So many records and so little money! Well not really as far as the moolah
goes, but I'm trying to save at least a sliver of my bank account for my
ever-approaching old age even if by that time the only thing I will be able to
afford will be banged up cans of beans found in the dumpster behind Dollar
General. But man there are some items being plunked onto the "market" that I'd
sure like holding in my once come-stained mitts but the price tag usually has
me shudderin' in sticker shock. For example, take the recent re-re-REPACKAGING of the
Hawkwind SPACE RITUAL extravaganza (this time as a ten-disc set complete with a blu ray which means nada to me and a thick
enough book to peruse through it all) which is sure tempting but is going for upwards of three-hundred-something dollars!!! Thankfully there
are a few items that are just within the realm of my pocketbook, that is if I don't go hog wild and "pour my money down a rat hole" as I was told while growing up and wanting a quarter for some candy.
THE BAD NEWS: when I tally up the cost of even all of the less pocketbook-pounding items I would
sure love to have and to hold the total can be quite staggering, but thankfully there's always ramen to help out on one's entertainment budget. Surprisingly enough considering my financial straits I managed to get ONE hot off
the press item that I'll gladly blab about this go 'round, but still those care
packages I get from Paul McGarry and Robert Forward sure do help out a whole load ('n not that kinda "load" you stupid perv you!).
***
Other things that have been accomplished since we last met --- well, not that
much though I have been getting in my share of thrills doing things that only
a true rockist would dare to do here so late in the rock died in 1968 but its
malady lingers on game. Things like rock 'n roll-related reading when I have the time
including quite a few old classic-era fanzines, the ones which were reporting
on a rock 'n roll re-birth (or maybe even after-birth) that was
blossoming before many a wide eye during the mid-seventies. Also eyeballed recently was the book that
was enclosed with the Peter Laughner 5-LP set which collects a good portion of
the man's --- er --- "rock criticism" (yech!). Them Laughner
records haven't touched needle since I first spun 'em way back when, but the
book has been opened a few times and reading his opines lifted outta ancient issues of CREEM and various small Cleveland
papers really is inspirational even when he's writing about something most of
us care nothing about. Like with all of our favorite seventies scribes, Laughner's prose is as musical as the sounds he
was describing, even invigorating to the point where his commentaries re. everything from Lou Reed to even Rory Gallagher sure makes me wish I was born
five-ten years earlier and aware of the music being made (it
wasn't like essentials such as Iggy Pop and Beefheart were exactly prevailing on the radio dial) and that I
had the money to afford it all and that I possessed a state-of-the-art stereo
system and had parents who weren't so uptight about my personal tastes in
sound/literature and...do I need to go on???
***
Another thing that's been occupying my dwindling free hours has been goofing around on the internet with Artificial Intelligence, which I somehow tend to feel could be just as hazardous to one's state of nervous system as fooling around with sub-atomic particles. Threw a few interesting ideas into the ol' AI generator and came up with (at times since some of my suggestions were seemingly impossible to translate into pictures!) a few interesting things that I sure get a hoot outta! F'rexample take these following illustrations that came up when I, off the top of my rather shiny dome, pecked out "Iggy and the Stooges at Max's Kansas City" and got the following strange wonders! This Brave New World is sure better'n anything Huxley coulda come up with!:



Here're some more AI "Stooges" pics I conjured up. They don't look like 'em but I get the feeling these guys from Dimension X coulda been the ultimate heavy metal (in the best CREEM magazine sense) had they actually existed! And I really gotta give credit to anyone who could play those Bizarro-world electric guitars! Oh how I wanna give 'em a good listenin' to!
And this is Lou Reed and John Cale performing on the street --- in 1965!
I'm not even going to tell you what group this is supposed to be!
***
Given the time of the year I thought this cartoon just might remind you of the days when Halloween wasn't just a holiday by kids for kids but a time when them inhibitions regarding respect of property and general goody goodiness went flying out the soaped up window. Sheesh, it looks like the axis powers were right after all, at least regarding us kids runnin' WILD at least once a year! Light a cat doo-doo bag on yer teacher's front porch and give Adolf a helping hand...
