Damon Edge "I'm a Gentleman"

Damon Edge
I'm a Gentleman
7" single
(New Rose Records, 1985)

There's an old saying about the sum of something being greater than its parts. This is often true of bands, and few more glaringingly so than San Francisco proto cyber punks Chrome. From their early days spitting out ice cold, metallic, chopped up weirdness on albums like Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves, to the final days of doom-laden, danceable whomp on thumpers like 3rd from the Sun and the two volumes of The Chronicles, the duo of Damon Edge and Helios Creed could do little wrong.

Unfortunately, they went their separate ways in the early '80s, with band founder Edge moving to France and retaining the Chrome name 'til his death in 1995 and both releasing music as solo artists. I used to slavishly buy any new release by either, always hoping that something would live up to their past glories. Sadly, nothing I ever heard did. I ended up ditching all that I had by both save this one, kickin' little single by Damon, from his first solo album, Alliance. I love, love, love this song. Maybe one day I'll revist the stuff I sold and discover I was wrong (I won't say things like that have never happened to me), but 'til that happens, I'll be spinning this puppy.

Creed revived the Chrome moniker for a few albums after Edge departed this mortal coil, but what I heard of them was little, if any, better than the near dozen that Edge released without him.

Be·Bop Deluxe "Teenage Archangel"

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Be·Bop Deluxe
Teenage Archangel
7" single
(Smile Records, 1973)

Be-Bop Deluxe jumped out at me through the FM radio waves back in 1978. I'd heard of them, having seen their records in stores, but had never actually heard them. Their new album at the time was Drastic Plastic, and its hard, new wave sound turned out to be delectable ear candy to 14-year-old me (still is, too), even though I mostly listened to metal at the time (and thought punk rock sucked because Johnny Ramone didn't play any guitar solos when the Ramones were on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert).

The singles Panic in the World and Electrical Language got regular airplay where I lived, and I loved them so much I had to buy the album. It wasn't too long before I snapped up the rest of what was out there on LP, and was a happy, happy camper, despite the earlier albums being quite different: more prog rock than new wave and gobs and gobs and gobs of fantastic guitar.

At some point, I learned that Be·Bop Deluxe had released a single on their own label back in 1973, before signing with Harvest Records, home of Kevin Ayers, Syd Barrett, and other assorted weirdo geniuses. Luckily, in mid-1978 my family moved from northern Louisiana to the Washington, D.C. area, which had much better record stores. I tracked down a copy of the single at Yesterday & Today Records,which was the store in town if you were looking for obscurish punk, new wave, oddball, and/or heavy metal records. There were lots of other good stores, mind you, but Y&T was the epicenter, so to speak. The owner, Skip Groff, was incredibly supportive of the local underground scene. He produced sessions for local bands, had his own label, Limp Records (as opposed to the UK's Stiff Records, you see), and employed many of the local punk rockers of note at the store.

This single wasn't released with a picture sleeve, to the best of my knowledge, so that's my protective plastic sleeve holding it in the pic. I supposed I could've scanned it sans-sleeve, but I didn't want to risk damaging the record. I know the sound is a bit muddy, but that's the way it's sounded since the day I bought it. The song on the b-side, Jets at Dawn, was re-recorded for their first album, Axe Victim, but Teenage Archangel never made it beyond this little slab o' black wax.

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NOTA BENE: Your eyes are not deceiving you; the band name above is written both as Be·Bop Deluxe and Be-Bop Deluxe; it changed from release-to-release. It was also written Be+Bop Deluxe, BE BOP deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, and Funky Phaser and His Unearthly Merchandise (seriously! but just for the song Shine on the b-side of the Kiss of Light single).

Blue Ice "Power Play"

Blue Ice
Power Play
7" single
(Cracked Records, 1977)

I have no idea what the significance of blue ice is, but there are currently four different groups with that name on Discogs.com. What the heck? Is it a drug thing? I'm straightedge as a very bad word, so I'm not hip to all the controlled substance vernacular. Of course, being hip is an old term for smoking opium.

