Happy Christmas Eve! I know that you readers are all anxiously awaiting the big day tomorrow which should cop you lots of goodies that you can buy for yourself just about anytime, but with others buying 'em for you it's a whole lot better dontcha think?!?!?! I hope that the Christmas gifts I sent your way arrived safe and sound, and in case you lucky few are wondering why your parcels are so small this year well...look at it this way. Y'see, the more things I send your way means the less money I have to spend on myself and like, well, you just don't know just how hard it is for me to come upon the long leafy green these days! Besides, the less presents I buy for you only means there's more moolah to spend on myself, and as you all know I am a firm believer in self-preservation! So be thankful for what you have, and just console yourselves in the big hotcha fun I'm gonna have buying things for myself this yuleturd season!
Got a bunch of (who am I kidding... a few) Christmas cards I thought I'd share with you because hey, it ain't like you're gonna be comin' over to the abode to see two of 'em all taped up on the banister! Biggest surprise of the season comes from none other than the Droogs who sent me the card printed directly to your left or right, or directly above or below, or something like that depending on your computer screen. What a surprise---I mean here I am, a FAN, getting a card from a rock 'n roll group I've been hot and bothered about for years 'stead of the other way around! I mean this sure ain't no fan mail from some flounder! Maybe if they slipped some money in the card like Aunt Mabel does I'd really flip out, but the fact that they remember me is good enough cheer for the season!
Here's another card, this time from Paul McGarry and his brood which accompanied a number of Cee-Dee Ares that he sent my way. No money in this one alas, but then again it's pretty hard for me to exchange Canadian currency for the Amerigan long green when I go to the bank. Dunno how McGarry got hold of an artist's rendition of what my anus looks like after eating Indian cuisine but whoever did that 'un sure got the look down just right and the sentiments that are expressed on the right really do fit the Holiday bill of cheer 'n all that even if they are hokey beyond belief. But it ain't the card that matters, it's either what comes IN it or WITH it as we all know, and the burns that Paul sent me really do fill the bill since there's not one Neko Case or Beck platter to be found! Now that's what I would call a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Dint get many other cards other'n from family and my stockbroker which don't count, so let's just end it at that. Thanks to all who sent me gifts like Bill and Brad (who sent me a nice portion of the music that is to be discerned this week) and Paul, because if it weren't for you guys this weekend's record-a-rama woulda been pretty sparse! Extra special thanks to P. D. Fadensonnen whose stack of hotcha and BTC-approved burns'll keep me busy for a few months to come! Expect some hot review jamz in the upcoming weeks thanks to these guys!
TVH-NIGHT RAID ON LISBON STREET CD (Flapping Jet Records)
In the past, the well-seasoned old timers used to play music for the kids the way them old timers thought it should be played...like nice, quiet and TASTEFUL if only to tell them young upstarts that the music that they're making is loud, crass and definitely something that will not stand the test of time (a remark my uncle once made about the Electric Eels after he heard me playing the "Spin Age Blasters" single!). Nowadays the oldsters play the music to tell the kid that their sounds are just too pleasant and polite to even exist, which is I guess why ex-Crime guitarist and singer Johnny Strike leads this particularly seventies-oriented group that comes off particularly Crime-ish if you ask me. The cover of "Hot Wire My Heart" sounds almost exactly like the original. Sheesh, when I get to be Strike's age I hope that they still have Geritol on the market.
Sun Ra-NUCLEAR WAR 10-inch EP (Modern Harmonic Records)
The should-be-legendary-by-now title track sure reminds me of all those nuclear cold war scare tactics that were being used on impressionable dolts like me during the early-eighties. Well at least this thing holds up a whole lot better'n the infamous nuclear war tee-vee moom pitcher THE DAY AFTER not to mention that all-time weeper MISTER ROGERS TALKS TO CHILDREN ABOUT CONFLICT. On the a-side Ra and band can be heard chanting about just what "a motherfucker" the Big Bomb is and how you'll kiss your ass goodbye once it is dropped, all to a haunting early-sixties styled jazz dirge that sounds like something from one of Ra's early forays into the ether. I didn't know that annihilation could be so much fun! Flip's got a selection of earlier tracks that keep to the Ra interplanetary rhumba, and as far as Ra-items go it ain't an original El Saturn but it'll do you just swell.
