BOOK REVIEW! SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES SCRAPBOOK 1976-1980

For a longer time that perhaps you even existed I wasn't what you would call anywhere close to being fan and follower of Siouxsie and her crew. At first listen THE SCREAM left me more bothered and confused and what I heard afterwards wasn't that much reassuring. You could say that I still am not what you would call "front and center" for her, but after reading a few articles by some writers who opinions I do cozy up to over the past XXX years my nodes did somewhat perk up. Yes, I still do get that way sometimes. The group's early demos and live recordings also brought me closer to the Siouxsie groove not only because of their abashed low fidelity bringing out the more feral aspects of the music but because these tracks presented Siouxsie and crew as part of the same kind of rock 'n roll fanbase who were part of the Velvet Underground/Stooges/T. Rex/krautrock cults of the earlier portion of the seventies in the same fashion that many of you older readers were and presumable still are.

These clippings from the early days of Bansheedom are particularly helpful if you (like me) struggled to latch onto all of the ultra-expensive British Weaklies that all the rich kids could afford but not a depression-era waged suburban slob such as I. You get a nice smattering from the likes of NME and SOUNDS not to mention the also-rans like RECORD MIRROR and yes, some of your favorite scribes (well, actually MY favorites like Vivien Goldman, Nick Kent and Jane Suck) are here to make their Siouxsie opines known. Surprisingly enough to me is the fact that the lost to time writers who worked for them aforementioned second-string papers were also pretty good in making their critiques known in a nice, forthright manner. Too bad these people never made it like the big names but crueler things in life have happened to people in the rock writing rat race

I just know that many of you regular tuner-inners go big time for the seventies explosion of cataclysmic music (and cataclysmic rock writing), and you'd do well snatching this collection up. Even if you're not exactly in the Banshee camp well, the sway and swivel that the authors of these missives deliver are way better than anything you read these days, and that includes the nth rate drivel you're reading right now.

No, I have unfortunately NOT been deported (wouldn't mind being sent to Tahiti I'll tell ya)! I'm just taking a breather, being lazy as usual, suffering under the lack of mental stimulation and of course there's REAL LIFE to contend with which is taking precedence to doing such things as writing a blog for you somewhat eager beaver types out there who I s'pose have nothing better to do than to read what I think about certain things in this world of ours. 'n after all that so howz things with you??? 

In other news let's just say that life is chomping me up, down and all around what with the warm summer months just around the corner dumping upon me more yardwork not to mention the outdoor antiques show/flea market wake up at three and on the go until six in the evening grind and well...it ain't like I'm no spring chicken anymore! Talk about taking up what should be my settle back and listen to music while reading a whole lotta fun things time, and since I'm not gettin' any younger who knows how much goof off time is left for me on this planet of ours. Believe-you-me, thoughts of outdoor storms raging on while I put my life on the line protecting the wares that are up for sale is worthy of the best of nightmares, and if I had a choice I'd rather be writing blog posts that arguing with old ladies who want items with ten-dollar price tags reduced to a buck.

In other news the political situation is fun to watch what with Donald Trump playing weird 20-dimensional chess flipping off the entire world the way he does best, stymieing even me with those weird AI-generated paintings with Jesus Christ himself acting as his number one advisor! Very creepy true, but I kind of take it as yet another way to irritate the usual variety of turdburgers who NEED to be "deeply offended" that I see up and about these sad and sorry days. He must be doing a good job of it because at times the ol' stroonada irritates me as well! 

Well, it sure is an improvement over watching Joe Biden and his tranny freakshow even if for all intent purposes I sure do miss the antiwar neocon-hating Trumpenstein of yore...y'know the one who wouldn't even go NEAR an outright Republican Party Hack with a big "H" like Lindsay Graham in a million years but now pumps the likes of him up while kicking his old supporters right inna rump! I guess that with Trump 2.0 it's now "The Art of the Squeal"!!! Talk about letting down all those people who helped build up the Trump brand a good ten years back by reneging on a whole load of promises that we all know sure needed to be kept, but never thought that he or anyone on this planet could!

In all actuality the New Model Trump is about as much Swamp as you can get these days, in fact just as much a marsh maven as those comic book faves the Heap, the Swamp Thing and the Man Thing all sludged together! Frankly, if there really is any hope for this nation of ours it most certainly is Carlson/Owens '28, or maybe even Nick Fuentes for ambassador to Israel! Well, either him or Norman Finkelstein (don't write in, I slipped the last two in, or at least Fuentes, just for some sick yucks this world can really use, and some downright offensiveness you all do really deserve!).

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This week's AI creation...a sixties/seventies-era children's television host who has had
enough and is chasing kids around the set with axe in hand.

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On a tastier note well...I've been wanting to see this FEARLESS FOSDICK marionette series, originally broadcast on CBS back 1952 way (thought lost and gone forever Clementine style), for YEARS! Sure glad that I lived so long...:

Howzbout another?:

And because you've been such a good boy just one more (that guy with the mustache must have been Parker before his Lady Penelope days):

This I never knew about! Somehow I get the feeling that Al Capp Enterprises had nothing to do with the thing since Fosdick ain't pushing no Wildroot Cream Oil, Charlie!:

And now, the Nazi Abbot and Costello, and after seeing more than a few of these I get the feeling that the Helle character was really an Allied asset given his somewhat humorous trajectories from the Aryan way of thinking:

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My boob tube viewing tends to have run into the same old same old rut lately, what with me in the evening tuning in the usual smattering of Warner Brothers cartoons they've been showing on Boomerang for years on end (and I sure could use some Sniffles and maybe a Bosko or two). Then I switch over to INSP for HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL which I will admit can be a little too cerebral for my overworked beddy-bye brain to handle. Well, when my mind is "winding down" after a long day at the dildo factory it does get somewhat needlessly stimulated watching Paladin quoting the philosopher Erroneous and indulging in his love of fine wine and sexy girls in between engaging in a slew of ultraviolent acts. But eh, I like it especially knowing that the harridans of old who were so concerned about violence on TV were probably clutching more than just pearls because of the over-the-hill gunplay and regular slugfests found in this still somewhat legendary television series. And y'know, I get the feeling that the harridans of today, just like the ones of old only now with blue hair and enough metal piercings to sway the magnetic field wouldn't think highly of "Paladin" as well, but then again they complain about everything from the weather to what sex the new baby wants to be these days. All this naturally makes me want to tune it in all the more, spiteful person I am and shall remain! If I'm up to it then there's some old GUNSMOKE I've seen repeatedly these past ten years, but better an old GUNSMOKE than a new TRACKER.

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It would figure that Brad Kohler would get his latest issue (#5) of DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT out within the same span of time as it would take me to change a lightbulb with a number of people of Polish extraction, but at least the guy produces an effort that certainly is way beyond the cudzine limitations Kohler claims to put into his creations. This one is a Japanese surprise issue for those of you who (like me) like Japanese surprises what with a cover article on Reck (I assume the other figure on the cover is none other than former bandmate Lydia Lunch) and a number of decidedly Far Eastern favorites of the past you probably forgot about because I have. This cover does have the look of a 1950s science fiction fanzine if I do say so myself, something that catches the eye of a person obsessed with fanzine history like...well...myself. Again, a nice bit of somethingorother available from 802 Crystal St., Ames (that should be pronounced "a mess") Iowa 50010 USA and like, don't you wish he was doing this back when fanzines really mattered?

