BLOG TO COMM

Well. don't expect much here. In fact, don't expect much for the next few weekends or maybe even months because frankly, 2011's turning into one of the more coma-esque years on record and in an eon of rather dud-like spells in high energy sounds that's really sayin' somethin'! It is a situation that I must say has really worn this tired example of a rock 'n' roll blogger down to a frazzle 'n yeah, I do know that I have a good 35+ years of musical backlog in my collection which is helping me through this particular drought but the lack of 1) moolah and 2) hotcha new archival or fresh new items is keeping this man in a deep dark funk these past few months. Well, not exactly in the deeper realms of depression mind you, but sheesh, I sure could use some high-energy resensification to charge my batteries to their fullest extent and if people are willing to keep their vaults locked tighter'n an Italian chastity belt there's just no way that all of those sixties/seventies rarities I so crave will ever make their way into my eternal psyche, and that's a pretty bad forever to look forward to!

Well, at least the guy at IT'S ALL THE STREETS YOU'VE CROSSED NOT SO LONG AGO (see link at left) is helping to keep me amused as he continues in his quest to bring the best of seventies rock club ads to my screen and yours with his latest posts, mainly those featuring the going ons at the En Why rock clubs of 1976. Interesting even if incomplete, but now I do know for sure that such acts as the Dixie Dregs and Fox (fronted by the guy who used to be the original lead in GREASE..golly!) played CB's which really isn't anything earth-shattering, but it sure is nice to have such rock history available at your fingertips just in case you want to know who was booked at the old 82 Club some soggy Saturday in May of '76. But as usual, such revelations seem to dredge up more questions like, is that "Earth Opera" who opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 12/76 thee same Boss Town-era bunch  who released two albums for Elektra in the late-sixties? Can't find any info regarding their re-grouping (or if one of the ex-members copped the moniker for a revitalized group) so let's just say that I'm really stymied over this one!

One gulcheral occurrence of some relevant significance which might or might not interest you has been the appearance of the "original" cut of Kenneth Anger's LUCIFER RISING on youtube, not the 1967 version which was allegedly buried in the desert by Bobby Beausoliel but the 1975 "edition" which uses that Jimmy Page soundtrack that Anger thought was so worthless that he pur a curse on the guy because of it (and you all know what happened to Led Zep after that!). Well, that's how the rumor goes but anyway, I guess that this "collection of rushes and outtakes" going under the title of LUCIFER RISING PART ONE as one Anger booklet described it was made utilizing the Page soundtrack, and according to the liner notes of the SOLO PERFORMANCES bootleg it was publicly shown at least once in Los Angeles back in 1976. Obviously, this one's survived even if on shaky videotape which is a real surprise considering how all of these Anger projects and original films seemed to have been lost over the years making some skeptics doubt if any of 'em were even made in the first place (like, whatever became of SENATORS IN BONDAGE?).

I gotta say that I like this particular take not only for Page's drone-on music (which I find preferable to the legit Beausoliel one which sounds too much like bad Pink Floyd) but for the spectacular shots of Egyptian landscape as well as a few interesting visuals I can't recall seeing in the "official" version. Even a clip of that prehistoric pagan earth carving or whatever it's called of that monster wielding two long, hard clubs (if you know what I mean!) pops up here, and somehow I can now easily see how this was intended as being Anger's answer to INTOLERANCE or maybe even QUE VIVA MEXICO, or something to that artistic vision-y effect which is bound to get all of you film snobs all moist and watery. Worth the 24-minute viewing it will take you to sit through, dismal videotape transfer and all.

Well, enough stalling. Here's what's been gracing my ears as of late. Not much, but I know that you'll devour every morsel of it or else why would you have tuned in inna first place?

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The Raunch Hands-PAYDAY LP (Crypt)

I dunno what got me thinkin' 'bout it, but as of the past twenty or so years I've really been ignoring the long line of recordings that this once-popular En Why See rockaroll group had unleashed o'er the better portion of the mid-to-late eighties. Something which is rather strange, since I can remember back in the mid-eighties just drooling over everything from the Hands' debut spinner as well as these Crypt Records wonders, and for the life of me I wonder why I just shrugged these all off once the nineties and its own waft of miasmaism just overcame us all. Well, the eighties were know for its own brand of wet towel damperisms, but anyway that's no excuse for me just forgetting all about these guys probably because they were "modern" and thus didn't relate to my sainted past cultural experiences involving penny candy and vertical holds going kablooey. As you all know, I do get that way sometimes.

