THE LATEST IN HOPEFULLY A LONG LINE OF FANZINE FANABLAS!
I still find myself BOWLED OVER when I read the stacks of alla my old fanzines that have pretty much replaced furniture in my bedroom. I'm talkin' about the CLASSIC ROCKSCREED ERA fanzines natch, not the lazy ones that popped up inna eighties and beyond comin' off more like liberation of the week pamphlets passed out inna park by smelly people with enough skidmarks in their underwear to make sergeant. Ya know, the fanzines that were spewed out back when the rock crazies knew their musical potatoes and tried their best to not only emulate their fave star writers but really could cut away the fat and present for us the raw meat and raw meat only, something which no professional mag really could get away with nowhow! As far as prozines went only CREEM could come close, but after Lester Bangs skedaddled and that rag decided to cater full force to the reds and puke boxboy crowd it might as well have been ROLLING STONE for all I care!
Anyhoo, here're some fanzines that I've come across as of late, all of them good enough to not only sustain me through one bowel movement but a good wiping up afterwards! It's too bad that there just ain't that many rags out there that can stand up to any of these home-produced items but in a way these fanzines were a product of their time and reflect the wild uninhibited (and unhinged for that matter) state of not only music but life in general, and in today's sterile cyborg world can we really expect anything that can come off as a total reflection of SUBURBAN SLOB SUPERIORITY as NIX ON PIX not forgetting TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE???
And now...lettuce commence with the BIG surprise of today's post and when I mean "big" I ain't talkin' some typical above-it-all rockcrit jive the kind I've been dealin' in for years...I mean, these next two entries which will really knock you off your 'nads! Rock fanzines of the sixties were few and far between (or at least I haven't been privy to a huge bulk of 'em), and for the most part the early ones that I would like to read such as the first volume of NEW HAVEN ROCK PRESS are rather difficult if not downright impossible to obtain. So it is with surprise that I managed to grab up these two sixties rock fanzine efforts created by the bare hand of one-time fanzine king Greg Shaw, 'zines which I must admit are important to the study and growth of the fanzine idiom not only because of Shaw's eventual standing in the under-the-counterculture biz end of rock fandom but because hey, these mags are pretty boffo experiments in what rock fanzines were in the late-sixties and how they would eventually prosper and provide a much-needed switcheroo from the usual staid rock press goings on that transpired thanks to all of those clueless nabobs of staid "hipdom" who took to the rock journalism as new hip road to fame and fortune route as the seventies progressed (and I do mean "progressed")...
What made MOJO ENTMOOTER necessary to the development of rock fandom was undoubtedly Shaw's special writing abilities and involvement in a plethora of fanzine publishing prior to the first ish's hitting the mailboxes during January of 1969 (the "1968" appearing on the indicia's an obv. flub). Shaw's previous entry into rock fanzineing via MOJO NAVIGATOR was the right start in that direction, and once you get down to it the world sure could have used more rock fanzines along these lines what with Shaw's ever-forming tastes and scribbling abilities molding together to make for a read that thankfully lacked a whole lotta that moonjunepoon stupidity that one would find in a variety of "youth" publications from the early ersatz radical-era ROLLING STONE to MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL on down.
The first ish's a charm even if a good portion of it consists of reprints from periodicals that were probably easily enough obtainable at the time. Dunno what prompted Shaw to dig up pieces such as Kurt Von Meier's Elvis article from THE NEW YORK FREE PRESS or the interview with XSUB radio's Subrosa from RECORD WORLD but danged if I can find those other rags, and readin' 'em here what with Shaw's pecked out and faded printjob does add a certain bit of class what with the freaked out psychedelic art that peppers the pages.
