Tosh Berman's Blog, page 96
April 6, 2021
The Weirdos - "Destroy All Music" Compilation, Vinyl, 2007 (BOMP!)
In England, there were the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Here in Los Angeles, and in the 1970s Punk era, it was The Screamers and The Weirdos. There were many other bands in Southern California at the time, but those two were the ones that I found to be the most interesting. The Screamers were keyboard electronic orientated theater band. The Weirdos were rock n' roll but with a sense of absurdity. At least on stage, they were outlandish with their trashcan clothing style. On record, they are a powerful rock band.
It's amusing now to think of Punk as being one type of music. It never was. One would think it's all "One...Two...Three, and Go," but the truth that there were a lot of subtle differences between all the groups. The Weirdos will be placed in the Punk Rock section of a music store, but they are also a classic hard rock band. It is always backed by a powerful drummer such as Nicky Beat and the wonderful Danny Benair of The Quick/The Three O'Clock fame. Their music had a slow built-up tension, and then one approaches the chorus as it builds and builds to a sense of ecstasy. Listening to it now reminds me a bit of Howard Devoto's Magazine. There are intelligence and a fair amount of humor in how they presented their music and visuals. The other memebers of the band are Cliff Roman, Dix Denney, and his brother the vocalist John Denney.
"Who? What? When? Where? Why?" the six-song EP that is part of the compilation is superb. "Happy People," "Big Shot," and "Idle Life, among the others, are classic rock. Not far off from Slade or the hard glam sound of the early 70s. An artifact from my past, but when I listen to this record now, it takes me to a very contemporary present.
The World of Tosh Berman: Tuesday, April 6, 2021
My latest piece, or an introduction to the series "The World of Tosh Berman" is now up. Here: The World of Tosh Berman: Tuesday, April 6, 2021
April 5, 2021
The Free Spirits - "Out of Sight and Sound" 1967, Vinyl (ABC Records)
I purchased this used album due to the front cover's groovy aspect and even more so to its title, "Out of Sight and Sound." The Free Spirits are basically a jazz band. Two guitars, electric bass, drums, vocals, and Saxophone/flute. To me, the album yells out mid-60s Manhattan, and I see The Free Spirits fitting in into the world of The Fugs and The Velvet Underground. Over anything else, I'm intrigued when jazz-heads do rock. The known musicians on this album are the guitarist Larry Coryell and sax player Jim Pepper, who, by the way, is excellent on this record.
"Out of Sight and Sound" was produced by Bob Thiele and engineered by the great Rudy Van Gelder at his tremendous and legendary studio in Englewoods Cliffs in New Jersey. The Free Spirits do twelve songs, I presume, in the hopes of getting a hit of some sort. Live, they stretch out like a jazz band, so the tension between the jazz mentality and pop is at its contrasting postures.
The album is not by any means a masterpiece but a great work of curiosity. For those who love The Lovin' Spoonful, The Velvets, and The Fugs, I think this record needs to be placed in that post-hippie but right before the music world became totally dull. Coryell, the music director of this band, became a significant jazz guitarist in the jazz world. Here he put his talents to the rock n' roll medium and tried to stretch it to something new at the time. I love 1967.
Tosh Berman's Monday, April 5, 2021 "My Earthquake"
This is me while writing Monday, April 5, 2021. You can read my essay about the Earthquake that took place in Los Angeles today and as always, something bigger. -Tosh BermanTosh's Monday, April 5, 2021 "My Earthquake"
Wallace Berman Postcard Sent to Lawrence and Patricia Jordan
April 4, 2021
Jacques Dutronc "L' Arsène" Vinyl, LP, Album, France, 1971 (Disques Vogue)
Being an English-speaking music listener going into French pop music is often a journey without a map but some signal posts along the road. There are essential figures one hears about, and one of those significant artists is Jacques Dutronc. He started off as a guitarist and did many recording sessions by others in the early 1960s. It wasn't until he started to write songs with Jacques Lanzmann, a poet, and a much-older lyricist, that his reputation as a figure in the French entertainment world.
When I hear Dutronc's 60s material, I think of Ray Davies. It's the combination of garage rock but obviously with a great sense of style and wit. Lanzmann's lyrics are satirical in most cases, but having an older man's presence mixed in with a rogue-like personality of Jacques Dutronc is a beautiful juxtaposition between greatness and silliness. Of all the French rock figures, including Serge Gainsbourg and Jacno, Dutronc plays with the almost-tourist mentality of what we think of as a Frenchman. A devil in the form of a handsome man, with a gleam in his eye.
"L'Arsène" is the album's title. In actuality, it is the theme song to the TV series based on the tremendous fictional criminal figure Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. On the back cover of this album, Dutronc is displayed as Lupin. Dutronc often has a smile, which conveys a sense of either sensuality adventure or a criminal's favorite pastime. The music brings a spirit of good times, but I sense that it can turn into darkness. In the 1970s, Dutronc music changes (of course), but it is rich with French music tradition mixed in with the Rock n' Roll of that era. More of a Punk than a lover of Laurel Canyon culture.
"Radio Aether"
Part of the "Radio Aether" series of prints made with the great assistance of Gemini GEL in Los Angeles. One can purchase the limited editon of theboxset at the Kohn Gallery. It's a remarkable work in itself. I do someone who has the original works that were made into the series. The prototype of "Radio Aether." She's looking for a good home for the work. -Tosh Berman
