BLOG TO COMM

With the world situation the way it is and everything I've once not only admired but downright lusted after in my life decaying right before my eyes, things like this blog really do help chase away some of the old blooze that tend to cling in my psyche like the fat clogging up my arteries. Nothing much to blab about these days other that taxes and shit, but I thought that you all'd like to read one of my "major league" posts more sooner than later anyway even if I will have to scrape my brain to come up with something. Well, it keeps me off the street and out of the locked bathroom, ifyaknowaddamean...

Like I said last time, financial straits are once again separating me from the various recent releases I would actually want to own. All three of them that is (also mentioned last time). Frankly there's hardly anything getting tossed at me that I would consider worthy of parting with my pennies for, and given that the "modern" (hah!) music being created this very moments just doesn't flibben my jib and that the items that are up and about on the reissue and archival dig front just ain't happening well, that leaves me with spinning my same old faves over and over again. Not that I don't mind, but as you all should know by now I once in awhile do need a fresh injection of late-sixties Velvets-inspired and influenced cataclysm music which keeps me up on my toes even more than prune juice.

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I gotta admit to all two of you faithful BLOG TO COMM readers out there that I am actually sorry to see Jay Hinman's "Fanzine Hemorrhage" blog do the ol' 86 like the thing did a few months back. True it usually featured mags from Jay's I'm sure vast collection that were mostly of an eighties and beyond variety (and thus far from the "Golden Age of Rock Writing" styled zoombah that I like to pour into) but it was somewhat educational and maybe even downright interesting even if the man was waxing eloquence about some rag I could care less about. Besides, what else is there on the web that has anything to do with rock 'n roll anyway? Naturally I especially liked it when Hinman diverted his attention towards the seventies breed of rockscribing I tend to "go for", plus some of the newer rags that the guy praised to the rafters were more than just worthy of my time, especially the ones that would delve into the wild world of experimental sound that was going through some sort of renaissance a good forty years back. Who knows, maybe Jay will resurrect the and (golly) even say something nice about me somewhere in the process, but I doubt it.

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Paul Ehrlich is dead, about fifty years too late according to his own calculations. Gotta hate him for scaring the bejabbers outta alla us kids (thanks to "well read" neo-hippie teachers) ranting on about all of that "world has ten more years at the best" impending doom that was being crammed into our skulls because of him and his Chicken Little panic prophesies. Also gotta laugh at the way the litzy snob press and television news people tried to cover up and make excuses for all of his off-kilter predictions in a failed attempt to save their own asses from looking like the hipster lapdogs they were, are, and unfortunately shall remain.

Dash Crofts has joined ex-partner Jim Seals in Bahai Heaven about a good five decades after he should have made that grand exit into tie dye eternity. Yeah, the two were in The Champs who did give us that rather boppin' single "Tequila" but one song does not necessarily a career make. Obits say that he performed a music called "soft rock" which is ridiculous, and also an oxymoron of the most moronic type.

On an even sadder note --- farewell to Ross the Boss FUNicello who as you all should know was up and front for the Dictators as well as Shakin' Street and some acts I never really did follow like Manowar. A big loss for anyone who tuned into mid-seventies issues of CREEM looking for the next big thing.

And finally, r.i.p. Valerie Perrine, a gal who made more'n just a few young boys switch to their local PBS station to watch the beginning of STEAMBATH whenever that one would hit the old cathodes. Her passing is, once again, a good excuse for me to post some nudie pic in order to boost the view count of this blog somewhat. I can only hope that more nude women die because well, BTC really does need them hits, especially in these anti-rock 'n roll (but pro-tits) times of ours.

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Oddly enough the first entry in this review section was actually purchased by none other than me. Robert Forward sent a nice load of 'em in my direction and I was able to dig up a Paul McGarry one which for some reason has slipped through my rather grubby fingers. Thanks be to them and no one else.

