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The first thing that interested me about this 45 was that it was on Mira Records home of the garage band, The Leaves.  This dosen’t have the same sound, but I could not immediatley find any info on it, which always intrigues me. After trying to research the songwriters I tried to learn more about the producers Clancy Grass & Bob Mahoney.  I stumbled upon a website from Gary Brandts.  Gary appears to be a producer himself and owner of some interesting credits.  His site lists the members of the group as Himself Guitar-Vocals, John Gulack-Drums, Denny Shaw-Guitar, David Holeman-Keys, Brian Coffey-Bass.  At the bottom of the page is a great article of his experience in a battle of the bands right after the Beatles came out.  You can bid on the 45 HERE

I See You

THE LIFE YOU LEAD

As I’ve mentioned, I’m reading John Sinclair’s book, Guitar Army, about the revolutionary White Panther party and the band that he managed that helped start the revolution, Ann Arbor’s the MC5.

Sinclair formed the White Panther party as a response to the involvement of cops, politicians, teachers, parents, and the rules of society; to promote a healthy involvement in an equal proportion of rock and roll, dope, and fucking in the streets.  He describes near riots happening at places like the Hideout and Grande Ballroom in Detroit when young rock and roll fans would be arrested for smoking joints outside the venues.  The MC5 responded one night by beginning the show with the now legendary, “KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHERFUCKER!”, to hysterical response.

It was the censorship of rock and roll youth’s consciousness that infuriated Sinclair and thousands of other “long hairs”, “hippies” or “freeks”.  Thanks to the help of a steady dose of pot and LSD, they demanded that they be left alone to form a collective utopian community of music, drugs, and free sex.  Not suprisingly, the cops, politicians, teachers and parents who they rebelled against considered Sinclair’s followers to be major threats to society.  They weren’t contributing much of anything except loud music, promiscious sex, and plently of drug use.  But underlying it all was the cry of love, that this movement’s purpous was to, as the song goes, c’mon people now, smile on your brother (or sister), everybody get together and love one another right now.  Keep in mind, John Sinclair and the revolution promoted this in the 60s in the midst of heavy racial tension (the song Motor City is Burning is about the Detroit riot of ‘68), and certainly did not exclude race in any way, equally encouraging people to enjoy the music of the MC5 , Rationals, SRC, the Up, the Third Power, ect, along with John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shep, Mile Davis, and of course, the blues.

It’s ironic then, despite this rebellion against cencorship, that The MC5’s first album, titled Kick Out The Jams on Elektra, would first have the liner notes written by Sinclair taken out, and then later the lyrics changed from “kick out the jams motherfucker”, to “kick out the jams brothers and sisters.”  I own the original completely uncensored album - which is actually quite rare as Elektra must have pulled them fairly early on.

I’d have to research more as to how this came about, and what Sinclair’s reaction was, but I’d be interested to find out.  Maybe if I keep reading Guitar Army I’ll find out.

A part of what made the MC5 were those lyrics.  Censorship had to be destroyed, freedom had to be obtained.  To have both the notes (which Sinclair talks about the revolution and movement), and the word “motherfucker” removed seems like it would have been a complete slap in the face to the MC5, the power of the people, and the power of the people’s music.  It does, however, show you how influencial bands like the MC5 were towards the progress of freedom of expression - to have those liner notes and lyrics removed in today’s time would be unheard of (unless two versions were released for sales at a major superstore like Target or Meijers).

to part of the original unsensored version of Kick Out The Jams.

I have mentioned John Sinclair and his book Guitar Army in previous posts.

I was given a copy of the book recently and I started reading it last night.  I can tell already it will be a must-read book for anyone interested in both the history of Ann Arbor-Detroit area rock and roll and also the history of the 60s and 70s social revolution in the Ann Arbor-Detroit area.

So far, I love Sinclair’s writing style.  It is very Kerouac-like in stream of conscienceness, with long, excited, jazz-like passages.  He began the book by describing the music he grew up listening to that influenced the 60s and 70s rock and roll movement: 1950s artists and groups, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Moonglows - he made the pages come alive with images of 45s spinning, rebellious teenagers dancing, the music jumping out at me in rhythm, putting the songs in my head.  It actually made it hard to sleep afterwords.  He described the youth’s consciousness as being off-limits to anyone with supposed authority, and with this birth of this incredible new rock and roll music out there, they had little interest for anything else.  It reminds me again of Robert Jr. Whitall, founder of Big City Rythym and Blues magazine, who was himself a John Sinclair follower, telling me about how much they loved the blues and black music in general in those days - and that is what inspired the Ann Arbor-Detroit punk based rock and roll, which is still being emulated by today’s local bands.

