BLOG TO COMM

Yeah this was a weirditie of a week. Did any of you 'round here see the snow shower we got on Mother's Day, the time of year which usually signals to me that school vacation can't be that far around the corner? Then it got all nice and sunny reminding me of those times when I was but a mere turdler and I'd get to pick out some toy at the department store and play with it to my heart's content for the rest of the day. Sometimes seeing the way the sun shines on those beautiful ranch houses sure oozes out those great growing up memories that sure resonate in me even lo these many years down the line. I guess once you get as old as I am that's all you really have anymore are them memories because as we all know THEM DAYZE ARE GONE FOREVER AND YA KNOW IT!

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Given how sluggish the week has been I decided to spend my ever-dwindling free time  re-re-RE-reading some of my old fave mags which have fallen by the wayside or got stuck into manila envelopes in a vain attempt to preserve them somewhat. In the course of trying to get all of my issues of CREEM in one place for easy ref I managed to dredge up their special edition Summer 1981 heavy metal issue which I gotta say (against my better judgement) was perhaps that mag's wailing swan song to just about everything that those ozobs stood for the previous decade or so. Yes it is a good with the usual crud acts mentioned on the cover (yes, people would actually buy a mag if Van Halen were plastered front and center) but amid the Pat Benetar and Ted Nugent wretching there are some pretty hefty moments that are still relevant to the BLOG TO COMM philosophy which is only a step or two removed from the Playboy one, but oh what a step! (Let's just say that instead of using Nietzsche as our basis Joe Besser would do just fine.)

David DiMartino was always my idea of what was wrong with the post-Bangs CREEM which devoted itself to trying in the vaguest of ways to keep the gonz spirit alive while felching the big record companies at the expense of fresh music and ideas for that matter, but here he actually does himself a body good with his metal history which prominently features the likes of the Detroit histrionics specialists and Lou amid various acts supposed heavy metal expert Andy Secher never heard of. Gotta give DiMartino his due for including such faveraves as the Pink Fairies and Moby Grape in his list, plus even remotely trying to link up everyone from Amon Duul I to Big Brother and the Holding Company's "Oh Sweet Mary" to the metallic lexicon should earn him some sorta major no prize. (And mentioning METAL MACHINE MUSIC as an important statement in HM history sure does make me wonder what the average HIT PARADER aficionado would have thought had they come upon this special issue way back when!) 

Sure DiMartino had the audacity to tie in the slick smarm music of Van Halen with the brutal truth of Iggy and the Stooges but eh, at least he name dropped the kinda acts that do, and perhaps in a few cases should, adorn the collections of each and every doofus who tunes into this blog. Some jerk out there was reading this and took plenty of notes, ifyaknowaddamean...  

But whadevva, this is one mag that brought back vivid memories of reading this very issue at the stands way back when, a time when dishing out $2.95 for this quickeroo was something that would really have set this depression-era wages fanabla back quite a bit.

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If it weren't for Paul McGarry, Bob Forward and Bill Shute well, the world would be an entirely different place. And if any of you say for the better you can be I'll be comin' 'round to knock your block off! Instead of being oh so smug about things why don't you read the following reviews and enlighten yourself in ways the Maharaj Ji never even thought of!

Herbie Hancock-TAKIN' OFF CD-r burn (originally on Blue Note Records) 

Long before he went funky and not-so long before he recorded some avgarde platters that have been highly recommended to me, Herbie Hancock was playing some pretty straightforward bop that might have even made the bowtie on Leonard Feather do a few twirls. You strict free splatter types will probably think TAKIN' OFF sounds really martinis and nosh but I personally find it a solid slab o' good enough early-sixties music not as striking as Coltrane or Dolphy but better'n some of the fluff that era was known to spew. Features some names you might be familiar with...Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard and Billy Higgins (I'm not too fam. with Butch Warren tho I get the impression Bill Shute will enlighten me real soon...).

