BLOG TO COMM

Believe me, I've been feeling a lot like the Mr. Bill lookalike on the right side of the page as of late. Confused and muddled might be the word for it, and even more so than usual what with the lack of music out there I would actually want to part money with for (sheesh, I've had to resort to digging out old and often neglected rarities from the past fortysome years of collecting these things...for SHAME!!!), not to mention the current political situation which is pretty much more of a toss 'n a fresh garden salad! Well, in that case I hope that the fight over who will really be president for the next four years will lead to massive violence with loads of shooting and blood flowing in the street and bodies piled up like firewood before the True God Emperor (not the grinning 'tard with the bad dentures)  eventually emerges victorious! (In Criswellian fashion I predict something big is gonna happen early December!) And hopefully that just might happen making for a future without alla those trouble-making rabble rousers who act as if they were born from the butt of Tim Yohannon causing all of that mayhem we see while getting a pass from the tee-vee and political press who kinda see 'em as being young if slightly misguided keepers of the faith! Well, it sure beats those hokey talent shows they have on tee-vee these days!

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Havin' a fun time as it is, that is when there is some time to have a li'l let loose around here. Night time dreams have been pretty wild as well, especially the one I had Wednesday night/Thursday AM where I won the Nobel Prize for somethingorother that never was clearly explained to me which would figure since nowadays they give these things out like free toy surprises (just look at the one Obama got...sheesh, and given his pro-war record HE SHOULDA GIVEN IT BACK!), but anyway I am waiting for a presentation of my award in what seems like an old barn shed or something along those lines filled with various neer do wells, and suddenly I hear from the outside that infamous Fugs song "Defeated"! I walk outside wearing my suit with no shoes (socks only, and there's a hole in the toe!) and I see three long haired and aged yippie types who did sorta look like Tuli Kupferberg and company singing and strumming along from the roof of the structure I was in. A real down home hoot so to speak, with alla the dirty words intact!

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Anyway, I don't care if you love or hate the following reviews. They're here and if you for whatever reason cannot face up to the cold hard fact that these are hard-edged writeups of music that has mattered more to many people than you would care to believe ever existed then maybe you should ditch BLOG TO COMM 'n go find one of those internet havens for confused gals with skin and parent problems who like to tie in whatever recording they're blabbing about with memories of some lost friends who were total washouts but were still worth their salt in being some of those Complete Individual Human Beings that these "ladies" like to romanticize even if they were for all intent purposes human dregs. Thanks be to the likes of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and Stigsounds Records for the contributions to the cause...

The Glitter Band-THE ALBUMS 4-CD set (7Ts Records, England)

I remember Charlotte Pressler referring to glitter rock as being akin to a fart at a formal dinner...something that was mostly best left forgotten when discussing the history of what used to be known as rock 'n roll. Not sure of the exact quote and you can always dial up her infamous "Those Were Different Times" article if your a stickler for accuracy. But man, I gotta say that a lotta the glitter/glam music of the early/mid-seventies sure holds up way more than a lotta the amerindie music of the early-mid eighties, or the grunge plunge of the nineties, or most of those flavor of the weeks that have been slopping up the general culture that made groveling through the past few decades a rather arduous task. Those old Slade and Sweet singles do sound better here in the dark days of the twenties and y'know what, so do these Glitter Band albums which I'm sure must have excited more'n a few of those buxom British beauties you still see dancing about on various youtube clips featuring alla them shows they never did show here in the U.S. of Whoa.

Never did spin any of the records made by these former Gary Glitter sidemen (who I hope didn't share the same sexual proclivities as their boss) so you can say that they're totally up 'n at 'em to me. And even with alla that glitzy playin' and general commercial gloss the Glitter Band sound as set the controls for the heart of the MATTER as all of those other glam rarities both famous or not...pretty wild shenaniganzas that I know woulda fit snugly in any Amerigan pyjama party playlist over here as they would in whatever kinda gal get togethers they have over there (just ask Mary Bell).

