MAGAZINE REVIEW!!!! UGLY THINGS #45 (Summer/Fall 2017 issue)

It sure is great to get my claws on a new UGLY THINGS especially when the reading situation is starting to get thin and its either grab an old fanzine or comic book to pass the time away or look for some buried copy of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in order to play yet another exciting game of Count the Bullseyes. As usual, this latest ish does not fail us in any way/shape/form even if Cyril Jordan wasn't able to continue on his year-by-year autobiographical trek through a rock 'n roll career that was filled with so many twists and turns that we can all live vicariously through.

The quality just keeps roaring on what with the massive cover saga on the mid/late-sixties Dutch Beat Boom featuring those longtime faves like the Outsiders (need I say not the Cleveland or English or any other band with the same moniker?) and Q-65 not forgetting things like a piece on the all-gal band the Untouchable (who were an influence on Iggy and the Stooges which should plunk them in a Punk Rock Hall of Fame glass enclosure rather soon), the Left Banke (!!!!!) and even some El Lay-area biker rockers called Puke, Spit and Guts who tried their hand at the whole punk thing and didn't even end up looking as silly as some of the bands that were trying to squeeze precious moolah outta kids who didn't know any better. Heck, there's even an interview with Kid Strange of Doctors of Madness fame that gets into the meat and potatoes of their whole reason for being even if it didn't mention their appearance on the old NBC WEEKEND show back '76 way. (And fortunately nothing about Strange's "New Romantic"---or was it "Blitz"---period is brought up. The less said about that the better!)

There's also a thing on some John Entwistle auction of rare items that's going to some worthy cause (or so they say) with his name on it, a good interview with Neil Ford of the Fanatic and  even more on country singer Joe Stampley's garage band side project the Uniques! And of course the other pieces I didn't quite get to but I wanted to get this review to you out in a timely fashion for once in my life!

My favorites of the whole batch of pieces though were (first off) the thing that Phil Milstein did with Victor "Moulty" Moulton of Barbarians fame who gives us a long and detailed account of what happened the day he lost his left hand, and let me tell you the story is so painful to listen to (as it must have been for Moulton to recollect) that if he talked about it on the legendary "Moulty" single the way it happened that record never woulda gotten played nohow! (You can tell I'm excited by this issue given all of the exclamation points I've been using---gotta control myself somehow.) (Second off) I also dug part two of the Geofrey Krozier saga which goes into the man's New York days which reveal a few things that even I didn't know about. You may be surprised too, but given just how nonchalant you readers are I kinda doubt it.

Of course there are the reviews of items that pertain to the UGLY THINGS universe that might interest you (unfortunately nothing reviewed here is begging for my attention---sheesh guys, release something that I'd like to splurge on for once) and all of my favorite writers from Bill Shute and Tim Stegall on appear. And if you need an excuse to take the day off and devote it to something that will soothe your suburban slob soul then hey, why not give this latest ish a go? OK, in most of you readers' cases why not skip going to the welfare office and read this in the comfort of your Section 8 fart-encrusted bedroom???

So like, eh----hi. Spent the week going through even more boxes of thirtysome years of rock-related jiz that I ought to throw away but just don't have the heart to. When I do get back on ebay a whole lotta the magazines and whatnot I have gathered up o'er this period in time are bound to get the auctioneer treatment while I don't doubt that a nice portion will be tossed into the trash because like...who cares other'n a few anal retentives who don't have the money for this stuff anyway. Did find a few interesting things throughout the search like what remains of a late-eighties fanzine done up by a once-friend/now-enemy that was so cutting, biting and downright hoo-hah that the thing actually had me rolling in the aisles (or in this case smack dab outta my e-zy recliner)! However, since the guy is on my eternal hate list for fraternizing with the enemy I won't mention any of it. Now if he wants to read this blog or even make comments well, he's free to do so...not that I'm exactly up to PRINTING any of his spew (though I did about ten years back). But sheesh, if that fanzine ever came out it woulda been the biggest laff riot since ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS!

***

Well it was bound to happen and although by now it's older than Methuselah news lemme just drop a few words regarding the passing of none other than Jerry Lewis at the ripe old age of 91. Usually I wouldn't comment on these deaths if only because this blog ain't exactly WHATEVER HAPPENED TO... but sheesh, at one time Jerry Lewis was like, a GUIDING FORCE in my life! Y'see, when I was 10/11-years-old Lewis was one of my bonafeed heroes next to Bugs Bunny and Dennis the Menace (Tee-Vee and comic versions!). Back in those rather weirded out days I thought Lewis was the coolest thing since Bill Cullen (you can bet that when I hadda wear glasses I was glad because my hero Cullen wore glasses and now I could be even more like him) and you can bet that I used to watch his moom pitchers whether they were on local rerun or national first time around Tee-Vee---ya just couldn't escape 'em which was all the better for me.

Lewis's various prime time variety/comedy shows were long gone by this time (I occasionally would peek at his NBC show of the late-sixties and don't even remember any hubbub regarding his failed ABC series which I have written about before) but I still got my fill of Lewis considering how all his old movies with and without Dean Martin were popping up on the boob tube with regularity, and of course whenever I had the chance I'd tune into the Muscular Distrophy telethon on Labor Day just to catch the guy clowning it up despite the sleep deprivation, getting all woozed out and sometimes slipping in some "language" that I sure wasn't allowed to use around the house. I just couldn't get enough Jerry I'll tell ya!

You can catch Brad Kohler's imitation CREEM
BTC logo in reverse if you strain your eyes
hard enough.

When I got older I gotta admit that I began tiring of the guy (maybe it was a viewing of DON'T RAISE THE BRIDGE, LOWER THE RIVER that did it, or maybe the MAD peek inside Jerry Lewis's wallet article, or maybe it was them dirty jokes he was slipping in during the telethon) and watching those old moom pitchers just wasn't as exciting as they used to be for my pre-adolescent suburban slob ranch house kid self. At least those early movies and tee-vee programs were definitely worth an occasional viewing (especially on those nothing to do Sunday afternoons) and the guy was one who could deliver on some pretty hefty har-hars when the time and place fit. And who could deny that Lewis was an even bigger do-it-aller than we all thought. I mean, who else but Jerry could have his own DC comic (the last of their celebrity line to get axed and in 1971, a good five or so year after Bob Hope's) or ABC Saturday morning cartoon series not to mention a few thou other things that I'm sure none the obits mentioned. Sure he had a larger ego'n most H'wood bigshots but then so do most of these rock fandom dolts I have/had dealt with so what's the big hoo-hah anyway?

Anyway, yet another big name that I can remember hearing about since day uno has passed and you can bet that I'll be more affected by Lewis' passing than I would some big name who came up during my own physical if not mental growth and has been proclaimed some sorta "spokesperson" (sheesh!) for "my" generation and alla that comfy feely rot we've all be subjected to whether we like it or not!

***

Some goodies this time. Most of this is courtesy of Bill Shute and Paul McGarry. Note to Bob Forward...RIP RIG AND PANIC still plays intermittently, though it's definitely the boom box's fault. Only one actual purchase by me which I gotta say is one more than I had expected. Aww c'mon, read the thing for once in your life!

