If I were the kind of person who felt ashamed or guilty about things I would apologize. But I won't (after all it was none other'n John Wayne himself who once said "Don't apologize, its' a sign of weakness" and I'm no 98 pounder that's for sure!). And really, I don't feel that guilty or ashamed about it because maybe hey, I am that kind of self-centered, shameless person inna first place! What I'm talking about right now it the lack of "specialty" BLOG TO COMM posts where I'd either conduct some crack Mike Wallace-styled interview with a person of renown or not or better yet pay homage to one of those fanzines of the past that you might never have heard of but I sure dood! Well, at least something special along them lines, but right now I ain't in the mood for any of that nohow! All I wanna do is just write up the various new offerings that have come my way either via my own sweat and toil or the kind offerings of those few who DO take BLOG TO COMM seriously enough to burn a few items and toss 'em my direction. Nothing else, though maybe by the time the weather breaks I might get into that old springtimey mood and conjure something special up for this blog, that is after I overcome my usual bouts of spring fever.
So until I get the strength and urge to do something outta the ordinaire you're stuck with these relatively short 'n pithy writeups. Thanks to the likes of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Tom Gilmore and PD Fadensonnen for the copies they dared run off for me and given my usual sluggishness in going through all this mess I get the feeling that their given goods are gonna last me for a whole lot longer time'n any of 'em planned and that's a given FACT!
Various Artists-BACK FROM THE GRAVE VOLUME 9 CD-r burn (originally on Crypt)
Well golly, I didn't know... Know that there were still enough of those rare (and kick out the jamz-y) garage band singles that would qualify to appear in a series of such a raw sub-Pantsiosesque quality rock 'n roll as this! But after all these years a new edition of BACK FROM THE GRAVE has appeared, and although maybe I should hate it for mere guilt by association purposes I find these mid-sixties splatters to be of the most stellar top-notch in low-fi thud to have been heard by these ears in at least three months. No liners with my burn so I can't give you any of the whys' 'n wherefores (though I do know that compiler Tim Warren might be the owner of the ONLY copies of these self-produced rarities!), but they're as raw and primal as you'd expect to the point where even the Seeds come off like Mantovani in comparison.
Personal faves...the Why-Nots' "Tambourine" (wonder how many lessens their tambourine player had?), the Classics' "I'm Hurtin'" (the one with the singer who sounds like a ten-year-old Ernie Douglas doing his Jagger impression), the Gentlemen's "It's a Cryin' Shame " (NOT the version that pops up on PEBBLES, a better one in fact!) and this strutter done up by some unknown act who better get their brains together if only to grab onto the royalties most certainly due them from Warren! The rest is fine too (I particularly like the screeching guitar lines on Knoll Allen and the Noble Savages' "Animal" if you'd care to know), and if I were some nimnul 1984 rock critic geek I'd even mention how much the Donshires' "Sad and Blue" owes its entire rhythm/drone makeup to the Velvet Underground! But I won't...gotta spare you readers some bad rockcrit hyperbole b.s., eh?
Word has it that #10 is amongst the living as well, and if you wanna snatch that 'un up and this 'un as well why not just go here and be prepared to depart with some hard acted for at the welfare office moolah.
Jean-Marc Foussat, Sylvain Guerineau, Joe McPhee-QUOD CD-r burn (originally on Fou, France)
Free jazz lives, if only in France (well, sometimes it seems that way!). Yes, the land where a bevy of Amerigan expats got swindled a good fortysome years back is still at it, and although I don't know if longtime free played Joe McPhee got his just dues for appearing on this disque you can say that the tradition of heavy duty Gallic gagas over new thing twings is still going on strong. McPhee on soprano sax, Sylvain Guerineau on tenor, and Jean-Marc Foussat on synthesizer and voice, this has the same inward intensity moves of the CBGB Lounge Freeform Series coupled with mid-seventies neo-Braxtonian modes that just might renew your faith. In exactly what I don't know, but I sure felt better spinning this than I did suffering through Wynton Marsalis' classy ass posturings that's for sure!
David Bowie-CHANGES CD (Lobster bootleg, Italy)
Yeah it's the same Santa Monica '72 show that was so popular in Bowie legend that it eventually came out legal-like, but since I prefer the illegal in my major rockstar musical musings I thought I'd snatch this up considering my equally bootleg double set of this is marooned somewhere in my LP collection and it's gonna take a heckuva lotta time to dredge it outta the pile. And true, we all used to gag over Bowie back inna late-seventies and eighties and even beyond, but this brew of late-sixties English snarl glopped over with glitter and faux Lou/Iggy moves sure sounds better'n alla that "serious" eighties amerindie gunk that was supposed to've been the right way all along! Goes well with old copies of CRETINOUS CONTENTIONS and ROCK ON (the one with Kenne Highland's Bowie articles, the same one in fact!) I'll tell ya!
