Author: kim

About

LOST IN THE GROOVES: SCRAM’S CAPRICIOUS GUIDE TO THE MUSIC YOU MISSED
a new anthology celebrating the greatest records you’ve never heard

about the contributors

Brooke Alberts is an inveterate folk-head who writes for the L.A. based Folkworks, plays whistle in as many Irish traditional sessions as possible, and loves hot whiskey and a great bowl of New England clam chowder.

Mike Appelstein is the former editor/publisher of Caught in Flux zine. Currently he is an occasional DJ and freelance writer, as well as webmaster of the pretty-much-official Young Marble Giants website. He lives in St. Louis, MO. Visit www.appelstein.com for details and contact info.

Jake Austen edits Roctober, the journal of popular music’s dynamic obscurities, and (with wife Jacqueline) produces the children’s dance show Chic-A-Go-Go. His work has appeared in The Cartoon Music Book, Playboy, The Spice Girls Comicbook and Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth. His books include A Friendly Game of Poker and a forthcoming idiosyncratic history of rock on television. Please visit www.roctober.com

Peter Bagge is an “alternative” cartoonist, best known for his comic book “Hate,” although he has many other credits to his name. Please refer to www.peterbagge.com for further details.

The Bengala is a matrimonial art collective consisting of Benjamin Tischer and Gala Verdugo. They love music almost as much as each other. They also help put out K48 Magazine, which is way rad. Contact: bengala@verizon.net

Tosh Berman is the publisher and editor of Tam Tam Books. He is currently publishing the works of Boris Vian as well as Guy Debord and Serge Gainsbourg. For further information check out www.tamtambooks.com

Jon Bernhardt has been a DJ on WMBR-FM since 1983, and plays theremin for The Lothars and The Pee Wee Fist (CDs available at https://www.wobblymusic.com). He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Derrick Bostrom performed with the Meat Puppets from 1980 to 1986. Though he still maintains the band’s archives his own music can be heard under the moniker “Today’s Sounds.”

Joe Boucher lives in Brooklyn with his two non-specific liberal arts degrees; his attempt to get a third did not go well. He loves and appreciates his family and friends. Employers sense in him a denial of their values. He could stand to drop a few pounds, too.

Carl Cafarelli’s three all-time favorite bands are the Beatles, the Ramones and the Flashcubes. So there. Carl writes for Goldmine magazine and co-hosts (with Dana Bonn) This is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio, “the best three hours of radio on the whole friggin’ planet!,” Sunday nights from 9 to midnight Eastern at wxxe.org. Weekly e-mail playlists are available from ccdatsme@aol.com

Kevin Carhart is a freelance writer based in the SF Bay Area. He is obsessed with music, comics and women. Come to https://carhart.com/~kevin for an unruly pile of comics, reviews, dreams, circles, lists, drawings, stories and creations.

Born and raised in East LA, documentary filmmaker Sean Carrillo was a member of the guerilla art group ASCO and co-founded Troy Caf

“the perfect book for the advanced record collector” (Ear Candy)

One of the great things about collecting rock and roll music is that there is always an undiscovered gem lacking from your collection just waiting for you to discover. This year (2005) celebrates the 30th year that I have been such a music junkie. LOST IN THE GROOVES is a book that celebrates albums that fell through the cracks in the “classics” description. Included are albums that: might have sold well initially but are now pretty much ignored (“McCartney II”), works by artists that were not taken seriously at the time (Herman’s Hermits, etc), obscure artists of merit, and generally lost gems that demand reevaluation.

I had quite a few of the discs mentioned such as: “Muswell Hillbillies”, “No Dice”, “Klaatu”, “L.A. (Light Album)”, “McCartney II”, “Subterranean Jungle”, “Face Dances”, “Pacific Ocean Blue”, “Hillbilly Deluxe” – just to name a few. But, I found many more that I now need to hear! I only take issue with one entry: Pink Floyds’ “The Final Cut”. I bought it when it first came out and 20+ years later still say its crap!