Regardless, this particular Blue Ice was a hard rockin' band from Harrisburg, PA. This was the lone record they released, before new wave had made its way to the wilds of Pennsylvania. They clearly were influenced by the psychedelic sounds of the 6T's, as the flip of this lil' disc is a nice cover of The Electric Prunes' I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night), though they killed the parentheses for some no doubt nefarious, unknown reason. Or it was just a mistake. Evil is more fun than error, though. So there!

So . . .

Power Play

Power Play is what brings us together today.

Power Play, that blessed event. That dream within a dream.

Sorry! Got distracted . . .

While Power Play is, indeed, a slammin' little number, what really sets it apart and above and such is the insane synth solo near the end. The player of said instrument (and second vocalist on this track) was Bill Stump. After new wave came into being (to use his words), he changed his name to Billy Synth and has been sporadically active both solo and with various groups ever since. I highly recommend the two albums recorded as Billy Synth and The Turn Ups.

NOTA BENE: The bass player on this is Roger Deller, who kept his surname and his bass and played on the (Billy-less) Turn Ups' Crack My Face featured here last year.

Cee Jay "Take Your Love and Shove It"

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Cee Jay
Take Your Love and Shove It
7" single
(Amoura Records, 1980)

As I mentioned earlier this year, my folks moved to a retirement home just over a year ago. Amongst the classical, jazz, Gilbert & Sullivan, and childrens' records (mine and my sister's), I found this 45. I'm guessing it belonged to my sis*, as I can't imagine our folks ever buying or listening to country music. Plus, she likes it (more than I, I mean). When I saw the title, I was compelled to stick it in the pile of stuff headed southward to my house.

It turned out to be a fun song, sung by a woman sporting some impressive mom jeans on the album cover I found on-line.

According to the listing on Amazon for the album itself, Pure Country, it dates from 1980. It sure doesn't sound like contemporary country music. That's a compliment.

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*I will, of course, return it; if it's hers and she wants it back.

Terror at the Opera "Masquerade"

Terror at the Opera
I'm in the Eye
7" single
(Ypsilanti Records, 2004)

The cover for Terror at the Opera's album Snake Bird Blue intrigued me. The duo (Gretchen and Faith) are pictured in what looks like a color Polaroid from the 1950s.

No, I don't know when Polaroid introduced color film! Get off my back!!

Anyhow, it reminded me of my all-time favorite pop vocal duo, the fabulous Barry Sisters! The CD was in a bargain bin for only $3, so there was no way I was gonna pass it up. It turned out to be a rather haunting, lo-fi and low-key affair, that actually sounded more like Yoko Ono (her often charming, slightly off-key singing voice, rather than her amazing, shrieking, ululating voice) singing gypsy folk songs than The Barry Sisters. No matter. I adore Yoko (and now Terror at the Opera, too)!

Terror at the Opera's now defunct website turned me on to this single, released sometime after the album. It took until just a few weeks ago to finally find a copy, though! It turned out to be limited to only 300 copies (on clear vinyl, to boot), so I'm not entirely surprised.

Today's song is either the B-side, if you go by the back cover and/or label's long ignored MySpace page (which I found after I found the single), or it's the A-side, if you look at the mastering numbers in the matrix. Imma go with B-side. Enjoy!

Fallen Angels "The Kid Gets Hot"

Fallen Angels
The Kid Gets Hot
7" promo single
(Arista Records, 1975)

I know what you're all saying, now that LGBT History Month is over; "Hey, Lightning, so Looking Glass eventually evolved into Starz, right? What was the missing link? What transitional fossil can you provide to prove your claim? How do we know Starz didn't just spring, fully-formed from the fingertips of God?"

Well . . . here it is! The second (of two) promo-only singles released by the Fallen Angels way back in 1975 on Arista Records. The first was a cover of "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet", by the way, except they slyly dropped the parentheses.

First, note the songwriting credits: P. Sweval and M.L. Smith. Those are Pieter Sweval and Michael Lee Smith, respectively. Pieter had been been the bassist (and writer of several songs) of Looking Glass, and Michael was the future vocalist for Starz. Now, you can't tell from this single, but the other members of Fallen Angels were drummer Joe Dube and keyboardist Larry Gonsky, both ex-Looking Glass, and guitarist Brenden Harkin, future Starzer. For historicity's sake, I must divulge that Smith and Harkin were both members of the final line-up of Looking Glass, after vocalist/guitarist Elliot Lurie (the one who wrote and sang their mega-smash hit "Brandy") left to go solo. Gonsky was replaced with a smokin' guitarist named Richie Ranno, Joe added the mysterious middle initial X, and the Fallen Angels became Starz.

