Yearly Archives: 2013

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August 15, 2013

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Raw Meat (1973)

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Christopher Lee has  to be a in a movie for more than two minutes for it to be fair for American International to advertise him on the bill, I think.

I realize that this movie really doesn’t deserve three out of four iron crosses and that most people who might stumble upon it will find it incredibly boring, but what can I say?  It appealed to me because it has some creepy looking sets and surprisingly realistic looking gore for 1973.  If I’m not mistaken, the old blood formula made most blood look like red paint; at least this is what Tom Savini said in a special feature to some movie I saw a long time ago.

There isn’t much in the way of plot in Raw Meat.  In fact, you’d be pressed to think of a reason for it to even be 87 minutes because there is almost nothing going on!  An American student and his adorable, red-head gal discover a body of someone who’s important or something laying on the steps of a subway and go report it to the police in Scotland Yard.  The police chief is Donald Pleasence who is delightfully dry and sarcastic the entire time.

After that, it’s basically a police precedural crossed with a gross horror movie.  All of the horror takes place in a grimy, underground sewer-like hideaway, where dwells a grotesque looking man, and, over the course of the film, we get to see some awesome shots of half-eaten and decomposing corpses laying around old furniture in a dirty underground hideaway.  There are some hints as to how these were apparently people who got stuck in the subway due to something happening.  I honestly don’t remember the explanation and didn’t find it all that important to story.

Eventually, the not quite bad guy, who is more just a confused or retarded mutant like thing, with sick looking head wounds and messy strands of hair, kidnaps the cutie and the police go to find her.  And that’s it!  There is absolutely nothing else to say about this movie!  There are very minor plot points here and there, like when the girl leaves the guy out of anger because he didn’t feel like reporting his finding a corpse to the cops, followed by her going back to him and a brief interrogation of whoever Christopher Lee is supposed to play.

But most of that is just padding for time.  Again: I gave the film three just because I enjoyed the dimly lit set and gory makeup effects, but if you’re one of those “story” people who wants a movie to move from point a to point b in a reasonable amount of time with actual bits of intrigue and characters you care about, then you’d best look elsewhere.

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August 9, 2013

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Guyana: Crime of the Century (1979)

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I’ve been looking forward to seeing Guyana: Crime of the Century for a while and can say that I was not disappointed.  The only reason I dropped the grade from 4 to 3 iron crosses is because maybe there could have been a little bit more editing and the lighting was incredibly dim.  I don’t know if that’s the DVD transfer or  the way it was shot.  If it was the DVD, then I apologize.

Either way, Rene Cardona Jr.’s film received the hilarious “zero stars” from Roger Ebert when he saw the film at the beginning of 1980.  The version he saw was actually called Guyana: Cult of the Damned (not to be confused with the 1969 film Cult of the Damned) and was edited down to 96 minutes from the unneccesarily long 115 minute version I saw and had a voice-over narration.  That might have been a slightly tighter, more compact film.

But why am I arguing technique when the only reason I watched the movie was to see if it is as tasteless, shocking and repulsive as its reputation?  The Jonestown massacre is officially considered the largest loss of American lives at a single time before 9/11 and what makes it even more disturbing is the fact that the Reverand Jim Jones was such a well respected public figure.  Under a socialist guise, he united people of various ethnicities and races and promoted equality.  He was praised by a number of public figures like Walter Mondale and Rosalyn Carter.

So what went wrong?  Of course no questions are answered in Guyana: Crime of the Century.  If you want a real documentary about the topic, check out Jonestone: Life and Death of Peoples Temple.  Cardona’s film is an exploitation film.

There isn’t much plot to the film really.  Rev. James Johnson (Stuart Whitman) does a bunch of over the top, Hitler-like sermons in spite of preaching against Hitler, tyranny, violence and bigotry.  The people believe and follow him from San Francisco to their tiny, self-constructed colony called Johnstontown in the jungles of Guyana.

At first a few people bitch about not getting any better food than rice and bread.  Soon, three children are brutally punished for petty theft.  This is where the dim lighting really annoyed me.  Was the one kid dipped in tar, hot oil or just water?  One kid had electric shockers put on his balls and one was covered in snakes, I guess.  There’s another scene where a man is punished for having sex with his wife by being forced to do the sexual act with a big black guy.  Unfortunately we don’t get to see this part.  There’s also a scene where reporters go into a giant shack to see a bunch of bodies stowed away like in a “slave galley.”

There are a few scenes that follow the real life narrative, particularly when the movie version of Congressman Leo Ryan along with some reporters visits Jonestown in order to bring back some of its prisoners resulting in their being gunned down.  Also Joseph Cotton and Yvonne De Carlo play toss-aside roles as lawyer and press person, etc.