I’ve already given LOST IN THE GROOVES several readings and, armed with a yellow highlighter, have made note of which albums I need to add to my collection. This is the perfect book for the advanced record collector/music fan! (Ronnie, Ear Candy)

“championing the underdog even when he turns out to be Paul McCartney” (Jambands)

… A month or two after I finished Kill Your Idols, I discovered another recent book, Lost in the Grooves (edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay), almost by accident. If upending the rock canon is a worthy goal, this book has the approach I like: positive, off center, championing the underdog even when he turns out to be Paul McCartney. The book is a series of capsule reviews of uncelebrated favorites, and although the pick with which I agree most, Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, isn’t all that obscure (it went gold, after all), more than half of the book is stuff I’ve never heard of at all. There’s a bit of the anti-canon thing – Jim O’Rourke writes that he’d rather hear about Sparks’s Propaganda than Pet Sounds, but, to balance that out, I can’t help being amused by O’Rourke’s comment that "Propaganda is the standard to which I hold myself and everything else." (Imaginary dialogue: "Well, Jeff, I guess A Ghost Is Born is shaping up pretty well. But it’s no Propaganda.")… (Patrick Buzby, Jambands.com)

“20 new things to be learned on every page” (Electric Review)

Scram magazine, housed in Los Angeles, California, pays homage to all the players too eccentric or obscure or off-beat to find a home in the Madison Avenue media machine. Scram is truly a resource for those musicians just outside the windows of top-forty-land, those songwriters and guitar slingers looking for an outlet for their own particular brand of art. Accordingly, Lost in the Grooves takes up where Scram leaves off — a compilation of ruminations from 75 critics and music aficionados detailing their favorite slices of the scene: "Jandek is a flat-out weirdo. No one knows who he is, and the guy is either making up his own chords or just doesn’t care how his guitar is tuned. Jadek is like an alien trying to play music after hearing it described to him once. Blind Corpse is his masterpiece…His lyrics reveal a man suffering from a pain so oblique that the listener must simply allow him to revel in his misery. Jadek doesn’t need us for comfort…" (Hayden Childs — Page 120) These little known stories about the sometimes shadowy figures of the music world are a hoot to discover; more than anything, this book is like picking an old Rolling Stone and reading for the pure enjoyment of the ride. However, Lost is important for another reason: as a diary of the hidden streets of the American Music scene, the pieces come together to give true historical perspective to the influences behind the echoes shedding light on the faces behind the old ghosts. Just as much as all the big-time dollar bands, these unknowns serve to bring shape and continuity to the history of our sound: "Forget the hilarious GTOs. Forget even the mighty Shaggs. Suckdog captures adolescent female adrenaline-fueled angst and aggression like no recording artist I’ve heard before or since. This is not a record for the squeamish…" (Russ Foster — Page 228) Lost in the Grooves is not a book for fans mad about one band or one particular singer. Instead, this is a book for the serious music fan, for those serious students of the art form curious about who-influenced-who and what sound rose out of what region. Like turning on a radio station and listening to a feverish wounded-voiced DJ tell you the reason behind every record you never heard, there’s 20 new things to be learned on every page here. Recommended to all libraries in the public sector and at the college level as general reference text. Also will appeal to serious music fans of all generations – there’s some new stuff here for all tastes. & thanks to Routledge for perhaps forsaking pure commercial motive and releasing an invaluable teaching tool. (John Aiello, The Electric Review, March/April 2005)

“rare vinyl-collecting bible” (East Bay Express)

Serious music dweebs may very well adopt Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed (Routledge) as their rare vinyl-collecting bible. The lisping indie obsessive who gets teary-eyed at Belle & Sebastian concerts … the thrift-store-foraging Napoleon Dynamite who smells of dust and rotting cardboard … Steve Buscemi’s character in Ghost World … the Kermit the Frog-voiced fellow who knows the whole discography of bands he doesn’t even like … they’re all guaranteed to bust a blood vessel over this one. It’s a guidebook written by geeks, for geeks, that makes rock ‘n’ roll seem almost not cool, grouping fans alongside other nerd cliques who fixate on comic books or Star Trek.

