Well, whaddaya wanna talk about tonight Louie? Not much to discuss really, but try I must. Howzbout if I mention a few up-to-date 'n reliable current events, like perhaps that situation in Oklahoma where some kids drove around and killed an Australian baseball player just because they wuz bored! Sheesh, I always knew that sports could kill you, but when I was a kid and you were bored all ya hadda do was sneak into the bathroom with a copy of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (one with a hula gal or Japanese pearl diver article) smuggled under your shirt! I guess that despite some innocent guy (even though you kinda get the feeling the defense'll try to make him look like the bad boy in this situation) getting offed its actually good that things like this do happen every so often, if only for people to blab on about their pet causes and how such and such wouldn't have happened if things only went THEIR way.

What else is there---how about Chelsea ne. Bradley Manning?!?!?! Sheesh, the guy had been coming off like the biggest hero since Daniel Ellsberg leaked "The Pentagon Papers" to THE NEW YORK TIMES then right as he's about to be sentenced he does this big blubbering act saying how sorry he is for alla that damage his leaks caused (even if, dare I say it, this country has deserved a lotta the damage it's accrued for perhaps the past forty-four administrations) before going off to get a sex change! I guess the switch in sex is pretty well-timed...after all he's probably have it easier in a women's prison than a man's even though I'm sure his sexiness will be the envy of every butch guard and hardened lifer lucky enough to corner her in the gang shower! Either way Bradley/Chelsea goes you kinda get the feeling (s)he's gonna be enduring some rather interesting evenings for the next thirty years.

OK, enough of da nooze...here's this week's musical reviews and I hope you can dig its reality as Nathan Beauregard would have said. Thanks again to Bill Shute because financial constraints have put a kibosh on my planned Forced Exposure order for at least the next month or so (by which time all of the items I have lined up for purchase will probably be gone for good!). Thankfully I do have a few things I picked up via ebay heading my way which should stifle some of the boredom around here, and you can bet your buttocks that I am anxiously looking forward to the day when I do receive the bevy of beauteous booty via FE which is guaranteed to keep me pumped up at least a good five minutes after which the excitement subsides. Until then it's shoestring budget time, and nothing else!


Sam Rivers-CONCEPT CD-R (originally on Rivbea)

It's nice hearing that longtime free jazz multi-instrumentalist Rivers went out on a good note 'stead of by recording some subpar sputum or disco drek that never did rake inna moolah like the label bigwigs thought it would. Hot trio settings from the mid-nineties featuring Rivers on tenor and soprano sax, flute and piano with Doug Matthews on bass and bass clarinet and Anthony Cole handling drums and tenor sax. Titles range from a woodwind trio to hot Cecil Taylor-ish piano romping and even some getdown swingy funky grooves can be discerned on (I believe) "Notion." Best thing about it is it's all as good as the stuff Sam was doing in the sixties and seventies back when more than a few people were paying attention to the "new thing" in jazz...nowadays the idea that this music even garnered a listenership as big as it did seems about as distant a memory as the record shops brimming with rarities similar to this and many other soundscapades that I never thought I would get to hear in a millyun years!

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Big Joe Turner-I DON'T DIG IT CD-R burn (originally on Jukebox Lil, Sweden)

Early trax from one of those originator of rock 'n roll types, recorded with a number of trios and big bands throughout the forties back when this stuff was still considered swinging by the same folk who'd do the upchuck routine while you listened to Turner's spiritual successors a good twenty years later. Good flat-out performances of both the familiar and the new to my ears that somehow fit in swell during the Sunday afternoon I listened to them, though the entire proceedings would have benefited from some commentary from Bus Eubanks, eh Bill?

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Butterbeans and Susie-ELEVATOR PAPA, SWITCHBOARD MAMA CD-R burn (originally on JSP, UK)

Sorta like a black Bickersons who set their act to music with swift 'n witty repartee. Gives you the feeling that those dirty Laff Record albums you used to see at the shopping mall record stores aren't that far down the proverbial line. Nothing outright nasty here, but the back 'n forth banter does approach areas that might have made Aunt Mabel a little uncomfortable. Nice bloozy twenties feel to these which should appeal to those who go for these various compilations of African-Americana coming out on disque, or even the Moran and Mack collection for that matter.

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Various Artists-URANIUM IN MY BANANA SPLIT CD-R (compiled by Bill You-Know-Who!)


Better than I was expecting sampler courtesy Mr. Bill with not just one but two fifties Three Little Pigs jivers (one by the infamous Al "Jazzbo" Collins and the other by none other than "5 1/2 Year Old Humorous Dian"!), the Nutty Squirrels' infamous Chipmunks cash-in "Uh Oh," Keith West of Tomorrow fame and plenty more where that came from! And, as you would expect, there's even a Christmas ditty of an early-sixties variety here sung by some li'l Mexican chico asking mamasita "Donde Esta Santa Claus?" which is a whole lot more palatable than "Tu tiene una cara como un puerco!"

You're (or actually I am since you're never gonna get to hear my disque!) definitely in for a surprise whether it be Junior Wells and A.C. Reed getting all early-seventies "relevant" or some gospel crankouts that are so old-timey you woulda thought you heard 'em on some UHF station in 1959. Can't complain even if the Rovin' Flames' "How Many Times" can be found on PEBBLES and that unknown acetate from '67 is a bit too hippie commercial for my tastes, but since I'm getting these things for free it ain't like I'm gonna bark that loud!

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Cab Calloway-ARE YOU HEP TO THE JIVE CD-R burn (originally on Columbia)

Yet another one of those "changes o' pace," this time from the immortal Cab Calloway who romps with band through a good twenny-two sides originally recorded for Columbia between '39 and '47. About as much the roots of rock 'n roll as the rest of that boogie groove, Calloway proves himself a master performer through a whole passel o' jivetalk numbers that have more of a swing and soul to 'em than anything broadcast these past thirtysome years. If you wanna know where alla those white nerds playing at hepcat you saw in those old MAD magazines got it, look no further. Of course it contains "Minnie the Moocher," a song that's pretty much not safe to perform these days if you're white.

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The Yardbirds-LITTLE GAMES SESSIONS AND MORE two CD-R set (originally on Capitol)

Once again it's Bill to the rescue with a new bunch of savory goodies to arrive since the ones reviewed above, this being the first of what should prove to be a funzy weekend. And the best part about it is that well...I was actually thinking about buying this particular double-disque collection of various LITTLE GAMES outtakes, alternates and whatnot but decided not to because of the ol' tightening of the wallet! Gee Bill, you really saved me a bundle this time!

Purty good selection of goodies show up here too, including a variety of instrumental backing tracks that sound OK on their lonesome, some alternative takes, mono versions, a whole slew of tracks ne'er before heard and of course loadsof surprises including some items by the post-Yardbirds/pre-Renaissance Together (they sound kinda commercial folky but you won't throw up). A good portion of this stuff was new to my ears (which would figure since I never did get to hear the original album due to high collector prices), so you could say that it was a fine time to be had even if you can hear the aesthetic tug o' war between Jimmy Page and Mickey Most between the grooves, or whatever it is that CD-r's have!

Extra special bonus...the infamous "Great Shakes" commercial tops the entire shebang off and if you don't want to run down to your local store to buy some after hearing this then nothing will! Oh wait they don't make that any more...howzbout some of that Borden milkshake in a can that I used to think was endorsed by Patty Duke and that kid that played her brother because the actors they used on the commercial looked so much like 'em? Aw yeah, they don't even make that anymore (drat!).

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Paul Revere & the Raiders-MOJO WORKOUT! 2-CD-R set (originally on Sundazed)

Whoa, where are my old issues of BOMP, KICKS and that all time fave FLASH #1??? Sure coulda used this double-header of early Columbia-era Paul Revere back when I was snatching those famzines up for the very first time I'll tell ya! And really, who in their right mind woulda thunk that Columbia would've ever unleashed their Raider vaults like they have on this extended romp of fun, even if they had collector's label Sundazed do it for 'em like they've been doing with much of their rockin' back catalog for the past umpteen years?

These platters capture the Raiders 1963-1964 right before their big break when the hard rage of Northwest rock was still foremost in the group's overall makeup and the more "commercial" if still full-force Top 40 stylings were a good two or so years off. Yeah you could say that the overall impact of the "live in the studio" and rehearsal tracks from September 1964 was a far cry from the stuff the Wailers or Sonics were cranking out at the same time, but the same energy and spirit is there not to mention a good portion of the repertoire. Y'know, those teenage white guy takes on aging black guy songs done up in that great knotty pine way that made numbers like "Louie Louie" and " Searchin'" anthems for suburban slobs nationwide!

