Sorry if this post is a shorter one than usual. No, I am not sorry. In fact after a lifetime of being forced to apologize for every indiscretion no matter how slight or imagined it may be I am THROUGH with the apologizing game once and for all! Naw, I'm GLAD this is a short post and if you don't like it fooey on you! An' if I went through this anti-sorry tirade once before it's just too bad now, so blow it out whatever orifice that isn't prolapsed ya got!
It's funny, but whenever I get the chance I still view the old Monkees tee-vee show "airing" on FETV Saturday mornings, and after a long delay of having done so I tuned in just last Sad-turd-day to see the famous Prince and the Pauper burlesque with Rodney Bingenheimer as Davy Jones' double! I hope that my desire to catch this particular episode isn't what accelerated Tork's demise. Man, when I was a kid I used to think that my mental actions could lead to unintended disasters and even this many years later I still have this maybe not-so-strange idea lodged back in the suburban slob area of my mind! Well, I was watching GOMER PYLE when my mother told me that Frank Sutton had died plus reading the LITTLE RASCALS book when I heard via the news about the passing of Spanky McFarland! How mystico/strangeo can I really be? Better watch out all you enemies of mine, for even the slightest vibrations of negativity in my brain might cause your impending DOOM just like that weird implant in Donald Pleasence's brain! Unfortunately my negative energy never did work on my most hated associates---maybe it has to be more of a "subconscious" thing for the occult power to work its full potential but try on I will!
Dan Melchior and P.G. Six-EXHIBIT A LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Here's an oddity, but (as usual) it's an oddity that I like! Melchior's an acoustic guitar player and vocalizer who reminds me of Mark Steyn of all people who does material that ranges from neo-sixties folky punk to Syd Barrett insanity, and here he is assisted by a P. G. Six who performs on a variety of gear adding a little more dimension to had this just been Melchior strumming away on his lonesome. The results? Pretty dang good rock-folk music that sounds as if it coulda been a bonafeed "It's a NUGGET if ya dug it" spinner on the creaky AM station of your choice circa 1966, or just about any bedroom project of the day without the pious pretentiousness that ruined many a similar outing. A cover of Creation's "Painterman" might point out to you the direction in which these numbers tend to go. But then again it might not, but ya gotta give it a listen and find out for yourself. It's that evocative even in these beyond jaded times.
Letha Rodman Melchior-MARE AUSTRALE LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Dunno just how this particular Melchior is related to the above one (though they were), and the fact that her previous material was released by Siltbreeze Records doesn't exactly make me wanna endear myself to the gal's memory. But this record is something that really---makes me scratch my head and wonder just what went right. Melchior seems to take shreds and fragments of sounds both "found" or not and adds what I believe is her own vocalizing or instrumental playing to create a new brand of music collage or whatever they used to call this stuff at chi-chi colleges back 1960 way. What sounds like recordings of old piano recitals and string symphonies collide with electronic zarkl and (again I assume) Melchior's vocalizing resulting in this breed of sound that ain't quite Musique Concrete but it sure sounds swell next to those college bedroom experimental tapes you used to read about in SOUND CHOICE way back when.
Terry Riley and Nayan Ghosh-AMSTERDAM 2015 CD-r burn
Fans of Pandit Pran Nath might want to give this disque (easily downloadable for those of you who find such things easy to do) a try if only for its easy enough to get into what it's tryin' to say attitude. Indian drone music with appropriate-if-undecipherable to my ears lyrics abound, featuring Riley playing some rather atypical classical piano lines in with the traditional Indian sounds making for something that woulda been branded "new age" thirty years back but nowadays sounds too ferocious for that pallid description. If you think this sounds like the soundtrack for LILIAS, YOGA AND YOU think again. Actually, this goes swell with the chicken curry I absorbed a few hours back, and if you grab this 'un and some naan to go along with it you might find yourself in for a rather fun evening. Without the diarrhea of course.