But, as expected, the true impact lies in the gruesome climax.  It starts with the Jim Jones speech as people line up to drink koolaid.  Then we see people forcing others to drink the substance, we see a horrified woman shrieking that she doesn’t want to die, we see a mother feeding the substance to her baby then to herself and then clutching her baby as she crumples to the floor.  But, above all, we see Rev. James Johnson from the perspective of the dying temple members in a psychedelic sepia tone, which, given this stylistic choice, sorta proves Cardona wasn’t going for a truly documentary vibe with this.  At the end, the camera shows us the sign that says, “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  Yep, it’s a message movie.

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August 5, 2013

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Chamber of Horrors (1966)

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More like Chamber of Borers, hahahahaha… uh, yeah.  Don’t be fooled by the poster.  There ain’t nothin’ terrifying about this movie and I’m not just talking in today’s standards.  According to the poster, a built-in audio-visual warning system is used to warn the audience when to turn away.  The irony is that there is nothing to turn away from.  The camera always cuts away from the violent part rendering the warning system rather useless.  Plus they tell you in advance that this will happen exactly four times during the course of a 99 minute film.  So what’s in the rest of the movie?

Chamber of Horrors doesn’t even deserve two iron crosses.  But, what can I say; it looks like a Hammer horror film and has a wax museum setting in some parts, some hilariously demeaning “slut shaming” dialogue and a really hot actress who I’d never seen before.  Other than that, the movie sucks.

It starts off promising when this crazy guy named Jason Cravatte (Patrick O’Neal) forces a priest to conduct a wedding between him and this dead woman at gun point.  Not having read the plot synopsis and going by the title of the film, I was under the impression that this Jason Cravatte character would conduct weird experiments and do strange things involving necrophilia in some chamber of horrors.

But, nope, that’s not the case at all.  Instead the movie quickly degenerates into a boring cat and mouse chase type thing as the womanizer and wax museam curator Cesar Danova (Anthony Draco) follow clues and leads to catch up with Jason Cravatte.

There are little plot points like Cravattes holing up in a New Orleans whore house before he is caught and escapes certain death by chopping his hand off and replacing it with an assortment of scary looking but underused weapons and then heads to Baltimore where he decides to give a good life to a struggling prostitute he meets in a bar in exchange for luring in all the people who were responsible for his murder conviction or something.  That was a run-on sentence

The point is is that, once again, the poster makes the movie seem scarier and more exciting than it really is.  There is almost no gore or suspense.  Again the wax museam was cool as these tend to be in movies like this but that’s about all there is to say about this clunker.

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August 1, 2013

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Therese and Isabelle (1968)

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Okay, fine!  I watch a lot of old porn!  Therese and Isabelle is my introduction to the work of Radley Metzger, a director who I always had interest in.  In pornographic terms, once again, this film is no worse than something you’d see an NC-17 rated movie.  Hell, on a more liberal occasion, the fascist dictatorship known as the MPAA might even let this one slide with an R if some of the scenes were shortened.

But, there aren’t even that many scenes that would need to be shortened.  Regardless of film’s salacious poster, the majority of the film’s 118 minute run time focuses on the relationship between the two girls and Therese’s strained relationship with her mom on account her marrying someone after her husband died.  In other words, if you went into this to see some black and white lesbian shagging, you’re gonna be bored to tears my man!  This ain’t no 65 minute nudie cutey, Bary Mahon picture.  This is art, dammit!

And if you thought that last sentence was said with even an ounce of sarcasm, then you’re mistaken my friend.  The only thing preventing me from giving Therese and Isabelle four iron crosses is that it may have run just a little too long, it had some terribly corny narration which described things that didn’t need description and a horrendous score that sounded way too old for a movie that was made in 1967.

These are all minor complaints, mind you.  The film looks fantastic with some brilliant master shots; it didn’t hurt that the movie was shot on gorgeous real life locations, such as old churches, courtyards, swanky restaurants and cafes.  Metzger did some crazy, awesome things with shadows that I found pretty interesting as well.  The stairway sequences looked especially exquisite.

The movie is based on the Violette Leduc novel of the same name.  I haven’t read it so I can’t say how closely the movie follows the book but that hardly matters.  The story kicks off when an adult Therese (Barbara Laage) visits the Catholic school she attended as a teenager and begins to relive the memories.  Almost right away, young Therese (Esse Persson) meets Isabelle (Anna Gael) and the two become fast friends.  It’s pretty clear who was driving the boat in the developing relationship between the two; Isabelle is a gorgeous blonde who eventually seduces the slightly more plain (though, by no means ugly) Therese, which leads to the latter’s sexual awakening.

The movie is told slightly out of sequence, with their little liaisons being interspersed with little plot details such as the strained relationship between Therese and her mother on account of her marrying someone following the death of her husband.  The little detail of Therese’s mother looking more like Isabelle than her own daughter and drama that ensues when Isabelle accuses her mother of betraying her by marrying adds a bit of a lesbian Oedipus complex to the proceedings.

Elsewhere, we are briefly introduced to an annoying, playboy named Pier (Remy Longa), who later takes part in a brief tryst with a curious Therese.  In a later scene, the two ladies play hooky and visit a cheap hotel in an attempt to hook up but just end up leaving the place since the atmosphere wasn’t right.  Other than that, there are numerous, whimsical moments, such as the one where the two ladies annoy an automobile driver by riding their bikes together and not letting him pass.

