Operation Ivy - Unreleased Energy

Operation Ivy was a legendary band by the time I first encountered them, even though they'd only been split up for a few years when I heard them for the first time. Here were these Berkeley (NOT San Francisco) kids who'd pitched in on building their own spaces to play. They, like the Specials and the Offs before them, melded contemporary punk with ska to create something new and unheard. OpIV packed their gear into sedans and toured the US at a time when Hüsker Dü, Bad Religion, and Fugazi were the only punk bands that could successfully conduct a national tour. And they all did it when they were snot nosed teenagers, the same age I was then.

I picked up a tape of the discography before I moved to Baltimore, which would have been 1993, and snagged a copy of the "Hectic" EP for $3 the week before I left Roanoke in 1994. I found this copy of "Unreleased Energy" in the small "Punk" section of the Sound Garden in Fells Point. I remember thinking, "Whew; $15 is a lot for a CD." But it was, ostensibly, three sets of demos cut by Operation Ivy in 1987 & 1988. So I picked it up. I swear I copped it in 1995, but Discogs sources it to 1996, and I'll own my cruddy memory.

This sounds like shit, which definitely makes sense considering how many generations in these source recordings must have been before being committed to CD. But it also suits things, because it captures teenagers making a racket at their least polished. And it's summer music, which is why I've been blaring it from car stereos and back porches for 30 years. It's a great spin for a weekend, or for sharing with your pre-teen niece.

Discogs

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various artists - The Sound Gallery Volume One

There's a dude over at Twilight Zone who's been posting KPM 1000 Series records the past few weeks, and they're all top notch. Thus it was serendipitous that this week's entry in the Scamp chronicles is their first compilation, "The Sound Gallery Volume One". It draws from KPM's gigantic library music collection, while being filled out with sounds from EMI's Studio Two imprint and United Artists. For the uninitiated, go immediately to the Alan Hawkshaw and Mandingo tracks.

These are quintessentially 70s sounds, and if they inspire you to dress like Serpico, well, I can't be held responsible.

Discogs

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Jackie Gleason – And Awaaay We Go!

I'm going to skip over SCP-9705 for now, due in great part to not knowing where the hell the actual CD is. Instead, let's proceed with a survey of Sheriff Buford T. Justice's character work. "And Awaaay We Go!" is an expanded edition of Jackie Gleason's 1954 10" release on Capitol. In addition to the eight tracks on that original release, the Scamp reissue adds theme music from both "The Jackie Gleason Show" and "The Honeymooners", a pair of recitations as Reginald Van Gleason III, and a few other incidental tracks. It adds up to an interesting artifact from the early days of television, as well as one of the few ways to experience Gleason's character work aurally. It is very, very cool.

Discogs

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Walter Wanderly - Samba Swing!

The Brazilian pianist/organist Walter Wanderley had already released something like 15 full-lengths by the time he moved to the United States and signed to Verve Records in 1965. Verve would release another six records by Wanderley between 1966 and 1968, including a co-headlining slot with Astrid Gilberto, a collaboration with guitarist Luiz Henrique, and a small group LP as the Walter Wanderley Trio. The other three records were produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, and make up catalog number SCP 9704-2, third in the list of Scamp releases.

And it's fan-freakin'-tastic. I've always had a soft spot for any bossa nova, MPB, or samba music, all of which still turn up reliably in thrift store bins. But I've never come across any of these Wanderley Verve releases, so it's nice to have some of it compiled here. It's not quite on the level of "Getz/Gilberto", but its material deserves to be reissued more than once every 30 years. Bonus notes: this reissue was digitally mastered by Alan Douches, who's engineered an MFT of hardcore, metal, emo, and punk over the years.

Discogs

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various artists - Depeche Mode: Reconstruction Time (A Tribute Compilation)

This is not typical Primitive Offerings fare. A 30-year-old German tribute to Depeche Mode is not my bread & butter. But I snagged this one a year and a half ago specifically because it's so outside the norm of what I write about, and because it allows me to talk a bit about my favorite secret subgenre.

