BLOG TO COMM

Christmas came early this year! I don't mean that one of my dreaded foes of the past or present got run over by a train (or better yet, something catastrophic happened to his/her significant other or spawn which is something I can also get off on!), but man did I get a hotcha enough Christmas present from none other than the infamous P.D. FADENSONNEN!!!!! Yes, the same guy who's been sending me all of these fantastic under-the-psychosis recordings that merge Can-like interstellar travelogues with WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT fidelity! Not only did Mr. Fadensonnen's package bring back fond memories of Christmas gifts past like the kind I got during my turdler years and directly after (the Corgi Toy Christmas of 1968 still dazzling me with those jeweled headlights), but for once I got a Christmas gift which for all intent purposes was actually useful in a non-socks or underwear way and will remember for a good twenty or so years after this fateful event!!!

What Fadensonnen did was...get this...send me some Cee-Dee-Are burns which I must say contain musics that fit in with the BLOG TO COMM mindset with not a spec of cereal filler inna batch either! Really, these platters that the man felt so kind to send my way consist of music that I actually can soak-in appreciate, as opposed to just settle back and listen to and pretend to like and all which is what seems to be the situation when it comes to a whole lotta pre-recorded soundage these days. Stuff that I would burn off the computer myself if the thing wasn't sicker'n Camille and coughing up electronic phlegm to add, or perhaps even bid on for exorbitant prices when something excrucuiatingly rare does transpire on ebay. In other words, music that has made up the DNA of my blueprint and backbone of my psyche for nigh on XXX years, and if I thought I'd ever live to see the day when material this hot and juicy was made available to mere lumpen proles like myself I woulda thought it woulda been the day after I expire considering the way fate works with me!

Got the opportunity to spin two of these to date, and naturally I first went for the more  eye-gouging in the stack considering that if I held off on 'em something drastic would naturally happen to me in the interim and poof goes my chance! The first of these disques consists of a Deviants/Pink Fairies-related sampler that was taken off of youtube (which is why I decided to download the music source for yourself below just so's you can make your own Cee-Dee or Dee-Vee-Dee for your own personal entertainment purposes) that still amazes me even though I've been around the septic tank more'n you! After a good umpteen years things like these just aren't supposed to dazzle here in the jaded teens but really, discovering the mere existence of these clips really is along the lines of archaeologists finding King Rooten-Tooten's turd cutter. I never thought material this long-suppressed would make its way to our eyes and ears in a millyun years, and considering the rarity of these items its obvious that these are mandatory listening for anybody who has claimed an allegiance to the whole Deviants/Pink Fairies/Twink/Larry Wallis axis ever since first setting sight on an import bin way back in the seventies.

The first Deviants-related offering is a outta-nowhere who woulda thunk it surprise, a film (with soundtrack!) of the group live in Hyde Park way back '69 way. After years of being told that no sixties-era Deviants material outside of the first three albums existed 'tis a gas noy only to listen to, but to see the group in action not only romping through a rather proto-Dr. Feelgood-ish pub rock r&b number (whose title escapes me...any help from the penis gallery?) but the standard set closer, the group's own version of "Sister Ray" which at this time has pretty much morphed into "Uncle Harry's Last Freak Out" (with only a "time time" from the original remaining!). In a word (or eleven), essential to the point where I can't even stand it anymore!

Following this piece of downright epiphany comes a more familiar yet still essential clip of the Pink Fairies leading that fife and drum corp at the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre festival, this bit not appearing on the three-album set but still a good enough in capturing the essence and spirit of hippie punkdom at a time when I don't think anybody outside of Greg Shaw knew it existed.



And as far as the Fairies got howz'bout this bit taken from a French television program back '73 way? Somebody break out the Berlitz French/English dictionary and be quick about it!



If that wasn't boffo enough, hold onto your 'nads, for the following French tee-vee clip features none other than UFO back when future Pink Fairy Larry Wallis was their guitar slinger! As you will discover, the group seems about half-way between their original garage-punky sound back when Mick Bolton was handling the guitar doodies and the straight-ahead metallic stylings of their Michael Schenker days and if you want my 'umble opin'yin I must say that Wallis does more'n an admirable job keeping this from being some seventies rock wank we all could do without! Its too bad they hadda split so acrimoniously given the friction between Wallis and longtime lead singer Phil Mogg because if Wallis stayed with the group like, maybe they coulda been underground gryphons!



