Easter used to be a favorite time of year for me for reasons stated in previous Easter posts, but anymore I couldn't care one whit or even a fig for that matter. With life zizzing by as fast as it has these past few decades and with nothing to look forward to other than less and less music, tee-vee, quality and companionship to keep me up and running its like why should one holiday matter other'n being yet another road sign on that big trip to Wormsville. At least back when I was younger and I actually had delusions that life, love, happiness and LOTSA MOOLAH were just around the corner I could appreciate the arrival of spring and all of the warm weather activities that were in store for the next few months. Nowadays nothing really matters anymore...true I can look forward to the warm weather wear your bermuda shorts days with some anticipation, but then again I kinda like the winter months because I can stay put all day and goof off while listening to records and reading old comic books all I want. Its a trade off I don't mind one iota either.
Anyway the following consists of a buncha platters I spent spinning this past week. You may find these writeups interesting, but frankly with the specter of eternal douse that has overcome me these past few days I fear that I'm just not up to my usual low standards of fannish rock scribbling done up pseudo gonz with a whole lotta my suburban attitude firmly in place. I would say that I gave it the ol' college try, but after looking over these writeups I wouldn't even say that I gave it the ol' nursery school try. And that's with an added emphasis on "nurse" because frankly, these reviews suck more than a La Leche convention!
Fossils/Bill Shute-DIESEL FALLOUT DIXIE STAMPEDE CD-r burn (Kendra Steiner Editions)
Can't believe that this 'un even exists! Yes, our own Bill Shute, in conjunction with the mysterioso Fossils, set forth on a free-splat poetry cut-up extravaganza that's so potent (even here in the heard-it-all-before teens) that it would even give William Burroughs a hard on right in his own crypt. Bill's very copasetic voice (Bus Eubanks would have given him an "A") is run through distortions, fragmented, muffled and sliced and diced as his poetry concrete is uttered resulting in a strange melange that recalls John Cage's INDETERMINACY being forced through a Veg-O-Matic. And that stuff Bill spews forth...extremely splice and dice in itself even without the editing hijinx of the ones called Fossil. Let's just say there's none of that "Stick your finger in the hole/Now you have a Tootsie Roll" jive here, and maybe you should be glad for it!
The Three Stooges-AND SIX FUNNY BONE STORIES CD-r Burn (originally on Peter Pan)
Here's one a them kiddo records that a whole load of moms usedta buy for the brood to spin during play/nap time. We had (and still have) HUCKLEBERRY HOUND AND THE GHOST SHIP (still a good Saturday Night pop the corn spinner) but fortunately some lucky suburban slob kids got to enjoy this one featuring the Three Stooges themselves at the height of their sixties pumping the tee-vee generation for all it was worth revival! Hear Moe, Larry and Curly Joe take a rocketship travel through time and meet up with Cinderella, the Ugly Duckling (who sounds like Cinderella after screaming her lungs out at a Bobby Rydell concert), the Princess (who sounds like Cinderella after downing a few Fisherman's Friends) and the Pea (not surprisingly, when I was a kid mattresses and pee went hand in hand!) and the Magic Lamp (no Cinderella here!). A platter that's definitely of historical value if only for the appearance of the Stooges, but considering the lack of the slam-bang action these three were dishing out on television screens nationwide at the time I'm sure that most tots woulda thought that the 99 cents mom spent on this one at the supermarket would have been put to better use buying a few packets of Fizzies.
The Len Price 3-NOBODY KNOWS CD-r burn (originally on Wicked Cool)
What I said about these guys earlier goes double here. Good 'nuff retro rock 'n roll true but like really, how could I get excited over Len Price and the Three as if they were supposed to be the latest in that long line of rock 'n roll saviors who are supposed to save us from...whatever there is in musicland to save us from here in the teens. By the looks of it, we've gone from the retro movement of the eighties to the retro to the retro-eighties movement. Disque closer regarding the horrors of the Margaret Thatcher years because she nixed free milk in schools does prove one thing that Archie Bunker got right---the English are a bunch of fags if they thought the world owed 'em a free glug of moo juice!