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I haven't been buying much if anything on my own these days, but Robert Forward's parcels and a few Paul McGarry stragglers have been helping to keep the review section afloat. Not to say that there aren't recordings both old and new that I wouldn't mind listening to like (for one measly example) the Chinas Comidas collection that just got unleashed but I figure it out this way...I am an old turd and, like I said in the opening schpiel, who knows how long I have being up and functioning. Why should I dish out the moolah for something that might give me only a few months if not days of fun and jamz? At least the stuff I've had since time immemorial has pleased me enough to the point where I really got my money's worth outta my youthful acquisitions!

Scots Pirates-REVOLUTIONARY MEANS CD-r burn (originally on Schoolkids Records)

Those early-to-mid nineties Scott Morgan Cee-Dees don't get any play around here no more given that they really don't live up to the whole Detroit promise that these guys had a good hand creating a good fiftysome years back. However, this post-Sonics Rendezvous bunch did a good enough job on this '95 effort that brings back all of the good things that early-seventies rock gave us while leaving the lamebrain aspects out of the proceedings. 

Yeah, with a song sporting a title like "Marijuana Wine" and a with few overworked seventies riffage moves heard for ages you'd think that these Pirates should have stayed down on the farm with the rest of those White Panther hasbeens. Considering what that song sounds like you wish they had. Otherwise, Morgan and company rev it up in a way that you feel as if you're at some 1972 end the war event which you probably attended if only to hear hot stuff like this.

Nothing I'd part with the silver for but otherwise in a word or two...pleasant enough.

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TOM SURGAL "FIRE MUSIC" INTERVIEW ON WKCR-FM NEW YORK CITY; Chik White-QUARANTUNES N. 56 CD-r burn

Former Blue Human, Thurston Moore and Arthur Doyle (amongst many others) collaborator Surgal gets interviewed about his 2021 documentary where he gabs on about the seemingly humongous task of presenting a history of the jazz avgarde without coming off like a Ken Burns gnome. The resultant FIRE MUSIC film sounds like a pretty tasty endeavor which is available on Criterion VOD but you think that I could afford that? Maybe it will pop up on Youtube one of these days  after all of you Rollo the Rich Kid types have seen, digested and crapped it out. 

But still, for a suburban slob like me who read about all of this strom via its tangential rock 'n roll connections, the mere idea of a documentary such as this sure jets me back to my own teenbo days snatching up the Cecil Taylor's NEFERTITI reissue on Arista/Freedom trotting back to the car just to read Nat Hentoff's liner notes. Not to mention spin a library copy of Mingus's "Original Faubus Fables" getting Dad more upset than even Xenakis did when Eric Dolphy let loose with that by-now legendary solo. Gee, ain't I a sentimental slob!

Chik White makes whacky and gurgling sounds using a variety of implements including his own voice. If I were to be a cynical crank about it I'd say that there's probably nothing else to do in Nova Scotia but still, I can ooze myself into the various glub glubs and whistles that the man makes, presumably through his own snout before he breaks out the nasal spray. I particularly liked the part where he does a pretty good Tasmanian Devil impression right at the end, assumedly not on purpose but I dig it anyway.

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Moonlove-MAY NEVER HAPPEN CD-r burn (originally on Concrete Circles Records

Here's some pre-Ghosts Before Breakfast groupage from Kent Ohio who originally released this in a limited cassette edition way back in '85 when I wasn't looking. Moonlove have that jingle jangle sound that can be heard even this late in the evolution of man, and considering the date it was recorded and what other forms of music it was up against even I have to admit that this is exemplary soundage. 

However, as some of you might know I never was one to cozy up to a lot of that post-seventies underground rock pop, and to be more honest than Brad Kohler about it the connective nodes between what Moonlove is trying to express and my own taste meters just don't quite collide. I do get the feeling that some of you regular readers might be up for a group such as this and well, it's not like this group is dire or anything. They just wander quite outside the admittedly limited parameters of what I'm extremely obsessed with these sad and sorry days. And that's probably more my fault than theirs!

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Delaney & Bonnie & Friends-ON TOUR WITH ERIC CLAPTON CD-r burn (originally on Atco Records

Sheesh Paul, what did I deserve to have you send this to me? Did I do anything bad to you, or your family or anything like that to have you jet this piece of early-seventies hokey hippie music my way? Talk about everything that was wrong about the early-seventies (including the lamer-than-lameass Little Richard homage) rolled up into one big obnoxious ball of sound, and considering that Eric Clapton was involved with this I wouldn't exactly call him God. Not even close, unless your idea of a deity is Cthulhu. Worst part about it is...Bonnie's still alive and I'm sure shrieking today just as she was on this 55-plus-year-old tribute to controlled opposition music passed off as the latest in hipster shuck for kids who fell for Woodstock hook line and ticketron. Elvis Costello was right.

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Taste-LIVE TASTE CD-r burn (originally on Polydor Records)

I better be careful with this one. Y'see, Paul also sent this my way and like, Rory Gallagher is his favorite guitarist so if I say anything bad about him McGarry is going to personally flatten my bean because well, he is one who is loyal to his idols unlike me who will turn on a fave at the drop of a hat. Any of you readers able to help me break the news about what I really feel about this album without arousing the ire of McGarry? If so, please leave your comments below.

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Dr. John-LOCKED DOWN CD-r burn (originally on Nonesuch Records)

Didn't think that the ol' fanabla would have had it in him this late (2012) in the game but hey, Dr. John put out a record that sounds as if it coulda come from the cooler moments of mid-seventies still-had-it-in-him blues rockism. For a minute I thought the guy woulda been sneaking a whole load of then-current trendy moves into his sound, but this comes off as good as something that woulda gotten them STEREO REVIEW rock critics all hot and bothered and, come to think of it, even normal people like us too. As I often say these days I wouldn't buy this one in a million years but then again it ain't something that I'd call worthless. You might even like the thing, who knows?

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Fille Qui Mousse-TRIXIE STAPLETON 291 D (Spalax Records, France)

I should have read them French underground rock books a whole lot closer, because for the life of me I thought that the Fille Qui Mousse TRIXIE STAPLETON 291 D platter was a somewhat different monster than the SE TAIRE POUR UN FEMME TROPPE BELLE release on Futura which I wrote up a good six years ago. Turns out they're one and the same, but since I can't find the latter one this'll do me just swell. French musique concrete gone rock 'n roll and like, if this isn't the real punk rock that I've been gabbing about for my entire "career" then anything I've written really was all for naught. And I do believe it so!

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Charlie Rich-BEHIND CLOSED DOORS LP (Epic Records)

When I was a pubesproutnig adolescent some kid in the neighborhood came up to be and yelled right into my face "Hey Chris, what do fags do behind closed doors?" My immediate reaction was to start singing the chorus of the then current Charlie Rich hit "Behind Closed Doors" which I thought would give me a humorous pass, but I still got beat up anyway.

But still, when I listen to that 'un and Rich's next big hit "The Most Beautiful Girl" (which also appears here), I must admit that I get deep into the sudzy groove. This stuff ain't necessarily housewife fodder to scrub out them skidmarks to, but sly, calculated yet target-hitting country and western pop that will reduce you to custard especially on one of those kick back and relax days I certainly do cherish. Sure there's nothing straightforward and downright rockin' like "Lonely Weekends" or "Mohair Sam" here, but this one helped do a little desensification after being subjected to perhaps way too much resensification these past few weeks.

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John Inzane Olson-ART BOOK TWO, LITTER, TRAINING YOU CD-r burn

Olson must have a lot of free time on his hands and GOOD FOR HIM! I mean, how else are any of us going to get to hear this fine electronic crash 'em up that recalls everything from Can's "Cutaway" off of UNLIMITED EDITION to kids jacking around with dad's expensive stereo system circa 1965 anyway? It really is a good (and non-self indulgent) blast of electronic zoom that I would compare to various ethereal efforts of the same strata. Now if I only knew how to tell you where you can get your own copy.

