Well here I am, troddin' down that path we call life tryin' to make the best of it all no matter just how ikky and wonky the entire trip can get at times. Right now things are relatively smoothsville (as opposed to SWELLSVILLE), and although the kinda music that stimulates my nodes and turns me into the COMPLETE HUMAN BEING (with is about a 180 turn from being the NEW MAN that both the Soviets and the alternative rock media so deeply desire[d]) is in quite short supply at least I have a good X-some years of everything from great old records to comic books and moom pitchers to keep me up and stimulated. Frankly, at this point in time I'll take ALL of that long gone and oft-loathed entertainment and general back brain stimulation over what passes for human companionship, especially when one considers just what a low humanity has sunk to at least since the days when I clocked in. I mean hey, did your comic book or record ever talk back at'cha, unless you were listening to a Lenny Bruce album 'r sum'pin'?
I've been spending my free time goin' through about a dozen or so apple boxes filled with tons of letters (saved every one-a-them), large manila envelopes and loads of magazines that I doubt I'll ever read again (including throngs of eighties/nineties-era fanzines....excuse me....'zines), and I've come to at least one definite conclusion. That is, when I get back on ebay there are gonna be a TON of these items up for auction, and even if I am reduced to GIVING THEM AWAY I'll be getting the better bargain of the deal that's how worthless most of 'em are! Really, a lot of these home-produced musical rags really don't hold up to my sturdy standards the way most rock-related fanzines of the sixties and seventies do, and if I can only get rid of a whole mass of 'em (thus permitting me to devote more space to the musical matter at hand, mainly rock fanzines that are worth their weight in high energy reading material!) you can bet that I will be happier'n an Italian in a dandelion patch just knowing the fact that I will never stare down another copy of CONFLICT as long as I live!
Surprisingly enough but amid the under/alerna/amerindie rags that are wasting precious storage units at my cyster's abode (ya think I'd stash 'em under MY roof?) I have actually found a number of items worthy of keepsies! Not only a few old BUCKETFUL OF BRAINS and some NEXT BIG THINGs I ain't perused in over twenny years, but the third issue of this particular wonder entitled OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE which was put out by a guy named Mike Kinney who hailed from San Diego in California for those of you who don't know. And it's a beaut too, not only because Kinney copped the name of his "fanzine" (see, I'm using the entire word in order to separate the hearty chaff from the gangling wheat) from AESTHETICS OF ROCK-era R. Meltzer (which does show that Kinney did have the proper sense of what intellectual punkism wasoh so needed back during them days when we needed it!) but because the entire project comes off in each and every way like what a fanzine oughta! An' yeah, there are many ways to fanzine success whether it be via the quickie xerox method or the high quality gloss that the best French offerings of the seventies and eighties gave us, but it's what inside that counts and OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE sure had a lot in its innards goin' for it no doubt about it!
Layout can be slapdash true, but then again there were many a fanzine that went the mad collage route and still came out a whole lot better and more focused than SPIN dictating the whys and wheres of hip youth culture. The mere contents show that Kinney had a good sense of rock as tantric sound leading us to the Cool World, even if a good portion of this ish (#3) was taken up by coverage of a few twenny-plus-year-back musical acts that never did quite burst outta their own specific niches. And true, the likes of Antiseen and Clawhammer are remembered by folks of high stature such as myself this far down the line but honestly, was there anyone out there who actually took Mecca Normal seriously?????? A lot of the acts that are mentioned in these pages are the kind I tried avoiding at the time if only because of the lifelessness of their entire musical spirit which might have reflected the utter decay of the people who listened to such sounds. All these years later I'd bet on it especially when you see just how the people who listened to and championed these sounds TURNED OUT.