That said, the average music enthusiast will also find Grooves an informative and pleasurable read. The book, edited by Scram editor Kim Cooper and contributor David Smay (also the authors of Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears) contains a wealth of far-out performers who never got their due, forgotten albums by big-time artists, and impassioned defenses of maligned records even the Salvation Army can’t get rid of. The emphasis here is on vinyl, including many records that never even made it to CD. Writers here include Radio Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek, Angry Samoan Metal Mike Saunders, old-school rock critic Richard Meltzer, producer Jim O’Rourke, filmmaker Sean Carrillo, and a swap-meet-sized gang of freelance critics and music-zine whack-a-doos.

So what do they preach about? Kim Cooper tells the engaging story of the very obscure (and very short) musical career of Beverly Hills dental assistant and tripped-out songwriter Linda Perhacs, whose creative efforts didn’t bloom until she fell in with the laid-back Los Angeles hippie crowd. One of her patients was film composer Leonard Rosenman, who in 1970 helped Perhacs record her only album, Parallelograms, which Cooper describes as “delicately layered love poems to the natural world and the charged erotics of youth.”

Also forgotten in music history is the New Orleans piano-pummeling eccentric Esquerita, whom rockabilly singer Deke Dickerson hails as “the source for the bizarre/flamboyantly gay/mega-talented/hollerin’/screamin’/rhythm and blues archetype that Little Richard would take to the bank alone.” Though signed to Capitol, Esquerita was too much for the general music-buying public of the time, and original copies of his 1958 self-titled debut are extremely difficult to find.

Epidemiologist and former radio DJ Max Hechter writes about blue-collar punks Cock Sparrer, a ’70s act that almost hooked up with Malcolm McLaren, a deal that didn’t work out reportedly because he failed to buy the band a round of drinks. McLaren, of course, went on to manage the Sex Pistols, while Cock Sparrer’s catchy debut was released only in Spain after the band’s label, Decca, went bankrupt.

Too obscure? David J. Schwartz focuses on a somewhat forgotten aspect of Johnny Cash’s storied career. As a young ruffian, Cash wasn’t afraid to piss people off. When country radio ignored the song “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” from his 1964 album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, Cash took out a full-page ad in Billboard indicting the music industry for its desire to “wallow in meaninglessness.”

Still, the unknowns rule the roost here — for hardcore record collecting freaks looking for new, obscure obsessions, Lost in the Grooves hails little-known acts such as voodoo shrieker Exuma, Wichita rock quartet the Embarrassment, the Italian wannabe Hawaiian act Nino Rejna and His Hawaiian Guitars, French ex-beatnik popster Michel Polnareff, ’60s singing duo Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, and the Yiddish-sung American standards of the Barry Sisters. The book also champions traditional rock-critic favorites such as the Brit-pop Housemartins, the always-adored Mekons, the hardworking Poster Children, New York post-punkers the Feelies, the deathless avant-garde crew Pere Ubu, the beloved duo Sparks, Elephant 6 deities Neutral Milk Hotel, and snappy Seattlite pop-punkers the Fastbacks.

Lost in the Grooves doesn’t have much to say about jazz or metal, and the few hip-hop write-ups appear to be penned by folks who hardly qualify as fanatics. Otherwise, most musical genres are well covered, though the writing is occasionally subpar and skippable. But most writers succeed at promoting their favorite obscurities, leaving you to wonder, “Should I really seek out a copy of Buckner & Garcia’s Pac-Man Fever or the Bee Gees’ Mr. Natural?” The answer, of course, is yes. (Adam Bregman, East Bay Express, 1/5/05)

“recalls Creem Magazine at its most prickly” (Eye Weekly)

