Jello holds court once again for a spoken-word rant on the state of the nation. Whereas there was a time he could poke fun at the likes of Reagan and King Bush I with a light touch, there is less to laugh at now.

This is not to say there is no humour, but the jokes are a lot sicker now, and more is at stake. I’m surprised there has not been controversy over the cover of this record, as it puts both Resident Bush and bin Laden in an outfit recognizable as belonging to a fast food clown – but perhaps the Right has learned that making fun of Jello Biafra and Michael Moore is an exercise in masochism (and they have the money to pay someone to whip them into submission…they hardly need to encourage altruism by asking for more…).

Along the way, we learn the real story about power shortages in California, the rigged election (you know the one) and how to fight the corporate agenda, with a touching tribute to Joey Ramone added.

The deep voice of doom has a bit of a tremble in it now, thanks to the nervous disorder from which he suffers, and he is evidently losing his sight – but Mr. Cash still speaks truth and clarity, and he sees into the heart of darkness (and light) with eagle intensity still.

In these apocalyptic times, perhaps an actual song about apocalypse and Doomsday, such as his own "The Man Comes Around", is a bit much, but it’s a magnificent piece all the same, as are his cover of "Personal Jesus" (yes, the Depeche Mode song) and his take on "Hurt" (by Nine Inch Nails – so those are the words…) and even a composition you would think had been covered into oblivion, "I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry" (with guest vocals by Nick Cave – there was a pairing one is surprised had not happened before now…).

It is a very intimate record, though with more piano and organ than the last LP, and I found the inclusion of selections by Sting and Paul Simon ("Bridge Over Troubled Water" – would not "Richard Cory" or "I Am A Rock" have been better choices?) dubious, but, for the most part, a sturdy, enjoyable country/folk album by a man who the symbolic last rites have been read for more than once, but of whom one hopes they will be premature for some time.

In a better world, there would have been an enormous booklet with this set, documenting in glossy pictures all of the bands and projects this British answer to Jad Fair (fiercely independent, lo-fi, sometimes sloppy but always endearing garage rock) has been involved with for 25 years (he has evidently had at least 50 LPs, and a book or two, out, which is not too shabby for someone who left school at 16 to work in a dockyard, and who grew up in a physically and sexually abusive environment…).

None of that is the case here, but it’s still an impressive collection of material he played on, sang, produced or otherwise had a hand in, including the fabulous Headcoatees (featuring the lovely and talented Holly Golightly), his main project Thee Headcoats, his first band The Pop Rivits (who clearly learned "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" from the Sex Pistols’ cover, not the Small Faces) and his newest ensemble The Buff Medways (whose drummer Wolf is woofy – but I digress), and the platters should speak for themselves in their garage/blues/rock clatter (and you have not lived ‘til you’ve heard the versions of "Why Don’t You Smile Now?" and "Fire" on here… J ).

And speak they do…

There have been some changes in this Montreal-based anarchist/classical/rock/experimental band of late. They decided that Kranky was too corporate, so now their Canadian label will handle the distribution everywhere. They seem to have cut down on the inclusion of found vocals/sounds in their material.

Their sleeve insert is much more minimal, pretty much reduced to credits, instead of the usual array of propaganda and rants. And, most importantly, they moved the exclamation point in their name up to follow the ‘You’.

However, the back sleeve of the record, and the front cover too, maintain their fierce critique. The latter is an almost ethereally pretty shot of a plane dropping bombs, while the former documents the ties of every major label to the manufacture of said explosives. If a picture or diagram speaks a thousand words, GSY!BE have not been gagged yet. And the LP title means Yankee Unexploded Ordnance (i.e. things like landmines, bombs that fell but did not go off, etc.), and is written in big letters on spine and back cover (the band’s NAME, on the other hand, actually is not, except on the insert, and they follow its one appearance there with the word ‘goodbye’…).

This time, the music is left to speak for itself (only some severely edited commentary, interspersed with gunshot fire, finds its way onto side 4, in a rant about religion…), and the engineering of Steve Albini means the extremes of chaotic guitar-bass-multiple drums-strings-brass-and-reeds are both greater and recorded with finesse and expertise. In general, the quiet passages outnumber the freakouts, but the latter go much further here than on any other GSY!BE platter so far.