Samuel Dunscombe & Tim Olive-ZANSHI CD-r (Kendra Steiner Editions)

"Zanshi: reside, vestigial traces, dregs. Zanshi is what is left after the core of an object, sound, image, has been removed" Them's the liner notes and I still don't know how the heck the team of Dunscombe and Olive made these sounds. The first of the two features this hum that reminds me of a basement dehumidifier on a hot August day kinda like the one I'm experiencing now (y'know them days when it was so hot and you'd spend the entire afternoon looking through stacks of old comic books trying to forget how sticky you are?) while the other sounded like the sperm being formed in Robbie the Robot's nuts---subdued gurgle that's bound to push through once Robbie has some hot dream about Univac. Well, can you think of a better way to describe the rather wondrous form of "musique concrete" (more/less) without looking like a phony intellectual thumbing through his Thesaurus looking for new ways to say "wowzer"???

***

Julie Driscoll-1969 CD-r burn (originally on Polydor Records, England)

Starts off with some interesting jazz rock moves that actually sound inspiring considering the time and source, then it gets a little dippy with some soft acoustic numbers but even those hold up surprisingly well without Brian Auger's organ wails. Let's face it, Driscoll was a fine femme vocalist whose tones really stood out against the yammering of the female competition of the day. Interesting neo-singer/songwriter effort that doesn't insult your sense of rockism propriety even with the low points. And the horn-laden tracks even add a whole dimension of vim that you never did get outta Chicago! Give it at least one little try.

***

Xhol Caravan-ELECTRIP CD (Garden of Delights Records, Germany)

These late-sixties platters with the hip covers always did seem kinda "chance-y" when delivering on the jamz, so I approached this one with quite a bitta caution. Sure I liked their Ohr release with the naughty title (never did hear the others) but I thought that one was perhaps too much of a Zappa-knockoff to appreciate for its own good ifyaknowaddamean. This pre-Ohr release (originally on Hansa Records) does have its share of late-sixties Mothers of Inventionisms to contend with but the sounds of the New English Jazz can thoroughly be discerned which does add a nice li'l ting to it all. Although ELECTRIP ain't gonna be one of those top beddy-bye spins to lull me into slumberland it's still a good enough jazz-rock-y excursion that actually does stimulate the nodes when the nodes most certainly need it.

***

GO! WITH THE TIMES CD-r burn (dunno the label it was originally on...probably some English one because like, who else?)

I should have a perpetual mad-on about this group since they stiffed me $20 on an order I had sent them THREE DECADES BACK, but I can't really stay angry even after all these years. I mean, there's a good chance that they never even GOT the order in the first place. So right now let's just say that the Times are off my hate list, though really I could use that twenty bucks just about now...

It's good. Nothing great but since this was perhaps the only way we could hear any of that Creation meets Who meets John's Children-styled rock at the time it does hold a certain nostalgic warmth for me. Good enough flash music that does dive into that early-eighties "twee" sound but then again nobody did twee like these English foppy revival groups of the early-eighties. Even with the soft sop these guys come off a whole lot more straightforward than the bands that came in their wake. Even has a version of Generation X's "Your Generation" that sounds like how the Who woulda handled in around '66. Let's face it, when the eighties were clocking out it all sounded so strained that I would have sworn I was listening to the aural equivalent of baby food. Goo!

***

PAUL BLEY & SCORPIO CD-r burn (originally on Milestone Records)

This is one of those early-seventies Bley platters where he decided to do a li'l "experimenting" with a synthesizer in order to look hip and with it. And it worked! Naw, this ain't no Weather Report fusion extrapolation but a pretty darn good attempt at taking the new thing of the sixties and (if you will pardon the expression) "jazzing it up" a bit. Dave Holland and Barry Altschul play their typical seventies under-the-beat best here, while Bley shines on both new and old numbers, the latter including "Ictus" which was not only written by Bley's former Mrs. Carla but must've made its fiftieth recorded appearance here.

***

YOU BET YOUR LIFE WITH GROUCHO MARX CD-r burn

I'm sure most of you reg'lar readers have been watching YOU BET YOUR LIFE ever since you were able to turn on a tee-vee set. Heck, I'll bet there are a few of you olde tymers who remember watching the show when it was originally being broadcast on NBC, and I for one can recall seeing Groucho asking the questions back when I was a mere kiddie on rainy Sunday evenings right before the prime time programming got into gear! (Sheesh, I even remember watching the show while a sick kiddiegardener and afterwards eating a whole can of Franco American macaroni that dad bought in order to cheer me up...and eating canned macaroni for the first time in my life as well!)

YOU BET YOUR LIFE also ran on radio (look up the exact dates yerself!) and thankfully a whole slew of 'em have survived, the shows popping up here being just two of 'em. Great listening not only for Groucho's actually funny patter (I prefer him in this setting rather'n with those brothers of his and yeah, I remember what Brad Kohler told me!) but for the quiz questions which don't wrack your brain as much as they do on JEOPARDY. And you better watch out, because next week the "secret word" is gonna be Fellman!

***

THE BEST OF CANNON'S JUG STOMPERS CD-r burn

Dunno the label this came out on either (if you wanna know Google Duck Duck Go it yourself) but whatever label it is they shoulda gotten some sorta reward from the industry for producing such a fine collection of late-twenties/early-thirties jug band music. Of course the industry couldn't care squat about Cannon's Jug Stompers but I can...this is hotcha real down folk blooze that sounds as if it were recorded right at the plantation between breaks and rushed out to whatever adoring public there was to buy this...plunky banjo and guitar merge with actual oomphy jug sounds to make a real downhome kinda music I couldn't see the Lovin' Spoonful dirtying their autoharps with. If you like it primal and feral without the slickness that has affected music in general ever since the business became THE BUSINESS you might like that, and it even has a version of "Walk Right In" done thirtysome years before the Rooftop Singers struck gold with it (and where does that leave their version of a pre-Dead "Viola Lee Blues"?).

***

Various Artists-SENATOR BADMOON A-GO-GO-GO!!! CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Here's another one that Bill must have sent me a good two or ten years back only I chance upon it now. Still plays swell and the selection's nothing to spurt snot over either, what with some pretty hotcha tracks by acts you've never heard of before and probably never will hear from again. Lemme take that back since we all know who Giorgio Moroder is and his version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival smasheroo "Bad Moon Rising" is on her, but other'n that how many of you have heard of George Goodman and his Headliners or Daisy Clan?

In all the tracks seem to range from fair enough bubblygum to cornballus country blues shuffle and jazzy schmooze for the Geritol set, and it all gets ya here (thump chest) in one way or another. Special surprise...Senator (hah!) Rosco Dean's "A Ballad to George Wallace" which takes the earlier "Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley" mode (complete with "Battle Hymn of the Republic" backing as if you're that dense) and uses the dadblamed thing to lionize the infamous Alabama Governor who was at the time of this recording recovering from his assassination attempt at the hands of Arthur Bremer, perhaps the blandest political assassin ever. Yes, you can say his truth is rolling on but my, would that be in bad taste!

MOOM PITCHER REVIEW! HAND OF THE ASSASSIN (Spain, 1967)

This moom reminds me of some of those films that they usedta show on THE HOULIHAN AND BIG CHUCK SHOW back inna mid-seventies---y'know, one of those cheapo foreign jobs that somehow had something to do with the mystery/horror/sci-fi idiom that was sooooooo bad that both Hoolie and Chuck would be apologizing for just how bad a film it was, wondering if any viewers were left before going into the latest Kielbasa Kid skit. Then the next week the two would be apologizing again, not for the quality of the film but for the brief tit-rubbing scene that someone at the station felt fit to leave in probably because it was getting close to quitting time and well...who watches these things anyway???

