Objectivist Pop For Beach People

In keeping with the Lintian theme prescribed and proclaimed by me - unwitting to workload and scheduling conflicts - here IS Kenosha Wisconsin's finest proponents of conceptually dum dum new wave/power pop/punk rock, MUS-SUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-LE BEACH!



Muscle Beach existed from roughly 1978 to 1980 and, during the course of their rough three-year lifespan, marked time at nearly all of Milwaukee's major punk and new wave haunts (Zak's, the Palms, Starship, etc). Conceptually distinct and lyrically fully-formed, Muscle Beach were a cut above 90% of the 77-year-zero Midwestern milieu for which they were inevitably stuck opening. However, despite their obvious compositional superiority, the M. Beachers recorded and issued only one now very rare single on their own DUMB imprint in 1980 before atomizing and dispersing to the four winds forever.

A shame. ...as Milwaukee was then forced to bear both the Bo'Deans and the Violent Femmes in the decade to come.

ENJOY THEN AND LISTEN AND WATCH WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!

LET'S GET DUMB AND HAVE SOME FUN!

Gash Wednesday

FREIGHT, 'WHAT KIND OF LOVE' b/w 'LOVE NO MORE' (Tough Nut, 1978)


I refuse to believe that there does not exist a hair metal band by that name.

However, as it is Lent and the time for self-denial and restraint, I have decided - that in response to great public outcry - I will for the proceeding forty day period restrict myself solely to posts concerning great records from the great state of Wisconsin.

I'm gonna give YOU the keys to the Lamborghini so hold on tight.

From the town on the Fox River that gave the world manhole covers and one of the greatest wearers of striped shirts and sunglasses ever in the form of Paul Reject, comes Freight with two hot rockers and - GASP! what's this? - tantalizingly stout amounts of info! There's a recording and release date, band names, studio details, cool lil' label logo - EVEN A PHONE NUMBER! Now my question, who will pony up the long-distance courage required to holler at an ex-Freight?

Of the two songs on offer, both win, if in completely different directions. The A-side could be called 'glam' at a stretch with its bump-n-grind rhythms, Dolls-y backing vocals and Motty Motty pee-any plonkin', but is more likely just an attempt at ripping off Aerosmith (there are worse things). The B-side, on the other hand...excuse me, the AA-side is pure grinding shreditude, with a SWAT Team-like assault that fairly reeks of Motor City diesel fumes; the Sonic's Rendezvous of Lake Winnebago? Maybe. Whoever the guitarist was, his attack was deft and true. And really, who can argue against pick slides like that? YOUR HONOR, THE PROSECUTION RESTS!

If any of you so-and-so's do end up calling Freight, please refer them back here as I desperately want to know if female trouble in Neenah was truly as severe as they make it out, as well as the story behind the rear of the picture sleeve. What is going on there? Is that Dracula and, if so, why is he a midget and dressed up as a lounge singer? Also, is the tailor who made those tight satin duds still in business? So many questions, so little time.

Anyway, I'll shut my manhole now and make with the auditory evidence. SPEED KILLS!

'WHAT KIND OF LOVE'


'LOVE NO MORE'

Bring Back The Bring Backers

STEVEN HARTLEY, ‘THE BEATLES FOREVER’ b/w ‘THE STATE I’M IN’ (private, 1976/1977)

I think I once heard absurdism defined as viewing the correct path and choosing not to take it: a description which could just as easily double as a summation of my record buying habits.

Over the last weekend, with a friend who was in town for a visit, we hit the stores and thrifts, flipped through tons of worthy titles, both in the bins and on the walls. We held some. But did we deign to buy any of them? Nope.

I don’t really know what it says about me personally or as a conscious consumer that I tend to gravitate towards the bowels of the most boned-out dogshit imaginable (biggest score aside from this 45 was a Hare Krishna disco LP).

Maybe I’m an absurdist? Maybe I’m bored? In any event, to say that maybe I’m amazed at the way Steven Hartley chooses to broadcast his love for Liverpool’s fave foursome would be putting it mildly (the line about their hairstyles being particularly choice). The swansong lounge suicide flip is also pretty rad.

Listen: if this is the sound of the abyss staring back, then I’m more than content to window-shop in the void forever, all the live-a-long day.

David Peel, consider yourself on notice! BRING BACK STEVEN HARTLEY!


