BAYMI Dept.

@320

 

Lick My Vocals Off, Baby Dept.

 

Cover Art by A Dave @ Kinko

Decals hasn't, for me, gained as much over the decades as other Beefheart albums. It sounds a little - thin? It doesn't have the soaked-in atmosphere of the Trout House recordings, and I've always been uncertain about exactly how necessary Ed Marimba/Art Tripp III was. Aaaand, there's maybe four or five songs on the album I love, but a lot of fiddly noodling and honking that never quite gets authentically weird. A lot of clear-thinking folks think it's Beefheart's masterpiece, but what do they know?

But I do enjoy this version, which you might think is exactly the same material where the vocals have been wiped by an astringent household cleanser, but it ain't. It sounds altogether punchier, and there's detail - like the grunted count-ins - not on the original album. So somebody got the raw master takes before Don did his thing. It sounds better, dammit.

In the unlikely event that you have a grail version of the album, do the right thing for once in your wretched so-called life and upload it. 

 

This post funded in part by the Pork Bend Pumice Co.

The Band XTC Could Have Been Dept.

...

 

 

 

The Dukes Of Stratosphear had everything the adenoidal herberts from Swindon's Sausage City lacked - color, fun, and imagination. Also, great album sleeves. They delivered where XTC checked boxes [bullshit - Ed.]. But after two perfect albums, they decided to pack it all in and leave XTC to do the heavy lifting.

Sir John Johns (real name Wayne Phlegm) lead guitarist [left - Ed.], puts it this way: "we were enjoying being the Dukes too much. The first album sold better than any XTC album, and people loved it. It transcended pastiche to become the real thing, real psych-pop that stood alongside anything out of the sixties. So in a way it kind of negated all the pseudo-punk art-pop XTC were doggedly churning out for their miserablist fans. XTC had a stab at the genre with Oranges And Lemons, but it wasn't in the same league. So we burned our kaftans."

It was the world's loss.

Yeah, yeah ... XTC ... ZZZ, you ax me.

Artie Fishell's AI Fun! Dept.

 

Answer in comments - no fair peeking!

The Internet's Artie Fishell [below - Ed.] sez:

Yo! Wassup, bro?! Got a little quiz goin' for ya! Simply study above image of bucolic brotherhood [or sisterhood, or theirhood - Ed.] and in yer own words state in a comment if it's AI [write: YES - Ed.] or not [write: NO - Ed.].

Lucky winner will get their own exclusive dedicated downloadable deliverable! 

Class Out Th' Ass Dept. - The Bangles

Glossy gals who knew how to throw a pose!

 

Massive global hits when singles sales and radio plays meant something The Bangles wrote, played and sang as fantastic as they looked, and whipped up a storm live. Forget the "greatest girl group ever" tag - which they were - The Bangles are the last great Pop Group.

Today's deliverable is something that plays itself all the way through with no trouble at all. It's not a comprehensive chronological anthology, just a pretty obvious selection of Imperial Period gold, with a couple of "rarities" bundled in. Unusually, the extended versions don't outstay their welcome.

Good for a daily dopamine rush, and to remind yerself of how unbelievably great pop could get. As an added bonus [left - Ed.], a live recording from '84, when you still had your own teeth.

That track list in full!

 

This post funded in part by Veeblefetzer King® "The King of Veeblefetzers!"™