Well, it's a dad-blamed fact that if yer tuning into this week's post you've survived Christmas this year! Thankfully that's another one to put under the belt and I do hope that you made it through these most holy of times without overindulging on cookies or getting into one of those silly fights with your cousin when she womps you at checkers resulting in you causing a big scene splattering checkers all over the place. How many Christmas parties I remember where I got hauled off and walloped for one minor infraction or another! And if you don't believe me I'm sure Brad Kohler could fill you in on all the dismal details!
Thanks to the Holidays I got to spend more free time'n usual indulging in my favorite pastimes. Mainly listening to music, reading old rock-related sputum and of course absorbing myself in comics of varying stripes. Sunday afternoon I began re-reading the Jim DeRogatis Lester Bangs biography from a good twenny or so years back while spinning the Gunter Hampel 2-CD QUASIMODO CLUB set which not-so-surprisingly fit in with the tales of total rockist abandon being mentioned in those fine pages even if Bangs' main forte was rock with free jazz a tasty tidbit aside. As you would expect, this one sure stirs up the ol' ashes in my inner furnace what with its tales of not only existing during the nurturing of rock 'n roll as that trash teenage form of expression that even the intellectuals began talking about, but being one of the prime movers in getting the under-the-counterculture word re, the Velvet Underground, Cap'n Beefheart, Seeds etc. OUT! Kinda wish that I was born a good ten years early so's I could have enjoyed the zeitgeist firsthand 'stead of glomming onto its tail end. Only I would love to do it with a straight mind, no borderline autism, parents who weren't control conditioning maniacs, kids in my midst who could understand and perhaps even want to partake in my listening excursions/fantasies...
Come to think of it, music does feel good here in the calm dank of early winter. Just this week I've played the first two Soft Machine albums (English progressive rock sure sounds better if it's touted as being English avant garde jazz). A few years back I was listening to THE MARBLE INDEX while watching the winter sun set and the sky turn a most poignant purple. I'd do the same today though I can't seem to find my copy anywhere...
And you thought I wasn't Autistic! Anyway, here are some of the platters pushed at me this week,. Nothing outta the ordinary mind you, but I managed to survive thanks to these little wonders taking up time that could otherwise be used up spending an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom. Thank you Bill and Paul, you'll never know how you saved my soul with these.
Charlemagne Palestine-SACRED BORDELLO CD (Alga Marghen Records)
It's amazing what I'll find in my collection especially while I'm looking for other things that have just seemed to evaporate. Like this sealed Charlemagne Palestine Cee-Dee I had totally forgotten about! It might have come with the Palestine book I had copped quite awhile back but maybe not, but whatever I gotta say that this 'un really doesn't affect me the way the ARPEGGIATED BOSENDORF WITH FALSETTO VOICE album did what with the title track, almost an hour of a muffled talk given by the composer that has all of the sound quality of a seventies-era college lecture cassette recording and about the same level of excitement. The briefer "Voice Study" fares well what with the interesting male/femme vocal interplay which actually does stimulate various cranial pleasure points. Well, it sure beats the heck outta having to listen to PETER AND THE WOLF over and over again in third grade music class!
Scott H. Biram-THE DIRTY ONE MAN BAND CD-r burn (originally on Bloodshot Records)
Ya gotta watch out for these downhome gutbucket countrybilly kinda guys. And this is one guy ya REALLY gotta watch out for! Not bad at all hard crank on old classics and originals that sound almost as authentic as the stench in a run down men's room. Of course it ain't the original slop but it sure beats the pantaloons off every and any "hit" that has popped up on a variety of medium these past fortysome years. And ya gotta appreciate it for that mere fact alone.
Reverend Horton Heat-25 TO LIFE 2-CD-r burn set (originally on Yep Roc Records)
Swingingly enough country rock that I find OK in small doses. Heat comes off authentic enough and fortunately doesn't succumb to the "cuter" aspects of modern retrowhatever that have dampened past memories of all of the things that have made this music as appealing as it was. Fine, but two platters of this in one sitting really can overload my musical membranes to the point of "no mas"!!!!!
The Dirtys-YOU SHOULD BE SINNIN' CD-r burn (originally on Crypt Records)
I gotta admit that I found most of the current artists who had recorded for the infamous Crypt Records label back inna '90s to not quite live up to the image that the original garage band thud of the reissued items that had popped up on that "epochal" label (I refuse to use the term "iconic" which is nowadays being bandied about like sauerkraut at a German wedding reception) o'er the years. (Re)-listening to this platter reminds me why since there's nothing about the Dirtys that reflects the suburban slob ranch house attitudes of those groups that popped up on BACK FROM THE GRAVE way back during the glory days of garage band compilations. However they do crank out a loud roar that should sate many of you readers' inner turmoil and that's sure a whole lot more'n what I can say for many of those new garage band types I occasionally hear on Sirius Radio---before switchin' 'em right off!
