Hey all you longtime BLOG TO COMM readers---ready for some culturally insensitive and downright offensive rockscreeding this go 'round? Well, sorry if I just couldn't muster up more 'o that inner bile in me to produce a post that's truly garment rending to the kinda people who usually tear their shirts over anything even remotely counter to their already tiresome counter-cultural credos. But I will try even if I have to eke out every cell in my already barren bean of a brain to do so. One thing I always strive for is to give the audience JUST WHAT THEY'RE EXPECTING, and after some of the things I've written inna past boy are they expecting a whole stinkin' lot, or at least enough that'll really get me in trouble with someone in these oh-so free speech for thee but not for me as Nat Hentoff usedta say days!
Sea Moss-BIDET DREAMING LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Electronic duo who make quite a mooshed up racket that sends me back to the days when such racketeers were more'n par for the course when it came to this sorta soundstew. Of course I've never dreamed of a bidet in my life, but after hearing this I just might be having many a butthole bath dream considerin' how this guy/gal act really knows how to take the chintziest electronic gear and make quite a wail with it. Unintelligible female vocals duke it out with sound squeal and banging drums....quite an experience that should remind some of you of the kinda things you could find whilst searching through the pages of everything from OP to SOUND CHOICE...once you passed over David Ciaffardini's inane prattle that is.
GLORIAS NAVALES PRESENTES EL BLUES DEL LSTVAN LP (Loop Records)
Straight outta Chile comes this hot tamale (ow!) of a platter featuring two sides of acoustic repeato-riff music that will intrigue you as much as it will hypnotize with its fragile drone. Glorias Navales kinda reminds me of the Third Ear Band as their music ebbs and flows in and out of its acoustic groove. Some of you regular readers (OK,irrregular ones at that) might not quite cozy up to this disc thinkin' it's nothing but whole wheat down home hippie folk noodling (it isn't, but who knows what goes on in your minds) but one thing can't be argued---as far as South Amerigan-bred sounds go it sure beats "El Condor Pasta" to all heck!
SINS OF YOUR FATHER PRESENT FLIRT---USA PUNK '70's MULTISESSION CD-ROM + DVD (Snap Music, a division of Aua Records)
This hubby/wife fronted Detroit punk rock band always seems to get swept under the rug when it comes to various seventies look backs, but this collection of studio and live rarities really does drive home that seventies message (regarding rock 'n roll as a sharp stick aimed at the eye of everyone you HATE) that only the better groups of the era could pull off w/o looking stupid. Coulda used more info on these guys (and gal) but the package is mighty slim...however they make up for it with a powerful post-Stooge pounce that sure reminds me about what this punk rock thing was s'posed to be before the peace and love through repression contingent moved in on it.
Head-on high energy rock 'n roll that makes me glad I'm a warm blooded mammal. The Dee-Vee-Dee is hotcha as well featuring clips from some relatively recent reunion shows (hubby now bald but the gal still has some oomph to her!) that capture old ideals rather beautifully, and it truly is a shame that Flirt have fallen down the rock memory hole while lesser beings from that time and space are now retrospectively praised as the end all.
Chocolate Watchband-THIS IS MY VOICE CD-r burn (originally on Dirty Water Records)
I was surprised in the fact that these guys could put out a halfway decent platter despite Dave Aguilar not sounding like Mick Jagger anymore and the fact that these guys are old enough to give Methuselah a run for the money! The cover versions of old faves weren't really needed all that much...I mean, could you stand to hear another version of Zappa's "Trouble Every Day" even though the Watchband had the good sense to leave out that "I'm not black, but there's a whole lots of times I wish I could say I'm not white" line---ech! Still a rather solid, if non Chocolate Watchband sounding album that should go down about as smoothly as any other revival/retro-sixties aggregation long gone from the original taproot of it all.
