***Well, with that outta the way let's get down to the facts of life reality of it all. Here be the reviews for this week, once again a pretty thrifty seven days since I didn't have to buy any of the platters that are up for inspection thanks to the bountiful blessings of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and P. D. Fadensonnen (I found the pile of platters he sent for X-mas just yesterday!). Don't worry, one of these days I'm gonna write up some freshly-purchased of my own free will or something like that items but until that day comes (the day when there's something out there that I'd actually plunk down the hard-begged for) it's these freebee burns and nothin' but! Well, hope you like the selection of records being presented even if you're probably never gonna read about any of this spew in any of those nuevo fanzines that seem to be sprouting up on the scene like chancres.
When I was a kid I used to get served beans and greens, and I HATED that slop! The stuff was tasteless, sometimes some rice would be added and it'd get all mushy and worst of all someone hadda just throw some fatty ham hock into the pot and ya'd get slimy meat to eat along with it. Yes, beans and greens was sorta like the twentieth century's answer to pottage. Needless to say I do not go for this particular platter featuring vibraphonist McCoy playing the hits of the late-sixties in that quaint r&b jazzy way that vibraphones always seemed to come in handy for. The musical version of the dish for sure. Right about now I sure could go for the musical version of Pepper Pot Soup that's for sure!
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I dunno, but """""I""""" for one consider Tiny Tim to be one of those true under-the counterculture New York City bonafeed heroes just like David Peel, Tuli Kupferberg, Peter Stampfel and a few dozen other natural geniuses who are every bit as much a part of the BLOG TO COMM fringe hall of fame as any potentate punk types you could dare think of. So it's always good to latch onto a recording of his once in awhile to grab a bit of that eternal glory that the man exuded throughout his roller coaster career.
This one's from his height in fame on the heels of "Tulips", with Tim doing a pretty straightforward show highlighting his musical knowledge for a pretty appreciative crowd. Contains material from GOD BLESS mixed in with other updated sorta-classics all presented in that "give 'em a good show" way you just don't see anymore. Not only that, but it all comes down a whole lot better'n yer father, who hated Tiny for natural reasons, woulda predicted given what a freak the guy came off as with that greasy hair 'n all. Even the cornball backing band helps add to the Tim mystique and the sound quality on this ain't too bad even if a good mixing would help plenty. And if anyone out there can scrape up some pre-fame photos and other ephemera well, please post it for all of us you selfish thing!
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Considering how I pretty much tired of the Rough Trade groove by the time this album came out ('84 or so Paul McGarry says) it wasn't like I missed that much! Not that it's dire, but as you'd expect a whole load of the material (this being a covers album featuring some of the brainier tracks to have been recorded during the sixties and seventies) just doesn't rise to past brass-knuckle intensity levels. It's kinda reminds me of those young folkster types Brad Kohler always has the misfortune to come in contact with who just have to do their own run-through versions of "Sweet Jane" that naturally lack the Velvets' underlying current of passion. Some halfway decent moments ("John Riley" ain't that bad) but otherwise I'd rather hear it done the right way or not at all 'n so there (braappp)!
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I don't think this one was ever officially released, but it sure comes off like one of those seventies platters that New Music Distribution Service would sell way back when. The sound quality is whatcha'd call flat and just like something you'd get offa one of those cheaply-pressed self-produced albums that you wouldn't be able to afford even these days. The performance is just as boffo as those extremely rare gems tend to be, with Graves creating a wall of sheer sound with his percussion while Ware blasts on his horn like he's leading a regiment into the Black Hole of Calcutta. If you're the kinda fellow whose tastes in jazz tend to lean to the fringier aspects of the quest you'd be wise to snatch a copy of this one up somewhere via the internet.
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Ramshackle Glory-WHO ARE YOUR FRIENDS GONNA BE CD-r burn (originally on Savage Wasteland Records)
If you thought the precious petunia crowd of the eighties and nineties was bad, they sure come off like brave and stoic bulwarks of courage next to today's safe space species that's for sure! And if these guys need a troubadour for these times then Bunny Whatzizname and his Ramshackle Glory would make a definitely good choice. Thirdway decent (if you tilt your ears a little) folkie rock with angst-riddled vocals mix with actual spoken work interludes on a variety of subjects from racism, violence, sexism and underwear skidmarks for all I know resulting in a recording that makes me want to watch a pack of New Guinea tribesmen eat a Peace Corps volunteer. Didn't work for Billy Bragg and it doesn't for Ramshackle Glory either. A band that, like a good portion of you readers, is just too overwrought to live and I only hope that somebody puts them (and you for that matter) out of their (and your) misery very soon!
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Nicey nice neo-r&b instrumental album from one of the more prolific in front of and behind the scenes people in da biz. Good for lazin' back and reading comic books and fanzines, or even typing out this drek that you readers seem to gobble up with enjoyment. Once in a lifetime spin for me, but you might be able to ooze some more pre-music-as-gunk pleasure outta the thing.
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More great radio mysteries that take a whole lot longer'n a minute to solve! And whaddaya know, but BOTH of 'em deal with old guys croakin' and their no account nephews tryin' to get away with the inheritance with some pretty sneaky alibis that mighta fooled Fearless Fosdick but not our guy! Bob Bailey plays it cool as usual and the stories are quite involved. If you like those old tee-vee detective shows of the fifties and early-sixties yet wanna give your eyeballs a break, give some of these a try! From 1/10 and 1/17 of 1960, two dates that certainly have gone down in history if I do say so myself (and if you can tell me why you might just win something I couldn't give away for years!).
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Who woulda thunk that hillbillies were such tormented people? Just give a lissen to these outta-the-loop pre-slicko country tunes where a whole lotta wailin' about everything from offin' oneself to drugs to direct confrontations with the Evil One (and I don't mean Dave Lang!) himself and you'll wonder why the entire Confederacy didn't do a Jim Jones long ago! Not only that, but you can hear the evolution of the country idiom from back porch rural hoo-hah to slicked up bigtime bonanza on this collection. Features the unknown and the biggies mingling together in a big woe-filled bundle of misery that's a whole lot more negative than what wags made punk rock out to be way back when. Special bonus points for yet another re-ish of the Eddie Noack classic "Psycho" which surprisingly enough came out in 1968---I thought it definitely would have been a cash in on the Hitchcock moom pitcher released a good eight years earlier!
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Agin no track listings, but given what is on here like, do I NEED any??? The photo of Chris Christie downing a doughnut, Barney Google/Spark Plug and an Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips don't belie what's in store on this one which features a goofus safe driving song, loads of vintage radio ads, FDR plugging War Bonds and some crazy gibberish song that fails to amuse. Two count 'em Jello ads pop up as does Arthur Godfrey plugging cigars, and who amongst us could ever forget the infamous Choochoo Charlie Good 'n Plenty commercial? Of special interest were the "Five Minute Mysteries" which were kinda like those Ellery Queen one-minute ones only we get four extra minutes to stretch our brains. Oh yeah, there was this one rock song thingie that sounded as if it were of an early-eighties hardcore punk bent. Now how did that get in here anyway???
An episode of Johnny Dollar gets played every Sunday at 7pm EST on WAMU, it is part of the Big Broadcast show that plays vintage radio shows from 7-10 every Sunday night.
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