'Mainlines, Blood Feasts...'

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The topic everyone has been avoiding, can't imagine why!

― dave q, Thursday, 18 September 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Review of Bob Dylan 'Desire', whoa, that album'll never recover! (Always hated "Joey" myself, but for attention-span reasons, not NYC civic politics) The MC5 thing, ha ha! (rec. to J DeSouza) I like the ELP piece but only in a "wouldn't have expected anything less from those loveable idiots!" way.
Unfortunately it goes seriously awry. The Dead Kennedys bit had the head shaking. Could this be the same person who wrote "James Taylor Marked for Death"? Getting Black Flag as wrong, wrong, WRONG as he did - just proves what I said a long time ago about Iggy being a hippy! I think what happened was that the Clash made him 'change his mind' about Black Sabbath and he never recovered. (I hate to think of what would've happened had he lived to see 'Thriller', Guns'n'Roses, Nirvana, Eminem. Although setting him loose on RATM would've been interesting.) Maybe the point of the collection was to recreate in readers the feeling LB got from Lou Reed? (ie to para. Meltzer - 'A Boomer Like All the Rest')

― dave q, Thursday, 18 September 2003 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, re-exposure to Bangs does make you wish he was still here - to see what he'd make of all that followed. if you ever liked him, buy this book now - electrifying writer!

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 18 September 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Good book, inferior to the first one though. Dead Kennedy's weren't all that great anyway. He preferred Circle Jerks, and so did I. He did some surprisingly good reporting in a few places-"Innocents in Babylon""Bye Sydney", a few others. I really just can't get interested in reading about Stevie Nicks, Helen Reddy, or Anne Murray.
So it's hit and miss, but much more hit.

― Cyrus Longworth, Thursday, 18 September 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

loved the Anne Murray bit - hilarious!

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 18 September 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought "Carborator dung..." yesterday, curious to find out what's it (the writing, the reputation, the admiration from fans (critics)) all about...

― willem (willem), Thursday, 18 September 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

''The MC5 thing, ha ha! (rec. to J DeSouza)''

yes yes I should be getting that MC5 rec you recommended ('back in the usa' i think it was) i know ok.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 18 September 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I loved Psychotic Reactions, and was mostly annoyed by Main Lines. That could be because I no longer agree with Lester's central conceit: that people should be trying to connect to each other and their 'deeper' emotions. I've decided that's basically a bunch of hippie horseshit, and I'm a much happier person as a result. Lester apparently hated being a hermit, but I'm quite pleased with my own hermitry.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 18 September 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Dave recommended High Time. I remember. I saw it some day, some time, some while back, some idiot I am not buying it.

― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 18 September 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I said it in the other thread for this, and I'll repeat: chapter 3 greatly disturbed me, and I would have much preferred never having read it.

(Otherwise: I liked the Lou Reed and ELP pieces the best, and the Miles Davis ones - and the first two "young Lester" chapters I thought were pretty amazing. I got bored with the book around the "Travelogues" part, and haven't finished it.)

― Sam J. (samjeff), Thursday, 18 September 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

>I loved Psychotic Reactions, and was mostly annoyed by Main Lines. That could be because I no longer agree with Lester's central conceit: that people should be trying to connect to each other and their 'deeper' emotions. I've decided that's basically a bunch of hippie horseshit, and I'm a much happier person as a result. Lester apparently hated being a hermit, but I'm quite pleased with my own hermitry.

Interesting remarks. But I think one of Lester's points was that, in a world of hermits, the meanest, most tyrannical, most heavily armed, most intervention-minded hermits will be king. And they will be in your little cave, whether you can see them or not.

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Friday, 19 September 2003 00:33 (twenty-two years ago)

The travelogues, early pieces, and especially the Miles Davis and Sid Vicious pieces were stunning... there were parts that absolutely floored me, but just as many that confirmed he had feet of clay sometimes. i don't remember not enjoying any feature in 'Psychotic Reactions', but this was definitely a different case.

― stevie (stevie), Friday, 19 September 2003 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

There is an unpublished chapter about Brian Eno by Bangs from a book that was never published that was posted at the Perfect Sound Forever site this month.

It is worth checking out.

― earlnash, Friday, 19 September 2003 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

shit i just saw this books at a sale and I got an intro on linguitics instead. shit!!! I'll go back later hopefully.