Madman Sam-NOTHING IN THE CLOUDS BUT RAIN CD-r burn (originally on What in Sam Hell Productions)
With all this talk about cultural appropriation goin' on these days I'm surprised that there aren't any race-conscious types bangin' down the door tryin' to get this Madman Sam's bloozified scalp. But then again the folk that Sam plays on this platter have been appropriated by non-white people for quite a long time now, so maybe it's whitey music after all. Sorta like Sam Phillips looking for that white guy who can sing like a black guy tryin' to sing like a white guy or whatever that was. If ya like yr music rootzy 'n all this might appeal to you, but frankly I've heard too much of it too often so like, maybe I'll pass (out) this time.
Various Artists-LE BEAT BESPOKE VOL. 1 CD-r burn (originally on Discotheque Records)
This 'un takes me more back to the plastic boots, Twiggy and miniskirts portion of the sixties than it does the GOOD STUFF. But it still has enough rock and imitation soul punch to it to be spared the trash can...highlights include Ola and the Janglers' sex-change ditty (well, I interpreted it that way!) "No No No", Plastic Penny with future Elton John drummer Nigel Olsson (feh!) and future Troggs bassist Tony Murray (yay!) and future somethingorother Phil Wainman's "Going Going Gone". Ain't bad, really.
Various Artists-ACTION PAINTED SOUL TRAIN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
I'm a li'l too late or way too early with the Christmas-themed cover, but this selection still fits in with the BTC credo whether the weather outside be frightful or not. Ya kinda know what to expect with these Bill burns and this 'un's got more'n enough to expect from just about everything from the almost-there psychedelia of Today's Special, early-sixties wimp rock doofed up to beautiful expectations ("Little Orange Annie"), the Ravonettes inserting at least some excitement into post-twentieth century rock, hotcha horn-soul rock that sounds a whole lot better'n the disco that followed (Sound Experience) and loads more.
Speaking of horns, the promo platter plugging the Varitone Optimatic saxophone enhancer is something that makes me wish the thing got out more than it did...I mean, could you imagine what Steve Mackay woulda sounded like in the Stooges with that? Lots more too from some pretty whacked out punk rock and beer commercials to old time Texaco ads and even more cheapo singles that unfortunately never did make it big. Sure better 'n listening to erectile dysfunction ads, and makes you less conscious of your own shortcomings.
***Given that this is my blog and like, I'm s'posed to blab on about whatever it is that I'm s'posed toi blab on about in these things as if any of you readers really give a fig, I guess I better get started. The political scene? Great, the best shape it's been in at least since Grover Cleveland or maybe even Calvin Coolidge was president. It could be a tad better but then again Spiro Agnew isn't alive anymore but I ain't complainin' with THE NEXT BEST THING in charge. The tee-vee situation is also palatable now that I get to watch JACK BENNY almost every day. Comics ain't that hot tho---where once buying a comic book for a dime was your best in entertainment value bet the last forty years have been one giant slide into nada to the point where both DC and Marvel have to depend on big-budget moom pitchers to make their moolah given that the magazine medium has been shot to all heck (as Bill Shute reminded us recently). And other'n for those classic NANCY and PEANUTS strips from a day gone by well, if any of you can manage to squeeze a chuckle or two outta RHYMES WITH ORANGE then you'd probably laugh at the disaster scene of your choice! Even the old standbys like BEETLE BAILEY, BLONDIE and DENNIS THE MENACE lack their old reason for gag-inducing. And as for music well...you'll be reading a lot more about that as this blog rolls on (and on...).
***Something REALLY WEIRD musta happ'd on this blog last Wednesday. For some at-this-time inexplicable reason, around ten or eleven AM the readership for this blog SPIKED really high, like to about 800/900 more readers than BLOG TO COMM usually handles which is a might upturn indeed! Dunno what the reason for this sudden rise in communicants was, but I tried googling things like "Dave Lang dies in marsupial bestiality mishap" and "Jay Hinman suicide after Flesheaters collection burned in house fire" to see if such incidents spurred on a mad dash to this blog but found nary a thing. Guess it's just gonna remain one of those mysteries. Maybe I shoulda typed in "How NOT to put a blog together"---yeah, I'm sure that woulda drawn millyuns to this site!
