This ain't your daddy's Misfits. More like your granddaddy's Misfits from way back in the days when they were a trio playing a driving electric
piano dominated music that was sound quite different from the hardcore
overdrive these guys made their fazoola with. The presence of this particular
keyboard (or as the credits say, "electric sync piano") presents a nice throb
of a pulse that recalls Suicide while overall the bunch seem to be hovering
closer to the "progressive punk rock" style as exemplified by the likes of TV
Toy and perhaps a few other NYC area acts that I'm sure never got 'round to issuing
anything. Nothing to be afraid of in case you're cautious of what others may
think. Of course more from this particular period in time would be welcome.
***
The Fun Things-"Where the Birdmen Fly", "Lipstick"/"(I Ain't Got) Time Enough
For You", "Savage" 33 rpm 7-inch EP) (no label)
Dunno who put this mofo together but it sure is a fine reminder as to why
Australia was the last hope during a time when high energy scions of rock and
roll cataclysms past like ourselves were losing hope in a sea of MTV and the
dinge of feelygood myopia. "Where the Birdmen Flew" is homage to Australian
rock practitioners past taking the initial thrust and multiplying it in ways
even the originators never could fathom, while "Lipstick" is more kineticism
taken to the extreme where it ricochets just like that bullet in Andy Warhol's
ribcage. "Time Enough For You" is Rocket From the Tombs' "What Love Is"
emulated and flipped over a few times. Closing out this reish's "Savage" which
makes the case for the inclusion of Narcan with every purchase of this
platter. When God wipes out Australia for its crimes he will
spare this 'un.
***
JOHN MENDELSOHN'S THE PITS EP (Bomp Records)
It's a given. If you liked Sparks and Christopher Milk as well as Earle
Mankey's "Mau Mau" single you're just
bound
to go whole hog for this slab of El Lay rock 'n preen. You already know that
Mendelsohn was not only a member if the original Sparks but Christopher Milk,
and besides that he was (is?) a rockscribe of some renown...heck he's the guy
who coined the phrase "garage band" which should earn him all the brownie
points in the world even if I never cared for the stuff he used to write for
CREEM back inna eighties.
The Pits weren't anything that was going to shake the music industry to its
rotten core but they had that El Lay take on the English rock pulse down flat.
The so-called "disco" influence is miniscule at best (more mid-seventies bump
'n grind than late-seventies Travolta cheese) so I wouldn't be so
self-conscious about listening to this if I were you. I'll bet this would have
been a hit at Rodney's English Disco had that teenbo hangout stayed around long enough.
***
The Nurses-"Love You Again"/"I Will Follow You" (Teen-A-Toons Productions)
Howard Wuelfing never was what I'd call one of my favorite of the 3rd string
rockscribes (he was up there!), but he sure did more than his share for
THE cause! Not
only with his writings for various publications both fan and pro but with a
number of musical endeavors, his tenure with 1/2 Japanese sticking out foremost in my mind.
The Nurses well --- not up there with the Japanese but they're still nice
enough in that late-seventies new pop that was springing up all over the
fruity plain sorta way. It doesn't have that hard gnarl one would have
expected after reading Wuelfing's various writings re. everything and everyone
from Can to Einsturzende Neubauten but sometimes things like that get in the
way of my critical thinking. A good enough cramitintoyourskull distillation of
that hard pop music that used to sound so revolutionary given that the times
they were made in were so staid.
***
Bobby Fuller Four-"I Fought the Law"/"Love's Made a Fool of You" (Eric
Records)
A too obvious choice for a singles going stroonad session but still pertinent to
my everyday sorta being. A somewhat rare release on the Eric label, this is the
big 'un from a guy who decided to take on the infamous Morris Levy, a man who
had the magical power to make Fuller beat himself up and swallow gasoline, and as you woulda guessed Morris Levy won. A
double-sided classic that might not mean too much to most of us, but fortysome
years ago this really would have been as prized in my collection as all those
scratched singles that harkened back to a past that woulda been one to remember had I only been front and center for what was happening.
