Various Artists ‎– "I.D. Art #2" (Los Angeles Free Music Society ‎– LAFMS #002) 1976

That Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) certainly know/knew how to put together a good abstract compilation record. This one dates from even before "Blorp essette" in 1976.
Back then the LAFMS had already deconstructed rock even before the 'Punks' had decided to destroy 'Rock' by playing....er.....Rock? Very little on here would even have been perceived as music in those ELP ruled days,even today this still has a very large capacity to annoy and frighten Mr and Mrs Henry Normal; and may even make John Q. Public angry(?). When confronted with Conceptual Art, the Hive mind can be easily confused and sent in to the defensive 'fight or flight' mode of a cornered animal.Frequently dismissing such  challenges to accepted norms as 'Rubbish'  or 'Not Art',backed up with violent urges. Its the difference between Constables' 'Haywain' and Picasso's "Weepin Woman",the difference between Craft and Art; the difference between ELP and  Smegma.

Tracklist:

A1	–Mac McCloud	A, Mac McCloud;B, Mac McCloud
A2	–Harold Schroeder	Silent Rituals
A3	–Greg Neutra / J.D. Elliot	Grieg Fatigue
A4a	–Smegma	Rrose Selavy Will Wait For My Washing Machine, Even
A4b	–Smegma	The Andalusian Dog Often Digs Into The Furniture With Onyx Fingers
A5	–Smegma	Potatoe War
A6	–Fredrik Nilsen	You Can't Hide From Aldehyde
A7	–Miles Forst	Art, Art, Art
A8	–Smegma	One Moment
A9	–Smegma	Pigface Blues
A10	–Doug Henry	View This Command As A Verbal Enactment Of A Command
A11	–Josie Roth	Heal, And Another Little Time
A12	–Joe Potts	I Don't Want To Go To The Farm
A13	–Otto Fick	Untitled
A14	–Smegma	Excerpt From: I'll Have Julie Nixon-Eisenhower For My Appetizer (Sour Lungs To My Surprise)
A15	–Karen Kato	Xmas 1952
A16	–J.J. Allen Vargas	Victim Of Racism
A17	–Dennis Guy Mehaffey	Busta Nosa
A18	–M/R/Zuniga	Vulnerability: Rape, Male Vs. Female
A19	–Mike Green	Martin Heiddeger Revisited
A20a	–Mehaffey	Introduction By Buckminster Fuller
A20b	–Mehaffey	I Stumble/You Laugh
A21	–Jules Lemelle	Untitled
B22	–Maureen Abbott	Untitled
B23	–Smegma	Take One
B24	–Dan Weiss / P. Hamilton Ross	A Bicentennial Tribue To America's Freight Trains
B25	–Mr. Foon	Timeless #1
B26	–Bertil Petersson	Monologue To Henry VIII
B27	–Amrein & Stoll	Untitled
B28	–Ace & Duce	Dogs Are Barking
B29	–Irene Dogmatic / Rose Tatoo	Untitled
B30	–Gordon Shields	Cotton Duck, Up And Back
B31	–Gary Beydler	Record Stick
B32	–Tom Kemp	Pasadena Subway Station Poetry Stills
B33	–Donald Spaulding	I Don't Want This To Happen
B34	–Janice Felger / Joan Hugo	One Minute Of Art News Update In 30 Seconds
B35	–Sue Farthing	Untitled
B36	–Waynna Kato	White/Noise
B37	–Jim Abuan / Peter Muzzey	Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad?
B38	–Juan Gomez	This Is My Country
B39	–P.J. Campbell	Untitled
B40	–Kathe Schreyer	Don't Make Me Laugh
B41	–Mary Dana Chodzko	Patty Smith By Mary Dana Chodzko
B42	–Gary Laskin	Have Sex With Rex
B43	–Jean Koller	Dream
B44a	–Le Forte Four	Discarded Portion Of The Soundtrack For Rick's Film "Burger Madness"
B44b	–Le Forte Four	From "The Origin Of Large Schrapnel"
B44c	–Le Forte Four	I Haven't Heard You For A Long Time…
B44d	–Le Forte Four	Fat Ape