The early Columbia singles are here too and the entire shebang ends with a few tracks that actually made it to HERE THEY COME's studio side, and frankly I can't think of a better tribute to the group's early Columbia days when they were about to consume the entire nation with one felt swoop. And not only that, but I'm sure that the original copy has a nice big booklet that has detailed liner notes by Billy Miller even!

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Yeah it ain't much, but just wait until next time!!! JUST WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! Nyaaaah!

BOOK REVIEW! THIS IS LITTLE LULU by Marge (Dell First Edition, 1956)

Thee olde favourite, snatched up at the July 4 1975 Mesopotamia Ohio outdoor flea market and ox roast, a day best remembered by me for nursing the remnants of a leg cramp I had the pleasure of enduring the previous night. Never thought I'd be nostalgia for beat up old paperbacks let alone leg cramps, but this 'un's got the memories flowin' like syphilitic pus!

After a slew of old Marge originals from THE SATURDAY EVENING POST (btw didja know that she was the replacement for HENRY after the famed bald mute made his way to the funny pages?) we get down to the bare-wired reason for buying this, mainly those John Stanley-era comics which really did hit a resonating nerve with soon-to-be hippoid fans nationwide. And hey, even a jaded old fanabla such as I gotta admit that the stories are still as potent as they were when I first read 'em that hot 'n humid day, even to the point where I do get kinda angry when the girls get the best of Tubby, Iggy and the rest of the guys who still resonate pure pride in being a boy who hates loud mouthed females this far down the line!

Stories range from the usual funtime fantasies that Stanley made his mark with (if you went for his take on NANCY around the same time these will strike a similar pre-pubescent scrunch) including some real strokes of gee-nee-yes like the one where Pop takes too many vitamins and becomes a kid who gives his allegiance to Tubby's gang, not to mention the one where Lulu and Annie play dead after li'l brat Alvin blasts 'em with his toy machine gun in order to make him think that he really did kill the pair, then he goes back to finish off the job off when he notices Lulu's pinky twitchin'! There's also a "Spider" story where Tubby goes undercover to find out why Pop shaved his mustache off not to mention two Little Itch sagas which always tickled my fancy perhaps due to the underlying strain of cruelty the evil brat dished upon Lulu, sadistic girl hater I was and shall truly remain.

Yeah you could dish out the big ones for the hard covered collection, but frankly I'll stick with my tattered paperback copy which brings back oh so many fun memories of teenbo treasure hunts through garages and abandoned drive ins tri-countywide. It's a good way to re-connect with my suburban pusbag past, as if I've ever left it in the first place and if you know what's best for you you'd do the same thing too only with a li'l less self abuse.

Not much to blab about this weekend. It's a combination of the lack of time, moolah, and downright ambition that's got me, coupled by a huge dose of fatigue which has been multiplied by this fruit and yogurt diet that I've been torturing myself with as of late. (Hey, wanna know what I've had for dinner for the past ten months? I can rattle it off like that!) Although things are looking brighter on the horizon (once I send for some pertinent yummies to help me make it through my post-midlife crisis) right now I must admit that it really took a whole lot of effort and struggle to even crank this measly post out. Doing this 'un I gotta admit that I feel exactly the way I did back when I was a young stool boy and I hadda do that book report on HIROSHIMA and struggled through the entire thing in two hours or so (because my sister said I could!) only to write down that a big bomb was dropped and a lotta people died and I didn't care because they were the bad guys anyway. And maybe it was better because they all died in such excruciatingly horrific ways being bad people and all and I still wonder why I only got a "C" on it! I hope I fare better with you readers, but somehow I think this 'un's gonna get me sent back a year at The Greg Shaw Memorial Rock as a Way of Life fandom writing institute.

Of course the lack of totally brain-fried music coming my way ain't helping any. I know I shouldn't expect much to get me all hot and bothered here in the post-rock age but sheesh, I'm still hoping that something out there will enter into my life and give me the same sorta teenage tingles I used to get when I was a high school pusbag thumbing through the bins at any local record shop just wishing I could take about 3/4ths of the available wares home with me! It takes a lotta gumption to 'fess up to the fact that those days will never come back (it's a miracle that rock 'n roll lasted as long as it had through so many anti-r/r forces from disco music to SPIN magazine) but hey, at least I can fantasize...

Again, thanks to Bill Shute and Paul McGarry for the following burns. If it weren't for them not only wouldn't there be a post, but I'd probably be out a few hundred bucks trying to track down and write about a wide range of recordings you probably wouldn't think about buying in a millyun years!

Curtis Hobock-HEY EVERYBODY CD-R burn (originally on Star-Club, Sweden)

Massive (28 track) collection of rockabilly legend and onetime Sun Records act Hobock, a historical trip back to the earlier days of a musical form that hasn't had this much swing in it since the day Bobby Sherman replaced Ricky Nelson in the hearts of many a pinup princess nationwide. Hotcha newies mingle with familiar faves (dig the particularly potent take on Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekend" not to mention a totally out-of-character cover of "Wipeout"!) that benefit from that low-budget studio feel...these remind you of what any major act would call "demos" but this be THE REAL THING! Mix up some Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee, a tad Holly (and even a smidgen Jonathan Richman circa I JONATHAN!) and you'll get an idea of what Hobock sounded like. Naturally that ain't anything like experiencing the guy firsthand so like, find that download and find it now!

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STERLING BLYTHE SINGS CD-R burn (originally on Crown Records)

Country music a good ten years before the long hair and beard crowd and thirty before it merely became standard ol' AM glop with a choice fiddle, steel guitar whir and standard southern accent thrown in. Some typical attempts at "crossover" can be detected, though there's still enough paens to the downhome style to be discerned. If you went wild for Marty Robbins you might find Blythe quite tasty, though typically snobbish anti-country urbanites will probably do best to stick with their K.D. Laing.

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The Easybeats-THE SHAME JUST DRAINED CD-R (originally on Repertoire Records, Germany)

Australian faves' 1977 odds 'n sods collection with additional beef-up courtesy Repertoire. Like most mid-sixties groups on the ascent there's the flash of power-pop as well as the usual commercial aspects tossed in which usually dilute the energy, but in all the resultant spew is way more'n just passable. Still, there's nothing here as attention-grabbing or as earth-shattering as "Friday on my Mind" which might dissuade some of you pickier readers from considering the undoubtedly available download wandering about on the web. The additional trackage courtesy Repertoire are a boon, especially with the three Coca-Cola commercials that tops this off in a particularly heart-warming way.

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The Woggles-THE BIG BEAT CD-R (originally on Wicked Cool)

Living proof that modern "garage band" acts don't have to smoke turd. 'n yeah, enough rockcrit hyperbole about acts like the Woggles has been spilled on the ground more'n Onan, but for once it's sure grand seeing it used on these long-standing practitioners of the high energy brigades 'stead of the usual hype o' the week. Takes the general mode of early-eighties six-oh crankout and magnifies it a few times to the point where it undoubtedly surpasses most mid-eighties wimpifiers of the form. Even topples some late-nineties brave tries a la the Mooney Suzuki and Star Spangles. Boy am I drowning in a frothing wall of bromides, but as usual I could give a stroonad.

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Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet-SAVVY SHOW STOPPERS CD-R (originally on Cargo Records)

Sounds like something Lindsay Hutton would have been dedicating one of his hand-printed pages to back during the late-eighties days of THE NEXT BIG THING and like, who could blame him? As for me, these moderne-day attempts at various sixties accomplishments did tend to wear thin, but I can handle Shadowy's tributes to early-sixties instrumental madness even if the production and general sound just calls out late-eighties. Nice attempt as reaping the fruits of the past for a (then)-modern clientele, though in many ways this does come off like hipster music's answer to THAT SEVENTIES SHOW, ifyaknowaddamean...

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Various Artists-MAD ABOUT THE ENDS AND ODDS CD-R (compiled by Bill Shute)

More "thrift store" selections and some good 'uns too...Jimmy Reed starts this off with two pretty sharp blooze instrumentals (with "Odds and Ends" being particularly eerie what with that plucked violin) before traipsing off into various avenues of old timey strangities. One winner for sure's Marvin Rainwater backed by Link Wray and the Raymen on "Boo Hoo" while the Lee Dawson Syndicate's "Last Chicken in the Shop"'s a rather driving instrumental that woulda sounded good on any suburban hi-fi component in the early-sixties (or afterwards). But why did Bill hafta stick that English pooftah (a redundancy if Archie Bunker is to be believed) Noel Coward right in the middle of things? Talk about ruining the mood of the thing in one fanabla-esque swoop!

