Hope yer all having a happy Valentine's Day chomping down loads of chocolates and trying to get yer gals drunk so's their romantic emotions'll start bubblin' up like farts in a bathtub. As for me naah! Its just another Saturday for me here doin' the usual same-old, though I did manage to get a chocolate heart outta the deal which is more'n I can say about last year or any other year in memory since kindergarten!
Anyway, you can all feel happy that while I'm cloistered inside protecting myself from alla this sub zero weather we're having at least I'm cooking up a whole batch of writeups and other blogposts for you to enjoy whether it be this upcoming week, next month or the next millennium if I just happen to last that long. But for now here's what's been being spun 'round here at the BLOG TO COMM headquarters, and as you'd probably guess I didn't pay for a one of the items reviewed here, thrifty me!
The Jellybricks-YOUNGSTOWN TUNE UP CD-r burn (originally on Primitive)
Gosh ding it! Here I thought that Youngstown Ohio had finally produced the high energy pop rock group that it was threatening to do ever since the early-seventies (Blue Ash excepted), only these guys turn out to be from none other'n Harrisburg Pee-Yay which I'm sure you'll admit is quite a way off the beaten path! Well, the Jellybricks do got that Cleveland power pop credo down (something which few local bands if any were able to muster up) and they sound as cool as any eighties group trying to retro seventies hard popsters who were homesick for various mid-sixties accomplishments which means we're getting this FOURTH GENERATION at the least, but it's still good enough to get me nostalgic for those mid-eighties nostalgic feelings I had about seventies nostalgia over the sixties. One big point agin' 'em...they don't look like what they sound like...not a beatle boot or soupbowl haircut in sight! In fact they look just like you 'n me, and I for one am mighty pee-yoed about it!
JOSEFUS....PLUS CD-r burn (originally on Akarma, Italy)
I never bothered to pick up any of the Josefus reissues that were popping up throughout the eighties if only because of Billy Miller's dire warning in the pages of KICKS magazine ("Only a dead man could enjoy DEAD MAN"), but I got this 'un for free so like maybe it is time to face the music. So face it I did, and frankly I thought this late-sixties Texas hard rock group to have been rather......staid. Standard proto-metal hardness typical of the time that is better'n a whole lot of the hippie mewls of the day but that really ain't saying much. Predicts the advent of Sopor Nation even more'n Cat Stevens!
J. Rider-NO LONGER ANONYMOUS CD-r burn (originally on Machu Picchu)
It's really amazing that although most outta nowhere rock groups back in the seventies couldn't afford to release their own wares these guys were able to release not one but TWO longplayers, both of which have been reissued on disque for a new generation of seventies maniacs who didn't get enough local rock hijinx the first time around. Anonymous's INSIDE THE SHADOW was the first and this un, recorded under the new moniker of J. Rider was the second and boy, did these ozobs come up with yet another hotcha slice of self-produced mid-Amerigan rockism we sure coulda used a whole lot more of back then!
Anon./Ryder used to get tagged with the "progressive" label but I can't find anything remotely aerie faerie ELP meets Peter Gabriel floating around the stage with this music. It's more or less straight ahead pop rock with tinges of West Coast late-sixties psych and an intensity that wouldn't have sounded outta place on the stages of the mid-seventies New York City clubs (even if J. Rider would have been buried under the prevalent underground rock hype that drew attention to those hallowed haunts for a few months way back when). Good playing, singing (harmonies even!) and production, and despite all that J. Rider still come off boss enough that I wonder why Hilly didn't offer 'em a spot on a CBGB bill with the rest of those acts he booked that didn't fit into anybody's notion of what New York Rock was supposed to sound like!
Quite a nice change from the usual, and as you'd expect this makes me yearn to hear more forgotten seventies local rock that the world might be ready for even this late inna game (but I doubt it). Only goes to show that there was more good rock 'n roll being made in one's backyard'n any of us realized back in those rather fringe-jacket-y days.
