As that famed comedian Harpo Marx once said... Hmmmm, Henry, the Little King and Ferd'nand (Louie too!) said the exact same thing! Anyway, you can tell that I've been thumbing through back issues of my crudzine (see link below) what with my lame yet appealing on a personal level humor bein' regurgitated in a such a way! Anyhoo, here's yet another entry into the annals of BLOG TO COMM-unism that I think you might find particularly pedestrian if not downright pallid! In udder words, don't get your hopes up because IN NO WAY will this BTC be considered one for the archives even if people will probably be dialin' it up a thousand years from now in order to get the STRAIGHT AND UNABASHED TRUTH when it comes to what music (and gen'rul livin') was like in these here times and just how dad-blamed terrible a good hunk of it most surely was.
Can-LIVE ROCKPALAST 1970 CD (Rox Vox Records)
If you wanna know what kinda music really soothes this savage tit it's the LONG DRONE. Born of Caleized Velvet Underground with tangents reaching from the late-sixties Ladbroke Groovers to seventies New York throttle (with some sidesteps into decadence a la Francais...Mahogany Brain and Red Noise etc.) and with endpoints in the likes of Suicide and Throbbing Gristle with hefty doses of various Teutonic throbs in the Amon Duul I/II and Can modes for good measure. Did I just mention Can??? Sure, why not??? I mean, how obvious can I get?
Unlike the Velvet Underground, it seems as if Can left a whole slew of archival material that's thankfully gushing out into the rock world as compared to the dribbles here and there we get from whoever it is that has control of the VU legacy. This '70 tee-vee soundtrack is supposed to be the earliest intact Can live show to survive en toto, and it's a pretty good (though not as over-the-top as I woulda loved) as well what with Damo Suzuki acting his best crazed lead vocalist self while the rest of the group lay down a heavy crank that comes off fine especially during those evening hours when ya wanna get your nerve ends all tinglin'. All I gotta say is that I want MORE, and maybe if one searches hard enough some Malcolm Mooney-era Can live shows'll turn up an' hopefully while we all still have ears.
The Fundamentalists-BLUES FOR ANITA BERBER CD-r burn (see cover for email info)
I dunno why anybody would wanna dedicate the blues to that dyke, but these Fundamentalists have done just that an' its too late to put the toothpaste back inna tube. Fitting as well, because for the most part these mumbles and metal machine musings probably replicate the exact same sounds Berber's nervous system was making throughout that sorry figure's entire lifespan. Much better'n the distorto radiowave recordings this batch did earlier, quite hypnotizing in fact reminding me of when I was a young sprout wandering through the appliance department at Sears and I'd get really overcome and emotional while the washing machines would chug and roar. Maybe if someone added phasing to them they coulda come pretty close to what the Fundamentalists manage to do when they hit the spin cycle!
Scott H. Biram-LO-FI MOJO CD-r burn (originally on Knuckle Sandwich Records)
More o' dat down-home cookin' that sounds pretty authentico to these ears, though as you might have guessed I'm not exactly the kinda guy who can just authenticoism the same way that, say, Bill Shute can. Solo guitar picking with vocals come closer to that backwoods hillbilly style than a whole slew of hippoid imitators ever have, and besides that Biram throws a few old bloozy classics in with what I assume are originals. Now that the Holy Modal Rounders are a thing of the past you might wanna try this guy for your real deal non-pasteurized listening pleasure.
The Branded-EVIL GONE WRONG CD-r burn (originally on Soundflat Records)
Some of us still call it "six-oh", and with groups like the Branded up 'n about (I hope...this is a 2012 release) WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO!!!!! Strong enough for me "revival" music that has the guts and grit that many of those mid-eighties types lacked, with boffo originals (which rip off the oldies as if that's anything to be ashamed of!) that stand up to some of the better fandom-oriented sixties music extant. Nothing to sneeze at. Cough at maybe but not sneeze.
