Track Listing: 1. Thrashard 2. Beneath the Wheel 3. Enemy Within 4. Strategy 5. Labeled Uncurable 6. You Say I'm Scum 7. Gun Control 8. Kill the Words 9. Drown You Out 10. The Trade 11. Standing in Line 12. Give a Hoot 13. Worker Bee 14. Abduction
Here are a couple more old D.B & Slice cartoons...This one is called "D.B. Devours Slice"...
Now for "Slice & Slice Go for a Walk"...
Let's move onto today's record..."Thrash Zone" by DRI...Although I should probably step back a bit...There were two albums in-between "Dealing With It" and "Thrash Zone" that I don't own, but are important in the band's evolution...After the straight hardcore of the first two records, on 1987's "Crossover" the band went into a much more thrash metal direction, lengthening the songs, adding more complex song structures and heavy metal guitar heroics, but keeping the punk attitude resulting in the crossover-thrash genre...
"Crossover" is a great record and probably the band's most seamless mix of punk and metal...I've been feeling pretty nostalgic for it lately, so I'm hoping to score a copy again, so I can do a post on that one too...To be honest, I haven't ever heard their "4 of a Kind" album...I think I might be a poseur or something...
By the time DRI got around to "Thrash Zone," they were pretty much just a straight thrash band with a more down to Earth vocalist than most other metal bands...Focusing on more street-level concerns like gun control and partying than the usual heavy metal D&D/"Paradise Lost" imagery...
"Thrash Zone" was my introduction to the band via "Beneath the Wheel" which gained the band a lot of attention...It hit all my "fuck yea" spots as a kid...Bratty delivery about falling asleep at parties and getting crushed under the wheels of an adult society that's completely out of your control...Slow mosh riffs giving way to fast thrash... And one of the defining lyrics of my High School days:
"Run! Make the grade,
School's a job you don't get paid..."
Being a 14 year-old fuck-up, those lyrics represented some of the most profound wisdom I'd ever heard ...My "Siddhartha," if you will...But I have a feeling this is one of those albums where my nostalgia might be getting in my way...It's hard to say what I would think of it if I was hearing it now for the first time...I think it might be one of those "you had to be there" things....To be honest, some of the lyrics are so dopey that they're LOL funny (see the invocation of Woodsy the Owl in "Give a Hoot")...
But for those of us who look back fondly on the era, this thing is a blast...Album opener "Thrashard" reminds me of "Toxic Waltz"-era Exodus or something...The kind of loving ode to a moshpit that they just don't make anymore:
"A boot to your forehead,
A knee in your face,
Your nose and lips start to bleed.
Like a wild Indian
From outer space,
Drunk and high on weed..."
I'll be damned if this doesn't make me want to run around in a violent circle with a bunch of sweaty strangers....
(Here I am in the pit! The pit! The pit! The pit! IN-THE-PIT!)
Despite "Thrashard" and maybe grand finale "Abduction," I can't help but feel that the real reason to buy this album is for "Beneath the Wheel"...The other songs are alright, but there's a by-the-book thrashiness to a lot of them that make for some good slamming but I not too many transcendent moments...I think modern hardcore fans would enjoy the first two albums over this and I can imagine heavy metallers getting more out of "Crossover"...This oddly sterile late 80's metal sound probably only appeals to class of '89-ers...I still enjoy it anyway (except those endless sirens and gunshot sounds in "Gun Control" which continue to drive me flippin' nuts)...
It thrills me to no end that there have been some recent bands resurrecting this style...It only lasted a brief period of time, but it was a great era for fast, aggressive music...Before the wrestling attitude shit, before the Nu-Metal daddy issues, there used to be bands whose only goal was to have a good time, tossing a few socially conscious messages in here and there, and trying their best to make the kids in the audience lose their damn minds...A noble cause if I've ever heard one...
