BLOG TO COMM

Hi. Spending the remaining part of this weekend recovering from a top secret summit meeting that was held at a cloistered location in the wilds of the Youngstown Ohio area. The details of which are not to be made public, but I do get the sneakin' suspicion they will be...eventually...against the participants' better judgement. Let's just say that a fun time was had by all, and that the young ladies were all safe in their homes and ready for church early Sunday morning.

Before we get into the review portion of this program I think it would be wise to alert you to some recent reissues that are bound to make your head move and feet spin. And although I am 100% positive that each and every one of you tried and true BLOG TO COMM readers have these platters in your expansive collections, if by some small freaky chance you don't now's your chance to make up for past indiscretions. If you do well, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra copy or three on hand in the abode now, would it???

First on today's reissue rampage is the first legitimate Cee-Dee release of none other'n Hackamore Brick's classic 1971 rocker ONE KISS LEADS TO ANOTHER on the Real Gone Music label. Yes, after depending on scratchy vinyl copies and a not-so-legal disque that sure fooled me, this famous in retrospect album has finally seen a proper reissue meaning we can all sleep well at night knowing that maybe the band members might be getting some moolah for their hard work! Nice sound, nice booklet, nice liner notes, nice pix that weren't even in the UGLY THINGS article a few years back, and not only that but there are three bonus tracks included! They are, for those of you so inclined to take notes, the "Searchin'"/"Radio" single plus a version of "Oh Those Sweet Bananas" which has a different mix or something similar that'll make even the poorest of fans wanna hock even more plasma just so's they could latch onto this (once) obscure object of desire. Somewhere in this universe Imants Krumins is smiling.

As I'm sure he is over the (once again legal) reish of High Speed and the Afflicted Man's GET STONED EZY album on the Spanish Guerrson label. Again, a superb reissue which not only has a spiffy look customary to all of the Guerrson releases I've seen, but liner notes that for once break through the legend and at least attempt to disseminate some hard cold FACTS. What else could you want in these stridently anti-rock (not "anti-rock" in the Fugs/Electric Eels vein) days? Also be on the lookout for the Afflicted One's  I'M OFF ME 'EAD to be making its way to your faverave mail order site or specialty shop in the very near future.

Here's the booty for this week. Actually bought a couple of newies to blab about while (as usual) I've had to rely on the bounty of Bill Shute (and maybe Paul McGarry if I can only find the disques he sent!) to help pad this pathetic post out some. Once again thank you guys, because if anything you're helping me to save for my ever-encroaching old age

Dirty Angels-KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE LP (Private Stock); DIRTY ANGELS (A&M)

I'm still on the lookout for those rare under-the-radar rock albums that, although straightforward and rocking they may be, got buried under the weight of many other rock albums during the same nanosecond these treasures hit the local record chain shop of your choice. Heck, I figure that if I struck gold with the oft-mentioned Hackamore Brick and Sidewinders there's gotta be even more gold in the mid-Amerigan teenage deca-snot rock vein to be mined. And although I do find a few good efforts out there most of 'em just can't measure up to what I had been expecting. Too many Movies to contend with, and to tell the truth I wouldn't mind a few more David Patrick Kelly's in the mix. 

Dirty Angels sounded like a good enough act to try what with the bits of raves I had heard about 'em throughout the years not to mention Russell Desmond's article-length rave regarding a live show at the Rat in Boston that was printed in the fourth issue of his CAN'T BUY A THRILL. However I really thought their two albums were lacking in that teenage pop-punch "oomph" that I really dig in my AM radio music, the kind that might have had its moment in the early-seventies sun and managed to linger on at least until 1978. Although they did give it a good college try Dirty Angels just didn't put through, at least as far as my tightass tastes regarding teeny metal consciousness might dictate.

Actually the first album's the worse of the two...after all, the second at least tries to approach some sorta seventies Badfinger meets Big Star attempt to resurrect the spirit of the sixties for seventies consumption, The self-titled debut wallows in the twiblight zone (copyright 1965 ODD magazine) twixt early-seventies AM righteousness and Boston/classic rock schmaltz packaged as the hip new thing just like STAR WARS not to mention those clunky shoes we all usedta wear, and as you can guess that isn't exactly something that I've anticipated listening to after a hard day at the salt mines trying to ingest some seventies rock credo into my system.

I guess back then many hardcore rockers were so starved to hear something that sorta reminded them of the brighter portions of sixties epiphany updated for more jaded times and were willing to take anything that was being tossed their way. If it looked rockin'* enough that is, and many times we had to judge records by their jackets because there was little else to go on. In that way I can see why the fanzine-bound Meltzer wannabes of the late-seventies woulda praised Dirty Angels, but nowadays I just can't see fitting 'em in with the early-seventies Hollies, Blue Ash or a wide variety of acts also heavy on the power pop revival train.

Not writing 'em off en-toto as of yet, since repeated listenings (and there will be many) might change my opines rather rapidly. And I wouldn't mind listening to anything coming outta their recent reunion, if anything should make it outta the studio which is a fair enough possibility.

