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"Ain't got no looks/but I know what cooks." --Oblivians, "I'm Not a Sicko, There's a Plate in My Head"

VARIOUS-Deep River of Song--Mississippi: The Blues Lineage(1999 CD)

John and Alan Lomax-recorded field sessions from 1936 and 1942. In addition to the relatively high profile Son House and McKinley Morganfield compositions which are always nice to hear, choice cuts on this one include Frank Evans' "Red River Blues"--a jaunty number reminiscent of Blind Willie McTell's "poppier" side--and William Brown's "Ragged and Dirty"--a dirt blues as "made famous" by the Turpentine Brothers. Evans, who was in prison at the time, and Brown, who wasn't, were never heard from again after they made these recordings--human ephemera who wouldn't have "existed" if not for the father/son song collecting team. Decent, if wildly uneven, companion piece to the younger Lomax's Land Where the Blues Began memoir of his life as a folklorist. (Rounder Records Corp./One Camp Street/Cambridge, MA 02140)

OBLIVIANS-Popular Favorites(1996 CD)

If it sometimes seems as if I'm continually playing catch-up with all these gone-but-not-forgotten rockers, that's only cause I'm five years ahead of my time in reverse...over-the-top trash masterpiece from a wigged-out Memphis three-piece more than once hailed as "kings of the fucked-up blues" or some clever fanzine shite like that...kings of the fucked-up Elvis impersonators ("Christina," "You Better Behave"), o' the just post-Crypt Style '60s punk hoodlums ("Trouble"), and well, OK, maybe a little of the f/u blooze ("Do the Milkshake") is more like it, a fine point for you to consider when savoring the mammoth blown speaker sound achieved by at least one of the two guitarists. A flying pork chop flung by men what knew what they were doing re: flying pork chop flinging! (Crypt Records/3 Reading Ave./Frenchtown, NJ 08825)

VELVET UNDERGROUND-Sweet Sister Ray(1987 LP)

Live at the La Cave in Cleveland on 04/30/68 and at the Boston Tea Party on Lansdowne Street on 12/12/68 and 03/15/69. People who aren't already Velvets fans prob. won't get too excited over the drug-draggy title track which meanders over the first two sides of this double-LP set for 40 minutes of more or less quiet exploration, but even the most jaded hipster will have to admit that the following two versions of the original "Sister Ray" more than make up for it with all the white noise and panoramic sound that made the band such a freaky force of nature live. Side four comes from the legendary March '69 "guitar amp" mix recorded direct from Lou Reed's cabinet and is hence one of the ultimate expressions of non-CD sound quality/feedback-as-a-way-of-life pyrotechnics. Fine room-clearing blast to play for that Bjork t-shirt wearing "V.U. fan" who tells you he "really likes" the group's '93 Euro reunion stuff. Dickhead. (SSR boot)