I kinda feel like Zoonie the Lazoon going "WELCOME HOME", but here is yet another weak-end edition of BLOG TO COMM for all you readers to chew your doodles on. Not that special mind ya, though I did come across a few interesting spinners that might even get you heading for your favorite internet outlet in search of some fine music that'll keep you from beating the wife at least for a good hour. You'll be happy, your wife will be happy (for a short while) and who knows, maybe the kids won't grow up to be fags!
Donkey No No-FIRST TAPE LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Yeah, with a name like Donkey No No I was reminded about this li'l film I caught at one of those onscure hidden roadside attractions you find along various routes in the more rural portions of the state, which does prove that when yer onna road a guy can get lonely! But all funnin' aside I gotta say I enjoyed this interesting effort that keeps with the Feeding Tube tradition of free noise at any cost, as long as it costs you the money to buy one. Kinda sounds like a museum of late-19th century Appalachian instruments exploding the way the various acoustic instruments spurt and blend into a rather nice (and cohesive) style. Actual attempts (and they succeed!) at song structures and various other niceties that might put a smile on your Mammy Yokum of a mother's face. Heck, it might make as much sense listening to this while reading LI'L ABNER comics as it would Spiro Agnew!
Kraftwerk-FORUM * LEVERKUSEN * 1974 2-CD-r set
Naw, this ain't the legendary show where Ralf und Florian perform selections from their first three albums before being joined by two electric guitarists who help out on a particularly punky version of "Autobahn" that sounds NOTHING like the original! But it is a good enough show that features the group's earlier tracks all done up the way they did 'em before going international, featuring the use of such decidedly non-Kraftwerkian instruments as vibraphone and piano. Due to these additions the resulting soundspew is a bit different than the Kraftwerk style we've known for ages. For an audience tape the sound is quite good as is the overall performance, but I still would like to hear that legendary "Autobahn" one of these days!
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers-MAX'S KANSAS CITY, NEW YORK, 3rd DECEMBER 1981 CD-r burn
By this time Max's was on its last legs, and from the sound of it you woulda thought that Johnny Thunders was too! Still, despite the expected looseness and audience members taking bets as to which member of the Heartbreakers was gonna topple over first this is a pretty together (well, comparatively or something like that!) set. Sound quality is good 'nuff for those of you who actually would care, while more'n a few of you will have fun listening to the out-of-it Thunders in the ozone yet sturdy enough to handle his guitar in a rather exemplary for the music fashion. Yeah---1981 really was the last year, and don't let any moderne-day "rock critic" tell ya different.
The Masters Apprentices-NICKELODEON CD-r burn (originally on Regal Zonophone Records, Australia)
These ain't the "Wars of Hands of Time" guys nohow...by '70 the Masters had gone full hog into the hard and heavy sound that was overtaking more'n a few rockminds at the time. Not bad even if the memories of those early psychedelic wonders continues to linger in my rockist memory banks. Some moments of inspiration do seep through the heavy duty mung, though if you were one of those strict early-eighties retro-fanzine rah-rah-ers who thought 1966 was THE LAST YEAR FOR IT ALL you probably have given up reading this review after the numerals "'70" appeared (and in many ways who could blame ya?).
King Coleman-IT'S DANCE TIME CD-r burn (originally on Norton Records)
When I was younger I really gotta admit that I enjoyed those King Coleman albums, especially IN THE COURT OF THE COLEMAN KING and LARKS TONGUES IN ASPIC. Oh wait, that's something else. This Coleman guy delivers on the mid/late-fifties sorta hard r/b (at times with the James Brown band's backing) that delivers on the hard-edged side of a music that (in the hands of geeks) could get rather turdly. Best hard growl passing as vocalese heard in awhile. If ya wanna know where the Northwest rock guys got it from, look no further than here.
Jess Lankford and C.L.Weldon-HOUSTON'S NATURAL GAS CD-r burn (originally on Crazy Cajun Records)
Sheesh! Yet another one of those locally produced platters that, contrary to what one would expect from a grassroots non-commercial effort put out on one's lonesome, sounds totally lackluster and nothing more'n some cheap attempt at the big time neo-country meets 1974 hard rock snoozerama blahs. I hoped this woulda come pretty close to a Southern rock effort worth its weight in smegma but it sure don't. Whoever put this platter on the web for perusal probably paid way too much for it---sheesh, I could see the big bux this 'un musta cost goin' towards some truly wild effort that would brighten many a record collection. C'mon Bill, you can do better'n THIS!!!
