oggi sarebbe stata una settimana che non acquistavo dischi. un traguardo, per il sottoscritto. mi ero anche tenuto alla larga da negozi vari. poi, ieri sera, depresso per la terribile notizia che non mi avrebbero consegnato il pc, passo dal negozietto dell'usato di via galata.
in vetrina trovo Boyd Rice presents Music For Pussycats. 12€. Massì, lo prendo. Boyd Rice (ho controllato, è proprio lui, non un omonimo) è la mente di NON, collaboratore di Death in June, Current93 e compagnia bella. Musica un po' "particolare", se vogliamo, che io comunque adoro. Fatto sta che questa "raccolta" comprende una dozzina di pezzi fantastici di girl grups misconosciuti degli anni 60. Ballabili, allegri, one-hit-wonders da pelle d'oca. Eccezionali anche le liner notes dello stessso Rice. Credo entrerà anche lui nella classifica di fine anno...





What we know of any culture or civilization ultimately comes down to what survives.
Objects made of stronger materials, or objects in wider general usage are what usually seem to be left behind. And it's a shame. For every epoch whose crown jewels are preserved, we no doubt have thousands of chamber pots. In other words, we don't know those things which may have been most interesting about past eras, yet we're well acquainted with those things which may have been the most base or common. And so it is with pop music. For every song in endless rotation on oldies stations, there are thousands of others (some hits, some not) that we'll never hear again. These are a few of those songs. And my intention in compiling this CD is that I felt these songs deserve to survive, to be preserved. These songs literally constitute the soundtrack of my life, going back to age 16 or perhaps earlier. It never ceases to amaze me that when I encounter aficionados of girl pop, none of them have ever heard of singers like Robbie Winston, Susan Rafey, Diane Ray, or most of the others on this comp-all women who I feel have contributed works equal (if not superior) to the best the genre has to offer. These singers, and the songs they've recorded, have long occupied a special place in my heart. And the knowledge that I was listening to songs that virtually no one else seemed to know of, afforded me a peculiar kind of thrill. A mentor of mine once told me that the power of forgotten music, is that when you're perhaps the only person in the world listening to it, it's as though it's yours alone. Consequently, the experience of something magical becomes ever more magical. For going on 25 years, I've shared these songs with everyone close to me, all the while wishing that everyone interested in this type of music could be exposed to them. As much as I loved keeping these songs more or less to myself, I always had an odd sort of melancholy that they were never the huge hits I'd felt they deserved to be. In a better world each of these songs would have been a chart-topper, and the girls who sang them still playing sold out concerts in Vegas. I've spent years trying to track down some of these singers, and even the more well known among them (such as Priscilla Paris) seem to have vanished into thin air. But I didn't want their memory-or music-to vanish, so I compiled this CD as a sort of tribute to them. They, and others like them, may have missed out on the glory and rewards that they so sorely deserved; yet they created something uniquely enduring and endearing. And it deserves to endure. So I share it here with you, dear listener... --Boyd Rice