***LATE BREAKING NEWS! (ACCORDING TO BOB FORWARD)-RIP Ron Sweed, alias THE GHOUL! Fuzzy screened late-night Saturdays just ain't gonna be the same again (even if I was more apt to try tuning in OLD MOVIES, THE GOLDEN ERA on channel 25!).
***As you will see, there have been a few recordings that were worthy enough to merit mention in this week's post. And given just how hard it has been comin' across the jamz here on the verge of what I will call THE BORING TWENTIES that is more'n just an idle feat we're talkin' about. The recent Paul McGarry package helped, and who knows, maybe I will get hold of some of those Bob Forward burns even though they do slip into the pile soooo easily (maybe if he repro'd the covers with track listings like Paul and Bill do...that'd help!). An' since I'm typing this paragraph a good week in advance who knows what new wonders will grace my ears before this post greets your very eyes? (One week later...) not as big a selection as I woulda hoped, but eh! Thanks to Bill, Paul, Feeding Tube and the Glorias Navales people for their offerings which did pump up this post at least a wee bit. Yeah there's nothing here that's gonna change the course of (what's left of) music as we used to know it, but I'll betcha that ten million years from now people will look back at this era in time...and wonder how we all managed to survive without automatic butt cleaners and smegma annihilators. As far as music is concerned, they're just gonna mutter one big hefty "EH!"
***AND HERE'S WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO WHILE SLAPPING THIS WEEK'S POST TOGETHER!: Doug Brockie's Infinity-THE HIGH COUNCIL OF INTERGALACTIC BLUES CD (Arcturus)- hard edged neo-Hendrix/Winters rock from a quick flash New York City act that had the smarts to re-do their schtick a good fifteen or so years after their brief sweep of the local clubs; Kraftwerk-LIVE '70/'71 4-CD-r set-early rockin' neo-NEU! sides showing off that Velvet Underground influence even I'm embarrassed to mention (especially given all the sappy lip service the VU's got since the advent of amerindie snooze-talents); Suicide-the mid-seventies demo disque that came with the reissue of their second album (Blast First Records)-along with the Electric Eels, Throbbing Gristle and v. early Patti Smith proof of rock 'n roll's ability to become the aural equivalent of Burroughian prose or Chris Burden body-art era performance; MAX'S KANSAS CITY 1976 AND BEYOND (Jungle Records)-I dunno, but it sure made good backdrop while re-readin' Kris Needs' Suicide book---a worthy document of a time when the planets were aligned right for once in our lives; Can-MONSTER MOVIE (Spoon Records)-an obvious fave; Brian Sands on the WKSU-FM INDUSTRIAL WASTELAND program in 1980-you never missed him, but I still do!; THE FUGS FIRST ALBUM CD (Fugs Records)-primitive trash that appeals to me now even more than it did when I first heard it in 1977!; and not much else.
Electronic duo who make quite a mooshed up racket that sends me back to the days when such racketeers were more'n par for the course when it came to this sorta soundstew. Of course I've never dreamed of a bidet in my life, but after hearing this I just might be having many a butthole bath dream considerin' how this guy/gal act really knows how to take the chintziest electronic gear and make quite a wail with it. Unintelligible female vocals duke it out with sound squeal and banging drums....quite an experience that should remind some of you of the kinda things you could find whilst searching through the pages of everything from OP to SOUND CHOICE...once you passed over David Ciaffardini's inane prattle that is.
***
Straight outta Chile comes this hot tamale (ow!) of a platter featuring two sides of acoustic repeato-riff music that will intrigue you as much as it will hypnotize with its fragile drone. Glorias Navales kinda reminds me of the Third Ear Band as their music ebbs and flows in and out of its acoustic groove. Some of you regular readers (OK,irrregular ones at that) might not quite cozy up to this disc thinkin' it's nothing but whole wheat down home hippie folk noodling (it isn't, but who knows what goes on in your minds) but one thing can't be argued---as far as South Amerigan-bred sounds go it sure beats "El Condor Pasta" to all heck!