Let's check out some DRI...Here's "Abduction"...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Snap 2. I'd Rather Be Sleeping 3. Marriage 4. Yes Ma'am 5. Soup Kitchen 6. Mad Man 7. Stupid, Stupid War 8. Counter Attack 9. Couch Slouch 10. God Is Broke 11. Karma 12. Nursing Home Blues 13. I Don't Need Society 14. Give My Taxes Back 15. The Explorer 16. Reagonomics 17. How to Act 18. Shame 19. Argument Then War 20. Evil Minds 21. Slit My Wrist 22. Busted Again 23. Equal People 24. On My Way Home 25. Bail Out 26. Couch Slouch 27. Running Around 28. Snap (Demo) 29. Stupid. Stupid War (Demo) 30. Mad Man (Rough Mix) 31. Sad to Be (Rough Mix) 32. How to Act (Rough Mix) 33. I'd Rather Be Sleeping (Rough Mix) 34. I Don't Need Society (Rough Mix) 35. Nursing Home Blues (Rough Mix) 36. Reagonomics (Rough Mix) 37. The Explorer (Rough Mix)
Alright, the 10,000 pound turkey I accidentally bought is in the oven...Now it's time to sit down for a moment with a nice cup of coffee and the biggest slab of pumpkin pie you've ever seen and talk about some DRI....
Note: My cup of coffee looks nothing like the one pictured in the photo above...
I usually drink coffee from a red Solo cup...Cos I hate doing the dishes, so I decided to single-handedly destroy the environment with plastic silverware, paper plates and red Solo cups...
And really, what's a better way to spend the Holiday than destroying the world and blasting some Dirty Rotten Imbeciles..."Dealing With It!" is the band's second album and initially I liked it more than the debut, but nowadays I'm not so sure it tops the first one...It is a bit more accessible, due to the addition of big, slow mosh parts to a bunch of the songs...Yes, I think that's the best way to describe this album...Think of the "Dirty Rotten LP/CD" but with a bunch of slow, heavy breakdowns added in the middle of every song, which helps songs like "I'd Rather Be Sleeping" actually stick in your head after a single listen...
The fast parts are still among the fastest things I've ever heard...Every once in awhile someone will show me a death metal band or something where the blast beats are more sustained, giving the drums the illusion of a faster speed, but it almost always seems so slow to me, because metal vocalists sing everything so slow...Listen to Kurt Brecht's vocals...There's a syllable for every beat...Fast as hell...
I also have zero idea how the drummer does it...Man alive, I get tired just listening to it... Yesterday at work I was feeling kinda hardcore-ish (at work I usually tend to listen to punk, hardcore or heavy metal to keep me awake...Unless I got a shit-ton of sleep or I have some serious Friday adrenalin, listening to slow stuff at work puts me in serious danger of falling asleep at my desk...)...Anyway, I listened to "Dealing With It" back to back with Black Flag's "Damaged" and the Black Flag album seemed so slow and straight-forward next to it...Like it was some poppy, hard rock record...So that might give you some indication as to what you're getting into if you're planning on checking our DRI...
The real highlight of this album is the recorded exchange with the band's old, pissed-off landlord at the beginning of "Mad Man"..."The Party's over...Don't you dummies understand anything?" Anybody who's ever been in a band has had this conversation a few times...Check this out for a good laugh...
The CD version I have adds a bunch of very demo-y demos and very rough
rough mixes...Not as great as the bonus' on the "Dirty Rotten CD"...
Damn, it's time to baste the turkey...Let's listen to another DRI track...Here's "I'd Rather Be Sleeping"...Happy Thanksgiving everyone (For more Thanksgiving fun, you can check out last year's Thanksgiving post here: http://fridaynightrecordparty.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html ...
