BLOG TO COMM

I've been trying to pump out these major league posts at a more frequent pace that I have these past four years, and I am doing my best if that means a heck of a lot to you. Believe it or leave it, but I don't see much of value in any of them including this 'un but still it's better'n if I had just stayed in my room the whole time digging through my NANCY paperback collection like any real deal BLOG TO COMMunist out there should. Doing this blog is sorta like an updated version of my mom yellin' "GO OUTSIDE AND GET SOME FRESH AIR!" and well, it does keep me occupied in between viewing HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL reruns and scrubbing the toilet after a rather powerful prune juice experience.

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Heavens to Betsy Ross but it does seem as if it is picking up on the record front! Unfortunately I'll be passing on most of the new/old or old/new or well, you know, those old things that are getting some new life items that are making their way to a variety of online mailorder businesses. The new collection of rarities from the Laughing Hyenas archives looks rather yummy as do such other fresh off the press items like the Brion Gyson DREAMACHINE longplayer not forgetting the Black Randy reissue which passed my paws when it first came out because I was poor even back then. Too bad I can't afford the whole lot of 'em even though I really should given that I've saved up a whole load of moolah for my "old age"...unfortunately I'm unable to lay my hands on it at this time and gotta wait a few years if not more to hit that ol' jackpot. But when I do get hold of it I better go out and flitter all of my money away on such items because well, it looks like I don't have any heirs and I don't want to give all of whatever I have that's left over to The Society to Combat Baldness. 

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MY TWO CENTS WORTH DEPT.: In this world of real deal death and destruction I gotta tell you that I really don't cozy up to all of this heavy duty carnage that is now going on in the Middle East and for reasons that don't even remotely have anything to do with (maybe) you and (definitely) me. Yeah it sure is fun watching all of those happy Iranians jumping up and down even though you get the feeling that a good portion of 'em or at least their parents were yelling "Death to the Shah!" a good fiftysome years back, but what does that have to do with me in the here and now stuck in Western Pee-YAY? It's also nicey-nice to know that at least few high-ranking Iranian badskis have been sent to their afterlife, but in the overall what does any of this really matter when it comes to the important things in life like putting food on the table and records on the turntable? Something deep inside like a constipated turd tells me that all of the joyous hubbub is going to be ending a whole lot sooner than anyone out there's expecting and with consequences than few if any of us can imagine. And I don't just mean inflation or even mass-scale carnage in your local municipality either.

Maybe this whole Mideast kabnooming's all fun and jamz for those Death Cult Christian types who want to hasten the end of the world even though if they do they'd be denying future generations into joining the gang so to speak, but overall this breed of religious fervor makes me want to puke my last two Chinese buffets. Y'know, Old Testament revenge and the annihilation of schoolchildren to fulfill some naturally misconstrued Bible prophesy that may or may not come about in the near future but well, it sure feels good in that altruistic self assuring way that you're going to be first in line for the oblivion express while all of us pagans are gonna be tearing each other apart. Or something like that which doesn't faze these worshippers who believe that some people are destined for eternal glory while children are OK targets because they're not in on the Big Ol' Glory Train so-to-speak. And yeah, I'm in with all of those Communist types like Norman Finkelstein on this one! 

Haven't we all had enough of this End Times rigamarole ever since THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH had more'n a few Chicken Littles doing the glory hallelujah freaking out routine while letting everyone around 'em osmose their sanctimony way back in the seventies? Talk about suicidal people who want to take everyone else with them! Kinda makes me wish that if I were around in those BC days I'd be up and front on the pagan train if only out of spite!

And all of this after Trump put down (rightfully so) Obama for his own saber rattling too. Eeeugh! Well, next time someone out there elects a peace president please let me know.

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It looks like HOMEMADE SHIT has gone down the crapper. Instead expect a new mag entitled RUTEBAGA which is supposedly to be patterned after the old English magazine OZ so expect a lotta nude gals in these pages. Maybe Wade Oberlin should rent a balloon and toss copies all over Hooterville!

