Snakefinger Part 1
Gary E. Rush
i first heard about Snakefinger (aka Philip Lithman) while searching the
net for beefheart related stuff. a short entry mentioned that
'ex-beefheart members' played with him, and that was it. after that i
was on the lookout, and found my first copies at Ponk Records.
as it turns out, the only ex-MB member i can confirm that played with
him was Eric Drew Feldman (yes, you can add this to your EDF discography).
i imagine this came out in vinyl first, the small picture of the group on
the CD insert is barely recognizable, but must have been much larger on
the album cover. the cover art, btw, is wonderful.
it wasn't love at first listen, and i can't categorize Snakefinger's music
as influenced by CB+MB, but he has quickly become one of my favorites.
one of the great song titles of all time: "I Love You Too Much to
Respect You"; the song is great as well.
it is a drag he died at an early age, it is our pleasure to have his work
to keep us company. Enjoy.
=====================================
Snakefinger
MANUAL OF ERRORS
CD
T.E.C. tones 90302
T.E.C. tones
109 Minna St. #391
San Francisco, CA 94105
1. Yeti: What Are You? 4:01
2. Beatnik Party (Snakefinger/Feldman) 3:42
3. The Garden of Earthly Delights 3:00
(J. Byrd, Moskowitz/Pub. by Blackwood Music Inc. BMI)
4. You Sliced Up My Wife 1:59
5. I Followed George's Dream 5:16
6. Bring Back Reality (Snakefinger/Residents) 5:06
7. Shining Faces ("I am Nino") 2:19
(Rota/Pub. by Rightsong Music BMI)
8. Eva's Warning (Snakefinger/Residents) 4:33
9. Private Universe/The Life on Nebulov 7:25
10. I Love You Too Much to Respect You 3:36
11. The Vivian Girls (Snakefinger/Residents) 2:08
12. Talkin' In the Town (Snakefinger/Residents) 2:35
13. Womb to Worm 3:16
14. The Jungle Princess (Snakefinger/Residents) 3:47
Cuts 10 through 14 are bonus tracks
Snakefinger - Guitar, Vocals
George B. George - Bass, Vocals
Eric Drew Feldman - Keyboards, Synthesizers
Miguel Bertel - Guitar, Vocals
Johnny B. Ryan - Drums
Produced by Snakefinger and Eric Drew Feldman
Sound Tech - Jonathan Formula
Engineer - Richard Van Dorn
Asst. Engineer - Baby Meinhof
Wedoit at Hyde Street Studios
Management - Paul Young
Cover Art - Mark Beyer
CD Package Design - Rex Ray
All songs written by Snakefinger except where noted
All songs published by Pale Pachyderm Publishing BMI except where noted
Thanks to Tom Bushnell for handling equipment.
Mr. Feldman's Casio modified by Richard Mariott.
Mr. Feldman used a Serge Modular Music System.
Mr. Finger used some stuff from the Resident's private studio.
For this and many other reasons he wishes to express deep gratitude.
All rights reserved.
Circle P and Circle C T.E.C. Tones
==============================================================
Gary Rush
o o o o gr...@crl.com o o o o
sco...@the.alamo.com
Snakefinger added a lot of nice guitar to Residents' recordings over the
years, too. He was kind of a 5th Resident and is all over their early
stuff.
I've got a Ralph records compilation with great versions by Snakefinger
of "Magic and Ecstacy (? I think that's the title - an Ennio Morricone
piece) and Kraftwerk's "The Model" as well as great guitar on The
Residents' "Sinister Exaggerator" and he also plays on their bizarre and
hard to tolerate version of "Satisfaction" on which the singer basically
does an imitation of Captain Beefheart. The Residents really appeared
to be into Beefheart. I used to assume that the "N. Senada" figure who
they mentioned as a great tutor was actually Beefheart - and it might
have been - some of their lyrics sound like things he could have written
- like parts of "Not Available" and the track "Blue Rosebuds" for
example - but I'm not so sure anymore ...
Telenet to The Alamo BBS: The.alamo.com
Jeff Rocca
Eric Drew Feldman is also on the "Snakefinger's Vestal Virgins" CDs titled
_Night of Desirable Objects_ and _Live in Chicago_.
