I've never been a completist. The Pixies and early 90's Mercury Rev were probably my most complete collections. I collected all the singles and extra bits of Mercury Rev's first few years but then they released a rarities record Lego My Ego. So what was the point if they were just gonna show up neatly collected at a later date anyway. The Pixies LPs plus the B Sides collection (what was the point of collecting all those 12"s) is all you need innit? You could maybe chuck in a live record but do you really need it? So I still don't have The Purple Tape but one day I'll see it and go great and get it and go I can't believe I never had this.......So what I'm saying is I don't mind having holes in my record collection, in fact I'm kinda proud of it. It's probably healthy too.......you know less obsessive. Has anyone ever listened to that triple CD set of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' b sides and rarities in its entirety? I actually pulled out of a purchase of that one, put it back on the shelf. The Smiths are probs my favourite British group ever but I don't have the complete discography. At the moment I don't own a copy of Meat Is Murder. I had it once but I never thought it was any good. Was it poorly produced? Bad songs?.......can't really remember. Anyway since it disappeared (several robberies, ex girlfriends, friends, sharefucking houses-take your pick) many years ago I haven't bothered to get it again. Maybe I should get it...........
Anyway the reason I'm bangin' on about this is because I bought Pulp's Separations this week and I'd never heard it in full ever before. Now Pulp were probably my favourite British pop band of the 90s and I'd had all their 90s records one way or another but never this one. Had the CD of His n Hers, had a taped off a friend copy of Different Class on tape, an ex had Intro, had a VHS of The Park Is Mine, I burnt a copy of We Love Life from the library blah blah blah.............Anyway Separations is fabulous, can't believe I never had it for all these years. This is the record where it all started to gel. You could still hear hints of Gainsbourg, Ferry, Walker and Cohen but with added disco and sexy monologues a la Hayes/White. This is where Pulp become Pulp. On their following records you wouldn't spot an influence-it was just Pulp. It's hearing the moment of a band coming together and hitting on something great. So thanks to Owen Hatherley who wrote the previously mentioned (on this blog) Uncommon. This fantastic book has sent me on this path. Uncommon is about the records of Pulp and the world contained therein. Not a tedious biography interviewing Jarvis' next door neighbour from when he was in Infants 3 (er.....that's grade 3. The Mrs is Welsh) or Russell Senior's mum's best friend before he was born etc.......
Sad news I just noticed. Blackie from The Hard Ons was assaulted by a couple of teens while doing his other job ie. driving a taxi. His skull was fractured but apparently he's on the mend.
*These 2 are classics not on the new reissue but there's 4 more reissues on the way.
I've been havin a great laugh with 2 records lately. First there is this Kraut-Prog record Paternoster by Pater Noster. Recommended by several people on the Blogosphere and the Cosmic Egg guys. I thought it was gonna be great. Well maybe it is. I love the music. I just need to get used to the vocals which are a little bit over the top and a little bit funny. Then I had to rewind the 3rd track, Stop These Lines, to make sure that's what he had just sung....."Dressed in clothes you always wear/Go to work I wont be there/Luchtime snackbar eating chips/Ketchup's running down your lips/Deadeyed waiters selling bibs/Which you have to fix with clips/Sitting waiting find an end/Meaningless with no comment"..........It continues on in a very serious and intense manner. I was in fits of laughter. Comedy gold.
*Spellcheck offered an alternative word for Kraut-Prog which was geriatric. Rather fitting I thought and well................. fucking strange!
So serious they're hilarious.
Then the next record had me filled with glee. I found St HelensHeavy Profession for $6 in a bargain bin. It can't be that bad, I thought, it was in end of year top 10 lists etc...some of it must be good. First track, had a smile on my face. Great. Second track, wow! How do they do this? Smiles all round. They were Australia's very own Royal Trux tribute band. It must be a hard thing to do considering how idiosyncratic Royal Trux were. You could have put it in a Royal Trux sleeve and said this is their lost record from 1996 and I would have believed you.
Honey have you seen my
Royal Trux t-shirt my
boobs are getting cold?
It's a bewdy!
Anyway it had me diggin' out me old Royal Trux albums. Possibly my favourite 90s rock band. The one I'm diggin' at the moment is Sweet Sixteen. What a mammoth sound they had on that! Fuckin' great songs, epic keyboards, funny riddims and out there production make Sweet Sixteen the triumph it is!
During a dinner party conversation once the question being asked was 'If you were stranded on a desert island and could have one record what would it be blah blah'.........I answered Twin Infinitives to bemused looks and silence...............
"I love you cardrossmaniac or should I call you
Space Debris?"
Just watched the Young Adult DVD and it opens with this Teenage Fanclub song which I hadn't heard since the early Nineties. Memories of moving to Melbourne in 1991 when Creation Records ruled the airwaves of RRR & PBS.....err....that's ages ago......whatever.................... Anyway this song is better than I remember with its Status Quo meets Abbey Road thing goin' on.
Been listenin' to The Hard OnsSmell My Fingerdeluxe edition today. Which covers 1984-1987 including the early singles, Smell My Finger and Hot For Your Love Baby LPs reissued by Citadel.
