Here's an incredible find. While flipping through the new arrival bin two days ago at Academy Annex (arguably the best record store in NYC) I stumbled upon this gem. An absolute mystery to me, FURR, on Magna Glide Records from 1977, definitely falls in the what the fuck? catagory of noodle-scratchers. Though Sid & Marty Krofft immediately come to mind, the credits indicate that this is actually a Kasenetz and Katz production, but for some reason this one didn't have quite the same success as 1910 Fruitgum Company or Ohio Express. The music itself is generally hard rock with dual guitarists brandishing enough tasty licks to sprain your wrist while playing along on air guitar. But these puppies aren't so one-dimensional because just when you get your mullet flappin', FURR gets a bit funky and for a second, a brief second, you think that you are listening to an Ohio Players record. Wild! I cruised around the ol' web for a bit trying to learn something about these funky canines but there is a vast void in cyberspace, and that void is the abscence of FURR. Perhaps they are only obscured by dark matter and there is in fact something out there but I'm just incapable of seeing it. That being said, if the Truth is out there - I need to be enlightened. If anyone has some info on this band, please share. Here's a taste of FURR to help spread the mumbo jumbo. Is it just me, or does anyone else hear someone doing their very best Ritchie Blackmore impersonation in this one?
FURR - Sorcery
Installment Three: French new wavers GAZOLINE and 84 FLESH. Here are two bands I know very little about. Both hail from Paris, they were both short-lived and both released some pretty damn good singles. Alain Kan was the singer / front man for GAZOLINE. Alain had an interesting music career dating back to the mid-Sixties and he apparently disappeared in 1990. GAZOLINE released two singles, Sally, and, Killer Man, which was comped on Killed By Death Vol. 1. Killer Man is classic nutzo late '70's punk and one of the best featured in the KBD series. I wish I found Killer Man but I'm not complaining about the Sally single. Released in 1977, this single is really ahead of its time (though the photo of the band tends to date it). The titular a-side is not as interesting and less abrassive than the b-side, Electric Injection (which I included below). Electric Injection is a truly nifty piece with mechanical, atonal guitar riffing and frantic, nasal vocals. If nothing else, this song shows that the band could get a little artsy as well as rock. I bought it from a French-Canadian dealer who actually used that fingertip kissing hand gesture thing that seems so stereotypically French to express his opinion about GAZOLINE. All I could say in return was, oui oui! 
84 FLESH is a band I know even less about. I know this is their only 7" single and that it was released in 1978. I believe they had a couple of songs on a comp but that's it. They used to be called 1984 and were also included on one of the early Killed By Death comps (Vol. 3). I am providing the same song as that KBD, Salted City, since the b-side, D-Section, is not as strong. It's not terrible by any means but it is the a-side that does it for me. I don't want to reveal exactly how much I spent on these, but I will say that together they set me back less than $50. Not a bad deal since Popsike shows that the GAZOLINE has sold for as much as $70 in the past. Now you can check 'em out for free.
GAZOLINE - Electric Injection
84 FLESH - Salted City
Installment Two: FRUMPY. Here's a real find from the WFMU Record Fair - a sealed copy of the second Frumpy record, aptly titled, FRUMPY 2. This is an excellent addition to any Krautrock collection, especially mine. Originally issued on Phillips in 1971 with a different cover, this particular pressing was released by Fontana in 1976 as part of its "Attention!" series. The jaw-dropping artwork is mesmerizing. One cannot help but stare in both awe and disbelief at the dated yet still ahead-of-its-time look of the cover and its incredible likeness of the band's singer. Brilliant. I recently learned of Frumpy while watching the Krautrock DVD collection previously discussed on this blog. I don't know much about 'em other than they formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969, the singer's name is Inga Rumpf and the band's name means unbecoming. Inga had a long & healthy career in Germany after Frumpy disband, as did other members of the group. The music on this record is total stoner rock with classical organ riffs and jazz overtones. I know that makes it sound a bit gross but it's not. It's a great record that I cannot get enough of. I look forward to getting my hands on other Frumpy releases. To date, this is the only one I've heard. I know the band was great live, as there are at least three different live tracks on the Krautrock DVD set & they're all quite captivating. Check out one of my faves from Frumpy 2 below. This is also the shortest song on the record.
FRUMPY - Take Care Of Illusion
It was a crazy October. Between work and various extracurricular activities I've had little time to relax. I've been engaged in many blog-worthy activities but no time to post. This past weekend was no exception. The annual WFMU Record Fair and Cavestomp! monopolized all of my time and sapped all of my energy. As I sit here still recovering, I must say, it is a good kind of tired. I will try to post & share something about all of the records I scored at the fair, but it will take me a few days to get it all together. Installment one: The UGLY DUCKLINGS. A few weeks back, I saw some oh so brief video footage of the Ugly Ducklings in a documentary on Canadian bands. The Ducks were sandwiched in bewteen a brief piece on The Haunted and The Sparrows but they didn't escape my attention. As I was perusing the Sundazed table at the fair I came across the Ducks' Nothin' single.
It was early in the morning & I had a touch of the Irish flu, so I was at first indifferent to what I had just picked up but added it to my pile of potential purchases anyway. Then I spotted the header card on the LP's that said Ugly Ducklings and it hit me - ah ha! that Canadian band. I went to grab one & there were none. A dealer had just nabbed the last of 'em. Well, it was my lucky day because the dealer was still at the table and let me take one from him. A proper re-issue of the Ducks' 1966 release, Somewhere Outside, outstanding! I eagerly completed my purchase and scurried like an excited child through the crowd to show my wife. She was more excited than I was.
A short while later, I went to check a Canadian vendor we know and I found another Ugly Ducklings LP. This one is a comp with an amazingly cheesey cartoon cover and features tracks from Somewehere Outside, some unreleased tracks and their 1967 single, Gaslight. It was released by Yorktown (the label that issued the original Ducks record) sometime in the early 80's. It's an excellent supplement to the Somewehere Outside LP. The major difference in this Yorktown LP and the Sundazed re-issues is that the Sundazed stuff is mono and the Yorktown is not (a difference I can live with, though I do love the mono). Along with the Nothin' single, which has a swell version of I Can Tell on the flip, this may be all that is available from this obscure yet excellent Toronto band. Below you will find a few samples of the Ducks' greatness. Nothin' is a classic garage punker with a wicked fuzz guitar solo that slices right through your speakers. Windy City is a dark, spacey, psyched-out instrumental that captures the cold winter nights in the Great White North perfectly. Gaslight feels like an English freak-beat raver to me, and that ain't not bad. If you are into records in general and into garage punk in particular, Somewhere Outside is one to get from Sundazed. It's worth every penny & much, much cheaper than the original!
UGLY DUCKLINGS - Nothin'
UGLY DUCKLINGS - Windy City (Noise At The North End)
UGLY DUCKLINGS - Gaslight