Chrome: C or D?

I don't think I've ever heard Twinkeyz or Debris. But Chrome are better than Von LMO and Todd Tamanend Clark (both of whom I like) for sure. Pere Ubu (when they were great) are head and tails above all these bands, and between MX-80 and Chrome it's a tossup.

chuck you should hear both the twinkeyz and debris. seriously.

Both bands were great: I'm particularly fond of Debris', another perfect encapsulation of everything I love about 70's American rock.

Todd Tamanend Clark is like a warmed-over Jandek - total WFMU fodder. Chrome, on the other hand, doesn't get the attention it deserves - it's like nobody even knows they exist.

chrome is fucking great

By the way, Happy Dragon Band or Creme Soda, anyone?
Not as crazy as the artists mentioned below but still weirdly unbalanced in their own way.
Also, Bobb Trimble comes to mind - "Another lonely angel" is one of the most unsettling songs I ever heard.

i gotta hear twinkeyz at some point, i think i'd really like them. chrome are, of course, godhead. one of the only bands i've ever heard described as "acid punk" that actually justifies the term. i want the chrome box so bad ;_;

chrome is fucking great

I have the Chrome Box - it's not bad, but they cut all the albums on it short.

Todd Tamanend Clark is like a warmed-over Jandek - total WFMU fodder.

wha? i don't hear that at all, unless we're talking lo-fi basement sound quality.

By the way, Happy Dragon Band or Creme Soda, anyone?

i guess the former cause i haven't heard creme soda. another one for the list. HDB are pretty bizarre.

xp - better than not having any of them! i used to have blood on the moon via the magic of computers but no more.

(any of them save half machine/alien soundtracks)

someone reissue the box set. with the whole albums. anyone. soon.

nah TTC has some pretty awesome songs; I guess as far as the DIY lofi goes

i guess the former cause i haven't heard creme soda. another one for the list. HDB are pretty bizarre

yeah, they made a truly bizarre lp. I love that album, I just would like to know a little more about the guy who was behind this project.

Yay more Chrome love. Yay also the Bobb Trimble mention, which I am not surprised to find Marco likes.

I only have Trimble's second album, and I like it a lot.
Don't know why, but I find its cover (the black & white shot with the unicorn) rather disturbing.

Supposedly it's all being reissued properly, at least that was Kris Thompson of Abunai! was telling me.

Wow, how is it I've never encountered the name Todd Tamanend Clark?! I love this sort of stuff. And there appears to be a double-disc comp on Anopheles! I gotta check this guy out...

[BTW, the proper hierarchy is: MX-80 Sound > Pere Ubu > Debris > Von LMO > Twinkeyz > Chrome. But who cares, it's all good. Oh, and Simply Saucer belong in there too, somewhere in the middle.]

Check him...there's some fantastic stuff in there.

I didn't think I was going to like The Visitation (debut recorded before Helios) but it is great. Closer to 70's weird Southern anthem rock, but still weird ringmod details and over the top vocals keep it mutant, and the songs are deep

the 3 CD Chrome Box is good for compiling some of the odd singles but it's true, it leaves out way too much, you need the albums

Checked out TTC and Twinkeyz on myspace - low-fi with sci-fi for sure, but nothing to compare with Chrome's incredible waves of distorted noise. Surprised people don't like 'Third from the sun' - I really rate it.

anyone see them in portland like a month ago? kinda disappointing. the show itseflt was great, as it included smegma and soriah, but chrome just seemed a little limp, even the guitar tonez weren't that cool :( i was really sad

Well, since I'm the only one taking the stance, I'll elaborate. Twinkeyz and Todd Clark and VON LMO - IMO - had songwriting skills that were at least as good (sometimes better), had more spirit, and were more fun. I don't get the big Chrome canonization at all.

Pere Ubu is incredibly overrated. Their first couple singles were real good. Like, as good as the Twinkeyz' first couple singles. Which is saying something. They took a dive when they went to the one guitar lineup.

And, yeah, Todd Clark is nothing like Jandek. At his best, his music sounds like Chrome or somebody playing eight minute long through-composed '60s garage band psychedelic songs with some intense dude doing "Horse Latitudes"-type stuff throughout.

you know what's great on the clark anthology? "x-ray x-tasy." holy shit, what a riff.

Pere Ubu is incredibly overrated. Their first couple singles were real good.

this i agree with.

"I don't get the big Chrome canonization at all." - depends on how you look at 'em. It's all about the sheer hallucinogenic NOISE for me. I agree they don't really rate as pop songsmiths, but at 3AM when the carpet is boiling over, that's really beside the point.

I see them somewhere between the Butthole Surfers, Hawkwind and (early) Cabs, rather than as a low-fi psych-pop outfit - though they could be that too, at times.

It's all about the sheer hallucinogenic NOISE for me.

I get this, but I think disc one of the Clark anthology has everything a record like Half Machine Lip Moves has but just literally IN SPADES.

By the way, Marco, have you heard Trizo 50? If you like that Creme Soda record, I'd really recommend this! It's kind of comparable, but I think they had a greater scope. More ambitious. They were from Missouri.

http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/trizo.50.html

There's supposed to be a second volume coming out on the same label.

haha, Tim doesn't like the Buttholes either!

