| Turn On Tune In Drop Out |
[Nov. 17th, 2011|11:10 am] |
Barry Richards TV Collection Vol. 1: Turn-On / Groove In / Rock Out, just released as a two disc set is a mesmerizing and fantastic collection of early performances by Alice Cooper,Little Richard, Richie Havens, Bob Seger System, Dr. John the Night Tripper, Biff Rose, Humble Pie and a bunch of obscure rock n roll bands who passed thru the Maryland / D.C. / Virginia area in the late 60s and early seventies when I was growing up there.
This collection is alot of fun, bringing back memories of the only counter-culture to make it on local TV at the time, on WDCA channel 20, (a station that actually aired gerbil races as entertainment, along with curiosities like Hugh Hefner's Playboy After Dark and the first televised airing of Monterey Pop.)
Forty years later (with Internet and thousands of tv channels) anyone under twenty will have no idea how deprived we were for excitement at a time when revolutionary changes were taking place around the world. For a 12 year old kid, living in Hyattsville, then Adelphi, Maryland, the world of rock n roll was an exotic other dimension accessible only on 45 records and LPs (bought with allowance money at Drug Fair after listening to Top Forty Radio on a portable transistor radio.)
Live concerts were years away on my limited budget, so television was the magical portal when Dick Clark, Ed Sullivan or the Smothers Brothers featured nationally aired performances of top bands to millions of viewers.
Life in Maryland in 1970 was particularly boring to anyone with a brain reading about what was going on in the big cities.
In Adelphi, everyone was square; classmates in Junior High were conformists kept in line by bullies, assistant principals and local church leaders. Jocks and cheerleaders were considered royalty. Dullards and fools ruled. There were no blacks in our school until court-ordered busing introduced immigration to us. Racism was the norm. Long hair on males didn't happen in our section of the planet until the year 1971. Most kids were mean or stupid back then, brainwashed by conformity, religion and racism.
When a local DJ named Barry Richards hosted a new show on UHF channel 20 called Turn On, informing us that it would be "free form television" I was hooked. Little did I know that Richards had been around since the early sixties, DJing on local radio in Washington, Maryland and New Jersey, actually interviewing the Beatles and later Little Richard (who custom-wrote and performed the Barry Richards Theme; major props for sure.) Both interviews are on the Disc Two Bonus CD.
Barry Richards was so hip, intelligent and funny he makes the Beatles seem mundane by comparison. Likewise in his conversations with Dr John, Chris Mitchum and Patrick Wayne (sons of Bob Mitchum and John Wayne promoting their movie) his hipster patter propels communication to a higher level. His vocal skills are astounding. Visiting Barry Richards website, I checked out old recordings of his on-air rants, brilliant excursions in linguistic inventiveness and bebop patois; revelations from another dimension. Barry Richards must have been the greatest DJ that ever lived, from the evidence I heard. He was the fastest, funniest and hippest voice on the airwaves and he belonged to us! He blew away Wolfman Jack, Murray The K and Cousin Brucie!
Barry Richards TV Collection Vol.1 starts with a brilliantly amateurish achievement from 1968 called GROOVE-IN featuring local teenagers at the Prince George's Community Center, assembled to witness one-hit wonder Cliff Nobles and his band do the soul hit "The Horse." Shoving his microphone into the mugs of bewildered teens to demand their ages and what high school they attend, Richards, resplendant in a psychedelic black and purple silk shirt with paisley patterns and an out of date greaser DA with fashionable sideburns exudes an infectious nervous energy that rivets ones attention. Followed by the Groove-In Teen Panel in which local kids with as much personality as a row of cabbages recite what appear to be pre-written questions for the equally inarticulate but amused 18 year old Cliff Nobles, I felt my mind being warped by the sheer strangeness of the proceedings. The cardboard sets with day-glow letters were a perfect repository for these teen mutants, creatures devoid of style or apparent grey matter placed in chairs behind a snazzy wooden constuction similar to Mac McGarry's That's Academic, (another local show designed to showcase the intellectual skills of local high schoolers.) This bargain basement bizarro world inquisition, refereed by Richards (in a red turtleneck, black nehru jacket and silver medallion) is a marvel to behold, a rare gem of akwardness and bright-eyed cluelessness, later trumped by a movie review segment in which the squarest looking humanoid imaginable, a kid named Barry, resembling a giraffe in a monkey suit offers his opinions on Kubrick's 2001. "It didn't look like they were, ah.. y'know like shooting it off a walls or something. It seemed like it was, you know, really shooting it right there in the moon or right, you know, on Jupiter or whatever. The plot was really average. You had to really think alot."