I, for one, hope this is NOT their swansong – but, if so, it’s a loud, obnoxious, political and beautiful one…

In addition to the fact that the CD is on a major label, the vinyl of this platter contains 5 extra songs, and the cover (consisting of plaster masks of the band members) probably doesn’t look as handsome or impressive in the small digital model – so go for the obsolete format, kids… J

Someone recently described this Swedish ensemble as a cross of mid-period Pink Floyd and Wings, and I can see a bit of the point, if the precise parallel still makes me cringe.

It is very grand music, with a declamatory style in the lyrics and voice of front Bear, er, man Ebbot Lundberg, and the words are psych-rock in their nature (‘Silent clouds are on the ground’ – ‘The sun is shining different today’). It hits hard, but it is not garage material – it is thought out and arranged. The inclusion of dramatic strings and horns harks back to the late Sixties as well, as does the extensive inclusion of sitars and mellotrons.

If other Swedes like The Hives look to the Stooges, these fellows probably have Pretty Things, Hawkwind (thanks for the suggestion, Mr. Bill! :)) or, yes, Pink Floyd LPs in their closets. However, in this case, I reckon that a good thing, because it works and sounds fantastic.

A few years back, when Ms. Thompson was still in the grips of a condition that left her unable to sing, I could not help but notice that she got more press (in coordination with a best of that Rykodisc put out) for that handicap than her ex-husband Richard got for his capacity to vocalize and put out records. Oh, bitter irony…

But now she HAS returned after 17 years of silence, with a record that includes her son and daughter…and, yes, even that ex of hers on one song, "Dear Mary", contributing an uncharacteristically subtle but effective guitar solo(a veritable family affair, though hardly like the McGarrigle Hour).

Unlike her first solo record, One Clear Moment, it does not sound like a document of what is currently hip in the music industry. It is low-tech (hardly any electric instruments; only a few percussion tracks; the main keyboards are Hammond organ or accordion; and the fancy touches are Northumbrian small-pipes, fiddle, and, on one track, a small string section) and low-key. Linda’s voice is fairly unadorned and effects-free. In short, the songs are the focus, and the production strategy is to get them across simply but effectively.

It’s not a cheery record, though not completely dark and gloomy. "Dear Mary" is a story of a morally dubious female character – perhaps the one who ended up dead in "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?" from Shoot Out The Lights (1982, her last record with her husband)? "Miss Murray" would appear to be the tale of a woman who bore a child out of wedlock, sent him away and then kept to herself for the rest of her life. "All I See" was written by her son, Teddy (who had a hand in writing six songs, and played on four), and is more or less a love song (and the most produced selection), but it has a melancholy turn (is the beloved really ALL the narrator sees? That’s not necessarily good…). "Paint and Powder Beauty" was co-written by Rufus Wainwright, and has that mock-20s-ballad feel he does well, down to the string parts. The record ends with the warm sentiments of "Dear Old Man of Mine", the most uplifting selection, which is, ironically, about ex Richard (time does wound all heels, evidently).

A folky record, and, as Suzanne Vega once said, folk songs are minor key pieces about sex and death with no choruses. That about sums it up…

This project, by Rudy Bleu of Scutter ‘zine fame (under his real name of Rodolfo Garcia) and his musical partner-in-crime Raquel Contreras, in which they trade off vocals and use guitars, keyboards and drum machines, is evidently taking a break, but at least it got out this CD. Sadly, Rudy is also putting an end to Scutter with the upcoming #10, but he has several other ideas on the horizon, so it will not be the last we hear of him.

This CD is a peculiar mixture of queer/punk politics, industrial and rap, and, as Rudy said to me in an e-mail when I stated I liked it, it CAN be rough (both in terms of sonics and the impact on the listener). The vocals are not always in tune or rhythm, and some of the synth and percussion sounds are beyond camp and into kitsch. J

However, the message is important, though I found it disappointing that Rodolfo is not ‘your fucking Bear’, since I thought he was pretty woofy. J

Be it the attack on racism in the queer community in ‘W.C.H.O.’; the distrust of trend-following in ‘Hard Hat’; the fairly obvious theme of ‘Gender Bender’; and the harrowing tale of ‘Rape Song’, there are ideas it tries to get across, and does a good job at.

Having said this, fun selections like ‘Dyke Magnet’ and ‘Outro’ made me laugh, and ‘Fan Or Friend’ was very touching and well-produced.

As a fan of cheesy keyboard sounds (hey, I have a Ladytron LP in my collection…), this was charming and fun. As a faggot and intermittently political dude, it was nice to see some fire still burning out there.

