Patti Smith Group-"Ask The Angels"/"Time is On My Side" (Arista Records,
Franee)
Gosh how I used to marvel over import singles such as this 'un when I
would traipse around in some Cleveland record shop espying a whole load of
sound recordings that just weren't available in the tri-county area.
Non-LP b-sides and interesting pic sleeves ne'er before seen by these eyes were to be found, and although
I was subsisting on depression-era wages at the time at least it was grand
just to pour through the racks before heading to the cheapo cassette
cutout bin which was more up my financial alley.
At the time I never woulda guessed that I'd ever be in possession of this
'un, but I have and for well over thirtysome years at that! On the hit
single side Patti and group tear through a track from their underrated
RADIO ETHIOPIA platter, sounding commercial yet exciting
enough in a way that woulda dragged in a few metallic music fans to the
Smith cause (and I guess a few did cross over if the pages of
BACK DOOR MAN and RAW POWER are to be
trusted).
The live in France flip has Patti tackling the old Stones "chestnut" as
they say doing a more'n adequate job of it for a crowd that was part and
parcel of the whole ROCK NEWS/Open Market/Skydog fan base. 's
funny, but for years people said that France was a horrible place for rock
music but in fact the place was hepper'n hep to the Big Beat more'n any locale
'round here could ever be. And if you don't get chills at the end when
Patti proudly bursts out "The MC5!" well, I guess you don't get chills.
***
The Pinheads-"Break On Through", "Have Love, Will Travel"/"Pushin' Too
Hard" EP (blank label, undoubtedly of Swedish origin)
Throughout the eighties there were more'n just a few of these "sixties
garage revival bands" popping up all over the globe, and although you
never would have known it if you got all your musical news from the by
then-gelded
CREEM they were sure making their presence known in more'n
just a few hidden locales.
These Swedes were but one of the thousands of young upstarts who were
doing their best to bring back the high energy in a world that was doused
beyond belief. Thankfully enough they sure did a pretty good job of keeping the rhythm
goin' on. More'n just "adequate" covers of the Doors, Sonics and Seeds
appear here, and they sure come off a whole lot gutsier'n many of those
groups did once the movement began petering out and fans began looking for
another underground trend to latch onto.
A fairly good 'un that reminds me of just how important the Disques du
Monde catalog was in my life, at least before I began emptying my bank
account to zilch for records such as these.
***
The Cricketones-"The 3 Billy Goats Gruff"/"Tortoise and the Hare"
(Cricket Records)
Y'know, I do feel kinda sorry for the turdlers today who aren't subject to
these old kiddie tales that thrilled a generation of diaper dumpers. As
always its their (grand)parents' fault. After all, the children who were
told these fables and given some of the best toys on the market and didn't
have to beg for the bare necessities of life were the same ones who became
radical revolutionaries and hippie malcontents who have made life for all
purposes worse for
alla the younguns that followed! The last generation that really had it
good, and they just hadda go and ruin it for everyone else and for reasons
that were totally anti-human at that.
A funzie, typically portable kiddie turntable kinda spin here with the
Cricketeers singing nice, single-digit ditties based on a coupla olde
tymey tales that stood the test of time. Well they did at least until
Mother Goose hadda be replaced by Big Mother watching
YOU! and you know how al that turned out. Educational too, because I never
was told the Billy Goats Gruff saga so it was almost like I was once again
crawlin' 'round in my overalls (mom put 'em on so I wouldn't touch myself)
listening to this rec for the first time before headin' for the set to
glom some real deal suburban slob cartoon entertainment.
***
Alice Cooper-"Billion Dollar Babies"/"Halo of Flies" (Warner Brothers
Records, Germany)
Alice was the big time king of the freak rock roost when this 'un came
out, and "Billion Dollar Babies" sounds even better (even with the
intrusion of the otherwise excretable Donovan) a good fifty year down the
line. It should sound better because well, have you
heard most of
the music that has been made since? Heavy metal never had it so good, even
if records like this were its last gasps until the advent of Von
Lmo.
The big surprise is the flipster featuring the entirety of "Halo of Flies
off the KILLER album, and all eight plus minutes of it at
that! I didn't know that you could fit a song that long on a seven-inch 45
but I guess it has been done (with minimal if any loss in quality) and if
I were a suburban slob ranch house kid back then who saved my pennies up
for this 'un well, I sure woulda gotten my moolah's worth now, wouldn't I?
