The past seven weren't exactly as tippy-top as I would have liked 'em to be, but so what! At least I had my vinyl collection, burnt offerings, books, old fanzoonies and other good stuff to keep me occupied while the world turns into yet another mass of stiflingly boring miasma. One saving grace of the week was the arrival of a number of hotcha (s)platters from a variety of sources including the busier than you'll ever be Feeding Tube label. Big stack they sent as well, and as usual it's gonna take more'n just a few weeks to sift through it, digest and ultimately poop out these things in review form. A Herculean task for sure, but the thought of it is oh so thrilling. A few of the titles look rather stimulating while some kinda gimme the creeps but who knows...as the famed mystic Bo Diddley once said "You can't judge a record by looking at the hype sheet" and as usual I'll find out first hand before I even dare let any of you near 'em!
SNATCH LP (Pandemonium Records)
At last, a collection of this New York transplanted to England gal duo's singles and other such fundries on one of those "Record Store Day" offerings (red vinyl too!) that seem to be the rage these days. Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin chime together like those punk rock gals always could while a variety of backings (either stripped down or synthed up at times) fills the void. Not so oddly enough a lotta this reminded me of the Heartbreakers, while their collaboration with Eno sounds like...well, exactly what you'd expect the three of 'em together to sound like! Sheesh, to I have to babysit you readers through everything??? It will bring back those wild eyed youth memories of reading about (for me via....yech...Caroline Coon) and ultimately discovering acts like Snatch and many others back when they seemed to have had a direct line to your suburban slob form of teenage music outlook, or something like that.
Jacques Thollot-MORE INTRA MUSIQUE LP (Alga Marghen Records France, available via. Forced Exposure)
Well, I gotta admit that the sequel just ain't as good as the original, but it's still good enough for me! Mostly a pastiche of various free solos on a variety of instruments (including a lot of prepared piano), Thollot and partner in noise Eddie Gaumont create a sparse sort of improvised clang that draws heavily on various seventies excursions into the mung. The results remind me offhand of a few Marion Brown duo offerings not to mention a variety of AACM/JCOA-helmed efforts that had more'n a few youth on the move palpatain' like certain movies made in Sweden could. If you never did get off your new thing in music obsession accrued by repeated Lester Bangs genredroppings in old CREEMs then man, you know where to send your next paycheck to, eh?
Charles K. Noyes and Owen Marecks with Henry Kaiser and Greg Goodman-FREE MAMMALS LP (Feeding Tube Records, available via Forced Exposure)
Nice public service Feeding Tube did here reissuing this classic late-seventies free session on vinyl just like nature intended. Read my original review here if you so desire, but upon second spin I gotta say that I thought this sounded way more adventurous (in that unbridled wild eyed way long before a whole buncha miscreants decided to hone in on the free sound deal) than I had originally thought. Still has that bite and sharp edge that a whole lotta that new music sound did back when we were young and just discovering it, and if YOU TOO were one of those NMDS catalog searchers who always used to miss out on the biggies even though they were being listed for ages on end....................
The Pink Fairies-RESIDENT REPTILES CD (Pyramid Records)
Yup it's a new Pink Fairies album and yup even more it's one done up by original guitarist Paul Rudolph without Duncan Sanderson or Russell Hunter for that matter. And nope, Twink is not to be seen anywhere on here, but it does have former Hawkwind bassist Alan "Boomer" Davy and ex-Motorhead/Warsaw Pakt/Bedrooms of Europe drummer Lucas Fox so it's sorta still inna family. And (once again) yup, it sounds like what you'd expect a Pink Fairies album to sound like with the overcharged guitars and charged-enough singing from Rudolph, who vocal-wise comes off a whole lot different now 'n he did back inna seventies. The biggest surprise---the closing track "Apologize" which for some not so strange reason reminds me of the Pretty Things' "Talking About the Good Times"!
