esp1037

The Godz, "Contact High with The Godz"

First album, released in 1966, by this NYC-based band. The Godz were part of the Lower East Side scene that produced post-beat avant-hippie rockers/performance artists the Fugs and the Holy Modal Rounders, as well as beat performers like Allen Ginsberg. Sounding like a prototype for Half Japanese or the Shaggs, the Godz play as if they discovered their instruments ten minutes before the tape started rolling.

CONTACT HIGH WITH THE GODZ. ESP's recently hired sales manager approached B and said, "We are ready to record. We have a session booked at Herb Abramson's Studio for tomorrow". "Who is we? " B replied. "WE are the GODZ. Your shipping clerk, Paul Thornton, your assistant shipping clerk, Jim McCarthy, and your art director, Jay Dillon." If you would like to hear the group, we are rehearsing this evening in Natasha's apartment. (Natasha Zapatoski was B's secretary, a level headed woman of Ukrainian descent, she had recently arrived from Toronto.") Shrugging resignedly, B agreed. Sitting on the floor in the darkened living room, M was treated to the a cappella WHITE CAT HEAT, a close approximation of the sound of a choir of cats courting on a back yard fence. The following day, B went to the studio, deliberately arriving one hour after the session was scheduled to begin, suspecting that his presence might intimidate the musicians, if he were to show up while they were setting up and warming up. He found them sitting around the room, idle. Paul Thornton explained that they had finished the album and were about to listen to the play-back.

12.99