I guess now that the hyperbusy summer months are well behind my own expansive behind I do have a little more time to spend by the portable sound-spinner and smack dab in front of the computer keyboard doing the things I like to do most, other'n just eat and goof off in typical LEAVE IT TO BEAVER fashion that is. And thus, a megapost a good three or so weeks after the previous one! Cherish it well, because it might be the last one in what I would call a longer'n even usual long time.

***

Hokay, it's time for another round of elections to engage in if only so's I don't miss out on one and have to re-register in case I happen to want to vote again. So this time which echo do I cast my decision for anyway? What level of assholitry am I willing to accept??? I gotta admit that as far as the stateside situation goes I loathe the governor so much that I'd even prefer to see Sluggo working for us out there in Harrisburg. Thus I will definitely vote for whoever it is that is running against Shapiro even if it is a female veteran who'll probably be a slave to her cycles...and like I said even Sluggo'd be a welcome change since he at least has that working class (OL, criminal class) aura about him unlike the definitely elitist chi-chi cause and hate the right kind of people Shapiro, a guy who I really do suspect never met an everyday working kinda guy he didn't loathe despite all of those bragging political ads showing him elbow to elbow with the proles. I know Shapiro's gonna win because of his huge big city cocktails and noshes support 'n all but sheesh, why am I supposed to smile politely while suffering because of what other people voted for, something I've been supposed to do for quite a long while?

As for my current opines regarding the national scene, just gander at the meme directly below which sums up some of my concerns...yeesh! Of course the good news is that enough people are so pissed off that they're going to vote against the GOP outta spite in order to teach them a lesson they'll never forget (right)...the bad news is that that means the Evil Party as Sam Francis so succinctly put it will be pushing their usual gaytard late-term crossdressing social experiments on us at least until the next big upheaval. Dilemmas dilemmas...as Snagglepuss might have said ain't it the truth, the modern choice of putting democracy into action (hah!) only makes voting more akin to having to choose between death or uggabugga as I've probably already said a million times already. If you want to survive it better be Carlson/Owens '28 or perhaps Massie's "Everything Trump Promised in '16 But Didn't Deliver On" Party if he were so deemed to proceed with such a much-needed task:

Swiped from The Babylon Bibi

And things do look rather dim on the international front...Alberta voted to stay with Canada which is a major setback for The Big Destruction of super governmental control over vast areas that are being taken advantage of that is so needed these uber nationalistic days. I was hoping we'd have a new nation on our hands but the majority of dolts there undoubtedly think that Mark Carney's teats are way tastier than being yur own independent self. And someone once made a statement about people who would take security over freedom deserving neither, a situation which should be a lesson for the people there as well as everyone else on the globe. And hey France, how're you guys who were damning THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS (never read it but read a whole load of vitriol about it) way back when doin' these days? Oh yeah, you didn't want to look racist which I know is a major concern with many of you out there in real life who want to project your progressive brownie points. Well, at least Marine LePen just might make it this time because of it. And a lotta you guys had the nerve to up your noses and point your digits at the United States for many a year because of the racial tumult going on 'round these parts too! I'm sure any apologies will be accepted.

***

PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON IT TIME: Given my technological inferiority I was just wond'rin'...any of you out there willing to burn these Mirrors rarities for me? I'd do the same for you, if I could that is. 

***

A special Halloween treat! A Von Lmo flier from 46 years ago!

***

And now for something I think you just might be interested in. Thanks to Paul McGarry, Robert Forward and a record swiped from my cyster's collection (three guesses as to which one it was and the first two don't count!):

 

Jean-Francois Pauvros and Gaby Bizen-PAYS NOIRS LP (Souffle Contineau Records, France)

Guitar/percussion duo from these French freedom fanatics that show promise but fail to live up to the atonal glory of similar squonks along the lines of Ascension or Doug Snyder and Bob Thompson's DAILY DANCE. Closer to the splattered sparseness of Derek Bailey if I do say so myself 'stead of the more rockist approach that I was hoping for after giving the Catalogue album a review last megapost. 

Other side has a nice li'l engraving that reminds me of the one on the flip of Lee Ranaldo's FROM HERE TO INFINITY which does drop hefty hints that I better drag that one out for yet another go at, that is if I can locate it within the stacks of uncategorized longplayers that reside in the abode (like I ever could categorize my collection even to my own personal liking!).

