The Zulus "Back"

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The Zulus
Down on the Floor
CD
(Slash Records, 1989)

Human Sexual Response were fronted by openly gay lead vocalist & lyricist Larry Bangor, but I already featured them a couple of years ago.

After HSR split, Bangor, along with guitarist Rich Gilbert and drummer Malcolm Travis, went on to start The Zulus. I've not heard their first 12" EP, but I have their (lone?) album, Down on the Floor, and it rocks. Their sound was more hard rock than the new wave/post punk of Human Sexual Response, but bein' a rocker, I'm not complaining. I suppose one could call them proto-grunge, as the rise of grunge (I hate that genre name) came around 1990. They're still perhaps a bit too arty to be grunge, though.

Oh, whatever!

The future-openly-gay Bob Mould, past-openly-of Hüsker Dü, produced Down on the Floor, and Malcolm Travis went on to pound the skins in Mould's next ensemble de rock, Sugar.

I was just doing some research for this post, and discovered that Human Sexual Response are playing a reunion show at The House of Blues in their home of Boston on November 10! Man, I wish I could go. If you're in the area, or feel like travelling, tickets can be purchased on-line here.

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Appropo of nothing, here's a picture of my foot at a Hüsker Dü show in 1983.

Hellcats "It's Alright"

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Hellcats
Hellcats
12" EP
(Radio Records, 1982)

The cover of this Hellcats record jumped off the new release rack at me back when I was in my early days of college. I took one look and determined it was a complete rip-off of the Starz logo. Picking it up and flipping it over revealed just exactly why I thought that: it was intentional. See, Hellcats were, in fact, a new band featuring the former lead vocalist and guitarist of Starz, Michael Lee Smith and Richie Ranno. It's a bit lighter than Starz, but still pretty cool.

I should probably mention that Starz did go through a short power pop phase, with their third album Attention Shoppers!

Hellcats followed this EP with a full length album a few years later, but Michael was gone and, from what I remember of it, so was the spark.

:'-(

Lynch Mob "Waterfall"

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Lynch Mob
Syzygy
CD EP
(Sacred Groove Records, 1998)

Let's get one thing straight right from the start: hair metal was a scourge upon the world or music.

Now, sure, there were exceptions, though they were exceptions for a reason. The only one I can think of, though, is Skid Row, and I don't consider them a hair metal band, but, rather, a band with long, pretty hair who also happened to rock pretty darn ferociously when the mood hit them (see below video).

Dokken was not an exception; they were awful (see other video below). I still have fond memories of flinging one of their LPs out the window of a moving car and watching it shatter as it hit the pavement when I was an angry young man.

When we got Wicked Sensation, the first album by guitarist George Lynch's (not very) cleverly named new band Lynch Mob at my college radio station, I popped it into the office CD player for a laugh. Just as had happened when we got the second Skid Row album, Slave to the Grind, I was shocked! I mean, it was good! WTH?

After that first Lynch Mob album, vocalist Oni Logan was let go. They got a new guy (who sounded similar enough that I didn't even realize they had a new singer) and popped out a second, also good, album, Lynch Mob. (Collectors' Note: The Japanese version has two extra songs.) George then apparently rejoined Dokken, then was out again (a practice that seems to continue to this day).

In 1998, Oni came back on board for this lil' three song EP with the most atrocious cover of just about any record in my collection. I saw them when they toured to promote it, and they kicked ass. Well, I could've done without George's mid-set, four-and-a-half hour guitar solo, but that was the only part that stunk. This song, in particular, was really crushing. Sadly, the studio version doesn't quitecapture how powerful it was live, but what can you do?

After the reunion with Oni fell apart, George formed a whole new Lynch Mob and released the rap-metal album Smoke This. The less said about it, the better. There's a new-ish album out with Oni back on vox, but I only found out about it while doing this write-up, so I can't tell you (yet) if it's worthy or not.

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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.

Double-O "You've Lost"

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OO
 OO
7" EP
(R&B Records/Dischord Records, 1983)

Sometimes, OK often, bands fall through the cracks of history. OO   is one of them. They featured former members of bands that appeared on the seminal harDCore (i.e., hardcore from Washington, D.C.) compilation album Flex Your Head†, and all four members went on to later bands of varying success‡. Aside from this one lil' 7" record, though, their recorded legacy is somewhat . . . scant.

photo: Sharon Cheslow

Sure, the band name on the cover is Double-O, but OO   is the way they wrote it. That's OO   as in two interlocking circles, as in unity. Yeah, they were emo-ish before the advent of emo. Back when emo was a music thing, that is, rather than a skinny jeans & guyliner thing. They explain it in more detail in this interview from the zine If This Goes On.

Musically, OO   were one of the earlier bands in the harDCore scene to incorporate such a marked heavy metal influence to their sound. They were also the first, to the best of my knowledge, to have a ballad in their repertoire: Funeral for a Friend. It's quite maudlin and far-and-away my least favorite track on this record. Still, I guess it has some historical significance, if nothing else. Sorta like smallpox. The other four songs on this platter are all ragers, though, and I picked my favorite for today's jukebox track.

NOTA BENE: As was traditional in D.C. at the time, the record was not released 'til after the band broke up.

VANTARSI: I was at the show from whence the above live pic comes. Prior to that, I'd never even heard of them.

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†Vocalist Eric L. had been in Red C and the rhythm section (Rich Moore & Bert Queiroz) had been in The Untouchables, as opposed to The Untouchables. Bert had also been in Youth Brigade, not to be confused with Youth Brigade.

