Monthly Archives: May 2016

1076. truckin’ off across the sky

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We’ll give this one to Lester Bangs, because without his review, Philip Random would never have been on the lookout for a copy of Live at the Paramount, which he found at yard sale, 1980s sometime. Cost him at least a dollar. “The Guess Who have absolutely no taste at all, they don’t even mind embarrassing everybody in the audience, they’re real punks without ever working too hard at it […]  In case you wondered about the drug commercial, it’s in a song called Truckin Off Across The Sky, the main character of which is the Grim Reaper. There he is … grinning, outstretched arms holding bags of you-know-what. Positively the best drug song of 1972. And this may well be the best live album. F*** all them old dudes wearing their hip tastes on their sleeves: get this and play it loud and be first on your block to become a public nuisance.”

1077. Mr Oil Man

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“Jarvis Street Revue stumbled out of Thunder Bay, Ontario in the late 1960s, not that many noticed. I certainly didn’t. But a song as long and weird and serious as the title track of their only album Mr. Oil Man was always going to find me, I figure. The environment is f***ed and The Man is to blame. Same as it ever was, and here we all still are. I don’t know if that’s cause for hope or despair. Probably a little of both.” (Philip Random)

1. The Solid Time of Change

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Last week saw the debut of Randophonic’s latest series, The Solid Time of Change (aka the 661 Greatest Records of the so-called Prog Rock era) – an overlong yet incomplete history of whatever the hell happened between 1965 and 1979, not in all music, not even in most of it, but definitely in a bunch of it, particularly via bands hailing from the United Kingdom.

Youtube playlist (possibly not the exact versions that were played). Download podcast.

What is Prog Rock, and does it somehow differ from Progressive Rock, or for that matter, rock that merely progresses? These may seem simple questions but they are in fact doors that open unto some of the most complex enigmas of this split-atomic age.

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The good news is, for the next year (or thereabouts) there shall be a radio show broadcasting pretty much every Saturday night, starting at 11pm (Pacific Time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9 wherein these enigmas shall be explored – also queens and kings, queendoms and kingdoms, and dreams, wizards and witches, oceans, concertos, overtures, finales, voyages, apocalypses, angels, sandcastles, swords, redeemers, rebels, relayers, even a little funk; not to mention islands, saviours, prophecies, revelations, giants, shipwrecks, astronauts, rituals, robots, roundabouts, gods and goblins, sacred texts and liars, journeys and parades, runaways and sorcerers, at least one girl child named Linda, the total mass retain and the seven seas of Rhye.

The first part of our journey went something like this:

  1. Apollo 100 – joy
  2. Emerson Lake + Palmer – Karn Evil 9 [1st impression part 2]
  3. Yes – beyond + before
  4. Genesis – where the sour turns to sweet
  5. Genesis – in the beginning
  6. Spirit – space child
  7. Spirit – aren’t you glad
  8. Uriah Heep – the wizard
  9. Queen – someday one day
  10. Queen – great king rat
  11. Electric Light Orchestra – Battle of Marston Moore [fragment]
  12. The Move – message from the country
  13. Electric Light Orchestra – 10538 Overture
  14. Giorgio – automation
  15. Guess Who – key [edit]
  16. Pink Floyd -Matilda Mother
  17. Kansas – Incomudro [lamplight to the Atman]
  18. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Ramble Tamble

Installment #2 airs 11pm, Saturday, May 14 on CiTR, with relevant links to be eventually posted here and our Facebook.

1078. mouldy old dough

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“I’m not clear on who Lieutenant Pigeon was or whether he (or they?) ever even released another record. Because Mouldy Old Dough was more than enough for posterity, proving a monster hit in Britain, and yes, it’s all the evidence one requires to posit that there really was once a time (call it 1972) when lead flute and a growling vocal were all anyone needed to achieve pop glory. If the song’s actually about anything, it may be that tendency in medieval times for folks to go mad after eating bread baked from moldy dough, research into which would eventually give us LSD. This is true.” (Philip Random)

1079. I wanna rule the world

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In 10cc‘s hands, pop was alive and rather brilliantly insane in 1976. Or whatever you call the kind of music they were messing around with on the album How Dare You? in general, the song I Wanna Rule The World in particular – spending big money on studio time and album art. “Art for art’s sake, money for god’s sake,” as one of the other songs on the album put it.

1080. C.I.A.

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Before there was a Disposable Heroes of HipHopracy, before there was a Spearhead, Michael Franti‘s considerable talents could be found in the Beatnigs, who were a mixed bag in every possible way. Funk, industrial, punk, powertools, chunks of raw metal, genuine FIRE.  It all caught Jello Biafra’s attention, and likely the CIA’s as well.

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