The sex scenes are more sensual than dirty but as mentioned, the voice-over narration is really stupid.  The narrator uses out-dated terms such as “pearl” when describing the clitoris for instance and there is no way even the most mature among us can hold in the laughter; maybe, during those scenes, you should mute the sound?  Still though, regardless of the fact that the sex was simulated and you really only see the two ladies facial expressions as it’s happening, the scenes are effective in delivering the raw emotions that such a thing should deliver.  Also the nudity is brief.

I have a feeling The Lickerish Quartet isn’t going to be so wholesome.

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July 30, 2013

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I Drink Your Blood (1970)

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I hit the jackpot with I Drink Your Blood.  I think it was also called Satan’s Gang in Germany.  What’s with me watching all these X rated movies lately?  This one has some nudity, but it mainly received an X because of its violence.  Either way, David E. Durston’s film is a masterpiece of bloody shocks and horror that actually delivers on all of its promises.

I Drink Your Blood perfectly fits the theme of this here very blog.  The group in this film were definitely savage hippies, not to mention Satan worshipers.  I also think Durston might have been influenced by the recent Manson killings, as were many directors who made films about psycho hippie cults.  However, Satanism is only a minor part of the plot.  The main plot concerns zombies!  Durston was most definitely riffing on Night of the Living Dead, but the zombies in I Drink Your Blood are infected with rabies, and three years later Romero did The Crazies, which is roughly about the same thing, so who’s really influencing who here?

But probably the most glaring observation that Durston pointed out in the entertaining DVD special feature is no characters drank any blood!  The title was made up by executive producer Barney Cohen in order to be shown as a double feature with I Eat Your Skin.  Also, the version I watched was the director’s cut; the movie had apparently been cut up and edited down for different markets, which is a curious thing considering it’s only 80 minutes long.

The ethnically diverse and politically correct group of creeps – lead by a Native American and consisting of an African American and an Asian woman along with a few typical white, long-haired weirdos – are “out for kicks.”  They set up their operation in a small, hick town that looks like it was left behind in the wholesome 50s, get naked, say a bunch of made up Satanic gibberish, spill some animal blood and drop a bunch of acid.  One of their members is the good guy who breaks from the group and one is the adorable Lynn Lowry who plays a deaf mute and “innocently” chops a woman’s hand off.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but the film turns “horror” when a mischievous boy serves rabies-infected meat pies to the hippies, who gobble it up and turn into blood crazed zombies.  In perhaps a slightly ironic twist, the infection spreads to the local hard-hats when they gang bang a hippie girl who is tripping on acid.  It should also be noted that these zombies aren’t hungry for flesh; they’re just crazy and like to kill.

When I Drink Your Blood gets going, it really gets going!  The non-horror scenes of the hippies tripping out and being weird – including hanging their buddy by the waste and slicing his feet up – are entertaining as it is, but then it all gets crazy violent with severed limbs, impalement, decapitations, rabid bites and axe to sword combat!  The blood looks real, which wasn’t typical at the time, as much blood from this era looked more like paint, the acting isn’t too hammy, the color of the film looks really lush and the musical score, although just a bunch of creepy, layered Moog tones, adds to the atmosphere.

This is one for the ages!  How is it not considered more of a classic?  On a completely unrelated note, I wrote this entire review while listening to A Saucerful of Secrets on me ol’ turntable!

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July 28, 2013

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Sugar Cookies (1973)

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Back in the world of pre-Troma Troma, we have this intriguing little picture which has the distinction of being the only X rated film that lost money.  Upon release, the film was re-rated with an R because the sex is no more explicit than a typical soft-core porn.  Sugar Cookies, although an American production from the independent Armor films, which Lloyd Kaufman worked for before starting Troma, resembles a stylish Euro-trash picture of the era.  Even though there is a lot of sex, it’s still held together with a solid thriller plot and it’s also a blatant homage to Vertigo.

What I really liked about Theodore Gershuny’s film is its insight into the world of that era of pornographic films, which, at the time, were also referred to as “art films.”  In this way, the movie functions as something of a time capsule; especially with the really tacky art-deco set designs.  After all, while early pornographic films might have been shot well with some actual art in mind, this certainly is not the case anymore.

The plot takes off after a bizarre game in the home of “art film” director Max Pavell (George Shannon) leaves Alta Leigh (Lynn Lowery) dead.  Inevitably, the police try to piece together what happened.  But this only serves as a framework to a series of vignettes which further illustrate the “alternative” world in which these characters live in.  Among them is Camilla Stone (Mary Woronov), a sexually dominant casting agent who brings the somewhat naive Julie Kent (also Lynn Lowery) into her world.

The Vertigo-riffing is obvious since Stone blatantly tries to turn Kent into Alta Leigh through personality and style makeovers.  Along with these, we get to lesbian scenes which are well played and full of tension.  There are also some interesting montage sequences which are not forced either.  Lowery, although only briefly playing the first role, does a fantastic job as the second.  Her adorable yet unique face – huge eyes and big teethy smile – further add to her innocent-turn-corrupt appeal.

