Another one so (relatively) soon??? Well, I have a lot to say and rather'n hold off until I'm good 'n ready I'm gonna rush this 'un off just so's I can sate your unbridled desire to read whatever it is that I have to blab about. Sheesh, what other blogger out there in "notice me" land would be willing to go the extra mile for someone as unimportant as you anyway?
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(OLD NEWS BY NOW TIME EVEN THOUGH I WROTE IT ALL WHEN IT WAS NEW NEWS [WITH SOME UPDATES AND FINE-TUNING], SO BEWARE!) Sheesh, first some she-boy gets killed and dismembered a few miles from where I live, and now there was an attempted assassination on Donald Trump a good 45/60 minutes (depending on road conditions) ride south in Butler Pee-YAY! Talk about the locale where I reside in hitting the front page twice in such a short time! Yes, I do kinda feel proud about it in my own downhome cornpone way, but although things tend to happen in "three"'s I'm a bit scared as to what's gonna happen in these parts next...
I've passed the Butler Farm Show Fairgrounds more times than you can think of and like, I never would have believed in a millyun years that this humble li'l spot more attuned to tractor pulls would become a place of a downright All-Amerigan attempted assassination worthy of the history books! And believe it or don't but in some ways I am part of that very history --- after all, way back when the entire fambly would go to the flea markets that were held there on Sundays not only to buy but (at least once) to sell, and I recall one sunny summer Sunday afternoon when I begged mom to give me 75 cents so I could purchase a swell-looking 1970 vintage FANTASTIC FOUR comic book (I believe ish #95) that some mid-aged grump 'n frump couple had up for sale. She gave me the coinage, albeit with a stern condemnation of my purchasing choice since, in her opinion, NO comic book was worth that much and you could just bet that while I was reading the thing on the way home boy did I feel guilty and shame-shamed wagging finger and all! I used to get that way sometimes which only shows you that I sure was lettin' the folk get away with WAY TOO MUCH! What they'd do to save themselves 75 cents I'll tell ya...
I also remember another time when I was there combing through some record piles while on the hunt for something not only new to my ears but easy on my wallet. Believe it or not, but I was contemplating whether or not I should chance it buying the Jefferson Airplane's "Pooneil" single as well as that Al Kooper album where his head's airbrushed onto the Statue of Liberty (I STAND ALONE) either because it looked "cool" or because I thought that maybe Al Kooper was really Alice Cooper under a slightly different moniker in order to record on another label! (Don't laugh --- I actually thought that the Alex Harvey of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band was the same Alex Harvey who was the country singer that wrote the Helen Reddy hit "Delta Dawn"!!!) I passed on both which I would say was a decision that was a pretty good choice considering just how hard it was coming by money them days having to beg mom for 75 cents and all!
Gee, I feel all tingly 'n all just thinking about my own role in what is definitely a major part of Amerigan history! If I ever have grandkids I just can't wait to tell 'em all about it even though if I ever did have any by the time I'll be able to I'd be mummified!
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As far as other news of note goes, did Jimmy Carter, the guy who put the douse on late-seventies gulcher with his aw shucks down home cornball act that was too staid and hokey even for the HEE HAW crowd, REALLY die and the Democratic National Convention is suppressing the news until they can milk the sympathy vote for all its worth? I mean at first he was beyond the doornail stage and then suddenly---NOTHING is mentioned as if the news of his passing was worthy of one column next to the want ads. Well, you gotta hand it to Carter for breaking the record for being on hospice for the longest period of time anyone ever has been before eventually doing the deep six, that is if he really DID croak. Otherwise I take this all as a replay of the Tom Petty dead/not dead/dead rigmarole that we all hadda endure a few years back as if we even cared.