***
THINGS LISTENED TO IN THE INTERIM that I'm listing not only to pad
out this post but to look "cool" even though my selections are so obvious
that they really will convince many that I'm just a phonus balonus who's trying too hard flopping about in the process. But really, my only true regret is that I haven't had that much time to connect with my vinyl --- maybe next list:
Elliot Murphy-LOST GENERATION LP (RCA Records)
Frank Lowe-DOCTOR TOO MUCH CD-r burn (originally on Karma Records)
Charles Gayle-TIME ZONES CD (Tompkins Square Records)
CHARLES MINGUS AND FRIENDS IN CONCERT 2-CD set (Columbia Records)
David Bowie-CHANGES CD (Lobster Records bootleg, Italy)
David Bowie-CLEVELAND MUSIC HALL CD (Gold Standard Records bootleg --- same
tour and set as above and not sounding as hotcha for that matter, but think of all of the Cle underground luminaries in
the audience!)
Guru Guru-ESSEN 1970 CD (Garden of Earthly Delights Records, Germany)
Anthony Braxton-ALTO SAXOPHONE IMPROVISATIONS 1979 2-LP set (Arista
Records)
Zusaan Kali Fasteau-Noah Howard-Bobby Few Trio-EXPATRIATE KIN CD (Creative
Improvised Music Projects Records)
International Harvester-SOV GOTT ROSE-MARIE CD (Silence Records)
Moebius-Plank-Neumeier-ZERO SET CD (Sky/Gyroscope Records)
Loose Gravel-THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES CD (Bucketfull of Brains Records,
England)
David Wertman-KARA SUITE CD-r burn (originally on Mustevic Sound Inc.
Records --- an official reissue should be out by now)
Sonny Boy Williamson-KING BISCUIT TIME CD (Arhoolie Records)
The Revolutionary Ensemble-VIETNAM 1 & 2 CD (ESP Disk/ZYX Music
Records)
MUSIK VON HARMONIA CD (Brain Records, Germany)
Harmonia-LIVE 1974 CD (Water Records)
John Cage-SONATAS AND INTERLUDES, SUSAN SERCEK, PIANO (Centaur Records)
Sirone Bang Ensemble-CONFIGURATION CD (Silkheart Records, Sweden)
Country Joe and the Fish-THE RAG BABY EPs box set (Akarma Records)
The Velvet Frogs-tracks off THE STORY OF OAK RECORDS and PSYCHEDELIC SCHMIELS 4 CDs (Wooden Hill Records, England)
THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THROBBING GRISTLE CD (Thirsty Ear Records)
Various Artists-MESSTHETICS GREATEST HISS (Vol. 1) (Hyped to Death Records)
Joseph Jarman/Anthony Braxton-TOGETHER ALONE CD (Delmark Records)
Muhal Richard Abrams-LEVELS AND DEGREES OF LIGHT CD (Delmark Records)
Cluster-SOWIESOSO CD (Sky Records, Germany)
***
Here are the sounds that get lined up against the brick wall this week, and as usual thanks be to Bob Forward and Paul McGarry for their contributions to the discord. A nice slab of booty here too if I must say and who knows, some of 'em might actually fit in with the breadth and scope of the blog (and before that the crudzine)!
The Final Solution-THE FILLMORE WEST July 7, 1966 LP (Take It Acid Is
Records)
If it weren't for Alec Palao and Jud Cost's essential and much-missed fanzine
CREAM PUFF WAR I doubt I would have ever heard of the Final
Solution, and for that I should be forever grateful to the two. These
guys were part and parcel of the San Francisco scene back when it was still
PUNK ROCK (in the
purest sense possible), a scene which even I will admit was something that was
downright awe-inspiring at least until the drugs and pretension set in. The
Final Solution's raga-folk sounds, along with such luminaries as the
Great Society and some ne'er do wells calling themselves the Warlocks, were definitely the highlight of a long strange trip that sure
went off on a wilder tangent than I'm sure many people even
in San Francisco
coulda conjured up in their then comparatively-unaddled minds.