***
Fire in the Kitchen-"The Fog"/"Inspector Marais" (Matador Records)
Back when "rock music" (both of an underground and increasingly banal
mainstream variety) was going down the poop-chute to Hall of Fame nausea
this group was one of a scant that delivered on some mighty straight-ahead
and emotional (without the self-reflective pout) music that sure
brightened up my oft dismal days. Even now I can hear what the appeal was
with this act given their late-seventies influenced drive that reflected
more of a suburban Velvet Underground affectation (seventies style) than
it did artzy boho chi-chi snob attitude that seemed to be oh-so prevalent back then. But then again in the seventies
that artzy bohoness and ranch house musical attitudes often did run in the
same directions before boundaries were eventually drawn up. Big kudos for
the b-side which uncannily sounds like late-seventies Simply Saucer.
***
U.X.A-"1995"/"Visitors" (Posh Boy Records)
This much-praised bunch of seventies San Franciscan punks sound rather
pedestrian compared with others of their ilk but that doesn't mean you
should dismiss 'em. After all, their appearance on
TOOTH AND NAIL was solid enough for anyone's (or at least my
own) sense of rockist supremacy. A more'n just "accurate" Amerigan
takes on various English moves which were swiped from Amerigans swiping
from the green-toothed ones anyway, and it went back 'n forth for quite a
long time. High rating for the kinda lyrics that shoulda been heard in a rock 'n roll setting 'stead of all that "I wandered lonely as
a cloud" twaddle that usually appeared.
***
Richard Hell + the Voidoids (Part III)-"Don't Die"; "Time (Diff.
Mix)"/The Neon Boys-"That's All I Know"; "Love Comes in Spurts"
(Overground Records, England)
Hell does fine enough in this version of the Voidoids (the one with
ex-Eels Jerry Garcia goin' under the nom de somethingorother of Xavier
Sessive on the bass guitar) delivering on his emotive whine to some sold
backing which should be expected considering the musicians involved. The
Neon Boys roar on beautifully in that primitive basement demo sorta way
coming off uncannily similar in approach and sound quality to those
pre-Dolls Actress demos, Television's Eno tape and not surprisingly the
Primitives/Roughneck/Beachnuts tracks that Lou Reed laid down before
hittin' the big time. Sheesh, I sure remember when it was stuff like this
that made me glad that I was an OCD rabid music madman who wanted to hear
everything that was pertinent to a hard-edged high energy sound...whadda I
mean
WAS????
***
The Cramps-"Hurricane Fighter Plane"/"I'm Cramped" (Famous Lux Records
bootleg)
We're talkin' really early Cramps here when Peter Crowley gave these guys
ample stage time at Max's Kansas City supporting acts ranging from Suicide
and the Brats to Jango Edwards and the Friends Band. And all that time
these guys/gals were accruing such a cult that even Hilly Kristel hadda
relent and book 'em at CBGB's even after they failed their
audition there.
It's sure funny thinking that such a low-fi act as the Cramps actually
covered the Red Crayola but they obviously did, and they did so in typical
early pre-chops primitive style at that. You can hear the roots of their
rockabilly passion on "I'm Cramped" which thuds on as if humongous
gallstones grew inside Eddie Cochran. Another 'un that reminds me of the
freshness and creativity of the seventies, and just like with disturbing
pornography you could find itif you just knew where to look.
***
The Shams-"Only a Dream"/"3:AM" (SOL Records)
I tossed these gals' album out because I thought it was tepid at best (or
so I faintly recall), but this early single (featuring
NEXT BIG THING heartthrob Amy Rigby) is a better than you
would expect bit of acoustic countryified folk that sure sounds waywayWAY better than some of the music that has passed for both country and folk
this past half-century. Surprisingly sweet and melodic with pleasing
harmonies, a surprise since the Shams came outta NYC and we all know what
a turdhole that place turned out to be. If this act played it right they
coulda been the McGuire Sisters of the eighties.
