A History of Devolution Parts 1, 2 & 3

In case you never noticed, I posted three excellent but OOP Devo albums some time ago on my other blog Realm 0f |X|. I'm re-posting them here because they suit the scope of this blog better. This material all pre-dates their first commercial release and if that's what you're familiar with, listen again! This is raw, warped, kinky, low-tech synth poop [sic] that many Devo-tees find superior to their later absurdly successful recordings. It's easy to see why many of these songs were deemed unsuitable for release at the time - they push the boundaries of obscenity and bad taste further than most of the punk that was yet to follow...


Hardcore DEVO Vol.1
tracklist
1. Mechanical Man
2. Auto Modown
3. Space Girl Blues
4. Social Fools
5. S00 Bawls
6. Satisfaction
7. Jocko Homo
8. Golden Energy
9. Buttered Beauties
10. Midget
11. I'm A Potato
12. Uglatto
13. Stop Look And Listen
14. Ono
15. Mongoloid


Hardcore DEVO Vol.2
tracklist
1. Booji Boy's Funeral
2. Can U Take It?
3. Bamboo Bimbo
4. A Plan For U
5. The Rope Song
6. Goo Goo Itch
7. Be Stiff
8. All Of Us
9. Baby Talkin' Bitches
10. I Need A Chick
11. U Got Me Bugged
12. Chango
13. Fraulein
14. Dogs Of Democracy
15. '37'
16. Bottled Up
17. Working In A Coalmine
18. I Been Refused
19. Fountain Of Filth
20. Clockout
21. Let's Go


Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years
Part A Part B
tracklist
1. Satisfaction (I Can't Get No)
2. Too Much Paranoias
3. Praying Hands
4. Uncontrollable Urge
5. Mongoloid
6. Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA
7. Gut Feeling Slap Your Mammy
8. Sloppy
9. Come Back Jonee
10. Clockout
11. Soo Bawls
12. Space Junk
13. Blockhead
14. Subhuman Woman
15. Bamboo Bimbo
16. Beulah
17. Jocko Homo/I Need A Chick

Postscript:
Booji Boy's Basement appears to be a website offering free disks of rare archival Devoid material. You send them blank discs and return postage, they send you burned CDs & DVDs. I haven't tried this yet, but they seem to have a lot of obscure stuff.
Let me know if it works for you...

Potatoes - deep fried Folk

Potatoes is a collection of folk music, Ralph Records style, released 1987.
Cooked to perfection to suit all manner of Tastes, both Good and Bad...
This was re-released on CD at some point (reportedly with tracks missing!?) but is now hard to find.

from the cover:

As far back as any musical memory, and up to this very record, artists have tried to define and appropriate to their own satisfaction the ever elusive expression of folk music.

Ralph Records is proud to announce its seduction by the folk muse and to present the progeny of this joyful union.

Folk music is a reflection of life in the world. Given the world of today, folk music aficionados should be prepared for some novel twists. However, they shouldn't be surprised to hear traditional strains as well.

This collection of songs is what a handful of artists have done with what was handed down to them. Maybe these songs will in turn serve as motivation to future folk heroes.

We hope you enjoy them.

tracklist with liner notes

01 BLITZOIDS— Fire on the Mountain
Fire on the Mountain is a traditional American fiddle tune. Legend has it that this bluegrass favorite got its name when an old time fiddler played it so fast that his instrument caught fire, burning a whole mountain down. Although this song is usually a showcase for some hot fiddling, we have chosen to arrange it like a mutant square dance.

02 RENALDO AND THE LOAF—Haul on the Bowline (A-Chantey)
Here is an old sea chantey from Liverpool adapted in multi-cultural fashion for your multicoloured pleasure.

03 MARIA MARQUEZ AND FRANK HARRIS—Canto Del Pilon
Gossip is the dialogue in this traditional Venezuelan folk song of a woman at work mashing corn. While preparing corn for mealtime, the woman talks in pitch and rhythm about the current events of the local town. Except for the voices, all of the sounds were created and performed on the Synclavier digital music system.

04 THE RESIDENTS—I'm so Lonesome I could Cry

05 TERRA INCOGNITA—Rank Stranger
The classic version of this beautiful song was played by the Legendary Stanley Brothers of Virginia, and we'd like to dedicate our recording to Carter Stanley who passed away December 1, 1966.

