BLOG TO COMM

Sheesh --- no Kracken. Not even Cthulhu. Well, I guess "things" are gonna be back to them bad old dayze when people actually took folks like Wolf Blitzer and Gary Trudeau seriously, or something like that. Needless to say, I am rather disappointed that Heaven on Earth (also known as Your Hell) has once again been delayed what with all of those wonderful military excursions and rabid protesters we're gonna hafta look forward to from here to an eternity that just might come a whole lot faster'n any of you woulda guessed..

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Otherwise well...I finally got another Cee-Dee player for the what used to be my bedroom but is now just another storage area, and it is pretty good even if it ain't whatcha'd call a top-notch item. It's a Craig and doesn't have any of the fancy LED windows'r anything, but it sure sounds good enough for my own special spinning purposes. In fact, it even adds a dimension to my listening since my disques sound so different now. Take my favorite spin of the day, Mahogany Brain's SMOOTH SILK LIGHTS where I can not only hear the distant vocals slightly better but on the twenny-plus minute "Burning the Vibes", a tune which I originally took as a bass-guitar solo, more of the cymbals not to mention Michel Bulteau's chanting which had been previously obscured has become rather noticeable if I do say so myself! This is one of the biggest surprises in my life since I switched on the "aux" button on our old cranky stereo player and could hear the background vocals on "Raw Power", a miracle for the ages!

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Here's sum'pin I'll bet you didn't know about! Found this on Youtube...a recording of what proports to be a 1974 live recording of Rocket From The Tombs doing that all-time classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog"! Dunno exactly which line up of the group performed this, though given the 1974 date and the presence of a lead and rhythm guitar I would assume this was recorded around the time when Peter Laughner had joined sometime before the addition of  Chris Kuda. More information would be kinda nice, hunh? (If my attempt to embed this has failed for some unforeseen reason other'n just plain stupidity you can always go to Youtube and find the mofo yourself. Shee-yit, it ain't like I gotta spoonfeed everything to you, or do I?)

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(and now to prove that I am predictable as you all make me out to be...) Phil Specter is now Phil Spectre. 1939-2021.

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The cuck on the wall (I nailed Charles Kirk up there) says that it's time for the reviews. Thanks to Feeding Tube, Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and some guy who threw a buncha old albums inna dumpsters for the gibs. I believe that I had previously reviewed the Go album, it sounds SO familiar, but a search of the blog turned up nada meaning that I either have a more sieve-like memory than I thought or the blog search tab is no good. Wha' th' hey, it's a great platter anyway and does deserve another mention!

Michael Hurley-BLUE NAVIGATOR LP (Feeding Tube Records)

Here's another one of those EXTREMELY LIMITED (1000 only!) Feeding Tube releases, this one a reissue of Michael Hurley's 1984 longplayer which somehow missed my radar! Then again, my radar ain't been worth shit for quite some time and given the amt. of platters I have missed maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

Anyway, now that I've heard it in my advanced state of decay I gotta say that BLUE NAVIGATOR's the kinda real down home everyday sorta folk music that we all could use a whole lot more of. Yeah Michael Hurley might be way more honko New England as opposed to Merle Haggard's truck stop Ameriga, but he does a great introspective blue collar folk without the usual pretensions that have really brought some maybe not-that-promising efforts down, coming off just like what you would expect some broken-toothed hillbilly who never saw a bidet in his life to come up with. New material mixed with keen re-dos. None-a-that off the pig protest mulch here! 

However, bein' the ol' kinda sentimental fanabla that I am I gotta admit that I am kinda sad that Peter Laughner never got to hear it. I'm sure he woulda gotten a lotta inspiration from the thing, in between spins of RAW POWER and Genesis that is!

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LES OLIVENSTEINS CD (Born Bad Records, France)

Some of these later 'n late seventies punk rock acts do come off a bit howshallIsay just like every other late seventies punk rock act that might pop up in yer record collection, and France's Les Olivensteins ain't much different. However I gotta say that they still have a load of that mid-seventies just-post Stooges swing and sway to 'em that separates 'em from the more rote acts of the day. Hmmm, I can even detect a tad little bit of Velvet Underground via Rolling Stones swerve here and there while vocalist Eric Tandy thankfully leaves a good portion of that puton richkid daddy cut off my expense account angst outta his approach --- comparisons to Jean-Pierre Kalfon were made at one point and I can see where the hypesters were comin' from! Once again proof that the French played better rock 'n roll than Lou Reed would ever give 'em credit for! 

