I Must Find Atlantis

2012?

2012-01-19T19:47:00.003-05:00

Dear friends,

I've noticed that a lot of you are still checking in here and sadly I haven't had the time to make any updates to this blog. The amount of business and attention my shop Black Gold Records has been getting has made it really difficult for me to find the time to do anything outside of covering hours at the shop, hustling records, and having to act like a real life adult! I plan to pick up where I left off as soon as possible, but for now please follow my progress via the shop's website.

Hope to see you soon and thanks for the support!

Sincerely,

Jeff

2011-11-10T14:18:00.002-05:00

Richard Bone

"Alien Girl"

1981 NYC minimal synth pop

2011-11-01T14:39:00.004-04:00

I remember when Robert Smith was all up in arms over the likeness infringement of his character when the Edward Scissorhands movie came out in 1990. Here's a cover from a 1987 Slovenly album that's a little proto-Ed Scissorhands if you ask me. Looking further, and with some help from my girlfriend, it turns out that everyone actually loves the same man from the same classic German tale known as DR. STRUWWELPETER

2011-10-22T18:44:00.002-04:00

A little flier I made for the next dollar sale at the shop.

Come to BLACK GOLD!

2011-10-15T15:56:00.001-04:00

"Happy?" pills bottle used as a promotion for the 1987 LP Happy? by Public Image Limited. Apparently the bottles included nothing more than Vitamin C pills.

2011-10-13T22:37:00.001-04:00

King Karol NYC record chain logo from 1971.

2011-10-09T11:12:00.002-04:00

A little gem I bought off of a friend this week. This 1981 first pressing on Hoboken Records (yes, of Hoboken, NJ) is just drooling with talent and creativity. The band is a trio, with quirky guitar, funky bass, and a drum machine that often sounds like a human on a drum kit. Really fun, sometimes atmospheric, and all around interesting. A reissue is (or was) available on Drag City Records and if you can get your hands on one, it's highly recommended. This track is called "Chicken 80".

2011-09-22T20:27:00.002-04:00

124 Church St | New Brunswick, NJ 08901 | 732. 545.7265

The Swimmer E.P. by Sydbarret

2011-09-22T20:20:00.000-04:00

What a killer logo for a 70's disco label that's not-so-killer.

2011-09-21T10:47:00.006-04:00

Thanks to Steph Cochrane for making me aware of this gem out in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I wonder if I'll ponder life's mysteries while drinking a cup there the same way I do when Lift Your Skinny Fists... is busy jolting my soul.

2011-09-17T17:23:00.003-04:00

Pegboy "Superstar" Chicago 1991 Tour.

Notes by owner:

What I am about to tell is a rather strange story. I love garage sales, and the favorite thing I like about them is the weird stuff you find. I was out on one of my weekend garage sale expeditions somewhere in the middle of the rural Pacific Northwest when I came across a hand made "Garage Sale" sign that said "Going out of Punk" sale.

After driving 10 minutes up a gravel road to the top of a mountain (past acres of strewn with discarded busses, motor homes, airplanes etc. to a dilapidated cabin. Siting on a porch was giant bulbous looking fellow who not only looked like he could have been in Poison Idea, but that he had eaten the other members of the band as well.

To make a long story short (and I swear to god this is all true,) this fellow turns out to have been a big mucky muck in the the 80's Hardcore Scene. He mentioned some band that he had been in (can't remember the name though,) said that some famous 70's Punk Rocker (was it Billy Idol?) produced their record. Anyway, after spending the last 10 years on some type of "getting back to nature" kick he told me that he was selling his property and moving to France to live on an Ashram. He told me that he had sold most of his collectable stuff on ebay but had a box of videos that I might be interested in.

Turns out during the 90's this fellow wanted to be "Film Maker," so he went around taping bands. One of the few finished things he made was a promotional video for the Band "Pegboy". He said it was shot during a string of dates they did in 1991 when they opened up for Social Distortion for a nationwide tour. When I asked if the band had liked it, he only laughed a wheezy guffaw, then gave me a sad look and asked me if I would like to buy the box of videos for $1.

Imagine my shock when I watched what appeared to be an MTV production quality video coming out of my T.V. Holy Molly I thought this is an invaluable piece of Punk Rock History that must be seen by everyone.

That is why I have decided to post this video in hopes that all of the Fans of Pegboy can now see a piece of Band History that was not only lost but not even known to existed.

But what of the fat genius that directed this video. I did go back and try to find him, but when I went back to the cabin they were already tearing it down and there was a sign "Coming Soon Fancy Expensive Houses that you could never afford."

2011-09-12T07:29:00.004-04:00

I drove down to Kensington with my friend Matt to respond to a call about a record collection. We found parking and eventually found the woman's house. It only took a few seconds to realize what type of situation we were about to get ourselves into, but we pushed forward. The house was packed to the ceiling with garbage - some in bags, and some just strewn about the place.

We wrestled with an old exercise bike, were annoyed by multiple pesky pets, and inhaled much of the three inch grey dust that covered most of the stuff near the records. When all was said and done, we walked away with 125 decent LPs including the one pictured.

Tomorrow were one of England's first psych bands with a couple singles from as early as 1967. This s/t debut LP was released in 1968 on EMI/Parlophone. It's also interesting that Tomorrow was the first band to record with John Peel for one of his infamous Peel Sessions.

The record sounds exactly how you think it would.

2011-08-25T17:24:00.004-04:00

Pricing up a massive amount of quality jazz at BLACK GOLD RECORDS Check it out...if that's your thing.

The Smiths 90's Press Video & TV Advertisement

2011-08-17T14:38:00.004-04:00

(Above: The Smiths lost press video and Below: 1995 Ad for The Smiths Singles release). Thanks James D for this one!

2011-08-15T08:52:00.001-04:00

Bob & Gene

It's Not What You Know (It's Who You Know)

Ever-Soul ES-104/Daptone Dap-1057

A recently unearthed treasure from Buffalo, NY circa late 1960's / early 1970's. Bob and Gene were young, broke, and full of soul…and all during a time of great financial and racial turmoil. It's Not What You Know…contains two solid three minute plus tracks of pure heartfelt melody.

2011-08-10T12:26:00.003-04:00

Conor Clark passed away last night. He was a guitarist in one of the most incredible bands to come out of New Brunswick, NJ in the past decade or so. The band was called Give Me Danger and they were phenomenal, both recorded and live. Their singer Andy Brennan and I have been close friends for many years and I, as well as many other fans have been harassing him to round the guys up to reunite. It's never as easy as it sounds and sadly a reunion at this point would be missing a crucial element. I didn't know Conor well, but he ran in circles with a lot of people that I grew into my twenties with. Rest in Peace and respect to you and all affected by this loss.

Thank you Devildance Records for permission to post this track.

Here's to Endings

2011-08-10T07:11:00.001-04:00

Gibby Haynes

Untitled [2006]

Acrylic on watercolor paper with watercolor and pen. I purchased this from the Jonathan Levine gallery in 2006 and it's time to let it have a new home. Gibby is not only known for being the eclectic and energetic front man of Texas psychedelic noise punk group, Butthole Surfers, but he is also an artist and current resident of Brooklyn, NY. The work is in four squares, each measuring approximately 11"x 11". I'm currently accepting fair offers for this piece.

2011-08-08T10:16:00.001-04:00

The Kidds

To The Top

Leisure Records [1984]

This record sounds pretty close to how it looks. It's a super obscure independently released LP from a group of Long Islanders who were very aware of the sound of popular rock in the early to mid eighties. Some songs sound like a slowed down Benjamin Orr Cars track while others rock like a one hit wonder that you just somehow missed out on. It's the soundtrack to that date to the roller rink…after-hours Camaro makeout session included.

Listen to It Ain't Worth (All The Pain)

2011-08-06T12:16:00.004-04:00

Sermons

An Augury

self-released [2011]

I'm a sucker for nostalgia yet currently somewhat self-aware of my issues with it, however, I've accepted nostalgia as a yearning for the true pure love I've felt in the past and not a cheap exaggerated source of emotionally-driven memories. With that said, I can tell you that Sermons tap into a part of my brain that flashes me to a time in the 90's where San Deigo screamo was one of the most important things to me. Although influences for this style were also scattered across the states at that time, something evil and real was coming out of Southern California that no one else could touch. Well, maybe until now.

Bands like Swing Kids, Mohinder, and later The Locust and Camera Obscura (no not the Scottish indie-pop late bloomers) set a tone that awoke a monster in the decade to follow. A horrible onslaught of make up wearing tightpantsers stole the formula, ruined the formula (isn't this how it always goes), and made me and many others not look back. Now that the public has mostly been made aware of the sold out sounds of the 00's and its lip ring rockers, recovery and revitalization can finally commence.

Sermons not only touch on that memorable sound of the abrasive 90's, but they add a new relevant flavor using desirable elements both past and present. They commendably pass right over the past fifteen years and land in present time with something we all hoped we 'd someday hear. Imagine a frantic Jeffrey Lee Pierce on vocals with a supporting group who sound influenced by early Ink and Dagger and even more recently influenced by the works by Nick Cave and Grinderman. The record is hardcore, but it's not necessarily a hardcore record. It's oddly melodic, but maybe that's just the hellishly eerie keys or the Peter Hook influenced bass playing. Regardless, these Jersey/Philly men are truly onto something.

