A big (Mike) Hug(g)

March 11th, 2021

My long promised (threatened?) podcast is here! It’s not about music, but instead I’m focusing on movies, specifically movies that have fallen through the cracks of time. Maybe they were once huge but now irrelevant, massive failures, rarely-seen B-movies, or underground flicks that still haven’t gotten their just due. My focus is broad, there are a lot of films that I want to shine a spotlight on that I feel people either aren’t talking about or have barely even heard of. And no, you’re not wrong, there are some parallels  between what I want to focus on with my podcast and what I’ve always been writing about here. You might say that the podcast is the movie equivalent of this website.

It’s called Cinema Oblivia, and for the premiere episode I took a look at the film, Flashdance. Yeah, Flashdance isn’t exactly a lost or forgotten film, but I think that people today really don’t understand just how big of an influence it was on popular culture. I think that 80s nostalgia continues to refuse to die, but Flashdance hasn’t been part of that recently. Is it a great movie? Not really. But it’s an interesting movie, with some fascinating stories behind it. Joining me to discuss the movie is an old friend, Jennifer Fiorini. She was 13 years old when the movie came out (…and my babysitter!) so she was totally it’s target demographic. Also, as a former dancer and current film scholar, she brings a lot of interesting insight into the discussion.

I plan on making these weekly for a least a little while. Flashdance was actually last week’s episode. This week Eric Pope and I discuss the Walter Hill career-killer Streets Of Fire. That episode is up now!

After that, Madeleine Koestner joins me to talk about Sorcerer, the hyper-stressful dynamite-fueled thriller by William Friedkin. And then for the forth episode, Emma Buntrock-Muller and myself take a deep dive look at Brian Depalma’s musical horror classic, Phantom Of Paradise.

I got a few more episodes lined up already and I’ll announce them soon too. Also, I’m looking for more guests! If you are, or know anyone, with at least a modicum of experience talking or writing about film, shoot me a comment either here or on Twitter. I’m always looking for more guests. I’m especially looking for people of color and trans individuals. Not only for films that are relevant to them, but for any movie.

And if you like it, leave a review on Apple’s Podcasts. I hear that helps surface the show a bit better. There’s a sea of podcasts out there, it’s hard to get an audience.

In the interests of self-promotion, I guess I should share something tonight that has the chance of going viral, which in turn might lead people to the podcast. But instead, here’s some progressive rock/funk by a member of Manfred Mann.

I’m bad at this.

Hug
Look At Yourself
Breakdown
Star Traveller
Hug is the brainchild of Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann. When that band disbanded in the late 60s, he first stayed with Mann to form the Manfred Mann’s confusingly-named second band, Manfred Mann Chapter Three. He didn’t stick around for the far more commercially-successful Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, however, instead deciding to go solo. He released two albums in 1972 and 1973, respectively, but I don’t think either made waves on either side of the Atlantic.

After that, he formed Hug, and they released their sole album, Neon Dream, in 1975. Alongside Mike Hugg on the album is Marcus James on bass, Ron Telemaque behind the drums, and guitarist John Knightsbridge. Yeah, I never heard of any of them either. Knightsbridge apparently played with Illusion, the Renaissance offshot group, for while, and Telemaque and James worked with Eddy Grant for a bit. But most of their work is on smaller labels with artists I’m not that familiar with. That’s not to say they’re untalented musicians! On the contrary, if this album is any indication, they shred.

Neon Dream isn’t an earth-shatteringly great record, but it’s a very good one. It’s kind of a mix between jazz, progressive rock, and funk, with more of an emphasis on the latter two, thankfully. It has the feel of a bunch of dudes getting together and jamming, while keeping a pretty tight focus on making good, pop-friendly tracks with solid hooks. There are only six tracks on the album, five of which are over six minutes long. I bet they were really good live.

The three tracks I’m sharing here are the longer numbers, which I feel work better than the slightly-shorter tracks. These guys are at their best when they really let loose, especially Knightsbridge, he fucking kills it on “Breakdown” and “Star Traveller.” It’s a shame he didn’t put out more work back in the 70s, his loose, jazzy style would’ve fit in great with any number of progressive acts that were around at the time.

Hug’s Neon Dream seems to have been released in the UK only, and was never reprinted on tape or CD. That makes it pretty rare. It’s not a super-valuable record or anything like that, but it usually goes for at least 20 bucks when I see a copy, that’s more than a lot of other forgotten prog and funk from the early 70s. I hope someday that it can get a proper CD re-release. Fans of the genre should dig it.

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Totally Tubular (Bells) and Utah Saints

March 3rd, 2021

Keyboards Affair
Tubular Bells (New Dance Version)
Commando
I saw this in a progressive rock record store, of all places, for about five bucks. Upon laying my eyes on it I immediately knew I wanted it. A “dance version” of “Tubular Bells?” Who would be so stupid/insane/brilliant to try such a thing, and why did I know that they were Italian?

This is the sole release by Keyboards Affair, aka Roberto Rossi, best known as the producer/writer of Sabrina’s international trash dance hit “Boys.” You ever seen the original video for that shit? Jesus Christ. I’m gayer than a rainbow at a Cher concert but even I’m taken aback by that one, or should I say, those two. Did that actually air on TV?!

