recommended live streams

8-26-20 - The Hypnotiques live stream at 8:00 pm

8-29-20 - the B-52's free live stream at 8:00 pm

RIP Ron Heathman of the Supersuckers

Former Supersuckers guitarist Ron ‘Rontrose’ Heathman has died 
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Ugly Things #54

Obviously, Ugly Things was always intended to be Mike Stax's tribute to the Pretty Things and with the untimely death of Phil May a couple of months ago, of course, Mike had to dedicate this issue to the great man. With remembrances from Mike, naturally, along with friends and peers and highlighted by an interview/tribute with the PT's guitarist Dick Taylor, May receives a fine send off from many of the people that he touched and influenced.

There is a cornucopia of treats inside besides Phil, including stories on 60's bands The Paisleys, the Electras and the Search, a bit of craziness regarding Hasil Adkins, and innumerable reviews of wild releases - records, books, movies and more!

As always, this is essential reading for the discerning rock'n'roller!

The Schizophonics - live stream from the Casbah, Saturday August 15, 2020

(Photo by Becky DiGilio Photography)

On Saturday, the Casbah hosted the Schizophonics' live stream for their only show of the summer - strange times indeed that we are living in! Although there was not a live audience (other than a few friends/workers), the Schizo's still put on a full-throttle, high-energy show, with Pat leapin'n'dancin' non-stop, to the extent that he literally tore the soles off of his shoes! (No joke!) From the opening "Black to Comm" (MC5, of course) through to the last note, they blasted through songs from their various records, along with wild covers of Roxy Music and more, only taking breaths to take a few phone calls  (!) and online requests. Totally fun and this is the kind of show that makes me miss live music!

Hopefully, we can get back to normal again sooner rather than later, so we can get back to rockin'n'rollin'n'rantin'n'ravin'! Note: If this band can wear masks while performing, you can wear a mask to go to the store! 

The Energy of Slaves - Poems by Leonard Cohen

As I said, I became a fan of Cohen's via his music in the late 60's as I was learning to play folk music on the acoustic guitar. These books belonged to my wonderful sister, Sharon, who helped me discover him and who is now cleaning excess items from her house so I claimed them.

This edition was published in 1972 although, of course, the poems stem from a period of a number of years, but this still shows growth from The Spice Box of Earth in my mind, although those were already strong works. Here, his lines are shorter and to the point, but still with terrific imagery and his clever sense of humor, as he tells tales of relationships won and lost, lust, love, boredom and violence. He is self-referential at times, with snippets of songs, older poems, mentions of lovers, such as the famous Marianne, and more. There is a certain power to her form, and the words will stick with you, whether or not you can say what he meant to say.

My love of poetry is very particular, but I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to finding more of his books, as I have not read many. Recommended for those who dig this kind of thing.

Leonard Cohen - The Spice Box of Earth

I became a Leonard Cohen fan in the late 60's when I first started to learn to play the guitar, due to my older brother and sister's enthusiasm for his music. He began his career as a poet of some renown before deciding (correctly) that music would bring his words to a larger audience. This 1961 book was Cohen's second collection of poems (prior to his musical career), which was met with literary acclaim, but he then moved to the Greek island of Hydra for several years before releasing any further works.

While his meanings may sometimes be fairly impenetrable, Cohen always has a fine turn of phrase, and, at times, can be quite direct in his thoughts. Occasionally, his cadence reminds me a bit of Bukowski, although the subject matter is extremely different, but he can be similarly down-to-earth. Anyone who is a fan of his music is familiar with his poetic lyrics which range from sweet stories of love to almost vulgar sexuality and violence. Love'n'lust, jealousy, observations of life and more infuse his words with personal connections and intimacy.

Those who dig a post-Beat style of poetry should absolutely research his writings. A major talent, indeed.

Black Angel's Death Song - Sinning With a Policy

While post-70's popular music was pretty much universally atrocious (with certain exceptions, of course), the LA underground scene in the 80's and 90's had a hugely diverse group of fantastic musicians playing a wide variety of incredible music to a devoted crowd of followers. Punk rock ethos infused just about every style of music possible, with some amazing results. Musicians overlapped, as well - a couple of these gents also powered Trash Can School - to create a crazily terrific time.

BADS were certainly influenced by the Velvet Underground, but much more, as well, and these variables join together for their hip, unique sound. This CD, released by Hell Yeah Records, a division of Dionysus, combined two previously released vinyl EPs. While they concentrated on the more psychedelic angle - "More" sounds practically like something Spacemen 3 might do - they would also tackle Germs-like punk rock ("Brothers and Sisters"), hard-edged, twisted riff-rock ("Brown Water/Nothing Remains"), a mellow ballad ("Bernadette"), an intense - musically and lyrically - bit of mid-tempo, anti-racist politicization in "N*gger" (today's racial insensitivity in the news is nothing new), a kinda/sorta Velvet-y dynamic number in "What Will It Take?", a powerful, stompin', repetitive riffer for "In These Times" and a highly original jammy take of the Doors' "The End" that closed their Sinning With a Policy vinyl release.

The Brett Sessions EP opens with an almost country-ish "Roller Coaster" (sounding almost nothing like their other material) but "Destroy the Evidence" is more like it with convoluted licks'n'rhythms in a mix of 70's punk'n'Devo, and "Nothing Equals Nothing" is my favorite song of theirs: a high-energy guitar riff interspersed with start'n'stop dynamics and sing-along chorus - only complaint is that it is far too short! "What Do You Mean" is nice'n'droney, in a melodic, psychedelic way, "12 Stations to Go" is simply a cool, Catholic School rocker, there's a touch of Dylan in "Spanish Cobras", s sad, Nick Cave-ish (or is that more Spacemen 3?) ballad in "Fall In the Fire" and it all concludes with a slow psych/country number appropriately titled "Are You Done?".