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The Oblivians-DESPERATION CD-R burn (originally on In The Red)

Hey , this doesn't sound half bad. Or whole bad for that matter. As you might know a good portion of these eighties/nineties garage bands might have been a lot better'n what else there might have been out there in notice me land, but frankly I never felt any of 'em could stand up to the teenage dunce thud of the original generation of groups. But the Oblivians, although as modern as any other group trying to ape  mid-seventies suburban slobdom, have a good pounce in their sound and you can believe they're the 1966 deal if you squint your ears a bit. Or even 1976 if you believe that the punks of those days were merely ripping off the punks of yesteryear and peddling it as if created out of whole (or at least ripped) cloth.

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Various Artists-FEELING HIGH-THE PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS OF MEMPHIS CD-R burn (originally on Big Beat)

Didn't know so much psych came outta The South, but it did and it just wasn't Little Phil and the Nightshadows either! And hey, most of this is pretty solid late-sixties thud which doesn't sound all incest and pepperminty either. Groups like the Goatdancers laid down a pretty tough organ-dominated thud w/o any of the "spiritual" trappings of hippie mysticism and even the various Beatles covers don't come off all sunshine oracular either. Yeah it kinda drags in spots, but it sure beats the heck outta some of the gunk that was making its way to the radio at the time. Biggest surprise...three tracks by the Knowbody Else, an act that later went by the moniker of Black Oak Arkansas! Two of 'em 're from an early single if I do recall perhaps incorrectly, while "Flying Horse of Louisiana"'s taken from a live gig (not to mention a Black Oak sampler from '93) and man is it a dark and deep force of drive that perhaps makes alla that R. Meltzer blab about BOA being the closest anyone's come to the Velvet Underground on record seem for real! A live album of the entire show is needed, and the sooner the you know the rest of the score...

BOOK REVIEW! THE COMPLETE DICK TRACY VOLUME 15, (1953-1954) by Chester Gould (IDW 2013)

Yeah I know. A whole lotta the original TRACY thrust was starting to wear down by the early-fifties and the new characters just weren't hittin' hard like they used to. None of the grotesque badskis since Mumbles really had the same impact as the ones who were giving Tracy such a bad time during the World War II era, while the new crop of good guys like Uncle Canhead, Bonnie Braids and the rather innocuous "Little Wingy" just didn't capture the public's imagination the way Sparkle Plenty did. I guess that since we were now entering into the age of tee-vee and sleek sports cars such a Roosevelt-era concentration on comic strips and other cheap forms of entertainment to bide the time just didn't fit in anymore. But hey, I could care less!

Still a whole fugguva lotta action in these amid the b-film melodrama and lessons in modern day police research and tactics. The 3-D Magee/Pony storyline has its share of creepiness (esp. the part where Magee, disguised as an ice cream vendor, drops a few poisonous Peruvian blue-black ants on Sparkle Plenty and Wingy to "persuade" BO Plenty's brother Canhead to pay up big bux), while the Dewdrop/Open Mind thread (for wont of a better way to describe these weave in/out sagas) is attention-grabbing enough even if your mind keeps tellin' you the glory days are over.

You can tell that Chet Gould and co. only plotted these stories two weeks in advance to keep things fresh, because sometimes certain parts of the story get neglected then, months later, we finally get to find out whether or not a certain character recovered from that mysterious malady because all of a sudden there's this break in the continuity with Gould telling us that readers wonder what happened to so-and-so, and of course we see them in their hospital beds and well 'n recovering! Sheesh, what a way for the writer(s) to tell the world that they forgot all about one pertinent part of the plot while concentrating on another!

As usual, the volume stops right at the beginning of the Rughead story and even though it ain't as crucial as the ones that'll be appearing in #16 (mainly the return of Mumbles and Flattop Jr., perhaps attempts by Gould to regain some lost forties fortune) you can bet I'll be holding my bowels in waiting until that 'un arrives! Until then I guess I'll just have to be patient and whatever you do remember, while riding subway trains with the windows open, hold on to your purse (page 211's Crimestoppers Textbook entry!).

(The next few paragraphs dovetail somewhat to last Wednesday's post, in case you're keeping tabs)...a soul-shuddering thought flashed by me a few nights ago while talking to Don Fellman on the phone. And the best part about it was...Don agreed with me w/o even putting up a friendly facade of smug disbelief!

Here we are a month or so past the middle mark of 2013, and  no matter how hard I try to slice it I can't get it outta my head that 1963, the last year ever in truly boffo pre-freak civilization, is a good fifty years in the rear view mirror of killer time!.We're talking '63, the last years where just about everything was going right for us whether we be suburban slobs, workaday louts or turdlers, and only a fool would admit that things like tee-vee, radio (and don't kid yourself, early-sixties top 40 radio had much more to offer us than the "Bobbies"), fast food and general fun 'n jamz were not conduit to an existence I'm sure most of you reg'lar readers would have loved to have been wallowing in. Of course if you were a stick inna mud or latent peacenik or some general neo-communist type those days weren't exactly custom made for you, but then again why do you always have to take it out on us NORMAL types????

OK, if you wanted to march across bridges in Selma and feel better about yourself that was your business, but I'm positive that true racial harmony could have been attained if black 'n white kids just got together over an episode of BANDSTAND thus ensuring a great future we surely would be basking in these days had we only knew enough then. Maybe if things were worked out that way we wouldn't have to be inundated with alla these world savers who have made quite a big career for themselves these past five decades.

I told Don that I think life would be great if we could live on a 1958 to 1963 loop, though Don thinks that '57 would have been a better year to begin the cycle. I dunno...'58 seemed closer to the early-sixties high energy source but why quibble. Pseudo-intellectuals and regime-sympathizers may disagree, but no matter how you slice it that era had it all for everybody who didn't want to be forced to sit around campfires singing "Kumbaya" and hey, if you'd love to spend the rest of your life doing that fine. I could care less if you're a rabid world saver or comsymp or want to act out all of your favorite scenes in SALO, but pleasepleasePLEASE don't ask me to subsidize you, give you patented liberal cliche lip service or acknowledge you even exist for that matter.

But as that old song went, those days are gone forever and I'm sure stunned over it. Only a hidebound idiot would deny it. I mean, take a look at television, which has gone from action-packed, high-larious and attuned to your own low-fi existence entertainment to utter boredom no mater which of a thousand cable channels you choose (not counting those "retro" and "antenna" stations that air the good 'n mouldies of course!). Rock 'n roll (or pop if you like) lost the swing so long ago that today's songstresses are nothing but Patti Page with yeast infections, while (if you tend to be religious) tridentine masses have given way to clunky one-chord folkie strums and cocktail schmooze with fortune cookie sermons. (And speaking of religion...remember when religious tee-vee shows were pretty entertaining themselves as any episode of INSIGHT and maybe even THE FISHER FAMILY [ain't seen it yet] with Onslow Stevens would prove...heck it would be worth staying home Sunday mornings just to watch things like these 'stead of hanging around the pool hall while you tell the rest of your family you're at church!) Yeah we have medical advances coming out the wazoo and cars that are safe (if ugly) and we have a whole lot more free time on our hands because of technology, but sheesh what good is that free time if you can't snap on the television and watch BARNEY BEAN knowing that the youth of this world are in good hands watching this after school 'stead of some dyke who thinks she can dance?

Sure the aura of the late-fifties/early-sixties lingered on for quite a few years (or at least until the early-seventies when the networks canceled the last of their "Golden Age"-bred television series from LAWRENCE WELK and JACKIE GLEASON to THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES) since many mid-sixties programs like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and THE MUNSTERS pretty much ran on early-sixties jet fumes, but even Don would say those years weren't quite the same. And true you could argue that the seventies were the Silver Age of tee-vee and that the post-Velvets rock groups of those years were a must-to-hear and that can't be argued with, but even those days weren't quite the same as they were back before the idea of losing our innocence wasn't supposed to be something to be loathed. And yeah, I wouldn't mind revisiting 1963 again...the thought of living through a day which seemed like a personal adventure where I'd crawl out of my crib, flick on the tee-vee and watch the test pattern until channel 33 signed on with Harveytoons and LITTLE RASCALS before engaging in a day-long adventure whether it be going to the supermarket, the toy department or my grandmother's house before settling back for an evening of tee-vee viewing sure seems a lot more appealing than what I'm doing now!

