THE MONKEES: PORPOISE SONG

This is one of the heaviest 1960's psych/doom songs ever recorded. It comes from the movie HEAD featuring THE MONKEES in a fractured, sometimes humorous psychedelic nightmare. This movie will rip your synapses and logic apart...great movie and song. One of these days I'll get around to reviewing this one.

The song here is only 30 seconds long. Log in to Imeem or create an account to hear the whole thing. It's a copyright issue, I guess. I highly recommend any serious music fan to have an Imeem account anyway.

Porpoise Song - The Monkees

TROUBLE: PLASTIC GREEN HEAD

Ok. I've been trying to complete my Trouble collection for a long. long time now. Seems like all of their long lost recordings from the late 1980's on are finally back in print. SIMPLE MIND CONDITION, PLASTIC GREEN HEAD, MANIC FRUSTRATION, and TROUBLE. I'm working on getting all of these long lost out of print gems. I just purchased PLASTIC GREEN HEAD (1996) last night and let me tell you, it blew me away.

PLASTIC GREEN HEAD has been long out of print and impossible to find for over a decade. I never even got a chance to hear this album when it originally came out. It was supposed to be a solid follow up to their previous release MANIC FRUSTRATION. I never found it anywhere. It appeared and disappeared that fast. So today, after more than ten years waiting, I'm lucky enough to have my hands on this album and I'm anxious to deliver a review.

PLASTIC GREEN HEAD comes off as a bit more sedate and unsettling Trouble album. It has the vibe of having taken one too many trips....that feeling of being scared to put one foot back into reality. It also conveys a sort of dry, frayed nerve endings, burnt out vibe that can be a bit unnerving but really works to this album's advantage.

There are really two styles of music on this album. The first is a detatched, burnt out, heavy as hell doom....Trouble's riffs have never been so vicious yet so subtle. Eric Wagner's vocals sound a bit distanced and at the same time more painful, but that only adds to the strength of the album. The riffs are incredible..the best of Trouble's career so far. Check out" Plastic Green Head" and "Long Shadows Fall".

The second style that Trouble puts forth on PLASTIC GREEN HEAD is one they had been attempting to perfect on their two previous releases TROUBLE and MANIC FRUSTRATION. The crushing, melodic, psychedelic doom ballad...a heavy slab of depression featuring the bleakest harmonies of THE BEATLES and the dirge-like qualities of the works of DONOVAN comibined into one. Really just heavy 1960's melodic psychedelic doom. They have perfected that sound on this release. Listen to "REQUIEM"...and marvel at their version of THE MONKEES' "PORPOISE SONG"....this has got to be one of the gloomiest psych rock songs ever recorded. There is also a Beatles song on here, "TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS". One thing I really noticed here: There is a lack of the Christian overtones that one has grown to expect from Trouble. It is as if the band had descended into a downward, drug-induced spiral....and I can't complain one bit. This would be their last album until about ten years later when they re-grouped and recorded SIMPLE MIND CONDITION.

All in all, PLASTIC GREEN HEAD is an excellent, crushing, TROUBLE album. It is a bit dry, but if you can get over that fact, this is a solid release, worthy to be in the collection of any self-respecting fan of all things retro and doom.

BLOOD FREAK: THANKSGIVING HORROR

Ok. I've been looking for a Thanksgiving horror movie and I've finally found one. It's a movie that came out in 1972 about a murderous, drug addicted turkey monster that must drink the blood of drug addicts to get his fix. I kid you not! I haven't seen this one yet but here is an excellent review I found: Prepare yourself for BLOOD FREAK! It's out of print, but I will stop at nothing to track down this film.

This trailer is hialrious. So bad it's good...

THE MISFITS: BRAINEATERS

As far as I know, this is the only official music video The Glen Danzig Misfits ever made. Grainy and faded out...priceless. From the "Walk Among Us" album.

AND LEST WE FORGET...

And lest we forget...

This is for those of you who like to imbibe a bit on Halloween. The effects of a good Halloween can be heightened by the intake of the alcoholic beverage (or beverages) of your choice. My poison of choice is beer. So what will I be drinking?

I'd like to be drinking this on Halloween:

Or this:


But due to budgetary constraints, it looks like I'll be having this...the old stand-by.



I definitely won't be drinking this, no matter how cheap it is. Learned my lesson.

Have a safe and fiendish Halloween everyone.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIES

No Halloween is perfect not only without the right music...you must have the perfect movies as well. What makes a great horror movie to me? Well, it is one that is creative, frightening, and one that has something extra to it, some morbid charm that makes me want to come back to it again and again. Personally, I really don't care for your traditional slasher movies. I like my horror slightly more outside the box, so here goes. These are in no particular order. There may not be anything particularly ground-breaking here, but these are the movies I find myself coming back to again and again...especially on Halloween.

1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. George Romero's original black and white classic. The perfect zombie movie. So human, so crushing, so terrifying. This movie floors me every time I see it.



2. EVIL DEAD. Sam Raimi's first EVIL DEAD movie. There is something downright terrifying and adrenaline-fueled about this movie. Raimi's creativity runs amok here in it's most primitive form. The budget wasn't as big and the look not as sleek as the second one, but the raw energy and dementia of this film puts it over the top. My favorite of the trilogy.