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Hey, if you haven't picked up all of those back issues of BLACK TO COMM that have eluded you for years maybe it's time that you checked out the highlighted link and did some catching up! One of these days this offer is not going to be here and well, you better get these now before you have to do some landfill scouring in the probably not too distant future.

With the world situation the way it is and everything I've once not only admired but downright lusted after in my life decaying right before my eyes, things like this blog really do help chase away some of the old blooze that tend to cling in my psyche like the fat clogging up my arteries. Nothing much to blab about these days other that taxes and shit, but I thought that you all'd like to read one of my "major league" posts more sooner than later anyway even if I will have to scrape my brain to come up with something. Well, it keeps me off the street and out of the locked bathroom, ifyaknowaddamean...

Like I said last time, financial straits are once again separating me from the various recent releases I would actually want to own. All three of them that is (also mentioned last time). Frankly there's hardly anything getting tossed at me that I would consider worthy of parting with my pennies for, and given that the "modern" (hah!) music being created this very moments just doesn't flibben my jib and that the items that are up and about on the reissue and archival dig front just ain't happening well, that leaves me with spinning my same old faves over and over again. Not that I don't mind, but as you all should know by now I once in awhile do need a fresh injection of late-sixties Velvets-inspired and influenced cataclysm music which keeps me up on my toes even more than prune juice.

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I gotta admit to all two of you faithful BLOG TO COMM readers out there that I am actually sorry to see Jay Hinman's "Fanzine Hemorrhage" blog do the ol' 86 like the thing did a few months back. True it usually featured mags from Jay's I'm sure vast collection that were mostly of an eighties and beyond variety (and thus far from the "Golden Age of Rock Writing" styled zoombah that I like to pour into) but it was somewhat educational and maybe even downright interesting even if the man was waxing eloquence about some rag I could care less about. Besides, what else is there on the web that has anything to do with rock 'n roll anyway? Naturally I especially liked it when Hinman diverted his attention towards the seventies breed of rockscribing I tend to "go for", plus some of the newer rags that the guy praised to the rafters were more than just worthy of my time, especially the ones that would delve into the wild world of experimental sound that was going through some sort of renaissance during the eighties. Who knows, maybe Jay will resurrect the blog and (golly) even say something nice about me somewhere in the process, but I doubt it.

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Paul Ehrlich is dead, about fifty years too late according to his own calculations. Gotta hate him for scaring the bejabbers outta alla us kids (thanks to "well read" neo-hippie teachers) ranting on about all of that "world has ten more years at the best" impending doom that was being crammed into our skulls because of him and his Chicken Little panic prophesies. Also gotta laugh at the way the litzy snob press and television news people tried to cover up and make excuses for all of his off-kilter predictions in a failed attempt to save their own asses from looking like the hipster lapdogs they were, are, and unfortunately shall remain.

Dash Crofts has joined ex-partner Jim Seals in Bahai Heaven about a good five decades after he should have made that grand exit into tie dye eternity. Yeah, the two were in The Champs who did give us that rather boppin' single "Tequila" but one song does not necessarily a career make. Obits say that he performed a music called "soft rock" which is ridiculous, and also an oxymoron of the most moronic type.

On an even sadder note --- farewell to Ross the Boss FUNicello who as you all should know was up and front for the Dictators as well as Shakin' Street and some acts I never really did follow like Manowar. A big loss for anyone who tuned into mid-seventies issues of CREEM looking for the next big thing.

And finally, r.i.p. Valerie Perrine, a gal who made more'n just a few young boys switch to their local PBS station to watch the beginning of STEAMBATH whenever that one would hit the old cathodes. Her passing is, once again, a good excuse for me to post some nudie pic in order to boost the view count of this blog somewhat. I can only hope that more nude women die because well, BTC really does need them hits, especially in these anti-rock 'n roll (but pro-tits) times of ours.

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Oddly enough the first entry in this review section was actually purchased by none other than me. Robert Forward sent a nice load of 'em in my direction and I was able to dig up a Paul McGarry one which for some reason has slipped through my rather grubby fingers. Thanks be to them and no one else.

Talking Heads-TENTATIVE DECISIONS : DEMOS & LIVE 3-CD set (Sire/Rhino Records)

Well, this collection of early three-piece Talking Heads demos and such sure took its time making its way to the general public. In fact I would have LOVED to have given these demos and live tracks a good scrutinizing back in 1979 when my interest in the trio edition of the group (spurred on after reading a NEW YORKER blurb believe it or not!) was perhaps at its highest. Sure things would change in a few years or so when the resultant edition of Talking Heads was such an embarrassment to anyone who championed the group a few years prior to the point where many disavowed ANY previous love for the band, but once a whole load of that new unto gnu wave art project cutseypieness sorta fizzed into various amerindie modes, both listenable and not, I thought it was safe enough to give these early Talking Heads another go. Sheesh, and that was even with their spawn both physically (Tom Tom Club) and spiritually (ever pick up an independent single made in the eighties?) continuing to clutter up the minds of people who are naturally better than anyone else on this here planet of ours.

Disque One's got early '75/6 trackage that really does remain downright refreshing and dare-I-say "life-reaffirming" especially in the face of all of the quap that was going on in the mid-seventies. The Heads come off wild-eyed and youthful as their stripped-down music once again proves that sometimes less is more. That NEW YORKER writer was actually correct for once comparing David Byrne's 12-string acoustic guitar playing to a harpsichord which gives their tracks an elegance (ooh!) which comes off more noble than giddy what with their mix of sixties under-the-covers influences strained through seventies underground rock aesthetics. No wonder a whole load of punks on the lookout for the next thrill took 'em to heart! And as a bonus you get two pre-Heads Artistics tracks providing for us even earlier (and rawer) examples of a couple future chestnuts just as they were being birthed. I sure wish their Paul Revere and Kinks covers would have been included but eh!

#2's got the '75 Columbia demos once again showing the Heads still heavily into a garage band sixties-infused mindset, long before success stripped everything that was exciting away in order to cater to art school pretensions.  Actually these Columbia tracks are quite straightforward in themselves to the point where you kinda/sorta wish the label would have signed 'em and just put these out as is...sure it wouldn't have sold much but think how fun it would have been picking this up at some flea market a few years later.

The last one's all live, first with that October '76 Max's show everybody in on the group has probably heard by now as well as a January '77 Syracuse club appearance laid down at the start of what was going to be a somewhat promising year for the batch. Sound quality is improved somewhat on the Max's one if something like that interests you, and the Syracuse show ain't no slouch either what with an early version of their up-and-coming in a few years hit "Take Me to the River" which sounds even better without all the Enoisms that were later added too!

Big bouef with this one's that there are none of those Troggs songs that were part of their regular set but still, this collection goes to remind me why Talking Heads were grabbing the attention of more than just a few rock devotees long before they committed anything to good ol' vinyl. Play this 'un again? Sure will and not only to wash years of "Once in a Lifetime" art shuck outta my intestines.

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The Bizarros/Bad Dudes-FROM AKRON II CD-r burn of 2-LP set (originally on Clone Records)

NATURALLY this 2006 double-platter effort from the once-resurrected Bizarros along with a new batch of Akronies would be something that should have blipped on my own radarscope. Unfortunately, my radarscope must have busted since I didn't discover this 'un until Bob Forward send me a burn. Sheesh and it was on Clone Records too which also should have perked my antennae somewhat.

