BLOG TO COMM

Yeah I know, who cares about of the following mutterings which revolve 'round a buncha acts that 99.999...% of the poopulace doesn't even know one whit about! Well. I SURE DO 'n since this is my blog I am master of all I survey an' you better like it because what transpires and perspires within these pixels is some of the BEST rock 'n roll scribing that one can find anywhere in these sorry suckass times we call the boring twenties! Sheesh, I'm so GREAT that I'm surprised some adoring fans out there haven't devoted a fanzine to my own personal being. What a wasted opportunity these people have in many ways to honor me I'll tell ya...

On second thought, I believe I used the EXACT SAME OPENING COME-ON a few years back and given my sieve-like mind I inadvertently regurgitated the entire goo thinking it was nice, fresh 'n tasty. Well, given the cranial capacity of some of you readers you probably wouldn't have caught on yourselves so why should I have brought this particular piece of nada up inna first place? 

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Here's a funny one that I thought I'd post just so I could like, well, offend some of ya (tho this coulda been much stronger in the ol' MURDOCH MURDOCH vein if it only wanted to be!). Hope it does its job since...well...I haven't been writing much deservedly shocking material to make you precious petunia all uproarious in your own special self-indignant ways. So like, here's another chance where you get to prove your (a)moral superiority to us ignorant peons, Ya kin thank me later...

 

AND WHILE I'M AT IT, how about this particular tribute to Czech rock 'n roll hero Josef Vondruska which really dredges up a whole slew of rockism thrill chills that, although abundant throughout the seventies if you looked in the right places, is all but dead and buried these sad and sorry days. (I take no responsibility for any brain damage on your part). Beautiful music, weirdo shots of Vondruska stroking the hair of a dolly, general air of decadence the kind we used to get in those aforementioned seventies which I sure miss --- I really do feel refreshed knowing that the DRONE survives somewhere on this planet of ours 'n why don't these Johannis and his Pale Boys have a record out yet becuz if they did I'd be first in line to buy it!

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By the way, if you (like me) were won'drin where Jim Goad had gone off too after leaving TAKI'S MAGAZINE (with a noticeable drop in quality as a result), it turns out he's skedaddled over to

COUNTER-CURRENTS, a site which makes ol' Taki's look like fuddy-duddy George Will in comparison! Nice to see that the early spirit of free thought (in the best politically incorrect way) lives on even in these rather tepid times.

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Otherwise t'was a pretty hokay week here at the BLOG TO COMM orifices, perhaps made even more hokay by the arrival of a parcel from none other'n Paul McGarry.  Among some pretty tasty-looking burns you will read about not only in this but future posts came a nice hodgepodge lodge of requested items including the soundtrack from some local Bloomington Indiana tee-vee special on MX-80 Sound which defiitely was a very enlightening affair even if Rich Stim's vocals were buried like heck, while the two tracks from the 1969 Mr. Charlie show featuring a high stool Peter Laughner and band doing "Waiting For My Man" and "Ferryboat Bill" sounded way more together/professional'n alla those turdburger teenage mock rock imitation Chuck Eddy neo-hair bands that were sprouting up throughout the eighties. Oh for kids to have been REALLY deca-degenerate back inna eighties like alla those Clevelanders were --- then maybe the past fortysome years woulda been much more of a joy to live through than they actually turned out to be!

Especially interesting was an FM-radio broadcast of an Orchestra Luna toon recorded at CBGB back '76 way entitled "Teenage Punk". This is the number that alla the OL haters I've come up against seemed to go for, perhaps because of the title I guess even if the song itself ain't quite of the p-rock variety that many of you fanablas seem to go for. It's a good 'un tho, even if it does come off a tad slick in performance like a lotta those groups out there in "notice me!' land tended to. But it ain't exactly like I mind given how the instrumental rush sure drives on a whole lot more'n most of the gunk that was being played on FM radio at the time or for that matter the next few decades. Wouldn't mind hearing more of those CBGB tracks that ended up on NYC FM way back in those transitional (into what I kinda do fear!) days which might make for a good future self-compiled bootleg of sorts.