Closing out the disque was this bit of Larry Wallis live on the infamous Stiffs Live tour which begat the album that everybody bought because Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Nick Lowe were posing on it with those nobodies Wreckless Eric and Wallis. Or something like that, but anyway here's a clip of Wallis doing the song that probably earns him more in royalties yearly than a plumber makes in a week, "Police Car"...

Also spun was a Sonny Sharrock platter that fortunately gathers the rarities in one neat place this saving me plenty of precious space as well as the opportunity to lose ten different Cee Dee's, tapes, records and whatnot all over the house once they get scattered. It certainly was a joy finally getting to hear THE GREEN LINE especially considering how I more or less gave up on this '70 album which would either be out of stock or going for extremely high bids via ebay. Gotta admit that it's not as outre or stunning as either MONKEY-POCKIE-BOO or BLACK WOMAN but it still holds up, with Sharrock and his bandmates (Miroslav Vitous, Steve Marcus and Daniel Humair) going through funk to midweight jazz to avant garde back and forth up and down and in all making a better album than I even was expecting. Even more ear-opening's the FM radio broadcast from WKCR-FM in En Why See I believe featuring some studio recordings from Sonny and eventually ex-wife Linda's mid-seventies outfit which went by the name Savages. More or less an early version of the group that would record PARADISE for Atco the following year, these tracks sound like rehearsals for that album, though without the presence of a keyboardist adding Mellotron wash all over the place these definitely are an improvement. Closing the platter's the rare SPACE GHOST EP which features some mighty near-metallic playing on Sharrock's part that I only wish I knew about at the time just sos' I coulda been cheerleading for it like I was all of those other Sharrock rarities that were being discovered left and right. Too bad the guy croaked the way he did right when it looked as if his talents would have begun to pay off in the moolah department, but at least he existed long enough to make this particularly powerful (and even commercial!) statement!

More Fadensonnen offerings (including a sneak peak at a future release!) are in the forecast for future funtime jollies but they'll have to wait until next week. And for all intent purposes the week after as well. I mean, I don't wanna shoot my entire Christmas wad all at once now and risk the chance of overdose now, do I?

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Also spun during the warm 'n toasty evening hours was a relative recent recording, in fact one that was laid down at the infamous Knitting Factory (gotta say that Rudolph Grey's not the only one who hates that name!) just the past November (the 15th to be exact!) The name of the act was Lydia Lunch Retrovirus and the set this act laid down was one that I gotta say even startled a usually jaded ol' stroon such as myself! This new act features, besides the infamous nightengale herself Lydia Lunch, Weasel Walter on guitar 'stead of the usual drums, Algis Kizys (a name that does pop up once in awhile) on bass guitar and former whole buncha groups Bob Bert on drums and I gotta say that they sure do the whole very early-eighties Lunchian schtick with total grace and even some sparks of brilliance. The material to be found here is not only entertaining (as in a night on the town with a tux even!) but even inspired...I mean, whoever thought of ending the set with Alice Cooper's "Black Juju" was using all eight cylinders considering how such a track was more or less custom made for the likes of Lunch's vocal cords. The only really startling thing about this 'un is the way the lady sounds these days, all bleated out for her voice is deeper and starting to get a bit gravelly beyond her once teenage years. By the way she sings Lydia reminds more of that old bag in the school cafeteria dishing out the fried baloney sandwiches than the enfant terrible abomination of yore 'n yeah, I know we can't all be pimplefarm suburban slob kids anymore but hearing this really made me feel older than a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in a dentist's waiting room. At least no pictures came with this, because after hearing her sing I'd hate to see what she looks like nowadays!

