BILLYSI - 'Orion' (Official video) (2021 XDR Remaster)

#Zeikwijven: Froukje live in Muziekstad Rotterdam

"Het #leven; het is maar hoe je het bekijkt."

het debiele broertje van #Loesje

Cheers, Eddy Lite

~(;^D)} 

Met in gedachten de zielen van Bidi, Snitventje, Mam & Paps...

<3

'The Human Race Nailed to a Cross' - The Anna Sthetic PLASMATICS essays - PART III

'Art and Conservatism' - An Essay by Anna Sthetic

I thought of calling this essay "the cowardly music journalists". After all, there would be some justification in doing so. There they are, sitting behind their "Writers, living the high life with their free lunches, their free records and their famous celebrity friends. Free to write what they like, about whom they want, answerable to nobody. With vitriol dripping from my pen, I could write one savage paragraph after another. But that would make me no different to them ... and, to be fair, they aren't all bad. In fact, some of them are pretty damned good. Well, would YOU want to listen to records you don't like, go to gigs by people you can't stand, and attend tiresome show-business parties when you have more important things to do - like wallpapering the hall, mowing the lawn, or laying waste to the universe?

Like art itself, critics are very conservative creatures. Art - conservative? Well yes, I think it is very conservative. Take painting. The so-called radical artist is no such thing at all. The motivation is almost always money, lots and lots of it. The more the better! Of course, the only way for an artist to get lots of money is by selling a picture to someone who is rich. Selling paintings to penniless refugees just ain't on! So, aim high! Aim at the rich and famous! Appeal to their vanity! (and milk their vanity and foolishness ... there's plenty of it, and it shows no sign whatever of running out) But don't forget ... their eyesight isn't what it once was, so please don't make your picture the size of a grain of sand. And, over the coming years, you will want to sell them lots and lots more! So don't make the first one so large that it covers the entire inner and outer surface of their home, because they wouldn't have anywhere to hang the next one. (unless you could persuade them to throw the first one away, to make the next one even scarcer and more desirable; now that really would be radical)

So what you do is make your picture about the same size as every other painting. Maybe a bit bigger than many, but not as big as those really enormous ones you see in the famous art galleries, you know the ones I mean, they're like a cathedral inside but much quieter. And the shape of the masterpiece-to-be? Well, it could be round, or oval, or irregular, or spherical ... but let's not get carried away! Good, old-fashioned rectangular, that's perfect. Just like all the rest of them. You can even buy the canvas or board for your ever-so-radical work of art down in the shopping mall, along with the frozen genetically- modified food and all the other crap. So very convenient! You can even buy a nice frame to go round it. And some brushes and paints. Just like all the other artists. A few of them try to be really different. They use things like human blood and body parts, dead animals, human waste etc. in their attempts to create some exciting, radical, new work of art. But in truth they no more radical than Mrs. Suburban Housewife, re-arranging her lounge furniture in a slightly different layout.

True radicalism isn't the province of the artist messing about with tubes of paint, but of the poet and the philosopher. Do they devalue their message by setting it to music, maybe in the key of Cm7?
Now that's a question ...

‘Opus In Cm7’

WHERE DID YOU GO KAREN SILKWOOD?

WHAT WAS THE PRICE ON YOUR HEAD?

WHY DO OUR HEROES ALL VANISH?

WHY ARE OUR HEROES ALL DEAD?

IN THE DARK OF NIGHT I HEAR THE VULTURES SCREAM

AND I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO WAKE UP FROM THE DREAM

HOW MANY ARMIES MUST YET PERISH?

HOW MANY YOUNG PEOPLE DIE?

WHY ARE WE BREATHING DIOXIN

WHILE IT RAINS ACID RAIN FROM THE SKY?

"Opus in 7cm"

SANCTUARY - 'Aardschokdag 1988' (Complete show, Radiobroadcast, 32bit FDR Remaster 2016)

In loving and respectful remembrance of Warrel Dane.
An extraordinary human being who teached me a lot in my younger years through his splendid lyrics and very, very unique and special voice.

Nevermore & Sanctuary singer Warrel Dane dies of Heartattack in Brazil

I don't have that much words right now, so I'll leave it with the best testimony there is, a performance by the glorious Sanctuary from Seattle Washington in full force, that won the Aardschokdag crowd over in mere seconds as an opening act, with 30 minutes to fill (which is all documented here...)