I know of at least one Looking Glass single recorded with the final, post-Lurie line-up, but I can't tell you much about it 'cause I only just bought it off eBay a few minutes ago. The A-side is "Highway to Hollywood," written by Gonsky, and the b-side is "Rock This Town," which was later recorded by Starz for a demo in 1975. Maybe I'll post the single after it comes in the mail.

According to an interview that I skimmed an hour or so ago with Starz guitarist Richie Ranno, there were two post-Lurie Looking Glass singles; no info yet on what the other was, sadly.

Chris Bell "You and Your Sister"

Chris Bell I Am the Cosmos 7" single (Car Records, 1978)

OK, I admit it . . . I cheated on this one. I don't own this single, but I wish I did! I ripped the song from the I Am the Cosmos CD released by Rykodisc in 1992. It came out as I was trying to get over a boy for whom I'd fallen quite hard. In my case, however, his sister didn't say I was "no good;" rather, I felt like she was trying to push us together. I was still struggling with my orientation, and I had no idea what his was; it's been twenty years since then, and I still have no idea (nothing ever happened between us). Regardless, this song really got to me, and it was a long time before I could listen to it without bursting into tears. Chris was one third of the legendary Memphis power poppers Big Star. He left after their first album, #1 Record, however. In 1978, he released this solo single then died in a car wreck, which may have been suicide. There's a fair amount of debate over whether or not Bell was definitely gay, but it's seems highly unlikely that he was not, based on what I've read. The above-mentioned CD of Bell's post-Big Star recordings is well-worth the money, in my opinion. Rhino Handmade released an expanded version last year, but it's quite expensive ($40 for a two-CD set!) and the bonus material is mainly alternate versions of the songs on the album. I've not heard it, however, so take my comment as you may.

Kitchens of Distinction "The Last Gasp Death Shuffle"

Kitchens of Distinction The Last Gasp Death Shuffle 7" single (Gold Rush Records, 1987)

I've featured Kitchens of Distinction before, but neglected to mention (as it was not relevant to that post) that leader Patrick Fitzgerald is openly gay. I remember when we got their debut LP, Love Is Hell, at my college radio station; there were drawings of naked men on the cover! I was only just in the midst of admitting to myself that I might not be straight, and that was more than I was prepared to handle; I never even listened to it. v_v When their next album, Strange Free World, arrived, however, I did listen, and it took roughly one listen for me to fall in love with it. I often disregard lyrics in music, but Fitzgerald's were far too powerful to miss, and guitarist Julian Swales's, uh, guitar is absolutely enveloping. Today's selection is their debut single, released on the tiny Gold Rush Records imprint. It's rather a bit more post-punk than their later sound, and nowhere near as polished, but it's every bit as insistent.

Job's Daughters "The Prophecy of Daniel and John the Divine (Six-Six-Six)"

Job's Daughters The Prophecy of Daniel and John the Divine/Sinner Man 7" single (Nuf Sed Southwestern Radio Church, 1991)

And so we begin covers week! Now, as I was driving around town on Saturday (i.e., yesterday), I was writing down ideas in my cute lil' notepad app in my HTC Tilt 2 smartass phone. I did this, of course, only at stop lights and when waiting at the drive-through window at my dealer. Ninth on my list of idears was this little platter, which I first heard on a mix tape my buddy James made for me eons ago (like, probably twenty years ago, seeing as this record is almost old enough to drink in the USA). When I pulled it out of one of my many crates of little records, the cover made it disturbingly obvious that it had to be today's song. Anyhow, I fell in love with the song, and the first copy I saw for sale, I snapped up. As you can tell by the price sticker, it was in a bargain bin; yes, it took me well over a decade to stumble across one. So, anyhow, I looked at the credits, and it's a COVER! And it was originally recorded by The Partridge Family The Cowsills, at that! How crazy is that? I've still never heard the original, so my apologies if this adds nothing new to it. Six more goodies in store in the next few days! And next month will be an entire theme month! Unless I change my mind, of course.