Why? Well there is their whole mythical history(more on that later) but mainly it's the Rallizes sound. Fuck me what a sound they created. Firstly there's swathes of reverbed distortion followed by waves of feedback then sheets of echoing guitar noise, repetitive bass lines and occasionally drums and cymbals surface from this sonic maelstrom along with er..some vocals. This mesmerising psychedelia is taken to the point of blissful obliteration. Les Rallizes records are all strangely lo/no fi, recorded live and perhaps deliberately mixed in a hazy shapeshifting style, unless that was purely accidental. The Dead C would love to sound this (badly)good. There's something kind of sweet though about Les Rallizes hypnotic disorientation.
Most of Les Rallizes Denudes records are bootlegs which usually contain the same handful of songs recorded over and over again. There are quite a few of these boots and many more on the interweb. So much so that it wasn't until the other day that I discovered one of my old cds was exactly the same as a download from sevral years ago with a different name and cover etc. Sucker! Be careful. I'm not even sure Les Rallizes ever released an official record. I'm sure main man Takeshi Mizutani has deliberately handed over tapes to certain people but anyway......its all part of the mystique/cult building.
same as record
on left
Les Rallizes Denudes began sometime in 1967 and intermittently existed till around 199? There was something like just 1 track available on a compilation in the group's lifetime. Sometime in the 90s though a bunch of their records and a video turned up. Suddenly a secret influence on all the great 80s and 90s Japanese bands like High Rise, Marble Sheep, White Heaven, Fushitsusha, Musica Transonic was exposed. The darkness kings were pushed into the light. The records, cds, tapes and boxed sets kept coming after that and they continue to. The only other cult band I can compare them to is LA's late 70s innovative synth punks The Screamers who were infamous but never had a proper record deal/release in their lifetime but are now massive cult stars (What 'bout Cleveland bands from the early-mid seventies? I haven't forgotten them. I've actually edited out a few hundred words on them which I will use on a post specifically about Ohio.).
Start Here
Les Rallizes started out playing with some kind of radical theatre troupe but the thesps couldn't handle the volume or intensity. Les Rallizes moved on, got a mirror ball and some strobe lights. Mizutani was into all things French - philosophy, theory, symbolism, surrealism, avant guarde etc. They wore black. They recorded in a studio in 1968, hated the results so never recorded in the studio again. Les Rallizes Denudes was a nonsensical name which meant nothing. On March 31 1970 bass player Moriyasu Wakabayashi was involved in the Yodo-Go plane hijacking. The rest of the band went into hiding after this. The CIA and the Japanese Feds kept a very tight watch on Mizutani, which ended up getting the better of him and his band's profile was never the same again. This incident mirrors similar rock/crime incidents throughout the world at the time. The Rolling Stones/Hells Angels, The Beach Boys/Manson Family and in Germany Amon Duul/The Badder Mienhoff Terrorist Gang. Les Rallizes Denudes played very sporadically from then on with different members and sometimes two guitars but usually as a 3 piece.Most shows were probably recorded and bootlegged.
Anyway in 2007 Julian Cope dedicated a whole book to the pre PSF Psych/JapNoise/Boredoms Underground era called Japrocksampler which is full of other 60s and 70s cult acts from Japan. There is a chapter on Les Rallizes which doesn't shed much light on those wilderness years from the hijacking to the breakup so their mysterious aura remains intact. It's not whether Les Rallizes Denudes are the ultimate cult band, they may very well have been the ultimate group using guitar, bass, vocals and drums altogether.
Who would have thought anyone apart from my family and friends would even look at my blog. Anyway I know it's not that much over 4 months. I was on a blog today and they were getting 2000 hits per week. I don't have free downloads or links to downloads so I guess it's pretty good. I dont really know. Hello to all the Russians, Americans, Cambodians, French, Germans, Poms, Kiwis, Philipinos and the rest of the world! Here's what's coming up soon.... err... really stuff I've been meaning to write since I started this blog:
* 4 or 5 more entries in the Glaring Omissions Series.
* A bit on the Ultimate Japanese Cult Band - Les Rallizes Denudes.
* A guide to the best records to go to sleep to.
* A bit on Commune/Cult rock. Amon Duul to Brast Burn.
* More Cheap Shots.
Here's to the next 2000.
Cheers y'all.
The best record cover ever. Not really into the music though. Prince/80s pastiche.
(2010)
(2012)
Anyway it reminded me of some other choice covers. Miami Nights '84 with their 2 records, Early Summer & Turbulence. Now these 2 do live up to their covers. 80s synth soundtrack music with a disco beat and soaring guitar solos. Its all about Michael Knight, Don Johnson, High cut bikinis, Andrew McCarthy, Arcade games, Perms, discos, John Hughes, Trans Ams, Michael J Fox, Molly Ringwald's undies...This is definitely up cheese. If you liked that Skyramps record a few years back you'll probably dig these. Check out some of the track titles Ocean Drive, Sunset Cruise, Elevator of Love, Saved By The Bell, High Beams etc.
Sun Araw - On Patrol (2010). Then there's this great cover from a couple of years back.
One of my favourite records of the 2010s so far. This ain't kitsch, these are deep psychedelic space jams of the highest order. Sublime.