The Aints-THE CHURCH OF SIMULTANEOUS EXISTENCE CD-r burn (originally on Australia Broadcasting Corporation Records)
Hey, Ed Whatzizname from the old Saints in the mastermind behind this new act, and although I never really went as save-the-wold over the Saints as some of you readers I gotta admit that this effort is...kinda OK. Too horn-y and slick for my own preferences, but the mix of pop with past rock proclivities sure make things go smoother down the ol' ear canals. Of course I'm never gonna spin this one again---the mere musicianship and production tend to deter from any feral aspects it may have---but people like McGarry obviously will think the world of it.
JD McPherson-UNDIVIDED HEART & SOUL CD-r burn (originally on New West Records)
It's a real SURPRISE hearing a modern everyday kinda musical artist who has made a record that I can absorb myself into, and believe it or leave it but this McPherson guy has done just that! McPherson ain't exactly a retro-rocker in the old Flamin' Groovies sense, but he does some pretty straightforward rockers that borrow from the past without comin' off so 2-D obvious. Nor does he sound kinda weird and something phony about it like Marshall Crenshaw did. Talented man he, and his sounds can evoke everything from what you woulda hoped a late-seventies Gene Vincent album would have sounded like (eh---no) to some outta the way import single TROUSER PRESS hyped back '76 way to the kinda sound that Stiff Records shoulda been promotin' 'stead of some of the acts that eventually made their roster once the eighties clocked in. Not bad a' tall!
Wilbur Harden/John Coltrane-JAZZ WAY OUT CD-r burn (originally on Savoy Records)
I remember this 'un back when Affinity reissued it under the title DIAL AFRICA, an' I also remember being told by a certain someone that I wouldn't like it because this wasn't the same Coltrane who was searing to new heights whence he gained favor with the wimpiest of jazz aficionados a la Ralph J. Gleason. Heh, the VERY SAME GUY who told me to avoid this 'un, or at least hinted that I wouldn't appreciate the thing the same way kidz just can't appreciate good sharp cheddar cheese sent me a burnt offering of the very same platter! C'n ya believe it? Well, said person prob'ly thought that I wasn't "mature" enough at the time to handle it way back when. Maybe he was right. Come to think of it, he was.
Coltrane along with trumpeter Harden lead a sextet through some mighty snappoid jazz that ain't over-the-top freeform yet still has a lilt which keeps ya goin' without sinking to the lounge level schmooze that still seems to be quite in vogue. Remember, it was only three years until "Impressions" and this was the logical starting point for it all.
Philippe Debarge with the Pretty Things-ROCK ST. TROP CD-r burn (originally on Madfish Records)
Didn't think that this '69 recording where the Things got together with international somethingorother Debarge was gonna be a thriller, but it does work out pretty good. Nothing neo-prog/psych like the Things of them days, but as far as a slick yet listenable pop rock album that sinks itself into your teeth or something like that goes it does work. For being one of those jet set types Debarge sings really good, even to the point where he coulda been another Jean Pierre Kalfon and started his own rock 'n roll career in France (but don't worry, us Amerigans would be dishing out beaucoup for import copies of his records) and the Things compliment him rather swell like, not getting in the way with their mostly acoustic playing. Another nice switch from the usual pummeling my ears get these days.
Various Artists-BONGO MUMMY CIVILIZATION ALLIGATOR CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Bill swung a good 'un my way with more force than that angry gorilla at the zoo who picked up that brown lumpy stuff and flung it at the observers like a fast ball! This 'un's got some true winners that warrant some further research like Jonathan and his teenage warbling of "The Mummy" over a "Green Onions" backing to Soul Inc.'s "The Alligator" which sounds like Rochester Jr. talk-screeching some hotcha speak to a primal musical backing! All of these are due to be splattered right inna middle of the BLOG TO COMM hall of fame as are some other total winners here from the Dynamic Capers' cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Gene Morris doin' some South Seas war chant rocker! (And dig the Javamen swiping their chorus directly from the Amboy Dukes?!?!?!) I guess that barrel bottom hasn't been scraped that much when it comes to that total under-the-counter crud we like to call music!