Elsewhere, there is a subplot involving an overweight kid trying to lose his virginity.  His tie in the film is that he’s Max Pavell’s brother in law and he visits a prostitute in a comic subplot that is okay but not particularly necessary.  Also, look out for Lloyd Kaufman somewhere in this movie.

I’ve been a fan of Mary Woronov since I first saw her in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and enjoyed her dominant sex appeal.  I’ve also enjoyed Lowery who was in I Drink Your Blood, The Crazies and Shivers (a.k.a. They Come from Within) among others.  One interesting scene involves Woronov’s character who watches the dailies of the first Lowery character in a voyeuristic manner and later tries to recreate the scene with the second Lowery character.  Another neat scene is the sequence in which several different actresses audition for the role in the next Pavell film; some are pretty frank about what they are doing while others treat it as “art.”

OH, ya know what I just realized as I write this?  Remember the frankness with which Sharon Stone talks to the cops in Basic Instinct?  Do you think this movie invented that shockingly frank female character?  In this film, Woronov answers the officer as such: “you mean, did we fuck?  Why yes, we did.”  Haha!

So yes, I would say it’s a soft core film about the world of hard core films but, really it’s just a sexy, Eurotrash thriller, ya know?  Ah, how the world of sex films has changed!

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July 27, 2013

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Tintorera: Killer Shark (1977)

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This is the second night in row that I’ve been mislead by a movie’s title and poster. And, incidentally, in both cases, the alleged blood and gore were replaced by copious amounts of nudity. Strangely, Tintorera: Killer Shark is the first film I’ve seen from Mexican director Rene Cardona Jr., who I otherwise wouldn’t know about except that I’m dying to see Guyana: Crime of the Century (and now Terror Storm and The Bermuda Triangle have piqued my interest as well).

But daaamn… it’s hard to fathom that a b movie about a killer shark could be 2 hours and 6 minutes long except for the fact that Jaws is two hours long and Tintorer: Killer Shark isn’t about a killer shark.

Okay, it sort of is since there is a killer shark in the movie. But most of this ridiculous film’s running time concerns two shark hunters played by Hugo Stiglitz and Andreas Garcia (who resembles Elliot Gould) and their attempt to shack up with as many women as possible.

Holy hell, this movie is so bad and stupid it’s surreal. There’s no beat or structure to it; there’s just scene after pointless scene in which people meet up in a cantina, beach or late night dance, bed together, have romantic montages in various locations – including a particularly pretty one atop some ancient pyramids – before something goes wrong and it starts over again.  Somewhere, in all of this, there is a plot about a killer shark – the kind that attacks you if you provoke it.  How this got marketed as a piggy-back off Jaws, I have no clue.

The shark kills exactly two people in the entire movie.  The first is a woman over whom the two main characters are pining after.  Neither character inquires about her disappearance.  She’s gone and that’s that and let’s move on to other women.  More than halfway through, they start a sex triangle with Susan George who must have been starved for work after her performance in the abominable Mandingo.  And this is where the movie gets a bit more interesting.  All of a sudden, there are copious amounts of homo-erotic insinuations including their “sharing” of George in one sex act – which is unfortunately not shown – to blatant closeups and point of view shots from our two characters which imply they might have a secret attraction to each other.

That’s how damn weird this movie; where is the shark, goddamit?  Eventually we get to a climax where one of the guys hunts the shark down to avenge the other (oh spoiler!) as if the shark killed the guy out of maliciousness because, ya know, sharks think like that.  Then, after that, it flashes back to Susan George and the two guys for some reason, as if to remind the audience of the love they once shared.  Wow.

Oh, and this movie isn’t exactly female friendly either.  All of the women are just sex-crazy and jump into bed the second they are asked.  The most creepy scene is when two thrill seeking women who have nothing to do with the plot get sexually assaulted atop an orange truck but, instead of being repulsed by the two ugly, overweight rapists, they unzip the old jeans and get busy; cuz ya know, being raped can be good time as long as it’s in a foreign country atop an orange truck.

Say!  That’s a unique coincidence, isn’t it?  Susan George has now been in two films where a woman who is being raped begins to enjoy the experience – the other is Straw Dogs where George is the woman in case you’re wondering.

What else is there to say about this film?  Nuttin’, it sucks but it’s weird so I guess watch it but be warned that it’s over two hours long and has almost nothing to do with the shark.

Also, I think the DVD we were watching was defective.  We wanted English dubbing because acting is negligible for this type of movie. So they’re talking in English.  Then they’re talking in Spanish so I thought those are just minor parts that we don’t need to understand.  Then, after they started talking in Spanish for long periods of time, I put on the sub-titles so I’d understand it and turns out they were saying things that were relevant to the plot.  Then they would switch back to English – sometimes in the same conversation – and the subtitles for the English parts would be in Spanish!  If you happen to stumble upon this review and have seen this movie on DVD, can you tell me if you’ve experienced the same thing?

