An appropriately titled, thoroughly obscure item to kick off the blog. Released on Alan Jenkins' Cordelia Records from Leicester, home of the kings of obscure classics, The Deep Freeze Mice, and related bands Chrysanthemums, Ruth's Refrigerator, The Creams, Yukio Yung a.k.a. Terry Burrows, and others. This release pretty much summarizes Alan's understanding of the concept humour, and that's not a typo but a hint that this is of the British variety, not the sophomoric, American style ala Ween or The Rudy Schwartz Project. Highlights of the album include Yukio's title track, the dreamy "Kennedy says", and one of my all-time favorites, "Modern Girls" by The Wimps. If anyone has their EP please contact me, as I'm dying to hear it. What follows is taken from the LP, written by Alan Jenkins:
LP - ERICAT012
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Side 1
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Jackie Charlton said - The Jung Analysts
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Sedes Sapientiae - Leven Signs
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My tapes gone - The Freshies
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Forever endevaour - Chris Gross
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Persian cat dance - 'Guitar' Frank 'Other Guitar' Brown and the Brownmen
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Kennedy says - Terry and Gerry
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The couch - Milovan Srdenovic
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No image - Al Leeder
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Side 2
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Self-induced chemical delusion - Paul Kelday
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Lady friend - The Psychodelic Filberts
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Across the water - Andrew Nicholls
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Looking at the world through the bottom of a glass - Davy Walklett
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untitled: working title: energy for legs: do the soft handle sheer tights with
nude toe baby - The Three Sharp Pins
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Emily, are you happy ? - C.W. Vrtacek
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Modern Girls - The Wimps
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Telephone conversation (continued) - John Trubee
Credits
This is the second L.P. in a series which is supposed to contain many small
segments of bizarre, undiscovered genius; where musical boundaries are altered
while no-one's looking and sound quality and other decent professional
standards are stabbed in the neck and left bleeding in the gutter toi be spat
upon by rabid dogs.
Possibly the best independent record label in the universe is Hamster records
of Ipswich - responsible for L.P.s by
THE JUNG ANALYSTS
, Push Button Pleasure, Enski Boski and one of the world's leading obscure
genii R. Stevie Moore (must remember to ask him for a track for Vol. 3).
JACKIE CHARLTON SAID
is the most famous track (because it's the only one they 've had played on the
radio) by THE JUNG ANALYSTS. Behind this band (and Hamster) is Terry Burrows, a
man with a bedroom full of recording gear (I think its his bedroom). There are
about 11/ 2 ANALYSTS L.P.s out on Hamster and another one on Cordelia. This
track disapproves of killing animals for fun.
Eg. the only record release so far by
LEVEN SIGNS
, the L.P. "Hemp is Here" which was poached from its original cassette version
on Robert Cox's Unlikely Records - because it was so good. Peter Karkut and
Maggi Turner do this stuff in London. They use percussive rythms and an organ
but nobody has yet been able to put a name to what kind of music it is. I don't
know ...Turkish Gothic... no... erm...
Chris Sievey and
THE FRESHIES
have made something like 15 singles since what? 1978? but they haven't quite
made it big in show business yet. (The nearest they came must have been the
Virgin Megastore single... and Wrap up the Rockets must have shifted a few
units.) What people don't realise is that behind almost all of these slick, 3
minute, power pop classics lie absolutely excellent songs.
MY TAPES GONE
, one of their early, not too slick, singles has got a fascinating sureal tape
recorder metaphor in it... "I wanna rewind to the bit whin I very first saw
you... zero it... edit it... and make a continuous loop..." Chris Sievey is
currently appearing in Frank Sidebottom.
CHRIS GROSS
makes cassettes and puts them out on his Utility Recording label. He lives in
New Jersey, USA. He says that he tries to avoid sounding futuristic and he;s
influenced by the culture of the late 18th century. Would you know from
listening to the record though? He's also a cartoonist/illustrator and his work
has appeared in various publications including the New York Times.
FRANK BROWN'S
real name is Frank Borman and he was born in Austria in 1948. The Brownmen,
probably the hottest avant-guard blues band, are the best known exponents of
this particular obscure musical form.
FRANK BROWN
is a huge cult figure within the movement which is based in Vienna. AGB
developed in Vienna 200 years ago as an antithesis to the popular Straus
waltzes of the period; disident chamber orchestras would introduce radical and
unexpected changes of tempo into dances at public functions. The genre was
revived in the fifties as a reaction against rock and roll.
THE PERSIAN CAT DANCE
was recorded live in Austria and is the only known recording of the ensemble.
KENNEDY SAYS
makes fun of the silly American tendency to cannonise JFK in lieu of our
ancient European heros they seem to be jealous of over there.
