Killer (Low Budget) Queen

From 1976, and a dank basement in Teaneck, NJ, please enjoy unsung DIY pioneers The Weasels (featuring some guitarist whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels doing a passable Brian May impression) and "Coral Reef," a recorded-on-four-track (perhaps unintentional) homage to you know know who.

From their second homemade album, the aquatically-themed Endless Bummer.




Written by keyboardist Glenn Leeds (I think the toy piano at the end is an especially nice touch), sung (with some falsetto flourishes that he's been unable to duplicate since) by David "Heavy D" Hawxwell, and with McCartney-esque bass fretwork by Allan Weissman. Oh -- and with the participation of Mike "The Drummer" Sorrentino, who despite his deeply held conviction that "rhythm is an outmoded Western concept" nonetheless graciously consented to keep something approximating the beat for the occasion.

What can I tell you -- despite the evidence of the above, we all had rich inner lives. I should also add, once again, that we were doing this kind of low-fi stuff before Robert Pollard had his first beer hangover, so Guided By Voices can frankly bite me.