A bit of psych, a bit of punk, some hep noize, cool drones and just plain rock'n'roll all thrown together in this cement mixer of sounds. Dig it!

recommended live streams

8-13-20 - DJ Atomic VJ's music videos starting at 8:00 pm
8-13-20 - Gold Top Bob LIVE at the Sand Dollar - wear a mask!

8-15-20 - the Schizophonics live stream from the Casbah at 8:30 pm

8-18-20 - the New Waves live stream 7:00

8-26-20 - The Hypnotiques live stream at 8:00 pm

The Chicken Hawks - Hard Hitting Songs For Hard Hit People

Chronology has never been my strong point and as years go by, I lose track of any linear timeline, but considering that this CD was released in 2001, I assume that we met and started gigging with Sioux City Iowa's Chicken Hawks in the late 90's/early 2000's and became friends with cool cat'n'kitten leaders of the pack, Pete'n'Betsy. Pete's hip/trashy/cool guitar stylings backed up scantily clad Betsy's powerful vocals with a revolving rhythm section (even this CD has two different sets of bass'n'drums) on blues/punk /garage songs of Iowa desperation.

Starting out with "Rollin' and Tumblin'", a Link Wray-ish take on the blues classic with some added swirling keyboards and biting slide guitar which appropriately goes into "101 Blues" that highlights more of Pete's slippery slide in this ode to Hollywood and its charms, followed by the punkier "Darksider" and the frantic frenzy of "Punch Up". For "Honky Tonk Girls" they add some pertinent honky tonk piano behind this bit of r'n'r, sing-along swagger, "Lime Ricky" is more bratty punk rock with hip "oh yeahs" answering Betsy's sassy vocals, the auto-biographical "Should Have Stayed Home (And Did LSD)" is a bit more garagey with more slithering slide guitar work, while "Texas Plain" is practically Stones-y, they do a group sing-along for "Sing Sing Prison Blues". and get pretty hilarious is the fast-paced "Ain't Got a Tan" and go full-throttled punk-blues for the fiery finale "Pearl". (There's a secret bonus track reprising "Rollin' and Tumblin'" with male (Pete?) vocals for those who don't turn off their set right away!)

Pretty freakin' great set of tunes from these hip folks from the unlikely Iowan flatlands. Fun memories from a better time, thanks to RAFR Records!

The Plague - Albert Camus

Since the Corona Virus hit the States, this classic tome has been on the best-sellers list and so, it has been a bit pricey. Now, a few months in, the price got to a point where I felt justified in picking it up and checking it out.

Somewhat similar in style and concept to A Year of Wonders, The Plague is set in Oran, a real-life French port city on the Algerian coast, although the story is completely fictionalized, despite Oran having been visited by various plagues over the centuries. Like AYOW, it narrates the trials of a quarantined city, separated from the rest of the world and doing what they can to live through a devastating, contagious disease. The narrator's identity is kept hidden until the end (for no real reason), but one main character is the town's doctor, whose tales give us a window into the various residents' reactions to the isolation, to their loved one's illnesses, and to their life lived in unrelenting anxiety.

Although written and set in the late 1940's, other than the mentions of inventions such as the phone and cars, the style of writing seems much more archaic to me, albeit that could be due to the translation from the original French. Considered an "existentialist classic", I actually find the writing a bit clumsy and stilted and do not see the multiple meanings that supposedly apply to some of the writings (according to Wikipedia, anyway).

The story follows numerous members of the city as they live - or die - through the plague. I find it interesting that the city secludes itself but it does not require individual isolation - in fact, it seems to encourage gatherings at bars and restaurants, until someone is diagnosed as having the plague. Of course, it spreads throughout the city and the townsfolk struggle to deal with life under these conditions. Oddly, at one point, one character goes into a monologue against the death penalty, merely as an aside, but an interesting one. This is completely out of the blue and nothing of the sort is ever repeated - apparently, just something that Camus wanted to put into print, although I suppose there could be some sort of simile to the situation that the townsfolk found themselves in.

Of course, eventually, the plague finishes its reign and the town does its best to return to normalcy, it whatever way that expresses itself to the different inhabitants. Somewhat anti-climatic in the story, as happens in real life, I suppose. There's no real heroes or villains, nothing particularly uplifting or even totally depressing - just reporting the incidents as they happen. I guess this is what leaves me feeling uninspired after reading this - I think in our real-life, current experiences, there are more ups'n'downs, more true good'n'evil - we shall see what the people who live through the days of COVID write of their experiences!

Eater - All of Eater

Eater started when a couple of 15 year old North London kids - Andy Blde (vocals) and Brian Chevette (guitar) - decided to form a band (named after an obscure Marc Bolan lyric) by simply telling people that they had a band! Eventually they decided that maybe they should actually play a show or two and enticed Ian Woodcock (bass) and Dee Generate (and later Philip Rowlans on drums) to join in. A year and a half later, it was all over in a blur, but they put out several records, caused a bit of mayhem and had a lot of fun. This is a 28 cut collection, apparently, truly, all of Eater.

Ian was the only one who knew how to play when they started and he does his best to add a bit more musicality to the mix with fast moving bass runs moving throughout the numbers. The songs are super-short, fast-paced, simple-but-catchy 70's punk - not genius but about average and better than most of the crap that's around today. They threw in some covers, too, like a high-speed take on "Sweet Jane", Alice Cooper's "Eighteen" done as "Fifteen" and stripped down beyond minimalism, but very hip, Bowie's "Queen Bitch" (relentless!), the Velvets' "Waiting For the Man", also stripped to bare bones and sped up and T.Rex's "Jeepster" as "Jeep Star", oddly with almost no guitar in the mix.

Their first single was a couple of their catchiest numbers, "Outside View" and "Thinking of the U.S.A." - both sing-along tunes that move'n'groove and have some pretty neat changes. Although these tunes appear late in the CD running order, the ones that follow sound a bit more mature (there's even basic guitar solos!) so I surmise that they are later recordings, but that's only a guess.