***
This hubby/wife fronted Detroit punk rock band always seems to get swept under the rug when it comes to various seventies look backs, but this collection of studio and live rarities really does drive home that seventies message (regarding rock 'n roll as a sharp stick aimed at the eye of everyone you HATE) that only the better groups of the era could pull off w/o looking stupid. Coulda used more info on these guys (and gal) but the package is mighty slim...however they make up for it with a powerful post-Stooge pounce that sure reminds me about what this punk rock thing was s'posed to be before the peace and love through repression contingent moved in on it.
Head-on high energy rock 'n roll that makes me glad I'm a warm blooded mammal. The Dee-Vee-Dee is hotcha as well featuring clips from some relatively recent reunion shows (hubby now bald but the gal still has some oomph to her!) that capture old ideals rather beautifully, and it truly is a shame that Flirt have fallen down the rock memory hole while lesser beings from that time and space are now retrospectively praised as the end all.
***
I was surprised in the fact that these guys could put out a halfway decent platter despite Dave Aguilar not sounding like Mick Jagger anymore and the fact that these guys are old enough to give Methuselah a run for the money! The cover versions of old faves weren't really needed all that much...I mean, could you stand to hear another version of Zappa's "Trouble Every Day" even though the Watchband had the good sense to leave out that "I'm not black, but there's a whole lots of times I wish I could say I'm not white" line---ech! Still a rather solid, if non Chocolate Watchband sounding album that should go down about as smoothly as any other revival/retro-sixties aggregation long gone from the original taproot of it all.
***
With all this talk about cultural appropriation goin' on these days I'm surprised that there aren't any race-conscious types bangin' down the door tryin' to get this Madman Sam's bloozified scalp. But then again the folk that Sam plays on this platter have been appropriated by non-white people for quite a long time now, so maybe it's whitey music after all. Sorta like Sam Phillips looking for that white guy who can sing like a black guy tryin' to sing like a white guy or whatever that was. If ya like yr music rootzy 'n all this might appeal to you, but frankly I've heard too much of it too often so like, maybe I'll pass (out) this time.
***
This 'un takes me more back to the plastic boots, Twiggy and miniskirts portion of the sixties than it does the GOOD STUFF. But it still has enough rock and imitation soul punch to it to be spared the trash can...highlights include Ola and the Janglers' sex-change ditty (well, I interpreted it that way!) "No No No", Plastic Penny with future Elton John drummer Nigel Olsson (feh!) and future Troggs bassist Tony Murray (yay!) and future somethingorother Phil Wainman's "Going Going Gone". Ain't bad, really.
***
Various Artists-ACTION PAINTED SOUL TRAIN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)I'm a li'l too late or way too early with the Christmas-themed cover, but this selection still fits in with the BTC credo whether the weather outside be frightful or not. Ya kinda know what to expect with these Bill burns and this 'un's got more'n enough to expect from just about everything from the almost-there psychedelia of Today's Special, early-sixties wimp rock doofed up to beautiful expectations ("Little Orange Annie"), the Ravonettes inserting at least some excitement into post-twentieth century rock, hotcha horn-soul rock that sounds a whole lot better'n the disco that followed (Sound Experience) and loads more.
Speaking of horns, the promo platter plugging the Varitone Optimatic saxophone enhancer is something that makes me wish the thing got out more than it did...I mean, could you imagine what Steve Mackay woulda sounded like in the Stooges with that? Lots more too from some pretty whacked out punk rock and beer commercials to old time Texaco ads and even more cheapo singles that unfortunately never did make it big. Sure better 'n listening to erectile dysfunction ads, and makes you less conscious of your own shortcomings.
***Do any of you oldtimers remember Joe Penner and his catchphrase "WANNA BUY A DUCK?" Well, any of you newtimers out there remember MY catchphrase "WANNA BUY A FANZINE???" If not, well, here it is again!
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