Listen to POSEIDEON'S TEARS by Sermons

2011-08-05T07:37:00.007-04:00

PYLON

Cover+Remix

DFA/Revolver [2011]

In the early years of the Athens, Georgia art/dace/proto-indie/"we invented college rock" weirdness scene, then emerged what we now know as household music natives such as the obvious top two: R.E.M. and the B-52's. What people often forget or never had the chance to learn or experience was the fast moving third place local act who called themselves "Pylon".

Pylon were the states' answer to the turn of the eighties dance punk / new wave sounds of the U.K. à la groups such as Gang of Four or Au Pairs. Flash forward thirty years to the indie underground in America, introduce a cover by Atlanta's Deerhunter and another track by NYC music critic Sash Frere-Jones a.k.a "Calvinist", and you have the ingredients to a really hip discussion on relevant and skillful alternative rock. Both tracks are satisfactory in production and sonically pleasing in execution.

Deerhunter's Bradford Cox may have only been a twinkle in his mother's eye when Pylon released their debut single "Cool" almost exactly two years before his birth, but Cox's influence is evident in his music, which, most likely is a result of growing up in the very town that spawned Pylon. His take on "Cool" isn't too far off from the original, or at least his comfort and ease in relaying the impression that the song had on him isn't too far off.

"Calvinist", with the help of Sleigh Bell's Alexis Krauss, chose the track "Yo-Yo" which appeared over three years later than "Cool" on Pylon's 1983 LP Chomp More. Pylon was picking up speed at this point (but unfortunately heading towards a lack-luster career outro. The Calvinist version has a more modern minimalist indie dance feel to it. The vocals, like the vocals on the original track stand out as very strong and listenable.

My only complaints about this release are as follows: 1) I wish this was available as a 12" (and I'm sure I'm speaking on part of many people with that), and 2) I wish this single was more affordable (but the green-eyed industry is clearly to blame for that one, not the groups).

2011-08-04T17:48:00.001-04:00

One of the many piles of goodies found at The Leo & Xero Media Warehouse.

2011-07-29T20:01:00.004-04:00

Liquor Store
Yeah Buddy
Almost Ready Records [2011]

This record is big, inside and out. If you aren't like both random people who walked into my shop while this was playing, saw the cover, and made comments about the artwork reflecting absolutely nothing about the actual sound of the record, then maybe you'll get it...and I hope you do. I think it all works perfectly together.

Liquor Store and its inclusions are made in New Jersey, so expect to hear some attitude and occasional rawness when throwing both discs of Yeah Buddy on your platter (because after listening to one, you will dig in and need to hear the other). It's back-to-back explosions of melodic punk that'll keep you moving the whole way through. It's '77 UK punk that transcends into early 80's new wave. It's a collection of KBD punk singles you found in box at a suburban thrift. It's The Spits meets No Bunny covering unreleased Marked Men demos. It's a lot of great things. And if Liquor Store isn't the next big thing...I'm packing my bags and giving up on punk rock once and for all.

LIQUOR STORE - GAS STATION

Records That Don't Rock

2011-07-28T16:39:00.003-04:00

I don't know how to pronounce the name of this group and in all honesty, I don't even care to. This 1989 product of late Cold War-era Russia is about six years behind the run-of-the-mill garbage that America and the UK was already embarrassed about spitting out. The songs have about five seconds each of progressive potential, and then it's all down hill. Imagine all the painful stereotypes about eighties music wrapped into one album. Then, give 1987 a ring, page David Lee Roth from his cocaine powered yacht, inform him that all the members of A-Ha are pregnant with his children, and you will have the perfect concept for this group's album art and image.

2011-07-25T07:26:00.004-04:00

Slowdive

Hide Yer Eyes LP

Unofficial [2011]

I've learned my lesson with unofficial LPs and DVDs in terms of sound quality expectations. More specifically, I've learn to be weary of anything unofficial concerning shoegaze music (that My Bloody Valentine DVD I bought a few years back for $20 is collecting dust since giving me one of the most memorable headaches in my more semi-current music sampling history). With the recent onslaught of decent-sounding 80's and 90's indie and goth bootlegs (The Cure, Siouxsie, The Smiths and more), I was more than tempted to check out the Slowdive Hide Yer Eyes release and I can report with confidence that I am pleased with what I heard.

Hide Yer Eyes isn't a live recording, but rather an unreleased studio version of I Saw The Sun, a record that was planned for release sometime before their 1992 LP Souvlaki. The recording itself seems to be dubbed from a few generations so it had noticeable imperfections in sound quality (from volume variations to clipping and so on) but it's not enough to distract from wholly listening enjoyment.

The tracks included on the LP are: "Bleed", "Sleep", "Silver Screen", "Dagger", "Joy", "Hide Yer Eyes", "Ending", "Richard", and "I Saw The Sun". The cover is a two color screen on cardboard, and the LP labels themselves are marked with track listings (thank goodness, who ever does this on unreleased LPs anymore?)

I wouldn't recommend this record to a curious non-fan of Slowdive, but for the Creation Records catalog hoarder - this one's a must.

Listen to the track "Ending" HERE.

2011-07-22T07:18:00.002-04:00

Wallace Laboratories of Cranbury, New Jersey brought us this 1964 oddity. This one sided 12" Lp features a "Luncheon Address at a symposium on Anxiety and a Decade of Tranquilizer Therapy" that was hosted at a New York Hilton Hotel on April 1st, 1964. A board of medical doctors can be heard discussing discoveries, hypothesis, and thoughts on the future of treating anxiety and depression by way of said tranquilizers.

"…a fleece-like fog of anxiety has enveloped a large segment of our population. To meet this condition, the last decade has witnessed a pharmacologic resolution. There has been a frontal attack on mental illness with a group of compounds of diverse chemical structure." - John C. Krantz Jr., Ph.D.

The discoveries seem to touch on minor tranquilizers of the time, such as Librium and Valium. These chemicals seemed to allow for ambulatory treatment, which meant patients could live his or her life normally while attacking mental illness. Although much of the research and findings of that time are now viewed as rudimentary and even archaic, it still beats a lobotomy.

2011-07-20T06:34:00.002-04:00

The Speedies: Five teenagers from Brooklyn, New York around the start of the 1980's convincing the area that UK New Wave and US Power Pop could collide to make something catchy and new. Today, only minimal attention for the group exists…oh yeah… and this video. Check out the Twin Towers in all their glory (R.I.P.)

The 45 is on Golden Disc Records [1979] and is b/w "No Substitute".

2011-07-20T06:18:00.001-04:00

Fact: Led Zeppelin declined an invitation to perform at Woodstock for a higher paying gig at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ. haha

2011-07-13T07:29:00.001-04:00

Adventures in Negro History

[1963] Pepsi-Cola Records HRP-101

Although the secondary market suggests very little interest exists for this particular record, I am completely intrigued by it. I found this at a local thrift shop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn for a buck and couldn't pass it up. If not for the nostalgic value of the spoken word content, or the Kathe Kollwitz style charcoal cover art, the plan and simple fact that the center label is a vintage Pepsi logo made my one dollar gamble a surefire bet.

2011-07-13T06:53:00.001-04:00

Get personal with my long time friend, Dan Santoro and Smith Street Tattoos HERE at Vice TV.

(Below) The Smiths and Sandie Shaw in an odd, unforgettable moment.

Dragon Music

2011-07-06T11:51:00.007-04:00

I don't know much about what was going on in Belgium at the close of 1976, but I do know that an extremely unique sounding progressive psychedelic group who went by the name "Dragon" was finishing up their first self-titled album.

The seventies was a fantastic decade for prog rock, the early seventies being a notable time for some epic experimentation and creativity. Enough time had passed for groups to naturally follow the musicians of the U.K.'s lead and continuously top one another with each release. Whether Dragon's first LP is a contender in said race is debatable especially since they lean on the more psychedelic/fantasy side of the genre. Not to mention, King Crimson, Yes, and Soft Machine (to name a few) had already spent up to a decade perfecting their obsessive renditions of skillful progressive rock and by 1976 most prog around the world was already falling into the doomed clutches of the sappy sounds that the next (eighties) decade would bring. Even closer to home, Irish Coffee had a memorable progressive record in Belgium five years earlier than Dragon, in 1971 with Same. With that said, Dragon had some time to be heavily influenced. Regardless of what slot in time Dragon fit into, they did something interesting that seems to have held up since.

The album contains all the ingredients for an epic prog record: guitar, bass, drums, Hammond organ, Mellotron, and some vocals that seem a little too fitting.

The record was originally released on Acorn Records [1500 copies] and was reissued on Golden Pavilion Records [500 copies] last year but has since sold out.

Here's the opening track "Introduction (Insects)".

Get Charmed - Snake Oil's S/T EP Reviewed

2011-06-29T07:23:00.006-04:00

The phrase "snake oil" has come up a few times in conversation at the record shop lately. The term itself has quite a history, most notably by skeptics responding to the dubious claims of actual snake oil that was bottled generations ago in China to treat joint pain. At the shop, the context of the term has related to the audiophile world's vast array of high end stereo accessory upgrades including but not limited to: Interconnect cables, turntable styli, and hardware. Stumbling upon a record with the only printed text on it reading "Snake Oil", intrigued me enough to find out if the group had a legitimate thing going for it.

The Snake Oil layout is minimal and quite satisfying for some reason. A simple five-color rendition of a setting sun on a desert background can be found on the front cover, and a negative (featuring a white moon in place of the sun) can be found on the back. Inside,the black vinyl's center labels feature simply a blank yellow circle or blank white circle - the colors both corresponding to the front/back or side 1/side 2 respectively.