***
The Bell Notes-"I've Had It"/"Be Mine" (Time Records)
These guys, along with the Fendermen, the Tune Rockers, the Royal Teens and a
few other choices out there reallyreallyREALLY should have been on that early garage band sampler I reviewed last year.
Yeah, the Bell Notes produced what some might call slightly "gingerbread-y"
local rock, but at least it had a good bounce to it undoubtedly done up by the
kinda guys who used to mime their music on BANDSTAND while
cleaner cut than you'd expect teenbos sat trying to avoid staring into the
camera. Speaking of the Bell Notes, I remember reading how none other than
Miriam Linna's own eye doctor was in the group which had me wonderin' whether
or not a Bell Notes exclusive was gonna pop up in the next issue of
KICKS. None ever did, making me think that perhaps Miriam asked about
doing an interview right when doc was doing the pressure test, and he was so
startled by the question that the thing done dear rammed right into her socket
gouging the dang eyeball out!
***
Rockin' Robin With The Wailers-"Rosalie"/"Interview on Bandstand with the
Fabulous Wailers" (Eticant Records)
A side's the Wailers with Rockin' Robin Roberts doing a 1961 studio version of
the LIVE AT THE CASTLE rouser while the flip's got the audio
portion of Dick Clark's post-song chat with the Wailers on
AMERICAN BANDSTAND back when "Tall Cool One" was rising up the
charts a good two years earlier. Quality's AM car radio good enough for me,
and for a guy who spent a good portion of the early-eighties trying to get
just about any shard of info on these guys this is a godsend I sure wish came
out a whole lot sooner!
A good encapsulation of high energy rock 'n roll from a time when it was being
presented on radio and television just as often as Rinso ads. Too bad this (and a ten-inch Wailers collection of
mid-sixties demos) hadda've been put out by a couple of chiselers who not only
released this material without the express permission of Etiquette Records but
swindled me out of money I paid to have an ad printed in an issue of the duo's
DO THE POP! fanzine, a mag that naturally never saw the light of day.
(Sure I'm petty, but I'm also poorer as well. Hey, why do you
really think I wrote this 'un up in the first place?)
***
Chuck Berry-"Little Queenie"/"Almost Grown" (Chess Records)
I suppose I should hate Chuck Berry if only because a whole slew of scrawny
wire-rimmed white yammer-ons love him, but I won't stoop to any of their more
pious than thou levels falling into their outdated white snivel trap. However,
I gotta say that the overdrool regarding the man from the likes of such
critics as Richard Reigel really does tend to turn me off of the guy given how
these more "mainstream" scribes tend to elevate the man to godhood status, something which is kinda strange given Berry's various bathroom antics and state line crossings. But we gotta
separate the man from the music I guess, and I'll try to do my best as usual.
To a fanabla of my musical caste "Little Queenie" is supposed to be (what am I sayin' --- it IS!!!!!) the record
that Marc Bolan swiped the closing line to "Get It On" from (see following
review) but it's naturally more'n just that. A fairly good blast of
late-fifties rock 'n roll so void of the usual traps that I find it extremely
hard to think that such a one-dimensional jerkoff of a character such as Potsy
Webber from HAPPY DAYS could have ever liked Berry as he was
alleged to do in that episode where Richie has to man the store and forgo the
rock 'n roll concert. Ditto for "Almost Grown" even if for the life of me the
Ruben and the Jets version seems to overtake my mind.
Maybe Berry was singing for the kids instead of to 'em, but from what I heard
about those parties of his where he'd corral some young teen things into his
motel room and the shit would literally be flying...boy would I hate to have
been a maid at one of those Quality Courts!
