Perfect Sound Forever- December 2023 issue out now

[Jason Gross]

Greetings,

In the latest issue of Perfect Sound Forever <http://www.furious.com/perfect/index1223.html>, you'll find (among other things):


70s BLACK CINEMA SOUNDTRACKS
How Shaft & Car Wash made history by Dr. Tamara Hill
"These soundtracks, by seamlessly blending music with cinema, have left an indelible mark on the film industry. Their enduring impact is unmatched, as they continue to resonate with audiences. Through their music, these soundtracks provide a unique lens through which we can comprehend and appreciate the cultural, social and artistic richness of the African American experience, making them truly iconic within the realm of film and music history. Thus, the iconic soundtrack for Shaft as a Blaxploitation film, serves as a powerful cultural artifact that conveys the validation of coolness within the Black community, authentically captures the essence of our urban experiences, and vividly illustrate our capacity to narrate our stories through the medium of music."


KARL BERGER
Jazz vibes as creative collective force by Daniel Barbiero
"One of the outstanding figures involved in opening the borders for jazz and jazz-derived improvised music was Karl Berger. Berger's music was borderless in the truest sense: it embraced both straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, European art music, non-Western musical traditions, and even contemporary pop, for which he wrote string arrangements. But his vision of music as a borderless and universal medium of human expression was most notably realized not only in his own playing and composing, but through his musical philosophy and the teaching methods he derived from it, which he put to work in the activities of his Creative Music Studio."


BOMB
Interview- Jay Crawford's explosive details, interview by Clinton Orman
"Bomb was an underground "post-punk" rock group that Nirvana's Krist Novoselic called "San Francisco's version of grunge." A certain Kurt Cobain had turned Krist on to them. Bomb was active from '86 to '93. They were loud, heavy and infused with psychedelia, working in stylistic notes of metal, goth/industrial, new wave and who knows what else. Comparisons to Flipper, Black Sabbath, Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Pink Floyd and Metallica are all perfectly apt."


BOMB
Michael H. Dean tells tales of the band's major label woes
"Our manager later told us he heard that the CEO saw it on someone's desk and said "Who the fuck are Bomb and why the fuck are they on my label?" CEO of Warner Bros’ father had fled Europe for America when the Nazis started smashing store owners' windows. After that, no major label would touch us. Any opportunity for film soundtrack work was gone. People at labels talk. We got "canceled" in 1991. Tony got us canceled before cancel culture existed. This fuck up was all Tony, but it poisoned me, Jay, and Doug in the industry too. The album came out but to zero promo. Warner Brothers didn't say "You're fired" because at that time the label was making a big deal of being "anti-censorship," because of Jane’s Addiction album covers, also Ice T’s "Cop Killer" song. So WB technically put our album out, but it barely got out."


BOB CUTLER
Interview- gay punk alienation, by Jack Partain
"Around 1989, he formed the band Slackjaw, an extremely heavy hardcore punk band, in Lawrence, KS. As the band grew, the music industry changed. Grunge slowly began to seep out of Seattle and into the mainstream and then, seemingly without warning, exploded into the national spotlight. Record company executives fanned out across the country looking to sign the next Nirvana or Pearl Jam, and Lawrence became a focal point. Several bands in Lawrence landed major label deals and countless others signed with large indie labels. Slackjaw quickly gained a reputation as one of the best and most serious bands emerging from the Midwest. And then, all of sudden, and in a way that is at once somehow completely inexplicable and totally predictable, everything fell apart."


CHRIS D.
Interview- from Flesh Eaters to Divine Horsemen, by John Wisniewski
"Think that you work hard? Sorry but you got nothing on Chris Desjardins aka Chris D. who started writing for the legendary Slash punk zine in the late '70's before becoming a producer for their label, along with running his own label, Upsetter Records where he put out some of the early L.A. punk bands. He also gathered the cream of Slash's bands (X, Blasters) to form punk/roots band the Flesh Eaters. Restless soul that he was, he also formed Divine Horsemen in the mid '80's for some surprisingly sweet low-key Americana gussied up over some disturbing stories/songwriting. Oh and he still found time to write several fiction books and start a budding acting career (actually appearing in Kevin Coster feature No Way Out)."


FAMILY
Interview- Roger Chapman is Fearless, by Robin E. Cook
"Fearless was a perfect title for Family's 1971 album. As singer Roger Chapman says, Family was "quite a brave band." For Fearless, Chapman, guitarist John "Charlie" Whitney, multi-instrumentalist Poli Palmer, and drummer Rob Townsend were joined by new bassist John Wetton. On the resulting album, the band romps between barroom blues, quasi-progressive rock, funk, and folk-rock. The result is one of the finest examples of their wildly eclectic approach. Chapman himself shared recollections about the making of Fearless and his subsequent solo career for Perfect Sound Forever."


GRATEFUL DEAD
Book excerpt- classic hometown '76 gigs, by Ray Robertson
"In addition to wanting to shake things up a bit--both stylistically and in terms of song selection--the less-freewheeling, more-streamlined sound was probably at least in part because the majority of the group were in their early to mid-thirties by this point and understandably lacking something in the space-travel cardio department, the physical and psychological demands of taking the psychedelic sacrament (literally or figuratively) and seeing where it led them simply becoming a little too much. Fair enough and fare thee well. We all get old and Earthbound. So, tired of playing the same long songs in the same ways, as the Dead moved into their second month back on the road, the second-set highlight tended be three or four, or sometimes even five, meaty numbers linked together over the course of an hour or more of often inspired, exploratory playing."