Smokey Emery-LIVES V.IV CD-r burn (originally on Kiamesha Drive Records --- try Smokey's bandcamp page for more information)
Yeah, I know that for most BLOG TO COMM readers ambient music is about as pleasant as eating a whole lotta bran and getting the feeling as if you're defecating pine cones (something which I think just might appeal to at least a few of ya more rectally oriented readers!), but this massively proficient post-Cage composer sure does crank out a sound that puts those tiresome early-eighties Eno efforts to pure shame. I dunno the exact whys and wherefores of Emery's music (this recording being "the fourth in an ongoing series of albums composed of recordings from live performances captured with video cameras, smartphones, and other portable devices") or how the recording process is supposed to relate to the tonal apparitions at hand for that matter, but the results are what I would call a pure avgarde experience which has had many-a-precedent ever since Marcel Duchamp decided to dabble in sound. But eh, it's sure great hearin' it bein' done again over a hunnerd years later, and without the usual pretension that sometimes comes attached to this kind of music as well.
Gene Clark-COLLECTOR'S SERIES - EARLY LA SESSIONS LP (Columbia Records)
I whipped this 'un outta the collection in honor of Bill Shute, and found that EARLY LA SESSIONS really does capture a facet of the neo/post-Byrds aura about as well as I thought it would be. Even the could get slick session musicians can't stop EARLY LA SESSIONS from bein' one of those mid-sixties efforts which show a certain (and welcome) "maturity" to the sound which does veer a bit off the mop top reservation . If you were one of those eggheads who went for the likes of Tim Rose or Tim Hardin you probably woulda went for this 'un as well. Pretty hotcha folk-unto-country transition ya got there Gene!
Stan Bronstein/Elephant's Memory Band-OUR ISLAND MUSIC LP (Muse Records)
Funny how I hated this final Elephant's Memory effort when I first spun it about a good two decades back but today find it just sounds like rather middling yet palatable jazz. Well it is kind of a shame since these guys released some rather good records such as the TAKE IT TO THE STREETS album on Metromedia as well as the one one Apple that John 'n Yoko produced that had earned hushed hosannas with the word "MC5" muttered in passing. (Never did hear ANGELS FOREVER on RCA...and its too pricey for me these penny-pinched days!) Stick with the early stuff and leave this on the back-burner until your craving for this oft overlooked band gets really out-of-hand!
Various Artists-HARD TIMES IN THE COUNTRY (DOWN AND OUT IN THE RURAL SOUTH) CD-r burn (originally on Rebel Records)
Sheesh, I gotta say this it sure is grand listening to downhome 'n DEEP SOUTH folk strums that ARE NOT BEIN' PERFORMED BY RICH UPPER-CLASS KIDS LIVING OFF TRUST FUNDS TRYIN' TO BE DOWN FOR THE CAUSE 'n the rest of that altruistic crap that only resulted in unsuspecting gals gettin' the nine-month treatment ifyaknowaddamean... Sure these tracks wouldn't sound outta place on those old Holy Modal Rounders recs but them BEIN' THE REAL DEAL does add a certain credibility to 'em that doesn't give ya the SNEAKIN' SUSPICION that these guys are bein' made fun of. Recorded twixt '27 and '38 the entire grit of the lower class musical set can be discerned easily enough and it sure sounds better comin' from the soul 'stead of from the Anthropology class. The lyrics to "Riley the Furniture Man" by the Georgia Crackers might get a few precious petunias out there a li'l more outraged than usual, but that's the price ya pay for bein' more superior 'n the rest of us'll ever be!
James Luther Dickinson-AXCV (DELTA EXPERIMENTAL PROJECTS COMPILATION VOL. 1 - THE BLUES, VOL. 2 - SPRING POEMS) CD-r burn (originally on New Rose Records, France)
No this is not a James Luther Dickinson platter as in he's the star performer but a sampler of various mid-South musings that sorta snuggle into the IT CAME FROM MEMPHIS book, at least sideways .The first volume I can "get" what with the field recording of the blues as they were done long before the likes of Robert Cray and George Thorogood got their hands on the form, and believe-you-me I'd rather hear my blues accompanied by the chopping of wood (as on Alex Teal's "Roll Me Over Slow") than I would with flash guitar!