But anyway this one is a killer, not as good as I remember their debut waxing of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" to be, but rather magnifico in itself the way Chandler, Maraconda and company just tear their way into a whole slew of raving post-rockabilly roundups kinda sounding like the Ramones if they didn't believe everything their press agents were tellin' 'em. My own personal fave's the barnstomin' cover of the Sunrays "I Live For The Sun" which is so forthcoming in its attack and approach that I wouldn't be surprised if it coulda made Murry Wilson's glass eyeball pop out on its own! One of those platters that goes to show me that the eighties weren't as squeaky-clean nor as hardcore introspective as I sometimes remember them to be.

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Tina Harvey-"I'm Waiting For The Man"/"Baby Let Me Follow You Down" 45 rpm single (UK, UK)

Here's yet another one of those outta nowhere singles that for the life of me I've never seen mentioned ANYWHERE! Perhaps a quick thumbing through an old NME would shed light on this single which was recorded for the definitely non-prog UK label, but since I don't have any access to the mag's crucial years at hand I'm afraid that finding out anything concrete about this un's outta the question. I do know that Miss Harvey had a number of other releases for UK (including a cover of "Working My Way Back To You") as well as an album, but other'n that I guess I'd have to buy the BUBBLE POP collection of English pop weirdities to get at least a smidgie bit more of knowledge regarding the lass than what already resides in my overly junk-filled mind.

But for what it is, it is, to use that overused word, a wowzer worthy of the PUREPOP blog or perhaps one of those English glam/punk cusp collections that have been opening my eyes to a genre that hasn't quite been explored over these past few eons. Harvey's take on the Velvet Underground classic is better than I would have expected given how some of these covers can pretty much rot on the vine of good intentions, with a pounding instrumental backing that sounds as if the Spiders From Mars or maybe the Stranglers for all I know used the original as a boss template. I'll bet all of those bands who were playing this song throughout Ladbroke Grove sounded like this. Harvey's voice is suitable for this 'un since it ain't Olivia Newton-John drooly yet not Janis Joplin wail. Kinda tough in its own way and straightforward, extremely suitable for this version.

Flipster "Baby"'s the Dylan track and it's sure nice hearing a seventies Dylan cover that doesn't reek whole wheat smirk or seventies SoCal turquoise cocaine karma. Let's just say it's lucky that Peter Asher wasn't around to produce this 'un given its simple approach and Harvey's slight growl are enough to save this from being yet another schlock popster to toss on the heap of El Lay showbiz smarm!

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Nurse With Wound-AUTOMATING VOL. 2 LP (United Dairies, England)

Here's another one I can't play without thinking of ol' Imants Krumins, a guy who was bragging about Nurse With Wound's prowess around the same time most denizens of this thing we call the "underground" were more interested in blabbing about whatever new down the line hype was being pushed on them by the powerbrokers that made up eighties rock fandom. Y'know, the ones who kept them freebie records and tapes comin' in just as long as the magazines kept droolin' and spillin' seed all over 'em. Yeah, I was part of that evil crew lining up for the goodies at well, but at least I was twice as duplicitous about it as the rest of you were, so that's gotta count for something!

But hey, I can always go for a nice noisy romp and this one's about as noisy as anyone can get these days (never mind that this dates back to the eighties...in fact I procured my very own copy at the Record Revolution in Cle Hts. which means that there is the slight chance that my copy might have been fingered by someone important on the local underground scene o' the day!). Imagine the Joe Jones Tone Deaf Music Company letting their self-playing instruments loose while some low IQ man randomly plays various Julie Andrews soundtracks and John Cage records while listening to a man and lady discuss the proper ways one should use their pet's body parts to their fullest extent. Then imagine that the past thirty years of your life were just one big long, disgusting illusion and you'll get an idea of how you will feel once the tone arm lifts off side two. Kinda make me wish I was listening to one of Mr. Krumins' Nurse With Wound radio blocks while sitting on a pointy sno cone.