***

Can-EMPIRE THEATRE 3/23/1973 (or 8/25/1973 according to my own research) CD-r burn

Don't think I heard this one before. Clear sound actually enhances that old dolby hi-fi gooshiness I had back during my cassette days in the mid-seventies plus some songs I can't identify show up which is swell enough on my part. Overall it sounds like one of those Can shows where they were doing what they do, only without the more shocking sonic accruements that made up some of their more stunning live material. If you can find it, get it, but there's a whole lot of better Can material out there.

***

The Children-REBIRTH CD (Gear Fab Records)

The Steve Nagel aircheck mentioned last post stoked my curiosity about San Antonio's Children, but man their original LP on Atco's bound to set one back a mighty hunk of money! Thankfully there's this recent enough reissue and it will do. Fine re-packaging album with early proto-bands (including the Mind's Eye stringed-up "Help, I'm Lost" from the ultra-expensive TEXAS FLASHBACKS series) to other rarities that help fill out the Children story a whole lot better'n had they been left off which I guess is an obvious enough point. 

As for the album itself well...I find it way too laden in orchestral gloss that doesn't let the group's whole "persona" or whatever the hippoids call it come to fruition. With Lelan Rogers producing I was thinking this would sound more like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators or a lost International Artists album, but then again I find more than just a few moments pretty darn near enveloping, especially the piano closing to "Sitting on a Flower". Hefty points must go to these Children for including "Waiting For My Man" in their live set.

***

John Cage-IN A LANDSCAPE CD (Catalyst Records)

Never can go on throughout this life with some new to my lobes John Cage recordings to stimulate whatever there is in me that needs stimulating. Most of these tracks have already been laid to vinyl but a fresh interpretation of these old familiarities done up by a chap names Stephen Drury does tingle the old nerve-endings. Not only that but this features the first ever recoded appearance of a more recent (1983) Cage composition entitled "Souvenir" which is performed on an actual organ and reminds me a teeny-weeny tiny bit of those Olivier Messiaen pieces that he recorded at Notre Dame. Could be a good one to snatch up if you (like me) have been in on the Cage game for longer than anyone could care and still want to hear those obscurities mentioned in the discography that appears in the back of Richard Kostelanetz's book. (By the way, did you know that Kostelanetz appeared at a CBGB poetry reading sometime late 1975 along with Fluxus mainstay Dick Higgins?)  Another interesting bit of diversion for a phony intellectual such as myself, and maybe even you.

***

The Moody Blues-THE BEGINNING VOL. 1 LP (Decca Records, England)

Here's one of those mid-seventies vintage overseas bargain albums that cost the same as any other import here in the US of Suckers. But this being a collection of the pre-Justin Hayward and John Lodge Moodies well, it sure does fare better'n most of what that group's eventual output managed to deliver to a whole generation of sensitive potheads and serious-minded kids too embarrassed to listen to the real hard-edged stuff. 

Actually most of these songs do have a dark if smooth enough appeal in that this was happening before that whole snootification of rock music thanks to the likes of the Beatles and their more sunshine-oriented material. And I can even enjoy a fruity popper like "Rue de la Madeline" the same way I can most sixties classical/pop flub-a-dubs from the Fugs to the Left Banke. Just watch out for their rather dippy interpretation of James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy" and while I'm at it, an early Moody Blues collection without "Go Now"??? C'mon!

***

John Fahey-RED CROSS DISCIPLE OF CHRIST TODAY CD-r burn (originally on Revenant Records)

I might have heard this one before but if I did well, eh what's another review! Fahey's final offering isn't what I'd call the kind of platter that envelops my soul to be hippoid about it, but the thing sure is a fitting farewell. Good slab of typical Fahey fingerpicking with the usual surprises that at least perk my ears up somewhat. Interesting covers of "Summertime" and "Motherless Child" intermingle with the same kind of originals that got not only the underground hipsters but the college dorm '69 hippies and chi-chi STEREO REVIEW types' hearts all a'flutter. Stick around for the buried track.

***

Led Zeppelin-GONZAGA 12/30/68 and 1970 OUTTAKES VOL. 1 2-CD-r set (the Gonzaga one is available via the Capricorn bootleg label which I doubt has anything to do with the southern rock label and as far as the other material well...you can probably find it on Archies.org)

The very early Zep live material shows 'em still (thankfully) firmly planted feet-wise in late-period Yardbirds tension mode putting up quite the same ol' racket that one can still hear on a wide variety of bootlegs along the lines of the boff LAST RAVE UP IN LA. Believe it or not from the lips of an affirmed sludge stoner box boy metal hater like myself, but this set's actually good despite (because of?) the low-fidelity hand-held cassette rawness to it. 

