Nice one we got here. Really, I do mean it 'n not only because of the bevy of beauts I have up for review but the mere fact that my writing doesn't seem as suckoid as it has been these past few weeks. Dunno what kinda funk I've gotten outta, but I think I got outta it just fine and (as usual) you the readers are the true beneficiaries. Big heaping hunking thanks to the usual and Bob, I promise I'll find something from your package in the mess that passes for my bedroom more sooner than later.
Here I am, stranded in a hospital bed, being force fed "classic rock" and giddy disco Madonna pop day in/day out while having no choice but to watch THE PAPER CHASE, I'LL FLY AWAY and ST. ELSEWHERE kinda like that guy in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Only I can't throw up since I'm being IV fed, but boy am I suffering through the entire process as the doctors unknowingly persist in making my life even more miserable than it is having a plastic tube shoved up my butt.
Then suddenly I hear a nurse walk into the room and from what I can tell she is carrying a box full of what looks like Dee-Vee-Dee sets and other various media, asking her superiors what she should do with all of those GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, OUTER LIMITS, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, TWILIGHT ZONE etc. collections as well as the various Velvet Underground, Can, Stooges, Elevators and Seeds albums that were being stored in some closet. The chief nurse responds, right in front of my paralyzed self no less, "Throw 'em away...nobody cares about that stuff anymore!" to which point I produce the loudest non-groan ever known to man as W.A.S.P. plays the last notes I'll most certainly be hearing in this lifetime.
Various Artists-GRECO RECORDS - COMPLETE RECORDINGS CD (Greco Records)
You probably read my review of the Jokers singles that originally came out on this particular label quite some time back. Well here's the Greco label's entire catalog on one platter for those of you who might have an interest in the kind of music that this label released, and who reading this blog wouldn't? (Yeah I know...MOST of you readers wouldn't, but try to bear with me for once willya?)
Well, in the process of wanting to know more about the Jokers I found one interesting thing out, and that's that Greco Records was actually a reissue label run by a man named George Greco who was busy putting out not only old obscurities but newer fare "in the tradition" back in the late-seventies. Sorta like a fifties version of Dave Gibson and Moxie Records, only his records would probably pass the strict Hi-Fi quality that collectors were looking for back in those STEREO REVIEW minded days.
Not surprisingly, the Jokers sound clearer here than they do on the recs (which were---now get this---"reissues" of early forgotten platters) and are definitely worth seeking out if you like the late-fifties garage band pound it out style that was popular during those pre-Beatle days. The rest is a mixed up package featuring everything from hotcha r 'n b/rockabilly (the Juke Jumpers' four sides) to loads of doo-wop and a-capella of varying degress of which a good portion which doesn't quite snuggle up to me as if I would like a doo-wop version of "Over The Rainbow" in the first place.
Whatever is on here it's interesting enough to the point where I woulda loved to have read a neat insert book with detailed bios of the acts and snaps galore .Alas none are to be found which I must admit I do find quite a disappointment especially in these info-conscious times. Something along these lines is just begging for the royal treatment which you woulda thought the guy who created the whole shebang woulda given it but who knows...maybe Greco's working in the "grey" area and the less said the better ifyaknowaddamean.
My best bet is that given the costs to make these babies inna first place its probably money concerns, and given my own experiences putting out fanzines with Cee-Dee enclosures in 'em I SHOULD KNOW!!!
The Jokers can be heard via youtube and I'm guessing maybe the others too.. Might wanna seek these out there before you decide to tingle your toes in the entire Greco shebang which might set you back upwards of two digits worth of money in these rather scrunched times. Or just record 'em off there and save the moolah...I'm sure Greco would understand.