There weren't any tit-rubbing scenes in HAND OF THE ASSASSIN but maybe if there were it woulda been a livelier moom pitcher than it had been. Actually this Spanish import ain't as zilch-D as one would think, it being a nice li'l cranker-outer murder mystery that doesn't tend to bore you whether you're watching it in broad daylight or at one inna morn like many of us probably did at one point in tee-vee history time

HAND's basically that ol' murder mystery set in a spooky house, or in this case a spooky health spa where a group of seedy in their own ways individuals are marooned during a severe rainstorm somewhere inna north of Spain. After a suitcase filled with loads of twenny dollar bucks accidentally falls open the owner is killed (during a musical number which is the only part of the film featuring the original soundtrack, everything else is dubbed in including the professor, an obvious Paul Frees job) which leads to a whole load of speculation as well as a few more offings in the process. A whole buncha nice li'l twists and turns can be observed with the usual false premises popping up and of course the scene where you think it's all over but it ain't and... Well, I've wasted a good seventysome minutes on worse things like certain Dave Marsh books and that's no jive!

So I had one of those rather herky jerky kinda weeks---y'know the kind where the work never stops and ya end the day feeling like ya just put in an eternity at the salt mines and dread going back the next day. And boy do the evening hours when ya can unlax and rewind come off so goooooood after all of that hard work and drudgery. Yeah, that's the kinda week I had 'n I gotta say that I'm sure glad I survived these past seven spinners if only because once I got through them days, puking seems so fine...

***

'n so, what should I write about before we get down to the meaty potatoes of it all. Howzbout some "current events" to spice things up? Well, not really...I had a really big schpiel planned re. my take on the rawther recent Charlottesville hoohah that transpired this past Sunday, but I thought I'd scrap letting you know my innermost thoughts on what happened because hey, I'm bound to upset more'n a few precious petunias out there with my news 'n views that just might seem unsettling to the reg'lar as well as uninitiated reader! I really don't wanna bruise any feelings out there in Pansyland y'know.

Come to think of it---maybe I BETTER give my own guts out opinion of this and all of the hoo hah surrounding that nice li'l kerfuffle that the State Media turned into an even BIGGER propaganda push than they even did with Pavlik. I mean, what else am I but PREDICTABLE, so why not stop being so this late in the game o' life and let you know exactly how I feel about recent events that seem to have shaken the sensitive to their very core and have made brave men fall to their knees! And maybe even caused a few people to skid their shorts for all I know!

To start things out let me "come out" as they say (hah!) and admit that I am whatcha'd call "Alt-Right" and PROUD to be so...after all, Paul Gottfried (the guy who coined the term), Pat Buchanan and H. L. Mencken* are my favorite political commentators these days (along with Andy Nowicki, Gavin McInnes, Justin Raimondo, Kathy Shaidle, Paul Craig Roberts and scant few others---even Milo ranks in there somewhere!) and if anyone out there stands as a counterpoint to what the stodgy types in the Republican Party and the official conservative movement stand for these days it's guys like these! After all, ya gotta admit that the writings and actions of these political stalwarts who are about as outside of the usual Dem/Rep loop as I am get about as much respect from these well-ensconced ones as I would at a rock fanzine convention! Hokay maybe these folks got their claim to be called Alt-Right swiped by what Ramzpaul has been called a bunch of "Hollywood Nazis" over the past few years, but if you look at the original (and perhaps "real") definition of the Alt-Right term these guys are the ones who created and nurtured a real counterpoint to what's passing as the republicans or the conservatives or whatever there is these days that I gotta say nauseate me. And they do make me wanna puke about as much as the bleedhearts out there in Ivory Tower Land who seem to have taken everything that was good and right these past hundred or so years and trashed it in a manner that would make those reformers of yore smile on from their portals in Hell.

(Hokay, maybe i am skirting around the fact that the fine chaps who were there to keep a statue of an anti-slavery Civil War general who just wanted to defend his state from Northern Aggression intact weren't exactly the kind of people who share the same views that Gottfried et. al. hold, but in this situation I gotta let ya know where my true sociopolitical views lie, as if you didn't know them by now.)

Too bad they didn't have a Starbucks to go to afterwards.

Besides being a proud member of the anarchist right (if you stretch that term a bit) let me admit that in no way can I even in the smidgiest way cozy up to those antifa, or as I like to call them antifanabla types (who seem to be the darlings of the newspapers and the networks for reasons that should be more than obvious) wrecking property (which ain't theft---though see what happens to you when you come after my records!), wrecking people (who I guess don't own themselves and thus are worthy of their pain) and yammering away on their high chairs horses at anything that's to the right of Jay Hinman with predictable moral indignation. Talk about SANCTIMONY INCORPORATED---I haven't seen such altruistic useful idiots as this since I stopped reading MAXIMUM ROCK AND ROLL back in the late-eighties! These kinda/sorta "rebel" types (hah!) remind me of those Spanish communists in the thirties who were digging up graves of nuns and exhibiting them, sometimes in pornographic positions whilst getting the praise (and moolah) of rich Amerigan liberals who were doing their part to make this a better world where we can all join in and sing in harmony like some old Coke commercial (or PBS documentary), preferably atop some mass grave as yet to be uncovered.  And, of course, we all know what a virtual hellhole Franco's Spain was next to Stalin's Workers Paradise throughout those year, eh???

If some of the Alt Right elements are whatcha'd call "beyond the pale" (and frankly I'd say that a good part of 'em ain't despite the hoots and hollers to the contrary---Mike Cernovich and Paul Joseph Watson come to mind), the antifa "Alt Left" is a way more violent creature without a conscience that's driven by pure Marcusian ideological bulldozer zealotry to put it mildly! Take it from me, you'll find more variety and excitement in ideas and expression on the other side, not to mention people who still like the Velvet Underground and Thirteenth Floor Elevators and don't feel the need to apologize than you will in the precious petunia world of today. And when I get down to it I must admit that I will choose sanity over the creation of the kind of world that the kind of corpse gazers seen above undoubtedly wanted, and thanks be to God for that.

Not that it matters to the real powers that be who are intent on wrecking everything that was working rather well these past few centuries while using their hired goons as disposable pawns. The tearing down will continue, and hapless fools who get run over are gonna be the new heroes of the new state perhaps with plays, movies and museums devoted to them. And with sights being taking off the internet (including those like ALTERNATIVE RIGHT which was a well though out and comparatively balanced blog, at least compared with most on the other side of the spectrum) you can tell that anything that's even mildly offensive and contrary to current tastes is going to be banished with a deep vengeance. If so, may I say toodle-oo now 'n before it's too late???

As usual Jim Goad puts it into a language even your most addled fuzzpitted self-righteous gal can understand. Ditto the oft maligned Ramzpaul. Ya better read 'em or die!

***

Look ma, no cavities other' the
one that hunka hair's covering!

Guess what I found while looking through about fortysome years of boxes filled with various flotsam and whateveritissam that I have collected throughout the years. No it ain't yet another copy of SUPERDOPE but (now get this!) a snap of memeME!!! that was taken at a mid-seventies Christmas party whilst under the influence of too many Coca-Colas I snitched while no one was looking (of course the stuff I added to the otherwise soft drink will be discussed in detail in a further post). When I see this snap the memories just keep on flowin' because when this pic was popped it happened to be during a time in my life when I was spinning many a Zappa, Beefheart, Patti, Eno, Alice, Lou and whatever album enjoying 'em all to the utmost. Come to think of it I was a few days into having purchased and enjoyed to the fullest the Hampton Grease Band platters at the time and was a few days away from snatching up the Monty Python live import on Charisma that never did get released o'er here if that makes any difference to you (like it did to me given how the former represented the extent of my freeform freak tastes and the latter my own dabbling into various cutting edge comedy troupes that would fizzle out within the span of a few short years). Yes, those memories just keep flowin' thinkin' of all the suburban slob fun I was having while this pic was taken, and for the life of me will someone out there identify that dark wavy stuff that was set splat upon the top of my bean???

