The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Soundtrack LP

Label: Ode Records; Year: 1975; Format: Vinyl LP

Even though Halloween was yesterday it is still the season and when I was sitting down last night to write the review after having listened to the LP I was plain tired hence a twenty-four hour delay it is. I don't exactly remember how old I was when I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, but I was very young. Over the years I have seen the movie several times again and always loved it for its celebration of trash culture and B-Movies. It has been years since I saw it last hence it's time I catch it again some time soon. Since I am not a movie buff and definitely don't consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to the world of cinema I read up about the impact of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the intranet and have come away with some interesting angles. First and foremost since this blog of mine concentrates so heavily on punk rock it is interesting to see how the costume designer Sue Blane has directly or indirectly influenced early punk rock fashion, especially when it comes to the torn fishnet stockings and colorfully-dyed hair. Let's also not forget that the movie spawned the musical career of Meatloaf as two years after the release of Rocky Horror Meatloaf released his most popular album ever, Bat Out of Hell. At the same time the movie launched careers of actors like Susan Sarandon or Tim Curry amongst others. But how about the music on this record and so crucially important to the movie itself? Everybody will have heard "The Time Warp" at some point in their lives, there is no doubt about it. It is definitely the hit song on the record and of the movie, but let's not fool ourselves to think that the rest of the music is not interesting. All the music was written by Richard O'Brien aka Riff Raff in the movie and I shall just conclude that his dialogues for the movie and the accompanying music make this movie and soundtrack so much fun that it should not come as a surprise that almost fifty years after its original release the movie is a cult classic and has a worldwide following. I'll put on "Time Warp" again now and raise a glass to everything outside the norm. Please do yourself a favor and watch the movie and let's do the time warp again!! 

Trashcan Darlings - Gore Gore Boys & Splatter Pussies 10"

Label: Eastside Records; Year: 2000; Format: 10" Vinyl EP

Since it is Halloween Season I thought it would be an ideal time to pull out this beauty of a 10" record by the Norwegian band Trashcan Darlings. Back in the late '90s/early '00s my friend Alain and I were organizing gigs in Zurich/Switzerland and somehow the people behind the Eastside Records label from Germany contacted us if we were interested to book these Oslo guys in Zurich, and so we did. At the end of March in 2001 (see flyer) we booked them at Hohlstrasse which at the time was a semi-squatted/semi-legally occupied house with a really cool basement where shows were happening once in a while. The basement was full of great metal work with sharp objects sticking out all over the place and a capacity of maybe one hundred people. To this day I remember the Trashcan Darling show very vividly as the Oslo bunch put on a fantastic show in front of a sweaty and crazy crowd and yes, they looked just like in the pictures with make-up and all glamed up. The 10" released on Eastside Records is nothing short of a classic glam punk record backed by a really decent production job. As quite often is the case with musicians from Northern European Countries they are excellent at their instruments, and that is definitely the case with the Trashcan Darlings. Five outstanding originals and one funtastic live cover version of Funtime are to be found on this red splatter ten inch and no song is to disappoint you. Whether you like your glamed up punk'n'roll slower such as in "She's A Fuck around" or the incredibly catchy "Angel Lost" or at a faster pace like in "Electro Shock Rock" I think these guys just perfectly mixed glam rock and 77 punk by putting it through an Oslo based blender with a nice touch of good ole Norwegian Punk'N'Roll. The band existed from 1995 through 2008 and released quite a few records during their career. Definitely worth checking out if this is your cup of tea!