What's perhaps the highlight of the issue, not counting the interesting letters section regarding the late NAVIGATOR nor the record reviews of the latest from Canned Heat, the Mothers, Led Zeppelin etc. is the feature-length rundown of the debut Deviants platter which really was a proto-punk coup on Shaw's part considering the thing hadn't even been released in the USA at the time! Gotta say it's a good review despite some of Shaw's kvetching over the Deviants being "derivative" (I always thought they were more or less "emulators"), but Shaw liked the thing and added some much-needed insight and appreciation into an album that has only achieved high-end cult status since it started getting re-re-reissued and more'n a few lucky bums could give the thing a listen. Next to the hip youth press of the day which couldn't write a sentence without injecting a "right on" somewhere within it's sure great to read something that goes down smoothly in your mind and reflects the state of music without succumbing to the usual pious pratfalls so common back then.
The second MOJO ENTMOOTER's an even stranger affair not only given the rather Sci-Fi/Fantasy fanzine-styled cover but the plain fact that there hardly is anything having to do with music or Tolkien to be found within these pages which are mostly taken up with picture pastiches and tripped out collages. Even the sole "article" on what I believe is supposed to be rhythm and blues comes off as if it were written while Shaw was high on windowpane before slicing the piece up and re-molding it in homage to Burroughs. Pictures of Wilson Pickett, the Monkees and John 'n Yoko will at least make some unaware soul believe this is a musically-oriented fanzine but those of you in on the whole WHO PUT THE BOMP! mystique might be startled quite a bit. Sheesh, who woulda believed that Shaw had his hippoid side which he thankfully jettisoned as the seventies moved on will be surprised.
With all of the psychodoodle that shows up in MOJO ENTMOOTER #2 I know that, had I gotten this ish back during my initial BOMP!-saturated days, I woulda been thrown for a humongous loop to the point of mass depression! Sheesh, I always thought that Shaw was one of those guys who kept his Brian Jones locks unchanged for years on end and never did succumb to that San Francisco patchouli and cults mentality that he oh so made fun of in his later work! Wonder what else the guy was keeping from us lo these many years?
The other big surprise of this post just hasta be the arrival of TEENAGE NEWS #3 into my mitts. Issue #1 reportedly showed promise even though a good portion of if was made up of New York Dolls reprints (or so I've read since I couldn't get a copy of it even directly from the source!) while the second was an improvement with better layout (albeit printed on one side of the page only) with the likes of the Flamin' Groovies, Syd Barrett and other wild additions to the once boffo world of rock 'n roll firmly snuggled within the pages. This third time's really the charm what with a more pro saddle stapled cover and loads of goodies including a Patti Smith interview (and she doesn't seem to be that stoned either!), a report on the 1976 Rolling Stones tour with loads of candid snaps, the Raspberries and the only piece in French being on local rocker Lucien Francoeur who really seems like a straight-ahead no-holds-barred kinds performer if my translation ain't too bad. Another reason why the mid-seventies were the real Golden Age of Rock Fanzines because hey, for all the reading I've done throughout these 'zines I cannot find any mentions of Central American revolutionaries nor Palestinians like I used to do whenever I'd get hold of a MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, FLIPSIDE or a hunk of other mid-eighties fishwraps that seemed like tracts put out by basement bomb makers more'n anything else!
You might be familiar with the long-running STRANGLED fanzine which was devoted to the infamous English punk rock group of a very similar name, but I'm sure that you know practically nada about SIDEBURNS, the fanzine from whence STRANGLED sprang. It was a nice affair that seemed more concerned with punk in that mid-seventies sorta strata when pubsters and Pink Fairies-bred acts could intermingle with the even newer up-and-comers that were taking the true-to-life rock 'n roll world by storm. SIDEBURNS is also famous for that infamous learn these chords and start a band page which SNIFFIN' GLUE swiped for the front cover of one of their issues.