06 SNAKEFINGER'S MIDI-EVIL VESTAL VIRGINS
—The Ballad of Sawney Bean/Sawney's Death Dance
Folk music! Glorious heritage of our fiveskins and forefathers. God given birthright of every lowly human. Why, even today, in the heart of the African jungle, one might hear in the stillness of the tropical twilight a dusky Zulu maiden singing her suckling babe to sleep with ancient tribal tales of a usually exceptionally violent and bloody nature. But I digress. My offering on this outstanding collection is a cheerful little self-penned ditty, gruesome above and beyond the call of tradition, and best of all... it's all true!
[read an account of this legend here]

07 MARK MOTHERSBAUGH—My home town
My home town
Is the greatest in the land
The people all there
They treat you all square
And give you a place to stand

My home town
It's more than a town you know
It's my home town
It's my home town
It's Akron, Ohio!

My home town
It's a special kind of place
Hard working folks
With chips on their shoulders
People crammed in sub-human space

My home town
It's more than a town to me
It's more than plain
It's a city of pain
It's one big factory!
Repeat Chorus

08 ARTIST UNKNOWN—The Billy Bee Song
The quality of life has changed. The methods by which we attain certain qualities has changed. Some very lonely qualities in a woman's life will never change. When scorned, she might drink to forget about it and/or sing to tell about it.
[lyrics here]

09 NEGATIVLAND—Perfect Scrambled Eggs
"If it sells to turn a horse upside down and beat it with a stick, then it's good advertising."

10 VOICE FARM—Mamma made me do it
This song was inspired in part by the Calogero Salvos film La Juajira. Mamma made me do it is dedicated to Helen Brown-Hansen.

11 CLUBFOOT ORCHESTRA—Japanese Song Too
with Harumi, Chaiki and Sumi
It is autumn and the sounds of the harvest fill the air. A wandering priest is guided to an ancient well by three village girls. They tell him the history of the well and of the devilman, Yamanba, when he had been exiled to this place three hundred years before. As night falls and the priest begins to play on his flute, the three girls reappear. As they dance they reveal that they were lovers of Yamanba and tell of their anticipation of his return.

12 RHYTHM AND NOISE—Berta's Hammer
A medley adaptation of two Southern State Prison songs.

13 THE STEP ONE NURSERY SCHOOL JUST PLAIN FOLK SINGERS—Potatoes
As performed by some of the teachers of Step One Nursery School—Sue Britson, Mark Hosler, Betsy Nachman, Jane Timberlake, and Charlie Vincent.

get Spuds [vinyl rip 192kbps]

La 1919 - Ars srA

Here's my final post from the Italian Auf Dem Nil label for a while:
This time featuring Luciano Margorani & Piero Chianura, with contributions from John Oswald, Henry Kaiser, Enrico Salvi, Fabio Martini and Angelo Avogardi.
I find this more accessible than the last post, more rock based and with some humour mixed in there. Couldn't find any detailed information about the group, but this recording is clearly a pan-Atlantic collaboration, with master tapes sent between Milan and California.
Side A (tracks 1-4) is Italian, side B features the American artists, with Henry Kaiser performing on four tracks.

tracklist
side A
01 Una Giornata Particolare (14:45
02 Il Sogno Di FF (3:20)
03 Tenda Rossa (2:00)
04 Killing Time (1:40)
side B
05 Vivace! (1:10)
06 Underwater Photography (2:35)
07 resiaKyrneH (3:30)
08 Hawaii 5.0. (2:05)
09 Progetti Di Grandi Città Con Terazze (4:00)
10 Il Margine (4:30)
11 Gli Eroi De Lavaro (4:30)
Auf Dem Nil DMM 005 R [192kbps 1987]

Conrad Schnitzler & Michael Otto

- Micon In Italia


Here's another recording on Italian 1980s electronic label ADN. Conrad Schnitzler (Tangerine Dream, Kluster) & Michael Otto plus contributions from Wolfgang Hertz (Ex-Aussenminister, Model 81) on five tracks.