But still, I must admit to the plain unadulterated fact that, at least for this not-so-humble writer, Carter does not conjure up any particularly happy memories of a halcyon past. Whenever I think of disco, lousy and downright unfunny and depressing message-laden television, Larry Flynt, rampant inflation and a general gurgle in late-seventies living I immediately think of Carter. With his entrance into the public eye he seemed to foreshadow the entire concept of Ameriga (and perhaps even the world) going giddily off the rails (at least Gerald Ford was good for a cheap laugh), and it only got worse afterwards what with eighties happyhappy followed by nineties neo-dour. And that leaves us with TODAY which ain't even worth the effort to even exist in! The first fake hipster president (Kennedy don't count even with that nauseating showbiz cult that surrounded him) with alla that phony get-down-with-the-youth quoting of Dylan out of context and the entire Capricorn Records New South ROLLING STONE youth culture gone flabby types pumping up his flaccid and hokey backwoods hucksterisms, at least until he became so MOR he ended up like a target for both the left and right to aim at. The stupid grinner straight out of THE WALTONS who eventually got everybody mad at him, so maybe I can like him for getting SOMETHING right!
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A visual variation on "Vexations" I can sure get into:
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Robert Forward put out a number of cassette companions to his OWN THE WHOLE WORLD magazine and I even own like one or two of 'em if that'll help bolster your opinion of me any. For those of you who've missed out on 'em here's a chance to at least partially redeem yourself since Mr. Forward has slapped what he believes are the best of these tapes onto a couple of CD burns and well, you can make up for your past indiscretions by getting hold of 'em. Lord knows I've had to make up for previous errors such as not getting hold of the right things at the right time so now it's your turn.
Disc one includes (there's no song separation so at times it is hard to tell what is who) a Ghosts Before Breakfast track with some Crummy Fags playing along and the Orchid Spangiafora bit which I think has been legitimately released by Feeding Tube but I don't remember. There's one number I can't identify (I thought it was another Ghosts 'un considering the similarities) that was great in its own folk rock sorta way. Lotsa found sound to be heard too, such as what purports to be Charles Goodyear talking about his discovery of galvanized rubber (though I doubt it really was him since he passed a good twentysome years before recordings were invented, but if he knew about this I'm sure he'd approve). The weirdo tape thing where some guy's voice gets all garbled and twisted as if either he or you were having a stroke was quite mesmerizing if you can believe it. Also liked these two efforts from some band who I can't identify but their singer sounds suspiciously like R. Meltzer if you can fathom that, offkey moan and all! Great and of course the low fidelity makes it all the more gnarlier!!!!!
2nd one's got some great tape garble repeato-bits played o'er and o'er in Nurse With Wound fashion as well as more low-fi basement recordings by (this time) an act called Beautiful Engines who sound like a winner as do the Offbeats, one of the better eighties Cle upstarts who had a whole slew of records out (or at least three if you could consider that a slew) and whose music I sure wish was more present in my collection. And of course there's the found sounds again including an old Burger Chef ad with Burger Chef and Jeff (remember them?) that reminds me of when I was a kid and we were at one of 'em and the folk wouldn't buy me one of their super duper burgers because they cost too much! And back then 69 pennies was a lot of kapusta believe-you-me!!! Biggest surprise --- a spoken ad (more or less) for the infamous OFFENSE NEWSLETTER which was a publication that I really coulda used more of only well, I was a really outta-the-loop sorta guy (still am) and didn't rate any so I got 'em like third/fourth generation.
And FINALLY (if my mind serves me right and you can just imagine ow many times it has been wrong) I get to hear Caroliner Rainbow after all these years of itty bitty curiosity. Actually I got this flyer from 'em back in the mid-eighties where I coulda gotten a free rec of theirs just for the asking. Unfortunately the note came to me all chewed up in one of those Post Office body bag sorta things they use for such mangled missives and I couldn't find any address to write to! Oh well, the track that appears here was probably a tossout throwaway (didn't hit me in the ol' breadbasket) but at least I got to finally lend ear.
The Lepers also show up here and you might remember them from their COITUS INTERRUPTUS EP on the Drome label but then again you might not. Nice to hear 'em again tho.