The later STRANGLEDs that I've seen had their moments including one with a Crocus Behemoth interview, but the SIDEBURNS that I've come across were pretty boffo in their own crudzine-ish nature. This third issue included, what with interesting pieces on the likes of Lew Lewis, the Vibrators, a nice two page snap of the Hammersmith Gorillas live, a review of Iggy in performance with Bowie and well, the Stranglers themselves. For twelve pages it's a pretty good hoot and well, in those few pages it sure packs a whole lot more punch'n all of those cheap (nothing wrong with that!) and precocious (something wrong with that!) eighties/nineties fanzines that used to pepper up my mailbox way back in those days of adolescent angst 'n rage.
I think I already have this issue of CHATTERBOX in my collection, but just to be sure I bought this one in the hopes that I don't and figured that well, I have two of these and you probably have none so I'm better than you in at least some way! Still for being a neo-professional fanzine that's at least attempting to be somewhat commercial while staying somewhat underground CHATTERBOX works about as swell as THE SHAKIN' STREET GAZETTE. The writing seems about on the same level as most mid-seventies college newspapers at their best (thankfully not as bad as the swill that permeated the Youngstown State University JAMBAR weekly paper) and their tastes were rather on-target what with articles on local "revivalists" Jr. Cadillac (who boasted former Wailer Buck Ormsby as a member), Europe's Only Iggy Pop Fan Club outta Germany, an interview with Dave Hill of Slade and other things that'll keep you stuck onna toilet while you should be out helping the parents do yard work. Pretty good job as far as fanzines go especially when you consider just how much FANTASTICALLY WORTHY MUSIC in not only the rock idiom but jazz and the avant garde was being promulgated by even the major labels at the time. Wish more local fanzines were out and about doing the job that most pubes wouldn't dare attempt.
It's always great to get hold of a copy of HOOPLA (in this case ish #3) and settle back to get these guys' takes on everything from the latest records and live shows to their impressions regarding various moom pitcher and tee-vee endeavors. This 'un's got a whole lotta goodies from articles on Monty Python's Flying Circus, Syd Barrett, the Dictators and more, as well as a moom pitcher review take on STAR WARS which warms the cockles of my heart because for once it's NEGATIVE! I'd hate to see what these ozobs would think if they were suddenly thrust into the present and saw just how much that particular franchise took off! The mere thought still makes me shudder!
There must have been more than just a few quickie crank out yet jam-packed with SPIRIT fanzines along these lines. I'm positive that many just slipped under the radar to the point where nobody knew of their pithy existences what with the low print runs and inability to get such an effort out to the people who would have loved to have read the thing (and believe-you-me I know all about that!). Fortysome years later HOOPLA continues to read as a proud example of just what these homebound rags could do in the face of BIG CITY MAGAZINE CRITIC JIVE, and I for one can sure appreciate the effort and talent put into 'em.
I reviewed one ish of SNIFFIN' FLOWERS a few Fanzine Fanabla's ago and since then acquired a few more of these lysergic lovelies. As you would have imagined, these fanzines are quite hippie dippie in that pix of English elves and nekkid gals who probably have more STDs than you thought existed fanzine sorta way. However, despite the usual seepage of patchouli into the mix I find these mags somewhat entertaining even if they do look more Tolkien and Smurfsville than they do rock.
The mere appearance of a Lemmy interview in issue #1 seems rather outta place given just how non lightflight the man was (if anything Lemmy was of the heavyflight variety) but for those of you who missed the late-sixties/early-seventies brooding underground press and rabblerouser variety of youth culture these mags brought it back (albeit without a vengeance) a good six or so years later. From the looks of it SNIFFIN' FLOWERS was one fanzine that sure spawned a whole generation of imitations, or inspirations for that matter, at least on the English underground circuit.
While we're on the subject of late-seventies English fanzines of a more lysergic nature I might as well mention the sixth issue of John Platt's COMSTOCK LODE. Now, that was a publication that usually strayed quite far from the BLOG TO COMM taproot of things but at least they had that important socially redeeming value akin to some dirty moom pitcher that wasn't obscene because of the artistic value or something like that (but we always went 'n saw 'em for the tits).
