The Shaggs – “Philosophy of the World” (1969)
A look back at this cult classic by the incomparable Shaggs, taken from the Jan. 28, 1981 issue of The Village Voice by the late, great Mr. Bangs.
Frank Zappa once said The Shaggs were “better then The Beatles” and that this one-of-a-kind album was his 3rd favorite of all time, and who would argue with Frank?...
Better Than the Beatles (and DNA, Too)
I have been getting whiny letters from a lot of you lately complaining about the general state of the art. “What is all this shit?” you ask. “We thought New Wave was supposed to be this awakening of New Avenues of Self Expression and Freedom, resulting in new musical verities and new insights into the human condition even! Instead we went out and spent all this money, and all these records are shit!”
You’re right about one thing at least: all those record are shit, and you might as well have burned all those dollar bills. (Closer, 12 bucks, haw haw haw!) But those records aren’t shit for the reasons that you think: those records are shit because they’re all too good!
That’s right. All those stupid bands were so stupid they plumb went out and learned to play their instruments, a process as ineluctable as the putrefaction of a corpse. Teach ‘em a chord or two, then just watch those little bastards practice till they can switch off, back and forth between those two chords (then three, then four . . . never shoulda learned even one!) deft as Al DiMeola if he wanted to play that which he probably will soon! Damn! Read the rest of this entry »
The Beat Patrol 