The short version: Cakes and Ale was the (for want of a better word) newsletter of the English Department at my alma mater, CW Post College. My memory is unclear on this, but somehow I conned the Powers That Were into letting me write pretty much what ever I wanted to (about anything) and they would then foist it in the above form on the unsuspecting campus community.
Hey, it was a long time ago.
About the above specifically, I have little to say, although it's nice to know I was full of shit even then.
Also, I would like to believe that my reference to Dave Davies' "bitchy guitar" was some kind of bizarre typo, but who knows?
And I should also add that the appellation Lamont Pimplione(!) in the opening quote is, apparently, a joke whose point has long since escaped me.
[h/t Joan Harrison]
12 comments:
Although I rather like “Yoko’s electric chicken routine.”😎
please elaborate on 'electric chicken routine' i'm intrigued!
rs
The word sophomoric comes to mind…..😎
I think you pretty much nailed it with the reviews, particularly LZ II.
I can't believe how well your comments on these albums mirror my own opinions. Guess that's why I hang out here. And also one of the reasons I had a subscription to Stereo Review all those years ago (well, and for the cartoons).
Steve, a couple things --
I was actually going to email you about occasionally revisiting some of your favorite past reviews -
Now to your review -
I owned the Toronto album Your description of Yoko as Sophomoric was spot on No matter how good our pot was it's was unlistenable. Your description of side one as being "well recorded" was kind
IMO compared to other recordings of the day it was garage on your cassette deck
Steppenwolf was the first concert I ever saw in '68. Years later Kaye released an acoustic guitar album . He exhibited remarkable skills. Very listenable
rob
FWIW, 'Arthur' is the best record I ever got from a bargain bin. And that is MY capsule review.
Also - totally agree. I annoy my neighbors when Victoria tracks up
Preachy, maybe. But Steppenwolf's "Monster" - though a woozy drunken blues calliope of a song - the lyrics are a spot-on history and current appraisal of these United States - and still ring scarily true today. Under-rated.
I’m an admirer of W. Somerset Maugham’s writing, especially “Cakes and Ale”!
I also love Joan Crawford’s performance in the 1932 film “Rain”, based on the book “Miss Thompson” by WSM. And Bette Davis in “Of Human Bondage” (1934) from the book by you-know-who.
I have to go now, it’s a clear night, and there’s a sky to look at……
Arthur...still slays me till this day!
Dave Leonatti's comment about Monster (the lyrics are a spot-on history and current appraisal of these United States - and still ring scarily true today) hits the nail precisely on its/his/hers/their head(s). In 1970 I used Monster's lyrics in a public speaking course at Brooklyn College, and can still recite the first half of the song off the top of my head. And Kay has/had one of the top voices ever in rock music.
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