28 November 2013

The Night Before



Lee Hazelwood – Cowboy in Sweden re-issue, Smells Like Records SL 030-12, 1999.
decryption code in comments

Side One –
Pray Them Bars Away
Leather & Lace
Forget Marie
Cold Hard Times
The Night Before
Hey Cowboy

Side Two –
No Train to Stockholm
For a Day like Today
Easy & me
What’s More I Don’t Need Her
Vem Kan Segla

Enjoy,

26 November 2013

Holy Fucking Shit



Have a Nice Day – DEATHCONSCIOUSNESS 2xCDr, 
Enemies List Home Recordings EL01, 2008.
decryption code in comments


A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut
Bloodhail
The Big Gloom
Hunter
Telephony
Who Would Leave Their Son Out in the Sun
There is no Food


Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail
Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000
The Future
Deep, Deep
I Don’t Love
Earthmover
(75 page booklet: On an Obscure Text included with CD2)

Enjoy,

25 November 2013

Scarred for Life



Johnette Napolitano – Scarred, Hybrid Recordings HY 20052-2, 2007.
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Amazing
The Scientist
Scarred
Poem for a Native
My Diane
Just like Time
Save Me
Like a Wave
Crazy Tonight
Everything for Everyone
All Tomorrow’s Parties
I’m up Here

Enjoy,

24 November 2013

The Dogs are out Tonight, Matty Luv

Yogurt – The Blood Unbinds the Dragon cassette tapes, unreleased, 1993-2002. 
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Come Into My Mind
Marry Me
Zero Return
Serramonte Mall
The Roar of the Wookie
Yogurt Vol. 4 Intro (Yogurt of Confusion)
Asti Spumante
Corduroy & Forsaken
Goddamn Dog
Egg Salad Girl
Til the Day I Die
Daniel Boon
Gardener of Eden
Shit Goddamn
Lady Naugahyde Rots in the Slam
Ay Carumba
A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do
Lay it On!!!
Everything Tends Towards Disorder
Small Town Boy
These Crossed Eyes
Lacy’s Sunshine pt. 1
YMCA Swimming Pool
Lacy’s Sunshine pt. 2
Blacktown
Theme from ‘Bandito del Amor’
Bullet for My Head
Snot on My Tie
Surfin’ I.B.O.W. (Iommi Butler Osbourne Ward)
Ol’ Hogan’s Goat
Prozac pt. 1
Bigfoot Country
Rock Song #2,216
Talk about Cars
Rock Song #2,316 reprise
Heroes
I’m not Afraid of Chemicals
Ivy League Clown Fight Song
David Coverdale’s Hair
Road Called Shame
Capn’ Matty’s Seafood Shanty
Feed Me
Even the Dogshit Tastes Good
Monsters Everywhere
Too Close to the Fucking Sun
Lacy’s Sunshine pt. 3
Real Men Cook Their Heroin in the Belly of a Goat
My Lady Friend
Roller Derby
End of the World
Rise & Fall
Taxi Cab del Muerte
Revolution 9.5
Revolution 10.0
THEM~1
Break My Bones
Flux-o-teens
Plastic Jesus
Prom Night Evisceration
Sitting on a Porch in Georgia
Dance of the Molecules
The Dogs are out Tonight
Reno pt. 2
Gravity
Louise
Larvae!!!

Enjoy,

23 November 2013

Is Anyone Listening?

Listening – Listening, Vanguard VSD 6504, 1968.
decryption code in comments

Side One –

You’re not There
Laugh at the Stars
9-8 Song
Stoned Is
“Forget it, Man!”

Side Two –

I can Teach You
So Happy
Cuando
“Baby, Where are You?”Fantasy
See You Again

Enjoy,



She Said


Hasil Adkins – Chicken Walk, Dee Jay Jamboree DJ CD 55025, 1995.
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

She Said
Shake That Thing
Ugly Woman
Let's Slop Tonight
Chicken Walk
She's Mine
Tell Me Baby
If You Want To Be My Baby
Big Fat Mama
Get Out Of My Car
Doonie Boogie
Walk & Talk With Me
I Need Your Head
Roll Roll Train
I Don't Want Nobody The Way I Want You
I Could Never Be Blue
I Want Some Lovin'
Jenny Lu
Let Me Go
Rock The Blues
I Don't Love You
Rock 'n' Roll Tonight
Shake With Me
Miami Kiss
The Hunch
Duncens
No More Hot Dogs
Truly Ruly
Is That Right
Going Back To St Louis