This double album release is nice deal too featuring the Bizarros doing more of their seventies-focused rock filtered through late-sixties greatness. The Bad Dudes, a more recent addition to the Akron "scene",  play "in the tradition" on the other. The Dudes even go as far to cover the Bizarros "chestnut" "The Waves Cry" and they do it well to the point where I even feel like doing some on-line research on the group if only I weren't so lazy. 

Even a totally detached from life and reality person such as I can enjoy both groups as they play on as if all of the bad music that has gone down since the late-seventies (and during the late-seventies) never happened, a concept which might please some of you regular readers out there. Sheesh, they even copied the old Bizarros/Rubber City Rebels cover style which I will say does bring back a whole lotta memories of seeing used copies of that one wallowing in the basement of the Record Revolution in Cle Heights but not buying any because well...I had to properly spend my pennies back then and really took care to see where they went, usually towards the wrong records but what did a fanabla like me know? 

Whatever, if you were one of those beings who snatched up the Stiff Records Akron compilation as soon as it hit the stores and scratched and sniffed that tire to the point where all the smell went out well. you could like this 'un.

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Weasel Walter & Daniel Carter-WKCR 1/18/2016 CD-r burn

Here's one fantastic sesh that recalls everything from the Lester Bowie/Charles "Bobo" Shaw duets (when Carter is playing trumpet), or maybe some Joseph Jarman/Don Moye effort without all of the small instruments (when Carter is playing saxophone or flute). The playing is up on top whether it be Carter's eerily tense playing or Walter going in between the notes in the best Sunny Murray fashion. I'm sure if you want to hear it bad enough you know what to do, just like you all know where you can find that sick pornography that gets your libido all pumped up.

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UK Subs-BRAND NEW AGE CD-r burn (originally on Captain Oi Records, England I guess)

Once again a disque by that group people "in the know" go out of their way to knock, although I personally find nothing that I would call "offensive" about 'em the way I have many of these "young" and "precocious" acts that have cluttered fanzine pages for the past fortysome years. This 'un's their second longplaying effort and I must say that I find the thing pretty good as far as these English p-rock things tend to go. Nothing here's contrary to my sense of propriety, but then again nothing that stimulates me to the point of saying "aaaahhhhh" is as well. 's just straight-on early-eighties hard energy that reminds me of what the "alternatives" to all of the alternative dribble that was starting to come out used to be like. If you're offended by this you're probably also offended by a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

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Various Artists-RADIO SUMATRA  - THE INDONESIAN FM EXPERIENCE CD-r burn (originally on Sublime Frequencies Records)

I sure wish that I had some info on these radio broadcasts presenting for us a number of Indonesian musical trends that I sure as shootin' let alone you don't know toopie about. But hey, if you're interested in "Gambus Rock" and "Islamic Folk" sung by women who break the soprano barrier to the point where only dogs can hear 'em boy, are you in for a treat! 

These seemingly clandestine broadcasts (which I assume are of a current nature) have a whole load of interesting freak-out pop and downright hard-rock madness interspaced with a whole load of altered Javanese talk which for all I know could have been Sukarno giving instructions to his troops. The old Amerigan radio jingles adapted for local broadcast really do scrape up them memories (not necessarily good ones) as well. Sounds like a cross between some of the things I used to pick up on shortwave as a kid as well as the music you're going to be hearing in a whole lotta restaurants once these people eventually make their way to our shores. And you all know they will.

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Marc Cunningham & Jorgen Teller-NEXT CD-r burn (originally on Feeding Tube Records)

Strange as it seems but former Mars etc. bass guitarist and soon-to-be trumpeter Marc Cunningham has had a rather long "career" in Spain playing music that I get the impression might seem alien to those who first chanced upon his talents way back during the NO NEW YORK days. Here he is teamed up with a more outside of it than the usual outside types Jorgen Teller who plays guitar including a Hofner electric with two bass strings on it! You probably have heard Cunningham on the horn before, and with the addition of Teller and a whole kit 'n kaboodle of electronic effects this makes for the kind of music various dorks that sometimes tune into this blog can actually appreciate. Moody and dare-I-say even dreamy in ways that usually don't penetrate your brain armor.  

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Stare Kits-LIVE IN NYC 1979 CD-r burn (originally on Feeding Tube Records)

This 'un's been flying around on the grey market (in fact reviewed in these "pages" earlier), but Feeding Tube deemed it gosh golly enough to give them a legitimate release! The sound has been cleaned up a bit but that won't matter to you because the music is great in that New York ahtzy way that continued in a variety of local groups long after the no wave breathed its last whenever it was that the no wave breathed. 

I believe that the word they use to describe this type of music is "angular" but fans of late-sixties Renaissance/Systematic Records catalogs will probably clamor to buy a release like this if only out of reliving one's youth. I at times am reminded of the late-seventies Red Crayola while others have mentioned such stellar names as Wire and Ut. The Great ! Society track's even faithful enough to the early San Fran pre-hippoid trash groove which certainly is a feather in their caps considering the gap  between mid-sixties San Francisco and late-seventies lower Manhattan. Good enough that you won't even mind that the high-warbling female vocalist here is the template for just about every whiny "I'm My Own Woman!" breed of screecher many of us have had the displeasure of hearing these past fortysome years.

Waddeva, now that this is available in the flesh, or plastic in this case get it. Live from TR3 as well as some rehearsal type things that sound sturdy enough for my own sense of enjoyment. Worth the quarter of a Ben Franklin you'll probably have to spend for it.

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Will Rogers once remarked that he never met a man he didn't like. Well, I never met a man who bought back issues of BLACK TO COMM that I didn't like. And the rest of you can go blow more than just bubbles for all I care!

I've been trying to pump out these major league posts at a more frequent pace that I have these past four years, and I am doing my best if that means a heck of a lot to you. Believe it or leave it, but I don't see much of value in any of them including this 'un but still it's better'n if I had just stayed in my room the whole time digging through my NANCY paperback collection like any real deal BLOG TO COMMunist out there should. Doing this blog is sorta like an updated version of my mom yellin' "GO OUTSIDE AND GET SOME FRESH AIR!" and well, it does keep me occupied in between viewing HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL reruns and scrubbing the toilet after a rather powerful prune juice experience.

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Heavens to Betsy Ross but it does seem as if it is picking up on the record front! Unfortunately I'll be passing on most of the new/old or old/new or well, you know, those old things that are getting some new life items that are making their way to a variety of online mailorder businesses. The new collection of rarities from the Laughing Hyenas archives looks rather yummy as do such other fresh off the press items like the Brion Gyson DREAMACHINE longplayer not forgetting the Black Randy reissue which passed my paws when it first came out because I was poor even back then. Too bad I can't afford the whole lot of 'em even though I really should given that I've saved up a whole load of moolah for my "old age"...unfortunately I'm unable to lay my hands on it at this time and gotta wait a few years if not more to hit that ol' jackpot. But when I do get hold of it I better go out and flitter all of my money away on such items because well, it looks like I don't have any heirs and I don't want to give all of whatever I have that's left over to The Society to Combat Baldness. 

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MY TWO CENTS WORTH DEPT.: In this world of real deal death and destruction I gotta tell you that I really don't cozy up to all of this heavy duty carnage that is now going on in the Middle East and for reasons that don't even remotely have anything to do with (maybe) you and (definitely) me. Yeah it sure is fun watching all of those happy Iranians jumping up and down even though you get the feeling that a good portion of 'em or at least their parents were yelling "Death to the Shah!" a good fiftysome years back, but what does that have to do with me in the here and now stuck in Western Pee-YAY? It's also nicey-nice to know that at least few high-ranking Iranian badskis have been sent to their afterlife, but in the overall what does any of this really matter when it comes to the important things in life like putting food on the table and records on the turntable? Something deep inside like a constipated turd tells me that all of the joyous hubbub is going to be ending a whole lot sooner than anyone out there's expecting and with consequences than few if any of us can imagine. And I don't just mean inflation or even mass-scale carnage in your local municipality either.