I decided to try this record out on my newly configured stereo set up (which I hesitate to describe in an effort to avoid a lengthy tangent) and I was pretty pleased with what I heard. Snake Oil continued their minimalist efforts by quickly revealing themselves to me as a psychedelic instrumental group. Although some of the tracks seem to become a bit meandering at times, the songs collectively entertained me and kept my attention for the entire album. The group has a new (and sometimes surfy) psychedelic feel, like Tristeza's A Colores, but a classically influenced Krautrock energy a la Xhol Caravan or Amon Düül. I'd recommend Snake Oil to any willing psychedelic music listener, but I can't guarantee it'll work for you.

Buy it HERE

Archers of Loaf - Webster Hall N.Y. 06.26.11

2011-06-27T06:57:00.006-04:00

My girlfriend and I made it out to the Archers of Loaf show at Webster Hall last night. We met up with a few friends and watched from the balcony, stage left. The show was definitely a success, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the biggest turn out they've ever had as a band (less a few late nineties festivals I'm sure I'm forgetting). Regardless, when a band takes pictures of the crowd they are playing in front of it's generally a clear indication of a "big deal" and if you were out at the show last night you'd have a relatively difficult time denying that notion.

The group was surprisingly energetic and noticeably tight. Singer Eric Bachmann belted out and delivered hard , loud vocals while the rest of the band did their part in seeming genuinely entertained and excited to be a part of the show.

The band played a wide variety of songs, and yes they played the three songs you hoped they would... My only confusion about the show is why on Earth did they need to perform a double encore? Either way, kids were pretty excited and it looks like The Archers just jumped on a new wave of popularity for themselves.

If Only My Daddy Could See Me Now - R. Stevie Moore plays Brooklyn

2011-06-13T07:30:00.004-04:00

My girlfriend Steph and I went to the Bellhouse in Brooklyn, NY last night to see "Legendary Artist" R. Stevie Moore perform a stop on his "2011 World Tour". We showed up about an hour into the event to find out that RSM and his opening acts would be playing the Bellhouse's front room, and the light crowd swarming the front bar confirmed just that.

After a couple of decent indie openers, RSM took the stage; a psychedelic Santa Claus clad in bright red velour Monopoly pajama pants, a Rutgers University ball cap, and a shirt that looked "fitting" (pun intended) for an overweight mother of three… circa 1994. His snow white beard and foggy oversized glasses shook vigorously as he wrestled to untangled a mess of power cables that strangled his various effect pedals. Finally, RSM grabbed his Ibanez bass, (which was covered with a collage made of what appeared to be the lingerie section from an old JC Penny catalog) plucked the E string, and began to tune before almost instantly breaking into the first song.

(Above: a song he didn't play last night).

When a musician who allegedly has hundreds of releases (mostly on cassettes and VHS, offered to members of his New Jersey-based home tape club mailing list) takes the stage, it's generally a wild card as to what songs to expect. After winging one somewhat sloppy opening song, the pace really began to pick up as RSM and band locked in and loosened up. RSM fired away with some hilarious banter between songs, and lyrically freestyled during songs making for a continuously entertaining experience. From bellowing heart-felt rants about love to nailing high notes about kids and their drug habits, RSM sounded right in key, on time, and full of energy.

Throughout the set, RSM often became vibrantly emotional and enthusiastic about song topics and at one point he tore at his beard until tufts of beard hair could be seen circling his head for a moment before floating to the floor. At other times he stared directly into the stage lights and froze like an abductee locked in the tractor beam of a hovering UFO.

R. Stevie Moore rocked, and his back up band were perfect for the gig and not some group of undeserving attention-starved hipsters for once. The good news is that there's a documentary on RSM coming soon, as well as (countless) more songs and records.

"I Like To Stay Home" VIDEO

Available Now:

R. Stevie Moore Phonography reissue on Sundazed
Meet The R. Stevie Moore Double LP on Get Back!
Countless self-released cassettes, CDs, and unofficial, out of print LPs.

R. Stevie Moore 2011 World Tour Dates

6.13.11 Providence, Soft Approach
6.14.11 Boston, Church
6.15.11 Philly, Johnny Brenda's
6.16.11 Baltimore, TBA
6.18.11 Pittsburgh , Modern Formations Gallery
6.19.11 Detroit ,The Magic Stick
6.20.11 Bloomington , The Bishop
6.22.11 Chicago , The Empty Bottle
6.23.11 Milwaukee , The Cactus Club
6.25.11 Minneapolis , 400 Bar
6.26.11 Blue Moose Taphouse
6.27.11 Kansas City , The Riot Room
6.30.11 Denton , Hailey's
7.1.11 Austin , Emo's Outside
7.2.11 Little Rock, AR - White Water Tavern
7.3.11 Memphis , Hi-Tone
7.5.11 Nashville , Exit/In
7.6.11 Athens , Farm225
7.7.11 Asheville , The Grey Eagle
7.8.11 Raleigh , King's Barcade
7.9.11 Greensboro, NC - The Blind Tiger
7.22.11 MIDI Festival, HyŽres, France
7.29.11 Creepy Teepee Festival, Prague

Press Play and Read Along: The Tale of Tarkus

2011-05-16T09:47:00.006-04:00

In 1971, British Progressive Rock giants, Emerson Lake and Palmer (abbreviated simply "ELP") released their second (and in my opinion their greatest) album, Tarkus. Tarkus arrived at a perfect time for ELP and their listeners alike. With psychedelic and hard rock at its pinnacle, the concept of a part armadillo - part machine adventuring though a fantasy landscape and encountering other partially mechanized creatures actually worked quite well.

The common gatefold version of this record makes the experience worthwhile. Each track on side A coincides with the included storyboard ("Eruption"," Stones of Years", "Iconoclast", "Mass", "Manticore", "Battlefield", and "Aquatarkus"). This is exactly how Tarkus was presented to me about ten or eleven years ago by a friend while out in Columbus, Ohio. His introductory quote was: "DUDE. You HAVE to hear Tarkus. He's this armadillo tank thing that fights exciting battles!" Needless to say, I was intrigued and later impressed by his LOUD demonstration of the record. In years to follow, nearly all my friends as well as I would end up with a copy of the album in our collections.

Above: Tarkus gatefold inner detailing the adventures of Tarkus.

For the past decade or so, all of my record collecting friends have found a way to bring Tarkus into a nerdy music conversation, but mostly for satirical purposes. The album is occasionally still demoed in our respective homes and there always seems to be that "new guy" who has not yet experienced Tarkus. Despite our facetious dealings with the record, most of us have admitted that the album is actually decent, especially when presented using high quality equipment.

Above: Me and my friend Tom listening to Tarkus circa 2004.

As for taking Tarkus seriously, some ELP fans take this album a little too seriously. For example: In a 2006 online auction, a white label promo (seventies records that are white label promos are sometimes pressed as Mono recordings often furthering their collectibility) sold for upwards of three thousand dollars. Even more recently, a very early and scarce pressing of this record sold for about the cost of a new car.

Is it the ebb and flow of the 5/4 time signature, the menacing keys, or the somber vocals that make Tarkus the enigma that it remains today? Or is the real mystery the question of how one record can both be available in excess for a buck in countless thrift shop dollar bins, and yet also be adored by prog rock fanatics?

Bruce Foxton fucking rocks, man!

2011-05-10T18:34:00.002-04:00

OK I can't personally vouch for this statement, but a friend of mine casually made this comment and it stirred up an idea for me. If in fact Mr. Foxton (best known for his work with British rock group The Jam) does "fucking rock", meaning he rocks as a normal, personable human being, then he would join the very short list of rock stars who deserve any such mention. I've heard a thousand stories about fans meeting their idols and both being floored by his or her social integrities or broken hearted by the rudeness they were subjected to. Now I want to hear what other people think. So tell me a story about when you met that rock star and what you thought of him or her. I'm going to pick a handful and list them here, with or without your name credited - you just let me know how you want it to appear.

2011-05-06T18:29:00.003-04:00

Very strange fantasy disco/electro 12" I came across.

LISTEN TO "Phonic" by Cristal HERE

2011-04-28T17:46:00.003-04:00

The Vehicle Birth

"We Need to Find the Girls"

LIVE [3.19.11] Arlington, VA at Galaxy Hut

In 1998 I bought this record from the Crank! Records label. I never knew what these dudes looked like or even if they ever performed live at all. Super mathy, slowcore indie that really provoked awkward teenage thoughts for me back then. A somewhat random search on the web brought up this footage from a reunion show just last month.

2011-04-20T08:46:00.001-04:00

The Smiths

The Old Guard BBC Tapes 1983-1986

Alti Philosophi - Deutchland

Numbered 52 out of 500.

One of the more exciting unofficial Smiths releases. The sound quality is great, the track versions are interesting, and the layout is pretty neat (two color hand screen on gloss white 12" outer). The songs span the first three albums.

2011-04-16T12:49:00.001-04:00

BLACK GOLD RECORDS from Dorian G Stone on Vimeo.

2011-04-06T06:57:00.005-04:00

A couple of friends and I checked out Skull Defekts featuring Daniel Higgs this past Sunday. A very exciting show to say the least. It was refreshing to see Higgs at the reins of a high-energy rock group given most of his recent projects or solo performances have been more minimalist. This was a nice change of pace. See also: "Daniel Higgs is a transcendentalist wizard".