I fucking LOVE EBM.

I dated a fair amount of goth/industrial girls in my teens and twenties. And while the visual aesthetics and general mope-ery of those genres aren't my bag, I'll be damned if the music doesn't make me horny as hell. It sounds like sweat and body heat feels to me. Even in middle age, with a record that came out at a particularly fallow time for EBM, this just makes me want to grind it out in a pair of tall Docs and a tight pair of jeans. And Depeche Mode felt like a proper group to pay tribute to, as my favorite songs fit well in a setlist made up of the Normal, Die Krupps, Nine Inch Nails, and Suicide.

All in all, it was worth picking this one up and, quite frankly, it's weird to me that this never got formally released here in the States. It seems tailor made for a late-90s Cleopatra reissue.

Discogs

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Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free

It's been a year since I last posted an Infinite Zero reissue, so I guess we're due, right? And this one is long overdue.

"Songs Of The Free" was Gang Of Four's third full-length, their first without bassist Dave Allen (replaced by Sara Lee here), and, arguably, their final unequivocally great LP. The post punk is still there, but the agitpop has been replaced by a lot of early-80s synthpop. It's still great; after all, this record kicks off with "Call Me Up", "I Love A Man In Uniform", and "We Live As We Dream, Alone", which is one hell of a way to kick off a record. This Infinite Zero reissue was the first time this had been released on CD, and adds the "I Love A Man In Uniform" dub remix and "The World At Fault" from various "I Love..." single releases.

I've found, over the years, that just about any track from this is a floor filler at your local indie sleaze night. Don't believe me? Well, that's your right, man.

Discogs

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various artists - Live From The Masque: Wewecancandodowhatwhatwewe Wanna Do

The second of three volumes in the "Live From The Masque" series, this one has F-Word, the Zeros, the Alleycats, and the almighty X. So two Dangerhouse bands, one of whom remains an all-timer, along with the group that gave us El Vez, and an early Posh Boy highlight. L.A. circa 1978 was so fucking cool.

Discogs

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various artists - Classic Jazz Funk Volume One

The whole point of this blog is to share the out-of-print, the cheaply-acquired, the nearly-forgotten. This, the first of three volumes of MVP/React's Classic Jazz Funk series, falls under the the third category.

And, by that, I don't mean the artists appearing herein. I assume you can stream Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" or Roy Ayers' "Running Away" just about anywhere, so the out-of-print part doesn't really apply. As for cheaply acquired? Well, I bit the bullet, having already owned and shared copies of Volumes Two & Three, and plunked down $3.99 plus shipping for this copy. Not quite the dollar bin fare I live to share here, although it's less than I ever spent seeing Fugazi, so there you go.

No, it's the nearly-forgotten that I think best applies here. Are the crate diggers still on the hunt for old Flying Dutchman pressings? What do the kids know about Tom Browne? Ronnie Laws? Shit, do they even fuck with George Benson? Is Groove Holmes just a deep cut Beastie Boys reference to folks today?

Look, it is geting hot as hell out here. Even the PNW was nearing 90 this weekend. But when the darkness comes around 9pm these days, this is the perfect cooldown soundtrack, a perfect play at the pool to get the people amorous and have the trainspotters say, "oh, shit, I know that sample!"

Discogs

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various artists - Nothing's Quiet On The Eastern Front

I've been digging through boxes of CDs at the storage unit, looking to (re)rip stuff that I haven't listened to in forever and write about. I've come across unlabeled CD-Rs, a few of which I'll share here in the coming weeks. There's been a ton of promo CDs and demos. And there's stuff like this, which I should have never forgotten about in the first place.

I picked this up via mailorder from Revelation Records, along with a Texas Is The Reason long sleeve t-shirt and a Youth of Today tee, with the $100 my mom gave me for my 19th birthday. "Nothing's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was released by Reservoir out of Queens, New York, and documented the extreme hardcore, grind, and power violence that was coming through the Northeast in the mid-90s. I'm pretty sure I snagged this because Suppression was on it, and they were from southwestern Virginia, as well as fukkin' nuts; a very appealing mix for me, since I was a recent transplant from SWVA. I knew of Brutal Truth as well from being on Relapse, but the rest of it was a mystery at the time.