Sorry, something got the breast best of me for a second. This is a decent, fun mix of “Tubular Bells,” although the spoken word interlude is entirely worthless and should not be there. “Commando” is sadly not a remix of any of the music from the Arnold film, but an original piece (at least I think so). It’s a good jam, with a slight creepy, dark vibe to it. Have Justice sampled this? I feel like Justice should sample this. The end of this, vocal snippets not withstanding, is really quite good.

Utah Saints
Believe In Me (7″ Edit)
Believe In Me (DJ Tim’s Bliss Mix)
What Can You Do For Me? (Madness Mix)
“Believe In Me” features a sample of Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk.” That, by definition, means it is one of the greatest dance songs of all time. These two remixes still have that sample, so they are very good.

The original version of “What Can You Do For Me?” is built entirely off of a sample from The Eurythmics’ classic “There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart.” That, by definition, also means it is one of the greatest dance songs of all time. Who doesn’t want to dance to Annie Lennox? This remix keeps that Eurythmics sample, but at a reduced rate. That’s not right. I feel that when you’re listening to “What Can You Do For Me?” you come in expecting a certain percentage of that song to be comprised of samples of Annie Lennox’s godlike voice. When you remove any percentage of said sample, you’re make the song that much worse. It’s just simple math. If anything, when remixing “What Can You Do For Me?” you should add MORE Annie Lennox. Well, I guess that’s true for most things. Nothing has ever been damaged by adding Annie Lennox to it.

 

Posted in remixes, Utah Saints | 4 Comments »

Super Mario’s first vinyl adventures

February 23rd, 2021

In 1986 Nintendo released two Mario-themed singles. As far as I can gather, the songs on these singles were never compiled on a proper LP, nor have they every gotten legit CD or digital releases. They’re some of the rarest, and most interesting, music tracks that Nintendo has ever put together.

Across the two singles there are three songs (click on the links to download the songs):

マリオの大冒険 (Mario no dai boken), meaning “Mario’s Big Adventure”
“Go Go Mario!!”
クッパ一族かぞえ唄 (Kuppa ichizoku kazoe-uta) which translates to “Koopa Clan Counting Song.”

I’m going to start with “Go Go Mario!!” because if you’ve heard any of these, it’s probably this one. This is just the game’s various themes blended together with lyrics on top. The sound effects area little more clean than what’s on the game proper, but very little has been changed musically. Some vinyl rips of this track made their way online a few years back, and a lot of blog posts wrote about the “weird” lyrics. Here are said “weird” lyrics, newly translated by my boyfriend, who is a native Japanese speaker (he prefers to be anonymous here, thanks).

Today, too, Mario runs and runs vigorously.
He will go and rescue Princess Peach. Go.
Today, too, Mario runs vigorously.
Today, too, Mario jumps vigorously!
Today, too, Mario, find the coins vigorously.
Today, too, Mario, go ahead.
Get a Mushroom and you will be Super Mario.
Get a Flower and you will be Fire Mario.
Here come Goombas, here come Koopa Troopas, here come Buzzy Beetles. Beat them all.
Mario is always vigorous and strong.

Today, too, Mario runs and runs vigorously.
He will go and beat the Bowser Family. Go.
Today, too, Mario runs vigorously.
Today, too, Mario jumps vigorously!
Today, too, Mario, find the coins vigorously.
Today, too, Mario, go ahead.
Catch Stars and you will be invincible.
Go and rescue Peach right away.
Here come Lakutis, here come Spinies, here come Cheep Cheeps. Beat them all.
Mario is always vigorous and strong.

Today, too, Mario runs and runs vigorously.
Here is the Castle; set the fireworks off one after another.
Mario, dodge Hammer Bros. swiftly
And squeeze out every last bit of your strength.
It’s been a long journey but it’s going to be over soon.
You did it! You have beaten Bowser!
Princess Peach says Thank you! to Mario,
And his heart expands in delight.
Mario’s adventure has finished here,
But his dreams will go on forever.

What no one seemed to mention at the time, however, is that “Go Go Mario!” was just one version of the Super Mario Bros. theme with lyrics. Also released at the same time was “Mario’s Big Adventure,” a more full-featured arrangement with original instrumentation, not just game music samples. This is my preferred version. It’s more fleshed out. It has a livelier sound, and it makes use of the game’s sound effects. It also takes full advantage of the underwater theme. In “Go Go Mario!” the singer just talks over that part, this version features actual singing that goes along with the melody. “Mario’s Big Adventure” also adds in a full chorus that’s catchy as hell.

Here are the lyrics to “Mario’s Big Adventure,” again translated by my boyfriend.

Here goes Mario to slay Bowser,
Who is disturbing the Mushroom Kingdom’s peace.

Poor Princess Peach, held captive in the castle,
She is in tears, waiting to be rescued.

Trample Goomba the Traitor.
Kick Koopa Troopa down to Hell.

Super Mario, transform yourself with a Mushroom!
Super Mario, vent the wrath of Justice!

Quick! Jump! Run vigorously today, too!
Don’t miss the coins in the air!

After having gone through the flames, Mario finds Toad,
Saying, “Sorry, Princess Peach is in another castle.”

Mario, love is your force;
You’ll fight with your gentleness in your heart
That everyone has forgotten.

Super Mario, super star invincible,
Super Mario, miracle power!

Mario cannot make any mistakes, until he rescues Princess Peach
And breaks the Koopa Clan’s spell.

Super Mario, transform yourself with the Flower!
Super Mario, give Bowser your mortal blow!