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The recent passing of original Pere Ubu bass guitarist and DNA member (not to mention contributor to the Brian Eno/David Byrne album MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS) Tim Wright as usual gave me pause for thought. The thought being that sheesh, I'm growing sooooo old and I'll probably be meeting the guy more sooner 'n later once I hit the great beyond. Of course if I go up and he went down we won't be seeing too much of each other, but anyway it's always frightening to see these stars of the past woosh on like this making me feel like an old maid ninety-year-old in some small Ohio town who still mourns the loss of Ish Kabibble. Only I have quite a way to go before I hit the nonagenarian mark and I'm sure the bodies will really be piling up by the time I hit that sainted age!

The obits I saw had it mostly right about Wright, though they naturally left out a few things. Few know that the guy was a member of the Eclectic Eels, an attempt to reform the classic Electric Eels group late-summer 1976 with Dave E, John Morton and Brian McMahon joined by Wright and drummer Anton Fier (story goes that future Peter and the Wolves/Contortions member Adele Bertei played keyboards at one of the group's two rehearsals). Tapes have been flying around for years and why they haven't been released is a mystery known only to the people behind 'em, but they really cook not only with a powerful version of the Sonics' "Strychnine" but Morton doing a solo spot singing "In a Pig's Eye" coming off like something that shoulda made TROUT MASK REPLICA but got shoved aside in the chaos. Maybe if we pester Morton or Paul Marotta these numbers'll finally get the royal treatment they oh-so-deserve.

Another Wright story that hasn't been publicized much was that he was a heavy aficionado of the lysergic lifestyle, in fact making himself known to the crew at the Plaza apartments for his ability to deal the stuff sorta like a Mezz Mezzrow of  Cleveland underground rock. A regular "Captain Trips" as one bystander once said. I believe this facet of his life is what eventually led to him being soundman for Rocket From The Tombs during their later days but don't hold me accountable if this all just turns out to be yet more false rumor concocted by various friends of the man, or maybe even enemies.

Anyway it's sayonara time for Wright, and maybe we should all spin those early Ubu sides if only in his honor. And while I'm at it, I wonder if it is true that he was involved in one of those marriages in name only with DNA drummer Ikue Mori in order to keep her from being deported, something which considering the legality of the entire mess I'm sure most people "in the know" did their best to keep all hush-hush for wont of getting the "newlyweds" into a heaping vat of hot water.

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Well, I guess it's time for me to cut to the caga and dish out this week's round o' reviews. Frankly I must admit that I really don't have that much to spoon to you this go 'round. Not very much new gunch seems to be heading at me the way it used to, and between pinching my pennies and the lack of anything that wows me like it did back inna bad ol' days you can bet that I am going to be a pretty rich fanabla by the time I quite my day job at the Salt Mines and have nothing but the rest of my life to act the exact same way I did as a kid again. Let me tell ya, if it weren't for Bill Shute and Paul McGarry sending me these burns I don't know what in tarnation I'd be writing about this week, so once again give 'em a big hand for helping to contribute to the BLOG TO COMM way o' life in a way the dolts at those cutting edge (hah!) rock music blogs out there never could and never will in a millyun years!


The Nomads-SOLNA CD-R  burn (originally on Universal)

I remember the Nomads as being one of the mid-eighties last hopes for those of us still stuck in a seventies fanzine frame o' mind, an act that was being touted as the ultimate cross between the Sonics, Link Wray and the Flamin' Groovies that seemed so perfect that only Greg Shaw coulda dreamed 'em up.Well, they sure sounded boss enough to me, (especially after having been burnt on way too many items to fizzle outta rotting remains of the late-seventies/early-eighties rock underground miasma), and I must 'fess up to the fact that their (I think debut) 12-inch EP and a cassette of rarities that was flying around  at the time was one thing that gave me hope that maybe there would be a kultural boomerang back to old-timey rock aesthetics, if only on an under-the-counterculture level.

Unfortunately the records that came out in the wake of this initial burst did not satisfy me and I chalked the Nomads up as yet another one of those bright lights that just burnt out way too fast. So yeah, it was a surprise to give 'em a listen this late in the game when nothing matters anymore, and although I was expecting little change from what I believed was the tepidity of their late-eighties output what I got was...the tepidity of 2013.

Naw. not exactly, but that surge of sameness that  made many an late-eighties/early-nineties offering sound so fehsville permeates this thing. Yeah, it even happened on some of the latterday Groovies disques as well, and although I used to think that these retro-punk things sounded so plain was because they were being recorded in a different time and in much worse off surroundings all I gotta say here in the present where we're all clear-headed and can look back on a good sixty years of rock evolution is...these guys just got it too down pat to the point where it sounds like people from 2013 playing 195/6/7X music! Y'know, like how HAPPY DAYS looked like people from the seventies playing people from the fifties (ditto THAT SEVENTIES SHOW for a good two decade projection), the Nomads are modern day fanablas playing various aspects of past perfection with today's set of (anti) values firmly in place!

Actually this 'un's got some good rockers that don't irritate the already shot nerves, but man how I wish they could get me all hopped up and excited like they did back in '85! Back then the Nomads really were something to live for, and as one who did live through those years lemme tell you there wasn't much!

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The Plimsouls-BEACH TOWN CONFIDENTIAL CD-R (originally on Alive)

I might be able to say about Peter Case what I said about the Nomads above, but since I never followed Case's career I shall remain peep! But although I'm supposed to hate these early-eighties new wave acts on mere (anti) snob pretense alone I don't mind these Plimsoul guys for their sheer ability to keep the seventies Bomp!-bred power pop movement propelling for at least a few additional years. You kinda get the feeling that Case 'n co. have been reading and re-reading the famed BOMP! "power pop" issue over and over again before going on stage to perform this mix 'n mash of originals that sound like the Groovies, an actual Groovies song, an actual Moby Grape song that the Groovies covered and even the Creation. Better than I would have expected, though I don't know if I'd enjoy myself with a steady diet of this. I'll just save it for one of those rare introverted moments when I can't get a hold of my copy of THE MARBLE INDEX.

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Various Artists-MONSTER WONDERLAND CD-R (compiled by Bill Shute)

A surprisingly nice 'un that surprisingly enough varies from the usual country-heavy groove that Bill has been laying on me as of late. Sure there are two downright old timey c&w toonz here from the Foltin Brothers' Drifting Plowboys, but most of MONSTER WONDERLAND consists of decidedly non-country sixties strangities from the Seniors to Elaine and Derek, as if you cared.

Surprises include such wonders as Dave and the Starlights' "Starlight"/"I Wished Upon a Star" single (early-sixties nerdo goes garage band), the Swinging Embers revving up "Winter Wonderland," Billy Ford and the Thunderbirds cashing in on the Bobby "Boris" Pickett bandwagon with "The Monster" and hey, even Bobby himself shows up here milking his own formula to the hilt with "Monster Motion" and "Monsters Holiday"!

Patti LaBelle and crew even sell their heart to the junkman, and did I mention the Royal Guardsmen of "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" fame doing an ode to feminine pudenditude with "Sweetmeats Slide," one of those twenties/thirties retro rock thingies that were so popular during the 1966-67 season??? I'm sure this might have been something that would have gotten your old kid-hating uncle, aunt or even parent smiling a little bit (well, other than my mother who thought that these hippies were making fun of old people with songs like "Winchester Cathedral"!) thinking that the youth were finally getting into good old timey music after years of noise, at least until they discovered what the song was "really" about! Then they'd all hate it even worse'n my mother ever could, and you know that's true!

And of course how could I even think of printing this writeup w/o mentioning Fred Emney's impassioned reciting of "Roses of Picardy" over a dinner organ backing? Sheesh, one listen to Emney stumble through this 'un sounding like a drunk with a stuffy nose and you'll kinda wish that he signed up for a course at the Bus Eubanks School of Announcing like pronto!

There's loads more too...the Chob produced by Greg Prevost fave Lindy Blaskey and Eddie Cooley and the Dimples among 'em. So what's keeping you...hurry up and make friends with Bill Shute today!

