Sheesh --- no Kracken. Not even Cthulhu. Well, I guess "things" are gonna be back to them bad old dayze when people actually took folks like Wolf Blitzer and Gary Trudeau seriously, or something like that. Needless to say, I am rather disappointed that Heaven on Earth (also known as Your Hell) has once again been delayed what with all of those wonderful military excursions and rabid protesters we're gonna hafta look forward to from here to an eternity that just might come a whole lot faster'n any of you woulda guessed..

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Otherwise well...I finally got another Cee-Dee player for the what used to be my bedroom but is now just another storage area, and it is pretty good even if it ain't whatcha'd call a top-notch item. It's a Craig and doesn't have any of the fancy LED windows'r anything, but it sure sounds good enough for my own special spinning purposes. In fact, it even adds a dimension to my listening since my disques sound so different now. Take my favorite spin of the day, Mahogany Brain's SMOOTH SILK LIGHTS where I can not only hear the distant vocals slightly better but on the twenny-plus minute "Burning the Vibes", a tune which I originally took as a bass-guitar solo, more of the cymbals not to mention Michel Bulteau's chanting which had been previously obscured has become rather noticeable if I do say so myself! This is one of the biggest surprises in my life since I switched on the "aux" button on our old cranky stereo player and could hear the background vocals on "Raw Power", a miracle for the ages!

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Here's sum'pin I'll bet you didn't know about! Found this on Youtube...a recording of what proports to be a 1974 live recording of Rocket From The Tombs doing that all-time classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog"! Dunno exactly which line up of the group performed this, though given the 1974 date and the presence of a lead and rhythm guitar I would assume this was recorded around the time when Peter Laughner had joined sometime before the addition of  Chris Kuda. More information would be kinda nice, hunh? (If my attempt to embed this has failed for some unforeseen reason other'n just plain stupidity you can always go to Youtube and find the mofo yourself. Shee-yit, it ain't like I gotta spoonfeed everything to you, or do I?)

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(and now to prove that I am predictable as you all make me out to be...) Phil Specter is now Phil Spectre. 1939-2021.

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The cuck on the wall (I nailed Charles Kirk up there) says that it's time for the reviews. Thanks to Feeding Tube, Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and some guy who threw a buncha old albums inna dumpsters for the gibs. I believe that I had previously reviewed the Go album, it sounds SO familiar, but a search of the blog turned up nada meaning that I either have a more sieve-like memory than I thought or the blog search tab is no good. Wha' th' hey, it's a great platter anyway and does deserve another mention!

Michael Hurley-BLUE NAVIGATOR LP (Feeding Tube Records)

Here's another one of those EXTREMELY LIMITED (1000 only!) Feeding Tube releases, this one a reissue of Michael Hurley's 1984 longplayer which somehow missed my radar! Then again, my radar ain't been worth shit for quite some time and given the amt. of platters I have missed maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

Anyway, now that I've heard it in my advanced state of decay I gotta say that BLUE NAVIGATOR's the kinda real down home everyday sorta folk music that we all could use a whole lot more of. Yeah Michael Hurley might be way more honko New England as opposed to Merle Haggard's truck stop Ameriga, but he does a great introspective blue collar folk without the usual pretensions that have really brought some maybe not-that-promising efforts down, coming off just like what you would expect some broken-toothed hillbilly who never saw a bidet in his life to come up with. New material mixed with keen re-dos. None-a-that off the pig protest mulch here! 

However, bein' the ol' kinda sentimental fanabla that I am I gotta admit that I am kinda sad that Peter Laughner never got to hear it. I'm sure he woulda gotten a lotta inspiration from the thing, in between spins of RAW POWER and Genesis that is!

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LES OLIVENSTEINS CD (Born Bad Records, France)

Some of these later 'n late seventies punk rock acts do come off a bit howshallIsay just like every other late seventies punk rock act that might pop up in yer record collection, and France's Les Olivensteins ain't much different. However I gotta say that they still have a load of that mid-seventies just-post Stooges swing and sway to 'em that separates 'em from the more rote acts of the day. Hmmm, I can even detect a tad little bit of Velvet Underground via Rolling Stones swerve here and there while vocalist Eric Tandy thankfully leaves a good portion of that puton richkid daddy cut off my expense account angst outta his approach --- comparisons to Jean-Pierre Kalfon were made at one point and I can see where the hypesters were comin' from! Once again proof that the French played better rock 'n roll than Lou Reed would ever give 'em credit for! 

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The Extreem-FAR OUT FROM THE SKY CD-r burn

Contrary to what the name implies this was quite subdued for my tastes. Sorta like early-seventies relevant rock that took its cues from the quieter moments of Pink Floyd (Moody Blues?). Some dynamism but overall rather staid even for 1971 standards, although it you spent them teenaged years of yer life acting all introspective while watching BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN you probably will like it a whole lot. And if you were one-a-those types please stay away from me as far as you can!

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The Four Seasons-NEW GOLD HITS LP (Phillips Records)

Maybe it's because most music recorded for suburban slob consumption since the seventies sounds so blah that these late-sixties Four Seasons tracks sound pretty on-target in their own ranch house way. Contains the hit "Hey Marianne" as well as the sorta hit "Tell It To The Snow" and some tracks that woulda sounded good enough had they got stuck into the usual AM radio mix. Considering that by this time the Seasons were on Phillips you woulda hoped that some company wag woulda released a double disc collection called BLUE CHEER VERSUS THE FOUR SEASONS ---- THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY!!!! Haw, I just couldn't resist one of those stupido cornballus kinda gags that only I seem to appreciate!

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The Go-LIVE AT THE GOLD DOLLAR CD-r burn (originally on Third Man Records)

For an eentsy-meentsy split second I thought this was the Buffalo NY Go which had noted rockscribe Bernard Kugel as a member. Actually this Go is a totally different act which hails/hailed from Detroit Michigan and from the sounds of it the high energy is still percolatin' there heavy duty like! Live '98 Thanksgiving show, and let us give thanks that there were still heavy duty rock 'n rollers playing up and about at that time. Hard-edged sounds including a cover of "Hey Gyp" that would send Donovan into holy-moley convulsions not to mention a raging version of the Sonics' all-time classic "Psycho" which ain't as good as either the original nor the Swamp Rats' bur still beats a whole lotta those eighties garage revival types' to all heck.

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Various Artists-YORKVILLE EVOLUTION CD-r burn (originally on Yorkville Records, Canada)

I'm sure that a alotta reg'lar BLOG TO COMM readers who grew up in late-sixties Canada either had this record in their collection or sure wish to heck that they did. Not that it's a total disembrainer of a rec, but it's a decent enough sampler of provincial talent that probably sold for a lot less'n the normal albums that were up and about. 

A good part of it might be a little more professional than you can take what with the heavy pop production, but not only do you get the Ugly Ducklings doing their hit "Gaslight" but Ronnie Hawkins covering Gordon Lightfoot, a competent version of "Got To Get You Into My Life", blue eyed soul that works in its own Caucazoid way ("Jack Rabbit") and yet another version of Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises" that I'll bet beats Joan Baez's take if I ever do have the misfortune to hear that! It's so good that even Ritchie Knight and the Midnights' version of "Charlena" beats the one on the Reuben and the Jets platter!

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Various Artists-ASTRO AND ELIJAH IN DYNAMIC DENTON CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

The kazoo instrumental that starts this thing out certainly sets the pace...for a pretty good selection of obscurer-than-thou material that can be found in the outer reaches of the web. The laffs continue with Lana Cantrell's cover of the Beatles' infamous schmoozer "She's Leaving Home" (didja know that my mother actually thought that song was so heart-wrenching and actually got all emotional over it --- until she heard the last line about the gal having fun 'n then IT ALL WENT OUT THE WINDOW!!!) and the Soul Survivors trying to dredge up memories of their previous hit with a sloppy rewrite of "Expressway To Your Heart"! 