The outtake portion actually spreads from '68 until '71 and feature fragments, goof offs  and instrumental tracks that I'm sure that the serious fan will probably enjoy. You won't, but the obsessives surely will the same way I'll spin some decrepit Velvet Underground gem that would have rated a "Poor Mono" in the old HOT WACKS catalog. The decay had yet to set in and these are good on their own terms, but really how could Zep even hope to compare with the punk rawness of Mick Bolton-era UFO or just about any group coming out of the Ladbroke Grove 'round the very same time?

***

Interested in picking up any of these BLACK TO COMM back issues for your reading pleasure, or displeasure as it usually seems to be with you regular tuner inners? Well, press the blue link right above and read the instructions since I'm tired of getting comments from people who express an interest in buying mags asking for info that is already available but never follow up!

True, I've long been in the habit of ignoring various "necessities" in my life whether it be doing my homework, yard duties or trimming my protruding nostril hairs for that matter.  Perhaps I remain under the impression that if I just shove these various burdens on my life to the back of my brain they'll just go away and I can just settle back and relax as these various demons dissipate into the ether. 

As you may have noticed, at times this blog does get lumped into being more of a once-in-awhile fulfillment of my OCD rather than being a downright funtime experience. Not that BLOG TO COMM isn't an overall pleasure in my rather humdrum existence, but sometimes each and every one of us has got to engage in a little bit of sloth, something which I will admit was one of the highlights of my single-digit ranch house suburban slob growing up days that maturity thankfully never did wash out of my system. Of course, ignoring things doesn't automatically make life more bearable as Uncle Ferd learned after acting like that strange sore on his chest was nothing to worry about for months on end.

Maybe that's one reason it took so long for this particular post to make its way into your living room. Maybe 'tis because real life doodies (and I sure have had my share of them these past five years!) have been piling up as of late. Maybe it's just because I couldn't care less anymore but then my feelings of gettin' up and goin' expressing the deep passions I have in life get the best of me and well, sometimes it is more fun to write these things up on a Sunday afternoon rather than scour the television screen looking for anything worth laying eyes upon.

As usual the ol' moolah shortage has been taking a toll on my listening experiences which is yet another reason why It has been way too long between these megaposts. Sure I have tons of interesting burns sent by the likes of Paul McGarry and Robert Forward  to choose from, but at times those get scattered across the floor like chiclets. I do manage to find a few of them as the following reviews will reveal. 

There are some big items out there I wouldn't mind hearing mind you, but the lack of decent cashflow is preventing me from latching onto all the fun. Take f'rexample that new re-re-re-RE issue of the Mothers of Invention debut album FREAK OUT now done up in a six-Cee Dee plus Blu Ray (something which I don't have access to but eh!) package. Now a concept like that sure sounds enticing considering just how much I would have drooled over such an item back when I was a mere sixteen, but I'm not exactly in the position to buy this three-digit sucker lest a load of you readers snatch up a whole buncha BLACK TO COMM back issues (see below) which would make me a happier than an adolescent locked in a bathroom with a stack of SUCKEMS magazines. I'll bet that Jymn Parrett (who says this double-LP set was the thing that kick-started his love of heavy-duty rock music) has already latched onto this one by now!

Oh yeah, and while I'm at it I'm on a heart monitor now! Family tradition y'know. Things seem to be going normal so far but as we all know situations do change, and not always for the better!!! Well, maybe a palpitation or two will lead to even more goof off time that I can sure use.

***

The artist also did the cover to
FUTURE LANGUAGE

So what else have I been doing other than existing in this thing called...well...EXISTENCE??? Robert Forward's various burns do help me through a whole lotta drive time, especially when I spin the selection of Brother Love radio shows that were originally broadcast on Pittsburgh's WAMO-FM during the late-sixties, programs that the guy graciously burnt off Archives.org for me. Not that I'm exactly a fan of most of the music that this Brother Love guy slaps onto his turntable but it's sure a hoot giving a listen to him spew out his typically late-sixties campy psychedelic spiel while he and Raymond the Condemned read their listeners' suggestions for those destined for "The Plastic Museum". I shouldn't be too critical of this obvious phonus balonus as he actually did spin a track by Brute Force, not the "King of Fuh" guy on Apple but the hard-edged funk/jazz/rock ensemble which featured none other than the best jazz guitarist there ever was, mainly one Sonny Sharrock! He also played the Fugs doing their exorcism of the Pentagon which showed some taste I'll bet most of the other hip radio deejays of the era lacked, though for some strange reason or another I kinda doubt that he woulda had the gumption to spin "Wet Dream" from the same album. I'm definitely going to continue listening to the ol' broth', if only in the hopes that I don't find myself nominated for the Plastic Museum!