Redd Kross-HOT ISSUE LP (Bang Records, Spain)
I was cooled, no---make that frozen---on Redd Kross's NEUROTICA album back '87 way, but that was only because of Chuck Eddy's upsnoot proclamations against my better judgement that these guys weren't punks because of that "no punk rock ruts for me" line as if that really said anything about their ultimate punkitude! But since I got this album as a gift from Brad Kohler I felt obligated to review the thing, and I gotta say that these guys were good even in their "post" punk guise as well. Sounds really 1973 Rodney's English Disco to me what with a Fowley cover as well as a number of tracks that sound like they coulda came right out of a demo session for ABC-Dunhill records. Dunno about you, but this one does bring back memories that I personally don't mind being reminded of!
Various Artists-AN INVITATION TO SUICIDE; A TRIBUTE TO THE SONGS OF MARTIN REV , ALAN VEGA CD (Munster Records, Spain)
You know how much I hate the entire tribute album concept (or concept tribute album) but I'll cut this one some slack not only because of some surprisingly good performances but for the booklet notes courtesy of top notch fanzine writers Jeremy Gluck and Lindsay Hutton. This could have made the "ROCK 'N ROLL READ OF THE YEAR" year-end awards if I had only gotten hold of it sooner, and the original version of this is over twenny years old! Good enough that even the tracks by all of those hotter than you'll ever be acts like Luna, Mudhoney and Thin White Rope sound just as mind-twisted early-seventies punk rock in a CREEM sorta definition of the term as all of those groups that I listen to on purpose!
The Pink Fairies-DOUBLE LIVE '71---PARIS THEATRE/GLASTONBURY FAYRE CD-r burn
From what I can tell this is the John Peel "live" session coupled with the side-long Glastonbury show that came out on that once-rare 3-LP set, but whatever it is it's sure great getting that Pink Fairies crunch back into my system. Of course this all leads to the question about even MORE live tapes being discovered and disseminated as well as some of those Pink Fairies-inspired acts of the day who have been all but forgotten (and I'm sure that there were more than a few!). A good collection of a band that never did get the kind of dues that should have been due them ages ago!
Michael Cousins-AKA MAGIC MICHAEL CD-r burn (available via Cherry Blossom Records, England)
Given this guy's remarkable and I would ass-sume detailed history (which I will lightly touch upon in a future post) it's amazing that Magic Michael has such a limited recorded output. This download-only EP rectifies the situation somewhat but not enough as if his unreleased Vertigo LP or some other career-spanning collection had come out way back when. But at least we have this nice tastes of Michael circa 2014 which ain't that much different than the Michael of 1972 (or so I get the impression)...here the man strums along rather fine on what sounds like a way cheaper electric'n the one he touts on the cover as he makes his way through some pretty lackadaisical yet spry numbers singing with that wild neo-Sinatra voice that certainly belies Magic's English origins. Imagine a tougher Syd Barrett orbiting Saturn instead of Pluto and you'll be part way there. As a bonus P.D. stuck on some Stiff-era numbers that proved that the man could rock out with the best of 'em. I'm waiting for the book but like, who's gonna write it???
NEGRO PRISON BLUES AND SONGS CD-r burn (originally on Legacy Records)
I wonder why Paul McGarry sent me this one, or why he would be in possession of a copy in the first place. Perhaps he was a member of the same chain gang that Alan Lomax recorded back inna forties and felt nostalgic for it all or somethin' like that, but given his pigmentation I kinda doubt it. An interesting look into these down-home hard-time tunes as they were meant to be---sung while the work was bein' done and the clankin' of the sledgehammers was the beat. Features an early version of "Bald Headed Woman" done up way before the Who got their hands on it making me wonder if these guys got any sorta royalty payments in the meanwhile.
Bill Kirchen-TIED TO THE WHEEL CD-r burn (originally on Shout Factory Records)
Former Commander Cody guitarist Kirchen does swell on these truck driver cantatas that really capture the whole country music ramalama better'n most pretenders onna Newer Than New Country bandwagon ever could. Pretty straightforward musings here that'll become as real to you as the linoleum on a truckstop table with even a few nice and tasty more pop-oriented toonz for youse to peruse added! Don't miss the cover of Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" which closes out the proceedings and hey Bill, if you really wanna be smart howzbout issuing some of those Seventh Seal tapes for us, eh?