2011-04-06T06:47:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, my friend Adam Bains claimed that "Meatloaf and Tori Amos are like the same person...playin' piano driven drama queen music".

2011-03-28T11:18:00.003-04:00

(front cover)

(portion of back cover)

(front cover)

Here are a few lesser known pieces of work done by Mr. Andy Warhol. These records are so collectible that the Madrigal's Spanish LP just sold for over six thousand bucks in an online auction.

2011-03-25T18:46:00.002-04:00

Circus Maximus
s/t
1967 Vanguard
VRS-9260

This is a pretty interesting record that I just saw and heard for the first time today. It's a Vanguard release so right off the bat I knew it was hit or miss. I'm a big fan of about half of Vanguard's folk catalog and some of the hard rock and psych they released is really fantastic. On this album's back cover Circus Maximus claims the the record is "Presented in the center ring of an electric circus under a visual "big top" of flowing, multicolored light… Circus Maximus is the biggest circus… The Circus of the mind…Theatred in a tent of imagination…"

The album has nothing to do with a circus, nor does it have any remote hint of anything circusy less a few organ solos that might pass for something you'd hear under the big top. The record is very 1967 San Francisco in that it sounds a bit flowery and what my friend Mike would refer to as "Diet Psych". Some of the tracks almost rock while others follow the formula of the quieter side of psychedelic 60's hard rock.

Circus Maximus was originally called "Lost Sea Dreamers" but Vanguard didn't like the LSD acronym so they went for the more fun but lackluster, in my opinion, "Circus Maximus".

The song that they did best with is the final track on the album titled "Wind". It was regularly spun on progressive radio stations in the late sixties. It sounds something of a slower Donovan b-side. As far as I can tell, it's the worst track on the album and almost shouts itself out as a precursor to the mess of arpeggiated eighties easy listening hits.

In its entirety, this debut Circus Maximus record is a good album, but nothing more. It is essentially a slightly above average product of a psychedelic music marketing fad.

Here's one of their more exciting tracks, "Short-Haired Fathers". It's the closest thing to a psychedelic circus soundtrack found on the album although I'm thinking it's more of a song for rebellious sixties teens interested more in the long hair lifestyle of the time and less interested in being square (like father).

2011-03-24T19:20:00.001-04:00

"This is like a middle-aged music nerd's Fantasia" - Steph Cochrane on me purchasing a copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall on VHS.

Albums That Don't Rock

2011-03-23T08:19:00.000-04:00

Paul Winter

Callings

Living Music

LMUS 0001

Where can I even start with this one? Paul Winter takes new age music to all new heights (or depths!) with his "musical sea journey" titled Callings. Paul rocks a Kenny G -style straight soprano saxophone (as pictured in wonderful airbrush on the album's cover). The Living Music website describes the record as follows: "A result of three years of research and expeditions by Paul Winter to observe, listen to, and occasionally play his saxophone with sea mammals, CALLINGS was inspired by the imaginary journey of a mythic sea lion pup. This is your friend's father's 1980's new age release that the family doesn't talk about.

2011-03-14T10:07:00.002-04:00

When I hear the term "power pop", I generally think of the late seventies/early eighties version of what is retroactively called such. Although the style draws from 60's garage and popular rock, the actual definitive genre, to me, took place in the late seventies and into the eighties. Rock groups from this period can be obsessively categorized into a number of sub-genres, but again "power pop" to me, is a very specific sound.

Power pop has a new wave feel a lot of the time. You have groups like The Knack, The Romantics, and even The Jam, who took a garagey sixties sound, threw on some skinny ties, and whipped their drummers to perfection. The "pop" in "power pop" is what makes the genre so interesting. Many of the power pop groups of the early to mid eighties received little recognition despite their somewhat ironic failed efforts to become popularly known.

A couple years back, my friend and I bought out an entire basement of 45s from a then defunct record shop. We sifted through the central Jersey collection and found some real pieces of history. In this heap of some - several thousand records - we found a 45 by a group called "Gett Sett". The record was on a label called ULTRA RECORDS out of Edison, NJ. There are two tracks: A) "Without Care" and B) "Between Us". The songs remind me of a more square group of guys in their mid to late twenties, wearing sunglasses, and laughing about a business deal gone way too well over pricey cocktails. Regardless of who these guys were, or how much coke was involved, their licks are pretty impressive. This is 1985.

Gett Sett - "Between Us"

2011-03-12T12:25:00.003-05:00

Black Gold Records is giving away some great prizes in our first contest ever. Check the website at www.blackgoldbrooklyn.com and let your friends know too!

He's Lost Control

2011-03-10T15:02:00.001-05:00

I have a Theory

2011-03-09T10:21:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure it was the summer of 1998 when I found myself in a situation where I was promoting a show for the Philadelphia one man sensation, Atom and His Package. A kid I went to high school with had recently made contact with me and asked if I was interested in helping with the show. I was an A&HP fan and I figured it would be a fun way to get involved, so I agreed to help. We rented out South Amboy NJ's then Club Bene, now Club Chrome. The place was enormous and the price was within reason for the capacity and sound capabilities of the venue so we went for it. We asked our friends in The Postage Era (a group I would join the following summer) to open the show, and we were contacted by a band called The Juliana Theory about their potential interest on the bill.

I was never a big Juliana Theory fan and leaned more in the direction of releases on the Tooth and Nail label such as Roadside Monument and other non-traditional releases that the Christian indie label offered at that time. Around this same time, I randomly received the JT cd from Tooth and Nail as a press list member for a small publication a few friends and I were working on. I thought the album was ok, maybe even a bit of a diet Get Up Kids attempt during a time when anything that remotely vibed on a Weezer feel was all the rage. We went ahead and booked the show, made a ton of flyers and the day of the show kids lined up and the turnout was a success.

The Postage Era sounded great, but I remember there being a mixed response from the audience (probably because it was a bit of a younger crowd chasing that more popular sound that the headlining acts would provide them with). Atom and His Package was entertaining and in very high spirits. Then there was the Juliana Theory.

I won't even go into the details of their cock-rocked performance, but rather leave you to imagine the show for yourself based on the guarantee list we received from their manager prior to the event. Keep in mind that no one knew these guys yet. This was pure rock stardom right out of the gate.

- $500 Cash

- A well-lit, lockable dressing room

- eight (8) gallons of room temperature (NOT chilled - important!) spring water

- eight (8) meals or $25 buyout per member

- A one hour sound check one hour before doors.

and more...

2011-02-10T18:35:00.002-05:00

So R.E.M. releases "It's the End of the World" in 1987 and two years later Billy Joel releases a very similarly stylized song with "We Didn't Start the Fire". In their songs, R.E.M. talks about the apocalypse starting with "an earthquake" and Billy basically lists a bunch of influential/famous people from Harry Truman to Bernie Goetz and explains that societal turmoil has and will always exist.

I just wish Billy Joel threw a line in his track about how he ripped R.E.M. off and made a #1 single out of the idea that only got R.E.M. a slot at #16 in the U.S.

2011-02-04T17:10:00.001-05:00

Brett Smiley

Live on Russell Harty 10/29/74

Also: Interview with Smiley and Stones producer Andrew Oldham

Smiley stopped into my record store this week and told me his life story. A sad story for sure. Ask me about it.

2011-01-29T20:20:00.001-05:00

I really want to attend some of these goth dance parties again but lately I've preferred experiencing my sadness privately.

2011-01-26T07:04:00.001-05:00

1971 David Bowie project and precursor to his 1972 Ziggy Stardust concept. Yesterday was the first time I ever heard or saw a copy of this record. [Krazy Kat Records]

2011-01-22T18:34:00.001-05:00

R. Stevie Moore.

I like to Stay Home

Uncle Floyd Show [NJ 1986]

They Found It!

2011-01-21T14:05:00.003-05:00

(Thanks James)

2010-12-06T12:38:00.005-05:00

Forgetters

S/T 2x7"

2010 TSTF

This new Brooklyn based project is the latest from Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil). It's a three-piece this time, but there are no empty moments. The song subjects are all too familiar; Schwarzenbach pines over lost love and comments honestly on the real distractions surrounding the complications of modern emotion. The band lays down a powerful melodic punk landscape which Schwarzenbach decorates eloquently with his words. The overall feel is new, but musically reminiscent of mid-era Jawbreaker while the vocal melodies actually sound like the harder tracks off of JTB's Orange Rhyming Dictionary. Sound too good to be true? Well believe it, and take note of how wholesomely good the songs are. After a few listens you won't even notice that you are flipping each single record over after each track to hear the next. A truly relevant punk record.

2010-12-05T10:06:00.001-05:00

"These are the kind of pizza prices I'd expect to see at a U2 concert" - Steph Cochrane on local pizzeria's decisions to raise the price of a slice to $4.00

2010-12-04T17:42:00.002-05:00

"Haircut 100 sound like The Smiths meets the Saturday Night Live band" - Chip

2010-12-04T15:29:00.002-05:00

Jeff Ogiba: "I get excited when I see that early Island label".

2010-10-13T15:45:00.002-04:00

Robbie Basho

"The Grail & The Lotus"

The Grail & The Lotus

Takoma Records [1966]

Early experimental and quite visual folk on John Fahey's label Takoma.