***

Oh yeah, I just discovered (and posted on the left) Craig Bell's own website. It's a really good 'un too what with alla the history and pix of Craig and his various groups that can be found. Lotsa nice information to be found here and like, if you want you can even spend some moolah on Craig's fairly-priced booty that you can't find anywhere else now you have the opportunity to spend, spend, and  SPEND EVEN MORE!!!! 

Funny thing, but the guy himself has posted that very same snap of him playing in Rocket From The Tombs while wearing a Left End "I'm Spoiled Rotten" t-shirt that I discovered in my own collection only last Sunday and was planning on posting this week! His is in much better quality natch and I thought I was gonna getta real scoop posting this 'un, but what th' hey here is my photocopied copy anyway!

Anyway....the Bell site's a good place to waste some time while you're cruising the web and you're getting tired of all of that clickbait that seems to be cluttering up the screens while searching for something that's a little...."mentally stimulating"... at least for nonviable masses of tissue like ourselves that is

***

Things are looking bright not only with this week's batch of beauts to spin but with the promised arrival of the latest UGLY THINGS in a few day's time.  And that's not forgetting a few interesting platters I actually paid for with my own moolah which are bound to make their way to my front porch within the next few days (or weeks, or months in the case of my Forced Exposure preorder). Looks kinda bright out there in soundsville for a change, and between these purchases and the goodies sent by Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Weasel Walter and even Bob Forward I should be basking in pure musical mayhem for quite some time. Well, it should keep me off the streets but really, have I ever been out of trouble???

Weasel Walter-A POUND OF FLESH 4-CD set (ugEXPLODE, available here)

I just got done listening to all four Cee Dees of this set (well, I actually broke the listening sesh into two disques yesterday and two today) and gotta say that I am not only visibly, but physically...spiritually shaken. And that's something that music rarely does to me anymore...you could say that A POUND OF FLESH is an effort that has pretty much skewered whatever is left of my sense of musical appreciation to the point where I feel like one of those shish kebabs that pop up in the meat case of your local Cash Market just beggin' to be doctored up for at least another day's shelf life.

Much of Weasel Walter's other efforts have been whatcha'd call "cutting edge" and other terms that come straight outta the new lexicon of hip descriptors. Forget those...A POUND OF FLESH beats 'em all as far as a mass of totally unclassifiable (jazz? avant garde classical? rockism???) really don't cut it. To be safe I'll call it jazz because the way this one reaches out and twists your frontals it's gotta be the most crazed (but not crazy) release with a neo-free bent to come out at least since the decline of the AACM!

Dunno how he did it...some sorta electronic sampling or something along them lines...but this is technically a percussion album. Not quite the solo percussion platter that you got with the likes of Andrew Cyrille or Jerome Cooper. You hear electronic roars and squeals all about not to mention electric guitar attacks, some which are particularly unnerving especially on "Xenoglossy Part 3" (last track on second disque). Some sorta bell-like sound can be heard pealing and although Walter's booklet notes explain it all it's like I can't comprehend any technical explanations of musical instrumentation beyond the flute-o-phone. Even when it's Walter and his drums and nothing but (like the first track on disque 4) it's a wild rumble worthy of the Milford Graves Drum Ensemble (and there's only one of him doin' this!). All I can do is settle back, turn on the machine and be CRUSHED!

To be cornballus about it listen at your own peril! But do enjoy it because somehow the angular synth sounds and beyond Sunny Murray rhythms seem like the perfect soundtrack for the kind of lives many of us are existing in these days. Definitely worth the relative ease it takes to obtain a copy but hurry...limited to like 500 copies and they may all be gone by now!

***

Lou Donaldson-POSSUM HEAD CD-r burn (originally on Argo Records)

When I come home from work I sometimes wanna just soothe my nodes with sounds that I consider sonically stretching and bared wire intense None of these schmoozing to James Taylor while swilling cocktails sitcom stuff for me! So when I plunked down this pick outta Bill Shute's latest package I was hoping for some strong soul jazz sounds that would get my cranium up and goin'!

Not exactly so here, since most of POSSUM HEAD came off too straight ahead and nicey-nice for me...y'know, bowtie and tux music far removed from the feral screams of a Shepp or Coltrane. Still I found myself getting engrossed as the platter proceeded and the sesh began to seep into a deep groove that got me moved at least a tad. Plays swell enough I guess, but for total real life demon exorcism it's THE NEW THING and nothin' else, hear?

***

Eugene Chadbourne-BOOGIE WITH THE HOOK CD-r burn (originally on Cleo Records)

Ain't paid too much attention to Chadbourne since his DON'T PUNK OUT album with Frank Lowe but this one is the proverbial cats! It'll drive you about as nuts as I got listening to Chadbourne and band (threw away liner notes or lost 'em or something like that...boy will Bob Forward be mad!) do everything from twangy hillbilly sounds about ten generations through the brother/sister continuum to some rather suspiciously-sounding mid-seventies Braxton/Mitchell/Jarman-styled interplay with a bit of Chadbourne's electric guitar in there somewhere. I dunno what else to say other'n if you like crazy twang folk music and experimental seventies loft jazz sounds and want it all in one package well, do I have to tell you the rest?

***

Sweet Toothe-TESTING CD-r burn (originally on Dominion Records)

There must have been thousands of these self-produced rock albums popping up outta nowhere back inna mid-seventies, and Sweet Toothe were but one band to manage to crank out a longplayer that I'm sure didn't even get to make it as far as the old rundown flybynight record shop that mighta taken something like this in the first place. Well, no big loss 'bout that for TESTING ain't really worth your time unless you happen to like the lighter end of the seventies hard rock spectrum. Sweet Toothe might have been a big hit live and all, but on this one they just flop about doin' the same ol' riffs 'n grooves that certainly made those New York Dolls albums sound all the better back then. These guys were from West Virginia as their name obviously should reveal to you---after all, if they weren't from that state they'd be called Sweet Teethe!

***

Third Floor Strangers-LAST CHANCE CD-r burn (originally on Trelaine Records)

The late-seventies and early-eighties produced their fair share of what was to be called "power pop" groups and like, who can deny that these Strangers were trying to nudge their way into the movement! This '81 offering was recorded by a group I never heard about before, although they were from Buffalo New York which means that I'll bet that Bernard Kugel knew a thing or two about these guys. And like most of these platters there seems to be quite a few tracks that don't knock my socks off, but then again there are a few downright gems to be found when you're not especially looking for any. I'd say these guys rank about a notch or two lower than Pezband, though they're about as good as Morgan Taylor's Rock Group so they can't be that all bad.

***

The Nazz-NAZZ NAZZ CD-r burn (originally on SGC Records)

Should this 'un 've been in the year end post of familiar albums that are worthy of at least one mention lest they wither away into obscurity (or some ass reviews them on his/her/its blog)? Well, maybe the answer is no because I never did lend ear to NAZZ NAZZ before, and besides maybe this is too good a platter to forget about until the new year's tidings ring in (if they ever will). But once you get down to the brass balls of it all NAZZ NAZZ is a pretty decent pop-rock excursion from those NUGGETS faves with a good portion of heart-melting teenygirl rock mixing in with some Who-inspired wowzers and of course those more, er, heavy "FM-sounding" tracks that kinda put me off like nothing since coffee stir enemas. Thankfully nobody told Todd Rundgren he was a genius yet, and this is a far way from his horrid late-eighties Broadway-inspired platter I had the misfortune of being sent a review copy way back when. But to answer the old SPOONFUL fanzine question is Todd a punk? From this one I'd say only when the guitar chords suit him and they do (well, at least part of the time).