The Hitmen-DANCING TIME 78-79 2-CD-r burn (originally on Savage Beat)
I ain't been listening to much music being created beneath the equator as of late so this one comes as a mild surprise as well as a mild diversion. The infamous Australian underground group featuring the usual assortment of ex-Radio Birdman and Saints types do a wild mixture of garageoid cover and originals for an audience that (believe-it-or-not!) seemed a little more than appreciative which is probably more than you could say about any audience above the equator! Kinda run-through and dashed off in spots, but I sure got that mid-eighties thrill of trying to find something to live for right in the midst of Madonnamania feeling listening to it, as if that was something to feel nostalgic about!
With over fifty tracks to absorb this might be a little too much for one sitting, so be sure to handle it piecemeal. But as for the glory that once was Australian post-Detroit rock, I must admit that the strains of the Hitmen kinda makes me wanna go do a quickie retard crudzine over the course of a nothing-to-do weekend, print up 40 copies and see which way the wind blows.
Ron Carter with Eric Dolphy and Mal Waldron-WHERE? CD-r burn (originally on Prestige)
Maybe I should still be mad at Carter for some of those sell-out turds he's been ladling out these past thirtysome years, but this '61 side shows that the guy started out with his jazz sights well in focus, at least before he decided to cooperate with the hip hop generation. True the recording is kinda dry lacking a lotta the tension I like in my jass, but the presence of Eric Dolphy saves this from being one of those DOWN BEAT schmoozers that you feel like you have to wear a tuxedo to listen to. Dolphy soars on the bass clarinet (and his flute playing ain't bad either even if I found it a bit irritating during its giddier moments) while Carter is at his best seated at the 'cello. However, Mal Waldron is more or less wallpaper and the drummer sounds as if he'd be better suited playing in the Mister Rogers band. Overall one of those ones you'll want to listen to...after you've listened to all the rest.
Joe E. Ross-SHOULD LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY PRO FOOTBALL CD-r burn (originally on Laff)
Gotta say that the disc this one was "sourced" from sounds as if Iggy danced upon the thing with his golf shoes on, but from what I could make out the famed CAR 54 actor was about as schlocky a stand up comedy as one could be. None of them off-color scratch crotch while asking if anyone knows a good cure for dandruff gaggers here, but from what I can tell a good portion of 'em come pretty close. If you wanna hear some of the dirty jokes that were making their way around the water cooler back in them days dig up a clear copy and maybe you'll wish you hadn't.
Cheap Trick-BUN E. CARLOS BASEMENT BOOTLEG VOL. 1 CD-r burn
Dunno the exact whys and wherefores of these ltd. ed. releases, but this volume's a gotta get for those of you who thought that Cheap Trick were one of the better bridges between late-seventies hard pop stirrings and what had become of the FM consciousness during the height of AOR sopor sonatas. A snat selection of Trick before, during and after their big breakthrough complete with special guest appearances from the likes of Roy Wood, AC/DC, Dave Edmunds and Cozy Powell. You'll really get a laff outta the time they got Alex Harvey to join 'em on "Shakin' All Over" and totally flub it up!
Jack "Bongo" Burger-THE END ON BONGOS CD-r burn (originally on Hi-Fi Records)
More stereo stompers created for that guy who looked like Dennis the Menace's dad who used to spin stuff like this on the hi-fi in his knotty pine rec room back '57-'66 (and even thereafter!) way. A typical flea-market finagle that does conjure up the exotic jazzy status of mid-Amerigan living during a good portion of the dreaded by progressive types postwar/pre-Vietnam era, but would anyone have noticed if it weren't for the painting of the topless gal onna cover??? Like I always said when it comes to these things..."titties triumph totally!"
