BLOG TO COMM

JUST A FEW BEFORE THE ONSLAUGHT

Onslaught of what I do not know, but I thought this title would be a good enough come-on to get you to read my weekend writeup.

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Sharaton-"Blacky"/"Walking Down The Road" 45 rpm (Pink Elephant, Holland)

A great outta nowhere soo-prize from these Dutch proto-punkers, even better than "Caught in the Act" which ended up on that makeshift glam/punk sampler I burned for myself last spring. Now that one was a pretty good raver, but "Blacky" has that one beat all hollow with its driving riff sounds and general attitude that comes off kinda like '69-period Velvets mixed with a good number of early-seventies hard rock standpoints from T. Rex to Badfinger to the point where I'm surprised not too many more people have discovered its existence. Is it on that new nederbeat sampler that came out last year? I wouldn't be surprised if it was. So sleek, so satisfying that I'm astonished that Purepop hasn't posted this one by now.

Flipside's an instrumental pop number for the afternoon housewife crowd of the day complete with a clavioline solo. It kinda sounds like a Joe Meek track without Joe Meek, and as usual is better off left on the non-plug side where many of these glam/punk cusp offerings deserve to be.

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TV Personalities-MUMMY YOUR NOT WATCHING ME CD (Fire Records)

Like many of these TV Personalities records I seemed to have a hard time sitting through this one (made three attempts and succeeded only on the last). I guess that my tastes in various early-eighties Rough Trade-inspired pop/punk acts has changed over the years because I remember really enjoying this group's early singles during the not-so-bleak days of the very-early eighties! Y'know, them days way back when the Personalities were riding the tide of a "new thing" in British Underground punkitude. Still, I like the seaminess of this, the put on popism and general tinkertoy clavioline melody lines that sure translate into these 'teens more than I think Essential Logic or even Girls At Our Best ever could.

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John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danica-AFRODISIACA CD-R burn (BASF/MPS)

The last of the McGarry burns (actually, I had the rest of the ones he sent already!), this has notorious African/Danish saxophonist John Tchicai doing the atonal do with a presumably makeshift Danish orchestra creating between-the-sounds that still send a tingle to my toodles even this long after they shoulda stopped! Here's a listing of the personnel on this MPS rarity that I swiped from some website:

Personnel: Ole Kahl (ts ss), Georgio Musoni (balafon perc #1), Simon Koppel (tymp #1), Ole Mathissen (org perc), Pierre Dßerge (eg), Niels Harrit (ts fl perc #1), Steffen Andersen (ab #1), Mogens Bollerup (ts perc), Ole Thilo (org perc), Mauritz Tchicai (trom sous waterpipe), Willem Breuker (ts bcl), Bent Hesselmann (fl #1), Michael Schou (as fl), Christian Kyhl (as ss perc), Sune Wiemar (as), Joergen Thorup (cl), Kim Menzer (trom fl #1), Max BrÃel (bs #1), Theo Rahbeck (tr), Hugh Steinmetz (tr #1), John Tchicai (as ss), Jon Finsen (drm glock), Claus Boeje (drm), Anthony Barnett (perc), J.C. Moses (perc #1), Willy Jagert (ophicleide)

If you can make any sense outta this then you know your Dansk and I don't! (Tho I wonder if the "Simon Koppel" listed on tympani is any relation to the Koppels of Savage Rose fame? It wouldn't be any big surprise if they were!) Some of this sounds like the wildest BYG session never released (esp. when Tchicai gets into his post-Coltrane interstellar mode) while other parts sound suspiciously like Olde European drinking music being played right before Der Fuherer decides to make a surprise inspection. Moody and not always on the free jazz swing (hefty classical refs abound), this has a strong European bent to it and while it ain't as clean as say, an ECM release I know a few of your pantywaists will wanna kick up a storm complainin' about the almost chamber-esque nature of this particular platter. Not me, bub! A surprise from one of the few sixties survivors who you know ain't gonna be getting any kudos for their lifetime of hard work which I gotta say burns me up worse than an Anastasia Pantsios yeast infection!