After Conrad Schnitzler left Tangerine Dream & Kluster (pre-Cluster) in the early 70's, he went on to be one of the most prolific explorative synthesists, and made dozens of formative computer-electronic music albums, both melodic and abstract, mostly as small private editions. In the 1980s he established numerous other projects, and here is one of them. A little dry I think but well worth a listen if you like the genre...
Hi-res artwork included

tracklist
01 Sono Finite(2:40)
02 Sage Mir(3:30)
03 Colore/Suono(1:37)
04 Espresso(2:10)
05 Contanastro(1:38)
06 Thompstone(2:40)
07 Circus(2:58)
08 Controllo(2:33)
09 Poco Prima(1:15)
10 Wa Hoooa(2:47)
11 Sul Nastro Con Fase(2:35)
12a Collegato(1:58)
12b Continua(1:10)
13 Tradizionale Collegate(3:18)
14 Rosso Rapido(3:11)
15 Un Punto(1:40)
16 Gino Ginelli(1:50)
17 Hand-Clap(1:33)
Auf Dem Nil DMM 003 R [192kbps]

Doublings & Silences Volume I

F.P. & The Doubling Riders



Here then is the first volume, freshly ripped from my recent acquisition.
There were some surprises for me with this record:
The quality of the music is as strange and quirky as volume 2, although somewhat different. It starts with a gentle and almost ambient sensibility reminiscent of Daniel Lanois, then it progresses boldly into pure Doubling Riders territory, with some quite bizarre vocalisations. By the last two tracks the quality is almost "Residential" although I must stress these comparisons are very subjective — all this music is highly original in its own right and quite beautiful...

I have gleaned a little more information about the group from various web sources:
Apparently founded by Pier Luigi Andreoni and Riccardo Sinigaglia, (Professor of Electronic composition at Milan's Conservatory), it seems the Doubling Riders released four records: Doublings & Silences vol. I in 1985, Doublings & Silences vol. II in 1988 for Recommended Records Italia, World! in 1989 for Supporti Fonografici, and Garama in 1992 for Andreoni's label Il Museo Immaginario.
"FP" is evidently Francesco Paladino - credited for art production, he only performs on one track (#13 Blind Bodies). He also appears on Volume II without the separate title credit. Roberto Musci, who appears on Volume II and has been involved in a number of other related projects (see the comments of Vol II for several other download links courtesy of Professor Franz), doesn't appear on Volume I.
There are numerous other artists involved, I have included a text file of all the cover text in the archive.
The Doubling Riders appeared on stage in the most important Italian avant-garde music festivals (among which Bari's Time Zones in 1987, Gorizia's All Frontiers in 1989, Naples' Ear Nerve in 1989, Milan's Immaginazione in 1990).

New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock writes:
Doubling Riders — Italian project of the three synth players Pier Luigi Andreoni, Ricardo Sinigaglio and Francesco Paladino. On their two records (World -'89, Garama -'92) appear a lot of guest players, for example Chris Karrer (Amon Duul, Embryo) on guitar. The music is mostly quiet meditative stuff, with some folk or medieval influences. In some pieces they sing in some strange italian dialect, that even an italian friend of mine could not understand! Very nice stuff, higly recommended!! -- Achim Breiling

tracklist
01 Doublings & Silences
02 Nights
03 Doubled By The Sun
04 Neoplastie Part III
05 The Warm Current
06 The Last Emperor Of The Snakes
07 H F A1
08 Chinese Rain
09 Effi Briest
10 Voila Les Tropiques
11 Smell Into A Dream
12 Schlaft Ein Lied In Allen Dingen
13 Blind Bodies
14 Possession And Treasures
15 In A Bed Of Trees
16 Penguins (In A Cup Of Coffee)
ADN 001 1985 [192kbps]

ADN (Auf Dem Nil) from Milan was one of very few Italian labels focused on electronic/experimental/industrial music, with a truly interesting catalogue. Published and produced by Marco Veronesi and Piero Bieli, most of these items are long out of print and not easy to find. ADN discography

post riders post

Here is the first of several spin-offs from Doubling Riders member Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta:

Water Messages on Dessert Sand 1987
Somewhat less dark and intense, more technical than Doublings & Silences...
Electronic and interwoven sound collage, very much in the tradition of Holgar Czukay's Canaxis.
tracklist
01 Technowaltz
02 Water music
03 Empty boulevard
04 Mechanic soul vs. pathetic ambient
05 Volterra
06 Nexus on the beach
07 Vientiane
08 Malangaan
09 Digital ketjak
10 Walter's reggae
11 Old time religion
This copy is ripped from vinyl - kindly uploaded by Professor Franz.
A 2-in-1 CD of this and another collaboration by Musci & Venosta titled Urban & Tribal Portraits is out there...
Messages [256kbps]

unheard Velvet Underground

just to let you know there are three rare VU bootlegs at realm of | X |

Velvet Underground - "Black Side of the Street"
Velvet Underground - "-etc" &
Velvet Underground - "and so on..."