Also worth the spin was Steve Nagel at KFMK in Houston. The guy tends to pause between each word he utters but he does have the good taste to broadcast for us the likes of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Children on his program.

***

With a name like Metteyya's Voice I thought that this mixed combo (men and wimmen) would have been a wild Hindu-inspired Hawkwind-y psychedelic space trip that, fortunately for us space rock fans (and I don't mean "Classic Rock FM" space rock either!), was stuck smack dab in the middle of the seventies. However, some recently discovered demos that have popped up on Youtube have proven me wrong which doesn't exactly make me want to run to the nearest cliff but is still somewhat of a letdown. For a group that played not only CBGB but Club 82 twice, I find Metteyya's Voice waywayWAY more in the funky Latin with a touch (and sometimes more) of disco range which might not have been so strange for the 82 clientele (fierce division between disco and rock crowds there) and not quite (if at all) up to BTC standards. I'll still post these three (at least the three I could find) out of six tracks from their demo if only for you to make up your own mind even though I do know what all of you will think anyway. But as the old saying goes YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Some (including myself) may think Metteyya's Voice is total cringe, though I will give hefty thumbs up to "Love Bullet" not only with a spooky harp (!) introduction which should have gone on for much longer but an interesting funky riff trumpet solo that actually got my own antennae perked. Otherwise this act really did prove the old saying that CBGB stands for "We'll Book ANYBODY!". Anyway, yet another New York scene mystery solved, one out of many more that need a little revealin' before it ALL tumbles into historical mindnumb.

***

For those of you who care, and that should be every reader out there, a new issue of DUMB AND READY PIGMEAT has made its way out of Brad Kohler's fart-encrusted bedroom (wife sleeps in another room---I mean wouldn't you???) and into your very hearts. For those of you who miss no wave this one'll kill ya, for none other than the infamous Boris Policeband (fringe NYC violinist who thought he was a cop) is the featured guest this time. The account of Policeband meeting up with Jaye P. Morgan, the Miss Wholesome who transitioned into a Jane Fonda lookalike in the early-seventies before becoming a regular and extremely foul mouthed kinda judge on THE GONG SHOW sure seems purely fictional, but stranger things have happened so if it indeed were true I wouldn't be stymied one bit. There's also a thing on novelist Jack W. Thomas for all of you brainy types out there as well as stuff by Sean Schafron, Brad's old Coraopolis pal who I wonder is the guy who is still mad at me for my irreverent Lou Reed obit from way back. If you want it bad enough write to 515 Tama St., Boone IA 50036.

***

Rather than write an extra post I just thought that I'd mention the new NANCY FOR ALL SEASONS book here since well, you all know what I'm going to say about it anyway and brevity is an important part of the BLOG TO COMM credo or something like that. By now (early-fifties) Ernie Bushmiller was delineating a more cheeky-looking Nancy and Sluggo, and of course the gags are just as surprisingly good (beyond the kiddie strip infantilism that most NANCY loathers believe that it is) in a way that makes you glad you had things like comic strips and eyeballs to read these things with. And hey, if you thought that your suburban slob kiddiehood just didn't last long enough and that things like grabbing the paper as soon as it arrived and lying flat down on the parlor floor with the funny page wide open was one of the highlights of a single-digit existence well, a book like this is bound to bring back a whole streamfull of good memories from an era when you were probably getting beat up and pissed on daily.

I also picked up another one of those Midcentury Comics FRITZI RITZ collections, a nice one even if there are too many repeats from other editions. The addition of some Sunday FERD'NANDs was welcome and it's always nice reading the strip where Fritzi and Phil Fumble are caught in a storm miles away from land and believe they're about to die (some of Bushmiller's best detailed and dramatic work!) even if this was about the third or fourth volume this notable story appears.

***

While I'm up and about maybe I should comment on the reams of deaths that have been cropping up as of late. Like that of Gloria Steinem, the ex HELP! magazine staffer who used her sexual wiles to get the likes of Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis to pose for their covers and later uttered such stunning bon mots as "a woman without a man is like a fish without an aquarium" or something like that. I guess the clump of cells that she used to be is now being reduced to a clump of wormfood.