***

Various Artists-FARAWAY ACORNS AND IMPOSSIBLE SINNERS CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

I thought this particular Shute-shoot was a good enough selection of what Bill used to call "Thrift Shop" somethingorothers. There are lotsa good moody mid-sixties weepers here that are enough to put me down in the dumps while the Blue Mitchell piece of solid blues/jazz was enough to pep me up if you can believe it. A pre-"Four" Bobby Fuller track was a nice inclusion while a pre-"Strawberry Alarm Clock" Thee Sixpence sure had a Seeds style to 'em I obviously wish woulda made its way into the newer edition of the group. Some real real surprises show up like a track called "Puppy Love" (not the Paul Anka tearjerker) by Jerry Samuels before he put on his Napoleon XIV hat and coat and like I can't find a thing wrong with this one, other'n the fact that Bill did not sneak any of those great old radio ads in between the toonz like he usedta.

_______________________________________________________________________
*OK, the undeniable fact is that Mencken has been dead for over sixty years awlready, but he seems more alive via his writings and opines 'n most scribes out there, especially in these days when political punditry has been reduced to various feely good catchphrases meant to tingle the nodes of some out-there prole who for the most part can't care less what some newscasters thoughts re. subject X are!

BOOK REVIEW! BEHAVING MADLY---ZANY, LOCO, COCKEYED, RIP-OFF SATIRE MAGAZINES by Ger Apeldoorn and Craig Yoe (2017 Yoe Books/IDW)

In the great BLOG TO COMM tradition of hailing the cheap, the swipe, the copy and the things us kids got instead of the real deal for years, I now present to you an entire tome for our times dealing with none other'n all of those definitely teenage-oriented humor mags that came and went during the latter part of them oft-loathed (but we know better!) fifties, a time when funtime entertainment was available with the flick of a switch, trashy lo-fi rock 'n roll was plentiful, life was stable enough that even the garbage man could afford a good home, wages were high and boy were some people PISSED OFF about it!

But certainly not us suburban slob baby boom ranch house UHF-TV dwellers who were soaking it all in until the seventies really put a kibosh on everything. And along with all of those other cheap imitations from cereals to comic books and tootsietoys, hipster-type satire mags were sprouting up and about the fruity plain in an attempt to coax even more pseudointellectial college kids outta their hard begged. And man, there were plenty of 'em about from CRACKED and HUMBUG to THIMK and ZANY, and you can bet your banana that alla 'em were in one way or another a swipe of that BIG TIME humor rag that was taking the teenage world by storm, an' I certainly don't mean POPULAR MECHANICS!

This long-awaited book is the brainkiddie of Dutch comics fan Ger Apeldoorn whose THOSE FABULEOUS FIFTIES blog can be espied if you'd only click the link listed on the left, while co-author Craig Yoe's one of those BIG TIME OPERATORS on the scene who lives/breathes/eats and for all I know defecates comics so you know what he's talking about! Together the two have put together a nice and solid history of the various humor mags (which were and remain oversized comic books if you ask me) that didn't last too long, and for most of us woulda been forgotten to history if we hadn't come across tattered remnants of 'em in early-seventies flea markets and still wouldn't pick 'em up for a nickel!

Apeldoorn and Yoe ignore the biggie titles which is all fine and well and stop their saga with the dawn of the sixties which ain't, but nevertheless we still get a hefty handfulla not only pertinent information regarding the titles and publishers but actual complete stories that were vying for the imaginations of people like you and me back in those funner than fun times. And ya gotta admit that the pair really do a good job not only with their li'l histories of each and every tmagazine extant but with their selection of the kinda sagas that were popping up in these pages which really do give us a good idea of just where college har hars stood a good sixty or so years back!

And those various entries from the pages of many a forgotten title remarkably show that some of the stories and artwork that appeared in these knockoffs did reach MAD's usual high standards of trashdom. I woulda been under the impression that these flybynight publications mostly run by flybynight conmen were but mere nth-raters that made mags like CRACKED and SICK look qualified in comparison, but most of these examples were good enough to have made it into the originator of it all. (Even the worse ones were about as good as a typical satire fanzine of the day, so there ain't that much dross to be found.) The stories for the most part were comparable to anything that MAD was churning out at the time, while the artwork (at times done by men before, after, or after/before their various MAD sojurns), is mostly up to the kind of airbrushed quality that were found in Bill Gaines's baby which ain't that surprising given how many of the artists were obviously swiping ideas from the usual gang of idiots given all of the Jack Davis cops to be seen here.

Well, I will take one thing regarding the art to be found within these pages back, because in NO WAY did Bill Elder ever do anything for the likes of CRAZY and LOCO that was as good as the detailed delineations he did while working for Harvey Kurtzman, but I don't really care because I'd take anything from this book over some 1973 issue of SICK with Huckleberry Fink taking Sonny's place in Sonny and Cher onna cover.

So yeah, BEHAVING MADLY really is a fantastico settle back 'n read offering with surprises galore and a few things that I'm sure will even get you all hot and bothered under the collar. Not only that but this thing can be funny (remember that word?) in a way that the entire history of COMEDY CENTRAL let alone its spiritual predecessors like Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory (and don't forget SNL after say, 1980) haven't been even though we have been told otherwise by people who know better than us. If you value your fifties kultural jamz this might be a book to snatch up to have and to hold at least until the next significant hardback to hit us right in the psyche makes its way out.

Hey, howdja like the updated blog header which, as you probably could tell having been in onna game these past thirtysome years, is "based" on the old BLACK TO COMM logo that was created by a very famous artist who prefers to remain anonymous for some strange reason or another. Makes this blog look "professional" and all, right??? (Yeah, right!)  I just did a little snip snip here and there, and although the results just ain't what I expected I kinda like the sloppoid thing in my own gosh darn it suburban slob way. I hope you do too since hey, it does have that cruddy sorta aura to it that suits the contents of BLOG TO COMM rather well, and if you have any suggestions regarding it or just how the item can be "altered" and "adjusted" to your own personal tastes well, you know what you can do with them now, do you!!!! But really, I find it pretty neat...ya think I should gussy it up with some pastels or even crayons for that matter because once you really get down to it, this is a "wreck in progress"!!!

***

You could say that I'm feeling so good, feeling so fine, until tomorrow but that's just some other time, and for once you'd be RIGHT! Right now I am radiating like nothing since Three Mile Island if only because of the bevy o' bouncing stimulation that's been pounding my brain these past few days which have certainly benefited my health more than Vigero ever could. The various Dee-Vee-Dee programming I've been watching certainly helps me avoid having to tune into Anderson Cooper's or Kennedy's for that matter snooty mug, while the music making up the soundtrack to my mere being gives me a charge that makes me feel like I've just got off Dr. Frankenstein's slab. Even the reading material that's been accompanying much of my musical mayhem during those evening hours has been helping me stand strong against the rages of Moderne Day Living, and if it weren't for these three things where would I be? Probably in front of the boob tube trying to eke some entertainment outta the latest non-sitcom that only reflects the rather unfunny concept of life and humor here in the late-teens. Sheesh, would I be glad if only someone would throw a pie in someone's face thus upsetting the spirit of Fred Rogers for all eternity!!!