Track Listing: 1. I Don't Need Society 2. Commuter Man 3. Plastique 4. Why 5. Balance Of Terror 6. My Fate To Hate 7. Who Am I 8. Money Stinks 9. Human Waste 10. Yes Ma'am 11. Dennis's Problem 12. Closet Punk 13. Reaganomics 14. Sad To Be 15. War Crimes 16. Busted 17. Draft Me 18. F.D.R.C. 19. Capitalists Suck 20. Misery Loves Company 21. No Sense 22. Blockhead 23. Rather Be Sleeping (VATS Demo) 24. No People (VATS Demo) 25. Snap (Comp) 26. Explorer (Comp) 27. Running Around 28. Couch Slouch 29.To Open Closed Doors 30. Violent Pacification 31. Radio Interview #1 Part 1 32. We Are US (Demo) 33. I Don't Need Society 34. Radio Interview #1 Part 2 35. Blockhead (Demo) 36. Radio Interview #1 Part 3 37. Radio Interview #2 Part 1 38. Commuter Man (Demo) 39. Radio Interview #2 Part 2 40. Yes Ma'am (Live) 41. Nursing Home Blues (Live) 42. Money Stinks (Live) 43. Louie Louie (Live) 44. Radio Interview #2 Part 3
Here are a couple more D.B & Slice cartoons Tony Jansen and I did in Jr. High/High School...
Alright...Enough cartoons...Let's get to today's records...
I first listened to the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles in Jr High, probably right around the same time I did those D.B & Slice cartoons pictured above...My friend Brett made me a mixed tape that had all kinds of intense shit on it...Iron Maiden, Carcass, Kreator...But I'll never forget, my favorite song on that tape was "Beneath the Wheel" by DRI...I had actually heard about the band previously through ads in Thrasher and RIP Magazine...
There always seemed to be an ad in those magazines from some band called the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and they were always selling records, shirts and books...
Yes, books! I found that endlessly fascinating...Anyway, I listened to DRI for years and knew them only as a Crossover-thrash, skate-metal band...But one day I decided to check out some of their earlier stuff and it just about blew my damn head off... I fell in love all over again...
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This skews much closer to straight up hardcore than the heavy metal of their later albums and boy, is this shit fast...Sure, there's a lyric sheet, but good luck following along...Even as someone who routinely listens to hardcore, this took a few listens to wrap my brain around...I was mostly into it for the adrenalin rush, but eventually melodies (if that's the right word) started emerging from the blur and suddenly I was walking around the house humming "Reagonomics"...
Usually I try to pick out a few highlights but that's pointless endeavor here...Every song is about one minute long and consists of the same blasting hardcore beats, buzzing guitars and shouted vocals that sound like some skater dude hectoring you about the ills of society...If that's your thing, it's all great...
If your tastes lean more towards Barry Manilow then you probably won't be able to make heads or tails of what's going on...
The Original Dirty Rotten LP only consisted of 22 songs and ran about 17 minutes...The CD version I have doubles the track listing, addding in an entertaining radio appearance (where the band's name varied slightly), demos, live tracks and best of all, the "Violent Pacification" EP, where the band adds a bit more sludgy metal into their sound...
Great stuff if you value speed in your music...Just be prepared that it might take a half-dozen listens before it sinks in...
Let's get this Friday started right...Here's "Violent Pacification" by DRI...Enjoy....
Track Listing: 1. USA Today 2. No Equalizer 3. Call To Arms 4. Guns Of '96 5. Get Out 6. Burning Heart 7. Question Marks & Periods 8. Urban Napalm 9. D.J.G 10. Concrete Times 11. No One Gets Away 12. The Last Goodbye 13. Factory Day 14. The Cool Crowd 15. Self-Destruction
I scanned in a couple of old cartoons I drew a long time ago...I did this one in a spiral notepad back in 2005...You might have to zoom in to read it properly (and even then my poor handwriting might be an additional obstacle)...
And here is an old D.B. & Slice cartoon I did with Tony Jansen back in the 90's...I have about a thousand of these cartoons in old bins...I'll keep posting them as I scan them in...
Alright...Let's get to the "Last of the Sharpshooters" album (cracks knuckles loudly, indicating I'm getting down to business)...
I like this album..It's s a bit less fun than the last two, since they cut all the jokes and little song snippets, making the album feel a bit more serious and political...If you're one of those people that was turned off by the goofiness that sometimes cluttered up their albums, this might seem like an improvement, although I kind of miss all the variety...
