Showing posts with label Alice Cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alice Cooper. Show all posts

April 17, 2022

James Bond ~ 007 articles/mentions

  ~     
     
Live And Let Die     
On Her Majesty's Secret Service  
     
     
mentions:     
Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love  
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
      
     















March 9, 2021

45 RPMs 58: John Cale ~ Animal Justice & Hedda Gabler

 ~      
12" 45 RPM front cover detail
cover photo by Jill Furmanovsky 
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Today is the birthday of John Cale, born on March 9, 1942 in Garnant, Wales, United Kingdom. He is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who, with Lou Reed, was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol was their manager. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, drone, classical, avant-garde and electronic music.      
 
I remember hearing the Underground for the first time. I loved the first song, Sunday Morning, from their very first album; it hits you like a crystal cloud, then, I'm Waiting for the Man follows up with a sucker punch!            
 
Ten years later here he is in his full grunge, punk flower! A gig at The Greyhound in Park Lane, Croydon, that culminated with the beheading of an (already dead) chicken resulted in Cale's band quitting in horror, the media threw its hands up in disgust, and even the supposedly blood-craving hordes of London punk were left feeling somewhat queasy. 
 
 
John Cale & chicken
The Greyhound - April 24, 1977
 photographer unknown
 
 
Eight years earlier, Alice Cooper had done HIS chicken thing (link below). Cale remained unrepentant -- so much so that he promptly wrote a song about the incident, opening the EP with Chicken Shit. It is a mash of hard rock, heavy metal with a bit of punk thrown in for good measure. It's punk at it's best.      
 

12" 45 RPM front cover
cover photo by Jill Furmanovsky 
photo of album cover by Styrous®


There's his cover of the 1959 classic, Memphis by Chuck Berry; it is a dream of guitar squawks 'n squeals. Along with the above song, it's punk at it's VERY best.     
 
 
12" 45 RPM back cover
cover photo by Jill Furmanovsky 
photo of album cover by Styrous®

 
Then comes Hedda Gabbler with a gentle coolness of more than just the sound effects in the song. Based on a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen it rivals anything The Beatles or Pink Floyd could have done and previews the sonic wonders that would come in later years. Slow and dreamy it whiffs you off to "Dreamland" then brings you back to reality with a bang!    
 
Hedda Gabler lyrics
 
Hedda Gabler
Had a very funny face
Tired of waiting
Tired of the human race

Like her brother
Sitting in the library
Reading how dear Adolf
Was going to save all Germany

Hedda Gabler
She'll go down in history
Hedda Gabler
Down in all her misery

Like her mother
Married to the bank manager
She took the money
Hung him in the closet for fun

Hedda Gabler
She'll go down in history
Hedda Gabler
Down in all her misery

Hedda Gabler
She'll go down in history
Hedda Gabler
Down in all her misery

Sleep... sleep... sleep, Hedda Gabler
Sleep... sleep... sleep, Hedda Gabler
Sleep... sleep... sleep, Hedda Gabler
Sleep... sleep... sleep, Hedda Gabler
(repeat to fade)
 
 
Alla Nazimova as Hedda Gabler - 1907
 
 
John Cale ~ Animal Justice 
12" 45 RPM back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
 

12" 45 RPM label, side 1 
photos by Styrous®
 




12" 45 RPM label, side 2
photos by Styrous®




Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Chicken Shit, Songwriter – Cale* - 3:25
A2 - Memphis, Songwriter – Berry* - 3:15

Side 2:

B - Hedda Gabbler, Songwriter – Cale* - 7:53

Companies, etc.

    Published By – Tin Pan Punk Music
    Mastered At – Trident Studios

Credits:

    Artwork [Sleeve] – Jill Furmanovsky
    Bass – Jimmy Bain
    Drums – Kevin Currie
    Executive-Producer – Wartoke Concern*
    Lead Guitar – Ritchie Fliegler
    Mastered By – Jonz*
    Producer, Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Viola – John Cale
    Synthesizer [Moog] – Bruce Brody
    Jane Friedman − background vocals on "Chicken Shit"

Notes:

Catalog number appears on the back cover as "IL003".
Catalog number appears on the labels as "IL 003".