The Spectre's Revenge "No Moon at Midnight"

The Spectre's Revenge No Moon at Midnight 7" single (Au-go-go Records, 1985)

Back in the 1980's, when the Internet was still operated by hand-crank, and no one could really afford it, mailorder was done via printed-and-mailed catalogues and phone calls. I know; weird, right? A group of friends and myself used to place huge orders with Au-go-go Records on the other side of the planet, in Australia. I'd make the call, when the rates went down at two a.m., and around two months later, our order would show up at my PO box (airmail was prohibitively expensive, at the time). Whenever I'd call in our order, I'd ask if there was anything they recommended. One of those times, I ended up with this snazzy lil' single by The Spectre's Revenge. I wish I knew more about them, but I do not; other than they also released a (live?) cassette which Au-go-go Records never seemed to get back in stock, much to my chagrin.

The Residents "Satisfaction"

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The Residents
Satisfaction
7" single
(Ralph Records, 1976)

So, I'm back!

I've decided to start doing the occasional (or maybe frequent) (it's my blog–you can't stop me) theme week, starting today.

So . . .

This week's theme is Lightning's (that's me) favorite guitar solos. 'Cause, like, I'm a guitarist. Of sorts. Well, I own several guitars. Sometimes I even touch them.

First out of the box has one of my favorite solos and also happens to be my favorite cover song of all time. I bought this as I was easing into punk rock in my 17th year, and it was an ear opener, all right. Up until then, I'm not sure I'd ever heard anything so gloriously ugly. The guitarist on this charming piece is Phil Lithman, better known as Snakefinger. I can't remember where I read this, or who wrote it, but it's a perfect description: Snakefinger plays all the wrong notes in all the right places.

I've flagged this as both USA/Louisiana and England for a good reason. Firstly, The Residents are originally from Shreveport, LA, as am I. Secondly, Snakefinger is a Brit, and he's the soloist. So there. He was formerly a pub rocker in the UK, btw. His playing and singing with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers is not the sort of thing that would lead one to expect . . . this.

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I cheated on the cover for this one. The pictured cover is the original 1976 issue, which was something like 200 copies. I ripped this from my 1978 repress, which was 30,000 units, allegedly.

Jacks 「マリアンヌ」

Jacks
「マリアンヌ」
7" single
(Million, 1968)

OK, I cheated on this one. I don't actually own this 1968 single. I do, however, have the Jacks' Legend 40th Anniversary Box set, and this song is one of the bonus tracks on the first disc, which is primarily filled by their amazing debut album, Vacant World. 「マリアンヌ」 ("Marianne") is one of their wilder songs, and the mix of what sounds like acoustic bass, jazz drumming, and searing electric guitar is like little else from the time period, to my ears. This recording is the version from the single of the same name; it was re-recorded for Vacant World.

I'd write more, but I'm already backdating this by a few hours and I have to leave for my volunteer job soon.

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Image lifted from the Jacks page at GarageHangover.

Rip Rig & Panic "Go, Go, Go! (This Is It)"

Rip Rig & Panic Go, Go, Go! (This Is It) 7" single (Virgin Records, 1981)

Today's song is the debut single by Rip Rig & Panic, who became Rip Rig + Panic by the time of their next single, "Bob Hope Takes Risks," hence the née tag. RRP featured Gareth Sager and Bruce Smith, both formerly of The Pop Group, and vocalist Neneh Cherry, daughter of free jazz trumpeter Don Cherry I've got only the first two of their albums, God and I Am Cold, plus some singles, and they're all killer. Skronky jazz horns, funky bass, sheet metal guitar, etc. I only don't have their third album, Attitude, because I have yet to see a copy for sale.

Wild Horses "The Kid"

Wild Horses I'll Give You Love 2 x 7" single (EMI, 1981)

So, like, Thin Lizzy are one of the greatest bands ever, right? And Rainbow were great 'til vocalist Ronnie James Dio left to join Black Sabbath, right? Don't you defy me! Anyhow, so Brian Robertson left Lizzy sometime between the recording of Live and Dangerous and the subsequent tour when it was released. Gary Moore was on guitar when I saw them on that tour, in fact. And Jimmy Bain? Well, he got the boot from Rainbow, 'cause leader/guitarist/despot Ritchie Blackmore is a control freak, in addition to a great guitarist. Or maybe he quit. I don't know. Go look it up yourself, dammit! Anyhow, the two of them joined forces as Wild Horses.

