Still enjoying the benefits of cold winter's days and long winter's nights, mainly a valid excuse to settle back and do nada inna evenings but listen to music and snuggle up with some fine reading material, that is if JACK BENNY or some Laurel and Hardy film ain't on. In this case I'm rereREreading my hardcovered collection of HERBIE comics, which I gotta say goes down smoothly with my continual spinning of side two of the Red Noise album, a platter which has become for me here in 2019 what WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT was in the late-seventies, or Amon Duul's PARADIESWARTS DUUL but a mere five years back. I've also grabbed a box filled with mostly prime 1971-1976-era CREEM magazines which I must say help me (thanks to the writings of Bangs, Meltzer, Hull, Ingham and scant few others) through the drudgery of real life more'n Ambesol-soaked joints ever could. To paraphrase a more famous person, give me a copy of the Red Noise album, a stack of old comic books and a bowl of fried to a crackly crunch Cheetos and there is nothing I cannot do!
And like, now for the good stuff. Thanks again to Bill, Paul and Feeding Tube for the donations.
Mars-N.N. END LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Last if perhaps briefest in the Feeding Tube Mars series. This 'un tackles the group's final and perhaps meanest days with side one featuring a fraction (?) of a particularly gnarly 1978 Max's Kansas City gig while the flipster has a brief bit of rehearsal for the group's swan song performance at the same venue a few months later. In the haze of the 21st century it sounds just as potent as if always had and perhaps even more. Quality is typical portable cassette grainy but that only adds to the overall erotic splendor of these definitely end-of-an-era (it didn't get any better) recordings that, as usual, make you crave more. But will we get it? Given the many under-documented groups of the no wave era that were out there maybe the success of this series'll spur Feeding Tube onto even more unexplored vistas that sure need uncovering, ifyaknowaddamean..
Dick Dale-UNKNOWN TERRITORY CD-r burn (originally on Hightone Records)
Yeah this release does have a few re-dos of the original Deltones greats mixed in with what I presume are compositions ne'er before heard by ears human or not, but if you wanna give these a listen-to in any way possible and are that big enough of a Dick Dale fan you'll probably already have these 1994 recordings in your clams. These were definitely given the big bass boost modern keep uppa date heavy metal production so some stick inna muds might not care for it, but in this world of cyborg emotions and ultra-precocious form over solid content I'd say that you need more Dick Dale in your life no matter HOW you get it!
Willie Lane-GUITAR ARMY OF ONE LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Feeding Tube has done us a mighty service by reissuing this Willie Lane album especially when you consider that---really---no other company on this earth woulda had the gumption to do such a profit-decreasing thing as that. That's too bad for us true blue music lovers who like to dig into the sound a little and appreciate the strains for all they're worth, for this Lane guy is one of the young whipper-snapping upstarts in the solo guitar field who should be honored in the same way that even the major publications would honor the border-stretching minds of the past before that became too unprofitable.
Dropping all of the important names and hearkening back to past accomplishments would be futile in describing this. However, if you've been in on the new solo free guitar playing scheme since the get-go and absorbed Lane's previous Feeding Tube album to its fullest then, why you're on the right road to electric (yes, Lane plays on on this!) bliss that, like the best of these outside-the-boards releases, has this timeless quality that automatically makes this 'un as important as all of those other solo guitar slingers you've engaged in durty deeds to! Re-defines whatever limits there are to the guitar, and judging from this platter there ain't any!!!
Wanda Jackson-THE VERY BEST OF THE COUNTRY SIDES CD-r burn (originally on Ace Records, England)
Some great pre-Mandrell C/W here that doesn't make ya wanna curse out the entire sub Mason-Dixon line like too many wags up here wanna do alla time. Reminds me of my very early-seventies existence when my father, sicker 'n you-no-what o'er longhair AM Top 40 radio, decided to check out the country stations for a respite from it all. That didn't last long, but when I was in the ol '63 Ford Falcon station wagon with him I gotta hear a LOTTA music that comes off like these post-rockabilly Wanda Jackson sides. Tough (and sentimental) reflections of rural slob living that come off a whole lot more realistic to the dangerous sex's way of existence (like the one where she threatens her man with a good iron skillet to the head) than Loretta Lynn moaning about gettin' pregnant for the umpteenth time ever did.
The Arrows-FIRST HIT CD (Repertoire Records, Germany); WALK AWAY RENEE-DREAMIN' CD (Geltoob Records)
FIRST HIT fails if only because the ballad trend of '76 which was wreaking havoc on Eric Carmen's career is on prime display here. Not enough all-out rockers (if any) to save the thing. However the bonus tracks culled from the Arrows' previous RAK singles have that cheapo glam slam that I love about this particular era in rock 'n roll history. It's even got the original "I Love Rock And Roll" which I get the feeling Joan Jett heard more'n a few times while hangin' out at Rodney's English Disco. This is the kinda fun teenage girl squealin' kinda music that I was expectin' from this perennial bargain bin bustin' band all along.
The WALK AWAY RENEE platter features fairly faithful re-creations of not only the title hits but another take of "I Love Rock And Roll" making for a compact if more rockin' release. Bonus tracks ain't exactly filler either. Doesn't slow down and bore like the album. For a solid slice of rock without any soft schmooze letdown this is the one I heartily recommend.
The Betterdays-BACKLASH CD-r burn (originally on NTR Records)
I thought these Betterdays were gonna be a new buncha guys who copped the PEBBLES VOLUME SIX band's name as is wont all good retrosneaks who can't think up a decent moniker of their own! Hah! Actually these guys are "thee" Betterdays of yore reunited and sounding as good as ever! Straight ahead mid-six-oh English rhythm and blues as only mop topped upper middle class kids could do, only these guys are in their seventies and are probably balder'n me! Old faves done up 1964-style only with a moderne-day production and quality that won't even get you mad about the un-authenticity of it all! Now that's what I call progress
Various Artists-RUNNING LOOSE DUCK LOLITA CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
(I think I reviewed this 'un already---if so like, wha' th' hey?) Shorter than your appendage, but still pow'r toc'h'd to maximum effect. No big monikers here, but these coulda beens prove that they just mighta had they gotten in on the ol' payola game like all those others inna biz did. Mostly of a late-fifties unto mid-sixties sound, the acts on here from Bobby Jones (bright adult soul stirrings) to Ed (The Great) Gates (cleaned up schmooze like Ray Vernon used to do) fit in swell with what the teenagers were gobbling up at the time. Some of it is a hoot (like Ray Whittaker trying to cash in on the "Purple People Eater" craze or the 5 Sable Sisters---I get the feeling that Mom's off stage right taking it all in like sunshine!) while you kinda wonder how others even got into the recording studio inna first place. But whatever, these tracks are yet another part of that boffo post-World War II/pre-hippoid time which twisted more'n a few susceptible young minds to the point of no return!
***BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT REFLECTED THE TRUE BEAUTY AND STYLE OF AN ERA LONG GONE, I now present to you a boffo photograph of none other than the ultimo comedian (the Emo Phillips of his day) Stepin Fechit and his wife, a snap which sums up a whole load of style, snazz and ROMANCE that nobody sees anymore. Fechit, you lucky guy!
And like, now for the good stuff. Thanks again to Bill, Paul and Feeding Tube for the donations.
Last if perhaps briefest in the Feeding Tube Mars series. This 'un tackles the group's final and perhaps meanest days with side one featuring a fraction (?) of a particularly gnarly 1978 Max's Kansas City gig while the flipster has a brief bit of rehearsal for the group's swan song performance at the same venue a few months later. In the haze of the 21st century it sounds just as potent as if always had and perhaps even more. Quality is typical portable cassette grainy but that only adds to the overall erotic splendor of these definitely end-of-an-era (it didn't get any better) recordings that, as usual, make you crave more. But will we get it? Given the many under-documented groups of the no wave era that were out there maybe the success of this series'll spur Feeding Tube onto even more unexplored vistas that sure need uncovering, ifyaknowaddamean..
***
Yeah this release does have a few re-dos of the original Deltones greats mixed in with what I presume are compositions ne'er before heard by ears human or not, but if you wanna give these a listen-to in any way possible and are that big enough of a Dick Dale fan you'll probably already have these 1994 recordings in your clams. These were definitely given the big bass boost modern keep uppa date heavy metal production so some stick inna muds might not care for it, but in this world of cyborg emotions and ultra-precocious form over solid content I'd say that you need more Dick Dale in your life no matter HOW you get it!
