Well, I finally got that nice rainy autumn day that's just perfect for reading old (early seventies and before) comic book sagas mostly of a DC or Marvel variety whilst snuggled in the comfort of my own personal abode. (In other words, a day that's custom made for MAN AT HIS BEST!!!!) Too bad I have to spend it doing a few thousand errands for the family and friends which, sad to say, really does cut back on my goof off time! Well, maybe if the inclement weather keeps up I'll be able to spend some of my afternoon hours snuggled up in my boudoir reading those old BATMAN comics with typically teenbo awe just like I did when I was an actual teenage pimplefarm blobboid back in the days when such things as reading comic books, watching old reruns and spending more'n the usual amount of time in the bathroom really MATTERED!
The pickins this week ain't as bountiful as they coulda been (still holding off on the Forced Exposure order, and ebay winnings ain't comin' in as fast as they should), but thanks to the largesse (as opposed to large ass) of a few of my loyal fans I got some nice li'l spinners to talk about this go 'round. And hey, some of 'em are real winners too so let's be grateful that they arrived on the BLOG TO COMM scene or else I'd be writing about my latest cootie infestation and you don't wanna know about THAT! A nice selection for sure, though not-so-oddly enough my fave of the week ain't even gonna get written up because I've already had the Art Ensemble of Chicago's CERTAIN BLACKS on Inner City for about five years or so! As you may know I really like those early French-period AEC albums that capture the anarchic fury of the original drummer-less foursome in cheap studio settings and this 'un's no exception even if there is a drummer here who happens not to be Don Moye! I definitely will say that having this handy chairside during my beddy bye hours to help lull me into slumber really helped make the last few days something more'n just a period of work and poop. Paul McGarry's the smart one who sent this my way which must prove he's apsycho psychic because hey, he gave it to me at the most opportune time and like, how else would he know? Sheesh Paul, I almost forgive you for voting for that asshole Justin Trudeau!
Oh, and here's what else I've been spinning these past few...
Fadensonnen-I'M LOSING MY GODDAMN MIND IN THIS GODDAMN CITY CD-r burn (Fadensonnen, see link up under blogs on left for information as to how to obtain this particular platter)
Did P. D. out-do himself on this 'un??? He very well may have, what with his mad overdrive guitar sound being accompanied by a whole slew of tape manipulation that makes me wonder if what he has accomplished here is similar if not identical to that pre-Suicide group Alan Vega was forming that also featured tapes chopped and re-chopped in a manner that would have even given William Burroughs the runs. As usual the "normal" instrumentation overcomes you like nothing since the last Fadensonnen outing on Kendra Steiner Editions, but that tape sound? Wow, the holler of human voices along with other outerworldly effects kinda comes off like the entire male population of Terre Haute Indiana with their 'nads caught in rat traps played at 45 rpm! You better ditch all of your Philip Glass and Terry Riley platters right now, because this is the REAL modern day classical!
Muhal Richard Abrams-LIFEA BUNEC CD-r burn (originally on Arista/Novus)
By the time Arista decided to create their post-Freedom Novus label in the late-seventies most if not all of my free $$$ had been going towards various garage/punk rock concerns. IN OTHER WORDS...this particular release is a totally new surprise for me even if I may have read my share about this and the rest of the Novus line back when it was alive and happeining. Thankfully Arista really gave their artists room to reach out sans label constraints and not only that but had 'em recording in more uppa date studios which may or may not matter to you. This particular platter featuring AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams really takes advantage of the new benefits bestowed upon him...along with some of the AACM regulars of the day (Joseph Jarman, Douglas Ewart, Amina Claudine Myers and Thurman Barker), Abrams goes from hot abstract Ellington to Art Ensemble-styled flare up with favorable results. And of course all of the great AACM tricks are pulled out (extraneous vocalese, rare and downright unusual instruments that fit in perfectly...), and although the big label gig wasn't gonna last that long at least Abrams and company did their best to milk this one for all it was worth. dontcha think?
