"Idle hands get in the way of the devil's work". Basil Fawlty once said that, and to prove him right I've presented for you this nice and jambus-packtus post that I know will make your weekend a whole lot more merrier than whatever (probably immoral) activities you had planned.
Sonny Vincent-DIAMOND DISTANCE AND LIQUID FURY : PRIMITIVE 1969-76 LP (Hozac Records)
I used to have dreams of browsing some record bin in some old rickety record shop or flea market and coming up with a old and worn out winner such as this! Here's a solid slab from NYC rock LEGEND Sonny Vincent featuring tracks from his old groups that really do present that hard-edged rock 'n roll feeling that seemed to go by the wayside as the rock era sludged forward. You could call it heavy metal in the old sense or even punk rock as it was defined by the more gonzo than you crowd, but either way these tracks by such Vincent-helmed acts with names like Distance, Fury, the Liquid Diamonds and the Testors (who more'n a few of you En Why See types would be quite familiar with) have that hard power sound that, while I'm sure common among the variety of local rock acts popping up across the country in the seventies, really capture that raw-edged approach and attack that comes off so fleshy especially when compared to the cyborg emote that followed. Even if your name is not Metal Mike Saunders you just might go for this 'un.
Leaf Peepers-LUNCHTIME FOR BIRDY LP (Feeding Tube Records)
As I've told you many-a-time, you never really know what to expect with these Feeding Tube releases! And, as you've already guessed, I was going to say this platter is in no way different. Leaf Peepers' LUNCHTIME FOR BIRDY has a strange and dare-I-say "ethereal" air to it, kinda sounding like two gals in a college dorm in 1965 ,after a laughing gas huff session and a heavy dose of the early Fugs, singing songs in perfect if skewered harmony as the guitar plunks dulcet chords and a recorder toots on in ways heard only in a coffee house filled with berets and shades in some old detective series. You can almost expect some cops to come busting in and some bewildered parents to bail out their crybaby daughters inna middle of the night. If Richard Meltzer lived in an adjacent dorm I would not be surprised one bit. Heck, he mighta been the one to have turned them coeds onto the Fugs and laughing gas!
Dr. John-BABYLON LP (Get on Down/Atco Records)
Years of hype did pique my interest in this particular effort, and while BABYLON ain't exactly the upper-tippy-top-echelon album some have made it out to be I find it inspiring and perhaps even a good attempt at creating a truly late-sixties watermark in freak rock. Maybe this coulda been thee mid-seventies Captain Beefheart album we all woulda wanted. Louisiana creole sounds get the brassy jazz treatment and production infused with a whole load of 1968 socio-political morality play that for once doesn't make you wanna assassinate someone. A vinyl reissue that I will say is more than welcome in my own personal collection.
Wicked Lady-"Run the Night"/"I'm a Freak 45 rpm single (Guerssen Records, Spain)
Didn't wanna buy ALL of the Wicked Lady reissues only to find out that this group was from grade-z turdsville, so I decided to buy this single to judge 'em before I plunged my hard-begged into this particular band. An' y'know what? Wicked Lady were a pretty good early-seventies-styled thud rock group with that primal sound and neanderthal-styled approach to rock 'n roll who would have fit in swell on one of the BONEHEAD CRUSHERS albums, that is if they ain't on one of 'em awlready (memory is quite hazy). With two tracks each clocking in at over five minutes, this is one record that delivers not only on a good early heavy metal-styled time but's a real bargain any fan of the early hard rock era can't afford to be without. I probably won't be buying any more Wicked Lady platters (I'm cheap y'know), but this 'un'll keep me well and happy for quite some time.
The Fundamentalists-CLASSIC ROCK CD-r burn (Walls Flowing Records)
The Fundies sway swell with their keep approach to early-eighties FM rock formats with almost true-to-form covers of Styx, REO Speedwagon and Journey done well enough to put a smile on any alley-toking delivery boy's face. The laid back post-hippie deejays found between the tracks was an effective touch, as were the ads for emergency pregnancy terminations and paraquat testing. Of course just when you least expect if a brilliant take of Crosby Stills and Nash singing about the Maraquiche Express brings energy levels to a triumphant peak. Cuh MONH, you know what Forward stuck on this shiny dique...a load of ambient sound and machine repeato riffs that would give Eno a hard on on his death bed! Even when you read the label you can't trust just what's inside!
