbat approach. At least CHELSEA GIRL had a strong decadent appeal which made the glop on that 'un all the more appealing. Hokay, to be really honest 'n upfront about it I'll admit that I kinda like that neo-Beatleish thing that sounds more like a good Kevin Ayers ca, JOY OF A TOY track, but that's about it for this folk slop. For those of you who like Nick Drake yet can't find any Tryptizol this just might suit you dandy. I am not a gentle man, so in no way do I need this.

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The Brood-HITSVILLE CD-r burn (originally on Dionysus Records)

I pretty much slithered away from the eighties garage band "revival" (see how I use parentheses in order to make some brave rockist-oriented moral view you can all marvel at!) once that decade (and the music it championed) crept into areas that really didn't make me feel comfortable. However I gotta admit that I did like this later-on efforts by this particular practitioner of the form not named the Chesterfield Kings. Thankfully there's nothing here that goes out of its way to capture alla that coy and cuteness that some practitioners of the form used to wallow in way back when. Entertaining too!

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Les Sinners-SINERISME CD-r burn (originally on Oldays Records, Japan)

I'm surprised that Paul McGarry burned this one for me because he hates French people! Maybe he left his notions by the wayside due to Les Sinners' more'n on-target Montreal Rock standards which are as top-notch and with-it as the rest of those Quebecois freakouts that made French class a little more exciting 'n "Frere Jacques". Sung in both French and English with some nice moments here/there including a French version of the Who's uber-spiffy "La La La Lies". This Oldays ish even has some rare sides which may or may not be taken from singles, too lazy to find out.

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Various Artists-TONY THE PONY'S LAST TRAIN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

More mix 'n match oleo this time, and that's good considering the spreading out of interesting old rock 'n roll sides with bits of esoteric goo guaranteed to make one laugh. 

Of the latter's a platter on how to call moose that, with a few interesting twitches here and there coulda been a Monty Python flexi disc as well as one of those Dora Hall vanity spins, this time a kiddoid record guaranteed to make any self-respecting turdler hide under the bed. In between are a dudster speech by broadcaster Dan Smoot not forgetting this durty re-telling of ALICE IN WONDERLAND that's about one step above poo-pee ca-ca. I just hope that wasn't Bill and his dearie doin' the naughty talk! 

Also's got some Beatle cash-ins including two takes on the Tony Sheridan all time hit (for him kinda/sorta) "My Bonnie" and a nice cheapo from the Liverpools that doesn't sound as atrocious as you would have expected it to be at all.

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I know there's something missing in your life. An' it ain't a college degree or three square meals a day either. It's BLACK TO COMM back issues and if you wanna get your fill of 'em there's but one place to go! Unless you count the other ways you can but we won't get into that lest I lose even more money. Just make sure you have plenty of them buckskins packed in your wallet for these and oh yeah, whateer you do you better leave your preconceived control conditioned ideas at the door where they belong.