***
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The Mortal Micronotz-"I'm Too Good"; "So Fine"; "It's Alive"/"Cleo",
"Dean's Lead" 7-inch 3 rpm EP (Fresh Sounds Records)
If you (like me) miss the sound of hardcore punk rock before the entire
concept became hippified beyond belief (the spiritual predecessors to the
reams of messed up mental midgies ruining things these days) then you
should enjoy the Micronotz. Avid mid-eighties under-the-underground mag
readers might remember this group that had been getting some notoriety
thanks to not only their legendary neo-Stoogeian approach to sonic
bombardment but their label being able to afford plenty of ad space in
just about every under-the-underground read in the world 'cept this one. The low fidelity helps as this group screeches through a variety of
hotcha trackage that at times even sounds like hoary old sixties garage
riffs being thrust into the early-seventies of thud heavy metal.
Y'know, on one hand I imagined the city of Lawrence to be some sorta
college snob town filled with hipper-than-anyone types, the Austin Texas
of Kansas in fact. But if the locals were always as wired and hard-edged
as these guys well, it's no wonder that Bloody Bill Anderson and his crew
leveled the place!
***
The Antidote-THOU SHALL NOT KILL EP (Antidote Records)
It seemed like a fun idea fortysome years back.
Krishnacore mighta been good for a laff or two, but what did that style of
punk unto punque get us anyway? Nothing but splintered off
utter nonsense like queercore, christiancore, moslemcore, femcore on down
the line, and it was ALL nothing but hippiedippie antijamz set to a moo'ment that had lost
any semblance of its original meaning long ago. You know that when mags
like NEWSWEEK started to write glowing articles on groups such
as these that the jig was up. As Jim Goad said, the concept of punk
(in any wayshapeform you can think of) was the antithesis of the
wholegrain we are all one people and culture save the world headband and
trinkets dreck the survivors of the "revolution" had become in the
seventies, but thanks to the likes of Tim Yohannon and Al/Hudley etc. punk
became exactly what it set out to destroy---weepy heartfelt cozycomfy
feelings that sure make me yearn for the '80/'81 days of hedonistic
neo-fascistic (in a good and positive way) high energy!
Nice enough roar tho.
***
The Dehumanizers-KILL LOU GUZZO 33 rpm EP (Subcore Records)
Haw is this a hoot! Seattle sludgemeisters the Dehumanizers tear down
local newsblabber and Dixie Lee Ray cohort Lou Guzzo after the fanabla
gave an anti-punk rock editorial on local tee-vee back late-eighties way!
This record actually resulted in some threatened legal action (probably
due to the fact that Guzzo's own daughter was allegedly punkified herself
and thus got an honorable mention in the lyrics) but, like with
pornographers or even AK47 whose "The Badge Means You Suck" earned the ire
of the Houston fuzz, it's kinda tricky to pinpoint exactly who to sue even
if you're lucky enough to find out the brains behind the entire outfit!
As far as reactions to the anti-punk hysteria that prevailed throughout
the eighties go, "Kill Lou Guzzo" hits the target not only because of the
subject matter at hand (I mean, how many times did you [OK---ME] want to beat the living daylights outta some prissy purebred anti-punk
progenitor like Anastasia Pantsios anyway?) but because of the great
hardgrind metallic punk energy not only this song but the entire EP
(filled with perfecto snide in itself) produces. Thankfully this 'un was
recorded loooong before alla that ______core (see review
directly above) was run into the ground and the concept of "punk"
went "punque" making you have to look far and wide for
the real deal meal.
Records like this just might have been one of punk rock's last gasps of
greatness. The snarkiness of the title track sure is a refreshing relief
from those comparatively subdued strums that came out much later, songs
that had none of the motion, energy and spark that drew kids to the form
in the first place. Music that in many cases was just downright droopy.
Maybe you remember way back when a well-to-do preppy jock type murdered
some punk kid and got a slap on the wrist, and all that the p-rockers
could manage to do was write boo-hoo odes about it all with titles such as
"Tears From Heaven" that had oh what an injustice how we miss you sniff
blubber lyrics. Sheesh, this modern day William Zanzinger should've
been subjected to the Guzzo treatment complete with aspersions upon his
ethnicity and beliefs complete with a good doxxing 'stead of all of those
crybaby sensitive odes recorded in the poor punk's memory!