Great sound, lousy audience (well, all three seemed appreciative!). Musically
the Solution were a cross between the Society and Beau Brummels with some
Vejtables/Mojo Men influx still sounding as NUGGETS as we'd hope
any group outta 1966 woulda. Long Indian-influenced tracks and a Pigpen-ish "Turn On Your
Lovelight" romp unveil before your
very ears, and just wait until you hear the strange "America the
Beautiful" and "2120 South Michigan Avenue" mishmosh that closes out the entire
shebang!
***
Alison Cotton-ONLY DARKNESS NOW CD-r burn (Bloxham Tapes, England)
First utterance had me thinking MARBLE INDEX what with the presence of
Cotton's harmonium and viola, and then the shifting drones conjured LaMonte
Young. Only this is dolorous and reminds me of what some very early tones of
pagan praise might have sounded like. Actually if you combine all three this
makes pretty darn sense. Femme oohs mate with that heavenly blare that makes
me think that maybe these
are MARBLE INDEX outtakes ('r
at least backing tracks) after all!
***
PROBLEM - HATE/GREY CD (Easy Listening Records)
I approach every eighties (and beyond) vintage experimental rock effort done
by art majors who can't find jobs with more than just a small spec of
suspicion. You would too given some of the musical atrocities of the past few decades. And
frankly I did the same with these guys (and gal) who were doing the ol' art project thing in the culturally pumping city of Port Huron Michigan.
Gawrsh how I thought this bunch (pretty much same group under different
monikers) was gonna scrape the bottom gobbling up alla the worst aspects of
art wave cheap electronics/drum machine dorm room precociousness but guess
what? They pull it off just as snatly as the same bands who were doing the
same things in larger cities and maybe gettring away with it as well!
If you have an imagination, try conjuring up a somewhat halfway there cross
between Tuxedomoon, Sick Dick and the Volkswagens and Throbbing Gristle. Now imagine someing just a tad angrier'n a good hunk of the aural school glue that many a
precocious petunia type was conjuring up out there in the middle hunk of the
United State during the dankness of the eighties. 'n fact this is rather hard and intense with growling vocals mixed
with cyborg electronic grave new world visions that I kinda get the impression
coulda only been created by drug-hardened coasters who lived and died by their
wits and they probably didn't smell too good either. A surprise outta that oft-visited place called nowhere.
***
The Pagans-THE PINK ALBUM --- PLUS! CD-r burn (originally on Crypt
Records)
Dunno if McGarry sent this to me so's I can eke a review outta it or just to
bug me for skipping this 'un over as well as their debut 45 "Six and Change"
when I had ample opportunity to buy both. Whatever the reason here's a burn
which re-introduces me as to just why these Cleveland rock 'n rollers seemed
like the only hope for some high energy jamz even if they were stuck smak dab
in the center of Pantsiosville.
Being the doofus I am and shall remain, I kinda forgotten just how much of a
rich rock history this group had. They weren't just a buncha fanablas who read
about punk rock and decided to do some bandwagon jumping on, and lotsa past
rock 'n roll highlights can be discerned from lo fi rockabilly to
early-sixties teen combo crankout to mid-sixties punk rock (t'was fitting that
Crypt Records handled this reish!), all done in that total p-rock abandon that
separated the Pagans and their likes from a whole slew of hippies in disguise
who were creeping in on the real deal. Y'know, the ones who were turning the
entire mulch of "punk" into a touchy-feely movement that was so
socio-politically stilted it made the early-seventies
BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN/BILLY JACK crowd look stoic in
comparison!
Additional tracks help out from the CLEVELAND CONFIDENTIAL EP take
on the tune of the same name (aka "Real World") to live versions of the Drome
tracks that sure make me wish that label woulda put out them Bernie and the
Invisibles and Harlan and the Whips recs that were slated for release before
the entire shebang capsized. Yeah, this style of rock 'n roll sure woulda
seemed outta place given how that decade (and beyond) was devoted to glitz
over energy, but for true blues like ourselves it sure came off even fresher
than that hackneyed "breath of fresh air" everybody seems to be talking about.
