IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR WHICH I GUESS IS GONNA DREDGE UP A WHOLE LOAD OF BAD MEMORIES IN ALL OF YOU REGULAR BLOG TO COMM READERS LIKE IT HAS ME.

It's beginning to look a lot like somethingorother, so let me use this time to give one and all ('cept for the people I hate of course) a hale and hearty Happy Holidays, something which ain't exactly "Merry Christmas" (can't offend the pagans no mo') but since "holiday" is actually derived from the even more scabrous "holy day" I guess even that's too religious to mention lest I "put off" a good 99.999...% of you readers. But whatever your spiritual affiliations may be I know that all of you out there will use any occasion to get stoned and make total fools outta yourselves, and if the Yuletide Season is one of those opportunities for over imbibing with a variety of stimulants both legal or not well, go to it you crusty old hedonist you!

But once again it's that time of year which naturally brings a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat (usually a Christmas cookie) thinking about all of those family traditions that have passed by the wayside. Christmas always brought out the true side of all of our personas and feelings (not always the "good tidings" ones!), and I fear a lot of the old ways have been totally lost ne'er to return which really does make me feel all boo hoo and waah! All of those Christmas parties with us kids fighting, breaking each other's toys and of course getting whooped (in front of everyone as if that was going to humble me!) for acting up are but mere memories, almost as merrily mystical as the time I got my cousin's new Barbie with the movable joints (there was a big trade in of the old Barbies for the new which had gals ditching their earlier models for the more swinging late-sixties edition --- thankfully cyster was smart enough to keep her original which had that classic snazz style that had given way to a variant that kinda irked me) and I spread the legs apart like a wishbone snapping a leg off in the process! Boy did that induce cousin into a crying jag to end 'em all---I mean the gal turned into a regular Victoria Falls (ol' Vickie was a gal I knew who really could blubber!) right then and there and there was no way to turn off that faucet! I hadda buy cuz a new one with some of the money that I got for the holidays (and the rest hadda go into the bank y'know!). 

That naturally threw a few burrs into my sleeping bag, but what really irked me is that years later when I offhandedly reminded her of this ordeal...SHE HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT and started laughing her head off! Cuz said that the real reason that I spread them legs because I wanted to take a peek at Barbie's sweet patch taking it all in har-dee-har-har stride, and here a good umpteen years earlier she was flipping out because of my innocent error which got me into plenty hot aqua. Maybe I thought she actually had a Gumby doll instead...it was so long ago. Who knows?

But eh, every year you have to put up with their olde tymey memories of dazed gone by, but oh what fun it is to remember 'em all and think about just how things used to be before it all tumbled into crass consumerism and the point where kidz already get what they want so why bother with Christmas in the first place?  

***

But still, when it gets towards the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one I can't help but slip back (even further than I usually do) into my suburban slob upbringing thinking more about the comic books I'd read during those long nights after I'd rush off my homework and before the hotcha pre-prime time reruns hit the screen. Real hog heaven salad bar days for someone such as I, and yeah on a dark 5:30 PM in December a good late/silver-early bronze age or EC comic or collection of old FERD'NAND comic strips really does hit me in the ol' braciola the same way it did oh-so long ago when I kept discovering strange things happening beneath my belly button. 

Naturally there ain't no mo'  pre-prime time wonders for me to sit through like there usedta be but eh. I can survive with some youtube clip or the incessant westerns that continue to hold my attention despite many a viewing. In many ways I am still glad that I never did give up my ranch house living birthright and still hold close to my innards a whole lot of the things I thought fun and maybe even downright sacred back when I was three and at the dawn of my memory. YOU can keep all of your hentai and chemical stimulants...what need of those do I have what with a lifetime collection of comic strip anthologies and Soaky bubble bath bottles to keep me amused!

***

With all of the high-falutin' and well-produced quality fanzines that have been coming out for the past few decades or so don't you really wanna settle down on the roll-a-sage chair of your choice with a nice juicy, non-pretentious and definitely low-quality crudzine? Well, DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT ain't a crudzine but a "cudzine" (read the cover for an explanation) and it's up and ready for your own comfy enjoyment even in the privacy of that room where I guess two people can do what they want without getting into a whole load of trouble these days. Actually this isn't' a "crudzine" or a "cudzine" for that matter since those kinda mags are technically cheap-o churn outs with material not worthy to be printed for whatever reason...believe you me DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT is filled with worthwhile reading, the kind you'll be proud to be perusing when you take your nightly dump and need some respite from all of the straining I'm sure you'll have to do. Dunno if you really want one (you BETTER), but if you do all that's needed is $1.50 and two stamps (I am not sure if this fee applies to anything outta the United States of Whatever It's Supposed To Be Anymore) as well as an envelope addressed to 805 Crystal Street, Ames Iowa 50010. And whatever you do, don't tell 'em Chris sent ya.

***

I do hope that you will like these reviews even though memyseldand"IIIIII" think they suck more'n a lamprey eel convention. My writing's way too convoluted and contrived like the "best" of my various eighties efforts were, and frankly I gotta admit (as if you couldn't tell) I have lost a whole load of the vim and vigor that has exemplified some of my better work which really ain't say' much. I'll also 'fess up to the fact that I am not exactly in the mood to do any writing (haven't these past four or so years to be honest about it), but plod on I must because this blog seems to be my only lifeline to whatever there is left of the real world these days. That and I still need to recoup my losses on many unsold magazines of mine (see come on below).

Yeah I know, so what, but for an OCD under-the-underground fanatic like I am things like the music I listen to and rant and rave over are the only things that I find it worth existing, as the complete human being) for. In other words, if I were somehow forbidden to listen to and write about the more feral aspects of what people classify as music well, I might as well just scrambooch over to the Old Fanablas Home and get myself hitched up to a whole number of life support systems that Karen Quinlan sure don't need these days!

There's still a whole lot to be discovered/uncovered regarding what I would call the Glory Years of High Energy Rockism (of an above or underground nature) that it seems that I and only myself cares about lo these many years later. I mean, I really gotta unearth, listen to and write about all of those groups who were the Velvet Underground of Norway, Belgium, Hungary... (France has claims to three, Mahogany Brain, Dagon and Crouille Marteau---Japan Les Rallizes Denudes, Italy La Stelle de Mario Schifano and Sweden maybe Parson Sound) as well as discover what all of those outliers on a variety of local scenes who never did put out records sounded like. It undoubtedly means little if nothing to you in the here and now but hey, a hundred years from now there's gonna be an entire generation of tight assed brainy bedroom-stranded doofs who are gonna be eating all of this information up! 

