BOOK REVIEW! INTO THE MYSTIC --- THE VISIONARY AND ECSTATIC ROOTS OF 1960s ROCK AND ROLL BY CHRISTOPHER HILL (Park Street Press, 2017)

Guh is this a dull (and perhaps even evil once you get down to it) read.

I guess this Chris Hill guy is supposed to be some bigwig hotcha name in the world of rock criticism or whatever that is supposed to be these days. Heck he even got Lenny Kaye, one of my fave rockscribe unto performers to write a back cover blurb. But taking the concept of rock 'n roll as a sixties esoteric journey through a whole load of avenues and intellectual twists I slept through in Philosophy 101 really made for some bad toilet reading. I've seen more exciting textbooks throughout my days and this 'un only stinks to high heaven because the subject at hand is presented in such a dull, academic way.

I guess you phony intellectual types'll gobble it up but such put-ons as yourselves swallow any sorta new socio-whatever trend whole hog without the benefit of forethought or afterthought for that matter. Then again if you like whatever has passed as professional rock writing these past fortysome years man is this book up your alley!

The detailing of rock as a spiritual/occult even movement from sanctified gospel to Elvis and the British Invarions straight into the cataclysm music that closed out the decade (even the Dead, who do figure in somehow) is so bad that Hill even flubs the entire Velvet Underground reason for mystical being making me wish the guy had taken in some Wayne McGuire before tackling this effort. Then again, McGuire (or at least the McGuire of "An Aquarian Journal") would have been the best one to handle a subject matter such as this since his own scrutiny of the late-sixties cataclysm was quite etapoint given the downright loathing the man had for the "superficial aspects of the quest", an attitude which really foresaw the culmination of the entire sixties spiritual ride (talking Velvet Underground, Stooges, John Fahey, Pharoah Sanders...) a good decade or so later.

If I hadda say ONE GOOD THING about INTO THE MYSTIC it would be that Hill devotes ample space to the Left Banke who have long been written off as bubblegum shuck by the same sorta people who you think this book would have been marketed to. Some interesting insight even if the author hadda twist a whole load of esoteric garble into his explorations into their reason for being what with references of Dante and Beatrice and the usual snooty airs of "enlightenment" that many a dilettante has upped nose about for longer than anyone can remember.

Definitely not a BLOG TO COMM BOOK CLUB recommendation. Sure makes me angry that people like Hill are allowed to write books and get them out to the remaindered racks like snap while the true visionaries and people who actually make you THINK without the Rock Inc. seal of approval are destined to just crank out blogpost after blogpost. Just another reason as to why I hate most rock writing not to mention the people who have been associated with the clique of controlled criticism ever since the seventies, and of course most of what has passed for rock 'n roll ever since its "maturity" led to the mere idea of a book like this. Give me a lowly crudzine getting into the musical DNA of a driving sound or a book that really does dissect the whys and wherefores of rock like THE AESTHETICS OF ROCK over this anyday!

As you can tell from the above I never do learn. But try I must even though (as usual) I am slack in delivering these big deal type posts which I just know upset a good portion of you reg'lar reader types (who usually turn into EX-readers but eh!). You'll just have to bear with me considering the combination of advanced age, sagging energy (amongst other things) and the plain ol' fact that the stuff that I am writing about is ancient history and on the same level of duh as those fart-encrusted bedroom stranded nostalgia-drenched dorks who were championing the Big Band sounds during the seventies long after the initial furor had died down. Sheesh, with credentials like that maybe I should have my own tee-vee show even if it'll probably get stuck on a low-wattage UHF station at three in the morning.

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And now, a rare clip of the Plastic People of the Universe in '69 just before the big crackdown got them into a heap of trouble that at least accounted for a whole load of freebee publicity. Has their state-sanctioned album recorded around the same time as this film ever been released? (I know that a long-running history of the group has been issued --- I reviewed a few of these platters myself --- but not if the actual artyfact with original cover art etc. has made its way out. Hope some fan out there can help out which of course you won't!)

 

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The Plastic People aren't in the "Rock 'n Roll (hah!) Hall of Fame" and neither are these guys. Here's a later on Tielman Brothers performance which I will admit's quite show-bizzy (reminds me of something that would have been seen on a PBS Pledge Drive oldies show trying to bilk old turds outta their pensions) but wilder than any recent performance (music or otherwise) I or maybe even you can recall. Do you think that the concept of rock music has been hijacked somewhere down the line???:

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Gedda haircut ya hippie!

It has been some time since the previous biggie so there are a whole lot more writeups than usual this go 'round. And we know who just is responsible for these contributions right? None other than Paul McGarry, who has above and beyond the call of doody did a whole load for this blog which is why I am NOT giving out his home address lest you get the hankerin' to sending him an exploding parcel. Really, being associated with me in any wayshapeform is something tantamount to placing a mob hit on your very own self!

