Rezzz...Erection! Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love to Blog

PENTAGRAM - Human Hurricane [bootleg, 1998]

What immediately intrigued me about this legendary, Arlington, VA combo was an interview I read with them eons ago, regarding vocalist Bobby Liebling's quirk of carrying his current fave underground rock record to grade school with him--- and what a list! Sir Lord Baltimore, Stray, Blue Cheer, Savage Resurrection, Dust, Cactus... you get the idea. See, I can remember doing much the same thing with my records du jour as an arch bishop, so... instant connection! Sadly, despite a wealth of material that would've fit nicely within the parameters of what was considered "commercial" in the early 70's, the original band (Liebling, sticksman Geoff O'Keefe, axe-masters Vince McAllister and Randy Palmer and 4-string mauler Greg Mayne) never released a proper album. Oh sure, there were rehearsal tapes that made the rounds, they even made an appearance on the most-wonderful "Turds on a Bum Ride" (as "Macabre") bootleg, that was yet another installment of rare garage/psych goodies a la Pebbles/Nuggets etc.

They've reformed, broken up, reformed, changed monikers multiple times and released recordings from the early 80's to the present of varying quality. To me, these recordings do not represent the greatness that this band was capable of in their heyday. As luck would have it, the folks at Relapse decided to release their 1972-76 rehearsals, singles and demos as "First Daze Here", a few years back... a true Holy Grail for scuzz-metal freaks. Their sound is often likened to Sabbath, but I don't hear that at all. No, their sound is an approximation of Blue Cheer's Cro-Magnon Crunch, with a pinch of Dust. They were also way too American to be Sab-- I envision Pentagram stuck with the groupies Sab wouldn'ta sneezed at. Their songs also echo the sentiments of the horny, unsophisticated 'bopper-- not limey rock stars obsessed with X-tian fairy tales.

Until the release of thee aforementioned "Daze" collections, "Human Hurricane" was one o' the few ways to sample vintage Pentagram, and there still be a few choice slabs that haven't seen legit light of Daze.  So if'n ya wanna hear proto-doom classics like "Buzzsaw" and "The Bees" minus their 80's metal production sheen (and Victor Griffin), this is still the best way.

Tracks:

1 Forever My Queen
2 The Bees
3 Out of Luck
4 Goddess
5 Target
6 Devil Child
7 Much Too Young to Know
8 If the Winds Would Change
9 The Diver
10 Rape
11 Livin' in a Ram's Head
12 Buzzsaw
13 Starlady
14 Show 'em How
15 Downhill Slope
16 Hurricane
17 Burning Rays

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TV KILLERS - Playin' Bad Music Since '92 [1999]

Yunno, despite the title of this here blog, I'm not really a hardcore guy. Not enough sex mixed in with thee violence to sate my gonads for any length of time. On the other hand, I'll never get sick of 77-style blistered-fingers punk fucking rock that deals in busting cherries along with heads. That's why France's TV Killers speak to me on the same level as the man they provide European backing band duties for... Jeff Dahl. It's the kinda haphazard filth that alla those lameass Swedish bands like the Hellacopters attempted to conjure in the mid-90's without an iota of authenticity (go back to Entombed, Nicke!). The 'Killers on the other paw, sound like one o' them long-lost outfits immortalized on the "Killed By Death" and "Bloodstains" comps-- they're even astute enough to provide a ripping cover of the (Belgian) Kids' "Do You Love the Nazis?". I'd suggest ya take a break from scarfin' yer fucking "Freedom Fries" and check 'em out...

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Oh yeah: I didn't come out of hibernation to talk to myself, assholes!