Sheesh, I really must be getting old(er) because for some reason the Christmas Season just ain't hittin' the ol' headbone the way it should, or at least the way it did back when I was a mere turdler and the entire ramping up via tee-vee and older kid chatter just had me goin' nutzo. Of course there are many factors contributing to my lack of ho-ho-ho, the main one being that besides being an old turd there just ain't that same ol' spirit that used to permeate the last days of the year that there used to be, and ya can't blame any grinches for that! You know who I blame of course...the same snooty higher ups who think that alla that same fifties/sixties (and before) entertainment and general jamz that many of use grew up on and had so much fun engaging in was nada but evil Kapitalist Konsumerism that we should ALL be rescued from! So let's just bore on and accept our miserable holiday fate...after all it's good for us, and our betters won't stop letting us know that!
Of course that won't stop me from remembering the good ol' X-mas days back when I used to get all confused over that sexually ambiguous "Ghost of Christmas Past" on the ol' MR. MAGOO special, but sheesh if we only had that feeling and kultur of yore o go along with these days that we did long before they hadda get rid of kids (all they have today are small adults poppin' right out the womb and don't kid yourself!) wouldn't life be just dandy???
Charlemagne Palestine-ARPEGGIATED BOSENDORF WITH FALSETTO VOICE LP (Alga Marghen Records, Germany)
I never was as head over heels for Palestine as I was for some of the other new minimalists who were working in areas related to rock 'n roll, but this 1974 effort which has only seen the light of day recently seemed too tasty to pass on. This was undoubtedly due to the presence of Mayo Thompson as recording coordinator, and as you readers know I really do need a hook such as this to legitimize my listening preferences!
Pleasurable sounding piano arpeggios, the kind that Gumby ruined when he landed on that asteroid, help ease you into a nice worry-free state as soothing high pitched singing come off almost as if some angels were up and about exercising their lungs. Then the drugs wear off and everything is back to normal, but it was a good enough experience. Limited edition too, but they'll always press up more don't you worry.
Mika Pontecorvo, G. Calvin Weston with Cartoon Justice-TERRA LINGUA (SKETCHES) CD (Cartoon Justice Records)
I always enjoy these little outta nowhere surprises and this platter is one surprise that I sure needed especially in these usually snoozier than usual times. Other'n for Weston I know nada about who these people are and what they've been up to ever since they picked up their gear, but Pontecorvo, Weston and Cartoon Justice sure put out a mighty hot jazz rock (as in fusion done up right!) that keeps my attention going.
The nearest thing that I can compare this to is Noisetet Obscure, this hot jazz rock act that used to pop up at the old CBGB Lounge back during the final days of that club's history, and their electronic yet rock take on everything from Dolphy on used to give me hope for a future of bright blare. (Just pop their name into the search window above to see what I had written on 'em way back when.)
Like Noisetet, these guys deal in a sorta rock jazz avant hybrid of everything I thought jazz would sound like in the here and now only nobody calling the jazz shots these days would fess up to it. Maybe you could call it a Human Arts Ensemble update with heavy synth sounds permeating or what I would have hoped Sonny Sharrock woulda been up to had he lasted this long down the music line. Frantic and cluttered, yet with a clear musical vision that sure sounded good back in the seventies when you were young and upstarting, yet it sounds even better in the here and now giving us all a bright glimpse of musical hope!
Hey Mark (the guy who sent me this on Bill Shute's advise), can you tell us how to get a copy? Seems like all the links listed on the back cover are no good at least on my outdated machine! (Or, if you want to write to 3105 Henderson Drive, Richmond CA 94806, write now.)
Myriam Gendron/Dorothy Parker-NOT SO DEEP AS A WELL LP (Feeding Tube Records, available via Forced Exposure)
I must admit that most of what I knew about folk music was learned through infrequent viewing of HI HOOT (local tee-vee folk music showcase that ended up featuring high school chorales...the host's name was Dick Yanko....really!!!) and HOOTENANNY where Bob Linkletter played host to the cleaner cut singers at a variety of college campuses, but dang if there just ain't whatcha'd call a downright and nasty trend towards bared wire intensity when it comes to the baser forms of the element. Tim Hardin comes to mind as does this recent addition to the Future Freedom Riders sweepstakes, none other than Myriam Gendron who is perhaps the last in a long line of downhome gnarled folkies who has such names as Byron Coley (he did the liner notes) and Richard Meltzer on her side.