THE STAR BOYS CD-r burn (originally on Atila Records, Mexico?)
If you like it cheezy, the Star Boys'll give you enough to make you think you're stuck smack dab inna middle of Wisconsin if not Switzerland. Definitely straight from the minds of the establishment takes on the hits of the day along with some originals tossed in just so's padre doesn't fling this one outta the hacienda, but it's so pumped up that you don't mind the cornballus (or in this case maizeballus) nature of one bit. For some reason this kinda reminds me of a fambly party I woulda gone to back when I was about five or six, though I dunno who in hell which relative of mine woulda had the wherewithal to snatch up a platter like this in the first place!
Birdland-THE RARE TRACKS CD (Lazy/EMI, Japan)
From what I can tell this twenny-plus minute release contains nothing but various rare leftovers that someone over there in Japan thought would make a great platter to push on the the usually Western rock-mad Japanese. Given that my other Birdland Cee-Dees are scattered about the abode (and my efforts to search 'em out for the sake of this very review has proven futile) I can't tell exactly what has or hasn't been out there for Birlandmaniacs to digest before. But for what it is it's well...a pretty good selection of this group's retro-seventies high energy teen pop with an acoustic version of "Shoot You Down" as well as their fantastically double-up entendre'd "Protection" which might or might not be about what you think it's about!
Billy Mure-SUPERSONICS IN FLIGHT CD-r burn (originally on RCA Victor)
I like this even though ya know I shouldn't! When it comes to guitar playing as timid as can be Mure really ain't nothin' but another Al Ciaola, but at least his electric guitar pumperoo has more spark 'n sass 'n the Magnificent Seven one's. But man, does SUPERSONICS IN FLIGHT conjure up more than a few mental images of that pipe-smokin' DENNIS THE MENACE's father lookalike you remember who liked to fiddle around on his hi-fi set back inna fifties and sixties (and maybe even the seventies) and listen to the "Stereo 99" sounds on his headphones while locked away in his knotty pine den! I wish they still made them kinda guys for the here-and-now (well, at least they would make fine contrast to the kinda person I'd like to be!), but I kinda get the feeling that if they DID these guys'd probably be locked away in their personal saunas with each other, ifyaknowaddamean...
Stoned Hair-SOUNDS LIKE WOODSTOCK CD-r burn (originally on Design Records)
A more'n OBVIOUS fake Woodstock cash-in custom made for the sorta lenient parent type (MY folks never woulda bought this one fer me in a millyun years and THANK GOODNESS!) trying to be kinda/sorta hip w/the brood. There ain't no "fish cheer" on this 'un let alone any pix of nekkid hippie chicks who probably don't smell so good either, and in fact I get the idea that this platter is just a buncha tracks straddling a whole slew of pop and rock strata that were lying about the Design vaults gathered up with audience sounds tossed in to give it that live aura. Come to think of it, there really ain't ANYTHING that this platter has to do with the famed weekend of love peace 'n whatever side orders you got with that. Considering the label I was kinda hoping that some 1964-vintage Lou Reed-related track woulda been slapped on here but no go for that! I actually sorta liked the version of "Scarborough Fair" that lacked the Simon and Garfunkel introspective cringe (whoever sang it was definitely trying for the William Shakespeare-era dynamics 'stead of the books and poetry cuddliness)...you may like "Mama Told Me Not To Come" better, which judging from your musical inclinations would figure.
Plas Johnson-BOP ME DADDY CD-r burn (originally on Tampa Records)
This guy's name certainly struck a plunk in my chord when I saw it in the credits to FREAK OUT many a moon ago, but if I heard this album then I get the idea that Frank Zappa was certainly a loony tune to get THIS particular guy to play on his album! Well, whaddaya expect from some mid-teenbo suburban slob knowitall anyway, pearls of musical wisdom straight outta the pages of CIRCUS magazine? Hipster bop that you kinda get the idea those "cool cat" types that John Severin used to draw in the old MAD comic book woulda eaten up like nothing since potrzebie...originals and cover versions intermingled for the beret and cigarette holder types (no stale doritos in the bunch!) ruminating in all of us.
