From: rogers@rosencrantz.osf.org (Andrew Rogers)
Subject: Re: Pearls Before Swine
Organization: HICAM/OSD
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 18:40:33 GMT

In article <92112112877@zone4.ocunix.on.ca> peter@zone4.ocunix.on.ca (Peter Dubiel) writes:
>While flipping through a used vinyl section the other day, I came across an
>album by a group called PEARLS BEFORE SWINE.

Oh boy, today's my lucky day!  First I get to rant about the Turtles, and
now Pearls Before Swine!  I remember when their first album came out and the
local Woolworth's had this huge Pearls Before Swine poster in their front
window and I had never heard of them but wanted the poster anyway and I'm
starting to sound like Lester Bangs who (I believe) wrote about shoplifting
his copy of the album but the only record I ever wanted badly enough to
steal was the second Byrds album which I nearly gave back when I heard the
second side so I'll shut up...

>I don't recall the name of the
>record, but I _do_ remember a medieval or renaissance painting on the cover...

Big help... that describes at least three PBS albums: "One Nation Underground,
which featured Hieronymous Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights"; "Balaclava",
with a cover painting by Brueghel (sorry, I forget the title); and either
"The Use Of Ashes" or "These Things Too", with a painting of noted religious
leader Jesus H. Christ.

>Being broke, and having just purchased some prog rock atrocities, I passed.
>It _is_ still there, and I was wondering if _anyone_ could pass along
>information on this band?

OK... PBS were basically singer/writer Tom Rapp and accompanists (the initial
lineup was TR plus Lane Lederer, Roger Crissinger, and Wayne Harley - hey,
I thought I was hot shit 'cause I remembered who was in the *Turtles*...).
The first (and best) album, "One Nation Underground" (monochromatic dark brown
cover - was this what you saw?) was an FM faverave back in the late 60's
(when "college radio" *meant* something, you young whippersnappers), thanks to
tunes like "Oh Dear Miss Morse", where TR spelled the F-word ("FUCK") in Morse
Code (eat yer hearts out, Kingsmen); "Another Time", which sounds like Bob
Dylan on Thorazine; the anti-war-and-everything-else "Uncle John"; plus "The
Surrealist Waltz", whose title alone says more than I could ever babble...

>ie: How do they sound, comparisons with better-known bands...

I can't think of any better-known bands to compare them to, but if pressed
to pin a label on them, I'd call them "acid-folk", because they were a)
mostly acoustic, b) *extremely* fond of sound effects (particularly on
their second effort, the anti-war concept album "Balaclava", which features
spoken recollections - I am not making this up - from Florence Nightingale
and a World War I trumpeter), and c) inclined toward surrealistic lyrics and
occasional adaptations of gen-u-wine poetry (one song - I forget which - is
credited to "Sara Teasdale/Roman Tombs/Tom Rapp).  Far out, maaaaannn...

The first two albums (and possibly the third, but as Robin Williams said, "if
you can remember the Sixties then you weren't really there") were on the
legendary ESP-Disk label (cf. "Do The Godz Speak Esperanto", in you-know-who's
_Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung_).  He/they subsequently signed to
Reprise; eventually the records were credited only to Tom Rapp, although they
continued to tour as PBS (this ranter heard 'em at RPI as late as '72 or '73).

>...and whether
>it's worth paying $8 Can ($6US) for a sealed copy of the supposedly out of
>print LP...

I'd pay that for a clean copy of "One Nation Underground" or (possibly)
"Balaclava" but probably not for any of the others.  Incidentally, it appears
that somebody bought the old ESP-Disk catalog and is reissuing it, but so far
they seem to be concentrating on the label's impressive avant-garde jazz
legacy (Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, et. al.) at the expense of PBS, the Fugs, and
the aforementioned Godz.

>Oh yeah, Genesis P-Orridge [whoever he is] from PTV likes'em.  For all
>that's worth.

So does noted Lester Bangs wannabe AWR (more as a curiosity and reminder of
his own misspent youth - jeez, if you started crooning "The Shadow Of Your
Smile" to some cutie-pie only to realize that you're older now than Tony
Bennett was when he recorded it, you'd want to be 15 again yourself), but that
doesn't mean you should necessarily spend your own money on 'em... but I'll
tell you what: if the album you saw was indeed "One Nation Underground",
then TAKE THE AWR CHALLENGE!  Buy it, put it on your KLH compact stereo,
turn on the lava lamp, pass the hookah, and if you don't think it's like,
really *cosmic*, maaaaannn, then I'll buy it back from you for what you paid
for it (you eat the postage, though).  Fair enough?

>     _/\     /\__Piotr F. Dubiel___peter@zone4.ocunix.on
>        \_/\/                                                  \/\_/

AWR
arrested adolescent at play
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc