TURNTABLE TRIVIALITIES II
Just a few actual long-playing offerings I dragged out of the collection this AM.
Ike and Tina Turner-THE HUNTER LP (Harvest England)-There will be no Harvest article for the next issue no matter how much the anonymous "John" who left a post looking forward to my once-proposed piece stamps his feet, so I'm just gonna dole out these reviews as time goes on and forego the massive roundup I was more or less planning. This is one of those Amerigan Blue Thumb offerings that Harvest released over there in order to variate from the progressive norm a little, and although the cover shot of Ike and Tina amidst a bunch of dummies looks rather Hipgnosis-esque that is where the similarity between this disc and a label that banked its fortunes on British art-swank ends. Done long before Tina went electroshock hairdo and became Celebrity Battered Wife Poster Child #1, THE HUNTER is mostly a buncha straight-blues that I never got into considering how the blues format has been choogalated all these years. However, "Sweet Soul Sister" does have the manic pounce to it.
DISCO TEX AND HIS SEX-O-LETTES LP (Chelsea)-Bought this one after Peter Crowley regaled me with the story about the time he booked famed disco queer Monti Rock III and "his" entourage at Max's Kansas City and lost a bundle of money even though the place was packed because the only ones who wanted to see 'em were members of the local rock underground, and they didn't have to pay to get in. Surprisingly enough, amongst the hipper-than-you'll-ever-be types front and center for Rock's appearance were member of not only Blondie (whom I'd expect to be there) but the Heartbreakers!!! Can you believe that??? I mean, I could see David Johansen there considering how he was camp all along (as Buster Pointdexter ultimately proved), but Johnny Thunders??? Weird thing about this record is, it's just a buncha art deco party chicness and disco-fied thirties themes (complete with a Mae West impression...is it time for a MYRA BRECKENRIDGE revival yet???) with Rock ranting in and out of the mess. Hilarious, and entertaining only because disco is daid as a doornail and this stuff ain't a threat to ANYONE anymore!!!
LISA BURNS LP (MCA)-New York third-stringer Burns' (see BLACK TO COMM #25 for a review of her Velveteen mini-LP) album from '78 captures the best of the mid-sixties (Byrdsy guitar jangle) as well as a wee bit of hint of what the eighties gnu wave drek Madonna et. al. would capitalize on long before that rot happened, so I guess it wasn't that bad at the time. Interesting selection of cover material (Boxtops, Jackie DeShannon, Michel Pagliaro) mixed with new stuff written by Moon Martin (!) as well as some originals which Burns co-wrote with Helen Wheels (!!!) and producer Craig Leon. Fans of Stiff Records should go for it.
Benitez and Nebula-NIGHT LIGHTS LP (Vaya)-Fourteen-year-old geniuses usually make one big flash then wander off into obscurity, which is what happened with this rather advanced Puerto Rican talented kinda guy. Benitez made a few waves in the mid-seventies leading his own band (which made appearances at Madison Square Garden and CBGB in the same year, though don't believe the hype that Benitez and Nebula were the first PR band to play that club...that honor goes to a band called SPX from a few years earlier) and releasing this album, which although heavily influenced by Hispanic rockers the likes of Carlos Santana still has a bit of rockism energy to appeal to the CBGB audience. It's no "El Watusi," and it's nothing I will spin even on a twice-decade basis, but it's better than I thought it would be.
If you came here looking for rock criticism you might as well be orbiting Jupiter.
Chris your an Ass, Why do you have to put people down. What have you done in Life? Any CDs?. Anything at all except sit there and write of the things that you could never achieve. Show me what you have done in life to even make a name.
ReplyDeleteDear Anon.-I haven't written reams of articles/reviews nor have I conducted interviews with some of my fave acts out there to "make a name." It's my hobby pure and simple and frankly, I've "achieved" more in 25 issues of a homespun fanzine and various other "contributions" to other publications than most of your heroes have done with their pitzy mewlings pressed onto instantly forgettable CDs. Anyone who would dare waste my time with a sub-sputum recording DESERVES to be the object of my ridicule which is why I "put people (or at least washed-up alternative rock musings amongst other things) down" as you say. Yes, what have I done in life other than go to school, work and try to make things better for myself and others! Oh, what a dreadful existence!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, next time how about writing something else pseudo-pithy and posting it a little closer to the present date so more people can see you for the 'hole you certainly are! BLOG TO COMM can sure use more examples of what the "enemy" out there is really like!