The Byrds-SANCTUARY II CD-r burn (originally on Sundazed Records)
Maybe I ain't the Byrds fan many of you old timers out there are, but despite their association with the flakier of SoCal mores (as well as the mere fact that David Crosby was an original member) I find this collection fairly entertaining. Mostly a collection of rare backing tracks and other rarities, this "odds and sods" sounds perfect here in the dank of the late teens. It seems that all of the pretensions and straight out paens to the worst aspects of West Coast rock that I had associated with these guys mighta been all in my head after all! So good that even the ultimate Crosby kiss-offer "Triad" doesn't sound like the wine and cheese music that Billy Miller made it out to be, and considering that song was so groovy that Grace Slick decided to wrap her tonsils around it that's really saying something.
THE ADVENTURES OF MAISIE STARRING ANN SOTHERN CD-r burn
I'm familiar with Ann Sothern's PRIVATE SECRETARY and even watched MY MOTHER THE CAR back when I was but a widdle turdburger, but I sure was not familiar with her early-fifties vintage radio series where she plays one of those ditzy gal types you still see all over the place. Based on a film series I know nothing about, THE ADVENTURES OF MAISIE comes off like a tee-vee sitcom of the same strata only without the picture. Considering it was not produced in front of a live audiences does give it a sort of filmic quality, and while not especially funny the storylines were easy enough to follow while I was doin' a little catnappin'. Features some top notch voice acting not only from Sothern but personal faves like Frank Nelson and Hans Conried even though the former does not get into his patented "Yeeeeessssss?" character that always annoyed everyone from Jack Benny to Joe McDoakes.
SALLY STARR'S ADVENTURES TO THE MOON CD-r burn (originally on Liberty Bell Records)
Local (Philadelphia) kiddie-show host Starr narrates this pretty big production-sounding concept album (take THAT Beatles!) dealing with the big Space Race hubbub that was goin' on at the time (which, judging from the lush pop sounds, hadda've been the early-to-mid sixties). Starr really lays in on the line about what's in store for us (space stations etc.) while the chorus chimes on about how much you'd weigh on Mars as opposed to Jupiter. And Starr really is so sure of herself when she says that there positively are other solar systems, undiscovered planets and even life out there. Sheesh, what does she think she is anyway, a Scientologist?
Various Artists-DEBRIS VOL. 12 CD-r burn
I gotta admit that some of these collections of sixties local band rarities can get a little, er, same old at times, but DEBRIS Vol. 15 is a pretty hot compilation of more of those losers in a world where there were already enough losers arming themselves with cheap Japanese made electric guitars. I think a few of the tracks here have ended up on other collections like BACK FROM THE GRAVE, but so what since they're pretty hotcha in themselves and deserve to be heard no matter how many times they pop up on these things. Lotsa top notch moments here...off the top of my shiny dome maybe I should mention the Ci-Tations 7 romp on Don and Dewey's "Justine" as well as the Rocks singing sweet about "Terry" and the Shags tackling Roy Orbison's "Crying". Oh, and even the City-Limits do well with "Stagger Lee" even this 'un doesn't quite fit in with the bottom of the barrel garage band rock these kinda records are best known for!
Various Artists-MONSTERS TO BE PITIED, MONSTERS TO BE DESPISED CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Another one of those surprise packages, and frankly I haven't been so surprised since I was caught with those NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC hula girl issues because I didn't know the bathroom door lock was broken! Except for three scratchy 78s that sound like something the Romanoffs would have been listening to when the Red Army came a' knockin', this consists of old radio commercials and the likes the kind of which we haven't heard since the days of our youth, if not even earlier. If you remember that old Kent cigarette ad that went to the melody of "Happiness Is" well, that's one here along with a whole batch of beauts from Jim Varney plugging Mello Yello to Little Richard his latest on Reprise. Many Detroit-area ads are to be found as well. What I wanna really know is, who won that decorate your Thanksgiving Day turkey wishbone contest anyway???