Well, since Myriam's from Montreal maybe she won't be doin' any Selma bridge marches soon, but the femme sure does the entire folk music idiom right on this 2014 debut where she sets noted snob Dorothy Parker's poesy to music and does a pretty good job of it as well. Gendron plays like the better folk strummers of the time with a deep gnarl that I'm sure some experts on the form can explain to me, while her voice is reminiscent of Maureen Tucker and boy can it (with the aid of her guitar) ease out various emotions and feelings in your system that you thought you had expurgated ages ago!
I am reminded of a few CHELSEA GIRL tracks without the string glop, while her rendition of Parker's words seem to fit her aw shucks girlisms rather well. Woulda loved to have heard Laughner tackle this material just as much as I'd like to hear Gendron do "Eyes Eyes" and the best thing about it is that I get the feeling that the gal's probably more early than late-sixties flopabout in her appearance and perhaps even hygiene. Just won't wanna know if she does/doesn't shaves her armpits because that might ruin the entire aura.
The best folkie outta Montreal since Erica Pomerance? Hmmmmm, just might be!
Jimi Hendrix-JIMI HENDRIX LIVE--BIRTH OF SUCCESS CD-r burn (originally on Hor Zu Records, Germany)
One of those Curtis Knight-era recordings that got rushed out in the wake of the big choke, BIRTH OF SUCCESS benefits from the raw Hackensack New Jersey club sound quality and the hard-edged performance that fortunately doesn't bring out all of Hendrix's self-conscious...er..."showmanship" (as some might call it). All of the old blooze faves are trotted out (tho we get two originals courtesy Knight) and it's even good enough to make you forget about all of those doped up empty-eyed fat girls who wanted to plaster caster him like anything. This is the German issue (available elsewhere as EARLY JIMI HENDRIX) which I'm sure an older brother who was stationed overseas in the early-seventies brought back home and which you probably sold at a flea market only a few years later.
The Beatles-AUDIO FROM THE DVD RELEASE OF MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR CD-r burn
Like many of these bottom of the barrel uterine scrapings this selection is really for the maddest of mad Beatles completest out there. Shards and shreds of various bits of singing, chanting, dialogue, old Beatle hits done up as orchestral faves or lounge tinklings. Nothing earth-shattering in this half-hour batch, but I'll betcha that had I heard this one at age fifteen I would have thought it the dandiest slice of Beatledom that I could lay my ears upon.
Various Artists-BEAT!FREAK! VOLUME 7 CD-r burn (Particles Records, England)
As you might have expected, even more English beat rock has been uncovered over the years than any of us would have guessed existed in the first place. And as usual a good portion of it has popped up on these samplers that have been issued by guys who know a good movement to cash in on! As you also might have expected, this particular volume of BEAT!FREAK! mixes tracks by the familiar (the Rockin' Berries and the Iveys---future Badfinger for those not in the know) with groups I and presumably you have never heard of before. The results are great hotcha teenage moptop slop that used to get the gals screamin' back during those pre-social conscious times. Too bad more of this didn't make it over to our shores...it sure coulda edges some of the sloppier adult singles off the charts that's for sure!
Huckle-WILD BLUE YONDER CD-r burn
Pure Marin County hippie get downs done up by a bunch who probably sniffled like anything while watching that sensitive old tee-vee series SUNSHINE. Folksy (as opposed to down-to-earth folk...see Gendron review above) acoustic guitars plunk along while congas cong although an interesting enough violin does seem to careen just when the careening is needed. Otherwise this is just more of that front porch gettin'-it-all-together down on the commune stuff aimed directly at the Boone's Farm crowd. But don't worry---in ten year's time they'll all be reading MAXIMUM ROCK 'N ROLL.
Not quite the blockballser that Bill usually sends, but it has enough goodity to it to keep me from chucking the thing in the trashcan. The positive points include Lightnin' Slim's sleazo blooze, Roky Erickson's Rhino Records version of "Bermuda", Rachel and the Revolvers doin' a nifty mid-sixties teenbo dance step and a really hot early-seventies vintage Mickey Dolenz single called "Daybreak" (produced by Harry Nilsson, and it sure has his sound to it!) which coulda been a hot Rodney's English Disco hit had it only gotten out more. Feh parts include Frijid Pink's blues swipes which were starting to sound way past their half-life by the time this 'un got out, some cheap Ross Bagsadarian-influenced country swing courtesy Shirley Anne and the Country Rogues, and a bunch of fifties pop that just doesn't sound right now that Snookie Lanson is dead. As usual the "Song Poems" are as guffaw-inducing as ever with their cornballlus lyrics and performance...keep an extra ear out for Gene Marshall's "I Love Canada" which is bound to get even Bruce Mowat gagging way up their in the wilds of the Northwest Territories.
