RIP - Gil Scott-Heron

Dude, you changed my life.

Fuckers never gave you your due.

Black Flag - Complete 1982 Demos

The lone document of the five-piece flag with Dez moving over to rhythm guitar, some DC dude named Garfield taking the mic and DOA's Chuck Bisquits assuming the drum throne. This is absolute. The best they got.

Two songs on the demos, "What Can You Believe" and "Yes, I Know," don't appear on any official Black Flag releases. I think "What Can You Believe" made a later appearance on a DC3 release. Bill Stevenson & Kira play on tracks 11 -14 - tracks recorded at Radio Tokyo with Spot

1. "What Can You Believe" (2:57)
2. "Yes, I Know" (2:36)
3. "Slip It In" (5:26)
4. "Modern Man" (2:40)
5. "My War" (3:33)
6. "Black Coffee" (5:04)
7. "Beat My Head Against The Wall" (2:21)
8. "Can't Decide" (5:22)
9. "I Love You" (3:32)
10. "Nothing Left Inside/Scream" (11:33)
11. "I Love You"
    
12. "My War"
13. "Interview"
14. "Swinging Man"

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David Bowie - Live in Santa Monica '72

Dr. Wikistein: Santa Monica '72 is a live album by David Bowie, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 during the Ziggy Stardust tour. Taken from an FM radio broadcast,^[1] it was available only as a bootleg for more than 20 years; according to author David Buckley, possessing a copy was the test of a "proper Bowie fan".^[2] The recording was issued officially by the Golden Years label in 1994, with Griffin Music handling the American release in 1995.

This live album features a quite different setlist to the one found on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983), which was recorded nine months afterwards and similarly bootlegged prior to its belated official release. The Santa Monica recording is generally considered a superior representation of the Ziggy Stardust concerts in terms of both sound quality and standard of playing.^[3] In 1981, NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called it not simply "the performer's best ever bootleg", but "far superior to either of Bowie's official location recordings" to that date, David Live (1974) and Stage (1978).^[1]

A gold disc edition with the DJ's closing remarks at the end was made available in Holland, while in the U.S. a special limited box set was released that included a t-shirt, a key chain and a short video. The video was not actually from the Santa Monica show, but was previously unseen footage from a silent colour film made at a concert in Dunstable, England on 21 June 1972. The video was combined with the live audio recording from the Santa Monica concert. This box was limited to only 1000 copies. In addition, an even more limited edition was released as a small wooden box with Bowie's image carved into the lid, and a brass plate indicating the series number. Only 250 copies were made.^[3][4]

This semi-legal release was one in the series of mid-nineties releases by MainMan, Bowie's former management company during the seventies (other ones being RarestOneBowie and the Ava Cherry & The Astronettes album People from Bad Homes). All these albums were released without Bowie's approval and are currently deleted.

An official version — Live Santa Monica '72 — was issued by EMI/Virgin in 2008.

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Soft Machine - Soft Machine (1968)

A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine's debut ranges between lovingly performed oblique pop songs and deranged ensemble playing from drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and organist Mike Ratledge. With only one real break (at the end of side one), the songs merge into each other -- not always smoothly, but always with a sense of flair that rescues any potential miscues. Wyatt takes most of the vocals, and proves himself a surprisingly evocative singer despite his lack of range. Like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Volume One was one of the few over-ambitious records of the psychedelic era that actually delivered on all its incredible promise.


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Cum Stain - S/T

Alls I gotta say = CUM STAIN

(I hear the singer has a Mr Show tatt)


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via Razorcake:

CUM STAIN: Self-titled: Tape
Lo-fi garage punk with its mind in the gutter outside some high school. The mood is obviously light and the attitude is more of a laugh than a snarl. If you were to take this serious and get upset, then you need some fucking help. Songs about dicks, sex, and being a dirty loser. Who can’t relate to any or all of that? There are some good songs on here like “Smoker,” “I WANT IT NOW!,” “Jack Shack,” which come on with some speed and a nice low end. Then there are some throwaway songs like “Cum Stain”; “Just another Kid” is a little too precious. Some good, some bad.


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Reigning Sound - Too Much Guitar

March is National Garage Rock Month, and what better way to commemorate it that this 2004 soulful, skronky offering from the Reigning Sound.

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Allmusic.com: Cartwright sums up his approach on the third album from the Reigning Sound with the title, Too Much Guitar -- here, Cartwright moves the old-school soul influences that were in the forefront on Break Up Break Down and Time Bomb High School to the back burner in favor of a hip-shakin' set of loud and primal guitar-based rock & roll. While Cartwright's passion for R&B is still prominent in these songs (and their performances), here it manifests itself in a set of tunes that take Stones/Pretties-style raunch and filters it through '60s garage rock bashing in the manner of the Sonics or the Misunderstood. In short, this thing goes bash, pound, bash through 14 high-impact cuts, and Cartwright's passionate vocals jockey for position against his revved-up guitar bashing, while bassist Jeremy Scott and drummer Greg Roberson flail away for all their worth in support. Cartwright also reaffirms his status here as one of the best songwriters in the nuevo garage scene on Too Much Guitar -- while the performances may value impact over nuance, the songs are smart, soulful, and emotionally powerful, and the lyrics speak of a maturity that's a far (and welcome) cry from the cars'n'girls blatherings of most new garage outfits. While some fans might miss some of the soulful undercurrents that made Time Bomb High School so memorable, if you want to hear Greg Cartwright rock on out, then this album will convince you that Too Much Guitar is never enough.



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and a parting gift (for the aggravation) HEAR

Various Artists - On-U Sound Discoplates 1,2,3,4 & 6

In the hit-or-miss world of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound productions, Discoplates Collection Part 1 is a home run. It is chock-full of roots with funky, heavy (bordering on lethargic) bass lines, African drums, and echoing, dub-like effects that make these tracks "dub-worthy" enough not to need vocals (Indeed, the acts included here do not necessarily have permanent vocalists, each instead utilizing guests.). But the roots vocals that are included enhance the intoxicating music, especially Lizard's classic melody on Creation Rebel's "Independent Man." Of course, Creation Rebel's "Creation Rebel," featuring Crucial Tony, is nothing to sneeze at either. Congo Ashanti Roy's rich voice on Singers & Players' "African Blood" is also superb. Singer & Players contributes over half of the tracks on Discoplate Collection Part 1, "Hands and Hearts" with Congo Ashanti Roy and Bim Sherman's sax and bass-driven "Revolution" and "Danger" being the best of the rest. The lesser-known Noah House of Dread meanwhile holds its own, with "Murder" and its dub version, and "Stand Firm," all quality cultural tracks featuring African drums and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah's likeable raspy vocals. Discoplate Collection Part 1 is right up there with Dub Xperience: The Dread Operators as the best On-U Sound collection I've heard.


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