Department Of Departmental Departmentalism Dept. - Edit

The New Normal, yesterday.

We ([Ed.], Kreemé, The Ghost Of Myra Nussbaum, and your host Farquhar Throckmorton III) will be taking a break for a while.

Be seeing you!

Rare Pair Share Dept.

What th' heck's goin' on here?

Couple of nice vinyl rips courtesy Our Pal Tremolo. Milton Chesley Carroll's eponymous first album, on paper-thin DynaFlex©, from '72, and Michael Kenny's eponymous and only album, not on paper-thin DynaFlex©, from '76. Country rock and city rock respectively.

Love Of The Common People and Seventh Son are both wrongly attributed to Carroll on discogs. Steve Gadd (that Steve Gadd) and Tony Levin (that Tony Levin) help out. David Spinozza, recently FoamFeatured© peddling hallucinogens to pre-teens, is among the sessioners on Kenny's album, which is AOR but AOK with me.

This post made possible by Tremolo's Toothpick Repair & Rental, Buttfloss, MN. "Walk-ins welcome!"

[Ed.]'s Treehouse Of Blessed Forgetfulness© Dept.

Thousands of Foamislanders© - that's Roscoe and Hortense Thousands of Pigwhistle IN - have written in to enquire about our Editor-In-Chief [Ed.]! Seems you've missed his updates from The Treehouse Of Blessed Forgetfulness© and want him to touch base!

Turns out he's doing just swell! "This surely is an improvemink on th' old Dumpster Of Despair™ Farq useta make me live in! Why, I gots everthing a guy could want!"

So what's spinning on th' Treehouse Victrola these days? The new Dylan? The old Neil? Turns out it's a swell pair of discs you'll be proud to add to your collection of the arcane, the obscure, the little-known [we get it already  - Ed.]. First up is the only album by Jericho - probably not the band you're thinking of, but this one, on Bearsville, from '71. "It's a swell collection of the kind of rock you just don't hear any more - not heavy, but hard - a little like early ZZ Top. But not much. It's propulsive, man!"

The other waxing [Ed.]'s listening to these days is a private press - NO! WAIT! COME BACK! - from '73, These Trails, by, er - These Trails. "Today, the young people would call this Wyrd Folk, but back then it was just a record. And a mighty fine one, too! Especially if you're baked outta your head, like what these guys was!"

FoamPoints© - "Hey! I'm Rich Already!"™

The Four Or Five Guys© lucky enough to earn (and keep!) FoamPoints® have been in a fevered state of high anticipation for weeks now, wondering just what they can spend those precious points on!

Well, it's with some pride that Kreemé (19) rolls out our inaugural FoamPoint Premium! It's what every guy wants - his own abandoned nuclear reactor! Oboy!

Kreemé (19) sez: "This prestigious property is ideal for conversion into loft dwelling, wellness retreat, abattoir, or orphanage!"

Abandoned Nuclear Reactor 9,005,044.005 FP

Play "Who's In My Box?" With Surfside Siren Annette!

Cheez Whiz© - gee whiz! it's th' biz!

You know Annette Funicello from your Google Image Search for anette breats did you mean annette breasts? But few know she's also an avid and knowledgeable collector of obscure vinyl! So when I asked her to host the latest episode of our most popular FoamFeature© she jumped at the chance!

The interview took place in the fun-fur Conversation Pit Of Sound© here in the gold-plated F.M.F.© Airstream trailer H.Q. while Kreemé [pronounced kree-MAY - Ed.] served her signature root beer 'n succotash smoothies.

FMF© Hey, Annette - I gotta say - gee - you were one homely kid!

AF Uh ...

FMF© Who'da thunk, you know, you'd of turned into this paradigm of pulchritude with tits out th' ass?

AF Tits out th' ass? Excuse me?

FMF© It's an expression. Means, double-D Dagmars. 

AF (testily) Can we start the game?

FMF© Yeesh! Lighten up, sweetheart! Hey - I hope it's not your period HAW HAW! Okay, Annette Funicello - are you ready to give th' Four Or Five Guys© a peek in your box? I see you have it with you.

AF A girl is never without her Magic Box, Farq!

FMF© Okayyyy Annette - let's play - whoooo's - in your box! (Wurlitzer)

How to play? Why, the rules is simples! Simply download the musical track from the comments, and using your skill and judgement - what's left of it at your age - tell us Who's In Annette's Box! 

EDIT: Hermann knew who was in Annette's box - Buffalo group The Road, with their album Cognition [at left - Ed.].