Naturally I am drawn to the free jazz and under-the-underground refs. spotted here as well as to those mentions of the usual sixties/seventies rabble who roused more'n just a few suburban slob minds. But even if there wasn't that much in the BLOG TO COMM sphere of mind-shattering musical wonderment in these pages this rag'd still be fun 'n jamz worthy enough to peruse. I know I have #2 somewhere in the batch just waitin' to be dug into, and I also know that editor Kinney died in '97 and that was something that did shock me, or at least added to the overall mental deterioration I went through trying to get #22 of my own crudzine out only to shudder when I saw what it ended up looking like! I was such a wreck that even Bill Shute ditched me for a good six years or so---I mean, who wants to be around a overwrought wretch such as I when you can be having fun on your own free time! Anyway, OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE we salute you, and maybe one of these days I'll understand what Meltzer was talkin' about when he coined that term inna first place!
Bridget St. John-LIVE AT BETSEY TROTWOOD LP (Feeding Tube Records)
It may seem odd to you, but I never cozied up to St. John's English folk styling which I tended to think was nothing but a more English take on the usual female strummers who have plagued us since the first big folkie boom of the early-sixties. But hey, this particular platter does have some nice smart folk moves that kinda gets alla those Joni Mitchell "persecuted self" memories outta my head. Gotta say that I found this live performance pretty meaty as far as a serious and perhaps even intense take on the entire female folk genre goes. Only beef with this one is the take on "America the Beautiful" with updated lyrics that sound as if they were taken from the soundtrack to a Pete Buttigieg campaign film.
By Products of America-MOVING AND STORAGE LP (Hospital Records)
Back 'round 1986 way I sent Nolan Benz of By Products of America a copy of PHFUDD! #6 with a request for a copy of his group By Products of America's most recent tape in exchange for my humble offering. Never heard back and if you think I hold a grudge this far down the line well----you'd be right as usual. I mean the nerve of poo-pooing a chance at some free publicity, and shattering my sensitive soul in the process as well. Oh drat!
Thus it was with much forethought that I decided to pick this '84 album up knowing of all the sorrowful memories owning this would dredge up. But stoic me must plow on in my quest to discover the better moments of what used to be known as rock 'n roll, and whaddaya know but I find this platter to be fairly good in that midwest avant garage fashion that gave us more home-produced records than my collection can stand.
The nice brittle guitar playing matched with the usual angst-riddled vocals (not too bad even if at times approaching Mark Mothersbaugh territory) don't sound like the art project I'm sure a millyun coke-bottle glassed undergrads were vying for, and I can even handle the spastic neo-Beefheartian drive in doses even if that trend in under-the-underground rock had been mined for centuries. Overall a pretty enjoyable bit of angular rock music and if Benz had only returned the favor who knows, he might be as big as Bob Bannister is today!
The Monkees-HEAD -- 3-CD RHINO HANDMADE BOX DISC THREE CD-r burn
The third and final platter from the box set Bill burned me ages back sorta ties up everything heard on the first two tea coasters in what some might consider in a nice, tidy fashion. Much of this seems to be taken up by a Davy Jones interview regarding the music (which I assume was meant for broadcast given the commercial breaks) interspersed with pertinent tracks from the film, all capped off with a hefty twentysome minutes of the group recording that "Ditty Diego" over and over until youse just can'ts stands it! They do seem to have fun chanting out that ridiculous rant and things do start getting out of control, especially when one Monkee actually utters that famous four-letter word that rhymes with Donald's last name (and I don't mean Fellman!) on a few occasions. Wanna know who this foul mouthed primate was? Well, just get the box and find out for yourself before the DAR does! Sheesh, Jimi was nothing next to this!
Shirley Scott with Stanley Turrentine-SOUL SHOUTIN' CD-r burn (originally on Prestige Records)
A little goes a long way, and I still think I got my share from the last organ jazz burn Bill sent me quite awhile back. Not exactly sittin' that well with me right now...good, got some Gunter Hampel ready to line up...yeah, that's it!
Various Artists-RAMPAGE! LP (Atomic Passion Records)
I've been sittin' on this late-fifties rockaroller album for nigh on twentysome years and only NOW do I open it! Shows just how much I keep track of some of my purchases which I unfortunately forget all about as soon as I open up the blasted packages!