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Gene Ammons-JAMMIN' IN HI-FI WITH GENE AMMONS CD-R burn (originally on Prestige)

It ain't like I wanna listen to a steady diet of bop, but as in the case of the Elmo Hope disque reviewed last week this does make for a refreshing change from the usual dregs of modern day anti fun. Dare-I-say exhilarating jams with a boffo band (see cover for details) that doesn't bore even if you're surely wishing for a screeching tenor sax to cut through it all. Also serves as a good enough point at the shape of grooves to come which is where I started paying attention, if you really must know.

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When will I see you again? How does Thursday sound to you Snookums?

BOOK REVIEW! PONYTAIL by Lee Holley (Dell, 1963)

Well, it ain't like they're gonna be reprinting these 'uns like they are ARCHIE and DICK TRACY, and in some small way I'm kinda glad because it makes PONYTAIL all the more mine. One of the comics I've read or have been read to since my earliest days of recollection, PONYTAIL remains a fave not only for the nice gag humor but for the loose, DENNIS THE MENACE-styled art that still calls out 1963 to me as much as the last season of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, THE RIFLEMAN and the earliest days of "Make Mine Marvel" combined! In fact as far back as my little mind will take me both PONYTAIL as well as ARCHIE were what gave me the idea of what teenage life was going to be like once I finally made it into the double-digits...y'know, with hot dog roasts and soda shops and all that, and when I was a mere six those years did seem like the most exciting thing for any suburban slob kid to look forward to! Too bad that when I did hit them years all I found out was that teendom was only youth with the homework, drudgery, insecurities and humiliation magnified about ten times...I guess the real purpose of these comics was to give kids like myself something good to look forward to just so's we didn't try to off ourselves before we hit the age of thirteen!

All kidding aside (after all, if you can't laugh at childhood suicides what can you laugh at?), PONYTAIL was a boffo comic panel (and full-sized Sunday strip) that really reflected a certain period in time when being teenage was supposed to have been some really big to-do. (Witness my sister's response at looking at the cover of this book and going "awwwww" as if she were remembering a friendly neighborhood dog of her own childhood or perhaps a favorite doll she still has stashed somewhere.) Gags ain't as out-there as they were during the classic years of DENNIS, but they're still ranch house attuned enough to make you wanna long for your own pimplefarm days when all you had to look forward to after a hard day at school was that art book with alla them statues you got outta the library and maybe some hand lotion, ifyaknowaddamean...

Nice, breezy encapsulation of those early-sixties days all your "enlightened" friends loathe and they'll surely hate this because well...there aren't any black people or gays or social issues to be found anywhere unless you're looking for a reference to Prez Kennedy's call for a more fit populace (I guess the later strips did deal with "relevant" social messages but how serious could they get being espoused by a teenage girl and her boyfriend wearing their early-sixties clothing not forgetting Donald's Frankie Avalon haircut?) so therefore they must be banished! To where I do not know but considering how I'm sure most people remember PONYTAIL about as much as they do Francis Gary Powers the social planners did a pretty good job of it, dontcha think?

And by the way, if you do think that artist Lee Holley's style comes a bit too close to Hank Ketchum for comfort it should be known that Holley did work as Ketchum's assistant in the fifties, even ghosting the Sunday DENNIS page before creating and selling PONYTAIL to King Features in 1960. So if you wonder why the gal looks like Dennis grown up with a sex change now you know.

The passing of Mick Farren this past Saturday night (well, it was Saturday night over in London where it took place) did come as quite a surprise, the surprise being that he didn't keel over a whole lot earlier than he did given all of the drugs he's ingested over the years! Sheesh, given the amphetamine sulfate and methedrine lining his aortic valves you'd think his system would have popped a whole lot sooner'n it did. But here the guy goes and dies right in the middle of the umpteenth revival of the Deviants (anybody got a tape?), and you kinda wonder if maybe he didn't go out that way ON PURPOSE,  like it was the only way for him to expire right in front of a live and paying audience 'stead of in some gutter or in a bed a good thirty or forty years after the prime 'o life like way too many of us are probably going to exit probably more sooner'n later.

But what can any of us say about Farren that hasn't already been said a million times either in his autobiography (which I never got around to eyeballing...budget-conscious y'know) or the boffo KEEP IT TOGETHER book that came out a good five or so years back. Always on the fringe of English underground kultur, Farren was the epitome of the angry rock 'n roll radical back in the late-sixties when he was acting as INTERNATIONAL TIMES' chief rabblerouser and Deviants frontman before heading into a comfortable life of rock scribing for the NME (and, along with Nick Kent and Charles Shaar Murray, helping boost the paper's popularity through the sunroof) in the seventies. In between Farren had also become of novelist of some repute and columnist for TROUSER PRESS as well as TAKE IT! as well as a guy who was known for losing friends and making up with 'em---sometimes, that is so I don't know if he ever did have the opportunity to patch things with Lemmy, Larry Wallis or whoever else it was out there who locked horns with Farren but eh, now it's too late.

Don't wanna get too personal even if my own sainted crudzine sported two different Farren interviews within the span of five issues and that I had featured reviews and articles regarding Farren and band ever since the rag was founded back in the dark days of mid-eighties ineptitude. 'n yeah, at the expense of looking like a total fanboy douche I gotta admit that I was in on the Farren bandwagon at least since the late-seventies when SCREWED UP and the third Devies album had hit the import bins, and although nobody in their right mind could call an outright Farren maniac (other'n me still believing that PTOOFF! was the obvious English answer to THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO as far as rock-pop art statements go) I still spin those old records quite a lot more'n I do my old Zappa or even Fugs ones and that really must say something as far as longevity goes!

But hey, you know what to do, and that is to remember the guy by treating him the same way you did back when he and his music (and writings and whatnot) were first and foremost in your mind. Remember how you trembled when you first heard the Deviants and got hold of those extremely desirable late-sixties albums which were all but impossible to find back even a good ten years later? Me too, and maybe it's time you broke those out along with his late-seventies tribute to NME tastes and values VAMPIRES STOLE MY LUNCH MONEY while reading a stack of his writings. THE TALE OF WILLY'S RATS continues to slip through my fingers (though I am reading it via Funtopia...more on that in a future post), but his various rock screedings available (for a hefty sum) via ROCK'S BACK PAGES might be worth the effort even if they are ripoff artists. And don't cry too hard...I'm sure Farren woulda thought you a jerk even if you showed the slightest hint 'o emotion over his own demise and why sully his memory with even a mere sniffle?

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David Crosby-IF I COULD ONLY REMEMBER MY NAME CD (Atlantic)

Yeah I know...we ALL have been trying to forget Crosby's name for years on end, and believe you moi I have no time for hippie folkie icons who act as sperm doners for their dykoid musical spawn. But the legend regarding this David Crosby solo debut has a certain sorta mystico charm that would at least affect the portion of punkos (1972 division) who tended to mix their Groovies with their Neil Young...and it has happened before.

You all KNOW how much I try to listen to a fresh piece of music and analyse it objectively without inserting any of my own personal tastes and prejudices into the resultant spew, and I tried my darndest to do just that with this particular platter. But hey, even with the deadened nerve Southern California feeling that actually gave this 'un a certain drug-addled paranoia that comes off disturbingly appealing (that Joni really knows how to damper a recording...instant ether!) I find it hard to sing Crosby's praises given how most of this does remind me of a buncha hippies sitting on some Marin County porch playing the same chords over and over until they all pass out, the resultant splatter cut and fitted into album specifics just made for 1971 ROLLING STONE demographics. And if you were solidly rock-conscious back then (and I wasn't---comics were the modus opporandi for this suburban turdburger!) I'm sure you recall the frustration that gunk like this was the standard plunk for the day and the Stooges weren't!

Gotta take it back kinda/sorta...I did like track #2 "Cowboy Movie," an eight-minute electro-acoustic riff mess that sounded like a Crazy Horse rehearsal sung by a stoned twelve-year-old boy who thought there was something fishy about that pixie straw he just slurped up. Although Crosby would never admit it, this song just reeked of adolescent duncitude and frankly that was something we sure coulda used a whole lot more of in 1971 'stead of those West Coast whackoffs who really helped give rock 'n roll a bad name. However one number does not a pot-addled, mind-numbing album and this is merely more heavily dated inna wrong way disposable much. As for you stick with OAR boy, stick with OAR.