Oh yeah, noted Hinman-lover Bob Forward and Bill Shute should also be thanked for their contributions. If I didn't mention 'em they'd probably both throw big hissy fits and hold their breath until they turned blue, and I wouldn't want then to do anything like that! Not that they would ---I SURE WOULD but not them.

Ethix-"Bad Trip"/"Skins" 45 rpm Single (Mary Jane Records)

In a definite running for "Best Archival Singles Dig Up of 2021" comes this proto-Fifty Foot Hose effort from group leader Cork Marcheschi that was recorded in the sanctity of his parents' very own Detroit suburban ranch house! 

A way better approximation of the late-sixties mind blown style than anything you would have read about in, say, ROLLING STONE'S HISTORY OF LAID-BACK NEO-MARXISM FOR PAMPERED UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS INGRATES, this rec teeters in between the anti-intellectual garage band thud of PEBBLES VOLUME 3/BEHIND THE CALICO WALL and the kinda post-acid mind damage you'd hear about at an anti-drug pep rally at your local high school. Primal sound experiments intermingle with some sub-sub-SUB Blue Cheer acid guitar noodling and addled howls from the attic making for a pretty good total eruption that, come to think of it, could only come out of the wilds of Michigan. 

For a real treat, take Marcheschi's advice and play these sides at 33 and 78 for an additional thrill --- "Bad Trip" at 78 kinda reminds me of Georgio Moroder meets Throbbing Gristle and I'm not kidding!

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Really Red-"Crowd Control"/"Corporate Settings" 45 rpm single (Mad Butcher Records)

Really Red weren't as much a hardcore punk band as they were clingers on to the tail end of the 1964-81 spurt in sound that sorta began with the Trashmen and ended with the demise of not only Max's Kansas City and Lester Bangs but the mileau both were heavily identified with. And yeah, back in the mid-eighties it sure was a joy hearing an album by an up 'n comin' punk rock group that paid homage to Nico, givin' me the impression that these guys weren't spendin' the seventies holed up in their fart-encrusted boudoirs listening to the latest Melanie platter that's for sure!

This debut single (recently reish'd in an edition of 500 for us lazy louts who missed out on it the first time) doesn't quite capture the rage and taste of TEACHING YOU THE FEAR but it's still bo-dee-oh-doh in its pop punk drive 'n oomph. Imagine a whole slew of sped up power chords with a more upbeat drive that sure brightened up those at-times confusing days when we were so adrift in that post-Bangs era of nullitude that we hadda rely on discovering records via MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL and FLIPSIDE. Talk about desperation!

Maybe in some ways it's hard to get through yer bean that this very same group would go on to cover the Red Crayola's classic "War Sucks" (and do a very stirring rendition of it) after giving this single a spin, but then again I've been surprised by things that in retrospect were even stranger...

It would be great if they gathered up the entire Really Red catalog and slapped it all in a fancy velvet-lined box with tons of liner notes 'n all, but until then like --- this will do real swell.

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Oliver Lake-NTU: POINT FORM WHICH CREATION BEGINS CD (Freedom Records, Japan)

Had this 'un on zilch-hand vinyl for years so an update was kinda neato in its own sentimental way. Boffo mini-LP sleeve reish of this classic BAG side featuring Lake with a whole buncha the Human Arts Ensemble types plowing through a number of  efforts that somehow come off tamer now than when I first heard 'em but that's only because I'm deteriorating.  But it still drives that hardened force right into ya even though yer supposed to be too mature to get all emotional over such things as free-moving sound. Yet another one for you who, like me, were really enamored with the ways aural vibrations could be twisted and distorted into works of pure energy way back inna Golden Age of Bargain Bin days and well, I'm still kinda come off all adolescent agog over this stuff well into the age of Medicare and Depends which I must say sez more for my fortitude than it does yours!