This is followed by Kathy, 16 from Fort Hunt High School on the teen board representing a Hechts Department Store, showcasing local fashions, as Barry holds up "threads" on a hanger representing "the Indian look."
Resembling a young Stepford Wife, Kathy recites her programmed screed concocted to immortalize mediocrity in clothing apparel for all gullible consumers. Beige is the dominant color, probably in polyester for all style conscious Marylanders.
Local band Flavor then lip synch "Sally Had a Party" under a cheesey red jet on a pedestal in a park I recognize from my personal stone age. Barry saunters in to conduct an abortive interview, exuding hipster charm in spite of his 50's do. "It's gonna be a stone gold nugget!" Barry opines regarding their ditty.
There follows Barry Richards Presents: Turn-On Pilot featuring the intense and excellent Richie Havens, before the unaccountable spectacle of talentless hippie buffoon "Uncle Dirty" and a band called Jamul playing in the woods somewhere near the TV station with a now long-haired and bearded Barry in a hippy ensemble next to Little Richard reclining on a car perusing the proceedings.
What strikes me with some of the more forgettable bands showcased on the tape is the intensity of the vocal performances, raw, ragged and inspired; influenced no doubt by black blues singers from less homogenized origins. The passion and energy of these singers, like Jamul's vocalist, as well as a young Bob Seger (pre-Night Moves) exude genuine fury and are riveting. Seger appears to be having a seizure, channeling years of pent-up angst in a wild performance that left a permanent mark on my psyche when I first witnessed it on the tube 40 years ago. It still lives up to the memory, as does Alice Cooper, performing "Eighteen" and "Black Ju Ju" to a studio audience sitting cross legged on the floor. This performance, following the bands national debut in the one-shot TV special Midsummer Rock left a lasting impression on every teenager who witnessed it in the summer of 1970. They were one of the top three bands in the country by then, breaking new ground and making history by returning rock n roll to its punk roots while bringing horror, fun, sexual perversity and theatricality to a medium in dire need of rejuvenation at the time. Just the idea that this band of trailblazing freaks were performing in a little TV studio a few miles from where I lived gave me a reason to live.
A couple years later I saw them live at the Capitol Center, from a coveted third row seat which left me deaf for a week. I loved them.
Humble Pie, a stadium band that were relentlessly hyped on the radio at the time, are also on this collection, featuring the riveting Steve Marriott whose greatness was cemented as the lead singer of the Small Faces in the 60s, and a very young and bearded Peter Frampton on lead guitar. Marriott, one of the finest singers in the history of rock n roll, is incredible. It doesn't matter what he sings about; the energy he channels is always powerful. He was a kind of rock n roll animal, the likes of which the world will likely never again see.
Current singers could learn alot from watching these performances; irony and ennui are boring; passion and raw power delivered in a forceful manner by a vocalist who cares and means what he's singing about is what real rock n roll is all about. Barry Richards had a keen eye for recognizing such talent. On one of his later shows he presented for the first time on TV a Mick Rock directed promo film of David Bowie on the cusp of achieving world fame as Ziggy Stardust.
Missing on this collection are historic performances by Captain Beefheart as well as Black Sabbath and Steppenwolf. Lets hope they appear in a Volume Two, along with more of Barry Richards great interviews with visiting actors and celebrities. Included on the new volume is an audio interview with Flash Gordon's Buster Crabbe. One of the best things about the free-form series Turn-On was its eclectic flavor; in between episodes of old serials like Jungle Girl and The Bowery Boys would appear interviews and performances by singers like Biff Rose and comedic interludes with visiting talents like The Ace Trucking Company. I give this collection five stars.
-Nick Zedd |
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