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July 23, 2013

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Blood Mania (1970)

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More like Crud Mania if you ask me, yuck yuck.  This movie totally blows and delivers nothing even close to the alleged “shocking climax” that is advertised on this here poster.  In fact, the little netflix envelope claimed the movie was going to be “gory” but I think the guy writing it meant to say “boring” because, blah blah, etc…

The bottom line is; don’t watch this movie, it sucks.  And when I say that, that actually means something since I’ll watch practically anything.  I thought I was in for a real treat since the movie has a really cool title sequence in which a scantily clad young lady is running away from a psycho-stalker all under an awesome, psychedelic sepia tone followed by animated blood splattering out the name of the movie in a manner similar to the poster above.

But that’s a tease.  Most of the film is a series of shack-ups under psychedelic lighting usually involving the gorgeous, psychotic red head (Maria De Aragon) and a doctor (Peter Carpenter).  There’s some plot involving blackmail or something but it was so damn boring it made no difference.  This was NOT a slowly paced, stylish thriller where there is a slow build up – I like Roman Polanski films, you see – this is just boring, borderline soft core porn.

And, ya know, that’s okay!  There was a fair amount of flesh to look at and it was stylishly shot, I suppose.  And I love trashy European looking films especially if they’re from Europe.  So, if you’re the type of person who likes to just look at stuff and doesn’t care if anything actually happens, you might dig this film.

But, in my case at least, if a film is advertised as “gory” and only two people get killed – one of which was by forced amyl nitrate overdose – then I feel I didn’t really get what I asked for.

Just for shits and giggles, I copied and pasted a review from an IMDB user so, if you actually want to know what the movie is about, read further.  He (she? it?) pretty much gets it right except for the “isn’t as bad as I’d read”, “there’s plenty of plot twists” and “worth a look if you’re open-minded” part.  It ain’t worth jack shit and I’m very open-minded!

Stylish film noir-like thriller concerning a dashing doctor (Carpenter) whose medical practice owner (Allison) is bed-ridden following a heart attack, his daughter (De Aragon) a seductive vixen with a psychotic streak and a penchant for mind altering substances is eager to sink her claws into the virile Carpenter, but he’s already got his hands full with another lusty companion (Wilson). De Aragon paints bold, expressive canvasses, has lots of sex and looks dazzling in the buff. She also agrees to help out Carpenter after he’s blackmailed for having been a backyard abortionist, a stain that threatens his career, but the grand plan they conjure begins to unravel when her little sister (Peters) returns to claim the inheritance.

Funky, psychedelic sex soap opera isn’t as bad as I’d read; it’s not so much “blood” as it is “mania”, and there’s plenty of plot twists and diversions to keep you engaged. Carpenter isn’t the best actor, but he’s charismatic and has the charm to pull it off, as his character digs his grave ever deeper with each carnal lapse, while De Aragon, Peters and Wilson are three impressive specimens in spite of their apparent amateurish acting (De Aragon does improve as the film progresses, her ‘mania’ is at times quite chilling). Leslie Simms is sometimes amusing as an ugly duckling nurse and Alex Rocco gets a few frivolous moments as an estate lawyer. You’d also have to appreciate the minor yet absorbing role played by Dalya as Peters’ loyal lesbian minder.

The soundtrack is a hybrid electronica, progressive rock sound, a fusion you’ll either find petulant and irritating, or fitting with the offbeat nature of the film. Overall, I like it – it’s cheap, dated and clichéd (it also ends quite abruptly), but it remains a sensory attraction with plenty of effort displayed in light, sound, sets, cinematography (some credited to Gary Graver), costumes and colour, not garish or gaudy when taken in its temporal context. Worth a look if you’re open-minded.

Or if you like boring, shitty movies!

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July 21, 2013

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Devo – Hardcore Volume 1/Hardcore Volume 2

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Yes!  It’s about time these two records were available again!  When are they going to reissue Live: The Mongoloid Years?  Although the internet has made all three of these releases, not to mention the collection Recombo DNA, easy to procure, having the physical representation is so much more satisfying!  First of all this is the first time these records have been released on vinyl and Devo have also re-released them as a two CD set as well.  Secondly they slightly changed the names.  Both of these were released by Ryko Disc in 1990 and 1991 under the names Hardcore Devo Volume 1: 1974 – 1977 and Hardcore Devo Volume 2: ’74 – ’77 respectively.  Why they chose to condense the names, I don’t know.  Furthermore, if I’m not mistaken, the originals came with liner notes that are not included in these.  So that’s kind of a bummer.

In the years following their release, along with the aforementioned Live: The Mongoloid Years, getting a physical copy for less than a month’s rent was damn near impossible. Now, if you’re reading this, you probably don’t need the whole rundown on Devo.  These are the early basement demos from 1974 – 1977 and it’s fascinating to listen to this stuff in its own right because it makes you wonder how many other weirdos across the world with equally bizarre ideas about art and music were making their own basement recordings that are now sitting collecting dust and will never be heard by the public because their bands never busted out into the mainstream.  I mean, except for the Residents and Jandek of course!