This post made possible through the largesse of Tremolo, who is therefore ineligible to participate. Tough beans, Trem!

Country Rock "Rendered Blog Text Meaningless" - Claim

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Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa [sic - Ed.] qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus.

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Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.

Something For Sunday Dept. - Kind Of White

Note absence of blackness.

Selling jazz to us white folks (I'm speaking on behalf of white folks here) used to be a marketing headache. A black face on the cover wouldn't deter the hardcore Downbeat© subscriber, but it might not win sales in the crucial suburban hi-fi demographic, the Populuxe generation of Botany 500 sophisticates who mixed martinis and adjusted R.I.A.A. curves for their equally attractive neighbors at weekends. It was a risk. Gil Evans was the guy who could break Miles Davis into that lucrative market, but the covers had to avoid featuring a black face.

"Why'd you put that white bitch on there?" asked the ever-diplomatic Miles [n.b. never "Davis" - Ed.] on seeing the cover of Miles Ahead, the first of their orchestral collaborations. For later editions, when he was a marketable brand across most demographics, the cover was changed to feature his face.

Note pioneering silhouette brand.

Quiet Nights, the last of their four projects together, avoided the problem by featuring a gorgeous abstract cover, prefiguring the psychedelic light shows of a year later. This album generally gets a sniffy reaction from jazzbos, to whom I flip the bird. I can hear nothing on it that is less than sublime (and perfect Sunday listening). The Time Of The Barracudas is more than a bonus track - it's integral to the album.

EDIT: Download contains all four Miles n' Gil albumens.

Saturday Slugfest Dept. - The Schnozzola vs. The Sex Pistols

Jimmy Durante faces off with the Sex Pistols in today's musical cagefight. The cover to September Song [at left - Ed.] could be a Norman Rockwell [American painter - Ed.] painting come to life. His songs are unabashedly sentimental, the arrangements refugees from the wrong side of the Schmaltz Curtain.

England's newest hitmakers The Sex Pistols are vanguards of the new generation. "We don't give a fuck!" snarls Johnny Rotten, their outspoken lead singer. "YER! Fuck off, Grandad!" adds controversial bass guitar player Sid Vicious [who wasn't even in the group at this time, ya doofus - Ed.].

Spunk is the demo for their first album. It's pretty good. But who will win the cagefight? Will the fine vintage wine of maturity and great-heartedness be more than a match for teenage piss and vinegar? Will sentiment pack a bigger punch than spunk? Place your bets in the comments!

Psychedelia For Kids! Dept.

Looking Through Super Plastic Elastic Goggles At Color aired on NBC's Children's Theatre in 1971. Producer Michael Banasiak says "The whole hippie thing had pretty much died out by then, and a new generation of kids was out there, pre-teens, who wanted to know about the psychedelic experience, what drugs their moms and dads were doing, so we pitched this show to NBC, we had the music and the image and the group, very talented guys, the whole package, but they were concerned at advocating drug use to minors, so they said we'll go with this if you change the word Psychedelics to Color. It was an easy change, and the kids out there knew what we were really talking about - you only have to read the song titles - Colors Of The Mind, We All Live On A Rainbow - the whole band was on acid when they recorded the soundtrack album!"

Use this album to introduce your grandkids to psychedelics - why not spike their milk and have a freak out party?

Of The Goggles band, Jessica Harper went on to star in Phantom Of The Paradise and Suspiria, David Spinozza became an in-demand session guitarist, and the other two cut the soles off their shoes, sat in a tree and learned to play the flute.

Radio John Andmoreagain

Original restored cover

When you think of the inititals JH, who do you think of? Apart from Joey Heatherton? And Jimi Hendrix? Why - John Hartford, of course! It's John Hartford week here at th' Isle O' Foam©. Today, the unissued album Radio John from 1970 (where he invents rap music), and The Love Album from '68.

"How'ja like a belt in th' ear?"

Seven more coming up in the next few days, taking us to '71's Aereo-Plain. Hoo boy! You bet we're having fun yet!

ADDENDA: [that's a dirty word - Ed.]  Looks At Life, Gentle On My Mind, and Iron Mountain Depot, all in a new link in the comments. Two or three more to come. 

ANDMOREAGAIN: See my latest comment for Housing Project, Earthwords And Music, and Aereo-Plain. Unless youse bums upload others in the comments, our work here is done. 