"To point out that the staff at your local indie record store are about as tightly wound and implacable as the Taliban has already become a cliché. In contrast to that stalwart stance, Scram Magazine has become known for a distinct lack of smugness while digging through the dollar bins of history. Most pop-storians are obsessed with the failed, marginal and forgotten. Scram understands that the successful, populist and forgotten can be just as mysterious, and in this collection of reviews and essays, you’ll never be scorned by a pale, weedy boy for liking Terence Trent D’arby. In fact, its writers (including star nerds Jim O’Rourke and Rick Moody) will encourage you on in your bold and (un)original taste. If hipsterism is a temple built on Big Star and Stooges box sets, then Lost in the Grooves aims to tear down the walls with the clarion call of Kylie Minogue. Pop, after all, is about being popular, and if you want to understand popular culture, why waste time with Captain Beefheart when you can reassess Poco? Yes, the forgotten sons of California rock get multiple mentions here. But calling for a Poco revival isn’t the boldest thing in this book by far. Moody will have you reconsidering The Tubes, and Kris Kendall rights the wrongs dealt to the Dream Warriors by both industry and history. Unlike some music writing, these reviews are carefully written — as opposed to sounding like rewritten press releases — and recall Creem Magazine at its most prickly and acid. Should the comparison not be apparent to the reader, excerpts from Creem are reprinted, wink-and-nod-like, throughout its pages. Walk away right now and go back to your mid-period Sonic Youth records if you think this is irony. Lost in the Grooves is as sincere as disco and just as satisfying, providing a final home for music — from The Auteurs to Aaron Carter — that only wanted to be loved. Maybe that’s the pop difference; music that isn’t too cool to say "I love you." Do you have the balls to say it back? (Brian Joseph Davis, Eye Weekly, 12/02/04)

“inspired” (Fufkin)

Geek Factor: Obscure Great Recordings: How many of you are unmitigated music geeks? A person for whom each obscure album that gets a glimmer of praise becomes a new holy grail, becomes an excuse (not that you need one, really) to go to every second hand shop within a 150 mile radius or endlessly surf the net, because you MUST have this slab of bliss? More importantly, you don’t just hoard your latest find. You then make the rounds stopping by friends’ flats or calling them to spread the news (and perhaps play the thang), and hopping on to e-mail lists and bulletin boards, to share this wonderful, new-to-you music that has made your life just a bit better.

If this description is in any way accurate, then let me recommend a book to you. Lost In The Grooves will keep you busy for a while. Let me also recommend buying some small Post-Its or some highlighter markers, because it’s possible you might destroy the book if you just dog ear the pages every time your interest is piqued.

This tome is the latest inspired creation from Kim Cooper and David Smay, the folks behind Scram magazine and the editors of the excellent book Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth. The premise of this book is quite simple

“nothing against Christgau” (Washington City Paper)

Cashews Get Their Due: George Pelecanos is somewhat taken aback when asked to talk about his contribution to Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed. “I got an e-mail from my agent a couple years ago,” says the Silver Spring–Êbased writer. Scram, a magazine “dedicated to rooting out the cashews in the bridge mix of unpopular culture,” wanted him to write a piece about underappreciated music. “I just sent it. I never talked to them or anything,” he says. “Then this book shows up.” Lost in the Grooves compiles essays—sometimes of just a few lines—about perennial critics’ darlings (the Go-Betweens’ 16 Lovers Lane), odd faves of odd people (Vivian Stanshall’s Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead), albums you weren’t supposed to like (Alvin and the Chipmunks’ The Alvin Show), and whatever else its writers—including locals Ken Barnes (USA Today, ’70s zines Flash and Fusion), and Vern Stoltz (Cannot Be Obsolete) and Memphis, Tenn.–based Washington City Paper contributor Andrew Earles—favor. Pelecanos wrote about Curtis Mayfield’s 1973 Curtom release Back to the World. “I just picked a record that I thought was really underappreciated in its category, especially coming after Superfly.” The overlooked disc “was of a time when people were making records that were sort of thematic,” says Pelecanos, and it’s easy to see why the crime novelist and story editor of HBO’s The Wire would relate to lines like these: “In these city streets—everywhere/You got to be careful/Where you move your feet, and how you part your hair.” Pelecanos’ review ends with a shot at the dean of rock critics: “Robert Christgau gave this a ‘C.’ Another reason, in my opinion, to check it out.” Pelecanos is quick to point out that he has nothing against Christgau, but, he says, “I object to that kind of criticism…. A guy, or a woman, sits in a dark room for a year and writes a book, and then someone blows it off with a D-minus or whatever.” Pelecanos’ appreciation for music is almost as well-known as his novels, which chronicle a Washington far from filibusters and presidential coronations. The “tour music” section of his Web site offers a playlist much like that in Lost in the Grooves: When he hits the road to promote his new book, Drama City, in March, his CD wallet will be stocked with Slobberbone, Lalo Schifrin, the Isley Brothers, Iron + Wine, War, and Graham Parker. And his previous novel, Hard Revolution, featured a “soundtrack” CD given away at readings. Next for Pelecanos, besides the book tour, is news on whether The Wire will be picked up for a fourth season. The future of the drama may be grim, given HBO Chair Chris Albrecht’s quip that “I have received a telegram from every viewer of The Wire—all 250 of them.” Perhaps Scram should cover unpopular TV in its next book. (Pamela Murray Winters, Washington City Paper, 2/11/05)