Enjoy,

21 November 2013

This Noise between Us

decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

opal detonation 917
indirect invention
circuit yesterday
symphony no. 6
decompressed observer
entanglement assisted teleportation
6EQUJ5
blunt wednesday


Enjoy,


Eternal Musick

decryption code in comments

Side One -

Raga for Ravi
Poems for Tables, Chairs, etc. part 1
Poems for Tables, Chairs, etc. part 2
Two Sounds

Side Two -
b-flat Dorian Blues 19 x 63
Pre-Tortoise Dream Music
The Tortoise, His Dreams, & Journeys

Enjoy,

19 November 2013

Shiva's Atomic Dancing



Korbak – Shiva’s Atomic Dancing demo, 1997
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –
Crows Feeding
Last Days
Nailed
Rudracy/Shiva's Dancing

Korbak - VII EP, 1998.

Tracklist –
VII
Nailed
Crows Feeding

From Berlin, Germany, Korbak are: Sven Haustedt – vocals & guitar; Dirk Weinert – bass; & Franck Eppinger – drums.
Enjoy,


17 November 2013

It's a Chicken World

Rancho Diablo – Chicken World, 13th Hour 13THLP1, 1995.
decryption code in comments

Side 1 –

Chicken World
Can I
Plan B
Nausea Etc. II
Sacrifice 3000

Side 2 –

Last Blood
Uncivilised
One & a Half
My Mistake
Our Children

Enjoy,

Now I Just Can't Stop

Urusei Yatsra – Slain by Urusei Yatsura, Ché Trading CHE 76CD, 1998.
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –
Glo Starz
Hello Tiger
Strategic Hamlets
No. 1 Cheesecake
Superfi
No No Girl
Flaming Skull
Slain by Elf
King of Lazy
Exidor
Fake Fur
Skull Action
Amber

Enjoy,

Sleepers Never Dig

decryption code in comments

Tracklist -

Part 1
Part 2

Enjoy,

Have a toke of this fine smoke

Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde Maxi, 4AD 724389551921, 1998. 
decryption code in comments

Tracklist -

Lebanese Blonde (original)
Coming from the Top
One
Lebanese Blonde (French)
Halfway Around the World
Elise Affair
Encounter in Bahia
Lebanese Blonde (instrumental)

Enjoy,

14 November 2013

Later

I planned on traveling around the world showcasing musick from every country. 
It has been the greatest adventure I've undertaken in quite some time.
I'm going to take a little time off then get back to my usual here. 
I still have a kinda long list of things that need re-uploaded that I don't have archived.
I'm gonna dig through my records & find'em, re-rip'em, & re-up'em.
Right now I'm gonna go catch a buzz & listen to some Clutchy Hopkins.
Ya'll enjoy, ya hear.

United States




Sorry it took so long for this post, but I’ve never been so glad to be back home. I got ‘detained’ for a few days trying to get back in the US from Canada. Turns out that my name popped up on some ‘watch list’ because of some of my past narco-anarchist shenanigans. Seems like Homeland Insecurity wanted to flex their little muscles & (flashback to the 60s) hassle the hippie (some of the photos they had were ancient..I sport a military grade buzz-cut these days…course the tats don’t help). Anyhoo, the graybar hotel was the usual shitty overnighter. Being a vegetarian, I couldn’t even get three hots with my cot, but they didn’t really have anything solid to keep me, so now I’m home sweet home. Here goes…


This one has been the toughest pick so far. So much musick to choose from outa the rock US. So many of my all-time favorite bands. As I said on my post when Don Van Vliet died in December 2010: “He always has been & always will be my #1”. (Here’s the song I posted then, “Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles” from Clear Spot. It not only is the Captain at some of his finest, but was featured in The Big Lebowski, which is one of my favorite movies as well).


Pere Ubu is so close on The Magic Band’s ass that it’s almost gay. Then there’s Iggy, Funkadelic, The Mars Volta, The Ramones & Patti Smith, & the list goes on & on. How do I pick one?

Then I got the great (another one) idea to have US bands. Not just from the US, but like America, UXA, Chicago, USSA, United States of America, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Presidents of the United States, John Denver, US Bombs, All-American Rejects…well, it’s a swell idea, but the swelling soon went down when I realized I had a way of narrowing things down, but most of the bands, well, not really sucked but not what I’d really call a finale to this incredible journey.

So on to Plan Q.