But just try getting hold of these burns because I dunno if Mr. Forward is actually selling these or just dubbing 'em for close and personal friends like myself. But eh, it really would be good trying to get into the guy's inner circle if only to latch onto these. Kinda makes me feel good that I'm in some sorta inner circle for once in my pitiful life and you ain't, peon!
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There are way too many of these El Saturn rarities out there for just about anyone to keep up with and yeah, I know that some of us have lost a whole lotta shekels sending precious $$$ to Sun Ra's personal label in the hopes of getting a few of these ultra-rarities with nary a response which could be hard on you if you were the penny-pinching/mooch off others type like I tended to be. Nevertheless I'm sure glad that these records are finally seeing the light of day even if we reallyreallyREALLY coulda used 'em (like we coulda used a whole load of records that never did quite get out) way back when.
Not being familiar at all with this CONTINUATION series I sure found these RArities pretty in tune with a good portion of the big band avgarde scronk the guy had released from the early-sixties beyond. Not as mentally twisted as COSMIC TONES FOR MENTAL THERAPY but still hotcha enough for a guy like myself who spent a good portion of the late-seventies subsisting on cutouts jumping for pure unbridled joy when some free jazz album would finally hit the bins. As far as I can tell, every Sun Ra effort is worthy of at least one listen and if there are any that ain't I know some of you readers'll be chewing off my ear tellin' me just how wrong I am!
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What a surprise this is, a collection of fortysome thirty-second snippets from one of those cheapo collections of the hits that are definitely not done up by the original stars that's for sure! Yes, this is what kids who were living on depression-era wages like me hadda depend on, that is if the folk would even let us listen to this devil music but if they did boy were you in for a feast! Downright high-larious takes on various late-sixties AM faves (with a couple of Bill Haley numbers tossed in for whatever reason) and yeah, sometimes the imitations have more entertainment value than the real deal meal ifyaknowaddamean...
Some full-length definitely phonus-balonus Beatle thingies were included immediately afterwards, stuff like an instrumental backing track for "She Said She Said" etc., which I doubt were part of the original platter but they're OK in their own cheap imitation way. Meaning that their version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" ain't as good as the Flamin' Groovies' but it's probably way better'n something one of those Beatlemania acts woulda whipped up. Nice bit of diversion anyway.
Afterwards Mr. Forward tacked on a podcast that none other than thee Henry Rollins did with someone called Heidi May (well, she might) and its all about the guy's experiences with Alice Dee as R. Meltzer used to call it. This 'cast, no doubt about it, is a quite boring recollection of the man's mingling in the psychedelic realm which may be interesting if only one recalls that by the time he was dropping the stuff in the late eighties his musical output was starting to head rather southwards to the point where many were scratching their beans wondering exactly where our boy went wrong. Let that be a lesson to you people who used to scoff at all of those anti-drug DRAGNET episodes.
But hey, if you wanna listen to it all from the horses' mouth you can always go here and be educated as to the horrors of all sortsa illegal dope usage. And remember, Henry Rollins' mind on drugs is even worse than frying an egg without using a non-stick pan, or something like that!
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Oh yass, these eighties-vintage Swedish groups were, along with those Detroit-inspired rock aggros making their way outta the Antipodes around the very same time, considered to be the saviors of the rock 'n roll big beat in a world of plasticene music supposedly "passing" for rock and roll about as successfully as Patrice Lumumba could pass for white. Well, the promise and fervor certainly got to me, but a few years later these groups (or at least the leader of the batch, mainly the Nomads) seemed to be teeter-tottering in their promise of restoring the world to rock 'n roll prowess and like well, I got bored and forgot about it all.