The slicked up garage aesthetics of the Music Explosion and Al Caiola I can do without, but the scratchy cowboy platter sounds like something the ORIGINAL Dennis the Menace (not the Ritalin-ladled Dennis of today!) woulda been listening to in 1952 before lasso-ing some little gal and putting his own particular brand on her!

The phony Jetsons platter was a hoot making me wonder whether or not Hanna-Barbera got their lawyers on whoever put that turdburger out! And no matter how hard they plead, I ain't goin' to Denton Texas nohow! Especially after that hokey camp record the city put out to promote the place!!!

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In keeping with the wild radical bent a few of you readers seem to cherish in your own armchair revolutionary ways here's a chant I'm sure just about everyone who tunes into this blog can identify with. "What do we want? More BLACK TO COMM back issues! When do we want them? NOW!!!"

COMIC BOOK REVIEW! MR. A. #8 (Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko)

Sure am a scatterbrained sorta fanabla what with me reviewing this ish from 2019 after writing up the more recent edition a few months back! But eh, what can you expect from this bassackwards blog which will devote reams of space to fodder you've read and loathed for years on end while giving but passing mention (if lucky) to some up and runnin' sorta mag that, for the most part, exudes just about everything that's wrong and abhorrent about the 21st century and all that it represents to people who, for the most part, have known better for years but just didn't seem to care.

One Mr. A. story here and it's a reprint from a '71 ish of GRAPHIC ILLUSIONS. Actually it's just another one of those heady good/evil/corrupt themes sans any plot or development unlike those Mr. A. sagas that I like which had some sort of deep twist to 'em. The various repros from a number of 50s/70s/80s Charlton titles fare much better, giving us a representation of that Ditko swerve that made picking up all those reprint titles in the seventies a bigger thrill than reading some of the original mush that was being tossed at us during those days. One tale's actually reprinted in color which, given the black/white philosophy of Ditko (he once chewed out a fanzine editor for printing his Mr. A. comic on colored paper!) makes for a nice change o' pace especially in one of these reprint books.

You pinko types might even go for this given the older material, but longtime Ditkoites like myself should really eat this ish up like a melting ice cream pop onna stick before it runs all over your sweaty palms. Not much else inna comic book game being laid on us here in the dark 'n dank twenties, so you better getcher funny pages thrills while you still can!

Hey, wasn't that a week we had! Well, not really because for the most part it was just another eat 'n poop rut just like any other week in my life, but there were a few li'l bright spots that made life bearable in between the gulping and wiping, some of which you will read about below.

I'm sure some of you are wondering just what my opinions are regarding various current events that have been plaguing us as of late. Well, if you REALLY wanna know...first off that second impeachment of the president sure was a nasty knife twist what after the Powers That Be first fixing elections then destroying just about every form of dissent there might be from the lumpen proles out there. Sure it was all just for show, a massive cock strut of moral superiority that has no real basis over anything, but in these days you know it's all touchy-feely intentions and showing off in front of the crowd than downright action and getting things done...as the mooshes in our lives say IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS and as of the last twenny or so years of any Political Theatre out there tells us it's always been sizzle over steak what with alla these politicians stumbling over themselves to out-emote each other to the point of nausea.

Anyway I do feel pretty disgusted that alla the Big Mouths won't have Donald Trump to kick around (at least Donald Trump in his God Emperor role) anymore because hey, it was great to watch 'em go off the rails even more'n I tend to what with their self-righteous rants where were pretty amusing in their own twisted way at that. Gonna find a new target, but of course you know they'll be blaming everything that counters their Great Leap Forward on the guy just like they did with every other republican prez (bad or atrocious) there has been for a good half-century or so. Sheesh, the loss of the best president that the  working guy ever had (something more/less stated by none other than astute political activist John Lydon) will be something to reckon with no matter which side of the great divide you happen to be on (maybe he shoulda been doing something about Big Tech back when they were silencing Jared Taylor) and, given the strange state of "woke" these sad 'n sorry days who in their relatively short political lifespans amongst us woulda ever thought that the radical likes of a Tim Yohannon (and his spiritual successors) and the bigtime moneygrubbing corporations would have ever been aligned via the same socially/politically pompous plane!

It's gonna be an interesting time ahead, and I just hope I'm stocked up with enough bunker goodies to munch on while I watch the fireworks display. Might actually be entertaining between the high drama and carnage (the latter hopefully being more on their side than mine).

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Recordwize things are definitely picking up a bit. Surprises from Bill Shute (I think I maxed out alla Paul McGarry's spinners, though I might be requesting more from him real soon!) and best of all P.D. Fadensonnen who actually sent me a belated X-mas gift addendum. I think they celebrate the Holiday Season in Holland later than we do here, though whether Fadensonnen is Dutch I do not know. And Black Pete was nowhere in sight so maybe not, even if Kris Kringle's helper has been pretty much airbrushed outta the culture clime! There's also the mysterious inherited from an old pile of discs entry as well as an album I actually bought with my own moolah, so you can bet that I am somewhat proud of these reviews in my own provincial suburban slob way.

'n while I'm at it...not-so-late-breaking news...goodbye to Sylvain Sylvain and for all intent purposes, the New York Dolls.

Anyhoo, here goes...

Various Artists-BOOTBOY DISCOTHEQUE (14 BOVVER ROCK BRUISERS) LP  (You Better Run Records)

And here I thought that I've heard all of the rare English under-the-underground singles that were up and about to be heard! Wrong again boyo, for BOOTBOY DISCOTHEQUE collects a whole slew of early and relatively rare skinhead strutters that should be proudly placed right next to alla those other seventies collections you've been spinnin' for the past umpteen years. The songs range from Caribbean-influenced to glam stomp and early punk rock, all with that great cheap lower class English feeling you got with those Oi platters that scared the bejabbers outta precious petunias during the early-eighties. Highlights include the Boots' Young Rascals cover, a skinhead saga about "The Yob" done up rather row house-like by some astute youth named the Knuckle Draggers, not forgetting the hard rock soundriver from 32nd. Turnoff featuring wayward Equal and future MTV star Eddy Grant. Wow!

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The Lyres-LIVE AT THE RAT LP (Crypt Records, Germany)

Here's one that Mr. Fadensonnen sent my way, a pretty good live recording from the legendary Boston group featuring a frontman who I don't think anybody that I know who's met him likes. Hotcha Northwest Rock vibe to this featuring a strong Wailers/Sonics bent which, along with the other covers 'n original material makes this almost like living through 1966 again! If you think of "the sixties" more in terms of afternoon monster moom pitchers on tee-vee and Shake-A-Puddin' than you do with being a sensitive Freedom Riding creep then man, you should love this 'un with every kidney stone and sinew in your pathetic system!

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Frank and the Hurricanes-LOVE YA LOVE YA LP (Feeding Tube Records in conjunction with Sophomore Lounge Records)

Snatched this 'un outta the pile because I thought the cover was remarkably International Artists-esque. Turns out that the music is too, or at least it reminds me of a late-sixties Texas haze sorta thing worked out by some rural heads in a barn loft. Parts of it sound like various late-eighties revampings of late-sixties lysergic wonderments which also lends a sorta late-period SST feel to the thing. Great melodies and lyrics coupled with straight-ahead non-frilly playing make this an effort that goes to prove that if you look hard enough there's more good stuff out there'n even I would wanna give credit for!