Super Mario, Our hero!
Super Mario, glorious victory!

The B-side to “Mario’s Big Adventure” was “The Koopa Family’s Counting Song.” This song doesn’t feature any music from Super Mario Bros. Instead, it’s an “educational” song of sorts that uses the Mario villains to help teach children how to count. This may be based on an existing counting song, but my boyfriend didn’t recognize the melody. To me, this track features the strangest lyrics of the bunch. My boyfriend is steadfast in that the song refers to goombas as “bastards.”

Chorus
The Koopa Family’s counting song,
Here come bad guys one after another!
Koo-koo-koopas are desperate.

One:
What terrible bastards Goombas are!
They have betrayed the Mushroom Kingdom.
(Goombas are bastards, bastards!)

Two:
Trample and kick Koopa Troopas
When they are turned upside down, they are merely turtles.
(Let’s trample and kick Koopa Troopas!)

Three:
There is a big difference between being told about something and seeing it with your eyes.
The Piranha Plant is terrifying.
(You cannot buy it at a flower shop. It’s a strange flower.)

Four:
For heaven’s sake! In the sea,
Uninvited, Bloopers are coming up.
(Mario is good at treading water.)

*Chorus*

Five:
Fire comes up from the pond.
Mario can dodge it quickly.
(Fire Bars are turning round.)

Six:
Seeing it’s a reckless attack, Mario desperately tries to beat
Hammer Bros.
(Never does he fall without gaining something.)

Seven:
Spinies are scary enough to quieten a crying baby.
They are nasty guys because Mario cannot trample them.
(Who is the meek one?)

Eight:
Hateful Koopa Paratroopas!
They are turtles but flutter in the air.
(Cranes can live for a thousand years and turtles can live for ten thousand years.)

*Chorus*

Nine:
Straight-faced Lakitus go,
Dropping Spiny Eggs from clouds.
(They are cunning enough not to get off their clouds.)

Ten:
Be aware of Scull marks
As they are cannons firing Bullet Bills.
(The booming fireworks are beautiful.)

Extra:
Whether lucky or not,
After Mario has dodged a Buzzy Beetle, he falls.
(He looks self-important but very silly in fact.)

Finally:
A laughter is coming from the castle.
Devilish Bowser is hard to destroy.
Beat hell out of him!

 

The single with “Mario’s Big Adventure” and “Go Go Mario!” that I have is a promo release, most likely for record stores and radio stations. The cover advertises the 3/30 release date, as well as the 4/21 release date for the cassette single version. This promo record is the only release that has both “Mario’s Big Adventure” and “Go Go Mario!” on it. The commercial release of “Mario’s Big Adventure” (pictured at the top of this page) has “The Koopa Family’s Counting Song” as its B-side. “Go Go Mario!” was released separately as its own single, apparently only on cassette tape. That version has an instrumental version of “Go Go Mario!” as its B-side that is apparently exclusive to that release. So great, now I have to add that to my Discogs wantlist.

I tried to dig up more information on these songs performers, but I couldn’t find much. Aya are Nakayoshi Oendan credited as the performers of “Mario’s Big Adventure,” but I don’t think that they did anything aside from that one song. The singer on “Go! Go Mario!!” is listed as “Princess Peach” so good luck finding out who that actually is. The lyrics were supposedly written by fans, as a result of some contest or radio promotion.

Again, these songs are out-of-print. They’ve been out-of-print so long that I feel no guilt in sharing them today. Who knows if Nintendo will ever re-release them. I doubt it. Last year was Mario’s 35th anniversary and about the only thing that Nintendo bothered to do to commemorate it was release a shoddy collection of some old Mario games with barely any improvements or enhancements. Blizzard put more work into their recent release of Rock n Roll Racing than Nintendo did with their Super Mario 64 re-release, and that’s just messed up.

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lesser-known Mario Bros. arrangements. I have entire CDs of stuff like this. I might share some more in the future, but I don’t want to go too wild with it. Nintendo might throw me in a pipe and launch me out of the country.

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The Hitmen and other obscurities (special appearance by Bad Manners)

February 15th, 2021

Bad Manners – Bang The Drum All Day
Leisure Process – Cashflow
I Am Siam – Talk To Me (I Can Hear You Now)
The Hitmen – Bates Motel
All of these tracks are from the compilation, Wave Goodbye To The 80’s. This is a very strange record for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it came out in 1995. Five years removed from the 80s is too soon for nostalgia, and too late for decade-ending retrospective/greatest hits of the decade type thing.

But the weirdest thing about the album is its tracklist, a very bizarre assortment of lesser-known tracks by moderately established artists and bizarre deep cuts from underground acts that never even came close to the mainstream. Why would a label decide to throw Mi-Sex’s “Grafiti Crimes” on a decade retrospective? Was anyone in 1995 clamoring for a re-release of Freur’s “Doot Doot” aside obsessive Underworld fans? Probably not. No one wanted to hear Men At Work’s “Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive” ever again, I know that for sure.

The four tracks I’m sharing tonight are the four on the album that appear to still be out-of-print. The biggest of these is Bad Manners’ cover of “Bang The Drum All Day.” This track was on the band’s 1985 album Mental Notes. That wasn’t as big as the four that preceded it, but I’m surprised that it remains out of print on CD save for a late-90s UK only re-release. Perhaps the album has some rights issues. It’s a great cover!