The San Francisco beat seems to prevail in these pages what with stories on the likes of Notes From the Underground, while people I never did care for like Terry Reid really don't make my peepers stand up and take notice. When Platt switches gears and gets into the then-current under-the-underground my nodes certainly pick up (a snap of the 1979-vintage Red Crayola pops up on on the back cover), and between the writings on the sounds of England past (Brian Knight) and the sounds of England not-so past (Swell Maps) you got a unique kinda mag that I certainly ain't gonna casually poo poo like you think I would! Plus the early-ZIGZAG-styled format sure looks swell next to some of the slapdash (my own crudzine efforts included) that has come outta the fanzine world since.
I'm surprised at the number of fanzines that came out in mainland Europe during the seventies. Some of the ones I've viewed seem to be variations on the usual youth kultur tabloids of the day with enough of an underground rock spark that would separate them from the wide assortment of underground papers that were up and about at the time. Off the top of my head I can think of such titles as PARAPLUIE and POLE outta France, and now this Swiss effort has entered into my consciousness!
EXPERIENCE is a tabloid laid out somewhat like the early ROLLING STONE, but that's where the similarities end. Like PARAPLUIE and POLE this mag was steeped in a whole lotta that under-the-underground art and feel that was popular amongst most self-conscious pseudo-intellectuals you used to see at your high stool poetry club. And like those mags EXPERIENCE was well aware of just how important people like Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls were to the true teenbo suburban slob class that still lingers about, at least on this blog. A huge Alice Cooper article complete with some rare early photos decorates this issue along with some interesting readymade art featuring the likeness of Iggy Pop and lotsa old comic strip characters which reflect that strange obsession Europeons have with Amerigan trash kultur. It might be worth leaning German so's I can make my way through this thing.
RAVE-UP was a good eighties-era fanzine done up by gals so it has that bitchy teenagers inna bedroom gossip sorta dingy feeling that I actually kinda like. Lotsa hair metal gunk in here with a few nods to what was passing for punk rock during those days, RAVE-UP kinda presents itself in a way that the old RAW POWER fanzine woulda had that 'un lasted longer. Some of the acts here I could do without, but this 'un did have an interview with some guy from Anthrax (who were one of the few metal bands of that era I really could listen to...they for one knew that turning guitar sounds into abstract noise was the way for this kind of music to proceed!). I have another issue with Steve Tyler onna cover somewhere in the abode...might do me good to drag that 'un out and give Devorah and company another go at sparking those oft-dead brain cells that tend to get clogged up during the dusk of an existence I sure wish coulda gone off a whole lot better'n it did.
Just because some publications can qualify as being a fanzine doesn't necessarily mean they're worth the time seeking out and reading. Believe-you-me, in the fortysome years I've had collecting these things I've come across my share of crudzines, and I'm not talking about fanzines that were crudely assembled and had a rather lousy print job but delivered on the info and spirit Then again I've read my share of professionally printed fanzines that lacked a whole load of the spark and verve I would have expected from such an effort. And it ain't like MUSICS is what I would call a terrible mag, but I just find this legendary fanzine a bit too dry for my rather soggy tastebugs.
Maybe it was this one issue that kinda snoozes me to no end, but I must admit that I find MUSICS's coverage of the English avant garde improv scene to be rather plain and humorless even if humor wasn't something always associated with this breed of music. Scholars will surely gobble up the information available in these pages, but I like a little of that gonzscribe zip that you could get reading the English weaklies of the same strata. The collection that Ecstatic Peace released a long time back might be worth the investment.
But then again Harvey comics were something that made me the fanabla that I was, am and will remain due to weekday morning viewings during those much-missed pre-school days. So if for only that maybe I should be paying more attention to this once kid-tested and kid-approved comic line famous for such titles as CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, HOT STUFF, LITTLE AUDREY and of course RICHIE RICH. THE HARVEYVILLE FUN TIMES ain't not giddy housewife romp written by some thirty-ish homebody during those hours between gettin' the kids off to school and the game shows but a seriously researched and pecked out effort dealing with the Harvey universe, specifically that of the company after it settled into its kids niche and put the serious stuff way on the back burner considering how the likes of THE SPIRIT was selling piddly in comparison.