Fun stuff for lovers of 70's British punk rock'n'roll. Sure, they're not the best of the batch, but they're pretty darn cool, regardless!

The Who - BBC Sessions

I find it extremely hard to believe that I have not ranted'n'raved about the release before, but I'll be damned if the blogger search will show me anything. I know I bought this when I first saw it, so maybe I've had it for longer than I've had this blog, but it's still strange. In any case...

I am a huge Who fan and have been since I first heard them blasting over the AM radio in the 60's - probably "I Can See For Miles" first and then their subsequent terrific hits and FM radio cuts and amazing albums. This disc is, obviously, BBC Radio sessions, mostly from the 60's, with enough variations on the songs that you know'n'love to make you need this album!

Apparently, most artists did a take-off Radio One jingle during their sessions and the Who were no exception, with a modification on "My Generation" ("talkin' 'bout my favorite station"), before a brief interview with Pete and a tough "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" with an incredible feedback section. Being good Mod boys, they take on the Young Rascals "Good Lovin'" with fun energy, followed by James Brown's "Just You and Me, Darling" (they were a bit too white to really do an effective James Brown cover, but it's a cute try), but their version of "Leavin' Here" is right up there with the Birds for a r'n'r interpretation, "My Generation" is pretty damn close to the original take, although the noise ending is amped up a bit (in a great way!), and they pull out a couple of fine album cuts highlighting their harmonies, "The Good's Gone" and "La-La-La-Lies" then a fast'n'biting "Substitute", a pretty hip take on "Dancing in the Street" with a ferocious fuzz solo, another relatively obscure, but cool, one, "Disguises", and a bane of Roger's existence, the gender-bending hit "I'm a Boy".

More good, clean fun with "Run, Run, Run" (with an extended guitar break), Entwistle's "Boris the Spider", the whimsical "Happy Jack", Daltrey's "See My Way" (although, I know Pete said that he helped with Roger and Keith's numbers, and this has some real Townsend-isms in it), but the biggest revelation is "Pictures of Lily" with a hip organ part! The arrangement is essentially the same, but no French Horn, the guitars seems somewhat changed and the keys effect the entire feel, in a neat way! I actually covered "A Quick One" in a band due to the intensity of their appearance on the Stones' Rock'n'Roll Circus, but this earlier representation is pretty damn perfect, as well. Then we jump from '67 to 1970 for another crack at "Substitute", my fave obscurity, "The Seeker", the stunningly powerful "I'm Free", their extraordinary take on "Shakin' All Over" then another jump to 1973 for a couple of the weaker numbers on the disc - "Relay" and "Long Live Rock" - both good, but not up to their previous standards, and the whole shebang closes with another jingle, this time changing up "Boris the Spider" very briefly!

I'd say that this is a must for any fan - great cuts all the way through!

RIP Wayne Fontana

'GAME OF LOVE' SINGER DEAD AT 74 
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Son of a bitch, another one gone. This was a great song, although I can't say I'm overly familiar with the rest of his catalog. Still, way too young.

RIP Jan Savage of the Seeds

The Seeds were one of my favorite 60's bands and Jan's guitar playing was definitely a big influence on me on my garage days. So sorry to hear of his passing.

recommended live streams

8-7-20 - DJ Atomic and James Q. Mayhem VJ's music videos starting at 8:00 pm

8-15-20 - the Schizophonics live stream from the Casbah at 8:30 pm

8-26-20 - The Hypnotiques live stream at 8:00 pm

Tommy Dorsey Livin' in a Great BIg Way - Peter Levinson

Not something that I would have normally picked up for myself, but my lovely wife found this at a thrift store and thought that I might enjoy it. I'm not much of a Big Band guy personally, but I dig reading about almost any musician's life (unless I actively dislike their music) and learning how they did what they did.

Coming from a rock'n'roll upbringing, it's kinda fascinating to hear how the Big Bands worked, as it's a very different fashion - members move from group to group regularly and, of course, they had charts that they had to read (instead of memorizing) and especially interesting, each band had their own arranger to work out the various parts for the group based on their line-up. Again, as a rock'n'rollers, I'm used to groups making their own arrangements individually and I would never have thought of hiring someone to do it for you, but it makes sense for these "orchestras". It is somewhat amazing that the groups were able to maintain a coherent sound when they used outside arrangers (Tommy used several different ones at a time) to put together the music (that was also written by others, of course).

Tommy and his brother Jimmy came from a musical family and, in fact, their father insisted on them becoming musicians to avoid working in the local coal mines. Their talent made them in demand early on, even at a time when there were plenty of stellar musicians on the scene, and they made a good living even during the Depression and cut hundreds of tunes with various combos before forming the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. The brothers volatile relationship meant that this orchestra did not last long, but each brother ended up fronting his own group and were each responsible for a staggering number of hit records.

Tommy's temper and perfectionism meant that members came and went - one estimate was as many as 250 in 5 years!! But he made many careers, including a skinny kid's named Frank Sinatra, who led the group on innumerable hits.

For me, the myriad musicians and characters that appear in the story are mostly unknown so listing them - the people coming and going from the band, the hangers-on, the arrangers, the friends'n'fans, etc. - continually does get to be a bit much. I'm sure this information is much more important to those in the know, but regardless, Levinson tries to keep the story moving throughout.

Tommy was able to keep his band going for longer than most, and even had a reunion with his brother Jimmy for a few years at the end of their lives, before the hard living brought both of their lives to early ends. They kept Big Band music alive for a number of years, but with the advent of rock'n'roll (ironically, Elvis Presley was a guest star on several TV specials that they hosted in the late 50's), their draw had greatly diminished by the time of their deaths.