The other three rarities are some real obscurities. “Cashflow” was a single by Leisure Process, a synth-pop duo who released several singles on Epic in the first half of the decade, but never an album proper. A lot of bands like that have had their singles compiled for retrospective compilations, but not Leisure Process. Only a couple of their songs have made their way to CD, and only on bizarre releases like this one. “Cashflow” is some good mid-tier synth-pop with a unique sound. It has that 80s sax, and a bouncy, almost ska-like beat, combined with some dissonant post-punk guitars and sardonic vocals. I get a poppy Romeo Void vibe from them.

Gary Barnacle made up one half of Leisure Process, and while you might not know his name, you almost certainly have albums he appeared on if you enjoy 80s music. Dude is on albums by Kim Wilde, The Clash, Tina Turner, Soft Cell, Visage…the list goes on. He has over 900 credits on Discogs. I like it when “failed” acts can find success behind the scenes.

I Am Siam were a synth-pop act from New York, which means their singer was either a UK transplant or he’s faking that accent Al Jorgensen With Sympathy style. “Talk To Me (I Can Hear You Now)” is some typical-ass typical mid-80s synth-pop. If you told me that this was Wang Chung, Simple Minds, Thompson Twins, or any other moderately decent act from the era, I’d believe you. It’s the kind of track that you dig while you’re listening to it, but immediately forget it five seconds into the next track on the album.

Finally, there’s “Bates Motel” by The Hitmen, the actual reason why I bought this album. I’ve been obsessed with this track ever since I found it on some MP3 blog in the mid-2000s. I don’t know which one, all those blogs are gone now (EXCEPT MINE). But ever since then I’ve been trying to score a decent-sounding recording of it. I first posted this track back in 2013, recording it off of a promo 12″ single. That rip wasn’t great since the record was pretty beaten up. Since then, I bought the band’s 1981 sophomore (and final) release Torn Together twice! Each time only to rip this track, but in both instances the album was too torn up to get a halfway decent rip.

I was shocked when I discovered that the track somehow made its way onto this CD compilation, so I paid two bucks for this CD (…and $14 in shipping) to get it. But it was worth it! I was fearful that the track was going to be a cheap vinyl rip, but it seems to have been taken from the master, or at least a decent tape source. It’s the best version of the song I’ve ever heard, crystal clear. If I can ever have a Halloween party again, I can finally put it on the playlist.

The Hitmen were really good. I can’t figure out why their stuff has never been re-released on CD. There was even some pedigree in the band. Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode was there for a bit (albiet not on their albums) and other members in the group went on to work with artists like Gladys Knight, Nick Lowe, Kristy MacColl, and Allison Moyet. Have you seen some of the stuff that re-issue labels like Cherry Red put out? If acts like Dollar and Shoes can get their completely forgotten albums re-issued in deluxe box sets, the The Hitmen should get their stuff re-released too. That shit ain’t right.

Seriously, who is Dollar?

*goes to Wikipedia*

Wait, they had 10 top 40 singles in the UK? Listen, UK, someone needed to stage an intervention with you guys in the 80s. You took this shit too far. This is how you ended up with Living In A Box. You got no one to blame for that shit but yourself.

Posted in The Hit Men | 5 Comments »

The Funky Monkey Magic of Donkey Konga’s Hottest Hits

January 28th, 2021

I’ve been in and out of lockdown since March, but the one I’m currently in has been the hardest, and is soon entering its third month. And since Japan has not even approved a vaccine yet (because racism and stupidity), who knows when it will end.

What I’m saying is, the longer I can’t leave my house, the more likely it is I keep buying shit like this on Discogs. You can decide whether or not that’s good or bad.

Donkey Konga – The Hottest Hits
I never played Donkey Konga. It came out when I was living in a small apartment and had a roommate. Our relationship was already tumultuous, if I had started banging on plastic conga drums at all hours of the day he probably would’ve killed me. I love the idea though, and when its safe for me to go to Akihabara again and make regrettable purchases in person as opposed to online, who knows, I might pick it up. Does it even play nice on 4K TVs though?

I had no idea this album even existed. I stumbled upon it on Discogs just by typing “Nintendo” in the search field and digging through the results. Apparently it was a promo release that was included with some copies of a Nintendo magazine in Europe. It’s a very short CD. While it has seven tracks in total, each of them are very brief, leading to just a paltry 13 minutes of music, which is why I just went ahead and uploaded the whole thing.

 

The tracks included are:

  • Super Smash Bros. Melee Theme
  • Donkey Kong Country Theme
  • DK Rap
  • Donkey Konga Theme
  • Super Mario Bros. Theme
  • Rainbow Cruise
  • The Legend of Zelda Theme

Some of these are new arrangements, while others are just slightly modified or abbreviated edits of previously available versions. The Smash Bros. Melee Theme is similar to the original, from what I can tell. The DK Rap also doesn’t sound that different, although it is shorter. It cuts out after the third version. You can decide for yourself if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I think the Donkey Konga Theme and Rainbow Cruise tracks are identical to their original versions that appeared in their respective games also.

However, the Donkey Kong Country Theme seems to be a new arrangement, it’s definitely CD quality audio and not a rip from the SNES game, that’s for sure. It’s a fun take on the theme too, very big band in the way that many of Nintendo’s themes are when they get a proper CD release.