***

Paul McGarry and Robert Forward. You know what they did. You know where you can find out where they live.

Siouxsie and the Banshees-RAW LOVE VOLUME 1 5-CD set (Punk Vault Records)

Yet another one of those Cee-Dee sets that have been popping up on ebay auction lists in recent times featuring loads of tracks you woulda hadda pay beaucoup for a good forty-plus years back. These days a whole lot of the music that'd cost you $10 a pop via some list procured from the TROUSER PRESS classifieds can be snatched up for a mere bag of shells, a bargain even if these come in those horrid multi-Cee-Dee cases that are extremely hard to open without spilling disques all over the place. 

The quality of these audience recordings ranges from a good "C" on down, but hefty fans of the early Banshees (like I actually am!) will enjoy hearing those classic songs even if they do sound as if they were recorded on a cassette player rammed up your butt. Thinking about the direction the group eventually went (one reason I won't be buying Volume Two) it's hard to fathom just how much part of the whole BTC pantheon of essential bared wire sounds Siouxie and her compatriots were during their early days. The high energy of these sides which transcend the cassette malfunctions sure proves it.

***

Tom Waits-FRANK'S WILD YEARS CD-r burn (originally on Island Records)

I gotta say that I liked Waits' homage to Captain Beefheart that started off FRANK'S WILD YEARS, but the sudden shift into decadent Europeanisms had me thinking New York intellectual chi-chi cocktails and noshes to the point of madness. Halfway through I actually slipped on a beret and smoked a cigarette placed in a long thin holder while perusing the latest issue of THE NEW YORKER. Sheesh, I'll take the Waits of the late-seventies ROLLING STONE-approved Ricky Lee Jones 'n Bette Midler watered down beatdom over this any day. And throw in Leon Redbone or even a rectal probe, for good measure.

***

Bobb Trimble-HARVEST OF DREAMS CD-r burn (originally on Secretly Canadian Records)

I gotta say that Bobb Trimble's outsider music comes off better than Tom Waits', and these early-eighties tracks, thank goodness, dredge up more than just a few moments of past accomplishment. Elements of the late-sixties lush baroque pop of the Cherry People and Montage can be discerned along with a few moments swiped from various Brian Sands records that were recorded around the same time Trimble decided to do the whacked pop thing himself. The fact that Trimble's vocals have been sped up to sound like that of a gal (I assume) ain't really something that sets well with cis me, but I still gotta commend this 'un for not sounding like typical eighties music era that was being pushed on 'luded up braincell-blown kids by the likes of MTV and various Cleveland-area rock critics. 

***

Fred Frith-GUITAR SOLOS/FIFTY CD-r burn (originally on Week-End Records, Germany)

I'm sure most of you mid-seventies import bin prowlers remember Frith's solo guitar album that came out on Virgin's even more non-commercial than the non-commercial stuff they were already putting out Caroline label. I'm sure a few of you might have even absconded with a copy thinking it would make for great make out music a la John Fahey...sure woulda like to have seen the looks on your faces when you and your lay were snuggled up in bed and the needle eventually hit the vinyl! 

Enough college dorm humor jocularity. Here's a '24 release not only reissuing the original platter but an extra one celebrating the fiftieth year anniversary of its initial release. If you were one to miss out on it way back when well, not only do you have a second chance to snatch this legendary spinner up but you get another one recorded a good half-century later that sounds more than just plain "homage", if you get my drift.

The original's just as much of a stunner today as it was way back when I first gave it a twirl sometime in the mid-eighties as if I could have afforded it when it first came out (didn't even know it EXISTED when it first came out but that's neither here nor there). I know that some of you just don't quite cozy up to the whole Henry Cow "Rock in Opposition" movement and I do understand your aversion but eh, despite your opinion who could deny that these tracks are still stunningly ear-opening even this late in the game. Far from the Gnu Age aural Lucky Charms one would expect from a solo guitar effort, you'll be amazed just how much aural fortitude Frith could get out of one simple instrument...with a lot of prepared doo-dads and electronic manipulations added.

As for the second platter well---kinda imagine that there was a movie that you really liked that came out fifty years back and you hadda wait all this time for the sequel. Well, here it is and it's just as much of a wowzer as the original. Frith undoubtedly picked up a few ideas in the interim but this ain't no showoff look how avgarde I can get bedroom jerkoff experiment...the path that the original album forged has been traversed upon and like fifty years after the fact Frith has created a sound that perhaps even surpasses the original, and how many sequels have done that? And if you were one who actually waited all this time well...feel sated for once in your miserable lives!

Listen, I too am far from being a fan of the RIO movement, finding a lot of the music to have come forth from it mostly obtuse stodgy experimental snoozeisms (only RIO act I like's Etron Fou Leloublan not only for their Beefheart homage but their admitted MC5 influence), but GUITAR SOLOS/FIFTY ain't quite the intellectual brain clog that those other acts were. Not that it moves and inspires you the same way that all of yours and mine save the world groups have, but for being a sonically inclined free music venture, especially the second album recorded in the musically abysmal twenties well, it'll sure more than just "do".

***

Charlie Rich-THE GROOVE RECORDINGS CD-r burn (originally on BMG Entertainment Records)

Country music used to be filled with some rather "striking" and downright decadent personalities, at until the entire genre got pussified 'round the time that the "new country" trend de-balled everything Nashville once stood for. And even though I'll sound even more codger-y than my usual codger self I'm gonna remind you that it was guys like Charlie Rich who injected a whole slew of beautiful nastiness not only into the country star image but the music itself.

Those of you who have already gobbled up Rich's myriad asst. of singles throughout his career will undoubtedly be blessed by the numbers that pop up on these '63/'64 recordings which, thanks to Rich's smoother than all the booze I'm sure he guzzled down voice, even transcend the usual string-laden glop and gal backup singers that gooed up many a record, both country or not, back then. 

Maybe they shoulda passed a law that only Charlie Rich and a select few others should have been permitted to sing ballads. Sheesh, its records like that that make me wanna re-glom Metal Mike Saunders' Rich article in PHONOGRAPH RECORD MAGAZINE just so's I could swipe a few bits on insight to pass off as my own.

***

Ju Suk Reet Meate-SOLO 78 / 79 CD-r burn (originally on De Stijl Records)

Smegmate goes it alone on these crucially important to somethingorother out there recordings. The early repeato riff mania of them LAFMS notables is evident in this collection of banjo plunks, chord organ drones, hypnotic tape loops and vocal mangipulations that sound just as stick it to the hippies now as it did fifty-plus years ago. Pretty neat mess o' atonal barrage ya got here, Meate!

