"Reg Presley Really Wants a Hit"/"Reg is in his best Iggy voice" - The Troggs "Strange Movies" revisited

All time fave Troggs cover? For the past twenty five plus years I have been partial to Mirrors 1974 demolition of “Feels Like a Woman” live at the Viking Saloon in Cleveland. Reading Alan Betrock’s (or is it Mike Saunders') dead on take on the Troggs’ 1973 double A-side single of “Strange Movies/I’m on Fire” in the December 1974 TRM from the barn has me heaping superlatives on what at this date is a stone cold proto-punk classic. There are various versions of “Strange Movies” but the single version is the one to hear. This may be Reg's "My ding-a-ling" though without the hit part. Or am I thinking of a continuation of a uniquely British theme following Michael Powell's 1960 classic "Peeping Tom." Their live rendition on Bowie’s “1980 Floorshow” is good though the outtake may be better. The 2002 version is worth investigating as well in all its compelling creepiness. Troggs week this and every week here at Waitakere Walks HQ.

"Who's On First?"/Metal Mike California trip report, October 1971 [repost]

I have to admit that the whole Brendan Mullen/Marc Spitz/Metal Mike spat over "We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk" made me so exasperated that I felt like I was watching the great Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine. Our friends over at Terminal Boredom give you the Cliff Notes version for everyone who missed it here. Thanks guys. Let's just say that Metal Mike's bona fides are unassailable. I am guessing that a lot of folks made the mistake of passing up on Metal Mike's 1999 cd called "Surf City or Bust." What they missed was the most excellent FOURTEEN bonus tracks comprising his and his brother Kevin's previously unreleased 1969 lp as The Rockin' Blewz entitled "I'm a Roadrunner Motherfucka." I first heard one track some time last century on a cd comp Chris put out. Raw and as hi-energy as you would expect from two high school brothers recording in the bedroom or family lounge. It is in Metal Mike's s own words "a pre-Beatles garage band style (2/3rds covers)... Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Ronnie Self, Ernie K-Doe, Shirelles--that kind of material, played with your vintage 60's Fender and Gibson equipment of the time, some pretty crude cool sounds. Wacked out 'originals' that could have been on a Bonzo Dog Band or Mothers of Invention album." Came across this great letter again recently from when Metal Mike was in the midst of his statistics degree in Austin (written from the UT library?) which had me thinking of Metal Mike. I do think Future does not get its due and "Out of the Question" is just as good as anything on the first two lps.

So Kickboy, How Do You Really Feel About VOM/"Some of you are very clever people"/"It was reaching terminal boredom proportions"

Richard Meltzer and Kickboy Face aka Claude Bessy. Both born in 1945 (May 11 and June 20 respectively) and among the select group of music writers whose work transcends the genre. Both based in Los Angeles during a golden age of American music (approximately 1976-1983) and both with pretensions to act as rock frontpersons in their thirties (not that there is anything to fault with that). So who knew that the Metal Mike/Brendan Mullen spat dates back to at least 1978? I have previously written about it here. It's like Bessy drafted Mullen's talking points a couple of decades in advance. In the present day I like both Catholic Discipline and VOM, though given Catholic Discipline's VU/Can/Nuggets hybrid it would have produced one of the finer lps to come out of post-Masque/pre-hardcore Los Angeles if someone had dragged them into a studio. One could assume that Meltzer felt no animosity to Bessy by 1979 (see "Cocktails With Claude," LA Weekly 1979 interview of Claude by Meltzer, Meltzer’s review of the Germs “G.I.”). What Bessy writes is really about more than VOM. What were his thoughts on the Dictators fer instance - did they get a pass even though a writer was in their midst? Mind you Chris D. and Ranking Jeffrey were on the Slash staff.  How harsh is this: "they couldn't be naive enough to think that even on the fringe of that fringe phenomenon there is room for a bunch of would-be satirists with resentment and bitterness in their hearts, pot bellies behind their their tattered stage costumes and panic at their sudden irrelevance behind their contrived aggressiveness. They couldn't be vain enough to hope that the punx might fall for it and actually (irony of irony) make them into heroes or villains." No really Kickboy, how do you feel about VOM? An hey, enough with the slams of would-be satirists with resentment and bitterness in their hearts, and pot bellies behind their their tattered stage costumes and panic at their sudden irrelevance behind their contrived aggressiveness. Hitting a little too close to home buddy!

Over to Metal Mike in his attack on Mullen and Spitz' We Got the Neutron Bomb : The Untold Story of L.A. Punk:

Not once in this book is there a mention of the March 1978 Dickies/VOM 2-night, 4-sets stand at the Whiskey, which was one of the wildest,craziest, most chaotic spectacles of "punk rock," anyplace, anywhere, anytime. Re: Paul Grant's 2-page article describing the opening night show in national slick-mag NEW WAVE ROCK...I was there (at the Whiskey), it was that hysterical/nutty/wild and then some. Never laughed so hard in my life. Ah, wait, wait, wait, back up the truck-there is no mention of 1977-78 LA punk band VOM (with rock critic and brilliant Blue Oyster Cult lyricist Richard Meltzer) anywhere in this book.Now this is getting interesting. 

Uh, "wildest,craziest, most chaotic spectacles of "punk rock," anyplace, anywhere, anytime." Are we talking about the same set of shows here?

