Recommendation #3

.....A friend of mine recently got a two-hour slot at a college radio station that's been shaping up quite nicely. I've been able to follow him because he posts links to archived episodes. Both the radio show and the blog are called eardrum buzz and I'm going to place the link on the ongoing list to the right

.....Consider them recommended.

V02-T16 The Dust Blows Forward...

.....If you were one of the lucky few to be given one of these compilations, and assuming you didn't recognize this final song on Volume 2, you may have wondered just how old this recording was or how bad the condition of the record from which it was taken. The recording is younger than I am and it was recorded from a CD.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 16

• 01:53 "THE DUST BLOWS FORWARD (AND THE DUST BLOWS BACK) (Don Van Vliet)
• performed by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
• original source: 2LP TROUT MASK REPLICA Straight STS-1013 (US) 10/69
• and my source: CD TROUT MASK REPLICA Reprise 2027-2 (US) 11/89

.....Many of the liner notes that I wrote for this series of mix tapes became hopelessly out of date and I've been rewriting them on this blog. This particular track was not as obvious a choice for a 'closer' as the two tracks that began each side/volume were 'openers'. In fact, it's only the second track on the first side of the double LP from which it was taken. My choice to use it for this purpose was ultimately instinctive and I put some thought in after the fact to work out (for my own peace of mind, mostly) what was driving those instincts. I'm going to quote those thoughts below, unedited, and then fact-check myself immediately after that (and remember this is 1993):

.....This man could fill a book. You still might not understand him after reading it, but you'll hate putting it down.

.....Captain Beefheart is an infuriating artist, the sort who, along with Syd Barrett, Nico, Lord Buckley and others will often be the first names on your tongue when someone asks you why you don't like Air Supply (no, that's pretty dated; say 'Vanilla Ice' instead). "If you don't like what they play on the radio, then WHAT DO YOU LIKE?" they always ask.

.....And sometimes, if I'm feeling charitable, this is what I'd say:

....."I like Captain Beefheart."

.....Now, I'm not stupid. I know that if I say this to one hundred people that less than half a dozen of them will buy one of his albums and most of them will make the mistake of trying to dance to it. But if even one person 'gets' it, it will be worth it. Of course, their first reaction will be to wrinkle their nose and check the sleeve/jewel box to make sure they didn't pick up the wrong item. Then they'll check their sound system, headphones, etc. It was only because I found some of these songs mildly amusing that I gave them repeated listenings and found, to my amazement, that taken collectively they can be revelatory. In the case of Beefheart in particular, more so than the others I mentioned above, you should find that he doesn't simply have a perspective on things that's slightly different from the rest of us, but that his perspective is nearly independent of ours. With some effort you can catch a glimpse of it; it's a mad world where objects are interchangeable with circumstances (and vice versa) and words are more powerful than what they are chosen to describe.

.....About this recording specifically: it was produced by Frank Zappa, probably in someone's living room. (The Captain had already been lied to and cheated by a number of producers and labels and was fitfully uncomfortable around studios.)

.....This track was taped from CD; the scratchy sound in the background, periodically interrupted by a crackling >thwippp< , is the sound of a needle in the trail-off groove of an old record. Both Beefheart and Zappa frequently listened to blues 45's and 78's. It acts as a metronome on an otherwise a capella track. Maybe the intention was to lay the vocal part over an instrumental background afterwards and that proved too difficult due to the record's "background noise". I'd like to think that it was more the result of two genuine record lovers who wanted to convey to listeners the sound that most recalls their true passion-- and mine.