Gotta say that all these years of waiting wasn't that much worth it, because although RAMPAGE! has some fine single sides here that do say more about the teenage attitude of 1959 than say, Mitch Miller, these tracks just ain't as upper-echelon raw 'n primitive 'n make you wanna go out and smash peoples' faces in energetic as it should be. I guess even the bosser delinquents of the day couldn't always run on pure Adrenalin. Hate soundin' like some high falutin' well respected rock critic type from a formerly major newspaper here, but you may wanna pass this 'un up in favor of LIKE WOW or a bevy of other rare single side collections that really lay it on the line as to how it was a good six decades back.
Jerry Lee Lewis with the Nashville Teens-LIVE AT THE STAR CLUB CD-r burn (originally on Philips Records, Germany)
Twenty lashes with the wet noodle for not having given this classic live platter a spin before Bill jetted this burn my way. Not that it was one-a-those-things you could just snatch up at the local record supermarket, but I coulda bought one via Midnight Records even if I was supporting a man who was cheating his stable! Anyway it sure is grand givin' Mr Jerry Lee Lummox (as MAD once called him much to Bruce Mowat's eternal indignation) a listen to romping through his biggies (and more) backed by one of England's premier punk rock outfits of the day, mainly the Nashville Teens of "Tobacco Road" fame. Good enough that it even helps get rid of those creeps that I'd get readin' about the guy's private life!
Bobby's Blues Band-GOLD DUST CD-r burn
Bobby's Blues Band---geddit???? Fortunately the joke stops there because this one is in fact listenable. Not enough for me to warrant a second spin, but these white guys act does more'n just blues (mainly, rock music) and their piddling talents are complimented by the staid sound quality which gives the entire thing a knotty pine rec room appeal. In other words A REAL WINNER for those of you who revel in the whole self-produced home made independent spirit. But sheesh, just see how far this group would go if stranded in the South Side of Chicago at the Checkerboard Lounge---I'd hate to see the results!
Various Artists-TEXARKANA CHANCE RUMBLE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Another shortie which is OK by me considerin' how my attention span is about as long as that of your average three-year-old brain-damaged mongoose. Within the half hour or so of this collection we get treated to a number of pretty good late-fifties rock instrumentals, some teenage gal-minded efforts (such as Vigor Fisher's "Padiddle" about the kissing game of the same name) and even a Johnny Cash track that has a nice rock 'n roll enough beat to it. And of course Bill put some more of those "Apple Gunkies" ads to pad the thing out which is cool because I really like them even if they were the creation of some late-sixties hippoid social commentator type who probably was a freedom rider for all I can tell. Well, they do have a slight air of smug moral superiority about 'em, y'know, so what else is new???.
***
Surprisingly enough but amid the under/alerna/amerindie rags that are wasting precious storage units at my cyster's abode (ya think I'd stash 'em under MY roof?) I have actually found a number of items worthy of keepsies! Not only a few old BUCKETFUL OF BRAINS and some NEXT BIG THINGs I ain't perused in over twenny years, but the third issue of this particular wonder entitled OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE which was put out by a guy named Mike Kinney who hailed from San Diego in California for those of you who don't know. And it's a beaut too, not only because Kinney copped the name of his "fanzine" (see, I'm using the entire word in order to separate the hearty chaff from the gangling wheat) from AESTHETICS OF ROCK-era R. Meltzer (which does show that Kinney did have the proper sense of what intellectual punkism wasoh so needed back during them days when we needed it!) but because the entire project comes off in each and every way like what a fanzine oughta! An' yeah, there are many ways to fanzine success whether it be via the quickie xerox method or the high quality gloss that the best French offerings of the seventies and eighties gave us, but it's what inside that counts and OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE sure had a lot in its innards goin' for it no doubt about it!