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John Cale-McCABE'S GUITAR SHOP SANTA MONICA, CA 1979-09-22 CD-r burn

This is one of those solo Cale shows the guy would do on and off throughout the 70s/80s cusp and beyond (I have a tape of an '82 Mudd Club appearance somewhere in the collection) featuring the former Velvet Underground star accompanied by nothing but his guitar and piano. I remember some wag out there mentioning how this music got the coeds of the day weeping uncontrollably at the beauty of it all and whoever wrote that probably was right. If you go for the Island-period Cale before he was rediscovered as some new unto gnu wave father of it all I'll bet you'll be listening to this in between alla those import bin finds that still wiggle about in your collection lo these many years late.

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Tony Irving and Massimo Magee-THE FOG CD-r burn (originally on Astral Spirits Records)

Haven't heard any Magee since the glory days of Kendra Steiner Editions so getting to hear his alto soar to similar heights previously scoured about by the AACM was a nice li'l surprise indeed! Drummer Irving does his darndest to keep up with it all (and does) an' in NO WAY can ya compare Magee's stylings to soaring cathedrals of sound or any such sixth grade English Class descriptors extant. Best titles seen in ages..."Blinking Wheezing & Choking", "Pea Super", "Anthropocene Shuffle"...

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WARREN BARKER IS IN CD-r burn (originally on Warner Brothers Records)

West Coast "Crime Jazz" as they say from the pre-rock 'n roll days at Warner Brothers Records. If you go for those old soundtrack albums from them early-sixties ABC mix 'n match detective shows (didja know that the first ever album I bought was the soundtrack to 77 SUNSET STRIP for a mere dime?) this will help stimulate the ol' nerve nodes a lot more than Vigero. Expressive pre-hippoid cool cultural classics like "Harlem Nocturne" are given strong 'n sexy arrangements that'll remind you of the days when men were more concerned with the amount of hair on their chest than they were tryin' to act more sensitive than Alan Alda and Phil Donahue combined! 

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THE VERSATILE VENTURES LP (Liberty Records)

Yeah, maybe you can use a rubber stamp to review these old Ventures albums, and of course the rubber stamp would be affixed with a writeup that's nothing but abject praise for these guys' musicianship, versatility and abilities in the way they defined the heart and spirit of sixties-era teenbo blubberfarm suburban slob living. Great instrumental efforts played as if the spectre of the Beatles never did rear its mop-topped head. Listen, if that particular plane got downed while headin' New York way this is ALL we woulda been listening to throughout that coulda been even better decade.

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The Pretty Things-PROGRESS EP CD-r burn (originally on Fontana Records, France)

Good 'nuff sampling for the French market, but other people can enjoy it too. Features some favorites like "Get The Picture" which you probably have on a dozen other platters in your collection but you can always use another one, eh? (See how I counter the stodgy MELODY MAKER opinions that you don't need a whole slew of "White Light/White Heat"s in your record collection like you do copies of CLOSE TO THE EDGE, or something like that!)

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Various Artists-STEAL LOUIE A LITTLE ROPE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

I dunno, but it may be because the thing sure reminded me of my 99-cent childhood that I couldn't work my way through the Columbia Record Club TOP POP SONG HITS LP that closes this effort out. Hearing cheapoid versions of tuneage you could hear onna radio for free before they hit the oldies circuit only reminds me of how my penny-pinching parents would buy up the budget albums featuring not-so-adept versions of the current movie soundtracks thinkin' they're both satisfying the kiddies and saving loads of dough at the same time, failing miserably at least on the first count!

The rest is hokay from the country twangsters to NUGGETS rarities (that is, if you consider Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Louie Louie" to be that much of a rarity) and although I sure wish I coulda rang in 2021 on a much gnarlier note this thing did its work swell-like. Nothing to sneeze and, and perhaps a harbinger of a new year that'll finally deliver on the sonic nerve-twitches that I most certainly deserve.

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Hey, yer snowed in and all you have to occupy your time until the rescue crew arrives is a stack of ROLLING STONE magazines. Don't you wish you had some of those BLACK TO COMM back issues to keep your mind at ease while you slowly freeze to death? It's not to late, that is if you survive the current arctic blast cataclysm that's bound to be headin' yer way any day now!

COMIC BOOK REVIEW! UNCLE MILTY #4 (Superior Publishers Ltd., new version courtesy of Golden Age Reprints)

By the time I started collecting comic books the celebrity titles, fairly popular comic rack fodder way back in the fifties and sixties, had all but disappeared. I managed to get a few of DC's JERRY LEWIS titles via various flea market stacks and such, but for the most part the long line of BOB HOPE and JACKIE GLEASON titles were long gone from the racks and they sure weren't turning up in any rummage sales I happened to be haunting! 

Didn't really matter to me much tho since my tastes were runnin' closer to the superhero and horny teenager line o' product and besides, the celebrity titles I were able to snatch up weren't too hotcha at all, capturing none of the funny stuff that these comedians were known for via tee-vee and the moom pitchers for the most part and falling flatter'n a well-timed pratfall ever could. 'n besides, I gotta say that a lotta these tee-vee or moom pitcher transferred to comics likenesses looked nada like the actors as anyone who ever looked into one of those Dell REAL McCOYS efforts could tell ya. (At least DC had Bob Oskner who was talented enough to crank out a halfway decent Jerry Lewis, and didja know that Mort Drucker got his comic book start at DC doing Hope which is why he got stuck drawin' the guy's likeness at MAD f'r years on end.)

Superior's UNCLE MILTY doesn't fare too well when compared with the Lewis or Hope titles. Not that trying to capture Milton Berle's cheap laff gagsterisms would transfer well into a comic book tale inna first place, but the stories that were used have nada to do at all with the whole Berle mystique for wont of a better term. In this title there are two stories featuring the famed television star, the first having him stuck in a torturous funhouse trying to remember Mother Goose rhymes in order to escape the horrors within only to continually goof up the final lines, while the other has him mistaken for the new riveter on a skyscraper whose lack of knowledge about the craft actually turns him into a last-panel hero for once! Don't worry if I gave this 'un away because you ain't gonna read it---I just know...

The non-Berle 'uns ain't any better what with one featuring a sidewalk hawkster selling a tonic that grows hair on anything but bald heads, another with a character called "Brother Frank" who, with his own brother goes on a Canadian hunting trip with a smart aleck French guide, a three-pager with some chubboid guy called Marco attempting to do some sorta water-skiing and the last about a vaudeville talent scout who finds the perfect dog act---with a weird catch that's more dumbfounding than amusing. 

Naturally none of whatever you could get outta Berle can be found here, and although the artwork is good enough for such endeavors it's nothing spectacular. Gee, if there was only some sorta funny gag line or Berle character trait that coulda been worked into these stories to make them floor-rolling worthy enough for a suburban slob like myself to enjoy...like say the rumors  everyone's heard about a certain part of Mr. Berle's anatomy that, like Supercar, is the marvel of the age. Naw, I don't think anyone could work that particular aspect of the Berle legend into a kiddie comic any more than we can work the ones we've heard about Danny Thomas or Louie Prima had they their own specialty titles!

Yeah it's been a longer'n Ron Jeremy week here at BLOG TO COMM central, one which resulted in me having to buy a new boom box in order to give the wondrous recordings mentioned below a spin. A few real life things also happened to take up time that could have been better spent listening to even more music and reading various books that I may even mention on this blog. But hey, sometimes number two does get in the way of how we'd all like to live our life-long suburban slob existences, which is a shame because what we need right now is more time to just lay back 'n goof off a bit kickin' up our feet and enjoying life the way our ancestors did. Mainly by sitting in front of the boob tube in our underwear watching old tee-vee reruns. Anything short of that would be nothing but a tragedy in the face of what it means to be a civilized people in what passes for what used to be called a civilized world.

