Every now and then I hear something old that blows me away (really never happens with the new stuff that much, sadly). I recently heard such a thing, the SIMPLE MINDS second album REAL TO REAL CACAPHONY. I have no idea how I missed something so freaking amazing. I never really "got" the Simple Minds, only really having heard the Breakfast Club song & SPARKLE IN THE RAIN (also amazing- more about that later.). I just decided to run them through, I have to say: the first LP LIFE IN A DAY is just OK, typical british post-punk, not that thrilling, the third EMPIRES AND DANCE is almost as exciting as REAL TO REAL, as are all the EPs from then through NEW GOLD DREAM, which is also great. Man, I'm glad I saved them up until now.
I recently made friends with a legendary record collector/dealer outside of Baltimore, very cool guy with a HUGE extensive personal collection of great old rare psychedelic obscurities. We were talking about bands & music, particularly records made by well-known artists prior to their "breakthrough". I said I had always wondered about the band MILKWOOD, featuring then-future CARS RIK OCASEK , BEN ORR & GREG HAWKES, upon which he searched & found a copy of their only LP on the collecable PARAMOUNT records label from the early 1970s (Home of Karen Dalton & many more from the psych/folk- singer/songwritere genre. I listened to the album (he was gracious enough to lend it to me, along with the MOGAL THRASH album (feat. pre-KING CRIMSON / FAMILY John Wetton), the second BLOSSOM TOES album on a CD & an obscure Memphis TN group called CARGOE on Ardent records, home of the original BIG STAR records). I must admit the Milkwood doesn't do much for me, it's pretty mellow Crosby/Stills/Nash type stuff, minus any real aggression, and the hooks aren't really there, but it's a pleasant enough listen nevertheless. It should be said that the reason this LP escapes detection from most is the correct spelling of the names ( ORZECHOWSKI & OTCASEK) . Anyhow, here's the best track I could pick off the album. Worth a listen, but not worth a hundred bucks.
Were actually Americans, sold as Australian. Like the "I want candy" group. Hold on, I know I'm breaking my own resolution, but I've been COMPLETELY BURIED by vinyl on the ebay thingy-bob deal. Let's just say that MY INVENTORY Should be turning around soon to a billion times better than I've been used to : ie- I picked up a new client w/ the most amazing psych/prog/rock stuff I've ever seen. More to come, I promise, but in the meanwhile here's a snappin' psych/garage wailer from the KOALA
Is to post more blogs. Sorry for my lameness if you are following along (probably not!). Anyhow, her
Years ago I worked at Yesterday & Today Records in Rockville, a verrrrry well known (former) record store, the former place of employment for lots of local musicians like Henry Rollins, Ian McKaye , Guy Picciotto & Joe Canty from Fugazi, several members of that shitty group VELOCITY GIRL (!) as well as that cool guy Jon Bass (whatever happened to...). I got fired, as did everyone who worked there eventually. Anyways, they had a bin in th e "W" section marked "Talentless Canadian Bums", which upon inspection was actually the section for THE WACKERS featuring The Nick Lowe of Canada, Bob Segarini. This blog ain't about him, or Nick Lowe for that matter. I'm gonna talk about this OTHER Canadian group I discovered several years ago in the Music Trader in the halcyonic youthful optimistic record selling days. THE PLASTIC CLOUD were a Toronto area (actually I think they were from Hamilton) psychedelic-garage four piece, I glommed on to the import dub copy of the CD in the stores meager CD assortment, not like anyone was ever going to buy it anyways, but lost it not long after that, and always looked for a replacement only to find that nobody in the world had ever heard of it. Had I imagined it? It seemed that may have been possible as I cannot imagine more perfect psych-rock OUTSIDE of my own head, it's an amazing sounding record full of great fuzzy-buzzy guitars, association-like vocal harmonies, semi-topical seeming "issue" lyrics with a Dylanesque vagueness, banging drumming, the best "Keith Moon style" drumming outside of a reel-full of out-takes of COBWEBS AND STRANGE. THe vocalist was named Don Brewer and I always wondered if he was the same guy from GRAND FUNK RAILROAD (answer: no). This track in particular always stayed with me, it's got everything I like, different time signatures, repeating refrains, references to glue sniffing (the ESSENCE of rock + roll!) and a great punk title "YOU DON'T CARE". I never made a tape of it. When it went missing it was ...just gone! Imagine my relief last year when Tracey & I were in Baltimore & stopped by that great store in Fell's Point SOUNDGARDEN , and lo and behold there was a major excellent vinyl reissue! In replica gatefold cover, heavy duty binding- the sleeve itself weighs like a pound, made from the same heavy duty construction as those old PROJECT THREE and London records PHASE-4 STEREO ping-pong album gatefolds, label replica,200gr. vinyl- the works. Just beautiful and a limited edition deal of 250 to boot! Listening to this cut makes me wonder, was there actually something in the air back then, bands & musicians just "got it", or is it just coincidence, all this the results of a grand naive experiment: the music of that era is timeless, even most of the stuff you've never heard of. Like The PLASTIC CLOUD. Enjoy, man!