But anyway, the two main early Devo lineups are represented on this pair of records; you’ve got the one with Mark Mothersbaugh on keyboards, Gerry Casale on bass and vocals, Bob Mothersbaugh on guitar and Jim Mothersbaugh on electronic drums and the more popular one with M. Mothersbaugh as lead singer, keyboardist and occasional guitarist, B. Mothersabaugh (a.k.a. Bob 1) on guitar, Bob Casale (a.k.a. Bob 2) on guitar and keyboard, Gerry Casale on bass and vocals and Alan Meyers on drums.

When they were initially released, Devo felt these recordings were too esoteric for mainstream consumption; and therein lies the rub because they wanted to be accepted on their artistic merits yet also “spread the gospel” to as many people as possible which, as you well know, resulted in some of Devo’s lousiest albums.  I’ll let others debate whether it was Freedom of Choice or New Traditionalists that was the last good Devo album.  We’re here to discuss some demos, dammit!  So quit stallin’, okay?  First of all, Hardcore Volume 1 sticks to the 15 track sequence of the original release while Volume 2 is a double LP that expands up on the original’s 21 tunes with four bonus tracks!

Any Devo fan worth his/her/its salt will notice that Vol. 1. includes five songs that would find their way onto official Devo releases; “Social Fools”, “Soo Bawlz”, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Jocko Homo” and “Mongoloid” really don’t sound very different from their later released, studio counterparts barring that “Social Fools” and “Soo Bawlz” are played at a slightly slower clip thus “de-punking” them a bit.  Speaking of “punk rock”, why on god’s green earth did “Uglatto” not appear on any official releases?  That song is fan-friggin-tastic!  It’s just a two chord punk song in a weird time signature of which I didn’t take the time to count out but is not standard 4/4 yet still makes you want to bop all over the dang room like a wrap-around shade, skinny tied punk of yesteryear.

That leaves nine other songs of weird squiggly noises, 12-bar boogie riffs and other assorted, tinker toy oddities.  The immediate reference point will undoubtedly be the Residents but this stuff is still a bit more accessible than what the eye-ball boys were dishing out.  The songs are very catchy and weird, mind you.  Opener “Mechanical Man” begins with that part from In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution, where the individual Devo letters flash like “D-E-V-O” as a synth goes “baow-baow-baow-wooo” for each letter before the actual song comes in and Gery Casale sings it with a hilarious computer voice effect.  “Golden Energy” sounds like sleazy bachelor pad music from some retro-futuristic 70s sci-fi movie with that awesome moog synth melody.  “Midget” is, um, funky.  It’s all good stuff if you don’t mind the borderline novelty, kiddie music feel and deliberate quirkiness of these songs.

Vol.2 is the better deal since it contains two LPs – 25 tracks total! – of the same kind of stuff.  There are more songs that were never released on any of the group’s albums and/or singles while four of the songs were not on the original release of Vol. 2.  The three songs that would be re-recorded for official releases are “Be Stiff”, “Working in a Coalmine” and “Clockout.”  Aside from “Be Stiff” and “Clockout” being a bit slower than their single and Duty Now for the Future versions, they went pretty much unchanged.

I’m listening to Vol.2 as I write this and noticed the wonderful opening verse to “Bamboo Bimbo.”

“He got his first whiff in the jungles of ‘nam
That slanty-eyed catfish tasted better than mom
Every night, she drops that big bomb.”

Wow!  Yeah, they had some pretty dirty humor and un-PC sentiments on their actual albums but, come on!  That’s gross and racist!  Thankfully it’s sung in such a mocking, smug tone, rendering it absolutely hilarious every time I listen to it.  Okay, maybe not “hilarious” but you will catch me giggling every time this song comes on.

Ya know, they might have been right about many of these songs being too weird for normal people.  Listen to the absolutely annoying “Goo Goo Itch” with its cutesy “itchy-itchy-coo”s.  What normal person would want to listen to that?  Also, did I mention un-PC, racist, gross and funny?  Check out “Fraulein”, “Chango”, “I Need a Chick” and “I Been Refused” – “took a couple back views/took some up front/three tries, wallet size/I was looking at that cunt” – uh yeah.

If you’re looking for catchy hooks and melodies, Vol. 2 has ’em; “The Rope Song”, “All of Us”,”Baby Talkin’ Bitches”, “Bottled Up”, “Fountain of Filth” and “Let’s Go” all rule in this fashion with less of the novelty feel.  They’re solid yet quirky rock tunes.  Actually “Let’s Go” really gives me that retro-future Death Race 2000/Rollerball “death game show” feel. Don’t ask me why this would be the case.

In terms of that gross humor, I’ve read the Devo book.  I know it’s inspired by modern art with its mix of the high and low brow, which is what Devo was all about.  But maybe that’s why they felt “normal” people would not understand this early material.  That and the songs which sound like quirky, synth, robot Kraftwerk music minus the “pop” sensibility if you get me.