Also hitting the carbon cycle is Gene O'Connor better known as Cheetah Chrome who managed to live so long despite the torrents of abuse he put his body through. Well, if Iggy Pop could make it as long as he did why should I be surprised that Mr. Chrome actually made his way into the Septuagenarian arena.

Peter Max also maxxed out his life which I gotta say was about fiftysome years too late given how that weirdo's pop art kitsch was being pushed on everything from 7 Up ads to school notebooks during the age of right on relevancy. Hippiedoodle for the iron-haired girls who played Bobby Sherman records on their cheapo portable record players and made color peace sign posters in art class. The weird thing is...for quite a long while I believed that Max didn't even exist and that he was some boardroom creation used to push that art which might as well have been conjured up by Yacoub in his lab and thrusted upon a whole load of unsuspecting early-seventies teenbo mushskulls!

An overlooked passing is that of former (?) Mansonoid Bruce Davis, and considering how the Family is starting to dwindle down to a precious few we better honor the ones who are left before they too eventually come face-to-face with the ones they helped butcher! 

***

Again here be a whole bunch of new to my ears thingies that I spent the past few months spinning. Now a whole load of these efforts may be older'n Methuselah to you rich and with-it types but for me they're about as fresh as had I heard 'em the moment they popped up at my local record shop, as if that place would have stocked any of these obscuros in the first place. 'cept maybe for the Dream Syndicate one maybe.

Various Artists-KRAUTROCK - MUSIC FOR YOUR BRAIN 6-CD-r set (originally on Sony Records)

Don't expect any real cohesiveness here what with a few well-known krautrock goodies scattered amidst various obscurities and names that for the most part convey the least appealing moments the genre managed to toss our way. And to make matters worse I wouldn't even consider many of the hard rock acts that pop up here such as Birth Control, Jane and Lucifer's Friend krautrock in the slightest. Unfortunately, the punkier aspects of what the German expressionists gave us is not fully revealed...I guess that will all have to wait until the AFTER THE FEEDBACK box set finally gets released. Well, at least I was given the chance to hear a few longtime goodies by the likes of Can, Faust, Guru Guru and Harmonia again.

***

The Dream Syndicate-LIVE THROUGH THE PAST, DARKLY CD-r burn (originally on 51 Recordings Records)

Naw, I still feel nothing special listening to these live tracks recorded throughout the group's career that were released under the same name of that famous eight-sided Rolling Stones album. Now, the performances are fine and ability to convey various artistic aspects do hit their targets, but the paens to past perfection come nowhere close to the influences that made up the spiritual backbone of the entire under-the-underground these past fiftysome years. Not that this breed of vibration is bad or even downright evil, but sure as shootin' it lacks a whole load of the hardness and grit that typified the sort of sounds that made people like me scour used bins for a good number of years when the hard-edge could be bought for mere pennies. If it is any consolation to you Dream Syndicate fans I gotta say that I like the way "Morning Dew" was incorporated into "John Coltrane Stereo Blues"...now are ya happy?

***

Heldon IV-"AGNETA NILSSON" CD (Bureau B, EU)

More synth drive from Richard Pinhas that should thrill the fanabla outta anyone who took my advice and bought the guy's earlier platter reviewed in these "pages" a month or ten ago.  Seventies synth sludge that for once has a pair of danglies thus separating it from the usual batch of prissies heard during them days. Add some Stoogian riffage and this could have been Metal Urbain.

***

Catalogue-PENETRATION CD (Hat Hut Records, Switzerland)

While we're on the subject of furriners, this French trio might have outdone even their earlier freak sounds on this live effort. Given it was recorded in that rather transitional year of 1982, PENETRATION should either signal the end point of the 1964-1981 era of deca-rock drive or the beginnings of the eighties experimental musical age done up during a time when few gave one whit about anything that wasn't squeaky clean. 

Now, PENETRATION might be somewhat over electronic-y slick (at times) for my tastes but there are some interesting avant-punk moves which are tossed in between the usual classical snatches and New Think bleats. Jac Berrocal was always a good representative of the more outer limits portion of the European portion of the jazz and punk idioms, while Jean-Francois Pauvros has more than a little bit of Gallic avant greatness behind him (check out RINCURES which he conjured up with Mahogany Brain's Michel Bulteau). And of course, there's Gilbert Artman who had spent more than a few years in Lard Free and Urban Sax where he honed whatever it is that needed honed for such a warpo vision as this. They really did make for a team that mooshed it all up and did it right!

