V05-T03 Hombre Secreto

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.....I first saw the movie "Repo Man" in the theater and fell in love immediately. It's one more reason the human race has to thank Mike Nesmith. He's credited as an executive producer, which usually translates to financing a project rather than any hands-on participation, but though the punk music dominating the soundtrack and nihilism dominating the characters are both outside of his usual modus operandi his trademark dry humor is all over the dialogue.

Volume 5: DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL (YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT'S BEEN), track 3

• 01:48 "HOMBRE SECRETO" (P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri; Spanish translation by Tito Larriva)
• performed by The Plugz
• original source: VALP MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK "REPO MAN" San Andreas Records/MCA SAR 39019 (US) 1984
• and my source: the same

.....Sloan's co-writer, Steve Barri, was actually credited on the label as "S.B. Lipkin", his real name. I used his professional name because it's more widely recognized (and to be fair, Sloan's name is a pseudonym, too). Below are my notes from 1994.

....."What? No Japanese? Well, these compilations wouldn't be complete without a foreign language number in there somewhere. Of course, you may know this in English as the Johnny Rivers song 'SECRET AGENT MAN'. Being a long time fan of the TV show 'The Prisoner' (and its antecedent 'Secret Agent', with which Americans associate the song), those opening chords always catch my ear. I think there's a Lou Miami recording of this out there. In English, I mean.

....."The Plugz are a fine example of L.A. punk's dirtiest little secret-- i.e., that it isn't any more homegrown than the rest of the rock in L.A. Just like in the big commercial rock world, the best 'L.A.' punk bands weren't from Los Angeles; they were from San Francisco or Mexico. At first the only clubs to play in were in L.A. and the minute clubs opened elsewhere bands stopped making the haul to L.A. to perform. When the mass media types no longer saw punk bands in Los Angeles they assumed that there couldn't be anything going on in the 'lesser' towns and declared that punk was dead. Michael Nesmith, on the other hand, decided to look beyond the end of his nose and decided that it was not. He backed the production of 'Repo Man' (for which Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton will be forever grateful), whose soundtrack album was probably the first mass-marketed example of the fourth phase of punk (hardcore). The CD finally came out nearly ten years after the movie."

.....Shortly after the movie was released The Plugz renamed themselves the Cruzados and signed to Arista. They had previously released their own records. The new identity didn't last very long and the Cruzados also ended their existence with a movie, 1989's 'Road House'. They actually appeared on screen for that one, part of Tito Larriva's extensive list of film credits. The line-up for this particular track was:

• Tito Larriva- vocals
• Steven Hufsteter- lead guitar
• Chalo 'Charlie' Quintana- drums
• Tony Marsico- bass

.....None of the selections give individual producer credits, although the project was produced by Peter McCarthy and Jonathan Wacks. I'm not sure if they had any direct involvement with the recording since there are two other Plugz tracks on the soundtrack with different personnel and were likely recorded earlier than "HOMBRE SECRETO". Actually, the whole album is killer, as is the movie, and both are heartily recommended in their entirety.

V04-T11 Paper Balloon Bomb

.....Most volumes in this compilation series include cover songs and every other one (or thereabouts) may have a non-English cover of an English language original. This is the rare occasion of a foreign language original.

Volume 4: "THE LITTLE BROWN ONES ARE THORAZINE, GEORGE", track 11

• 02:59 "PAPER BALLOON BOMB (Junnosuke Kawaguchi, Hiroto Kohmoto)
• performed by The Blue Hearts
• original source: LP TRAIN TRAIN Meldac Records MEL-50 (Japan) November 23, 1988
• and my source: CD BLAST OFF! Juggler Records JTD-2 (US) 1991

.....I'm going to default to my original 1994 liner notes for this one:

....."I don't know if Blue Hearts are supposed to be any relation to Purple Hearts, a pill of choice among British mods in the 1960's, but the band seems to understand the value of properly abused amphetamines.

....." Japanese pop music generally is almost the worst in the world. (Indian pop beats it, at least.) Most of the charting acts are openly groomed, corporate-sponsored 'idols', their careers laid down in print before they've even touched an instrument or used a microphone. Typically, the Japanese think nothing of this. No one even bothers pretending that musical prowess enters into the equation. The Blue Hearts are a glorious exception. Other tracks show they've spent a lot of time listening to the Ramones. That's a sure mark of someone who has learned to play by trial and error (the best way, really). The CD comes with lyrics in Japanese and English, so if you're really interested in a translation it's no problem.

....."The only other release from Juggler Records that I could find was JTD-1, a six song compilation of Blue Hearts' singles. Both of these CD's are in the cut-out bins, but make great listening despite the language barrier."

.....Okay, it's 2011 again. After 17 years, some updating is in order.

1. J-pop is still around, of course, but while Japanese radio may still sound like the second half of any given season of American Idol played at the wrong speed, the internet has given the beleaguered Japanese public so many other choices that it's debatable if even half the population has even heard this year's domestic top ten. And Indian pop has improved considerably, mostly in the last decade.
2. The two principles in The Blue Hearts dissolved the group a little more than a year after I made this compilation, then formed High-Low. In the past decade they reorganized again as Cro-Magnon, at least according to Wikipedia.
3. For the moment, the offer stands regarding the lyrics. I recently confirmed that I still have the same copy of the CD.
4. I still haven't found any other titles on the Juggler label.

.....In the next entry, punk by way of Sun Ra.