Archive for the 'Treasure' Category
Believe it or not, actual squads of people — people much more qualified to rave about this album than I am — literally comb the country, hunting for records like this. They’ll buy up as many copies as they can find, and like a Johnny Appleseed of vanity pressings, they’ll redistribute them into the appropriate hands. Perhaps they’re more like a Robin Hood of vanity pressings, since anyone who pays thrift store prices for music this good is certainly getting it for a steal.
The Links put out four records that I know of, but this one is my favorite. It conforms to my perverse standards of pop cheesiness without even breaking a sweat. A cheerful trip though early 70s M.O.R, this album features two Tony Orlando and Dawn covers, a Carpenters cover, a Mac Davis cover and a Wayne Newton cover. And that’s just for starters. The trio’s chipper gospel style is irresistible. The backing band provides obtuse performances of organ dominated arrangements typical of the type that proponents of the vanity aesthetic have grown so comfortable with. And once you hear them bounce through “Vehicle” by Ides Of March, you’ll be hooked.
A record like this one will earn a place in my collection if it has only one good track. Two good tracks is a cause for celebration. But for an album this good, even I would be tempted to leave home in search of extra copies.
DOWNLOAD: Multiupload | Mediafire
I found these two records, “Blackbuster 3″ and “Blackbuster 5,” in a long-forgotten thrift store. Both were shoved into a single tattered sleeve, alongside of a couple dance instruction posters. I bought them immediately of course, looking forward to the expected faceless studio performances of generic disco covers. I got what I hoped for, but I also got more.
Blackbuster isn’t actually faceless; I’d just never heard of them. Culled from the pool of musicians that circulated around South Sea record industry mogul Orly Ilacad, Blackbuster represents the cream of Philippine funk (albeit in a form designed to turn a quick buck). Ilacad is highly regarded in club circles as the the leader of regional sixties legends the Ramrods. Blackbuster itself is considered eminently sampleable.
The group released around a half dozen records, as well as numerous re-packagings in different countries. Some of the cover art is quite spectacular. But aside from a couple of tracks on YouTube, Blackbuster’s web presence is practically nil. You’d think someone would have uploaded something by now.
But I can get the ball rolling with these two records. “Blackbuster 3″ sticks to the popular club fare of the mid seventies — “Latin Hustle,” “San Francisco Hustle,” “Bus Stop,” “Baby Face,” “Get Up And Boogie,” that sort of thing — all disco banded for maximum danceability. “Blackbuster 5″ is the more adventurous of the two. Another “current hits” package, the disk takes its liberties with the arrangements of material like “Could It Be Magic,” “We’re All Alone,” Spring Affair” and “Dis-Gorilla.”
Even if disco-banded “Top Of The Pops” style sound-alikes aren’t exactly your cup of tea, it will cost you nothing to check em out. If you like ‘em’, tell your friends. Get a buzz going. And if the band’s reputation gets a buffing along the way, so much the better. And if anther party uploads the rest of the Blackbuster canon, even better still. I figure it’s worth a shot.
BLACKBUSTER 3: Multiupload | Mediafire
BLACKBUSTER 5: Multiupload | Mediafire
In the earlier days of this blog, I might have published a tribute to Captain Beefheart within a week or two of his death. But the stress of keeping my career afloat takes a heavy toll, leaving little in the way of time, energy or enthusiasm for much else. Even those few co-workers who care have stopped asking, “So, are you ever gonna post that Beefheart live tape you keep talking about?”
Certainly, the two young men — children really — who threw their cassette recorder into the back of their mom’s pickup thirty years ago and drove to Hollywood on a whim didn’t have careers to worry about. Blissfully jobless, they were in a perfect position to take advantage when they found out that Captain Beefheart’s sold-out December 1980 engagement was being extended to a third night. And tickets were still available!
It was a revelation for the two boys to see the Captain’s classics performed right before their eyes — just as it was a triumph to witness Beefheart himself, delivering cryptic between-song asides and withering insults to hecklers like a sermon on the mount. And our two heroes did it up right, too. With a minimum of necessary cassette fumbling, they captured both sets on tape.
