Claude Bessy Reviews the Desperate Bicycles "The Medium Was Tedium" 45: "Back-up Vocals That Remind One of the Incredible String Band's Simplistic Moments"

"Right now the chaotic world of new single releases is the most exhilarating thing in the business": Kickboy Face at the tail end of 1977 even before the onslaught of great LOCAL singles to follow, and before he decided to sing (in public at least) with a little encouragement from this single no doubt.  One of those recent wowzer moments is when I was told that Ryan "Ryebread Rodeo" Richardson had made all issues of Slash available here for your own scholarly research with a small coin toss to Medecins Sans Frontieres. I sorta inadvertently donated to Ginn's cat rescue mission at the Hollywood Palladium so this was the least I could do. From the actual "Year One" Exene cover (Vol.1 No. 6) December 1977, Claude Bessy referencing the Incredible String Band in a review of the first Desperate Bicycles single was totally unexpected and dead on.  "Yet I like this record alot."

Some Toy Love Love (and Tall Dwarfs)/Toy Love Week in Dunedin

Gotta love Chris Knox's favourite lps circa 1979: "Help," "Strictly Personal," "Wee Tam," "Plastic Ono Band" and "I'm Stranded." He adds in the single of "Heroes and Villains" and the b-side of Napoleon XIV "They're Coming to Take Me Away." Chris has been pretty consistent since day one. Alec names John Cale's "Paris 1919," the Beatles and Bowie. Both Chris and Alec are on the same artistic level as their influences no doubt about it. Toy Love was great and the Tall Dwarfs even better, and they were together even longer than the Beatles! Recently was listening to both of the Chris Knox and the Nothing cds and watched "Let it Be" on dvd and was wondering how Chris was doing. Clippings from the barn archive for the most part - most are not on the Toy Love webpage. The Toy Love clip was from Aussie show Countdown during the Sydney sojourn as seen on the "Sydney postcard." Other Toy Love clips are out there but that may have been the oddest given the lip synch. Incredible String Band for its influence.



These outfits are outstanding and they are the only guys to get away with it:

Knox on Cave/Flying Nun 1982/"Do Not Buy This Product"/Who is Bobzilla?

One of my all time favourite musicians is Chris Knox. Chris is also a great music/film critic and illustrator. Here is a 28 year old review of the Birthday Party's "Junkyard" from the barn archive which kinda says it all in approximately 200 words or less. Don't get Chris started on the Beatles or the Incredible String Band or we could be here all day. I know if Rollins reviewed this lp in '82, he would have had a hard time keeping it under 1,000 words. Please support Chris and purchase "Stroke" here.





From "Rip It Up" (November, 1982).