When I was a pre-teen, got $5 a week allowance. In the seventies, this still was not a lot of money, especially for a music/media obsessed child like me! I was fascinated with the kid rock of the day, as were my caucasion peers, especially KISS & ALICE COOPER ( I went to a heavily integrated- 90% black- elementary school in Prince Georges county - the black kids had a group too, PARLIAMENT- similar to KISS, same label, costumes, fantastic stage show & mildly forgetable music- they always had a big DC following. They also had cool local hendrix/santana/proto-go-go group EXPERIENCE UNLIMITED (or E.U.) ). Due to monetary restrictions, my record shopping was usually confined to the used record store in College Park or the WAXIE MAXIE'S cut-out bin. Oh, what treasures one could find for 99 cents to $2.99 in those bins, most of the cut-outs of that time are the collectors items of today. No exception was ANGEL , who you could actually get the entire discography of for about $6 back then, around '79. Unbeknownst to me they WERE LOCAL too, although I was more interested in them due to the fact that they shared management & label (CASABLANCA) as KISS. The music was okay from what I remember, it was more exciting that I was into a group that NO ONE ELSE MY AGE HAD NEVER HEARD OF, as they never placed a radio hit off of any of their six albums, in fact the biggest exposure they received was a short cameo appearance in the movie FOXES with Jodie Foster and former RUNAWAYS (another pre-teen favorite from the cut-out bin) singer/front skank CHERIE CURRIE. I remember wanting to see that movie but being held back by it's R rating ( my father took us to see SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER the year before much to my mother's pissed-offedness). Just as well, I had to be in my mid-20s to appreciate that disco coke-romp of a film. Anyhoo, ANGEL were MY group (who I only marginally liked, it was more about the exclusivity of it than the music.) I've heard it said that if they had held out a couple of years into the 80s they would have been huge, but I honestly don't believe that, they were to prog for bubblegum, not metal enough for hair metal & kinda fey. Anyhow, occasionally, as obsessives do we try to re-stir those old musical intersts & re-investigate those old passions, which led me to this great qudio press-kit thing , HILARIOUS! How could you EVER want to buy something after hearing this...this...I don't know what to call it, dramatic recitation?? That and the fact that there were names like FELIX and BARRY in the group??? I don't know what I was thinking at all of 11 years old, but I was cool in my own head for it. Listening back now, the first and second albums are actually pretty great, the third is pretty good & the last 2 are absolute rubbish, stabbing for hits by approprating similar styles of the day ie. Bad Co., The Eagles, whatever. But if I had heard this I probably would have reconsidered and spent my allowance on something better, like toothpaste or books. Dig if you dare!
So I just watched recently the new WHO documentary, and I gotta ask why is the 1980s era who so maligned?? I saw the "farewell" tour in 1982 with my sister & loved it, I love the FACE DANCES & IT'S HARD albums (post-Keith Moon). Much better than ENDLESS WIRE( which could have been good if it weren't so overproduced). As far as I can recall you could not turn on rock radio in the early 1980s without eventually hearing ANOTHER TRICKY DAY, yet it appears on NONE of the hits collections, what' up with that? The only representatives of these albums refered to are EMMINENCE FRONT (superior!) and YOU BETTER YOU BET ( great pop tune!), but there was much more happening at this period than those 2 tracks!! Did they just decide that they hated KENNY JONES or what? Maybe because 2 of the most heard tunes from then were ENTWISTLE songs( by the way, the greatest string instrument player in the history of stringed instruments- I'll kick your ass if you disagree, that's my conviction!!) being THE QUIET ONE & YOU, both on par with MY WIFE, BORIS, POSTCARD and a zillion B-sides- all great songs about rapists , bullies & monsters,. Entwistle rocks, goddam it, just LISTEN to that thunderous bass presence!!