***

Now if you really wanna know what the highlight of my week was (other'n the creation of the new header that is) well, I gotta say that of all the things that did occur over these past seven earthspins the grandest of all was the discovery of the DENIM DELINQUENT facebook page which I have linked up on the left somewhere or other. Yes, like you I was bummed beyond belief when the actual DD sight more or less wafted off into nothingness but now I can once again groove to the myriad assortment of photos and whatnot that DD head Jymn Parrett has found suitable for sharing with the rest of us starved rock 'n plunder types. And boy has the man come up with some great goodies from the archives (really must've dug deep because even I don't remember seein' a whole buncha 'em!) what with the snaps of everyone from Iggy and the Dolls to Lou and Kim and Sky and  Beefheart and Moon the Loon on and on, and prowling through his page is like prowling through the past fiftysome years of everything that was good and life-reaffirming about music inna first place. Thanks for all of the snaps Jymn...but GRACE SLICK???? Sheesh, I'll even take Pigpen over her any day!

***

Hey, I got an actual bloomin' complaint that there haven't been any interviews on this blog in a skunk's age. Anyone out there for the taking? If so please tell me, but be oh so discreet about it because I don't want any news of this gettin' out.

***

Nothing more to report, so here be this week's gruel to be served up to this week's Oliver Twists. Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and even P.D. Fadensonnen are the ones responsible...will get to Bob Forwards wares eventually I'll tell ya...

Razorlegs-WFMU 6-23-2017 CD-r (Fadensonnen---see blog on left and like you know the rest!)

P.D really fooled me with this one since he used the exact same cover photo from his cassette release here! But this is a different recording as the Razorlegs duo rip it up on the radio (WFMU to be exact...donate all you have to 'em!) doing a pretty good job of scaring off alla them old ladies who were tuning in to hear SERMONETTE. Won't be too redundant but once again the total eruption of the guitar/drums onslaught (with some stylophone tossed in...paging Rolf Harris!) hearkens back to many an earlier gtr/dms situation from the Hampton Grease Band and DAILY DANCE onward, and the entire performance is one top notch attempt to reclaim the avant rock banner from the various assortment of bedroom bounders who have popped up these past thirtysome years. I guarantee you that if you give this one a spin (or at least download the thing) you'll be in for a pretty hefty resensification, and like how many current day acts can do that to you and your frazzled cyborg nerves???

***

ROBYN HITCHCOCK CD-r burn (originally on Yep Roc Records)

Gee, I wonder if Syd Barrett himself woulda sounded like this had he been fit 'n fiddle enough to make records forty years after his Pink Floyd debut! Of course it woulda had somewhat of a commercial bent (which in these tender times means clean, professional sound and performance sans any spec of flydirt or muscle) and of course it would upset alla the same early-seventies English rock fans who were smart enough to pick up the albums before they became budget priced twofas. My guess is that Barrett's efforts woulda been pretty dullsville given just how much of a rot the music has become o'er the years, and I do get the impression that the powers that be would have tempered with the resultant stew to make it sound like THE DIVISION BELL redux. As for this platter well...maybe this is what Barrett's platter woulda sounded like had some of them newfangled producers and bandfans got into the act---solid yet too sleek to really appeal to those familiar with the original thrust of it all. But it will. Features one of the better country unto rock goofs since the Left Banke if not the Byrds or Beatles themselves.

***

John Bell-CAMBRIDGE SURPRISE MINOR AND OTHER PEALS CD-r (Kendra Steiner Editions)

Now I could be like one of those DOWN BEAT critics and wax rhapsorious about this all-percussive endeavor in some of the most stringently somnambulistic terms extant, but I won't. But sheesh if this doesn't remind me of some effort that would get your typical jazz snoot type rushing to his thesaurus to come up with new and witty ways to say "this record reminds me of flamingos frolicking in a crystal rain before the rays of the sun evaporate every drop of dew on their precious accouterments (ie feathers)."  But it is a grand one natch as percussionist Bell gets more music than you would expect outta a vast array of instruments sounding like church bells at one time and a buncha pixies plunking around the forest the next. Charming, mesmerizing and even...listenable. Reminds me of something I think I heard before, but that was probably before I was born. Amongst the instruments to be heard on this effort are vibraharp, glockenspiel, scrap metal, piano frame and Khong Vang, and boy was Khong mad about getting banged up the way he did!

***

Wilko Johnson-PULL THE COVER CD-r burn (originally on Skydog Records, France)

I never did care for the Wilko Johnson Solid Senders album, but this li'l bijou from a good six or so years later's really a boffo affair if I do say so myself! At one time this brand of newer than new English r 'n b was getting tagged with the punk moniker until the spiky hair crowd came into being, but in this day and age it sure has more of that p-rock meaning than a lot of those halfway-there acts pseudo-glam punks from the late-seventies (and there were many!) ever did.

This is Stiff Records punk ifyaknowaddamean, the kinda music that was being bandied about as the new in direction even if it was a flashback to the mid-sixties of pure back alley bashout. Looking back I can sure see how the likes of Feelgood and those other early Stiff signings could mingle with Johnnie Allen and Stones Masonry in a broad view of the term that never did sit well with some of the more arty types about.

Contains originals and covers that sound just as exciting as the familiar takes...sure glad the guy survived his recent medical tragedies because if this 'un stunk I'd be doin' a few Indian War Whoops for his demise and like right now!

***

ERIC DOLPHY IN EUROPE VOLUME 3 CD-r burn (originally on Prestige Records)

Good enough but not the best Dolphy that's out there, but then again is it like we have to be picky? The pickup sidemen are just that, though fortunately they don't hinder Dolphy's always entertaining woodwind whirls that shoulda made him as famous as the other great names of the day only the guy hadda die and for the stupidest reason possible. If you're just beginning to delve into the Dolphy mystique this ain't the best place to start (try his various Mingus dates not to mention OUT TO LUNCH) but after you've let those weave their way into your soul give this live sesh a go at it.

***

Air-AIR RAID CD-r burn (originally on Why Not Records, Japan)

It's hard to understand why this free jazz trio was given so many hails and hosannas during the mid to late-seventies. After all, they were good, and a whole lot more exciting than the soft schmooze bowtie music that would eventually capture the jazz mindset by storm (or should that be "mist"?). Bred from the entire AACM intermingle of various sonic irregularities, Air performed a particularly strident breed of the new thing that certainly fit in with the under-the-counterculture loft jazz scene if nothing else.

This Japanese-only (until the eighties when India Navigation released it o'er here) album sure captures the team of Henry Threadgill, Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall in a good way what with the trio easily flowing from hardass crash to straight-ahead urban bop with mere ease, not sounding too outre yet being tense enough to make your typical Al DeMeola fan nauseous. Terse-beyond-belief reeds intermingle with Hopkins' hopped up bass while McCall shows us that the force he put in on those old Anthony Braxton albums wasn't anything but a fluke. And we better not forget Threadgill's "hubkaphone" which ain't nothin' but a hubcap he beat on with a drumstick, but he could actually get melodies outta the thing which is more than I'm sure you could! (Come to think of it, wasn't a hubkaphone actually a metal rack with a variety of hubcaps hung up which Threadgill beat with a drumstick thus getting different tones???)

Way back when you'd have to pay lotsa greckels for this particular item, and have to search far and wide for a copy at that. In the here and now all you need is a flick of a mere internet switch to be taken to a download, which I know is less expensive and excitement of the ol' hunt for you all but sheesh, think of all the frustration you'll save!