Maybe this whole Mideast kabooming's all fun and jamz for those Death Cult Christian types who want to hasten the end of the world even though if they do they'd be denying future generations into joining the gang so to speak, but overall this breed of religious fervor makes me want to puke my last two Chinese buffets. Y'know, Old Testament revenge and the annihilation of schoolchildren to fulfill some naturally misconstrued Bible prophesy that may or may not come about in the near future but well, it sure feels good in that altruistic self assuring way that you're going to be first in line for the oblivion express while all of us pagans are gonna be tearing each other apart. Or something like that which doesn't faze these worshippers who believe that some people are destined for eternal glory while children are OK targets because they're not in on the Big Ol' Glory Train so-to-speak. And yeah, I'm in with all of those Communist types like Norman Finkelstein on this one! 

Haven't we all had enough of this End Times rigamarole ever since THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH had more'n a few Chicken Littles doing the glory hallelujah freaking out routine while letting everyone around 'em osmose their sanctimony way back in the seventies? Talk about suicidal people who want to take everyone else with them! Kinda makes me wish that if I were around in those BC days I'd be up and front on the pagan train if only out of spite!

And all of this after Trump put down (rightfully so) Obama for his own saber rattling too. Eeeugh! Well, next time someone out there elects a peace president please let me know.

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It looks like HOMEMADE SHIT has gone down the crapper. Instead expect a new mag entitled RUTEBAGA which is supposedly to be patterned after the old English magazine OZ so expect a lotta nude gals in these pages. Maybe Wade Oberlin should rent a balloon and toss copies all over Hooterville!

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Bless it all but yet another issue of DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT has made its way to my door, or at least my sliding glass window. A fine cudzine to read on the pot while your number two dutifully glides down your colon as you actually get to read Brad Kohler's screenplay for a film about none other than Darby Crash's...er..."crash" that got rejected because there was already a film on the guy being made at the time. That 'un came and went without anyone noticing because frankly, who else other than Hollywood snoots and dimwitted slobs go to the moom pitchers these days anyway. Support the guy...I mean, his wife listens to NPR so he needs all the help he can get! Again, send all of those green pieces of paper with the pictures on them to 802 Crystal St., Ames IA 50010 and that's in the USA in case you didn't know.

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Oh boy, record review time! Thanks go to Otto von Ruggins for the Kongress material and Pail McGarry for Dock Boggs.

Various Artists-CBGB & OMFUG - A NEW YORK SOUNDTRACK 1975-1986 4-CD set (Cherry Red Records, England)

I won't apologize to Bruno for not being able to find my Stilettos disque in time to help out with the liner notes to this budget-priced four Cee-Dee set.  The one containing material I woulda killed for way back which purports (and actually succeeds) to be a cross-section of what was going up and down at CBGB back during the Golden Age of Smart Underground Rockitude. I don't apologize for anything anymore out of self-respect but eh, at least this collection finally made it out without my help and like, I think this is a pretty neat bunch of trackage if I do say so myself. I'm glad Bruno got his Stilettos information despite my lack of help even if he probably hates the dickens out of me.

Not a great package considering that some of the groups who were playing at the club at the time weren't exactly up to BTC standards and others were ignored but still, if you're the kind of guy who wants to know what you might have been listening to had you plopped your butt at the club this would be a close approximation. Without some of the glammier, more metallic or even folksy trios true, but close enough to maybe even get that cigar.

It is a brilliant selection of the well known mixed with the nth-string. Not enough nth-stringers that I would have loved hearing for my tastes but still fun with a purpose enough in the old HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN vein with early practitioners like the Magic Tramps intermingled with the later on flashes with all sorts of entertaining bits and surprises thrown in. If you like the era of glam punk you'll dig this as well as all of those brainy art bands and even a few that I never thought would ever make it to disque like the Planets even! Most of it sounds good intermingled with a wide array of under-the-underground stylage, although the more synth-y and hardcore types just make me think about how disappointing it was to see the mid/late-seventies lurch into a new style that more or less reflected either the hap-hap-happy eighties or a faint attempt to counteract them rather than the gritty seventies that produced all of that nerve-grating beauty. The music that drew a whole load of people (including myself, virtue signaling me must confess) to this breed of rambunction in the first place.

Its a pick or choose with this trackage but I doubt that anyone stupid enough to tune into this blog won't find something that just might suit their tastes no matter how hard-edged or simpy it may be.

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Kongress-50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! MAGICK BY KONGRESS (MADGICIANS 1 + 2,  MAGICK) 3-CD-r burn set

Sheesh, FIFTY YEARS??? Even I can remember back that far back when people were still marveling about what was happening fifty years earlier in the Roaring You-Know-Whats, like movies and early radio and celebrity criminals who still seemed to resonate with the older people in my life. Even to me it seems like ancient history on one hand and current events on the other...sheesh, at that time many of the actors who were making those old films were still up and about doing interviews if not even still stepping in front of the camera on occasion. Today it seems all as much history as the Babylonian segment of INTOLERANCE if not the dawn of time, and if you think that makes li'l ol' me feel any younger you are sadly mistaken!

Kongress didn't make the CBGB collection cut, probably because they were anything BUT a CBGB band having the honor of being banned from the club twice in 1976 and more or less deciding to stick with Max's Kansas City as home base. But still they were one of many acts from those days who should have gone on to better things even if they didn't quite fit the idea of what underground rock 1976 was supposed to be or something along those lines and like, if a group like the Ramones could make it big why not Kongress?

The early tracks do have a late-sixties/early-seventies punk (in the old CREEM magazine sense) sound with plenty of of krautisms (which were always punk anyway) with '68 Velvetisms and some Arthur Brown tossed in to pound home that evil tinge. The earlier tracks do harbor a strong sense of cusp-era cataclysmic music attitude but could easily have been PEBBLES fodder if honed into one of those local group single sides from '71 that actually made it onto a few of those albums. Sheesh, if Kongress were around way back when I'm sure they could have cooked up a neat single along the lines of It's All Meat or the Magi, without the synths of course but it sure would have been a doozy! 

The later ones with Marilyn and Ilosa Hatt vocalizing do have more of a "new wave" tinge to them, but it's like good "new wave" back when groups like the Comateens were actually making listenable records despite the inherent ginchiness of the times. Even "Oliver Twist" which snatches some early-eighties rap moves doesn't trigger any regurgitating despite all indications that I SHOULD do a li'l puking if only our of maintaining a good self image. Great stuff despite the aura of early-eighties sparkle, though I must admit these songs do make me feel somewhat down though, if only because a lot of this music reminds me of a particularly bitter time in my existence...ain't their fault tho!

One truly bizarro thing about this set is that on "Son of Sam" Krozier's vocals are censored for some reason, replaced with some inaudible to me electronicized garble. The lines edited out went something around the lines of "His skin is brown, but not from tan/All my victims have brown hair" which I guess would be offensive to someone out there in these precious petunia days but I don't know why!

A bunch of  extremely ear-opening sounds definitely deserving the royal red carpet treatment complete with the obligatory book enclosure and tons of inside info. Credits and song background info dates/personnel/instruments/onandon would also help. If you're interested in hearing these, try this link or maybe even this other one as well. 

