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.

---

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

Workdogs "I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus Thing"

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Workdogs
No Two Flakes the Same
compilation LP
(Penny for the Guy Records, 1988)

How 'bout a nice, naughty song for Christmas?

Yes?

Here ya' go! Man, this gonna throw a monkey wrench into Santa's nice and naughty lists, eh? Maybe I'll get an extra pretty, magic lump of coal.

From what I recall, the rest of this compilation is pretty forgettable. The Workdogs were the only reason I bought it, in fact.

Thralldom "The Expiration is Sweeter Than Death"

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Thralldom
The Seven Heads of the Lion-Serpent
7" EP
(Deathstrike Records, 2005)

One of the things I loved about Thralldom was their use of shotgun blasts for percussion. They used more standard drummy/percussiony things, too, mind you, but the explosion of gunpowder and buckshot is a beautiful thing to behold. Or maybe it's evil. People like to refer to Thralldom as a black metal band, but they don't wish to be pigeonholed; they will kill you, if you call them black metal. In fact, one of them is named KILLUSION (I'm not shouting–that's the way he writes it). The other one is Jaldagar, btw. Duos are the bestest!

Thralldom split five years or so ago, unfortunately, but KILLUSION manages to keep himself plenty busy. He followed-up Thralldom with Drifting Collision, who were renamed The Howling Wind after their first release. He also played guitar in Villains, but left them and now plays with Pollution. Oh, and he's part of the noise duo Abandoner. He's best known, though, as the guitarist & vocalist for the astonishingly heavy Unearthly Trance. He's also known as Ryan Lipynsky, if you ask to see his driver's license. Ask nicely, though.

Captain Kangaroo "Happy Hands"

Captain Kangaroo
The Horse in Striped Pajamas
6" single
(Golden Records, 1959)

Hey! Hey! Hey!

I'm finally back!

Today, it's time for happy fun time. Or, more accurately, happy hands time. Now, maybe it's just the dirty perv that lives in my brain, but Happy Hands is a rather suggestive song title, in my opinion.

I'm sure it's all completely innocent, but still . . .

Then again, my brother's hands are working fits rhythmically much better than my brother's hands are masturbating. Of course, my brother's hands are sinning would fit, but perhaps the good Captain was wise enough to know that 99% of males beat off, and the other 1% are either lying, in comas, or bereft of hands. Not even sad hands.

:'(

But we must also take into account the fact that the Captain's viewing audience, which once included lil' ol' [young] me, was a bit young to be risking impotence and insanity, via the dread evil that is self-pleasure.

On a personal note, our TV died one morning while I was eating breakfast and watching Captain Kangaroo. It was quite traumatic. I was two or three years old at the time, and still remember the screen unexpectedly going dead black.

For those too young and/or gaijin to know who the heck Captain Kangaroo was, he was Bob Keeshan, the titular host of a long-running morning TV show that I adored. The best parts were when Mr. Moose would dump copious deluges of ping pong balls on the Captain, and when the mysterious Dancing Bear would appear for a few moments to dance for us.