The second part, the "Spring Poems" set I do not cozy up to. Sounds too professional with loads of early-eighties avgarde pop moves filtered in making for an even more unpleasant listening experience. At least when the Painters of the South start doin' "Camptown Races" with nothin' but outta tune pennywhistle and drums I can eke some enjoyment in the same way that Farina's kazoo and home-made drum set got into its own spiritual groove in that one LITTLE RASCALS where Wheezer's puppies were following the sound of bells all over the place. Otherwise those "poems", while produced swell enough without any grit or grime, sure don't have the same inner-movement that a classic low-fi blues holler laid down on a wire recorder did.
Various Artists-PRIMITIVE GREEN JUNK UNIVERSE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
As is wont these Bill Shute "Virtual Floor Sweepings", PRIMITIVE GREEN JUNK UNIVERSE is a real mixed bag o' nuts with its share of Brazils along with the cashews. Although at least one reg'lar reader might disagree I thought that Australia's Primitive Calculators were nothing-at-all-special "electro-punque" the world has had more than enough of while all of the spoken word and mind rambles weren't even that fun to listen to even on first spin. However I gotta say that I thought the radio ads stuck in between tracks as well as the song poems and the punk rarities (tho Bill shoulda known that the Controllers have been snuggled in my collection for years) not forgetting that anonymous take on the Raiders and Cyrkle were a bright part of my otherwise droll day. Even that Jimbo Easter talkin' like Captain Beefheart thingamafanabla was gropeable, tho personally I don't think that the one call Van Vliet woulda lost any sleep over someone imitating him like that.
***Besides workin' on future endeavors and generally just livin' off the land (or in my case years of record, book and fanzine collecting), I've also been toilin' away tryin' to copy about as many of the good 'n rare rockscribe goodies on Rocksbackpages as I can. Doin' a pretty good job of it as well what with me pilin' away reviews and such by the likes of some pretty good writers out there like Kris Needs, Ralph Traitor (or was it Jeremy Gluck?) and Metal Mike Saunders, discoverin' a whole lotta new horsemeat to sink my hooks into. A difficult task printin' and staplin' away for sure, but the rewards are plentiful what with the bevy of beauteous readin' that I'm in store for once I slap the boom box on an' my feet up onna bed! Unfortunately I gotta say that there is a dearth of crucial writings by many the biggies inna biz that I wish was available...need to re-read both Lester Bangs's putdown of some Don Moye album as well as Richard Meltzer's writeup of Throbbing Gristle's "Zyklon B. Zombie" single, both from the pages of various 1979 issues of THE VILLAGE (retch!) VOICE. Those ain't on Rocksbackpages and neither are a few other items I thought woulda be front and center (did I mention I was looking for Chrissie Hynde's Mose Allison piece? Prob'ly a millyun times!!!), but what I am gathering up is good for this goose and maybe a few ganders as well.
***Thanks to Bill, Bob and Paul for the goodies. Now don't disappoint 'em because of their generosity towards me and read the blasted things, hokay?!
If you wanna know what kinda music really soothes this savage tit it's the LONG DRONE. Born of Caleized Velvet Underground with tangents reaching from the late-sixties Ladbroke Groovers to seventies New York throttle (with some sidesteps into decadence a la Francais...Mahogany Brain and Red Noise etc.) and with endpoints in the likes of Suicide and Throbbing Gristle with hefty doses of various Teutonic throbs in the Amon Duul I/II and Can modes for good measure. Did I just mention Can??? Sure, why not??? I mean, how obvious can I get?
Unlike the Velvet Underground, it seems as if Can left a whole slew of archival material that's thankfully gushing out into the rock world as compared to the dribbles here and there we get from whoever it is that has control of the VU legacy. This '70 tee-vee soundtrack is supposed to be the earliest intact Can live show to survive en toto, and it's a pretty good (though not as over-the-top as I woulda loved) as well what with Damo Suzuki acting his best crazed lead vocalist self while the rest of the group lay down a heavy crank that comes off fine especially during those evening hours when ya wanna get your nerve ends all tinglin'. All I gotta say is that I want MORE, and maybe if one searches hard enough some Malcolm Mooney-era Can live shows'll turn up an' hopefully while we all still have ears.