Alex Chilton and Tav Falco-LIVE DOWN SOUTH VOL. 2, THE SKUNK CLUB AUSTIN TEXAS 1979 Cd-r burn
It may sound to you like a romp through those old nuggets if you duggits, but there's still more spirit and downright ram-bunk-shuh! in these toonz than there was in the entire late-seventies AOR FM playlist which might not be sayin' anything new, but... Typical audience cassette quality only HELPS OUT with the overall fun sleaze as Chilton tackles everyone from Johnny Mathis to Cream (with a few Swingin' Medallions/Tommy James stops in-between) with Falco and backing band helping out tremendously. True this 'un goes from tippy top to what were they thinking?, but for a fun document of what just hadda've been a fun night this 'un works out swell!
Various Artists-DUCKWALK MISSISSIPPI TIME MACHINE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
And to close out this week's reekathon the standard, and expected, review of a Bill Shute mix-disque that more often than not contains music that you just haven't et yet. As usual the expected gems and soo-prizes galore pop up such as with the likes of Bobbie Gentry gettin' into some Deep South fried soul if you can believe it to the Amboy Dukes, Terry Knight and Grand Funk Railroad doin' things you've heard before but you always seem to want to hear 'em again. The particular ear-perkuppers this time go to Judi and the Pets' driven late-sixties femme vocal with sturdy backing pop surprises, Ronnie Matsler's cha-cho organ rendition of the theme from 2001 (backed with a creepy I'm dead but still coagulating in my brain tale), John Bult's C&W weeper built around a similar dead but alert saga, and the Merry Meds of '69 doin' some sorta double-entendre durty rock 'n roll that might get me laughin' my pitted keester off if I could only understand what the guy is singin'.
***Undoubtedly the BIG HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK (even bigger'n picking a booger outta my nose that was shaped exactly like the state of Vermont!) was finally getting to see the shoulda-be infamous anti-rock 'n roll episode of HAZEL! Some of you avid tee-vee watchers might remember it, the one where perennial aw-shucks son (or, in the final season, aw-shucks nephew) Bobby Buntrock dons accordion and leads his own rock 'n roll combo called The Leapin' Lizards, playin' some of that stock tee-vee rock music of the day that really got the parents frothin'! Now I know that a whole lotta wags out there in rock as a precocious form of youthful desire land are usually downright offended by these mid-sixties rock putdowns whether they be via MAD (one reader was shocked at the reference of "Jerry Lee Lummox" in a late-fifties issue!) or your favorite sitcom riffin' on the mop top phenomenon but hey, I dig 'em all! True, we're gettin' one of our favorite things in life ribbed once again, but in the process there's even more rock 'n roll on the screen for us to enjoy so who's losin'! And besides, if you couldn't get a laff outta either this episode of HAZEL, the Mosquitoes on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND or even "Hullabadig A-Go-Go" in MAD then nothing would outside of a major disaster could! When all's said and done, it can't be denied that mid-aged depression/World War II-raised tee-vee writers and producers probably did have a better handle as to what rock 'n roll and teen culture encompassed more'n Jerry Garcia or Grace Slick ever did, an' ya know it's true! For an episode of HAZEL (not exactly one of the big tee-vee raves of the early/mid-sixties) these guys sure gave us a good 'un to sink our Medulla Oblagottem's into!
***Other'n that nada really special is happening 'round here. The tee-vee situation is iffy, what with JLTV re-running the same handfulla JACK BENNY PROGRAMs repeatedly to the point of how can they get away with it! Sheesh fellas, the one where Don Wilson feigns breaking his leg so his son Harlow could take his place for the night is a funny one true, but with all the other programs from that show's seventeen-year run can'tcha get some other classics on, like the one where Jack attempts to fake breaking his own leg after reading all the free publicity Jackie Gleason got when he broke his on live tee-vee, only to fail miserably until he actually does break it when nobody's around! And then again what's with the same SOUPY SALES 'un's being repeated as well? Cantcha get hold of those ABC-era ones from the very late fifties and early-sixties? I thought those would be in the PD by now! Ameriga is waiting for these and more, ya know...
***And now, here's what you haven't been waiting for, but you got it anyway...and thanks to the usual (Feeding Tube, Bill Shute, Paul McGarry...) for their contributions to the revolution. Keep those cards and letters (and especially Cee-Dee-Ares!) comin' in!
Yeah, with a name like Donkey No No I was reminded about this li'l film I caught at one of those onscure hidden roadside attractions you find along various routes in the more rural portions of the state, which does prove that when yer onna road a guy can get lonely! But all funnin' aside I gotta say I enjoyed this interesting effort that keeps with the Feeding Tube tradition of free noise at any cost, as long as it costs you the money to buy one. Kinda sounds like a museum of late-19th century Appalachian instruments exploding the way the various acoustic instruments spurt and blend into a rather nice (and cohesive) style. Actual attempts (and they succeed!) at song structures and various other niceties that might put a smile on your Mammy Yokum of a mother's face. Heck, it might make as much sense listening to this while reading LI'L ABNER comics as it would Spiro Agnew!
