July 10, 2006
The Maggots - Let's Get Tammy Wynette 7" (Discourage Records 2006)The Maggots 45 was another early Forced Exposure want list item...of course the mere name and title conjured up le punk roque je ne sais quoi. I found my copy (#43 out of 400 as writ on the back) for a mere $4 from a local college DJ that was known for his surf show on KFJC...this was probably '86 or so, mind you, so nobody was really the wiser. Although it missed a tiny little chunk of the picture sleeve on the front (just to the right of "Wynette" in the picture), I somehow never felt any obligation to upgrade it from the one I found (or to hunt for the mega rare little plastic/rubber "pet maggot" that some came with). The sleeve alone was worth the price, probably as close to the quintessential punk rock picture sleeve as you could possibly get. When I brought it home, I was immediately charmed by Vicky Berndt's sing-it-shout-it vocals, the backing siren, the brittle sound...funny lyrics, definitely a novelty but incredibly arch and creative. I quickly slid it into a heavy 4 mil plastic sleeve and hid it into the safe confines of a dark corrugated 45 box. Pathologies run deep.
A decade or so later I found myself hanging out in Discourage Records founder Abe King's apartment in North Beach San Francisco, where Abe and I got real loopy on something and then listened to punk rock hyper-rarities.... AND I got my first chance to touch a real vintage "pet maggot". Abe had befriended Ms Weems, the meistermind behind the band and the concept. Little did I know of the labor of love that was to follow...fast forward to 2006.
A mere 20 years after I first encountered the rec, the Discourage gents have unleashed a class A++ reissue, or should I say TWO. Naturally I needed BOTH versions, their super limited version (hand numbered and with a crazy mock obi-strip crawing with with Maggot photos, and on clear vinyl), and their "stock" copy which is totally essential because it faithfully reproduces the original picture sleeve (I mean, THE ORIGINAL as in the original paste up sleeve from which all the first generation picture sleeves were reproduced FROM).
This you can tell because of the hostage lettering of "the maggots" were actually rubber cemented on the orignal paste up, which is reproduced here in all of its glory on this picture sleeve, that you can't see on the original stock picture sleeve (as shown at the top of this post)
While the pet maggot didn't make the cut (makes for tough filing anyways), the original booklet that came with the pet IS part of the package, and damned if these aesthetes done a bang up job on it. Read it and you'll see what little geniuses these wiggle teens were with their clever hyperbolic tendencies.
Also included is the demo of Tammy Wynette. I like how the aesthetes at Discourage finagled the back of the sleeve to accommodate it. On the right is my original copy.
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Re-mastering? I mean, noticably? I can't really tell and I wouldn't want it any other way. The thing should and does sound like a little piece of plastic spinning out of control, squeezing out sparks and barking like a chihauhua. As it should be. This is sheer wow and now you can touch it again.
posted by Henry @ 11:08 PM 
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