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Les Rallizes Denudes-FRANCE DEMO TAPES CD (Bamboo Records)

These early-eighties recordings have been flying around for a longer time than anyone could imagine, but it's sure nice seeing them gathered together in one place and cleaned up somewhat. As any fan of the group would know these Denudes are part of the essentials along with all of those other ones that have been getting tossed at us these past sixtysome years, and with yet another nervegrating version of "The Last One" and a remarkable "Cruel Love" that settles into one of those repeato riff modes that you can really soak into your psyche at that how can you lose getting hold of this. If you're only going to buy one Les Rallizes Denudes album this year make it this one. I already did knowing that finances won't let me buy another.

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Kraftwerk-KLINGKLANG LIVE 1974 CD (Audiovaults Records)

By now Kraftwerk were settling into a relatively tame electronic rock style which would propel them to international notoriety once AUTOBAHN got them onto the charts and into the collections. Gotta admit that Kraftwerk at this stage in the game were becoming even more reserved than they were on RALF UND FLORIAN, and I'm afraid that recordings like this one show the beginning of the end of Kraftwerk as a nervetwisting musical entity and the beginning of them as a robotic dance band for people who won't admit that they like disco but they listened to Kraftwerk because they were German and thus continental. Now if only someone would locate a tape of that infamous live show from a few months earlier where the two were joined by a pair of guitarists who divebombed their way through an early version of "Autobahn" that puts the better known version to abject shame!

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Dock Boggs-LEGENDARY SINGER & BANJO PLAYER CD-r burn (originally on Folkways Records)

This guy sounds like one of those twenties-vintage Appalachian types who picked up a banjo and did pretty good with it even though it was more or less his avocation, he making most all of his bread slaving away in the coal mines. Then, after a brief recording career, he dropped the musical act altogether and devoted his hours to the real life deal only to be re-discovered a good thirtysome years later by one of those pointy-headed intellectual New York types who made him a proud member of the new folkie boom until eventually doing the big 86 like they all seem to do. From thereon in the man became one of those proud forbearers of a whole slew of sounds that studious practitioners of various hip musical forms consider the "roots" of whatever it is they're doing these days. Am I right? 

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STRAVINSKY : THE FIREBIRD-SEIJI OZAWA, BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CD (EMI Records, Japan)

Gotta say that I prefer THE RITES OF SPRING over this, but it is still early Stravinsky and a whole load of rock types, both snooty and not, really go for this breed of longhair barrage. Fine to the point where you can purge yourself of some of that inner turmoil that's been rumblin' inside your guts as of late and besides, with this 'un you can all finally throw away your copies of YESSONGS! 

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BLACK TO COMM back isues are still available in case you are interested. And anyone who has been reading this blog for the past twentysome years should be interested enough in latching onto a whole number of these essential magazines which might not be as important to the canon of eighties/nineties underground rock journalism as FLIPSIDE true, but they might look nice on your coffee table when the in-laws come to visit. Which might be a good idea,,,after all, you know they'll never come back after seeing those laying around that's for sure!

BOOK REVIEW! THE COMPLETE LAND OF THE LOST COMICS : VOLUME 1 (Midcentury Comics)

At least a few somewhat serious comic book fans and followers out there are smart enough to admit that the Pre-Trend period of the EC comics line ranged from turdburger funny animal swipes to well-honed efforts that foreshadowed future greatness. And really, when that infamous comic book line got off the ground in 1946 who would have guessed that the same publisher that was putting out such innocuous titles as DANDY COMICS and THE HAPPY HOULIHANS would eventually rankle the prissies and prudes of the day with THE HAUNT OF FEAR and WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY! I'm sure that the biddies who were responsible for this particular title in question never would have thought so, and if you only got hold of an ish of LAND OF THE LOST way back when you too would have had your own doubts!

Along with TINY TOT COMICS ("Your First Comic Book!"), LAND OF THE LOST was part of the first wave of non "Picture Story" titles that MC Gaines launched after he sold off his All-American line to DC. After a cursory look at this title I'm sure you'll admit that this one had about as much to do with MAD as Little Orphan Annie had to do with Oktobriana (more on her in a future review!).

Judging from the inside front cover of the debut issue featuring biographies and photos of LAND OF THE LOST's creators (a franchise which actually started out as a Mutual network radio program and featured story books amongst perhaps other marketable ephemera) you'd get the idea that writer Isabel Manning Hewson and artist Olive Bailey would have been part of the same mob that would have LOVED to have burned down the EC offices during the days of the comic book purges. In those just post-WWII days the two were cranking out what many would have called a nice innocuous comic book that featured fantasy stories that normal people would have said were perfectly suited for wholesome, well-behaved kids. EC would obviously be catering to the demented teenbo types in a good four or so years and I know, who at least in this audience of mine would have wanted to be some well-scrubbed and behaved bow-tied nimnul anyway.

As the story goes siblings Billy and Isabell are given magic seaweed by Red Lantern, a kinda/sorta cross between a fish and Ed Wynn, which allows the pair to breathe underwater as they visit the Land of the Lost. That's where all lost things go ('cept for my hair and a whole slew of hymens I gather) and a place where the denizens of the deep go anthropomorphic complete with clothing and fins that aren't quite as armlike as Donald or Daffy Duck's but suit their purposes rather doggone well.

The stories really ain't that much to rave about but then again they're aimed at the single-digit types and not us sophisticados. That would sort of be like me complaining about Mister Rogers because he didn't tell dirty jokes! 

I'll admit that despite the overhearing kiddietude of this title the sagas are quite original and at times somewhat witty. What I really like about LAND OF THE LOST is Bailey's art. It is somewhat pedestrian even by forties comic book standards, but there are various flashes of brilliance that remind me of the illustrations in books that I remember thumbing through during my own turdler times. Times that continue to bring back a whole load of happy memories before kindergarten and reality began to set in if I do say so myself. 

I personally liked the Umbrellaland story which features a bumbershoot that sports a rather feminine set of eyes, as well as a pert nose and lips. I dunno but this one does "something" deep and almost spiritual to me, like reminds me of preschool-era fun things I saw when I was but a mere three years old long before everyone turned on me. Sometimes I believe that my turdler self knew more about life and existence than my current codger form ever will...at least I believed in things that were more on the ball than what others held to their hearts, like that in the hierarchy of life there were humans, dogs and then all of the other animals (canines really did, and still do, hold a special place in the ranking of the living and breathing) and that I had special powers that would allow me to fly, walk on the walls and twist my head around like Charlie McCarthy. Unfortunately all of these supernatural gifts I had suddenly vanished when the authorities decided to infest my life with "reality", and danged if I'll ever get my abilities back!

There are other surprises to be seen, from a story entitled "Desert Dawn" (drawn by ex-Fleisher animator Saul Kessler and originally released as a pamphlet for the American Museum of Natural History) featuring an obvious Bugs Bunny swipe named Johnny Jackrabbit, to more of those tritely-rendered historical dramas that the Picture Story series was famous for. There's even a one-pager by Ed Wheelan of MINUTE MOVIES and FAT AND SLAT notoriety that pops up in issue four injecting a little looniness into the entire properness of such a title as this!

Some might find these comics snoozeville, reactionary and downright fill in the blank whatever "ism" that's popular these days but hey, only a hidebound feminist, male gender lacky or modern day rock critic wouldn't admit that LAND OF THE LOST was a well-produced and pleasant enough read even for someone long past this mag's target audience. It even sports the "Educational Comics" slug logo 'stead of the more familiar "Entertaining" one that would soon come into use on other EC titles. Whatever, an interesting enough entry into the Golden Age canon of comic books that catered to a kid clientele that weren't that particular, but were smarter than most would have been led to believe.

