These guys suck, obviously, but I can't help feeling somebody in Guns N' Roses had a copy of the LP version. I myself have been looking for a copy (it's never been on CD, for pretty obvious reasons) for ages, partly because I'd never heard it, but mostly because it came out on Neighborhood Records, and at the time I was sort of seeing a woman who worked at Neighborhood.
The punchline to all this needs to be understood in terms of the then vogue for rock stars running their own custom record labels. The Beatles, obviously, kicked all that off with Apple, and of course by 1972, the Rolling Stones had Rolling Stones records, the Beach Boys had Brother, Led Zeppelin had Swan Song, and even the fricking Youngbloods(!) had Raccoon. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.
Anyway, so a trash-rock platform heels and spandex bunch like Five Dollar Shoes got signed to Neighborhood.
The custom label of...
...wait for it...
...hippie songstress Melanie.
I don't what's sillier -- the idea of Melanie signing these posers or the idea of the auteur behind "Brand New Chastity Belt" actually having her own record company.
13 comments:
Matador?
Actually, not too bad really for a sucky band. They must have been listening to All The Way From Memphis by Mott The Hoople, no?
This thing is so halfassedly derivative of so many other, better records (including better records in the future - anybody else hear "Running On Empty" in there?) that an entire year's worth of after-dinner conversation could be wasted charting them all.
If you heard this without any context, you'd not think it was all together horrible at all. The piano takes charge and drives the song competently. It's difficult to make out the words, but the whole affair seems to be jolly and unpretentious, with a well-maintained, straight-ahead rhythm. The strangled vocals are what make it unlistenable. I couldn't imagine a whole album of that guy's voice.
I may post one more song from it -- there's a ballad that really is Guns N Roses two decades early.
I shouldn't be so hard on these guys -- in 1972, they might well have been entertaining in context.
Now if I could only find a copy of that album by the Werewolves that Andrew Oldham produced in 1976. A Another New York band, with the same kind of stuff, but a little better actually....
Don't you have a story about Melanie? Or did I make that up? :-)
I have a great Melanie story, but it's probably funnier in person than in print.
:-)
Oh wait -- I've actually told it here before.
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2008/12/encounters-with-greatness-occasional.html
The Werewolves LP is all over eBay. Here's one that's still sealed.
http://cgi.ebay.com/WEREWOLVES-LP-RCA-1978-STILL-SEALED-/220341026848?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item334d594020
By find a copy of the Werewolves LP, I was thinking more along the lines of a download link.
:-)
Steve,
Are you familiar with this site?
http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com
It may be worth a shot if free downloads are your goal.
Yeah, I check that place out a lot. But thanks..
Great information.But from where you found such a useful information?
Web hosting india
Post a Comment