FINK ALONG WITH MAD CD-r burn (originally on Big Top Records)
Not as bad as I was thinking it would be, this MAD-sponsored collection captures a whole lotta 1963 spirit with music that actually stacks up to the big hitters of the day along with lyrics that actually can make my ears perk up a bit. In fact, FINK ALONG WITH MAD is just as good as other dated-if-comedy-oriented platters such as NATIONAL LAMPOON'S LEMMINGS and other attempts at spoofing the top forty sounds and by gum it oughta be in your comedy album collection smack dab next to THE ASTRONAUT and alla those Bill Cosby albums you just aren't gonna play anymore. Personal fave...what else but the legendary "It's a Gas" by Alfred E. Neuman himself!
Various Artists-THE LOST KING RECORDINGS CD-r burn
Yet another "grey area" recording came out inna eighties that was just plum ripe for the up and coming rockabilly audience that was discovering these ancient recordings thanks to the tireless efforts of such brave revivalists as the Stray Cats and Phantom, Slick and Rocker. But sheesh, this King label sure sounds different from the King label that gave us alla those James Brown records with the ultra cheap covers. Oh, that must be a different "King" label...heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! But all kiddin' aside this is a hotcha collection for those who wanna hear even more of that long forgotten local countrified rockabilly done up before it became yet another excuse for glammed up excess and if you can't relate to that well...I do have a copy of BUILT FOR SPEED I can sell you for a real nice price.
Bob Bailey in YOUR TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR CD-r burn
Yes it's time to put on your thinking caps and match wits with Bailey doing his Johnny Dollar routine trying to not only solve certain cases but recoup alla that insurance money his company hadda dole out. The first 'un's a doozy dealing with people from a company being knocked off in a strange pattern which is costing Dollar's insurance company beaucoup, while the second has to do with this missing importer whose young wife could care less if he is gone since she's playing hide the slim jim with the guy's lawyer. And then where does this mysterious sailor called "Blinker" fit in anyway??? Good stuff from the tail end of the "Golden Age of Radio" which oddly enough partially coincided with "The Golden Age of Tee-Vee" and I ain't talkin' KRAFT EBBING THEATER either!
McCoy Tyner-LIVE AT NEWPORT CD-r burn (originally on Impulse Records)
I dunno, but without John Coltrane leading him McCoy Tyner just wasn't anything that spectacular. Typical Leonard Feather DOWN BEAT poll-topping good jazz stuff you wear suits to go listen to. This set hasn't changed my opinion one bit what with him and band playing the old worn-outs like "My Funny Valentine" to a nice and polite audience that sounds like it numbers in the tens. He shoulda just stuck with Coltrane and maybe I wouldn't quite cringe while thinking of all those accolades he was getting from fellow schmoozers throughout the seventies.
VIBRASONIC CD-r burn originally on Yep Records)
Retro true, but it has enough psycho-doof attitude to make it a once-in-a lifetime spin. Fair 'nuff usage of various a go go mid-sixties cheapo riffage with some hotcha electronic effects to keep you hip and with it while you're goin' through your Bikini Luv comics. If PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN was too far out for you and the Deep, Fire Escape and Deviled Ham were too punky you should like the neo-eastern pseudo El Lay exploito sounds even more than LAUGH IN reruns.
The Stench Band-PRAY FOR THE FRED CD-r burn
There must have been more than a few of these Zappa-influenced aggregates cluttering up the fruity plain back in the seventies, but how many of them actually got to put a record out? The Stench Band from Omaha Nebraska did even if it was years after their existence, and as far as freaky neo-satiical rock goes it's well...not bad even with the cornballus country rock goofs and daft stabs at humor. Nothing that really stimulates the nodes mind you what with the emphasis on the strangeness, but it does stand as a good enough tribute. Flashes of Mothers, Beefheart and maybe even a little Hampton Grease Band here and there, and a definite must for that guy on the WAX FLAGS bootleg who kept yelling "YOU'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY FRANK!" at the stage.