''Dave recommended High Time. I remember. I saw it some day, some time, some while back, some idiot I am not buying it.''

oh yeah I'll get that. why aren't you buying it david?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 19 September 2003 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

There is an unpublished chapter about Brian Eno by Bangs from a book that was never published

when was this book published.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the info is here horace:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/bangseno.html

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 19 September 2003 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I was being facetiously pedantic.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

of course the info is there. I didn't actually read the earl's post.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the Beatles slam near the beginning, and a few other pieces, but there's nothing in this one as good as the Lou Reed interviews in "Psychotic Reactions," I think.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember thinking "I bet there's tons of other stuff just as great" after reading Psychotic Reactions but apparently there just wasn't. I like the book but it's getting exactly the reviews I expected it would--lotta "music criticism today doesn't MEAN anything maaaan" kinds of things, which is just boring.

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Is the Miles/Stones stuff worth reading? That would be my main reason for getting it.

Yes, I was kind of amazed so many publications did "memories of Lester" features? Like, didn't everybody just do that a year or two ago?

― Ben Williams, Friday, 19 September 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

the Stones stuff is pretty redundant--there's four pieces, there should be more like one and a half. the Miles stuff is pretty damn interesting, though--he detested the early '70s stuff but still couldn't stop listening to it, and eventually came to love it, so watching that process in action can be fascinating.

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Always hated "Joey" myself, but for attention-span reasons, not NYC civic politics

Errrrrrrrrrrrrr, one of the few Dylan tracks I really like

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm taking my time with this one because I don't want to have read everything Bangs wrote, especially judging by the diminishing returns so far... The Jamaica piece strikes me as lazy...

― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 20 September 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm really quite amazed editors think the general public (even the general public who reads music crit) cares about St. Lester. Especially since they did the same sort of fawning old timey retrospectives when the biography came out.

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 20 September 2003 05:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think they care but there is some interest and the reason i was bcz he was assoaciated with Lou, Iggy...and of course he wrote abt 60s stuff and then he gave a thumbs up to punk and besides his writing style is associated with the beats (which is kinda popular) rather than modernism, say.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 20 September 2003 08:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"THE MAIN REASON WE LISTEN TO MUSIC IN THE FIRST PLACE IS TO HEAR PASSION EXPRESSED."

Anyone else have reservations about that little credo?

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Saturday, 20 September 2003 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the Jamaica piece, Pete--it's about the only thing about that island that doesn't totally fucking romanticize it, for one...

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 20 September 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I have and enjoy Carbeurator Dung and Let It Blurt and I have no interest in reading the new book. If I take it on faith that the portrait those two books give me is a myth, than there's no reason for me not to just dig the myth as a myth. Though I really wish someone would just flat out note that Lester Bangs was a HORRIBLE lyricist.

Man, it just dawned on me that the critic I most admire might be Robert Christgau (who does wrong better than most people do right). Gotta sit down...

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 20 September 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, I didn't know the Jamaica piece was in it (the one where Lee Perry tells Bangs he's a "wine man"?). I'd like to read that.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 20 September 2003 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

(Having finally read the book's last section) - the Sid Vicious piece is indeed great. And also the Jimmy Carter/Jane Fonda fantasy at the end. Some of those pieces like that one, where he's just off, making stuff up for the fun of it - they're amazing. (Like the first half of the Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living... review in Psychotic Reactions, where anarchists take over the TV stations. Though the Carter/Fonda thing is particularly meditative and "meaningful" and deep in its loopy way.)

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

My copy is on the way but my expectations are low. I really don't care for these '70s gonzo guys, and it bums me out that Bangs/Meltzer is held up as the way to do it. I'd rather read The War Against Silence or whatever Ewing is working on. Knowing a guy was on cough syrup when he saw Tangerine Dream just doesn't strike me as interesting or useful on any level.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I never got the phrase 'on cough syrup' - is this an American High Scool thing?

― David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I never got the phrase 'on cough syrup' - is this an American High Scool thing?