***Don't really feel like talking much if at all about the recent passing of Monkee Peter Tork. Not necessarily due to any intense dislike...in fact I have been a casual follower of the Monkees for quite some time and if interested one could read not only a review of a Monkees bootleg in issue #5 of my own crudzine but one of Tork live at CBGB Cee-Dee-Are reviewed in its final issue (see below for details). I won't say that much because whatever anyone else has already said pretty much goes for what I would also mention so why should I be even more redundant than usual?
It's funny, but whenever I get the chance I still view the old Monkees tee-vee show "airing" on FETV Saturday mornings, and after a long delay of having done so I tuned in just last Sad-turd-day to see the famous Prince and the Pauper burlesque with Rodney Bingenheimer as Davy Jones' double! I hope that my desire to catch this particular episode isn't what accelerated Tork's demise. Man, when I was a kid I used to think that my mental actions could lead to unintended disasters and even this many years later I still have this maybe not-so-strange idea lodged back in the suburban slob area of my mind! Well, I was watching GOMER PYLE when my mother told me that Frank Sutton had died plus reading the LITTLE RASCALS book when I heard via the news about the passing of Spanky McFarland! How mystico/strangeo can I really be? Better watch out all you enemies of mine, for even the slightest vibrations of negativity in my brain might cause your impending DOOM just like that weird implant in Donald Pleasence's brain! Unfortunately my negative energy never did work on my most hated associates---maybe it has to be more of a "subconscious" thing for the occult power to work its full potential but try on I will!
***Here's this week's pittance. Fairly good if limited selection if (to use a long-loved phrase) I do say so myself. Maybe you will come in contact with some music that will re-arrange your way of looking at the universe, music that will withstand the fads and passage of time and remain the blaring soundtrack for your own personal existence. But then again, probably not.
Here's an oddity, but (as usual) it's an oddity that I like! Melchior's an acoustic guitar player and vocalizer who reminds me of Mark Steyn of all people who does material that ranges from neo-sixties folky punk to Syd Barrett insanity, and here he is assisted by a P. G. Six who performs on a variety of gear adding a little more dimension to had this just been Melchior strumming away on his lonesome. The results? Pretty dang good rock-folk music that sounds as if it coulda been a bonafeed "It's a NUGGET if ya dug it" spinner on the creaky AM station of your choice circa 1966, or just about any bedroom project of the day without the pious pretentiousness that ruined many a similar outing. A cover of Creation's "Painterman" might point out to you the direction in which these numbers tend to go. But then again it might not, but ya gotta give it a listen and find out for yourself. It's that evocative even in these beyond jaded times.
***
Dunno just how this particular Melchior is related to the above one (though they were), and the fact that her previous material was released by Siltbreeze Records doesn't exactly make me wanna endear myself to the gal's memory. But this record is something that really---makes me scratch my head and wonder just what went right. Melchior seems to take shreds and fragments of sounds both "found" or not and adds what I believe is her own vocalizing or instrumental playing to create a new brand of music collage or whatever they used to call this stuff at chi-chi colleges back 1960 way. What sounds like recordings of old piano recitals and string symphonies collide with electronic zarkl and (again I assume) Melchior's vocalizing resulting in this breed of sound that ain't quite Musique Concrete but it sure sounds swell next to those college bedroom experimental tapes you used to read about in SOUND CHOICE way back when.
***
Fans of Pandit Pran Nath might want to give this disque (easily downloadable for those of you who find such things easy to do) a try if only for its easy enough to get into what it's tryin' to say attitude. Indian drone music with appropriate-if-undecipherable to my ears lyrics abound, featuring Riley playing some rather atypical classical piano lines in with the traditional Indian sounds making for something that woulda been branded "new age" thirty years back but nowadays sounds too ferocious for that pallid description. If you think this sounds like the soundtrack for LILIAS, YOGA AND YOU think again. Actually, this goes swell with the chicken curry I absorbed a few hours back, and if you grab this 'un and some naan to go along with it you might find yourself in for a rather fun evening. Without the diarrhea of course.