Jeff Rocca
jro...@bell-labs.com
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "The present-day composers refuse to die." Edgard Varese, July 1921 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Steve Froy
It's good to hear about Snakefinger, he's done some interesting stuff.
I'd heard somewhere along the line that he had died but never had it
confirmed - anyone know the details.
I've got a couple of albums of his from his pre-Snakefinger days when
he was partnered by Martin Stone (stalwart of the UK "underground"
scene of the '70s). They recorded under the name of Red Hot Chilli
Peppers (or a variation thereof - I'm at work and haven't got them to hand).
From what I can remember they are mainly frantic acoustic bluegrass-
style semi-humorous songs. I'll have to dig them out when I get home
and give them a listen again.
If anyone is interested they can email me direct - although I won't
be able to access my mail again until Wednesday 23rd.
Just thought someone might be interested...
Steve
"well they look so good..."
Steve Tatarunis
gr...@crl.com (Gary E. Rush) wrote:
>i first heard about Snakefinger (aka Philip Lithman) while searching the
>net for beefheart related stuff. a short entry mentioned that
>'ex-beefheart members' played with him, and that was it. after that i
>was on the lookout, and found my first copies at Ponk Records.
>as it turns out, the only ex-MB member i can confirm that played with
>him was Eric Drew Feldman (yes, you can add this to your EDF discography).
I recall seeing Snakefinger in Boston, it was an appearance in some
forgettable club that came and went from the scenein the late '70's
somewhere in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood. I think this was
shortly after the Shiny Beast tour. Eric Drew Feldman was in the
touring band and if I recall correctly, the band was called the Dead
Residents. There was some suspicion that one or more of the Residents
were in this band but who could tell for sure? Anyone else catch this
tour? I can't remember many details.
Snakefinger was outstanding! He did some incredible things with
electric pedal steel guitar that night. I admired him because his
style was unique, there was never any doubt who was playing guitar.
Would have been interesting to hear him sit in with the Magic Band on
something like Suction Prints. Too bad he had to leave us so soon...
Gary E. Rush
Jeff Rocca (j...@panini.pez.bell-labs.com) wrote:
: Eric Drew Feldman is also on the "Snakefinger's Vestal Virgins" CDs titled
: _Night of Desirable Objects_ and _Live in Chicago_.
Jeff is right, i hope to post the details on these as well when time
permits, both are excellent.
Raymond Ricker
Alas, poor Snakefinger died of a heart attack during the European part of
his "History of the Blues" tour in 1987 (he died in Austria). Evidentally,
he had some sort of con-genital heart problem which did him in.
Snakefinger, whose real real was Phillip Lithman was born in London, UK.
He founded the club rock band Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers. During
the early 70's he moved to California and took up residence with the
Residents and released a few solo albums with their help. Lithman was an
absolute genius when it came to interpreting traditional blues styles -
just compare his blues playing with some of the recent Clapton material -
Lithman has a much better ear in his approach.
Since Lithman was a rather private person he did few interviews - and
when he did grant them he more often then not cut off the discussion when
asked about the identities of the Residents.
Raymond Ricker
Phillip Lithman did die in Austria during a tour - however I made an
error with regards to "which" tour - It was not the "History of the
Blues" tour - it was in support of his "Night of Desirable Objects" w/
the Vestial Virgins when he died.
sco...@the.alamo.com
He knew that he might not live long and hence there is a real irony to
the "single" from that album - "There's No Justice In Life".
JR>Phillip Lithman did die in Austria during a tour - however I made an
JR>error with regards to "which" tour - It was not the "History of the
JR>Blues" tour - it was in support of his "Night of Desirable Objects" w/
JR>the Vestial Virgins when he died.
Jeff Economy
In article <54c1s9$1r...@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com>,
Raymond Ricker <JRT...@prodigy.com> wrote:
>Alas, poor Snakefinger died of a heart attack during the European part of
>his "History of the Blues" tour in 1987 (he died in Austria).
Actually, the "History" tour was in 1983, in '87 Snakefinger and the
Vestal Virgins were still touring in support of NIGHT OF DESIREABLE OBJECTS.
>He founded the club rock band Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers.
Make that "pub" rock.
--J
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