The album starts out very strong with "USA Today" and "No Equalizer" which are both the type of straight-forward punk rock mini-anthems that seem to be the band's most reliable style...Tightly-packed pop-hooks played in an energetic style that utilizes a relatively laid-back and relaxed vocal approach...I also enjoy "Urban Napalm," a return to ska, a genre the band tackled on "Radio Raga" from their previous album, although this attempt delves even deeper into that style...I can't say it's better, though, since Dave seemed to connect with "Radio's" subject matter a little more, but it's still very catchy...It kinda sounds like Down by Law is trying to channel Stiff Little Fingers trying to channel the Specials, if that makes sense (Hey, wait! This came out in '97! Why isn't every song a ska song? They could of taken a big slice of that Sublime/Reel Big Fish ska-punk pie)...
"Guns of '96" is interesting since a.) it's song about 1996 released in 1997, and b.) it seems like Dave might be insinuating that guns aren't the greatest thing ever invented:
"Hey brother can you spare a dime,
has been replaced with a gleaming shine with a .44 and a .45,
Tough kids walk the street tonight,
shadows beneath a neon light,
if you got a six-shooter will you feel alright ?"
I thought this guy was supposed to be a Republican or something...Or is this the whole "Guns are necessary because criminals have them" thing? Damn, these ambiguous politics! I want to be told what to think...Why can't they sum up their deeply held political beliefs in a 2 minute pop song? Wait...I take it back..."Get Out" does exactly that and it's sorta dumb and boring, although "Hey you! You leave them alone!" is an admirable stance..Uh oh...Did I just make a stance? Am I involved in the "troubles" now? Am I going to get a letter bomb or something?
It's a good thing I only check the mail once a year..Jury Duty...The Mail-In Ballot for the Midterm Elections...The 2005 issue of Juggs magazine...The 1986 issue of Ninja Master Magazine...
Oooo...Stalking tips...I can always use more of those...
I know the band put out a few albums after this one, but I've never gotten around to checking them out...I had this weird feeling they had peaked and it was going to head downhill or something...I can't even recall seeing copies of the subsequent albums at the stores at the time, so whatever label they switched to must have had a lower profile than Epitaph...I don't know...I probably would have checked them out if I had seen them...Does anyone out there know if the Down by Law albums after "Sharphooter" were any good? I'm always open to recommendations...
To sum things up..."No Equalizer" good...Ninja Master Magazine good..."Last of the Sharpshooters" good if you're into 90's punk and Down by Law in particular..I guess it comes down to how you feel about sacrificing excitement and energy for consistency...I'm alright with it, so...
Track Listing: 1. Punk Won 2. Hit Or Miss 3. Flower Tattoo 4. Sympathy For The World 5. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) 6. Brief Tommy 7. Bright Green Globe 8. Minusame 9. Drummin' Dave, Hunter Up 10. Punk As Fuck 11. 1944 12. The King & I 13. Haircut 14. Chocolate Jerk 15. Sam I 16. Heroes & Hooligans 17. Soldier Boy 18. Goodnight Song 19. Sam II
I loved Dag Nasty and All, but I had no idea Down by Law existed until I heard the Punk-o-Rama CD sampler that everybody owned at the time...
Man, Epitaph must have sold a kajillion of those things...I lived in a tiny town that had maybe a 1000 people in it and everybody there seemed to own it, so I can only imagine its larger cultural impact...This and "Fat Music for Fat People" were the first of the super-cheap CD samplers that I encountered...We were used to paying 16 bucks for a CD back then, so one that only cost $5.00 and had a dozen different bands on it was too good to be true! So needless to say, I snatched it up and one of my favorite tracks turned out to be Down by Law's "Bright Green Globe"...And the singer was that guy that sang Dag Nasty's "Circles" (which was one of my favorite songs back then, check it out of you haven't heard it), so I was thrilled...