Devo-MIRACLE WITNESS HOUR CD-r burn (originally on Futurismo)
Kinda surprised that this long-circulated Devo show rec'd at the once famous biker hangout called the Eagle Street Saloon back '77 way is now out 'n about as a legit release. Surprised since I was under the impression that this tape wasn't exactly one of the crystal clear pristine variety---this 'un sounds pretty professional if you ask me! It's a historical performance too---one that captures the group right before they headed to En Why See for some choice gigs which brought them a whole lot more fame'n if they just stuck around the NE Ohio area and moiled in their own obscurity. And yeah you can hear the roots of all of that new unto gnu wave crud that ruined the eighties for more'n a few fans and followers of seventies fancies like myself, but back then just about anything was pleasant compared to the standard AM/FM drek that was being pushed on us unsuspecting kids and this stuff is no different. Listen with your stuck up pretensions on hold and who knows, maybe you'll be trekking to the nearest used record store for a Lene Lovich album!
The Thing and Thurston Moore-LIVE CD-r burn (originally on The Thing Records)
Not the best live improv rock cum jazz recording I've heard, but pretty snat in itself. Living legend Moore teams up with this Skandie free-play act for some rather entertaining sounds that teeter between avant rock and even newer thing jazz, and fortunately this don't come off sounding like some kid jagoff that doesn't have the proper swerve and zing to it like it shoulda. Kinda heavy on the nerves in fact, and although it probably won't ever become one of those incessant pre-beddy bye spinners that ease me into snoozeville it ain't like its something you're gonna wanna dump inna trash after first listen. A surprise outta nowhere that might even grow on me more'n those li'l dark Fritos-like skin spots my mother used to tell me were fly bites!
The Baron Four-OUT OF THE WILD COMES... CD-r burn (originally on Soundflat)
I was really surprised to find out this bunch are furriners f'rcryinoutloud! Y'see, the Baron Four's got the mid-six-oh Amerigan teenage PEBBLES meets BOULDERS meets BACK FROM THE GRAVE sound down flat to the point where you woulda thunk the whole batch of 'em were weaned on nothing but greecee drive in food and late-afternoon rerun tee-vee! But whoever they are, these Barons really capture that Beatles-era big beat feeling fantastico-like to the point where even Lou Reed doing his Roughnecks bit sounds a bit suspect. If this had been around fifty years ago your big cyst-er woulda been pissing pants and screaming uncontrollably at the mere mention of their name I'll tell ya! (And whatever you do, don't let the Linda Ronstadt cover steer you clear...the Barons turn that slab of mid-seventies cocaine claptrap into their own and in no way will you have any cravings to wear turquoise or support flaky political causes after hearing the thing!)
The J.B.'s-THESE ARE THE J.B.'S CD-r burn (originally on King Records)
Paul McGarry's paper sleeve sez that this was a King Records release dating back 1970 way, but online sources are sayin' a rather different story 'bout how this is actually a long-lost album that only saw the light of day recently. Whatever the case may be all I gotta say is if indeed this has come out in recent memory then the funk world was in for a good fortysome years of desperate loss! Hot driving instrumentals that'll get you pumped up and living your entire existence inside its groove, and what's best about it is that you don't even have to feel like a condescending new waver listening to it like the rest of those Rock Lobster bopstering types you used to see throughout the early eighties!
Various Artists-WOBBLE WOBBLE KANGAROO CD-r burn (BSM)
Spry selection here that ranges from the bril to the dil. Among the former are the various c&w entries into early-seventies patri-oatism (Charlie Stewart's "GI Joe" and Bob Hafner and the Homesteaders' "The Day George Wallace Was Shot"), Dube Y Su Conjunto's early-sixties sud o' the border rocker, the Antwinettes' gal grouper "Kill It" and the (Motor City) Mutants' typically high energy "Boss Man". (Howlin' Wolf's "Coon on the Moon" should fit in here if only for the politically incorrect title to a song that is anything but.) The latter includes Brian Wilson's ultradud attempt at quickie cash-in late eighties rap and Ella Fitzgerald singing "Savoy Truffle" which ain't as bad as Louis Armstrong croaking "Bridge Over Troubled Water" but it'll do as far as watching the once-mighty grovel. Nat Kendrick's soul instrumentals, Pet Clark singing in French and Dr. Sadistic's early-eighties gnu wave astuteness sorta wallow in between---hokay but it ain't like I'd care to take my clothes off and dance to 'em much to the dismay of the old lady with the binoculars who lives across the way. After all, she's gotta call the cops about someone...