(but speaking of "tragedies"...) The utter hypocrisy that was flauntingly on display earlier this week continues to act upon one's very soul like some undigested peanut that seem to get stuck in yer rectum because you didn't chew it good enough and you end up having to pull the thing out with your bare fingers only to find the little bugger rather intact only with a brownish dinge to it. The reams of denunciations regarding the free expression of anger that was going on at the Capitol last Wednesday (purportedly fueled by Antifa doogooders in disguise but I don't completely fall for that 'un) that was being spewed by various media pundits was enough to make this writer run to the nearest vomitorium as each and everyone of 'em tried to out-solemn each other with the usual pedantic better man than thou-isms and shame on thees that sounds so false when uttered from their pious yet hatemongering mouths. That's not counting the incessant finger wagging spurted from some of the most amoral and ineffectual political types on this planet which only makes me long for the firm decisive vision of a politician like Hubert Humphrey.

Four reasons why you should never let women do men's work.

Just kiddin' 'bout Humphrey who nowadays comes closer to the RINOs we see than the Dems in the here and now, but I will stand by what I said regarding this modern day version of Kent State (no shit!). And yeah, in my own inverted perverse way I am glad the actions of a small minority of otherwise tru blu everyday people did transpire. Not the deaths of seemingly good people who were nary a threat (unlike those thugs who attacked Kyle Rittenhouse and thus earned their place in a toasty afterlife) but the fact that some everyday people got pissed off about an EVIDENT WRONGDOING and acted out of a combination of pure righteous rage and frustration, of course getting the usual snobbish condemnation from the same twats whose tongues are still firmly entrenched in the hindquarters of budding Marxists nationwide. 

For years the liberals have been lending credence to and coddling the more violent aspects of their own shock troops, and now that the right wing had their own attempt to storm the Bastille the political world Democrats and Republicans get into their own hissy fits trying to outdo each other in sickening higher planeing when for all intent purposes THIS MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST WE'LL EVER GET TO OUR 1939 WHITE TERROR MOMENT! OR A REICHSTAG FIRE FOR THAT MATTER!!!!!!

('n hey, if there were leftoids intermingled with the rest of the demonstrators who actually incited the violence well --- it certainly is nice getting your enemies to do your dirty work for you!)

Lissen, for once in my lifetime we had a leader who was more than willing to tear down the world in the best Mel Lyman fashion one could imagine and he did a fairly good job (coulda done better but he did make more'n a few ill choices I'll grant'cha---look at the back-stabbers 'n neocons he put his neck onna line for!) and the fact he lasted four years and coulda even longer had some sneaky shenanigans hadn't been goin' on under the table is only testament to his iron fortitude. It certainly would be the most on-target thing to say that he was the most pro-working guy and anti-war prez we've had in my memory, one who thankfully made the leftists who were so proud of "looking out" for the little guy while little guy's job vamoosed the country and protested Vietnam but ignored Obama's drones "cackle like a bunch of indignant hens" as Wayne McGuire would put it. If there were to be any reason we should "hate" him it would be because he unfortunately failed in his attempts to destroy the concept of Big Government (and their condescending lackeys who love doing the patriotic shuffle when its for their cause) for good. Too bad he failed, and too bad we are, as John Derbyshire had predicted long back, "doomed". Oooh, that firm, decisive hand of Joe Biden, just what alla ya punk rock anarchists wanted now, eh?

Yeah it was cathartic seeing the invasion of the capital and watching the politicians cowering like trapped animals hiding from hunters. Really made my day I'll tell ya. And yeah all you anti-violence hypocrites out there, I do hope it happens again and with greater impact because really, is there anything we have to lose at this point what with the next four years tearing away what little we have been able to hold onto despite the efforts of the various uplifters who always claimed to know how we should live our lives better'n we do ourselves?

Frankly if you want to read one of the few really etapoint pieces that sums up my opinions regarding that Great Day, just click here and of course your snide comments will be met with the usual amount of laughter. This guy makes a whole lotta sense as well. The rest with their calls to peace 'n love (when it suits their cause) and grabbing your ankles can go read DYNAMITE HEMMORHAGE for all I care.

Anyhoo, here are two memes with the same basic graphics and dialogue that put everything into the ol' nutshell even if those of you perusing Blazing Cat Fur or watching Newsmax'll find these opines to have been well-circulated for wont of a better term. If you don't appreciate 'em well, I guess you're even more of a civilization traitor than I was originally led to believe. Feel free to write un with typical garment rending moral outrage saying that these memes are either grossly inaccurate, racist, or flavor of the month offensive...I'll naturally ignore you like I should have for the past thirtysome years of my life.

Boston Massacre anyone?

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Reviews time. Actually bought a few newbies with some leftover Christmas money while one of the efforts was part of the package I got from the great P.D. Fadensonnen who I hope graces us with a new release one of these eons. Of course this column ends with the standard Bill burn and it is strange seeing a BTC column without a Paul McGarry effort but this has always been a blog of surprises. Hope you like the batch, which might even inspire you to do a little searchin' the web for freebee sounds yourself.

HAWKWIND 77 2-CD set (Secret Records, England)

Although the screechy synth/string sounds which typified a whole load of late-seventies music permeates these two platters the energy and drive of the QUARK STRANGENESS AND CHARM-period Hawkwind shines through. Robert Calvert's a wild guy frontman perhaps coming even closer to the Iggy taproot than many of the other Stooge wannabes of the day while the music, at times slick and FM glossy, can get rather driving sorta like a mid-seventies Roxy Music trying to play the James Brown songbook coming off more like a runner up in a Can soundalike contest. It ain't SPACE RITUAL true, but then again it ain't that expensive and just might be worth your while getting hold of.

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Marvin 'Hannibal' Peterson-HANNIBAL IN ANTIBES CD (Enja Records, Germany)

Side one's a long workout that gets into a nice funk repeato-riff mode with various mideastern twinges thrown in via trumpet. Sorta gets your brain into a tape loop mode that bounces around the cranium the same way Valerie Solanis' bullet ricocheted all over Andy Warhol's ribcage. The workout on "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" is equally funky with a rhythm that reminds me of Byard Lancaster's "John's Children". Nice enough set from a jazzbo who never was a big player in the new sound sweepstakes but then again welcome to the club!

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D.O.A -THE THIRD AND FINAL REPORT OF THROBBING GRISTLE CD (Mute Records)

Not as soul-searing as the earlier Throbbing Gristle efforts but still fine enough in their electronic earwigging ways. Quite hypnotizing in fact, perfect for these barricaded times. Something Joseph Mengele would have played in order to get in the mood. Kiddie gibber, Kraftwerk bounce, stylophone cantatas, death threats from the boyfriend of that gal who Genesis P. Orridge  literally tried to smash in and oh yeah...some things that kinda don't go anywhere but maybe will next listen. 

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Sandy Bull and Aiyb Dieng-THE ROGER STEFFENS SHOW 6/1/1989 CD-r burn  

Although I found that late-eighties Bull release not exactly on par with his boff Vanguard output this '89 live in the studio radio broadcast is a pretty good encapsulation of that "World Music" mystique that had self-conscious pseudo-intellectual college students grabbing his albums up way back inna sixties. Along with percussionist Dieng, a Sengalese who plays these clay drums that sound rather tabla-esque, Bull recreates those Mideast influenced modal melodies exquisitely with his oud and sarod sounding like the kinda guy who can play the innards of a piano with finesse. Dieng keeps it all rhythmically intact the exact same way people like Billy Higgins and Denis Charles did on those Vanguard albums that still continue to pack a huge pounce a good sixty years later! I'm sure this is floating around in the ether somewhere and for longtime Bull fans and followers like yourself it's more'n just a duty to get hold of one for your own late-night introspective pleasures.

