BLOG TO COMM

It has been awhile. Well, it's not exactly like I'm champing at the bit anymore to get these posts out to you given just how much most readers of the very few rock blogs out there could care less, but the usual delays and real life deals always do get in the way. Besides, I thought that my recent scribblings really were hitting the "number two" category to the point where even my earliest submissions to various outlets (which many of you readers actually liked, go figure!) seemed profound in comparison. I always sometimes on a rare occasion strive for quality in my writings, and what I had been laying to pixel just wasn't cutting even the ol' cheese. Hope this heavily remade/remodeled batch of writeups fits the bill, and I gotta say that I think maybe a tad of it does.

***

Biggest kultural happening as of late has to be the bright idea (no sarcasm here --- I mean it!) at FETV to bring back not only the color DRAGNETs to the cathode tube but drag HIGHWAY PATROL outta the mothballs for a good re-eval. The late-sixties DRAGNETs are always a ball to watch what with Jack Webb as Joe Friday delivering the monotone nasal moralizing and witty comebacks as he takes on not only the new morality but all of those ditzy Los Angelinos he has to question. Pretty brazen stuff especially these days where life has 180'd and the inmates are not only running the asylum but re-enacting the Red Terror, an extremely refreshing change from all of that "entertainment" I've been trying to avoid as long as I can remember. One major quibble tho --- remember that episode when Friday and Gannon go after a high school gang of shoplifters who wore garish "mod" garb stolen from the Sears Tiger Shop? Well, the opening schpiel that the head of the department gave to Friday and partner Gannon re. the change in values at the time was HEAVILY EDITED leaving out the mention as to how drugs, free sex and even homosexuality are now starting to be accepted! All I gotta say to FETV is...cluck cluck cluck!

Never saw HIGHWAY PATROL but now I have, and this crazed fan of classic pre-hippie tee-vee realism really is pleased as paunch as Don Fellman would say.  Broderick Crawford doesn't look or even act like the kinda leading man for a rough and tumble series like this but he works out swell overweight and craggy as he is. The show, or at least the episodes I've viewed, go on at a rapid pace and given that my only knowledge of HIGHWAY PATROL was an old MAD spoof I can finally see where all the humor that went over my head way back when came from...I mean Crawford's offhand responses are the total antithesis to Webb's downright cutting putdowns! "Oh well", "that's the way the ball bounces" etc.! Eh, so what if Crawford can't crank out the witticisms, HIGHWAY PATROL's a quite good and driving series that keeps up the pace whether they're on the search for a honeymooning sailor with meningitis or stomping a murderous confidence team.

By the way, someone once said they thought I looked like Crawford which I thought was cool. However another thought that I looked (and sound) more like Jack Weston which I think is even cooler perhaps because I'm more familiar with Weston's work than I am Crawford's! Yeah, I could go on and lie to you about how some people think I look like Paul McCartney or Superman for that matter, but have I ever led you astray?

***

Here's a FERD'NAND that got me not only thinking about cheap electric guitars but Stone the Crows...

***

Hey, whatever happened to acid rain?

***

And while I'm at it, did you ever realize that the old term "our fine furry friends" has a totally new meaning these days?

***

A reader has informed me that he was totally unable to leave a comment on the blog which I thought rather odd since I did a "testing one-two-three" myself and sure 'nuff the comment did appear. If you are trying to leave a message and find it extremely difficult to do so well, tough turds.

***

Current fave thrill...watching tutorials on Youtube on how to use breast pumps given by young, thankfully non-lactating Japanese maidens who have no shame pulling their squeezies out for all to see. Sure beats videos on irrigating your garden.

***

A video from back in them days when they sure had more of an impact on the core of rockist desires than those artzy things that ruined music and for good. The Spotnicks with "Rocket Man" (alright --- the Rocket Man, and I think it's gonna be a long long time before people start to give this one the time of day and forget the Elton John song of the same name):

***

Oh boy, time for the reviews! Thanks to Forward, Mueller and McGarry! No thanks to YOU...

David Bowie-YOUNG AMERICANS CD-r burn (originally on RCA Records)

I'm sure glad that I was too poor to buy records back when this turdburger came out. Bowie goes disco in between stints as a glitter rocker and a kraut/avgarde composer, and this music does nothing but remind me of just what a huge bummer the radio scene was at a time when you really hadda look hard for some sorta music that was in tune with your own nervous system. An extremely tiresome exercise in gettin' down with da bro's, blackface with neutral shoe polish.