***Didja catch that tweet that onetime hotcha actor Peter Fonda made about the Prez's kid Barron getting his ten-year-old butt raped off him? Didja catch the violent roar of self-indignation and chastisement for such actions that came from the usual sanctimonious types we've seen on this Earth for far too long? Of course not because it never did happen other'n by a few people outside the realms of polite society as they call it these days. Now do you remember the condemnation that I got for making way less caustic comments regarding my "betters" re. kinda/sorta dying of the same destroying, decaying cancer that took a few people within my sphere? Well naturally YES you do (even if it wasn't exactly front page news)...kinda makes you think that some forms of obnoxious behavior are more equal than others, ifyaknowaddamean... Or in other words...SHOVE IT WITH YOUR SELECTIVE OUTRAGE WILLYA?!!!
***Since there's nothing else SPECIAL going on this week that I'd prefer to blab about let me dispense with the padding of this post with regards to personal anecdotes regarding various bowel mishaps (had a doozy last night---the old plug up and ultimate gush-o scenario) and get down to da bizniz... Thanks to Bill and Paul and of course Feeding Tube for the goods, not to mention the sweat of my own brow, or flattop or pruneface for that matter (see if you millennials get them references!).
At last, a collection of this New York transplanted to England gal duo's singles and other such fundries on one of those "Record Store Day" offerings (red vinyl too!) that seem to be the rage these days. Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin chime together like those punk rock gals always could while a variety of backings (either stripped down or synthed up at times) fills the void. Not so oddly enough a lotta this reminded me of the Heartbreakers, while their collaboration with Eno sounds like...well, exactly what you'd expect the three of 'em together to sound like! Sheesh, to I have to babysit you readers through everything??? It will bring back those wild eyed youth memories of reading about (for me via....yech...Caroline Coon) and ultimately discovering acts like Snatch and many others back when they seemed to have had a direct line to your suburban slob form of teenage music outlook, or something like that.
***
Well, I gotta admit that the sequel just ain't as good as the original, but it's still good enough for me! Mostly a pastiche of various free solos on a variety of instruments (including a lot of prepared piano), Thollot and partner in noise Eddie Gaumont create a sparse sort of improvised clang that draws heavily on various seventies excursions into the mung. The results remind me offhand of a few Marion Brown duo offerings not to mention a variety of AACM/JCOA-helmed efforts that had more'n a few youth on the move palpatain' like certain movies made in Sweden could. If you never did get off your new thing in music obsession accrued by repeated Lester Bangs genredroppings in old CREEMs then man, you know where to send your next paycheck to, eh?
***
Charles K. Noyes and Owen Marecks with Henry Kaiser and Greg Goodman-FREE MAMMALS LP (Feeding Tube Records, available via Forced Exposure)Nice public service Feeding Tube did here reissuing this classic late-seventies free session on vinyl just like nature intended. Read my original review here if you so desire, but upon second spin I gotta say that I thought this sounded way more adventurous (in that unbridled wild eyed way long before a whole buncha miscreants decided to hone in on the free sound deal) than I had originally thought. Still has that bite and sharp edge that a whole lotta that new music sound did back when we were young and just discovering it, and if YOU TOO were one of those NMDS catalog searchers who always used to miss out on the biggies even though they were being listed for ages on end....................
***
Yup it's a new Pink Fairies album and yup even more it's one done up by original guitarist Paul Rudolph without Duncan Sanderson or Russell Hunter for that matter. And nope, Twink is not to be seen anywhere on here, but it does have former Hawkwind bassist Alan "Boomer" Davy and ex-Motorhead/Warsaw Pakt/Bedrooms of Europe drummer Lucas Fox so it's sorta still inna family. And (once again) yup, it sounds like what you'd expect a Pink Fairies album to sound like with the overcharged guitars and charged-enough singing from Rudolph, who vocal-wise comes off a whole lot different now 'n he did back inna seventies. The biggest surprise---the closing track "Apologize" which for some not so strange reason reminds me of the Pretty Things' "Talking About the Good Times"!