P 1977

Labels: MADE IN Gt. BRITAIN

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched, variant 1): IL-003-A-1 JONZ
    Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched, variant 1): IL-003-B-1
    Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched, variant 2): IL+003+A JONZ
    Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched, variant 2): IL+003+B TRIDENT

John Cale ‎– Animal Justice
Label: Illegal Records (2) ‎– IL003, Illegal Records (2) ‎– IL 003
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: Aug 1977
Genre: Rock
Style: Art Rock, Garage Rock
     
      
      
  
Viewfinder links:       
         
Alice Cooper ~ chickens & snakes       
all things Beatles         
Chuck Berry        
John Cale         
Lou Reed       
Andy Warhol        
     
Net links:       
         
All Music ~ Animal Justice review         
Hedda Gabler plot         
Rate Your Music ~ Animal Justice review         
Rolling Stone ~ How Cooper’s Chicken Incident Really Happened   
     
YouTube links:      
        
Chicken Shit        
Memphis        
Hedda Gabbler               
      
     
      
      
     
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, March 9, 2021      







      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 25, 2021

Hawkwind articles/mentions

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Hawkwind ~ space rock            
Warrior on the Edge of Time    
       
 
mentions:             
David Bowie ~★ (Blackstar)         
Alice Cooper ~ Killer Vinyl      
Vera Lynn ~ We'll Meet Again           
Bob Seidemann & Blind Faith         
  
      
      
      
      
      
      
      













November 16, 2020

Lenny Bruce articles/mentions

 ~      
   
Enrico Banducci & a hungri i     
Alice Cooper ~
Muscle of Love
        
Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman         
Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie         
Mort Sahl ‎~ At Sunset on red vinyl     
Barbara Streisand ~ Greatest Hits    
     
     
     
Lenny Bruce - January 1, 1951
photographer unknown



        
       
       
       
        
       














 

September 21, 2020

Corona Virus isolation ~ Day 189: Chicken, Avocado & Tomato

~
chicken, avacado & tomato salad 
prepared by Tom White
photo by Styrous®


My top-of-the-list meat to eat is chicken! I could eat chicken seven days a week! Well, I LOVE avocados equally! Tomato fits in there as well, so, what could have been a better dish to enjoy?!?      
 
Chickens come in an amazing array of types as I discovered when I visited Marcia Donahue at her wonderful world in the flat lands of Berkeley (link below).    

Vincent Damon Furnier (Alice Cooper) has been known to have a passing acquaintance with chickens during his on stage performances (link below).    

There is a string band named The Chickens on Wood here in the east bay. I've seen them perform a couple of times and they are a whole lot of fun to see in performance (link below).      
 
Did I mention I like chicken?        
  

The Chicken
 
The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a type of domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). Chickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion as of 2018.    
 
 
Anatomy of a chicken
 

Genetic studies have pointed to multiple maternal origins in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, but with the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa originating in the Indian subcontinent
 
From ancient India, the domesticated chicken spread to Lydia in western Asia Minor, and to Greece by the 5th century BC. Fowl had been known in Egypt since the mid-15th century BC, with the "bird that gives birth every day" having come to Egypt from the land between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia, according to the annals of Thutmose III.       
 
In the UK and Ireland, adult male chickens over the age of one year are primarily known as cocks, whereas in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, they are more commonly called roosters. Males less than a year old are cockerels. Castrated or neutered roosters are called capons (surgical and chemical castration are now illegal in some parts of the world). Females over a year old are known as hens, and younger females as pullets, although in the egg-laying industry, a pullet becomes a hen when she begins to lay eggs, at 16 to 20 weeks of age. In Australia and New Zealand (also sometimes in Britain), there is a generic term chook /ʊk/ to describe all ages and both sexes. The young are often called chicks.         
 
 
"Is that a chicken joke?"
                  ~ Ruth Buzzi
 
     
The Avocado
    
I can eat an avocado just by itself with a pinch of salt and a touch of pepper or with just one other thing and be TOTALLY satisfied!         
 
 
avocado & hamburger patty 
prepared by Tom White
photo by Styrous®
     
 
The avocado (Persea americana), a tree likely originating from south-central Mexico, is classified as a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae. The fruit of the plant, also called an avocado (or avocado pear or alligator pear), is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed.      