Of course that won't stop me from remembering the good ol' X-mas days back when I used to get all confused over that sexually ambiguous "Ghost of Christmas Past" on the ol' MR. MAGOO special, but sheesh if we only had that feeling and kultur of yore o go along with these days that we did long before they hadda get rid of kids (all they have today are small adults poppin' right out the womb and don't kid yourself!) wouldn't life be just dandy???
***BEDDY BYE SPIN OF THE WEEK---ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS AGORA CLEVELAND 5/5/75 RADIO BROADCAST!-the "George Belden" tape complete with Paragon doing a feh Hendrix impression and Left End not living up to their hard rock image with some rather slow and not-quite-there numbers that must have disappointed their hard-edged fans. But Rocket were on all cylinders that night as the more complete (but not en-toto) tape circulating will attest to with a sound that comes off like the culmination of everything the sixties had to offer us updated to mid-seventies underground rock appeal levels. I only hope that more Rocket'll make its way to us because hey, how can anyone live on the tidbits and morsels that David Thomas dares to toss out for our consumption anyway?
***Not much else to say in the realm of my preramble so why not just get to the part you've been waiting for (with baited breath...preferably a nice juicy worm!)...da reviews!!!
I never was as head over heels for Palestine as I was for some of the other new minimalists who were working in areas related to rock 'n roll, but this 1974 effort which has only seen the light of day recently seemed too tasty to pass on. This was undoubtedly due to the presence of Mayo Thompson as recording coordinator, and as you readers know I really do need a hook such as this to legitimize my listening preferences!
Pleasurable sounding piano arpeggios, the kind that Gumby ruined when he landed on that asteroid, help ease you into a nice worry-free state as soothing high pitched singing come off almost as if some angels were up and about exercising their lungs. Then the drugs wear off and everything is back to normal, but it was a good enough experience. Limited edition too, but they'll always press up more don't you worry.
***
I always enjoy these little outta nowhere surprises and this platter is one surprise that I sure needed especially in these usually snoozier than usual times. Other'n for Weston I know nada about who these people are and what they've been up to ever since they picked up their gear, but Pontecorvo, Weston and Cartoon Justice sure put out a mighty hot jazz rock (as in fusion done up right!) that keeps my attention going.
The nearest thing that I can compare this to is Noisetet Obscure, this hot jazz rock act that used to pop up at the old CBGB Lounge back during the final days of that club's history, and their electronic yet rock take on everything from Dolphy on used to give me hope for a future of bright blare. (Just pop their name into the search window above to see what I had written on 'em way back when.)
Like Noisetet, these guys deal in a sorta rock jazz avant hybrid of everything I thought jazz would sound like in the here and now only nobody calling the jazz shots these days would fess up to it. Maybe you could call it a Human Arts Ensemble update with heavy synth sounds permeating or what I would have hoped Sonny Sharrock woulda been up to had he lasted this long down the music line. Frantic and cluttered, yet with a clear musical vision that sure sounded good back in the seventies when you were young and upstarting, yet it sounds even better in the here and now giving us all a bright glimpse of musical hope!
Hey Mark (the guy who sent me this on Bill Shute's advise), can you tell us how to get a copy? Seems like all the links listed on the back cover are no good at least on my outdated machine! (Or, if you want to write to 3105 Henderson Drive, Richmond CA 94806, write now.)
***
I must admit that most of what I knew about folk music was learned through infrequent viewing of HI HOOT (local tee-vee folk music showcase that ended up featuring high school chorales...the host's name was Dick Yanko....really!!!) and HOOTENANNY where Bob Linkletter played host to the cleaner cut singers at a variety of college campuses, but dang if there just ain't whatcha'd call a downright and nasty trend towards bared wire intensity when it comes to the baser forms of the element. Tim Hardin comes to mind as does this recent addition to the Future Freedom Riders sweepstakes, none other than Myriam Gendron who is perhaps the last in a long line of downhome gnarled folkies who has such names as Byron Coley (he did the liner notes) and Richard Meltzer on her side.
Well, since Myriam's from Montreal maybe she won't be doin' any Selma bridge marches soon, but the femme sure does the entire folk music idiom right on this 2014 debut where she sets noted snob Dorothy Parker's poesy to music and does a pretty good job of it as well. Gendron plays like the better folk strummers of the time with a deep gnarl that I'm sure some experts on the form can explain to me, while her voice is reminiscent of Maureen Tucker and boy can it (with the aid of her guitar) ease out various emotions and feelings in your system that you thought you had expurgated ages ago!