I'm sure that fans would find this even more enjoyable, but I got a kick out of the book and appreciated looking at this musical style from a different perspective.

The Velvet Underground - The Complete Matrix Tapes

Recorded over 2 nights - November 26 and 27, 1969 - at San Francisco's The Matrix (owned by Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin!), this 4-CD set was taken from the original tapes with a number of takes never before released (some songs had been included on previous VU live records). This final Lou Reed-led version of the band is at times slicker than the early albums, but they also let loose - particularly Lou - and produce some fantastically maniacal noize.

Of course, there is repetition throughout the four discs as the band, naturally, had a limited repertoire for the tour, but no song is ever played quite the same and the variations are pretty fascinating for fans.

Disc one opens with Lou's introduction and a very laid back take on "I'm Waiting For the Man" with extra, different, apparently ad-libbed lyrics and new solos, followed by a great "What Goes On" and "Some Kinda Love", then an ironically energetic "Heroin" with intense droning guitars and Doug Yule's organ making a wonderfully powerful cacophony, Lou is actually personable and funny in his introduction to "The Black Angel's Death Song", again with Yule's organ replacing Cale's viola and sometimes meandering a bit too much but it is very effective in "Venus in Furs". They are pretty rockin' in the garage-y "There She Goes Again" and "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together", a bit more mellow pop for "Over You" and "Sweet Jane" (again, with different lyrics), the sadly romantic "Pale Blue Eyes" and ending with Mo's novelty number, "After Hours".


Disc 2 - "I'm Waiting For the Man" has some more unique phrasing (wait, has he always said "PR shoes"?! He quips "that's Puerto Rican" right after that line!) and a rave-up ending, there's another great take on "Venus in Furs" (the organ is perfect in this), I always love "Some Kinda Love" and this version has Lou a bit more spirited than some of the live ones, "Over You" is purposefully light weight but  there is a fantastic, extended Lou Reed freak-out, free-jazz solo (ala first couple of albums) in the rockin' "I Can't Stand It" - one of the best versions I've heard yet! This is followed by a hyped up take on "There She Goes Again" then there's a respite from the intensity with the whimsical "After Hours" that Mo sings. The speed must have been kicking in for the energetic "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" and while I've never been a big fan of "Sweet Bonnie Brown" /"Too Much", this is a good, quick-paced version with a subdued but always fierce'n'dynamic "Heroin" (all of the different takes are great in their own way) succeeding it with some pleasant dissonance, "White Light/White Heat" is nicely rockin' with a terrific Lou solo and the set closes with the powerful "I'm Set Free".


Disc 3 - has the logical opening "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" after which we get "Some Kinda Love", a cool "There She Goes Again", another intense "Heroin", a sublime "Ocean" and "Sister Ray" is extended to over a half hour, with more wonderfully maniacal Morrison and Reed guitar workouts. Disc 4 again begins with "Waiting for the Man", then a fun'n'energetic "What Goes On", the more subdued but equally great "Some Kinda Love" ("like a dirty French novel, the absurd courts the vulgar" - man, how does one come up with a line like that?), the pure r'n'r of "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" and "Beginning to See the Light" (with its rousing "how does it feel to be loved"), I always had a soft spot for the romantic "Lisa Says" as well as "New Age" ("something's got ahold of me and I don't know what" is equally as rousing) and, of course, "Rock'n'Roll" has rightfully become a classic, even if it's missing the lovely harmony guitar lines here, "I Can't Stand It" is rockin' with a free-jazz styled solo, "Heroin" is especially dynamic, "White Light/White Heat" is always great and this has another hip, extended solo and the whole shebang concludes with a mellow take on "Sweet Jane".

This is really a quality set, with good sound and fantastic performances, mixing the mania of the early group with the slicker, poppier qualities of the later versions. What an amazing band with incredible songs! I'd say that any fan sound own this!

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Bluejeans and Moonbeams

After the release and failure of the Unconditionally Guaranteed album, the entire Magic Band left Beefheart shortly before they were scheduled to do a major tour due to disputes over pay (a common ailment with the Magic Band). A pick up group of much more orthodox musicians was thrown together and, after the tour, a couple members remained in order to record this LP. Absolutely the most traditional sounding record of his career, this nonetheless did not chart and was a flop both critically and from a fan's perspective. The years have been somewhat kinder to the album and it has gained some favoritism since, but it lacks the Magic of any of the "real" Magic Bands.

The record starts on a promising note with "Party of Special Things To Do" sounding like a slicker, funkier Magic Band and Vlient's vocals are much stronger than anything on Unconditionally and even the lyrics are more compelling. Then, oddly, there's a cover of JJ Cale's "Same Old Blues" - not a bad tune, but highly unusual for Beefheart to cover a peer, and nothing here is particularly striking - even the Captain's vocals are restrained and fairly uninspired. "Observatory Crest" is an uninteresting 70's-styled, electric piano-laden ballad, "Pompadour Swamp" is another low-keyed affair, although Vlient's vocals have a bit more edge, and the legend of "Captain's Holiday" is that it was found on a random tape in the studio and no one knows who played on it and Beefheart denies that he performed the harmonica parts, the instrumental's saving grace. It's also the album longest number - very odd, all around...

For side two of the vinyl there was "Rock'n'Roll's Evil Doll", a repetitive 70's rocker with some neat slide guitar, but not much else going for it, then there's yet another meandering, piano ballad in "Further Than We've Gone" that has an extended guitar solo which seems to be there just to fill up some time, while "Twist ah Luck" at least has a little funky, rockin' energy but then the closing title track is another dull, lifeless ballad.

It's kind of amazing that this record came from the same man who gave us seven previous albums of blues-based, highly creative, highly original mania. Here he seems to have surrendered completely and did not care what happened. As I said before, thankfully he came back with a couple of excellent albums before retiring from music. This and Unconditionally are for super-fans only - nothing here really to recommend.