***

Doug Hammond-REFLECTIONS IN THE SEA OF NURNEN CD (Octave Lab Records, Japan)

IN THE "YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY" DEPARTMENT: Here's a spinner that I've recently discovered under the strangest of circumstances, and as to why I snatched the thing up in the first place well... just read on and decide for yourself just how skewered the cogs of cohesion are in my messed up beyond belief brain.

Much of the time context, circumstance and situations surrounding the song or performers have as much to do with me enjoying music as the actual sounds do themselves. It might sound silly to you, but I'm very susceptible to hints and offhand remarks/comments/asides that stick in the fertilizer of my mind and grow like that legendary mustard seed as the old saying goes. Sometimes there might be some artist or recording that doesn't quite jibe with me, but I'll discover some seemingly extraneous fact related to the music or artist that adds a unique dimension to the process that makes me enjoy it via a quite different frame of ears. Or I find out that a certain person was in a group I previously haven't given the time of day and start searching out their back catalog for a new throb thrill in listening. Or even something silly like discover some obscuro act who played one of the NYC rock bistros of the seventies and all of a sudden a curiosity overcomes that'd kill off a house full of cats. 

And that's exactly the thing that happened when I did some research on this particular act I knew nada about and discovered that one new and different thing I tend to learn as each day crawls on. Something that would get me to want and go hear said act, of course which is pretty difficult given that a good portion of the obscurities that have made legendary music in the sixties and seventies will probably never be heard because their creators prefer to let the tapes rot in some sock drawer.

And so I snatched the Cee-Dee in question up if only because of the title's appearance in an old CBGB listing which can be seen on the right, picking it up like a racetrack reg'lar'll bet on a horse on a weird hunch (like I would do with those who had double-entendre names, though it never did work!). The time, venue, title and a promise of some new and hopefully soul-shattering sounds had me dishing out the dinero, but will I get stuck with yet another turdburger like I have on previous hunches or will this 'un be the kind of spinner that'll reach into the depths of my psyche and do things that only philosophy major undergrads could explain with the usual obtrusive language that comes with these specimens?

So what's this about? I think the sounds that appear on REFLECTIONS IN THE SEA OF NURNEN (not a Tolkien fan so the mystic vibes of the name are lost on me) is now tagged as "Spiritual Jazz" because it ain't quite new thing yet it ain't bop. Rather "modern", even pop at times, but thankfully with this underlying bared wire stream of intensity running through it that makes the listening more enticing even if you aren't a fan of any interesting jazz developments since the mid-fifties. Good enough though, since even the vocalizing with all of that get down brothers for the cause messaging doesn't make any of you whiteys wanna puke. The electronic interludes "Space II" and "Space I", in that order) date this in quite a good way too, reminding me of the kind of extraterrestrial sounds that I used to enjoy hearing on the radio and such and even inspired me to write the term paper with that "Sien Ra" gaffe I'll never get out of my brain.

Really not bad in the way it moves and doesn't get lumped up in the intestines of your mind. I wonder how this was performed at that CB's gig and I get the idea that the crowd thought is swell just like they would with a good portion of WHATEVER was transpiring on the stage in combination with a variety of libation and chemical boosters.

Even though I don't have to write a term paper on this 'un I think some research re. group leader Doug Hammond (who handles not only the vocals but the drums, ARP and a melodica!) and where he was and perhaps even IS and if in fact he has croaked you could say he lives on via this rather top notch effort that I'm sure glad didn't get any felines killed --- maimed maybe but not killed.

***

Mike Nock-ONDAS CD (ECM Records, Germany)

Haw, was Meltzer pulling our leg 'r what when he dropped that Throbbing Gristle comparison in some early eighties CREEM "Rock-A-Rama" writeup! Still, you might enjoy this 'un at least for Nock's evocation of a scant few yet potent enough Paul Bley stylings and a moody groove that doesn't drift into gnu agey territory like a good portion of eighties "jazz" seemed to. Otherwise this woulda sounded much better had it been recorded for 1965 ESP rather than 1982 ECM, who by this time really did settle into their slick it up beyond belief groove custom made for the boring beyond belief college jazz radio show of your choice.