***
Maybe I ain't the Byrds fan many of you old timers out there are, but despite their association with the flakier of SoCal mores (as well as the mere fact that David Crosby was an original member) I find this collection fairly entertaining. Mostly a collection of rare backing tracks and other rarities, this "odds and sods" sounds perfect here in the dank of the late teens. It seems that all of the pretensions and straight out paens to the worst aspects of West Coast rock that I had associated with these guys mighta been all in my head after all! So good that even the ultimate Crosby kiss-offer "Triad" doesn't sound like the wine and cheese music that Billy Miller made it out to be, and considering that song was so groovy that Grace Slick decided to wrap her tonsils around it that's really saying something.
***
THE ADVENTURES OF MAISIE STARRING ANN SOTHERN CD-r burnI'm familiar with Ann Sothern's PRIVATE SECRETARY and even watched MY MOTHER THE CAR back when I was but a widdle turdburger, but I sure was not familiar with her early-fifties vintage radio series where she plays one of those ditzy gal types you still see all over the place. Based on a film series I know nothing about, THE ADVENTURES OF MAISIE comes off like a tee-vee sitcom of the same strata only without the picture. Considering it was not produced in front of a live audiences does give it a sort of filmic quality, and while not especially funny the storylines were easy enough to follow while I was doin' a little catnappin'. Features some top notch voice acting not only from Sothern but personal faves like Frank Nelson and Hans Conried even though the former does not get into his patented "Yeeeeessssss?" character that always annoyed everyone from Jack Benny to Joe McDoakes.
***
Local (Philadelphia) kiddie-show host Starr narrates this pretty big production-sounding concept album (take THAT Beatles!) dealing with the big Space Race hubbub that was goin' on at the time (which, judging from the lush pop sounds, hadda've been the early-to-mid sixties). Starr really lays in on the line about what's in store for us (space stations etc.) while the chorus chimes on about how much you'd weigh on Mars as opposed to Jupiter. And Starr really is so sure of herself when she says that there positively are other solar systems, undiscovered planets and even life out there. Sheesh, what does she think she is anyway, a Scientologist?
***
I gotta admit that some of these collections of sixties local band rarities can get a little, er, same old at times, but DEBRIS Vol. 15 is a pretty hot compilation of more of those losers in a world where there were already enough losers arming themselves with cheap Japanese made electric guitars. I think a few of the tracks here have ended up on other collections like BACK FROM THE GRAVE, but so what since they're pretty hotcha in themselves and deserve to be heard no matter how many times they pop up on these things. Lotsa top notch moments here...off the top of my shiny dome maybe I should mention the Ci-Tations 7 romp on Don and Dewey's "Justine" as well as the Rocks singing sweet about "Terry" and the Shags tackling Roy Orbison's "Crying". Oh, and even the City-Limits do well with "Stagger Lee" even this 'un doesn't quite fit in with the bottom of the barrel garage band rock these kinda records are best known for!
***
Another one of those surprise packages, and frankly I haven't been so surprised since I was caught with those NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC hula girl issues because I didn't know the bathroom door lock was broken! Except for three scratchy 78s that sound like something the Romanoffs would have been listening to when the Red Army came a' knockin', this consists of old radio commercials and the likes the kind of which we haven't heard since the days of our youth, if not even earlier. If you remember that old Kent cigarette ad that went to the melody of "Happiness Is" well, that's one here along with a whole batch of beauts from Jim Varney plugging Mello Yello to Little Richard his latest on Reprise. Many Detroit-area ads are to be found as well. What I wanna really know is, who won that decorate your Thanksgiving Day turkey wishbone contest anyway???
***And while I'm at it, let me tell you that you will be a winner if you pick up a few (or even more!) issues of BLACK TO COMM just by clicking on to the highlighted link on the left. Just exactly HOW you'll be a winner is open to discussion, but while you're mulling that over just think about what a winner I'LL be what with all that money that will be heading my way! As the wise men once said, it's better to give than to receive, so GIVE ME THE WORKS! and empty out your piggybanks if only so's to make my life a whole lot less poverty stricken than it has been the past few eons or so!
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