Manster-UNRELEASED ATLANTIC RECORDS SESSION CIRCA 1976 CD-r burn

Stars of the LIVE AT CBGB's album, Lydia Lunch's fave local band and more, there's been lots of talk and conjecture about Manster yet very little aural communication to go by. Finally this bit of lost history makes its way to our door, what purports to be demos for Atlantic circa '76 yet just might be the unreleased '82 album for Genya Raven's Ruby Records (which probably got a name change due to that other Ruby label) that even had the group doing a brief reunion back at their old club haunts. Lotsa stuff had been goin' 'round about Manster like how singer Warren Stahurski used to swing from the rafters of CBGB long before Stiv Bators and how they used to put drummer John Fehling and his double bass-drum set up front while Stahurski sang from behind. Stuff like that, and a lot of it not so good since I sure can remember some duff mentions of them in the pages of THE NEW YORK ROCKER and perhaps a few other outlets lost in the sump pump of my mind.

These recordings'll sure sate those who loved their CBGB entries and longed for more lo these many years (this codger included). As I would have surmised from Fred Kirby's late-'75 review of a CB's gig in the pages of VARIETY the jazz rock influence in particularly heavy what with a decidedly Zappa/McLaughlin bent to Alan and Robert Hertzberg's spidery guitar interplay and Stahurski's put-offish vocalese. I hear a whole lot of MX-80 Sound, Tony Williams Lifetime circa EMERGENCY! and the Good Rats too, not to mention other seventies fusion efforts that seemed so phonyficial at the time but just might be worthy of a re-eval. Sheesh, even a whole lotta that vocal jazzaroonie Michael Franks stuff if the guy was passing a sideways turd comes to mind.

Stahurski does have a good creep-out talk sing to him, at a whole lotta points reminding me of those snooty stuck up big kids who used to threaten me to all heck back during my growing up days. I should hate him for that alone but the years have washed a whole lotta those early feelings of cringe away somewhat and besides, intertwined with the screeching guitars and Thomas Giordano's thud bass Stahurski comes off like the ultimo as to what based jazz rock approach sans all the bowtie 'n tux attitude shoulda sounded like all along.

No repeats from the live album either. Even that s&m song that Kirby mentioned in his review shows up and it is a pretty harrowing bit of somethingorother...

It's all there for ya directly below. Pic shows the drummer playing a single-bass set and perched from the rear but wha' th' hey, maybe this was at some other stage in the group's evolution. Pretty hefty on all levels from the top-notch kinetic approach to the oft nonchalant vocals, and to think that this is just the tippy top of the reams of under-recorded/noticed/appreciated musical acts from the seventies and beyond that never got their place in the sun while a load of subpar offal affected the worst minds of my (and possibly your) generation.

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The Leather Secrets-LIVE AT CBGB 1974 CD-r burn

Lessee if I get this right---first there were the Leather Secrets with Camille O'Grady who broke up late-74 or so if CREEM can be trusted. Then O'Grady joined up with her then-boyfriend Peter Stampfel in the Unholy Modal Rounders before eventually re-forming the Secrets as the Camille O'Grady Band. Or something like that but whatever here's a piece of rock 'n roll history that has finally, after a good half-century of rotting in someone's shoebox, made its way to your ears and even mine.

From everything I could gather lo these many years later (including a Fred Kirby VARIETY writeup) I assumed these guys 'n gal were another New York Dolls reincarnate. Audio evidence suggests otherwise --- I mean sheesh but the show opens with "Whiskey River" of all things and the set romps through a series of golden oldies renditions (including the Belltones' punk classic "I've Had It") and equally sporty originals in the tradition that sound even better due to the C- sound quality. A might heavy on the covers but I will say that is sure does my ears good hearing Buddy Holly not warbled by Linda Ronstadt. 

And after all is heard and done maybe I do believe that the Secrets had the same New York pout and drive that Johansen and the rest tried to conquer the teenage mindset of the day with. Unfortunately they and many others failed miserably while lesser acts pandered to the worst aspects of teendom imaginable. Well, if I were front and center for this or any other Secrets show I know I woulda more'n just a good time hearing their straight and unadulterated performance of various pre-hippoid (ironic considering what these bozos looked like) rock moves without milking it into nada the way most "nostalgic" entities sure as shootin' did.

Like with Manster, judge for yourself directly below. Maybe you can make a dub and do some EQ fiddlin' to make this sound even gnarlier than it already does!:

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Ruby and the Rednecks-LIVE AT THE COVENTRY 1973 CD-r burn

It's amazing that back in the eighties and nineties I was just beggin' to lend ear to this legendary New York singer/songstress' warbling and like here, a good thirty/fortysome years down the road we not only have two legitimate album-length recordings to contend with but a nice selection of live sounds and even video (clips from by-now ancient CBGB and Max's shows even) to warm the cockles of our clogged aortas. 

Here's the earliest extant Ruby laid down at the legendary Coventry during the height of the very same En Why See Glam Slam that gave more'n a few rock 'n roll hoots hope that maybe someone or something out there thought was gonna drive the wimpoid AM snoozers and FM prog slogs off the face of the earth. I am somewhat but not totally surprised to hear that this '73 Rednecks gig is pretty much identical to what the lass was doing well into the 21st century, originals/covers and all! And I thought that the Fleshtones were an act that never varied from the original thrust! 

The inclusion of a banjo in a straight rock 'n roll setting (w/o any hint of rural countrifiedness, in fact utilized most of the time like a rhythm guitar) does add a particularly different twist of overall approach, making me wonder why more rock 'n roll groups performing in a more guttural post-Velvets sense acts didn't slip one of these into their act! 

