Psst... Got Any Speed?

SPEED, GLUE & SHINKI - S/T (1972)

shame·less (adj) 1 : having no shame : insensible to disgrace
2 : showing lack of shame

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

If being devoid of shame is the ultimate key to attaining contentment, being gen-yew-wine-lee "free" as it were-- not sure if I'm remembering this philosophy from one of The Olde Greek Brainiacs or Charles Manson... or mebbe John Paul Knowles, I dunno. Whatever the case, if there be any truth to such a credo, the members of Speed, Glue & Shinki, wherever they may be, are fulfilled, fat and likely flashing their naughty bits to passersby with noggins fulla the finest hallucinogens food-stamps can buy... at least if their music is any indication of their collective lifestyles. I mean, here's a band that delivers four sides of unabashed dope worship framed by the kinda lumbering, sub-Iommian riffs even Mark Farner would be embarrassed of! For the love of Lucifer-- side four is eaten up entirely by a 17-minute, four-part "suite" (Sun/Planets/Life/Moon) performed on Moog Synthesizer-- would even Amon Düül II sink to such depths??! Fuck no! And that's why this monster is essential to your being free of shame.

Drummer/Vocalist Joey Smith (Speed) was an AWOL American Soldier playing all over Japan in a horrific cover band called Zero History-- paying their drug bills by performing in department stores. For reasons known only to himself, Shinki Chen-- legendary Nippon guitarist for Foodbrain, took a liking to Speed, and, with the addition of thunder-broomer Glue (Masayoshi Kabe), they somehow kept their bloodstreams clear enough to record "Eve," an album that seems to get all the high-fives around the intrawebs. Me, I prefer this, their second and final platter. Why? Well, think about it, Sherlock: this one has two LP's instead of one... meaning there's twice as much subsonic shit that you'll never scrape offa yer shoes.

They had no Glue on this opus as Kabe had departed for oblivion and was replaced by former bandmate/friend of Speed, Micheal Hanopol (side four was entirely his doing). He musta been the only available musician who had the constitution to go bong-hit-to-bong-hit with his new brothers or somethin'-- regardless, with new bassist recruited, they laid down this not-so-elegantly-wasted odyssey into the musical netherworld where ambition seldom conquers execution-- but we ain't talkin' about just any band here. Nope, these boys decided they were gonna record 70 minutes of the most guileless, drugged-out sludge to ever contaminate the human eardrum... and whaddaya know, the crazy bastards did it!

Opening with the sound of some miscreant (likely Mr. Smith) inhaling speed or glue (you name the controlled substance), the subtly-titled "Sniffin' & Snortin' (Pt. 1)" is a trawl through the muck one tends to create when playing Chuck Berry chord progressions with too much distortion and too little sobriety. Speed lends his leaden foot in a feeble attempt to de-slug the tempo, but they remain mired in the kinda grunge many a punk'd be proud of five years later-- fucking excellent, in other words, but they're just getting revved up, kids. "Run & Hide" is what "Mississippi Queen" woulda sounded like if Leslie West preferred coke 'n' ludes to Coke and five cheeseburgers-- a ripped-to-the-tits behemoth of a riff occasionally interrupted by Speed's stumbling snare beatings and hearty howl. "Red Doll" is where Hanopol, or Mr. Nu-Glue if you will, makes his presence felt, adding eerie organ fills to a ditty that has always reminded me of the kinda thing you'd hear right before you nodded off in an opium den in Nepal-- claustrophobic yet comforting.

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