This Vol. 7 #27 ish is a pretty good effort even if it is laid out in that newer and sterile professional computer word processor way that doesn't do my eyeballs any good. The focus this issue is on the Herman and Catnip cartoons (haven't seen these since 1974 when channel 5 in Cleveland was runnin' 'em right before MORNING EXCHANGE) not to mention Mayda Munny, Richie Rich's female nemesis who constantly tries to swipe the World's Richest Boy away from the cute yet plain jane Gloria. I dunno what Rich sees in that freckled blowzie, for Mayda is a hotcha gotcha that any real ten-year-old guy who's ahead of the class would go for! At her young age she's already starting to sprout suckems and who knows what kind of a round the world kinda gal she'll be once she hits fifteen! Richie...the gal's throwin' herself at you and all you can do is foof it off! Maybe he's a bit wary of the female persuasion after the time he got a few vertebrae thrown outta whack after Little Lotta sat on his face....Gloria is a safe bet that's for sure.
I still find myself BOWLED OVER when I read the stacks of alla my old fanzines that have pretty much replaced furniture in my bedroom. I'm talkin' about the CLASSIC ROCKSCREED ERA fanzines natch, not the lazy ones that popped up inna eighties and beyond comin' off more like liberation of the week pamphlets passed out inna park by smelly people with enough skidmarks in their underwear to make sergeant. Ya know, the fanzines that were spewed out back when the rock crazies knew their musical potatoes and tried their best to not only emulate their fave star writers but really could cut away the fat and present for us the raw meat and raw meat only, something which no professional mag really could get away with nowhow! As far as prozines went only CREEM could come close, but after Lester Bangs skedaddled and that rag decided to cater full force to the reds and puke boxboy crowd it might as well have been ROLLING STONE for all I care!
Anyhoo, here're some fanzines that I've come across as of late, all of them good enough to not only sustain me through one bowel movement but a good wiping up afterwards! It's too bad that there just ain't that many rags out there that can stand up to any of these home-produced items but in a way these fanzines were a product of their time and reflect the wild uninhibited (and unhinged for that matter) state of not only music but life in general, and in today's sterile cyborg world can we really expect anything that can come off as a total reflection of SUBURBAN SLOB SUPERIORITY as NIX ON PIX not forgetting TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE???
And now...lettuce commence with the BIG surprise of today's post and when I mean "big" I ain't talkin' some typical above-it-all rockcrit jive the kind I've been dealin' in for years...I mean, these next two entries which will really knock you off your 'nads! Rock fanzines of the sixties were few and far between (or at least I haven't been privy to a huge bulk of 'em), and for the most part the early ones that I would like to read such as the first volume of NEW HAVEN ROCK PRESS are rather difficult if not downright impossible to obtain. So it is with surprise that I managed to grab up these two sixties rock fanzine efforts created by the bare hand of one-time fanzine king Greg Shaw, 'zines which I must admit are important to the study and growth of the fanzine idiom not only because of Shaw's eventual standing in the under-the-counterculture biz end of rock fandom but because hey, these mags are pretty boffo experiments in what rock fanzines were in the late-sixties and how they would eventually prosper and provide a much-needed switcheroo from the usual staid rock press goings on that transpired thanks to all of those clueless nabobs of staid "hipdom" who took to the rock journalism as new hip road to fame and fortune route as the seventies progressed (and I do mean "progressed")...