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Kenwood Dennard-JUST ADVANCE CD (Big World Records)

Even these days I check out some obscurity whose name I see on some old CBGB handbill if only out of some strange curiosity. Sometimes the rarity I hear is great, other times its just the same ol' pedestrian slop that's been heard over and over again these past fiftysome odd years. JUST ADVANCE was an act led by percussionist Kenwood Dennard that once popped up on a CB's 313 Gallery bill way back '92 way, and although what I have read about 'em made 'em seem like your typical technomusical magazine fodder I gotta admit that their music is a little more driving than some of the processed jazz fusion heard these past five decades. Hiram Bullock's guitar lines do have their fair share of drive to 'em, although the abundance of synth gloss (there're two operators of Roland keyboards present) does its fair share of hindering the overall drive. At least the powerful drumming of Dennard and the general funk drive save this from dribbling over into elevator music status. Even the cover of "Purple Rain" which closes the platter won't send you back into the eighties miasma from whence that song came.

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Various Artists-ROULETTE MARBLE TUGBOAT SUN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Bill's always put some nice goop on these Cee-Dee-Ares of his, this one being nein exception. Some of it like Ki Di Me's "Islamatic" doesn't quite hit the musical g-spot (if we don't watch out this is gonna be the ONLY music we're gonna be listening to inna future!) but the Roulettes' British Invasion romp and Little Willie John doin' alla those songs white creeps ended up ruinin' sure made this 'un worth the time to listen. Of course things like the Confessions doing the same old Velvet Underground repeato riff without the passion or swerve only makes such a track a one-time only affair but it, like most of the entries, is far from disposable. And besides that the presence of the Klark Kent EP'll remind more'n a few of you regular record shop browsers about the colored vinyl craze of the late-seventies wonderin' if it was worth the $2.59 to dish out for that Stiff Records Deviants EP or not!

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I'll betcha feel guilty because you don't have any of these BLACK TO COMM back issues wallowing around in your collections just waiting to enrich your brains with pure unadulterated rockist musical tomes. Oh I keep forgetting...none of you have a conscience which is why you probably get all of your music news from MAGNET. Well, if you want to remain ignorant about the true whys and wherefores about music and its true meaning in the realm of your midclass rockist lifestyle there are plenty of hacks out there willing to satiate your banality. But if not well, you know where your next welfare check's goin', eh?

BOOK REVIEW! CANNON BY WALLACE WOOD (Fantagraphics Books, 2014)

Talk about the perfect book for yer typical pube-sproutin' adolescent kinda boys who are still interested in the slam bam action strips inna STEVE CANYON vein yet are beginning to elicit strange desires while passing by the casaba melon display at the supermarket. Created for the Armed Forces paper OVERSEAS WEEKLY, CANNON is the perfect blend of everything a red-blooded all-Amerigan teenbo with fire in his eyes and a lock onna bathroom door could want, bloody violence and lotsa suckems 'n stuff to look at t' boot.

John Cannon's the perfect agent. After being brainwashed by the Chinese and reconditioned by the CIA upon return, Cannon knows no emotion but hate. And judging from these stories he also's got a whole lotta lust in him as well which does figure in with the entire under-the-covers game given that a whole buncha females from deadly enemies like Madame Toy to friends like the boss's daughter Wendy are more'n anxious to take the guy on anywhere and anyway they can. Given the plethora of wardrobe malfunctions that pop up in these stories you know it's gonna be pretty hard for Cannon to resist these temptresses come ons and such.

Don't get me wrong, this stuff ain't as sickoid as Wally Wood's various comics that popped up in men's mags for years on end. Lotsa great feminine pulchritude is on display true, but the best efforts to obscure the most potent part of the femme anatomy are used to hide the all-important nether-regions or sweet patch if you so desire. Tree branches, limbs, bedsheets, cloth or whatever is in the way protects your eyeballs from the dirtiest of dirty, and although it ain't whatcha'd call pornographic by any stretch of the imagination its sure to arouse that inner thirteen-year-old who still likes to comb over NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC with a magnifying glass.

Oh yeah, the stories are great too --- pre-hippoid relevance tales where Our Hero is placed in a whole slew of dangerous situations trying to stop everything from revolutions to Middle Eastern disasters, of course coming into contact with the best looking femmes that ever popped outta a pudenda complete with treacherous desires and libidos to boost. It's all rather fast-paced and custom made for those of you who used to follow the adventure strips of the past, and of course the bad boys are about as predictable as you can get but wha' th' hey??? I mean, if you can't get your laughs outta a hippie cult leader named HANSON then you might as well chuck in in right then 'n there!

For those of you who only know Wood from his MAD work this might surprise you a bit, but for the rest of us this is reminiscent of alla those old EC and SPIRIT tales that featured the guy's efforts. Good stuff for those of you who are still torn between owning some of the bestest baseball equipment onna block, and wanting to trade it all in for an issue of PENTHOUSE.

Hope you blasted out of 2020 in a way better wayshapeform than I sure did. The bad news started last Sadturday when, while attempting to scan pix for this very blog, a warning came up saying something along the lines of how my computer failed to recognize the application etc. and so forth which really does put a damper on things around these parts if I do say so myself. Not only that, but my trusted bedside boom box has konked out ("no CD" repeatedly pops up on the display panel which really does gripe me even though this particular player has lasted me three years, a record as far as these built-in obsolescence bred items go) and although I can still listen to music via other household sources it ain't the same as me sitting in my worn out comfy chair late at night spinning some much-needed music whilst I peruse an old collection of comics or some forgotten fanzine of yore. Yes, the blog will continue somewhat and I will do my best to remedy these dire situations (without dishing out too much money of course), but as the English would say this is a sticky wicket!

And naturally, if I'm having this much bad luck during the closing days of 2020 I just DREAD for what's in store with 2021! But you shouldn't for you can depend on me to keep on beating that same dead horses I've chopped into ground round for the past umpteen years while relaying for ya alla my childhood and adolescent traumas while steaming over every slight directed at me ever since I danced myself out the womb, and fortunately it was not a rhumba!

Otherwise things are going fairly swimmingly with enough free Xmas cookies to keep me afloat for a few weeks and some additional spare time for me to crank out these missives to you people who, judging from the comments section, REALLY NEED 'EM!!!!! And here's hoping to a really strong 'n blustery winter so I have more and more excuses to stay to myself and indulge in the pleasures of music, old comic books, fanzines and whatnot that've been keeping me goin' for a longer time'n any of us can imagine.

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IN OTHER NEWS: "Ginger isn't Ginger anymore, she's Mary Ann". And Mary Ann isn't Mary Ann anymore, she's dead. R.I.P. Dawn Wells.

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As far as other niceties go well, thanks be to the people who helped make this blog famous with their donations and sheee-yit. People like Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Bob Forward and P.D. Fadensonnen (who sent such a great package my way that I actually review three of his gifts this very post!) not to mention my own good taste in purchasing things on my own dime which sure doesn't happen as often as I would like. As far as posts go this ain't as boffo as some of the glories I've been able to crank out ever since 2004 hit the boards, but then again it sure ain't as turdly as I can get sometimes. Awww c'mon and just enjoy the thing!

Various Artists-KRAUT : DIE INNOVATIVEN JAHRE DES KRAUTROCK 1968-1972 TEILES 1 & 2 CD-r burn (originally on Bear Family, Germany)

Kinda strange seeing a krautrock collection on a label best known for fifties Amerigan rockahula sounds, and come to think of it it's even stranger seeing a history of this particular musical form that leaves out all of the major names of them Golden Age of Import Bins days. But after listening through these first two volumes (with two more out there somewhere) and being bereft of the books that came with the originals all I can really say is --- after having been in on the krautgame for a longer time than even I can imagine a whole lotta this music is rather worthless!