‘THE BEATLES FOREVER’


‘THE STATE I’M IN’

Throbbing Amateurs

REBEL, 'MONKEY (GET OFF MY BACK)' b/w 'IT'S BEEN) A LONG TIME)' (Show Girl, 198?)

After losing out on the greatest record ever to come out of the booming metropolis of Laurel, MS. recently (AND costing a friend a hundred or so bucks in the process), I decided I would console myself within the arms of another pack of local losers from the Magnolia State.


I originally bought this record for the name alone thinking it might be a Johnny Rebel-style ummm, 'novelty' single (the A-side's song-title doing much to increase my hopes). Turns out, there's not a hint of racial prejudice to be found. Little to no competency either.


What is this record even supposed to be? Are they intentionally trying to be funky? Why are they singing like that? What year is this from? Is this a song about drugs or girls? Typically, the Rebel Band's lone (?) effort ask many more questions than it could ever hope to answer (a drum solo too???). To confound things even further, the b-side is some velvet moaning about a lost antebellum past or some shit that is way too close to the Marshall Tucker Band for my liking. All that is sure is these Rebs recorded at Malaco in Jackson and hailed from the hometown of fictional show-girl Blanche DuBois.

At the end of the day, the truth may never be known, which allows The Rebel Band to pass seamlessly into the speculative beer-belly ranks of accidental bar-band loser-geniuses alongside the likes of Fat Bruce and Smokehouse. Enjoy?

MONKEY (GET OFF MY BACK)

Pure Guap For Now People

DESPERATE ANGEL, ‘SHAKE YOU DOWN’ b/w ‘THAT IS ALL’ (December Records, 1978)

This one’s dedicated to my favorite Tucson Tostito; for not only turning me on to this record’s existence, but also for still speaking to me after I made a spectacle of myself at his wedding*. …and who is now (I’m told) a full-time, graduated so-and-so, so let’s hear it from the tree-tops for my main tofurkey T-top! Love ya, Muff Rocker!


Doing their best to look like Mick ‘n’ Keef on the cover, whilst doing their utmost to sound like Starz or Artful Dodger in the grooves, the ATL’s Desperate Angel, minus the inseminating influence of the nascent new wave, would likely have been just another bunch of opening act AOR satin dolls; appetizing after-thoughts before the inevitable BTO/REO denim buffet. However, if the DA’s weren’t exactly hep to Seditionaries high chic or the dress code at La Mere Vipere, they certainly were on-time and up to date (enough) for Greg Shaw’s prophesied late 70s pop revival.


And yes, before you soil your signed, stamped Exploding Hearts bed-spread (number 1 of 50!), I realize that most people don’t think of mainstream melodic 70s hard rock as conforming to the skinny-tie strictures of what today we know as power pop. …which is unfortunate, as schlock groups like Starz, Piper, Rex or even The Babys have a helluva lot more to do with a workable post-Raspberries aesthetic than dross like the Fast Cars or the Pointed Sticks. Only one of dozens of examples of the draw-backs of a punk education (others being Crass and the entire recorded output of the city of Portland, Oregon).


But enough of my usual screed…


The sound of Desperate Angel, like fellow peach-state poseurs XYZ, represents the new wave or new direction taken by handfuls of mainstream rock groups from 1975 until the end of the decade (when the synths get too heavy for my taste). Following in the boot-steps pioneered by KISS, Cheap Trick, and, yeah, probably Boston and Aerosmith too, groups like Desperate Angel – to quote The Shaw – naively flirt with the power pop style in such casual, shamelessly commercial fashion that – despite utterly stiffing upon release – sound fresh and dynamic today in ways that groups like the Merton Parkas or Modernettes simply cannot; flash-frozen as they are forever in the polka dot/striped shirt freezer-section of a failed hype-market. It should also be recalled that despite the perms and big collars, one of the most common tags initially affixed to groups like Desperate Angel by writers of the time was Punk Rock (and some – like the Babys and KISS – even had the bubblegum trading cards to prove it). Also, just to needlessly muddy the waters further for those un-read-up-on-their-power-pop-read-ups, who checks in at #10 on BOMP!’s All-Time Top Power Pop Records list ahead of Generation X: none other than Scandinavian freakbeat giants, ABBA! But that’s a tale for another time.