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The Action-ACTION PACKED CD-R (originally on Edsel Records)

Neat-o collection of single sides by this legendary even if they never really went anywhere "freakbeat" band. Nothing here that I would call over-the-top...after all the Action never were as guttural as the Who, Creation or John's Children let alone as produced or as honed as the Amerigan soul acts they admired...but still pleasant enough in that pale white r&b style which in many ways became a fashion in itself. Covers and originals mix well and even you will be surprised when you hear the band evolve into a pretty snat psychedelic act by the time "Shadows and Reflections" rolls around '67 way.

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The Elastic Band-EXTENSIONS ON LIFE CD-R (originally on Pseudonym Records)

Not so hot late-sixties English (well, Welsh)  psychedelia transmutating into progressive rock complete with more than a share of Ian Anderson-styled flute than your body can stand. Gruff Gary Brooker-styled vocals only date the thing and not exactly in a spry 1969 Stooges way either. And that jazz rock that flows freely comes off more in the Blood Sweat and Tears than Tony Williams Lifetime vein which didn't exactly make for a peaceful hour if you ask me! For serious students of British rock development only...the rest of us can do something way more constructive with our time like watch 'em unload the melons at the supermarket or count the nipples in an old issue of TAB DIGEST.

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Various Artists-SECRETS OF MY SHATTERED HOT SAUCE CD-R (compiled by Bill Shute)

This week's Shute spin's a gas with a grandiose selection of various webfinds that somehow fit in "special" with the sunny Sunday afternoon I was spinnin' em while lazin' about pretending I was ten years old again (not that I ever left my entry into the double digits on a "spiritual" basis!). This one ranges from orchestral slush (the George Martin Orchestra's rendition of "I Saw Her Standing There") to olde tyme country cornballisms (Chuck Murphy's "Who Drank My Beer") with a few oddball surprises like a non-hit Sandy Posey side, Tommy Roe singing Chuck Berry and a cover of the theme from 77 SUNSET STRIP. Nice feel to it all and not only that but there's a big surprise in store for all, mainly a number by none other'n Dora Hall...yes, the same Dora Hall who used to star in all of those Solo Cup-sponsored specials that cluttered up the summer rerun schedules of many a tee-vee station back in the mid-seventies!

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Wilbur Harden/John Coltrane-THE COMPLETE SAVOY SESSIONS two-set CD-R burn (originally on Savoy)

I think it's fuh-KNEE that Bill Shute actually sent me a burn of this 'un because I remember asking him about the DIAL AFRICA album containing tracks from this set way back inna eighties and Bill told me to shy away from that one the same way I shy away from guys in saunas with swelling towels wrapped around their waists. I guess Bill thought I would have been bored silly by the lack of abstract expressionist flash in these late-fifties sides or somethin', but frankly I gotta admit I enjoyed this sesh Coltrane (as a sideman) did with trumpeter Wilbur Harden a whole lot more'n Bill would have thought. Playing is pretty much fifties bop approaching the shape of sound to come, and rather spry at that with Coltrane bearing his share of keeping these tracks together. Harden ain't as non-there as the liner notes make him out to be, kinda sounding like a Miles Davis Junior if you get my drift.  I get the feeling that if he didn't vamoose from the jazz scene as fast as he did he coulda turned into a major player once the sixties "new thing" got into high gear. Song title of the year..."Rhodamagnetics".

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The Forgotten Rebels-TOMORROW BELONGS TO US CD-R (Originally on Other People;s Music)

Heh. No wonder Paul McGarry sent me a disque of this...these guys are "hometown heroes" and of course McGarry has to go 'n plug 'em to whoever's willing to listen, even if they have been around for over thirty-five years! Actually these Forgotten Rebels are whatcha'd call good 'nuff p-rock that sound one-third New York Dolls, one-third Ramones and one-third English obscurities and I can't complain. Nice primitive sound accentuates these guys' paens to then-moderne concerns that in many ways still figure heavily into our rather sordid present-day affairs. Squint your ears a bit and pretend you're listening to some ultra-rare English punk act that never made it outta the pages of SOUNDS alive, and just think of all the fun you'll have doing it!

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Various Artists-RARE MOD VOLUME 3 CD-R burn (originally on Acid Jazz)

Like most of these specific genre-related samplers comin' out there days, RARE MOD VOLUME 3's got a couple of hotcha tracks, a whole slew of good 'n passable, and some which might have been best left on the butcher block. The best of this batch just have to be the Creation and John's Children alternate takes which I'm surprised haven't been issued with all of those other Mark 4/Silence rarities on their lonesome. The good 'n passable range from a standard limey cover of "Baby I Need Your Loving" and some cheap r&b nutters from an act calling themselves the Iveys, obv. not the pre-Badfinger bunch. The rest ranges from ear-perking to throwaway but I guess that's what the listeners want. If I hadda do it I could pare a good ten volumes of this stuff down to five, but then again with all that collector money out there I just might wanna pad the thing out to a good twenty volumes stuffing the things with some of the worse crapezoid musings I could manage to come up with! I really could use the money, y'know.

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*an important enough word in the suburban slob lexicon (along with "cheeseburger") even if an upper-echelon dolt like Patrick Amory would disagree.