On any post, if the link is no longer good, leave a comment if you want the music re-uploaded. As long as I still have the file, or the record, cd, or cassette to re-rip, I will gladly accommodate in a timely manner all such requests.

Slinging tuneage like some fried or otherwise soused short-order cook

30 December 2008

Kim Fowley's 523rd Dream

UPDATE: This post has been re-uploaded 08/09/2013.  Enjoy, NØ

Kim Fowley & Dyan Diamond
Kim is dreaming. It is Easy Rider era & Phil Spector has gone to cop cocaine from Wyatt & Billy. Kim breaks into Spector's mansion & steals Phil's platforms. Kim wants to follow in Wall-of-Sound Spector's footsteps & thinks that stealing his shoes will help. The Runaways show up dressed as the Keystone Kops & nearly spoil everything (again). Kim awakens, it's 3:30 in the morning, he stumbles to the phone & calls his friend Hugh. 'I have a new hustle,' sez Fowley.

'This time my girl-group won't even be all girls. The Clingers & The Runaways broke me of that. Fuck Spector.'


Venus & the Razorblades...'This is what the Runaways were supposed to be,' quips Fowley. 'The name connotes California Sunsets & all night rumbles.' What Kim could do once, he could do again. Unfortunately the Razorblades changed personnel more often than Kim changed underwear. At their live debut at the Bel Air Sands Hotel, the sound system blew up in the middle of Punk-a-rama (or Punk-o-rama, it's spelled both ways on the album). The rest would have been history.

from left: Cher, Kim Fowley, Steven T.
No press is bad press. V&tRB played the usual venues around LA & then broke up before going on tour or releasing an album. While Kim was moving out of his apartment in 1978, he was sorting through his tape library & came across the Razorblades material. He decided to edit & re-mix it to issue the posthumous album.

Kim Fowley - Svengali, Ring Leader & legend in his own mind
Steven T. - guitar & vocals
Dyan Diamond - guitar & vocals
Danielle Faye - bass & vocals
Vicki Razorblade - vocals
Nicky Beat - drums (ex-Germs, Mau-Maus, Cramps)
Roni Lee - guitar & vocals
Kyle Raven - drums (ex-Droogs)
Sal Maida - bass (ex-Roxy Music, Sparks)
Rene Bernard - drums (ex-The Swarm)

Venus & the Razorblades - Songs from the Sunshine Jungle, Visa Records IMP 7004, 1978.
decryption codes in comments

Side One -

Finer Things in Life
Big City
All Right You Guys (Alright You Guys on single)
Midnight
Punk-o-Rama (from record & liner...cover says Punk-a-Rama)

Side Two-

Workin' Girl
I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are
Dog Food
Wrong Kind of Guy
victim of My Backstreet Love




bonus:
Dyan Diamond - vocals, guitar, synth drums, & percussion
Craig Magee - lead guitar
Jerry Ackerman - bass
Joseph Fitzgerald - harp & keyboards
Randy Whepley - drums & percussion
Chris Darrow - mandolin, accordian, guitar, slide guitar & percussion
Dyan Diamond - In the Dark, MCA 3053, 1978.

Side 1:
Baby, What You Want Me to Do (written by Jerry Reed)
Western Ave. (Dyan Diamond, Kim Fowley)
Hot (D.D)
Teenage Radio Stars (D.D.)
Someone like Me (D.D.)
Back on the Strip (D.D.)

Side 2:
Mystery Dance (Elvis Costello)
Animal Girl (D.D. , Kim Fowley
Nervous (Chris [Ace] Spedding)
Your Neighborhood (D.D. , K.F.)
In the Dark (D.D.)
Gonna Rock Ourselves to Death (D.D. , K.F.)

Enjoy,
NØ
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12 comments:

  1. Nazz Nomad12/31/08, 12:07 PM

    Fowley is a genius, but he is sooooooo creepy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ib1/4/09, 7:34 AM

    I like that haunting image of Kim Fowley stealing Phil Spector's shoes. Step on up.

    That picture of him standing between Cher and Steven T. is a bizarre snapshot of social networking. It doesn't come much stranger, I don't think.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1/5/09, 1:08 AM

    I'm glad Kip set his hair on fire!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1/6/09, 3:44 PM

    Fantastic that you put these up; I've been waiting for a long time. I have both of these on vinyl, but it's such a pain to rip.

    Brings back a lot of great memories; I had the good fortune to see Dyan Diamond play a few times in S. CA, great performer. I have a bunch of 35mm pix I took of that show somewhere in my attic. I also saw a band that had members of Fowley's entourage, called "The Teenage Prostitutes", which I believe had Diamond in the group. I've been unable to find anything online on them, I guess because they never recorded and that was pre-WWW. Saw the Runaways back in day many times as well.

    DNO

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1/6/09, 3:56 PM

    Thanks so much for taking the time to get these online, it's also a treat to see other stuff by Steven T and that band with Danielle Faye.

    Those pictures are a huge bonus, never seen those before. I esp like the V+Razorblades one. Really wished I could've seen them play.

    You are the best!

    Dino/DNO

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous4/15/09, 3:16 AM

    Dyan Diamond...what a disappearannce of a great musician mystery...does anyone have a copy of her astounding (unreleased) cover of "Bend Me,Shape Me"?, That would be the Holy Grail of rare recordings!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11/25/09, 2:50 AM

    You mean "Bend Me Shape Me" was never released? Guess I better dub that cassette to disc.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Riot Nrrrd™3/27/10, 1:05 AM

    I just came back from a Cherie Currie book signing at Vroman's in Pasadena California tonight. While standing there holding my Japanese (vinyl) copy of the "Live In Japan" album (I saw The Runaways at least 6 or 7 times), I felt a tap on it and turned to find a woman saying "I wrote a song on that album". It was Danielle Faye! I said "Danielle Faye! From The Zippers!" "And Venus And The Razorblades", she replied. Fun stuff. Wish I had a chance to talk to her more.

    I also used to hang out with Dyan Diamond and her band when they would play The Whisky-A-Go-Go. I had a total crush on her at the time and have a signed copy of the "In The Dark" album here on this site. I remember one of her band members had a serious handlebar moustache and looked like Harry Shearer's character in "Spinal Tap" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3/2/13, 11:54 PM

      Cool! I used to help the Zippers and it woulda been nice to see Danielle again...

      Delete
  9. whsonic4/27/11, 2:06 PM

    unfortunately the drop.io links don't work.

    I've seen Pal Shazar in the early or mid-90's in Linz, Austria. She was supporting Giant Sand. I have the "There's a Wild Thing In The House" CD.

    ReplyDelete
  10. NØ8/10/13, 3:34 AM

    Venus & the Razorblades - Songs from the Sunshine Jungle
    TK80J07MQ8n9Kn9arNaCbR2pYhQ9YIPV7YsCiYuo-d4

    Dyan Diamond - In the Dark
    fc46dhc6xTH7SyPHHH7sKgop9nxdXv0B_CtSUAfldiU

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unknown8/23/16, 6:27 PM

    have both albums... those days will live forever, but never be duplicated.

    ReplyDelete

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