Avocados are cultivated in tropical and Mediterranean climates throughout the world. I learned about Mediterranean climates when I did a photo shoot for the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona in Barcelona almost ten years ago (link below).   

Avocados have a green-skinned, fleshy body that may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical. Commercially, they ripen after harvesting. Avocado trees are partially self-pollinating, and are often propagated through grafting to maintain predictable fruit quality and quantity. In 2017, Mexico produced 34% of the world supply of avocados.     

Persea americana is a tree that grows to 20 m (66 ft), with alternately arranged leaves 12–25 cm (5–10 in) long. Panicles of flowers with deciduous bracts arise from new growth or the axils of leaves.[7] The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 5–10 mm (31638 in) wide.      
 
 
"I love things that are indescribable, 
like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia."
                                ~ Barbra Streisand 

          
 
The Tomato
         
I went through a period of time when I became allergic to raw tomatoes; I was devastated! I could eat them cooked with no problem. This allergy disappeared when I got older; change in body chemistry maybe?     
 

photo by Styrous®

 

The tomato is the edible, often red berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant. The species originated in western South America and Central America. The Nahatl (the language used by the Aztecs) word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate (it was the way my father pronounced it), from which the English word tomato derived. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the Aztecs, they brought the plant to Europe. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century.        
 
The word "tomato" comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl [ˈtomat͡ɬ], meaning "the swelling fruit". The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate (in Nahuatl: tomātl About this soundpronunciation (help·info), meaning "fat water" or "fat thing").     
 
When Aztecs started to cultivate the fruit to be larger, sweeter, and red, they called the new species xitomatl (or jitomates) (pronounced [ʃiːˈtomatɬ]), ("plump with navel" or "fat water with navel"). The scientific species epithet lycopersicum is interpreted literally from Latin in the 1753 book, Species Plantarum, as "wolfpeach", where wolf is from lyco and peach is from persicum.       

While tomatoes are fruitsbotanically classified as berries—they are commonly used as a vegetable ingredient or side dish.        


"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. 
Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad."
                                 ~ Brian O'Driscoll
   


Viewfinder links:            
                   

Ruth Buzzi            
Corona Virus articles              
Brian O'Driscoll          
Barbra Streisand       
Styrous®        
Tom White                          



  
      
Styrous® ~ Monday, September 21, 2020         




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August 4, 2020

20,000 Vinyl LPs 234: Rock 'N' Roll High School (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

~       
vinyl LP front cover detail
photo by Styrous®


On August 4, 1979, The film Rock & Roll High School starring the Ramones premiered in New York, New York. The film was released to theaters in the US on August 24, 1979, and has since become a cult classic.


vinyl LP front cover
photo by Styrous®

   
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, and Dey Young. The film featured the punk rock group Ramones with additional songs by Brian Eno, Devo, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Brownsville Station, Chuck Berry, Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper and Nick Lowe; all featured on the vinyl LP. The music is a treasure chest of great artists that would cost millions to get permissions from today!      


vinyl LP front cover sticker
photo by Styrous®


The producer of the film was, Roger Corman, the legendary B-movie master, who made his name and fortune on fast and cheap films, often considered crude and outlandish, appealing to younger audiences who frequented drive-ins and late-night screenings.      

Produced for under $300,000 and shot in 23 days at various locations around Los Angeles, including Mount Carmel High School which was scheduled for demolition that was used in the film, the Mayan Theatre, the Roxy and Whisky A Go Go, Rock 'n' Roll High School was ready for release by the spring of 1979.     

Rock 'n' Roll High School was so low budget that it couldn’t afford to pay extras. They were, however, putting on a Ramone concert. So they charged $1.50 per ticket for people to come be in the audience for six hours.          