From the looks of it the people at Bear Family think that any group that popped outta the nation in the late-sixties and early-seventies was of the "krautrock" genre which is probably why there is a load of blatant Amerigan heavy rock and English progressive moves heard on these collections.  Face it, there's little if any of the more mystical approaches that groups like Can and Kraftwerk were known for, at least known for by the smarter set who tuned into the then-freeform FM stations that would intermingle EGE BAMYASI with the standard hippoid fare.

Not that every act here is total schieseville since some smarter moves from the likes of Annexus Quam and Xhol Caravan pop into the mix, but for the most part these groups are more derivative than they are inspirational. And for a "scene" that cherished the late-sixties Amerigan cataclysm of sound there's nary a Velvets move or Stooge trash drone to be found on any of these four disques. Gives those seventies memories of mine a quite dimmer vision, like of all those album purchase burns of mine wasting a good amt. of that money that I really hadda BEG for!

Just stick with the greats and leave these progressive artistes alone, unless you find some affinity in that section of the art rock cadre whose idea of artsiness was akin to some Da Vinci print hung up inna living room in order to give class to an otherwise dingy living room.

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Kevin Ayers-BANANAMOUR CD (Harvest Records, Japan)

One I missed o'er the years, and come to think of it BANANAMOUR wasn't exactly an easy-to-snatch platter in any of the import bins I used to occupy!  Still it's a good one capturing that early-mid-seventies Kevin Ayers feel that really typified all that was good about that monster that got clumped under the vague term "progressive rock". Typical Ayers whimsy abounds, with two must-to-hears included..."Decadence", a rather etapoint tribute to not only Marlene Dietrich but Nico and the early Velvet Underground, as well as "Oh! Wot a Dream" which woulda been nice had Syd Barrett decided to wrap his tonsils around this one.

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The Chinese Electrical Band-GOES HAWAIIAN/PUMPKINS RULE MY WORLD CD-r burns  (originally on Whitewall Tapes)

Well, if you really wanna know what the guys, or at least one of 'em, was doin' before the glory days of the Crummy Fags look no further. Two strangeties recorded from the bowels of Sandusky featuring Randy Russell and a few names you might not be familiar with (cuz I sure ain't!) blarin' through some rather primitive jungle clang in search of a melody. An' they do find one, many a time in fact! 

Just more of that great beneath the garage rock that I'm sure the seventies were just chock fulla! My burn of GOES HAWAIIAN ends with a hefty chunk of a Arizona-based r 'n b radio show that I gotta say kept my attention span held pretty well, while PUMPKINS RULE THE WORLD  mixes homemade experimental jagovs with primitively-recorded rock workouts backing faux English accented singing. Some of this I heard before (probably off another one of those Whitewall tapes featuring the works of Russell) but most of it is new, and might just be worth your time and effort to seek out. 

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Black Flag-MY WAR CD (SST Records)

Y'know, the money shortage during the mid-eighties really meant that I hadda do without the kinda records 'n mags that I really thought I needed in order to sustain a high-energy rock 'n roll lifestyle. Well, dunno about the magazines since by that time we were in the midst of the post-Bangs era, that tongue unto anal rock criticism style that was really in vogue because we were living in one of the worst musical droughts seen in ages, but there were quite a few recordings that I missed out on because well, the combination of depression-era wages and putting out a crudzine could cause quite havoc with any sorta record collection a fellow like myself could just envy...

This is a fairly good one...tempos slowed down to a nice dirge and the guitarwork's even gnarlier'n one woulda expected after hearing those early Black Flag efforts. Henry Rollins wasn't quite the, er, legend he eventually became so it's easy enough listening without harboring the images of what the man would eventually evolve into once his handlers got to him and he started making flaccid pronouncements about how we should understand women's bodies. Overall the hardness bears down on you fine and maybe for once we'll remember just how important Black Flag were in the face of alla that crap that overtook the eighties which obliterated the hard-edged underground and replaced it with zilch-dimensional quap that never did get washed outta our systems even lo these many years later.

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Roxy Music-WHISKY WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 1972-12-18 CD-r burn

Surprisingly solid show that delivers on the promise that was early Roxy Music. Sound quality's kinda flat but for an audience recording it does capture a rather gritty dimension to the band that the legitimate records always glossed over. "Remake/Remodel" is the highlight of the set delivered to us in a way which lends credence to Richard Williams' claim about its undeniable debt to "Sister Ray". Gotta say that this tape woulda made for a good vinyl bootleg way back when, but then again we'd all hafta hear the roars of indignation over the sound from alla those hi-fi nuts who used to cherish those half-speed mastered albums that were way outta the reach of normal folk like us's pocket books.

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Warsaw Pakt-SEE YOU IN COURT CD-r burn

This is the cassette-only Warsaw Pakt thingie that was available as a download about fifteen years back, and I'm sure that the files for this 'un still exist on my old computer somewhere out there. Not really an album the way ya'd think of it what with the variety of sources giving this a rather untogether sorta feeling, but the high energy and Ladbrook Grove hard rock style is in force giving us a sound that combines the best of the Deviants, Pink Fairies and Motorhead in one little nice compact blast. Some re-dos from NEEDLE TIME as well as a whole buncha things that are new to my ears kept me rockin' n' boppin' from here to New Castle PA and back (really!) and it might just do you some good if you aren't, like way too many prissy rock critic types out there, too afraid to kick some jams out in your life.

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Kevin Ayers and the Whole World-PIKNIK RADIO BROADCAST 1970 CD-r burn

This must be Kevin Ayers week here at BLOG TO COMM what with the BANANAMOUR album above and now this little tasty treat that arrived without any prior warning thanks to the one called P.D. Its a Dutch radio broadcast from '70 with the legendary Whole World band including David Bedford, Lol Coxhill and special guest Robert Wyatt backing up Ayers doing some then-current faves and whatnot sounding rather loose in the process. Horrid engineering might make this one a bit difficult for you to fathom but the spirit and fun of these Harvest-era acts is evident for all you old time import bin hoppers out there. If you've been in on the English rock game for so long, in fact long enough to remember when even WMMS-FM would promote acts like Ayers before succumbing to the Bruce Springsteen mindset then you just might go for the nearest download of this you can find!

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Various Artists-ON THE LUCKY SANTA BREEZE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

A neat surprise here since I always wondered where the original version of Plan 9's "I've Got to Keep on Pushin'" came from (the Human Beinz!) and although I thought that the "Ronnie Byrd" who follows was actually mid-sixties French rocker "Ronnie Bird" I still like this gals' early sixties gal singer romp which was not about Bachman-Turner Overdrive as the sleeve kinda hinted at!

The rest is good in that vacillating Bill Shute sorta way from gal groups (the Vacels) to the Neighborhood, who I thought woulda been the group with the similar name that was up and about in the early-eighties but I was wrong. I thought the neo-country pop of Rene Waters was about as cornballus as this type of music can get though that Dale Allen and the Rousers early-sixties single wasn't quite bad even in its gosh honest wimpiness. 

At least the song poem from Beth Ann Haves ("I Liked The Old Year"/"Dear Santa Claus") and Tich and the Ted Taylor Four's "Santa Bring Me Ringo" were timely especially since I tend to drag these Holiday-oriented Bill-burns outta the pile in the middle of July. Of course nowadays wanting Ringo for Christmas would kinda be akin to me wanting that Vac-U-Form that looked so enticing as a turdler --- after all nowadays both of 'em are not working and busted beyond belief.

