The Afrika Korps-MUSIC TO KILL BY CD (Gulcher)Another oldie but moldie, this exhumation spurred on by the recent O. Rex release which I gotta say has brightened my evening hours a whole lot more than Erma Bombeck. And although I wouldn't actually consider the Korps a supergroup by any stretch of the imagination this combination of the best of the Slickee Boys, Gizmos and O. Rex into one mighty surge of power might have been the best example of a talent pull to end all talent pulls seen since the Fugs and the pre-Velvets Falling Spikes performed as the Transcendental Simulematic Orchestra, and that was back in 1965!
Hokay, you might have a problem indulging in an album which was championed by none other than Julie Burchill (God's gift to...what kind of a God would give a gift like that???), but ignore her blather and get into this magnif platter that seemed to get buried under the weight of way too many self-produced offal back in the wonder year of '77 but that don't mean it's TOO LATE to enjoy with gusto now that we all know better. MUSIC TO KILL BY contains some of the better Amerigan punk rock of the day with its hot mix of six-oh accomplishment re-made/re-modeled for a late-seventies clientele, and it's a platter that really satisfies not only those who still dip tootsies in the font of punk rock gnarliness but those like myself who maybe ain't as keen on punk as pUnk as punque as they once were!
Solid playing as you'd expect, with a nice mix of Slickee Boys-styled hard rock of a 1966 nature, O. Rex heavy metal thud and Gizmos scatological excess. All done right. nice and rolled up into a package that typifies the better portions of late-seventies Amerigan DIY-ness before that all fell into a pit of bad Velvet Underground imitation. Nothing that will make the rock-as-art people stand up and cheer nor will the progressive technocrats throw away their half-speed mastered Journey albums, but the deadpan speak-singing of Solomon Gruberger will have you tapping your footsies to the beat while Martha Hull steals your heart with her swinging rendition of "Heart Full of Soul" amongst other fundries. And like with the Deviants there's no "real" star here (well, you could choose between Gruberger, Kenne Highland and Hull if you so desire) and in fact if you count all of the musicians present they total like seventeen making for the biggest mix and match within one group that I've seen since the Human Arts Ensemble to be obscure about it!
Those of you who dished out $$$ for the original will be flabbergasted by the addition of a whole batch of outtakes plus some low-fi live tracks that capture that two AM inna club feeling when amidst the smoke and stale atmosphere you hafta hold it in because you don't wanna take a leak in the men's room next to some guy with a boa and I don't mean that thing around his neck! Excitement personified as they used to say, and probably going for a pittance on ebay as we speak so like what's keeping ya?
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