2010-10-09T14:14:00.002-04:00

"I saw Frankie Goes to Hollywood... back in the 80's on that Welcome to the Pleasuredome tour. They played "Relax" during the set and then again at the end as an encore. Needless to say, the crowd went ballistic" - Anonymous Brooklyn Bartender

2010-10-08T18:59:00.001-04:00

2010-09-28T18:32:00.002-04:00

Gray Matter
Swann Street (Originally by 3)
Gray Matter Reunion [Black Cat Washington D.C. 9.12.08]

You can see me freaking out in the front row to this song. Definitely the highlight of that evening.
Dark Days Coming by 3 is finally back in print on Dischord. Thank the makers.

2010-09-18T17:49:00.001-04:00

The Jay Vons

"Maybe I Loved You"

2010 Cryptovision

2010-09-02T15:06:00.000-04:00

The Vinyl Experience

2010-08-06T17:40:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to get invited onto Paul Cavalonte's radio show at 101.9 WRXP this past Sunday to rep our shop. Paul was really genuine and his true love for all the things that come with the experience of listening to/playing/talking about records.
I've been a long time fan of another programmer on his station, Matt Pinfield, whose roots go back to my old stomping grounds of New Brunswick, NJ. I've always admired his knowledge and enthusiasm so I when I found out he'd be doing a show on RXP a couple years back, I tuned in regularly on my way to work. Getting a chance to meet Paul Cavalconte, who in an essence is a very similar wealth of record knowledge, was a real treat. Our conversations were healthy ones - from the "riverboat Reprise" labels on Hendrix's "Are You Experienced", to our mutual discontent with sound imperfections on the final tracks on either side of a 33 RPM Lp. I had a great time and look forward to future talks with a guy you should tune into a learn a little something from.

[The Vinyl Experience 9am-10am 101.9 WRXP]

VE41 (Guest, Jeff Ogiba of Black Gold Records, Brooklyn)
Talking Heads: Once In A Lifetime
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings: She Ain't A Child No More
Sonic Youth: Bull In the Heather
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: Young Adult Friction
Devo: Fresh
Real Estate: Atlantic City
The Byrds: Feel A Whole Lot Better
Wilco: War On War
Dinosaur Jr.: Pieces
Nirvana: On A Plain
Colin Newman: & Jury
Crystal Stilts: The Dazzled
T. Rex: Jeepster

2010-07-29T20:40:00.006-04:00

Our new site is finally rolling. I'll do my best to stay opinionated on here, but a lot of energy has been going to the shop and this site: Black Gold Brooklyn

A F T E R M I D N I G H T

2010-07-20T17:06:00.006-04:00

Come out and be lonely and morbid with others just like you.

The last party was amazing. Music was perfect, crowd was energetic and positive, and drinks are always affordable.

Basement of 87 Ludlow

New York, NY

11:00pm 08.05.10 - 4:00am 08.06.10

For More info visit AFTER MIDNIGHT

I wanna see YOU there.

DEVOtees of the universe unite

2010-07-20T04:55:00.003-04:00

Devo
"Fresh" [Live on Letterman 6.15.10]
Something For Everybody
Warner Brothers [2010]

This is the spudboys' first record in two decades and I think it's their best effort in nearly three. I generally forget about everything they did after 1981's New Traditionalists (wherein it is argued that their sound begins to fall off and become increasingly bland). Not only is Something For Everybody surprisingly listenable, it also doesn't fail to ignore the the topics of their original message of DEVO-lution.

2010-07-07T12:59:00.003-04:00

I never really heard this song the same way after getting that telephone call three years ago. Thinking about you my friend and wishing you were here to see how happy we all are.

I saw...

2010-07-03T19:28:00.001-04:00

...The Feelies play live at Maxwell's last night and they nailed it.

2010-06-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

The Verlaines
"Death and the Maiden"
Death and the Maiden 7"
1983 Flying Nun Records

First and most popular single by New Zealand indie pop greats.

RARE + CMRTYZ

2010-06-26T15:27:00.004-04:00

Black Gold Records is proud to sponsor Psychedelic Summer, an exhibition presented by Seattle-based Art Collective CMRTYZ . The opening will include work by John Malta, C.M. Ruiz, Cassie Ramone, and Matthew Volz, and feature limited edition vinyl provided by Bachelor, Captured Tracks, CMRTYZ, Family Time, Floridas Dying, Goner, HoZac, Psychic Lunch, Vice, and others. The show began June 24th and will continue until July 24th. Visit RARE GALLERY for more info.

Still Crazy After All These Years

2010-06-23T14:17:00.006-04:00

Carp

s/t

1970 Epic Records

Folky blues rock group featuring mad man Gary Busey in his early days.

The First Edition

s/t

1967 Reprise Records

Rockin' popular psychedelic rock featuring a young yet already bearded and wasted Kenny Rogers.

The Hassles

Hour of the Wolf

1969 United Artists

The second album by a group who introduced the world to keyboardist Billy Joel. The Hassles music help explain what was really churning in Mr. Allentown's head while later faking songs like "Uptown Girl".

The Amboy Dukes

Journey To The Center of The Mind

1968 Mainstream Records

Long before Ted "The Nuge" Nugent traded drugs and alcohol for quads and venison, he was a part of this amazing group whose albums' subjects raise questions on the activities of the members involved.

Black Gold Records - Now Open

2010-05-30T17:45:00.002-04:00

Here are some shots from this morning before we opened our doors for day two. Yesterday's turnout was far beyond anything we could have hoped for. We will be uploading pictures of the event shortly. Sincere thanks to everyone who came, friends, family, strangers...

We should have our website rolling shortly, but for now you can follow us on all the social networks available at www.blackgoldbrooklyn.com

Photos by Daniel Santoro

Fucked Up

2010-05-26T02:52:00.001-04:00

The cover of Matador's 2010 Record Store Day's "Spiral Scratch" by the Toronto Hardcore ensemble, Fucked Up, depicts a Buffalo, NY record shop which has recently become another piece of music history.

Last week, Spiral Scratch had a fire which gutted the shop and closed the doors on the recently spotlighted shop. Total bummer. Best of luck to you guys.

2010-05-22T15:17:00.004-04:00

Swell Maps
"Midget Submarines"
A Trip To Marineville (1979 Rough Trade)

Excellent video for classic track off of these original post-punkers' debut full length release, A Trip To Marineville. Featuring two of my favorite musicians from that era, Nikki Sudden (guitar) and brother "Epic Soundtracks" (drums), Swell Maps arrive strong out the gate with this important yet often publicly ignored release.

2010-04-29T19:42:00.004-04:00

IMFA updates have been slow, but progress with the shop has increased. Follow us on all the fun social networks by visiting www.BLACKGOLDBROOKLYN.com

2010-04-09T00:33:00.001-04:00

The Only Ones

"Another Girl Another Planet"

"Space travel's in my blood. There ain't nothin' I can do about it...""

2010-04-06T15:23:00.005-04:00

Broken Bells
S/T
Columbia Records (2010)

This is the latest from Shins frontman James Mercer and producer/musician known most popularly as "Danger Mouse". I am a fan of both Mercer and Danger Mouse's past projects, but this record does very, very little for me. The album is primarily an audial montage of samples, studio loops, and clips by Danger Mouse accompanied by painfully boring vocals by Mercer.

I haven't been impressed with what James Mercer has done with his voice in the past seven years (making 2003's Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins my most recent favorite by him), and this latest project, "Broken Bells" just pushes my interest off further in that unfavorable direction. The songs are soulless and unmemorable and the forced combination of Mercer and "Mouse" remind me of one of the not-so-great tracks off of the Judgement Knight soundtrack.

You can hear the whole record HERE. And listen hard for the highlights in Mercer's voice that aren't highlighted at all, and try to stay focused despite the predictable compositions that seem to never end.

"The hurting never ends like birthdays and old friends"

2010-03-28T22:18:00.003-04:00

Red House Painters
"Medicine Bottle" [Live at Black Cat, Washington, DC. 11.29.96]
from the 1992 album, Down Colorful Hill

I bought the album when I was recording in D.C. in 2000 and listened to it every night on my headphones. It was the first time I had ever heard anything of its sort. The erie spaciousness, lengthy tracks, and nonconventional quiet mix still stands out to me to this day. Here it is live.

The New Age Steppers

2010-03-25T01:07:00.007-04:00

The New Age Steppers
S/T
Statik Records [1981]

If the mention of satisfying grooves and relaxing hooks found within this spacey dub project doesn't catch your fancy, maybe hearing that this Staik Records release (Echo and The Bunnymen, The Sound, The Chameleons) features members of Rip, RIg & Panic, The Pop Group, and The Slits with do it for you. This is one of the more recent records I've stumbled upon that captured my attention and emotions like an erie nostalgia for something I'm just beginning to form history with.

A Great Run: Alex Chilton 1950-2010

2010-03-18T13:02:00.005-04:00

The world lost yet another great yesterday. Alex Chilton, the young front man of the sixties rock group The Box Tops, who later went on to play with power pop sensations Big Star, died of a heart attack yesterday. Chilton had teamed up with dozens of respectable artists over the past several decades and also had a very influential, and impressive solo career. He was fifty-nine years old.

MTV 120 Minutes (1985) promotion for Feudalist Tarts LP on Bigtime Records.

Alex Chilton in The Box Tops performing "The Letter" on Upbeat (1967)

BLACK GOLD

2010-03-14T23:16:00.004-04:00

When some great friends got together and talked about about the future, it went something like this...

We are currently preparing to open our doors at 461 Court Street in Carroll Gardens, Brookyln. Please contact me with any questions/comments/requests/etc. Thanks for all your support thus far.