Athanor-FLASHBACK CD-r burn (originally on Guerssen Records, Spain)
Don't let the dorky looking guys onna cover fool ya, this platter contains some pretty good seventies-era neo-Beatles (filtered through the Nazz, Blue Ash and Move) local pop rock to have come out of that best/worst of time decade. Mid-energy pop that has a sort of Badfinger quality to it, so if early-seventies post-rabble AM radio was your main bag back then (or else if you were too young to enjoy or not even born during those times) this was the kinda music that sure made sense amidst the Melanies and Cat Taylors who were sure clogging up the youth consciousness mindset at the time.
Various Artists-STILL WATERDOWN ACTION REFLECTIONS CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
I wonder where Bill tracks down these weird gritty rock 'n roll and related (sorta) kinda recordings he slaps on these disques. Take this particular piece of musical placenta he decided to submit for my approval...I mean, what mental hospital raid resulted in these? All kidding aside, this is yet another one of those wild compilations that only could come from thefetid fertile mind of Bill what with the inclusion of the infamous yet under-documented Koobas, Mae West during her rock 'n roll cash in days, Mona Thomas doing her best to out-Leslie Gore Gore herself and some guys called Spoon who do a good enough Creedence styled riffage mixed with various late-sixties punk rock techniques. The real odditie of the package just happens to be a fellow named Paul McGarry who takes on the Syndicate of Sound fave "Hey Little Girl" as well as the Flamin' Groovie great "Shake Some Action"...sounds like a teenage puberty pouncer getting in on the old classics which only goes to show you that ROCK 'N ROLL IS NOT DEAD, at least as far as confused adolescents with tonsillitis go.
***I've been keeping myself occupied as usual not only writing a whole slew of reviews for posts present and future, but by watching some really good tee-vee which of course stimulates the inner-turdler in all of us more than Tootsietoys even. Not necessarily talkin' 'bout he current stuff being aired (haven't even had the time to catch a peek at currently cablecast faves as Soupy or Roy for that matter) but the old dee-vee-dees which I can peruse during a quiet evening while pretending to be that four-year-old suburban slob that in many ways I wish I could have remained! I just put away the ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE set and dug out FIREBALL XL-5 (better'n STAR TREK ever was!) for another settle back 'n watch (that's what I like...INSTANT RERUNS!!!) and am still working my way through other collections that are bound to get plenty of press in these pages as the months float by. Sure it ain't the same as being that fifties/sixties/seventies-kinda UHF-TV watchin' doof runnin' 'round in his stocking feet as the parents yell at him to go outside and get some fresh air (just so's they can get hold of the boob tube to watch some slobberin' pic), but here in 2017 it'll hafta do...
***A BITTER VISION OF A FUTURE I HAVE NO DOUBT I WILL BE EXISTING (CERTAINLY NOT LIVING) IN: It's ten/twenny/even thirty years from now and I'm a not so happy member of the vegetable kingdom. I can still hear, see and feel, more Woody Guthrie than Karen Quinlan since I still have a sense of who and where and why I am, but in no way can I move my limbs, make facial expressions or express my feelings, inner or outer, to the world even with obscure Italian hand gestures. I'm in a hospital or an old folk's home where a young and seemingly inexperienced staff of somethingorothers are trying to keep me from going stir crazy knowing how awfully boring it must be to be hitched up to catheters and monitors while not being able to move but still being conscious enough to be aware of my surroundings. In order to "make me feel better" the staff decide to bombard me with mental and visual stimulation based on my younger days, though instead of presenting to me music or television and moom pitchers that I surely would prefer these nurses, erroneously judging from my years, assume that I would be most pleased listening to music of the late-seventies and beyond while watching the variety of horrid television programming and moom pitchers that were being created at the time!
Here I am, stranded in a hospital bed, being force fed "classic rock" and giddy disco Madonna pop day in/day out while having no choice but to watch THE PAPER CHASE, I'LL FLY AWAY and ST. ELSEWHERE kinda like that guy in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Only I can't throw up since I'm being IV fed, but boy am I suffering through the entire process as the doctors unknowingly persist in making my life even more miserable than it is having a plastic tube shoved up my butt.