RIP Miss Mercy of the GTO's

Miss Mercy, Frank Zappa Muse and GTO Co-Founder, Dead at 71 
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As with most rock'n'rollers of the time, I was in love with the GTO's and charmed by their album and, of course, their style. Very sad news...
(Damn, now I no longer have the record - guess it went with an ex...)

Satan and Adam (film)

Sterling Magee in the 80's was a street musician/one-man-band who had previously played for the likes of James Brown, Big Maybelle, King Curtis, Joey Dee and the Starliters, among others, as well as a solo career on Ray Charles' Tangerine label in the early 60's. After the unexpected loss of the love of his life, he forsook his previous career, gave up the guitar, but then had his own personal religious conversion and became Mr. Satan and began playing on the streets of Harlem for a living. A young white Adam Gussow wandered down the street from the Apollo and happened upon Mr. Satan, asked to sit in on harmonica, and ended up playing with the man for years.

Oddly, when U2 were filming their movie Rattle and Hum, they stumbled upon the duo, filmed them and put them on their soundtrack album! Needless to say, this expanded their audience considerably. From there they recorded, played a huge gig opening for Buddy Guy, got a regular club gig, then got management and started touring!

While talented, Mr. Satan was clearly mentally unbalanced, as was his wife, who would tour with them, which, naturally, caused considerable strife for Adam. Eventually, Mr. Satan had a breakdown, quit the business (again) and ended up in an adult care facility where his physical decline meant that he could no longer play guitar. Adam went on to become a college professor and author, got married and settled down.

But, you can never say never, and although he was not the same physically as he once had been, Sterling was eventually able to play guitar again and started doing occasional gigs in town (with the help of another resident's harmonica-playing son) which led to a reunion with Adam for gigs and even a reunion record! At 80, Mr. Satan apparently retired but who knows what the future might bring!

This is a fun documentary with amazing footage of NYC in the 80's. Definitely worth your time!

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Unconditionally Guaranteed

The Captain and the Magic Band was pretty discouraged by this time. Beefheart was always disappointed that his more "out there" music was not appreciated as he thought it should and the band was - quite understandably - disappointed that they were existing on starvation wages. This record was unabashedly made in the hopes of "cashing in" and "making it" but not only did it fail in that goal, but it alienated a good number of his fans, as well. Some people now look back on this album more kindly, but it was the last hurrah (for the time being) for the Magic Band and a bit inauspicious one, at that.

While the opening "Upon the My-O-My" starts out like a mix of the old Magic Band and Frank Zappa, it's a bit smoother than what you would expect from either - heck, there's even a flute solo! It's certainly a lot more "normal" than any previous Beefheart tracks - basic verse/chorus/solo structures and everything! While "Sugar Bowl" has some nice slide work, it's basically a simple pop tune and "New Electric Ride" is another fairly uninteresting number although again it has some good slide guitar. The ballad "Magic Be" sounds like it could have come from just about any second rate 70's band's album, as a filler/throw-away - nothing about it really stands out, and the same goes for the uninspired "Happy Love Song", complete with a 70's horn section.

"Full Moon Hot Sun" is at least a bit more upbeat, with a Bo Diddley-esque rhythm, some of Vlient's harmonica work and a bit of interesting guitar hooks. For "I Got Love On My Mind" the group just kinda jams on an elementary four chord descending riff that is lifted by fuzzed-out guitar, while in "This is the Day" they create yet another unobtrusive ballad with synth "strings" and lightweight electric piano, and "Lazy Music" does just sound lazy but at least for the closer, "Peaches", they amp up the energy a bit, even if the song is nothing all that extraordinary.

Everything about this album is strange, considering who recorded it, and it sounds like they had just given up by this time. Beefheart's vocals are a lot more controlled throughout and not nearly as extreme, and even the lyrics are pretty tame and fairly uninteresting. I'm not really sure how they thought that they would break through with a record that was tame and uninspired but instead it simply meant the end of the group. At least after they got this and Moonbeams and Bluejeans out of their system the Captain came back with a version of the Magic Band for Shiny Beast and Doc at the Radar Station, a couple of their best, before he retired with Ice Cream For Crow.

RIP Peter Green

ROCK LEGEND DEADPeter Green dead at 73 – Fleetwood Mac co-founder dies peacefully in his sleep
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His influences on rock'n'roll are incalculable - from his time in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to the founding of the original blues/rock version of Fleetwood Mac to his own work, with classic songs like "Oh Well" and "Black Magic Woman", I don't know if it would be hyperbole to say he was as important to the early British scene as Beck or Clapton.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock by Gene Odum and Frank Dorman

While I'm not a huge Skynyrd fan, I did enjoy their 70's material - back when they were hippies, not the modern band of right-wing conservatives - and saw them in a fest (they were quite good) and even played some of their songs in cover bands. I picked this book up on a whim at a thrift store without realizing that Odom was actually singer Ronnie Van Zandt's best friend and bodyguard and was on the plane that took Ronnie's life, giving him a unique perspective, to say the least. He knew Ronnie as a teen in Jacksonville, Florida where he remembers a music teacher at their school, Mae Boren Axton, who co-wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" and whose son, Hoyt, later wrote "The Pusher" and "Joy To the World", which helped to inspire and propel Ronnie's writing and musical desires. Ronnie was a jock in high school, with a love for boxing and football, as well as Southern activities like fishing'n' hunting. before seeing the Rolling Stones and deciding that his love for music would be his driving force in his life.

With the usual revolving members, Ronnie and the boys who ended up forming Skynyrd had a few local bands before the LS lineup solidified, although even that evolved a bit before and even after the first record was recorded. But that debut started their rise to fame and the sophomore effort's "Sweet Home Alabama" made them stars, with the usual excesses combined with their redneck habit of starting fights with little provocation. Unfortunately, "Alabama" had lyrics that some interpreted as somewhat racist and combined with management's decision (according to Odom, anyway) to fly the confederate flag behind them at concerts (to hype the "Southern Rock" tag that the record company had started using), there were some people who were a bit turned off by the band. But even so, they still managed to become one of the biggest groups of the time.