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Bless it all but yet another issue of DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT has made its way to my door, or at least my sliding glass window. A fine cudzine to read on the pot while your number two dutifully glides down your colon as you actually get to read Brad Kohler's screenplay for a film about none other than Darby Crash's...er..."crash" that got rejected because there was already a film on the guy being made at the time. That 'un came and went without anyone noticing because frankly, who else other than Hollywood snoots and dimwitted slobs go to the moom pitchers these days anyway. Support the guy...I mean, his wife listens to NPR so he needs all the help he can get! Again, send all of those green pieces of paper with the pictures on them to 802 Crystal St., Ames IA 50010 and that's in the USA in case you didn't know.

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Oh boy, record review time! Thanks go to Otto von Ruggins for the Kongress material and Pail McGarry for Dock Boggs.

Various Artists-CBGB & OMFUG - A NEW YORK SOUNDTRACK 1975-1986 4-CD set (Cherry Red Records, England)

I won't apologize to Bruno for not being able to find my Stilettos disque in time to help out with the liner notes to this budget-priced four Cee-Dee set.  The one containing material I woulda killed for way back which purports (and actually succeeds) to be a cross-section of what was going up and down at CBGB back during the Golden Age of Smart Underground Rockitude. I don't apologize for anything anymore out of self-respect but eh, at least this collection finally made it out without my help and like, I think this is a pretty neat bunch of trackage if I do say so myself. I'm glad Bruno got his Stilettos information despite my lack of help even if he probably hates the dickens out of me.

Not a great package considering that some of the groups who were playing at the club at the time weren't exactly up to BTC standards and others were ignored but still, if you're the kind of guy who wants to know what you might have been listening to had you plopped your butt at the club this would be a close approximation. Without some of the glammier, more metallic or even folksy trios true, but close enough to maybe even get that cigar.

It is a brilliant selection of the well known mixed with the nth-string. Not enough nth-stringers that I would have loved hearing for my tastes but still fun with a purpose enough in the old HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN vein with early practitioners like the Magic Tramps intermingled with the later on flashes with all sorts of entertaining bits and surprises thrown in. If you like the era of glam punk you'll dig this as well as all of those brainy art bands and even a few that I never thought would ever make it to disque like the Planets even! Most of it sounds good intermingled with a wide array of under-the-underground stylage, although the more synth-y and hardcore types just make me think about how disappointing it was to see the mid/late-seventies lurch into a new style that more or less reflected either the hap-hap-happy eighties or a faint attempt to counteract them rather than the gritty seventies that produced all of that nerve-grating beauty. The music that drew a whole load of people (including myself, virtue signaling me must confess) to this breed of rambunction in the first place.

Its a pick or choose with this trackage but I doubt that anyone stupid enough to tune into this blog won't find something that just might suit their tastes no matter how hard-edged or simpy it may be.

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Kongress-50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! MAGICK BY KONGRESS (MADGICIANS 1 + 2,  MAGICK) 3-CD-r burn set

Sheesh, FIFTY YEARS??? Even I can remember back that far back when people were still marveling about what was happening fifty years earlier in the Roaring You-Know-Whats, like movies and early radio and celebrity criminals who still seemed to resonate with the older people in my life. Even to me it seems like ancient history on one hand and current events on the other...sheesh, at that time many of the actors who were making those old films were still up and about doing interviews if not even still stepping in front of the camera on occasion. Today it seems all as much history as the Babylonian segment of INTOLERANCE if not the dawn of time, and if you think that makes li'l ol' me feel any younger you are sadly mistaken!

Kongress didn't make the CBGB collection cut, probably because they were anything BUT a CBGB band having the honor of being banned from the club twice in 1976 and more or less deciding to stick with Max's Kansas City as home base. But still they were one of many acts from those days who should have gone on to better things even if they didn't quite fit the idea of what underground rock 1976 was supposed to be or something along those lines and like, if a group like the Ramones could make it big why not Kongress?

The early tracks do have a late-sixties/early-seventies punk (in the old CREEM magazine sense) sound with plenty of of krautisms (which were always punk anyway) with '68 Velvetisms and some Arthur Brown tossed in to pound home that evil tinge. The earlier tracks do harbor a strong sense of cusp-era cataclysmic music attitude but could easily have been PEBBLES fodder if honed into one of those local group single sides from '71 that actually made it onto a few of those albums. Sheesh, if Kongress were around way back when I'm sure they could have cooked up a neat single along the lines of It's All Meat or the Magi, without the synths of course but it sure would have been a doozy! 