Baltimore musician performs "Ohio"

2010-03-10T02:34:00.003-05:00

Dan Deacon
"Ohio" and interview
NBC Morning Show

Mark Mothersbaugh meets Atom from Atom and his Package on live television.

"I try to write music that I think if like really cool six year olds got together and had this stuff and they were like let's write the most awesome music ever this is hopefully what I hope they would could up with"

Pretty genius. Props: Dan. **Also check out the "Drinking Out Of Cups" video.

The Sirs - She Gets Me High

2010-03-01T15:04:00.003-05:00

The Sirs
She Gets Me High 7"
Devildance Records [2010]
DDW2-002

This record could have been called "see the forest for the trees", because that idiom essentially spells out my refection on the place we were all in during the time we wrote the songs. Things were confusing for us as friends who had recently lost a great friend and band mate and also watched the vast chain reaction of negative events and further losses that occurred following the initial trauma.

The record isn't especially complex on the surface, but the emotions and situations that drove us to make these songs were very complex. My lyrics were the rawest, most real form of expression that I could bring myself to face. Times were so surreal and intense, that the brevity of my explanations were synonymous to that of a two-word description of an epic dream.

The songs to me, were about escapism and denial. They were also about the long drawn out chaos that came with self-destructive lovers. Some of which were affected by the events of the time, and both sets of whom could only stand one another in dishonest, impure forms. The songs did and do not promote any kind of abuse on chemicals or on others, but rather they attempt to capture the truthful nature of the nightmares that life presented us with at that time.

The record might only be four tracks, but it's one of the only tangible pieces of evidence that remain from the whirlwind we once weathered together.

This 7" will be available on Devildance Records by the end of the month. The album is currently available for download on itunes and CD Baby

It's all Family Fun and Games until someone loses the band bank.

2010-02-25T17:02:00.005-05:00

Pretty hilarious coverage of a situation involving some old friends of mine from the Ellis Island, NY band "Family Fun".

Check them out HERE

The Fourth Horseman of the Emopocalypse

2010-02-19T17:22:00.002-05:00

The fun indie pioneers, Cap'n Jazz surprised many last month with an unannounced 4-song reunion set (Little League, Oh Messy Life, We Are Scientists, and Que Suerte!) at Chicago's Empty Bottle. As you could imagine, rumors of the band reuniting and touring spread as quickly as they could, and more recently, reality has struck: There will be a tour and their Wilmington, Delaware Hardcore-gone-emo-gone-hardcore record label, Jade Tree will finally be pressing their anthology on vinyl.

I was eighteen years old when I bought the CD anthology title "Analphabetapolothology" after catching a few of their random tracks on 7" releases that were still readily available at the time. I thought it was great, and FUN if nothing else. It was a great piece of living history of a genre that was at its pinnacle. Or so we thought.

What turned me off from the beginning wasn't the music, but rather the attitude that the Cap'n Jazz fans some twelve years ago had. Before the days of Makeout Club, or Friendster, or Myspace, or Facebook, people hit up bulletin boards and joined e-mail mailing lists. It was always a pleasure to find an e-mail from the EMO-GROUP in my inbox, that is until I attempted to discuss the band Cap'n Jazz.

From day one, kids were really hardcore about these guys and I still don't get it. Sure, the Kinsella brothers went on to play in some of the more influential bands of the style's more recent days, and Davey von Bohlen ... well he pretty much ended up securing the cornerstone vocal sound for the style by the turn of the new millenium, but Cap'n Jazz, to me, remained a novelty band that was better left as a valiant first attempt. The kids who followed Cap'n Jazz (who had long broken up by the time the anthology was originally released) were just plain mean. They ripped into anyone who had anything to say about the band, insult or praise. To this day I still can't understand their reasons, but I chalk it up to the feeling of entitlement that a lot of fans of more sensitive, intimate indie music still possess.

The current state of the know-it-all indie fan base is bad enough as it is, and I cringe to predict a whole new world of back-tracking music nerds, but it is inevitable. If the band plays a few shows to sell a handful of LPs, I think we will all live. If they attempt to make Cap'n Jazz out to be something bigger than it was (which was essentially a birthday party sized sloppy, melodic singalong) then the past will be rewritten. And to that I say: "Let the thin kids get that skinny neck hex".

Transmission: FAILED

2010-02-16T08:00:00.003-05:00

Ok, so my alarm clock radio just woke me up by playing the song "Fireflies" by the band Owl City. This song and video really infuriate me to a degree that no song has been able to in a long time. Congratulations art boy - you got a rise out of me.

The Postal Service's popularity was always there and always strongly peeking out above the underground indie scene, and sure I got sick of them pretty quickly because of that, but I never for one second thought that they were a bad or unoriginal band by any means. I also never felt the embarrassment or disappointment in them that I felt when I first heard this Owl City atrocity.

This disgusting imitation of The Postal Service's novel unique sound by a pseudo-city boy transplant who calls himself "Owl City" is unbelievable to me. Not only are the tempos and the sequencing straight LIFTED from The Postal Service, but the the kid's voice is so close to Ben Gibbard's (of The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie fame) that it must intensely frighten the both of them.

If you think I am being too hard on this kid or you can't hear the resemblance with the given example below, consider this: The mainstream formulation of great music has historically ruined amazing songs, sounds, and groups. Imagine Britney Spears singing the Fireflies song and you'll understand what I am getting at. This day better get better fast. Puke.

The Postal Service "Such Great Heights"

Owl City "Fireflies"

Black Heart Procession "Not Just Words" Live at the Casbah [4.23.08]

2010-02-11T04:30:00.008-05:00

Here's a band that just keeps getting better and better. Since their 1997 emergence in San Diego, California, Black Heart Procession has continued to impress me with every new release to date. Over the course of the band's first thirteen years, they've not only managed to develop their unique, honest sound, but they've also had the pleasure of collaborating with some very talented musicians. Matt Resovich and Jimmy LaValle (San Diego superstar who made his mark in bands like Swing Kids, The Crimson Curse, The Locust, Tristeza, and The Album Leaf - all long-time favorites of mine), and Joe Plummer (who would leave to play drums for Modest Mouse in 2006 and then for The Shins in 2009) are some of the more notable "Procession Participants".

(The) Black Heart Procession have a perfectly fitting name for an indie band whose lyrics and sounds depict something very visually dismal and real. Here is a live cut from "Not Just Words" off of their 2006 album The Spell - a perfect example of the band's success and current maturity.

Days peel off and pass away
Like souvenirs from a distant place
Postcards from your memories

Just like an old love line
Or dividing wall that fell
This'll never be forgotten
These are not just words

Do you remember
The things we said?
Do you remember
The things we said?

The smoke and script changed through the years
The stories blend and lies were fed
I know some things can't be explained

Just like an old scar
Or this thorn in my side
This'll never be forgotten
These are not just words

Do you remember
The things we said?
Do you remember
The things we said?

I'll try to remember
The things we said
I'll try to remember
The things we said

Of all these things we have forgotten
There are no "just words"

Rockin' Brunswick - 1983

2010-02-06T14:23:00.003-05:00

Here's a documentary on New Brunswick, New Jersey's growing music scene as captured in 1983. Some of the more notable details of this video are the presence of music personality Matt Pinfield (who actually has SOME hair at the time), the New Brunswick skyline (with about two buildings), and the energetically vibrant new wave scene of the time. This was recently transferred from its archaic Beta format.

True Definition of World Music

2010-02-02T23:37:00.004-05:00

In 1977, NASA launched The Voyager Spacecraft into space and included something really interesting on Voyager 1: A 12" gold-plated copper record album with a vast library of information on our planet, Earth.

There are several sound clips followed by several dozen "analog" images on the disc as well as a cover that includes some simple related diagrams. The purpose of the record was to detail the story of life on Earth and the story of the humans who currently (1977-????) inhabit Earth. In 2008, The Voyager 1 and the Voyager Golden Record officially left our solar system and made for the closest star, AC+79 3888. Assuming it will travel uninterrupted, the craft is set to arrive near the star's system in approximately 40,000 years.

The Voyager Golden Record. Left Earth for the unknown in 1977.

A picture of Voyager Golden Record's cover.

The Record also contains:

Greetings in over fifty five languages.

An explanation of our then understanding of mathematics, a relativity chart indicting our records for the psychics on Earth, Graphs of our understanding of our whereabouts in the galaxy in relation to the planets in our solar system, a chart of the color light spectrum, information on our planets, images charting the human anatomy, comprehensive storyboard of how human reproduction works, diagrams of continental drift, Earth landscapes, pictures of animals found in the world, the Great Wall of China and other epic structures, cities and other architectural feats, modes of transportation along with bridges and roads,images of our space exploration, and information on the styles and the history of our world's music.

There are Famous rock songs, blues songs, classical songs, world songs and much more included at half the speed of a standard LP (only 16⅔ revolutions per minute) Hear all audio HERE

The record also contains an hour long brainwave recording of author Ann Druyan and was sent with a uranium sample so in the event that it is discovered, beings could determine the age by using the principals of half-life.

For more info and a visual tour, visit the OFFICIAL VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD SITE

Indian Summer - Live at Pitzer College [10.31.93]

2010-02-01T02:31:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I'm just being nostalgic or if cycles of time in my life are swinging back around a familiar bend, but I've really been feeling these guys again lately. The mystery behind Indian Summer's honest yet distant sound pulled me in the first time I heard them play. Their hand-screened 7" covers and haphazardly typed and assembled liner notes made me want to delve deeper into that mystery.