I have decided to tell you the story about the first record I ever bought. Then I’ll feature the band that started this whole nothin’ thing. I believe that will be appropriate to this journey around the world, end at the beginning, so to speak.

I was born in southeastern Pennsylvania in the village of Intercourse. When I was five years old my parents relocated to the exact opposite corner of northwestern Pennsylvania, to an even smaller burg twenty miles from the New York state border & twenty million miles from civilization. The hamlet we moved to was Beantown (not Boston, just Beantown, named after the family that originally settled there). We used to call it Bum Fuck, Egypt but that was doing a disservice to Egypt. The greatest thing about living in a cultural vacuum like that was that it somehow as if by magick sucked in radio signals from far & wide.


I lived by The Radio. I worshiped at the Church of Radio. It was my only salvation. I had a tiny transistor radio (originally AM, but after a while enough stations had gone for that NEW thing, FM that I got a new AM/FM transistor). At night after I’d gone to bed, I’d crawl under the covers, pull the pillow over my head, stuff the earplug into my ear & start scanning the dial to hear what I could hear. I even wired up the plug end with two ear plugs so I could hear heavenly music & nothing else (it was still monaural, no stereo, but two ears were better than one).


On clear, crisp nights I could pick up stations from the real world that was out there to be sampled. Someone told me about something called skywave or skip that is the propagation of radio waves reflected back toward Earth from the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvature of the Earth, skip can be used to communicate beyond the horizon. Whatever…all I know is that I was living in the skip zone for a lot of good music.

I lived only about 90 miles from Cleveland, Ohio, so it was plenty close enough to pick up if their wasn’t a lot of interference. I listened to Wicksee (WIXY) & WHK (Alan Freed was long gone by this time, but Cleveland almost always came in good). Some of the further stations skipped into my ears even better & were much more desired. About the furthest & one of the best was WBZ in Boston, a favorite of mine until they got too heavy into live play-by-play sports (Bruins – Celtics, I don’t know). By that time, though, my favorite had become CKLW in Detroit (really in Windsor, Ontario…Canada’s southernmost city & Detroit’s sister…they played the Hitsville USA/Motown greats but because of Canadian fair-play laws, also Guess Who & other Canadian acts). I also listened to WLS from Chicago & several New York City stations. Early on I listened to Cousin Brucie on WABC or Murray the K on WINS, but by the mid 60s they were so into the Beatlemania thing that I searched elsewhere around the dial (spoiler alert - I’ve never been a Beatle’s fan). Also in New York was WMCA with The Good Guys. In 1960, led by Ruth Meyer, the first woman radio programming chief in New York City history, WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as the Good Guys. The Good Guys outdid the other stations by playing the top 25 (as opposed to the top 20 elsewhere) along with Sure Hits & Long Shots which were not on the charts yet. They were also always a few weeks ahead of the other stations at airing new music.


There was one other station that I came to love out of New York that eventually led to this long-winded tale & my transformation. That station was WBAI, a listener-sponsored, non-commercial radio station. Their signal reached only a hundred miles or so from NYC usually, they just were not as powerful, but on a clear night, it was the cat’s pajamas. In 1963 Bob Fass's program Radio Unnameable first aired. From the beginning the show featured the work of & impromptu interviews with counterculture figures such as Paul Krassner, Bob Dylan, & Abbie Hoffman. A long list of musicians have appeared on Radio Unnameable, including Townes Van Zandt, David Peel, Richie Havens, Jose Feliciano, Joni Mitchell, The Fugs, & Phil Ochs. Jerry Jeff Walker & David Bromberg introduced the song “Mr. Bojangles” on the show. The Incredible String Band came over from Scotland & stopped in to chat & play music. The first performance of Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant” was on WBAI.

Late one night in mid-summer 1966, I was listening to WBAI ("Good morning, cabal"). It had been coming in unusually clear & it was cracking me up. Fass was one of the creative genii of free-form radio, each night creating a program with no format, an improvised mélange of live music, speeches, & random phone calls. Radio Unnameable was a forum for eyewitness reports from war zones & urban conflicts, recitations of poetry & prose, solicitations for political causes, testimonials for illegal drugs, & experiments with noise & silence. As I was listening, I heard an 11+ minute long song called “Virgin Forest” by a band named The Fugs that blew my mind.