***

Various Artists-ROYAL CHALLENGER SUBVERSIVE BABY CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Another old "floor sweepings" compilation (the newest one Bill sent, on a black Cee-Dee-Are, will not play on my bedside box!) that really captures the whole essence of suburban slob trashdom. Every track here (well, most of 'em!) sounds like something I woulda loved to have picked up at a flea market some Saturday afternoon back 1974 way what with the reams of rarities from the Jalopy Five doing their take on "Paint It, Black" to the Staple Singers out-doing Buffalo Springfield and more t'boot! The Christmas jingles worked fine even here in the August heat while the weirdo hits of the day sung partly in German by Evi Kent really had my ears perking more'n Sam's. The folk rock stuff from the Minute Men and Royal Knights coulda been PEBBLES produce had these made their way to Greg Shaw's collection while even the big band rouser by Kressbronner Dorfmusikanten shows just how much them krauts wanted to "catch up" after twelve years of being without that decadent Western music they were so warned about. Even the mandatory musique concrete from an act calling itself  "Subversive Intentions" doesn't come off like college kid jerkoff! You can make your own copy, if you try hard enough!

MOOM PITCHER REVIEW! FEAR IS THE KEY starring BARRY NEWMAN (1972)

Two years after THE LAWYER and one after VANISHING POINT, once hot stuff actor Barry Newman starred in this forgotten feature that I'm surprised didn't turn more heads during the early-seventies New Hollywood (with tinges of the Old One still around) days. But this one ain't no hype and I gotta say FEAR IS THE KEY's a pretty maddening film that'll prove to you that there was a certain bared-wire intensity to many of these seventies flicks that just didn't survive into the eighties and beyond, perhaps because moom pitcher goers were too stressed out from all of those hard-edged films and they just wanted to mellow out a bit. And if so...shame on them!

But not me Sam, because its these kinda flicks that get me up and excited, and FEAR IS THE KEY does a pretty good job of it. Newman plays Talbot, some guy who we first see talking to his brother via short wave radio. Turns out that bro, along with Talbot's wife and turdler son, are the lone occupants of a plane (with bro the pilot) carrying some extremely precious cargo. Without warning another plane swoops down and blows Talbot's entire family to Kingdom Come leaving not only Our Hero but us viewers totally caught off guard.

Next thing we know Talbot is in some backwater Louisiana town causing trouble and beating the bejabbers outta some local gendarmes before being hauled into court, where he makes a brilliant escape while taking a local gal (played by the naturally good looking Suzy Kendall who sure has a hard time turning her English accent into Deep South). This leads to a pretty hotcha ten-minute car chase scene that ends with Talbot taking his hostage to his hideout before getting captured by some ex-cop out for the reward moolah. THEN

it gets really strange what with the introduction of the shady Vyland (played by Dean Wormer himself John Vernon) and his weirdo sidekick Royale, who in a good ten years later shaved his bean and became Gandhi, both of who offer to get Talbot off the hook because they have, in the catchphrase of another film of that very same year, a deal he can't refuse. And you know he just can't!

Hokay, I thought the film might have sagged a bit after the non-refused deal began getting into gear, but then it perks up perhaps thanks to the presence of the sadistic bodyguard who gives Talbot a bad time as well as a really big plot twist that might seem unbelievable but helps tie up the big loose end in the story (like, what about Talbot's dead family???). And hey, you just better not be a Lou Costello type who gets wrapped up in moom pitcher plots living vicariously through the people on the screen because the last five minutes of this 'un'll leave you literally gasping for air!

Newman plays it great throughout as the wired troublemaker while Vernon is his usual evil self in one of those nasty guy roles he was definitely born to play. Even Ben Kingsley, who I still think is an overrated professional ponce type, is particularly creepoid as the sidekick who comes off more like a three-piece businessman who just happens to be a little greedier than should be allowed. Kendall as the galpal/hostage is also an asset to the film, or is this just because back in 1972 females didn't come off as purposefully unattractive as they tend to be these days?

This shoulda gotten out a lot more'n it did. If you think its due for a major re-eval then maybe this li'l writeup'll start the ball rolling. Help give it a li'l nudge if you can.

Y'know, sometimes it's hard to come up with these preamble rambles given that the previous week just didn't produce anything that's worth blabbing about. Like many of you more productive members of society I put in my forty (and sometimes plus!) hours and do the right (if minimal as possible) amount of drudgery to keep the premises looking prim and proper, but it ain't like such subject matters are likely to get you sophisticated readers up and chattering. I'm also crawling my way through a Dee-Vee-Dee box set of a once-popular television series which I will review in an upcoming post, but naturally I don't want to give anything away at this point. There's nothing of a social or political nature I'd care to bring up (other'n I sure like the way Donald Trump makes the tweedy college professor types cackle like a bunch of indignant hens as Wayne McGuire might have said) and besides, I don't want to alienate any of your precocious easily-bruised readers who sniffle and sob at broken flowers while bashing in windows of local businesses.

So what can I do but...get into the reviews and like immediately. Thanks be to the forces as usual, Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Bob Forward and even my own hard work (hah!) and perseverance (double hah!).

Massimo Magee & James L. Malone-THE LIMITS OF THE POSSIBLE CD-r (Kendra Steiner Editions)

Multi saxist Magee teams up with electric guitarist Malone to create a sound that recalls AMM and a variety of other old time electronic scronkers who used to get quite a bit of music press until---all of a sudden they didn't. Don't expect any neo-Coltrane play from the former nor any Sharrockian shards of sound from the latter...this is quite a different'n the standard free play music that has been seeping into your collections as of the past thirtysome years...its more dark and indecipherable style that has been tackled on some of the more severe AACM offerings but even goes further. If you're really looking for that far out mind-expanding music that the man can't bust well...maybe this will tickle your tonsils amongst other body parts.

One more thing...doesn't that cover photo remind you of the beginning of MR. ED? Sure brings out the suburban slob kiddoid in me I'll tell ya!

***

Iggy Pop-GARDEN OF EVIL CD-r burn (originally on Zaubertank Records)

When it comes to these shady type of grey area offerings you never really get to know what yer in for. Of course this particular piece of plastic is no exception featuring a slapdash of various Popperties in a way that resembles your typical 1981 European bootleg. Quality is snat enough even though solo Iggy never really cut it next to the original Stoogian artyfact, but these rarities do have a nice li'l bounce to 'em plus the real bonus (Iggy on the Flo and Eddie radio show) is pretty much worth the price of the package. Be warned though..."Search and Destroy" is but the original Stooges mix before Bowie got his manicured mitts on 'em while "Pretty Flamingo" and "Mule Skinner Blues" are not the Manfred Mann/Jimmy Rogers respectively songs.

***

Roscoe Mitchell-BELLS FOR THE SOUTH SIDE 2-CD-r set burn (originally on ECM)

Not bad even though you woulda thought Mitchell's old enough to be in the old jazzbos home at this point in time. Yes, if your heart is still with that once-new thing in jazz complete with all of those tinkling bells and gongs not to mention depressing alto sax solos that seem to go on and on man, is this the album for you! Mitchell plays as angular as he ever did while the newbies who back him up are just as boff as the oldbies who used to way back when. ECM aesthetics don't clog up the works on this set which varies from early classical avant garde musings to all free play points in between, and for being a modern day affair done up by such a long-time player in the game it's like...actually enjoyable. 