This one was a huge ear opener. I was diving fully into the relatively sedate sounds of contemporary hardcore and emo, and "Nothing's Quiet", like its West Coast namesake from a decade plus before, served as an immediate scene report of bands to check out. I immediately fell in love with Albany's Monster X & Devoid of Faith, who shared Nate Wilson, whose Gloom Records' releases were all must purchases in the coming years. Dropdead from Providence were already five years into their ongoing, illustrious career, and their two contributions were twin hammers to my forehead. Assfactor 4 had an amusing name, came from the Deep South, and made hardcore more in line with Born Against than Sick Of It All; of course I dug them.

And those are the highlights for me. Which is selling every other band present here short. Unfair, but it's the deal.

It's not fun to consider that I've owned this over half my life, yet listen to it infrequently. For the places it led me, for the labels and bands and showspaces it took me to, it should be up there as a more regular spin. But here's to fixing that, and cranking C.R. and Black Army Jacket while bombing down I-5 all summer long.

Discogs

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various artists - The Infinite Zero Almanac: 1996 Sampler V

I ran out of time coming into today, so it's time for an easy write up. The fifth in the series of six Infinite Zero samplers; this one is one of the more comprehensive, coming as it did in the last year of the reissue label's existence. Most of these are available here on the ol' blog; just type in Inifnite Zero and expand your mind. I'm feeling the cover of this one most of all; the caricature of Rollins, flanked by the Def American and Infinite Zero logos, big, stronge fonts. It's a golden joy to behold.

While lacking the superior graphic design and the even-deeper record selection, it's no surprise that my early exposure to these drew me into an ongoing love of the Numero Group and Light in the Attic. I kind of got a kick out of watch the Grammy pre-broadcast show on YouTube tonight, seeing Numero's 90 Day Men set get a Grammy nom. It's great to see even the most obscure bands get beloved treatment, the expense of which makes a hell of a lot more sense then that double LP Chappel Roan release at $50 retail.

I'm all over the place tonight; forgive me, friends. I'm looking at a big record purge within the month, so my head isn't thinking about anything particular.

Discogs

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James White's Flaming Demonics

This is the last of the mid-90s reissues of James Chance's records, re-released by Infinite Zero. Let's face it; it's my least preferred Chance release, but it's still pretty damned good. And if you're stopping by here, you're probably a degenerate completist like I am, so you'll download it anyway.

I passed up a very nicely priced Japanese pressing of the Contortions' "Buy" over the weekend, along with Eno's three 70s art rock records on Editions EG. I brought home pretty of good stuff, to be fair, but those are the ones I've thought about since Saturday. C'est la vie; life will go on.

Discogs

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various artists - Keep The Pressure On: Contemporary Traditional Ska!

I preordered a copy of Trust Records' reissue of Hepcat's second LP, "Scientific", along with the attendant Scientist dub version, within minutes of it being announced. I knew it'd make a killer gift for Mrs. Mummy, who's a huge Hepcat fan as well, and I figured that dub 12" would be a tough one to track down after the fact. Turns out I was correct; darn thing's already sold out.

Needless to say, the gift was a hit.

It reminded me of this comp, an early release from the short-lived but high-quality Minneapolis label Kingpin Records. Both records are led off by "Country Time", just a killer opening track by one of the bands from the third wave that still holds up well. But I suppose that applies to everyone here, even for the bands with cutesy-pie names or puns that were bad immediately after being ginned up. Every great band drawing from the JA wellspring of ska from this era is here. The Slackers, Let's Go Bowling, Skavoovie & the Epitones, the Allstonians; all bands that, within a span of two years, made records that still get regular play. Quite frankly, if you like JA music, but haven't checked out "Mr. Twist" or "The Allston Beat" in a while, you ought to come back to them.

