My Life In Records

 My friend Russ Waterhouse (of the infinitely great Blues Control) introduced me to the work of Erkin about 15 years ago, which opened the door to the wide world of heavy Turkish psych rock. Totally insane psyched out solos over heavy rockin Turkish rhythms. I remember trekking all over Manhattan with Russ on my first visit to that city trying to find a copy of it on vinyl and finally getting my hands on it and bringing it back to California where I it didn't leave my turntable to months. There's something about this record's (and most of Erkins stuff in general) insane eastern modality combined with heavy garage solos that just can't be beat. One of the greatest. 

 This comp was my introduction to Nikki Sudden and the beginning of my quest to hear all his solo work. Another absolute legend that should have been way more famous for his genius and unfortunately passed on a few years ago. Whenever I bring up Nikki Sudden some hip turkey has to say, "Well, I like Swell Maps but..." Yeah Yeah. Anyway, Nikki was the master of the old lyrical twist in song narrative. He was also one mutherfucker of a dresser. I was fortunate enough to have met him once and I can say he was also one of the sweetest persons ever. It's hard for me to describe how much Nikki Sudden means to me. I consider him to be a closer friend to me than a lot of people on this Earth that I have met. Nikki has always been there for me. He understands and kind of puts everything in perspective. I'd say if it came down to it, my three heros in life are Carl Sagan, Gaston Bachelard and Nikki Sudden. 

 This one and the two above are all pretty close as far as the time that I discovered them and how they effected me. Loren is the total opposite of both the above players. He's like Blind Willie Johnson moving through molasses and played on a 10 dollar practice amp. I Remember hearing the exact sound of the first few chords of this record and just thinking, "Ah man, he's DOING IT!" and listening to the record over and over and over all afternoon. Still one of my favourite musicians of all time and criminally under appreciated. Dark, sad, beautiful. 

To back up a bit, I have to say that I don't know if I would have been ready to experience Live 2 if I hadn't heard Mask Of Light first. I mean, I didn't even know you could play guitar like that. Was that even allowed? I distinctly remember putting this record on and sitting in the white arm-chair in my room and just listening and having my mind fractured continuously. This one pretty much wiped my brain blank and allowed me to be able to actually hear music for the first time, including folk records.  It also features the drumming of the recently passed late, great Rashied Ali on drums, which lead me to classics like Coltrane's Interstellar space.  

This is it. It all stops here. Once I heard this record, it was all over. From the moment I heard it nearly 20 years ago through now, this has been my all time favourites rock record of all time, hands down. Nothing even comes close, except perhaps some other Fushitsusha records. From the first song that sounds like Haino traded a guitar in for a flamethrower to the last song that rides a Sister Ray groove into a burnt and fried black hole death solo, there is no greater rock record, ever.  

Just an absolutely great piece of the American underground that slapped me silly when I first heard it. Are they singing in a real language? Is this a cover song? Are these guys as evil as they seem? Those were just some of the questions running through my brain when I first started digesting this record. It's got a perfect combination of heavy psych rockers, bizarre acoustic eastern modes and alien transmissions. A total classic of all classics. I still think, "how the hell did they WRITE this song?" when I listen to it. It was also my entry into their strange world that soon included LPs like Bight Surroundings Dark Beginnings, Valentines for Matahari and the perfectly realized 300,003 Crossdessers from Beyond the Rig Veda.

This was sort of the beginning of the change for me, where music went from something "out there" to something extremely important in my brain. I became absolutely obsessed with the Melvins after this record. Ozma, Bullhead, Eggnog - all slaying. This record opened a lot of doors and pretty much cleared the way for the records that were to actually become part of me. Just crushing and relentless. Still one of my favorites.  

Speaking of guitarists -   Holy shit. There's more notes in the first minute of this record than I will ever play in my entire life. Have you seen the video of Jason doing a guitar solo and yo-yoing at the same time? Look it up. I still have a soft spot in my heart for shredders and especially the Shrapnel Records roster. Can't say I listen to him much anymore, but in High-School, this was the jam for me, along with the band he was in with Marty Freidman, Cacophony. 

This is what  listened to everyday on my walkman in Junior High. At the time I didn't really "get" song titles like "Marching Powder" or how that might be an influence on the most nervously funky hi-hat work mixed with saturn synths this side of Goblin. It was just crazy sounding. Tommy Bolin is still one of my favourite guitarists and songwriters. Teaser is one of the best records you can get for a quarter at the thrift stores and the song ‘Wild Dogs’ still blows me away with the lyrics and the duelling guitar solos at the end. Way under-rated guitarist, especially when considering his work with the echoplex. 

This was the first band that I got heavily into. I was 8 years old. There was something about the way they always sang about how school sucked. I could relate, man! This was the first record that I ever owned. It was also my first brush with the let-down of corporate music business: One night I sat down to write to the Stray Cats to tell them just how I felt about them, how cool they were, what my favourite songs were and how they should come play at my elementary school. I sent it off and waited and WAITED for a reply. About 6 weeks later my self-addressed stamped envelope came back but instead of greetings from my heroes and a nice hello and how they appreciated me jamming their tunes all day long, I got a cheap photocopied piece of paper with some sort of list of merchandise that I could never order and couldn't afford because I didn't even have an allowance. To hell with that.