The Fugs self-titled album, which I erroneously assumed was their first album (it was really their third album & second to be released…their second album was released third…never mind, we’ll straighten this out shortly) was released in March, 1966, with liner notes by Allen Ginsberg. The Village Fugs' debut album, The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction, had been released by the Broadside subsidiary of Folkways Records in 1965. The group simplified its name to the Fugs, & the album was reissued by the independent jazz label ESP as The Fugs First Album. ESP initially rejected the band's second recording as obscene. They followed instead with an album called The Fugs. This album somehow broke into the pop charts in July 1966 & reached the Top 40 during a six-month chart stay even with tunes like "Kill for Peace" & "Group Grope".


Well, as I said earlier, by the end of “Virgin Forest” my life had changed. I had never bought a record before in my life. I told you I lived by The Radio. But my parents had a stereo console record player/AM/FM radio unit (the Hi-Fi they called it) in the den & they had records, mostly religious (I remember Tennessee Ernie Ford was my mom’s favorite & my dad was partial to Vic Damone). I listened to some of their records sometimes, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Harry Belafonte, & Glenn Yarbrough (“Baby, the Rain Must Fall”), but until I heard The Fugs I had never wanted to buy one myself. After all, I listened to the radio. New music every week, every day, every hour.

I didn’t really know how to go about buying this record. There were no record stores where I lived & anywhere that did sell records sure wouldn’t have The Fugs, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, it is said. I called Radio Unnameable late one night a few days later, after my parents had gone to bed. I snuck downstairs, dialed the operator, she connected me to the number, & after not too long of a wait, I actually got to speak to Bob Fass. I told him I lived in Bum Fuck, Egypt but listened to his show on my transistor & wanted to buy my first record album, The Fugs – The Fugs. He gave me the information for contacting ESP Records & I did. I found out the information, sent them cash (well concealed in a letter, as we were not to send cash in the mail), & waited.

My uncle Dean was post-master in a nearby town that had the closest Post-Office. I had the album sent there for him to hold for me so my parents wouldn’t find out if it got delivered to our house. I told my uncle it was a surprise for my parents to insure his silence. When it finally arrived, I snuck it up into my tree-house & ripped it open. Even before I read the liner notes by Ginsberg, I read the song list in awe: “Skin Flowers”; “Group Grope”; “Dirty Old Man”;  “Kill for Peace”; & at the end of Side 2, the incredible 11:20 (who had ever heard of an eleven minute song?..I listened to the radio…songs were three minutes) “Virgin Forest”. Now all I had to do was wait until my parents were gone with my younger brother & sister & I could actually listen to it.

In the meantime I read Ginsberg’s words so many times that I knew them by heart. “It’s war on all fronts. ‘Breakthrough in the Grey Room’ says Burroughs – he meant the Brain – ‘Total Assault on the Culture’ says Ed Sanders…On one side are everybody who make love with their eyes open, maybe smoke pot & take LSD & look inside their hearts to find the Self-God Walt Whitman prophesied for America…Who’s on the other side? People who think we are bad

Finally I got the chance to listen to the whole album, cranked up as loud as I dared. By the time it was over, I was certain which side I was on…I wanted to make love with my eyes open & all those other things. Every opportunity I got I listened to this record, eating it up in big bites. But of course, the inevitable finally happened, but it was beyond my imagination & led where I could never have known.

One day as I was listening to Side 1 at maximum volume, I failed to hear my mom return. She came into the den in the midst of “Group Grope”. She had a look of rage on her face that I had never seen. She picked up the album cover, looked at it, looked at me, & went into action. I had never seen my mom do anything in the least bit violent, but I had unwittingly found that button, pushed it, & she snapped. She yanked the record from the turntable & I heard the scream of the stylus ripping through the fatally wounded vinyl. Then she gripped the record in both hands & began furiously twisting it left & right, back & forth, shaking with rage, veins popping out on her neck & the sides of her head, her eyes wild with…HATRED. Somehow she managed to rip the record into several pieces. Then she started in on the cover. When she was finished, she stared at me for a moment with sweat & tears running down her face. “Don’t ever bring that FILTH in our home again,” she said so quietly I almost missed it. Then she turned, walked out, & threw all the pieces of my first record into the trash.

I was embarrassed. I was dumbfounded. But I was on to something here. This was musick. She HATED it. She called it FILTH. I knew in an instant which side she was on.

The next album I bought was The Virgin Fugs. This was the one that ESP had originally rejected for being ‘obscene’. Oh, boy.

