BLOG TO COMM

Niagara-BEYOND THE PALE 3-CD set (Amphetamine Reptile)

Yes, there are a lot of things in this world of our that I find WAY beyond the pale. Same sex attraction. Same sex "marriage". Children's entertainment with flatulence "humor". Womens suffrage (at least in its current form). And worse of all, supposedly "normal" people who support all of the above in a bizarre case of lackeyism (worse'n the time Leonard Bernstein was cozying up to the Black Panthers!). But one thing I don't find "beyond the pale" is this three-CD set which not surprisingly enough goes by the same name, a limited edition collection on the "Gee-I-didn't-know-they-were-still-around" Amphetamine Reptile label featuring none other than the ever-moaning PUNK magazine pinup gal herself, Niagara! Of course she's fronting her various aggregations from o'er the years Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival, and who in their right mind can argue with three disques fulla that anyway?

Dunno how many overlaps there are between this reputedly limited edition (500 copies) set and the HOT BOX collection that came out three years ago...didn't do a side-by-side comparison so I can't tell you. I've been playing selected disques from both the past few days and it all seems to run together, but either way the material on these platters REMAINS must to gets especially since most of the "high energy" music that has been played in its wake is kinda middling at best.

All of the single sides do reappear so ya got some double dipping there plus the Dark Carnival tracks sound surprisingly similar (as if there was that much of a variation between shows), but I don't care cuz this is all hard Detroit Rock the kind that people who think they like hard rock hate with a passion. As we've known for thirty-plus years, this type of rock & roll is just too raw and feral for people who claim to adhere to the stuff, and that's been the ENTIRE STORY of commercial mainstream rock for the past fortysome years so why should I continue on this soapbox anyway???

I must admit that there's one thing about this set that's beyond the pale, and that's the fact that disque #3 seems to stop and restart with an annoying frequency which does bother me especially when Dark Carnival's getting into this very tasty for once Velvet Underground tribute, performing exemplary versions of "Here She Comes Now", "Venus In Furs" and "Sister Ray" that remind me more of the purity of 1975 Velvets homage than '85, '95 or even this very second! Even after running the thing through my disque cleaner twice some of the residue, and the sticking, remains. But am I gonna complain? NOT ON YOUR NELLIE, for my copy was actually numbered (91/300) and autographed by Niagara herself! I mean, she really touched the very box set that I am now holding in my sweaty palms!!! Oooooh, I don't think I'll ever wash my hands again!!!!!