Various Artists-The 20th Anniversary Of The Summer Of Love (1987)
Artist: Various Artists (Half Japanese, Fred Frith, Shockabilly, Sharky's Machine, The Shaved Pigs, The Moon, The Workdogs, Missing Foundation, Artless, Krackhouse, Bongwater, Tuli Kupferberg, Carney Hild Kramer, Fish & Roses, No Safety, Men and Volts, Samm and Dave, The Spongehead Experience, Allen Ginsberg & Steve Taylor, George Cartwright, Scott Williams, Otto Kentrol, Laraaji)
Title: The 20th Anniversary of The Summer of Love
Format: LP
Cat: shimmy 001
Year of Release: 1987
Country and Year of Edition: US 1987
Sell Price: $6.88 11/11/23
Condition: VG+/VG+
Discogs Last Sold: 11/4/23 NM/VG+ $5.41
Median: $6.94
Average: $7.14
High: $15.43
Current low price: $3.00
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 21
Have/Want: 358/64
Where Sold: Brookfield, OH
Time It Took To Sell: 8 years
Where and When Bought: new Cambridge, MA circa 1988 Second Coming Records
Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B
Sad To See It Go: No
The first album put out by Shimmy Disc pretty much set the template for the rest of their existence. Primarily an outlet for Kramer, ex-Butthole Surfer (touring mid 80's) and his Noise Studios in NYC, The focus was on the Avant Garde end of punk informed Rock and Downtown Jazz. It gives me pause that the time that has passed from this album until now far exceeds the anniversary timespan it was celebrating.
Since this was a cradle-to-grave movement, you had some 60's names like The Fugs' Tuli Kuferberg and beat poet Allen Ginsburg. You had what was then the establishment voices like Eugene Chadbourne (Shockabilly), Jad Fair (Half Japanese joined by John Zorn and Kramer) and Ralph Records' Fred Frith. You had acts Kramer was involved with, the biggest being Bongwater, but also the aforementioned Shockabilly, Carney, Hild, Kramer, The Moon (with Don Cherry) but not B. A. L. L. You had groups that put things out that circulated college radio circa 1987 like Men and Volts, Fish and Roses and The Shaved Pigs. You had acts that would ultimately issue albums on Shimmy Disc like Krackhouse and Sharkey's Machine, You also had some legends of the East Village like Missing Foundation (Mars Bar, Industrial), The Work Dogs (pre-Max Fish Lo-Fi Blues), and Maximum Rock 'n Roll's Mikal Board with Artless (Hardcore).
Artless was the track I remembered the most with "Vegetable Rights." Salads have feelings too! The other one was the side 2 opening Bongwater track "His New Look." This was an early Ann Magnuson rant (Five Fucking Years! I Love You!!!) that instantly lit up my memory banks. The rest of the record I had no recollection of, and now that I'm on my third spin I doubt I'll ever have the urge to hear this again.
Standouts: You can never go wrong hearing Ginsberg on "Dear M" with affiliate poet Steve Taylor. Krackhouse, who I witnessed in Worcester around 1988 and bought their album there, have a cute little Beatles medley called "My Revolution." I liked the Men and Volts track "Healing Hands" even though I remember not liking their album at the time it was in the new radio rotation. Now they are a curio for further review. Scott Williams was also interesting with a falsetto and 70's art rock sound. He put out an album in 1984 that had Lucinda Williams backing vocals called Lemme Love You that doesn't seem to have made it's way to streaming. You never know who is connected to what in New York City, the place of endless possibilities.
A snapshot of an era that made me want to move to NYC, for what that is worth.
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