Pal Joey

Vegas Babe Joey Heatherton recently honored us by hosting Who's In My Box? And you - th' Four Or Five Guys© worldwide - returned the honor by making it our most popular post ever! Well, second most - nothing will ever beat the Collected Annie Fanny. It does you all credit, I think, that Fine Literature and Music are forever uppermost in your minds. Th' Isle O' Foam© offers a safe haven for those sensitive souls fatigued by vulgarity and cheap thrills - those for whom Art and the Muse remain beacons of purity in a sullied world! Slobs like youse bums!

So it is with happy heart that I am able to share with you today the Complete Recorded Works of Ms. Heatherton, conveniently arranged under two attractive covers. You have The Joey Heatherton Album, from 1972, mixed (it says here) by none other than the WCPAEB's Michael Lloyd. And you have a swell second disc of the bonus tracks from the unavailable Hip-O-Select© limited edition re-issue. Hoo boy!

This post made possible by The Tremolo Foundation For Hot Tomatoes - thanks, Trem!

Heeeeeere's ... Johnny! Dept.

He sang with his tripes, as they say in La Belle France. Like many great French stars, he wasn't French at all. A shivering refugee from the fetid, rainswept marshes of Belgium, Johnny Hallyday's real name was Jean-Philippe Léo Smet - that's S-m-e-t - so anyting would of been a improvemink.

He was the French Elvis, and before we get too superior about that, leave us remember that Cliff Richard was the British Elvis. The statistics tell the story, but not here, you'll have to go to his wiki page. Oh, okay then, here's the numbers: 57 years, 79 albums and sold more than 110 million records worldwide (i.e. in France). 2,500 magazine covers. One million spectators (I think I may have been there) crammed the streets to watch his gig at the Eiffel Tower, with some ten million watching on television. Not bad for a gut-gargling Walloon garagiste.

Here's Rough Town, his only foray into a U.S. recording studio, sung (pretty well, I think) in English, and the late-ish Sang Pour Sang, the title of which is a neat pun meaning Blood For Blood, but sounding like 100 per cent, which was always what he gave.

Gimme Two Steps

Aztec Two-Step have had an extraordinarily long career, from the first album [at left - Ed.] on Elektra in '72 to - as far as I know, in some form or other - the present day, whenever that is. Their first two albums, though, have always remained their first two albums, and that's something to be grateful for.

If you like swell tunes, you'll dig these long-playing records. And the musicians are what you'd expect from Elektra and RCA - the best on the block. Any block. Get yer ears doin' that old-timey two-step in the hallowed sanctity of your chosen abode today!

How YOU Can Help Save Kreemé's Ass! (Dept.)

That horizon - I can't keep my eyes off of it.

It's been said by some less charitable of the 4/5 guys that the appointment of Kreemé (19) to the role of Senior Media And Entertainment Outreach Officer is nothing other than a cheap excuse to exploit her as clickbait.

While this is largely - in fact, totally - true, she does come up with swell initiatives from time to time to justify her outrageous salary (paid in the local currency of FoamPoints™) and swank duplex office space up on Smoking Volcano Mountain at the heart of th' Isle O' Foam©.

During yesterday's one-on-one Staff Motivation session at the island's fabled Bubbling Mud Spring, she came up with the idea of occasional posts where you guys - that's you, and quit looking over your shoulder - could tell everybody what you've been enjoying. Artistically speaking. You know - music, movies, TV, internet, even books if any of you are the shy, bookish type what can't get a date. Failing that, breakfast cereal or herpes ointment. Or perhaps you've discovered the blessed relief that Skechers© shoes bring to the living hell of knee pain (I know I have!).

This is Kreemés baby, so every Kreemé's Kaffeeklatsch© will be flagged by her comely pulchritudinosity [see above - Ed.]. If the concept doesn't fly, and youse bums can't be assed to add a comment or two, she'll get thrown into Smoking Volcano Mountain, so her fate here is very much in your gnarly, liver-spotted old hands.

I think she's lava lunch, myself. I have zero faith in you cheap, chiseling, lazy-assed grifters.

(For those of you who only read the colored text at the end of the post - share with us what fun shit you're doing in a comment, or Kreemé dies)

Great Classics Of Literature Out Th' Ass Dept. - The Haunt Of Fear

EC Comics were the parent's nightmare and the kid's dream. Here's ten annoyingly inconsistent scans of what might or might not be the first ten issues of The Haunt Of Fear. Some are reprints, with those ugly reprint-only art changes and editorial. Some are the grubby, gorgeous originals. The stories and art remain indelible mind tattoos from the Cold War fever dream, none as shocking and evil as the New Normal. Comfort reading from times when the emissaries of Satan hadn't taken over the White House, and zombies weren't walking the streets.