The later ones with Marilyn and Ilosa Hatt vocalizing do have more of a "new wave" tinge to them, but it's like good "new wave" back when groups like the Comateens were actually making listenable records despite the inherent ginchiness of the times. Even "Oliver Twist" which snatches some early-eighties rap moves doesn't trigger any regurgitating despite all indications that I SHOULD do a li'l puking if only our of maintaining a good self image. Great stuff despite the aura of early-eighties sparkle, though I must admit these songs do make me feel somewhat down though, if only because a lot of this music reminds me of a particularly bitter time in my existence...ain't their fault tho!

One truly bizarro thing about this set is that on "Son of Sam" Krozier's vocals are censored for some reason, replaced with some inaudible to me electronicized garble. The lines edited out went something around the lines of "His skin is brown, but not from tan/All my victims have brown hair" which I guess would be offensive to someone out there in these precious petunia days but I don't know why!

A bunch of  extremely ear-opening sounds definitely deserving the royal red carpet treatment complete with the obligatory book enclosure and tons of inside info. Credits and song background info dates/personnel/instruments/onandon would also help. If you're interested in hearing these, try this link or maybe even this other one as well. 

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Les Rallizes Denudes-FRANCE DEMO TAPES CD (Bamboo Records)

These early-eighties recordings have been flying around for a longer time than anyone could imagine, but it's sure nice seeing them gathered together in one place and cleaned up somewhat. As any fan of the group would know these Denudes are part of the essentials along with all of those other ones that have been getting tossed at us these past sixtysome years, and with yet another nervegrating version of "The Last One" and a remarkable "Cruel Love" that settles into one of those repeato riff modes that you can really soak into your psyche at that how can you lose getting hold of this. If you're only going to buy one Les Rallizes Denudes album this year make it this one. I already did knowing that finances won't let me buy another.

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Kraftwerk-KLINGKLANG LIVE 1974 CD (Audiovaults Records)

By now Kraftwerk were settling into a relatively tame electronic rock style which would propel them to international notoriety once AUTOBAHN got them onto the charts and into the collections. Gotta admit that Kraftwerk at this stage in the game were becoming even more reserved than they were on RALF UND FLORIAN, and I'm afraid that recordings like this one show the beginning of the end of Kraftwerk as a nervetwisting musical entity and the beginning of them as a robotic dance band for people who won't admit that they like disco but they listened to Kraftwerk because they were German and thus continental. Now if only someone would locate a tape of that infamous live show from a few months earlier where the two were joined by a pair of guitarists who divebombed their way through an early version of "Autobahn" that puts the better known version to abject shame!

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Dock Boggs-LEGENDARY SINGER & BANJO PLAYER CD-r burn (originally on Folkways Records)

This guy sounds like one of those twenties-vintage Appalachian types who picked up a banjo and did pretty good with it even though it was more or less his avocation, he making most all of his bread slaving away in the coal mines. Then, after a brief recording career, he dropped the musical act altogether and devoted his hours to the real life deal only to be re-discovered a good thirtysome years later by one of those pointy-headed intellectual New York types who made him a proud member of the new folkie boom until eventually doing the big 86 like they all seem to do. From thereon in the man became one of those proud forbearers of a whole slew of sounds that studious practitioners of various hip musical forms consider the "roots" of whatever it is they're doing these days. Am I right? 

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STRAVINSKY : THE FIREBIRD-SEIJI OZAWA, BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CD (EMI Records, Japan)

Gotta say that I prefer THE RITES OF SPRING over this, but it is still early Stravinsky and a whole load of rock types, both snooty and not, really go for this breed of longhair barrage. Fine to the point where you can purge yourself of some of that inner turmoil that's been rumblin' inside your guts as of late and besides, with this 'un you can all finally throw away your copies of YESSONGS! 

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BLACK TO COMM back isues are still available in case you are interested. And anyone who has been reading this blog for the past twentysome years should be interested enough in latching onto a whole number of these essential magazines which might not be as important to the canon of eighties/nineties underground rock journalism as FLIPSIDE true, but they might look nice on your coffee table when the in-laws come to visit. Which might be a good idea,,,after all, you know they'll never come back after seeing those laying around that's for sure!