***

Dewey Redman-11/11/74, Noah Howard-7/5/73, Anthony Braxton interview from the WKCR archives 2-CDr burn

If it weren't for Robert Forward I dunno if I would have ever heard any of the recordings from the WKCR archives that were recorded way back when it seemed as if even the everyday doof on the street was well aware of the works of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. Well, considering the publicity these guys and other new thing advocates were getting back in the sixties and seventies even in the straighter than straight press one would think that they were about as popular as Donny and Marie. 

Redman's trio (with Sirone and Eddie Moore)'s a good enough revelation even for a man like myself who's been around the avgarde block a few times. The all-string track that finished out his set where the guy sets down his horn to handle a zither making the kind of music that comes really close to COSMIC TONES-period Sun Ra really did throw me for a good ol' loop. 

Howard's quartet was recorded live at Columbia U with Earl Freeman on bass, Jean-Louis Mechell on drums and guitar Glenn Dong, a name I haven't heard before now and, after doin' some Googlin', feel sad that his career as a jazz guitarist is particularly slim. He reminds me of Joseph Dejean from Archie Shepp's Full Moon Ensemble (who reminds me of Sonny Sharrock) and the fact that this guy's probably starving while all of those light jazz players are rakin' it in oughtta make ya mad! 

Next comes an interview with Anthony Braxton who sounds much older than he did on those spoken word moments you heard on his early records but still talks some interesting if most of the time dry musical theory. You might or might not agree with him but then again did you ever have the chance to have your triple orchestra album released on a major label?

Also heard on this effort's an excerpt from TRILLIUM X, Braxton's opera which at least to me reminds me of five separate operas being played simultaneously while someone taps into a party line. If your mother wants you to get some culture via opera just spin this in her presence and I'll guarantee she won't bug you anymore!  

***

Little Richard-THE RILL THING CD-r burn (originally on Reprise Records)

More'n a few people already know my earlier-on opinion regarding Little Richard which was influenced by his mid-eighties umpteenth try at a comeback, a time when you couldn't escape the guy coming off like a total douse in front of the already doused Phil Donahue. Boy did that period in the Little Richard saga make me wanna puke more'n just Cheerios.

Perhaps I was a wee bit premature in my heat of rage comment, but at least Richard wasn't as petite as he eventually would become on this '71 comeback effort for the then-hipper than anyone else on the planet Reprise Records.

The only thing I clearly can recall about this album from all my years of music "press" reading's a Rockin' Ronny Weiser's letter to BOMP! regarding the man's vain attempts to get Los Angeles radio station KHJ to play "Dew Drop Inn". Obvious Weiser's noble efforts resulted in nada but I do commend this true fan for his persistence and general fortitude taking up such a daunting task. 

Not bad considering the way Richard's style was updated for the then-current tastes in black sounds which were still rather solid (these being the pre disco days). There's a whole lot of urban soul in these numbers and that ain't bad at all considering some of the other trends in "rock" that were bubblin' 'round at the time. If anything, this makes me wonder if the scourge of Emerson Lake and Palmer crept into Richard's lone single for Manticore a few years later. Sheesh, couldja imagine what Richard would have done to "Karn Evil 9"... "Welcome back mah frens...ooh!"

The guy even does the Beatles, not surprising even through Richard couldn't stand John for farting all over the place!

***

It's not too late to get hold of some BLACK TO COMM back issues before the holiday season really kicks into gear. I mean, can you think of a better way to celebrate National Hemorrhoid Research Week than with one (or more) of these babies in your ever-decaying rock mag collection? 

It has been a fair enough autumn so far, nothing that different from the other ones I made it through yet still pleasant enough to prepare one for the upcoming winter months. That's a time where I pray that there'll be a massive snowstorm hitting the area thus stranding me in my house for a good week or so where I can indulge in my usual frivolities, most of which you read about regularly in this very blog. Of course a freezerload of Mama Cozzi's pizza wouldn't hurt given I'll need something to munch on while I'm watching those WAGON TRAIN reruns as I channel my third grade goof off suburban slob self. 

But I keep telling you this year in and year out, and given how nobody complains about my redundancy I guess that proves I really don't have the number of readers that I need to keep this blog afloat. Oh well, what else is old? (even that phrase is old...well, what else would you expect from a stick in the mud like me anyway?).

***

In case you're that DENSE to the point where you don't fathom what this go 'round's AI creations are supposed to be let me clue you nimnuls in. Sheesh, I thought you'd think it was obvious that these illustrations are nothing other than print ads showing Marlon Brando endorsing Parkay margarine, super-enlarged so you can see all of the neat detail and the golden goodness of that animal fat-free spread which has more than one practical use if you ask Marlon! And yeah I know Crisco is a whole lot cheaper but we all have to think about our cholesterol intake during these health-conscious times.

I'm sure you ancient types remember the old commercials on TV...butter---PARKAY! Yeah, these illustrations don't quite live up to the visage of the once Wild One nor are they of the early-seventies vintage post fifties tough guy and eighties bloat, but with AI as it stands today I dunno if any sorta intelligence artificial or otherwise could get the guy's jowls down 100% pat. I will mention that I do like the way that one apple in pic #1 looks like its sporting a pair of buttocks which I do get a kick outta! 

Still, a pretty nice batch of pix that show what just mighta been had Madison Avenue was more on the ball. Well, they almost succeeded getting Monica Lewinsky to be a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig and if anyone shoulda known about high protein diets it would be she!

***

I guess the first real deal order of business is for me to relay to you the news (in case you haven't heard by now despite the lightning-fast way the internet tell you when the King of England farted) that none other than John, also known as JD King has passed on. In case you wondered, he's the guy with the glasses you see intermingled around the above title who was not only what I would call a somewhat in demand artist but a member of the obscure yet important (given how not only King but future Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore were in it) group the Coachmen. Details are sketchy at this time as to the whos whats whens wheres and why of such a thing (best bet's on a bad case of the flu), but whatever your opinions are regarding the man he was a feisty sparring partner and sheesh, at times even a pal (yeah, right!). 

Photo by Godlis

You may have read the interview I did with the guy in the last issue of my not-so-sainted crudzine (see link below), an interview which seemed to rankle more than just a few readers out there who just can't take hearing views and opines that might veer even a fraction of a degree from their own. But as I've learned the hard way, intermingling with the scions of the underground rock brigades can be pretty daring if you happen to get one of them ever so slightly rankled (and I'll show you the teeth marks on my buttocks in case you think I'm, joshing!). A latterday variation of the Coachmen also contributed a few numbers to the disque that came with that very same edition and boy were they good 'uns even though they all got re-released on an "official" Coachmen platter thus rendering my own disque somewhat obsolete. King was a man who might have rubbed more'n just a few people the wrong way what with his general snide attitude that I attribute to his Teutonic ancestry (his original last name was "Kung" but his ancestors changed it during World War I because well, you know the reason), but whaddaya expect from someone who lived in NYC anyway?