“a dusty-vinyl chain letter” (North Bay Bohemian)

Bushwhacking the Vinyl Jungle: ‘Lost in the Grooves’ a field guide to forgotten greats By Sara Bir

Record geeks cherish the moment when they encounter an al bum no one else knows about. This is less about one-upmanship than the thrill of discovery and the intimate connection between artist and listener, a lifeline that keeps neglected music vital and alive.

Kim Cooper and David Smay of Scram magazine, understand this thoroughly, as evidenced in their recently released Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed (Routledge; $19.95). The editors refer to the book as “your own portable geek,” meaning it can be a trusted friend to point obscurity-seekers in the right direction. And obscure in the context of this book is less about rarity in physical numbers than it is about rarity of appreciation.

The somewhat star-studded cast of contributors includes rock historian Ed Ward, novelist Rick Moody, cartoonist Peter Bagge and the formerly Santa Rosa-based Tim Hinley, who’s been producing Dagger zine for nearly two decades.

The entries vary widely in genre–Flo and Eddie’s The World of Strawberry Shortcake shares a page with the Flesh Eaters’ A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die–but most fall into two basic categories. First, there’s “Where the hell did this band come from?” These are artists whose releases will probably never cross the loading dock of a Virgin Records Megastore. Sharp-eyed readers will note the inclusion of John Trubee and the Ugly Janitors of America’s The Communists Are Coming to Kill Us, hailed by contributor Chas Glynn as “both annoying as hell and insanely captivating.” The album was released in 1984, before Trubee left Southern California for the calmer environs of Santa Rosa, where he continues to compose and record music.

The second category is “Hey, I never heard of that Who album!” These entries appear to compose roughly half the book, creating a great space for us to reconsider purportedly substandard issues by popular bands. Pink Floyd, Dolly Parton, the Ramones, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman all rack up mentions. Considering these folks have collectively recorded a zillion albums, it’s not surprising that a few great ones have fallen through the cracks.

I was alternately bummed and smugly pleased to spot a few albums that I already own–for instance, Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane over the Sea. I bet at least half of the people who purchase this book not only own that album but count it among their all-time favorites. It’s a good reminder that we’re in emotional territory here.

Despite the obvious camp appeal of some recommendations, even a casual read of the reviews will indicate that the authors wrote about these records because they honestly like them and cherish their existence. Owning cool music does not make you cool; loving great–or, as the case may be, crummy–music does.

Studded throughout the book are reprints of vintage reviews from classic early music magazines like Creem, plus sidebars of well-selected lists for those who crave to know the “Top 10 Non-Goth Albums Goths Listen To.”

(Is Duran Duran’s Rio part of that list? Hell, yes!)

Lost in the Grooves is hardly encyclopedic. You could ask 75 other rock critics to divulge their favorite overlooked records and come up with a completely different list. It’s sort of implicit that Lost in the Grooves, Vol. II is to be carried out and added to by the hands of eager crate-diggers and attic-explorers that keep the story alive and make it their own. It’s a dusty-vinyl chain letter!

I’ll add three entries to get you started: Nino Ferrer’s Enregistrement Public, Scrawl’s He’s Drunk and Bert’s (yes, Bert the Muppet) Best of Bert. Now get going!(North Bay Bohemian, 2/16/05).