The Jackets-SHADOWS OF SOUND CD-r burn (originally on Voodoo Rhythm)
A lotta this retro garage rock wears thin on me, and I can't say that SHADOWS OF SOUND ain't any different. Still it is a pleasant spin with its decidedly European attitude and a female singer who reminds me of whatzername from Shocking Blue. So if you're still game on all of those eighties garage revival groups that seemed to overwhelm me to the point of "no mas!" then you might be able to eke some enjoyment outta this. As for me one spin is probably/undoubtedly enough because, like, the idea that seemed outta this world in 1966 and in much need of re-appreciation ten years later just sounds overdone here in the dreaded teens.
The Coastliners-VINTAGE COASTLLINERS RECORDINGS 1965-1968 CD-r burn
No bad at all sounds from a mid-sixties Texas band that doesn't sound like a mid-sixtiesTexas band. The Coastliners knew how to move about from innocent teenbo garage to surf rock, and for a local bunch just tryin' to earn a few shekels they sure sound better'n the kinda groups that I'm sure got the big Prom gig moolah back in them days. Only real beef with this one is that some of the later tracks have that Gary Puckett-sorta neo-adult pop feeling to 'em which, for some maybe not-so-strange reason, makes me wanna don a kerchief 'round my neck and slap on some Hai Karate. A definite somethingorother...
AFTER ALL CD-r burn (originally on Athena Records)
Hmmmm, a rather/partially/definitely good slice of late-sixties jazz rock that (surprisingly enough) doesn't make me wanna reach for the newest Stooges in hopes of resensification. Sure the lead singer evokes all of those gruff and tumble nuances of David Clayton Thomas and some of the very same jazz rock cliches of the late-sixties that made you jump off bridges whenever "25 or 6 to 4" blared from transistor radios can be detected, but the melodies are overall a whole lot better'n the usual 1970 post-bop rigmarole and the vocals overcome much of the bloat emote so popular then. When all is said and done this is what the Tasavallan Presidentti album should have sounded like!
The Exploding White Mice-A NEST OF VIPERS CD-r burn (originally on Greasy Pop, Australia)
Haven't played this long-forgotten (by me!) mini-LP in quite some time so it was pretty much like an all-new listening experience to me. Once you get over the standard power pop in the eighties vein opening number it's pretty smooth sailing what with the covers of the Chantays, Radio Birdman and Shadows of Knight amongst other high energy winners. Neo-Birdman sound here, yet it ain't exactly a carbon copy so you can't call 'em fakes. In all, a great reminder of what kinda hope that Australia in the mid-eighties had for those of us who had fond memories of what the mid/late-seventies had for those who reminisced about the energy of the mid-sixties, or did I use that description once before???? If so it's good enough to use again, so quit being such nitpickers out there, willya?
Jackie Gleason-A TASTE OF BRASS CD-r burn (originally on Capitol)
Yet another perennial flea market find, this time of Gleason's '67 effort that surprisingly enough features famed jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge amongst its ranks. As you know by heart it's more of that e-z listening kick up your feet music that was custom made for those old "Stereo 99" stations to spin (see ref. to the hi fi nut that looks like Dennis the Menace's dad in the Billy Mure review above), but it's got that sassy sexual sway to it to the point where you'd think they'd ban selling this one to anybody under eighteen years of age. It's got the originals as well as covers of the recent hits just perfect for those intimate moments with "her", or more or less in your case an old issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (the hula girl ones), a dab of Vaseline Intensive Care, and of course the presence of Miss Palm and Her Five Sisters who always seem to be at the beck and call of lonely fanablas everywhere!