***

Marco Angius Ensemble Prometeo-JOHN CAGE-IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES CD (Stradivarius Records, Italy)

It's sure grand that John Cage recordings are readily available in this day and age because, back when I was discovering the music of the avgarde during my later days of teenbodom these records were harder to find than Scotsmen tossing money out the window. Years later my curiosity as to what those early Cage compositions sounded like has been sated thanks to albums such as this dago effort, one that captures the sound and spirit of classic Cage rather spiffy-like. The entire run of "Imaginary Landscapes" presented out-of-order (but for a good reason --- I think) along with "Sixteen Dances", and it'll probably bring up more old tymey memories of what Sunday Morn television used to be like other'n with alla those religious shows and old cartoons. Whatever happened to curled pinkies and snob culture anyway?

***

Wild Billy Childish-I AM THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE CD-r burn (originally on Friends of the Buff Medway Fanciers Association, England)

Best thing I heard from Childish since his last best thing. Hefty royalties should be paid to the Downliners Sect what with all of the ideas that were swiped from 'em (well, Sect member Don Craine does pop up here somewhere so maybe he's getting some monetary reward). Best part's the rather realistic recreation of pre-stereophonic low-fidelity complete with scratches, pops and skips. Well, I THINK all of them scratches/pops/skips were done ON PURPOSE...

***

THE MARZETTE WATTS ENSEMBLE CD-r burn (originally on Savoy Records)

It was so difficult (make that IMPOSSIBLE) locating a flesh and blood copy so I am grateful to Paul McGarry for burning this somewhat legendary free jazz effort. Not as urban revolution tense as Watts' ESP effort but still powerful in that great orbit of late-sixties new thing. Some notable names are backing him up here along with a slew of who are they's, and the presence of Amy Sheffer (here "Shaeffer") cooing on Bill Dixon's "Octobersong" and Patty Waters singing her own lyrics to Ornette's "Lonely Woman" makes me wish this 'un had gotten around a whole lot more'n it did. Was this ever reissued, legit or otherwise?

***

Various Artists-THE LONDON R&B SESSIONS --- LIVE AT THE HOPE AND ANCHOR 1979 CD-r burn (originally on Albion Records, England)

Never ever thought of buying these Hope and Anchor platters back when they were first up and about so this effort could be considered a nice li'l inclusion into my collection. A mix of names familiar, not and who cares, the selection is potent enough to the point where you do kinda feel pangs of guilt for ignoring a good portion of it. Big names include Lew Lewis, Wilco Johnson's Solid Senders, the post-Johnny Kidd Pirates and (Count) Bishops, not to mention others I know nada about. Nothing to slouch at either!

***

The Battered Wives-LIVE ON MOTHERS DAY CD-r burn (originally on Ready Records, Canada)

Maybe you remember the controversy surround this group what with alla them freaked out women's shelter types who were oh so offended by their name to the point where they showed up protest signs and all to display their hurt feelings for the six o' clock news? Well, with a moniker like the Battered Wives I would have expected this to be some cruddy fly-by-night punk rock group trying to capture just as much publicity as they could via controversy like a small-scale Dead Kennedys're somethin'. 

Surprisingly enough (at least for myself) the Battered Wives were a pretty straightforward rock 'n roll group closer to the early-seventies hard-edged version of the Flamin' Groovies than to Jello Biafra's gang, a band that worked the audience over with a slew of keen covers mixed with spot on originals all done up in a way that you knew that them FM-bred dolts who surrounded you woulda said they hated it even though music like this very well woulda been up their not-so-expansive alleys. Don't miss their durty version of "Great Balls Of Fire" that closes this mess out! 

And as for the name well, them wives who did get the rough treatment from their spouses probably DESERVED whatever they got! Y'know, unmade beds, lousy dinner, forgot to douche... Women today...shee!

***

Various Artists-ACID VISIONS VOLUME 8 : TEXAS SIXTIES GARAGE PUNK CD-r burn (originally on Spalax Records, France)

This volume consists of only three groups, the Nomads, the Brix and the Chapparals, but it is nice to have these tracks grouped together for scrutiny 'stead of spread out over a few dozen of these collections. Some bonefeed classics here (the Nomads' "Three O'Clock Merrian Webster Time") mixed up with some (let's just say MOST) tracks that are new to my lobes, and they all got that edgy intense sound that you all know was birthed from the addled genius of the 13th Floor Elevators with sidesteps into everyone from the Kinks to the Association. A reminder of just how rich a movement like rock 'n roll was before social upheaval eventually turned it all into James Taylor and Carole King mewl made for the same sorta gals who were spinning the Seeds only a few years earlier. And I hope their kid brothers stomp all all of their Cat Stevens albums!