.....and it's 2010 again. O.K., in order:

1. "This man could fill a book." Several, in fact, since I wrote those words. Only a handful are really good, the best being Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad)'s "Lunar Notes"(1998); Mike Barnes' "The Biography"(2002); Kevin Courrier's contribution to the 33 1/3 series, a volume about this very album, TROUT MASK REPLICA (2007); and there's been a lot of anticipation for John (Drumbo) French's "Beefheart: Through The Eyes of Magic", released earlier this year. He also wrote the excellent liner notes for the GROW FINS boxed set of CD's.
2. Air Supply was dated then, and Vanilla Ice is dated now.
3. The phrase, "where objects are interchangeable with circumstances" should probably read, "...with events". The idea was that if solid tangible things and experienced activities were both nouns (linguistically, at least), that they could be equivalent in some other sense as well. That is, you could sprinkle a bus ride on your corn flakes. Or you could reach a higher shelf by standing on ceremony. In the Captain's world, those sentences would make perfect sense.
4. I don't know where I might have read about TROUT MASK REPLICA being recorded in someone's living room, but the album was famously demoed in a suburban house that was converted into a giant studio by Zappa and the Magic Band. By the late 1960's the experimentation in using multi-track recording on pop music had made it the rule and not the exception to record each instrument independently and then incorporate the mixing stage of production into the creative process. They bought a house in Woodland Hills, CA and wired the individual rooms. The musicians moved in and the lines between living, working and creating began to blur resulting in an extreme form of cabin fever. Some people never left the house for months.

.....Well, I'm starting to feel a bit of that cabin fever myself. Tomorrow is a day off. I'll be doing another recommendation. Then beginning next week I'll be posting Monday through Friday in order to work in more research to update the notes as well as doing a little home maintenance.

V02-T15 Feelin' Existential

.....The rhythm guitar introduction on this track, although at a slower tempo, felt like it fit comfortably after the previous track. It also serves to take the listener back down to their baseline standing pulse rate.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 15

• 02:53 "FEELIN' EXISTENTIAL" (Mojo Nixon)
• performed by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
• original source: LP FRENZY Restless/Enigma 72127-1 (US) 1986
• and my source: CD FRENZY/GET OUT OF MY WAY! Restless 72127-2 (US) 1987

.....The CD, in case you're wondering, has a different title because an EP had been added as bonus tracks.

.....The liner notes I wrote in 1993 are still relevant, as far as I can see, so I may just rely on them here:

....."From the man who told us that 'Elvis Is Everywhere'. This is from the previous (second) album, coupled with an EP on disc. This is considerably less manic than most of his stuff, which sounds like Ernest T. Bass (an old Andy Griffith Show character) turning into a drunken, menacing street preacher. On this same album, for example, there's an excellent rant entitled 'Jesus At McDonald's' ".

.....Tomorrow, Volume 2 concludes and I once again turn to the original liner notes. A bit more of them, actually.

V02-T14b Gimme Some Skin

.....As per the previous post, Iggy Pop and James Williamson sold a box of Stooges demos and outtakes to Greg Shaw when he launched a record label named after his magazine, BOMP! Once Iggy curtailed his substance abuse, they recorded an album of new material, KILL CITY, which was released in 1977 with a handful of singles while Iggy was in Europe.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 14b

• 02:47 "GIMME SOME SKIN" (Iggy Pop, James Williamson)
• performed by The Stooges
• original source: B-side, 7" Siamese PM001 (US) 1977
• and my source: CD IGGY POP AND THE STOOGES Revenge BF 50 (France) 1987?

.....Shaw dipped back into that box again and again over the years, issuing multiple takes of the same songs. Most if not all of BOMP!'s label samplers and VA compilations have one or two of those Stooges songs. The three singles from 1977 were collected as the mini-album I'M SICK OF YOU (Line LLP 5126) in 1981 and just two years later that album and KILL CITY were the sole sources for yet another compilation, I GOT A RIGHT (Invasion E1019). You may have noted that even though the tapes for these records can be traced to BOMP!, the releases appear on labels such as Siamese, Line and Invasion. I believe Siamese was an early division of BOMP!, Line was a German label to whom the material was licensed and I honestly don't know the story behind Invasion.

.....My source for this track was a CD that combined the KILL CITY and I'M SICK OF YOU albums, one of the first releases on the Revenge label. It was also an early example of a French CD, many of which had problems with frequency compression. Admittedly that's more of a problem for classical opera where they use a greater range of frequencies. A little conscientious reequalization on my part made it sound pretty serviceable or at least as good as I remember the vinyl being.