Looking forward to what comes next – always forward…

Miki, Armand and Paul Zone started playing in bands in the late 60s, and began The Fast in 1971-2 in an air of camp, bubblegum and glam (with the assistance of their mother, who spent a fortune on them, evidently…).

By 1976 or so, they had become a power-pop-punk ensemble, and had established a name in the underground scene for their bizarre stage antics (pencil eraser solos – oh, read the liner notes…) and catchy but warped ditties.

Intriguingly, their earliest demos were produced by Bobby Orlando, who would go on to be a dance record producer in the 80s and use their ambiguous song "T-shirt and Tight Jeans" for Divine, and included the arch camp of "Boys Will Be Boys’ (that Jayne County championed, support paid off by her appearance on their death rock/Shangri-Las pastiche "Cars Crash") and "Jack’s A Jock", as well as the power-pop of "Kids Just Wanna Dance" and the odd but hooky "Hawaii".

Sadly, though, the band never seemed to catch the big break, even with their metallic take on "These Boots

Are Made For Walking" (and, yes, they changed the gender in it, which is odd, since, despite the fact that the liner notes just don’t discuss it, I would think two of the brothers may have been gay, since they both died of AIDS and the booklet suggests they were not drug users…but that may have been management pressure….), and ended their career under that name with quirky electropop like "Moontan" (the most gay record they did under the original band name – they then became Man 2 Man and went on to dance success beyond the scope of this collection…).

Tragically obscure, but worth hearing, I assure you.

Laura MacFarlane and her trio of fellow multi-instrumentalists continue to branch out into the world of Stereolabish keyboard-driven pop songs (imagine that band fronted by PJ Harvey), far from her stint in Sleater Kinney (she is on that band’s first record as drummer – here, she mainly sings and plays keyboards, though does some bass, guitar, drums, percussion and trumpet too).

Frustrating and hard to read packaging, both in terms of band credits and song titles (it took me a while to notice that the selections' names WERE on the back cover, in clear letters against the very colourful backdrop...), does not detract from the catchiness, and it was a relief to finally hear the lyrics up front and a more hi-fi sound in order to appreciate the ensemble’s skills better, be it the pounding drums, the swirling, repetitive-but-catchy keyboard parts or the mildly growling guitars. Bravo…Australia, you DO have more to offer than Men at Work, and stuff just as good as the Go-Betweens too… J

This cdr might be more appreciated by people in the former Czechoslovakia, both because the band was the first non-state-approved ensemble there in the late 60s and early 70s (and thus both rebels and constantly harassed) and because the lyrics (when present) are all in Czech.

This is an odd mixture of free jazz and the Velvet Underground (though, given that Lou Reed says he was inspired by Ornette Coleman, perhaps not THAT peculiar…though it IS odd that a band owing such a debt to Lou's ensemble should take its name from a Frank Zappa lyric, as that late gentleman was not particularly loved by our cranky closet case...(thanks again, Mr. Bill!)), and can be quite abrasive and loud (though with the occasional quiet viola passage). As a document of its environment and time, it’s crucial – but it’s really hard to listen to, sadly, in its entirety (and it’s only a 37 minute cdr).

Various Artists, Viking Beat: 25 Obscure Beatfossils from the Danish sixties 1963-1968 cd (Hit’N’Beat Records, no contact info, and limited to 500 copies (eek!))

The title pretty much sums it up, really.

I was particularly enamoured of Kenny and the Stringers’ take on "Rip It Up" (from Little Richard), Danny and the Royal Strings’ savage "Come Right Back" and B.B. Brothers’ "Balla Balla". However, all 25 selections are in quite good sound and shape and prime examples of young men learning their instruments as they go (if there were any young women in the garage scene at the time, they are not represented on here, sadly – though this same label, that fails to give any contact info, has also issued Sonets Pigtradsmusik Volumes 1 and 2 (literally, Barbed Wire Music Songs – the Danish term for ‘Garage Rock’), so maybe there’s something there…).

The liner notes are an adventure in themselves, by the way. While I try not to mock anyone making a sincere effort, some of them are quite funny, and one or two instances reveal that the writer, had s/he intended this to be issued outside of Denmark, might have checked on idiomatic expressions (for example, we don’t say ‘turned the key’ to mean ‘broke up’ – I mean, I knew what it MEANT, but I did have to ask Arne if it was a local expression…yes…). Still, you shouldn’t be buying this for the liner notes, but for the tunes, my friend… J