But, for me, it's the non-Moon Ska bands that continue to feel relivatory. Like, how did Ocean 11 only get a handful of comp appearances and a single CD? Jump With Joey cut a live version of "Summer Come Lovin" with Rolando Alphonso, Ernest Ranglin, and Eddie Thornton that they contributed. Even the locals in the Siren Six! and the Jinkies are worth revisiting, reminding me of that time when I got really stoked by the music the band nerds made after high school.

Discogs

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various artists - Screwed (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I'll never quite wrap my head around Atlantic distributing Amphetamine Reptile back in the mid-90s, and this record is evidence I'll present to support my argument. Sure, Helmet made some serious inroads with the kids of 1995, but I'm not sure who thought Hammerhead or Cows were a fit alongside Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, and Foreigner. It's so perverse; I kind of love it.

And speaking of perversity: here's the soundtrack to a documentary on New York publisher and pornographer Al Goldstein entitled "Screwed". It makes sense to have a bunch of AmRep luminaries provide the score to such a downer of a movie. Halo of Kitten (a collaboration between Halo of Flies and Free Kitten) and the Melvins offer alternate views on porn: one likes it, the other hates it. There's tracks from Guv'ner and Big Chief and Boss Hog and the almighty Mudhoney, all XXX-themed and just rightly written to play behind a view of a porn king's crumbling empire.

Discogs

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various artists - Home Alive: The Art Of Self-Defense

Here's what I remember about when this came out, through the eyes of an 18-year-old who lived on the other side of the country from the circumstances:

• Most of the folks I knew were more interested in this for the unreleased Pearl Jam song, the live Nirvana track, and Joan Jett & Kathleen Hanna performing with the remaining members of the Gits than the genesis why Home Alive was created.
• I had no clue what sort of violence women encountered in the world at the time. I would learn.
• I remember thinking, when the promo copy arrived at the college radio station I volunteered for, that it couldn't possibly be worth listening to, on account of being released by Epic Records.
• That's a point of view that is hilarious in retrospect. How many folks got their first exposure to Tribe 8, Lydia Lunch, or ¡TchKunG! as a result of picking this up? There are so many fiercely independent artists here, not to mention the wide range of spoken word performers and poets present.

This is a pretty iconic benefit comp, all things considered, in celebration of a wonderful human whose time came way too soon. Volume 2 would come five years later on the Seattle/San Francisco label Broken Rekids. Along with a trio of 7"s that came out on local label Crash Rawk Records, it's a resounding body of support that still stands up as well as any benefit.

Discogs

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various artists - Take Your Medicine::A Heavy Dose Of Sonic Overload

I do a fair amount of my writing on Sundays while I'm doing laujndry adn avoiding more focus-intensive chores. The trade-off here is that Mrs. Mummy plays one of her numerous YouTube playlists, comprised of the outer edges of international popular music. It pushes me back to the familiar; not that I don't love NewJeans or whatever Mexican pop princess she's playing, but I does force me consider what I'm going to share, and why.

Take this 1996 compulation from Boston's Wonderdrug Records. I was familiar with a few of the names on this comp when I snagged it online for a $1 a few months ago: Scissorfight, Slughog, and Honkeyball, to name a few. I knew the label itself was of the same area, temporally and geographically, as Big Wheel Recreation and Tortuga Recordings, although they covered a different piece of the heavy music world. This is more stoner rock/desert rock/acid punk than I listened to back then. While most of these bands wouldn't be out of place on an Eyehategod or Nebula bill, I'm still not sure it holds my interest so far after the fact as bands that came out on AmRep or Man's Ruin during the same time.

Discogs

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various artists - Silver Lake...What A Drag!

This was another dollar find on eBay, purchased mainly for the opportunity to actually hear the Negro Problem for the first time. That's right; it took me 28 years to hear a relatively-unknown band with an edgy name. It was...fine.