Gene Clark-NO OTHER CD-r burn (originally on Asylum Records)
Like most of what I've heard of these various ex-Byrds offerings Clark dives full force into the same seventies turquoise jewelry of El Lay laid back country doob music. Thankfully Clark's musings ain't as offensive as many a similar cocaine karmik effort of the seventies, though they still have quite a way to go before being as digestible as something along the lines of Gram Parsons. Don't worry, despite all that you'll probably get sick halfway through. However, even with the Laurel Canyon influence this 'un does hold up a little better'n those various Crosby/Stills/Gnash efforts the radio used to force feed us back when we were young and told this was the proper way to sate our musical lusts.
The Outnumbered-WHY ARE ALL THE GOOD PEOPLE GOING CRAZY CD-r burn (originally on Homestead Records)
You already know the answer. It's because during the eighties when this platter came out alla the good people were looking for high energy no-holds-barred rock 'n roll to listen to but all they hadda choose from was simpy records like this! The funny thing is that there sure were a whole load of groups back then who probably would have sated our rock-as-a-way-of-destroying-our-inner-demons appetites, but they got swooshed over in favor of power plop, scrap iron heavy metal, punque and other disgraces that were being passed off to us as sound that spoke for our ever-degenerating generation. Sure it all fell by the wayside as it should have long ago, but then again look at what we hadda look forward to after all that!
Various Artists-FLAMINGO SOUNDS OF SUNSHINE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
Bill says this is definitely placed "in the 'lounge' section of the Virtual Thrift Store" and other'n a "Harper Valley PTA" soundalike from Margie Singleton I would say "yeah"!!!! When I was a kid I thought this would be all I'd be listening to when I got older, and now thanks to Bill it is! Walls of violin sludge and testosterone induced brass will remind you of days gone by when music like this ruled the FM band and many a hi-fi nut who looked like Dennis the Menace's dad would lock himself in the den and listen to Percy Faith or Mantovani while the kids were bashing each other's brains out in the basement. Music custom made to accompany those etchings for all you wannabe wolves out there!
Thanks to the Holidays I got to spend more free time'n usual indulging in my favorite pastimes. Mainly listening to music, reading old rock-related sputum and of course absorbing myself in comics of varying stripes. Sunday afternoon I began re-reading the Jim DeRogatis Lester Bangs biography from a good twenny or so years back while spinning the Gunter Hampel 2-CD QUASIMODO CLUB set which not-so-surprisingly fit in with the tales of total rockist abandon being mentioned in those fine pages even if Bangs' main forte was rock with free jazz a tasty tidbit aside. As you would expect, this one sure stirs up the ol' ashes in my inner furnace what with its tales of not only existing during the nurturing of rock 'n roll as that trash teenage form of expression that even the intellectuals began talking about, but being one of the prime movers in getting the under-the-counterculture word re, the Velvet Underground, Cap'n Beefheart, Seeds etc. OUT! Kinda wish that I was born a good ten years early so's I could have enjoyed the zeitgeist firsthand 'stead of glomming onto its tail end. Only I would love to do it with a straight mind, no borderline autism, parents who weren't control conditioning maniacs, kids in my midst who could understand and perhaps even want to partake in my listening excursions/fantasies...
Come to think of it, music does feel good here in the calm dank of early winter. Just this week I've played the first two Soft Machine albums (English progressive rock sure sounds better if it's touted as being English avant garde jazz). A few years back I was listening to THE MARBLE INDEX while watching the winter sun set and the sky turn a most poignant purple. I'd do the same today though I can't seem to find my copy anywhere...
And you thought I wasn't Autistic! Anyway, here are some of the platters pushed at me this week,. Nothing outta the ordinary mind you, but I managed to survive thanks to these little wonders taking up time that could otherwise be used up spending an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom. Thank you Bill and Paul, you'll never know how you saved my soul with these.
It's amazing what I'll find in my collection especially while I'm looking for other things that have just seemed to evaporate. Like this sealed Charlemagne Palestine Cee-Dee I had totally forgotten about! It might have come with the Palestine book I had copped quite awhile back but maybe not, but whatever I gotta say that this 'un really doesn't affect me the way the ARPEGGIATED BOSENDORF WITH FALSETTO VOICE album did what with the title track, almost an hour of a muffled talk given by the composer that has all of the sound quality of a seventies-era college lecture cassette recording and about the same level of excitement. The briefer "Voice Study" fares well what with the interesting male/femme vocal interplay which actually does stimulate various cranial pleasure points. Well, it sure beats the heck outta having to listen to PETER AND THE WOLF over and over again in third grade music class!