Various Artists-PANIC CHICKEN CORNBREAD HURT CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Nice (if brief) batch of internet finds courtesy of Bill Shute, who thankfully has nothing better to do that scour the bowels of the internet and scoop up alla the clingons for me and Brad Kohler to listen to! Nice bunch here with an overemphasis on late-fifties teen rockers that didn't make it in a world where Skip and Flip did, along with a country track from Eddie Zack as well as a Junior Walker rarity you know will never get played on the internet radio show of your choice. My fave of the batch just's gotta be Hal "Cornbread" Singer's "Green Onions" "b-side "Saturday Night in Watts" which has got this down-there r&b instrumental groove goin' on while Singer gabs (I was gonna say "rap" but caught myself just in time) with a whole buncha other folk about his GTO and where he's gonna spend the night since his wife and girlfriend won't let him in! Kinda sounds like a record Rollo from SANFORD AND SON woulda made, but if he did you know that Fred, Bubba and even Aunt Esther woulda been hornin' in on the act!
The pickins this week ain't as bountiful as they coulda been (still holding off on the Forced Exposure order, and ebay winnings ain't comin' in as fast as they should), but thanks to the largesse (as opposed to large ass) of a few of my loyal fans I got some nice li'l spinners to talk about this go 'round. And hey, some of 'em are real winners too so let's be grateful that they arrived on the BLOG TO COMM scene or else I'd be writing about my latest cootie infestation and you don't wanna know about THAT! A nice selection for sure, though not-so-oddly enough my fave of the week ain't even gonna get written up because I've already had the Art Ensemble of Chicago's CERTAIN BLACKS on Inner City for about five years or so! As you may know I really like those early French-period AEC albums that capture the anarchic fury of the original drummer-less foursome in cheap studio settings and this 'un's no exception even if there is a drummer here who happens not to be Don Moye! I definitely will say that having this handy chairside during my beddy bye hours to help lull me into slumber really helped make the last few days something more'n just a period of work and poop. Paul McGarry's the smart one who sent this my way which must prove he's a
Oh, and here's what else I've been spinning these past few...
Did P. D. out-do himself on this 'un??? He very well may have, what with his mad overdrive guitar sound being accompanied by a whole slew of tape manipulation that makes me wonder if what he has accomplished here is similar if not identical to that pre-Suicide group Alan Vega was forming that also featured tapes chopped and re-chopped in a manner that would have even given William Burroughs the runs. As usual the "normal" instrumentation overcomes you like nothing since the last Fadensonnen outing on Kendra Steiner Editions, but that tape sound? Wow, the holler of human voices along with other outerworldly effects kinda comes off like the entire male population of Terre Haute Indiana with their 'nads caught in rat traps played at 45 rpm! You better ditch all of your Philip Glass and Terry Riley platters right now, because this is the REAL modern day classical!
***
By the time Arista decided to create their post-Freedom Novus label in the late-seventies most if not all of my free $$$ had been going towards various garage/punk rock concerns. IN OTHER WORDS...this particular release is a totally new surprise for me even if I may have read my share about this and the rest of the Novus line back when it was alive and happeining. Thankfully Arista really gave their artists room to reach out sans label constraints and not only that but had 'em recording in more uppa date studios which may or may not matter to you. This particular platter featuring AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams really takes advantage of the new benefits bestowed upon him...along with some of the AACM regulars of the day (Joseph Jarman, Douglas Ewart, Amina Claudine Myers and Thurman Barker), Abrams goes from hot abstract Ellington to Art Ensemble-styled flare up with favorable results. And of course all of the great AACM tricks are pulled out (extraneous vocalese, rare and downright unusual instruments that fit in perfectly...), and although the big label gig wasn't gonna last that long at least Abrams and company did their best to milk this one for all it was worth. dontcha think?