So what about the four new songs?

“Man from the Past” – awesome fuzz-guitar filled, rock song, reminds me a little of “Boris the Spider” with that driving bass line.

“Doghouse Doghouse” – acoustic, folky rock song with “funny” dog noises?  Hmmm…

“Hubert House” – sounds like a quirky Devo song with the tape warping.  It’s not your turntable.  It’s the song.

“Shimmy Shake” – non-ironic, 70s boogie rock?  Okay…

I suppose the last four don’t add that much to the Devo canon but with Hardcore Vol. 1 and 2 back in print, how can I complain?

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July 18, 2013

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The Cutthroats 9

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The Cutthroats 9

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special introductory paragraph
The Cutthroats 9
Anger Management EP
Dissent EP

I don’t know if it’s fair to refer to The Cutthroats 9 as Unsane 2.0 but, I mean, they play nearly the exact same music.  That’s not a complaint, mind you.  More of Chris Spencer’s dirty, mean, hateful guitar riffs is better than less although it does sound odd hearing these songs without the violent packaging attached.

In 2000, guitarist/singer/songwriter Chris Spencer and bassist Dave Curran moved to San Francisco and started The Cutthroats 9.  The other two guys include second guitarist Mark Laramie and former Death Angel drummer Will Carroll.  Curran left after the first album and Laramie moved to bass and the group put out a second release that was an EP and not an LP for some reason. After that, Unsane was back and The Cutthroats 9 were gone forever, until…

As of this writing, Unsane is on hiatus again and The Cutthroats 9 (as well as Curran’s group, Pigs) are back and they have a new lineup which features High On Fire bassist Jeff Matz.  TURN IT UP!!!

The Cutthroats 9 – Man’s Ruin – 2000

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As I just said in the introduction above, The Cutthroats 9 sound pretty much like Unsane.  But since the Unsane albums don’t all sound exactly alike, it’s safe to say that The Cutthroats 9 also has it’s idiosyncrasies which help distinguish it among Chris Spencer’s and Dave Curran’s other works.

First of all, just the fact that it was released on Man’s Ruin should already tip you off that the guitar tone is not going to sound as “metal” as on the prior Unsane record Occupational Hazard or, for that matter, the next one, Blood Run.  Although Spencer’s tone is still heavy it’s also noisier, filthier and grungier like it was on Scattered, Smothered & Covered.  This tone is so much more heavenly than the one on the Relapse albums in my humble opinion.

Also, for the first time, there are two guitars.  I’m fine with this, mind you; it’s just that I don’t see the point since both guitarists play the exact same, simple, brutal, power chord progressions the entire time except for when Spencer breaks into a solo.  Spencer throws in the occasionally classic rock influenced riff as well but I supposed, with such a heavy level of distortion, distinguishing between a metal, hardcore or classic rock riff becomes sort of moot, doesn’t it?  And I know that Laramie is the “rhythm guitarist” but it’s nothing that a heavily distorted bass couldn’t do, ya know?

Furthermore the songs on The Cutthroats 9 are more uptempo than those on the last Unsane record.  They’re still not fast but, for the most part, they’re not as sludgy as those on Occupational Hazard except for the song “Sludge” which has a simple, hynpotic riff and ends in minutes of awesome feedback, which is always a wicked way to end a record (see Independent Worm Saloon for another fine example of this).

Yep, just like with Unsane, the songs all pretty much pummel you with catchy riffs and non-standard drum patterns.  There are some exceptions like the slow and bluesy “Can’t Do a Thing” which has some awesome bottle-neck guitar,  the slow-burn, six-minute epic “In the Eye” and aforementioned “Sludge.”  I also love the “EEEEE” feedback at the end of the riff in the otherwise, overly-distorted “Move.”

Also Chris Spencer’s vocals are a bit clearer this time.  I always wish they were slightly louder in the mix so I every time I hear and understand the first three lines in a verse, I’m not lost on the fourth.  But I think I’ve done a fair job deciphering these examples so let’s see what positive, life-affirming messages appear on The Cutthroats 9:

“he learned the hardest lesson
he got (something) into me
he learned the hardest lesson
you can’t take shit for free”

“don’t care where you’re from
she won’t give you some
it breaks you
it takes your mind and leaves you numb”

“it’s a long way
you’re stuck in bed
there’s no way
you should be dead
it’s what they said
you should be dead
it’s what they said”

“I can’t take you
I know you well
I’ll burn and break you
it serves me well”

“it’s getting nowhere
looking down the cross-hair
you really don’t care
what it takes away
always a way
always a way”

Actually, those last couple lines like they have an anti-suicide message, which I guess is kind of positive.

Anger Management EP – Reptilian – 2001

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Dave Curran split so guitarist Mark Laramie moved over to the bass, which is fine as far as I’m concerned.  Why did they need two guitarists in the first place?  Now they’re a tight power-trio and have one less member to pay.

