Nice seein' ya here on this rather calm cool and collected weekend. My past seven were spent practically doing nothing but sitting around watching old tee-vee shows while listening to the music that makes up this week's batch (along with a few extracurricular faves) while reading lotsa old rock fanzines and various esoterical whatnot that might or might not be related to music. In other words I had a PERFECT week, which I hope is more than I can say about yours!
As far as personal listening concerns go, Hopital de la Conception's THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR tape continues to be my number one nighty-night fave listening experience, oozing me into sonic dreams that only Lou Reed was once capable of having! Let me tell you, it's rock 'n roll like this that really gives me the spirit to get up in the morning and face life knowing that there still is a streak of bared-wire intensity out there somewhere and that existence out there is not all sicko decadent stuff the kind YOU like to wallow in. Hope that things do get brighter even if I have to rely on 40/50-plus-year-old material in order to get those proverbial jams kicked out, at least in my mind...
Omeed Goodarzi-ZOLTAR HID ALL THE LOCKS/MINNOWS LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Yet another weirditie from Feeding Tube which almost had me running for the hills in abject mindsplatter. But hey, if I can sit through it I'm sure you could too. Some solo nutzo strums and plays (along with fellow nutzos sitting in on violins and such) and comes up with a sound that kinda reminds me once again of a whole load of those by-their-lonesome stoner acts you often hear about. Y'know, the kinda guys who have suffered through all of the mental and physical illnesses that I've brought up when writing about these people for years on end yet manage to make recordings that will be going for big bux in the years to come. It's even got some readymades making me wonder if this is the album R. Meltzer could have released in 1967. Not really that bad even with the cassette clicks and strange mumblings. Might even be heightened if you're of the new narcotics bent that's sweeping the nation, but don't tell anyone I told you that.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins-A SPELL ON YOU : B-SIDES AND RARITIES/BAPTIZE ME IN WINE - SINGLES AND ODDITIES 1955-1959 LPs (Wax Love Records Italy, available via Forced Exposure)
These flipsides and such have been floating around for ages and the fact that both of these feature many of the exact same tracks doesn't help any. However, if you're a fan and follower of the original rock 'n roll madman and don't have it all maybe you'll want to hear these once impossible-to-find recordings. After all, they do echo the insanity that had overtaken their creator for years on end. Hawkins at his earliest and perhaps craziest (tho his late-sixties comeback was pretty par for the freak course) taking your brain into territories that the shock rockers of the past thirty years would fear to tread. Now if some of those really rare small label items from the interim years would only make their way to my door, even the DISCO ones on RCA if you can believe that!
Motorhead-UNDER COVER CD-r burn (originally on Motorhead Music Records)
If this is Lemmy's way of going out, well boy did he go out in that good ol' STYLE I hope I can go out on (but won't). An all covers platter true, but these covers are given new life by Motorhead with a load of that proper heavy metal (not the loose bowels syndrome that has passed for HM all these years) pounce that I kinda get the feeling will scare most of those seventies/eighties hairboy types no end. Everyone from Nugent and the Stones to the Sex Pistols and Bowie get their licks in here---what, no Skrewdriver???
The Black Angels-CLEAR LAKE FOREST EP CD-r burn (originally on Blue Horizon Genre Records)
Well whaddaya know! I didn't care for DEATH SONG one bit, but this current day (this came out in 2014 which is current enough in my time zone) group's effort does prove that they can do the Velvets/Syd thing without making me wanna churn up more than yesterday's dinner! Vocals have that typical Barrettesque wild-eyed touch while the music does echo some of the better moments of various 1966-67 English (and Amerigan) underground pop moves. And boy, that guitar on "Linda's Gone" is straight outta "All Tomorrow's Parties", staccato Ostrich stylings and all! This is snattier than a whole load of other "retrogarde" offerings that are treading the same musical mines, and actually worth your while to get hold of even in these budget conscious times.
AFRS PRESENTS---YANK SWING SESSION #83, KNOW YOUR ALLY GREAT BRITAIN, AND SOUND OFF WITH HARRY VON ZELL CD-r burn
Here's another one to send any self-respecting soldier to the DMZ screaming. Not that I don't mind hotcha bop dee-jays spinnin' the latest sounds, but don't you think that it's carrying things a bit too far when Harry Von Zell starts jive talkin' between the hot platters? George Burns woulda busted him one in the balls if Von Zell talked that way around him! And for the life of me I can't see how Great Britain really can be considered an ally given how they've treated us before and during the Revolutionary War! No wonder Andrew Jackson wanted to hang every last one of 'em! Still, if you want to hear what soldiers hadda endure while wallowing in muddy trenches wearing underwear with more stripes than a sergeant give this li'l yodel a listen.
