Sun City Girls: classic or dud?

i'm really digging richard bishop's solo albums right now. i'm not even that familiar with sun city girls, but this stuff is amazing. the newish one (well i guess it was last year) "while my guitar violently bleeds" has some obvious raga stuff going on, some pieces i've heard of "improvika" are really intense. awesome. haven't heard much of "polytheistic fragments."

oh Mark you have a world of goodness awaiting. Dive in fearlessly and you will be rewarded.

Look for "Fingering The Devil", it is oop like most of his stuff but is maybe my favorite.

Also, I will try emailing you in a few days.

also "While My Guitar" is from 2007 and it is also one of my favorites of the year. He kills it live too.

very poor syntax there. sorry.

You're Never Alone With A Cigarette: Singles 1 CD
Sun City Girls
List Price $17.98 (You save $4.44)
Category Rock/Pop, Rock
Label Abduction Records
CD Universe Part# 7619586
Catalog# 40
Discs 1
Street Date Mar 04, 2008

!!!

No mention of this on the actual SCG site yet, no tracklisting either. I will try and dig for more info but this is pretty damn exciting.

that is cool. SCG and skullflower are the bands i most want singles comps from.

oooh, excellent. i may own most of it, but having it all in one place = awesome. and i don't even LIKE buying CDs!

yeah, this is the supposed tracklist:

1. 100 Pounds of Black Olives (from the "You're Never Alone witha Cigarette" 7")
2. Sev Acher (A. Barsamian) - unreleased studio recording
3. Souvenirs from Jangare (from the "Three Fake Female Orgasms" 2*7")
4. Plaster Cupids from the Ceiling (from the "Three Fake Female Orgasms" 2*7")
5. Amazon One (trad.) - unreleased studio recording
6. The Beauty of Benghazi (from the "Three Fake Female Orgasms" 2*7")
7. Wild World of Animals - unreleased studio recording
8. Harmful Little Armful (For Will Shatter) - (from the "Bruce Lee, Heroin, and the Punk Scene" 3*7" box set)
9. The Fine-Tuned Machines of Lemuria (from the "You're Never Alone witha Cigarette" 7") - unreleased extended full-length recording

other current topics of discussion ... apparently there is a tour-only Sir Richard Bishop / Earth split 12" on Southern Lord, being sold on a current European tour. also, Alan and Richard are scheduled to play a few dates together this summer !

wow that's kind of fucked up that they are going the non-completist collector-scum-baiting route with those comps. All I want is complete versions of the singles, OK? Stick all that "unreleased" stuff on another goddamn CD.

Also, that looks like one short disc. NOTE TO SP3NCER SUND3LL AND OTHER ASSOCIATED SCG PERSONNEL: THERE IS ALREADY A KILLER HOMEMADE 2CD COMP OF ALL THE SINGLES AND MISC TRACKS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST FOLLOWED THAT TRACKLISTING. NOW YOU"RE JUST RIPPING OFF YOUR FANS, AGAIN.

Yes I am drunk but this still pisses me off royally.

yeah, but you're right though.

actually in the cold light of day I am wrong!

that set above includes the whole "You're Never Alone" single (plus extended version) and the entire first single of "Three Fake etc." As long as the 2nd single gets included in the next set (and BOTH of those Borungku singles, are you listening Abduction Records?), we are still on the completist path.

Still, it looks kinda short. And it also looks like the And So The Dead Tongue Sang 7" will not be on these as it predates the stuff on this.

I realize that with those Eclipse reissues they deliberately changed some tracks, leaving oens out and including other previously released ones. This was explicitly done so that the folks who owned the tapes would still have a collector's item. I guess that's OK but I hope this series doesn't suffer teh same fate.

for drunk posting I could have done much worse, at least I googleproofed.

I really want that Earth / Rick Bishop split. Thing is, I'd GLADLY go see that show and GLADLY buy the damn record at the merch table, but they're not playing within 1,000 fucking miles of here. It's Sunn0))) / Earth all over again.

Earth were amazing, even better live than on record. Sir Richard Bishop was great too. I got the split £15 it cost!!!

Fuck I'd really wanna see that show, they aren't really stopping by my area either. There is a one date gap in the tour though, maybe I can persuade someone to book them...

Recorded in July of 1988 during the sessions that produced Sun City Girl's most popular recording, these nine tracks represent the other half of songs which were originally prepared as a 2-LP demo version of 'Torch of the Mystics' for Placebo Records in 1989. The sequencing of all 20 tracks at the time was entirely different with the predominately instrumental tracks in this collection mixed in and around the mostly vocal tracks of what became 'Torch'. Placebo went out of business shortly after this proposed 2-LP idea was presented to them but Majora Records quickly stepped-in to begin releasing most of the material. Included here are 5 tracks from early Majora singles: '100 Pounds of Black Olives' and 'The Fine-Tuned Machines of Lemuria' (the complete unreleased 12 minute version) from the single 'You're Never Alone with a Cigarette' and all three tracks from Record #1 of the double seven-inch 'Three Fake Female Orgasms' --'Plaster Cupids Falling from the Ceiling', 'The Beauty of Benghazi', and 'Souvenirs from Jangare'. The short piece 'Harmful Little Armful' is from the triple seven-inch box set 'Bruce Lee, Heroin, and the Punk Scene' (from a Bay Area label-'Massacre at Central High') and rounding out the set are 3 unreleased studio tracks recorded the same day as much of the 'Torch' LP: never before heard versions of 'Amazon One', 'Sev Acher', and 'Wild World of Animals'. This is the first of a multi-volume set of reissued singles, compilation, and unreleased tracks to be assembled and sequenced to play as full-length records. Vinyl editions may also appear in time.
Tracks:

1. 100 Pounds of Black Olives
2. Sev Acher
3. Souvenirs from Jangare
4. Plaster Cupids Falling from the Ceiling
5. Amazon One
6. The Beauty of Benghazi
7. Wild World of Animals
8. Harmful Little Armful (For Will Shatter)
9. The Fine-Tuned Machines of Lemuria

So there you go. I am excited!

