MC5 -- Babes In Arms

  Super charged Punk Rock band the MC5 are often cited as being a Proto-Punk outfit ... but seriously these guys make the Anarchist Punks of the 70's look like a bunch of babies in comparison to the White Panther Party, they did more than practice what they preach, they lived it like a religion!  Babes In Arms works like a Best Of/ Rarities compiled by Kramer's personal recordings, from early stuff, to reworked album tracks, to alternate takes.  Originally put out as a cassette only release in 1983, it finally made it to vinyl.  Anything by the 5 isn't short of being wild and great, meaning, "KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHERF*CKERS!!!"

Modern Lovers -- The Original ...

  Recorded in 72' by Rock luminary Kim Fowley ... this album is a little rough around the edges, more like a demo than anything.  Richman had quite the pre-supergroup backing him, who went on to be in the Real Kids, Talking Heads and The Cars.  All in all the album is a cute artifact as well as a piece of shit.

The Beau Brummels -- The Golden Archives Series

  A collection of hits (64 to 68) by early Garage Rock outfit The Beau Brummels.  I hear they took their name so they'd be the next thing you'd find after The Beatles.  These songs are great artifacts of American Garage Folk masters, most are produced by Sylvester Stewart also know as Sly Stone.  However I do find these numbers mostly forgettable and vocally annoying.  They were a great influence on things to come in the 60's, but they were out done by their contemporaries like the Byrds.  Personally I'd rather stick with my Brummel 45's, a song here a song there, than an entire record ... but that's just my opinion!

The Moody Blues -- Go Now

  A couple years before their breakthrough summer of love hit record, the Moody Blues release this album, also known as The Magnificent Moodies in the UK.  The record works like a typical British Beat group, some old covers, some originals.  What I did like about the album is that they have a real cool Blue Eyed Soul sound with hints of Doo Wop from time to time, that became an unexpected surprise, as well as a message from Donovan telling us how awesome they are on the back cover ... I might not totally agree with the Mellow Yellow gnome ... but the record was/ is pretty damn good!

Roxy Music -- Stranded

  Spaced out Glam Rock, Roxy Music's third release is actually pretty good, even though it's Eno-less.  I can't imagine the cartoon rocker Brian Ferry winning in a battle of the ego's against Brian Eno.  Eno is so beyond Ferry, no wonder he left to pursue his own thing, nonetheless this is a great record by a great band!

Richard Hell & The Voidoids -- Blank Generation

  I found this record in a flea market, the owner of the place was always looking out for some kind of detail that would make anything that much more expensive ... so there it was unwrapped in a radio station's old collection, in a spot that I was told not to look, I knew the bastard would have ripped me off if he saw where I was standing and knew that the album was still in the plastic ... so I changed positions to where the regular crap was ... I quickly and silently took the wrapping off and stuffed it between a couple Charlie Pride records, then made my way towards the white haired penguin to make my deal.  The guy had no idea what he was looking at, I could see in his beady little eyes that he was looking for some detail that would scream valuable to him, but he didn't know squat, the odds were in my favor, and I was right ... the cheeky bastard let it go for a fiver, man was I relieved, I would have paid 20 bones for that goddamn thing, instead I practically stole it from him.

  Funny footnote: I used to think that Love Comes In Spurts, was Love Bombs In Space, listen to it, it's there, I can still hear 'em say it to this day ...

999 -- Concrete

    The fifth release for one of the original 77 Punk bands 999.  This album works more like a Garage Rock Revival record rather than a Punk album, featuring many 60's covers ... I'd like to say I liked it ... but I didn't ... I'll stick with my compilation with Homicide on it instead ...