The simplicity of a muffled Billie Holiday record drowning in the backdrop of their explosively emotional performance spoke loudly to me. Their words were a disturbingly accurate representation of the way a lot of people were feeling in my close circle of friends around the end of the nineties. Indian Summer was punk, and really punk, but their approach was more intimate than anything I had ever heard before. There have been countless indie, punk, and screamo bands since then that have had me saying "Indian Summer did it first".

I

II

III

Just You and Me Punk Rock Girl

2010-01-23T17:39:00.007-05:00

Today my lady and I went to the Eastern State Penitentiary in the northwestern region of Philadelphia, PA known as Fairmount. We both enjoy our fair share of history lessons, along with ghost stories, tales of old time criminals, and of course arts and music. ESP quickly presented itself as a rich provider of these elements from the moment we walked up on the joint's thirty foot castle walls.

Entering through the one and only entrance (with the exception of a small escape tunnel that was dug by inmates in 1945) we began our scheduled tour. There were long eerie cells blocks all radiating outward from a central lookout hub, as well as paint chipped ceilings, rusted nineteenth century plumbing, and the expected remnants of an aged prison.

There are ghost stories about this place available, a peek into Al Capone's cell, and countless other attractive features included in the tours of ESP. Of all the stories they tell, they leave out one story I really like. It's the story of the video for the most commercially successful song by Philly fun punk pioneers The Dead Milkmen. The song is one we all know and love: "Punk Rock Girl" off of the Milkmen's 1988 album Beelzebubba .

The iconic video for this song was clearly filmed on location at the Eastern State Penitentiary. The prison was abandoned from 1971 -1994, so the filming of the video took place during a time when the prison was even more run down than what we experienced today. The most noticeable difference being the now cleared courtyards and hallways that were then filled with tall trees and plant life. I kept an eye out for other recognizable areas of the prison that I remember from the video and noticed quite a lot - including the "Worship Room" that is punk rock girl's "parents' house" in the music video.

All in all it was an amazing experience and my only regret is not checking it out sooner. My lady and I went to a pizzeria afterwards but didn't order hot tea and I didn't get her a fudge banana swirl, but she DID leave with a pretty sweet souvenir featuring "Pep" the prison dog, and a great memory of a really amazing place.

Wire 70's 45 releases

2010-01-23T05:01:00.003-05:00

The London, England group Wire put out some of the greatest looking and greatest sounding post-punk singles of the late seventies. Almost all of these early singles were released on the Harvest label, with the exception of the 154 single for "Our Swimmer" which came out on Rough Trade at the very end of the seventies.

Mannequin Harvest [1978]

Dot Dash Harvest [1978]

I am The Fly Harvest [1978]

Outdoor Miner Harvest [1978]

A Question of Degree Harvest [1979]

Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW Harvest [1979]

Our Swimmer Rough Trade [1979]

Live footage of one of my all time favorite performances of one of my all time favorite Wire songs "Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW". [TV Allamande 1979]

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want

2010-01-22T03:45:00.001-05:00

The Smiths [Live]

Dream Academy [cover]

Dreamy Academy [cover/instumental]
from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is...A LOVE STORY

2010-01-16T17:58:00.002-05:00

You've heard the rumors, now come get the facts...

[01.31.10] - [02.22.10]
6pm -8pm opening reception

A split exhibition
Daniel Albrigo / Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

Renwick gallery nyc
Renwick Gallery
45 Renwick Street
New York, NY 10013

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express [2009]

2010-01-15T00:08:00.008-05:00

Kraftwerk's 1974 masterpiece Autobahn made some serious noise in the experimental electronic music scene of the early 1970's. The album was a bold transition from their earlier Krautrock dabblings found in Kraftwerk 1, Kraftwerk 2, and the aptly titled Ralf und Florian release but it wasn't the first time that its type of music was achieved, nor was it the first time a concept of it's kind appeared in music. It was however, certainly different to see a full group of German men in a band sans rock instruments (but rather homemade electronic gear) doing so well.

My favorite Kraftwerk records remain Autobahn, Trans-Europe Express, and The Man Machine. There is a European utilitarian feel to the latter two, but they soon moved on to embrace the futuristic theme that many other bands of the time would also attempt. Some of the group's work into the 80's and beyond became unbearable (the popular competitive sound of other cringe-worthy 80's groups could take the blame for this too). Following some mediocre Kraftwerk releases came the expected remixing and repackaging of their mid-period hits.

My friend recently pointed out the new cover art on the most recent [2009] pressing of Trans-Europe Express. I'm sure there is an explanation for the decision to put out a version of the album that looks like this, but I think it's pretty bad. Is this just an unsuccessful minimalist piece by former Kraftwerker/group artist Emil Schult, or a modern-day outsider's interpretation of the epic album? It just plain lacks - Not just the new school image of the TEE, but the separation of the double line Title/Artist found on almost all previous versions. Most notably, the division of "Trans-Europe Express" and "Kraftwerk" found in the updated cover's layout seems eerily symbolic.

Capitol UK LP [1977]

Capitol US LP [1977]

EMI Capitol DE 7" [1977]

Mute/Kling Klang UK & US LP [2009]

Death Has Formed. Farewell Jay Reatard [1980-2010]

2010-01-13T22:33:00.005-05:00

Jay Reatard Live @ Bowery Ballroom NYC - [04.21.08] - photo by Chris von Beidel

I don't want to speculate too much without the facts, but the indisputable truth is that today is a really sad day. Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. a.k.a "Jay Reatard", the Memphis neo-garage whirlwind guitarist and songwriter was found dead in his bed in his Memphis home at 3:30 a.m. He came on the scene as an underground indie sensation and seemed to produce more records than any attentive fan could scramble to keep up with. Not only is the count of his solo releases massive, but his work with other projects and contributions to other groups over the past decade or so are in great and impressive numbers as well.

If you were there to notice, Jay not only made a visible transformation over the years, but he also seemed to dig himself deeper into a pit of self-destruction that became evident in his live performances, lyrical subject matter, and blatant disregard for his surroundings. We can leave it at that. The hype that came with the Jay Reatard explosion of the past few years was enough to turn me off for awhile, but I never forgot and never will.

Jay Reatard - "Death is Forming" - Blood Visions - [2006] In The Red Recordings

Alone in a room
Needless I sit
I close my eyes
and try to forget
Death is calling
get in line

Death is forming
Forming death
Death is calling
Death is forming
Forming death
Death is calling
Get in line

Alone in a room
Needless I sit
I close my eyes
and try to forget
Death is calling
get in line

Death is forming
Forming death
Death is forming
Death is forming
Forming death
Death is calling
Get in line

Get PSYCHED on Roky Erickson: Then, Now, and Forever

2010-01-05T07:27:00.010-05:00

Roky Erickson and his band The 13th Floor Elevators were truly one of the founders of psychedelic rock as we know it. Before they came on the scene and actually coined the term "psychedelic rock", there were only a handful of psych-surf and pre british invasion bands, avant garde early psych electronic composers, and the occasional free jazz session musician who weren't even grouped as psychedelic until much later. To give you an idea of how early this all occurred, Thirteen Floor Elevators considered themselves "Psychedelic Rock" before The Beatles released Revolver, before Pink Floyd did a single light show, before the Byrds released "Eight Miles High", before "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys was cut, before Blonde on Blonde by Dylan hit the stands, before Shadows of Knight got trippy with the release of Back Door Men, before Blues Magoos's "Psychedelic Lollipop" stole airwaves, before Electric Prunes had "Too Much To Dream" , and before the 3-Day Trips festival (that marked the start of the SF psych movement) even started. The boys were truly on to something. Unfortunately, after a stoned run-in with the police, Erickson landed himself in some trouble. He thought it would be a good idea to plead insanity to a marijuana possession charge and bought himself a ticket to hell - in the form of several years of hospitalization which included damaging experimental therapy for what they then thought was schizophrenia.

Above is one of my prized possessions. It's an original stereo copy of The Elevators's second album Easter Everywhere on the International Artists label. Although mono copies yield a higher return on the secondary market, the fact that experimental stereo tracking rock albums was young in the mid sixties makes this record remarkably interesting. One amazing example can be found with the lead guitar on the final verse of "Slip Inside This House". With the proper equipment and settings, the aforementioned riff sounds three-dimensional and huge.