Quite a few Sluggos out there (well, actually only three) have inquired about the whos whats whens whys and hows about my last post, the one that purported to be the liner notes to a box set featuring Velvet Underground-influenced recordings made by a variety of 60s/70s soundscapaders from the late-sixties to early-seventies. The post that I decided to print without comment just to get a load of the reaction I thought it would cause. Unfortunately I didn't receive as much feedback as I would have liked but still it was peachy keen to thrust this one upon you in the hope that someone out there was stymied enough to ponder as to what the heck is going on. Sheesh, I'm positive that a few of you regular tuner inners (well, the less bright ones) even believed that the post was a sneak peek for a real deal item that is being readied up for release. If ONLY...

In actuality this was yet another one of my conjuring up via artificial intelligence the booklet notes for as to what such an item would turn out to be. Part reality (meaning facts I fed into AI) and part total creation on AI's part (like f'rexample I never even brought Red Square up and besides they weren't formed until the mid-seventies) and well, I thought the results were imaginative enough to publish without making any editorial changes if only to get a few of you out there perked up somewhat. And do me a big favor, save all of those comments that I know I'm going to get about how you all think that AI should write ALL of my posts (sheesh, what a bunch of ingrates I have for readers).

Some of the information is pretty much legit. The background regarding the section on the group COMET (who were actually called C.O.M.E.T before becoming C.U.M then wisely enough C.V.M) was actually taken from some information via an email interview I had with group guitarist and singer Deryk Barker (he's the one with the lambchop sideburns and Snoopy t-shirt) that was abruptly truncated for one reason or another. C.O.M.E.T weren't just any group...in fact they were the rock 'n roll division of the famed English avgarde aggregation known as the Scratch Orchestra (there were various fragments including a folk and protest group), and besides various Scratch-related performances I believe they actually did at least one real deal gig that was not connected with the art sphere in any wayshapeform. And yes, C.O.M.E.T performed not a 25 minute like the post said but a 45 minute "Sister Ray" (the photo shows Barker with group drummer Byrn Harris and a dancer during that very performance!) as well as extended versions of "Come Together" and "Dropout Boogie" (that much was truthfully relayed)...their lineup was a collection of well-known names in the English avgarde world (I believe Michael Nyman once sat in) and well, I'm sure a good portion of you readers would like to hear an album of theirs one of these days and there are tapes.

It's the stuff AI seemingly tossed out at us willy nilly which really got me going on wanting to share this with you. I think we'd all like to hear that Godz "Electric Handshake" number as well as "Broken Radio Drone", both of which never existed at least here on Earth One. And I sure wonder if it is worth taking the time and trouble to pick up some Taj Mahal Travelers and Zweinstein efforts which would set me back a pretty penny, but as usual I am tempted. Any of you out there care to comment on these groups and if what those liner notes said about them are for real-deal? Of course not.

But even with all of the interesting convolutions that AI went through to create this collection there are some glaring omissions. I mean, what about Toronto's Gass Company who created that soundtrack for the David Hofsess films REDPATH 25 and BLACK ZERO which revealed a strong EPI-era Velvet Underground influence? I believe that the actual soundtrack is available on Youtube so if someone could jet a copy my way maybe I could discern for myself? There surprisingly were many others...I mean Figures of Light should also have been tossed into the stew not to mention the Stooges, Mahogany Brain and early pre-beat box Suicide. With various other rarities that really do exist maybe some form of that box set will eventually see the light of day even if it probably won't be in any of our lifetimes. 

But I really have to admit that make-believe is always better than the real thing! I sure wish that the Chicago Art Ensemble Rock Unit and those other bands like the Hackamores (I wonder how AI  came up with that name, huh?) were actually up and about and are just waiting to be discovered for the longtime Velvet Underground obsessives that all of us seem to be at one level or another! We can only hope and pray you heathens you!

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Ever since his wife removed the lock from the bathroom door Brad Kohler has been forced to engage in other time-occupying pastimes. That's but one reason why there's a third issue of the infamous cudzine DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT out only a few measly weeks after the last epic effort. Seven pages of rock 'n roll writing (instead of "criticism") is to be found within and Mr. Kohler has done a pretty good job of whatever it is he's supposed to be doing here, what with an article on trudging through thrift shop bins filled with John Kennedy Memorial Albums and West Side Story soundtracks for that oh-so elusive gem (give up Brad...I've been pouring through piles of old records all over the place since the seventies and have yet to find a Red Crayola album) plus an article on Johanna Went which I doubt would please the famous performance artist who undoubtedly sees herself as...well...an artist. Get yours from 802 Crystal St., Ames Iowa 50010.

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ANOTHER MYSTERY SOLVED (albeit a good thirty years too late). For quite awhile I've pondered as to the who whats whens where and whys regarding the mysterious rock group Passion Force, an act whose only claim to any fame I could find was their appearance at the legendary Mont de Marsan punk rock fest way back a good half century ago. Curiosity-laden me wanted to know more than what was being given out as to who this Afro-Amerigan three-piece who wowed 'em and then vanished was, and here after just recently perusing through the first issue of the French fanzine I WANNA BE YOUR DOG trying to translate what I'm reading I discover that Passion Force were led by none other than guitarist/singer Titus Williams, a guy who sure figured into the entire Skydog Records scheme of things. 

This Williams fellow was definitely someone who didn't exactly fade out into oblivion unlike his old group, continuing to have a career overseas while recording tracks which have appeared on various Skydog samplers as well as a couple of other labels. Naturally prices for some of these are hitting the ceiling making me wish that I was aware of the guy decades back when I could at least afford them but eh, maybe someday I'll get some of these for a mere pittance and relay to you my usually on-target opinions regarding them! Thankfully there's yet another forgotten punk rock hero for me to do a whole load of research on, something which I must admit is way more exciting than doing a term paper on the love life of the amoeba for grade school sex education class.

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Just a reminder regarding a recently deceased presidential candidate who liked to spit in the hamburgers of white people:

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Once again a mix of somewhat recent releases mixed with old items recently procured. And guess what? I bought each and every one of them!

LINK WRAY SINGS AND PLAYS GUITAR LP (Destination Records, EU)

The better portions (meaning the more rocking out ones) have already appeared in the Norton anthology series from way back when, but it sure is nice to see this '64 album originally released on brother Ray Vernon's Vermillion label while Swan wasn't looking finally getting the royal reissue treatment! This one is done up with all of the love, care and affection one would hope of an album of such legendary (at least by Wray fans) renown and given not only its rarity but the song selection this is a real wowwowWOW kinda thing that deserves to be placed in any true-blue fan's stack of records.

Sound's too cruddy even for a guy like me who usually doesn't care, but the music sure is fine enough to make even the stodgiest of Hi-Fi nuts throw away their copies of STEREO REVIEW, or at least in a just and righteous world it would. On the first side Link roars through a bunch of numbers both familiar and not, all of 'em worthy of the attention of anyone who tunes into this blog or even is elderly enough to have been in on the Wray game since the very beginning. The Buddy Holly-inspired "I Wanta Get Married" was a nice if mid-energy offering new to my lobes, while the rest is naturally boffo enough even if you undoubtedly have heard it before and in better quality. Come to think of it, I do like the distant AM radio sound of this in my own cornball suburban slob way. Sure is a refreshing change from all of that half-mastered hype that prevailed throughout the early eighties.