***
If you like it cheezy, the Star Boys'll give you enough to make you think you're stuck smack dab inna middle of Wisconsin if not Switzerland. Definitely straight from the minds of the establishment takes on the hits of the day along with some originals tossed in just so's padre doesn't fling this one outta the hacienda, but it's so pumped up that you don't mind the cornballus (or in this case maizeballus) nature of one bit. For some reason this kinda reminds me of a fambly party I woulda gone to back when I was about five or six, though I dunno who in hell which relative of mine woulda had the wherewithal to snatch up a platter like this in the first place!
***
From what I can tell this twenny-plus minute release contains nothing but various rare leftovers that someone over there in Japan thought would make a great platter to push on the the usually Western rock-mad Japanese. Given that my other Birdland Cee-Dees are scattered about the abode (and my efforts to search 'em out for the sake of this very review has proven futile) I can't tell exactly what has or hasn't been out there for Birlandmaniacs to digest before. But for what it is it's well...a pretty good selection of this group's retro-seventies high energy teen pop with an acoustic version of "Shoot You Down" as well as their fantastically double-up entendre'd "Protection" which might or might not be about what you think it's about!
***
I like this even though ya know I shouldn't! When it comes to guitar playing as timid as can be Mure really ain't nothin' but another Al Ciaola, but at least his electric guitar pumperoo has more spark 'n sass 'n the Magnificent Seven one's. But man, does SUPERSONICS IN FLIGHT conjure up more than a few mental images of that pipe-smokin' DENNIS THE MENACE's father lookalike you remember who liked to fiddle around on his hi-fi set back inna fifties and sixties (and maybe even the seventies) and listen to the "Stereo 99" sounds on his headphones while locked away in his knotty pine den! I wish they still made them kinda guys for the here-and-now (well, at least they would make fine contrast to the kinda person I'd like to be!), but I kinda get the feeling that if they DID these guys'd probably be locked away in their personal saunas with each other, ifyaknowaddamean...
***
A more'n OBVIOUS fake Woodstock cash-in custom made for the sorta lenient parent type (MY folks never woulda bought this one fer me in a millyun years and THANK GOODNESS!) trying to be kinda/sorta hip w/the brood. There ain't no "fish cheer" on this 'un let alone any pix of nekkid hippie chicks who probably don't smell so good either, and in fact I get the idea that this platter is just a buncha tracks straddling a whole slew of pop and rock strata that were lying about the Design vaults gathered up with audience sounds tossed in to give it that live aura. Come to think of it, there really ain't ANYTHING that this platter has to do with the famed weekend of love peace 'n whatever side orders you got with that. Considering the label I was kinda hoping that some 1964-vintage Lou Reed-related track woulda been slapped on here but no go for that! I actually sorta liked the version of "Scarborough Fair" that lacked the Simon and Garfunkel introspective cringe (whoever sang it was definitely trying for the William Shakespeare-era dynamics 'stead of the books and poetry cuddliness)...you may like "Mama Told Me Not To Come" better, which judging from your musical inclinations would figure.
***
This guy's name certainly struck a plunk in my chord when I saw it in the credits to FREAK OUT many a moon ago, but if I heard this album then I get the idea that Frank Zappa was certainly a loony tune to get THIS particular guy to play on his album! Well, whaddaya expect from some mid-teenbo suburban slob knowitall anyway, pearls of musical wisdom straight outta the pages of CIRCUS magazine? Hipster bop that you kinda get the idea those "cool cat" types that John Severin used to draw in the old MAD comic book woulda eaten up like nothing since potrzebie...originals and cover versions intermingled for the beret and cigarette holder types (no stale doritos in the bunch!) ruminating in all of us.
***
A lotta this retro garage rock wears thin on me, and I can't say that SHADOWS OF SOUND ain't any different. Still it is a pleasant spin with its decidedly European attitude and a female singer who reminds me of whatzername from Shocking Blue. So if you're still game on all of those eighties garage revival groups that seemed to overwhelm me to the point of "no mas!" then you might be able to eke some enjoyment outta this. As for me one spin is probably/undoubtedly enough because, like, the idea that seemed outta this world in 1966 and in much need of re-appreciation ten years later just sounds overdone here in the dreaded teens.
