The "Influential Records" Game Commentary, Part 3

The next batch of top ten influential albums takes place during the Punk Rock era. We begin with Chrome’s Half Machine Lip Moves. I remember listening to this for the first time over at The Next house, across the street from where I lived while forming Terminal Mind. I used to hang out over there a lot, and either Chuck or Manolo would be playing the latest records they had gotten hold of. I can still feel the creepy euphoria I felt listening to this for the first time and gazing at this record cover, trying to figure out what planet it had beamed in from! There was a truly groundbreaking sense to the acid-fried sci-fi permeating this release: the “songs” (such as they were), the jump-cut editing and crazy mixes, and the alien artwork! Totally breathtaking! It existed on its own plane so completely that there was no way to really incorporate the influences directly, at least at first. I just allowed it to push me to try new processes and instrumentation (more on that in a second). The real influence of this record showed up later, I think, when I was getting off the ground with my group Miracle Room.

I remember the afternoon that a shy man moved in next door to me, and came over to introduce himself when he heard me playing a record rather loudly. His name was Luis, and he was a poet. I believe it was he who introduced me to Pere Ubu by playing their first record, The Modern Dance, for me. He was already up on their history and mythos, and knew that David Thomas liked to refer to himself as Crocus Behemoth. Again, this record seemed to exist in its own vacuum. Now that I think of it, that seems to be a recurrent theme: I am drawn to music that doesn’t make sense in the normal world at all. The more singular it is, the better. And Pere Ubu were indeed singular. I was especially drawn to their use of the synthesizer as a sound effect generator and not some cheesy substitute lead instrument like so many Prog Rock and New Wave bands. The sound crept on your skin, lodged itself in your ear, and drilled into your brain; I was all in! Allan Ravenstine was the secret weapon for this group, but the songs and vocal delivery, and the whole package, were just as inspiring. I had recently seen the movie Eraserhead at the Varsity Theater (the art house in town), and the photo on the back of the record looked like it could have been a still from that film. But it was the synth sounds from this (and the synth-type sounds of Half Machine) that made me start thinking about adding a synth to the guitar-focused trio of Terminal Mind. And shortly thereafter, a tightly wound weirdo approached me at the Continental Club during a break between our sets and offered his services. This was Jack Crow. He mentioned that he played synth, guitar and clarinet. His clarinet playing was strictly screechy chaos, and his guitar playing was approximately the same, but he played an Electrocomp synth that was patterned after an Arp Odyssey. Electrocomp was the brand that Ravenstine played in Pere Ubu; we were on our way! Years later, I got to see Pere Ubu at the original (small) Knitting Factory in New York, with all the original members except Ravenstine, who was admirably filled in for by Eric Drew Feldman.

This may come as a surprise, but up to this point I had avoided (or at least not come into contact with) hallucinogens. Jack used to taunt me before shows by telling me that he had just dropped a couple of hits of acid (it was impossible to tell!), but soon after I had my first trip. And then a friend/fan asked me one afternoon if I knew anything about Steve Hillage. He played his first record, Fish Rising, for me. Jack’s Dallas friend, and my soon-to-be band mate and dear friend Will Clay, had pointed me to Gong right away when we had met before a show Terminal Mind did with his then-band The Telefones, but it had been a brief reference and hadn’t really stuck. But now that I was “experienced”, the whole thing started to make sense! Hillage’s lyrics haven’t really aged well, weighed down as they are with repeated mentions of the “new age”, but his guitar playing and use of delay as a rhythmic device were astounding, and immediately left a mark on me. I learned everything I know about the syncopated use of echo from Steve Hillage. And the final song on this record, “Aftaglid”, is one of the greatest Acid Rock tunes of all time! The way it constantly builds and releases, then builds even more, is nothing short of an epiphany! My friend, who apparently had spent some time in Europe on a tour with the group, also told the story of their “gypsy caravan” lifestyle, which really stuck with me too.

From Steve Hillage, I looked into Gong. Again, I was totally hooked. The floating nature of their psychedelia, and experimental use of reeds and electronics, came to play a large part in my “next level” approach. I love Camambert Electrique and the Flying Teapot Trilogy of records culminating in You. This was the record that Will had shown me! If the lyrics could at times seem a little hippy hokey, the extended instrumental parts and the vocal drones were another revelation! And I have regularly made use of the “glissando” style of guitar playing that they perfected. They were a major practitioner of the kind of psychedelic music that doesn’t just play as backdrop to a trip, like a lot of the West Coast bands seemed to, but recreated the effect of tripping in the music. Powerful stuff! This might not fit into your assumptions of where a “punk” like me should go, but go there I did! And I’ve been soaring ever since…