By then I had met a friend who had a record player in her bedroom. Her name was Isabel. She wore only black, wore heavy black make-up. This was before a style called Goth. This was the era of Munsters & Addams Family. We listened to The Fugs & other tastes. We smoked pot. We made love with our eyes open.

I never brought ‘that FILTH’ into my parent’s home again. As soon as I was old enough I moved out on my own. Isabel moved to Washington, D.C. but we kept in touch. In January 1969 when I returned to the East Coast from California for the Nixon Anti-Inauguration, I visited Isabel. She was working with some Embassy Staff from Argentina. They were bringing in pharmaceutical LSD25 in their Diplomatic pouches. We had a good time & laughed about the bad influence of bad musick. But that’s another story for another day. It’s bedtime now, kiddies. Get out your transistors & earplugs.


The Vilage Fugs, later just The Fugs, are a band formed in New York in mid-1963 by poets Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel & Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for ‘fuck’ used in Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead.

In 1964, the band surfaced on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Fugs became an important part of the American counterculture of the mid to late 60s. The band’s frank lyrics about sex, drugs, & politics aroused a hostile reaction in some quarters, enthusiastic interest in others.

Their first album was The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views [sic], and General Dissatisfaction, released in 1965 on Broadside #304 & Folkways FW 05304. It was re-released in 1966 on ESP as The Fugs First Album with alternate takes/edits of at least three songs.


On The Fugs, The Fugs are: Ed Sanders – vocals; Tuli Kupferberg – tambourine & maracas; Pete Kearney & Vinny Leary – guitars; Lee Crabtree – piano, celesta, & bells; John Anderson – bass; & Ken Weaver – percussion, with Betsy Klein – backing vocals.


 The Fugs – The Fugs, ESP Records ESP 1028, 1966. 
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Side A –
Frenzy
I Want to Know
Skin Flowers
Group Grope
Coming Down
Dirty Old Man

Side B –
Kill for Peace
Morning, Morning
Doin’ All Right
Virgin Forest


The Village Fugs were: Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg – vocals, tambourines, & maracas; Steve Weber & Vinny Leary – guitar; Pete Stampfel – guitar, fiddle, & harmonica; John Anderson – bass; & Ken Weaver – drums, with The Fugs – backing vocals.

 The Fugs – The Fugs First Album, ESP Records ESP 1018, 1966.

Side A –
Slum Goddess
Ah! Sunflower, Weary of Time
Supergirl
Swinburne Stomp
I Couldn’t Get High

Side B –
How Sweet I Roamed from Field to Field
Seize the Day
I Feel like Homemade Shit
Boobs a Lot
Nothing

On Virgin Fugs, The Fugs are: Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg – vocals & percussion; Steve Weber & Vinny Leary – vocals & guitars; Peter Stampfel – vocals, guitar, banjo, fiddle, & harmonica; Lee Crabtree – vocals, keyboards, & percussion; John Anderson – vocals & bass; & Ken Weaver – vocals & drums.

 The Fugs - Virgin Fugs, ESP Records ESP 1038, 1967.

Side A –
We’re the Fugs
New Amphetamine Shriek
Saran Wrap
The Ten Commandments
Hallucination Horrors
I Command the House of the Devil

Side B –
C.I.A. Man
Coca Cola Douche
My Bed is Getting Crowded
Caca Rocka
I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rot


The Fugs - Live from The 60s, Big Beat CDWIKD 125, 1994.

Tracklist –
Doin’ All Right
The Swedish Nada
Homage to Catherine & William Blake
I Couldn’t Get High
Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel
J.O.B.
My Baby Done Left Me
The Garden is Open
The Exorcism of the Grave of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Yodeling Hippies
A Medley from The Fugs’ first concert – The Ten Commandments/ Swinburne Stomp

According to the copious 40-page full-color liner notes that accompany this strictly limited-edition three-CD set, Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings gathers "every unique master recording of The Fugs that was delivered to & survives in the Reprise [Records] archives."

This includes not only the four LPs: Tenderness Junction, It Crawled into My Hand, Honest, The Belle of Avenue A, & Golden Filth, but also an additional 40 minutes of material that never made it onto a standard commercial release.

After their somewhat acrimonious split with ESP, The Fugs signed with the decidedly West Coast Reprise Records. The band's revolving door personnel features a few familiar session musicians during this era. Among the more notable names are: Danny Kortchmar – guitar; Charles Larkey – bass; Bob Mason – drums; Richard Tee – organ; jazz legend Julius Watkins - French horn; & Ken Pine  - guitar. Remaining at the inventive center of The Fugs were still Tuli Kupferberg - vocals, Ed Saunders – vocals, & Ken Weaver – vocals & drums. Even with the lack of stability in the lineup, the nature of the band remained pure.