"Who's On First?"/Metal Mike California trip report, October 1971

I have to admit that the whole Brendan Mullen/Marc Spitz/Metal Mike spat over "We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk" made me so exasperated that I felt like I was watching the great Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine. Our friends over at Terminal Boredom give you the Cliff Notes version for everyone who missed it here. Thanks guys. Let's just say that Metal Mike's bona fides are unassailable. I am guessing that a lot of folks made the mistake of passing up on Metal Mike's 1999 cd called "Surf City or Bust." What they missed was the most excellent FOURTEEN bonus tracks comprising his and his brother Kevin's previously unreleased 1969 lp as The Rockin' Blewz entitled "I'm a Roadrunner Motherfucka." I first heard one track some time last century on a cd comp Chris put out. Raw and as hi-energy as you would expect from two high school brothers recording in the bedroom or family lounge. It is in Metal Mike's s own words "a pre-Beatles garage band style (2/3rds covers)... Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Ronnie Self, Ernie K-Doe, Shirelles--that kind of material, played with your vintage 60's Fender and Gibson equipment of the time, some pretty crude cool sounds. Wacked out 'originals' that could have been on a Bonzo Dog Band or Mothers of Invention album." Came across this great letter again recently from when Metal Mike was in the midst of his statistics degree in Austin (written from the UT library?) which had me thinking of Metal Mike. I do think Future does not get its due and "Out of the Question" is just as good as anything on the first two lps.

Very 'eavy... Very 'umble/He Wrote "Chatterbox" All By Himself/The New York Dolls Are the Most Overrated, Dreadful Band I've Ever Heard

The critical reappraisal. So I guess we can all have a laugh that in 1974, Dave Byron of Uriah Heep warranted the cover of Circus instead of the New York Dolls. Other than inspiring Spinal Tap, is Uriah Heep still credited along with Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin as being a source of "very 'heavy" music? When I fist moved to NZ, I found a dusty, Vertigo swirl copy of "Very 'eavy... Very 'umble" at a demo yard in Henderson (along with a VG+ copy of "Burning Up Years" for you record nerds - probably sourced by the yard from some bikers). Snatched both up for under $10 NZD. As you do. At least Gary Thain made it back to NZ and Western Springs with the Heep before the end . . .

I have ridiculed Circus in the past but I seem to find that there was some great coverage of underground favorites. Reproduced below from the barn is a nice feature on the Dolls promoting the second lp. Also included is Janis Schacht's harsh review of "Too Much, Too Soon" from the same issue. As Richard Hell has stated, the New York Dolls were the first pure rock and roll band. Lest we forget as noted in the article that Johnny wrote "Chatterbox" all by himself, is a performance from Gruen's brilliant "All Dolled Up" as the lead in. Is Bob Gruen the only one affiliated with punk other than Bangs to be able to wear a 'stache amongst the punks without derision? Back to Uriah Heep. The famous 1970 Uriah Heep review by UCLA Bruin and Metal Mike pal, Melissa Mills. From the October 1, 1970 Rolling Stone, take it Melissa:

If this group makes it I'll have to commit suicide. From the first note you know you don't want to hear any more. Uriah is watered down, tenth-rate Jethro Tull, only even more boring and inane. UH is composed of five members: vocals, organ, guitar, bass, and drums. They fail to create a distinctive sound tonally; the other factor in their uninteresting style is that everything they play is based on repetitive chord riffs.

According to the enclosed promo information, Uriah Heep spent the past year in the studio, rehearsing and writing songs. No doubt their lack of performing experience contributed to the quality of the record; if they had played live in clubs they would have been thrown off the stage and we'd have been saved the waste of time, money, and vinyl. (RS 67)

MELISSA MILLS

On a related note, possibly my favorite proto-punk/glam French combo, the Frenchies, whose lp "Lola Cola" is an all time fave, here on the live slow burn, though not as high energy as the Dolls. Contemporaries with the Dolls, Imperial Dogs, Streak, Daddy Maxfield, Zolar-X, Hollywood Brats and Clap, the Frenchies live:



And lastly, here we have Uriah Heep live at Budakon, 1973, doing their Sha Na Na thing:

The Great 1973 Sonics Revival/"The Closest Thing to Heavy Metal Until the Advent of the Zep and MC5"/Morock ("Moronic Rock")

Of the many places that could claim the mantle of pre-punk or proto-punk headquarters (for even a few minutes), let me introduce the San Fernando Valley circa 1972-1973, or more specifically Panorama City. That is the location of Mark Shipper’s BuckShot Records and the great compilation of the Sonics called “Explosives.” Then we have the Valley’s own Droogs practicing and releasing their first single in 1973 covering the Sonics’ “He’s Waitin'” on Plug-n-Socket, beating certain high profile “punk” folks to the pressing plant. I don't think there is any dispute these days to the Pacific Northwest's right to claim its place in the history of punk via the Sonics, Raiders, Wailers etc.

Now, do we even get into the ethics of reviewing one of your own releases in a trade publication? See RPM, June 1973, below. Naw, as RPM was itself a mouthpiece for a particular label and when the review is this over the top (and spot on 38 years later), and includes high praise from Metal Mike, we let it slide, no? Then, what do you do next? You have your friend Ken Barnes flog the thing in Fusion the next month, followed by a sweet Sculatti review of the second BOC record (along with a NICE photo of the Soft White Underbelly/Stalk-Forrest Group), wherein he talks about picking the Sonics of the 70’s. Great review, great record. This is how back in the day you created a real critical consensus! Don, the Imperial Dogs coulda been (are) the true Sonics of the 70’s! Decided not to crop Bangs’ review of Sun Ra’s “Atlantis” or Meltzer’s Spheeris reviews for your enjoyment. Oh yeah, a couple of pages of Sculatti/Saunders/Shipper’s 1974 “Brain Damage” as well. Mark Shipper phone home.