Yeah, I know, headbangers, they're always this noisey and loudmouthed, but nevertheless, many followed this reasonably unknown band in 1988 after this performance, and they had just released their debut album a few weeks earlier, which should tell the non-believers something.

At the start of the last track of the set, 'Sanctuary', you hear a distinctively recognizable shout "Soeien!" Forgot about that, but when I heard it back, it took me home. It's a Dutch dialect word that does mean something like "Mosh!" ~ "Party!" ~ "We're here to go nuts..."

This has been one of the great days in my life so far. With Sanctuary as one of those performances that will stick on me like forever...

R.I.P. Warrel, hope you found your Sanctuary. Thank you for all you did and didn't do.
I'll for one will never ever forget about you Sir!

SANCTUARY - 'Aardschokdag 1988' 

Recorded for Radio Broadcast on May 29th 1988, Ijsselhallen, Zwolle, The Netherlands for VARA's Vuurwerk! presented by Henk Westbroek. Audio mixed at Wisseloord Studios. Production by "Heavy" Paul Schoenmakers. No overdubs.

YouTube Preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhuq1cAH31I

For Promotional Purposes Only. Not for sale.

Personal notes: Sanctuary from Seattle Washington, a band discovered by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine, were 2nd on the glorious bill at the Aardschokdag Festival in 1988. What is there to say about this band that hasn't been said before? Truly unique, never ever been touched on this high level. Original, very intense, very dedicated and skilled. Those first two Sanctuary albums are still on a level of their own. Try some if you don't know them by heart or mind. Yes, that singing is something you need to get into. It's more Opera than Pop music.

The full recorded set list: 1 - 'Battle Angels', 2 - 'Die for my Sins', 3 - 'Ascension to Destiny', 4 - 'The Third War / Drumsolo', 5 - 'Soldiers of Steel', 6 - 'Sanctuary'.

Enjoy this magical piece of Metal History!

32bit EMI Abbey Road Remaster by Eddy Lite for hoerejong MultiMedia Design, a Hipper Than Hell Company. ©1988 EPIC Records/SONY/Sanctuary
℗2016 Hipper Than Hell Records
www.dynamicrange.de | www.turnmeup.org

The Goodies:
(PW: HipperThanHellJawel)

[CD-Redbook FLAC 6]
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'The Human Race nailed to a Cross' - The Anna Sthetic PLASMATICS essays (PART TWO: 'Metal Priestess')

Metal Priestess - An Essay by Anna Sthetic

The Metal Priestess six-track EP is the companion volume to the Beyond the Valley of 1984 album. Both were released in 1981.

Metal Priestess is a title worthy of some analysis. At first sight it might not appear particularly significant, merely a link between heavy metal and Wendy O' Williams. There is however a deeper meaning. A priest, and hence a priestess, is someone authorised by the church to administer, on behalf of God, baptisms, confirmations, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. And also to pronounce absolution, in which sins are forgiven. The priestess acts as the link between the physical world in which we live, bound by the laws of space and time, and the mysteries of eternity known only to God.

On the cover, Wendy is pictured on stage on her knees, leaning backwards. At first sight this is simply a good photo - and a sexy one! But it has a religious aspect. Wendy - the priestess - can be seen as subordinate to a superior being or set of beliefs.

This becomes clear when we examine the tracks. The first - 'Lunacy' - begins with a fairly long instrumental prologue, which is somewhat mantra-like. Lunacy means insanity or madness, and in the past intermittent lunacy was attributed to the cycles of the moon. This lunar aspect features clearly in the song. Wendy is describing some form of cosmic power which is given to people, and which they can use for good or evil effect. This is entirely consistent with Christian teaching, in which people have free will to choose between good and evil and the future is not predetermined.

The next track - 'Doom Song' - maintains the religious theme with an organ introduction. Doom Song is a kind of alternative Lord's Prayer. The priestess - Wendy - is administering a form of eucharist. Casual listening to the record can lead to the mistaken impression that she is swnmoning up dark forces, but the opposite is actually the case. The condemnation of hypocrites echoes the words of Jesus, and the priestess has been given considerable power to use some force against the enemies of good. The hypocrites are described as "filthy", and some mysterious crawling, oozing, slimy "something" is going to deal with them.

