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.

Puya "Mere Niño"

Puya Fundamental advance promo CD (MCA Records, 1998)

I first heard Puya on the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack. I'd purchased it 'cause Queens of the Stone Age had an exclusive track on it, "Infinity." The QotSA track rocked, naturally, but most of the rest of it was rather forgettable poo-poo. OK, sure, the Monster Magnet track was decent, but it was also on (the US version of) their most recent album, God Says No, which happens to be my least favorite of their releases. And, now that I think about it, "Immortally Insane" is probably the best Pantera song I've heard; then again, I don't particularly like them. Then, there was Puya. Their track, "Tirale," was what could be called nü-metal, but it featured Latin percussion, some very tasty lead guitar (generally a no-no in the nü-metal crapiverse), and horn charts. They sounded like no one else on the soundtrack, and like no one else I'd ever heard. When I came across their second album, Fundamental, a bit later, I snapped it up, and it proved to me that "Tirale" was not a fluke. I eventually found out there was a pre-release version with some differences, so off to eBay I went, and tracked down a copy. As it turned out, for whatever reason, someone decided to resequence the album and pull two songs. Today's song, therefore, is one of those unfairly deleted songs ("Ventana" was the other victim). Neither song appeared on their next album, Union, and neither appears on their excellent reunion EP from a few months ago, Areyto, which you can order on CD direct from the band. NOTA BENE: Their first album, Puya, was released on the tiny, poorly named Noiz Boiz Records. It's pretty kickin', too. There's also a promo EP, Live in Puerto Rico. It's good, but please don't spend $195 on a copy (the current low price on Amazon for a used copy).

Boredoms "Super Go!!!!!"

Boredoms 2001 Boredoms 12" promo EP (Warner Bros, 1996)

Boredoms are one of my favorite groups. Favorite to the point of crazy collecting. Today's piece is from a limited edition of 500, promo-only 12" EP that was offered via mail to purchasers of the original Japanese pressings of their Super Roots 5 and Super Roots 6 CDs. I don't read Japanese, and my copies of those releases did not contain the coupons needed to aquire a copy of this record, so I was reduced to searching the 'net and putting in saved searches on eBay and GEMM, to no avail. Finally, after several years of searching, I hit paydirt! I found a Japanese record store on-line that had something I was wanting. I decided to ask if they had a handful of other items I was seeking and, holy crap, they had most of them! In addition to snagging this puppy, I got the first ゆらゆら帝国 CD, the second LP by 水玉消防団, 『満天に赤い花びら』, a couple of live flexi-discs by YBO2, and maybe something else I forgotted. We'll not discuss how much I spent, OK? So, this 12" is comprised of reductions/remixes of the 64 minute piece "GO!!!!!" from Super Roots 5. Today's track takes up all of side one, while side two features "Super Future," "Super Now," and "Super Old." Enjoy! TRANSLATIONS: ゆらゆら帝国 = Yura Yura Teikoku = Swinging Empire 水玉消防団 = Mizutama-Shobohdan = Polka Dot Fire Brigade 満天に赤い花びら = Sky Full of Red Petals