The Blood Drained Cows-13 CD (Triple X)
Former Vom/Samoan Gregg Turner teams up with former Rokyite Billy Angel for this 90s under-the-radar rocker and y'know what? The results aren't as past-your-time iffy as I thought they would be. Turner's modus whateverendi is similar to that of his final days as a Samoan, and although I didn't think that Angel was as striking as he was on those Cold Sun tracks he still fills out the sound rather well with his autoharp. Maybe it ain't as all-out exciting as FUNHOUSE or a passel of out-there All Amerigan (or All-Canadian, All-European etc.) albums of the past were, but next to the competition these Cows take all of the mid-90s awards you can toss at 'em, and that ain't bunk!
Phantom of the Black Hills-MOONSHINE BRIGHT CD-r burn (originally on Rocket Blade)
Surprisingly decent country-rock-a-punk-a-billy from this growling man of mystery. These honkified efforts usually come off total phonus balonus if you ask me, but this Phantom guy is able to pull off alla the stops to present a downhome sorta country and western platter with more'n enough freak element in it to give Peter Stampfel a hardon on his death bed. Total growl and moan here---best of the batch cut #2 "Hellbetties Risin'".
The Globe Unity Orchestra-BERLIN 1966 & DONAUESCHIGEN 1967 (UNRELEASED) CD-r burn (courtesy P. D. Fadensonnen)
If these tracks are indeedy unreleased all I gotta say is...why??? Boffo performance from Von Schlippenbach and company on these early attempts at a big band free jazz (rivals Sun Ra wandering around in the Black Forest of his mind) that surprisingly enough continues to resensify me a good thirtysome plus years after I first fell head over corrective heels for this new thing. Some amazing playing here---wish I knew exactly who was performing on these sides but I'll leave that to future internet doodling and keep spinning this 'un continuously. (Although Anthony Braxton can be espied four from the left in the cover photo these were recorded before he set foot in the olde countrie so I highly suspect that he ain't anywhere to be found here...only goes to show you can't judge a burnt Cee-Dee by looking at its cover and that's a fact!)
Various Artists-CHICKEN RHYTHM WILLIE MINER CD-r burn (Bill Shute Kultural Exchange Program)
Bill really struck good ol' sludge with this 'un which tackles a whole load of styles and modes and doesn't let down one bit. The infamous Bob Crewe starts off with some old fifties vocal pop foray and from there its on to everything from late-sixties hippydippy 7 Up music to a fifties r&b screamer and even some late-seventies punk rock from the likes of Wire and the Misfits that you've heard before but wha' th' 'ey! There's even some strange avant garde music here courtesy of Old Shapes (an aggro that may have a future in my collection) to Slackwaves as well as such heartwarming classics as Amos from AMOS 'N' ANDY explaining the Lord's Prayer to Arbadella which ain't as good as the tee-vee version but why be picky! Yeah I could beech that the Savoy Dictators ain't as good as the rock 'n roll band of a rather similar name (not to forget that "Sir Lancelot" singing about that great melting pot goo o' Amerigans is just more Get Along Gang fodder) but then again those radio weather spots, commercials and whatnots from the past just send me right into the back seat of my childhood during the days when the radio was always on and we were trekking to one drive in hamburger joint or another to load up on the fast food of our choice. You know...MAN AT HIS BEST!!!!
So until I get the strength and urge to do something outta the ordinaire you're stuck with these relatively short 'n pithy writeups. Thanks to the likes of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Tom Gilmore and PD Fadensonnen for the copies they dared run off for me and given my usual sluggishness in going through all this mess I get the feeling that their given goods are gonna last me for a whole lot longer time'n any of 'em planned and that's a given FACT!
Well golly, I didn't know... Know that there were still enough of those rare (and kick out the jamz-y) garage band singles that would qualify to appear in a series of such a raw sub-Pantsiosesque quality rock 'n roll as this! But after all these years a new edition of BACK FROM THE GRAVE has appeared, and although maybe I should hate it for mere guilt by association purposes I find these mid-sixties splatters to be of the most stellar top-notch in low-fi thud to have been heard by these ears in at least three months. No liners with my burn so I can't give you any of the whys' 'n wherefores (though I do know that compiler Tim Warren might be the owner of the ONLY copies of these self-produced rarities!), but they're as raw and primal as you'd expect to the point where even the Seeds come off like Mantovani in comparison.
Personal faves...the Why-Nots' "Tambourine" (wonder how many lessens their tambourine player had?), the Classics' "I'm Hurtin'" (the one with the singer who sounds like a ten-year-old Ernie Douglas doing his Jagger impression), the Gentlemen's "It's a Cryin' Shame " (NOT the version that pops up on PEBBLES, a better one in fact!) and this strutter done up by some unknown act who better get their brains together if only to grab onto the royalties most certainly due them from Warren! The rest is fine too (I particularly like the screeching guitar lines on Knoll Allen and the Noble Savages' "Animal" if you'd care to know), and if I were some nimnul 1984 rock critic geek I'd even mention how much the Donshires' "Sad and Blue" owes its entire rhythm/drone makeup to the Velvet Underground! But I won't...gotta spare you readers some bad rockcrit hyperbole b.s., eh?