***
T. Rex-"Get It On (Bang a Gong)"/"Raw Ramp" (EMI/Odeon Records, Japan)
And speaking of "Little Queenie" well, I wouldn't exactly call this 'un a
ripoff as Nick Kent once surmised. But it's an all-time classic and the song
that got me listening to the radio serious-like 'stead of half-heartedly. I
went on and on about the glory days of T. Rex and how they affected me in the
very last issue of my
crudzine so no need to get into it here, but for a surprise the flipster "Raw
Ramp" which is
not on
ELECTRIC WARRIOR pops up and it's a beaut what with the line about
"love your breasts" and all. Bound to get the twelve-year-old in you rushing
to the bathroom! Sheesh had I heard this way back when I probably woulda done
some spontaneous spurting that surely woulda gotten me kicked outta grade
school. I mean, trying to control myself in sex ed was bad enough...
***
David Bowie-"Space Oddity"/"Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" (RCA or Mercury
if you got yours at a flea market like I did)
Yeah, I know..."where were you back in '72, was David Bowie the man for
you"??? Maybe I'd take those lyrics a li'l more seriously if none other'n
Metal Mike Saunders himself wasn't pumping up the Bowie bandwagon via his
heavy metallic praise of the former Mr. Jones in the pages of PHONOGRAPH RECORD MAGAZINE. But eh, I believe we all have the right to change our minds, unless we
don't have the right that is and according to many of you maybe I don't!
As for me, back when I was a mere adlo and the music of Bowie was first being
played on the radio I sure thought his tuneage was the coolest thing to hit
the airwaves since the previous Stones single or T. Rex for that matter. Of
course when we all discovered just what a creepazoid
Bowie really was (and I'm not talking about his weird
personal lifestyle or open marriage with Mick Jagger either) maybe those old
singles didn't sound as good as we
remembered 'em.
Nowadays with a good 50 years of hindquarters hindsight behind us all I can
say is yeah, I guess records like "Oddity" were about as good an encapsulation
of the anti-hippoid ideal and sway just as much as the works of other Third
Generation spokesmen such as Alice Cooper and of course Bolan. And with rock 'n'
roll as a potent force and generator of excitement long washed under the
bridge to so speak maybe we can't afford to be as picky about it as we once
were in 1979 ifyaknowaddamean...
Downliners Sect-"Cadillac"/"Roll Over Beethoven (Penniman Records,
France)
Recorded mid-'63, this even out-primitives AT NIGHT IN GT. NEWPORT ST. (which you gotta admit was a pretty Cro Magnon platter in itself), so you can
just imagine the pounce and teenage earnestness this effort exudes! Actually
this slice of Downliners Sect does have the sort of garage primal push that's
made more'n a few of their efforts all the more merrier (or punkier if you so
desire), and I guess everyone who's been in on the Sect ever since their
original albums began getting the fanzine huzzahs in the early-seventies already has this already so why blab any further?
***
Talking Heads-"Love Goes To A Building On Fire"/"New Feeling" (Sire
Records)
Heh, Talking Heads before they started letting their artzy pretentions get the
best of 'em while appearing in horrid videos that embarrassed just about
everybody who was championing this bunch only a few years earlier. The horns
and other beef ups don't hinder the mid-seventies pop leanings in the least.
Dunno or care what you think but I woulda preferred hearing an entire album
done up like this as opposed to what we eventually did get...I mean, who
wouldn't?. When Greg Shaw wrote that he believed Talking Heads would
put out a long player that was on-par with the David's
ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER LIFETIME I wonder if he had this
single in mind.
***
The Four Deuces-"W-P-L-J"/"Here Lies My Love" (Music City Records seventies
repro)
Yeah we all know the a-side if only because of Frank Zappa's cover version as
well as the fact that a New York radio station changed their call letters to
this after the success of BURNT WEENIE SANDWICH. Here's the original
which naturally has that Southern California r&b feel to it that wouldn't
have sounded out of place in THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER...sheesh
whenever I hear this, for some odd reason or another I keep thinking of all
those Zappa landmark namedrops that conjure up just what a rundown hellhole
that the Southern California area musta been even then! Flip's a more
streamlined r&b track that's better on this side than that, which only
goes to show you what an ignoramus I am about these sorta soundwaves.