What made MOJO ENTMOOTER necessary to the development of rock fandom was undoubtedly Shaw's special writing abilities and involvement in a plethora of fanzine publishing prior to the first ish's hitting the mailboxes during January of 1969 (the "1968" appearing on the indicia's an obv. flub). Shaw's previous entry into rock fanzineing via MOJO NAVIGATOR was the right start in that direction, and once you get down to it the world sure could have used more rock fanzines along these lines what with Shaw's ever-forming tastes and scribbling abilities molding together to make for a read that thankfully lacked a whole lotta that moonjunepoon stupidity that one would find in a variety of "youth" publications from the early ersatz radical-era ROLLING STONE to MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL on down.
What's perhaps the highlight of the issue, not counting the interesting letters section regarding the late NAVIGATOR nor the record reviews of the latest from Canned Heat, the Mothers, Led Zeppelin etc. is the feature-length rundown of the debut Deviants platter which really was a proto-punk coup on Shaw's part considering the thing hadn't even been released in the USA at the time! Gotta say it's a good review despite some of Shaw's kvetching over the Deviants being "derivative" (I always thought they were more or less "emulators"), but Shaw liked the thing and added some much-needed insight and appreciation into an album that has only achieved high-end cult status since it started getting re-re-reissued and more'n a few lucky bums could give the thing a listen. Next to the hip youth press of the day which couldn't write a sentence without injecting a "right on" somewhere within it's sure great to read something that goes down smoothly in your mind and reflects the state of music without succumbing to the usual pious pratfalls so common back then.
The second MOJO ENTMOOTER's an even stranger affair not only given the rather Sci-Fi/Fantasy fanzine-styled cover but the plain fact that there hardly is anything having to do with music or Tolkien to be found within these pages which are mostly taken up with picture pastiches and tripped out collages. Even the sole "article" on what I believe is supposed to be rhythm and blues comes off as if it were written while Shaw was high on windowpane before slicing the piece up and re-molding it in homage to Burroughs. Pictures of Wilson Pickett, the Monkees and John 'n Yoko will at least make some unaware soul believe this is a musically-oriented fanzine but those of you in on the whole WHO PUT THE BOMP! mystique might be startled quite a bit. Sheesh, who woulda believed that Shaw had his hippoid side which he thankfully jettisoned as the seventies moved on will be surprised.
With all of the psychodoodle that shows up in MOJO ENTMOOTER #2 I know that, had I gotten this ish back during my initial BOMP!-saturated days, I woulda been thrown for a humongous loop to the point of mass depression! Sheesh, I always thought that Shaw was one of those guys who kept his Brian Jones locks unchanged for years on end and never did succumb to that San Francisco patchouli and cults mentality that he oh so made fun of in his later work! Wonder what else the guy was keeping from us lo these many years?
***
The other big surprise of this post just hasta be the arrival of TEENAGE NEWS #3 into my mitts. Issue #1 reportedly showed promise even though a good portion of if was made up of New York Dolls reprints (or so I've read since I couldn't get a copy of it even directly from the source!) while the second was an improvement with better layout (albeit printed on one side of the page only) with the likes of the Flamin' Groovies, Syd Barrett and other wild additions to the once boffo world of rock 'n roll firmly snuggled within the pages. This third time's really the charm what with a more pro saddle stapled cover and loads of goodies including a Patti Smith interview (and she doesn't seem to be that stoned either!), a report on the 1976 Rolling Stones tour with loads of candid snaps, the Raspberries and the only piece in French being on local rocker Lucien Francoeur who really seems like a straight-ahead no-holds-barred kinds performer if my translation ain't too bad. Another reason why the mid-seventies were the real Golden Age of Rock Fanzines because hey, for all the reading I've done throughout these 'zines I cannot find any mentions of Central American revolutionaries nor Palestinians like I used to do whenever I'd get hold of a MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, FLIPSIDE or a hunk of other mid-eighties fishwraps that seemed like tracts put out by basement bomb makers more'n anything else!***
The later STRANGLEDs that I've seen had their moments including one with a Crocus Behemoth interview, but the SIDEBURNS that I've come across were pretty boffo in their own crudzine-ish nature. This third issue included, what with interesting pieces on the likes of Lew Lewis, the Vibrators, a nice two page snap of the Hammersmith Gorillas live, a review of Iggy in performance with Bowie and well, the Stranglers themselves. For twelve pages it's a pretty good hoot and well, in those few pages it sure packs a whole lot more punch'n all of those cheap (nothing wrong with that!) and precocious (something wrong with that!) eighties/nineties fanzines that used to pepper up my mailbox way back in those days of adolescent angst 'n rage.