Then suddenly I hear a nurse walk into the room and from what I can tell she is carrying a box full of what looks like Dee-Vee-Dee sets and other various media, asking her superiors what she should do with all of those GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, OUTER LIMITS, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, TWILIGHT ZONE etc. collections as well as the various Velvet Underground, Can, Stooges, Elevators and Seeds albums that were being stored in some closet. The chief nurse responds, right in front of my paralyzed self no less, "Throw 'em away...nobody cares about that stuff anymore!" to which point I produce the loudest non-groan ever known to man as W.A.S.P. plays the last notes I'll most certainly be hearing in this lifetime.
***Hope you like this batch even though these mostly oldies do reflect the miasma of modern musical trends which as you know just haven't been as exciting as they were back when I was a young and impressionable retardo just gettin' into this brew. Awww, if it's good enough for Bill or Brad it's good enough for you but the question is...is it really good enough for them???
You probably read my review of the Jokers singles that originally came out on this particular label quite some time back. Well here's the Greco label's entire catalog on one platter for those of you who might have an interest in the kind of music that this label released, and who reading this blog wouldn't? (Yeah I know...MOST of you readers wouldn't, but try to bear with me for once willya?)
Well, in the process of wanting to know more about the Jokers I found one interesting thing out, and that's that Greco Records was actually a reissue label run by a man named George Greco who was busy putting out not only old obscurities but newer fare "in the tradition" back in the late-seventies. Sorta like a fifties version of Dave Gibson and Moxie Records, only his records would probably pass the strict Hi-Fi quality that collectors were looking for back in those STEREO REVIEW minded days.
Not surprisingly, the Jokers sound clearer here than they do on the recs (which were---now get this---"reissues" of early forgotten platters) and are definitely worth seeking out if you like the late-fifties garage band pound it out style that was popular during those pre-Beatle days. The rest is a mixed up package featuring everything from hotcha r 'n b/rockabilly (the Juke Jumpers' four sides) to loads of doo-wop and a-capella of varying degress of which a good portion which doesn't quite snuggle up to me as if I would like a doo-wop version of "Over The Rainbow" in the first place.
Whatever is on here it's interesting enough to the point where I woulda loved to have read a neat insert book with detailed bios of the acts and snaps galore .Alas none are to be found which I must admit I do find quite a disappointment especially in these info-conscious times. Something along these lines is just begging for the royal treatment which you woulda thought the guy who created the whole shebang woulda given it but who knows...maybe Greco's working in the "grey" area and the less said the better ifyaknowaddamean.
My best bet is that given the costs to make these babies inna first place its probably money concerns, and given my own experiences putting out fanzines with Cee-Dee enclosures in 'em I SHOULD KNOW!!!
The Jokers can be heard via youtube and I'm guessing maybe the others too.. Might wanna seek these out there before you decide to tingle your toes in the entire Greco shebang which might set you back upwards of two digits worth of money in these rather scrunched times. Or just record 'em off there and save the moolah...I'm sure Greco would understand.
***
Not as bad as I was thinking it would be, this MAD-sponsored collection captures a whole lotta 1963 spirit with music that actually stacks up to the big hitters of the day along with lyrics that actually can make my ears perk up a bit. In fact, FINK ALONG WITH MAD is just as good as other dated-if-comedy-oriented platters such as NATIONAL LAMPOON'S LEMMINGS and other attempts at spoofing the top forty sounds and by gum it oughta be in your comedy album collection smack dab next to THE ASTRONAUT and alla those Bill Cosby albums you just aren't gonna play anymore. Personal fave...what else but the legendary "It's a Gas" by Alfred E. Neuman himself!
