HW: Dark Carnival (OFF)

[Doug Pearson]

Ron Asheton ... now there's a guy up there with (above!) Larry Wallis on my
guitar godz list ...

Andy Gilham <Andy.Gilham at BTINTERNET.COM> wrote:

>Just picked up a copy of Dark Carnival's 1991 live album, _The Greatest
>Show in Detroit_ - Dark Carnival is the band that features (in this
>incarnation) the Ashetons and Niagara from Destroy All Monsters - anyway,
>it kicks off with a version of "The Right Stuff"!

Similar, I assume to the one on the DAM live album that came out on Fan Club?

>Not sure who's on the vocals (it's not Niagara :),

Ron Asheton seems to be the best guess that anyone's come up with; since he
doesn't ordinarily sing, there's no real way of knowing without asking,
which I should've done when I saw Niagara at a Robert Williams gallery show
in Detroit a couple years back (guess I was too starstruck to approach her
... oh well, so were the other fans I was with).

>but it's a good kickass Detroit version anyway. Fun album all round, with
>the usual quota of old Stooges and DAM numbers.

I'll have to check this one out; I only have the very first Dark Carnival
live album, the one with Cheetah Chrome on it doing the Stiv Bators tribute
thing ...

and, eldritch <eldritch at NDIRECT.CO.UK> added:

>Destroy All Monsters are great.  I always wondered what the Dark
>Carnival stuff was like.

A lot like Ron Asheton-era Destroy All Monsters!

>I saw both albums on green vinyl, but didn't have the cash to get them.
>I picked up Silver Wedding Anniversary by DAM when I was in Italy.
>Weird album....not like their old stuff..

Well, actually, it IS like their OLD stuff; Ron Asheton didn't join the
band until it had been around for 3 or 4 years.  There's an incredible 3-CD
box set on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label that compiles a bunch of
early unreleased tapes from when they were as much an art/film group as a
band (in much the same way that Devo originally were ... at around the same
time ... hmmm).  HIGHLY recommended.  There's also some great video footage
available of Niagara getting real bloody in their experimental horror films
(as well as lots of other cool/weird stuff).

At least I DID get to meet Cary Loren (DAM co-founder with Niagara) that
time I was in Detroit, and Matt Smith played for us the very first DAM
single (still pre-Asheton, and never subsequently re-issued) that hearkens
back to their original art/improv sound and carries the seeds of their
later better-known Detroitrock material, with a bit of jazzrock ala MC5
"Starship"/Stooges 'Funhouse' thrown in.  Of course, the next day, he beat
me to the shield cover of WotEoT that showed up at Car City records!

>I always wondered who was the calvert fan in DAM....
>probably RonAsheton.. ;-)
>Niagra should do some Hawkwind artwork..

Hawkwind should have gotten Niagara to replace Stacia when she quit!!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

ObCD: Destroy All Monsters 'Live'