For me, the real highlights of this disc are the arrangements of the music from Zelda and Super Mario Bros. I think that both are original versions that were made for Donkey Konga, meaning that they were never released on any other CDs or games. As someone who has about a dozen different versions of the theme to Legend of Zelda, and god knows how many variations of the Super Mario Bros. Theme (official and otherwise) I can’t be 100% positive of that fact, but I’m fairly certain.

I really like both of these arrangements. They have that big band sound that I already mentioned, but they got a jazzy vibe to them. They’re a bit looser and goofier. This is especially the case with the Legend Of Zelda Theme. That’s not one that usually gets an upbeat, percussive, fun mix. Nintendo likes to treat that number with prestige and gravitas with a full orchestra more often than not. It certainly doesn’t often get remixed into a calypso jazz number. I imagine Link slaying some Moblins and then meeting up with Buster Poindexter for a conga line when I listen to this. Great stuff.

I have a lot of CD singles and other weird shit coming from Discogs soon. Some video game music, some not. If you were jonesing for some old-school remix-focused posts like I used to do “back in the day” I have at least two of those planned as well.

As always, stay safe out there. May the Donkey Kongas give you the strength to go on.

Posted in Complete Albums, Game Music | 2 Comments »

Three Natural One Remixes

January 22nd, 2021

Folk Implosion
Natural One (Unkle Mix)
Natural One (Instrumental Mix)
Natural One (Unkle No Scratch Mix)
“Yo check out this Unkle remix of this Folk Implosion song from an independent movie” is the most late-90s thing one could possibly say. I think I posted some of these mixes eons ago, but that was a really bad vinyl rip. These are from a CD single.

What a strange hit single. For those unaware, “Natural One” was on the soundtrack to the film Kids, a movie that was so sexually explicit that the MPAA gave it the dreaded NC-17 rating, leading the filmmakers to go the unrated route instead. I was interested in the movie when it came out, but I was also 15 years old. My parents, liberal as they were with my movie watching (they bought me a copy of A Clockwork Orange the same year) drew the line with Kids. I think it was the only movie from my father’s video store that I was literally barred from renting. In my 20s, I still haven’t seen the movie and honestly I have no desire to now. I’ve seen other movies by both the director Larry Clark and writer Harmony Korine. I think I can honestly say I’m not picking up what they’re putting down. Also, some…let’s be charitable and say “thematic elements”…of Clark’s films are really, really gross.

Folk Implosion was a side-project of Lou Barlow. Lou, for those who may not know, was/is also in Dinosaur Jr. He bounced from Dinosaur Jr. at the start of the 90s and went on form Sebadoh. Dinosaur Jr. had some minor hits without Lou, and Sebadoh was a college-rock indie-darling, but they never really made a dent on the mainstream charts.  That was always mystifying to me. Sebadoh was a weird band with a lo-fi bent, but they could craft catchy, guitar-hook heavy, rock songs like nobody’s business. If any of the pre-Nirvana alt-rock acts deserved to capitalize off of the grunge boom, it was them.

While Lou couldn’t score a pop hit with his decidedly radio-friendly rock band, he somehow managed to get a hit with this track, a bizarre electronica-tinged, creepy-sounding low-key tune taken off the soundtrack to a controversial, rarely-seen indie film that some critics dubbed as literal child pornography. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was a mainstream hit. It cracked the Billboard Top 30! People really undersell just how damn weird the 90s were sometimes, I swear.

I still can’t figure out how this song became a hit so I’m just going to go with “it’s damn good” and leave it at that. It also managed to come out at just the right time. 1995 was the year that it became safe to put electronic elements in your rock music again. Bjork’s Post had just come out earlier that year. That album, along with albums like Portishead’s 1994 debut Dummy, were big critical hits, and endeared college kids to the idea that rock music could have samplers and keyboards in it and still be cool. If this song had come out a year prior, it might have been a hit with the critics, but it probably wouldn’t have broken through to the mainstream. If it had dropped in the later half of 1996 or 1997, it would have been to late, as by then the Matchbox 20s and Third Eye Blinds of the world had successfully removed any remaining edge or originality from the alt-rock scene.

The failure of Folk Implosion to capitalize off this hit also demonstrates just how “1995” the song was. Their follow-up album, Dare To Be Surprised, came out in 1997. It got indie buzz, of course, but no radio play. They followed that album up with their major label debut One Part Lullaby in 1999. That one was obviously recorded with more of a radio-friendly intent, but it got zero interest and less-than-zero airplay, which is a shame because it’s a fantastic record (“Chained To The Moon” is a banger) and got really good reviews. Lou’s version of the group without co-founder John Davis, The New Folk Implosion, released a record in 2003, but that one couldn’t even get any indie-cred, and fell with a resounding thud. It’s also a good record and I recommend it.

Lou’s back with Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. now, and he also released a really good solo album a couple years back. Despite being his breakthrough act, Folk Implosion almost feel like a footnote to his career now, but I think that more people ought to check them out. If you dig “Natural One,” I really think you can’t go wrong with either One Part Lullaby or that New Folk Implosion album. Both feature more of the band’s lo-fi/electronic mix, and sound just as fresh and unique now as they did 20 years ago. Actually, with the re-emergence of amateur recordings and lo-fi home demos thanks to Tik Tok, they’re probably more relevant than ever.