***
I think I already have this issue of CHATTERBOX in my collection, but just to be sure I bought this one in the hopes that I don't and figured that well, I have two of these and you probably have none so I'm better than you in at least some way! Still for being a neo-professional fanzine that's at least attempting to be somewhat commercial while staying somewhat underground CHATTERBOX works about as swell as THE SHAKIN' STREET GAZETTE. The writing seems about on the same level as most mid-seventies college newspapers at their best (thankfully not as bad as the swill that permeated the Youngstown State University JAMBAR weekly paper) and their tastes were rather on-target what with articles on local "revivalists" Jr. Cadillac (who boasted former Wailer Buck Ormsby as a member), Europe's Only Iggy Pop Fan Club outta Germany, an interview with Dave Hill of Slade and other things that'll keep you stuck onna toilet while you should be out helping the parents do yard work. Pretty good job as far as fanzines go especially when you consider just how much FANTASTICALLY WORTHY MUSIC in not only the rock idiom but jazz and the avant garde was being promulgated by even the major labels at the time. Wish more local fanzines were out and about doing the job that most pubes wouldn't dare attempt.
***
There must have been more than just a few quickie crank out yet jam-packed with SPIRIT fanzines along these lines. I'm positive that many just slipped under the radar to the point where nobody knew of their pithy existences what with the low print runs and inability to get such an effort out to the people who would have loved to have read the thing (and believe-you-me I know all about that!). Fortysome years later HOOPLA continues to read as a proud example of just what these homebound rags could do in the face of BIG CITY MAGAZINE CRITIC JIVE, and I for one can sure appreciate the effort and talent put into 'em.
***
I reviewed one ish of SNIFFIN' FLOWERS a few Fanzine Fanabla's ago and since then acquired a few more of these lysergic lovelies. As you would have imagined, these fanzines are quite hippie dippie in that pix of English elves and nekkid gals who probably have more STDs than you thought existed fanzine sorta way. However, despite the usual seepage of patchouli into the mix I find these mags somewhat entertaining even if they do look more Tolkien and Smurfsville than they do rock.The mere appearance of a Lemmy interview in issue #1 seems rather outta place given just how non lightflight the man was (if anything Lemmy was of the heavyflight variety) but for those of you who missed the late-sixties/early-seventies brooding underground press and rabblerouser variety of youth culture these mags brought it back (albeit without a vengeance) a good six or so years later. From the looks of it SNIFFIN' FLOWERS was one fanzine that sure spawned a whole generation of imitations, or inspirations for that matter, at least on the English underground circuit.
***
The San Francisco beat seems to prevail in these pages what with stories on the likes of Notes From the Underground, while people I never did care for like Terry Reid really don't make my peepers stand up and take notice. When Platt switches gears and gets into the then-current under-the-underground my nodes certainly pick up (a snap of the 1979-vintage Red Crayola pops up on on the back cover), and between the writings on the sounds of England past (Brian Knight) and the sounds of England not-so past (Swell Maps) you got a unique kinda mag that I certainly ain't gonna casually poo poo like you think I would! Plus the early-ZIGZAG-styled format sure looks swell next to some of the slapdash (my own crudzine efforts included) that has come outta the fanzine world since.