***
Ya gotta watch out for these downhome gutbucket countrybilly kinda guys. And this is one guy ya REALLY gotta watch out for! Not bad at all hard crank on old classics and originals that sound almost as authentic as the stench in a run down men's room. Of course it ain't the original slop but it sure beats the pantaloons off every and any "hit" that has popped up on a variety of medium these past fortysome years. And ya gotta appreciate it for that mere fact alone.
***
Swingingly enough country rock that I find OK in small doses. Heat comes off authentic enough and fortunately doesn't succumb to the "cuter" aspects of modern retrowhatever that have dampened past memories of all of the things that have made this music as appealing as it was. Fine, but two platters of this in one sitting really can overload my musical membranes to the point of "no mas"!!!!!
***
I gotta admit that I found most of the current artists who had recorded for the infamous Crypt Records label back inna '90s to not quite live up to the image that the original garage band thud of the reissued items that had popped up on that "epochal" label (I refuse to use the term "iconic" which is nowadays being bandied about like sauerkraut at a German wedding reception) o'er the years. (Re)-listening to this platter reminds me why since there's nothing about the Dirtys that reflects the suburban slob ranch house attitudes of those groups that popped up on BACK FROM THE GRAVE way back during the glory days of garage band compilations. However they do crank out a loud roar that should sate many of you readers' inner turmoil and that's sure a whole lot more'n what I can say for many of those new garage band types I occasionally hear on Sirius Radio---before switchin' 'em right off!
***
Like most of what I've heard of these various ex-Byrds offerings Clark dives full force into the same seventies turquoise jewelry of El Lay laid back country doob music. Thankfully Clark's musings ain't as offensive as many a similar cocaine karmik effort of the seventies, though they still have quite a way to go before being as digestible as something along the lines of Gram Parsons. Don't worry, despite all that you'll probably get sick halfway through. However, even with the Laurel Canyon influence this 'un does hold up a little better'n those various Crosby/Stills/Gnash efforts the radio used to force feed us back when we were young and told this was the proper way to sate our musical lusts.
***
You already know the answer. It's because during the eighties when this platter came out alla the good people were looking for high energy no-holds-barred rock 'n roll to listen to but all they hadda choose from was simpy records like this! The funny thing is that there sure were a whole load of groups back then who probably would have sated our rock-as-a-way-of-destroying-our-inner-demons appetites, but they got swooshed over in favor of power plop, scrap iron heavy metal, punque and other disgraces that were being passed off to us as sound that spoke for our ever-degenerating generation. Sure it all fell by the wayside as it should have long ago, but then again look at what we hadda look forward to after all that!
***
Bill says this is definitely placed "in the 'lounge' section of the Virtual Thrift Store" and other'n a "Harper Valley PTA" soundalike from Margie Singleton I would say "yeah"!!!! When I was a kid I thought this would be all I'd be listening to when I got older, and now thanks to Bill it is! Walls of violin sludge and testosterone induced brass will remind you of days gone by when music like this ruled the FM band and many a hi-fi nut who looked like Dennis the Menace's dad would lock himself in the den and listen to Percy Faith or Mantovani while the kids were bashing each other's brains out in the basement. Music custom made to accompany those etchings for all you wannabe wolves out there!
***Now that it's winter and you're snowed in what'cha gonna do to keep yourself occupied? I get the idea that you wish you coulda staved off the impending boredom by buying a whole slew of BLACK TO COMM back issues to take your mind off the cabin fever you're undoubtedly experiencing within the confines of your fart-encrusted bedroom. Well, if you're not snowbound as of yet you know what you better do given how the Indians have been predicting severe weathers for the past eighty years already!
I saw Scott H. Biram about six or eight years ago at a bar in New Braunfels, Texas, and he was amazing. Imagine someone who was brought up on 70's punk doing a Hasil Adkins one-man-band thing, but doing it with swamp blues and slide guitar as his base, not rockabilly, and doing it after a dozen energy drinks....and with lyrics that sometimes reminded me of Fear or early GG Allin. I have not heard his records, which I understand are not exactly like that, but at least when I saw him, it was a brutal and draining experience which went over great with the drinking audience. If Lightnin' Slim and Motorhead had a child, he would be it.
ReplyDeleteBILL S.