Short on personal commentary which may be for the best as I think I should start every post with “Dear diary…”. There’s always some issue, it seems, and the quiet country life is always interrupted, if not externally by some asshole vomiting their bullshit all over me, then those pesky internal, mind fuck issues pop up. For now it seems that by quitting the bottle I have gotten rid of a truck load of selfishness, but I’m still more selfish than I thought. As the Beatles said, “I, me, mine”. Oh well there’s always music to reflect on.
In my wanderings recently found myself making a big circle again (shit happens all the time with music [which is a metaphor for life]) and finding myself some twenty years later listening to King Crimson. You know if they weren’t so huge their 80’s stuff would have made a great later Touch and Go band, with the likes of Killdozer, Jesus Lizard, the Butthole Surfers and Big Black . Brother Davrick gave me about 50 records, most of which should have been in my possession, one of them was Crimson’s Discipline. I used to listen to that album with my music buddy back in the late 70’s early 80’s, Alexander Wallace III. Rumor has it he killed himself, which makes me wish I would have stayed in touch with him, maybe he would have take a different path. Dedicated to him,
King Crimson – Elephant Talk (live Philidelphia 07.30.82)
Such an insanely good tune especially if you like that snotty sarcastic progressive jazz rock and roll thing that they had going in the early 80’s. Rewind a decade or so with some of their many line up changes and they came out with, the year I was born, these far the fuck out tunes from their 1st album (the songs are a bit longer than I have patience for these days, but if you’re into it, smoke a bong load think of your old pal Mustard who hasn’t smoked in 10 years, sit back and enjoy).
King Crimson – The Court Of The Crimson King
King Crimson – 21st Century Schizoid Man
Trying (maybe too hard) to get to know this guy on the internet, and I don’t know about anybody else but there’s a method to that and I just don’t have it. Face to face over a cup of coffee or back in the old days over a pitcher of beer rapping with someone is easy, especially over a common interest. Either the guy is just too busy or my own special brand of passive insanity is just to overwhelming, like being wasted at a bar and trying to put the moves on the ladies…not subtle. Anyway was just wanting to pick his brain as the guys is an encyclopedia when it comes to Japanese hardcore. Sent him a rip of this 7″ I just picked up with three different versions of the same song (kinda lame), not really worthy of dedicating a whole post to, but still a fucking rager of a tune…this version’s my favorite…
Rydeen-You Are Not Me
Posted this one on Facebook a while back. Now there’s a place that leaves me feeling like I’m a stray dog waiting in the alley behind the butcher shop for scraps. I can honestly say that I’ve never clicked on a single one of the ads, which is after all what that place is really about. Off course endless psycho dramas make up a good part of it as well. Anyway this is the master of avant jazz Albert Ayler playing at another master, John Coltrane’s funeral. Classical music does not make you sophisticated, this shit does, or maybe you could drop a tab of cid and REALLY trip out. This is from the Holy Ghost…box set.
Albert Ayler – Love Cry/Truth Is Marching In/Our Prayer
The only album I have of his is Witches and Devils, again my buddy Alexander turned me onto him, here’s the title track but maybe we’ll post the whole thing sometime,
Albert Ayler – Witches and Devils
Got into the The Pogues somewhat late, probably ’87 or ’88 when I was in college. Kind of cool because you go to this new place and all these people from all over with different tastes expose you to all kind of interesting stuff (first thing I learned was how to roll a joint and the fine art of inhaling nitrous oxide). It was that way with my late exposure to bands like Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, Violent Femmes the Stooges and SPK. I just found out recently that Shane McGowan the lead singer was in a snotty as hell band called the Nipple Erectors (later the Nips), you can get all their stuff from a fine little diddy of a site called Digvinyltal. For now here’s one of their better tunes I posted in passing a while back,
The Nips – All The Time In The World
Have a ton of the Pogues shit on dubbed cassettes, but this 7″ ,that I recently got, is the first time I’ve gotten my grubby little hands on some actual vinyl. It’s not secret that the singer Shane McGowan is a raging alcoholic and when he finally is dead I’m sure he will be the drinkers saint. That was my appeal to them and listening to them probably with a pint of stout or a bottle Irish whiskey (the argument Catholic vs Protestant, Bushmills vs. Jameson is solved here). Now that I don’t drink at all, I still have an appeal to them. Maybe it’s nostalgic or a reminder of a place I don’t want to be again. Whatever your thoughts, these guys are huge and have a knack for writing songs that are deep, with music that captures the listener.
A Pair of Brown Eyes
Whiskey You’re The Devil
As usual, feel like I haven’t put enough out there to sample, it’s going to a fancy restaurant, spending $50 and getting a tiny plate of food…this ain’t no fancy restaurant. This here’s a buffet. Some of my favorites off their Just Look Them In The Eye and Say…Pogue Mahoney!! box set, which would be well worth looking for if you fancy these guys.
Dirty Old Town (Live)
Pair of Brown Eyes (Live)