THE FLESHEATERS LIVE CD (Homestead Records)
The crappy sub-bootleg sound can't hide the fact that this is one mighty live album, one I would rank with some of the better ones of that genre if I were as self-conscious as various wags make me out to be. Chris D. was a major belter, and nobody with a few brain cells to rub together can deny that he really ruled as KING OF THE SLAG HEAP at a time when many of us were wondering whether or not that scrap heap still existed. The material with the MINUTE TO PRAY band is top notch (and you should really dig that cover of the Sonics' "Cinderella" where Chris D gives Gerry Roslie's screaming vocals a run for the dinero!) while even the latterday version of the band still managed to keep that seventies under-the-underground spirit a'goin' long after it all seemed dead and gone. Mighty good effort here...makes me wonder what Chris D has been doin' lately other'n contributing to the late lamented BULL TONGUE REVIEW.
Ten Years After-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 1970 2-CD set (Chrysalis Records)
I've mentioned just how my interest in Alvin Lee's old band was "piqued" after certain admirable and stoic people I respect had sung Ten Years After's praises many-a-time, and after reading John Koenig of COWABUNGA's highly charged praise of a Cobo Hall show I decided to give this particular live album a try since it was recorded around the same time. Actually I gotta admit that TYA are pretty straightforwardly rocking at times, dull at others (such as the drum solo as if there were that many exciting ones around) and rather middling when they get into their standard blues jamz that don't seem to inspire yet ain't atrocious enough to rip off the turntable. Your move, unless you do have a copy of the Cobo Hall recording somewhere.
Philip Glass-EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH 4-CD set (Sony Classical Records)***One MORAL way I've been whiling away the hours is by going on the Peter Laughner Facebook Page and absorbing my inner whooziz into a whole lotta pretty good reading and visual stimulation that continues to keep my rock 'n roll spirits at top mental peak. Naturally the Peter Laughner of Pere Ubu etc. fame is not here to give us his thoughts and takes on what had transpired in that magical world of Cleveland 197X, but whoever his ghost is sure does a great job and between gazing at the rare snaps, ads and reprints of various Laughner (and related) rarities you could say that my rockism levels have been pumped up mighty high. It reminds me of just why I thought music like this fit in a whole lot more swell with my nerve endings than Kay Kyser's or Christopher Cross's (same thing) ever did, and if your brainwave levels are attuned to the same frequency as Laughner's were well, need I tell you to hit the above link as soon as your greasy paws are capable of doing for some superfine rock education that washes years of FM radio numbness away! It sure is heartwarming knowing that the TRUE spirit of seventies-era under-the-counterculture rock 'n roll lives on long after the 1964-1981 generation of high energy seemed dead and buried for all time.
***
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| BLOG TO COMM CONTEST! Guess who the mystery man on the right in this photo is and win a one-way trip to Wuhan Province, China for the annual all-you-can-eat bat festival! I'll give you two hints as to who this fine specimen (no, not that!) of a human being is...first he is not "Luke R. Yoo" and secondly his articles have appeared on this blog at one time or another! Put on those thinking caps and let's see just how astute you reg'lar readers are in guessing this VERY IMPORTANT PERSON's identity! |
***Good 'un this week if I dew say so maself! Big heaping hunking thanks go to Bill, Paul, Bob, Feeding Tube and Hozac for the donations to the cause! Anyway, I don't care if you "learn" anything or derive something of a deep and meaningful benefit from what I have written this week, but if you think that the stuff I wrote is "swell" then you certainly are on the right track!
Sonny Vincent-DIAMOND DISTANCE AND LIQUID FURY : PRIMITIVE 1969-76 LP (Hozac Records)I used to have dreams of browsing some record bin in some old rickety record shop or flea market and coming up with a old and worn out winner such as this! Here's a solid slab from NYC rock LEGEND Sonny Vincent featuring tracks from his old groups that really do present that hard-edged rock 'n roll feeling that seemed to go by the wayside as the rock era sludged forward. You could call it heavy metal in the old sense or even punk rock as it was defined by the more gonzo than you crowd, but either way these tracks by such Vincent-helmed acts with names like Distance, Fury, the Liquid Diamonds and the Testors (who more'n a few of you En Why See types would be quite familiar with) have that hard power sound that, while I'm sure common among the variety of local rock acts popping up across the country in the seventies, really capture that raw-edged approach and attack that comes off so fleshy especially when compared to the cyborg emote that followed. Even if your name is not Metal Mike Saunders you just might go for this 'un.