I started off with their first two albums, and I liked them very much...Nothing too remarkable...Just solid, well-crafted, heart-on-yer-sleeve punk rock with nice clean vocals...But it was "punkrockacademyfightsong" that really hit me...You can hear them absorb the snottier, cartoonish pop-punk style that was all the rage in '94 (see "Flower Tattoo") which added a welcome sense of humor to the band...The whole thing kind of flips back and forth between short, comedy numbers (like "Drummin' Dave, Hunter Up" or "Brief Tommy") and the more serious, adult stuff (like "Sympathy For The World" or "Heroes & Hooligans") that's really the real heart of the album...Although it seems that the song that's made the biggest impact is their gimmicky cover of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by those Irish fucks, the Proclaimers...
And I have to admit...I'm kinda embarrassed to say it's pretty awesome, although it's one of those tracks that I roll up the car windows before cranking up...I think I finally understand what they mean by "guilty pleasure"...But, it works so well...You can almost imagine the band writing it and the altered lyrics are a vast improvement...Here, check it out if you don't believe me...
Stay far away from "Goodnight Song," by the way...It's the cheesiest, most horrible song ever written...It almost makes me take back every good thing I've ever said about the band...Check out these lyrics:
"Every minute that I dream,
I dream of you.
God that sounds like such a used line,
but fuck it, its true,
now most of my words are social,
the human condition we all share,
and I'm not very good with love songs,
but I just saw you sleeping there,
and I didn't want to wake you up,
but I feel us so strongly right now,
thanks for being so great,
and thanks for being my friend...
When you wake up, let's make out..."
Puuuuuuuke!!!!!!!!!! It might be tolerable if the song was even the slightest bit good, but the music is just as bad as the lyrics..."Cloying" doesn't even begin to describe it...
Oh yea, in recent years Dave Smalley's personal politics have become problematic in the punk community...So depending on how seriously you take politics that might pose a problem for you...The politics in the lyrics are so general as to almost be non-existent, so it doesn't really bother me...Really, someone would have to be a card-carrying Nazi before their politics would make me stop listening to them (although I have a couple of Wagner records floating around in my collection, so maybe not)...Besides, let the Republicans have some good music for a change...Sometimes I almost feel bad for them...Every election year whatever song the Republican candidate chooses ends with the artist eventually telling them they can't use it...
So unless they want to use Ted Nugent's "I Love My BBQ" as their campaign song, they're usually out of luck...Might I recommend some Down by Law to some promising Republican candidate? Maybe bust out some "Bright Green Globe" to liven up your campaign? He even tosses in Rush Limbaugh's name (although I can't tell if it's complimentary or not)...Can't you just see it now?
♪
"Nobody Knows it all-ll..."♪
Down by Law: All Scratched Up!
1996
Epitaph Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Independence Day 2. Cheap Thrill 3. All American 4. Hell Song 5. True Believers 6. Giving It All Away 7. Gruesome Gary 8. Radio Ragga 9. Attention: Anyone 10. Superman 11. Post Office Lament 12. Ivory Girl 13. No Has Beens 14. Kevin's Song 15. True Music 16. Far And Away 17. Punks And Drunks
Woah! Two posts in a row that have a good song about Superman (the fictional character who possibly has the greatest number of shitty songs written about him)...
But yea, there's a song on here called "Superman" that's a little cheesy but awesome nonetheless...That "I'm gonna be the one..." hook is brilliant...I've always thought of this album as "punkrockacademyfightsong Part Two:The Secret of the Ooze"... but it's much more consistent, so I'm giving it the nod as their best album...I've come to this conclusion by realizing that if the "500 Miles" cover was on this album, I would probably skip it...
(Yes...These guys are definitely Irish...)
"Independence Day" is the most explosive opener ever...It just ratchets up the energy to 10 from the split second it comes on...Easily one of the band's best tracks, despite being only a minute long...I could (and routinely do) listen to it 10 times in a row and never get tired of it...