***
Pat Boone-"Friendly Persuasion"/"Chains of Love" (Dot Records)
How'd
THIS turdburger
get into my collection? Gotta think of which cousin out there was doof
enough to snatch this 'un up inna first place but eh, if I can review
scratched beyond belief old kiddie records and flexidiscs hyping Helen
O'Connell-plugged Big Band compilations why not this.
Not much to say about it, only that even compared to Perry Como Boone
comes off like Karen Quinlan, and at this point in time I think I'd prefer
listening to her respirator than this slick stuff custom made for the
timid of souls amongst us (yesterday's version of the past forty years of
pop music pandering to the LCD of Amerigan youth).
By the way, did you know that (hate to bring her name up again but...)
Anastasia Pantsios used to correlate the underground punk rock movers and
shaker fans of the 70s/80s cusp with the stodgy old fogey parent types of
the fifties who thought people such as Pat were perfect for their progeny
while the FM-bred-dolts who were prevalent were clearly the then-present
day version of the Elvis Presley-listenin' leather jackets and sideburns
kinda cool cats who were up rockin' and boppin'?!?!? Shows that some
people should have been kept away from any sort of printing or broadcast
media (and placed on a variety of meds that prob'ly weren't around back
then) while the true visionaries like myself shoulda been given free range
to do all the town crier spreading of the BIG BEAT news that always needed a push given the proliferation of anti-high energy types in this world of ours. Maybe if that had happened we wouldn't have had to put up
with Ann Powers.
***
Alternative T.V.-"The Force is Blind"/"Lost in Room" (Deptford Fun City
Records, England)
This group sure went through their own long and strange journey
considering what they sounded like only a good two years earlier.
The a-side's perhaps too "progressive" for a buncha punks such as these,
maybe due to the femme singer and the synth drone coming off like a
beauteous mash up of Slapp Happy and Jimmy Page's soundtrack to LUCIFER RISING.
As for "Lost in Room" it reminds me more or less of all that English
"post-punque" musique that might have seemed interesting and artistic when
it first came out but just developed into an even more ball-less mess of
eighties miasma as time rolled on. Man that breed of sound sure made me
almost as ill as all that pseudo heavy metal and ginchy gooch MTV pop that
the dolts were gobbling up back during one of the worst times for
music ever. Well, at least it was the worst time until the next decade and
the one after that on and on and onanism. But since this was done up in
1979 its fine if only because well, who woulda guessed?
***
The Child Molesters-"(I'm The) Hillside Strangler"/"Don't Worry Kyoko
(Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow" 7-inch 33 rpm single (Ace
of Hearts Records)
The Child Molesters certainly owed a whole lot more to the earlier punk
rock generation of the late-sixties/early-seventies variety than they did
to the late-seventies variation on the form. Their music was hard-edged
pounce, recorded in the same style of glorious lo-fi as the Titfield
Thunderbolt and Neon Boys and definitely way closer to the Captain
Beefheart/Pink Fairies/Alice Cooper taproot than it was the Sex Pistols.
Then again, the Pistols were also way way close to that same source of
seventies energy so what'm I talking about?
A-side capitalization on local tragedy fits in swell with a solid
neo-Stooge ca. RAW POWER approach that sure made me glad that
I was up, about and had a heart full of hate (still do). The other side showcases a
fine slab of 60s/70s cusp cataclysm music originally performed by Yoko Ono
back when she had the makings of a true rocker and didn't yet head out for
the sensitive singer-songwriter mode (as if people were gonna like her for
any better for that!). I find this 'un badass enough to clump in with
various other pre-Clash-era punk spunk recordings for kids who didn't need
(once again --- brace yourself!) Anastasia Pantsios to tell 'em what
was hip and with it!
***
Cinecyde-POSITIVE ACTION 7-inch 33-rpm EP (Tremor Records)
Gotta pity these guys for comin' 'round too late for the sixties Detroit
hard rock scene. They might have made somewhat of a dent if they were
around during the early-seventies or so, at least as big a one as the
Motor City Mutants (BTW...there was a live Mutants recording from '72
floating around quite awhile back---if anyone out there has a copy couldja
make a dub for me
PLEEEEZZZZEEEE???). Yeah this is
definitely a product of the late-seventies breed of punk rock but the hard
gnash and general roots are firmly a good decade earlier. Might be
somewhat more Dead Boys than Stooges but I don't mind. Raving cover of the
Dave Clark Five's "Anyway You Want It"...or was it Journey's???