.....In 1995, each of the three singles from 1977 were reissued as full-length CD's by amending them with alternate versions of their songs. This track appears on the CD for "I GOT A RIGHT" BOMP! BCD 139 (US?) 1995. The mix is probably a mite sharper, too.

.....Two tracks to go for this volume, then I'm giving myself a day to sleep before starting Volume 3.

V02-T14a The audience participation portion of our program

.....Iggy Pop once said something to the effect that there are no bystanders or casual observers at his concerts. If you are there, you are engaged and participating, whether you want to be or not. He makes eye contact (as lighting allows), scans the room, sings directly to (or at) audience members, whatever it takes to make it beyond doubt that you are not going to experience the performance from an objective vacuum. We're all in this together, we all have a stake in each other's experience. And unlike many performers, Iggy always seems prepared to roll with it when the audience shows up with the prior intention of getting very much engaged.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 14a

• 01:00 [dialogue in lieu of "I Wanna Be Your Dog"] (Iggy Pop)
• performed by Iggy And The Stooges (and the audience)
• original source: 2LP METALLIC 2XK.O. Skydog 62232-1 (France) 1988?
• and my source: CD METALLIC 2XK.O. Skydog 62232-2 (France) 1992?

.....I had already established a precedent of spoken word pieces on these tapes and knew that if I used more of them sparingly but consistently they'd have the desired effect of pacing the music as well as occasionally adding indirect commentary. Use them too frequently and it feels as though I'm trying to make a gimmick substitute for ideas; use them too little and it feels as though the few I did use were mistakes.

.....I also wanted to have balance in the sense of using both music from my collection that I loved and music from my collection that was just there and deserved a little validation. This track fits both bills, but posed a new problem. I had set a ground rule for myself that I would not repeat artists. With less than ten minutes to go on the tape I had already decided that there would be further volumes and I could not imagine a series like this with no actual Stooges songs. To compromise I decided to consider this dialogue to be an interstitial introducing a contemporary song of theirs and consider all interstitials generally to be exempted from the 'no-repeat' rule. Seeing as how some of them are five to ten seconds long, that seemed reasonable.

.....The history behind this recording is extremely convoluted and I'm not likely to do a decent job of disambiguation with less than 24 hours of preparation. What I can provide is a quick chronology:

• In Oct. 1973, The Stooges play the Michigan Palace and this track is recorded by a friend of the band.
• In Feb. 1974, The Stooges return to the Michigan Palace and play what turns out to be their last show.
• Later in 1974, Ray Manzarek has dissolved the post-Morrison version of the Doors (they put out two albums that seem to have vanished from their label's memory) and begins recording with Iggy and guitarist James Williamson. Although Manzarek does release a solo album at this time, it doesn't include anything from these demos, which Manzarek has never released. Desperate for money, Pop and Williamson bring a boxed filled with random unmarked reels of Stooges outtakes to Greg Shaw of BOMP! Magazine.
• Iggy voluntarily entered a mental health facility to end, or severely curtail, his substance abuse problem. Long time fan David Bowie is reportedly his only visitor.
• In spring of 1976 the album METALLIC K.O. is released in France on the label Skydog (SGIS 008). It claims to contain the last Stooges show, but is actually one half of the Oct. 1973 show and one half of the Feb. 1974 show. Later, Pop and Williamson record the album KILL CITY for Shaw, who is still sifting through the reels of Stooges demos and opting to release them as singles. Bowie opts to escape the drugs, insanity and human parasites in Los Angeles by going to Berlin. He offers to take Iggy and they make a brief stop in France to record demos and begin recording Iggy's IDIOT album and Bowie's LOW album at Chateau d'Herouville. They finish both at Hansa Studios in Berlin.
• In 1977 there is a deluge of Stooges material, including the new KILL CITY and Stooges singles from BOMP!, two new albums each from both Pop and Bowie and METALLIC K.O. has sold so well in the US as an import that American pressings are made by a label called Import (IMP 1015). Bowie tours as Iggy's pianist and live selections are released the following year as T.V. EYE LIVE.
• In 1978, Skydog releases an EP with more of the Feb. 1974 show (SGIS 012).
• c.1988, the double album METALLIC 2XK.O. is released, including the 1976 LP, the 1978 EP and more of the Oct. 1973 show. This is where I came in.