Speaking of Velvets, dig the interesting re-do of "Rock 'n Roll" which is another one for that ever-growing list of VU covers that was staggering even before such things became the calling card of sophisticado college kids who tended to know the essence but not the downright gristle of it all. "Cry Me a River" ain't no slouch either...lend ear to that oscillator solo near the end which reminds me of Brian Sands' theremin howls that finished off Milk's version of "Boy Can I Dance Good". This is the seventies I remember, at least in downright spirit given just how much I was cloistered during those days of somewhat growing up.

Again I present a source for your own judgement just so's you can give the thing a listen and tell me how screwed my tastes are. A little dial twiddlin' might help this one out quite a bit:

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Various Artists-TEN PROTO PUNK CLASSICS PLUS TWO CD-r burn

This playlist comes from a pretty good Youtube mini-documentary that for some odd reason I cannot embed like I did with the above 'uns. You can watch it here if you so desire and come to think of it, what sorta human being who regularly tunes into this blog wouldn't want to experience this verifiable British NUGGETS of early punk rock artyfacts done up right before the Arbiter of Prog Musical Virtue (Chris Welch) did his best to suppress these tracks and save the youth of the nation with Jon Anderson. Or was it Ian?

Whatever it was that was being pushed on a gobble everything up public, it's no doubt that those MELODY MAKER-approved denizens of douche wouldn't have been able to compete (at least gulcherally-aestheticswise) with these mid-sixties rompers that never hit the charts the way they shoulda! This selection does cut a nice swath into the entire concept of punk as it developed over there, and as far as beat invasion drive goes well, I think whoever slapped this 'un together did a rather neat job of it. 

The Who and Kinks seem to be the starting point, and as with the Seeds or Sonics the sounds are emulated but certainly not imitated. I could argue that there were way too many tracks that shoulda been here but weren't (the Zephyrs and Craig along with a few more come to mind), but only an old maid prissy pimply-skinned pudenda of a pustule would up its nose at inclusions such as "The Addicted Man" or Northern Ireland's Wheels, Belfast-bred badguys who do the Shadows of Knight's "Bad Little Woman" with such gusto that you woulda thought The Troubles woulda started right then and there if only due to ultra-sonic frequencies!

Ya want it? Just copy this to whatever you're s'posed to copy things to these days and search out "Crawdaddy Simone" and "Things She Says" (this 'un, not that 'un, with future Yes-man Steve Howe) yourself to stick right at the end! Make up your own liner notes while you're at it...well, they're bound to come off better'n some of that offal I've read these past fortysome years I'll tell ya!

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David Bowie-THE LODGER CD-r burn (originally on RCA Records)

I had long given up on Bowie's entire switcheroo schtick by the time this came out so this is like uh, the first go 'round for me. Some go 'round too...gimme a little credit for knowing enough to ditch this guy given just how superior the new and improved real rock 'n roll music was to all of the gunk that was being force-fed down our throats thanks to the remnants of the established rock press/AM-FM mindset of the day.  At best, a close approximation of what Ultravox was doing during their own decline and at worst a precursor to all of that eighties fashion glop that took the better moments of mid-seventies import bin rock and distorted it beyond recognition. THIS was the music us aural fanatics were supposed to look forward to at the seventies/eighties cusp? Shee...

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The Dead Boys-IGNORANCE IN ACTION (THE RARITIES) CD-r burn (originally on Cleopatra Records)

This might come to a shock to you, but I really haven't considered myself a fan of either Stiv Bators or the Dead Boys for quite some time, perhaps because I grew to find their entire socio-musical DNA to be somewhat derivative of their First Wave of Cleveland Underground forbearers and perhaps without the bared-wire intensity. The story that Paul Marotta had been spewin' 'bout how Bators saw the Electric Eels and copped Dave E's stage jerks kinda make me wish it was Dave himself up there gettin' the record deals while the Dead One was shuffling around trying to secure dates for his own headed for oblivion band. Maybe the entire publicity hound-y nature of the Boys suddenly hit me, as if Iggy, Alice and heck, even Crocus and Dave E weren't superior to Bators in all aspects of talent and force and there were many a punk band who could outdo the Dead Boys on a heavy metal nervetwist level.

So this was the first listen to the Dead Boys in a good quarter century or so and here's what I have to say...the '87 12-incher tracks are a tad poppy but palatable enough for you long-time listeners while the Kirk Yano demos detect the shape of dredge (aka WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR CHILDREN) to come. At least their take on the Laughner classic "Ain't It Fun" sounds close enough for comfort to the original.

Best tracks are the oft-dubbed ones from the Halloween '76 Max's show in which a bass guitar-less Boys (a la the Eels --- still don't believe Marotta hunh?) owe more to previous punk generations than they do the future one. Covers of Ducks Deluxe and Syndicate of Sound are played against various originals sounding fair 'nuff although at this date I'd actually prefer to hear the Third Rail and Kongress shows from that same evening.

The disque closes with a cover of "Anarchy in the UK" which seems like a fair enough homage that even sounds like the Pistols if you squint your ears a bit. Historical.