Anyway, you can all feel happy that while I'm cloistered inside protecting myself from alla this sub zero weather we're having at least I'm cooking up a whole batch of writeups and other blogposts for you to enjoy whether it be this upcoming week, next month or the next millennium if I just happen to last that long. But for now here's what's been being spun 'round here at the BLOG TO COMM headquarters, and as you'd probably guess I didn't pay for a one of the items reviewed here, thrifty me!
Gosh ding it! Here I thought that Youngstown Ohio had finally produced the high energy pop rock group that it was threatening to do ever since the early-seventies (Blue Ash excepted), only these guys turn out to be from none other'n Harrisburg Pee-Yay which I'm sure you'll admit is quite a way off the beaten path! Well, the Jellybricks do got that Cleveland power pop credo down (something which few local bands if any were able to muster up) and they sound as cool as any eighties group trying to retro seventies hard popsters who were homesick for various mid-sixties accomplishments which means we're getting this FOURTH GENERATION at the least, but it's still good enough to get me nostalgic for those mid-eighties nostalgic feelings I had about seventies nostalgia over the sixties. One big point agin' 'em...they don't look like what they sound like...not a beatle boot or soupbowl haircut in sight! In fact they look just like you 'n me, and I for one am mighty pee-yoed about it!
***
I never bothered to pick up any of the Josefus reissues that were popping up throughout the eighties if only because of Billy Miller's dire warning in the pages of KICKS magazine ("Only a dead man could enjoy DEAD MAN"), but I got this 'un for free so like maybe it is time to face the music. So face it I did, and frankly I thought this late-sixties Texas hard rock group to have been rather......staid. Standard proto-metal hardness typical of the time that is better'n a whole lot of the hippie mewls of the day but that really ain't saying much. Predicts the advent of Sopor Nation even more'n Cat Stevens!
***
It's really amazing that although most outta nowhere rock groups back in the seventies couldn't afford to release their own wares these guys were able to release not one but TWO longplayers, both of which have been reissued on disque for a new generation of seventies maniacs who didn't get enough local rock hijinx the first time around. Anonymous's INSIDE THE SHADOW was the first and this un, recorded under the new moniker of J. Rider was the second and boy, did these ozobs come up with yet another hotcha slice of self-produced mid-Amerigan rockism we sure coulda used a whole lot more of back then!
Anon./Ryder used to get tagged with the "progressive" label but I can't find anything remotely aerie faerie ELP meets Peter Gabriel floating around the stage with this music. It's more or less straight ahead pop rock with tinges of West Coast late-sixties psych and an intensity that wouldn't have sounded outta place on the stages of the mid-seventies New York City clubs (even if J. Rider would have been buried under the prevalent underground rock hype that drew attention to those hallowed haunts for a few months way back when). Good playing, singing (harmonies even!) and production, and despite all that J. Rider still come off boss enough that I wonder why Hilly didn't offer 'em a spot on a CBGB bill with the rest of those acts he booked that didn't fit into anybody's notion of what New York Rock was supposed to sound like!
Quite a nice change from the usual, and as you'd expect this makes me yearn to hear more forgotten seventies local rock that the world might be ready for even this late inna game (but I doubt it). Only goes to show that there was more good rock 'n roll being made in one's backyard'n any of us realized back in those rather fringe-jacket-y days.