"You're Gonna Miss Me" - 13th Floor Elevators [Live 1966]

A brief timeline of Roky's psychedelic life so far*

[07.15.47] Roger "Roky" Kynard Erickson is born in Austin Texas
[05.1964] quits high school and joins garage rock band The Spades
[1965] starts a band quickly named 13th Floor Elevators (drummer James Walton brainstormed idea "Elevators" and jug player/"manager" Tommy Hall's wife Clementine came up with the rest.
[01.66] "Psychedelic Rock" is written on members of the Elevators's business cards. This is the first known use of the term.
[02.10.66] The Austin Statesman local Texas newspaper reviews an Elevators gig: Unique Elevators shine as "Psychedelic Rock" This is the first documented public mention of the term "Psychedelic Rock" 11/30/66 Psychedelic Sounds of 13th Floor Elevators is released
[02.22.69] Roky is arrested for possession of a "marijuana cigarette" this ends the Elevators.
[03.12.69] Roky is court ordered to Austin State Hospital for examination
[03.13.69] Dr. Erwin Toboada diagnosis Roky: "Schizophrenia acute, undifferentiated"
[05.23.69] Roky outwits personnel at Austin State Hospital and escapes.
[07.15.69] Roky is arrested in Austin and returned to Austin State Hospital
[07.29.69] Austin State Hospital discharges and transfers Roky to Rusk State Hospital.
[10.08.69] Roky is ruled "insane" by the 147th Judicial District, court of Travis County Texas.
[11.28.69] Austin District Court rules Roky sane and he is released from Rusk State hospital. At some point shortly thereafter Roky is readmitted to the same hospital where he undergoes years of electroconvulsive therapy and treatment with Thorazine - a drug that causes a "chemical lobotomy" and has turned cases of permanent brain damage.
[07.07.72] J. Grady Baskin M.D. of Rusk State Hospital states: "Recommended dismissal from hospital" but Dr. J.A. Hunter states: "Patient was thought to be floridly psychotic at the time of his admission here - psychosis on a toxic basis, due to multiple drug abuse. After admission he had a number of frequent visitors, including his mother , his attorney, and his girlfriend, along with members of his musical group. Following these visits his psychosis became much worse and we began to suspect his visitors were smuggling drugs to him... Erickson is legally sane , but I feel he still requires hospitalization for the welfare and protection of himself and others".
[03.1975] Roky claims he is a notarized alien from Mars and that his songs are ESP transmissions from his home planet. He starts a band called "Bleib Alien"
[1979] "Bleib Alein" is renamed "Roky Erickson and the Aliens"

People who were close with Roky claim that he was never the same after his hospitalizations, and although many blamed his drug abuse on his damaged mental condition, there is speculation surrounding what really happened to the genius behind the music. He has continued to make was he calls "Horror Rock", another genre that still exists today that he helped popularize.

Above is a hand silk screened poster for the Roky events. This is an edition of 110.

I was lucky enough to snag tickets for Roky's show at Southpaw in Park Slope Brooklyn on New Years Day (01.01.10) and his show the next night (01.02.10) in Hoboken at Maxwell's...

The night in Brooklyn was ridiculous. It was three great friends of mine and me along with a small crew of friends from New York who met up earlier and rolled up in time to catch all three bands. I can't make up my mind about the opening band, The Back C.C.'s. They were really tight surfy garage fuzz with lo-fi fuzz vocals. I thought they were talented, but boring. I heard reviews throughout the night from friends such as "sounded like one big song" and "would have been good fifty years ago but long forgotten now". They were decent, but nothing else really. The Fleshtones were a different story. I've never been a huge fan of theirs, but I thoroughly appreciate their unique sound and their ability to maintain their originality over the past thirty-three years. Any band of animated white men who claim to be garage rock yet get filed with the likes of James Brown and other soul/freakbeat acts is ok in my book. (Ironic that the band named themselves after the long discontinued Crayola Crayon color, huh?!) I mean it was weird to see dudes that are old enough to be childhood friends of my father 's parading around in loud, tight paisley silk shirts, but that was quickly forgotten once their antics kicked in. That along with my hysterical visions of these men taking their sweethearts to their Pocono Mountain retreats to show off some killer ski stunts that the 90's weren't ready for came to an end once their performance really kicked in. Let's just say that their band practices must be a spectacle and that this was the first human guitar solo pyramid I've seen carried out successfully by men over fifty...ok, I'll admit it was the first one I've ever seen. But it was unreal.

Roky playing 01.01.10 at Southpaw in Park Slope Brooklyn. Photo by Fran Mark.

After we all had a few minutes to recover from the Fleshtones, Roky took the stage slowly and was assisted by band members once he approached his mic. His over-sized work shirt, gnarly hair and beard spoke loudly yet he had not even said a word. Actually he would go on to not say a single word the entire set. People cheered and called out their favorite hits and he just turned his back nervously and nodded to his band. Once the drummer clicked off, Roky let out howling authentic vocals and stared out into the crowd. It didn't help that our friend Peter, the second tallest guy in the entire bar (which was packed with a sold out crowd) was standing next to me up front near stage right. We laughed at the fact that Roky appeared to make several rounds of eye contact with us, making the experience that much creepier.

Roky played out of a smaller amp that although seemingly achieved the best tone of all three string players, was turned down too low as a handicap to his slightly sloppy strumming. The lead guitarist was sensational, not only nailing the roots of all the songs, but even improving on the solos and really getting into the bends and hammer-ons of the more intense breakdowns. The lead guitarist's tone wasn't as good as Roky's, but I'm not complaining. The guy ripped. The drummer kept the beat and did his job but did little to impress me, and the bassist, oh the bassist. This guy was a clown. I felt bad for him at one point but then he was quickly demoted back into the "why did THAT GUY get to play with Roky" category. The dumb things he said on the mic embarrassed me for him and really took away from the show. Plus he looked like a misplaced late nineties Andy Dick impersonator and that really does nothing for me. His playing was sub-par and he didn't seem to remember a lot of the timing and counts on the back up vocals he attempted. In all fairness, I'd say Roky was stoked with the lead guitarist and drummer and just oblivious to the tool clowning the bass.

The guys played through over a dozen songs, including a version of 13th Floor Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me" with Fleshtones Front man Peter Zaremba on harmonica. When I first saw him hop back on stage I was like... "oh man... not again..." but he impressed all with his amazing rendition on harmonica. The show was surreal to say the least and Roky belted out each line of lyrics like he really meant it.

The crowd cheered for an encore, but Southpaw closed the curtains and threw on their house system (which seemed to be blaring amazing garage and soul for a lot of the night).

The next night I rolled up to Maxwell's with my friend Matt and our respective girlfriends. The place packed in pretty tightly for the opening act "Love City" and then really tightly once "Love City" left the stage. They were decent, but again I'm gonna be real about this and just put it out there that beyond what seems to be some sort of quiet rock band/venue nepotism lies many-a-band dying to get on a bill with Roky. Just food for thought. Regardless, the crowd squeezed and released as if it were breathing huge, anxious breaths of air. Luckily my lady and I got a spot near some old Elevator fans and had the luxury of hearing about their personal wishes for the show they would see in the relatively short future on the stage just right in front of their faces.

The crowd erupted and parted for Roky (when he entered through the venue entrance and trudged through to the stage). Hipster dorks and overzealous hippies alike praised his entrance. The hippies knew his deal and gave him space. The hipsters flashed cameras in his face and reached out to touch him and annoy him, unbeknownst to and or disrespectful of his condition. It set me off right away but once he took the stage and started shredding with the guys I was happy again.

The lead guitarist rocked harder than he did in Brooklyn, the drummer hit a little harder than he did in Brooklyn, and the bassist annoyed me a little harder than he did in Brooklyn. Luckily the crowd noticed and heckled the bassist until he basically "zipped it". It was the fact that the bassist was talking about Roky the way my mom talks about my hearing-impaired grandfather - she acts like he's not there. It was insulting enough to the crowd that someone spoke up. I was thankful because if I had to hear him introduce Roky one more time, I was going to say something. It just got old and annoying. Not to mention he was worse on his back ups and bass lines, and made more stupid faces and comical contributions to an event that was supposed to be DEVOID OF HUMOR. Well, at least for the most part.

Anyway, Roky tore it up again, but I noticed he was really, really nervous for this show. He wasn't committing to the final notes or chords on each song and would turn and face the drummer to hide his fear and insecurity during the end of each song. in his defense, the crowd was loud and demanding, the space was small, it was late and freezing outside, and they played a huge set. His vocals were dead on for most songs and his guitar playing overall was pretty good. They played some really amazing cover songs really well, and I was overall very pleased with the night. When they closed with "Don't Slander Me" and left the stage, I swear I saw tears in Roky's eyes. I really hope they were out of happiness because the man has really left a great mark on my soul, and I know I speak on many other's behalf.

Thanks Roky, for taking one for the team and doing things that directly and indirectly caused not only psych to live on in many forms, but for punk rock, grunge, and alternative to have an influential history that predates the rock of the seventies. You are one of the most important musicians of our time.

Roky Erickson - Maxwell's Hoboken, NJ 01.02.10 Set List
(all songs credited to Roky Erickson and The Aliens unless noted otherwise)

1) Cold Night For Alligators
2) Creature with the Atom Brain
3) The Wind and More
4) Bloody Hammer
5) The Beast (Roky Erickson & Evil Hook Wildlife E.T.)
6) Stand For the Fire Demon
7) Night of The Vampire
8) Don't Shake Me Lucifer
9) I Walked with a Zombie
10) Oh! My Soul (Little Richard cover!)
11) I'm a Gonna Love You Too (Buddy Holly cover!)
12) Splash 1 (13th Floor Elevators)
13) You're Gonna Miss Me (13th Floor Elevators)
14) Red Temple Prayer / Two Headed Dog (Roky Erickson & Bleib Alien)
15) Don't Slander Me (Roky Erickson)

Roky Erickson Interview and live Cold Night For Alligators by Roky Erickson and The Aliens.
Thanks to WhollyGhost for this edit. These are some clips from a VHS that was in circulation a few years back. It also includes other interested local access cable show clips, live Aliens clips, interviews and more. There is a currently a DVD compilation of much of this footage available on the secondary market.

*Please note that these facts and figures have been taken from various REAL printed resources including interviews with Roky and other band members, news paper clippings, and archived billboard charts. These are not heresy and some dates and facts vary from the entries and websites found online. I did my best to only post what I was confidant in being 100% correct regardless of what seems to be popularly believed online today.