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TRACK-LIST:Night Of The Hunter, Long Live Rock And Roll, Werewolf Dynamite, Is America Dead?, Rumble, California Swamp Dance, Hobo Wine, Dangerous Visions, Ain’t Got No Transportation.The story of Kim Fowley, the original eccentric svengali figure, reads like a history of rock’n’roll music for the past 40 years. In the 60’s he first came to prominence instigating novelty pop chart-toppers such as ‘Alley Oop’, The Murmaids ‘Popsicles And Icicles’ and B. Bumble & The Stingers’ ‘Nutrocker’. Then he diversified and became a poet, actor, and dancer. |
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In 1966 as the hippie movement started, he organised a series of ‘love-
ins’ in San Francisco which earned him notoriety as a weird creature of
excess. His first album was ‘Love Is Alive And Well’ in 1967, then two
on Capitol, and this fourth album on Skydog. He became involved with
Blue Oyster Cult, famously master-minded The Runaways, co-produced (with
John Cale) The Modern Lovers, produced the first Soft Machine single,
wrote film scripts, recorded with BMX Bandits…
Over the years, other artists he’s been a song-writer or producer for include: Alice Cooper, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Cat Stevens, the ‘Ciao Manhattan’ movie, Family, Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, Gene Vincent, Helen Reddy, Hollywood Stars, Kiss, Leo Kottke, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Seeds, Skip Battin, Slade, Them, Traffic, Warren Zevon, Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention, etc, etc… so if you’re a long-standing music fan you’re likely to have something of Fowley’s in your collection. Recently championed by Creation Records who’ve re-issued a couple of albums, Kim Fowley is still an obsession for many record collectors. This rare 1974 studio album, showing both Fowley’s psychedelic and rock’n’roll sides, is now issued for the first time in the UK, at mid- price with improved packaging and an 8-page booklet containing photos and informed sleeve-notes by Marc Zermati. Kim Fowley - songwriter, producer, svengali, visionary… by Marc Zermati It is in San Francisco, at Cyril Jordan’s house that I hear the demo tape of ‘Animal God of the Street’ for the first time. It is a compilation of songs, some written for Iggy & the MC5 and also offered to Cyril’s Flamin’ Groovies. With such a good demo, I decide to call Kim in Los Angeles, who immediately accepts the offer for release on my French label Skydog. So begins the story of this brilliant LP. The history of Kim Fowley is that of a real Rock’n’Roll character and prodigious true original visionary, with a c.v. listing him working with dozens of rock legends. ‘The Orson Welles’ of Rock was born July 21st 1939; the day Hitler invaded Poland as he pointed out himself! He grew up in a Hollywood world of actors, his mother played many supporting roles, in particular as a cigarette girl in ‘The Big Sleep’. His father, Douglas Fowley, played Doc Holliday in the well-known ‘Wyatt Earp’ TV series. His grandfather was the composer Rudolf Firmil. Kim’s career started in 1960 at age 19 when he produced his first hit, ‘Alley Oop’ for The Hollywood Argyles, selling over a million copies. In 1962, he produced B. Bumble and the Stingers with ‘Nutrocker’ ( N°. 1 in the UK), and Murmaids with ‘Popsicles and Icicles’ (No. 1 in the US), as well as the memorable ‘Papa Ooo Mau Mau’. In this period he became a member of the very closed ‘Hollywood Genius Kid Club’ along with Phil Spector, Sonny Bono, and Jan & Dean. He was then instrumental in the birth of the Hippie movement in California, organising a series of ‘love-ins’ which earned him his notoriety as a creature of excess and eccentricity. He cruised on Sunset Boulevard with Jim Morrison, Skip Battin, the Seeds (whom he later produced), the Byrds (for whom he wrote songs), The Beach Boys, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention (on whose first album, ‘Freak Out’, he sings on ‘Help I’m A Rock’). In 1967 he decided to go solo and release his own records: ‘Love is Alive and Well’, ‘Outrageous’, ‘Good Clean Fun’, but they didn’t match the success of his productions for others. He decided to move to England for a while but couldn’t stand the weather; however he stayed for the Summer of ’67 and produced Cat Stevens, Family, Soft Machine’s first single, (also he opportunistically falsely claims he was on the recording of the Beatles ‘Sergeant Pepper’s’!). In the 70’s, he wrote for Kiss, Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Modern Lovers (he produced the first album with John Cale) and became mastermind, manager and producer for the teenage all-girl band ‘The Runaways’ (Lolitas of rock with Joan Jett and Lita Ford). In 1972, he was signed by Capitol and released his fantastic album ‘I Am Bad’; his Punk Album. He decided to tour for the first time with his mate Mars Bonfire (of Steppenwolf fame) on guitar and Richard Meltzer (famous rock critic) who wrote: "Kim is a better showman than Bowie, Elvis or Iggy. He is not only a rock eccentric but also a sex symbol". The album received very strong media coverage from Rock Press, Circus, Rock On, Crawdaddy, Fusion, etc. In 1973, Kim Fowley released his second LP for Capitol, the provoking glam album ‘International Heroes’ from which Bowie got a lot of inspiration. In 1974, the year ‘Animal God of the Street’ was released, he also produced Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, and gave us a Californian version of the New York Dolls with ‘the Hollywood Stars’. He also participated in the Warholian cult movie ‘Ciao Manhattan’. As ever, he continues to discover new talents, to hook up with rock stars, and travel the world - particularly Ireland, Greece, Holland. Still active and championed by fans such as Creation Records and their off- shoot Rev-Ola with albums issued on both labels. We last met in 1994, in New York, after Johnny Thunders’ death. The giant then invited me to a party and showed me some pictures of his new ‘artists’. He was supposed to call me later to give me the address of the orgy but… "I am still ready to drop a grand piano on the head of the next person who tell me I'm a piece of shit. I will continue to create and continue to make creative gestures of survival as long as it suits me, my outlet is music business. I am a song writer, I'm a record producer, I'm a producer, I'm a production company owner, I'm a manager, I'm an agent, I'm a consultant…" - Kim Fowley. For the living danger of Rock N Roll Marc Z alive & well in Barcelona | |