The other big song on here was "Radio Raga" where the band tries out the reggae/punk style that the Clash excelled at, and they pretty much nail it...Lots of yearning, nostalgic lyrics about the power of music...This is going to sound weird, but the song's best moments almost remind me of prime Springsteen in the way that it's unabashedly overwrought and corny, but hits you square in the heart anyway...I remember at the time being confused about why this guy liked the radio so much...Was Dave Smalley really that big a fan of "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Stairway to Heaven"? Then later on in life I learned that there were other places in the country where radio wasn't always a big shitbag of moldy, overplayed tracks...In fact, my good friend Russ confirmed that in California, the radio is indeed awesome... Y'see, we had nothing but Joe and the Poorboy farting and boobing their way through the latest (by latest, we mean songs that were recorded a million years ago) by Bob Seger and George Thorogood...And I just can't fathom there are still people out there who simply must hear Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" once an hour...Blugh!!!
(God! I even hate the album cover! It's the brownest, shitteist, Lawnmower-Man-iest garbage ever created...I demand that all citizens of Planet Earth destroy every copy ever printed...Dig through the piles of Taco Bell wrappers and empty Coke cans in the backseat of your car until you find your old, loose, wrinkled, soda-damaged copy of the "Human Clay" CD booklet and toss it in the trash where it belongs...By the way, I can't find a copy of the cover online that isn't blurry...Is the album cover itself that blurry?)
Wait...Why am I rattling on endlessly about Creed? Everybody hates them...Why kick them when they're down? (Answer: Cos it's always fun...) So let's get back to "All Scratched Up"...
There's a coupla duds, which is to be expected for an album with nearly 20 tracks (I can't understand what people see in "Ivory Girl" and "Grusome Gary" barely gets a pass from me), but the minute you hear "All American" or "Post Office Lament" all is forgiven... I'd say if you haven't checked out Down by Law yet, this would be a fine place to start (If I remember correctly, the vinyl version had a bunch of extra songs on it, including a Jam cover...I haven't been able to find a copy of that version yet, but you can always find this as a three-buck used item in any respectable record shore)...
Track Listing: 1. Epistle to Dippy 2. Sunshine Superman 3. There Is a Mountain 4. Jennifer Juniper 5. Wear Your Love Like Heaven 6. Season of the Witch 7. Mellow Yellow 8. Colours 9. Hurdy Gurdy Man 10. Catch the Wind 11. Laléna
Man, whatever...I'm a hippie...This album is awesome..."Epistle to Dippy" is one of my all-time favorite songs...How does something so gentle rock so much? I honestly believe that "Look on yonder misty mountain, See the young monk meditating..." is one of the greatest opening lines ever and Donovan's vocal phrasing is masterful...Syllables and breaks occur in unexpected places, leaving you hanging on every word...If you're curious as to why I think so highly of Donovan (who is usually dismissed as a fluffy also-ran) then check that track out....
This is also a good place to find his great, flower-power-y, bubblegumtastic 60's singles like "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow"...As a kid, I just assumed that "Mellow Yellow" was written about the popular brand of sodee pop, but it turns out it must have been the other way around...The teeth-rotting Mello Yello beverage didn't debut until 1979...
We used to have a cat named Mello Yello which was probably named after the pop...If I remember correctly, the cat looked something like this...
"Sunshine Superman" is one of the few good songs about Superman (who has had more shitty songs written about him than anyone else), so as a Superman fan, I'm grateful for that...
But beyond that, it's probably the quintessential 60's pop song...It has that same kind of stringy "Day Tripper" riff that you can really imagine Austin Powers dancing to...
That's kind of my gauge of how 60's-ish something is...Can I imagine Austin Powers dancing to it...
There's also plenty of the acoustic-mystic Dylan-ish stuff on here too, if you're into that sort of thing...I tend to lean toward his more straight-up pop or reaaaallllly far out shit, but it's hard to argue with stuff like "Catch the Wind"...I can't speak too much on what should or shouldn't be on here, since I haven't delved very deep into Donovan's discography...But what's here is flippin' great if you're into capital "6" 60's...I wasn't even born yet and it gives me flashbacks...