***
Hey, Ed Whatzizname from the old Saints in the mastermind behind this new act, and although I never really went as save-the-wold over the Saints as some of you readers I gotta admit that this effort is...kinda OK. Too horn-y and slick for my own preferences, but the mix of pop with past rock proclivities sure make things go smoother down the ol' ear canals. Of course I'm never gonna spin this one again---the mere musicianship and production tend to deter from any feral aspects it may have---but people like McGarry obviously will think the world of it.
***
It's a real SURPRISE hearing a modern everyday kinda musical artist who has made a record that I can absorb myself into, and believe it or leave it but this McPherson guy has done just that! McPherson ain't exactly a retro-rocker in the old Flamin' Groovies sense, but he does some pretty straightforward rockers that borrow from the past without comin' off so 2-D obvious. Nor does he sound kinda weird and something phony about it like Marshall Crenshaw did. Talented man he, and his sounds can evoke everything from what you woulda hoped a late-seventies Gene Vincent album would have sounded like (eh---no) to some outta the way import single TROUSER PRESS hyped back '76 way to the kinda sound that Stiff Records shoulda been promotin' 'stead of some of the acts that eventually made their roster once the eighties clocked in. Not bad a' tall!
***
I remember this 'un back when Affinity reissued it under the title DIAL AFRICA, an' I also remember being told by a certain someone that I wouldn't like it because this wasn't the same Coltrane who was searing to new heights whence he gained favor with the wimpiest of jazz aficionados a la Ralph J. Gleason. Heh, the VERY SAME GUY who told me to avoid this 'un, or at least hinted that I wouldn't appreciate the thing the same way kidz just can't appreciate good sharp cheddar cheese sent me a burnt offering of the very same platter! C'n ya believe it? Well, said person prob'ly thought that I wasn't "mature" enough at the time to handle it way back when. Maybe he was right. Come to think of it, he was.
Coltrane along with trumpeter Harden lead a sextet through some mighty snappoid jazz that ain't over-the-top freeform yet still has a lilt which keeps ya goin' without sinking to the lounge level schmooze that still seems to be quite in vogue. Remember, it was only three years until "Impressions" and this was the logical starting point for it all.
***
Didn't think that this '69 recording where the Things got together with international somethingorother Debarge was gonna be a thriller, but it does work out pretty good. Nothing neo-prog/psych like the Things of them days, but as far as a slick yet listenable pop rock album that sinks itself into your teeth or something like that goes it does work. For being one of those jet set types Debarge sings really good, even to the point where he coulda been another Jean Pierre Kalfon and started his own rock 'n roll career in France (but don't worry, us Amerigans would be dishing out beaucoup for import copies of his records) and the Things compliment him rather swell like, not getting in the way with their mostly acoustic playing. Another nice switch from the usual pummeling my ears get these days.
***
Bill swung a good 'un my way with more force than that angry gorilla at the zoo who picked up that brown lumpy stuff and flung it at the observers like a fast ball! This 'un's got some true winners that warrant some further research like Jonathan and his teenage warbling of "The Mummy" over a "Green Onions" backing to Soul Inc.'s "The Alligator" which sounds like Rochester Jr. talk-screeching some hotcha speak to a primal musical backing! All of these are due to be splattered right inna middle of the BLOG TO COMM hall of fame as are some other total winners here from the Dynamic Capers' cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Gene Morris doin' some South Seas war chant rocker! (And dig the Javamen swiping their chorus directly from the Amboy Dukes?!?!?!) I guess that barrel bottom hasn't been scraped that much when it comes to that total under-the-counter crud we like to call music!
***Just what the Doctor ordered...Doctor Feelbad that is! Back issues of BLACK TO COMM! Got a batch still available and if you don't want to pay exorbitant prices on ebay for these rarities then pay exorbitant prices to ME!
Jazz Way Out is a good one.
ReplyDeleteThe Pretty/DeBarge thing is just another reissue of the material that Ugly Things put out 10 years ago.
ReplyDelete