Various Artists-STUPID STARRY EMERALD IGUANAS CD-r burn (via Bill Shute)
Funny, there's no country and western on this 'un, nor is there any down home folk blooze as well. Bill must be slipping. However, he did enclose a good hunk of early-eighties-vintage underground from the likes of Chem Dyne (from Hamilton Ohio), El Lay's Nervous Gender, the (Kansas) Iguanas as well as the infamous Dejavoodoo, an act who made a small splash in amerindie circles during the eighties. Also included were some really obscure garage rockers courtesy the likes of the Poor Boys, Up-Tights and Emeralds that helped smooth out the tangled nerve-endings as well as the tres-obscure Sky Saxon "Starry Ride" EP which taught the new garage band era kids a thing or two about how it should be done. The snippet of Merry Pranksterdom left me hungering for at least a little more (it sounded loads better'n that Grateful Dead radio broadcast bootleg) while the Richard and Willie segment off some old Laff Records sure brought back memories of strolling through seventies comedy album bins wondering exactly what kinda jokes were being spewed forth on those "Adults Only" platters. And after all of these years I now know why none of these ever got any in-store play!
Anyway the following consists of a buncha platters I spent spinning this past week. You may find these writeups interesting, but frankly with the specter of eternal douse that has overcome me these past few days I fear that I'm just not up to my usual low standards of fannish rock scribbling done up pseudo gonz with a whole lotta my suburban attitude firmly in place. I would say that I gave it the ol' college try, but after looking over these writeups I wouldn't even say that I gave it the ol' nursery school try. And that's with an added emphasis on "nurse" because frankly, these reviews suck more than a La Leche convention!
Can't believe that this 'un even exists! Yes, our own Bill Shute, in conjunction with the mysterioso Fossils, set forth on a free-splat poetry cut-up extravaganza that's so potent (even here in the heard-it-all-before teens) that it would even give William Burroughs a hard on right in his own crypt. Bill's very copasetic voice (Bus Eubanks would have given him an "A") is run through distortions, fragmented, muffled and sliced and diced as his poetry concrete is uttered resulting in a strange melange that recalls John Cage's INDETERMINACY being forced through a Veg-O-Matic. And that stuff Bill spews forth...extremely splice and dice in itself even without the editing hijinx of the ones called Fossil. Let's just say there's none of that "Stick your finger in the hole/Now you have a Tootsie Roll" jive here, and maybe you should be glad for it!
***
Here's one a them kiddo records that a whole load of moms usedta buy for the brood to spin during play/nap time. We had (and still have) HUCKLEBERRY HOUND AND THE GHOST SHIP (still a good Saturday Night pop the corn spinner) but fortunately some lucky suburban slob kids got to enjoy this one featuring the Three Stooges themselves at the height of their sixties pumping the tee-vee generation for all it was worth revival! Hear Moe, Larry and Curly Joe take a rocketship travel through time and meet up with Cinderella, the Ugly Duckling (who sounds like Cinderella after screaming her lungs out at a Bobby Rydell concert), the Princess (who sounds like Cinderella after downing a few Fisherman's Friends) and the Pea (not surprisingly, when I was a kid mattresses and pee went hand in hand!) and the Magic Lamp (no Cinderella here!). A platter that's definitely of historical value if only for the appearance of the Stooges, but considering the lack of the slam-bang action these three were dishing out on television screens nationwide at the time I'm sure that most tots woulda thought that the 99 cents mom spent on this one at the supermarket would have been put to better use buying a few packets of Fizzies.
***
What I said about these guys earlier goes double here. Good 'nuff retro rock 'n roll true but like really, how could I get excited over Len Price and the Three as if they were supposed to be the latest in that long line of rock 'n roll saviors who are supposed to save us from...whatever there is in musicland to save us from here in the teens. By the looks of it, we've gone from the retro movement of the eighties to the retro to the retro-eighties movement. Disque closer regarding the horrors of the Margaret Thatcher years because she nixed free milk in schools does prove one thing that Archie Bunker got right---the English are a bunch of fags if they thought the world owed 'em a free glug of moo juice!
***
I ain't been listening to much music being created beneath the equator as of late so this one comes as a mild surprise as well as a mild diversion. The infamous Australian underground group featuring the usual assortment of ex-Radio Birdman and Saints types do a wild mixture of garageoid cover and originals for an audience that (believe-it-or-not!) seemed a little more than appreciative which is probably more than you could say about any audience above the equator! Kinda run-through and dashed off in spots, but I sure got that mid-eighties thrill of trying to find something to live for right in the midst of Madonnamania feeling listening to it, as if that was something to feel nostalgic about!