I am reminded of a few CHELSEA GIRL tracks without the string glop, while her rendition of Parker's words seem to fit her aw shucks girlisms rather well. Woulda loved to have heard Laughner tackle this material just as much as I'd like to hear Gendron do "Eyes Eyes" and the best thing about it is that I get the feeling that the gal's probably more early than late-sixties flopabout in her appearance and perhaps even hygiene. Just won't wanna know if she does/doesn't shaves her armpits because that might ruin the entire aura.
The best folkie outta Montreal since Erica Pomerance? Hmmmmm, just might be!
***
One of those Curtis Knight-era recordings that got rushed out in the wake of the big choke, BIRTH OF SUCCESS benefits from the raw Hackensack New Jersey club sound quality and the hard-edged performance that fortunately doesn't bring out all of Hendrix's self-conscious...er..."showmanship" (as some might call it). All of the old blooze faves are trotted out (tho we get two originals courtesy Knight) and it's even good enough to make you forget about all of those doped up empty-eyed fat girls who wanted to plaster caster him like anything. This is the German issue (available elsewhere as EARLY JIMI HENDRIX) which I'm sure an older brother who was stationed overseas in the early-seventies brought back home and which you probably sold at a flea market only a few years later.
***
Like many of these bottom of the barrel uterine scrapings this selection is really for the maddest of mad Beatles completest out there. Shards and shreds of various bits of singing, chanting, dialogue, old Beatle hits done up as orchestral faves or lounge tinklings. Nothing earth-shattering in this half-hour batch, but I'll betcha that had I heard this one at age fifteen I would have thought it the dandiest slice of Beatledom that I could lay my ears upon.
***
As you might have expected, even more English beat rock has been uncovered over the years than any of us would have guessed existed in the first place. And as usual a good portion of it has popped up on these samplers that have been issued by guys who know a good movement to cash in on! As you also might have expected, this particular volume of BEAT!FREAK! mixes tracks by the familiar (the Rockin' Berries and the Iveys---future Badfinger for those not in the know) with groups I and presumably you have never heard of before. The results are great hotcha teenage moptop slop that used to get the gals screamin' back during those pre-social conscious times. Too bad more of this didn't make it over to our shores...it sure coulda edges some of the sloppier adult singles off the charts that's for sure!
***
Pure Marin County hippie get downs done up by a bunch who probably sniffled like anything while watching that sensitive old tee-vee series SUNSHINE. Folksy (as opposed to down-to-earth folk...see Gendron review above) acoustic guitars plunk along while congas cong although an interesting enough violin does seem to careen just when the careening is needed. Otherwise this is just more of that front porch gettin'-it-all-together down on the commune stuff aimed directly at the Boone's Farm crowd. But don't worry---in ten year's time they'll all be reading MAXIMUM ROCK 'N ROLL.
***Various Artists-DAYBREAK STRANGER DANCE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Not quite the blockballser that Bill usually sends, but it has enough goodity to it to keep me from chucking the thing in the trashcan. The positive points include Lightnin' Slim's sleazo blooze, Roky Erickson's Rhino Records version of "Bermuda", Rachel and the Revolvers doin' a nifty mid-sixties teenbo dance step and a really hot early-seventies vintage Mickey Dolenz single called "Daybreak" (produced by Harry Nilsson, and it sure has his sound to it!) which coulda been a hot Rodney's English Disco hit had it only gotten out more. Feh parts include Frijid Pink's blues swipes which were starting to sound way past their half-life by the time this 'un got out, some cheap Ross Bagsadarian-influenced country swing courtesy Shirley Anne and the Country Rogues, and a bunch of fifties pop that just doesn't sound right now that Snookie Lanson is dead. As usual the "Song Poems" are as guffaw-inducing as ever with their cornballlus lyrics and performance...keep an extra ear out for Gene Marshall's "I Love Canada" which is bound to get even Bruce Mowat gagging way up their in the wilds of the Northwest Territories.
Chris-thanks for giving Mika's disc a spin and a review!
ReplyDeleteDigital and physical copies can be had here:
https://mikapontecorvo.bandcamp.com/releases
Happy Holidays!
I told you to get the Gendron at the end of October. Took you long enough.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
It took me a month to raise the money to get it!
ReplyDeleteAnd same to you bub!