With success, it kinda sounds like they became kind of assholes, drinking excessively, fighting for no reason and continually getting into serious car'n'motorcycle accidents with multiple broken bones and other injuries. I understand that success brings its own stresses, but it seems like they were trying to stop their progress. There was talk of trying to clean up somewhat (Odom says that he was asked to remove the liquor from backstage before the shows since they were getting wasted before going on) but then the plane accident took the control from their hands. He describes the accident via his own memories and those of bystanders and, sickeningly, recounts that people stole the victims jewelry and wallets while they lay injured and possibly dying.

Of course, that is the centerpiece of the book and afterwards he recounts the various members bands and the Skynyrd reunions that continue to this day.

Fans will dig this, I'm sure, and even casual listeners should dig this unique perspective.

recommended gigs and live streams

*DUE TO THE SURGE IN COVID CASES, SOME SHOWS ARE BEING CANCELLED - CHECK WITH THE CLUBS BEFORE GOING OUT AND MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A MASK!*

Thursday July 16 - the Souvenairs live stream at 7:00 pm (Pacific Time)

Friday July 17 - the Sinister Six live stream at 9:30 pm (Pacific Time)

Friday July 24 - Jerk! LIVE at the Huntridge Tavern

Wednesday July 29 - The Hypnotiques live stream 8:00pm (Pacific Time)

Dean Koontz Frankenstein series

While certainly not rock'n'roll in any sense (one of the characters listens to Billy Joel, fer chrissakes) Koontz's Frankenstein series is certainly based on pop culture. I have always appreciated those who gave a new twist to cherished old horror tales (I don't remember the title, but really enjoyed a book that told Bram Stoker's Dracula from Vlad's point of view) and this was recommended to me. While his output is prodigious, I have not read all that many of his titles, but his reputation proceeded him and I was intrigued.

This series brings the Frankenstein fable into the modern age with some plausibility (although also some absurdity and pure fantasy) but it also reads basically like an old-school comic book, complete with a mad scientist (the original Dr. Frankenstein, of course) who wants to take over the world, only to be frustrated by two plucky cops who accidentally discover his plot and are, of course, attracted to each other but hiding it so they don't effect their partnership. Don't get me wrong, I like comic books, but this is fairly one dimensional - very much good versus evil with no real middle ground, unlike modern comics - and simplistic enough that I have read someone's review conjecturing that this was an early work that has been rediscovered to profit off of Koontz's fame.

But, it's not all bad, there are some unexpected twists, the story moves pretty quickly, and it has some goofy charm to it. If you find the series cheap and you like this sort of thing, it could be worth your while.

Ed Wood, Jr. - Killer in Drag

My pal, Bob, is the executor of Ed Wood's estate and gifted us this short novel the last time we saw him - thanks, Bob! Again, it has taken me a while to get to it, but finally got some space'n'time.

Ed, of course, is known for his low-budget film classic, Plan 9 From Outer Space, but he wrote several novels and short stories, as well, often with characters in drag, as he enjoyed dressing up himself. His writing might be slightly a step up from his film directing, but is it is also somewhat amateurish and at times, clumsy, but with some style and fun, pop culture nods. And, I must say, once he got the story off the ground, the writing is fairly compelling, even if some of the plot twists are a bit far-fetched.

Here, the main character is Glen/Glendora (I'm not sure if his Glen or Glendora film came before or after this), a gentlemen who transformed into a head-turning woman (perhaps Ed wished that he was that fetching when he dressed up?) who just happened to be a mob hit-person! Ironically, he gets framed for a murder he didn't commit and has to go on the run, with multiple mishaps following him as he goes, including police shake-downs, hookers with a heart of gold and an old-school carnival! The story of short and moves quickly and is over almost before you know it.

Fans of Wood should look this up for a fun little romp thru his creatively wacky mind!

The Velvet Underground - The Quine Tapes

I've been a VU fan ever since fellow Gizmos, Kenne Highland, told me that I played just like Lou Reed (due to crappy equipment and little talent, my attempts at sounding like Jimi Hendrix came out like Lou! Which is not meant as an offense to him!) and gave me their first couple of albums. While I have been augmenting my collection ever since, some of the many new-ish releases have escaped me due to their price tag, but I finally laid down the shekels for this after discovering it while researching the Live 1969 album. Robert Quine, who later would play with Reed, among others after debuting with the Voidoids, was a VU fanatic who just happened to have some decent recording equipment and the band had no issues with fans taping them, hence this box set! While the fidelity can vary a bit, possibly due to the venue's sound systems, or Quine working with his machine, overall the sound is pretty damn solid and the performances always differ and are pretty damn terrific.

This is the last Lou Reed-fronted version of the combo, with Sterling and Mo joined by Doug Yule (who would later lead a faux-VU, which is not that far-fetched as his voice sounds amazingly like Lou's) and while the songs' tempos may be somewhat sedate, the playing is exciting and original and nothing is played quite the same way twice. Although hampered by relatively simple techniques, each member manages to create a beautiful sonic landscape within the boundaries of the songs. Of course, the early material will have a different feel without Cale and Nico, but Lou and Sterling's interactions are always wonderful to hear, while Mo adds just the right rhythmic touches - sometimes more advanced than the recordings, sometimes even simpler - and Yule adds either bass solos ("Ride Into the Sun") or fine organ washes, even in unexpected places like "Black Angels' Death Song".