***
Kinda surprised that this long-circulated Devo show rec'd at the once famous biker hangout called the Eagle Street Saloon back '77 way is now out 'n about as a legit release. Surprised since I was under the impression that this tape wasn't exactly one of the crystal clear pristine variety---this 'un sounds pretty professional if you ask me! It's a historical performance too---one that captures the group right before they headed to En Why See for some choice gigs which brought them a whole lot more fame'n if they just stuck around the NE Ohio area and moiled in their own obscurity. And yeah you can hear the roots of all of that new unto gnu wave crud that ruined the eighties for more'n a few fans and followers of seventies fancies like myself, but back then just about anything was pleasant compared to the standard AM/FM drek that was being pushed on us unsuspecting kids and this stuff is no different. Listen with your stuck up pretensions on hold and who knows, maybe you'll be trekking to the nearest used record store for a Lene Lovich album!
***
Not the best live improv rock cum jazz recording I've heard, but pretty snat in itself. Living legend Moore teams up with this Skandie free-play act for some rather entertaining sounds that teeter between avant rock and even newer thing jazz, and fortunately this don't come off sounding like some kid jagoff that doesn't have the proper swerve and zing to it like it shoulda. Kinda heavy on the nerves in fact, and although it probably won't ever become one of those incessant pre-beddy bye spinners that ease me into snoozeville it ain't like its something you're gonna wanna dump inna trash after first listen. A surprise outta nowhere that might even grow on me more'n those li'l dark Fritos-like skin spots my mother used to tell me were fly bites!
***
I was really surprised to find out this bunch are furriners f'rcryinoutloud! Y'see, the Baron Four's got the mid-six-oh Amerigan teenage PEBBLES meets BOULDERS meets BACK FROM THE GRAVE sound down flat to the point where you woulda thunk the whole batch of 'em were weaned on nothing but greecee drive in food and late-afternoon rerun tee-vee! But whoever they are, these Barons really capture that Beatles-era big beat feeling fantastico-like to the point where even Lou Reed doing his Roughnecks bit sounds a bit suspect. If this had been around fifty years ago your big cyst-er woulda been pissing pants and screaming uncontrollably at the mere mention of their name I'll tell ya! (And whatever you do, don't let the Linda Ronstadt cover steer you clear...the Barons turn that slab of mid-seventies cocaine claptrap into their own and in no way will you have any cravings to wear turquoise or support flaky political causes after hearing the thing!)
***
Paul McGarry's paper sleeve sez that this was a King Records release dating back 1970 way, but online sources are sayin' a rather different story 'bout how this is actually a long-lost album that only saw the light of day recently. Whatever the case may be all I gotta say is if indeed this has come out in recent memory then the funk world was in for a good fortysome years of desperate loss! Hot driving instrumentals that'll get you pumped up and living your entire existence inside its groove, and what's best about it is that you don't even have to feel like a condescending new waver listening to it like the rest of those Rock Lobster bopstering types you used to see throughout the early eighties!
***
Various Artists-WOBBLE WOBBLE KANGAROO CD-r burn (BSM)Spry selection here that ranges from the bril to the dil. Among the former are the various c&w entries into early-seventies patri-oatism (Charlie Stewart's "GI Joe" and Bob Hafner and the Homesteaders' "The Day George Wallace Was Shot"), Dube Y Su Conjunto's early-sixties sud o' the border rocker, the Antwinettes' gal grouper "Kill It" and the (Motor City) Mutants' typically high energy "Boss Man". (Howlin' Wolf's "Coon on the Moon" should fit in here if only for the politically incorrect title to a song that is anything but.) The latter includes Brian Wilson's ultradud attempt at quickie cash-in late eighties rap and Ella Fitzgerald singing "Savoy Truffle" which ain't as bad as Louis Armstrong croaking "Bridge Over Troubled Water" but it'll do as far as watching the once-mighty grovel. Nat Kendrick's soul instrumentals, Pet Clark singing in French and Dr. Sadistic's early-eighties gnu wave astuteness sorta wallow in between---hokay but it ain't like I'd care to take my clothes off and dance to 'em much to the dismay of the old lady with the binoculars who lives across the way. After all, she's gotta call the cops about someone...
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