This collection does remind me just why people like Lindsay Hutton and Imants Krumins went totally ape #2 over these new Scandie acts. Given that you had to search for your goodies because they weren't gonna come knockin' on your doorstep, the discovery of these groups really was something to toss the confetti over. Most all of 'em sound like primo Nomads in their efforts to take 50s/60/70s punk rock and create a vision for the 80s that unfortunately never did pan out but eh, even though music like this should have enveloped the soul of mid-Amerigan teenbo culture at least the few smart dudes who were privy to the BIG OUT IN THE OPEN SECRET knew and like, it was all for the better (somehow)!
Even a gloss up of the Stooges' "Dirt" by the Occasional Dead Flys ain't the wrong turn that a few fanablas out there might take it to be. The general pace of this 'un's high energy rock 'n roll and well, if you liked this stuff then you just might like it now and perhaps even in the future (if you still have ears) and well, if names like Dr. Yogami, the Bottle Ups and Slobster don't resonate within your mind after even one spin I sure do feel sorry for your psyche.
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Like a few of you sixties/seventies buffs who were stranded in the musical/kultural desert of the eighties, I can sure recall the hubbub surrounding the original cheapoid (in quality, not price) reissue of this home-produced platter. From what I can recall, that version of A TRIP THROUGH HELL that made its way into the Midnight Music catalog was supposed to be the ultimo forgotten psychedelic album that shoulda been but never did gets its just dues and, like more'n just a few of you, when I finally did get to hear the album it wasn't like I was exactly thrilled about it and was thankful that someone only taped it for me rather'n me dishing out my hard-begged cash for the thing.
But this platter is (I guess) fair enough for anyone with some shred of late-sixties rockist aestheticism. It surely ain't rancid but it just doesn't reach the heights that many recordings of a similar stature could have and most certainly did with relative ease. Femme backing vocals and toreador trumpets don't add anything to the songs although the melodies and grooves are somewhat snazzy at times, especially for what I assume is a concept album dealing the indestructible soul of man fighting the temptations surrounding us during an LSD trip. Not bad, but nothing that'll grab you, shake you up and rearrange your life for good. But then again we're all ancient.
Some of the bonus tracks do owe a tad to the Association and might have made somewhat of an indent on the national charts. The Quintet does sound better without the slick production and hey, I coulda imagined 'em sorta battling it out with the likes of the New Colony Six for late-sixties contemporary moosh even with their toned down low version of "I Put a Spell on You" (dunno 'bout "Bury Me in a Marijuana Field" which was a nod to the more laidback folkie hayseed hippie types out there). Well, it was way better'n whatever Bobby Sherman was dishin' out that's for sure!
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DON FELLMAN WAS RIGHT! All of the tracks on WHAT'S GOING ON do sound the same! But that's OK by me since the luscious string-drenched ooze that envelops this platter is something wonderful for one's mind to sink into which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who didn't realize that the early-seventies were the pinnacle of black pop before it all toppled into disco giddiness.
Gotta 'fess up to the fact that I think that the early-seventies AM dial was on a real good groove what with the likes of "What's Going On" and "Mercy Mercy Me" clogging up the playlists, and like after a good half-century-plus years later it's easy to see who was right about this all along and it sure wasn't you!
Pretty neat "concept" platter here, and what's best is that the "message" ain't gonna make you choke like "One Tin Soldier" and "Things Get a Little Easier (Once You Understand)" sure as shootin' did!
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Spin Turlock warned me not to listen to this, but since his onetime pal Paul McGarry sent me a burn I thought I'd better give it a go if only to appease my major Cee-Dee burner. Frankly it's not bad. As far as being one of those 60s/70s cusp forgotten rock 'n roll efforts thrust into the ether thanks to the more hippoid aspects of youth culture (Hackamore Brick, Sidewinders, It's All Meat...) HERITAGE doesn't exactly succeed --- it's too long and drawn out with songs that really don't have that certain "catch" to them. Nevertheless, it does make for some interesting then-contemporary straightforward rock with somewhat interesting pop moves that coulda been stronger but work out swell enough for someone who had to listen to Ann Murray going to and from school. Nothing to up your nose at, but it can wear on you after awhile.