***

John Coltrane/Alice Coltrane-COSMIC MUSIC CD-r burn (originally on ABC/Impulse Records)

Mitchell was the end result of the movement that Coltrane helps boost inna fifties, and by the time the latter clocked outta existence ya gotta admit that he was doin' some rather outre material himself. The famed saxophonist only appears on two of the four tracks but all of 'em feature wife Alice (who has come upon her fair share of criticism o'er the years), Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison and Rashied Ali along with some additional percussionists, and it all (thanks to Sanders) really fits in swell with the whole late-sixties jazz culmination which would top off the decade with one of the bigger musical bangs one could imagine. "Nova Music" as Wayne McGuire (rating two mentions this blogpost---wow!) called it, driving and personal yet quite introspective sounds that could appeal to the washed out hippie as well as the punk even if it were for totally different reasons. Certainly a proud addenda to the whole canon of the avant garde that still sounds as raging and over-the-edge as it did the day it was created.

***

Patti Smith w/ Lenny Kaye-FEBRUARY 10, 1971 CD (Mer, PO Box 407, Murray Hill Station, NY, NY 10156)

This one has been out for ten years and AS USUAL you snips out there didn't clue me in! Fie on thee, but before I dish out my patented evil voodoo curse lemme say that this 'un's what you'd call a rare holy grail sorta recording, the first appearance of Patti Smith and collaborator Lenny Kaye in front of a live and hopefully breathing public! Long before any of you read about her in CREEM Patti dishes out early versions of her typical ripped out entrails and Mexican boy wiping ass with the funny pages raves, and on some of them Lenny plays that hot guitar he would later use to create that Patti Smith sound we all knew and appreciated. Patti sounds a whole lot younger and more innocent this early in the stage even if her dirty mind is in full gear, and Kaye plays like he's auditioning for the Seeds at one minute and Man Ray at the other. The two combined make for that grand collision of beat poesy and mid-Amerigan teenage garage gunch we all wish would have happened much earlier, and if your idea of sophisticated rock was always some neo (won't say "phony") intellectual rants set to the best of NUGGETS well, this is probably about as close as anyone's gonna get, at least until the next big exhumation.

***

THE RATIONALS CD-r burn (originally on Big Beat Records, England)

I've always enjoyed these guys' "blue eyed soul" moves, but I never really realized what an over-the-top high energy Detroit offering this platter could be! The slow tracks are moving enough without being mooshy while the definitely high energy contribution "Guitar Army" is right up there with the rest of the local big names we've been listening to ever since these bands were around (or we heard about 'em x-teen years after the fact). Like the best late-sixties/early-seventies albums the mix of intensity, tension and melody make for a gripping experience and like, I can't see how anyone who swears allegiance to the Detroit rock scene of the sixties could ignore it (and of course they have). Bonus tracks include a pretty sizzling take on that bloozy faverave "Wang Dang Doodle" as well as the rare self-produced single featuring the original versions of "Army" and "Sunset" I've not only never heard before but never saw for sale anywhere!

***

Peter Perrett-HOW THE WEST WAS WON CD-r burn (originally on Domino Records)

Yes, your favorite junkie with the common law wife and alla them bastard kids is back with a solo platter that is pretty good despite the odds being against it. Maybe it is kinda tired in comparison with those England's Glory and Only Ones albums, but this guy is still cutting tracks like Sam cut farts and doing a pretty good job keeping up the old energy even though, this late in the post/anti-rock game, who really is listening other'n us old poops. Nice to see him still up and about, and having more meaning (in a true, non-clinging way) than some of them other "survivors" out there in hasbeen land.

***

Various Artists-HEN'S TEETH VOL. 1 CD-r burn (originally on Hen's Teeth Records)

Here's some more of that rarer'n rare English psychedelic rock of the late-sixties done up nice and lysergic-like for all of us doofs who missed out the first time around. Most of this is done up by acts we never heard of before and probably never will hear from again while a few familiar names like the Swingin' Blue Jeans and Junior's Eyes managed to make the cut, but all of it is more of that spacey neo-pop sounds that kinda wooshed you into some world where things seemed swirling, peaceful and unreal. And at the most perfect, sartorical moment Pop stormed into the room and blasted some Mitch Miller in order to bring you back down to earth and give you a good whipping for being such a hippoid. It's educational too because now, after all these years, I finally got to hear the State of Mickey and Tommy and they were as good as Greg Shaw made 'em out to be!

***

The Shocking Blue-LIVE IN JAPAN CD-r burn (originally released on Polydor Japan)

Japan-only issue of a live gig featuring a stripped down version of the group (no electric piano!) cranking out TWO versions of "Venus" and a whole slew of interesting originals and covers, including a neat version of "Tobacco Road" that sounds nada like the Nashville Teens nor the Blues Magoos' takes! The guitar/bass/drums instrumentation actually makes these track sound better...kinda stripped down like the Stooges were while Mariska Veres sure displays a healthy set of pipes, something you can see when you catch a glimpse of her visage on the album cover.  OK it does tend to veer off into snoozeville on scant occasion but so does this blog so why quibble?

***

Broken Toys-DIRT CD-r burn (originally on Incognito Records)

As you might have noticed a whole load of these burns that I've received o'er the years made by relatively new and up and coming groups really don't grab me by the fanablas, but sometimes some platter that has been slipped my way pops up and makes me STAND UP AND TAKE NOTICE!!!!! The Broken Toys album reviewed here is but one, a total surprise because this rather recent (awlright, 1990!) release is a cooker. Nothing that's end of the world mind you, but the thing is still hot enough what with its pound out MC5/Ramones rhythms and total eruption playing that's bound to bring a tear to the eye of a few New York Dolls fans the way this thing shakes you outta your slumber and into the real life blare of it all. It's even got this interesting Yardbirds harmonica blast inna middle of the closing track entitled "If I Had a Gun" that's bound to make you think you slipped on the live Swedish radio tape by mistake and are listening to the 1968 rendition of "I'm a Man". Not bad---really!

***

Elliot Murphy-PRODIGAL SON CD-r burn (originally on Murphyland Records)

It ain't an AQUASHOW or even JUST A STORY FROM AMERICA but it's as good as just about any seventies under-the-radar platter you can think of, the above and more included. Sure the coot sounds much older now and probably needs a bottle of Geritol in order to get it up, but PRODIGAL SON still captures the same decadence in the 'burbs feeling of old, and a whole lot better'n PEYTON PLACE ever could at that. Musically this stands with the early Murphy albums with that deep and decadent neo-Dylan sound that,come to think of it, didn't sound too bad next to the competition on the radio (well, let's keep "Hurricane" outta it). Not only that but Murphy actually COMES OUT and "all but" admits he a member of sex #3 on "Hey Little Sister", a nice li'l ol' number where he talking about kissing (and more) one Bobby Jones. What took you so long Elliot???

***

Various Artists-UGLIEST MALFUNCTION MUTINY CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Here's another deep dig into the bowels of old Shute burns and although this 'un must be at least four years old it's got enough vim vigor and pop to make it as new as the day I was born. Lotsa punk unto pUnk unto punque here, but so what because not only is it all omnipowerful but it sure sounds better'n anything you'd be able to come up with in a millyun years (me too!). Highlights include the avant sorta jazz of the Viking Suicide Orchestra, Roach Motel's good as you can get under-the-counterculture punk, Peter's Pipers flooty snooty hippy dippy poppy woppy "The Magic Book" and even the Plastic Pianos were fine even if they did sound like the lounge band at the gay bar where Pixie and Dixie hang out at. Best track of all...the radio spot pushing the new movie starring the Iron Butterfly or something like that...sure brought back memories of listening to the AM top 40 station as a kid late at night under the covers with the li'l earphone fulla wax stuck inside my 'hole (earhole that is)...well, I used to do things like that before I discovered other pre-sleep activities which we won't dwell into at this point in time...ifyaknowaddamean.