PLASMATICS - 'Metal Priestess' Original Can-Am 1981 Stiff Records Pressing (WOW666)

The reference to the Prince of Darkness is curious. Superficially, Satan is being invoked, and that is why the song can easily be misinterpreted as a form of Black Mass. But the figure of Satan is always a baffling one; if Satan is in charge of Hell - the purpose of which is supposedly to punish sinners for all eternity - he is clearly acting on behalf of Ciod and is hardly the sinner's friend. In fact, Satan would be one of God's key workers, albeit with a rather hot and unpleasant working enviromnent! The concept of Hell does not derive from the Bible but from later ideas, and Satan is an ambivalent figure. It is possible that the "something" referred to above is Satan - and therefore the priestess, acting on Go&s authority, has summoned Satan from the underworld to punish the hypocrites. The reference to "YI"" at the end of the song, i.e. to Jehovah, confirms the fascinating religious theme of this song.

The third track - 'Sex Junkie' - also appears on the album 'Beyond the Valley of 1984' and is a condemnation of sex-obsessed American culture (see the analysis of this song in the section about the 1984 album) 

The fourth track - 'Black Leather Monster' - follows the same theme as Sex Junkie. The meaning of the title refers is unclear; it could be a phallic reference, or maybe even to the priestess herself, the song being sung in the third person i.e. Wendy is taking the role of one of the sex junides who is at the mercy of the priestess/dominatrix. 

 

 

The fifth track - '12 Noon' - is in many ways a prologue for the excellent 'Maggots' album that would follow some six years later. Wendy is describing the corruption and pollution in modern society. The song is very interesting because it takes the opposite line to the stereotypical warnings of "destruction just around the corner". For it is corruption and pollution - rather than civilised society - which is about to be destroyed. Whether this destruction will result in the restoration of morality, or simply the end of human life, isn't clear. In a way, the priestess may be giving the world an opportunity to confess sins and make peace with God before possible annihilation, the suggestion being that the world has been given 24 hours or so to do this.

The final song - 'Masterplan' - is also on the 'Beyond the Valley of 1984' album and an analysis of the song is in the commentary on that album. The song suggests that society had it made, but ruined everything. This echoes the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Metal Priestess is very clearly an album with a strong religious theme. It can be interpreted as the priestess - Wendy - describing how mankind has been given the power to choose between Good and Evil, but has chosen Evil. She has summoned the forces of destruction to sweep the corruption away, and has given the world time to make peace with God and seek absolution of its sins.

'The Human Race nailed to a Cross' - The Anna Sthetic PLASMATICS essays (PART ONE 'Beyond the Valley of 1984')

Once upon a time, seemingly forever available for research on our nifty modern electrical netz, yet one day these brilliantly written essays were gone...

They were published by someone that went with the alias Anna Sthetic, and it was very tough to find out who was behind the site on the Yahoo community pages that posted this in the early 2000s. I have no clue what happened or who was behind what, all I know is that this peace of information is valuable beyond words in my book. U may call that a Bible, yes Sir. I don't give a rat's ass if this gets me into trouble, I feel it's my duty, hell, my privilege, that I, today, will turn and that I may have seen one more day in a lifetime than Wendy did. With all my respect and all my love to all involved, then and now. Thank you all beyond measure, in particular Sir Rod Swenson, a brilliant mind, with a persistance level that the US of A needs today in a President. I am taking my hat off and make a deep bow...

W.O.W., a PLASMATIC 4ever
...just as all the Graduates of the School of Wreck 'n' Fuckin' Roll.
In particular The One and Only Sir Richie Stotts!
(Dudes, WTF happened that Richie is cut out of ALL of the material as shown on the DVD release '10 years of Revolutionary Rock and Roll'???!!!)

Eddy 'Richie's Bro from anotha Ho' Lite

'Beyond the Valley of 1984' - An Essay by Anna Sthetic

The cover of this 1981 Plasmatics album appears to show Wendy in sexy attire and a car being blown apart. Of course, as is usually the case with the Plasmatics, things are not quite what they seem ...

The title of the album seems to combine "1984", i. e. the suppression of the individual by the state, and Hollywood film title "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", a 1960s production concerned with sexual morality in America. It is most unlikely that this is coincidental. The use of the word "valley" also implies a low point in human affairs, as if 1984 represents a situation from which mankind will pass. But towards what?