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Terry Riley/Don Cherry-KOLN, FEBRUARY 23, 1975 CD-r burn
I guess that this 'un did get some sorta limited release in 2013 but I obviously missed out on it. Not that there were more pressing things for me to do in 2013, but anyway thanks to Mr. Forward I get to hear this great slab of avgarde classical and jazz once again meeting up and the stormfront it creates is something that would make your average tornado warning look like a sprinkle! Riley gets into his electronic riff, at times coming close to a John Cale meets (pre-gnu age) Philip Glass repeato drone that recalls a whole load of past accomplishments that initially drew someone like me to this music in the first place. Cherry's trumpet weaves in and out of the chugga-chug giving a meatier and even more ethereal sound than he did on some of his other efforts that didn't quite gel with my already gelled-up brain. Kinda distorted but that only gives it a fuzztone-styled effect that works out somehow. Karl Berger appears on vibraphone adding an even deeper dimension to the entire proceedings with his own patented percussive prowess. Don't believe me? Just listen for yourself and see just how much smarter I am than you even though you'd never admit it in a millyun years!:
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It ain't as knock-you-out forceful as Milford Graves' CHILDREN OF THE FOREST double-duty spinner, but it sure is strong enough to kill on contact whatever it is that is passing for jazz during these sick and sorry days (Samara Joy?, Adam Blackstone??, Lakesia Benjamin??? Never heard any of 'em but if I did I get the feeling that I would enjoy their wares about as much as I do J. Neo Marvin's).
This trio of Graves with infamous street-preacher Charles Gayle blowing and the omnipresent William Parker on above and beyond the call of duty bass proves that the glory days of total freeform new jazz blitz didn't totally die out like Leonard Feather sure wish it did. The fury that the three produce equals those mid-seventies heights that one used to hear via a slew of Roscoe Michell and Joseph Jarman efforts that were released on a whole number of small labels I'll bet none of 'em ever got paid for. Sound turned into total energy that nobody has topped in all these years, as if anyone really could have in the first place.
It really is the equal to Graves' own legendary BABI MUSIC which I understand is some sort of watermark as far as the new thing getting even newer goes. Available on vinyl in a 3-LP edition for those of you who want a triple live set that isn't WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS.
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I tried not to let my obsessions get the best of me but that has obviously failed. 'specially when it came to my undying adoration of that form of expression (or "art" even) called music which not only cost me thousands in recordings and reading material, but quite a bundle in putting out a whopping twenny-five issues of a crudzine that should have lasted three at the most. Well, after all these years I figure that maybe my efforts at dumping these rags on an unsuspecting public was just another one of my OCD actions which was just a more sophisticated version of my dinosaur frenzy age seven. Only I got rid of alla them critters at a flea market years ago and these mags remain piled up in my basement. Nobody who goes to flea markets wanna grab these up (I've tried), so like it's up to you and I do mean YOU!
hay mr sittglano ! do yo lik boob dylan ?
ReplyDeletehe waz goood wen he waz rok in roll no ? !
yook ono is a hor ! wy did john lenon even mary her !
hay less fag stuf and mor dolls an d stooges okay .
ps ! marvin gay was!
ReplyDeletegay that is. a fag .
they all ar .
1) re: SUPER ROCK cd- that's actually the Fabs outtakes, not a tribute band. 2) re: AZIMUTH dbl cd- is available, contact: ubgun12@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteRe. Beatles tracks...never woulda guessed it.
ReplyDeleteIf you were a fruit what fruit would you be?
ReplyDeleteMilo Yianapolous? At least he allegedly straightened out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure, straight as a fucking boomerang.
DeleteThan Don Cherry Terry Riley disc is a corker
ReplyDeletedon cherry was a froot a chery !
ReplyDeleteI spent a night in the sack with Patty Waters!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Alan, why keep us hanging like that? Tell us more about that wild night of debauchery.
ReplyDeleteAlvin’s mixing up Patty with Maxine.
Delete