Debut HEY! has the cheap commercial formula down pat, what with the Glitter guys revamping a whole load of fifties/sixties faves that were part and parcel of any pre-hippie hotcha youth's lifespan, only updated for a seventies teenbo mentality. Not the mentality of the self-conscious mindblown denizens of course but the kinda kids who populated the old PONYTAIL comic panel. And somehow hearing these neo-decadent updated versions of old Elvis and Chubby Checker hits kinda makes me glad that there were some kids with steady rock 'n roll tastes populating the same time frame as those who were buying up Cat Stevens records. Nice way they decided to borrow from "Rock 'n Roll Part Two" on their rather stunning version of "Gimme Some Lovin'".

ROCK 'N ROLL DUDES continues on, starting with a pounding popper called "For Always and Ever" whilst roaring on with some above par mid-seventies-styled wowzers that in many ways sound like dumbed down versions of the more "progressive" English deca-rock efforts of the day. But sheesh, do they sure sound life-reaffirming and refreshing when compared with some of the commercial plop that I still remember with a great dread. The plagiarisms are also out in full force giving my mind more'n a workout when phrases from at least ten past hits are crammed into one concise two-plus minute effort. Almost like a Roxy Music platter aimed at thirteen-year-olds without the TnA covers which is why those thirteen-year-old boys bought 'em inna first place! Be-Bop Deluxe without the oral sex double entendres. T. Rex for the kids who thought Bolan was perhaps a little too chubby for their tastes. All infused with the same comfy bounce that made those early Sweet singles so fantastic to the point where even the jaded druggies could go for 'em.

LISTEN TO THE BAND doesn't veer from the path much if at all, coming off just like the kinda Rodney's English Disco rave you woulda expected the thirteen-year-old girls with double D bra sizes to have gobbled up while doing their best to balance a world of Sopors and driver's ed. I can detect a little pinch of Queen here and I guess Mike Leander knew how to steal from the successes so hey, why not? But eh, even the disco instrumental and soppy ballads which I otherwise woulda skipped over are passable in a way that those James Taylor cryathons of the same strata were most certainly NOT! Actually quite refreshing even you kinda get the nerve-end tingling spider-sense feeling that perhaps the end of it all was closer'n any of us woulda expected. Kinda makes me wish that I was in some cute English lass's bedroom at the time listening to this alongside her...hehehehehehehe......

Oh oh...now it's 1976 and the Band find themselves kicked offa the teenybopper Bell label (not counting their "Prophesy" series which gave us Amon Duul I and Black Pearl) and recording for CBS. 'n with glam having gone comatose it looks as if the Glitter Band are on the way out themselves, or so would the PARIS MATCH album lead us to believe. The glossy outta focus photo should be a tip off to the fact that you just might be able to judge a record by lookin at the cover (just ask Meltzer!), and the disco pop heard within only goes to prove that the moment has passed and the shark has been jumped and that for all intent purposes THE GLITTER BAND HAVE HAD IT!!!! Pffft, finito, zip...archaic within a few mere months of having been quite something that was part and parcel of good seventies rock 'n roll music.  However, I am sure that one could, with a few tweaks of their listening parameters, find this somewhat cheezy yet pop enough for their own skewered tastes. 

Well...maybe that would be stretching things quite a bit but still, you just might find some worthwhile music to be found such as I did on the passable "Hard to Settle Down". Look out for their discofied cover of "Sympathy For the Devil" if you want some rather jarring node sensations to start popping in your very own cranium.

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AMON DUUL II CD-r burn (Stigsounds Records)

A new label with an incredibly limited press run (one only!) debuts with this collection of rare Amon Duul II recordings from the early seventies taken from what were thought were long-lost television broadcasts. Great for those of you who were around back when Lester Bangs was raving about these guys bein' a teutonic horrorshow rock extravaganza 'r something to that effect what with some pretty interesting extrapolations on material that showed up on those classic albums that were mostly available via import bins (tho a few did make 'em into the domestic piles). One listen to this'll show ya why many of the experimental rock cadre heard from the eighties onwards were nothing but pale imitations of the TRUE FORM!!!