‡Eric went on to E.N.B. (aka Eric's New Band) who eventually settled on the name Dove and got really mersh. Rich & Bert started Minor Threat Jr., aka Second Wind. Guitarist Jason went on to play with grating artpunkers 9353.

Ian Lloyd "One More Chance (Sha La La)"

Ian Lloyd
Ian Lloyd
LP
(Polydor, 1976)

Roughly a fortnight after I became a teenager, I attended my first rock concert. Yes, that's the actual ticket stub from said show! Not long after that show, I started buying records with my own money. My parents had given me a copy of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that they found at a yard sale when I was twelve, but that was the only record I had that wasn't a children's record.

Even during this early phase of record buying, I was already doing the buy-it-'cause-it-looks-interesting-and-it's-cheap thing. I found this Ian Lloyd album at a huge rummage sale held at the same place I'd seen Kiss earlier. I bought it and Slayed? by Slade, who looked a bit thuggish (this was a positive; I wanted loud, tough music); I think they were 25¢ each (the albums, not the members of Slade). I hated the Slade album (love it now, though), but the LLoyd one I listened to a lot. It certainly didn't rock as hard as Kiss (especially not on this track!), but the songs were catchy, and I liked it.

Some time in college, I sold off a ton of records when I was getting heavily into hardcore punk, and this was one of the casualties. A few months ago, I started getting a hankering to hear it again. This urge was partially inspired by my obsession for all things Starz (featured here this past October), as Starz guitarist Richie Ranno had played briefly in Lloyd's pre-solo group Stories before becoming a Star(z), but not on their huge 1973 hit Brother Louie (please, see below). My interest was also piqued 'cause I couldn't even remember what it sounded like!

Looking around town proved fruitless, so I turned to the 'net. It didn't take very long for a sealed copy to appear on eBay for a reasonable price, and off a-bidding I went. When it arrived, the songs sounded only vaguely familiar, but I still liked many of them, lo these many decades later. I debated between a few, and this song kept popping into my head, so here 'tis.

Geez, I even saved the newspaper ad for the above concert! But hey, it was my first (not counting my daddy taking me to see the Jackson 5 when I was eight), and Kiss were the hottest band in the land! A pack rat at an early age . . .

NOTA BENE: Today's entry gets the before they were famous tag, in addition to after, as it was writ by Mick Jones, who played guitar here and not long after shot to megastardom with The Clash Foreigner, whom I never particularly liked (but they were at least more palatable than Boston).

Love "Who Are You?"

Love
Reel-to-Real
LP
(RSO Records, 1974)

Love are known primarily for two rather disparate things: their incendiary, 1966, garage punk hit Seven and Seven Is† and their lush, 1967, psychedelic pop, masterpiece Forever Changes.

Forever Changes was far from the end of their career, however, even though the four albums that followed it are generally given short shrift. The first three of those, Four Sail, Out Here, and False Start, have all been reissued on CD and LP multiple times over the years. The 1974 reunion‡ album Reel-to-Real, however, has never been reissued in any format, to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps that's because it's an even more eclectic mishmash of styles than their earlier albums, or mayhaps 'cause it was released by RSO Records, best known for things about which I'm not especially wild, like disco-era Bee Gees and Eric Clapton.

Reel-to-Real is not a great album, but it is a good one. For some reason, it features a new recording of Singing Cowboy, originally on Four Sail, and a couple of songs, Busted Feet and Everybody's Gotta Live, that appeared earlier on leader Arthur Lee's solo album, 1972's Vindicator.

Today's song is straight-up funk, a definite anomoly in the Love Gun cannon. I think it's pretty darn great. I almost went with Busted Feet, as it's a taught, hard rocker that sounds more like Thin Lizzy or early Aerosmith. The version on Reel-to-Real is shorter, faster and more metallic than the one on Vindicator; I'll post it, if y'all're in'erested.

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†b-side title: "No. Fourteen"

‡Love split in the early 70s, and Arthur released Vindicator before putting together a new, revamped Love. A further album, Black Beauty, was recorded between Vindicator and Reel-to-Real, but it got shelved and never released. It's been announced for release by High Noon Records sometime this year, but the date keeps getting pushed back, sadly.

Ax Genrich "Helicopters"

Ax Genrich Psychedelic Guitar CD (ATM Records, 1994)

Ax Genrich was the ax slinger in the most vital era of the krautrock trio Guru Guru: UFO Hinten Känguru Guru Guru Don't Call Us, (We Call You) Admittedly, I've not heard a ton of what followed, but a good deal of what I've heard has been stinky. The relatively recent albums In the Guru Lounge and 30 Jahre Live (a triple CD set!) are enjoyable, however; I regret buying neither. After leaving Guru Guru, Ax put together a lil' supergroup under the name Highdelberg and released one eponymous album in 1976. Honestly, it's pleasant but forgetable; I'm listening to it as I type this, and despite owning it for probably close to a decade, the songs don't really sound familiar. I'm not sure what he did for the next couple of decades, but in 1994 his first proper solo album appeared, Psychedelic Guitar. Today's selection comes from it, in fact! It was followed in 1995 by Wave Cut. Both are pretty great, imo. A decade later, he did a couple of live jam albums with Mani Neumeier (also from Guru Guru) on drums and Dave Schmidt (no clue who he is) on bass. I need to hear them!