Monty The Moron - Acorn Beer And Chestnut Wine (1984)

Here's another early offering from Monty The Moron, a decade before he changed his name and joined The Damned. It was recorded two years before the previous post, and rather oddly I think it shows a more mature side of him, with songs like 'Little House By The Sea' and 'Falling Rose' being heartfelt ballads, somewhat at odds with his more off-beat offerings like 'The Dentist Song' and 'Collecting Plastic Monsters'. However, there is much to enjoy on this album, although the distortion on 'The Dentist Song' does seem to be on all copies of the tape, but to make up for it I somehow have a rather lovely untitled extra song at the end of my copy, which might make it a unique item. If that isn't enough I've also enhanced and coloured the picture of a young Monty sitting on a motorcycle in his garden, which makes this version of the album a one-of-a-kind. It's just a shame that this is the only other tape that I own.  

Original full cassette cover

Track listing

01 The Dentist Song
02 Monty's Lament
03 Rocking Horse
04 Little House By The Sea
05 Piano Concerto No. 3
06 Collecting Plastic Monsters
07 Sometimes You Just Can't Win
08 Living My Life Backwards
09 Falling Rose
10 A Gentle Robot (Dedicated To The Soft Machine But You Weren't Listening)

11 Untitled Bonus Track 

Monty The Moron - Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis (1986)

Monty Oxymoron (born Laurence Burrow on 27 September 1961 in Cambridge), joined The Damned as their keyboardist in 1996, and continues to tour and record with them. His previous bands include Punk Floyd and Dr. Spacetoad Experience with Captain Sensible, and he also works as keyboardist and percussionist with the Sumerian Kyngs, and as keyboardist with Tim Burness. In the 1980's he made his own recordings with his uncle Damien under the name Monty The Moron, and he released a number of albums on the Acid Tapes label. He has spoken of his love of psychedelic music, whose influence he claims to have heard in pre-Oxymoron Damned albums, beginning with 1979's 'Machine Gun Etiquette', and this shines through on these cassettes, with sitar and Gong-like guitar solos abounding. While the songs themselves often echo the lyrical absurdities of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band crossed with Syd Barrett, the music is good enough to make them an enjoyable listen, even 40 years later. I'm posting 'Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis' first, as this one appears to be currently unavailable on the net, although he is currently digitalizing his early tapes himself and posting them on Bandcamp. He continues to release his own music to this day, and only this year has recorded an album of piano versions of songs by The Damned, titled 'The Piano Plays 'Til Midnight', which was released on Damaged Goods Records.

Track listing

01 Paradoxical Intention
02 Out Of The Frying Pan
03 Sewage Song
04 British Rail
05 Institutional Blues
06 Archetypal Fish Symbolism
07 Slimy Green Frog Of The Moon
08 A Golden Tree
09 Pamela Lemon
10 Song For A Solitary Lady
11 Love Is...Emphatically Insane