Aug 7, 2007
Nothing in nature wants to go home.
Here is what I did with my body one day:
At Leysin, in 1945, a piece of one of my ribs was removed, and subsequently given back to me, quite formally, wrapped up in a piece of medical gauze (the physicicans professed that my body belongs to me, in whatever dismembered state they restored it to me: I am the owner of my bones, in life as in death). For a long time I kept this fragment of myself in a drawer, a kind of body penis analogous to the end of a rib chop, not knowing quite what to do with it, not daring to get rid of it lest I do some harm to my person, though it was utterly useless to me shut up in a desk amough such “precious” objects as old keys, a schoolboy report card, my grandmother’s mother-of-pearl dance program. And then, one day, realizing that the function of any drawer is to ease, to acclumate the death of objects by causing them to pass through a sort of pious site, a dusty chapel in the guise of keeping them alive, I flung the rib chop and its gauze from my balcony, as if I were romantically scattering my own ashes, where some dog would come and sniff them out.
- Roland Barthes, La cotelette (the rib chop).
- Aardvark – copper sunset
(Aardvark / 1970) - Felt – now she’s gone
(Felt / 1971) - Fleetwod Mac – Big Love (LIVE) (Vid)
(tango in the night) - Frank Zappa – Sleep dirt
(Sleep dirt / 1979) - Ghost – who found a lost rose in the warship?
(Lama Rabi Rabi / 1996) - Ginhouse – and I love her
(Ginhouse / 1971) - The Human Beast – mystic man
(Vol. 1 / 1970) - Luv machine – everything
(turns you on! / 1970) - Grateful Dead – fire in the mountain
(Shakedown street / 1978) - Amon Düül II – archangel thunderbird
(Yeti / 1970)
Quick note for some of the songs in this post:
+ Not to be confused with the 1980′s indie Uk band led by Lawrence Hayward, Felt was also the name of an alabama based psych rock outfit that recorded a one and only record debut in 1971. Original copies of the self titled album ascend to a minimum of $500 and since there are no reissues of the album it’s unlikely you’ll get any bargain on it. highlight in the record for me would be the anti-drug song “Now She’s gone”, a very entertaining and varied jazz rock number with an amazing quivery vocal performance by singer/guitarist Myke Jackson.
+ “Sleep dirt” is one of Zappa‘s most unusual and strange pieces given its mellowness, the song features a guitar duet by Zappa and Youman, fusing classical and blues influence in a very impressive manner until Youman’s fingers get stuck in the strings ending the song abruptly.
+ I couldn’t gather much information about them but apparently Ghost are a japanese indie band whose members keep traveling around Japan as musical gypsies. The first time I heard them (via like a eagle) I thought I was listening to an authentic psychedelic band from the 70′s, and the hypnotic drum patterns also lead me to think they were german. The whole album is pretty interesting and I always get a kick on how they pronounce certain english words, “who found a lost rose in the warship?” is still my favorite one sounding like an appalachian song from an alien culture, moutbow included!
+ Ginhouse were a power trio based in Newcastle that shared the same faith as many underground bands of the era and after recording their debut for B&C (the only hard rock album published by the label) got lost in oblivion. They had some strong cuts in their record, but the most impressive one comes in form as a kickass version of “and i love her” by the Beatles taking several hard rock shifts with a jazz influence, if nothing else their version exemplifies Ginhouse’s complete separation from anyone else’s musical ideas at the time. A real shame they never got to record a followup.
+ Luv Machine once was one of the 60′s favorite underground bands amongst fans of rock era and still an obliged play on psych clubs in the UK. The band was formed in the island of Barbados and afterwards moved on to England to play in clubs & record their sole album, unfortunately it never got the talk it deserved since by the time it got published the band had already broken up.
Image credit: Lane Twitchell.
As it happens, Felt is also an underground rap “supergroup” made up of Ant and Slug from Atmosphere and Murs. To my knowledge they’ve as yet only recorded two albums.
What a great set of songs as always. The Motel is a daily read and rightly so.
Ghost is a marvelous band. I think their newest album is called Caledonia…not sure I remember correctly. I think calling them indie is selling them a bit short, they are more some sort of psychadelic noise band with post-rock tendencies. They seem to be obsessed with an idealistic version of Ireland and Irish Travelers and sometimes incorporate Irish/Scottish traditional instruments into their music