***
No bad at all sounds from a mid-sixties Texas band that doesn't sound like a mid-sixtiesTexas band. The Coastliners knew how to move about from innocent teenbo garage to surf rock, and for a local bunch just tryin' to earn a few shekels they sure sound better'n the kinda groups that I'm sure got the big Prom gig moolah back in them days. Only real beef with this one is that some of the later tracks have that Gary Puckett-sorta neo-adult pop feeling to 'em which, for some maybe not-so-strange reason, makes me wanna don a kerchief 'round my neck and slap on some Hai Karate. A definite somethingorother...
***
Hmmmm, a rather/partially/definitely good slice of late-sixties jazz rock that (surprisingly enough) doesn't make me wanna reach for the newest Stooges in hopes of resensification. Sure the lead singer evokes all of those gruff and tumble nuances of David Clayton Thomas and some of the very same jazz rock cliches of the late-sixties that made you jump off bridges whenever "25 or 6 to 4" blared from transistor radios can be detected, but the melodies are overall a whole lot better'n the usual 1970 post-bop rigmarole and the vocals overcome much of the bloat emote so popular then. When all is said and done this is what the Tasavallan Presidentti album should have sounded like!
***
Haven't played this long-forgotten (by me!) mini-LP in quite some time so it was pretty much like an all-new listening experience to me. Once you get over the standard power pop in the eighties vein opening number it's pretty smooth sailing what with the covers of the Chantays, Radio Birdman and Shadows of Knight amongst other high energy winners. Neo-Birdman sound here, yet it ain't exactly a carbon copy so you can't call 'em fakes. In all, a great reminder of what kinda hope that Australia in the mid-eighties had for those of us who had fond memories of what the mid/late-seventies had for those who reminisced about the energy of the mid-sixties, or did I use that description once before???? If so it's good enough to use again, so quit being such nitpickers out there, willya?
***
Yet another perennial flea market find, this time of Gleason's '67 effort that surprisingly enough features famed jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge amongst its ranks. As you know by heart it's more of that e-z listening kick up your feet music that was custom made for those old "Stereo 99" stations to spin (see ref. to the hi fi nut that looks like Dennis the Menace's dad in the Billy Mure review above), but it's got that sassy sexual sway to it to the point where you'd think they'd ban selling this one to anybody under eighteen years of age. It's got the originals as well as covers of the recent hits just perfect for those intimate moments with "her", or more or less in your case an old issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (the hula girl ones), a dab of Vaseline Intensive Care, and of course the presence of Miss Palm and Her Five Sisters who always seem to be at the beck and call of lonely fanablas everywhere!
***
Various Artists-PANIC CHICKEN CORNBREAD HURT CD-r burn (Bill Shute)Nice (if brief) batch of internet finds courtesy of Bill Shute, who thankfully has nothing better to do that scour the bowels of the internet and scoop up alla the clingons for me and Brad Kohler to listen to! Nice bunch here with an overemphasis on late-fifties teen rockers that didn't make it in a world where Skip and Flip did, along with a country track from Eddie Zack as well as a Junior Walker rarity you know will never get played on the internet radio show of your choice. My fave of the batch just's gotta be Hal "Cornbread" Singer's "Green Onions" "b-side "Saturday Night in Watts" which has got this down-there r&b instrumental groove goin' on while Singer gabs (I was gonna say "rap" but caught myself just in time) with a whole buncha other folk about his GTO and where he's gonna spend the night since his wife and girlfriend won't let him in! Kinda sounds like a record Rollo from SANFORD AND SON woulda made, but if he did you know that Fred, Bubba and even Aunt Esther woulda been hornin' in on the act!
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