I got mine in the mail a few weeks ago, along with the two latest SF DVDs -- it's definitely really, really good.

As I no longer have those 7"s and can't afford to get them at this point, it makes me very happy to know they're starting on this reissue trip (and vinyl versions? -- yes, please!)

so it appears that after all these years it turns out that the sides were labeled backwards on the "You're Never Alone With A Cigarette" single. hmm. those three outtakes are quit nice also.

anybody going to The Brothers Unconnected tour?

Alan Bishop & Richard Bishop Present:
THE BROTHERS UNCONNECTED
A Tribute to Charles Gocher & Sun City Girls

Most dates will feature an opening 40 minute film of Charles Gocher's video experiments followed by two sets of music. AB and RB will be performing Sun City Girls songs as an acoustic guitar duet. This tour will most likely be the only time this show will be presented as such and is a tribute both to Charles Gocher and selected music from the 27 year legacy of Sun City Girls.

5.18.08 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door
5.19.08 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
5.21.08 - San Francsico, CA - Slim's
5.23.08 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified
5.25.08 - Los Angeles , CA - Echoplex
5.27.08 - Sacramento, CA - Horse Cow Art Gallery
6.08.08 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
6.10.08 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
6.11.08 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room
6.12.08 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
6.13.08 - Iowa City, IA - The Picador
6.14.08 - Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater
6.15.08 - Louisville, KY - Pour Haus
6.17.08 - Toronto, ON - St. Vladimir's Institute Theater
6.18.08 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa
6.19.08 - Cambridge, MA - The Brattle Theater
6.20.08 - Portland, ME - SPACE
6.21.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
6.22.08 - New York , NY - Knitting Factory
6.24.08 - Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Gallery
6.25.08 - Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
6.26.08 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
6.27.08 - Atlanta, GA - The E.A.R.L.
6.28.08 - Chattanooga, TN - Barking Legs Theater
6.29.08 - Memphis, TN - Odessa
6.30.08 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jack's
7.02.08 - Austin, TX - Emo's
7.05.08 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
7.06.08 - San Diego, CA - Bar Pink Elephant
7.09.08 - Santa Cruz, CA - TBA
7.10.08 - TBA
7.11.08 - TBA
7.12.08 - TBA

quit = quite

I'll be at that Iowa City show. I'm so pumped!

Likely be at the NYC gig.

I'll try and see 'em in Minneapolis.

Austin, perhaps.

Just got tickets for NY.

no predictability whatsoever afaik - I saw them that same year at Berbati's in Portland and it was almost solid gnarly improv madness. Charlie attacked the crowd with a whip. this set sounds interesting for sure.

Yeah there was never a time when it would have been possible to say what their “live set was like at the time”

—they moved around behind a gauze scrim for the whole show while a prerecording played
—they told redneck jokes
—they performed a bunch of what would become 330,003 Crossdressers
—they did a set of gnarly trio improv

It's out today: https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/sun-city-girls-live-at-the-sky-church-september-3rd-2004-lp-dvd/KHZ.1002LP.html
Forced Exposure has it for $18.70, in stock - LP+DVD, whattadeal
While you're at it, get "Dawn of the Devi" too ($15.73 from Forced Exposure...I'm not a shill I swear)

so.... where would one start if they were curious about this band?

probably https://suncitygirls.bandcamp.com/album/torch-of-the-mystics

thanks, will do

Their final album is really amazing as well:

https://suncitygirls.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-mariachi

This is quite good entry point - https://suncitygirls.bandcamp.com/album/330003-crossdressers-from-beyond-the-rig-veda-2

This too - https://suncitygirls.bandcamp.com/album/dantes-disneyland-inferno

Both of these pretty much cover the range of the SCG universe, or as near to it as might be possible.

I'll second Torch of the Mystics, that was my entry point and worked really well.

agree with all of the above recommendations

with the beach boys cover (summer dream amherst 2004)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFWbyuvPImk

also check it out, comrade marc masters has uploaded the whole amherst 2004 show

this one too! great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbAOHq579lw

but yeah, Torch of the Mystics is thee one really.

The one that is in print, at least. Or was.
Examining this band through their first album and their last album is pretty rewarding.
First album long oop, unfortunately.

Torch
330,003
And the singles comp that includes borungku si derita eye mohini etc

Thank you for the recommendations - very initial impressions: fascinating + a lot less Ween/Zappa than I had somehow expected.

The first singles comp, You're Never Alone With a Cigarette, is a nice companion to Torch.

I wish they'd hurry up and re-release the first three.

OK I thought about it walking the dog and here’s my recommendation for a ten album scg chronological swoop:

Grotto of Miracles
Torch of the Mystics
Bright Surroundings Dark Beginnings
Live From Planet Boomerang
Eye Mohini: The Singles Vol. 3
330,003 Crossdressers from Beyond the Rig Veda
Libyan Dream (carnival folklore resurrection series)
Sumatran Electric Chair (carnival folklore resurrection series)
Hi Asia Lo Pacific (carnival folklore resurrection series)
Flute and Mask
Fine, eleven it is: throw in Funeral Mariachi to close

wow! thank you! I'm not ready for the freakout parts of the live videos yet though. Also, some of the less conventional moments on the albums suddenly made me go "what was that 'my pal footfoot' band called again?" but then they shift into a way more complicated thing during the same song - very fascinating

I approve of Jon's recommendationsand might also throw in Severed Finger With A Wedding Ring, also from the CFR series