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The Fundamentalists-THE CIVILIZED HORSE CD-r burn (Walls Flowing Records)

Bob Forward proves he's just as backwards as some of these bedroom avgarde practitioners I've come across tend to be, but only in a forward way. A mix of various sound kadiddles that might sound leaden and (dare I say) "masturabatory" to some, but the guitar scrawls did remind me somewhat of Loren Conners playing with a dozen electrode attached to him during the middle of an electrical storm while the percussion tracks sounded like something Andrew Cyrille might have worked out after a serious bout of rigor mortis. As far as the sound collages go --- just try presenting those in some junior college music appreciation class and see what happens to YOU, Bob!

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Human Arts Ensemble-UNDER THE SUN CD (Freedom Records, Japan)

T'was awful neat of Freedom to release this one on disque but why not WHISPER OF DHARMA? Woulda made a great twofa-type collection for those of us into the whole BAG mode. Hefty mid-Eastern rhythms mix with a true funk punk demeanor kinda giving you the impression that you're somewhere in Mecca trying to score heroin. Not as good as the FUNKY DONKEY album which still gets a bit of play 'round here but solid enough for those of you who like the way the HAE mixed up their free jazz with some pretty good hard-urban sound-grooves. Features the usual BAG gang....Oliver Lake, James and Carol Marshall, Charles Bobo Shaw, Marty Ehrlich etc., as well as a surprise appearance from Lester Bowie.

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THE FRANK POPP ENSEMBLE CD-r burn (originally on U.M.T.V. Records)

Rehash of various sixties soul moves that might dredge up a few rheumy memories of somethingorother inside your brain. For me it's pretty on-target if rather standardized tamebo listening that doesn't stir up any unbridled emotions of pure rage like music should. Somehow I get the feeling that you just might find you tapping toe to it when your guard's let down. Better watch it before your chic-er than thou enemies find out --- boy will they razz you from here to Bizoo and back!

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White Fence-FOR THE RECENTLY FOUND INNOCENT CD-r burn (originally on Drag City Records)

A retro psych-pop effort from the snazzily named Tim Presley that oozes more originality than put on paens to long gone bargain bin thrills. It has a particularly English bent to it which should appeal to the CHOCOLATE SOUP FOR DIABETICS/RUBBLE fans and followers, and it's so on-target that even the English accents don't sound phonus balonus to me. Sure it ain't Syd Barrett but then again what is these days?

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Alan Sondheim-RITUAL-ALL-7-70 CD (ESP disk/ZYX Records, Germany)

Pulled this one outta the heap if only so's I could bolster this week's review total, and what a choice I made! I never did understand exactly where the music of Sondheim during those days (two platters on ESP, one on Riverboat) was coming from but given the use of horns I'd assume it was the new jazz thing. And you get plenty of that on this side which free bops around in the kinda fashion you woulda thunk Maynard G. Krebs woulda under the effect of nutmeg. Thirteen (mostly) brief cantinas of soundsplurge that I'm sure most of you reg'lar readers are familiar with, or have I pegged you guys wrong again (and yeah, one thing you guys need is a good pegging!).

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Various Artists-CHILLY SCENES OF ROACHES CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Bill delves into his usual obsessions from pre-Mandrell country music to weird audio esoterica that only a well-developed mind as Bill's can comprehend. Some of it will make ya puke like the tribute to famed spoiled brat rich kid "John John" Kennedy to the faux soul that makes me wanna wear one of those scarves that Fred on SCOOBY DOO had affixed to his neck for years. If you're a fan of obscure instrumental sides, teen idol wannabes, stoopid seventies Slurpee ads and local country twangs (I think Lucille Bassett is the closest anyone female's come to the Peter Stampfel singing style even if he stole it from Grandpa Jones) you'll find this an even better soundtrack for that fart-encrusted party you'll be holding in your boudoir this very evening!

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Are you ready for some real solid rock journalism the kind that ROLLING STONE made their moolah with emptying the coffers of many a smarter than their parents kiddoids way back inna early seventies? Well if so, DON'T buy any of these back issues of BLACK TO COMM but if you really do wanna spend your shekels I can't think of a better place for your cash to go towards, if you get my drift.