This is a curiosity. A Japanese group, released early 80's on Heat Heart Records and the label contains the equal sign, as in the cut out on the cardboard cover. No personnel are listed, no track titles. Sonically, its non-Reggae dub mixing, wordless female vocals and variety of styles suggests a somewhat less developed Wha Ha Ha. If anyone knows anything more about this, I'd be keen to hear it.
With Lejonet av Ljuga, the Zamlaz tackle Reggae, sort of. Clearly the references to Rastaman, Haile Selassie and the spliff smoking lion on the cover suggest that more than the form is involved with Jamaica, but the Residential vocal harmonies make one doubt that it's intended very seriously. The flip is the Zamlaz in spirited folkloric mood. This is a brilliant single. I've never understood why this wasn't added to the reissue of Familjesprickor or Schlagern's Mystik. Perhaps, because it came out on the Finnish Love Records Label rather than Silence, but I'm certain they could have licensed it. Was this included in the massive Japanese box set of Samlas / Zamlaz and related material, does anyone know? The Zamlaz were probably the only group of the 70's, that for sheer musical breadth, could give Henry Cow a run for their money. Lars Hollmer is greatly missed.
Both of these songs are on Enclume, but these are obviously earlier demo like versions and thus worth hearing if you're a fan. Les Belles Images seems to be imagery derived from famous paintings, while Une Bonne Correction is Ferdinand's fulfillment of David Thomas' provocative question "Is hyperbole man's best rhetorical friend?". A man enraged by the noise of a passing fighter jet, which has awakened his baby, runs out into the street armed with a crowbar and a small knife to confront it. A comically absurd image gives way to the hero's battle with a hideous flying beast of myth. Quite a satisfying song for those of us lacking in respect for aerial death machines.
Not too much to say about this one. Heiner Goebbels with Chris Cutler and Christoph Anders, done around the same time as the first Cassiber recording, Man or Monkey.
Both of these songs appear on the first Caveman Shoestore recording, Master Cylinder. There is no guitar on this record. All the fuzzed out sturm und drang is performed on bass guitar. Fred Chalenor and Henry Franzoni began working together in the late 70's in a group called Face Ditch. Fred is one of the great unsung bass innovators, while Henry is a master of complex polyrhythms. Fred was the first person I ever saw use an ebow and slides on a bass, do two hand tapping or play heavily distorted power chords. CS was formed late 80's, or perhaps 1990, as a duo which improvised along broad conceptual or generic frameworks. Then they brought in singer / keyboardist Elaine di Falco, presently with Thinking Plague, and began crafting real songs.
The other group from northeastern Ohio, known today primarily for being the band which loosed Ralph Carney upon the world. They had a brief brush with major label success with their Robert Wyatt inspired arrangement of I'm a Believer and the subsequent Contents Dislodged During Shipment album, which featured one, if not both of these songs. Unfortunately, the AOR production job drained all the charm out of the music. This mono single released in '78 is much more organic sounding and sympathetic to their eccentricities. Listening to Robert Takes the Road to Lieber Nawash, one wonders if it is some sort of homage to Wyatt, as the imagery appears to allude to Rock Bottom and the accident, when all of a sudden they break into a jam clearly derived from Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road, erasing all doubts. They released one other single or ep around this time, but I've never seen it.
This one sided single with an etching on the reverse came, if I recall correctly, as a subscription item with Recommended's reissue of Slapp Happy - Sort Of. In the mid 80's my friend sonimage had moved to New York and arranged to have dinner with Peter Blegvad and talk to him about his work. He'd sold all his albums before moving, so I spent four hours on the phone reading Peter's lyrics to him as he wrote them down, so as to be prepared for the meeting. I have cassettes somewhere of their conversation. He asked Peter about Alcohol, and essentially his response was, Chris Cutler has weird taste. He said, again if I'm remembering correctly, that this was done while camping in Germany with a tape recorder in the boot of the car. I guess I have weird taste as well, because I like it a lot.
01. Equals - Side A 6:41
02. Equals - Side B 7:26
03. Zamla Mammaz Manna - Lejonet av Ljuga 3:37
04. Zamla Mammaz Manna - Ryssland Island varför är väl inge a va rädd för 2:32
05. Ferdinand et les Philosophes - Les Belles Images Du Temps Passe 4:50
06. Ferdinand et les Philosophes - Une Bonne Correction 3:50
07. Heiner Goebbels - Die Letzte Buche 2:30
08. Heiner Goebbels - So Wird der Schrecken ohne Ende langsam normales Leben 3:43
09. Caveman Shoestore - An Angel Flew By 2:40
10. Caveman Shoestore - Spill 2:08
11. Tin Huey - Robert Takes the Road to Lieber Nawash 4:05
12. Tin Huey - Squirm You Worm 2:45
13. Peter Blegvad - Alcohol 2:52
These are the first vinyl rips I've ever done, hope you enjoy some of it and sorry about the pops and surface noise, as some of these are in better shape than others.
Note: there was a problem with track one, Equals Side A. The link to the fixed track may be found in the comments.
download | 7# vinyl rips | mp3-320 kbps | 126 mb | Scans |