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Ty Segall-TY REX CD-r burn (originally on Goner Records)

Haw, a pretty good tribute to the one called Bolan featuring the under-the-underground musician Ty Segall doin' his durndest to resurrect the waves of T. Rextacy that swept England way back when I was just starting to understand what was so special about girls with lumpy sweaters. I gotta admit that Segall does a pretty snat job of paying tribute to the one called Bolan on these very entertaining covers, but like with just about alla these efforts its only good for one or two spins before getting filed away with the rest of these similar-minded efforts. After all, the real thing is still within the reach of your pinkies and frankly, they always did sound better anyway.

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LOWELL DAVIDSON TRIO CD (ESP-disk/ZYX Music)

One I pulled out if only due to desperation that not that much new was hitting my hemispheres as of late. Good choice on my part too given the breadths and depths of Davidson's pianismo and the fact that the guy was offed long before his talents could have been  developed any further. Vaguely like Cecil Taylor with a tad of Bley with a feel to it as if Davidson's trying to "get there" but thankfully goes off on his own personal tangent. 

The fact that Gary Peacock and Milford Graves appear helps plenty. Slow, moody, enveloping and of course perfect for these dark autumn evenings when the skies cast that feral mystical blanket of dank across the landscape (yeah, I actually wrote that...and I'm not embarrassed either even though for all intent purposes I should be!).

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Various Artists-WYLD SIDES VOLUME 8 CD-r burn

It still amazes me just how many of these local records there were back inna sixties. An' hey, a good portion of 'em were well made, enjoyable and not as dated as hippie-minded "rock fans" would lead you to believe. This WYLD SIDES series presents some of the rarer sixties local platters that naturally went nowhere outside of their burghs or even that far, but for the most part they did serve their purpose in exciting a few teenagers who were trying to escape the humdrums of the day. 

Surprises include the Wailers spinoff the Rooks goin' even more British Invasion than the Wailers did on "I'm Down" (more Dave Clark Five than Beatles), the Bitter Sweets risking a hefty lawsuit from the Byrds with "Cry Your Eyes Out", the Brotherly Lovers' folk rockin' "I'm Gonna Try" and of course "The Name of the Game is Love" by the Renaissance who later dropped the "the" from their name and made such legendary rockin' platters as MOTHER RUSSIA which continue to resonate within many a high energy record collection lo these many years later.

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Various Artists-HOMEFIRE BULLDOG SUNSHINE APARTMENT CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Another big surprise that helped take the edge offa my usual workaday worries like nothing since Vaseline Intensive Care. Some pretty hotcha things here including the oft-heard Slade interpretation of "The Shape of Things to Come" to the Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger/Trinity hit "This Wheel's On Fire" which I brought up in my review of the Polydor budget collection a few months or so back. Some surprises include Youngstown Ohio's Tom Calhoun who does this postwar-styled shiny teeth'n brylcreem number called "Sunshine Girl" which I actually thought was gonna be a cover of the Left End single (!) as well as a track by an act called Henry Turtle who I thought were going to be an imitation of Henry Cow! They're pretty much yet another one of those late-sixties soft pop types who do a middling job swiping from the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby". Coulda done without the more hippoid heavy rockers but otherwise a pretty solid set of sounds to be found, hound!

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Always remember---BLACK TO COMM back issues are NEVER past their "best by" dates! Still as fresh as the day they were birthed, these mags are as smooth, as rounded, as fully packed, as quick and easy on the draw as they were back when things like rock 'n roll and cheapo reruns were still a very major part of our lives. Those things still are important to us of course, and so should these not-so-legendary crudzines which I hope you do take off my hands before the landfill eventually gets hold of 'em. I really would hate to see my life's work placed a hundred feet beneath some of those new atrocities that pass for houses these days.