My friends emerged from their adventure with a true treasure in tow. It’s just a crappy audience recording on a beat up old cassette, but we committed that show to memory. Naturally, it wound up preserved in my collection. And now it seems a bit of a rarity. This isn’t the best recording from that three-night stand. The second Friday set is already widely distributed. But nobody seems to remember that hastily-added Sunday night. I had forgotten about it myself, until I found the flyer and saw the third date scrawled along the side. Then it all came back to me.
Set One:
Hair Pie /
My Human Gets Me Blues /
Nowadays A Woman’s Got To Hit A Man /
Hot Head /
Ashtray Heart /
Dirty Blue Jean /
Smithsonian Institute Blues /
Best Batch Yet /
Safe As Milk /
A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond /
One Red Rose That I Mean /
Dr. Dark
Set Two:
Hair Pie /
My Human Gets Me Blues /
Hot Head /
Ashtray Heart /
Dirty Blue Gene /
Best Batch Yet /
Safe As Milk /
I’m So Fucking Happy /
Bat Chain Puller /
Sugar And Spikes /
Sheriff Of Hong Kong /
Instrumental
Nowadays, all the punkers I used to know are either dead, retired or settled into boring “elder statesman” roles. I myself haven’t touched a drum in more than ten years. I’m still a holy terror at work sometimes, but if truth be told, I’m much more afraid of them than they are of me.
There was a time though, a million years ago, when we ruled this town. Or at least it felt like we did. And back then, one band supplied the soundtrack. Throughout 1977, the Consumers — featuring David Wiley (later of the Human Hands) on vocals, Paul Cutler (later of Vox Pop and 45 Grave) on guitar and John Vivier (later of Killer Pussy, Feederz and too many local bands to mention here) on drums — were the hardest working punk rockers in town.
The Liars would always be my favorites, but the Consumers ran a close second. Even though their sound struck me as generic, and much of their repertoire felt like it had been written in one afternoon (which it probably was), their shows were must-see events. You never knew if you’d make it through the night without getting your ass kicked.
My friends and I tried to get the Consumers to play at one of our teen church functions once. That went badly. The minister took one look at them and put the kibosh on the whole thing. But the hour long argument between him and the band on the front steps of the church more than made up for it. That was the kind of confrontation we all dreamed about back then.
Punk rock never really panned out like we hoped. Once it started getting popular and lost the power to fuck with people’s heads, most of us got bored and moved on to other things. In early 1978, the Consumers left Phoenix for Los Angeles, where they broke up before the end of the year.
Fortunately, the band recorded a handful of studio demos before they left town. I’m pretty sure the CD is out of print, but you can still find it online. Good thing too, since the demos capture them far better than this surviving live recording does. The audio quality here is pretty rough, and I don’t ever remember the names to half the songs. But it stands as an important piece of local musical history for those who want it. Even with all the confrontational posturing and “Children Of The Damned” antics of their stage act, the Consumers were still a hell of a band. They may have been small potatoes — just a bunch of posers from the hinterlands. But in their day, they were the best Phoenix had to offer.
“Browbeat was, to my knowledge, the first xerox-punk fanzine in the United States. It was David and me and Greg. And Sharon Ehle too. Debbie Dub/Durham was gonna be a part of it, but I think she was out of town that spring and summer. We were totally ripping off Sniffin’ Glue from England. We had copies of those in hand, probably from even their first issue, maybe. Browbeat grew out of boredom. I don’t remember how many copies we printed but it was something like 200, 250, 300 — it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as many as 500, and I was paying the xerox bill, ’cause I had a job. I can’t imagine I had more than like $50 bucks in all of life to piss away.”
- Bart Bull (We Are The Consumers)
“Although Phoenix was a bit behind the curve when it came to exposing a fluid punk/underground culture, it is interesting to note Bart Bull’s claim that he and David Wiley from the Consumers created the world’s first xerox-copied punk fanzine called Browbeat in June 1977. It’s first and only issues predates L.A.’s Flipside #1 by a month or so. I am not quite sure who was featured or what was written. The Browbeat name lived on years later as the name of Wiley’s local music column that appeared in the Phoenix New Times.”