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The Tielman Brothers-TV SHOWS CD (Sam Sam Records, Holland)

The cover snap's misleading for this contains little if any of those early television appearances I sure would have liked to've lent ear to. Like in the Youtube clip above these cuts are mostly from the post-Beat Invasion era Tielmans when they were doing a rather Vegas-y series of boob tube appearances, most which don't quite reflect the early mania these Indorockers could whip up when they were crankin' on all gears. 

However, these tracks prove that even an aging Tielmans still could rock 'n roll even if the horns and backup singers more or less ruin 'stead of enhance the proceedings. The brothers could even do a li'l magic on some of them old run-into-the-ground standbys like "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" not to mention a rather potent "Oh Happy Day" if you can believe that. 

Not bad really, with the highlights of the batch being an authentic early-sixties styled ripper entitled "A-A-A" as well as a version of "Bossa Nova Baby" (in fact the same 'un I posted in the last big deal post) done in a way that I sure wish the early-seventies Flamin' Groovies or any of those mid-seventies English blues punks woulda. And if you like them Amerigan late-fifties/early-sixties garage-y punks from Johnny and the Hurricanes and the Rock-a-Teens to the Fendermen this 'un should be way up your own expansive alley.

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Seth Meicht Quartet-ILLUMINE CD (CIMP Records)

Nothing out of the ordinary as far as this '06 effort goes, what with Meicht and his partner in tenor saxophonedom Matt Bauder playing mid-seventies era new thing. 'tis cool enough especially at a time when the luster has worn off regarding any inkling of this music having any sort of mass appeal. If you (like me) enjoyed tuning into the old CBGB Lounge cybercasts during the Dee Pop Freestyle series to hear various new thing acts who would never get a fair shake elsewhere you very well might enjoy this one.

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Andrew White-LIVE IN NEW YORK PART TWO CD-r burn (originally on Andrew's Music Records)

It's that guy who thought he was John Coltrane once again putting out a platter that I gotta admit is pretty hotcha and way beyond just plain ol' "homage" or even "nostalgia" for that matter. Pretty wired new thing that surprisingly enough was once well known amongst even the less attuned during the sixties. Like White's other efforts a fine example of what obsessive compulsive behavior can lead to, and if you can come up with a better legacy you go ahead and try it!

By the way, the bassist on this sesh was none other than Steve Jovenall, a name that has popped up in these "pages" via my review of the Stanley Cowell BLUES FOR THE VIET CONG album on Arista-Freedom. As I've mentioned in that writeup Jovenall was born in Farrell Pennsylvania which is a mere stones throw from where I reside, and oddly enough I came across some locals with that very same last name and naturally asked if there was any relationship between them and this somewhat noted bassist. Each time they automatically said "no" which makes me wonder if perhaps he is somehow connected with these Jovenalls but being a jazz musician he's some sorta black sheep and well, I didn't want to PRESS things with 'em and start some sorta row! But I sure DO wonder...

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Black Artist Group-FOR PEACE AND LIBERTY IN PARIS, DEC. 1972 CD-r burn (originally on We Want Sounds Records)

More from the BAG expat band doing a wonderful job of keeping up France's reputation as the home for amerigan black new thing players back late-sixties/early-seventies cusp. Basically a Human Arts Ensemble release with everyone a current or former member of that particular aggro, these players (Oliver Lake, Joseph Bowie, Floyd LeFlore, Baikida Carroll and Charles "Bobo" Shaw) continue on with their emulation of the AACM mode of Great Black Music, perhaps with a more r/b and rockist attitude in mind. An approach that just might have given them some appeal with the more non-jazz members of this audience who only listen to avgarde jazz with a more open frame of mind that made these people almost as important in a few record collections as the Stooges. Not as "gets ya" as some of these other BAG efforts (no free-scronk guitar) but if you liked their earlier Aguirre Records release (ARIES 1973) I don't have to tell you anymore now, do I? 

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Various Artists-ALSCHE WELT NOCH UNTERGING  (GERMAN POST PUNK UNDERGROUND 1979-1984) CD-r burn (hear it here)

As you all better know, the concept of "post-punk" never did gel with me not only considering the plain unadulterated fact that punk rock proper was, is and continued to be a working proposition at the time but because this music just evolved into plain ol' chi-chi and pretentious sounds that certainly did not settle well with this particular fanabla! This release reminds me of just what a desert of duh the eighties were at a time when real under-the-underground sound and vision was downright ridiculed while controlled opposition music such as this was getting the good ol' push in the pages of way too many fishwraps. To rehash an ancient joke, if Adolf were alive to hear this he'd just die...

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BLACK TO COMM, sad to say, is one fanzine that ya just can't GIVE away! And obviously it's one ya just can't sell either. But try and try I must and well, I get the feeling that there are some of you who wouldn't mind pouring your way through these still available issues that might either get you all joybells or have you sending untraceable poisons to my door. The choice is up to you, Petunia.