With over fifty tracks to absorb this might be a little too much for one sitting, so be sure to handle it piecemeal. But as for the glory that once was Australian post-Detroit rock, I must admit that the strains of the Hitmen kinda makes me wanna go do a quickie retard crudzine over the course of a nothing-to-do weekend, print up 40 copies and see which way the wind blows.
***
Maybe I should still be mad at Carter for some of those sell-out turds he's been ladling out these past thirtysome years, but this '61 side shows that the guy started out with his jazz sights well in focus, at least before he decided to cooperate with the hip hop generation. True the recording is kinda dry lacking a lotta the tension I like in my jass, but the presence of Eric Dolphy saves this from being one of those DOWN BEAT schmoozers that you feel like you have to wear a tuxedo to listen to. Dolphy soars on the bass clarinet (and his flute playing ain't bad either even if I found it a bit irritating during its giddier moments) while Carter is at his best seated at the 'cello. However, Mal Waldron is more or less wallpaper and the drummer sounds as if he'd be better suited playing in the Mister Rogers band. Overall one of those ones you'll want to listen to...after you've listened to all the rest.
***
Gotta say that the disc this one was "sourced" from sounds as if Iggy danced upon the thing with his golf shoes on, but from what I could make out the famed CAR 54 actor was about as schlocky a stand up comedy as one could be. None of them off-color scratch crotch while asking if anyone knows a good cure for dandruff gaggers here, but from what I can tell a good portion of 'em come pretty close. If you wanna hear some of the dirty jokes that were making their way around the water cooler back in them days dig up a clear copy and maybe you'll wish you hadn't.
***
Dunno the exact whys and wherefores of these ltd. ed. releases, but this volume's a gotta get for those of you who thought that Cheap Trick were one of the better bridges between late-seventies hard pop stirrings and what had become of the FM consciousness during the height of AOR sopor sonatas. A snat selection of Trick before, during and after their big breakthrough complete with special guest appearances from the likes of Roy Wood, AC/DC, Dave Edmunds and Cozy Powell. You'll really get a laff outta the time they got Alex Harvey to join 'em on "Shakin' All Over" and totally flub it up!
***
More stereo stompers created for that guy who looked like Dennis the Menace's dad who used to spin stuff like this on the hi-fi in his knotty pine rec room back '57-'66 (and even thereafter!) way. A typical flea-market finagle that does conjure up the exotic jazzy status of mid-Amerigan living during a good portion of the dreaded by progressive types postwar/pre-Vietnam era, but would anyone have noticed if it weren't for the painting of the topless gal onna cover??? Like I always said when it comes to these things..."titties triumph totally!"
***
Funny, there's no country and western on this 'un, nor is there any down home folk blooze as well. Bill must be slipping. However, he did enclose a good hunk of early-eighties-vintage underground from the likes of Chem Dyne (from Hamilton Ohio), El Lay's Nervous Gender, the (Kansas) Iguanas as well as the infamous Dejavoodoo, an act who made a small splash in amerindie circles during the eighties. Also included were some really obscure garage rockers courtesy the likes of the Poor Boys, Up-Tights and Emeralds that helped smooth out the tangled nerve-endings as well as the tres-obscure Sky Saxon "Starry Ride" EP which taught the new garage band era kids a thing or two about how it should be done. The snippet of Merry Pranksterdom left me hungering for at least a little more (it sounded loads better'n that Grateful Dead radio broadcast bootleg) while the Richard and Willie segment off some old Laff Records sure brought back memories of strolling through seventies comedy album bins wondering exactly what kinda jokes were being spewed forth on those "Adults Only" platters. And after all of these years I now know why none of these ever got any in-store play!
chris, dave laing here, send me your address and ill send you a real coipy of the hitmen thing plus Down Under Nuggets cd . email me at david.laing@warnermusic.com as I probably won't see a reply left here.
ReplyDeletehey I still think about doing that 70s fanzine book we corresponded about some years back but I'll never find the time. not til I inherit some money and the kids move out anyway...
hope you're well
dave