Venus and the Razorblades-SONGS FROM THE SUNSHINE JUNGLE CD-r burn (originally on Visa Records)
Huh...kinda wish I bought the thing back when it was a ninety-nine cent bargain basement offering at Stiff Records in Cle. Hts. back '79 way. Far from being just another Kim Fowley cheap cash-in, Venus and the Razorblades do emit more than a little teenage-inspired energy and (golly!) angst on this effort which doesn't bore ya until maybe halfway through the end of side two. That's when things start getting a bit clogged up but not as clogged as Christopher Cross so who cares. Great neo-metallic stomp with the right pinch of pop scattered here and there...nothing to sneeze at if you happen to come upon this at whatever's left of that huge record pile you'd see at the flea market year after year.
Johanna Went-KPFK, LOS ANGELES 3/12/1983 LIVE FROM STUDIO Z RADIO SERIES CD-r burn
She's innovative, brash, confrontational and makes a spectacle outta herself alla time. You know what that means...she, like every other transgressive womanist performance artiste out there in "Notice Me!" land oughta have her mouth (and maybe something else) sewn up and be forced to work in a soup kitchen on the Bowery until she becomes a real human being! And to think that Went probably makes more moolah in one day via grants and various other public funding than your average Polish plumber in Peoria makes in an entire year!
Red Television-GHOST OF EMILE ZOLA CD-r burn (originally on Audio Archives)
For a minute I thought this was some current-day mind-scalped kid doing the folkie routine and almost succeeding at it (except for the mewling vocals and uninspirational lyrics) but after some research I discovered that this "Red Television" guy actually was up and about in early-Seventies England! Proves to me that mind-addled people were given access to acoustic guitars even that early in the game. Sometimes expressive, mostly downer, and filled with that orbiting Pluto style of singing that makes you wonder if Mumbles from the old DICK TRACY strip had somehow been reincarnated yet again. For the most serious of serious World Saving folkie types only.
Various Artists-COTTONPICKIN' PSYCHEDELIC STONEMEN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
An almost-all six-oh garage band collection courtesy the only and only Bill Shute. Too bad he hadda stick a country number from Ben Hughes right inna middle of the thing because it does spoil the mood (heck, even the Tams' cover of the Impressions' "It's All Right" didn't do that!)---the results are sorta like having a wild kiddie party and all of a sudden Aunt Matilda comes in and wants to read you some dippy fairy tale! Still it's beauteous listening to that good ol' crackly vinyl and pops on some poorly-pressed effort featuring a buncha local kinda guys doin' their best to swipe from the cheapo hits of the day and devaluate 'em even more! Personal fave---the Krels' "Psychedelic Feelin'" which is about as psychedelic as your last dose of Castor Oil but man, does it sure beats the Airplane!
As far as personal listening concerns go, Hopital de la Conception's THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR tape continues to be my number one nighty-night fave listening experience, oozing me into sonic dreams that only Lou Reed was once capable of having! Let me tell you, it's rock 'n roll like this that really gives me the spirit to get up in the morning and face life knowing that there still is a streak of bared-wire intensity out there somewhere and that existence out there is not all sicko decadent stuff the kind YOU like to wallow in. Hope that things do get brighter even if I have to rely on 40/50-plus-year-old material in order to get those proverbial jams kicked out, at least in my mind...
***
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| Class, you did so well with last week's French lesson so howzbout giving this one the ol' United Nations try??? |
***So here's this week's faves, and as usual Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and Feeding Tube are responsible for the majority of the items to be had. If the Hampton Grease Band can be trusted then EAT IT UP and don't be ashamed to ask for seconds cuz there's plenty to go around!
Yet another weirditie from Feeding Tube which almost had me running for the hills in abject mindsplatter. But hey, if I can sit through it I'm sure you could too. Some solo nutzo strums and plays (along with fellow nutzos sitting in on violins and such) and comes up with a sound that kinda reminds me once again of a whole load of those by-their-lonesome stoner acts you often hear about. Y'know, the kinda guys who have suffered through all of the mental and physical illnesses that I've brought up when writing about these people for years on end yet manage to make recordings that will be going for big bux in the years to come. It's even got some readymades making me wonder if this is the album R. Meltzer could have released in 1967. Not really that bad even with the cassette clicks and strange mumblings. Might even be heightened if you're of the new narcotics bent that's sweeping the nation, but don't tell anyone I told you that.
***
Screamin' Jay Hawkins-A SPELL ON YOU : B-SIDES AND RARITIES/BAPTIZE ME IN WINE - SINGLES AND ODDITIES 1955-1959 LPs (Wax Love Records Italy, available via Forced Exposure)These flipsides and such have been floating around for ages and the fact that both of these feature many of the exact same tracks doesn't help any. However, if you're a fan and follower of the original rock 'n roll madman and don't have it all maybe you'll want to hear these once impossible-to-find recordings. After all, they do echo the insanity that had overtaken their creator for years on end. Hawkins at his earliest and perhaps craziest (tho his late-sixties comeback was pretty par for the freak course) taking your brain into territories that the shock rockers of the past thirty years would fear to tread. Now if some of those really rare small label items from the interim years would only make their way to my door, even the DISCO ones on RCA if you can believe that!