I do know that he eventually wised up and left that burgh taking his nasty attitude with him, but whether or not the man would or would not have vamoosed New Sodom City he sure is gonna miss out on the big kaboom that will eventually happen not only there but (give it time) all over the globe. He told me that he thought that this world of ours was going to last until 2036 at the least given the deep dive into the cesspool that has been slowly but steadily happening ever since the days of enlightenment but I begged to differ. I told King that it's gonna go on and on for another couple of millennia diving into depths that even we cannot fathom, only to topple into a huge physical/spiritual abyss once the Aquarian Age gives way to an era that I sure would not want to imagine even in my worst nightmares. But that was just my own opinion and you all know how much stock you put it that.

Well, I am kinda/sorta glad that King won't be around to see the inevitable, that is if his 2036 prediction does happen to come true.

Anyway, it is bad to see yet another fellow traveler do the ol' 86, but there is one thing that really does bother me regarding his passing, and that is THE SHIT NEVER DID THAT CARACTURE OF ME TO PUT ON THE MASTHEAD OF THIS BLOG and boy and I hot and bothered about it!

***

Dig into these, and praise be to Paul McGarry for the donations. Also thanks to me for finding the Bob Forward burn that I found cleaning my room.

Crime-MURDER BY GUITAR LP (Superior Viaduct); SAN FRANCISCO'S STILL DOOMED CD (Swami Records)

One thing that I like about punk pre-punque rock was that, although most people believed it was more/less a late-seventies phenomenon totally sprung from the foam of the sea, strong ties to the punk rock generations of the past were oh-so obviously retained. Not that a few subsequent punks didn't keep the spirit of their forbearers alive as my vast (hah!) collection of outta nowhere singles would prove, but to be as honest as I can be about it the punks of the late seventies were way more aurally/spiritually closer to the mid-sixties local rock group taproot of it all than a few unaware (and usually grossly anti-punk) people might have led you to believe. And when it comes to the punks who were barging outta the garages of the late-seventies, Crime certainly were one out of many that took a whole heapin' hunkin' load of that mid-sixties grit and infused it into their own hard-edged late-seventies vision.

Despite being located in the middle of San Francisco (fruit 'n nut capitol of the world) Crime really knew how to rock 'n roll despite being hampered by such dreadful surroundings. With a sound and style that reminded me of those dank-quality early Lou Reed Pickwick sides, Crime were a group that I assume (considering my lack of knowledge re. what else was going on in SF...Mary Monday etc...at the time) stood out from the competition. Well-crafted yet raw musicianship coupled with a definitely lo-fi sound is what made this group legendary amongst latterday teenbo wannabe hipsters, and with songs like "Hot Wire My Heart" (the Primitives meet the Neon Boys) how could any true rock 'n roller not dribble constantly over these tracks.

And they're varied as well! On one particular track Crime sounds a whole lot like something the early-seventies edition of the Flamin' Groovies could have whipped up which would figure since Crime's original drummer started out with that bunch, while the title track's definitely pre-douse heavy metal done up right to the point where you just KNOW that all of those heavy metal aficionados of the eighties and beyond woulda hated it. It's a fantastic, cohesive even album that's so good that you'd get the feeling that today's uptight snobbish punquers would obviously thumb their noses at it which really ain't saying anything given the overall hippified nature of punk these past fortysome years!

For those of you who want more despite already being bludgeoned to death will also want SAN FRANCISCO'S STILL DOOMED. There undoubtedly are a few repeats from the above (can't tell for sure considering how I don't have both of these side-by-side and can't get hold of the LP anyway since I'm pecking this out at work) but who cares because there's plenty more to cherish here. Besides, I know alla you readers are big spenders who'd be more'n glad to dump even more money on an item that just might overlap, spendthrift types you are and will most certainly remain. 

Again this one's a heavy sorta collection that goes on from Velvet/Stooges (to be seventies hip rockscribe about it) roar to even some more early HM sludge that always sounded better in the hands of men like these 'stead of them self-important AOR types who've plagued us for more'n just a few decades. 's even got alternate takes of the all-time Crime hits "Hot Wire My Heart" and "Baby You're So Repulsive" for all of you readers who have to get more, more and MORE of this group's infinite genius which does have that somewhat refreshing West Coast punk of the late-seventies variety sound and approach that mighta been hard for many of us East Coasters to take at first (built-in prejudice) but we eventually began to understand before it became too late.

A good 'un for sure, especially if you need some resensification after long periods of everyday banality being passed off as everyday banality but the peons can't care no mo'. Another testament to the fact that the seventies were the true decade of rock as grunge reflecting a period in time that really was better in all of its corruption and grit.

***

Jimmy Algren/Scott Colby/Henry Kaiser-TROUBLE WITH THE TREBLE CD-r burn (originally on "Not on Label, Henry Kaiser Self-Released" Records)

A buncha old fogey types including slide guitarist Scott Colby and Henry Kaiser (a guy who got more than his fair share of hipster press coverage in the eighties) doing originals as well as Zappa, Beefheart, Iggy and Canned Heat covers. This release was a real bargain since is was released only as a freebee Cee-Dee a good two or so years back, and if you like listening to old turdburgers doing their version of past accomplishments and doing them fairly well you might like this. I'd recommend it to various Zappa fans who were way bigger on the post-Flo and Eddie period of his career than I ever was.

***

Cecil Taylor-THE CLASSIC ALBUMS 4-CD set/Steve Lacy-THE CLASSIC ALBUMS 4-CD set; Steve Lacy-THE CLASSIC ALBUMS 4-CD set (both on Enlightenment Records, England)

Got these 'un's totally unsolicited in the mail (wonder who coulda sent 'em, hmmmmmmmmm?) and gotta say that both of 'em are what I'd call essential BLOG TO COMM musical fodder for a long and happy (well, happy enough) existence. 

The Taylor one's what I'd call an expected blast, especially in the way I get those warm 'n toasties listening to the classic sound develop from its neo-bop beginnings on JAZZ ADVANCE to the beautiful wall of intensity that is LIVE AT THE CAFE MONTMARTRE (I can still remember the glow I got walking with my copy of NEFERTITI THE BEAUTIFUL ONE HAS COME way back during my late teenbo days knowing I was in for a real hammer and stirrup pounding to end 'em all). After giving these early spinners a go don't YOU want to clobber not only Wynton Marsalis but whatever jerk it was who decided to run the guy's anti-Taylor commentary on the iffy Ken Burns documentary! 