Various Artists-PEACOCK BABY DESPERADO BULL CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Another good if brief slice of Shutemania that I sure can enjoy this time of the year (which is certainly better than "this time of month" when my cyster was much younger). The "Aigles" tracks were good 'nuff for a start (and no, they ain't the "Eagles" under an alias!) while the "song poems" are entertaining as they usually are even if you don't know who that unemployed janitor from Muncie who sent 'em in hoping for fame and fortune was, and the closing tracks by the Searchers kinda make me wish they had more hits here in the U.S. of Whoa than they most certainly had! The old ads that were sprinkled about helped too, especially the Texaco gas one with Jack Benny and Dennis Day which Bill must love to no end because he also stuck it on two other "floor sweepings" efforts of his. Either that or he's gone loonier than I'll ever be!
Got a bunch of (who am I kidding... a few) Christmas cards I thought I'd share with you because hey, it ain't like you're gonna be comin' over to the abode to see two of 'em all taped up on the banister! Biggest surprise of the season comes from none other than the Droogs who sent me the card printed directly to your left or right, or directly above or below, or something like that depending on your computer screen. What a surprise---I mean here I am, a FAN, getting a card from a rock 'n roll group I've been hot and bothered about for years 'stead of the other way around! I mean this sure ain't no fan mail from some flounder! Maybe if they slipped some money in the card like Aunt Mabel does I'd really flip out, but the fact that they remember me is good enough cheer for the season!
Here's another card, this time from Paul McGarry and his brood which accompanied a number of Cee-Dee Ares that he sent my way. No money in this one alas, but then again it's pretty hard for me to exchange Canadian currency for the Amerigan long green when I go to the bank. Dunno how McGarry got hold of an artist's rendition of what my anus looks like after eating Indian cuisine but whoever did that 'un sure got the look down just right and the sentiments that are expressed on the right really do fit the Holiday bill of cheer 'n all that even if they are hokey beyond belief. But it ain't the card that matters, it's either what comes IN it or WITH it as we all know, and the burns that Paul sent me really do fill the bill since there's not one Neko Case or Beck platter to be found! Now that's what I would call a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!Dint get many other cards other'n from family and my stockbroker which don't count, so let's just end it at that. Thanks to all who sent me gifts like Bill and Brad (who sent me a nice portion of the music that is to be discerned this week) and Paul, because if it weren't for you guys this weekend's record-a-rama woulda been pretty sparse! Extra special thanks to P. D. Fadensonnen whose stack of hotcha and BTC-approved burns'll keep me busy for a few months to come! Expect some hot review jamz in the upcoming weeks thanks to these guys!
***I was told by someone who wants to (or maybe prefers to...not sure) remain anonymous that it might not be wise to post the Murdoch Murdoch A KANGZ CAROL video to celebrate the holiday season, so I'll just link it up for you instead. Too bad I'm such a coward...this is one of the funniest things I've seen in ages and it's of our own time frame as well! Just goes to show you that things can be high-larious these days, as long as you attack all of those sacred cows that have sprung up while we weren't looking these pasty twennysome years!
***A nice selection this week if I do say so myself...maybe you'll be persuaded to part with your own precious pounds to purchase these soon-to-be classics, but then again I never got rich estimating the tastes of some of you readers out there.
In the past, the well-seasoned old timers used to play music for the kids the way them old timers thought it should be played...like nice, quiet and TASTEFUL if only to tell them young upstarts that the music that they're making is loud, crass and definitely something that will not stand the test of time (a remark my uncle once made about the Electric Eels after he heard me playing the "Spin Age Blasters" single!). Nowadays the oldsters play the music to tell the kid that their sounds are just too pleasant and polite to even exist, which is I guess why ex-Crime guitarist and singer Johnny Strike leads this particularly seventies-oriented group that comes off particularly Crime-ish if you ask me. The cover of "Hot Wire My Heart" sounds almost exactly like the original. Sheesh, when I get to be Strike's age I hope that they still have Geritol on the market.
***
The should-be-legendary-by-now title track sure reminds me of all those nuclear cold war scare tactics that were being used on impressionable dolts like me during the early-eighties. Well at least this thing holds up a whole lot better'n the infamous nuclear war tee-vee moom pitcher THE DAY AFTER not to mention that all-time weeper MISTER ROGERS TALKS TO CHILDREN ABOUT CONFLICT. On the a-side Ra and band can be heard chanting about just what "a motherfucker" the Big Bomb is and how you'll kiss your ass goodbye once it is dropped, all to a haunting early-sixties styled jazz dirge that sounds like something from one of Ra's early forays into the ether. I didn't know that annihilation could be so much fun! Flip's got a selection of earlier tracks that keep to the Ra interplanetary rhumba, and as far as Ra-items go it ain't an original El Saturn but it'll do you just swell.