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Over the years, I've discovered that it's just as exhilarating an experience reading about H. L. Mencken as it is reading Mencken. Maybe even more so, for most of the articles out there regarding the Bard of Baltimore are filled with hefty choice quotes the man spewed forth during his rather stellar and controversial career, and although you will have to put up with whoever wrote the piece's various dissections, interpretations and biased opinions regarding what you just read with your own eyes at least you're getting a choice hunk of the man's actual writings that you can let soak into you like an olive oil sunscreen. All this is just an introduction to an article I came across (on the always boffo TAKI'S MAGAZINE site) that gets into the meaning and motion of Mencken, and frankly I gotta say that the views and opines expressed really nail what the guy was all about flat straight on the head (though I must admit that I wasn't aware of his eugenicist leanings, which I must say I find even uglier than all of the other "disturbing" opines that still tend to get tenderfoot political theorists all in a tither). Be forewarned, the piece was written by Jared Taylor of AMERICAN RENAISSANCE notoriety which might turn more than a few of you socially aware types off faster'n IT'S WHAT'S HAPPENIN', BABY, but I believe it's a much better piece'n what somebody at THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF REVIEWS might have come up with racist shudders and ethnic cringes included so don't bark until you've read the bite!

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While I'm on a hot buttered roll, here's yet another good 'un, this time from Taki regular Guy Somerset who pretty much sums up my own opinions regarding "women" and I don't mean ladies. Given the amt. of hefty horse doody that these "females" have been slinging our way these past few decades all I gotta say is well, it's sure grand reading something sensible and irrefutable with regards to "gender equality" and other brainy college constructs these sad 'n sorry days. In other words SEGREGATION (between human beings and "women") is the rule for the day, and the sooner we pack all of them whiny libber types into Camp Runamuk the better we don't have to put up with all of that hideous twisting of reality where boys are raised as girls and generation after generation of Judy Hennslers have been nurturned and encouraged for a longer time than I can imagine!

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Other'n the Fadensonnen sampler and a few other tidbits that'll hafta wait for a bigger, "theme-oriented" post, here's what's been spinnin' on the ol' boom box these past seven or so dayze. A few newies and a couple long-forgottens amongst the mix, and if I tell you that a good time was had by all I'd be a bigger liar than the guy who told me he had seen the future of rock 'n roll and it was Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam!

BARR SHEA DAHL CD (ugEXPLODE)

I didn't know what I was gonna be in for after taking a look of the weirdo hippie onna cover, but if I were you I wouldn't let that get in the way of actually enjoying this disque. Anyway the pic here's a composite of features from all three members of this group (who, surprisingly enough), go by the names Barr, Shea and Dahl and who on their lonesome probably do not look as frightening as the chap seen to your left. The music, on the other hand, will frighten the weaker of heart among us with its downright full-on guitar attack and pounding percussion and thudding bass guitar that makes a racket that's not surprisingly equal parts rock 'n roll (of the outer reaches variety) but avant garde jazz at its extreme glory. If the words DAILY DANCE do not pop into your mind almost immediately please enroll in the rock refresher course of your choice post-haste, or even sooner if you can manage that.

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Cabaret Voltaire-LIVE YMCA 27.10.79 CD (Mute England)

I dunno if I could really call YMCA an old favorite, but it sure brings back pleasant enough memories for me. Well, it at least brings back oft-forgotten mental images not only of me prowling the import bin at RECORD REVOLUTION in Cle Hts. during my Christmas break which is where I might have picked this 'un up to begin with (but I doubt it), but it sure conjures up old feelings regarding just how the whole Rough Trade thing was something that made for a hefty and perhaps even healthy obsession around the time 1979 was clocking into 1980. Whether I first heard this 'un in 1980 or 1987 (when I think I finally did buy it) is irrelevant at this point for...after a good two or so decades of on/off interest I can proudly say that perhaps the idea and concept behind Cabaret Voltaire has finally hit me hard right between the psyche like it shoulda oh so long ago.

In other words, I certainly can NOT relate to Cabaret Voltaire as a proto-dance rock-y neo-disco electronic outfit that signified the decline of a once-interesting music movement over in Blighty, but as a buncha oldsters who were in on the glorious Velvets/Can axis of sound distillation into electronic pulse and doin' it long before I discovered this particular breed of poison yeah, it WORKS! Wonderful cassette-recorded pulse that's born and bred just as much of Neu! and Kraftwerk as it is Lou and Ig, complete with harrowing covers of "Here She Comes Now" and the Seeds' "No Escape" for added NUGGETS measure! A downright winner that makes me feel as if I'm on an eternal Christmas break with nothing to do but scarf up little hunks of foil-wrapped gouda!