Monitor "Beak"

Monitor
Beak
7" single
(World Imitation, 1979)

OK, so maybe my return was a bit premature; my sincere apologies. I have several things lined up, now, and a ton more stuff ripped from vinyl and cassette, so hopefully there won't be another gap.

I first checked out Monitor because they had the mighty Meat Puppets cover one of their songs on their (Monitor's) eponymous, 1981 debut LP. The majority of the album was on the more mellow end of avant garde rock, with a blast of fairly insane noise rock stuck right near the end of side two. Not that I didn't like the rest of the record, mind you! I used to play We Get Messages and Mokele-Mbembe on my radio show moderately often, and probably other tracks, as well.

I discovered a few years after I bought the LP that it was preceded by a single. Now, you may notice the DM 8.– price tag on the sleeve, unless you're one of my blind readers, if I have any. I honestly can't recall if I bought this via mail order or on one of my handful of late '80s/early '90s trips to Deutschland (the DM is for Deutschmark). I don't like price stickers on my stuff, but sometimes the darn things won't come off without threatening to damage the cover, so they are allowed to remain. Ingrates.

Anyhow, this 1979 single is rather a bit more manic than the album, and sounds rather Residential. The b-side is also cool, but the a-side is the tits, as they say. Not me, mind you; I would never be so guoache, as I've never been fond of watercolors. Regardless, their MySpace indicates 2011 will see a CD containing all of their released material plus unreleased stuff. Yea!

Tom Jones "The Sun Died"

Tom Jones
Till
7" single
(Decca, 1971)

write-up shall arrive soon . . .

Angel Rot "Screw Drive"

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Angel Rot
Screw Drive
7" single
(Fuck Records, 199?)

After guitarist Tom Five was unceremoniously booted from White Zombie in the late '80s, he started a new lil' trio that took all the ugly, metallic edge of WZ and amped it. Now, don't get me wrong, WZ continued to be a great band, but in a very different direction than before. In effect, we ended up with two killer metal bands where previously there had been just one.

This single was Angel Rot's first release, and I think it's close to perfection. The song rocks, the guitar work is stellar, the vocals are nice and raw, and it sounds like it was all recorded with one microphone dangled over the band while they played. A second 7" followed, Necrostrangle, then they seemingly vanished. Seven or so years passed, and all of a sudden there was a CD, finally, and they were touring, even! I saw them twice here in Atlanta, and they kicked some major posterior. Then, they vanished again. They were allegedly working on a new EP at the time, and the new songs they were playing totally slayed.

T_T

Both this song and Necrostrangle were rerecorded for the album, Unlistenable Hymns of Indulgent Damnage, so I decided to go with this track.

By the way, White Zombie's two releases with Tom on guitar, Psycho-head Blowout and Soul-Crusher, are compiled in the Let Sleeping Corpses Lie box set, which spans their entire career, and all 78 gazillion different guitarists they had. It destroys!

Boxtops "Sugar Creek Woman"

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Boxtops
Sugar Creek Woman
7" single
(Hi Records, 1972)

What to do when a popular group has disbanded? How can one take advantage of the situation? Perhaps, one could slightly alter the name and get a singer that sounds like to the real one? Supernatural? Perhaps. Baloney? Perhaps not!

Split Enz "Shark Attack"

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Split Enz
History Never Repeats
7" single
(A&M Records, 1981)

I bought Split Enz' fifth album, True Colours, when I was in high school, 'cause it had this awesome laser-etching thing going on. I'd long been aware of them, thanks to magazine adverts for their third album, Dizrythmia, but had no clue what they sounded like. Nonetheless, the laser thing was more than I could resist!

Union Made "Save the World"

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Union Made
Save the World
7" single
(Anti-Trust Records, 1999)

After The Outer Limits, vocalist Snake decided to leave Canadian cyber/thrash metal warriors Voïvod and strike out on his own. After a few years, he emerged with his new combo Union Made and released this limited edition (500 copies) 7" single. There was allegedly also a CDR with the two songs from the single and, I think, six more, but I never found a copy.