***
As I've told you many-a-time, you never really know what to expect with these Feeding Tube releases! And, as you've already guessed, I was going to say this platter is in no way different. Leaf Peepers' LUNCHTIME FOR BIRDY has a strange and dare-I-say "ethereal" air to it, kinda sounding like two gals in a college dorm in 1965 ,after a laughing gas huff session and a heavy dose of the early Fugs, singing songs in perfect if skewered harmony as the guitar plunks dulcet chords and a recorder toots on in ways heard only in a coffee house filled with berets and shades in some old detective series. You can almost expect some cops to come busting in and some bewildered parents to bail out their crybaby daughters inna middle of the night. If Richard Meltzer lived in an adjacent dorm I would not be surprised one bit. Heck, he mighta been the one to have turned them coeds onto the Fugs and laughing gas!
***
Years of hype did pique my interest in this particular effort, and while BABYLON ain't exactly the upper-tippy-top-echelon album some have made it out to be I find it inspiring and perhaps even a good attempt at creating a truly late-sixties watermark in freak rock. Maybe this coulda been thee mid-seventies Captain Beefheart album we all woulda wanted. Louisiana creole sounds get the brassy jazz treatment and production infused with a whole load of 1968 socio-political morality play that for once doesn't make you wanna assassinate someone. A vinyl reissue that I will say is more than welcome in my own personal collection.
***
Didn't wanna buy ALL of the Wicked Lady reissues only to find out that this group was from grade-z turdsville, so I decided to buy this single to judge 'em before I plunged my hard-begged into this particular band. An' y'know what? Wicked Lady were a pretty good early-seventies-styled thud rock group with that primal sound and neanderthal-styled approach to rock 'n roll who would have fit in swell on one of the BONEHEAD CRUSHERS albums, that is if they ain't on one of 'em awlready (memory is quite hazy). With two tracks each clocking in at over five minutes, this is one record that delivers not only on a good early heavy metal-styled time but's a real bargain any fan of the early hard rock era can't afford to be without. I probably won't be buying any more Wicked Lady platters (I'm cheap y'know), but this 'un'll keep me well and happy for quite some time.
***
The Fundies sway swell with their keep approach to early-eighties FM rock formats with almost true-to-form covers of Styx, REO Speedwagon and Journey done well enough to put a smile on any alley-toking delivery boy's face. The laid back post-hippie deejays found between the tracks was an effective touch, as were the ads for emergency pregnancy terminations and paraquat testing. Of course just when you least expect if a brilliant take of Crosby Stills and Nash singing about the Maraquiche Express brings energy levels to a triumphant peak. Cuh MONH, you know what Forward stuck on this shiny dique...a load of ambient sound and machine repeato riffs that would give Eno a hard on on his death bed! Even when you read the label you can't trust just what's inside!
***
The crappy sub-bootleg sound can't hide the fact that this is one mighty live album, one I would rank with some of the better ones of that genre if I were as self-conscious as various wags make me out to be. Chris D. was a major belter, and nobody with a few brain cells to rub together can deny that he really ruled as KING OF THE SLAG HEAP at a time when many of us were wondering whether or not that scrap heap still existed. The material with the MINUTE TO PRAY band is top notch (and you should really dig that cover of the Sonics' "Cinderella" where Chris D gives Gerry Roslie's screaming vocals a run for the dinero!) while even the latterday version of the band still managed to keep that seventies under-the-underground spirit a'goin' long after it all seemed dead and gone. Mighty good effort here...makes me wonder what Chris D has been doin' lately other'n contributing to the late lamented BULL TONGUE REVIEW.
***
Ten Years After-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 1970 2-CD set (Chrysalis Records)I've mentioned just how my interest in Alvin Lee's old band was "piqued" after certain admirable and stoic people I respect had sung Ten Years After's praises many-a-time, and after reading John Koenig of COWABUNGA's highly charged praise of a Cobo Hall show I decided to give this particular live album a try since it was recorded around the same time. Actually I gotta admit that TYA are pretty straightforwardly rocking at times, dull at others (such as the drum solo as if there were that many exciting ones around) and rather middling when they get into their standard blues jamz that don't seem to inspire yet ain't atrocious enough to rip off the turntable. Your move, unless you do have a copy of the Cobo Hall recording somewhere.
***
As I recall way back when, EINSTEIN was the work that took Philip Glass outta the avant garde and into the limelight where he would spend the rest of his days (which are still going on!) creating a lotta works that really do dip into the realm of kitsch (tho I do like his orchestral takes on Bowie's LOW and HEROES faux classicism and all...go figure!). This presentation of this Glass "opera" created in conjunction with Robert Wilson might still resonate with fans of the same Philip Glass and Ensemble who dressed shabby and played out at Max's, but the seeds of future "airs" (can't bring myself to say "pretensions") can certainly be heard on these four disques. Overall a disappointment compared with previous endeavors from his Chatham Square and Virgin days, although I do get the feeling that subsequent plays might alter my views into thinking this to be merely "piddling".