Out now : NELSON SLATER and his Bored Teen War Team - Outsider Pop from Tin-Can Alley at myspace.com/nelsonslaterandhisboredteenwarteam .
ReplyDeleteYou could see the washed up Eddie Benitez now and his new CD at www.myspace.com/eddiebenitez
ReplyDeleteGreat CD and its moving. Maybe you should start writing about washed up writers who cannot get a job writing only in bloggs. Approve this and show your a man.
otherwise you are really washed up.
Ruben
I approve this and show your a man cannot get opinions published only on bloggs.
ReplyDeleteRead your slighting of Eddie Benitez with amazement. Where do you get your information?
ReplyDeleteYour wrote: "don't believe the hype that Benitez and Nebula were the first PR band to play that club...that honor goes to a band called SPX from a few years earlier) and releasing this album, which although heavily influenced by Hispanic rockers the likes of Carlos Santana still has a bit of rockism energy to appeal to the CBGB audience."
I believe the "hype" — inlcuded in the official history of CBGB's, lists Eddie Benitez as the first LATIN (not Puerto Rican) artist to play CBGB's when the club was in its heyday as a PUNK club. A punk club that didn't normally have an audience for Latin music, but Eddie's was such great crossover it worked.
SPX, from a few years earlier, is not RELEVANT to the punk era of CBGB's.
What an assumption too, that Eddie is "influenced" by Carlos Santana. They both play in minor keys, if that's what you mean. But Eddie was on Fania Records and Carlos was doing Woodstock stuff and they were in different genres entirely. According to Eddie's biography (a book now out), his influences were the likes of John McLaughlin and Alvin Lee, along with Latin jazz greats.
Maybe Carlos was influenced by a young kid on Fania?
I see here you say this is a hobby for you. That's obvious. An amateur. A real reviewer would know what they were talking about.
Brother you're WRONG....SPX played CBGB in '74, and Antenna in '75. Both were LATIN and both predated Nebula's performance. Do some research.
ReplyDeleteBenitez's own web page mentions that Santana was an influence on his playing. See comment closing paragraph one.
SPX not "relevant" to the punk era. I wouldn't consider Nebula punk rock by any stretch of the imagination, but the way terms are bent and changed around these days maybe they were.
Yeah, this is a hobby and for all purpose and intent I am an amateur. Better than being an asshole like you most truly are!
"Anon" is obviously Eddie Benitez himself commenting.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, no way was Eddie a 14 year old when he played Madison Square Garden or CBGB's. THAT is pure b.s. hype. Look at the photos for God's sake. Does that look like a pubescent kid? Eddie lies about his age and has created a myth that is nothing but lies. He was 20 years old, not 14. Not as entertaining a story, so he lies. Eddie never performs. Most musicians feel the need to perform, the passion. He has no passion. Instead, he lives off lies and swindles money from the naive women and fellow musicians he creates fantasies with. He also has a criminal record of theft. Nice guy.
Don't believe ANY of the hype about Benitez. Eddie was 20 years old, not 14. Not as a good a story, huh? Starting with that, the lies just flow and flow. He does not perform, does not do anything but swindle money from others with lies, and pose as something he is not. Beware, beware, beware of Eddie Benitez. (Not even his real name.) Try Eddie Sosa. Failed human being.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe ANY of the hype about Benitez. Eddie was 20 years old, not 14. Not as a good a story, huh? Starting with that, the lies just flow and flow. He does not perform, does not do anything but swindle money from others with lies, and pose as something he is not. Beware, beware, beware of Eddie Benitez. (Not even his real name.) Try Eddie Sosa. Faile
ReplyDelete