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Captain Beefheart & Magic Band-GOLDEN BEAR HAMPTON BEACH CA. 7/15/77 (2 SETS) PARTS ONE AND TWO (CD-r burns) 

Live audience tapes that not only sound pretty swell but amplify the hostile audience reaction that pops up at least after the first set. Pretty good aprox. of the whole SHINY BEAST style period that had those snobbier rockcrits once again polishing up on their Beefheart appreciation for all to see, but I certainly won't hold it against anybody. Actually these sets really do reflect the nervegrind neo-anguish that I happen to be experiencing as of late and if I needed any new soundtrack to the terror otherwise known as life perhaps this is it! 

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Club of Rome-GROBE CD-r burn (originally on ADN tapes, Italy)

Hmmm, thought I reviewed this 'un quite awhile back given its standard eighties cassette cover look and feel but I guess not. The confusion might be due to the typical industrial-sounding eighties cassette culture grind which I gotta admit I experienced PLENTY OF when in the course of my human events. First track sounds like horror movie soundtrack cut-ups, convincing enough to the point where you think there's a monster hiding in your closet but it turns out only to be your "funny" uncle. The rest has a sorta cling clang electrospurt to it which sounds official enough to the point where if someone told me it was a composition from one of those mid-seventies English experimental composers who used to record for Obscure Records I'd believe it. But once you get down to it this was a whole world different in approach and philosophical whooziz than what the likes of Michael Nyman et. al. were up to. I guess if you still re-read those tape reviews that OP used to publish you'd go for this 'un a heck of a whole lot.

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THE NATIONAL WRECKING COMPANY CD-r burn

Taken from a home-produced cassette, this obscuro from a Philly-area act is a whole lot more surprising than I was conditioning myself into believing it would be. Featuring plenty of seemingly neo-authentic fiddle-country music with some Holy Modality thrown in, the National Wrecking Crew do swing and sway in definitely non-Sammy Kaye ways that recall a whole load of past accomplishments that people such as you often go out of your way to ignore. 

Some very interesting seventies moves mixed in with the OK but not enthralling early-oh-oh's amerunderground rock style make this sound like the kinda demo that Capricorn Records woulda tossed in the wastebasket way back when. That good! I might check out their SOUND OF MUSIC Cee-Dee if things get a little too quiet around here.

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The Fundamentalists-SUMMER COLE SLAW cassette (Walls Flowing Records)

A recording of Bob Forward shredding cabbage to make some coleslaw on May 14th of last year which wasn't exactly summertime but perhaps SPRING COLE SLAW was already taken. Didn't do much for my listening enjoyment but boy did it make me hungry! Flip of tape has a remix for anal retentive listening purposes.

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Various Artists-FRUITBOOT PRYSOCK WOOL ZOMBIE CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

These Bill burns are getting scarcer than feminine hygiene products in Coraopolis, but at least I managed to find this rarity in the bedroom pile o' platters that's toppled all over the place. Another hodgepodge of various efforts, some good and some feh, with the former including a take of Elvis Presley doin' "If You Talk In Your Sleep", a boff Zombies rarity and the Dark providing some hefty psychedelic stream-of-unconsciousness that resonates many a decade later. The latter includes the usual early-sixties doof takes from the likes of Barbie Gaye and Marty Gino that are good for a laff and maybe some musical pleasure if you stretch yer ears a bit. Other surprises pop up from an Indiana garage bunch called Elves Inc., some hotcha jazzy moves from Red Prysock and Ramsey Lewis and even a rare Tremoloes side which ain't that good, but it sure sounds better'n many acts at their best ifyaknowaddamean! Bill certainly was on the tippy top of his tootsies when he put this one together!

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I might be a failure (well, a few of you nabobs out there tend to think so) but don't you be one too! Purchase all of the available back issues of BLACK TO COMM and I guarantee you a successful life as far as your rockism character and general musical well being goes. Plus I won't be that much of a loser in life if you do snatch up a hunk of these efforts now, eh?