***
Motorhead-UNDER COVER CD-r burn (originally on Motorhead Music Records)
If this is Lemmy's way of going out, well boy did he go out in that good ol' STYLE I hope I can go out on (but won't). An all covers platter true, but these covers are given new life by Motorhead with a load of that proper heavy metal (not the loose bowels syndrome that has passed for HM all these years) pounce that I kinda get the feeling will scare most of those seventies/eighties hairboy types no end. Everyone from Nugent and the Stones to the Sex Pistols and Bowie get their licks in here---what, no Skrewdriver???
***
Well whaddaya know! I didn't care for DEATH SONG one bit, but this current day (this came out in 2014 which is current enough in my time zone) group's effort does prove that they can do the Velvets/Syd thing without making me wanna churn up more than yesterday's dinner! Vocals have that typical Barrettesque wild-eyed touch while the music does echo some of the better moments of various 1966-67 English (and Amerigan) underground pop moves. And boy, that guitar on "Linda's Gone" is straight outta "All Tomorrow's Parties", staccato Ostrich stylings and all! This is snattier than a whole load of other "retrogarde" offerings that are treading the same musical mines, and actually worth your while to get hold of even in these budget conscious times.
***
Here's another one to send any self-respecting soldier to the DMZ screaming. Not that I don't mind hotcha bop dee-jays spinnin' the latest sounds, but don't you think that it's carrying things a bit too far when Harry Von Zell starts jive talkin' between the hot platters? George Burns woulda busted him one in the balls if Von Zell talked that way around him! And for the life of me I can't see how Great Britain really can be considered an ally given how they've treated us before and during the Revolutionary War! No wonder Andrew Jackson wanted to hang every last one of 'em! Still, if you want to hear what soldiers hadda endure while wallowing in muddy trenches wearing underwear with more stripes than a sergeant give this li'l yodel a listen.
***
Huh...kinda wish I bought the thing back when it was a ninety-nine cent bargain basement offering at Stiff Records in Cle. Hts. back '79 way. Far from being just another Kim Fowley cheap cash-in, Venus and the Razorblades do emit more than a little teenage-inspired energy and (golly!) angst on this effort which doesn't bore ya until maybe halfway through the end of side two. That's when things start getting a bit clogged up but not as clogged as Christopher Cross so who cares. Great neo-metallic stomp with the right pinch of pop scattered here and there...nothing to sneeze at if you happen to come upon this at whatever's left of that huge record pile you'd see at the flea market year after year.
***
Johanna Went-KPFK, LOS ANGELES 3/12/1983 LIVE FROM STUDIO Z RADIO SERIES CD-r burn
She's innovative, brash, confrontational and makes a spectacle outta herself alla time. You know what that means...she, like every other transgressive womanist performance artiste out there in "Notice Me!" land oughta have her mouth (and maybe something else) sewn up and be forced to work in a soup kitchen on the Bowery until she becomes a real human being! And to think that Went probably makes more moolah in one day via grants and various other public funding than your average Polish plumber in Peoria makes in an entire year!
***
Red Television-GHOST OF EMILE ZOLA CD-r burn (originally on Audio Archives)
For a minute I thought this was some current-day mind-scalped kid doing the folkie routine and almost succeeding at it (except for the mewling vocals and uninspirational lyrics) but after some research I discovered that this "Red Television" guy actually was up and about in early-Seventies England! Proves to me that mind-addled people were given access to acoustic guitars even that early in the game. Sometimes expressive, mostly downer, and filled with that orbiting Pluto style of singing that makes you wonder if Mumbles from the old DICK TRACY strip had somehow been reincarnated yet again. For the most serious of serious World Saving folkie types only.
***
An almost-all six-oh garage band collection courtesy the only and only Bill Shute. Too bad he hadda stick a country number from Ben Hughes right inna middle of the thing because it does spoil the mood (heck, even the Tams' cover of the Impressions' "It's All Right" didn't do that!)---the results are sorta like having a wild kiddie party and all of a sudden Aunt Matilda comes in and wants to read you some dippy fairy tale! Still it's beauteous listening to that good ol' crackly vinyl and pops on some poorly-pressed effort featuring a buncha local kinda guys doin' their best to swipe from the cheapo hits of the day and devaluate 'em even more! Personal fave---the Krels' "Psychedelic Feelin'" which is about as psychedelic as your last dose of Castor Oil but man, does it sure beats the Airplane!
***Of course I still have back issues of BLACK TO COMM for sale. Plenty enough to satisfy just about every throbbing, drooling, maddening rockist fan of the form on the face of this planet! Just click the link and be taken to a world where rock journalism does not mean ROLLING STONE pomposity and high energy gonzoid screeding is just as plentiful as it was back when the likes of Lester Bangs and Richard Meltzer were actually being published in the pages of said rag (and at times even getting PAID for it!). Oooh, I never knew I was so GREAT!
Sheesh. No Sauter Finegan or Singers Unlimited? This is a cultural Marxism on parade.
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