“We get every crazy punker in the world in there,” Arkush said. “You can see Darby Crash from The Germs, members of the Alley Cats, The Bags, Circle Jerks in the audience. Six hours later when they realized they were only going to hear the same six times [tunes] over and over again, they would get mad and we’d get them out and we’d bring in a new crowd.”       


vinyl LP front cover detail
photo by Styrous®

         
The director of the film, Allan Arkush, remembers Corman telling him: “I’ve been thinking, since Grease and Saturday Night Fever are hits, why don’t you put music in it and we’ll call it Disco High?” Yikes!!!! Fortunately, as the film took shape, cooler heads prevailed.         
            

vinyl LP front cover detail
photo by Styrous®


After so-so meetings with Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick, Warner Bros. Records offered Van Halen and the newly-signed Devo, but they didn’t quite fit Arkush’s vision. Brainstorming continued.   

Arkush, who was a fan of the New York budding punk-rock scene and had worked as a Fillmore East usher in his college days, desired a grittier group. Warner then suggested the Ramones who were signed by Sire Records. Arkush was already a fan of the group. “Rocket to Russia was one of my favorite albums,” he recalled.

Arkush went to see Seymour Stein and Linda Stein of Sire Records, “…and they blow up the school at the end of the movie,” Arkush explained by the end of the meeting. “We’re in!” declared Linda Stein.          


vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Marie-Pascale Elfman 
photo by Styrous®


Arkush knew the Ramones may be a difficult sell to moviegoers. They hadn’t yet reached national popularity, partially due to the stigma of their genre. “The Sex Pistols made a bad impression on Americans and punk music was considered a dirty word,” Allan recalls. “They wanted to refer to the Ramones as ‘new wave’ and not ‘punk.’ Blondie was the only punkish band who had broken onto the radio. When the Ramones were booked for tours, they got paired with Black Sabbath and it was a disaster. [Sabbath] fans would throw stuff at them. Because of this, they were an outlier band, and that suited the movie.”


vinyl LP front cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Although disregarded by mainstream film enthusiasts of the time, many late 20th century filmmakers whom we revere today got their start working for Corman, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, James Cameron and Jonathan Demme.


vinyl LP back cover
photo by Styrous®


I have favorite songs from the album, of course, at the top is the Ramones cover of the song California Sun, written by Henry Glover and first recorded by Joe Jones. It was also covered by Annette Funicello covered it in 1963, The Crickets  and the Rivieras (this is my favorite version) in 1964, the Dictators in 1975, Tommy James & the Shondells in 1967 and Frankie Avalon in the 1987 movie, Back to the Beach.                 


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


My next favorite is Come Back Jonee by Devo. I have loved every song by them and saw them perform at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco, California, in November of 1978. During its time Old Waldorf hosted some of the biggest names in the music industry, such as AC/DC, Dire Straits, Blue Öyster Cult, Iggy Pop, Blondie, Rory Gallagher, Metallica, Pat Benatar, R.E.M., Spirit, Poco, Gary Moore, U2 and Dead Kennedys. It was opened by Jeffrey Pollack in 1976; he sold it to Bill Graham who closed it in 1983.                 


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Next would come School Days by Chuck Berry, written by him in 1957 and is often considered a rock-and-roll anthem. The last verse of the song contains the lyrics "Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old." Perfect for the theme of Rock 'n' Roll High School.        


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Of course, the film would not have been complete without School's Out by Alice Cooper.  It has been regarded as the band's signature song and reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. I love this song but beg to differ as to whether it is their signature song for me. The 1971 Killer album has several songs which would fit that title. Cooper said that the song Desperado was written about his friend Jim Morrison, who died the year this album was released.  
     
Halo of Flies is an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform King Crimson-like progressive rock suites (they succeded admirably), and was supposedly about a spy organization. Jello Biafra and The Melvins covered the song on their release Sieg Howdy!,            


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Then there's Smoking In The Boys' Room by Brownsville Station. What could possibly be more appropriate for a film about high school? Who NEVER smoked in the boy's room? It reached number 3 in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100; that should tell you somehting!     


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Teenage Depression by Eddie and the Hot Rods says it all! I spent most of my high school years there! No further comment!       