The early Lacy sides are not as enthralling as the Taylor ones sticking close to earlier jazz forms that never really tingled my nerve endings. Fortunately the guy (undoubtedly under the influence of Taylor using the guy's sidemen in the process) heads straight into the New Thing and does a mightily fine job at it. It is a grand selection ending strangely enough with Lacy's ESP album which I don't think I've lent ear to in almost 40 years (if at all---fuzzy wuzzy hazy about these things). If you're game for these Lacy sides the next best thing to do is latch onto his BYG effort MOON which pretty much comes off like the end-all as far as Lacy at one of his many heights goes.

Two goodies that filled in a few collection cracks for me, but I assume you all have had the originals for ages now, hunh? Wotta buncha rich-kid trust funders you readers are...feh!

***

Kim Fowley-OUTRAGEOUS CD (cheapo pirate copy)

After a whole load of the hippydippy offal that was tossed at gullible kids during the late-sixties Kim Fowley sure comes off more'n just the bee's knees. Maybe the whole bee body in fact. It sure is great hearing this particular classic again because not only is it an antidote to all of the "relevant" and "right on" goop that was passing for teenbo culture during them sad 'n sorry days but sure makes surviving in the twenties a whole lot easier. Fowley sings, screams, does mock Chinese and creates some downright classics in the process. The title track and "Bubble Gum" certainly hold up alongside other Woodstock-era rejects (the kind we like!) from the Velvets up through the Detroit bands on and on and like, after listening to this who needs Jim Morrison's phony intellectual I'm a poet pose anyway?

Sheesh, there's even more here! In fact a lot more like those rare single sides I was cryin' and blubberin' about not havin' a short while back. Actually these tracks were taken straight off of the first side of the Fowley bootleg STRANGER FROM THE SKY which is fine by me considering just how much a copy of that'll set me back these days. it's sure good getting more of these classic sides into my nervous system, especially that custom made for the late-sixties version of "Don't Be Cruel" where Fowley affects a high-larious (and kinda irritating) fey voice.

Brad Kohler sent this to me as part of my Christmas present and although I should be offended that he gave me some castoff 'stead of an item brand new and straight from the heart (especially considering just how important a person that I am) gift I'm still grateful and happy and all that stuff like my mother told me I shoulda been age 9. That's the year when I got some dinky li'l Charlie Brown bath soap bottle (which looked like the blockhead himself) from my grandmother for the holiday season and felt mighty pissed about it! Boy did I get called an ingrate---why couldn't I have had rich and doting grandfolk like all you lucky kids out there anyway?

***

Talking Heads-1975 CD-r burn

You never woulda gotten me to admit this in the mid-eighties (around the time David Byrne and the rest were being hailed as the new chic alternative to all of those things that were supposed to be alternatives to all of those other things that were alternatives as well), but I do find the trio version of Talking Heads to have been as fun and overall enthralling as all those snoods were sayin' at the time in an attempt to look all hip and with it. After all, who other'n Mirrors regularly included Troggs songs in their repertoire? Shades of future NYC art chi-chi can be detected here/there like in Byrne's vocals on the better than the official version of "For Artists Only", but things like that can be easily forgotten once you oldster types remember what else there was in the way of teenbo entertainment at the time. 

***

Neil Young-FORK IN THE ROAD CD-r burn (originally on Reprise Records)

I avoided those mid/late-seventies Neil Young albums for a purpose (mainly because alla the SoCal "hip" vibes that were being promulgated by the rock press just didn't jibe with my suburban slob ideals --- there were other $$$ reasons as well), and from what I've read via various fanzine reviews I did well saving my pennies. And although I gave Mr. Young's LE NOISE a nice rah rah awhile back I'm going on records saying that FORK IN THE ROAD doesn't quite snuggle up to that particular effort.  At least to these clogged up ears it sounds like more of that ol' cocaine 'n turquoise music --- y'know, the kind that epitomized a good hunk of what many hated about that downhome denim Marin County front porch FM radio milieu that seemed so ridiculous to just about everyone but the people who indulged in it. The title track gets back into rock 'n roll riff gear but by this time I'm sure alla you readers would have flicked this 'un off the turntable. If you had minds, that is.

***

The Jam-MORE MOD CONS CD-r burn (originally on Polydor Universal Records)

I'll admit (really!) that other'n IN THE CITY I know pretty much nada about the Jam. Of course it ain't like I'd wanna given they spawned such typically eighties dross as the pseudo-mod revival and the Style Council, but still that don't mean like their entire existence was one big kultural nada. 

It's a collection of rarities and such that seem to cover a whole load of their career, all in varying degrees of interest and energy. A nice gathering of sounds for those of you who are sorta uninitiated but still, when it comes to the late-seventies and what England hadda offer I could think of a number of other acts that I would prefer lending lobes to.

***

Believe it or not but ultra-sensitive cry over a broken flower me used to get really upset when BLACK TO COMM was ignored either by other members of the "rock underground" and not reviewed in their magazines (or, when they did, misrepresenting it (and on purpose at that!), with most all of the more holier than thou underground record labels refusing to advertise while other mags were raking in the needed bucks via adspace. Worse yet, I loathed it when the mag was denied the much-needed distribution that kept it out of the paws of way too many people who wanted copies (and if they did distribute most often not paying!). Maybe if you buy some of these mags the pain will dissipate somewhat. But I doubt it.

BOOK REVIEW! NANCY WEARS HATS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER (Fantagraphics, 2025)

This here's yet another collection of classic NANCY dailies that might seem somewhat too little/late here in the twenties given how not only can you read these vintage strips for free online but also in your daily fishwrap. Maybe I should complain given how at age ten I woulda slaughtered for a book such as this, and although I always did believe that good things come to those who do have the wherewithal to wait unfortunately they HAVE TO WAIT A PRETTY DARN LONG TIME if you ask me. Believe-you-me, old comic strips and the like really made an impact on me back then that just can't be replicated now that I'm in my Golden Lead Years.

Still 'nuff Fantagraphics' NANCY series is back in gear after quite a long spell and like well, I am certainly happy about it as well as somewhat peeved. When these early-fifties comics hit the papers NANCY was well at its height, one that started 'round the mid-forties and ended about the time Ernie Bushmiller was starting to head down the road to Parkinsonsville leaving the cartoon duties to the likes of United Features standby Al Plastino*. Most of these have repeatedly shown up on-line and make me wish that Fantagraphics had jumped over to the late-fifties which was a time when Bushmiller's art was honed to the perfect curve and hair ribbon. 