Talking Heads-TENTATIVE DECISIONS : DEMOS & LIVE 3-CD set (Sire/Rhino Records)

Well, this collection of early three-piece Talking Heads demos and such sure took its time making its way to the general public. In fact I would have LOVED to have given these demos and live tracks a good scrutinizing back in 1979 when my interest in the trio edition of the group (spurred on after reading a NEW YORKER blurb believe it or not!) was perhaps at its highest. Sure things would change in a few years or so when the resultant edition of Talking Heads was such an embarrassment to anyone who championed the group a few years prior to the point where many disavowed ANY previous love for the band, but once a whole load of that new unto gnu wave art project cutseypieness sorta fizzed into various amerindie modes, both listenable and not, I thought it was safe enough to give these early Talking Heads another go. Sheesh, and that was even with their spawn both physically (Tom Tom Club) and spiritually (ever pick up an independent single made in the eighties?) continuing to clutter up the minds of people who are naturally better than anyone else on this here planet of ours.

Disque One's got early '75/6 trackage that really does remain downright refreshing and dare-I-say "life-reaffirming" especially in the face of all of the quap that was going on in the mid-seventies. The Heads come off wild-eyed and youthful as their stripped-down music once again proves that sometimes less is more. That NEW YORKER writer was actually correct for once comparing David Byrne's 12-string acoustic guitar playing to a harpsichord which gives their tracks an elegance (ooh!) which comes off more noble than giddy what with their mix of sixties under-the-covers influences strained through seventies underground rock aesthetics. No wonder a whole load of punks on the lookout for the next thrill took 'em to heart! And as a bonus you get two pre-Heads Artistics tracks providing for us even earlier (and rawer) examples of a couple future chestnuts just as they were being birthed. I sure wish their Paul Revere and Kinks covers would have been included but eh!

#2's got the '75 Columbia demos once again showing the Heads still heavily into a garage band sixties-infused mindset, long before success stripped everything that was exciting away in order to cater to art school pretensions.  Actually these Columbia tracks are quite straightforward in themselves to the point where you kinda/sorta wish the label would have signed 'em and just put these out as is...sure it wouldn't have sold much but think how fun it would have been picking this up at some flea market a few years later.

The last one's all live, first with that October '76 Max's show everybody in on the group has probably heard by now as well as a January '77 Syracuse club appearance laid down at the start of what was going to be a somewhat promising year for the batch. Sound quality is improved somewhat on the Max's one if something like that interests you, and the Syracuse show ain't no slouch either what with an early version of their up-and-coming in a few years hit "Take Me to the River" which sounds even better without all the Enoisms that were later added too!

Big bouef with this one's that there are none of those Troggs songs that were part of their regular set but still, this collection goes to remind me why Talking Heads were grabbing the attention of more than just a few rock devotees long before they committed anything to good ol' vinyl. Play this 'un again? Sure will and not only to wash years of "Once in a Lifetime" art shuck outta my intestines.

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The Bizarros/Bad Dudes-FROM AKRON II CD-r burn of 2-LP set (originally on Clone Records)

NATURALLY this 2006 double-platter effort from the once-resurrected Bizarros along with a new batch of Akronies would be something that should have blipped on my own radarscope. Unfortunately, my radarscope must have busted since I didn't discover this 'un until Bob Forward send me a burn. Sheesh and it was on Clone Records too which also should have perked my antennae somewhat.

This double album release is nice deal too featuring the Bizarros doing more of their seventies-focused rock filtered through late-sixties greatness. The Bad Dudes, a more recent addition to the Akron "scene",  play "in the tradition" on the other. The Dudes even go as far to cover the Bizarros "chestnut" "The Waves Cry" and they do it well to the point where I even feel like doing some on-line research on the group if only I weren't so lazy. 

Even a totally detached from life and reality person such as I can enjoy both groups as they play on as if all of the bad music that has gone down since the late-seventies (and during the late-seventies) never happened, a concept which might please some of you regular readers out there. Sheesh, they even copied the old Bizarros/Rubber City Rebels cover style which I will say does bring back a whole lotta memories of seeing used copies of that one wallowing in the basement of the Record Revolution in Cle Heights but not buying any because well...I had to properly spend my pennies back then and really took care to see where they went, usually towards the wrong records but what did a fanabla like me know? 

Whatever, if you were one of those beings who snatched up the Stiff Records Akron compilation as soon as it hit the stores and scratched and sniffed that tire to the point where all the smell went out well. you could like this 'un.

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Weasel Walter & Daniel Carter-WKCR 1/18/2016 CD-r burn

Here's one fantastic sesh that recalls everything from the Lester Bowie/Charles "Bobo" Shaw duets (when Carter is playing trumpet), or maybe some Joseph Jarman/Don Moye effort without all of the small instruments (when Carter is playing saxophone or flute). The playing is up on top whether it be Carter's eerily tense playing or Walter going in between the notes in the best Sunny Murray fashion. I'm sure if you want to hear it bad enough you know what to do, just like you all know where you can find that sick pornography that gets your libido all pumped up.

