OFF: relevance & irrelevance (was HW: Swindon)

[Doug Pearson]

On Tue, 6 Nov 2001 01:01:28 +0000, Nick Medford <nick at HERMIT0.DEMON.CO.UK>
wrote:
>In message <200111052051.PAA19531 at listserv.spc.edu>, Doug Pearson
><jasret at MINDSPRING.COM> writes
>> I saw Sonic Boom (ex-Spacemen 3)
>>and Spectrum last night, doing the psychedelic song thing (as opposed to
>>the avant-garde electronics thing he does as E.A.R.), and they closed
>>their set, as usual, with "Revolution" (the song that I thought was a
>>cover of "You Shouldn't Do That" when I first heard it on the radio ...
>>until the vocals came in ... turns out it's an MC5 lift, not a Hawkwind
>>one
>
>Right... it's one of the most shameless lifts in rock history in fact! It
>basically *is* MC5's "Black To Comm", but for the monologue.

Yep.  As they have freely admitted ...

>I have always wondered what "Black To Comm" actually means (if
>anything).

Short for "Black To Common" i.e. in amplifier wiring, the black wire is
attached to the "common", or ground, connection.  And the red wire is
attached to the "hot" connection.

>Spacemen 3's version of MC5's "Starship" may just be the best cover version
>ever.

Heh heh ... cover of a cover (the MC5's version bears no real resemblance
to Sun Ra's original).  Am I the only person who thinks that "Space
Truckin'" (Deep Purple) sounds an awful lot like this song (more the MC5
version than S3's)?

>> ... led into a cover of ... "War Sucks" by Red Crayola
>
>Isn't there a Pere Ubu connection there? Can't remember the details.

Mayo Thompson (mr. Crayola) was briefly a member of Pere Ubu right before
they broke up (for the first time), c.1982 or so.  I believe that he & Dave
Thomas (mr. Ubu) may have played on each others solo albums, too, but don't
quote me on that.

>>(extra-appropriate since
>>he opened the set with "Transparent Radiation")
>
>I love that song. The album "The Perfect Prescription" was the soundtrack
>to my life when it first came out. I still can't hear anyone utter the
>words "nineteen eighty-seven" without wanting to break into "Come Down
>Easy".

They're definitely one of the bands that made me say (see previous thread)
that the late 80's were much better than the early 80's!

>Spacemen 3 were great, if you ignore their weak final album "Recurring",
>which wasn't really a band effort anyway.

It's their only album (of those released during their career - not counting
the tons of posthumous stuff) that I don't own; the best song on it was the
Mudhoney cover (which was played last night).

>The only E.A.R. I've heard was a seven minute electronic bliss-out called
>"Hydroponic"- nice enough but nothing new. What say you about E.A.R. in
>general then?

That's a pretty good description of what I've heard from them.  There are
some very cool guests on some of the E.A.R. recordings, but I have a bit of
a problem with that kind of electronic music.  Not that I think it's *bad*
(I enjoy it immensely, actually).  It's just that I can go to my own
studio, turn on all the synths, and do the same thing myself.  So I can't
really justify spending $$ on CD's or to stand in some club for that unless
it's REALLY good.  (And here's where Capt. Black would mention that Sonic
Boom seriously knows his EMS synth stuff.  Lots of EMS & Serge gear on the
E.A.R. releases.)

>Talking of ex-Spacemen, I have somehow managed to not hear anything by
>Spiritualized, despite them having become really rather famous. Anyone got
>any comments on them?

Someone else, please.  I've only listened to them a little bit (but I may
see them when they come through town in a couple weeks ... playing a venue
CONSIDERABLY larger than the one Spectrum played last night).

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com