3. SUSPIRIA. Daria Argento's most creative, visually stunning, and aurally unsettling movie of his career. If you're into balls out, psychedelic suspense and gore, you gotta see this one.



4. SPIDER BABY. Director Jack Hill's first and my personal favorite of his. This is what makes a horror movie for me. Very quirky and and inventive. Great dialogue and camera work. The acting and characters are what make this movie tick. If you want something well off the beaten path, watch SPIDER BABY.



5. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. I love Ed Wood, I know everyone thinks his movies are the worst ever made. Just watch this one. Low budget aside, it's full of child-like thrills and chills. I never grow weary of this film.



6. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hellish, fast-paced, nightmarish, and brilliant. The pacing of this movie is top notch. Once you get through watching this one you are emotionally drained, and you won't be able to sleep either. Downright terrifying. The energy of this movie is tremendous. It is difficult for most slasher films to reach this intensity. Accept no re-makes or substitutes. If you watch just one slasher film this year, let it be this one.



What are some your favorites?

MY FAVORITE ALBUMS TO LISTEN TO ON HALLOWEEN

Ok. I love Halloween, and no Halloween is right without the perfect music to set the mood. Here are some personal favorites, the ones I find myself listening to again and again...especially around this time of year. These are in no particular order.

1. WITCHCRAFT's self -titled debut album. This album emanates a creepy retro-vibe, like a darker, more primitive and accessible early Black Sabbath. Very dark and hazy.




2. LA SEXORCISTO by WHITE ZOMBIE. The perfect accompaniment to you Halloween night. Fright-filled, sleazy, and drugged-out. Rob Zombie's lysergic lyrics, the abundant horror and b-movie samples, and bountiful evil grooves make this one my personal Halloween (and year-round favorite).

Embedding disabled by request. Makes me mad. Click here.

3. WALK AMONG US by THE MISFITS. My personal favorite Misfits album. Campy, catchy, and full of blood lust and horror b-movie worship. A must have for any horror fiend.



4. THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW by CALABRESE. Just pure horror punk at it's finest. Can't live without it.



5. SUSPIRIA SOUNDTRACK by GOBLIN. This is one of the most disturbing and mind-bending works of music to ever be recorded. Do not listen to this alone in the dark. If you want to scare the be-jeezus out of some Trick or Treaters play this one really loud. The movie is badass too but I will get to that soon enough.




6. BLACK ANGELS, by KRONOS QUARTET. I saved the darkest and most intense for last. Kronos Quartet is a string quartet that plays their own versions of some of the most extreme, intense, personal, and unsettling compositions of music ever written. BLACK ANGELS is their darkest, most bleak and emotional album in my opinion. Play this one really loud with the windows open and Trick-or-Treaters (what's left of their dwindling numbers anyway) will be too scared to even come to your door.



Ok, that's it. I'm sure I've probably left out some. What are some of your favorite albums to listen to on Halloween? I'd love to hear from you.

THE MISFITS: LAND OF THE DEAD

Fiends rejoice! Two new Misfits songs have just been released this month..."Land of the Dead" and 'Twilight of the Dead". You can purchase them on vinyl or download them from Amazon or I-Tunes. Both tracks are great...just what the doctor ordered for Halloween. The line-up consists of Jerry only on vocals, Dez Cadena on guitar, and Robo on drums. To read more, click here.

Songs Stuck in My Head...

Here's two completely unrelated songs that have been stuck in my head and rambling around all week. The first is The Car's "Just What I needed" and the second is Black Sabbath's "Fairies Wear Boots"....so here they are. Enjoy.

The Right Coffee Mug...

If you're like me, you love your coffee in the morning. I know I do. I can't function without it. It doesn't matter what coffee you drink. Coffee in the morning always tastes good, and everyone has different opinions about the brand, etc. What really matters is the receptacle you drink your ritual morning java out of. I don't know about you, but I love a good coffee mug. It must be relatively large, have a nice big handle to hold firm in hand, be pleasing to the eye, and most importantly, be easy to drink out of. You don't want any groggy early morning coffee spills.

Pictured below are the coffee mugs I love the most. They are the only ones I use. I know, gentlemen, if you are married, the spouse may frown on these types of mugs. They don't match the dishes, or anything else in the house for that matter. But if your wife is like mine, she will overlook these things because she knows you have to have your coffee and those dainty coffee cups that match the dishes just won't do.

Before we begin with the pictures, it is important to know that you should have several mugs, one which fits the mood you may be in any given morning.

First off is the mug you have to have on the worst mornings. Hard time waking up? Didn't get enough sleep? If you answered yes to both of these questions (like me) then this is the mug for you. It's an eye opener, and combined with some good joe, you will be awake in no time.




The next two mugs are for mild mornings. When you've gotten enough sleep, everything is pretty mellow, and you're feeling pretty good before you even touch the coffee. Drinking out of these mugs signifies it might be a pretty good day.




And as we all know, after the work week is over with, we still need our coffee. The weekend coffee mug can be very important, possibly the most important of all. You must choose one that will truly jump start your weekend. This should be the sacred, almighty coffee mug that no one else is allowed to touch. Here's mine.





What's your favorite coffee mug(s)? I would love to hear.