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The Extreem-FAR OUT FROM THE SKY CD-r burn

Contrary to what the name implies this was quite subdued for my tastes. Sorta like early-seventies relevant rock that took its cues from the quieter moments of Pink Floyd (Moody Blues?). Some dynamism but overall rather staid even for 1971 standards, although it you spent them teenaged years of yer life acting all introspective while watching BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN you probably will like it a whole lot. And if you were one-a-those types please stay away from me as far as you can!

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The Four Seasons-NEW GOLD HITS LP (Phillips Records)

Maybe it's because most music recorded for suburban slob consumption since the seventies sounds so blah that these late-sixties Four Seasons tracks sound pretty on-target in their own ranch house way. Contains the hit "Hey Marianne" as well as the sorta hit "Tell It To The Snow" and some tracks that woulda sounded good enough had they got stuck into the usual AM radio mix. Considering that by this time the Seasons were on Phillips you woulda hoped that some company wag woulda released a double disc collection called BLUE CHEER VERSUS THE FOUR SEASONS ---- THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY!!!! Haw, I just couldn't resist one of those stupido cornballus kinda gags that only I seem to appreciate!

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The Go-LIVE AT THE GOLD DOLLAR CD-r burn (originally on Third Man Records)

For an eentsy-weentsy split second I thought this was the Buffalo NY Go which had noted rockscribe Bernard Kugel as a member. Actually this Go is a totally different act which hails/hailed from Detroit Michigan and from the sounds of it the high energy is still percolatin' there heavy duty like! Live '98 Thanksgiving show, and let us give thanks that there were still heavy duty rock 'n rollers playing up and about at that time. Hard-edged sounds including a cover of "Hey Gyp" that would send Donovan into holy-moley convulsions not to mention a raging version of the Sonics' all-time classic "Psycho" which ain't as good as either the original nor the Swamp Rats' bur still beats a whole lotta those eighties garage revival types' to all heck.

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Various Artists-YORKVILLE EVOLUTION CD-r burn (originally on Yorkville Records, Canada)

I'm sure that a alotta reg'lar BLOG TO COMM readers who grew up in late-sixties Canada either had this record in their collection or sure wish to heck that they did. Not that it's a total disembrainer of a rec, but it's a decent enough sampler of provincial talent that probably sold for a lot less'n the normal albums that were up and about. 

A good part of it might be a little more professional than you can take what with the heavy pop production, but not only do you get the Ugly Ducklings doing their hit "Gaslight" but Ronnie Hawkins covering Gordon Lightfoot, a competent version of "Got To Get You Into My Life", blue eyed soul that works in its own Caucazoid way ("Jack Rabbit") and yet another version of Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises" that I'll bet beats Joan Baez's take if I ever do have the misfortune to hear that! It's so good that even Ritchie Knight and the Midnights' version of "Charlena" beats the one on the Reuben and the Jets platter!

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Various Artists-ASTRO AND ELIJAH IN DYNAMIC DENTON CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

The kazoo instrumental that starts this thing out certainly sets the pace...for a pretty good selection of obscurer-than-thou material that can be found in the outer reaches of the web. The laffs continue with Lana Cantrell's cover of the Beatles' infamous schmoozer "She's Leaving Home" (didja know that my mother actually thought that song was so heart-wrenching and actually got all emotional over it --- until she heard the last line about the gal having fun 'n then IT ALL WENT OUT THE WINDOW!!!) and the Soul Survivors trying to dredge up memories of their previous hit with a sloppy rewrite of "Expressway To Your Heart"! 

The slicked up garage aesthetics of the Music Explosion and Al Caiola I can do without, but the scratchy cowboy platter sounds like something the ORIGINAL Dennis the Menace (not the Ritalin-laden Dennis of today!) woulda been listening to in 1952 before lasso-ing some little gal and putting his own particular brand on her!

The phony Jetsons platter was a hoot making me wonder whether or not Hanna-Barbera got their lawyers on whoever put that turdburger out! And no matter how hard they plead, I ain't goin' to Denton Texas nohow! Especially after that hokey camp record the city put out to promote the place!!!

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In keeping with the wild radical bent a few of you readers seem to cherish in your own armchair revolutionary ways here's a chant I'm sure just about everyone who tunes into this blog can identify with. "What do we want? More BLACK TO COMM back issues! When do we want them? NOW!!!"