1) Dave Day, the electric banjo player from The Monks, has died. For those of you who aren't familiar with The Monks, they were a group of American ex-G.I.'s living in Germany in the mid-1960's. In 1966, they released an album called Black Monk Time, rock and roll so wild, crazy, and stripped down that it has retroactively been acknowledged as a precursor to punk rock. They may not have had the name recognition of the Velvet Underground, Stooges, or MC5, but they belong in the same category. It's a shame that a Google news search for his name yields no matches: the Monks should be legends. At least Pitchfork got it. Thanks to Melissa for the heads up.
2) My friend Mike was looking at one of the paper inner sleeves for a record of mine yesterday. It was one of those Warner/Reprise sleeves from the 70's, which any record collector has seen a million of (I always noticed them because they all feature this photo on one side). However, I never looked very closely at the other side. The other side is an ad for the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders series of popular music compilations. Take a look at the text accompanying the product information:
My favorite parts:
- "We (and they) feel it's more important that these albums-about-other-albums be heard."
- "If our Accounting Department were running the company, they'd charge you $9.96 for each album. But they're not. Yet."
- ". . . if you're as suspicious of big record companies as we feel you have every right to be . . ."
- "It's our fervent hope that . . . you'll be encouraged to pick up more of what you haer on these special albums, at regular retail prices. That's where the profit lies."
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