Someone needs to make a Tik Tok meme to “Merry Go-Round” is what I’m saying.

 

 

Posted in Folk Implosion, remixes | 1 Comment »

Babylon B-sides

January 5th, 2021

I hope everyone had a good holiday season and is staying as safe as possible.

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. As I had been saying in many of my previous posts, I was moving to a new apartment last month, which kind of took up all my time. Things are finally settling down now. I got new record shelves built! They’re pretty. Take a look.

These are the first record shelves I’ve had in nearly a decade that allow me to shelve titles without having to sit on the ground or bend over for most of them. As a giant with a bad back, you have no idea how happy that makes me.

I finally got the turntable hooked up to the computer yesterday, but I still don’t have all that much to play on it since we’re on a near lockdown here in Tokyo and I haven’t made my way to a record store in over a month. I’ve been buying lots of new music online, but I haven’t been able to find any used and out-of-print items that I want to snag yet. I do feel a drunken night of Discogs browsing coming on soon though, maybe I’ll try to clean up on 80s and 90s maxi-singles, and stupid European electronic prog rock. Anyone know of any killer weird tracks that are on old singles but have yet to be re-issued? I’m looking for some good 80s and 90s stuff, I haven’t been on a binge of that stuff for a while now and I’m jonesing.

I also got some other plans for content this year. Not on this site, but I’m in the initial stages of setting up another podcast. This one focused on movies. I really don’t want to say more than that, and it’s definitely months away, but I’m excited about it.

In the meantime, here are some B-sides by an utterly forgotten one-hit wonder.

Babylon Zoo
Metal Vision
Blue Nude
Babylon Zoo were a one-hit wonder in both their native UK and Australia with their debut single “Spaceman,” which rocketed up the charts thanks to its inclusion in a Levi’s jeans commercial. The next time someone bemoans that TikTok is killing pop music by promoting forgettable tracks by mediocre artists, bring up that.

While a lot of one-hit wonders can at least claim a modicum of interest in their follow-up singles, Babylon Zoo are not nearly as lucky. From what I can gather, no one bought their second single. And while the group’s debut album got decent enough reviews, their 1999 follow-up, King Kong Groover, was absolutely savaged by the press and sank like a stone the second it came out. Checking up on Discogs, it appears that some members went on to do other things. One of them joined Alphaville for a bit, another one worked with Primal Scream for a while, and their original drummer was in a Celtic group of some regard. Singer Jas Mann hasn’t done much of anything though. He has a Twitter account that he hasn’t updated in more than a year, and despite teasing further Babylon Zoo material several times, nothing has materialized.

Is Babylon Zoo criminally underrated and unfairly maligned? Maybe. Shit. I don’t know. My knowledge of Babylon Zoo begins and ends with songs that were on singles to “Spaceman.” I had a 12″ single for this track eons ago, and even featured tracks from it here at some point. In the many years since then, most of those tracks have fallen back into print, including all the remixes of “Spaceman.” These b-sides are still out of print, however.

Based on these tracks, I’m gonna say that Babylon Zoo were…not bad! Maybe the entire album is dogshit on fire, I dunno, but I dig these a lot. “Metal Vision” rips off Gary Numan’s “Metal” for sure, but it’s a good rip-off and not many people in the 90s were ripping off Gary Numan, so points for originality. There isn’t much to “Blue Nude,” but it has a good groove and a glam, T. Rex type vibe.

Posted in B-sides, Babylon Zoo | 4 Comments »

Paragong’s First and Last Live Album

December 13th, 2020

Paragong
Camembert Psilocybin Flashback
Porquoi Dormons Nous?

So, there are a billion different variations and permutations of the band Gong. There’s the original Gong, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, Planet Gong, Gongzilla, Mother Gong, New York Gong, Gong Maison, and so on and so forth. More Gongs than a Neil Peart drum set, that’s for sure.

One of the strangest, and shortest-lived, Gong variations was Paragong. In early 1973, Gong founders Daevid Allen and Patti Smyth quit the group. They were burnt out, and Gilli had just given birth. They needed a break. Drummer Laurie Allan and bassist Francis Moze decided to cut loose at the same time too. This left just three members of the group, guitarist Steve Hillage, sax/flute player Didier Malherbe, and keyboardist Tim Blake.

The remaining members changed their name to Paragong and just kept on keeping on, recruiting bassist Mike Howlett and drummer Pierre Moerlin to make the group a five piece once more, with Hillage picking up vocal duties. They immediately started playing new shows with this new line-up, but only in France. They really didn’t have time to tour internationally, because Daevid and Gilli quickly returned to the group, only taking two months off. I guess they weren’t that burnt out after all. And with that Paragong became Gong again.

Paragong’s existence was extremely short, but the band’s time as Paragong was instrumental in their later sound. This is when Pierre Moerlin joined the group. You don’t have Angel’s Egg and You, two of the group’s best records, without him. And when Allen and Smyth would cut out again in the late-70s, it would be Moerlin who would take control of the group, transforming it into a jazz fusion group, and changing the name to “Pierre Moerlin’s Gong” along the way. I’m not a huge fan of that version of the group, but you can definitely hear the seeds of that sound in this recording, with it’s emphasis on improvisation and occasional forays into jazz territory.

Because Paragon were only around for two months, and they only played a few shows in France, there aren’t that many documents of their existence. I think this live album might be the only official recording of the group. It’s only two songs, but, being a Gong show, those two songs make up a full set thanks to extensive improvisations, jams, diversions, and freak outs.