Still wanna (once again) see those early-sixties comics where Nancy meets up with a strange lookalike who has a round nose...the only strip featuring her that I clearly remember's this one where Nancy's sorta double shows her this idiophonic radiator that she can only could bang on when some warmth is needed, but could also play as a musical instrument while doing so!

Well, if you turds buy enough of these books maybe the series will continue and we'll eventually get to these later on and hardly repro'd strips. And while we're at it, let's badger IDW to continue their ARCHIE comic strip series which would be a real gem for all you toilet readers given how these have hardly ever been printed outside their original run!

_____________________________________________________________

*Speaking of Plastino, I'm sure you know that the SUPERGIRL creator and all 'round filler-inner was once assigned to draw a slew of PEANUTS comic strips in case Charles Schulz bolted from United Features or didn't quite make it alive out of his open heart surgery. All of these comics were supposed to have been destroyed but the ones that have survived are pretty snat with an even meaner and rather nasty, violent streak that puts the somewhat "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" tone of the comic in the trash where it should have been! I hope that all of them did survive because they sure would make for a good paperback collection that'll hopefully wash away the memories of what that strip eventually became.

A good sum of you already saw a teensy-weensy part of this post a few weeks back much to my utter surprise. I dunno why I made some stupid flick of the keyboard (not the first time)...c'mon, of COURSE I know why, I'm stupid...but unbeknownst to me I discovered the next day that my incomplete entry had been up all night and had garnered a good 98 hits if you can believe that! (And since then three people espied this 'un which is strange since I took the thing down immediately after discovering my grievous error. Dunno how this happened but frankly I'm scared because if people can do something as nefarious as that what ELSE can they do to me!) Well, thanks to my ineptitude y'all got to see at least part of this post in advance, something which I will say is akin to that story I heard as a mere twelve-year-old which I undoubtedly told you before but wha' th' hey 'bout some truck with the upcoming issue of PLAYBOY overturning and thus spilling the not-ready-for-the-newsstand issue all over the place with alla these young boys runnin' for a copy to get a sneak peek!

Anyway, here I am once again going through the motions rehashing old thoughts and opines which I at least hope have some meaning as far as this thing called rock fandom (or whatever is left of it) goes. At this point in time it is a useless and futile job considering how, for the most part, it's been 57 years since rock 'n roll was still a vital force at its peak of perfection and about 45 since we blew our last chance to MAKE it vital once again. It has been a struggle existing throughout the years since those days of high energy glory but I have managed somehow. And I got the rectal scars to prove it.

***

A still from an early-sixties television program made especially
for thalidomide babies.

I gotta give a mighty big hefty hunk THANK YOU to all of the people who have suddenly been tuning into this blog shooting the view count way up into astronomical digits I've never seen in all my born days. My writeup of the classic comedy TILLIE'S PUNCTURE ROMANCE has hit some rather surprising heights as has the September 19th edition with the great AI conjuring of Donald Duck wearing a cowboy hat shooting Mickey Mouse. I sure do appreciate all of the sudden notoriety, although this man does get the sneakin' suspicion that all of the people who are suddenly latching onto this blog are actually beings of nefarious intent who plan on doing some grievous bodily harm to me because well...in this age of openness and letting your mind traverse in any direction possible (especially if it isn't the direction that the sniper elite out there wants it to traverse) it's watch your ass time! Better cool it down lest some young and confused trans type take aim at my vitals because well, like I said awhile back "edginess for thee but not for me!" or something along those unbalanced lines.

***

It's been forty years since the first issue of BLACK TO COMM (originally going under the once-ever changing title FUD/PFUD/PFUDD/PHFUDD!) left the cruddy kitchen table which would be appropriate for a crudzine such as mine, and thankfully I ain't gonna resort to that ol' "It just seems like yesterday!" line you'd expect some cornball like myself to spout. In fact it seems like an eon ago and if you don't think I feel exactly like Methuselah "reminiscing" about all them years you are sadly mistaken. But given how the mag, and this blog as well, were/are and will remain the center of my very being you can bet that I'll be talkin' the thing up even 'til my life support days. Now I really know how my Dad 'n assorted relatives felt what with them talking over and over again about World War II considering it was for the most part one of the highlights of their lives.

In honor of this not-so-stellar occasion I thought I'd link up this special post that I wrote to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary a good decade back when, for some strange reason I thought this event to be somewhat noteworthy. A lot of the stuff I typed out then remains pertinent and if I hadda do it all over again I'd do it even gnarlier. I was too chicken to go all out back then...after all, you all know what kind of coward I was and shall remain. Just ask anyone who has even slightly disagreed with me o'er the years.

***

Elsewhere in this thing otherwise known as my existence...I know how much many of you enjoy the "personalism" of this blog so perhaps I should do some filling in on the heres and theres regarding things that are happening in my everyday life. To start things off well, I've had some trouble with my right ear feeling all clogged up (had a bad case of my eyes turnin' all red with pus just oozing out of the lids coupled with a hefty sinus congestion a few weeks back) so I went to the local ears/nose/throat doc to see wha' th' matter was, and it was discovered that my eardrum is paralyzed!  I guess that's really what is accounting for my generally stuffy head feeling and the plain stupid fact that I feel like I need to wear a winter cap even when it's fifty degrees Fahrenheit outside. Doc ain't sure if the paralysis is due to a buildup of fluid where the hammer, stirrup and thing that looks like a snail reside or if it's a growth of some sort, but an MRI should help clear that confusion up. I hope it is the latter...might get me a few days off from work as well as a good excuse to tell Bruno why I haven't been able to look for that Stilettos CD he needs more information on! Well, if I do by chance (odds're against it but we can all hope and pray) lose the hearing in that ear at least I'll save money by not buying that stereo system I've been wanting for oh so long.

Other'n than that I try to catch up on having some fun during whatever's left of my free time, which these days includes writing this blog while listening to music, NOT writing this blog while listening to music, reading a whole load of pertinent things on-line or otherwise (gotta lotta reviewing of books etc. to lay upon you, most which have yet to be written up) and of course clipping out the daily NANCY comic to put into some scrapbook that I'll hafta trot down to Hobby Lobby one of these days to acquire, along with some of that old timey school paste the kind kids love to eat.