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UK Subs-BRAND NEW AGE CD-r burn (originally on Captain Oi Records, England I guess)

Once again a disque by that group people "in the know" go out of their way to knock, although I personally find nothing that I would call "offensive" about 'em the way I have many of these "young" and "precocious" acts that have cluttered fanzine pages for the past fortysome years. This 'un's their second longplaying effort and I must say that I find the thing pretty good as far as these English p-rock things tend to go. Nothing here's contrary to my sense of propriety, but then again nothing that stimulates me to the point of saying "aaaahhhhh" is as well. 's just straight-on early-eighties hard energy that reminds me of what the "alternatives" to all of the alternative dribble that was starting to come out used to be like. If you're offended by this you're probably also offended by a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

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Various Artists-RADIO SUMATRA  - THE INDONESIAN FM EXPERIENCE CD-r burn (originally on Sublime Frequencies Records)

I sure wish that I had some info on these radio broadcasts presenting for us a number of Indonesian musical trends that I sure as shootin' let alone you don't know toopie about. But hey, if you're interested in "Gambus Rock" and "Islamic Folk" sung by women who break the soprano barrier to the point where only dogs can hear 'em boy, are you in for a treat! 

These seemingly clandestine broadcasts (which I assume are of a current nature) have a whole load of interesting freak-out pop and downright hard-rock madness interspaced with a whole load of altered Javanese talk which for all I know could have been Sukarno giving instructions to his troops. The old Amerigan radio jingles adapted for local broadcast really do scrape up them memories (not necessarily good ones) as well. Sounds like a cross between some of the things I used to pick up on shortwave as a kid as well as the music you're going to be hearing in a whole lotta restaurants once these people eventually make their way to our shores. And you all know they will.

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Marc Cunningham & Jorgen Teller-NEXT CD-r burn (originally on Feeding Tube Records)

Strange as it seems but former Mars etc. bass guitarist and soon-to-be trumpeter Marc Cunningham has had a rather long "career" in Spain playing music that I get the impression might seem alien to those who first chanced upon his talents way back during the NO NEW YORK days. Here he is teamed up with a more outside of it than the usual outside types Jorgen Teller who plays guitar including a Hofner electric with two bass strings on it! You probably have heard Cunningham on the horn before, and with the addition of Teller and a whole kit 'n kaboodle of electronic effects this makes for the kind of music various dorks that sometimes tune into this blog can actually appreciate. Moody and dare-I-say even dreamy in ways that usually don't penetrate your brain armor.  

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Stare Kits-LIVE IN NYC 1979 CD-r burn (originally on Feeding Tube Records)

This 'un's been flying around on the grey market (in fact reviewed in these "pages" earlier), but Feeding Tube deemed it gosh golly enough to give them a legitimate release! The sound has been cleaned up a bit but that won't matter to you because the music is great in that New York ahtzy way that continued in a variety of local groups long after the no wave breathed its last whenever it was that the no wave breathed. 

I believe that the word they use to describe this type of music is "angular" but fans of late-sixties Renaissance/Systematic Records catalogs will probably clamor to buy a release like this if only out of reliving one's youth. I at times am reminded of the late-seventies Red Crayola while others have mentioned such stellar names as Wire and Ut. The Great ! Society track's even faithful enough to the early San Fran pre-hippoid trash groove which certainly is a feather in their caps considering the gap  between mid-sixties San Francisco and late-seventies lower Manhattan. Good enough that you won't even mind that the high-warbling female vocalist here is the template for just about every whiny "I'm My Own Woman!" breed of screecher many of us have had the displeasure of hearing these past fortysome years.

Waddeva, now that this is available in the flesh, or plastic in this case get it. Live from TR3 as well as some rehearsal type things that sound sturdy enough for my own sense of enjoyment. Worth the quarter of a Ben Franklin you'll probably have to spend for it.

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Will Rogers once remarked that he never met a man he didn't like. Well, I never met a man who bought back issues of BLACK TO COMM that I didn't like. And the rest of you can go blow more than just bubbles for all I care!