Golden Filth is conspicuous as the only live album of the Reprise era. It was recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore East. The set includes "I Want to Know," in addition to other tracks from their ESP days, including "Coca Cola Douche," which is titled "CCD" for obvious legal reasons.

 The Fugs – Electromagnetic Steamboat, Rhino Homemade RHM2 7759. 2001.

Disc 1 – Tracks 1 through 10

 Originally The Fugs - Tenderness Junction, Reprise Records RS 6280, 1967.

Tracklist –
Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out
Knock Knock   
The Garden Is Open
Wet Dream
Hare Krishna
Exorcising the Evil Spirits from the Pentagon October 21, 1967
War Song
Dover Beach
Fingers of the Sun
Aphrodite Mass (in 5 sections):
I. Litany of the Street Grope
II. Genuflection at the Temple of Squack
III. Petals In the Sea
IV. Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite
V. Homage to Throb Thrills

Disc 1 - Tracks11 through 30

 Originally The Fugs - It Crawled into My Hand, Honest, Reprise Records RS 6305, 1968.

Tracklist –
Crystal Liaison
Ramses II Is Dead, My Love
Burial Waltz
Wide, Wide River
Life Is Strange
Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel
Marijuana
Leprechaun 
When the Mode of Music Changes
Whimpers from the Jello
The Divine Toe, Part I
We're Both Dead Now, Alice
Life is Funny
Grope Need, Part 1
Tuli, Visited by the Ghost of Plontinus
Robinson Crusoe
Claude Pelieu and J.J. Lebel Discuss the Early Verlaine Bread Crust Fragments
The National Haiku Contest
The Divine Toe, Part II
Irene


Disc 2 Tracks 2 (somehow) through 11

 Originally The Fugs - The Belle of Avenue A, Reprise Records RS 6359, 1969.

Tracklist –
Bum's Song
Dust Devil
Chicago
Four Minutes to Twelve
Mr. Mack
Belle of Avenue A
Queen of the Nile
Flower Children
Yodeling Yippie
Children of the Dream

Disc 2 – Tracks 12 through 20

 Originally The Fugs - Golden Filth (proving my mom right), Reprise Records RS 6398, 1970.

Tracklist –
Slum Goddess  
CCD
How Sweet I Roamed
I Couldn't Get High
Saran Wrap
I Want to Know
Home Made
Nothing
Supergirl




Disc 3 – Tracks 1 through 15

 outtakes & alternative cuts

Tracklist –
Knock Knock
Wet Dream
Carpe Diem
Nameless Voices Crying for Kindness
Aphrodite Mass
Turn On-Tune In-Drop Out
Knock Knock
The Garden is Open
Wet Dream
Hare Krishna
Exorcising the Evil Spirits from the Pentagon October 21, 1967
War Song
Dover Beach
Fingers of the Sun
Crystal Liaison

Fug Off,





11 November 2013

Canada




 
Answering the age (atomic age) old question: "What ten records would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island (if you had solar or electricity I assume)?"  Ten.  Hell, I'd want a crate full at least, but I know that either way, somethin' by The Nils would be included.

Alex Soria was a musician from the south-shore Montreal suburb of St-Hubert. Born in 1965, Alex was a mere 12 years old when along with his older brother Carlos, they formed the power pop/punk rock group The Nils.
 


 
 
The brothers experienced a trying childhood which fueled both Alex's personal demons as well as his lyric & songwriting abilities. Even at that early age he knew what he wanted to do…make music, as a salvation & as a means to build confidence & find purpose in life. Carlos played in several punk bands during the late 1970s prior to forming The Nils. He would bring home punk records by bands such as The Clash, Sex Pistols & Stiff Little Fingers. Alex was enamored by this then very new sound. Carlos bought Alex an $80 guitar & taught him 3 chords. Alex quickly excelled & in 1978 The Nils had formed & began playing live.

The Nils issued the five-song Now cassette in 1982.



The Nils – Now cassette, self-released, 1982.