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Various Artists ‎– "Blorp Esette Volume One" (Los Angeles Free Music Society ‎– LAFMS#05) 1977

The Iconic compilation from the abstract world of the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS),complete with faux naive  artwork by none other than Don Van Vliet; that very over-rated painter formerly known as Captain Beefheart, the very under-rated musician.
All the usual combinations of LAFMS members are here,plus an exclusive track from none other than, no not Don Van Vliet, but The Residents, from during the height of their creative summer.
It may have been 1977,but you won't find any Punk Rock on here; having said that, you won't find any Punk Rock as Punk Rock as this either.The boundaries of the definition of music are stretched like the loose elastic of Meat Loafs sweaty underpants. So much so, that when The Residents track appears, they sound like Top Ten material......which of course they should have been?

Track Listing:

A1 - 'Intro' - Unknown Artist
A2 - 'Neil Schneck' - Dr Odd
A3 - 'Her Father's Love' - Electric Willy
A4 - 'Somebody Pooped In Their Pants' - Daniel Stewart
A5 - 'The Lubricated Braggarts Countdown' - Cheezit Ritz
A6 - '(LA(WEBSTER7)0)' - Reet/Craig
A7 - 'Excerpt from "I Smell Smoke" - Smegma
A8 - 'Oktaaves' - Mr. Foon
A9 - 'Whoopy Snorp' - The Residents
A10-'Half magic' - The Patients
A11-'Outro/Wolf Loop' - Unkown Artist

B1 - '2or 3 unclaimed Negros Corpses' - The Professor
B2 - 'Still Life' - D.K.,Reet Meate
B3 - 'Japanese Super Heroes' - Le Forté Four
B4 - 'The return Of The Pyramidal Oinksnovs' - Gods Of The Pits
B5 - 'Ya Gotta Geek The Geeker' - Smegma
B6 - 'HEA/AOS' - ACE=1,c/s-Helena Armand
B7 - 'Reet Solo Real Bass' - Ju Suk Reet Meate
B8 - 'Microphobia' - Mr. Foon's Bandaloon
B9 - 'Just Don't forget,Frank Is The Real Boss' - Frank Bedal

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Le Forte Four (With Patients) ‎– "Boris The Spider/Priceless" (Cortical Foundation ‎– organ of Corti 28) 2001

Remember when Philip Glass made a minimalist 'Symphony' out of David Bowie albums, well, this is Le Forte Fours' Non-music symphony based on the Who's novelty hit,  Boris The Spider.

I've always liked the idea of doing hour long versions of popular tunes,and this is a pretty decent effort at subverting the popular form.

Recorded around 1973,the song itself appears only as a chaotic band rehearsal crossed with 'The Trogg tapes', buried amongst a collage of looney toons recordings from the TV, excerpts from The Mothers of Inventions fine 'Uncle Meat' album,Dr Demento show, Monty Python, and various other stolen moments from various media forms. Fundamentally a nascent form of Plunderphonia, reminiscent of fellow LAFMS artist Dennis Ducks Disco album.

This is either a tribute to their main influences, or a comment on the flood and over-availabilty of art as entertainment,which changes almost every day like switching over hundreds of TV channels with your remote control in the comfort of your living room.Theres too much information, too much art, and too much that passes for 'Entertainment' ; so much of everything,that it all drowns in itself,and kills any possibility of real originality. Nostalgia for the days when we had freedom from choice rather than no choice, but to have freedom of choice ; far too much choice.

Or,as I suspect,were the Potts brothers and friends just having fun?

As I like Looney Toons cartoons,The Mothers of Invention, and members of the Who(but never Daltrey)always seem to make up part of my fantasy Super Group of Rock, I have to like this record........and I do.