Flip it over and you get the tracks Norton wouldn't touch in a million centuries, ballads that would have sounded like total pus in the hands of most sixties crooners but at least get the life breathed into them thanks to Wray's quite remarkable (especially for a guy with one lung) vocalese. This side might not suit some of you more rock 'n roll or nothing types but it does act as a pleasant enough counterpart to the all-out rockers that you just got through with and like, you don't have to hate ballads just because Dick Cavett likes them.

I sure wish this came out during my OCD Wray days back when I was slapping together issue number 18 of my old crudzine  (now thankfully out of print) but eh, music like this will affect me as long as I have the ears to hear it. Definitely a must-have for all of you readers who used to pour through Midnight catalogs and pay exorbitantly inflated prices for European pirates of items that would eventually get the legit release treatment...in twenty years. 

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Mammals of Zod-L'OF CD 9 (Lovesphere Records)

I've perused old CBGB (and Max's, Club 82 and Mothers) listings for quite a long time if only to find out if there were any out of the way nth string aggregations out there that might be worth the trouble of delving into. I usually go by the name of the group, the more unique the better, then pour through whatever books and magazines I have access to (and naturally the internet) hoping for at least a shard of interesting info to spark my nodes. You all know how much I still need to find that long-lost item to brag up and down the blogpost and besides, kicks are getting harder to find these days even more than they were these last few decades which were rather kick-less if I do say so myself. I need my musical fix all the more dearly now that my days are numbered...it may be quite a large number I will admit, but numbered they are!  

I guess all of the above is just exactly why I was overjoyed to find out that a group that called itself Mammals of Zod (name espied in some 1996 VILLAGE VOICE cafes/clubs/discos section I found online) actually have a couple of recordings out that might be somewhat available, and with a name like that I just hadda pounce upon getting hold of this disque in the hopes that I have discovered another one of those under-the-underground groups that really do rescue me from the tedium of everyday existence.

The Mammals do create quite a cacophony of free form muck that you just might like. One thing that makes this act especially tuned into my own wavelength is that the Mammals are heavily reminiscent of the Earth People, this jazz/rock/experimental group that used to not only play the old CBGB Lounge back during the final days but featured a list of some some pretty impressive big names in the free jazz world guesting at a number of their shows and on their albums. If you've been in on this blog since the beginning you'd know a whole load about them but anyway, I heartily recommend their releases for those of you who are still front and center for the new jazz even years after it first tossed a nice li' ol' burr in Leonard Feathers' saddle. Considering that both Mammals of Zod and Earth People shared some of the same crew like vocalist "M", saxophonist Sabir Mateen and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter the connections should be somewhat clear.

However, while the Earth People soared through long and twisting aural journeys that thankfully lacked the hippydippyness of the usual tie-dyed mob, Mammals of Zod play short and somewhat disjointed tuneage that goes from the new thing to abstract with even a touch of acoustic guitar strums and cockeyed rockist moves sounding somewhat akin to a free jazz Faust. It's a weird mixed bag that works on/off which makes me wonder just how this music was presented in a live context. Somewhat fun on the first spin but, unlike the Earth People, not suitable for repeated play. At least in this decade.

A strange batch of soundage we got here bub. More lost NYC underground music history unraveled before my very ears and like, if you are interested in locating a copy I do wish you the best of luck.

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Kraftwerk-SOEST LIVE CD (ISP Records, EU)

I really must be heading into the Age of Old because I totally forgot I already had a CD-r as well as a bootleg LP of this recording in my spacious (lots of spaces needing to be filled in it) collection! Let that be a warning to you people who want to hold onto your pennies...make sure your memory is sharp so YOU don't make the same bonehead mistake I did! 

But still, the sound on this 1970 live show is a whole lot crisper if that means a thing to you, and besides it is a pretty wild  set revealing that early, punk rock side of Kraftwerk back when they wore their love of the Stooges on their brownshirted sleeves. I get the feeling that those techno types who remember Kraftwerk from their TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS and MAN MACHINE days on will probably end up totally confused after giving this ball of Stockhausen-bred electronic frenzy a listen, and who could blame them (while having a good laugh at their expense).

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Deadline-DOWN BY LAW CD (Celluloid Records)

Naturally I would be interested in any of drummer Phillip Wilson's "dissonance and blues" projects, but frankly these mid-eighties tracks show strong signs of capitulation to the meek and mild miasma that typified even the bolder jazz and rock moves that were being made during those days. At least the urban funk and android Yorubaisms manage to make this a whole lot more listenable than some of the other jazz/rock "crossovers" that were competing against it. Even with the technoslickness it's good enough that it even makes me only want to hear Wilson's earlier efforts not only with Deadline but "Magic" which might have just been an early name for the same thing but wha' th' hey... 

Still some smart and definitely trance-y playing emerges as does a rather tasty lineup including longtime collaborator Olu Dara, Wilson's former employer Paul Butterfield and Parlafunkamendelic organist Bernie Worrell. Note that I left Jaco Pastorius's name out of it, and for the usual tasteful reasons if I must say so myself.

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STONEGROUND CD (Collectors' Choice Music)

A ten-piece group with Sal Valentino of Beau Brummels fame in it sounded like a great idea. The fact that some members of Stoneground later formed Pablo Cruise didn't. The appearance of future Jefferson Starship bassist Pete Sears ditto (even though he was in Fleur de Lys and Sam Gopal Dream, but a lot has happened since). Still, throwing caution to the wind I snatched this reissue up and found it to be a whole lot better and lacking in much of the West Coast hippydoodle I was expecting from this group at this time in history and in one of the worst places for rock 'n roll as well. 

Valentino's in fine form sounding as smooth as he was with the Brummels, and that gal singer who thinks she's Janis is unique enough so that you don't mind the proximity of the two in the history of toughass female vocalists. Sixties fans might want to know that ex-Mystery Trend leader Ron Nagle even helped out, and despite the usual jiveoid moments you would expect (and do make their way into the stew) this actually is listenable...not great, but you might be able to sit through it. 

Most regular readers of this blog might also want to pick up the soundtrack to the Stoneground tour film MEDICINE BALL CARAVAN which contains a live version of Alice Cooper and crew doing "Black Juju" that a whole load of Cooperites never seem to mention for reasons quite unknown.

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Faust-PATCH WORK CD (Staubgold Records, Germany)

Between this and the MOMENTAUFNAHME series there's a lot of Faust rollin' around out there in krautrockland. Penny-pinching me has to be careful where his hard-begged goes so I decided to latch onto this PATCH WORK one which better satiate me until someone who loves the dickens outta me sends me these other releases.

Snatches of the familiar coupled with new efforts done up like THE FAUST TAPES might not sound that funtime to you but I enjoyed hearing different versions of various Faustian legends like "It's a Rainy Day" chopped up and tossed in with various sonic atonalities. Well, that's what krautrockers liked to do I guess. Some new outright rockers even show up so don't exactly poo-poo this one as yet another waste of somethingorother.

If you were one to latch onto the krautian aspects of rock back in the nineties this should help tie a few loose nerve endings up. If you were in it for a longer amount of time well, be thankful you actually did live so long!

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Hey are you rich? If so I would like to be rich too and the best way for that to happen is for all of you guys with money to just toss around to jet some of it my way and I'll jet back some back issues of BLACK TO COMM back. That's but just one thing which will undoubtedly fill my coffers and make it so I can afford some of the finer things in life for once. I mean, I would like to own a state of the art stereo system that I never was able to get with the little dinero that was tossed my way and really, I wouldn't mind if my vinyl collection was triple in size just like those of all of you high falutin' collectors out there. Time to share the wealth and help get the economy moving, and what better way than to dump your hard-begged for a stack or two of my mags?