January 19 – Sunday – The Mothers – Just Another Band From L.A.

Another live album from the summer of 1971, but from the west coast this time. I would discuss the nearly 25 minute “Billy the Mountain,” the tale of a mountain named Billy and his wife Ethel, a tree growing off of his shoulder, who got his royalty check from all the postcards he posed for, and took a trek cross-country. I would, but you would have to remember Johnny Carson, his show, and his show back when it was broadcast from New York.

This album might have been a Ram 2 contender. The liveliness of the songs on side two played first for their aerobic benefit, followed by the epic Billy the Mountain that went well with the floor exercises, made for a good workout. It might have been in the running but for the one song, Magdalena, a bouncy little ditty that I liked a lot when I was in high school. I soon came to my senses, and now find the song disturbing. I am additionally disturbed at the fact that I liked it at all. Equally disturbing was that I also liked A Clockwork Orange when I was in high school, which I saw at 16 with my brother, even though it was rated X. I went so far as to read the book and buy false eyelashes, tops and bottoms to share with a friend, as the characters each only wore one set. Fortunately, we never got around to wearing them out in public. I also soon realized just how vile the movie was, and no matter what anyone says, I don’t think it has any merit whatsoever.

But I digress. “Magdalena” comes nowhere near the horribleness of A Clockwork Orange, and I still enjoyed hearing the majority of the album. However, it seems the Mothers have put me in not so happy frame of mind, and I think I may have to bring Ram back into the picture very shortly.