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So you have alla that Christmas gift money just layin' around 'n ya wanna know what to do with it! If yer still steamed over Aunt Matilda getting you alla them sox and the lady at Menards won't exchange 'em for cold hard lucre then howzbout getting rid of your inhibitions by buying up a bundle of these BLACK TO COMM back issues! It's the next best thing to relieving those tensions to locking yourself inna john with a stack of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICs, and it's a whole lot more moral, too!

Sheesh, I should be typing this year-end summary while wearing my smoking jacket in front of a roaring fire, ruminating about all of the good 'n bad that has befallen us these past 366 being all holiday warmy and toasty about our place here in this universe we have been so ungraciously plunked down into. Too bad I'm actually pecking away (no, not that you thilly thing!) while wearing my sweat clothes in my room where all I have to warm me up is a portable heater! Certainly not as dignified as I would have liked our final meeting for the year to be though it could have been worse. I mean, I could have been typing this in the nude...

Bur trudge on I will whether dressed or bare, and hope that the next rotation around the sun makes for a better go of life what with alla the good things that I'm sure will appear to tingle my nerve nodes which really do deserve quite more of a tingle as the years progress.

Eh, why should I complain given how 2020 has come up with quite a few winners. The Feeding Tube label has been cranking out some mighty driving albums never letting up (even their folkier efforts have stirred my stirrups and that's sayin' somethin' I perhaps don't wanna get into right at this time) while the reissues and various Cee-Dee-Are burns that have turned up have also brightened whatever's left of those late-night spin-a-thons that continue to take place here at Ground Zero. And of course there are the typical on/off obsessions I do have with groups that have pleased me for quite some time, usually spurred on by a mention or two in some of the better scraps of writing that continue to pass mine eyes even years after the greats of the past first set their astute thought to newsprint.

Anyhoo...this is what 2020 was in my own soggy memory and who knows, my year might have even topped your minute ot something like that. Read on if you must, but as usual check your preconceived notions and political pose at the door because frankly, I'm getting tired of putting many of you readers in your deserved place!


ALBUM OF THE YEAR!-EDDIE FLOWERS AND THE WAX LIP SWAMP DUB (Feeding Tube Records)-Down home Deep South swamp music, if you happen to live in that town where those two mutated hillbillies from NAKED LUNCH live!

AVANT GARDE FOLK MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR!-Wednesday Knudsen and Willie Lane's LONG TIME 'TIL TOMORROW (Feeding Tube)-Reminds me of CHURCH OF ANTHRAX, or at least I haven't felt this way since I first heard that classic effort oh so long ago.

TWO-RECORD SET WITH ARCHIVAL AND PREVIOUSLY-ISSUED MATERIAL SET OF THE YEAR!: Wurm's EXHUMED. Heavy metal's last real chance? Whadda you think!

IMPORT ALBUM YOU SURE WISHED WOULDA BEEN IN THE IMPORT BINS OF THE MID-SEVENTIES AWARD!-CALCIUM.

LIVE RELEASE OF THE YEAR!: The Stooges' LIVE AT GOOSE LAKE AUGUST 8TH, 1970.

CASSETTE WITH ALL NEW MATERIAL OF THE YEAR!: Fadensonnen's DEKADE 1 and 2 double tape collection

ALBUM REISSUE OF A CASSETTE OF THE YEAR!-Hopital de la Conception's ELECTRIC ROCKING CHAIR. The tantric beat lives on!

BOX SET OF THE YEAR!-the JAC BERROCAL one.

ARCHIVAL SINGLE OF THE YEAR!-the Cleveland Wrecking Company's "Say There's a Reason"/"Hat Full of Dreams". Thankfully San Francisco didn't fall into the ocean until after groups like this were passed over in favor of post-psychedelic schmalz.

RE-ISSUED SINGLE OF THE YEAR!-Attrix's "Lost Lenore"/"Hard Times" on Spain's Munster label. This is what a Velvet Underground "homage" should sound like as opposed to those "Sweet Jane" covers Brad Kohler used to see in bars on off nights.

BOOK OF THE YEAR (rock 'n roll division)-PETER AND THE WOLVES---a must on Elliot Murphy's rock history class of 2074's required reading list.

BOOK OF THE YEAR (secular division)!-the FUN WITH A MENACE gathering of the earliest funny book appearances of a comic character who obviously has been given too much Ritalin o'er the years.

ROCK READING OF THE YEAR!-the reams (no, not that Dave) of articles and such copied during my three month subscription to ROCKS BACKPAGES. Sheesh, why should I bother with the opines of some internet turd when I can pour through tons of Nick Kent, Charles Shaar Murray, Jonh Ingham, Giovanni Dadomo etc. pieces that speak to my soul a whole lot more'n Ann Powers could? Plus the rare Lester Bangs pieces sure add a little whip cream to the rockism sundae if you dare ask me! (Howcum no R. Meltzer tho?)

TEE-VEE SHOW OF THE YEAR!-the early half-hour GUNSMOKE reruns, tho they just ain't the same with the original openings and without the old MARSHAL DILLON ones seen not only on prime-time but in syndication for years on end.

MOOM PITCHER OF THE YEAR!-as if I went to a theater anytime in these past thirtysome years! The moom that affected me the most these past 366 was naturally an oldie, Laurel and Hardy's 1934 classic BABES IN TOYLAND, as if anything created since those sainted H-wood days would have anything relevant to do with my mere existence! 

FANZINE OF THE YEAR!-whatever the latest UGLY THINGS was, as if there was much if any competition but with a mag like that you know its gonna bury any competition that comes up against it.

BLOG OF THE YEAR!-BLAZING CAT FUR, the first place I go for my daily news!

SPOKESMAN OF THE YEAR!-Nick Fuentes.

HERO OF THE YEAR!-Kyle Rittenhouse, who did what a whole lotta us frothing at the mouth normal people fed up with those pampered pooch protesters wished we coulda done!

BUMMER OF THE YEAR!-too many to mention right now, though the dearth of hotcha archival digs just ain't what it used to, or should be.

DEATH OF THE YEAR!-  EDDIE HASKELL. In other words, OUR HERO WHO ART IN HEAVEN.

BOOK REVIEW! WHERE CAN I FLY? -- THE SLEEPERS, TUXEDOMOON & BEYOND BY MICHAEL BELFER WITH WILL YORK (Hozac Books, 2020)

Closing out the year's this particular entry into the depths of what we used to know as seventies rock 'n roll, complete with alla the decadence and dope that seemed to be part 'n parcel of those particularly creative times. There have been quite a few of these tomes for the times coming out as of late from the Richard Lloyd autobio of a few years back to Adele Bertei's reminiscences of the mid-seventies Cleveland underground scene, and frankly if you didn't get enough perversion 'n opiate throb thrills in any of those other books man, you can get your fill of it here and much more if you so desire!

Never was whatcha'd call a humongous fan and follower of the West Coast thingie the way I'm sure a whole slew of you guys were, though I have been considering (or shall I say, re-considering) checking into the whole Tuxedomoon mystique o'er the past year out of a long-lost curiosity if anything.  Although I have yet to plunk down any precious lucre towards any extant Tuxedomoon items I gotta say that this book has become a catalyst for where a good portion of my next paycheck might be going. But then again maybe not...y'see, the hard-boiled sub-guttural existences of not only the likes of author Belfer but the entire more arty 'n decadent 'n thou West Coast scene just might be a li'l too strong for the dainty digestive system that your humble writer owns and operates and besides, why should I be contributing to the drug habits of others with my purchases of their wares especially when I could be contributing to my own as the old joke I told you awhile back went...