***

Once again Paul McGarry and his horse Silverman come to the rescue with one of his Care Packages which has me scooping up the recordings (solicited or not) like those starving kids with their flat wooden spoons shoveling down the pasty-looking gruel (this week's flavor: butter pecan) you used to see on TV. I'd get to some of the things that Robert Forward scooted my way only I wish he'd send some information along with them disques just so's I know what I'm getting into.

Kim Fowley-UNDERGROUND ANIMAL --- REDISCOVERED GEMS BY THE INFAMOUS ROCK & ROLL PRODUCER CD (Bacchus Archives Records)

This '99 release didn't come out on Norton Records which is probably the main reason I missed out on it way back when. That and the fact that it wasn't like I exactly had two nickels to rub together at the time but eh, this is a nice addition to the Fowley collection even if I believe there are some overlaps with the Norton 'un's. 

It's mostly early/mid-sixties productions with some California Sunshine pop sidetracks and even an early incarnation of the Misunderstood, but you once again get to hear a few actual Fowley efforts like his '63 debut "Astrology" which I'm surprised hadn't been reissued way back. The pre-hippoid bent of this should please any of you who were in on the PEBBLES collecting bit in the early-eighties. What I really would like to hear is that album of Fowley rarities featuring all of those Original Sound singles not to mention the guy's goof take of Elvis' "Don't Be Cruel"...that 'un came and went faster'n a premature ejaculator now, didn't it? 

While we're on the subject of Fowley, I've also been trying to latch onto copies of both OUTRAGEOUS and GOOD CLEAN FUN (have cassettes of both made well over 40 years back which I'll bet are unplayable by now) and am surprised to see how they're now being sold for somewhat astronomical prices making them rather price-y for me at this time. On one hand I'm joybelled that these efforts are now somewhat in demand, though on the other I can't afford 'em unlike I woulda way back when they'd pop up in second hand bins at some of the smarter record shops, Of course it they had only shown up in such stores back then I woulda snatched 'em up but still...

***

Neil Young-LE NOISE CD-r burn (originally on Reprise Records)

These days Neil Young seems to have about as much to do with reality as Spooky, but surprisingly enough way back in 2010 he released a pretty durn good platter that of course we all missed out on because hey, he IS Neil Young. Here Young plays electric guitar with loads of feedback, sounding a whole loads more atonal than he has of whatever I have heard of him these past umpteen years. Heck, these driving songs,  rooted in West Coast Amerigan rock but the kind of the late-sixties just-pre hippie revelations, are the best thing to come outta the guy's brain since at least EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE or maybe that other guitar feedback album a whole lotta people still talk about. The only real downers are the acoustic snoozaroonies "Love and War" and "Peaceful Valley Boulevard" ("Cortez the Killer" Part XXXX) which ruins the electronic flow. I wonder if any of those shallow Young imitators of the seventies would dare listen to let alone record anything as driving as this. Really, can you imagine Dewey Bunnell doing something along these lines?

***

Pink Floyd-UMMAGUMMA SESSIONS : LIVE RECORDINGS 1969 CD (Eye of the Storm Records, Mexico)

The live tracks here are DEFINITELY the exact same ones that popped up on the official UMMAGUMMA album which I know is a bummer that ranks up there with the rest of these albums that promise new and exciting material yet rehash the same-old for a quick buck. I guess the additional stage chat plus a few other numbers that didn't make it to the real deal would be worth the while. The live renditions of various tracks that appeared on the studio version of that particular spinner range in quality from feh to crispy, but then again they will probably disappoint a whole load of you who were fans of that million seller from way back when. Like I said many-a-time, if you're game for the just post-Barrett era Pink Floyd these live efforts and most certainly hit/miss but well...you'll go for it.

***

The Stimulators-LOUD FAST RULES CD (ROIR Records)

Missed out on this the first go 'round but eh, I just hadda save something for my old age. Here's the noted New York City late-seventies vintage hardcore band that gave us future Cro Mag Harley doing it not quite as fast that I woulda hoped, but these Stimulators are hard and they do rule somewhat. There's nothing here that I would say differentiates them from a whole slew of late-seventies local rock upstarts but the tension is there, and who could hate these guys 'n gal for covering the Kiss classic "Rock 'n Roll All Night" and turning it into a nice buzzsaw. Hey, do any of you know about guitarist Denise Mercedes' mid-seventies glam group Stutz? They're a bunch that I've been curious about ever since I read a Fred Kirby review of one of their shows at Club 82.

***

Science-LIVE AT MAX'S KANSAS CITY March 19th and March 27th 1980 CD-r burn

As you more on-the-ball readers should already know, there were a whole slew of under-the-underground musical acts who were playing across the planet in the sixties and seventies (even beyond!) and I'd take a wild guess that a good hunk of 'em were sure deserving of more notoriety and fame than they ever did receive.  New York's Science were but one of many who had the oomph but never did get the acclaim that those lesser light "new wave" bands (like the kind Anastasia Pantsios used to come all over---the Adults, Insanity and the Killers---remember any of those all you Cleveland rock 'n roll fans?) were bestowed due to their general safety and ability to keep the youth of this land of ours sparkling and aw gosh. 

Very little is known , at least by me, about Science other than singer and guitarist Suzy Science used to wear these really long locks down the side of her face which made people think of Lene Lovich for obvious reasons. I understand that she's a he now, or at least she's a being who THINKS she's a he, or something along those lines. It's hard to keep up with things like this anymore. They also had a 40-year-old German guy playing drums which I'm sure made 'em look all the more sore thumbish next to some of the brylcreamed groups who were popping up around the same time. They also used to get paired with Von Lmo for a lot of shows which I will admit adds to the entire rockist mystique even more. Well, I guess I know more about 'em than most of you ever did.

These pretty good quality (rough yet loud) live at Max's recordings prove that Science were yet another one of those up-from-nowhere acts that had what it took, but nobody seemed to be there to take it. Their sound is brittle and in some ways, perhaps due to their trio setting, reminds me of Au Pairs only without that British neo-working class radical left spirit that ruined European underground music for quite some time. Suzy's singing is natural in its untrained yet wide range --- she sounds like a teenage girl who never had a vocal lesson in her life yet manages to hit the right notes. Her guitar playing is an interesting pluck, sorta like she was playing a zither instead. New wave before the gnu set in...primitive yet smart.

Songs tend to be staccato-y and performed as if they were being typed out which makes their cover of "My Little Red Book" quite driving...way more original than one would expect from any of these 70s/80s cusp underground rock bands. Now I like those Lydia Lunch groups like 8 Eyed Spy 'n all, but Science do the same under-the-underground toss off of sixties heights better and I mean WAY better. Or is it just Lydia's haute New York boho snootiness that's gettin' to me...