BOOK REVIEW! DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX VOLUME ONE (DC Comics, 2005)

Never was a fan of comic book westerns. They didn't exactly settle well with my own sense of ranch house fun 'n jamz since westerns were obviously aimed at the rural kinda kids who liked to run, jump, play athletic games and climb trees 'stead of just loaf around in the bedroom eating Cheetos like I was wont to do. Good for them but for this suburban pudge it was superheroes and early Marvel Age monster reprints only, and for a change of pace there were a variety of efforts from the Archie Comics Group that usually helped put a smile on my puss after long hard days of all that psychic bending over I hadda do. Westerns though...maybe they were just too historical for me 'r sump'thin'.

An' as far as I know amongst my "peers" there weren't many other cowboy comic fans that I can think of. Being the seventies 'n all it was more'n obvious that tee-vee and theatrical westerns were in decline, and I'd gander that a fair enough portion of the audience for these kinds of sagas were either dying off or heading in other directions in search of their adventurous throb thrills. Only knew of one western comics fan and I used to thumb through her collection of Marvel reprints if only to gander upon the various by-now famous artists who lent their pen to the giddyap cause...Dave Berg, George Woodbridge, Russ Heath...

You can sure as shootin' bet that I can remember when the grotesquely scarred character by the name of Jonah Hex made his comic book debut given the ads hyping his arrival in quite a number of the DC titles that I just happ'd upon. Sheesh, with campaign like that who but some ten-year-old gal into the romance titles could ignore him, but even with alla the publicity directed at the guy I sure didn't take the bait---I passed on those ALL STAR WESTERNs that this obvious "anti hero" was popping up in whilst on my way to the latest MONSTERS ON THE PROWL even if the guy had somewhat of a gory appeal that would have perked the budding sadist in me. 

Like I said westerns just seemed outta my bailiwick and besides sheesh, weren't DC just plagiarizing themselves what with a character whose physical deformities were slightly similar to Batman's longtime nemesis Two Face? Seemed kinda unoriginal but since Sky Saxon was famous for swiping from himself after he swiped from the Kinks maybe it was on the level after all.

Hex's a true loner, a suspicious of everyone (with good cause) bounty hunter which was a profession that, at least according to a good portion of the tee-vee westerns I've seen o'er the years, was about one step below cleaning bovine foreskins. He was also a Confederate soldier who switched to the North and whose face got scarred after being branded with "The Mark of the Demon" which I guess was an Indian version of the old squealer zig-zag that was so popular in various New York City social circles. Well, that's one story, but whatever it sure does help out this pretty creepy (and thusly lovable in his own inimitable way) character's socio-comicology makeup rather swell. And even though he earns his living in ways that might have been taboo in societies both polite and impolite, you do get the feeling that he is a whole lot more moral than the denizens he frequently encounters, both polite and impolite at that.

I don't think I coulda handled these comics age twelve being such a nerve-frayed fear-crunched kid that I was. Now I can enjoy HEX frayed nerves and all. Way back when I woulda been bejabbered over the craven violence, heartlessness and the definitely cruel aspects of Hex. He makes his enemies go through the roughest of just desserts that are so extreme that he could even make Mr. A. shudder. In one of these sagas he gives a desperately ill guy a vial of medicine then shoots it out of his hand, and when another particularly evildoer is bitten by a rabid wildcat and pleads with Hex not to let him die alone, the scarred one tossed the corpse of the guy's brother at him! Ain't no shortage of gutbusting tragedy here...children drowned in quicksand, acres of Indians rotting in the sun, escaping Confederate POWs mowed down with gatling guns. Best part about it's that you could have bought an ish with enough pennies picked up off the sidewalk!

Fred Wertham was still around when these mags first hit the racks, and you know that he'd just die after a good five pages or so, it's that over-the-top violent and definitely against any code I can think of comics or otherwise! I'll tell ya, these must have been a quite refreshing (and needed) change from those heavy handed morality tales that were popping up in most all of the other DC titles of the day!

And oddly enough I like the art! "Oddly" if only because I never cozied up to alla them fine-penned Filipino artists that DC was pushing on us in the seventies, believing that their work was just too danged detailed and complicated for stories such as those seen in your standard comic book. However, original HEX artist Tony DeZuniga does a fantab job on this what with him capturing the whole filthy and definitely un-hygenic aspects of the Wild West, thankfully without piles of horseshit hunked up all over the place.

As a bonus DC stuck some pre-Hex ALL STAR WESTERN sagas at the tail end of the book. Good 'nuff with more De Zuniga art'n all, but the stories just don't hold up to the visage of HEX's merciless world. Like the breath mints at the restaurant they're free so don't complain.

Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Ameriga and all the shits at sea, it's BLOG TO COMM on the air once again trying to straighten out quite a few of you readers as to what REAL rock 'n roll scribing is s'posed to be all about 'stead of what you'd find in a good hunk of that college newspaper offal you've been subjected to all these ugly years. Remember, I said "trying", though whether I succeed or not is an entirely different question that's up to you to decide. Haven't had one of these "real deal" posts in quite some time so let me say 'tis sure grand meeting up with alla ya again and if you can't see the utter snark in that 'un I'm afraid you're even a more hopeless case than I'll ever be.

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One of the reasons this post took so long to get out was because of the arrival of the li'l beaut that you can see at your very left, the latest (#6) issue of FAUX WOOD PANELING which I must admit's the only magazine that I actually look forward to getting hold of in my greasy paws this far down the ol' lifeline. (The reason that this mag held up the post is because well, the only real reading time I get these days is when I'm on the commode and like well, even that can be limiting if you're on a strict diet.)  

Izzit my imagination or is this issue bigger'n the others? And if that ain't enough to get you all hot 'n bothered under the collar howzbout the contents of this mag which cover everything from Bon Scott and his involvement with and without AC/DC ('n a smart history too regarding those early days of struggle when the Easybeats connection really mattered to people like Greg Shaw) to famed Frenchman Claude Bessy, Robert Forward with his Cee-Dee burn empire and a whole slew of items both inside and out the realm of Meltzer. Even a Heavy Mother "II" tour diary pops up, just like the kind they used to have in alla them eighties "'zines". The thing even comes with a beaut of a flexidisc by some act called Mordecai which I am not going to listen to for reasons that should be obvious to longtime tuner-inners of this blog.

To put the icing on the ol' Ho Ho there's an additional magazine included with this 'un too. It's a biography written by one Timothy Buchanan, one regarding a jazztress named Una Mae Carlisle, a singer of some renown who probably gets the red carpet treatment here because she was born near FAUX WOOD PANELING's Wilberforce Ohio epicenter, mainly the tornado capital of that fair state known as Xenia (well, somewhere near its epicenter). It's a great and informative bit of jazz history to read and digest and like, if the world was a more real-deal kind of place for people like myself it would be stuff like this getting printed in bigtime magazines 'stead of the usual fluff that I assume pops up these days. If both Buchanan and Oberlin don't get any added bonus points from this when they cash their chips and meet Saint Peter I'll say there is no hope in this sad 'n sorry life of ours!

If you want one, click on the link at the left.

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Trying to keep this blog somewhat uppa date and current affairs-related well, all of this talk about the sleepy town of Springfield Ohio and the Haitians o'er there who have reportedly been swiping dogs, cats and geese for their din-dins reminded me of my own tangles with the city! T'was during the summer of 1976 and well, the folk were scheduled to do an antiques show/flea market thingie in that very city on a Saturday, only the day before the two of 'em got into a heated argument and Dad says he was definitely NOT GOING to help Mom in any wayshapeform...he was actually that steamed over something that I have forgotten about after all these years! Not having planned to go with the rest of 'em, I was more or less drafted into doing so even though I had some serious plans for that Saturday, mainly spinning records and acting like the total jerk kid I was and in many ways shall remain.

Anyhow I was awakened at two in the morn, got dressed and had breakfast as the tee-vee played THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL. The final segment where all the guests gathered to sing "The Sound of Silence" still reverberates in me, and not exactly in a positive way at that. (If any of you biographers want to actually pinpoint the exact day we made the trek to Springfield I'm sure this little fact should help you out somewhat.)

So right when the television station was signing off we left in our dilapidated second-hand 1972 Ford Torino station wagon with me in the back all buried in antiques while Mom and Cyster stayed in the front. Mom drove and Cyst commandeered the radio meaning I hadda put up with repeat after repeat of Peter Frampton singing "Baby I Love Your Way" which probably encouraged my disdain for the tune even more. I remember my mother saying that she actually liked the song which surely proved that she didn't know what "your way" meant.

We arrived about daybreak, set up and well, thankfully the day was nice and sunny. I don't remember how we did sales-wise but I do recall romping about the show looking for things to ogle at. Someone was offering the original printing of THE MAD READER, the one with the "What's My Shine" story that was excised from later editions, but it was somewhat tattered so I passed (I regretted not getting it for years until the story was eventually reprinted years later and to be truthful about it the thing wasn't funny a'tall). Also espied an 8-track of the Blues Magoos' PSYCHEDELIC LOLLIPOP but since I didn't have an 8-track player I figured to save the moolah. It might have been a quarter-track...you used to see lots of those at these kinda affairs.

Anyway we packed up 'round five and got home about 9:30 in the evening or so because I remember my father was watching THE BOB NEWHART SHOW when we arrived. He seemed to have calmed down somewhat but was still slightly miffed. And of course I was tired, but it was like one of those satisfying kinda tireds you used to get after a long day at the amusement park (as if I would know since we hardly ever went to any). It was fun, and I don't recall seeing any Haitians or pets for that matter anywhere around.

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Interesting "fact" (via an ebay listing) that I never knew of regarding the infamous NUGGETS collection:

This is a must-have for any serious music collector. The two-disc set features a unique blend of psychedelic rock and garage rock, with tracks from various artists such as The Velvet Underground and The Stooges (my emphasis). The vinyl material ensures high-quality sound and the 33 RPM speed provides a smooth listening experience. The record label, Sire, released this album in 1976 and it remains a classic to this day. The black color of the record adds to its aesthetic appeal {? sez me}. The album is in near mint condition, making it a great addition to any collection. Get your hands on this rare piece of music history today!

Ya learn something new every day!

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Some sad if waywayWAY belated news to report --- do you remember a DC-area rockscribe named Elizabeth "Libby" Hatch, the very same Libby Hatch who contributed some interesting music screeding (even if I didn't especially care for her Laurel Canyon and Women's Lip opines) to the likes of HYPE(RION) and CREEM?  Y'know, the same Libby Hatch who played bass guitar with such Dee-Cee acts as the Shirkers and Tru Fax and the Insaniacs and was also known far and wide in the area for being tangentially involved with other local aggregations like Black Market Baby? Sad to say, but I just discovered that she died in a motorcycle accident during December of 1998, and although I'm sure you readers could care less I thought I'd mention her even if I didn't especially cozy up to things like her review of OUR BODIES OUR SELVES or singer/songwriter rah rahs. Well, at least this certain fact has egged me on into reading her contributions to the music press with my rockist pride hanging at half mast.

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Now for a brief interlude, the Alice Cooper Toronto Revival Festival show from September 1969, a performance so off the wall insane that it kinda makes me wonder just how Alice could end up becoming a sad shell of his former self crooning such utter snooze as "Only Women Bleed", "You and Me" not to mention that ultimate gut-wrencher "I'll Never Cry"! As far as his dismal ABC television special promoting his LACE AND WHISKEY album with that forties private eye schtick (and believe-you-me, I tried watching it!) the less said the better...

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And now for another brief interlude, a performance (I posted another one a decade or two back) by the infamous (to those "in the know") Tielman Brothers, the should be legendary in the USA Indorock band who proved that there was life in Holland long before Focus! After watching this all I have to say is...have we really progressed?

 

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The miracle of AI roars on! Gotta say that I really dig these "Super Panavision" refabrications of old tee-vee faves done up in ways I'm sure a lotta you more imaginative kids out there woulda like 'em  to have been the first time 'round! In fact I myself has gotta admit that I like the following two efforts so much that I even requested that these people do an H.P. Lovecraftian take on GREEN ACRES!:

There are at least five FLINTSTONES AI redos that I know of!:

Ditto THE JETSONS:

The Popeye one doesn't work though...he has teeth, both eyes and sheesh where are those malformed arms and legs?!?!?!:

These videos prove that one can play with energetic life forces and actually get away with it. I have great hope for AI, imagining that it can not only create interesting and unique television and motion picture entertainment for our own personal use (once the technology dribbles down to peons like myself who will be able to master our own realities without the interference of higher sociopolitical influence) but can conjure anything from long lost songs by unrecorded acts to decayed cinematic excursions that are over 120 years old! Maybe the future actually will be more Gerry Anderson and less Aldous Huxley after all!

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Tried to keep the reviews short and succinct this time but of course I will fail in my attempts, run of the mouth keyboard bornado that I was, am and shall remain. Thanks for the freebees Paul McGarry, Robert Forward, Thierry Mueller, Wade Oberlin and no one else this time!

The Unholy Modal Rounders-UNHOLIER THAN THOU 2-CD-r set (originally on Don Giovanni Records)

Lessee, I already used the Real Amerigan Folk Music line in an earlier Rounders writeup, and I don't think that you're gonna buy the schtick about these guys being part of the general mid-seventies NYC underground rock scene either (even if for all practical purposes it is true). But whaddeva, this is the Unholy Modal Rounders live at the Bottom Line in New York City doing their psychedelicized mountain man music coming off like what I wished ALL of those down-home whole wheat granola types from the seventies woulda. If music like this had only gotten out a little more back then would we have hadda put up with John Denver? Of course we woulda...people are assholes.

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QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE LP (Capitol Records)

I've tried avoiding this group's "official" efforts after year upon year of hearing about just how flatso these guys sounded in the studio as compared with their various live traipses, of which some early ones have been issued legit-wise o'er the past few decades. Those efforts capture the essence of the entire San Fran ballroom scene before that petered out into drug casualty haze, but coming upon a free copy of their '68 debut I decided to cast a whole lotta "I told you so!" to the wind and find out that well, these naysayers were quite correct. 

Not really, since QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE does show some spark of promise on the second side with the extended tracks allowing the group to stretch out into jazzy improv, but otherwise this is just downright dull. Then again I usually have to adjust my listening parameters to eke any sorta enjoyment outta most of these late-sixties psychedelic efforts so why shouldn't this 'un be any different? Well, it was better'n anything that the corpse of the SF scene was cranking out by the turn of the decade and we should be thankful for that!

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David Bowie-STATION TO STATION CD-r burn (originally on RCA Records)

Brad Kohler wants me to send him all of them Cee-Dee-Are burns that I don't want hanging around the BTC office, but when I offered him STATION TO STATION he balked because he already bought the thing for a whole dollar at the local Starvation Army. Thanks a lot bud, now I'm STUCK with this turdburger!

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Thee Headcoats Sect featuring Don Craine-HEADCOATS ON! CD-r burn (originally on Hangman Records, England)

Pshaw! These tracks featuring Downliners Sect maniac Craine also pop up on that ELEMENTARY HEADCOATS Cee-Dee I reviewed sometime back. Nevertheless this 'un's mandatory listening for any of you who were all out for the Sect ever since you found out about 'em via a variety of early-seventies fanzines, At least I get to hear that Snagglepuss impression once again.

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Lou Reed-CLEVELAND MUSIC HALL, CLEVELAND OHIO APR, 26, 1978 CD-r burn

As I've said many-a-time before, I am so glad that I was too poor to buy all the records like you rich kids sure could (hadda play the ones I did get on an ancient, dilapidated stereo as well!). Thankfully the depression-era wages I hadda subsist on saved me from having to hear some rather unappetizing records like TAKE NO PRISONERS. I assume this recording from roughly the same time is a whole dang a lot like that 'un, and if so I'm glad my $8.98 went towards other worthy goop 'stead of that mess. Somehow I get the idea that if Lou had followed Elvis' lead and went Vegas this is what his show woulda sounded like. I'd like to know which comedian Reed woulda gotten to open the show --- I think Don Rickles woulda been perfect zingin' them insults at Reed before getting strangled!

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THE TONY JACKSON GROUP CD-r burn (originally on Estudio Records, Colombia)

Haw! Have a humongous hit and then leave your group right in the middle of alla this success! Anyway that's what this Jackson guy did and well, if you happen to think that the Searchers just weren't the same without his unique nasal blare (not that any of us in the US of Whoa would know) he sure didn't do so hot on his own! Sheesh, being reduced to re-doing his big hit really must've been a comedown par excellence, but otherwise these tracks are pretty hotcha for those of you who are still enamored by sixty-plus-year-old British Invasion moves and generally moving/shaking songs both original and cover. Not a bad 'un if you're keen for these sounds.

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Michel Pagliaro-LIVE SALOON 3-CD-r burn set

I never cozied up to Pagliaro the way many adherents of the seventies power-pop Greg Shaw "it's all coming back" rah-rah club sure did, and the first disque-and-a-half sure didn't make me regret my choice one bit. By the time the famed Montrealer got into his seventies hits it all tumbled over me like a stack of back issues. Now I can hear what the likes of Jymn Parrett and a whole bunch of under-the-covers rock 'n rollers did at a time when music like the kind Pagliaro churns out on this acoustic live get-together wasn't exactly lighting a fire under the asses of the dulled out Pantsios-bred FM rock types. The extended 'tween songs French patter didn't hinder this either, sounding almost as musical as the actual tuneage.  

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Various Artists-KEB DARGE & LITTLE EDITH'S LEGENDARY WILD ROCKERS CD-r burn (originally on BBE Records, England)

I didn't think any of these early rock 'n roll compilations could get any wilder but this 'un sure does reach for levels of musical insanity. Hotcha collection of early rockabilly, plain ol' rock 'n roll and rhythm and blues that fits like a jigsaw because it sure is tuned into the better aspects of late-fitfies unto pre-Beatles sixties Amerigan doof. Most of these are new to my ears but there are a few recognizable classics such as Ronnie Cook and the Gaylads' better-be-legendary-by-now "Goo Goo Muck", not forgetting Kai Ray's "I Want Some of That" which helped put Minneapolis on the rock 'n roll map! Well, maybe not as much as the Fendermen or Trashmen did but still... A release that keeps up the energy level, but why the stoopid tiki cover anyway?

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Sun Ra-FRIENDLY GALAXY CD-r burn (originally on Leo Records, England)

A just pre-stroke Ra does fine returning to the late-fifties Arkestra style, sounding somewhat tired and ragged but still spirited enough to put on a fairly good performance. Some unfamiliar trackage here as well as a few "hoary old chestnuts" as they like to say. At least he didn't go outta this mortal coil reducing himself to Chuck Mangione dribble the way I'm sure many a record label mogul woulda wanted. Not a mandatory one, unless you're a Sun Ra fanatic and I just know there are many of you out there who are (or better be!).

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A WHOLE BUNCHA RADIO AIRCHECKS CD-r burns

Robert Forward sent these right under the ol' electro-charged wire and well, all I gotta say is what a way to top off a blogpost! The Chicago radio one featured nothing but some guy driving 'round talking about exchange students and Brazil (prolly a mistake on Forward's part), but the rest were hotcha enough in the ways they conveyed just how the concept of FM radio went from freeform entertainment to AOR pandering to the dullest aspects of doofus 18-34 years old Ameriga. Believe-you-me, I hadda LIVE through it all and you all know how much I get STEAMED!!! and wish for not only the dee-jays who played that musical mulch but their teenbo clientele to die long, painful deaths!

Tom Donahue's San Fran show from '68 was particularly boss what with his truly freeform playlist and intelligent 'tween song patter, but the "Brother Love" show on WAMO in Pittsburgh from 'round the same time was a real deal surprise for this particularly holed up in the bedroom dip of a blogschpieler! Imagine that Tim Leary type from DRAGNET uttering poster shop slogans along with guest Raymond the Condemned while Blue Cheer and Great Society tracks spin and you'll get an idea of just how cornballus something could be on one hand yet high-lariously in-tune on the other. Just take a listen to "The Museum of the Straight" and hope your name is not mentioned!

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Hokay, here's yet another end of post come on for back issues of BLACK TO COMM that I know you're gonna keep on ignoring. But eh, what else would I expect given all of that wonderful, enriching and knowledgeable rock writing one can find on the web for free. Have fun googling "Foreigner Rock Hall of Fame"...boy will you get the kind of rock news I know you're just looking for!