On The Ripple Desk: A Vinyl Excursion - Featuring Electric Frankenstein/The Cheats, Damascus, and Jimmie Spheeris

 Another round, going through the stacks of vinyl in Ripple HQ.  What stays, what gets tossed?  We'll decide together. 

Electric Frankenstein/ The Cheats - Rockmania #1

Going a different direction now, a little garage noise.  Cool split from Screaming Crow Records with Electric Frankenstein and The Cheats.  Garage punk of the furious nature, both bands bringing the heat.  I’m kinda a sucker for most of what EF does, they just bring on that heavy garage punk vibe so well. And The Cheats ain't no slouches either.  Keeper. 

Damascus - Open Your Eyes

How’s this for random.  No idea how this got into my collection but an original test press of the Open Your Eyes EP, released 1984 by the NWOBHM band Damascus.   All the hallmarks of classic 80’s NWOBHM with seating guitar, bubbling bass lines, lo-fi production, and a solid DIY aesthetic with a slight dark goth undercurrent.   4 songs, each a solid contribution.   Seems like original copies of the releases vinyl go for over $100 these days.  I’ve never actually seen one.  Yet somehow I have the test press.  Go figure.

Jimmie Spheeris - The Dragon is Dancing

Sunday morning, settling down at the Ripple  desk with a white board full of tasks to accomplish, but moving rather slowly this am.  While waiting for the coffe to kick in, thought I’d start with a little Jimmie Spheeris. I gotta  admit I’d never heard of this guy before I pulled this one out of the $1 bin, but I’ve become a fan.   The type of vaguely, hippy psychedelic singer-songwriter album that could have only come from a commune somewhere on the coast of California where people are named Moondance and Merlin.   Like a witches brew of Seals and Crofts with pastoral UK prog.  Mostly Incredibly mellow, brimming with  70’s marijuana spirituality, with songs like “The Dragon is Dancing” “In The Misty Woods” and “Snake Man”,most of the album is achingly beautiful like the sparse piano ballad “Lost in the Midway”.   Then he’ll drop a heavy Bonn on you like “Eternity Spin”.  

Don’t think of this as a heavy album, it’s not but a nice way to ease into a Sunday morning.

 -- Racer