Tracklist:

1	–	Boris The Spider Part 1	28:32
2	–	Boris The Spider Part 2	31:21
3	–	Boris The Spider Part 3	7:37

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Various ‎– "Darker Skratcher" (Los Angeles Free Music Society ‎– LAFMS#12) 1980

Classic American underground compilations are rather thin on the ground,but probably the best of them is the Los Angeles Free Music Society's “Darker Skratcher”.

It starts off with a bang, thanks to Boyd Rice and Daniel Miller (Non and the Normal), and a Rosicrucian Temple record set to a minimal electronic backing track.The Rosicruscian's were a quasi-religious sect who made records to hypnotise our children into good,clean, citizens.The best Boyd Rice track ever,and the second best thing Miller has ever done.(Don't ask what the best track by The Normal was!)

Other highlights are the Monitor track, 45 Grave's ,before they got too “gothy”, dark poppy effort,DennisDuck's Davey the Worm,and the repetitive synth-punk of Human Hands.

Amongst the more accessible material we get the usual bizarre mixed bag of strangeness from the usual LAFMS regulars, and a standard modern primitive outing from Jad fair,of Half Japanese 'fame'.

A hugely entertaining underground Californian variety show,and a great introduction for the uninitiated, into the murky darkly scratchy world of the Los Angeles Free Music Society. Enter at someone else's peril,because you won't regret it.

A1	– Boyd Rice & Daniel Miller	Cleanliness And Order	2:45
A2	– Jad Fair	XXOO	0:30
A3	– Vetza	Stale Puppy-Dog Tails	1:30
A4	– Rick Potts Band, The	Platform Swimfins	3:00
A5	– Monitor	Guardian	2:05
A6	– Doo-Dooettes	Pork Had Better Behave	2:05
A7	– 45 Grave	Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood	2:37
A8	– NON	NON-Watusi
B1	– Foundation Boo	Nap	2:10
B2	– Airway	Perpendicular Thrust	3:45
B3	– Dennis Duck	Davey The Worm	3:00
B4	– Le Forte Four	The Lowest Form Of Music	3:08
B5	– Human Hands	I Got Mad	3:00
B6	– Bpeople	The Other Thing	2:38

 

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Le Forte Four ‎– "Bikini Tennis Shoes" (Los Angeles Free Music Society ‎– LAFMS#01) 1975

The first LAFMS release from way back in the lost year of 1975, was by early Potts vehicle, Le Forte Four. I wager that there was nothing quite like this on vinyl in 1975. Thirty half-formed ideas, mostly under a minute long,and quite a few under thirty seconds in length.An Electronic Musique Concrète sound collage of funny noises, studio buffoonery, and found dialogue, with a few rough jams thrown in for good measure. An abstract non-Music antidote from the era of “Tales of Topographic Oceans”.

Were these guys on drugs?......er Yes......as in Yes(the prog criminals), were;....the wrong drugs!

Tracklist :

A1	Ka-Bella-Cha-Cha
A2	Some Problem With The Cord Or Something
A3	Ka-Bella-Binsky-Bungo (Excerpt)
A4	Good Worker
A5	Aye Ma Ma (I'm Amok)
A6	Meanwhile Back At The Tulip Boat, STinky And Gus Make Warplanes
A7	Your Living Constitution (Dies)
A8	Before Docking In Space
A9	Candy Wrapper Blues
A10	A Little Sloppy Still
A11	Bikini Tennis Shoes (One Pair)
A12	Joe's Nose Solo
A13	Song Of The Electric Drill
A14	I Can't Even Think
A15	On The Dawning Of A Giant Face
A16	Joe's Dead/Bozo's Marriage/Twinkle
A17	What Do You Do, Radiator?
A18	The Grocery Store Is My Heaven
A19	Fade It Out
B1	The Pope Speaks
B2	Crank Up The Kids
B3	Bongo Madness
B4	Ka-Bella Reprise (An Excerpt In 5 Movements)
B5	Steven, Steven
B6	Sonnet
B7	Ballad De Forte Four
B8	It's Raining Bongos
B9	They Are Asleep
B10	Music Hall Bootleg (Excerpt)
B11	Painting The Roses Red
B12	Enough Fun
B13	That Feedback Again

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