Layout can be slapdash true, but then again there were many a fanzine that went the mad collage route and still came out a whole lot better and more focused than SPIN dictating the whys and wheres of hip youth culture. The mere contents show that Kinney had a good sense of rock as tantric sound leading us to the Cool World, even if a good portion of this ish (#3) was taken up by coverage of a few twenny-plus-year-back musical acts that never did quite burst outta their own specific niches. And true, the likes of Antiseen and Clawhammer are remembered by folks of high stature such as myself this far down the line but honestly, was there anyone out there who actually took Mecca Normal seriously?????? A lot of the acts that are mentioned in these pages are the kind I tried avoiding at the time if only because of the lifelessness of their entire musical spirit which might have reflected the utter decay of the people who listened to such sounds. All these years later I'd bet on it especially when you see just how the people who listened to and championed these sounds TURNED OUT.
Naturally I am drawn to the free jazz and under-the-underground refs. spotted here as well as to those mentions of the usual sixties/seventies rabble who roused more'n just a few suburban slob minds. But even if there wasn't that much in the BLOG TO COMM sphere of mind-shattering musical wonderment in these pages this rag'd still be fun 'n jamz worthy enough to peruse. I know I have #2 somewhere in the batch just waitin' to be dug into, and I also know that editor Kinney died in '97 and that was something that did shock me, or at least added to the overall mental deterioration I went through trying to get #22 of my own crudzine out only to shudder when I saw what it ended up looking like! I was such a wreck that even Bill Shute ditched me for a good six years or so---I mean, who wants to be around a overwrought wretch such as I when you can be having fun on your own free time! Anyway, OSMOTIC TONGUE PRESSURE we salute you, and maybe one of these days I'll understand what Meltzer was talkin' about when he coined that term inna first place!
***
 |
| Another one I hope offends at least one of you precious petunias out there. If not, I have failed. |
***Thanks to Bill, Paul and Feeding Tube for the Care Packages.
It may seem odd to you, but I never cozied up to St. John's English folk styling which I tended to think was nothing but a more English take on the usual female strummers who have plagued us since the first big folkie boom of the early-sixties. But hey, this particular platter does have some nice smart folk moves that kinda gets alla those Joni Mitchell "persecuted self" memories outta my head. Gotta say that I found this live performance pretty meaty as far as a serious and perhaps even intense take on the entire female folk genre goes. Only beef with this one is the take on "America the Beautiful" with updated lyrics that sound as if they were taken from the soundtrack to a Pete Buttigieg campaign film.
***
Back 'round 1986 way I sent Nolan Benz of By Products of America a copy of PHFUDD! #6 with a request for a copy of his group By Products of America's most recent tape in exchange for my humble offering. Never heard back and if you think I hold a grudge this far down the line well----you'd be right as usual. I mean the nerve of poo-pooing a chance at some free publicity, and shattering my sensitive soul in the process as well. Oh drat!
Thus it was with much forethought that I decided to pick this '84 album up knowing of all the sorrowful memories owning this would dredge up. But stoic me must plow on in my quest to discover the better moments of what used to be known as rock 'n roll, and whaddaya know but I find this platter to be fairly good in that midwest avant garage fashion that gave us more home-produced records than my collection can stand.
The nice brittle guitar playing matched with the usual angst-riddled vocals (not too bad even if at times approaching Mark Mothersbaugh territory) don't sound like the art project I'm sure a millyun coke-bottle glassed undergrads were vying for, and I can even handle the spastic neo-Beefheartian drive in doses even if that trend in under-the-underground rock had been mined for centuries. Overall a pretty enjoyable bit of angular rock music and if Benz had only returned the favor who knows, he might be as big as Bob Bannister is today!