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Elliot Murphy-IT TAKES A WORRIED MAN CD-R (originally on Last Call)

Ol' Elliot is still at it, and although the guy's major label career and mythical battle with Bruce Springsteen for the miter that Bob Dylan was still clutching at the time seems sooooo long ago at least he never did vamoose en toto from the music scene. True the guy really has been outta the bigtime ever since Columbia dropped him after the top notch JUST A STORY FROM AMERICA platter, but the assortment of spinners Murphy released for a variety of small European labels had (at least most of the time) stood up to those Polydor and RCA recs that uncovered the dark side of suburban slob living like few ever did or could. And his latest is no exception and man is it great, so great that one listen to it reminds me of a seventies I sure wish I could live through but things were so tight around here so like, how could I know?

Murphy sounds older and rougher but still energetic enough to beat his way outta any boss cutout rack still extant. His vocalese does fits the music which sometimes sounds surprisingly mid-seventies production commercial and at others downright Amerigan underground. Still kinda 1969 Velvet Underground with scads of Dylan and even the pre-pretentious three-piece Talking Heads tossed in even though no rock critic left will go near him. I'm sure if this 'un came out '76 'stead of NIGHT LIGHTS the same crits who loathed that 'un woulda peed all over it too, but listening to this does dredge up memories of all the promise those days held that never did come to fruition because like, there was too much disco and prog FM burying it all, y'know ('n yeah, like I am still angry about it...I mean, it was my teendom!).

If you were one of the few who gobbled up all of the rockcrit hosannas over Murphy's debut before his fall from critical grace and never thought there would be a return to that bold attempt at deep, emotional (w/o the self-consciousness) driving rock 'n roll well, you're wrong again bub! In these internet savvy times IT TAKES A WORRIED MAN should be easy enough to latch onto so you know what to do if you know what's good for you as if I hadda tell you. Awww, you know you need it, or would you rather self-indulge in yet more current-day phony-underground (and instantly forgettable) hype like you've been doing your entire musical life???

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Elmo Hope-THE FINAL SESSIONS 2-CDR burn (originally on Evidence)

Sometimes I do need a switch from the usual beyond-free new jazz that's been making up a hefty portion of my listening pleasure o'er these past three decades, and it's stuff like that this helps me calm down after a Roscoe Mitchell solo endeavor gets my nerves a little too frazzled! Nothing avant here even if Sun Ra drummer Clifford Jarvis is on hand, but don't let that stop you from hearing Hope's rather Monk-ish takes on a variety of jazzbo standards like "Night in Tunisia" along with some originals that might have stood the test of time had the entire jazz scene not plopped into the "lite" category. And, as usual, these Hope swan songs (pneumonia having claimed him a year after these '66 sides were laid down) kinda make ya wonder what might have happened had the guy lingered on even a few extra years. Have all the fun in the world speculating what mighta been even tho what actually mighta woulda probably'd be way diff'n whatever you conjured up in your feeble-like mind.

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Various Artists-PETTING THE BABY, A SOOTHING COLLECTION OF THRIFT-STORE 45 LULLABIES TAKEN FROM MP3 BLOGS CD-R (compiled by Bill Shute)

This starts off with a strange Willie Dixon number from which the title of this disque was taken, an atypical sorta side where Willie does both the man and women's voice in the throes of koochie koo while a sappy instrumental back the entire gush. Many other goodies appear as well from some offbeat soul numbers dealing with everything from the topless bathing suit craze of 1964 to Charlie Allen's "Molasses" which is exactly what you think it's about (and no, not "molasses" as a kinky lubricant!). Some interesting surprises pop up too like the City Dwellers' garage band revenger "Your Turn To Cry," Link Wray's vocal crank out "Hidden Charms," the MC5's single version of "Kick Out The Jams" and Soupy Sales cashing in on the disco craze with "Break Your Back"! Soupy, I'm surprised at you for stooping so low as to go disco...I mean who do you think you are, Bill Cosby? Somebody sic White Fang on this guy like pronto!

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Lee Hazelwood-THE LHI YEARS: SINGLES, NUDES AND BACKSIDES, 1968-1971 CD-r burn (originally on Light in the Attic)

Finally for today's this gusher courtesy of the late Lee Hazelwood and his LHI label featuring loads of tracks done either on his lonesome or with the likes of Ann Margaret sharing the warbling duties. 'n they all come off real goopy as if syrup was being poured all over your stereo system. Late-sixties country-pop slosh that brings back memories of where my next Matchbox car was comin' from more'n anything. Docked a hefty ten points for having one of those Jesus was a hippie songs snuck in even if you don't find out it was about Him until the last verse!

BOOK REVIEW...ARCHIE, THE SWINGING SIXTIES VOLUME ONE: 1960-1963 by Bob Montana (IDW 2013)

Well here it is, a few years late and they did hafta jump from 1948 to 1960, but at least I got another fix of ARCHIE dailies and I'm not complainin' one bit! Given that at the time not only were comic strips riding a crest of kultural popularity but everything else from tee-vee to teen/kid-dom in general seemed custom made for the suburban slob, these comics really do flash one back to a MUCH BETTER time when the planets were aligned and it still wasn't a sin to eat fast food or think ill of your brother like it is today. Sheesh, I wish the new powers that be would let us be our Old Imperfect Selves instead of the New Perfect Man and wallow in this now fifty-plus-year-gone celebration of everything that was good and decent in this world...y'know, leave us and our cheeseburger culture alone because it's all we ever had and it sure suited us a whole lot better'n your warped concept of civilization ever did!

The artwork's less detailed than it was in the late forties but the gags are just as boffoid, perhaps even more so since Montana and his associates have had time to develop the existing characters and introduce new ones such as the stoopid Swedish janitor Mr. Svenson not to mention the cafeteria cook Miss Beazly, who comes off like yet another variation on the Mammy Yokum/Popeye template and perhaps is twice as gnarlsome. I particularly enjoyed the cafeteria gags with Beazly and her ultra-acrimonious interjections with Mr. Weatherbee which made for some rather high-larious strips that would resonate well with anyone who hadda endure the school lunch debacle throughout their formative years.

The rest of the strips are guffaw-worthy as well. By this time Montana had dropped the continuing storylines so's the gags are quick and sharp, almost like NANCY the way they sorta sneak up on you without any warning and hit you in the face with a pie. No telegraphed five panels in advance jokes here bud! And although the art is more "streamlined" than it was in the late forties when the standard ARCHIE "style" came into its own, the pace, look and general feel remains pretty much the same (as it would until Montana's untimely and surprising death in 1975). The fun and dare-I-say sexiness to many of these fortunately remain to the point where I coulda imagined thousands of sprouting teens rushing to the john with a particular comic page featuring Betty and/or Veronica bikini-clad'n nothing else. Even if they aren't "explicit" the strong feelings will overcome any young fanabla on the search for something other'n the Sears Catalog...take the strip on page 204 where Betty and Veronica are contemplating wearing their new ultra-skimpy bikinis. They find a vacant beach, rush into the waves wearing their somewhat immodest swimsuits, and end up started when a number of skin diving men suddenly pop up to take a look! Lemme tell you this is what I call pretty hot stuff 'n hey, it's sure grand looking at Betty and Veronica's natural curvitude 'stead of the current crop of firmed up women parading themselves around who look like they got their torsos molded in an extra large thing maker machine!

Loads of fun, even to the point where I've been reading and re-reading this book on the lookout for particularly funny strips and the few that might have missed my eyeballs the first time 'round. And hey, I know that the vast majority of you readers were too "hip" (even then) to sprawl out on the floor to read the funnies like I did on a daily basis, but looking back on it all and considering all the fun I had doing so I think I came out the better man for knowing enough to enjoy ARCHIE while all of the hipsters were creeming over DOONESBURY and FUNKY WINKERBEAN. As a result I know that I ended up more well rounded and in tune with the supermarket/fast food world we all live in than some VILLAGE VOICE bred snob who wouldn't know how to insert a tampon unless she read about it in their style section. But it's not too late, so if you would prefer to see the more righteous ways of mid-Amerigan funtime living quit being such a stuck up, burn all of your issues of THE NATION and settle back with some old ARCHIEs while scarfing up a bowl of deep fried to a crackly crunch Cheetos. And hey, if you're lucky maybe you can catch a rerun of ABBOT AND COSTELLO on the local antenna TV station.

Hi. Spending the remaining part of this weekend recovering from a top secret summit meeting that was held at a cloistered location in the wilds of the Youngstown Ohio area. The details of which are not to be made public, but I do get the sneakin' suspicion they will be...eventually...against the participants' better judgement. Let's just say that a fun time was had by all, and that the young ladies were all safe in their homes and ready for church early Sunday morning.