***
Naw, this ain't the legendary show where Ralf und Florian perform selections from their first three albums before being joined by two electric guitarists who help out on a particularly punky version of "Autobahn" that sounds NOTHING like the original! But it is a good enough show that features the group's earlier tracks all done up the way they did 'em before going international, featuring the use of such decidedly non-Kraftwerkian instruments as vibraphone and piano. Due to these additions the resulting soundspew is a bit different than the Kraftwerk style we've known for ages. For an audience tape the sound is quite good as is the overall performance, but I still would like to hear that legendary "Autobahn" one of these days!
***
By this time Max's was on its last legs, and from the sound of it you woulda thought that Johnny Thunders was too! Still, despite the expected looseness and audience members taking bets as to which member of the Heartbreakers was gonna topple over first this is a pretty together (well, comparatively or something like that!) set. Sound quality is good 'nuff for those of you who actually would care, while more'n a few of you will have fun listening to the out-of-it Thunders in the ozone yet sturdy enough to handle his guitar in a rather exemplary for the music fashion. Yeah---1981 really was the last year, and don't let any moderne-day "rock critic" tell ya different.
***
These ain't the "Wars of Hands of Time" guys nohow...by '70 the Masters had gone full hog into the hard and heavy sound that was overtaking more'n a few rockminds at the time. Not bad even if the memories of those early psychedelic wonders continues to linger in my rockist memory banks. Some moments of inspiration do seep through the heavy duty mung, though if you were one of those strict early-eighties retro-fanzine rah-rah-ers who thought 1966 was THE LAST YEAR FOR IT ALL you probably have given up reading this review after the numerals "'70" appeared (and in many ways who could blame ya?).
***
When I was younger I really gotta admit that I enjoyed those King Coleman albums, especially IN THE COURT OF THE COLEMAN KING and LARKS TONGUES IN ASPIC. Oh wait, that's something else. This Coleman guy delivers on the mid/late-fifties sorta hard r/b (at times with the James Brown band's backing) that delivers on the hard-edged side of a music that (in the hands of geeks) could get rather turdly. Best hard growl passing as vocalese heard in awhile. If ya wanna know where the Northwest rock guys got it from, look no further than here.
***
Sheesh! Yet another one of those locally produced platters that, contrary to what one would expect from a grassroots non-commercial effort put out on one's lonesome, sounds totally lackluster and nothing more'n some cheap attempt at the big time neo-country meets 1974 hard rock snoozerama blahs. I hoped this woulda come pretty close to a Southern rock effort worth its weight in smegma but it sure don't. Whoever put this platter on the web for perusal probably paid way too much for it---sheesh, I could see the big bux this 'un musta cost goin' towards some truly wild effort that would brighten many a record collection. C'mon Bill, you can do better'n THIS!!!
***
It may sound to you like a romp through those old nuggets if you duggits, but there's still more spirit and downright ram-bunk-shuh! in these toonz than there was in the entire late-seventies AOR FM playlist which might not be sayin' anything new, but... Typical audience cassette quality only HELPS OUT with the overall fun sleaze as Chilton tackles everyone from Johnny Mathis to Cream (with a few Swingin' Medallions/Tommy James stops in-between) with Falco and backing band helping out tremendously. True this 'un goes from tippy top to what were they thinking?, but for a fun document of what just hadda've been a fun night this 'un works out swell!
***
And to close out this week's reekathon the standard, and expected, review of a Bill Shute mix-disque that more often than not contains music that you just haven't et yet. As usual the expected gems and soo-prizes galore pop up such as with the likes of Bobbie Gentry gettin' into some Deep South fried soul if you can believe it to the Amboy Dukes, Terry Knight and Grand Funk Railroad doin' things you've heard before but you always seem to want to hear 'em again. The particular ear-perkuppers this time go to Judi and the Pets' driven late-sixties femme vocal with sturdy backing pop surprises, Ronnie Matsler's cha-cho organ rendition of the theme from 2001 (backed with a creepy I'm dead but still coagulating in my brain tale), John Bult's C&W weeper built around a similar dead but alert saga, and the Merry Meds of '69 doin' some sorta double-entendre durty rock 'n roll that might get me laughin' my pitted keester off if I could only understand what the guy is singin'.
***I sometimes get the feeling that you readers are not interested in poorly-written, irrelevant rock 'n roll-related writings because very few of you are champing at the bit to purchase these back issues of BLACK TO COMM that I've been pushin' on ya since who knows when. Well, OK---BE THAT WAY if yer so set in yer ways that you think that Ann Powers started rock writing or something as equally cretinous as that.
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