***

Black Flag-WASTED...AGAIN CD-r burn (originally on SST Records)

By the time this comp came out I was so awash in too many real life dealings/tragedies that it wasn't like I could work myself up over possessing a rec such as this. Actually it wasn't like I could afford a rec like this given how a load of my "earnings" were going towards not only my much-loathed crudzine but a good thirtysome years of backlogged albums I had missed out on. 'n hey, why'd'ja think I was doin' all that beggin' at the time anyway, for my HEALTH???

Now that so much has passed me by in the realm of life I finally get my mitts on a burn of this and well, I gotta say that it's pretty neat as far as capturing a nice slice of the Black Flag "legend" what with that driving wall of blare that said more about the positive aspects of the eighties than any of the happyhappy swill being gobbled up during them days sure did!

Not being as well-versed in the Black Flag canon as all you rich kids are, this was a nice slice of their oeuvre that thankfully reminds me of some of the highlights of that dank decade the further we get from the better.

***

Various Artists-ROCK AND ROLL VIXENS --- 25 BLACK WOMAN SINGER MOVERS & SHAKERS CD-r burn (originally on Koko Mojo Records, England)

A gaggle of tracks both rare and not (the Cookies) that at least for me sums up the fifties/early-sixties femme r/b oeuvre about as much as it can be. Good bunch too...not all of the vocalists are of the female persuasion but they dominate and as you'd expect most of these are so good you kinda wonder why they didn't top the charts way back when. A fair enough change from the same old. Interesting enough track --- Luther and Little Eva's version of "Ain't Got No Home" sounds remarkably like the original and I highly doubt that this Little Eva's the "Turkey Trot Gobble Gobble Diddilit" one.

***

Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra-STRANGE STRINGS (EXPANDED VERSION) CD-r burn (originally on Cosmic Myth records)

One of them "remastered with even more bonus tracks than the last reissue" releases which might make those of you who dished out for the one on the Unheard Music label mad but hey, I got mine free so fooey on you! Here's what I wrote about the original reissue:

I haven't been buying let alone listening to many of the recent Sun Ra digups outside of those boffo Norton reissues of early r&b/doo-wop single sides, but the idea of Ra and band working out on nothing but stringed lutes, lotars, kotos and other pluckers kinda got the best of me so what else could I do but plunk down my precious hard-begged! This '67 session does typify the Arkestra of the day sounding rather ESP-Disk in approach, though by the time the band pulls out the twangers this gets to be one of the more atonal, barbaric and downright brain-scrambling Ra releases I've had the pleasure to hear. Imagine "Interpretation" from THE SOLAR MYTH APPROACH VOL. 2 taken to even more frightening levels of incomprehension and you'll know what this, bonus track and all, sounds like. I was spinning it while reading some old CREEM mags last night and the effect was so intense that for a minute I thought I was Dave Marsh getting my cajoobies stuck in a meat grinder! Now how about that!

Now add even more numbers and you'll have all you need to know before buying this spinner. I sure wish this came already expanded way back when but ya gotta admire these people in the way they get you to re-buy the same stuff over and over again!

***

SUNDAY/MONDAY MORNING HANGOVER 8/8-9/11 2 CD-r burn set

More of the same type of radio throb thrills that I reviewed last bigtime post, though not as exciting. Sopwith Camel yeah, sitar music no, rock musician anti-drug spots are about as sincere as you. Electronica profundo. Too much Hollies as if we haven't heard enough of 'em in our lifetimes, but the death songs (even the overplayed ones) got me alive! Eh, if I actually heard this onna real deal radio I probably wouldn't change stations.

***

Prices are going up, but as for now these old issues of BLACK TO COMM still seem to stay the same. Meaning you'll really be getting more booty for your buck if you buy a whole bunch of 'em up now before the prices do go up and you'll wish you bought them now when your pennies are going a whole lot farther than they'll be when you eventually will get hold of 'em. Or something like that. Anyway they're here for you, and if you don't have any in your greasy paws well, you don't.