We start in San Francisco in 1969 with a take on "Waiting For the Man" with extended sections and a rave up ending, a kinda standard rock'n'roll number in "It's Just Too Much" and the fabulously hypnotic "What Goes On" with its extended keyboard solo. Side 2 gives us a stompin' "I Can't Stand It" with an excellently fuzzed out, extended Lou solo followed by a mid-tempo fave of mine, "Some Kinda Love" - love the lyrics! - then a positively frantic "Foggy Notion" with more terrifically ragged solo work (maybe Sterling on this one?). I never really cared for the corny novelty of Mo's "After Hours" or "I'm Sticking With You", although I could imagine that some audience members would enjoy this break from the intensity of the rest of the set. Side three of the first set is a free-form workout on "Sister Ray" that includes instrumental bits of "I Know I'm Losing You", of all things - every version on this set is extremely different and highly interesting - while side 4 gives us a pretty straight forward "Sunday Morning" and an unreleased VU number, "Follow the Leader", that Reed eventually cut on his own in 1976, although I don't remember it off the top of my head, as this version is a bit meandering.

Opening the second set is a Lou-sung "Femme Fatale" that is followed by an intense "White Light / White Heat" with Lou and company performing a truly fantastic, elongated, freak-out lead section and then "Venus in Furs", which works really well despite the lack of Cale's viola. A potent "Heroin" portends the dreamy, mesmerizing "New Age" (with Doug Yule giving a long bass solo) and then another two (!!) album sides are given over to another take on "Sister Ray", with lots of strong dynamics and improvisation. They producers do a good job of the splice and the second part starts right on beat in a logical place and is filled with some terrific drum dynamics'n'accents and some wild bursts of noize guitar.

"Black Angel's Death Song" trades Yule's organ for Cale's viola, and this, along with the variations the other musicians play, give the song a very different feel - fascinatingly unique. A later VU number, the mid-tempo, kinda soft-rock "Over You" has some variations, but works well as this was the line up that initially recorded it, and "I'm Waiting For the Man" is again slower and extended with a long guitar workout. The anthemic "Rock'n'Roll" is always a joy, even if I miss the harmony guitar licks from the later versions, and "Ride Into the Sun" is another lengthy jam, with almost "Ocean"-esque keyboard/drum/rhythm swells backing up the solos. Two more sides make up the last take of "Sister Ray" which closes out the set, with Lou given introductions to the characters while expanding on the lyrical as well as musical themes with some incredible, fuzzed-out guitar and effortlessly becomes a medley with the then-brand-new "Foggy Notion".

Obviously, this type of bootleg live set is not the best starting place for a novice, but for fans, this is pretty damn essential, taking up where Live 1969 leaves off. Great stuff!

Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience - Bill Harkleroad

Bill Harkleroad, christened Zoot Horn Rollo by the good Captain, played in the Magic Band for a number of years and appears on classics such as Trout Mask Replica, Spotlight Kid and Clearspot, and toured with the group, made TV appearances and was as close of a confident as Beefheart had in any of his bands. As with John "Drumbo" French, this book highlights his time with the group but unlike Drumbo's 800 page missive, Harkleroad presents a concise 100+ pages, which means a lot less details, but less repetition, as well. Another apparent homemade, small press release, an editor might have helped in places (there are some typos, for instance), but overall this is a good, informative read.

After reading Drumbo's detailed book, there not a lot of new information here, but we get Bill's point of view on everything, of course, and one of the more interesting things that he mentions - interesting to me as a guitarist, anyway - is when he is talking about guitar overdubs on Clear Spot - first time they did this and something that French doesn't discuss as he wasn't on the album. But, they overdubbed multiple guitars - electric and acoustic - and even mandolin and Rickenbacker 12 string! Wildly different from the earlier records where the instrumental tracks were mostly done live with only a few overdubs of other sounds - sax, theremin, percussion, etc.

He gives a brief overview of his thoughts on the songs that he recorded but then life with the Captain became a bit too much and he left and went on to form Mallard with a couple of the other members (the entire band bailed on Van Vliet just before a tour, apparently, and he found a group of "normal" musicians and formed more of a "rock" band), who did a couple of albums before disintegrating due to the usual lack of funds and "musical differences".

Disillusioned, Bill played in a cover band for a while and ended up dropping out of performing and became a guitar teacher working at a music store, which is where he leaves off in the book. Happy, and glad that he has left behind a body of work that people care about, but content to be away from that world.

As daunting as it was, I did like the details in Drumbo's tome, and this one could use a bit more info, but it's worth looking into as a fan.

recommended gigs and live streams

*DUE TO THE SURGE IN COVID CASES, SOME SHOWS ARE BEING CANCELLED - CHECK WITH THE CLUBS BEFORE GOING OUT AND MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A MASK!*

Thursday July 9 - ZZ Twist (ZZ Top cover band) LIVE at the Sand Dollar

Thursday July 16 - the Souvenairs live stream at 7:00 pm (Pacific Time)

Friday July 17 - the Sinister Six live stream at 9:30 pm (Pacific Time)

Friday July 24 - Jerk! LIVE at the Huntridge Tavern

X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents - The Anthology

As with most of Britain's early punk bands that received any press and distribution in the States, I bought this LP when it first came out and loved their wild, sax-dominated, consumer-centric punk rock'n'roll. Poly Strene's day-glo concept and wildly shrieking (in a good way) vocals captured me immediately and this album is still as strong as ever more than 40 years later, with lyrics at least as relevant and a sound that is still cutting edge.

Although this release diminished the value of my copies (I had more than one by this time, not that I had any plans to sell them!) of the original LP, I still sought out this 2001 2-CD set for its boatload of extras - demos, live cuts and even reunion songs - along with the fact that I didn't have to wear out the vinyl any longer!