Side A –
In an Instant
The Back Flow

Side B –
Scratches & Needles
The Gathering
Give Me Time


The Nils then recorded the song "Call of the Wild" for the Primitive Air Raid compilation on Psyche Industry Records. The label also agreed to release the band's first EP, Sell Out Young, that they recorded in 1985 using a $3,500 loan they got from Men Without Hats singer & founder Ivan Doroschuk. Doroschuk produced the record. 
 

Nils – Sell Out Young 12" EP 45rpm, Psyche Industry Records PIR 06, 1985.

Side A –
In Betweens
Freedom

Side B –
Daylight
Foundations

But without a proper manager to promote the band's obvious talent & in a city with an anemic indie infrastructure, the Nils found themselves going nowhere fast.  The only thing they could do was live gigs. The band began to tour extensively & still managed to deliver a seminal power pop/punk rock EP entitled Paisley in 1986.
 

The Nils – Paisley 12" EP 45rpm, Siegfried UR1226, 1986.

Side A –
I Am the Wolf
Tuesday High

Side B –
Up Turns to Down
Glory Daze

The band's releases & critical acclaim began to draw the attention of a few major labels. By the following year, The Nils accepted an offer from Rock Hotel, a subsidiary of Profile Records, to record the seminal self-titled LP produced by Chris Spedding. This album included updated versions of the songs "Daylight" & "In Betweens" from Sell Out Young, as well as eight other original songs. 
 
 

The Nils - The Nils, Profile Records – PRO 1245, 1987.
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Side A –
River of Sadness
Truce
If Heaven Lies
When the Love Puts on a Sad Face
Wicked Politician

Side B
Bandito Callin'
In Betweens
But for Now
Young Man in Transit
Daylight
 
 


 
 
After the LP was released, the band set off on a second North American tour that was abruptly cancelled due to Rock Hotel's bankruptcy. Bound by their five year contract with the now defunct label & unable to release anything under The Nils name until the contract's expiration, the band broke up. Carlos joined MIA in Los Angeles as their guitarist. Without his band or older brother by his side Alex began to lose hope of seeing his dream of a music career come true.

Struggling to find solace, he began a lengthy battle with heroin addiction. Alex struck up a relationship with an older woman named Karen, who was once the girlfriend of Dave Rosenberg of The Chromosomes. Karen & Rosenberg were both junkies: it would only be a matter of time before Alex joined that dubious crowd.

Upon Carlos' return, he also picked up a heroin habit, purportedly to be closer to Alex. The sense of guilt Alex felt for this appeared to be great. He spirals even further out of control.

In 1994 The Nils released Green Fields in Daylight, a compilation of early recordings. The release included "Call of the Wild", the Nils demo tape Now, "Scratches & Needles", & the Sell Out Young & Paisley EPs. For this reason I am posting it but only mentioned the earlier material, as it is all here.

Track sources: track 1 - Primitive Air-Raid compilation; track 2 - recorded at the same session as 1; track 3 - Something to Believe In compilation; tracks 4 to 7 - Sell Out Young! EP; tracks 8 to 11 - Paisley EP; tracks 12 to 16 from Live in Chicago; tracks 17 to 23 from CBC's Brave New Waves session; tracks 24 to 28 – Now demo tape. Tracks 2, 15, 17, 21, & 23 previously unreleased.
 
 

The Nils - Green Fields in Daylight, Mag Wheel Records MAG012, 1994.

Tracklist –
Call of the Wild
Slip Away
Scratches and Needles
In Betweens
Fountains
Daylight
Freedom
I Am the Wolf
Tuesday High
Up Turns to Down
Glory Daze
Freedom Come, Freedom Go
Truce
Bandito Callin'
Sweet Dreams
Wicked Politician
Mary-Anne with the Shaky Hands
Young Man in Transit
River of Sadness
If Heaven Lies
Red Balloon
When the Love Puts on a Sad Face
Pop Goes the World
In an Instant
The Back Flow
Scratches and Needles
The Gathering
Give Me Time
Radio Interview

By late 1996, Alex broke up with Karen. He then kicked the heroin habit & formed Chino, without his brother. The band spends $2,500 to record the Mala Leche EP. Carlos then kicks his habit. As awkward as it was for both of them, Carlos becomes a roadie for Alex & Chino.

By 1998, Alex is still staying straight & has Chino going good. He is happy & energetic once more. But things don't always go as planned. Chino can't get off the ground. The band goes nowhere, thanks to the same old story…no touring & poor distribution. More frustration  & heartbreak for Alex.