I could call PENETRATION some high point in the post FUNHOUSE breed of classic jazz punk amalgamation heading out for the same stratosphere as the rest, but you all already think I'm nuts enough already what with my long-undiagnosed OCD. Still, I'd take this over a lot of the snooze passing for underground music that was coming out of the eighties just about any day!

***

Togashi Masahiko Quartet-WE NOW CREATE --- MUSIC FOR STRINGS, WINDS AND PERCUSSIONS CD (Monkey Dog Records, EEC)

For those of you who love the music of Keiji Haino here's more to let your Japanese-bred musical psyche gnaw on. Drummer Masahiko leads this rather spaced group that takes the various sounds and textures (oooh!) of the late-sixties New Thing and does it up in an even more unique Japanese fashion the same way that Toyota took Studebaker styling nods and went in their own distinctly different direction. Saxophonist Mototeru Takagi might come off as somewhat subdued in this style when compared to Roscoe Mitchell or Frank Lowe but fits in swell, especially when he whips out his "corn pipe" which I most sincerely doubt is one of those Popeye-like things the folks used to always get me only for me to chew 'em to splinters. Elements of Milford Graves and even Jimmy Giuffre's chamber jazz circa FREE FALL can be discerned, and the fact that this was originally released on Victor really does make me wonder where all the balls that the big deal labels once had and have long been lopped off went.

***

Eugene Chadbourne and Jimmy Carl Black-LIVE AT THE BERKELEY CAFE, RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA 6/16/1995 CD-r burn (you can probably find it on soundcloud)

I haven't heard much if any of Chadbourne's music ever since them days when he was spreading himself on real thick so this was like a nice li'l re-introduction. But I don't remember any of those tossout tapes or actual recordings to have this sorta downhome kick up your footsies feeling what with Chadbourne most of the time plucking on a banjo while "the Indian of the group" Jimmy Carl Black pounds away and gets nary the vocal time I sure hoped he would've. Worth it for Black's Bertram Redneck-ish vocalese on "Willie the Pimp" and other old Mothers numbers that only go to prove that the guy shoulda been the vocalist and Zappa shoulda just shut up and played his guitar. (Speaking of guitar, Chadbourne does some fairly "there" Zappaisms on his own electric.) But putting that kid whoever it was through having to do all that singing...I hope someone reported Chadbourne to Child Protection Services!

***

THE BEATLES STORY CD-r burn (originally on Capitol Records)

It's that Beatles album I used to see in the racks as a kid wondering why it existed in the first place because it was nothing but one of those quickie cash-in documentary thingies custom made for that teenbo fatso cousin who had pimples on her thighs and a strange sinus-reaming odor. Maybe she still has those pimples (we all know about the odor) but anyway, if you were a female pus packet back then who was wrapped up in the whole Beatlemania hype complete with all of those bubblegum machine pins and Flip Your Wig Milton Bradley games you probably woulda gone gaga for it too. Whatever, here's the inside scoop on the group complete with snippets of real deal Beatle tunes mixed in with the Hollyridge Strings and a narrator who probably digs these guys about as much as he does Khrushchev.  I like the Radio Birdman one much better.                    

***

THE BEST OF DAVIE ALLAN AND THE ARROWS (stream it here)

Listening to this 'un somehow reminded me of back when I was a kid on some rainy day in the rec room in the basement pouring through old magazines and it's kinda chilly and humid which is making you all clammy but when you're eight years old things like that don't matter much. Funny thing is that Kyu Sakamoto's "Sukiyaki" does the same thing to me as well! Anyway there'd be some music along these lines coming atcha from my dad's workshop radio which I guess would have gotten him really mad since his tastes were more tonal, but since the station would probably play something along the lines of "Swinging Safari" next he could sweat it out. Who knows, these fuzzed out instrumentals might have the exact same effect on your own kiddoid memories but given how I think all of you readers out there grew up in upperclass snooty chi chi cocktail parties and noshes environments I'm sure you can't see the outright pleasure in lowclass suburban slob growing up fun and jamz.

***                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

OK, now that Betty got your attention... Anyway, you could do worse than ignore my constant please to buy back issues of BLACK TO COMM and you undoubtedly have, and it really is sad to know that my readers don't have a sense of right and wrong and unfortunately engage in the latter if only to get my ire up. You still have some time to do the right thing by buying a whole load of these before you meet your final reward, which knowing the lives you guys lead will probably be spending an eternity with nothing to thumb through but back issues of SWELLSVILLE. Serves ya right!