***
Yet another "grey area" recording came out inna eighties that was just plum ripe for the up and coming rockabilly audience that was discovering these ancient recordings thanks to the tireless efforts of such brave revivalists as the Stray Cats and Phantom, Slick and Rocker. But sheesh, this King label sure sounds different from the King label that gave us alla those James Brown records with the ultra cheap covers. Oh, that must be a different "King" label...heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! But all kiddin' aside this is a hotcha collection for those who wanna hear even more of that long forgotten local countrified rockabilly done up before it became yet another excuse for glammed up excess and if you can't relate to that well...I do have a copy of BUILT FOR SPEED I can sell you for a real nice price.
***
Yes it's time to put on your thinking caps and match wits with Bailey doing his Johnny Dollar routine trying to not only solve certain cases but recoup alla that insurance money his company hadda dole out. The first 'un's a doozy dealing with people from a company being knocked off in a strange pattern which is costing Dollar's insurance company beaucoup, while the second has to do with this missing importer whose young wife could care less if he is gone since she's playing hide the slim jim with the guy's lawyer. And then where does this mysterious sailor called "Blinker" fit in anyway??? Good stuff from the tail end of the "Golden Age of Radio" which oddly enough partially coincided with "The Golden Age of Tee-Vee" and I ain't talkin' KRAFT EBBING THEATER either!
***
I dunno, but without John Coltrane leading him McCoy Tyner just wasn't anything that spectacular. Typical Leonard Feather DOWN BEAT poll-topping good jazz stuff you wear suits to go listen to. This set hasn't changed my opinion one bit what with him and band playing the old worn-outs like "My Funny Valentine" to a nice and polite audience that sounds like it numbers in the tens. He shoulda just stuck with Coltrane and maybe I wouldn't quite cringe while thinking of all those accolades he was getting from fellow schmoozers throughout the seventies.
***
Retro true, but it has enough psycho-doof attitude to make it a once-in-a lifetime spin. Fair 'nuff usage of various a go go mid-sixties cheapo riffage with some hotcha electronic effects to keep you hip and with it while you're goin' through your Bikini Luv comics. If PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN was too far out for you and the Deep, Fire Escape and Deviled Ham were too punky you should like the neo-eastern pseudo El Lay exploito sounds even more than LAUGH IN reruns.
***
There must have been more than a few of these Zappa-influenced aggregates cluttering up the fruity plain back in the seventies, but how many of them actually got to put a record out? The Stench Band from Omaha Nebraska did even if it was years after their existence, and as far as freaky neo-satiical rock goes it's well...not bad even with the cornballus country rock goofs and daft stabs at humor. Nothing that really stimulates the nodes mind you what with the emphasis on the strangeness, but it does stand as a good enough tribute. Flashes of Mothers, Beefheart and maybe even a little Hampton Grease Band here and there, and a definite must for that guy on the WAX FLAGS bootleg who kept yelling "YOU'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY FRANK!" at the stage.
***
Don't let the dorky looking guys onna cover fool ya, this platter contains some pretty good seventies-era neo-Beatles (filtered through the Nazz, Blue Ash and Move) local pop rock to have come out of that best/worst of time decade. Mid-energy pop that has a sort of Badfinger quality to it, so if early-seventies post-rabble AM radio was your main bag back then (or else if you were too young to enjoy or not even born during those times) this was the kinda music that sure made sense amidst the Melanies and Cat Taylors who were sure clogging up the youth consciousness mindset at the time.
***
I wonder where Bill tracks down these weird gritty rock 'n roll and related (sorta) kinda recordings he slaps on these disques. Take this particular piece of musical placenta he decided to submit for my approval...I mean, what mental hospital raid resulted in these? All kidding aside, this is yet another one of those wild compilations that only could come from the
Hi Chris
ReplyDeleteLoving the Blog! More Woody Guthrie than Karen Quinlan....hahaha .. funny stuff.
Anyway the Droogs have a new album out entitled Young Gun, after some years! Want to get you a physical copy.
Can you provide address? Thanks
keep on rockin
Why SURE I'd like to review it! Send to me @ 701 North Hermitage Road., Suite 23, Hermitage, PA 16148 and THANK YOU!
ReplyDelete