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


Exquisitely descriptive of dreams dreamed in the classroom is Energy Fools The Magician by Brian Eno. Oh, my God! Who knew a Corman film would ever consider using Eno? VERY short at just over two minutes but sends you on to the next song . . .         


vinyl LP back cover detail
photo by Styrous®


. . . Todd Rundgren delivers A Dream Goes On Forever. “A thousand true loves will live and die but a dream goes on forever!”        


vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®


vinyl LP label, side 1
photo by Styrous®





vinyl LP, side 2
photo by Styrous®


vinyl LP label, side 2
photo by Styrous®




   
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 – Ramones - Rock 'N' Roll High School, Engineer [Remix] – Joel Soifer*, Mixed By [Remix] – Phil Spector - 2:13
A2 – Ramones - I Want You Around, Engineer [Remix] – Joel Soifer*, Mixed By [Remix] – Phil Spector - 3:06
A3 – Paley Brothers / Ramones, Come On Let's Go - 2:11
    – Ramones - Ramones Medley     (11:00)
A4a     –     Blitzkrieg Bop    
A4b     –     Teenage Lobotomy    
A4c     –     California Sun    
A4d     –     Pinhead    
A4e     –     She's The One    
A5 – Nick Lowe - So It Goes - 2:28
A6 – Brian Eno - Energy Fools The Magician - 2:03

Side 2:

B1 – P.J. Soles - Rock 'N' Roll High School - 2:11
B2 – Devo - Come Back Jonee - 3:44
B3 – Eddie And The Hot Rods - Teenage Depression - 2:54
B4 – Brownsville Station - Smoking In The Boys' Room - 2:55
B5 – Chuck Berry - School Days - 2:40
B6 – Todd Rundgren - A Dream Goes On Forever - 2:22
B7 – Alice Cooper - School's Out - 3:24

Companies, etc.

    Mastered At – Sterling Sound
    Marketed By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Sire Records Company
    Copyright (c) – Sire Records Company
    Recorded At – The Roxy
    Recorded At – Cherokee Studios
    Mixed At – Mediasound
    Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Jacksonville

Credits:

    Producer, Engineer – Ed Stasium (tracks: A1, A2, A4, B1)

Notes:

[Tracks A1 and A2] Remixed by Phil Spector; Remix Engineer - Joel Soifer; Recorded at Cherokee Recording Studios, Hollywood
[Track A4] Recorded live at the Roxy, Los Angeles; Mixed at Media Sound, New York 

 Various ‎– Rock 'N' Roll High School (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: Sire ‎– SRK 6070
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Jacksonville pressing
Country: US
Released: 1979
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Rock & Roll, Punk, Soundtrack
     
       
       
Viewfinder links:        
            
AC/DC        
Chuck Berry      
Jello Biafra          
Black Sabbath       
Blondie (Debbie Harry)          
Cheap Trick        
Alice Cooper        
Devo          
Eddie & the Hot Rods         
Brian Eno               
Annette Funicello           
Van Halen       
Buddy Holly & the Crickets        
King Crimson           
Todd Rundgren         
Sex Pistols          
        
Net links:        
       
LA Magazine ~ 40 Years Ago, the Ramones Roamed L.A.             
Showbiz Cheat Sheet ~ The Ramones Refused to Film This Scene   
Variety ~ Rock ‘n’ Roll High @ 40          
        
YouTube links:        
 
Alice Cooper ~  
     Desperado (video) 
     Halo of Flies (video) 
     School's Out (video)    
Chuck Berry - School Days (Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show - May 17, 1958)   
Brownsville Station ~ Smoking In The Boys' Room     
The Crickets ~ California Sun           
Devo - Come Back Jonee (Official Video)  
Eddie And The Hot Rods ~ Teenage Depression            
Brian Eno ~ Energy Fools The Magician     
Tommy James & The Shondells ~ California Sun      
Joe Jones ~ California Sun         
Nick Lowe ~ So It Goes (Official Music Video)             
Ramones ~              
     Blitzkrieg Bop (Official Music Video)         
     California Sun         
     Rock N' Roll High School  (Official Music Video)      
     She's The One (Official Music Video)  
     Winterland 12/28/78 - (Official videos)           
     Pinhead       
     Teenage Lobotomy       
Ramones & The Paley Brothers ~ Come On Let's Go        
Rock'n'Roll High School (complete) (1979) (1 hr. 33 mins., 18 secs.)
The Rivieras ~ California Sun          
Rock'n'Roll High School (trailer)  
Todd Rundgren - A Dream Goes On Forever         
    




        
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, August 4, 2020