bongwater: search & destroy etc

Anyone heard 'Real Men' by John S. Hall and Kramer? Now that really is worth searching for. One of the most bizarre, fucked up records ever made.

That Hall and Kramer album is as fucked up as you can imagine - the logic used on the track The Party is flawless. Ie Nobody went to the best party ever thrown because if they went they would have nothing left to live for. And its starting to rain.

The Drum, from Too Much Sleep is my new personal anthem...

I'm a big fan of Kramer's solo stuff too. Secret of Comedy is good, but the double disc, off the top of my head I think it's called "The Ego Trip" is amazing.

"The Power of Pussy" features a muscular, hirsute, animated vulva. "The Drum" features home movie footage of Ann 'n' Kramer being silly at Disneyland. "Psychedelic Sewing Room" shows Ann riding a bike outside a Brady Bunch-house lookalike and some Bewitched footage. "Why Are We Sleeping?" involves motel rooms that look like teepees. I forget what happened in the video for "What If" - I seem to remember puppets.

They're a kind of hit-or-miss band, but all of their albums have a decent chunk of great stuff, except The Big Sell-Out. You might as well get the box set (which isn't everything, though - there's also a Peel Session).

The only one I ever ended up buying. :( Yeah, I liked it for about half a year or something and then I realized how bad it was.

I was to embarrassed to buy The Power of Pussy (having heard some of it on the radio and liked it). True story.

Rockist_Scientist wrote:
I was to embarrassed to buy The Power of Pussy (having heard some of it on the radio and liked it). True story.

Heh...I bought that one when I was in high school, and my mother was very upset about seeing it in my collection. (Worse, though, was seeing my copy of Pop by Tones on Tail.)

Kramer's best stuff was as producer or Butthole Surfers bassist.

i firmly believe that "double bummer" is their masterpiece and where to start, with "breaking no new ground" a definite second and "too much sleep" (love the jim shaw cover -- ann's art buddies def. came in handy!) after that, they get too jokey for me.

gossippy stuff, has nothing to do with the music, okay: i hung around these guys a bit and was friends with all of 'em, put a song by them on a mix 7" i released. anyway, it was the worst band implosion i've seen.

i guess if you have two super ego-crazed super sexed-up people in one band, by all means MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT FUCK EACH OTHER, MAKE PLANS TO LEAVE EACH OTHERS' SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, THEN TWO WEEKS LATER RECANT THE ENTIRE THING. it just will not end very well.

kramer was something of a savant, and he brought the best out of some bands -- galaxie, pussy galore and the workdogs spring to mind -- but finding one person who's been in a band or business with him and is still his friend is very difficult -- dogbowl maybe? show me one person who has received royalties from a shimmy album, please. (full disclosure: we were in business together briefly, and it did not go well, though kramer's not *entirely* to blame in that.)

back to the actual music: if you like this stuff, be sure to seek out the first carney hild kramer lp, and the first two b.a.l.l. albums -- they might even be better.

I prefer Too Much Sleep because it is more song oriented and less performance arty. I also prefer it when Kramer and Ann sing together as opposed to Ann's monologues.

I love the reverb drenched vocals; to me, that big echoey sound is the epitome of psychedelic.

The way you wrote it was funny though, Mike.

"His Old Look"
"White Rental Car Blues"
"Ye Olde Backlash"

(where did they get this from??)

Ann Magnusson's solo album 'The Luv Show' is worth searching out too.

i think it's weird she never attained that extra level of fame. i guess she's made an alright living for herself and was on tv for awhile in the '90s?

Also, their version of "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" is a treat.

I mean, look what happened to Dorothy Stratten.

I remember hearing that some of the second half of Double Bummer was originally recorded as/intended for a different album by other Shimmy Disc artists, but Kramer decided he needed the songs to fill out the double album, much to the chagrin of the other musicians involved. Is that so? What's the story?

that record certainly is a weird mix of stuff. Yeti Mike might be able to tell us more, but I haven't seen him around here in a while.

What was that song about the Metropolitan Museum of Art called?

I remember loving it inordinately much in circa the year of our lord 1991.

"Obscene And Pornographic Art", one of their finest moments. It's on The Power Of Pussy CD.

another in a long list of "bands that need & deserve reissues but won't get them because the two main members hate each other".

this is right up my alley

too much sleep ftw

all of their covers are so wonderful, esp. "you don't love me yet"

mmm double bummer.

ann posts great stuff on facebook sometimes. videos of moon landings and shit.

i guess if you have two super ego-crazed super sexed-up people in one band, by all means MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT FUCK EACH OTHER, MAKE PLANS TO LEAVE EACH OTHERS' SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, THEN TWO WEEKS LATER RECANT THE ENTIRE THING. it just will not end very well.

I miss this box set

Was having lunch at a little cafe today and was delighted to hear "The Drum" come over the sound system. "Oh wow, Bongwater, I haven't heard this in 30 years. Such a great tune!" Then a minute or so later I thought, wait, this is not Bongwater, someone else is doing the song. So I shazammed it and it came up "The Drum" by Slapp Happy. I thought, oh cute, some new group of young folks have discovered the song and recorded a faithful cover of it. Just now I googled Slapp Happy to see who this new group is.

Turns out Slapp Happy were a Hamburg-based band whose version of "The Drum" is the original version, released in 1974 (!!!)

Which wouldn't have come as a shock to me had I read this thread back in 2004 when someone pointed that out.

I am a great aficionado of “The Drum,” and fascinated by the chain of influence as each version was “covered” in succession by the next band (Slapp Happy -> Bongwater -> The Impossibles -> Love and Hates).

They’re all terrific, and it’s a wonderful song!

(I think the Slapp Happy thread features me discovering the latter two versions in real time, a few years back)

Slaoo Happy deeply entwined with Henry Cow too. TO the point taht they almost melded and left Dagmar Krause behind when it didn't work out right

The only bad thing about “The Drum” is Bongwater’s video shot at Disneyland; and specifically the scene where Kramer and Ann are clowning on a security guard (who seems to be politely asking them not to film there) like a pair of smug NYC hipster a-holes.

ann performed here in LA earlier this week, opening for the bush tetras. among other things, she played two bongwater songs, "the living end" and "folk song" (!!!!), which she hasn't performed live in decades ("regis and kathie leeeee....remember them?"). almost didn't recognize her at first, she had long-ish white hair tied back.

Based on this thread getting bumped, I tried to describe Ann's career to my Kate Bush-obsessed wife, in order to give some context for playing a youtube of Ann's cover of Wow. Sadly could not find a version with video, with just audio it wasn't as funny as I remembered, but this led us to the 1984 13 minute public access collage film she made which is pretty riveting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWqwqss7Yto

If you're a Bongwater fan and haven't ever heard the Pulsallama single "Devil Lives in my Husband's Body", the humor isn't quite gelled yet, but the music and vibe is incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNqhSRJCJuc

Anyone remember Anything But Love, a sitcom starring Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis, which ran for four seasons and co-starred Ann Magnuson for the last three of those?

Even though I know it to be real, I still feel like I dreamt it.

I was a faithful viewer. And was also listening to Bongwater at the time though it took me a little time to realize she was in both. And much later I realized she was in the Bleecker Street Incident and that they were a parody band instead of a real one.

her fake metal band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcCRNykNIZU

If you're a Bongwater fan and haven't ever heard the Pulsallama single "Devil Lives in my Husband's Body", the humor isn't quite gelled yet, but the music and vibe is incredible.

Essential Pulsallama live for radio comp: https://pulsallama.bandcamp.com/album/pulsallama