“This Song Isn’t a Goddamn Square-Dance – It’s a Tragedy”/The “Blank Generation” Recording Sessions March-April 1977 [Repost]

“It sounds like one of those records that should’ve been made years before, and will undoubtedly be admired for years to come.”

"Eddie Cochran meets Freddy Cannon meets the Shadows of Knight meets the Strangeloves meets Richard Hell . . . a composer, lyricist and vocal eccentric of tremendous verve and capability”

Alan Betrock on witnessing the recording of Richard Hell and the Voidoids “Blank Generation” at Electric Ladyland’s Studio A, March 1977.

“It’s like fuckin’ Little Richard” - Quine

Certain recording sessions are of such historical import that they need to be released in their entirety for research purposes. Scholars and independent historians demanded for over 25 years that the Stooges “Funhouse” sessions be released in their entirety. Market pressures be damned and Rhino Handmade stepped forward to fill the void. Now generations will be able to debate and parse the merits of the various takes of “L.A. Blues” for all time. I have been listening to the “Funhouse” box set for over ten years now and it rewards the listener with a richer experience as one gets deeper into the various takes, certain details unfurling at most unexpected places. Are these the equivalent to another generation’s big band airchecks directed straight to shellac and then traded reel to reel? Anyone say Dean Benedetti and Charlie Parker?

We have written before of both Richard Hell and Alan Betrock on these pages. That the late Betrock chose to briefly document the behind the scenes of the makings of one of the best lps of the 1970’s, nay, the last three plus decades, “Blank Generation,” well, we can only thank him. Robert Quine, as time has shown, is and was the equal of any of the various guitar greats he emulated from Ohio to St. Louis to San Francisco and back to New York again. What we need are the entire “Blank Generation” sessions released. Read on . . .