Another exciting part of the book is that it comes with a CD of rare recordings of speeches and music by bands and influencial leaders during the time of the movement he was leading.  I noticed it has Allen Ginsberg’s “Prayer For John Sinclair” as well as “Free John Sinclair Now” by the band Up!.  We actually had a copy of a 45 that had “Prayer” on one side and “Free” on the other on a private label.  We came across it a couple years ago and foolishly sold it - for good money - but now of course I wish I had it to display on this site.

Anyway, when I am done reading it I’ll post an official review - I’m just excited about starting it.  Justin is anxious to read it after I’m done.

Apparently, he lives in Amsterdam, hangs out at his favorite cafe everyday, controls the jukebox, and then hosts an internet radio program.

It’s funny, because his name keeps popping up around me.  First, I noticed an ad for one of his latest blues CDs in Big City Rhythm and Blues magazine, called Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Country Blues Vol. 2.  Then, I read about the White Panther party that he formed and the havoc they caused in Ann Arbor in early 70s, according to a text book about the history of Ann Arbor I found in the school I work at that was written for elementary school students.  The author obviously disliked Sinclair’s work, whipping up a mental picture of long haired hippies turing the city upside down with their far left radical views that threatened the state of good ol’ Ann Arbor the way Allen and Rumsey had dreamed it up when they purchased the original acreage along the Huron River.

I can picture him there at the 420 cafe in Amsterdam, a group of stoned disciples gathered ’round, listening to tales of the good ol’ days of the music of the MC5, overthrowing the Ann Arbor government, and fighting unjust drug laws.

Joihn Sinclair authored the book Guitar Army, named after a Rationals song, that tells the story in his words of what was going on at that time.  It was recently reissued.  I think I’ll check it out, I haven’t read it.

The Detroit Free Press had a great article this morning about the 40th anniversry of the first show at the Grande by the MC5.  Detroit is notorious for its lack of saving it’s history.  Soon the Grande will be raised for a church.  In a city that gave so much to music there is no decent museum to recognize it’s accomplisments.  Maybe one day we can hav a place where music fans can go to relive the history.  Then again is Rock and Roll something that should be put into storage and sit behind glass?  Here is the article http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061001/ENT04/610010530/1039/ENT

Fire John L

Cousin Justin

The elusive Max Conroy, Cousin Justin’s former roommate at MSU, has emerged from hiding somewhere in Chicago to contribute to the site.  Check his comments and reviews on the Heart Ache blog.  As the story goes, Max was a hobo in a past life.  He hopped trains and ate beans from a can by the campfire, and liked to settled down to watch the sunset with a bottle of cheap wine in his hand.  He once stabbed a man over the love of his life.  In his current life, he loves music and books and is a true Cousin in spirit.  We are trying to get Max to be a regular writer/contributer to the site.  We miss Max, and wish he would come back home to visit. 

I remember the time where I went to East Lansing to visit Justin and Max and we jammed in the basement.  We all sucked, but boy did we play our hearts out.  Max was on guitar, me and Justin were on drums and harmonica, and the rest of the people hanging out did whatever.  We played all night and God knows how we sounded at the peak of it all.  I swear we figured out the secrets of the universe that night.

I’m listening to the Grateful Dead’s self titled live album right now.  Me and Justin have been diggin’ the Dead recently.  Dispite the current hipster attitude towards hatin’ on hippies, I don’t see how you can hate on the Grateful Dead.  They were good for a reason.  Quit trying to deny the facts of the world.  The Grateful Dead are immortal.  And hippies shouldn’t be hated on.  That’s just jealously.   

Now excuse me while I go fix up a veggie burrito.

-Cousin Geoff

Let me start by saying these things:

1) All Music Guide gave this album 2 out of 5 stars, but didn’t describe it in a review. 

2) It sells on ebay for about $15-20, pretty decent but something of this genre could go a bit higher - closer to $40-50.