The Plasmatics, as pictured on the cover are intended to represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This symbolism originates in the Book of Revelation, when God will make his final judgement of man. This classical image has been portrayed, with surprising attention to detail, in the scenes depicted. The action takes place in a valley, which ties in with the album title and also suggests Death Valley. The photographs were taken when the sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows across the ground. The tall cactus tree suggests fingers, and its shadow subtly suggests the finger of death. The Four Horsemen classically represent war, civil strife, hunger and death. All these are clearly shown on the cover. War is represented by the gas masks and helicopter, civil strife by the burning car, hunger by the bleak desert location and death by the bodies on the ground. The gatefold cover, when opened out, gives four images; this reinforces the biblical reference. All four images are of the same size. The colours of the horses, in Revelation are red, white, black and pale. It would be rather too much to expect such animals to have been obtained for the photo session, and it would also have made the imagery rather too obvious. Nonetheless, these colours are clearly present; the album title is written in red and white lettering and the credits etc on the back are in red, the car is white, black appears in the clothing and the band's name is shown in pale silver letters against a pale blue sky. 

The Plasmatics do not look at the camera, i.e. at their listener, until the inset photo on the rear cover. This shot was taken at the end of the sequence, with black smoke rising from the destroyed car and a bleak desert background. This symbolises the situation at the Day of Judgement. The posture of the band in this shot seems to he saying to the listener "The rest of society has been judged and found wanting, and you are next". The facial expressions are consistent with this. Wendy seems to be less hostile than the others.

"Sex Junkie" is another moralistic song. A fascinating aspect of Wendy Williams' stage persona is that it mocks that part of the audience that is attracted to the band by her semi-clothed body. This is entirely consistent with the classic attitude of the dominatrix toward her clients who are humiliated by and subservient to her. The lyrics are highly explicit and critical, not just of the sex junkie in the song, but of two hundred million people (presumably, the entire American adult population).

"Plasma Jam", an instrumental, follows. This could be included as a straightforward piece of rock music, but it is virtually at the end of the album. The songs are therefore contained-between "Incantation" and "Plasma Jam", encapsulating them. The album finishes with "Pig is a Pig". This number almost shouts at us "if you missed the message in the previous songs, here it is plain and simple!" It strongly continues the album's theme. It says "Everyone else is like you", the same theme as that in Sex Junkie. 




The songs on this album are, without exception, an expansion of the "Day of Judgement" theme of the album cover. And if anyone has any remaining doubts about the meaning of "Beyond the Valley of 1984" they should look at the dead and dying figures on the album cover. They are wearing what looks like white laboratory assistant's coats. Why should they be dressed like this, out in the desert? The answer is in the book of Revelation, Chapter 6. Following the description of the four horsemen, the scripture goes on to say in Verse 11: "And white robes were given unto every one of them". 

 

 

All in all, a quite extraordinary album.

Images copyright Plasmatics Media Inc. 1998/1999

Used with permission

PLASMATICS.COM

DENSE – “Swimming in the Day” (1997)
(2016 32bit FULL Dynamic Range Abbey Road Remaster PROMO ONLY)

20th Anniversary special edition 2017

"High Density Audio from a Highly Talented Band in an even Higher Danscity in 1997!"

dense - 'Swimming in the day...'

Info Nuggets:

Label:
Unsigned
Format: Musicassette (Nak reference, no dolby NR)
Country: Netherlands, Tilburg
Released: 1997
Genre: Emotionally Unstable Rock, Bipolar Pop
Style: Rock, Alternative

References & influences:
Heather Nova, P.J. Harvey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Smashing Pumpkins, Tori Amos, Kosheen, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Magnapop, Bettie Serveert, My Baby.
(comment of Renate Hovius in 1997 "Eigenlijk lijkt het nergens op.")

Tracklist:
A1  As Lonely As Me
A2  You Suck Me Out!
A3  Looking For Myself
(Side B repeats programme)

Companies, etc:
    Produced by – Eric Maas, Tilburg, The Netherlands
    Distributed By – DIY
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Hipper Than Hell Records
    Copyright (c) – Renate Hovius
    Recorded At – Roof
    Mixed At – Home
  

dense:

Chaos & Order
Hate & Love
Control & Madness
Can this ever be harmony?

density:

Renate Hovius ~ All Vocals, Visuals, guitar
Marc Stovers ~ Lead Guitar
Peter Heine ~ Drums
Michel van Gisteren ~ Bass
Comradery & Cheerleading ~ Paul Delissen, Eddy Lite & Carolientje
Recorded and mixed by Eric Maas, Tilburg, The Netherlands

32bit EMI Abbey Road Remaster by Eddy Lite for hoerejong MultiMedia Design, a Hipper Than Hell Company.
©1997 dense/Renate Hovius
℗2017 Hipper Than Hell Records

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