Fast-forward to 2004. Life is difficult for Alex: he has just come out of detox, but is feeling pressure that his family knows about his drug addiction. On December 13th, Alex & his girlfriend Debbie get into a terrible fight. One of his neighbors calls 911. Alex splits to cool off his head. He reportedly enters a nearby restaurant & goes into the restroom, "doing what, I'm not sure," according to friend & one-time roadie, Bill Moser.

When he returns to the apartment, he sees police at his door. He freaks out. Alex heads towards the train tracks. It's not known if he was high at the time, but it's clear that Alex Soria was not of sound mind when he went to the tracks. Apparently, he gives the conductor of an oncoming train a salute. He then throws himself into the path of the train. Alex Soria was only 39 years old.

& what of the legacy of the late Alex Soria? 

First, three months after his death, on March, 11, 2005 at Montreal's Main Hall, friends of Alex's held a tribute concert for him after his tragic & untimely death. In addition to Carlos Soria's inevitable involvement with the tribute show, several of the Nils peers, past & present offered significant contributions that evening, the highlight being a reshuffled lineup of The Nils fronted by John Kastner of Doughboys/Asexuals renown doing song like "Daylight", "River of Sadness" & "Call of the Wild". Two of Alex's lesser known post-Nils outfits, Chino & Los Patos also shared the bill.  Carlos sings "I Am the Wolf", a vintage nugget from the Nils' Paisley EP. 
 
 

Tracklist –
Intro by Dan Webster
When the Love Puts on a Sad Face – Chris Page
Daylight – Jim Bryson

Losin' Ground
Belly Full of Heartache
When You're Not Around – Los Patos

Don't Be Denied (Neil Young)
Pink Turns to Blue (Husker Du)
Half a Song – Ian Blurton

Where Were You (Mekons)
What Do You Want?
White Girl (X)
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Neil Young)
Mustard Sally
Uno Mas - Chino

I am the Wolf – Carlos Soria

Young Man in Transit
Daylight
Call of the Wild
River of Sadness
Don't Cry no Tears
Bandito Callin' – John Kastner & the Nils

 
 
In 2006 in honor of his younger brother, Carlos Soria released Next Of Kin. These are acoustic four-track recordings featuring Alex & Carlos. The album showcased Alex's naturally introspective nature, giving the world a glimpse into the heart & mind of an artist who was so notoriously shy & private.
 
 

Alex Soria – Next of Kin, M.P.G. Records MPG001, 2006.

Tracklist -
Mud
Sanchez
Standin’ on the Corner
Tell Me Something
Lonesome Rendez-Vous
Love To Hate
They Found Out
Easy
Cartridge
Another Day
Losin' Ground
Mud (Live)
Tell Me Something (Live)
Sanchez (Live)
Next Of Kin

Today, Alex Soria's legend lives on through his recordings that helped shape a sound so distinct.

Enjoy,
 
UPDATE:
 
While I was re-uploading the files here, I realized that I should add to the greatness of The Nils by including a few item I had not posted at the time or that came out after the original post.
 
I mentioned Alex's post-Nils band, Chino. Here is there only release, & a great one it is from start to finish.
 
 

Chino - Mala Leche, Mag Wheels Records MAG029, 1999.

Uno Mas
When You’re Not Around
Worlds Apart
Mustard Sally
Misbehavin’
Nine Yards



Next up is some unreleased material...

This is a compilation album of unreleased songs by The Nils. The title is Barcelona Slippers, the real name of track 13. As a note, some of the songs on here are not actually the Nils, but are demos from Alex's side-project Los Pados or the Chino song “When You’re Not Around”. You can easily figure out which are which here.



The Nils - The Title is the Secret Song, Real Big North Record 65436702186, 2009.

Double Chin
Buzz
Turning Channels
Changes (Donovan cover)
Liberty Lady
Rifles
What You’re Doing (Beatles cover)
Boracho
Wadda
When You're Not Around
Belly Full of Heartache
You!
???

Finally, something I mentioned when attributing source to songs on Green Feilds write-up...


 
The Nils - Brave New Wave Session, Artofact Records AOF317, 2017.

Side 1 -
Freedom
Mary Ane with the Shaky Hand (The Who cover)
Young Man in Transit
River of Sadness
If Heaven Lies

Side 2 -
Red Balloon (Small Faces cover)
When Love Puts on a Sad Face
Bandits Callin’
Pop Goes the World (Men Without Hats cover)

Here The Nils are: Alex Soria, Carlos Soria, & Jean Gravel (Lortie)

Enjoy,