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Tom Waits-TALES FROM THE UNDERGROUND CD-R (originally on PMS)

Don't think this 'un's legitimate by any stretch of the imaj, but considering that I got it free with an order of equally illicit goodies a few years back and stashed it away it ain't like I'm callin' the Better Business Bureau. Tom Waits recorded in the studio and who-knows-where, doing everything from the standard titties and beer nighthawk routine to Johnny Cash impersonations and other sundries. Actually made for good Sunday afternoon listening while I plowed through a box of old rock magazines. If you're one who was in on the hipster pose back when Steve Allen and Jean Shepard were broadcastin' it and Harvey Kurtzman was publishin' it and came to age around the time Frank Zappa was honing the fifties dabblings into har-har-har-dee-har-hardcore sixties realism, you'll probably go for a spin or two of this in between Soupy Sales videos.

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William Parker-CENTERING 6-CD set burn (No Business)

Just in time to qualify for best jazz release of the year comes this brand-spanking-fresh-new set courtesy none other than Paul McGarry! And it was lifted from a box set (released this year) of rare sessions and live appearances by none other than jazz bassist William Parker! Now Parker never did get the fame or notoriety that fellow avant bassists from Henry Grimes and Alan Silva on down have and frankly I don't know if this collection of '76-'87-era recordings is gonna rectify any situations. But whatever the case may be this sure is a hotcha sampling of the man's work throughout the seventies and eighties when loft jazz was briefly in bloom and it seemed as if the even newer jazz was going to attain an audience beyond the same few free jazz nuts who kept the New Music Distribution Service afloat at least before that became too monstrous a thing for anybody to do!

Now I wouldn't say there was anything here that really strikes me as being transcendental the way you felt when things like INTERSTELLAR SPACE and FREE JAZZ first penetrated your bean, but these six slabs are still an amazing MONUMENT for a guy who I don't think even a rag such as THE WIRE had the opportunity to dissect like some smelly old frog. From solos with saxist/trumpeter Daniel Carter (how I'd once again love to experience his group Storm who did a beyond-energy one-off show at the old CBGB Lounge way back in the middle portion of the previous decade!) to various ensemble performances, these platters really capture the place and space where the free music scene was stationed between the brief flurry of mid-seventies major label interest and modern-day apathy, and they do a pretty good spanking job rep\resenting a good hunk of Parker's leadership talents too.

The performances aren't quite all-out AACM clang or BAG funk-rock, but slow, moving, intertwining and sheesh, almost chamber music! With top-notch new jazz performers from Rashied Bakr (original Blue Humans drummer) and Charles Gayle to Billy Bang and Denis Charles (he's the one who added that strange percussive pulse to Sandy Bull's DEMOLITION DERBY album), CENTERING is an unexpected surprise that serves to remind us all that the avant garde vanguard never did die out even if for all intent purposes the jazz establishment (which as always feigned faint praise and delivered no vital support for the free scene) seems to wish it was.

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TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI CD (Love Records, Finland)

Well, I did mention that I might pick this 'un up due to Lester Bangs' recommendations way back in a '69 ROLLING STONE and I can't say that I'm totally sorry I plunked down my hard-begged for it either. At least I now know what this long-heralded Finnish jazz-rock group sounds like, and while they're not exactly the Blood Sweat and Tears clones some made 'em out to be (though vocalist Frank Robson does sound too much like David Clayton Thomas for comfort) they're certainly not the inspired continental style of rock group blasting forth the same style of nova music that Savage Rose and Can were making just around the same nanosecond. Better moments capture some sort of post-Soft Machine/Canterbury elegance but that usually gets washed away by a rather commercial prog/jazz bent that probably wouldn't do a thing (positive) for you unless you're one of those new fluff jazz aficionados and want to try out something a little more toe tapping. The strange thing about it is, considering how 95% of all Finns are inbred these guys could be related to Miriam Linna and that's a frightening thought, especially for Miriam!

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Yeah, I know this post has the look, feel and rhythm of a hastily pecked out, tossed together post and all, I make no bones about it, because right not (at this stage in my existence) I feel like a hastily pecked out, tossed together human being about three steps away from the scrap heap! Even so, I hope to be back in the saddle for the usual mid-week post and of course a bigger one this weekend unless the worst happens which, given my recent track record, probably will.