***
I dunno why anybody would wanna dedicate the blues to that dyke, but these Fundamentalists have done just that an' its too late to put the toothpaste back inna tube. Fitting as well, because for the most part these mumbles and metal machine musings probably replicate the exact same sounds Berber's nervous system was making throughout that sorry figure's entire lifespan. Much better'n the distorto radiowave recordings this batch did earlier, quite hypnotizing in fact reminding me of when I was a young sprout wandering through the appliance department at Sears and I'd get really overcome and emotional while the washing machines would chug and roar. Maybe if someone added phasing to them they coulda come pretty close to what the Fundamentalists manage to do when they hit the spin cycle!
***
More o' dat down-home cookin' that sounds pretty authentico to these ears, though as you might have guessed I'm not exactly the kinda guy who can just authenticoism the same way that, say, Bill Shute can. Solo guitar picking with vocals come closer to that backwoods hillbilly style than a whole slew of hippoid imitators ever have, and besides that Biram throws a few old bloozy classics in with what I assume are originals. Now that the Holy Modal Rounders are a thing of the past you might wanna try this guy for your real deal non-pasteurized listening pleasure.
***
Some of us still call it "six-oh", and with groups like the Branded up 'n about (I hope...this is a 2012 release) WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO!!!!! Strong enough for me "revival" music that has the guts and grit that many of those mid-eighties types lacked, with boffo originals (which rip off the oldies as if that's anything to be ashamed of!) that stand up to some of the better fandom-oriented sixties music extant. Nothing to sneeze at. Cough at maybe but not sneeze.
***
Yeah, I know that for most BLOG TO COMM readers ambient music is about as pleasant as eating a whole lotta bran and getting the feeling as if you're defecating pine cones (something which I think just might appeal to at least a few of ya more rectally oriented readers!), but this massively proficient post-Cage composer sure does crank out a sound that puts those tiresome early-eighties Eno efforts to pure shame. I dunno the exact whys and wherefores of Emery's music (this recording being "the fourth in an ongoing series of albums composed of recordings from live performances captured with video cameras, smartphones, and other portable devices") or how the recording process is supposed to relate to the tonal apparitions at hand for that matter, but the results are what I would call a pure avgarde experience which has had many-a-precedent ever since Marcel Duchamp decided to dabble in sound. But eh, it's sure great hearin' it bein' done again over a hunnerd years later, and without the usual pretension that sometimes comes attached to this kind of music as well.
***
I whipped this 'un outta the collection in honor of Bill Shute, and found that EARLY LA SESSIONS really does capture a facet of the neo/post-Byrds aura about as well as I thought it would be. Even the could get slick session musicians can't stop EARLY LA SESSIONS from bein' one of those mid-sixties efforts which show a certain (and welcome) "maturity" to the sound which does veer a bit off the mop top reservation . If you were one of those eggheads who went for the likes of Tim Rose or Tim Hardin you probably woulda went for this 'un as well. Pretty hotcha folk-unto-country transition ya got there Gene!
***
Funny how I hated this final Elephant's Memory effort when I first spun it about a good two decades back but today find it just sounds like rather middling yet palatable jazz. Well it is kind of a shame since these guys released some rather good records such as the TAKE IT TO THE STREETS album on Metromedia as well as the one one Apple that John 'n Yoko produced that had earned hushed hosannas with the word "MC5" muttered in passing. (Never did hear ANGELS FOREVER on RCA...and its too pricey for me these penny-pinched days!) Stick with the early stuff and leave this on the back-burner until your craving for this oft overlooked band gets really out-of-hand!