Science sure sound as underground intense in the same fashion as the New York rage-on of Suicide and the Contortion, and these recordings only make me wish that their Max's EP came out back in '80 along with that Lmo album, both of which got axed due to a lack of funds. For a taste of Science try searching Youtube for these two shows which are almost as brief as a Red Transistor set with less the carnage but eh!

***

Jimmy Page-LUCIFER RISING (COMPLETE SESSION REMASTERED) SOUNDTRACK CD-r burn

Given the VCR dub that's been bootlegged for ages this sounds half-mastered! Much more detailed...the opening drone is hypnotic in ways the original bootleg only hinted at and you can actually hear the chanting weave in and out...I get the feeling that the original opening of "Sonic Reducer" sounded something like this. What once resembled a sagging stylophone now comes off like synthesized bagpipes. It all coalesces into a weird mix of primitive percussion (electronic or not) with bowed guitar and a variety of ethereal sound colorizations sucking you into a vortex that certainly ain't what you'd expect of Led Zep or even the proggy stew of the past. Closer to the Genesis P.'Orridge brand of sonic mangulation in fact. You'll find it somewhere online and when you do, dub a copy for yourself and the person you most likely would want to put a hex on.

And as a special bonus we get another take of the LUCIFER RISING soundtrack appearing in what sounds like a shortened version for radio airplay, before being treated to a somewhat different full-length version with an added acoustic guitar. This 'un doesn't quite make it which is probably why it never showed up until recently but it still holds your attention...somewhat. But whatever, this tossoff does make for fair background music for when you're reading your old NANCY comics or even imbibing in things that might even be legal now. Oh, and in between all of this you get fragments of guitar and synth sounds that actually don't irritate like you would have thought they would given the general dinosaur-ness of Zep at this sorry stage in time. 

Somehow I can't see the stereotypical mid-seventies heavy metal fan going for this one iota. Fans of experimental sound mulch maybe, but the arena rock types would probably be as stymied by this music as they would Lawrence Welk having a jam session with the Norman Luboff Choir. Like with SEASTONES or LOW, this is an example of megabucks rock stars doing the avgarde thing and doing it right for once.

Oddly enough the strangest thing about these recordings is the story behind them. I'm sure you all know the saga about Kenneth Anger nixing the original soundtrack for not being long enough and totally unusable, blaming it all on Page's heavy duty opiate usage. However, if this is so why did he eventually use it for his LUCIFER RISING PART ONE (SIGN LANGUAGE), a collection of outtakes and rushes which was shown at a benefit to raise the funds to complete the film that was held at UCLA in September of 1976 (news that was so publicized to the point where even the extremely lame folk at CIRCUS magazine mentioned it --- where do you think I first read about it anyway)? 's one of those things that I guess will come out once time rolls on and even more stories creep out, some of which I get the feeling will chill you to more than just to the bone.

***

Billy Bang/Aftermath Band-SAIGON PHUNK live at CB's Lounge 5-12-2002 CD-r burn

Just missed out seeing this via cybercast (by the time I tuned in Bang and band were packing up and some Amerindie-looking types were setting up) so it is grand to finally catch some of it lo these many years later. The title says it all and sentimental me must say that this 'un does bring back loads of memories of free jazz past that used to rate the high hosannas from the press and record companies before getting the ol' heave ho once 1980 clocked in. If I hadda compare it to anything maybe the Revolutionary Ensemble's "Chinese Rock" off of their THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, but even that really doesn't come that close.

For those of us (like me) who were denied access the first time here it is, and I only hope the entire show has been preserved for the few of us who seem to really care even this late in the game of life.

***

Tom Waits-RAIN DOGS CD-r burn (originally on Island Records0 

If Waits had only stayed with the Discreet crowd and didn't become one of those ROLLING STONE hyped acts custom made for hippie leftovers maybe his early albums woulda sounded like this. RAIN DOGS is definitely not for the kinda fanabla who listened to Waits during his Louis Armstrong days...at parts this is sorta like Col. Bruce Hampton singing sea shanties with the help of Harry Partch and Sandy Bull (really!), or a spirited remake of mid-sixties El Lay folk rock followed by the old Waits style which keeps the beatnik attitude of his early work firmly in place. This would have been perfect for Discreet back during the days of their existence 'stead of some of the strange offerings that label gave us much to Frank Zappa's dismay (remember Kathy Dalton?). The mid-eighties were such a dire place to exist and I only wish some smart mind would have pointed me to this 'un (and the other Waits disques in this vein --- and when I say "smart minds" I certainly don't mean them MUSICIAN magazine dorks!) way back when.

***

Last Sacrifice-FOUR TRACKS LIVE AT CANTONE'S, BOSTON MASS. 1981 CD-r burn

These guys' "Acid Rain Dance" single (which McGarry slipped on after the live show) just hadda've been one of the highlights of eighties underground rock snazz and well, given just how much of a damper the eighties were with regards to a rock underground (only to be superseded by the nineties, oh-ohs, teens...)  I only wish there were more platters like that one around 'stead of the usual rote efforts that I was plagued with! 

These live tracks, while somewhat rough, just go to show you how much Boston had to give us only the usual evil people got in the way of us getting to hear any. I wouldn't say that anything here's as instant knockout as their single but the drive of pre-eighties local rock (when Velvet Underground influences didn't translate into geeky emulation of their too few mushy moments) is loud and clear. Dark and driving, making me wish that someone out there had the nerve to release a longplayer of their assumedly expansive repertoire. For a taste just click on the video strategically placed below:

***

The Soundtrack of Our Lives-ORIGIN VOL. 1 CD-r burn (originally on Telegram Records)

If I were to be my old brash and throw fact and logic to the wind sorta self I'd call 'em the best band to come out of Scandanavia since Savage Rose. Heck, maybe I will still call 'em that. Loads of differences twixt the two but still there's that mix of raw tension and sophisticado that both took to their hearts amongst other things. Of course Soundtrack do the hard drive a whole lot better, kinda reminding me of what Roxy Music mighta sounded like in the mid-seventies had they stuck to their original hard "Remake Remodel" credo. Best thing about this 'un is that it was recorded and released at a time when smart and intelligent rock 'n roll was pretty much BANNED due to...well, taste and stuff like that. A nice one...wouldn't buy it on my own but it was good enough to listen to.

***

BACK ISSUES TIME, and if you missed out on any of the BLACK TO COMM's that have made their way out of my imagination (and boudoir) then you know what to do with your moolah now, eh? Not only that, but you can bet that every penny received will be put to a good cause, mainly having a wild time!