I'm in the midst of my semi-annual WHO obsession, this time it's a bit John heavy, sorry! Check out the CD reissue of QUICK ONE, it's got a ton of John tunes as bonuses- king of the freak-beat B-side.
were never one of my favorite local bands, but cannot be denied in the genre we call FREDEROCK or Frederick Rock - from my locale, the one in Maryland, home of FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, birthplace of Hot Young Movie Star Shawn Hatosy (more about him in an upcoming blog) and setting of that Barbara Fritchie poem (There's a BULLWINKLE of that one!) . The Love Gods were formed in the mid 1980s when The LEFT from nearby Hagerstown split-up, their IGGY-esque vocalist hooking up with former SUBTERENEANS Pat Faville & Mike Trail, as well as Hagarstown/Frederick Punk legend "Knuckles" Rempe from local favorites MONSTER ROCK. Trail was fired soon after forming only to be replaced by the "psychedelic" madman Andrew Roff (aka Dr. Serendipity) . It was this line-up that recorded the groups only long-player (and only other actual release following a Bona Fide Records flexi.) from which this track is taken. Never a favorite of mine ( I was a SKEPTICS fan), the group did have some interesting moments, mostly after the departure of FAVILLE & his subsequent replacement by Eric "Little E>" Reichard & future Porter Hall TN. guitarist/vocalist Gary Roadarmel (one of my bestestest friends ever) when they convened to record the ELECTRIC REPTILES cassette EP, which unfortunately seems lost to time, I don't seem to have a copy anymore , nor does Gary, which is too bad, as it contained some amazingly simple dumb-head rock classics penned by Little E (something of a genius of simplistic, non-sense zombie rocker), featuring as it did classics like WEED FIENDS, ELCTRIC REPTILES and the all-time favorite ROOM OF DEAD. The Lovegods eventually morphed into the more resiliant , but rather indistinguishable BEEF PISTOL & continued on until their last show when they were attacked & beaten up by an outdoor Pennsylvania audience, 20 or more years younger than the average band member. Some of the Love-Gods stories are some of the funniest stories in low-level punk glory, someone should write a book. Dig!
In my opinion, the WORST place for music is Australia. There are several exceptional Aussie groups, mind you... but that's why I use the word EXCEPTIONAL. Because aside from a few exceptions ( my opinion, folks) such as THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, DEAD CAN DANCE, EASYBEATS, um, ... that's all I can think of. When I think Aussie, I think brash, throbbing, thudding verses & shout out choruses, ala MIDNIGHT OIL, INXS, HUNTERS AND COLLECTORS, etc. Or smarmy clever crap-o-la ala MEN AT WORK . And what's with this claiming immigrants as natives stuff??? We all know the BEE GEES were actually from Manchester & were down under for all of 5 years before returning to London, as well as AC-DC with their undeniable ties to Scotland.
I just can't get enough of that "dark side" we're supposed to outgrow in our 20s. Case in point: Spooky, sinister creepy evil sounding music. The past week I've been in the midst of a severe BLACK SABBATH jag, for the 50th time or so. That stuff NEVER gets old, and have been listening to more of the later- post SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH stuff, not that crap with that creep DIO, the albums like TECHNICAL ECSTASY & NEVER SAY DIE. Not bad, but decidedly more "mature" (lees scary) than the first 5 LPs (the PERFECT discography- if you do not have them then you need them all- Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol.4 & Bloody Sabbath). On another note, my search for spooky recently led me to that Popeye chicken commercial-singin' DR. JOHN, who's first few albums are FULL of spooky southern Voodoo rhythms & hoodoo lyrical content - absolutely mystical in places. I challenge you to listen to ANGOLA ANTHEM in the dark ( if it helps, put on headphones & hide under the covers). This stuff is LOADED with the sounds & imagery of midnight incantations, chicken blood & old scratch himself, yet tumbles with a deep-fried eroticism, the sound of nocturnal blood orgies in the woods & swamps. The first time I heard the tune here it was a trendy new-wave version by THE FLOWER-POT MEN I borrowed from Burl- fun and zippy, but utterly friendly. Mac's version sounds like a warning, dark & foreboding. On an interesting note, the album it's from GRIS-GRIS was recorded in the night using studio time & space (and musicians!!) from a SONNY & CHER recording session that Mac was a musician on after the hippy-dippy duo had left for the evenings! Makes it even spookier if you ask me. Dig...