If you’re a virgin to the wonderful world of Gong and you like what you hear on these tracks, I suggest giving some of the group’s other live recordings a try. They’re very similar to this one in terms of energy and style, focusing less on goofball lyrics and more on musical improvisation, but still within the confines of a psychedelic rock show, no extended jazz solos or anything like that. You can’t go wrong with Live, Etc., it’s probably the best document of the classic Gong line-up, even better than most of their studio albums. Also, Planet Gong’s Floating Anarchy 1977 is a great one, although Planet Gong are really just Here and Now under a different name, forming to…okay, that’s enough talk of Gong side-projects for one night. Maybe next time.

 

Posted in Gong | 1 Comment »

Even more Japanese synthesizers, now with anime

November 29th, 2020

My move to my new apartment is really kicking into high gear now. Since my new place is in the same building as my old place, I’ve been slowly moving a few things over everyday, as much as my back will allow. All my records are currently at my new place, as is my record player. This, coupled with a scary resurgence in COVID cases here in Tokyo, means that I can’t rip any LPs at the moment. Thankfully, I have an impressive backlog that I have to get through. However, nearly everything in said backlog is more weird-ass Japanese electronic shit. Or Madonna. So I hope you like stuff like this. Or Madonna. Cuz that’s what I have to offer in the immediate future.

 

Symphony Urusei Yatsura

I’m not all that into anime, at least not anymore. I was a teen in the mid-90s after all, so I was super into it then. I owned Akira on VHS tape, watched Ghost In The Shell a million times, rented weird random shit like Gunsmith Cats and Riding Beam, and even may have covertly sneaked out some “adult” anime out of my dad’s video store from time to time. But as anime got more omnipresent in the early 2000s, I checked out. I think the last series that I followed obsessively was Cowboy Bebop, and even then I didn’t finish it.

One anime that I always knew of, but never really engaged with, was Urusei Yatsura. I don’t know how, why, or when, I’ve just seemingly always known of its existence. Perhaps laserdiscs of it graced my local Suncoast Video back in the day, who knows.

I finally watched Beautiful Dreamer a couple years ago, the second and most widely regarded movie in the Urusei Yatsura series. It totally blew me away. Not only did it have an incredible story, but it was full of gorgeous, surreal images. I learned where 8 million vaporwave Tumblrs got their gifs from. I super recommend it. Even if you’re not an anime fan I’d say it’s worth checking out if you’re into sci-fi, philosophical films, or just weird shit.

However, I haven’t checked out any additional Urusei Yatsura content since then, which is a roundabout way of explaining that I don’t really know the origins of the music on this release. I know none of the tracks here were in Beautiful Dreamer, but I couldn’t tell you if they showed up in any other movies or OVAs from the series. There are a lot!

So what the heck is this exactly? Again…I don’t really know! It’s a very strange release. Like the Digital Trip albums that I love so much, I think it’s an all synthesizer re-imagining of music from Urursei Yatsura animations? Maybe? Or it could be a collection of entirely original music that just happens to have the Urusei Yatsura name on it. A lot of manga in the 80s had “soundtracks.” Bubble economy, yo. I tried to do a bit of research for this, and I came across some references to a laserdisc of the same name. It sounds like some sort of longform AMV, with scenes from various films and OVAs in the series set to music. I imagine this might be the soundtrack to said laserdisc. But, like I said, this is 90% speculation on my part. Like so much of what I’ve been sharing lately, English information is nearly nonexistent.

Whatever the source, I sure do dig it. Aside from what sound like authentic Japanese instruments, this is all synthesizer. And like so many synthesizer albums from Japan that were coming out at the time, it’s playful as hell. It bounces back and forth between styles and sound effects like a rubber ball on speed. One second its a ballistic industrial explosion reminiscent of early Art Of Noise, the next it’s a classical Japanese piece, before transforming again into something that sounds like a pastiche of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, then there’s ragtime! Why not!. It’s a mile a minute, never boring, and fantastic background music for writing or packing up multiple boxes of records. Trust me.

The album is credited to “Apricot Systematic,” but I think the real person behind the album was Fumitaka Anzai. In addition to his work on the Urusei Yatsura series, he not surprisingly contributed to the Digital Trip album series as well. He also was a member of TPO, a fantastic, batshit bizarre Japanese synthpop act from the early 80s. He was also a member of Crosswind, a better-than-average late-70s/early-80s progressive rock act.

If you listen to this and dig it. I suggest checking out some of the Digital Trip albums. I’ve mentioned them many times before, they’re fantastic digital synthesizer reworkings of classic anime themes. I featured the Lupin one here a few years back, and there are also excellent albums in the series that feature music from Nausica, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam, and many other classic anime titles. They’re all out-of-print, but you can find some good ones on Discogs and Amazon Japan at more than fair prices.

In the meantime, enjoy this slice of Japanese 80s ephemera.

Posted in Apricot Systematic, Complete Albums | 2 Comments »

Japan has four synthesizer seasons

November 15th, 2020

I haven’t posted anything in a couple of weeks. I’m in the middle of a move right now (great timing, I know) and that’s been taking up a good chunk of my time. But boy, a lot sure has changed in the world since I last wrote anything here, huh? Shit, a lot’s changed in the time between me starting this post and ending it!