3) AudiophileUSA.com says this: “Beautiful 1972 Gatefold sleeve . A Hard To Find LP With An Excellent Blending Of Heavy African Rhythms And San Francisco Psych With A Good Measure Of Fuzz Lead Guitar.”

4) I like both African and funk music, so an unheard Afro-funk early 70s LP sounded pretty sweet to me.  So instead of selling it, I snatched it up, something Justin and I do as part of our “compensation” for owning Cousins and doing the job.

When I first listened to this album, I started out on side 2 by chance.  And this is why I didn’t get past much of the rest of the album.  The first song on side 2, titled Gone With Yesterday, is frickin’ awesome.  A definite future mix-tape centerpiece, a song blended of afro-beat, reggae, folk, and 70s soul.  Has a haunting guitar in the background which sounds Indian or Egyptian that just keeps improvising and then cuts to a solo after the first vocal verse.  And then keeps going until you’re totally feelin’ it.  The music is strangely happy and positive although the vocals say, “Yesterday, you gave me happiness, happiness, that’s all I need, to get me happy, but Today, my happiness is gone, with yesterday, with yesterday, ohhh everything, with yesterday.”  And then the next song continues this mood theme and goes off into a terrific all instrumental afro-funk jazzy jam (Hippies, you’d like this). 

And the rest of side two is just kick-ass.  I can’t go wrong if I’m deciding what to throw on and I choose this side.  I can listen to a fantastic single and then jam the rest of the way through the record, djembes and everything.  Psychedelic Afro-funk!  Which is so good and I go to flip the record, but, strangely, side 1 is dissapointing.  Because I expect it to be better than side 2, cuz it’s side 1 of this awesome record. 

But it’s more subdued, less exciting, and the first song completely stops the pulse of the record so far (if listened to from side 2 first).  It’s like an introduction to who they are, with a lame slow drum intro and then some music to kind of show us what we’re about to hear.  And then the songs sound choppy and mixed up.  They can’t decide if they want to make more songs like, Yesterday, or jam out like they do so well.  The first two songs with vocals suck, and then they start jamming for a song, which sounds sweet.  And then the next song goes to a half jam/half Yesterday, which sucks again.  And the last song of side 1 is a chant, and kinda sucks too.

So I think if this album was contructed better and the actual concept was re-evaluated the album would be a classic in 70s Afro-funk.  As it stands, side 2 is so good that the album is definitely still worth checking out.

jsREVIEW: 

Recorded in ‘79, this rune-titled album (see also: Led Zep) sounds less like the food co-op drum circle that the back cover photos might evoke and more like a shambolic Fela Kuti fusion groove-out.

The first strength is Robbel Kuyper’s polyrhythmic percussion, which overlays congas and surdo over Tom Kalep’s crisp and simple drumming. On top of that, David Reinstein busts out a surprisingly well-toned tenor and soprano sax bed for the melody (though given the four folks credited with multiple and overlapping melodic instruments, it’s hard to tell who did what when). Toss in some uplifting lyrics echoed beyond, and Prismatic at their heights sound like an accoustic Funkadelic circa ‘72, just gang-tackling you with the drugged out lurve, man.

And before evaluating whether this album is for you, lemme let you know my bias— I think the weakest parts sound like Stevie Wonder’s middling Innervisions ballads, which I hate. The smoove which occassionally posessed him does sieze Prismatic too, and those moments (like the intro to “S.m.i.l.e. [Dedicated to Timothy Leary]) bore the hell out of me. Maybe it’s because of that soprano sax, which has a hard time not sounding smoove. Anyway, a lot of people like Innervisions, so whatever.

Prismatic also have a bit of the ADD going on, which is mostly a blessing in their case, as it tends to keep the dreaded slick r&b from taking over things too much before they bust out a slap bass and freak out, and since they’re just so goddamned uplifting you can’t hold anything against ‘em.

Especially when they turn out tracks like “Nothinkg” (sic), which sounds like Material have quantum-lept into The Fixx in some sort of alternate funkverse, or “Huna” which is what Frank Zappa might have written if he could have ever gotten high and relaxed.

A solid jam album from a time before Phish, this one’s equally suited to chill-out rooms or as a gift to your hippy mama, and is flavored with enough funk to make anyone with toes to tap smile.

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