Art Rock For Men

I never knew a girl who liked "difficult" rock music. Maybe you do, seeing as how popular you are with the ladies! But as far as I'm aware, they have something better to do - like each other - than furrow their pretty little brows over troublesome time signatures, knuckle-knotting fretboard displays, and wilfully ignoring the time-honored format of the popular song. But there are times I think they might be missing out, and here's three compelling reasons why.

Aorta seemed hell-bent on avoiding selling records. That name, for starters. That cover, for seconders. Nothing conceptually wrong with either - the cover is as beautifully designed as an image of internal organs can be. Ahead-of-its-time typography, too. But it would hardly leap off the racks into your hand as an impulse purchase back in '69, unless you were a troubled loner type living in your mom's crawl space. Hey! Who hasn't done that when times were hard? 

Michael Been - you'd know who he was if you'd been paying attention, you simpering jackanapes - joined for the second album, which was more girl-centric in content and packaging, but it was too little, or too much, too late, or too early, or something, and the band split like a pair of cheap pants. Been moved through the ranks of HP Lovecraft and Moby Grape before starting his own band The Call, who have a swell new retrospective out you should hear.

Graffiti have one of the hardest names to spell in the history of rock, pop n' roll. One f or two? Two t's or one? At least the album wasn't produced by Bill Szyzcmic. Zsyzmcx. They make up for that by only listing their first names on the album - kudos to Steve, Richie, George, Tony, and Jon!

These are terrific albums, displaying great musicianship, harmony singing, and a willingness to experiment. This is prog before the fun got sucked out of it, from that thrilling end-of-the-sixties period when big labels took risks and weren't afraid to fuck with the formula. Play them for your best gal, and let us know how you make out!