***
I was cooled, no---make that frozen---on Redd Kross's NEUROTICA album back '87 way, but that was only because of Chuck Eddy's upsnoot proclamations against my better judgement that these guys weren't punks because of that "no punk rock ruts for me" line as if that really said anything about their ultimate punkitude! But since I got this album as a gift from Brad Kohler I felt obligated to review the thing, and I gotta say that these guys were good even in their "post" punk guise as well. Sounds really 1973 Rodney's English Disco to me what with a Fowley cover as well as a number of tracks that sound like they coulda came right out of a demo session for ABC-Dunhill records. Dunno about you, but this one does bring back memories that I personally don't mind being reminded of!
***
You know how much I hate the entire tribute album concept (or concept tribute album) but I'll cut this one some slack not only because of some surprisingly good performances but for the booklet notes courtesy of top notch fanzine writers Jeremy Gluck and Lindsay Hutton. This could have made the "ROCK 'N ROLL READ OF THE YEAR" year-end awards if I had only gotten hold of it sooner, and the original version of this is over twenny years old! Good enough that even the tracks by all of those hotter than you'll ever be acts like Luna, Mudhoney and Thin White Rope sound just as mind-twisted early-seventies punk rock in a CREEM sorta definition of the term as all of those groups that I listen to on purpose!
***
From what I can tell this is the John Peel "live" session coupled with the side-long Glastonbury show that came out on that once-rare 3-LP set, but whatever it is it's sure great getting that Pink Fairies crunch back into my system. Of course this all leads to the question about even MORE live tapes being discovered and disseminated as well as some of those Pink Fairies-inspired acts of the day who have been all but forgotten (and I'm sure that there were more than a few!). A good collection of a band that never did get the kind of dues that should have been due them ages ago!
***
Given this guy's remarkable and I would ass-sume detailed history (which I will lightly touch upon in a future post) it's amazing that Magic Michael has such a limited recorded output. This download-only EP rectifies the situation somewhat but not enough as if his unreleased Vertigo LP or some other career-spanning collection had come out way back when. But at least we have this nice tastes of Michael circa 2014 which ain't that much different than the Michael of 1972 (or so I get the impression)...here the man strums along rather fine on what sounds like a way cheaper electric'n the one he touts on the cover as he makes his way through some pretty lackadaisical yet spry numbers singing with that wild neo-Sinatra voice that certainly belies Magic's English origins. Imagine a tougher Syd Barrett orbiting Saturn instead of Pluto and you'll be part way there. As a bonus P.D. stuck on some Stiff-era numbers that proved that the man could rock out with the best of 'em. I'm waiting for the book but like, who's gonna write it???
***
I wonder why Paul McGarry sent me this one, or why he would be in possession of a copy in the first place. Perhaps he was a member of the same chain gang that Alan Lomax recorded back inna forties and felt nostalgic for it all or somethin' like that, but given his pigmentation I kinda doubt it. An interesting look into these down-home hard-time tunes as they were meant to be---sung while the work was bein' done and the clankin' of the sledgehammers was the beat. Features an early version of "Bald Headed Woman" done up way before the Who got their hands on it making me wonder if these guys got any sorta royalty payments in the meanwhile.
***
Former Commander Cody guitarist Kirchen does swell on these truck driver cantatas that really capture the whole country music ramalama better'n most pretenders onna Newer Than New Country bandwagon ever could. Pretty straightforward musings here that'll become as real to you as the linoleum on a truckstop table with even a few nice and tasty more pop-oriented toonz for youse to peruse added! Don't miss the cover of Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" which closes out the proceedings and hey Bill, if you really wanna be smart howzbout issuing some of those Seventh Seal tapes for us, eh?
***
Another good if brief slice of Shutemania that I sure can enjoy this time of the year (which is certainly better than "this time of month" when my cyster was much younger). The "Aigles" tracks were good 'nuff for a start (and no, they ain't the "Eagles" under an alias!) while the "song poems" are entertaining as they usually are even if you don't know who that unemployed janitor from Muncie who sent 'em in hoping for fame and fortune was, and the closing tracks by the Searchers kinda make me wish they had more hits here in the U.S. of Whoa than they most certainly had! The old ads that were sprinkled about helped too, especially the Texaco gas one with Jack Benny and Dennis Day which Bill must love to no end because he also stuck it on two other "floor sweepings" efforts of his. Either that or he's gone loonier than I'll ever be!
Happy Christmas to you, Stig!
ReplyDelete