***
Surgery-"Not Going Down"/"Blow Her Face" (Amphetamine Reptile Records)
I haven't played any of them eighties vintage "new era" groups as of late so
this Surgery effort was like a big return to those worser than worse days
and the hope that somehow the rock 'n roll spirit woulda made itself
rather known in a sea of musical mediocrity. It sure didn't but at least
records like this gave a good go of it.
This Surgery single sure brought a whole lotta good memories back (as well
as bad ones since like, well, that wasn't exactly the best of times for
this pampered pooch of a sensitive soul) with its over-the-top brand of
hard rock without the big label slick. Thankfully the rock "underground"
hadn't devolved as speedily as it did when this effort had hit the
mailboxes, what with these hefty metallic shards of energy (which puts
alla that Pantsios-hyped examples of cleaned up tinklings that the kids
really wanted
to utter shame!) drilling holes into a whole lot more than your eardrums.
Lock Andy Secher in a room with this and he'll be crawling up the walls
just begging for his Van Halen albums if only to soothe them
shattered nerves!
***
Jeff Dahl-"Rock & Roll Critic"/"Janine", "I Heard" (Doodley Squat
Records)
This goombah made a huge splash in underground hard rock circles during
the eighties/nineties what with his Jeff Dahl Group and
SONIC IGUANA fanzine (he even got himself a nice and
long-windy feature in the 11th issue of my own rag), but on this '77
effort courtesy of White Boy's Mr. Ott Dahl's hair is short and is sporting a denim jacket, looking
threatening enough to the point where this sissy feels like hiding under
the bed upon once glance of the sleeve!
This reminds me somewhat of those Nick Kent tracks that appeared on the
PUNKS FROM THE UNDERGROUND album as well as various then-contemp
tries at a neo-Velvet Underground approach to personal concerns. For some
odd reason this even dredges up memories of that Stalingrad Symphony
release of late-70s recordings by Eddie Flowers' friend Billy McCarter if
only because these minds seem to be dribbling in the same Velvet-y
direction. Many people have been trying to do what Dahl has for
years with not
even half of the success, so maybe trying to give a listen (this should be
somewhere in the vast reaches of the internet) would be in at least a few
of you readers' best interests.
Hey, while I got you on the line can anyone give me any information on
Dahl's seventies fanzine CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT which I assumed
was music related although I have seen a horror mag with that title up and
about? Of course you won't.
***
The Lost-"Who Do You Love"/"It is I" (Stanton Park Records)
Ya gotta give credit to Willie Alexander for having stuck it out in the
rock 'n roll arena for as long as as he has, remaining meaningful in that
under-the-underground punkified sorta way only the real deal types every
could. Here he is at the beginning of that long journey fronting Boston
legends the Lost doing a grand enough maracas-shakin' job on the Diddley
a-side while oozing that refined '66 Boston-styled smooth rock a la the
Rockin' Ramrods/Teddy and the Pandas etc. (it wasn't rough, but it wasn't
glop) on the flip. If you want something a little different than the usual
(and much necessary) hard-edged sixties rock you've teethed on since your
very own beginning you'll probably ooze over this.
***
The Wailers-"Scotch on the Rocks", "Snake Pit"/"Dirty Robber", "High
Wall" EP (Norton Records)
Yep, these (no doubt about it!) are the original 1958 demos by the act
that many "rock historians" claim to be the original garage rock band
(something I will deny given earlier chart appearances by the likes of the
Royal Teens and Rhythm Rockers)! Recorded around a year before their debut
LP, the Wailers actually manage to sound even more primitive
than they would on their album with a clankier version of "Tall
Cool One" (the original title offending the more Carrie Nation types
amongst us) while the rest just oozes everything that was hotcha
about the Golden Age of teenbo instrumental rock right around the times
the music was beginning to get somewhat slicked up. The sole vocal track
"Dirty Robber" with pianist Kent Morrill handling the pipes is the
definite beginning point in the vocal as scream method that would later be
well used by the likes of Gerry Roslie, Iggy Pop and Greg Prevost. Betcha
they never taught you stuff like
that in any of
them Rolling Stone mag histories now, have they?
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