L'chat gigante!
So, I like a nice pair of slacks, is this the first sign of Meltzer-ish geezerdom? I reckon it might…
Preferably, my slacks are drop-loop, Hollywood-style gaberdine cuffed jobbies or Cramerton cloth khakis, with enuff extra waistage to wear as hipsters or over the belly, as what my pal Paul once termed “titsters”…
I was khakied-up like a GI over the weekend, a long one a’ Paris, for Nadia’s oncle’s surprise 70th party. Lovely peeps, nice champagne, great horses doublies (whatever) and all-round fun. Sunday, we spent a full ten hours doing two of the flea markets, much to the regret of my lower back and feets, before crashing out with a can o’brew at l’hotel and giggling at a Depardieu / Reno two-hander, Tais-Toi! Said flick is summat of a classic of post-Tati stoopidity – up there with the original Les Visiteurs and, of an older vintage, the trump-tastic La Soupe Aux Choux… then it was steak-frites, a nice half-bottle of a very lively red and zonko…
Other than that, we saw Jarvis Cocker wandering around Monmatre, paid far too much money for our preferred on-hols beverages (beer’n'espresso & Perrier citron) and foodage, once again found Parisians to be relatively charming, and didn’t half enjoy ourselves…
I spent the trip humming the following. Why, I (mostly) dunno:
“Lead Me On” – Bobby Bland (Great BBC4 doc the other week)
“Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)” – Roky Erickson & Blieb Alien (“Children nailed to the cross” – wither, Mr Osbourne?)
“Never Come Back” – Dogs (Excellent, Paris-based ’70s-’80s punk’n'poppers, like the Gallic ‘Groovies)
“Guitar Army” – The Rationals (Lyrically daft, but great skronky guitar chunks)
“Find My Way Home” – Jack O & The Tennessee Tearjerkers (Divine honk)
Tieing in neatly – with no payola – old Jack O’s got a new platter out, “The Disco Outlaw”, on Memphis’s own, uber-stalwart Goner label. Greatness assured. Buy.
Goner have released some really fine rekkids, including Harlan T Bobo’s magisterial “Too Much Love”, the incomparable Reigning Sound’s onstage mash of 40 years o’great r’n'r’n'f-r’n'c’n'p’n'g’n'r&b action, “Live At Goner Records”, and The Reatards’ gloriously, um, sophisticated “Your So Lewd” – sample lyric, from the pen of current Pitchfork darling, Jay Reatard: “You like my personality, I like your tittles”.
Aaah, well, a man can only deal with so much new (or old) world sophistication, y’know…
Speaking of baser instincts, these 7″ or 12″ vinyl recorderings from various ages (and boot fairs) have proved unexpectedly popular while DJing recently – at public houses, working peoples’ clubses and a bowling alley – for dancing, drinking or relaxing purposes. Each garnered serious floor-shakin’, saw more alcool being ordered or prompted “What was that?” type o’queries. You or your sister may like them also:
“Stop Playing Ping Pong With My Heart” – The Six Teens (Flip)
“Black Betty” – Ram Jam (Columbia)
“Straight Shooter” / “Time Bomb High School” – Reigning Sound (In The Red)
“Strolling After Dark” – The Shades (Scottie)
“Pussy, Pussy, Pussy” – The Light Crust Dough Boys (Rambler)
“Trouble’s Brewin’” – The Meditation Singers (Jewel)
“The Sausage” – Baldhead Growler (Jump Up)
“Is It True” – Brenda Lee (Brunswick)
“Hanging On The Telephone” – The Nerves (Nerves Records)
The last un’s the original. If you’ve never heard it, grab yourself the Bomp! package of this triple-threat pre-punk trio’s stuff, “One Way Ticket”, for some gen-u-wine pop thrills. Peter Case, Paul Collins and Jack Lee – whoo! Total talent fest, w/ no guitar solos. Lee’s self-released’n'titled solo LP on Maiden America, which was funded with the moolah he earned from Blondie’s hit versh, is also worth picking up – it features such great nuggets as “Come Back And Stay” (yep, the one Paul Young did) and the endearingly faux-tuff “Crime Doesn’t Pay”, with it’s boom-boom, non-sensical but cracking chorus of “John Dillinger died / Crime doesn’t pay”… hey, it’s no dafter than anything The Clash ever did, rite?
Elsewhere, I’ve really been enjoying John Broven’s new book, “Record Makers And Breakers”, a real fine main course after a neat-o twofer starter – Mark E Smith’s autobio ‘n’ Dave Simpson’s “The Fallen”, and I don’t even own any Fall stuff. Broven’s tome is a big bugger and hardly made for bathtime relaxing, but if you wanna grok other side of the post-war music dream, it’s essential to get yer elbows wet. As someone who loooves 7″s, I was tickled beyond all reason to read that, following Columbia’s introduction of the vinyl album, RCA Victor thought they’d better get with the program, and so deducted 33 from 78, which left 45…
2 Responses to Slacks: the first sign of encroaching geezerdom…
Can we clarify this thing about how the speed of a 45rpm disc came about?
I’d always understood that all of the speeds and sizes were determined by compromise – working out the length of time required for each disc to play then figuring out what speed would allow a decent sound quality to emerge from grooves cut on a disc of that size. So, if six inches had been settled on as the optimum size for a single the grooves would have been a different width or depth, and the speed might have had to be 39rpm or 48rpm – or whatever.
Any hi-fi buffs out there who know for sure – and who can explain it in a couple of hundred words?
Hey Johnny, from my cack-handed rehashing of the info contained in Mr Broven’s most erudite tome, the size of the 45 was purely to fit 2:30 on it comfortably, the speed decision an off-hand work of genius. Mr Broven doesn’t elaborate on the reson why an LP is 12″ or 33 1/3 rpm, other than the format fitted a symphonic movement to the last cymbal clash perfectly.