TERRY AND GERRY
deflate it by casually mentioning the Bay of Pigs and generally being mildly
ironic. (I hope that's right). This group is very nearly too famous to be on
this L.P. They've made lots of records for In Tape (to whom: thanks)
THE COUCH
by
MILOVAN SRDENOVIC
and
LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF A GLASS
by
DAVY WALKLETT
are two tips of one creative iceberg which have arisen in Huddersfield. yes,
it's one of those eccentric geniuses who pretend to be nine groups at once.
WALKLETT alias SRDENOVIC (anagram?) alias the genitals alias Eva Perouk alias
the Golden Testicle of God (correct me if I'm wrong Davy) has this big
Beefheart / country and western voice, and makes tapes under all the above
names. Many of these are very good; I recommend Soap Opera and Seven Deadly
Songs.
NO IMAGE
is another pop classic from the hit factory in Norwich, locally known as Le
Jardin Electronique (c.f. Kamizake Pilots and Fire Hydrant Men on vol. One). I
don't actualy know very much about AL LEEDER because his biography is all about
West Ham for some reason; what is this? a football program? Lt me just conclude
by insinuating that he's an internationally known rock star being enigmatic.
PAUL KELDAY
is an anachronism from Brighton. he has a back catalogue going back 15 years
some of which is apparently quite well known in electronic music circles. You
can get cassettes called such things as "the plane of the inner-between" and
"microcosmos". Kelday's music reminds me of Tangerine Dream before the
technology evolved enough for them to become bland, back in 1971. He's probably
the last person alive doing this kind of thing; actually it's quite refreshing.
This track was created especially for this L.P.
The master tape of
LADY FRIEND
was only recently discovered in a cellar in San Francisco by archivists
searching for clues to the location of David Crosby. Originally wrongly
identified as a rare Byrds master, this track is now believed to be by the
ultra-legendary
PSYCHODELIC FILBERTS
, possibly the most underground rock band in the world. The only reliable thing
known about them is that they are very very very psychodelic indeed. There is
only one other recording by the band known, and this is on a Yeah Yeah Noh
record. What does it all mean ?
ANDREW NICHOLL'S
debut L.P. comes out soon on this label. His main ambition is to be as famous
as John Coltrane for playing saxophones with his jazz group; but here we see
him on his own, sitting at the piano in his little music room hammering out a
not-beautiful Satiesque hymn tune of his own devising. He was in a group called
the Sincere Americans in about '79 and he's played with the Deep Freeze Mice,
the Metal Doughnut Band and Yeah Yeah Noh.
When Rob Grant and Phil Byrtles left the Sinatras (see vol. 1) they formed
(this early incarnation of)
THE THREE SHARP PINS
- with Mark Fowler and John Southgate. This unusual instrumental outfit never
released anything except in odd places like this. Rob, otherwise known as Mr.
Concept, has an L.P. out (on Cordelia), and Yeah Yeah Noh have recorded a cover
version of this track (they called it Mr. Hammond is out to Lunch). This one
was recorded back in about 1981. I think they are still going - must remember
to ask Rob next time I see him.
C.W. VRTACEK'S
latest L.P. "days and days" is on Recommended; they describe him, in their
catalogue, as the president of the avant-guard. This previously unreleased
track is an example of what he's been doing since. The line-up is CWV - guitar,
synthesiser; Kimberly Gellatly - toy xylophone; Michael Gellatly - assistant to
Emily; Emily - throat noises. I have specific instructions not to tell you
anything else about Michael Gellatly and Emily.
C.W. VRTACEK
has made about 3 or 4 L.P.s but they're probably difficult to get hold of.
THE WIMPS
existed from '77 to '80 and were a bunch of 17 year old schoolboys. They were:
Robert Metcalfe, J, Rog Eyams, Saul Rosenbery, Rick Marshall and Matthew
Illegible. They made two records, the Hamburger Radio e.p. and a single called
"At the Discoteque". The odd thing is that at least half of the songs on these
were absolutely first rate (e.g. this one). Perhaps I should try to get another
one for volume 3. Time marches on inelluctably forwards, the past is blown away
like Autumn leaves in a cold November wind......Rog is now an actor with the
Royal Shakespeare company........J is a Kibbutznik in Israel.....Saul is a jazz
pianist...Rick is a biologist near Bristol...Robert went on to join the Wibbley
brothers..what?
MODERN GIRLS
was written about the woman who Matthew later married. .....life....
See volume one of this L.P. for details about the dangerous lunatic known as
JOHN TRUBEE
and also the first half of this telephone conversation, of which one reviewer
said "TRUBEE seriously upsets a complete stranger and calls it art". This sort
of thing is likely to give him incalculable pleasure. TRUBEE has two L.P.s out
on Enigma. You decide..,....no...I'll decide...I say it's all good clean fun....
Alan Jenkins
January 1986
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