***
The third and final platter from the box set Bill burned me ages back sorta ties up everything heard on the first two tea coasters in what some might consider in a nice, tidy fashion. Much of this seems to be taken up by a Davy Jones interview regarding the music (which I assume was meant for broadcast given the commercial breaks) interspersed with pertinent tracks from the film, all capped off with a hefty twentysome minutes of the group recording that "Ditty Diego" over and over until youse just can'ts stands it! They do seem to have fun chanting out that ridiculous rant and things do start getting out of control, especially when one Monkee actually utters that famous four-letter word that rhymes with Donald's last name (and I don't mean Fellman!) on a few occasions. Wanna know who this foul mouthed primate was? Well, just get the box and find out for yourself before the DAR does! Sheesh, Jimi was nothing next to this!
***
A little goes a long way, and I still think I got my share from the last organ jazz burn Bill sent me quite awhile back. Not exactly sittin' that well with me right now...good, got some Gunter Hampel ready to line up...yeah, that's it!
***
I've been sittin' on this late-fifties rockaroller album for nigh on twentysome years and only NOW do I open it! Shows just how much I keep track of some of my purchases which I unfortunately forget all about as soon as I open up the blasted packages!
Gotta say that all these years of waiting wasn't that much worth it, because although RAMPAGE! has some fine single sides here that do say more about the teenage attitude of 1959 than say, Mitch Miller, these tracks just ain't as upper-echelon raw 'n primitive 'n make you wanna go out and smash peoples' faces in energetic as it should be. I guess even the bosser delinquents of the day couldn't always run on pure Adrenalin. Hate soundin' like some high falutin' well respected rock critic type from a formerly major newspaper here, but you may wanna pass this 'un up in favor of LIKE WOW or a bevy of other rare single side collections that really lay it on the line as to how it was a good six decades back.
***
Twenty lashes with the wet noodle for not having given this classic live platter a spin before Bill jetted this burn my way. Not that it was one-a-those-things you could just snatch up at the local record supermarket, but I coulda bought one via Midnight Records even if I was supporting a man who was cheating his stable! Anyway it sure is grand givin' Mr Jerry Lee Lummox (as MAD once called him much to Bruce Mowat's eternal indignation) a listen to romping through his biggies (and more) backed by one of England's premier punk rock outfits of the day, mainly the Nashville Teens of "Tobacco Road" fame. Good enough that it even helps get rid of those creeps that I'd get readin' about the guy's private life!
***
Bobby's Blues Band---geddit???? Fortunately the joke stops there because this one is in fact listenable. Not enough for me to warrant a second spin, but these white guys act does more'n just blues (mainly, rock music) and their piddling talents are complimented by the staid sound quality which gives the entire thing a knotty pine rec room appeal. In other words A REAL WINNER for those of you who revel in the whole self-produced home made independent spirit. But sheesh, just see how far this group would go if stranded in the South Side of Chicago at the Checkerboard Lounge---I'd hate to see the results!
***
Another shortie which is OK by me considerin' how my attention span is about as long as that of your average three-year-old brain-damaged mongoose. Within the half hour or so of this collection we get treated to a number of pretty good late-fifties rock instrumentals, some teenage gal-minded efforts (such as Vigor Fisher's "Padiddle" about the kissing game of the same name) and even a Johnny Cash track that has a nice rock 'n roll enough beat to it. And of course Bill put some more of those "Apple Gunkies" ads to pad the thing out which is cool because I really like them even if they were the creation of some late-sixties hippoid social commentator type who probably was a freedom rider for all I can tell. Well, they do have a slight air of smug moral superiority about 'em, y'know, so what else is new???.
***I know you have at least ten good reasons not to buy some of these (or all for that matter) BLACK TO COMM back issues, it's just that I hope you do have the good sense not to mention any of them while I happen to be in your presence. Hope that we don't cross paths soon, and I also hope that maybe your reasons aren't as rock solid as you might believe if only to part with some of your precious lucre. After all, in order to obtain some fine specimens of late-twentieth century self-published rock anti-journalism what other choices do you really have??? Bound to be collectible one of these days, as any trashman can tell ya!
RIP Jeff (((Roith)))
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jerry Lee Lewis marry his 11-year-old sister? Or did he marry Dean "Dino" Martini? Regardless, a sick bastid.
ReplyDelete