***
Sheesh, I gotta say this it sure is grand listening to downhome 'n DEEP SOUTH folk strums that ARE NOT BEIN' PERFORMED BY RICH UPPER-CLASS KIDS LIVING OFF TRUST FUNDS TRYIN' TO BE DOWN FOR THE CAUSE 'n the rest of that altruistic crap that only resulted in unsuspecting gals gettin' the nine-month treatment ifyaknowaddamean... Sure these tracks wouldn't sound outta place on those old Holy Modal Rounders recs but them BEIN' THE REAL DEAL does add a certain credibility to 'em that doesn't give ya the SNEAKIN' SUSPICION that these guys are bein' made fun of. Recorded twixt '27 and '38 the entire grit of the lower class musical set can be discerned easily enough and it sure sounds better comin' from the soul 'stead of from the Anthropology class. The lyrics to "Riley the Furniture Man" by the Georgia Crackers might get a few precious petunias out there a li'l more outraged than usual, but that's the price ya pay for bein' more superior 'n the rest of us'll ever be!
***
No this is not a James Luther Dickinson platter as in he's the star performer but a sampler of various mid-South musings that sorta snuggle into the IT CAME FROM MEMPHIS book, at least sideways .The first volume I can "get" what with the field recording of the blues as they were done long before the likes of Robert Cray and George Thorogood got their hands on the form, and believe-you-me I'd rather hear my blues accompanied by the chopping of wood (as on Alex Teal's "Roll Me Over Slow") than I would with flash guitar!
The second part, the "Spring Poems" set I do not cozy up to. Sounds too professional with loads of early-eighties avgarde pop moves filtered in making for an even more unpleasant listening experience. At least when the Painters of the South start doin' "Camptown Races" with nothin' but outta tune pennywhistle and drums I can eke some enjoyment in the same way that Farina's kazoo and home-made drum set got into its own spiritual groove in that one LITTLE RASCALS where Wheezer's puppies were following the sound of bells all over the place. Otherwise those "poems", while produced swell enough without any grit or grime, sure don't have the same inner-movement that a classic low-fi blues holler laid down on a wire recorder did.
***
Various Artists-PRIMITIVE GREEN JUNK UNIVERSE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)As is wont these Bill Shute "Virtual Floor Sweepings", PRIMITIVE GREEN JUNK UNIVERSE is a real mixed bag o' nuts with its share of Brazils along with the cashews. Although at least one reg'lar reader might disagree I thought that Australia's Primitive Calculators were nothing-at-all-special "electro-punque" the world has had more than enough of while all of the spoken word and mind rambles weren't even that fun to listen to even on first spin. However I gotta say that I thought the radio ads stuck in between tracks as well as the song poems and the punk rarities (tho Bill shoulda known that the Controllers have been snuggled in my collection for years) not forgetting that anonymous take on the Raiders and Cyrkle were a bright part of my otherwise droll day. Even that Jimbo Easter talkin' like Captain Beefheart thingamafanabla was gropeable, tho personally I don't think that the one call Van Vliet woulda lost any sleep over someone imitating him like that.
***One of the things that I am most proud of in my rather checkered (and chessed, and acey ducey'd) life is having created this BLACK TO COMM magazine to help and enrich you readers' generally drab lives. Of course I'd even be prouder if more of you people bought more of 'em up. Just click on the link and help booster this poor blogschpieler's self image a few notches, and help him turn some of his HARD, UN-APPRECIATED WORK into moolah for his present and future endeavors, savvy?
can? do you listen to them in the can? or do you stick them up your can? lol looooosers lol
ReplyDeletelol captain bee fart comes out of a bee's can lol
ReplyDeleteIs Debbie Downer Moe Larry & Jesus trans identity? Lol, and dare I say it, lol.
ReplyDeleteUh huh. And Charlie Hogson was cloned from Benny Hill's hemorrhoids.
ReplyDeleteKeep 'em comin', Chris! Always a lot of fun reading your reviews! Cheers! Alvin Bishop
ReplyDeleteAn anal reference from Mr Moe.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise. He's the blog expert in that area. He swap his mouth to have two of those. Double the fun!
You would think Scots could learn better English than "he swap his mouth," if only to serve their English owners better.
ReplyDeleteGood old Charlie. He'd much rather get free health care on his knees than stand up and pay for his mom's syphilis treatments out of pocket.
"(Never did hear ANGELS FOREVER on RCA...and its too pricey for me these penny-pinched days!)"
ReplyDeleteEvery day in the life of (((Shlomo Stigglestein))) is a day to pinch pennies.