Sorry to cut this short...I have to go to work...Trust me, I'd much rather sit around and talk about Donovan all day, but....*sigh*...
1. The Hurdy Gurdy Man 2. Peregrine 3. The Entertaining of a Shy Girl 4. As I Recall It 5. Get Thy Bearings 6. Hi It's Been a Long Time 7. West Indian Lady 8. Jennifer Juniper 9. The River Song 10. Tangier 11. A Sunny Day 12. The Sun Is a Very Magic Fellow 13. Teas
Welcome back to Old Hippie Theater...Now we return to our program, already in progress...
"Sometimes I miss the 60's...Those were different times...Remember, when we saw the Dead jam for 18 hours at the Winterland, and then those two groovy chicks took us back to their agricultural commune and proceeded to blow our minds? Free love, man...Kids these days have to worry about AIDS and stuff...Not us...At worst, our dicks would turn green and kinda fall off for a couple months...Kids today, they'll never understand..."
"You had to be there, man..."
"We used to not even wear shoes or socks...We'd just walk the streets of San Francisco in our bare feet...Stepping on broken glass, dog shit, rusty nails...You name it...We didn't care...Everything was cool back then..."
"You had to be there, man..."
"And remember that time when we both popped six tabs of "Sunshine Batman" and the UFO came and picked us up and took us to planet Bloinkadoink and we spent ten years wandering the barren wastelands, making love to the tribe of wild women who ruled the dunes?
"You had to be there, man..."
Thus endeth "Old Hippie Theater"...Join us next time for "Days of Orange Sunshine and Rose-Color Sores on our Dicks"...
Pros: They protested pointless wars, fought for civil rights, shot highly experimental psychedelic music to the the top of the charts, valued innovation in music, waged cultural war on squares and prudes...
Cons: The Grateful Dead, patchouli oil, the hippie twirl, infinite noodling, tie-dye, sandals, every single one of them claims to have gone to Woodstock...
So, on one hand I'm like, "Groovy," yet there's undeniably a part of me going, "I 'ate bleedin' 'ippies."...Yet, I gladly and openly listen to Donovan, who produced some of the hippiest, dippiest music known to man...It's all here: Drones reflecting his recent interest in Eastern religion ("Peregrine"), garden party psychedelia ("Hi It's Been a Long Time"), and dewey-eyed guilelessness (you can easily imagine "The Sun is a Very Magic Fellow" playing on an episode of Sesame Street). I can see how anybody the least bit hardened or cynical would hate the living shit out of this, but I get a kick out of it...
Musically, it's mostly folk rock with heavy Celtic and Eastern overtones...There's a few diversions, such as the harder psychedelic style of the title track or the jazz-pop "As I Recall It" (it was the late 60's after all, eclecticism was practically mandatory at that point)...The title track is really where it's at...I remember hearing it on oldies radio as a kid and was fascinated by how weird it was...It was so peaceful and introspective that it seemed almost ominous and frightening...God, I was probably the only person on planet Earth that found Donovan scary...I wondered forever who did the song and then somewhere in the early 90's I was checking out the latest Butthole Surfers album and there it was! And they didn't even attempt to weird it up...Playing it straightforward is disorienting enough....
Oh yea, there's ongoing confusion about who actually plays on "The Hurdy Gurdy Man," John Paul Jones and John Bonham are definitely there, but is Jimmy Page there too? He's listed on some releases as being the guitarist, but John Paul Jones, says, "No." But Jimmy Page says, "Yes." And Donovan has said both "Yes" and "No"...Still, the speculation is enough to make us ponder an alternate universe where Donovan fronted Led Zeppelin...Singing songs like, "Epistle to (Roy) Harper," "The Crunge is a Very Magic Fellow" and "Squeeze my Lemon Like Heaven"...
Anyway, if gentle, LSD-laced children's music turns you on, check out Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" album...