With her original whoop'n'squeal introducing "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!", the sax squalls and the high energy punk'n'roll band blasting behind her, Poly and company set the punk scene on fire and became instant idols. Along with tunes like "I Am A Cliche" (she was anything but) and "I Am A Poseur" (again, not a true description of herself) critiquing the scene and the majority of the others tunes dissecting the commercial world in a fun'n'funny way, she rose to fame and became a spokesperson for the new genre. This led to innumerable difficulties and an untimely and all-too-soon demise of the group, but for a short period, they were as exciting and new-sounding as they come.

After Bondage's battle cry, there's the frantic "Cliche", the fantastically melodic buzzsaw stomp of "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" (the sax takes most of the leads on the album and is particularly excellent on this one, with harmonies and squawks alternating throughout), the anti-anthem sing-along "Poseur", "Identity" is a minor-key, bouncy riffer, "Let's Submerge" is almost Pistols-like with a damn catchy "going down-own-own-own-own" chorus and they practically do an electronic, new-wave number is the slow, hypnotic title cut.

I don't believe that the original album had the fairly nondescript "Age" on it, but "Obsessed With You" is another great, frenzied piece of punk rock'n'roll, while "Genetic Engineering" is memorable as hell, as is "I Live Off Of You" ("really gotta be exploited by somebody") and "Art-I-Ficial" continues is the same hip, happenin' punk rock vein with more great lyrics, although few can top "I Can't Do Anything" and it's line "Freddy tried to strangle me with my plastic popper beads, but I hit him back with my pet rat" and "Plastic Bag" with "I dreamt that I was Hitler, the ruler of the sea, the ruler of the universe,  the ruler of the supermarket", but "Highly Inflammable", again, I don't think was on the American version, possibly with good reason, but "Warrior In Woolworths" was a terrific closer with the the great chant "he's a rebel on the underground".

Amazing songwriting throughout, with solid playing by everyone and the saxophone really bringing a new flair to the instrumental segments while Poly's stridently melodic vocals and creative lyrics soar over the top. Poly had a flair for hooks, and this phenomenal record is jam-packed with sing-along classics.

The extras here include a rough mix of "Prefabricated Icon" (instrumentally, with gleefully blatant steals from "You Only Live Twice"), vocal-less backing tracks of "I Can't Do Anything" and "Warrior in Woolworths" that are not all that enthralling, followed by much more interesting rough mixes of "Genetic Engineering" (sounds like different vocal track), "Art-I-Ficial", "I Live Off You", "Obsessed With you", "Let's Submerge", "Identity", and "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" that show that the songs were completely formulated before the album and while the differences are not exceptional, these are fun variations.

When I first got this, I was probably most excited for the Live at the Roxy cuts, but unfortunately, for the most part these are not all that exceptional. While the opening "Bondage" is pretty good (other than the flubbed beginning - drumsticks dropped and guitar unplugged), "Identity" starts to slip a bit, although it's still pretty rockin', "Let's Submerge" gets a little wonky but "Plastic Bag" loses it completely and falls apart almost immediately and everything ends up wildly out-of-tune - this is kinda painful, frankly and a real mess, I'm sad to say. They pull things together more for "I Live Off You" and an ultra-frantic "I'm a Cliche" but go wildly out of tune again for "I Can't Do Anything" (bad monitors or just instruments going out and no time to fix them?) but another "Bondage" (a different show?) is pretty solid, other than Poly's voice cracking. I have read rave reviews of their live shows and I'm sure this was great to experience in person, but the recordings are not something that you really wanna listen to very often, I'm afraid. The last few tunes are 1995 "reunion" songs (only a couple of the original members were represented), but the songs are pretty solid through'n'through - "Cigarettes", "Junk Food Junkie", "Peace Meal" - with Poly's vocals sounding exceptionally strong, although the tunes are a bit more new wave than punk rock. Still worthwhile additions to their heritage, though.

The album is absolutely essential, but the extras here are really just for the fanatics, but it's a fun anthology of a fantastic group.

Dayglo - The Poly Styrene Story by Celeste Bell and Zoe Howe

Poly Styrene was, of course, the multi-racial, female singer for the highly influential and unique punk rock'n'roll band, X-Ray Spex, formed at the beginning of the British punk scene. Celeste Bell is her daughter and Zoe Howe is a writer who had worked with Poly previously. Here, they tell her tale with excerpts from her diary, interviews, tons of original memorabilia, as well as her friends'n'peers, along with some of those who she influenced.

Although still a young teen when she formed the band, Poly had already been out'n'about on her own, seeing the country, living with hippies, taking various dead-end jobs, starting her own used clothing stall and fashion line (using the names Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex before they were used for music), acting, recording a pop-reggae tune and living with a man twice her age who ended up being her manager.

Of course, once the band started, things moved fast - gigs, recordings, a hit single, TV appearances, and a fantastic album that holds up to this day, in every way. She perpetrated an entire concept - lyrically, musically and visually - much more so that most of the other groups of the time. The authors do get into the aspects of feminism (there are interviews with later Riot Grrrls and Poly's influence on them) and race and the changes that punk was supposed to help bring about - like the hippies before them - that we are still fighting for.

Unfortunately for Poly, the band, and the fans, Poly started exhibiting signs of mental illness before the album had even been completed - she was later diagnosed as bipolar - and she had several stints in a sanitarium. Between this - besides the strain of her departures, the group lost and/or were forced to cancel many gigs and tours at the last second - and her own changing musical tastes, the band broke up just as it was peaking and Poly started a quieter solo career before marrying and having a little girl. Of course, her life was still not quiet or complete and she joined the Hare Krishnas, got a divorce, occasionally would do some music and would have manic episodes on a regular basis. After a successful one-off X-Ray Spex  reunion, she was diagnosed with cancer, did one last album, and passed away in 2011.

Told with love and respect, but without holding back in describing the bad times, the story is at once compelling, inspirational and quite sad. It is very possible that without her illness, Poly would not have been nearly as creative'n'original as she was, but do to it, she was rarely truly happy. Another story of some of the best art coming from the most tortured people.