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Every once in a while, a doorway opens from another dimension and aliens bent on rockin' and rollin', despite an almost total lack of conventional skill, are set free to walk among us. The Shaggs come to mind - three teenaged girls who could not play or tune their instruments, yet made two albums of truly warped Martian pop ("Philosophy of the World" and "Shaggs' Own Thing") in the 60s and 70s. Then there is Michael Bolton - but I suspect his mission is more sinister. On the long-lasting and evolving tip, there is Half Japanese...
Like the Shaggs, Jad and David Fair clearly loved rock 'n 'roll, and just as clearly could not play it as it is usually understood, when they started Half Japanese in 1975. In 1977, they put out a 45, "Calling All Girls", crammed with nine very short, hollered, guitar-molested and drum-battered pieces of noise. Very much in keeping with one of the selections, "No More Beatlemania", Shaggsmania and Yokomania were the order of the day (though at least those grrrls recorded in a studio, and not at home on bad gear). It is brilliant in its own twisted way, but it is definitely not easy to listen to.
In 1980, they released "Half Gentlemen, Not Beasts"; in the tradition of the avant-garde or the simply obsessed, it was a triple-album box set, with a lyric sheet and comic book inside. Judging from the excerpts on "Greatest Hits", it must have been very demanding on the ears. Clearly, more musicians were needed...
And quite a few have passed through the ranks. Don Fleming; Rebby Sharp (one of the few women in any stable line-up); Moe Tucker; John Sluggett; and these are but a few. One would require a California Redwood to make up the rock family tree of this outfit! The Fair brothers' demanding individualism tended to result in high turnover. In fact, even David has retired from the band.
The music did become more complex over time, incorporating blatting horns and multiple percussionist, and, while Jad still sounds like no other singer, his little-boy voice has deepened in pitch and is smoother, if not more pleasant. In fact, though the music is still garagey and crude in a Velvets way, it sounds quite in place beside Black Francis or emo-punk, and Jad's obsessions with UFOs, aliens and monsters have never seemed more timely.
There's even a movie about Half Japanese ("The Band That Would Be King"), and Jad has collaborated with the equally odd Daniel Johnston, Krmaer and Phonocomb.
Now the bad news. While Half Japanese have put out many records, the odds of finding any of the older ones are pretty slim. "Fire In The Sky" (1992), "Hot" (1995), "Bonehead" (1997) and "Heaven Sent" (1998) are likely in print, but my most recent trip to the Amazon website was not encouraging on anything else.
Good news! "Greatest Hits" documents a lot of their career, and includes a fair sprinkling of that early stuff. However, I suspect even its availability is limited - particularly in the cool 3-LP blue vinyl edition.
That's a great place to start...though it may launch you on a lonely quest for those early records...and, no, I don't have them either.
Happy hunting, and don't beware of these geeks - they bear gifted guitars and sweet hearts!
"Who IS Tom Robinson, and why would I want to say his name?" you are doubtless saying...
Tom Robinson (b. 1950, Cambridge, England) was just about the first 'out' queer male rock singer I could think of (certainly the first one I became aware of as queer, around 1983, when "War Baby" began to get airplay in Canada...though that song did not appear to have overt queer content, I can just barely remember some VJ saying Tom Robinson was 'gay' - and, until Bronski Beat came along about a year later, that was my first exposure to something that made me say 'yes! There ARE other queer musicians out there!").
He wrote the classic song 'Glad to Be Gay', which many queers I know revile, missing the point. It's even more sad that this song is twice as relevant today as it was in its time.
Another cause of controversy around Tom is his marriage and subsequent breeding. One person I know had a frighteningly personal reaction to this: "He never sang 'Glad to be Bi'. He said he was gay..." I fear my buddy was on the verge of stomping his foot on the gound, Rumplestiltskin-style, and saying: "He promised he'd be gay! He promised!" To which I would suggest a little investment in reality and proportion is needed...sexuality is an approximation in flux.
But I digress. Tom is, of course, more than just a queer singer-songwriter. He has written extensively about labour issues, human rights, racism, women's liberation and many other subjects.
He has also co-written with many other artists, including Peter Gabriel and Elton John.
He is still slugging away at music today, putting out his sardonic voice and vaguely jazzy tunes for a small but loyal audience.
For info on the availability of his music, joining the fan club, and so on, I suggest you click on his name in the title of the article and visit his website...short of writing a book, I could not cover it all here...
There are eerie parallels between these two groups that cannot be discounted easily, much as you might desperately try to. In the name of revealing truth, and as proof that my job is both boring and brain-damanging, I present you with the inevitable skewed comparisons I thought of while there...
(1) Hanson come from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is a place John Cale mentioned in one of his songs.
(2) They are on PolyGram Records, as are the Velvets.
(3) Hanson has a blonde, long-haired singer with an odd voice, much like Nico of the Velvets.
(4) Hanson are a bunch of kids singing simple, catchy harmonies; Lou Reed started in a doo-wop group as a teenager.
(5) Hanson has immeasurable talent, as do the Velvets (there may be sarcasm in effect on one side of this equation).
(6) Both have had string arrangements on their songs.
(7) Each has a long, depressing song about isolation with deathly overtones on its debut album.
(8) Each mentions a deity in its lyrics.
(9) Aspersions have been cast on the instrumental skills of both bands.
(10) Hanson are cute, as was Lou Reed in his heyday (subjective, I know).
(11) Image and voice wise, members of both bands have been gender-misidentified.
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