***
Ignore the early Modern Lovers poster that adorns the cover, for this is the latterday version of the Lovers that all those hardcore rock fans were so confused about way back when this Charles Ackers tape was recorded. If you were one who didn't cozy up to this newer, happier group you just might find yourself smiling a little smile and tapping a little toe, while nobody is looking that is! Richman and Co. romp through a whole buncha their Beserkley-era material to a rather appreciative audience who clap hands and stomp feet to the rhythms of such all time chestnuts as "Ice Cream Man" and "Roadrunner" letting their New York cooler-than-thou poses go if just for a little while. Overall a recording that reminds me of a not-so-happier, but perhaps simpler time in my life.
***
As usual a tru blu WINNER that'll even put a smile on my face after a hard day of toil at the dildo testing factory. Bill really knows how to select a whole buncha pepper uppers and he sure did his doody here what with such winners as Jack Gale's high-larious dance craze spoof not to mention the Paul Revere and the Raiders "b" side "BFDRF Blues" (first one who can tell me what "BDFRF" stands for will probably own the issue of OUTASITE where Mark Lindsay reveals the title's true meaning to Greg Prevost!). Things like David Seville's "Don't Whistle At Me Baby" ain't exactly toppo notcho (at least Dad puts his graverobbing son's various efforts to the shame they deserved) but they do pass the time, and Duane Eddy is always great for a spin even if he does share his last name with one of the geekier rock critics to have sullied the name of rock fandom o'er the past thirtysome years. Of course the Animals, Gary US Bonds and Clifton Chenier make this one a must-save, so no tea coaster treatment for this 'un!
***Hello, anybody out there? If so I know that some of you readers, longtime ones as well as casual contacters, would be interested in latching onto some or all of the available back issues of BLACK TO COMM that have been a'moldin' in the grave even longer'n John Brown's body! There's some mighty fine (and not so, I did get some contributors in that didn't quite make the grade) reading to be found within these pages and let's just say, as R. Meltzer woulda, a day without BLACK TO COMM is like a Tuesday without a Wednesday! Or something like that.
(((Phil Glass))) is half full.
ReplyDeleteIs the guy on the right Jeff Roth? Duncan Hannah? Duncan Hines? Heinz?
ReplyDeleteTo both you anonymous types...read the clues!
ReplyDeleteDid Chaz Bono ever write for BtC?
ReplyDeleteBill Shute
ReplyDeleteNaw.
ReplyDeleteLou Rone,right?
ReplyDeleteYou must be kidding!
ReplyDeleteBFDRF = Big fucking deal rat fink I believe.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've got you I'd like to say a massive thanks for tipping me to the Kraftwerk live at Bremen set and their other recordings from that era. Absolutely scintillating stuff.
Brad Kohler?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see at least a few good words re TYA! One of my all-time favorites! Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDeleteTO CH----nope!
ReplyDeleteNick Tosches, whose nephew was Byron Coley, whose scout master was Richard Meltzer. All three are in that photo.
ReplyDeleteYou guys crack me up!
ReplyDeleteTo GL---close enough. Big Fucking Deal Rat Fuck is the correct answer!
ReplyDeleteNo it's not.
ReplyDeleteThat's Sir Paul McGarry!
Watch your language, Stigliano! Would you use language like that at church? Keep it clean! The world does not need another smelly old degenerate bum like (((Lenny Bruce))) or (((Allen "NAMBLA" Ginsbergersteinowizc)))!
ReplyDeleteGreg prevost ?
ReplyDeleteBINGOQ
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify...the "BINGO!" (not "BINGOQ") means that Gary Field has won, All future guesses will still be printed if only to keep the laff riot goin' on!
ReplyDeleteJustin "Is it because I'm black?" Trudeau?
ReplyDeleteSorry GL...Gary Field already won the contest and besides, would Justin Trudeau had been smart enough to go to Max's Kansas City. It would have been about as likely as his mother wearing panties!
ReplyDelete"Smart" enough to go to Max's KC?! It was a pit of (((degenerates)))! Trudeau – and his mama! – would've been welcomed!
ReplyDeletelol more people no one ever heard of lol try bon jovi
ReplyDeletebeing late to the dance & more than half blind, I squinted & thought maybe that was Gram Parsons...he was there to score some drugz, makes sense. (queue in The Fabs' "I'm A Loser")...
ReplyDeleteDr John?! Stigliano's a hippy!
ReplyDelete