Not that I imbibe in anything stronger than Dr. Pepper but all kidding aside...this is a good read detailing yet another portion of the California under-the-underground groupings who popped up during the era of THE GREAT REAWAKENING and the gritty underbelly of it all which might have been hinted about in the pages of those tabloid efforts like SLASH and SEARCH AND DESTROY but were never really delved into. And, as you would expect, it all ends up with author Belfer totally cleaned out 'n up 'n about here in the present which is nice 'n all, but somehow I kinda wish that he was still strung out 'n wallowing about inna gutter which woulda been a nice change of positive uplifting schmooze we always seem to end up with in books like these!

Welp, I got past the Christmas hurdle...now onto New Year's. Dunno about you, but I made it through intact if only because I spent most of my time huddled up in my room listening to music, reading old fanzines and whatnot and trying to avoid that strange hideous thing that's otherwise known as reality. Just like I do most of the time anymore since my life really has turned into the lyrics from "I Am A Rock", only without the snarkness that Paul Simon was belittling his fan base with. And you kin betcha that I don't have any books and poetry to protect me either, bub!

As usual these holidays keep bringing back the old memories, not of what used to be, but what I sure wish those days coulda been had things been way different. For one thing I sure wish I had a whole lot more of that long green back then, enough to the point where I coulda walked into one of those great outta the way record emporiums like White Wing in Niles Ohio and dumped a few hundred on various newies, imports, boots and the occasional juicy cutout that should keep me occupied for a few well-crammed hours on end. Sheesh, that's the kinda olde tymey memories I wish I could have, not the ones regarding my only having $1.99 in my Indian moccasin wallet wonderin' whether to spend it on a cheapo cassette cutout or towards a MAD SUPER-SPECIAL containing a sheetfulla Don Martin stickers with enough change left over to get myself some Dynamints to load up on! 'n with a life centered around what to do it a measly $1.99 no wonder I sure wish I had more bountiful buck memories that I really could appreciate!

Got some nice surprises for ya this time as well, including a couple outta-nowhere entries that were send to me gratis. I know that longtime fan Charles Hodgson was responsible for the Nectarine No9 entry but whoever sent me the Boris platters remains a mystery. Thanks to whoever that mystery Santa was, and also thanks to Bill Shute and Paul McGarry for being so generous with their time and effort.

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Before we get to the goodies I gotta say farewell to none other'n ex-Vagrants/Mountain/West Bruce and Laing guitarist Leslie West, dead at 75. Funny thing is, I thought the guy woulda died long ago given his extreme girth and diabetes problem which eventually led to the amputation of both legs. But soldier on he did, and if it is true that the original Rocket From The Tombs covered "Mississippi Queen" maybe his memory needs all the more cherishing if only for that not-so-miniscule fact!

The Nectarine No9-A POSTCARD RECORDING OF SCOTLAND CD (Shake the Record Label, 598 Victoria, C.P. 365687, St-lambert, Quebec, J4P-358, Canada)

Yeah, this is the Cee-Dee that reader in good standing (well, I never saw him sitting down!) Charles Hodgson requested be sent to me, and although I don't find it evil or distressing I also don't find it exciting or life-reaffirming. Like a lotta that early-eighties post-rock music that was supposed to be the next step up from alla that glorious anarchy that was the late-sixties/seventies sonic sprawl this is quiet, refined and downright nowheresville music that sounds as if the practitioners had spent their growing up years listening to early Eno and, like the man himself, entered the eighties a particularly subdued form of specimen sans the visceral energy that made things like TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN such a teenbo thrill. Not really my cuppa tea, but for those of you who were still ordering expensive imported records from Rough Trade and Systematic inna mid-eighties this just might be thee one for you!

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Screaming Urge-IMPULSE CONTROL CD-r burn (originally on Homework Records)

For being from Columbus Ohio these guys're pretty good. And considering that the best rock group to ever come outta Columbus were the Electric Eels that's really sayin' somethin'! Right mix of grit and doof which doesn't copy directly from any specific new-unto-gnu-wave influence making for a sound that is uniquely Ohio to the point where you woulda thought they woulda been invited to play an in-store show at the Drome. Complete recorded output (or so I'm led to believe) in one package on one shiny disque --- as the guy on the Car Shield ad says "who does that anymore?"

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Apache Dropout-MASTERS CD-r burn (originally on Bristol Archive Records)

Might appeal to the West Coast fans who happen to read this blog what with the country laid-backisms and general sensitive girl in the seventh grade appeal that these guys have. Neil Young if his testicles had descended. Nothing that I'd wanna go out and seek for my own even though I do find quite a bit of this palatable. But that's about all.

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Sid King and the Five Strings-GONNA SHAKE THIS SHACK TONIGHT CD-r burn (originally on Bear Family Records, Germany)

If you're a tru-blu rockabilly fan 'n not just a pinkie dabbler such as I, you probably know all about King and his band who had a pretty extensive discography throughout the early days of that thing we used to call rock 'n roll. Hefty Gene Vincent influence permeates "Good Rockin' Baby" while you can also hear echoes of alla your favorite fifties faves throughout this purported to be complete collection. It even has some early more Swing-y efforts that sound like they were custom made for some rural radio station circa. 1955.  Bound to dredge up a few good memories in some of you more ancient readers. 

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Boris-LφVE & EVφL 2-LP set (Third Man Records)

Two albums (wrapped together but packaged separately if that makes any sense to you) from yet another one of those legendary Japanese hard noise rock groups I used to go nuts about back during the turn of the century. Still massive in sonic screech and the closest thing I've heard to what pneumonia would sound like if it had a voice, LφVE & EVφL can be quite overbearing especially if you ain't used to these sonically-inspired acts but after awhile you might get used to the way your brain is vibrating like wobbly gelatin inside your very bean. And please do congratulate me for goin' through this entire review without succumbing to my temptation to mention Natasha. 

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David and Sylvain-TOKYO DOLLS LIVE CD-r burn (originally on Fan Club Records, France)

This is actually the New York Dolls Mk. II with Johansen and Sylvain joined by those latterday Dolls like Peter Jenner and Tony Machine, sounding pretty snat in the process unlike what some wags onna scene woulda led ya to believe. The audience eats it up just like they did on alla those other live in Japan albums and who could blame 'em since these guys did put on a pretty wild show that was on par with the kinda act they were doing in smaller clubs back in the states. Old songs and new all done up with that patented punch and yeah, Thunders etc. ain't here but you can still get way more of a good time out of this than you can while listening to those old Casey Kasem shows that always seem to be playing at the Dollar General.

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Various Artists-WANDERING SWIVEL BLUE SENSATIONS CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

A shortie but goodie ('n the shorter the better given my extremely limited attention span) consisting of some of the bigger duds that Bill could whip up for me. Some good duds here tho even if the Swivel Hips' take on "Walk Don't Run" totally messes up the lead guitar line and the sixties pop tends to be more schmoozier than thou ifyaknowaddamean... I mean, if the Cornel Trio's "Klingeling" wasn't the kind of music that Lieutenant Gruber listened to in order to "get in the mood" I don't know what was! Of course Bill snuck a double-sided country flop on here, and the who kit 'n kaboodle ends with an EP from some French rockers called Les Aigmons who do a pretty good early-sixties instrumental rock even though, at least judging from the song entitled "Expo '64", they were outta date by at least a year. Oh well, better this kinda outta-dateness 'n the kind you get with alla those fart-encrusted rioters you still see who think it's 1968 all over again!

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Do you make new year's resolutions? I've made one and that is to get rid of all unnecessary pieces of paper that are cluttering up the ol' igloo. And naturally most of those unnecessary pieces of paper just happen to be BLACK TO COMM back issues! If you haven't made yer resolution yet howzbout enriching your rockist reading matter with a whole hunkin' supply of these mags---sheesh, it's a whole lot easier'n tryin' t' lose weight as if yez ever followed up on that 'un lo these many years.