***
Feeding Tube has done us a mighty service by reissuing this Willie Lane album especially when you consider that---really---no other company on this earth woulda had the gumption to do such a profit-decreasing thing as that. That's too bad for us true blue music lovers who like to dig into the sound a little and appreciate the strains for all they're worth, for this Lane guy is one of the young whipper-snapping upstarts in the solo guitar field who should be honored in the same way that even the major publications would honor the border-stretching minds of the past before that became too unprofitable.
Dropping all of the important names and hearkening back to past accomplishments would be futile in describing this. However, if you've been in on the new solo free guitar playing scheme since the get-go and absorbed Lane's previous Feeding Tube album to its fullest then, why you're on the right road to electric (yes, Lane plays on on this!) bliss that, like the best of these outside-the-boards releases, has this timeless quality that automatically makes this 'un as important as all of those other solo guitar slingers you've engaged in durty deeds to! Re-defines whatever limits there are to the guitar, and judging from this platter there ain't any!!!
***
Some great pre-Mandrell C/W here that doesn't make ya wanna curse out the entire sub Mason-Dixon line like too many wags up here wanna do alla time. Reminds me of my very early-seventies existence when my father, sicker 'n you-no-what o'er longhair AM Top 40 radio, decided to check out the country stations for a respite from it all. That didn't last long, but when I was in the ol '63 Ford Falcon station wagon with him I gotta hear a LOTTA music that comes off like these post-rockabilly Wanda Jackson sides. Tough (and sentimental) reflections of rural slob living that come off a whole lot more realistic to the dangerous sex's way of existence (like the one where she threatens her man with a good iron skillet to the head) than Loretta Lynn moaning about gettin' pregnant for the umpteenth time ever did.
***
The Arrows-FIRST HIT CD (Repertoire Records, Germany); WALK AWAY RENEE-DREAMIN' CD (Geltoob Records)FIRST HIT fails if only because the ballad trend of '76 which was wreaking havoc on Eric Carmen's career is on prime display here. Not enough all-out rockers (if any) to save the thing. However the bonus tracks culled from the Arrows' previous RAK singles have that cheapo glam slam that I love about this particular era in rock 'n roll history. It's even got the original "I Love Rock And Roll" which I get the feeling Joan Jett heard more'n a few times while hangin' out at Rodney's English Disco. This is the kinda fun teenage girl squealin' kinda music that I was expectin' from this perennial bargain bin bustin' band all along.
The WALK AWAY RENEE platter features fairly faithful re-creations of not only the title hits but another take of "I Love Rock And Roll" making for a compact if more rockin' release. Bonus tracks ain't exactly filler either. Doesn't slow down and bore like the album. For a solid slice of rock without any soft schmooze letdown this is the one I heartily recommend.
***
I thought these Betterdays were gonna be a new buncha guys who copped the PEBBLES VOLUME SIX band's name as is wont all good retrosneaks who can't think up a decent moniker of their own! Hah! Actually these guys are "thee" Betterdays of yore reunited and sounding as good as ever! Straight ahead mid-six-oh English rhythm and blues as only mop topped upper middle class kids could do, only these guys are in their seventies and are probably balder'n me! Old faves done up 1964-style only with a moderne-day production and quality that won't even get you mad about the un-authenticity of it all! Now that's what I call progress
***
(I think I reviewed this 'un already---if so like, wha' th' hey?) Shorter than your appendage, but still pow'r toc'h'd to maximum effect. No big monikers here, but these coulda beens prove that they just mighta had they gotten in on the ol' payola game like all those others inna biz did. Mostly of a late-fifties unto mid-sixties sound, the acts on here from Bobby Jones (bright adult soul stirrings) to Ed (The Great) Gates (cleaned up schmooze like Ray Vernon used to do) fit in swell with what the teenagers were gobbling up at the time. Some of it is a hoot (like Ray Whittaker trying to cash in on the "Purple People Eater" craze or the 5 Sable Sisters---I get the feeling that Mom's off stage right taking it all in like sunshine!) while you kinda wonder how others even got into the recording studio inna first place. But whatever, these tracks are yet another part of that boffo post-World War II/pre-hippoid time which twisted more'n a few susceptible young minds to the point of no return!
***With the Golden Age of Rock Screeding long gone 'n buried it's about time you did some catching up lest you think that proper rockist-oriented writing consists of rehashing the same hype everyone else on web has written. Latching onto a few back issues of BLACK TO COMM is but one way to set yourself straight in the age of a definitely anti-gonz nature. If you can't tell a Mahogany Brain from a Mahogany Rush (even if you can) then man, this is "the" magazine YOU need!
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