.....Tomorrow, one of the tapes Grew Shaw found in that box.

V02-T13 21st Century Schizoid Man

.....Still in England, and definitely not Kansas.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 13

• 07:20 "21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN (including MIRRORS)" (Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake, Michael Giles, Pete Sinfield)
• performed by King Crimson
• original source: LP IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING Atlantic SD8245 (US) 10/69
• and my source: CD IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING E'G/Caroline EGCD 1 (US) 1989

.....As for why this particular track was selected, when you're putting together a cross-section of a large and eclectic music collection and your objective is to be both listenable and avoiding predictable patterns, it isn't a question of whether you'll include a King Crimson number, it's a question of which one and when. The answer, in this case, is this one and here.

V02-T12 Up Against The Wall

.....[From Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming" St. Martin's Press (NYC, first US edition, January 1992) pages 392-396]

.....On August 23, 1977, The National Front (a notorious neo-Nazi group) caused a riot by making a well-publicized march through Lewisham, a predominantly black working-class borough of South London. They were confronted by Socialist Workers Party and Rock Against Racism protesters. British press and television deliberately edited footage and wrote copy to portray the protesters as antagonists and the National Front as innocents under an unprovoked attack.

....."The same week that the music press carried their reports on Lewisham, they announced the signing of the Tom Robinson Band to EMI Records for nearly 100,000 pounds. The TRB-- who were affiliated to RAR, Spare Rib, the National Abortion Campaign and Gay Switchboard-- offered the perfect chance for EMI Record Division, still bruised by the events of December, to claw back some radical chic."

.....The "events of December" Savage was referring to were EMI's collective behavior towards the Sex Pistols in the wake of the Bill Grundy incident (Google it) resulting in EMI cancelling their contract in January 1977.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 12

• 03:35 "UP AGAINST THE WALL" (Tom Robinson, Roy Butterfield)
• performed by The Tom Robinson Band
• original source: A-side, 7" EMI 2787 (UK) May 1978
• and my source: CD POWER IN THE DARKNESS Razor and Tie RE2018 (US) 1993

.....Robinson was in a genteel, too-clever band called Cafe Society when he got his first serious opportunity to record. They were one of the first acts signed to Konk, a new label created and owned by The Kinks. Unfortunately, the sessions were nearly finished before Robinson figured out that the direction his band's album should take was just one more bone of contention between the Davies brothers, one more excuse for them to fight with each other. The album came out, and it was OK, especially for a freshman effort, but Robinson couldn't help but think something was missing. He found out what that was the first time he saw The Sex Pistols perform. He would form a punk band.

.....Roy Butterfield was also known as 'Anton Mauve', the first TRB guitarist when they formed in late 1976. Less than a month later not one original member (besides Tom) was still in the line-up. The line-up they did have remained stable until shortly before this single. After a more than a year of touring, a debut single that reached number 5 in the UK charts ("2-4-6-8-MOTORWAY") and a live EP in the top 20 ("RISING FREE") they finished recording this single and the album POWER IN THE DARKNESS when it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the toll it was taking on their 17-year-old keyboard player, Mark Ambler (he was 16 when he was hired). Many rock musicians are stultifying cases of arrested adolescence under the best of circumstances. Being in a politically radical rock band that also has national 'hit' status (and the attention and media coverage that comes with it), led by a very vocal gay activist playing punk venues and targeted by violent terrorist hate groups requires a maturity most high schoolers don't have. For his own sake, Robinson fired him. Eventually he would play in a band with ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, who got fired from that band for being too mature. If it was any consolation to Ambler, after he was fired he got to see the sessions he played on yield this single (which went top 40) and the album within a week or two (which went top 5).