Closing the sesh's two perhaps not-so-surprising choices of covers, the first one being a decent enough
take on Alice's "Eighteen" and the other a twisto changeo version of "Final
Solution" that I don't think will upset fans of the original although I might be wrong.
For an old turd like myself it sure hurts in the ol' compost heap I call a
memory that this music is, for all intent purposes,
ancient. Still, its fresher'n even the freshest tampon the likes
of any of 'em devil worshipping pop stars who are up and about these days
would dare shove into their over-traveled holes, and at this moment in time
all I gotta say is that's all that matters, and
NOTHIN' MORE!!!!!
***
Albert Ayler-REVELATIONS (THE COMPLETE ORTF 1970 FONDATIONS MAEGHT
RECORDINGS) 4-CD-r set (originally on Elemental Records)
If you weren't bright enough to buy these back when they were packaged in
awful generic sleeves and goin' for budget prices, here's a chance to redeem
yourself even if it might cost you an arm and some other appendage you might
wanna keep. Believe it or not but these are the complete Ayler Foundation gigs
in one package, and if I had the real deal 'stead of a burn I'd gander that
there would also be a booklet with rare pics and all sorta reminiscences
t'boot!
What else could be said to add to everything anyone has
ALREADY said 'bout
these shows which were Ayler's last stand a few months before his plop into
the East River. As far as being a swansong it's great to know that Ayler went
out on such a keen note --- contrary to the Wikipedia entry his group was just
as copasetic with his entire being as any of those earlier classic lineups
(I'd say markedly better than the early Swedish efforts), and although you
might disagree I gotta say that Mary Maria wasn't the inhibitor that many
armchair snoots out there tended to make her out to be. In fact I'd say she fits in quite swell with her passionate voice which complements Ayler's soul scrape! The unrehearsed
nature of these shows make this all the more fresh and spontaneous and far
from the splatterfest that I get the impression some people assume this effort
to be. Well, whaddaya want, to see 'em playing from scores like my cyster
assumed these improvisors did?????
You might think you already have too many Ayler spinners in your abode, but in
reality is there anything wrong with having as many of his efforts as you can in your already overstuffed collections? That's like saying you were gonna get
someone a book for his birthday but he already has one. Purely illogical.
***
The Art Ensemble of Chicago-CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL 8/31/80 CD-r burn (download
it here)
Eh, by this time they lost a lotta that spark 'n move that defined their early
days, but some AEC is better'n
NO AEC 'n I'll take
this over just about all of the other acts that popped up at this fest. The
NPR patter is somewhat interesting even if you get the impression that Billy
Taylor coulda cared less about 'em. If you (like Brad Kohler) were the type of
guy who snatched up their ECM albums at cutout prices you might just go for
this one bigtime!
***
Matchez-MACHINES CD-r burn (originally on Matchez Records)
The electronic splurt had me thinkin' those obscuros that popped up on the R. Meltzer radio show while the twenty-three-minute "Daylight Fades to Darkness"
reminded me of something that woulda fit in snugly on any one of those Mother
Mallard albums I reviewed a few months back. It's nothing "new" mind ya, but
it still has a rather decent approach and feel to it that sure stirs up the
stirrups in a fashion that's way more appealing that a whole load of the
electronic mulch I've heard as of late. Might be worth your while if you were
the kinda kid who did a term paper on electronic music when you were a
sophomore in high stool and your sister mis-typed "Sun Ra" as "Sien Ra"
'n I'll
NEVER forgive her
for that!
***
Yeah, even an egotist such as I has gotta admit that they are quite shallow. Not only in writing skills but in overall content,
with articles and reviews that blither on about very little that would
interest anybody anywhere and at any time in recorded history. A few of the "facts" that are spewed within these pages are far from the honest truth (which really wasn't my fault given the fuzzy memory information sources I hadda rely on) and most if not all come with a horrid layout
and (at times) print job for your eyes (or self-respect) to suffer through. But then again they're
MINE, and like a good
bowel movement I was somewhat satisfied with it all after the "digestion" of putting out
such an ordeal was over and done with. Won't you join in the resultant plop?