BOB MARLEY
The meaning behind "Rat Race," by Eric Doumerc
""Rat Race" appeared on the Rastaman Vibration album, which was released in May 1976 on the Island label. The song was instantly popular and remained in the Wailers' repertoire for many years. Its popularity with Jamaican and non-Jamaican audiences all over the world is no doubt due to its reference to both a specifically Jamaican situation and a more universal context of suffering and oppression. In other words, the song's message was sufficiently clear for every Jamaican to pick up all the references in 1976 and vague enough for every listener to interpret it according to the situation he or she was in at the time (Marley's use of proverbs or proverb-like statements like "When the cat's away, the mice will play" and "In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty" ensured that).""


ANTHONY MOORE
Interview- from Slapp Happy to Pink Floyd, by Jason Gross
"Here at PSF, we have an ongoing tradition now of doing an annual article with multi-instrumentalist/composer/polymath Anthony Moore, covering his multi-decade career. First, we surveyed his Slapp Happy years, then his Henry Cow years and tape experiments, then his Flying Doesn't Help album and various productions, then '80's albums/major-label-dom/initial Pink Floyd encounters. Now, moving up a decade, we cover with him more of his work with the Floyd crew, Richard Wright's final album, meeting and working with Sinead O'Connor and the Slapp Happy reunion and musical theater project. As Moore said, 'OK, here we go! For the 1990's...'"


MOTHER'S FINEST
Name a great Black-female-led metal band, by Kurt Wildermuth
"Mother's Finest has always ignored genre boundaries, feeling free to play R&B, soul, funk pop, rock, metal, sometimes in combination. For completer histories of who they are and rundowns of what they do, please visit their nicely detailed Wikipedia page and www.mothersfinest.com. Here, suffice it to say that the band's founders and guiding lights are the vocalists Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy and Glenn "Doc" Murdock, a married couple, both of whom are Black."


PRAM
Interview- mysterious UK post-rock combo by Brett Abrahamsen
"Following 1994's intriguing Helium, English post-rock ensemble Pram were seemingly primed to deliver a masterpiece. Which they did. But a scathing review from the NME derailed not only the album's fortunes but perhaps the band's entire career. Sargasso Sea was one of the most fascinating albums of the modern era. The playing was masterful, and a dark and somehow menacing current of nostalgia was present throughout. "Loose Threads" set the tone - resigned lyrics, cryptic melody, haunting atmosphere. In addition to the quadruple-keyboard attack, Matt Eaton and Samantha Owen's terrific bass playing stood out. "Earthing and Protection" was perhaps even more melodic and creepy."


RED KRAYOLA
Their 2nd album as post-punk forefathers by Kelechi Wisdom
"God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It was released in May 1968 and was recorded at Houston, Texas' Gold Star recording studios. Mayo Thompson said of the album: "And that record gets to be called a "minimal" record. It was not like a punk record, like "we're gonna get back to basics, good clean rock n' roll... It was not driven by an impulse to basicness. It was just schematic because we were used to working with the stuff we had in our hands, instrument-wise." From a 1968 Mother magazine interview, it is said that the album was intended to be a joint-double LP with Coconut Hotel, but that never came to pass. Thompson also talks about having "good tapes" that were available and considered to be distributed if one would like. This could be referring to the full 3-hour freak-out session from Parable of Arable Land or random experimental outtakes that didn't make the cut on God Bless "


ROCKETTE MORTON
Interview- Beefheart bassist and beyond, by Austin Woods
"Mark Boston -- also known by his pseudonym Rockette Morton -- was 19 years old when he joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. A self-described "country bumpkin" raised on a diet of country and western and early rock 'n roll, the young bassist thought he would be performing the more conventional Safe as Milk material upon joining the group in 1968. Instead, he found himself thrust into the caustic, contorted world of Trout Mask Replica. Still, Boston kept an open mind, and adjusted his approach to the bass accordingly. He quickly developed his own technique of using three metal finger picks along with a standard flat pick, in order to properly "attack" the album's chordal bass parts. In typically self-aggrandizing fashion, Don Van Vliet claimed to have taught him how to play the instrument from scratch -- but other Magic Band members insist this wasn't the case."


SMASH MOUTH
Interview- rise & fall of 90s/00s alt-rock gone pop, by Peter Crigler
"Smash Mouth were one of the more popular alt-rock groups of the late '90's, scoring hits with "Walkin' on the Sun" and the ubiquitous "All Star." By the early 2000's, they had pivoted into a more commercial pop direction and after 2001, they dropped off the charts in a supremely quick fashion. Their music always lingered and so did the band, down to two original members, playing state fairs, food and wine festivals and donating songs to Dr. Seuss movies and Hot Wheels video games. In 2021, singer Steve Harwell left the band after a disastrous show, citing mental health and physical maladies including heart issues. In September of 2023, he passed away at the age of 56 because of liver failure. I decided to write about the band's legacy and some of the ways they still resonate even with a lot of crap material in their catalogue."


WHEN I FALL IN LOVE
Fiction- Boston freeloader, wanna be musician
"That August, Amanda and I moved to a dingy neighborhood in Allston, a pleasant old apartment with bay windows. We'd come by the place through Bob Jones, a fellow lead guitarist I'd met in New York. As Bob was the building's super, he lived in the basement rent-free. We jammed there once and he offered me a line of cocaine, which I turned down. Bob's mouth dropped open. "What, are you crazy or something? This is the good stuff." "I tried it a few times and it gave me the creeps. It felt like the devil had taken over my soul." Taking me literally, Bob shuddered. "Yeah, maybe it's time for me to get right with the Lord," he said earnestly. "By the way, how's your roommate search been going?""


We also have a Spotify playlist with most of the artists above here:
<https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2siDsjQc1S6Quh58TVWfgb?si=40cfc6db13144718>

We're always looking for good writers and/or ideas so let us know if you have anything to share.

See you online,
Jason