Double xpost (or more)

By the way, Marco, have you heard Trizo 50? If you like that Creme Soda record, I'd really recommend this! It's kind of comparable, but I think they had a greater scope. More ambitious. They were from Missouri

There's one of their songs on the "Love Peace & Poetry" comp and I like it a lot. I'll search their album, your description sounds really promising!
What I like about Creme Soda is the way they were all over the 60's musical map (folk, pop, garage) but with a sort of personal take: also the song "Numero Uno" is made out of that Stooges/VU cloth that Spacemen 3 would have used later.

And if anyone can provide any info on this recent pressing of 'Alien Soundtracks', I'd appreciate it. The cover says limited to 300 copies, no label info. The guy at the record store says that Damon Edge's family released this after taking the rights back from Touch and Go last year. It's one of those chintzy record-in-a-bag-with-color-xerox-artwork type deals, comes with a badge and a patch, sounds fine for white vinyl... but I can't for the life of me figure out why it wouldn't come with a back cover (I'm unconvinced by the clerk's opinion that it shouldn't).

haven't seen the vinyl, but they're back in print on CD as well (though HMLM & AS each get their own disc, it looks like they also get full original packaging)

I doubt I'll replace my Touch and Go CD but if they put out The Visitation I'll spring for it, that's become my favorite other Chrome album (especially if they throw on this for bonus tracks

and a re-release of Red Exposure would go down really well right now, that's the pop one

The plot thickens.
we are very proud to be the label that got these
classic albums back out into the world. they
should never have gone out of print.
but due to situations beyond our control, we will
only be selling these cd's for a very limited time.
once our current stock is gone, that will be the
end of them. so get in your order while you can.

we've been getting lots of questions from you
folks. here are some answers. people have
emailed us asking questions to the situation with
chrome. sorry, we're not talking. we've also
gotten lots of emails asking if we are doing the
other chrome albums. answer is no. and lastly,
"are we doing them on vinyl"... sadly, no. but we
will say this, people have emailed us saying that
these cd's sound better than any other issue on
cd. that is cool.

god i love chrome

yeah they are just amazing

so uh is 'meet you in the subway' the only chrome tune with a video? how comes it says 1984 when the only release of it i can find is on the comp in 79

Great, great band.

Chrome and Savage Republic are the two most unsung leviathans of American rock. Both members of that most rare category of bands that gernuinely merit the term "visionary".

admrl, which Bart station do you think those videos were shot at?

my money's on Rockridge station

Seeing BART makes me sad. =(

It looks like either Rockridge or Macarthur and then Embarcadero? I love the feeling it gives of BART being so new and strange (even though it looks pretty much the same).

the Residents used the Embarcadero / Civic Center BART walls for album packaging once in much the same alien way: http://www.residents.com/bh/forselsie.htm

WOW @ that Ultra link, Milton.

This sounds like some sucky legal bullshit to me. Glad I have that Touch & Go CD already, seems like these will go fast now.

Thanks for the tip on these, I await confirmation from Noiseville that they actually have stock.

OK, these finally tunred up yesterday. I've only listened to HMLM so far.

You know, I was of the opinion that these didn't need remastering, or that you couldn't get any more out of the existing masters, but WOW. This pressing kind of makes the T&G masters sound like they were remastered off a decent pressing of the LP or something - there are points, obviously, where they're getting as much as possible out of recordings that are WAYYY into the red anyway (You've Been Duplicated and Zero Time probably the worst offenders, I think) but Zombie Warfare, March of the Chrome Police and Abstract Nympho (to pick just three) sound INCREDIBLE.

Third From The Sun: arguably should have needed less more tinkering than the other two. Despite this, there has been some. To their detriment, perhaps, Firebomb and Future Ghost end up sounding like mid-80s Iggy. Lucky, then, that the next 4 tracks RENDER MOST OF KILLING JOKE'S CAREER UTTERLY REDUNDANT.

Really looking forward to Alien Soundtracks now.

Could you describe your impression of said tinkering in more detail, aldo? If they messed up "Firebomb" I will cry. I'd like to get the 3rd From The Sun CD but I have an original vinyl already... Got the other two new reissues on vinyl and they sure do sound nice. I'll have to do an A/B with my T&G CD.

It's not messed up as such, but it brings out the Iggy-ness more than other versions. Vocals too loud (for me), and the added separation on the drums brings out the 80s gated original production far more. It sounds better than anything on Instict, but has that same feel.

The drums, in particular, are where I think the most tinkering has taken place. They're clearer (again, in my opinion) than in previous issues, and in doing so they've played with the balance of them a lot. More cowbell/rim/sticks, less bass drum and toms. It makes it sound more dynamic, but also panders to the worst elements of the production. And as I said, the first two tracks (and maybe Shadows Of A Thousand Years) seem to have the vocals pushed slightly too high in the mix or possibly too little guitar, which is in this context arguably the same thing.

But these are minor criticisms of awesome records. Maybe I need to listen to them alongside the T&G issues as well.

re Mike Dixn: bought that Alien Soundtracks LP (w crappy 1-sided cover & badge & patch). While it's nice to have a new copy, it's a weird, half-ass package job. Retarded 2-tone vinyl is another drag, but my old Dossier press is beat to shit, So hooray.

Been listening to the Anopheles reissue of George Brigman's Jungle Rot LP. Guitar and even vocals often remind me of HCreed. Wonder if he'd heard it at the time. Unlikely, I suppose.

OTM about George Brigman! I thought the exact same when I first heard Jungle Rot. The first rrack sounds just like TV as Eyes.

And yeah, the packaging is pretty weak. (Nice badge though)

i can feel my brain dripping thnose rouhg my and my tearsa re taste like rainbows