***
EXPERIENCE is a tabloid laid out somewhat like the early ROLLING STONE, but that's where the similarities end. Like PARAPLUIE and POLE this mag was steeped in a whole lotta that under-the-underground art and feel that was popular amongst most self-conscious pseudo-intellectuals you used to see at your high stool poetry club. And like those mags EXPERIENCE was well aware of just how important people like Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls were to the true teenbo suburban slob class that still lingers about, at least on this blog. A huge Alice Cooper article complete with some rare early photos decorates this issue along with some interesting readymade art featuring the likeness of Iggy Pop and lotsa old comic strip characters which reflect that strange obsession Europeons have with Amerigan trash kultur. It might be worth leaning German so's I can make my way through this thing.
***
***
Maybe it was this one issue that kinda snoozes me to no end, but I must admit that I find MUSICS's coverage of the English avant garde improv scene to be rather plain and humorless even if humor wasn't something always associated with this breed of music. Scholars will surely gobble up the information available in these pages, but I like a little of that gonzscribe zip that you could get reading the English weaklies of the same strata. The collection that Ecstatic Peace released a long time back might be worth the investment.
***And finally for today's soiree's this definitely non musical fanzine that I think a few of you readers would still be interested in. As Dr. Fredric Werthan has written there have been fanzines devoted to just about every culturally significant mo'oment in the history of history ('cept comic books that is!), but didja know that there was one devoted to the Harvey line of comics? When I was in the midst of my comic book obsession I barely touched the Harvey line and had like one or two of 'em from the early-sixties which still had WKST-TV's frequency as being 45 'stead of 33 which I thought made for a real collector's item! Other'n that nada, nicht, nill and although I've read my share of Harvey's while waiting at the barbershop it wasn't like I would wanna be caught dead OWNING more'n just a few scattered amid some more pertinent titles like ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING.
This Vol. 7 #27 ish is a pretty good effort even if it is laid out in that newer and sterile professional computer word processor way that doesn't do my eyeballs any good. The focus this issue is on the Herman and Catnip cartoons (haven't seen these since 1974 when channel 5 in Cleveland was runnin' 'em right before MORNING EXCHANGE) not to mention Mayda Munny, Richie Rich's female nemesis who constantly tries to swipe the World's Richest Boy away from the cute yet plain jane Gloria. I dunno what Rich sees in that freckled blowzie, for Mayda is a hotcha gotcha that any real ten-year-old guy who's ahead of the class would go for! At her young age she's already starting to sprout suckems and who knows what kind of a round the world kinda gal she'll be once she hits fifteen! Richie...the gal's throwin' herself at you and all you can do is foof it off! Maybe he's a bit wary of the female persuasion after the time he got a few vertebrae thrown outta whack after Little Lotta sat on his face....Gloria is a safe bet that's for sure.
***More fanzine fanablas in the poopline, and like if you have any old classic rock fanzines (or others) you'd like to toss out...howzbout tossing 'em out my way!
lol of course lol hate the stone lol why? because it's popular, because it's good lol lester bangs? lol is that even a real person? where do you get this stuff? thx needed some lols
ReplyDelete(((Richie Rich))) was born (((Benjamin Shekelrich))). A nose bob, a name change, and a bottle of peroxide and presto! White, like you!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Were there any 'zines dedicated to the thinking man's glam scene of the 1970s? I'm thinking of bands like Be-bop Deluxe, Roxy Music, Ultravox, Bowie, Susan, Christopher Milk. Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDeleteAlvin, have you tried the early TROUSER PRESS?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll check them out! BTW, I'm so glad that I discovered this eclectic e-zine! Since you cover jazz, how about an in-depth look at jazz-rock and fusion? I'm thinking of BST, CTA, Ten Wheel Drive, Ten Years After, Headhunters, Weather Report, "Bitches Brew," Mahavishnu, et al. 'Twas a time! Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDeletePS: Worth noting Alvin Lee's deep debt to Woody Herman! Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDeleteAlvin, some of the fusion groups you mentioned were OK, others out of the realm of our own personal tastemeters. Search the blog for various reviews of the groups you mentioned as well as other fusion acts that I thought merited write ups here.
ReplyDeleteRight-o! Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDelete