Yeah, I know that few if any of you care what I think. Actually, even I don't care what I think! But if you do have it in your heart to give at least a damn to be early-seventies about it regarding people other than yourselves (like maybe me) well, there are some interesting opines and whatnot to follow. If you're torn between reading this and engaging in something that used to be illegal unless you were of the age of consent well, you know what's best for you and whatever's left of your mind now, don't you?
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As far as life goes well, it always could be better but at times it ends up worse. Keeping busier than usual just doing my usual doodies and trying to get some relaxation in, something I really won't be getting much of until I'm slapped into one of those low-grade Old Folk's Homes like the kind Brad Kohler used to work at where chubby nurses are always seen outside smoking while some nonagenarian keeps ringing the buzzer in vain.
I'm also trying to weave myself back into my vinyl collection even more than I have been over the past few years, digging out some of the oft-neglected items in the piles of platters that adorn my room. Some long-ignored efforts have thankfully been uncovered though others not so...still trying to locate at least one old Husker Du effort if only to re-introduce myself to that once-famed (and once good) trio who I haven't spun in like ages to which I say shame on moi.
I could get into a big moaning boo-hoo about how the kind of records I want and desire just aren't out there and how my life is the worse because of it, and come to think of it I will. There are tons of groups I would like to hear, mostly obscurities from the second rock age (according to my calculations roughly 1964-1981) but unless some enterprising soul comes around and makes these efforts available I'll just be frettin' over the fact that I, just like Massa, is probably gonna go into the col' col' ground without ever getting to hear what I would call essential and vital to my own livelihood sounds.
But eh, who knows...maybe something definitely vital to the rockism cause like that lost Crouille Marteau album for BYG, a tape of no wave group Terminal or even Amon Duul live at the Essen rockfest will surface thus sating a whole load of desires that have been curdling in my mind for years on end. Probably not but eh, if long-lost silent-era films people thought to be lost forever continue to be discovered why not sound recordings that would certainly suit me better'n a good portion of the dross passing itself off for music these sad and sorry days!
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For this week's AI creation, a picture of Emo Phillips pushing some heretic off a bridge. |
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Canada the 51st state? Sheesh, does the USA really need Newfies?
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HIGHLY OVERRATED (if rated at all) SOFT DRINK-Orange Cream Coca-Cola which is just another gimmick to get you to guzzle the same-old with some added flavors that never did taste as good as the original soda fountain concoctions (I still remember drinking authentic Chocolate Coca-Cola served in one of those paper cones placed inside an aluminum holder complete with a little drop of the chocolate syrup concentrated right at the bottom!). Serves me right since I oughta be boycotting this swill anyway!
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HEAR MY PLEA! Could someone out there send me a sound recording (no visuals!) of the Peter Hofsess film BLACK ZERO (PALACE OF PLEASURE) for me? Not the updated one with that gender fluid Montreal band doing the music but the original with the Who and Velvet Underground material intermingled with original music by the Gass Company doing their best to prove themselves one of the first groups to sport a Velvets influence. If you can slip the soundtrack to REDPATH 25 on as well I surely would be totally in debt which for me is a rather easy proposition!
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Record (or whatever) review time! Donations were given by Paul McGarry and Robert Forward (even found an old Bill Shute spinner that slipped through the cracks).
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Hmmmm...didn't have much hope for this New Jersey group's local press but bought the thing for two reasons and two reasons only! First off, "fiddle/violin/mandolin" player John Cortes was later an on/off member of the better than you would have expected New York spacerock band Alien Planetscapes and second off, Sub Zero were booked, and on the same dates as the ever-popular Kongress, electrogrind band Guardian and the totally neglected Antenna (later "the Ants") at the 1975 CBGB Christmas Festival which did make me somewhat curious. Cortes said that on Christmas Eve Sub Zero actually played to an empty house, but I do get the idea that was because everyone must have been partying elsewhere because these guys were a somewhat listenable act despite the warning signs (I mean...fiddle and mandolin?).
Unlike a good portion of these now you see 'em acts, Sub Zero actually put out an album and believe it or leave it but the platter's actually worth at least some scrutiny. The Black Oak Arkansas influence Cortes once hinted at in unfortunately nowhere to be heard but still I gotta hand it to this sextet for putting out an album that does have more'n just a few moments and for not succumbing to the whole laid back seventies burned out hippie dream that was such a joke that punk rock was fortunately around to lambaste it all...at least before the punks became the burned out hippie dream mark two!
Well, maybe the ol' down on the commune feeling is evident on track one which is entitled "Home Grown Woman" where singer Robert Seals (with a rather weak-kneed tenor voice) and special guest Christy Seals who I assume is somehow related chime on about that downhome backwoods gal livin' off the land 'n all, done to one of those pass the jug amongst other things jams that sounds like something those hippoids in BILLY JACK might've cooked up. Somehow I do think it is a put on considering how Seals sings about the gal of his dreams "smelling like a compost" so perhaps this is redeemable.
Continuing on my track-by-track assessment (something I ain't done at least since the days of my own crudzine) comes "Home is Where Your Head is" which will make you forget any nasty memories of the previous track. It's totally out of nowhere considering how this 'un sounds more like some 1967 psychedelic hillbilly garage band with Cortes' careening violin perhaps upping the date to 1969 when a lotta bands were caught in the crosshairs of punk psychosis and professional plop. I'll betcha this finger snapper could have turned up on one of those ultra-expensive sixties collectors music compilations that Midnight Records used to sell at exorbitant prices.
"Tom Cat Blues" follows, and forgetting the juvenile slip in of the intended entendre "pussy" this is yet another fairly good hillbilly joke on the headband gang listening, complete with comb and wax paper buzz and Holy Modal Rounders subversive hoot.
Closing out the side's "Simple Man" which, at least to me, recalls early Country Joe right when he and the Fish were going electric and hey, even if that guy has irritated me what with his imbecilic "Fish Cheer" I don't mind listening to the violin drone which reminds me of the Fish organ which I think was one of the better things that group was ever able to muster up.
Flip it over and "Morning Sky" is there to greet'cha...slow psych with enough pop moves to make this worth lending ear to, reminding me of what the Jefferson Airplane would have come up with had I only LIKED them. A fair enough entry. If Cortes' violin is meant to emulate Papa John Creach's then maybe I should dig into that's guy's catalog!
With a title like "Forty Shades of Blue" I was thinking this would be somewhat like that dirty book that came out awhile back but it ain't. It ain't that hot either with lead vocalist Ann Hudson reminding me of Anne Murray. The steel guitar doesn't help much either.
Back to the cornball titles---"Song to Sing" got me thinking Oliver and that HAIR hit of his with alla that doobie dabba dabba dribble! This 'un passes if only because it has some decent Moby Grape undertones and yeah, the specter of seventies Grateful You-Know-Who seems to pop its li'l rear into the sound but then again I can hear the 13th Floor Elevators 'round the time of BULL OF THE WOODS which certainly does help out...somewhat.
"Sidewalk Shuffle"---back to the sixties and fair enough only because the laid back approach doesn't quite strangle any of the interesting drive the song does retain.
Closing out the platter's "Too Many Religions" which is exactly what you think it's about. Again the Airplane seem to be lurking in the influence but the song survives due to what I would call a down groove psychedelic folk rock tension. Good way to close out an album I'll tell ya.
'n ya know? I get the feeling that I will be pulling this one off the pile on quite a few occasions even if I find the thing rather uneven. There is a fair enough spirit here that does save this from being yet another one of a million front porch touchyfeely folkie hoedowns we've had way too many of in this life of ours. You can judge for yourselves given what I have writ whether or not you'll wanna hear this 'un for yourselves if you're brave enough to inquire with a missive to Void Records, PO Box 506, Millville NJ 08332 and don't be surprised if your letter comes back.
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As Robert Forward said, "it took a hundred years but here's this guy's first solo record"! Sheesh, Sun Ra mainstay Marshall Allen lived about three times the lifespan of your average jazz musician which really is something given all of the maladies both self-inflicted or not that usually befall these guys, and only now does he step out as a leader! Talk about procrastination!!!
Recorded three days after the guy hit the big 'un, Marshall sounds as arkestry as anything, playing fairly well for a guy in the triple digits who may not have all of those important things (like "the wind") anymore but still has the spirit to be cornballus about it. Thank Ra that the man has kept the swing goin' with this 'un, especially during an era where it seems that anything but sway and style is part and parcel to the jazz sound unless you're one of those all-out free player who thankfully are still in on the game. Lotsa strings, lotsa blues, a tad of punk funk, "World Music", some modern-day slickwhiz and heck, even some Nenah Cherry. Nice one here.
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Part of that "American Lost Punk Nuggets" series that gave us the Warm Jets album reviewed a month or three back. These Iowans were in on the Ig worship game long before I ever espied a Stooges record in the cutout racks of my local record emporium which sure is saying something good for them, if bad for me.
Just like every other band that I know of who called themselves the Dogs (including the Flamin' Groovies for a very short spell) these bowzers really captured the spirit of seventies hard-rock gunch what with their definite musical/lyrical references to Iggy that definitely rank with the Imperial Dogs and Rocket From The Tombs as far as the high energy quotient that is displaced on these 1972-1978 tracks go.
Professionally recorded in an honest to fanabla studio, this 'un coulda passed as THAT GREAT LONG-LOST ALL AMERIGAN PUNK ROCK ALBUM that, had it only been released back during them times, woulda been the greatest cutout find to ever make its way to a DENIM DELINQUENT review page. Despite the studio slickness this does retain the power and might that went with these sounds and who knows, if Kid Sister had only gotten into a studio they woulda sounded just as good as these fellow middle-of-the-continent compatriots in sound.
'n this is just the tip of the mid-century Amerigan (and elsewhere) punk rock blare. Of course more is needed so whoever you are, clean out them drawers and sent them tapes to SOMEONE!!!!
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Here's the future Joey Ramone during his Jeff Starship days with that band that later became Kid Blast then Grand Slam (check out the second Max's album). 'n for a buncha '73 glam rockers these guys sure did a great job of it what with Mr. Starship/Ramone's nasal growl and phonus balonus English accent balanced against the hard-edged glitter blare that ain't quite New York Dolls but gettin' there. The sound is wonky but listenable...I'll betcha that with things like AI and other state of the art shenanigans this could end up rather pro sounding, maybe getting a release on one of those small labels that cater to the clientele for this music the same way alla those labels were issuing Benny Goodman airchecks for an earlier but equally rabid bunch for years on end. Rock history? Nah...rock as a still relevant force in one's like whether you're an upstart teenbo or an old turd like myself. Rave Up Records, are you listening???
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Now that I got this set, alla those ill feelings of passing on more than just a few copies of THE TURTLES GREATEST HITS during my prowling of garage sales and flea markets days have pretty much vanished. Of course spending a quarter on an album back when I was eleven woulda been a better deal since that 'un will now cost me a good six bucks at any antiques shop but eh, these two burnt offerings have alla this and even more so I better quit being such a big baby about it and settle back and GIVE A GOOD LISTEN!
And hey, this ultimo collection's even better'n the ton of previous Turtle gather ups, giving us all the a's and b's including those recs that didn't manage to do squatsville even if these guys were more'n just hot potatoes in the world of AM dial tuning. These are real-deal "nuggets if you duggits" from the early folk rock pangs of "It Ain't Me Babe" and personal fave "Let Me Be" to the hotcha pop slop that really raked in not only the big bux but the gash.
Even the later-on tracks custom made for the pimpled thigh gals have their boff sense of genius that I'm sure most high-falutin' naysayers of the day would have denied because these guys weren't exactly the hippest thing in the annals of rockist snobdom. Well, at least they weren't until Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan hitched up with T. Rex and Zappa. THEN they were cooler than cool.
The only thing that would have made this 'un more perfecter than perfect woulda been liner notes by Tricia Nixon. But I guess we couldn't expect anything like that now, could we?
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Here's Living Colour a good three years before VIVID thrust them onto the record-buying scene and the people out there proved that they actually had some good taste in music after all. And I was part of that massive throng of Living Colour fans, at least until these guys did that "love song in the age of AIDS" which was like ASKING me to hate them.
The three-piece version of the group start off with some really power-packed jazz fusion (the kind that won't make you puke) before getting into the vocal realm where the music can range from equally razzle-dazzle to somewhat tiresome in spots. Whatever, still worth the seek out. Living Colour really were one group from the v. late-eighties that deserved all the fame they got and perhaps the only one group that I can think of offhand (well, there was also Guns 'n Roses at least to a point) for that matter who did.
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This 'un's a pretty down home set of early Sun discards that helps get my blood flowin' even if I'm not in a rockabilly mood. These tracks are all unreleased obscurities (well, unreleased until this came out I guess) gathered together in what sounds like the perfect platter for all of those European fifties maniacs who produced more than their fair share of boring fanzines over the years. Features names both familiar (Narvel Felts, Rudy Grayzell...) and not. Along with a whole slew of White Label and other under-the-counter companies a pretty good encapsulation of a sound and way of music that sure didn't last too long, but you just know that its never gonna be forgotten by people who take their past seriously.
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Never did cuddle up to these guys if only because they seemed like not only "older kid music" but the bridge between mid-sixties folk rock and seventies laid back ROLLING STONE denim jeans and jacket cocaine karma. After listening to this 'un I can revel in the fact that my original suspicions have been confirmed. Let's just say that by this time these guys just weren't the rockin' and honky tonkin' garage greats the Canadian Squires of "Leave Me Alone" fame let alone the backing band for Moulty no' mo'!
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I might have mentioned how my knowledge of Reich had been nada when compared to some of his fellow composers who were at least getting noticed by snootier-than-thou prog rock types. What I have heard from the guy never has disappointed me and neither does MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS which flows in and out of a repetitive pulse, not as stark or as bold as what Terry Riley and Philip Glass were doing around the same time but you can't admit that this does satisfy the same way it did back when you were just discovering this music and its sounded like a totally new realm to wallow about in. If you were some fat suburban slob kid who hadda fight for scraps of information from the cool world and even a Nonesuch order of HPSCHD was cause for celebration you would understand! Makes me wanna slam dunk that old biddy of a librarian who wouldn't get more records like this because they already had Ferde Grofe and that was enough avgarde for them!
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Mr. Forward sent me a Cee-Dee-Are burn with the Rashied Ali/Leroy Jenkins album SWIFT ARE THE WINDS OF TIME not knowing that I had that 'un for years. Well, it gave me an excuse to listen to the thing again but after that he slapped on this Ali recording done with the soundsearing Frank Lowe called SIDEWALKS IN MOTION which is just now seeing the light of day.
This definitely was recorded after Lowe read that review about "overblowing" and unfortunately toned himself down, but even with the man's "restraint" this is a very listenable, fray at the endings of your nerves sesh. Definitely patterned in the classic Coltrane style yet more ESP circa 1967...for some reason (maybe my superior insight) Frank Wright immediately comes to mind as do various other late-sixties experimentalists who managed to take an already extreme music into the outer reaches.
Good 'nuff even if this ain't up there with those Lowe classics like BLACK BEINGS, THE FLAM and that all time brainripper FRESH. The revival of the Survival label is also something to go all out joybells over...maybe now they'll finally release that Rashied Ali's Funky Freeboppers album which Survival has been promising to get out for years on end!
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Missed out on this (not that I was particularly looking for it!) Residents rec that was legendary in the same listening circles I was bopping around in way back when. Then again you probably never had to subsist on depression-era wages like I did at a time when I had to be pretty picky about where my pennies went!
On this legendary effort the Residents re-imagine all of those sixties nuggets and turn teen time USA into a nightmare or at least Purgatory. A whole load of your favorite singles of the day remade/remodeled/mutilated in a way that comes off the way that Blue Boy from DRAGNET probably heard 'em.
From what I understand, a lot of the people who were heavily into sixties garage bands and other top 40 efforts really enjoyed this which only goes to show you that they had way more of an open mind and sense of humor than the FM-bred dolts who would have puked had the Residents done this to Journey!
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If you want them (and who in their right mind does?), there are back issues of BLACK TO COMM still up and about in case you need to fill in the cracks that are in your collection, or fill in the cracks that are in your garage as you turn on the engine for that matter. Outside the USA, please be prepared for some extreme sticker shock. In fact, don't even bother.
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