This comp, themed around bands from L.A.'s Silver Lake neighborhood (not, as I've thought for years, Silverlake), came out on a short-lived Thump Records sub-label. I knew Snap-Her and Popdefect going into things, and with those exceptions, this sounds like a label showcase at Jabberjaw on a Tuesday night. It's a bunch of bands that are perfectly competent, but nothing that really stands out to me. "Clever" names and a cool neighborhood are all well and good, but...meh.

But what do I know? I was listening to a bunch of records that came out on Victory in 1996.

Discogs

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various artists - What Are You Looking At?

I would have blown this off in 1996 on account of what I would have considered shitty artwork and a wimpy lineup. But NOW, it was easy to spend a buck on this one, as my more refined, adult tastes include a yen for pop punk in the Queers style and mid-90s Lehigh Valley Creep-core. There's no great ground being broken here, but it's perfectly cromulent and well crafted...just a bit farther along the DIY continuum beyond what Lookout! was doing around the same time.

I'm still not able to get over that cover art, tho. #sorrynotsorry

Discogs

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various artists - Live From The Masque: Dicks Fight Banks Hate

I guess this'll make three L.A. posts in a row.

I remember seeing these at the top of a shelving section at Best Buy back in '96. At the time, when your resources as an 18-year-old in suburban Baltimroe were essentially what issues of MRR, Profane Existence, and HeartattaCk you could lay hands on, these sort of things stood out. But then I flipped the cover over, and only recognized that band that covered the Banana Splits theme. And weren't they on A&M? So how could this be anything good.

Ah, capricious youth.

One of four releases on the short-lived Year One Records, this comp is home to four sets of first wave Los Angeles punk rock legends. All recorded live at the legendary Masque, February 24 & 25, 1978. I cannot even imagine going to a basement and getting to see the Dickies, Eyes, Randoms, and Black Randy and the Metrosquad. What a mind fuck. What a righteous time. What a glorious time to be alive.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for the other two releases in this "Live From The Masque" series.

Discogs

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various artists - Yoyo A Go Go

It's been a few years since I last posted anything from Pat Maley's Yoyo Recordings. But it's been thirty years since the first Yoyo A Go Go, and since I'm less than 80 miles away, as opposed to the 2,800 or so that I was back then, I thought it was time to pay this one a visit, and share it with you fine peep-holes.

Let me tell you what I recollect about this time. I was listening to my cassette of International Piop Underground Convention a lot in the spring of 1994, so when I heard that something similar was going to take place that summer...well, I didn't give it a ton of thought, because how was I going to go from Boones Mill, Virginia to magical Olympia? Especially since I found out a few weeks before school ended that we were leaving the sticks for suburban Baltimore,

But it was definitely intriguing. And, in retrospect, a little bit gumption could have gotten me out there on a four-day Greyhound with more than a few of my hard-earned Taco Bell dollars in my pocket. And who would I have seen? Unwound, Heavens to Betsy, Excuse 17, and Team Dresch remain the big names for me, even this far down the line. How cool would it have been to see Codeine, or Cub, or two thirds of Yo La Tengo, or Neutral Milk Hotel? Would I have even been into it back then? Or would it have been one of those moments I would have only appreciated in retrospect?

I suppose it's better to regret something you have done, rather than somehing you haven't done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get up in someone's face and scream "SATAN!" over and over again.

Discogs

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various artists - The Sound Gallery Volume Two

Remember back when I said I was going to post all the Scamp reissues I owned? And then I did no such thing? And I became what is known affectionately the world around as "a liar"?

That was a good time.

Clearly, Rome was not built in a day, and lies cannot be rewound, only countered. Here's my piddling effort, a swing to make things right for your Monday. This is Volume Two of the two-volume Scamp series "The Sound Gallery". Why not Volume One first, you might ask? Well, Volume One lives on a hard drive that I cannot currently find. So Volume Two is what you get.

What you get here is a wealth of late 60s through mid 70s film scoring/library music/lounge music/songs for the swapping set. Were you born too young to throw your keys into a bowl at a party? Does the word "Eurosleaze" evoke clear images for you? Do you crash YouTube looking for four-episode ITV adventure series? Then this here is your soundtrack.

Discogs

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