- Vil Vodka (Because I Wasn’t There)
“There’s no question that David and Greg and me created Browbeat in direct imitation/competition with Sniffin’ Glue… but first, way before us and, really, more important, if only because it was first and even less anchored to any apparent existing reality, was KDIL Blues Licks.“
Bonus:
BROWBEAT: A COLUMN
Gothic thrashmongers TSOL crashed into town last Saturday for a packed and rowdy summer’s eve show. It’s the best time of year, spring air in the bloodstream, young men anxious to lock horns, let off some steam. Aggressive music breeds aggressive behavior, yes, but why not fight the things that matter.Take on apathy, the power structure or the media for starters. Throughout the recent local past nobody — but nobody — has manipulated more attention than THE FEEDERZ. Just when their music, a cleverly crafted hodgepodge of infected styles, was reaching an international level of acceptance, commander-in-chief FRANK DISCUSSION has announced that neither the band nor the concept nor that upcoming EP exist. A final performance is being considered. Frank then plans on selling his history-laden equipment and exiling himself from music for the time being. Other members will continue with their own projects.Last week’s debut of PARIS 1942 was every bit as interesting as it promised to be, with each member turning in virtuoso performances of their extraordinary brand of rock’n'roll. Yes, rock’n'roll of the droning, hypnotic variety, oozing with life. As tired a cliche as ‘rock’n'roll’ is, there are those determinedly dedicated to redefining the term, two examples here in this group and openers MEAT PUPPETS. Commenting afterwards, MO TUCKER was pleased with her first live performance in over a decade although she said no one could hear anything onstage. “It was like a swirl of music,” she laughed over the phone as young voices demanded her attention in the background. The group plans one or two more local shows before heading to the West Coast for a pair of dates.
Big news this week is that THE CLASH and THE ENGLISH BEAT suddenly decided to include Mesa Amphitheatre on their upcoming cross-country tour, Sunday, June 13. Stay tuned . . . Two days later another English outfit, THE ANGELIC UPSTARTS, will be paying a visit for a special Tuesday show at the Dog. These guys were one of the original skinhead hands. . . In the meantime there’s still much to choose from. This Friday JFA, SOYLENT GREENE and FATAL ALLEGIANCE do the Dog and Saturday CONFLICT and MEAT PUPPETS at the same place. Sunday a holiday Merlin’s appearance by VITAL SIGNS.
ALSO COMING UP: From Texas, THE BIG BOYS and THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS . . . BATTALION OF SAINTS, San Diegans of the thrash variety, June 5 at the Dog. . . DREAM SYNDICATE and pholksinger PHRANC . . . instrumental rock lunacy from AFRICA CORPS with performance artist DEVIATION SOCIAL. . . THE MINUTEMEN and THE DESCENDANTS, two of the most unusual uptempo bands . . . a definite July date for controversial SF rockers DEAD KENNEDYS.
BRIEFLY: The KILLER PUSSY record party was a stunning success complete with a tiered pink poodle cake, freshly cut bouquets and copies of the EP that is available around the Valley and selling well. Over in L.A. it’s slipped into influential station KROQ-FM’s regular daytime playlist. The band is currently planning some followup live dates there . . . Circus Circus in Las Vegas (where else?) set the scene for guitarist PAUL B. CUTLER and effervescent vocalist DINAH CANCER performing the proverbial marriage vows (the bride wore black?) . . .45 GRAVE begin working on a debut album this week. . . Another month for the MEAT PUPPETS LP; the work is complete, now rabid fans will just have to wait. Meanwhile, one selection will be appearing on an SST Italian compilation . . . Songbird BONNIE SOLDER has flown to California, opting sand, surf and Big City Life for up-and-coming primate rockers THE VERY IDEA OF FUCKING HITLER, who plan to continue as a trio. . . New faces: CAUSTIC WEAPONS, CONSTANT COMMENT, THE SECRET IDOLS with PIK RORTER and someone named VANYA from Finland. . . The Tucson cassette compilation “Valley Fever” is out and about, along with new tapes by JACKET WEATHER and a former member of SERFERS, whose name escapes me at the moment, all on Iconoclast Intl . . Local electronic strategist DAVID OLIPHANT has released a cassette, with some unique packaging, of various works including a sampling of DESTRUCTION. Seek it out. . . Lastly, linear avantjazzrock comrades KNEBNEGAUGE have moved to the Bay Area. Greener pastures some would say, but when was the last time they looked in their backyards?
-David Wiley (New Times Weekly, 1982)