Before we get into the review portion of this program I think it would be wise to alert you to some recent reissues that are bound to make your head move and feet spin. And although I am 100% positive that each and every one of you tried and true BLOG TO COMM readers have these platters in your expansive collections, if by some small freaky chance you don't now's your chance to make up for past indiscretions. If you do well, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra copy or three on hand in the abode now, would it???

First on today's reissue rampage is the first legitimate Cee-Dee release of none other'n Hackamore Brick's classic 1971 rocker ONE KISS LEADS TO ANOTHER on the Real Gone Music label. Yes, after depending on scratchy vinyl copies and a not-so-legal disque that sure fooled me, this famous in retrospect album has finally seen a proper reissue meaning we can all sleep well at night knowing that maybe the band members might be getting some moolah for their hard work! Nice sound, nice booklet, nice liner notes, nice pix that weren't even in the UGLY THINGS article a few years back, and not only that but there are three bonus tracks included! They are, for those of you so inclined to take notes, the "Searchin'"/"Radio" single plus a version of "Oh Those Sweet Bananas" which has a different mix or something similar that'll make even the poorest of fans wanna hock even more plasma just so's they could latch onto this (once) obscure object of desire. Somewhere in this universe Imants Krumins is smiling.

As I'm sure he is over the (once again legal) reish of High Speed and the Afflicted Man's GET STONED EZY album on the Spanish Guerrson label. Again, a superb reissue which not only has a spiffy look customary to all of the Guerrson releases I've seen, but liner notes that for once break through the legend and at least attempt to disseminate some hard cold FACTS. What else could you want in these stridently anti-rock (not "anti-rock" in the Fugs/Electric Eels vein) days? Also be on the lookout for the Afflicted One's  I'M OFF ME 'EAD to be making its way to your faverave mail order site or specialty shop in the very near future.

Here's the booty for this week. Actually bought a couple of newies to blab about while (as usual) I've had to rely on the bounty of Bill Shute (and maybe Paul McGarry if I can only find the disques he sent!) to help pad this pathetic post out some. Once again thank you guys, because if anything you're helping me to save for my ever-encroaching old age

Dirty Angels-KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE LP (Private Stock); DIRTY ANGELS (A&M)

I'm still on the lookout for those rare under-the-radar rock albums that, although straightforward and rocking they may be, got buried under the weight of many other rock albums during the same nanosecond these treasures hit the local record chain shop of your choice. Heck, I figure that if I struck gold with the oft-mentioned Hackamore Brick and Sidewinders there's gotta be even more gold in the mid-Amerigan teenage deca-snot rock vein to be mined. And although I do find a few good efforts out there most of 'em just can't measure up to what I had been expecting. Too many Movies to contend with, and to tell the truth I wouldn't mind a few more David Patrick Kelly's in the mix. 

Dirty Angels sounded like a good enough act to try what with the bits of raves I had heard about 'em throughout the years not to mention Russell Desmond's article-length rave regarding a live show at the Rat in Boston that was printed in the fourth issue of his CAN'T BUY A THRILL. However I really thought their two albums were lacking in that teenage pop-punch "oomph" that I really dig in my AM radio music, the kind that might have had its moment in the early-seventies sun and managed to linger on at least until 1978. Although they did give it a good college try Dirty Angels just didn't put through, at least as far as my tightass tastes regarding teeny metal consciousness might dictate.

Actually the first album's the worse of the two...after all, the second at least tries to approach some sorta seventies Badfinger meets Big Star attempt to resurrect the spirit of the sixties for seventies consumption, The self-titled debut wallows in the twiblight zone (copyright 1965 ODD magazine) twixt early-seventies AM righteousness and Boston/classic rock schmaltz packaged as the hip new thing just like STAR WARS not to mention those clunky shoes we all usedta wear, and as you can guess that isn't exactly something that I've anticipated listening to after a hard day at the salt mines trying to ingest some seventies rock credo into my system.

I guess back then many hardcore rockers were so starved to hear something that sorta reminded them of the brighter portions of sixties epiphany updated for more jaded times and were willing to take anything that was being tossed their way. If it looked rockin'* enough that is, and many times we had to judge records by their jackets because there was little else to go on. In that way I can see why the fanzine-bound Meltzer wannabes of the late-seventies woulda praised Dirty Angels, but nowadays I just can't see fitting 'em in with the early-seventies Hollies, Blue Ash or a wide variety of acts also heavy on the power pop revival train.

Not writing 'em off en-toto as of yet, since repeated listenings (and there will be many) might change my opines rather rapidly. And I wouldn't mind listening to anything coming outta their recent reunion, if anything should make it outta the studio which is a fair enough possibility.

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The Action-ACTION PACKED CD-R (originally on Edsel Records)

Neat-o collection of single sides by this legendary even if they never really went anywhere "freakbeat" band. Nothing here that I would call over-the-top...after all the Action never were as guttural as the Who, Creation or John's Children let alone as produced or as honed as the Amerigan soul acts they admired...but still pleasant enough in that pale white r&b style which in many ways became a fashion in itself. Covers and originals mix well and even you will be surprised when you hear the band evolve into a pretty snat psychedelic act by the time "Shadows and Reflections" rolls around '67 way.

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The Elastic Band-EXTENSIONS ON LIFE CD-R (originally on Pseudonym Records)

Not so hot late-sixties English (well, Welsh)  psychedelia transmutating into progressive rock complete with more than a share of Ian Anderson-styled flute than your body can stand. Gruff Gary Brooker-styled vocals only date the thing and not exactly in a spry 1969 Stooges way either. And that jazz rock that flows freely comes off more in the Blood Sweat and Tears than Tony Williams Lifetime vein which didn't exactly make for a peaceful hour if you ask me! For serious students of British rock development only...the rest of us can do something way more constructive with our time like watch 'em unload the melons at the supermarket or count the nipples in an old issue of TAB DIGEST.

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Various Artists-SECRETS OF MY SHATTERED HOT SAUCE CD-R (compiled by Bill Shute)

This week's Shute spin's a gas with a grandiose selection of various webfinds that somehow fit in "special" with the sunny Sunday afternoon I was spinnin' em while lazin' about pretending I was ten years old again (not that I ever left my entry into the double digits on a "spiritual" basis!). This one ranges from orchestral slush (the George Martin Orchestra's rendition of "I Saw Her Standing There") to olde tyme country cornballisms (Chuck Murphy's "Who Drank My Beer") with a few oddball surprises like a non-hit Sandy Posey side, Tommy Roe singing Chuck Berry and a cover of the theme from 77 SUNSET STRIP. Nice feel to it all and not only that but there's a big surprise in store for all, mainly a number by none other'n Dora Hall...yes, the same Dora Hall who used to star in all of those Solo Cup-sponsored specials that cluttered up the summer rerun schedules of many a tee-vee station back in the mid-seventies!

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Wilbur Harden/John Coltrane-THE COMPLETE SAVOY SESSIONS two-set CD-R burn (originally on Savoy)

I think it's fuh-KNEE that Bill Shute actually sent me a burn of this 'un because I remember asking him about the DIAL AFRICA album containing tracks from this set way back inna eighties and Bill told me to shy away from that one the same way I shy away from guys in saunas with swelling towels wrapped around their waists. I guess Bill thought I would have been bored silly by the lack of abstract expressionist flash in these late-fifties sides or somethin', but frankly I gotta admit I enjoyed this sesh Coltrane (as a sideman) did with trumpeter Wilbur Harden a whole lot more'n Bill would have thought. Playing is pretty much fifties bop approaching the shape of sound to come, and rather spry at that with Coltrane bearing his share of keeping these tracks together. Harden ain't as non-there as the liner notes make him out to be, kinda sounding like a Miles Davis Junior if you get my drift.  I get the feeling that if he didn't vamoose from the jazz scene as fast as he did he coulda turned into a major player once the sixties "new thing" got into high gear. Song title of the year..."Rhodamagnetics".