What’s with this EP bullshit?  Did they just forget to make a side 2?  Either way, here we are with six more songs with curt, one word song titles (except for “Saw It”) that imply negativity and hatred.  Well, “This”  and “Believe” may be a little vague but “Prey”, “Bleed” and “Vacant” give you a pretty good idea of what the mood and tone of this record will be; well, that and the title and the picture of machine guns.

Once again, Chris Spencer’s guitar tone is filthy and grungy and not as metally as how it sounded on Unsane’s Relapse LPs.  Just like on The Cutthroats 9, the songs definitely rock more than the sludgy ones on the previous Unsane record.  I don’t have much to say about Mark Laramie as a bassist.  His tone isn’t as heavy and crunchy as Dave Curran’s except in the song “Vacant”, where the bass distortion is hella turned up and sounds awesome.  Also, for what it’s worth, the drums sound louder and more powerful than they did on the previous CT9 release.

Oh and if you’re wondering what the songs “This” and “Believe” are about, here are some lyrics I think I deciphered:

“This”
“she can’t anymore of this
she’s got it written on her wrist
it’s not like when she’s gone
she’ll be searching through sheets of paper (???)
waiting for the drugs to take her
I can’t take anymore of this
it takes a lot of time to miss
I know that cop is getting pissed
waiting for his…” arrrghh, goddammit, I can’t understand that part then
“waiting for the drugs to take her
taking time to break the preasure
any more, I know it’d break her”…

and

“Believe”
“I don’t wanna believe
you took something from me
(line I didn’t understand)
It’s all coming to me
I can’t believe
you took from me
It’s all for free
I think you’ll see…
get down on one knee and pray”

As per usual, Spencer plays awesome noisy, basic, angry riffs along with some bluesy solos and yells through a distortion pedal the whole time.  Like on the first CT9 release, there are classic rock-style riffs – especially on “This” – but most are simple and hardcore influenced.  “Vacant” has a particularly cool herky-jerky rhythm and stop/start arrangement where everything stops and we get to hear Laramie’s bass all by its lonesome for a fraction of a second.  Also, “Believe” has some “sheeeewwww” sounds created by running the pick along the fret board.

The only song I’m iffy about is “Saw It”; the riff is okay but I don’t like the other singer who just says everything rather than shouting intensely.

Then they went on a long break but they’re back!

Dissent EP – Lamb Unlimited – 2014

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In the thirteen years since the last release by the Cutthroats 9, Unsane reformed and put out three studio albums (Blood Run, Visqueen and Wreck) and guitarist/singer Chris Spencer started another band with members of Oxbow and Einstuzende Neubauten called Celan, who put out an excellent album called Halo.

However, after that last Unsane record, it became clear that it was going to be the last one for a long time if at all. So Spencer wasted no time putting the Cutthroats 9 back together for another go ‘round, along with launching his new label Lamb Unlimited.

Reassembling 2/3 of the old cast – Spencer with returning drummer Will Carroll (of Death Angel) – and introducing new bassist Tony Baumeister, the Cutthroats 9 are baaack.. ANOTHER EP??? Only seven songs??? Maaayyybe this was Spence and co’s move in a more progressive direction, longer songs, lotsa weird changes or maybe they’re doing a Neurosis type thing. But nope these are typical songs from the master of the filth-distortion, power riffmeister who yells at the top of his lungs into a distortion peddle but not exactly…

WOA this album is REALLY slow and Chris Spencer is singing like a death metal guy-

Oh shit, it’s in the wrong speed! Just a sec.

Actually, even in the correct speed, Spencer’s voice sounds lower than it usually does on the opening track “Speak.” As for the rest of Dissent, it has seven new songs and people who are familiar with the Unsane/Cutthroats 9 formula should know exactly what to expect; Chris Spencer passionately yells over ass heavy, mean as nails, basic but catchy riffs which are accentuated by angry and depressed sounding blues leads while drummer Will Carroll pounds out rockin’ but confusing patterns. They have this sound nailed to a fault but I like it so who cares? I do have to wonder what could possibly be going so terribly wrong in Spencer’s world that helps him maintain that level of intensity and anger, especially living in San Francisco.

Woa, there’s a harmonica on “We Could”!

But man, that production makes it sound like the recording mic was held outside the door of the studio or like you’re listening to the band play through a wall. Make no mistake, the guitars are very low endy and the drums sound like overly amplified Tupperware containers but the record just sounds a bit muffled. So, it helps if you listen to this thing really loud.

So what else is there to discuss? Ah, the lyrics! Too bad the album doesn’t come with a lyric sheet because with song titles like “Trouble”, “Eraser”, “Hit the Ground”, “Dissension”, “We Could” and “Induction”, it’s not clear who or what Chris Spencer is yelling at. These lyrical snippets should give no further insight:

“Kill the light/disconnect the phone/take what you need/don’t disagree/try to prepare/you just don’t care!”

“Pain, hate, scream!”

“We’ve made mistakes!”

In other news Spencer has made a record with the endlessly pissed, metal, noise guitar god Steve Austin in the form of UXO.