Date With Th' Downbeat Dept. - Sir Duke Of Earlington

Hi, hep cats! Ralph J. Gleason here, with some swingin' sides for tonite's Date With Th' Downbeat! And before you pose the question, let me lay it on you I was into th' whole corncob n' cheaters scene way ahead of Farq Throckmorton! Solid, Jackson!

So, let's get this gig a-groovin' with three swell waxings from Sir Duke Of Earlington! A real gone cat and great personal friend, Th' Earl, as we jazzbos call him, was knighted by the Queen of Britain for "services to the pianoforte". Like, crazy, man!

Focus your audio, Claudio, 'cos this is strictly from Swingsville! That's Mr. John Hodges blowin' reeds cool and hot!

I asked Th' Earl why the cats are goin' ape for his crazy chords, and he sez "because white folks can dig it too! It ain't just noise, Nancy!"

ADDENDUM: The Newport set much cosseted by Th' Four Or Five Guys© is added in the comments.

Wayne's World - The Wrap

The brilliant Wayne Berry has been FoamFeatured antecedently and at some depth. Since then a few items have surfaced that should really be added to the collection, so this is a double-header. In the first download you get the epochal Home At Last, the near-unavailable second album Tails Out, and the totally unissued Capitol album, Turning Point. The second batch gets you both Timber albums, and the uber-rare Volunteers album (for which, kudos due to sambgodot).

Psychedelia From The United Kingdom Of America!

The balding B.B.C. engineer in the off-white business shirt thumbed the fader and watched the studio clock, a Senior Service stuck to his lip, oblivious to the fact that he and the long-haired layabouts in the studio were creating a niche-within-a-niche sub-genre on the other side of the world. 

Lazy Smoke, Jade, Sleepy Hollow, Paper Garden and The Paisleys - among others - were U.S. acts taking their cues from Beatles-and-related psychedelia for a one-off album before heading back to Mom, college, Skid Row, Wall Street or a cabin up in the hills.

It was a short-lived phenomenon, arriving late, making little impact, and leaving early, only to wash up on the shores of Th' Isle O' Foam© decades later.

Bizarre Tales Of Strangeness Dept. - H.P. Lovecraft

Of all my investigations into the strange, the weird, and the bizarre, none is bizarrer [is this a word? - Ed.] than the musical career of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

His first album Songs From A Tomb [left - Ed.], a collection of songs recorded at his Providence, R.I. lodgings, remained unreleased at the time (1930) as the vinyl long-playing record had yet to be invented.

Today, Howard laughs at his tyro efforts in the singer-songwriter vein. In this exclusive interview, Howard ("call me Howie!") looks back on his pioneering career in the music business with affection and insight.

HPL: I was just this young guy, trying to get laid, like we all were. I saw how attractive musicians were to dames, and thought I'd grab myself a little of that action! I reckoned my songs about eldritch horrors and ululating abominations would get me pussy! That's how out-of-the-loop Howie was! (laughs)

FMF©: Tell us a little about the songs. How they were recorded.

HPL: Gee - it's such a long time ago? I composed them all on the Ondes Martenot. I had the only one in the U.S. at that time. It used a shitload of electricity, and I remember one time blowing all the fuses in my apartment building! (laughs) Howie was not a popular neighbor - what with that and opening up a dimensional portal for the Elder Gods in the closet. Oops!

FMF©: You turned your room into a recording studio?

HPL: Right. Ring-and-spring mic, direct onto the wax master disc. I set the whole thing up. Pretty advanced tech! Problem was, I was cutting a ten-song album, and the album format just didn't exist yet.

FMF©: Nor did the entire singer-songwriter genre ...

HPL: That's right! By the time it did, late 'sixties, I'd moved on to psychedelic rock.

FMF©: Did you get laid?

HPL: Oh man! The stories I could tell! Those were the times of free love, man! Hippie chicks just giving it away! WOO-HOO!

FMF©: So - get any action?

HPL: Uh - no.

FMF©: Those are great albums, though.

HPL: Thanks. I prefer the third, myself, when I changed my name to just Lovecraft. Kinda country rock thing happening there. [FoamFeatured antecedently - Ed.]

FMF©: Years before Prince and Madonna, the name thing. You never got credit for that.

HPL: Yeah. But, you know - no regrets! I've had a great life! Great times! NYARLAGHOTEPALHAZREDCTHULHUULULULU!