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The Forgotten Rebels-TOMORROW BELONGS TO US CD-R (Originally on Other People;s Music)

Heh. No wonder Paul McGarry sent me a disque of this...these guys are "hometown heroes" and of course McGarry has to go 'n plug 'em to whoever's willing to listen, even if they have been around for over thirty-five years! Actually these Forgotten Rebels are whatcha'd call good 'nuff p-rock that sound one-third New York Dolls, one-third Ramones and one-third English obscurities and I can't complain. Nice primitive sound accentuates these guys' paens to then-moderne concerns that in many ways still figure heavily into our rather sordid present-day affairs. Squint your ears a bit and pretend you're listening to some ultra-rare English punk act that never made it outta the pages of SOUNDS alive, and just think of all the fun you'll have doing it!

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Various Artists-RARE MOD VOLUME 3 CD-R burn (originally on Acid Jazz)

Like most of these specific genre-related samplers comin' out there days, RARE MOD VOLUME 3's got a couple of hotcha tracks, a whole slew of good 'n passable, and some which might have been best left on the butcher block. The best of this batch just have to be the Creation and John's Children alternate takes which I'm surprised haven't been issued with all of those other Mark 4/Silence rarities on their lonesome. The good 'n passable range from a standard limey cover of "Baby I Need Your Loving" and some cheap r&b nutters from an act calling themselves the Iveys, obv. not the pre-Badfinger bunch. The rest ranges from ear-perking to throwaway but I guess that's what the listeners want. If I hadda do it I could pare a good ten volumes of this stuff down to five, but then again with all that collector money out there I just might wanna pad the thing out to a good twenty volumes stuffing the things with some of the worse crapezoid musings I could manage to come up with! I really could use the money, y'know.

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*an important enough word in the suburban slob lexicon (along with "cheeseburger") even if an upper-echelon dolt like Patrick Amory would disagree.

THE BLOG TO COMM INTERVIEW...JONH INGHAM!

I guess Jonh wasn't that much into doing an email interview, but what I did get outta him was enough to warrant me printing this little repartee...

BLOG TO COMM-I've recently been reading your early-seventies fanzines TWAS EVER THUS and I WAS A FREAK FOR THE CIA. Were you involved with any fandom before these?

JONH INGHAM-Wow - where did you find those? I only have the one with the orange cover. I'd love to get copies - any chance of you scanning or photo-copying them?

I got involved in fandom around '68 through LOTR probably. I contributed to various fanzines and met the LA fan crowd in June '69 when we moved there. Westercon was the first time I really got it full-force.

BTC-Got 'em a few years back at a fanzine clearance sale...I can attempt to scan 'em, though I can't account for what kinda mess I'll make of it.

Now was this around the time you met Greg Shaw? What can you tell us about Greg back in the early days of fandom anyway?

JI-I met Greg in either '69 or early '70. I can't remember who introduced us but it was someone in LA. I phoned him and it went from there. Then he invited me up to stay the weekend, funded by a bunch of albums sold at Village Music in Mill Valley!

From what Greg told me, he was involved in San Francisco fandom in the early/mid-60s. I'm not sure if he had a fanzine but he knew all the people and attended cons. He moved to the Haight-Ashbury in '66 and was a very early hippie. Besides sf he was also a big record collector, so deep into the local music scene. As the local band scene blew up he realised that the concept of sf fanzines could easily be applied to music. CRAWDADDY! was probably out by this point, but whether he knew of it I don't know. Anyway, he produced MOJO NAVIGATOR, with stories on Big Brother, Country Joe, etc. He said one day that Jann Wenner got in touch and came by to ask how you did it all. Which Greg explained. Next thing he knew, ROLLING STONE came out.

BTC-You were doing comics this early? I've seen the ones you've done for BOMP and NEW HAVEN ROCK PRESS, and in fact I gotta admit to still cracking up at that illustration you did for the Lester Bangs Troggs article where one guy says something like "Rod Stewart just pissed on me" and the other guy goes "fabulous!"

JI-I started drawing 'illos' as they were called in sf fandom, for sf fanzines in 1969. When Greg and I were discussing what each of us would do for Bomp, we decided I would do illos, because of course a fanzine had illos.

I remember that punch line! A lot of those came from the three of us talking and joking - then I would attempt to draw it.

I still have a folder full of unused ones.

BTC-Let's go back a little further...you're Australian by birth, right?

JI-Yes. Moved to Canada (Vancouver) for a year when I was 10 and then left Australia for good when I was 13 - back to Vancouver and a year and a half later down to Oregon and then California.

BTC-Were you in Australia during the ascent of the Easybeats and the rest of the Australian Big Beat acts of the mid-sixties?

JI-I left in mid-64. I kind of recall The Easybeats, though that may just be wishful thinking. I remember The Bee-Gees though. When I left it was still too early for Beatlemania to have woven its magic and change musicians from guys in matching suits and quiffs into long haired mods.

BTC-Could you give us a rundown of some of the various fanzine operations you were working on at the time since I only know about the ones I mentioned earlier.

JI-You have all of the fanzines of my own. BOMP until I moved to the UK. I helped with some issues of a zine by a guy called Paul Novitski who's tag on Paj. I can't remember the name. And then I went to a couple of collating parties at places like the Trimbles.

BTC-When did you move to England, and how long was it before you started writing for the Fleet Street weeklies?

JI-I left LA on 22 March 1972. I have absolutely no idea why I remember that date when I can't recall more important ones.

I started freelancing for NME almost immediately, then ROLLING STONE by May, I only did one piece for a proper Fleet Street paper - that was a story on Tangerine Dream for THE OBSERVER...which would mean 1974/75. I joined SOUNDS in early '75.

BTC-Stepping back a bit, why did you split the US for England?

JI-I was in the US on a student visa, so no right of residency, and if I changed to a permanent resident I would have had to register for the draft. this was in the middle of the Vietnam War.  My father was English and I wanted to come and explore his side of the family. I was also quite the Anglophile due to most of my favorite bands and artists being British. So I enrolled at London Film School and came over.

BTC-About when was it when you had started writing for SOUNDS, or was that a few years away?

JI-I started in early 1975. Before that I freelanced in the NME, ROLLING STONE, CREEM and some others in the US.

BTC-Any particular pieces of yours that stand out in your mind?

JI-There's two answers to that question.- the pieces I think were well written and that I'm proud of, and the event itself that I was writing about Sometimes the two come together.

I like the story I wrote describing a couple of days with Queen. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was going massive but they were booked into quite small theatres in Wales. The show in Cardiff was absolute mayhem, with rows of splintered seats afterwards. Watching Keith Richards snort a mountain of coke while being fawned over by rock critics was entertaining, though I didn't get the story right until some 30 years later. Two or three days with Lynyrd Skynyrd was a lot of fun - not least watching Ronnie Van Zandt's dad (first time out of the USA) being hustled by a lady about the age of his son. It took awhile for him to catch on that she was interested.

Of the punk stories, I'm pretty happy with the first Pistols interview and a couple of the live reviews. The 6 page ? Rock Special has some good bits. No sleep for 3 days with Patti Smith on her first tour of Europe was another story that I think I only got right recently, though her band told me they thought my 1975 version was the most accurate reflection of a band on the road that they had ever read. Maybe because it came across as disjointed and crazy as the events and conditions it described.

BTC-Any interesting stories regarding your days managing Generation X?

JI-My usual instant memory is of endless hours in vans!

In the early days of '77 we kept getting gigs in the West. At the first one in Bristol we met a guy called Steve Harrington who had come over from Wales with his mates. He looked a total punk. A week or so later we were somewhere else like Hereford or Shrewsbury and he was there again. We knew to expect him in Swansea and sure enough he was there. The fourth time, he asked if he could come back to London with us in the van. He ended up sleeping on the sofa at my place. I don't remember if he was Steve Strange by the time he got to London, but soon after he was in with Vivienne Westwood and dressing in Sex/Seditionaries. Like Vivienne and Malcolm we knew the importance of having a "scene" around you and so we kept Steve fairly close, even working as a roadie for a week or two. At that time he was going through a military look and was dressed in full Laurence Corner squaddie uniform, with a beret covered in pointy studs rolled and stowed under the right epaulette. We were talking to Chrysalis by then and for one meeting they asked us to bring in a band member. So we took Steve, dressed like that, who sat on a sofa and said nothing for the whole meeting - just stared at them. 

BTC-Got anything to say about Billy Idol?

JI-Ha ha - that's much too wide a question to answer.

I always liked watching him onstage. He wrote some good songs and made some great records.

BTC-Well, there goes my scoop! All kidding aside, how long did you write for SOUNDS anyway?

JI-I wrote from about February '75, starting as a freelance, until December '76.

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Not much, but I think it will stand the test of time more'n my Twink one.