JAY-JAYS, LOONS, UGLY THINGS AND WHATNOT

Attention Jay-Jays fiends (both of you): the complete recorded works of this fine Dutch beat band that I thought was out of print two years ago, is still floating around. I ran into it at Ugly Things' web store. There's only two copies, so don't sleep. Check the cuts below. "Shake It Some More" should be all the impetus you need, and the guitar freakout that is "Cruncher" will put you over the edge. Not only that, the bass player's name is Joop Oonk, the greatest name this side of your of comic books.

Ugly Things is, of course, the completely fiendish magazine and label, run by Mike Stax, who also wrote the liner notes for the Jay-Jays thing. He started the magazine in the early eighties as a photocopied and stapled fanzine. It has since grown to a couple hundred pages, so detail oriented that it makes Mojo look like child's play. Stax, who moved to the U.S. to join the Crawdaddys decades ago, has been in the Loons for the past several years. If you're in San Diego, you can check them this Saturday at the Casbah for the release party of their latest LP (with the Schitzophonics opening!). You can check some Loons tunes [eye-rolling word usage] on their Facebook page. And you ought to poke around the Ugly Things site. Among other night eaters over there is Searchin' For Shake, the Garage/Psych Compilation Database, which is just what the name implies. Bookmark that sucker.

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Listen::
The Jay-Jays - Shake It Some More mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Jay-Jays - Cruncher mp3 at Rock Town Hall
The Loons - Four songs (streaming) on their Facebook page Wicked stuff here.
Visit:
Jay-Jay's for sale at Ugly Things Web Store
Ugly Things Home Page 

PRETTY VIA UGLY

As a young teenage music fiend, I bought a lot of records, read a lot of magazines, listened to a lot of radio, and talked music with my brothers and friends constantly. I was in the position to know, but not once did the Pretty Things ever come up. They were all but unknown in the US. Like a lot of people in the states who bought records prior to prominence of fanzines and reissues, my first exposure to the Pretty Things came from the two covers of theirs that Bowie did on Pin Ups, and hearing them wasn't impetus enough to go exploring. I already had a backlog of leads and recommendations for scads of other bands from sources I trusted much more than Bowie.

Enter Mike Stax, an English guy who had moved to the states to join the Crawdaddys, a local band. In the early eighties, after he was securely transplanted, he started a zine called Ugly Things. It was apparent from issue one that he had it bad for the Pretty Things. In issue two of UT (which, as unbelievable as it seems, I just retrieved from a bookshelf five feet away from me), he interviewed Pretty Thing Phil May. In the introduction, he refers to them as "the greatest band of all history." Now I was listening. That was well over twenty years ago, and every time the Pretty Things come up, I think of Mike, and how a gangly kid from across the pond imported his fiending. We are the better for it. Ugly Things is still going strong. Visit the site for a physical copy, stuff by his band the Loons, or something from his record label (including 45s by the Nashville Ramblers and the Sloths, both of which I've gushed about before).

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Listen:
The Pretty Things - Rosalyn mp3 at X818
The Pretty Things - Roadrunner mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Pretty Things - Come See Me mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Pretty Things - Buzz The Jerk mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Pretty Things - Midnight to Six Man mp3 at Merry Swankster
The Pretty Things - Cold Stone mp3 at Bedazzled
The Pretty Things - Balloon Burning mp3 at Cargo Culte
The Pretty Things - All Light Up mp3 at Smokers Club
Visit:
The Pretty Things at Wikipedia
Ugly Things

STOP THE PRESSES!

I just got an email today from the folks who run the most awesome Ugly Things magazine, and it was a click-fest over here in a matter of seconds. Not only is there a new issue coming out in mid-October (which is always welcome news) but what sent me in a 45 RPM tizzy was news that they're reissuing the Sloths single above. Back in June I did short post, linking to Garage Underground, in which I was slobbering all over this single. Normally, I don't get worked up about reissues, but this sucker is as rare as it is raw. (Former Sloth Michael Rummans said that he knew of only three existing copies, and shortly after I wrote the post, one sold on Ebay for $6550.) They're only pressing 500 copies, and the first 100 will be autographed by the Sloths, so, yeah, hurry your ass up. There's a link to the Garage Hangover post below, so you can hear it before you buy it, and another link to my original post. And bookmark the Ugly Thingers. Not only is their magazine good for hours of fiendish perusing, they also released the only 45 version of the Nashville Ramblers' biggee "The Trains." Hell, just get your wallet out and go on a shopping spree.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Visit:
The Sloths - Makin' Love, and You Mean Everything mp3s, and the story of the Sloths at Garage Hangover (They don't like direct linking to mp3s, but you should go there to get it. This sucker is worth the trip.)
Best Thing I've Heard All Week - The Sloths post (June 16, 2011)
Ugly Things main site
Ugly Things' online store
Ugly Things blog