Trump lost! Yay! Good!

COVID cases are spiraling out of control! Boo! Bad!

In conclusion, October and November have been a land of contrasts.

My move to a new apartment is still ongoing and will take some time. I’m not leaving Japan, don’t worry. Shit, I’m not even leaving my current building. I’m just upgrading to a bigger place so my boyfriend can move in with me (double yay). But I have about a month to go before the move is final and I still have to buy some more furniture, hook up internet, schedule the movers, get rid of a shitload of junk I don’t need, and arrange to have someone from Disk Union come out to buy an extra few hundred records that I don’t want to lug up to my new place because I already have so many records that I’m going to have to get custom shelves built once I get settled in the new apartment.

I’m not an addict you’re an addict shut up.

Let’s enjoy the impending end of the the orange autocrat with some relaxing (or excitng?) synthesizers and keyboards.

Koichi Oki – Exciting Keyboards: Four Seasons

It’s funny, for some reason I’ve been thinking about Vivaldi’s Four Seasons quite a lot lately. I wonder why.

This is not the first version of Four Seasons that I’ve shared on this blog. Shit, it’s not even the second. It’s the fourth. One was an all koto arrangement, while the other two were largely synthesized affairs. All were from Japan. Japan sure loves arranging Vivaldi. I think that’s because Japan has four seasons.

That’s an English teacher joke and trust me it’s hilarious.

This rendition of Vivaldi’s classic work is by a man named Koichi Oki. He released a few albums in Japan throughout the 1970s, and his work represents a unique subset of the Japanese record market of that time. Nearly all of his release were made, marketed, and sold solely to promote Yamaha keyboards. There were a ton of these records in the 70s and into the 80s here in Japan. The sub-standard ones really fill up the bargain bins. Yamaha really wanted people to know about their electone line of electric organs.

Oki’s albums aren’t even shy about this. On many, the Yamaha branding is downright omnipresent, and the name of the electone or synthesizer he’s playing on the album is often name-dropped in the album title as well. You have titles like Yamaha Superstar! Koichi Plays GX-1, and Koichi Oki Meets GX-707. These are basically demonstration records that Yamaha had the audacity to slap a price on and sell.

And I’m glad they did! Because the good ones are really good. This album owns. Comparing it to the previous synthesizer Vivaldi albums I shared, I would say it’s not as good as Frank Becker’s version of the suite, but it’s better than the Shigeaki Saegusa version. I really like Becker’s take since it’s just synthesizer and violin. Saegusa’s version features much more of a full band, almost too much at times. This one is a good middle ground. This record was made to showcase Yamaha’s keyboards after all, so they get the center stage, but a bit of guitar and some rad drumming on here as well. The opening of the Summer section, for example, slaps with some fantastic banging on the skins. I was not at all surprised to learn that the drummer on this is Akira Ishikawa, a legendary jazz drummer in Japan whose records are often sought after by DJs and producers because if their sick beats. Dude is a legend.

Of course, this is an Oki abum, so he takes the spotlight for most of it, and I really enjoy the sounds he’s able to pull out of that electone. The electone was an electronic organ, but I think that he has the thing patched through some other synthesizer to give it extra oomph. It’s not a combination you hear a lot (if at all) and it really stands out when compared to other synthesizer records of the era. He goes out there with some really crazy sounds at times, but he also knows when to reign it in with more traditional sounds that you’d hear from a normal-ass organ. It’s a great mix. It’s part classical, part rock, part funk, with a light dash of jazz thrown in on top.

Strangely, this album was released many times, often with different titles and artwork. In was first released in Japan in 1973 under the name Electone Fantastic – Vivialdi Four Seasons. Big electone branding for the domestic market, not surprising. But the album was also released in a few different overseas territories. Discogs only has the Dutch and Italian copies listed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it got released in other markets as well. In the Netherlands, the album was renamed Four Synthesizer Seasons, with simple classy artwork showcasing each season. In Italy, it was just called Le Quattro Stagioni – Vivaldi, which translates to, duh, The Four Seasons – Vivaldi. That cover is very similar to the original Japanese cover, but the caricature of Oki on the cover was replaced with what I assume is a cartoon portrait of Vivaldi. I will not stand for such synthesizer whitewashing!

However, I have none of those versions. For some reason, the album was re-released in 1978, with an entirely different title, Exciting Keyboards – Four Seasons. I mean, I like this album a lot, but I don’t know if it’s exciting. Fun, maybe? Refreshing? Uplifting? Sure, but exciting? Let’s not get carried away.

Speaking of getting carried away, check out that rad as hell album cover! The one at the top I mean. The one with the naked lady jumping rope with a freaking laser beam! In space! Forget what I said earlier, that’s some exciting shit for sure. I wish I could take a better picture of it, but I already packed up my records for the move, wrecking my back in the process. I sure as heck am not going to risk further injury just to take a high-res photo of the naked laser space jump rope lady. Sorry. Maybe some other time.

If you’re traveling through space with a naked lady and a laser jump rope, let me know if this album is a fitting soundtrack. Although please do the responsible thing and delay and trips (intergalactic or otherwise) until the coronavirus cases decrease a bit. Seriously. Stay at home. Listen to wonky 70s electronic albums and order a pizza. You can always go see your family and consume unhealthy amounts of turkey next year. Please.

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Posted in Complete Albums | 2 Comments »

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