***
TV Jones-"Eskimo Pies"/"Skimp the Pimp" (Nomad Records)
The only surviving artyfact of this pre-Radio Birdman group, unless someone discovered more and didn't tell me. Pretty good at least as far as
being an example of what Deniz Tek did before he did that other thing that he became somewhat well known for. Early version of "I 94" graces the plug side
sounding perhaps even better due to the rehearsal room quality while the other
side's got this wild raver that for all I know never made it into the Birdman
set list but it shoulda given its all 'round rousing abilities.
***
Roogalator-"All Aboard"/"Cincinatti Fatback" 7-inch 33 rpm single (Stiff
Records, England)
Must be a post EMI lawsuit edition because my copy came without a WITH THE BEATLES ripoff cover. Whatever the case may be here's an early Stiff single
that's pretty hefty on the rootsier aspects of the pub rock experience which made up a good portion of the Stiff roster at least
during their earlier days. Sheesh, I could see a number of my elder relatives
thinking that, between the swing of "All Aboard" to the short haircuts sported
on the missing sleeve that them kids are finally straightening up and
listening to good music, at least until they get an earfulla "Cincinatti
Fatback" what with its references to poontang (which I doubt they even knew
what it meant, but who knows...). If your tastes in mid-seventies punkist
desires tended towards the whole Feelgood/Groovies breed of past
accomplishments you'll definitely like this 'un.
Ian Dury-"Wake Up!"/"What a Waste" (Stiff Records, Belgium)
Another Stiffie here, only this is one of those yellow vinyl offerings that
popped up in shopping malls nationwide thus making Deviants records once again
readily available to the general public. The a-side consists of Dury's big
"hit" that was being pushed on FM radio all over the fruity plain, and
although I should hate it not only for that but the fact that a faint disco
beat can be discerned it does conjure up somewhat happy memories of seventies
snazz pop and should be appreciated if only for that. The other side's even jazzier
and actually more attuned to my own sense of off-kilter music. Perhaps this is because "What a Waste" reminds me
more of the television shows and comic books I was gorging on at the time, but
once you get down to it there's nothing at all wrong with that at all. Unless
you're a sophisticated
creep that is but which one of you readers isn't?
***
Died Pretty-LIVE DIED EP (Compassion Explosion Records bootleg)
Back to Australia and these guys who originally made a huge impression on me.
Unfortunately after a while the quality of their recordings, like many on the
Australian scene of the day, began to wane to the point where all of the
original energy the group originally exuded seemed to pretty much evaporate.
Not really an extended play as it is a 33 rpm single, the plug's got a version
of Lou Reed's "Wild Child" that is somewhat faithful to the original and is
good enough that it might have even put a smile on Peter Laughner's face. The
other side probably would have as well although it bears only slight
resemblance to the Pere Ubu original. Well, at least it does remind me of the
kind of music that was making the mid-eighties a way more livable place than
had we all hadda rely of the drek that CREEM was pushing on us at
the time.
The Exploited-"Exploited Barmy Army"/"I Believe in Anarchy", "What You Gonna
Do" EP (The Exploited Record Company)
Still dunno why it seemed oh-so-cool to dump on these guys, especially when
you consider that records like this 'un were keeping the whole Britpunk
moo'ment going on and on at a time when every upnose snoot'd go out of his way
to declare p-rock's demise. OK you gotta admit that the Exploited were way deep
with the likes of Gary Bushell and his demolishing of everything that was once
good about SOUNDS, but at least they knew enough to publicly call him a
"wanker" when even he jumped on the punk is dead bandwagon. Good
enough for me thud snarl that sounds exactly like the same music that seemed
so refreshing in the face of MTV moosh only to fizz out worse'n club soda once
1983 began rollin' in.