So enjoy the shake und shred unt Desperate Angel as I speculate upon whether or not the weight of my digital imprimatur will now cause this single to trade for $250 or up. Here’s hoping!


‘SHAKE YOU DOWN’


‘THAT IS ALL’



*If you see a pattern developing here with me and weddings, move ahead three spaces.

Gettin' Jiggsy

TERRY HUGHES & THE BACKYARD PARTY, ‘HEY LEO’ b/w ‘YOUR FOOL’ (Mountain Records, 1984)

For my last blog post of the year I figured I would cave to mounting pressure and give the people – all three of them who commented – what they wanted: MORE FROM NEW JERSEY’S OWN TERRY HUGHES!

As of this writing, more of the mystery surrounding Mr. Hughes continues to be deciphered and filled-in. At WFMU this year, Justin Collectorscum – in between my marathon of downing beers – clued me into to the fact that Terry was once the guitarist in lo-fi/art/punk/whatever-the-fuck-cause-I-haven’t-heard-it-yet supa-group Jigs & the Pigs. So I guess that’s worth something to someone; maybe even me if someone can hook up some mp3s.

Now how one goes from that – whatever that is – to earnestly worshipping at the altar of Jagger & Johnny one minute to Atlantic City house-rocking the next is anyone’s guess, but Terry does it here with great power pop aplomb backed by The Backyard Party who apparently were all ex Jigs as well as whoever else was in the bar or studio that night; Terry takes great pains to thank everyone who showed up for dollar beer night on the back sleeve including ‘what’s her name,’ ‘that girl from Atlantic City’ and the dog (now likely deceased R.I.P.).

Of the two cuts, ‘Hey Leo’ is unfuckwittable with its power chords and brevity. I also am assuming that that must be Leo that Terry (in the shades, striped shirt and Richard Hell-ish frown) is pointing to on the cover. The b-side is good too, if a bit more vulnerable and endearing and, for whatever reason, that doesn’t work as well for me. …especially given Terry’s third single where he throws love and affection straight out the window in favor of full-on Jabbers-style date-baiting.

If Bruce Springsteen’s Cadillac motors on melted-down Crystals’ records then Terry Hughes’ El Camino runs on jello-shots and your girlfriend’s bar-tab. Have at it T.H. and may I echo your feelings as to the origins of Leo’s haberdashery. HEY LEO WHERE’D YOU GET THE HAT!

‘HEY LEO’


‘YOUR FOOL’

Post-Teenage Lust

LUST, 'BLITZKRIEG' b/w 'M.I.A.' (Criminal Records, 1978)

If the verdict was ever in doubt as to the nature of this blog being akin to a Midwestern kangaroo Court Of Star Chamber, then hopefully this post can be the one that finally sends the peacekeepers packing.

Routinely dismissed as hick fly-over pastureland by its detractors or – perhaps nauseatingly worse – lauded as beer city maaaaaaan, Wisconsin in general and Milwaukee in particular is one of my favorite places on Earth. Being Southern by birth and Southern Baptist by the sense of humor of God, I fully understand what it’s like to be regarded as backwards, benighted and perhaps even more than a little barbaric. The same way Faulkner took all the awfulness of Mississippi and didn’t shy from it, instead making it a center-piece or point of pride with his writing, is the same style of thing I saw go-on with the gob of mutants I ran with in my few years spent in the good land. And I loved it even though my living situation was personally very miserable.

And I’ve said all that merely to say this:
MITTELWESTEN UBER ALLES - THE MIDWEST OVER THE REST!

And now I can finally stop talking in hyperbole and start talkin’ bout LUST!

LUST!

METAL!

MAN!

METAL FROM WISCONSIN!

MAN!

METAL FROM STEVEN’S POINT , WISCONSIN!

MAN!

…which, as a city, is about as metal as Oshkosh (the clothing line or the town).

Who Lust were – if they were natives or just recorded there – is a mystery best left unto the younger scion of the Haupt clan. What we do know about Lust is that both sides of their lone single S M O K E with likely accidental NWOBHM speed und froth. ‘Blitzkrieg’ gets my vote likely due to my own preoccupying occupation, but the punk-y lyrics of ‘M.I.A.’ also have much to recommend themselves.

Enjoy now a deep double-draught of Lust: the band that made Steven’s Point famous!


‘BLITZKRIEG’


‘M.I.A.'