Word has it that #10 is amongst the living as well, and if you wanna snatch that 'un up and this 'un as well why not just go here and be prepared to depart with some hard acted for at the welfare office moolah.
***
Free jazz lives, if only in France (well, sometimes it seems that way!). Yes, the land where a bevy of Amerigan expats got swindled a good fortysome years back is still at it, and although I don't know if longtime free played Joe McPhee got his just dues for appearing on this disque you can say that the tradition of heavy duty Gallic gagas over new thing twings is still going on strong. McPhee on soprano sax, Sylvain Guerineau on tenor, and Jean-Marc Foussat on synthesizer and voice, this has the same inward intensity moves of the CBGB Lounge Freeform Series coupled with mid-seventies neo-Braxtonian modes that just might renew your faith. In exactly what I don't know, but I sure felt better spinning this than I did suffering through Wynton Marsalis' classy ass posturings that's for sure!
***
Yeah it's the same Santa Monica '72 show that was so popular in Bowie legend that it eventually came out legal-like, but since I prefer the illegal in my major rockstar musical musings I thought I'd snatch this up considering my equally bootleg double set of this is marooned somewhere in my LP collection and it's gonna take a heckuva lotta time to dredge it outta the pile. And true, we all used to gag over Bowie back inna late-seventies and eighties and even beyond, but this brew of late-sixties English snarl glopped over with glitter and faux Lou/Iggy moves sure sounds better'n alla that "serious" eighties amerindie gunk that was supposed to've been the right way all along! Goes well with old copies of CRETINOUS CONTENTIONS and ROCK ON (the one with Kenne Highland's Bowie articles, the same one in fact!) I'll tell ya!
***
Former Vom/Samoan Gregg Turner teams up with former Rokyite Billy Angel for this 90s under-the-radar rocker and y'know what? The results aren't as past-your-time iffy as I thought they would be. Turner's modus whateverendi is similar to that of his final days as a Samoan, and although I didn't think that Angel was as striking as he was on those Cold Sun tracks he still fills out the sound rather well with his autoharp. Maybe it ain't as all-out exciting as FUNHOUSE or a passel of out-there All Amerigan (or All-Canadian, All-European etc.) albums of the past were, but next to the competition these Cows take all of the mid-90s awards you can toss at 'em, and that ain't bunk!
***
Surprisingly decent country-rock-a-punk-a-billy from this growling man of mystery. These honkified efforts usually come off total phonus balonus if you ask me, but this Phantom guy is able to pull off alla the stops to present a downhome sorta country and western platter with more'n enough freak element in it to give Peter Stampfel a hardon on his death bed. Total growl and moan here---best of the batch cut #2 "Hellbetties Risin'".
***
If these tracks are indeedy unreleased all I gotta say is...why??? Boffo performance from Von Schlippenbach and company on these early attempts at a big band free jazz (rivals Sun Ra wandering around in the Black Forest of his mind) that surprisingly enough continues to resensify me a good thirtysome plus years after I first fell head over corrective heels for this new thing. Some amazing playing here---wish I knew exactly who was performing on these sides but I'll leave that to future internet doodling and keep spinning this 'un continuously. (Although Anthony Braxton can be espied four from the left in the cover photo these were recorded before he set foot in the olde countrie so I highly suspect that he ain't anywhere to be found here...only goes to show you can't judge a burnt Cee-Dee by looking at its cover and that's a fact!)
***
Various Artists-CHICKEN RHYTHM WILLIE MINER CD-r burn (Bill Shute Kultural Exchange Program)Bill really struck good ol' sludge with this 'un which tackles a whole load of styles and modes and doesn't let down one bit. The infamous Bob Crewe starts off with some old fifties vocal pop foray and from there its on to everything from late-sixties hippydippy 7 Up music to a fifties r&b screamer and even some late-seventies punk rock from the likes of Wire and the Misfits that you've heard before but wha' th' 'ey! There's even some strange avant garde music here courtesy of Old Shapes (an aggro that may have a future in my collection) to Slackwaves as well as such heartwarming classics as Amos from AMOS 'N' ANDY explaining the Lord's Prayer to Arbadella which ain't as good as the tee-vee version but why be picky! Yeah I could beech that the Savoy Dictators ain't as good as the rock 'n roll band of a rather similar name (not to forget that "Sir Lancelot" singing about that great melting pot goo o' Amerigans is just more Get Along Gang fodder) but then again those radio weather spots, commercials and whatnots from the past just send me right into the back seat of my childhood during the days when the radio was always on and we were trekking to one drive in hamburger joint or another to load up on the fast food of our choice. You know...MAN AT HIS BEST!!!!
A link to that song I mentioned. 6 views as of today! Faack! The Sexual Objects "Merrie England" (from "Cucumber" LP 2010)
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cL3Fsd_ckr4