Yeah, drinking Robitussin to get high.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

the Canned Heat piece he got canned from Rolling Stone for is also in the book - more short sharp hilarity

― Paul (scifisoul), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i think the sid vicious piece is kind of embarrassing, actually: lester had this odd habit of getting super-attached to people who were basically assholes and then getting ridiculously self-righteous and indignant about them "romanticizing death" when that's the whole reason he LIKED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE! his richard hell piece certainly contains better writing than anything hell himself ever wrote, but what in the world was the point?

nothing in this book so far (i've read about half of it) really floored me except the excerpt from the blondie book, which i really want to track down now.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 25 September 2003 05:43 (twenty-two years ago)

''I'd rather read The War Against Silence or whatever Ewing is working on. Knowing a guy was on cough syrup when he saw Tangerine Dream just doesn't strike me as interesting or useful on any level.''

er, that could've been put it as a joke?

'cough syrup' is a drug david (anyway, dave q to thread on this) ;)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 25 September 2003 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Can you do it Britain?

― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

anyway, tuesday evening I re-read the Lou reed section on 'psychotic reactions...' that reminded me to really search for the metal machine music 2LP set on wednesday (a really proper search, like) and i found it and am playing as I post this and the world is a better place and isn't that what its all about eh?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Cough syrup drink it up yum! Mmmmmm.

(Re 'gonzo guys' - IMO all the drug shit makes it seem MORE honest in a way than the current wave of passionate emo Britcrit, like if somebody writes some shit like "Billy McKenzie's voice - ahh - a sibyl, a bird of paradise, all my buried fears...corruscating the still-beating heart - nay, the SOUL!!! of its imago (an ILLUME in a PALIMPSEST)" etc as is the fashion today, if they were to put "plus I was on chlorazepam" afterward it's like they're at least acknowledging the ridiculousness of expecting somebody to understand or care about this type of subjective reaction)

― dave q, Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Knowing a guy was on cough syrup when he saw Tangerine Dream just doesn't strike me as interesting or useful on any level.

Actually one of the more interesting things ever said by a music journalist - I can think of no better place to be on cough syrup than a T. Dream gig circa 1975.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I might start noting what I had just eaten/drank/whatever before every review, it is as Dave Q says handy.

Emma from ILE became a Sudafed freak for a couple of weeks last year, the crazy lives of the FT crew eh.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

So you just drink a bottle of this? What, like Calpol? Tixylicks? And it gets you high. Wow. You'd sound a bit of a dick explaining it away though.

― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to be addicted to Rusks, I guess.

― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

What you mean you've never tried Benylin?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

benylin has codeine in it,which is an opiate
never tried it myself,its meant to be a laugh though

― robin (robin), Thursday, 25 September 2003 11:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I think someone should commission The Q to write 13 different reviews of the same record - I suggest 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath - under the influence of 13 different drugs.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 25 September 2003 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

the stuff Lester Bangs used was called Romilar (active ingredient: dextromethorphan, a/k/a DXM). 'Tusana' is the best UK equivalent -

http://www.third-plateau.org/knowledgebase/countries.shtml

― sbt, Thursday, 25 September 2003 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

jerry is onto something there...when royal trux did finish 'twin infinitives' they 'tested it' and found that it would be good under the influence of a particurlar drug (but i can't remember which one was 'best' now).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Bongs, Songs & The Truth
Wayne Kramer remembers Lester in the new Metro Times:
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=5422

― BrianB, Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

"Billy McKenzie's voice - ahh - a sibyl, a bird of paradise, all my buried fears...corruscating the still-beating heart - nay, the
SOUL!!! of its imago (an ILLUME in a PALIMPSEST)"

The verbal equivalent of a V23 cover for a 1984-era 4AD release.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 September 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Tussin' up with a malt liquor chaser used to be a pastime for some punk rock people I knew (obviously not sXe'rs).

I could barely take that cough medicine when I was actually sick. That stuff tastes nasty, especially that rancid cherry flavor.

― earlnash, Thursday, 25 September 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.dextromethorphan.ws/moby-grape-hey-grandma-lyrics.html

― Dadaimus (Dada), Thursday, 25 September 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

thats a great idea jerry

― robin (robin), Friday, 26 September 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

no one mentioned the slash fic bit at the end. possibly no one got to the end. quite understandable.

― thom west (thom w), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

were all of lester's judgement calls on music that wasn't american rock this bad in the first book, too?

― thom west (thom w), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The Kraftwerk piece in the first book was brilliant

― dave q, Friday, 3 October 2003 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

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