2021 reédition of one of my personal-favorite early C.P. titles; in perhaps the most egregious case of mission-creep extant (you will certainly be cursing the scorched earth below you halfway through the "Sax Talk" feature-full-length, as I most certainly did) this set now treats you to the (only) other release on the pair's "Vinyl" imprint, the 1982 "Six Songs" EP by Standard Of Living (aka Gregory "Rad Solar" Jones solo, w/ Colleen Hinks, Gene Gabriel, Jon Velcro, & Sablosky in the producer's chair!) This is followed on disc one by the first half of the 1984 "Sax Talk b/w No Night" 12" by Norman Salant (engineered by Jones, and featuring a quartet of Remixes of the titular tracks by both Jones & Sablosky that get into some great Serge-squeal zones while remaining, from the waist-down at least, firmly planted in that whole mid-80s Dance-Rock Emulator II mould ala Paul Hardcastle, François Kevorkian, or even Keith Levene).

On the second disc you'll find the other half of the Salant "Remixes" single, then (sorry; not sorry) the entirety of the "Sax Talk" full-length from the same year (featuring either Jones or Sablosky on every track, largely on "Serge" & "Synthesizer Programming") followed by NYC-area musician Mary Kelley's 1988 MaSo "Greetings" series (where it appeared alongside similar ventures by Durutti Column, ACR, The Mekons, & LPD) single "Greetings Five" (again, with both Jones & Sablosky heavily featured throughout on "Emulator II Programming" & "Synthesizer") followed by (deep breath) the (short) Kelley track " The Meaning (Dub)" as featured on a Stampa Alternativa single (alongside Controlled Bleeding & Blaine L. Reininger, no less) issued w/ the book "Coast to Coast: Punk/Rock Images" by F-Stop Fitzgerald the following year.

The Creel Pone P.T.B. have done just an absurd job "Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon-ing" us from the raw art-school squelch of "No Imagination" into Avant-leaning SSW moves in a couple of easy steps; this New Edition even comes with an accordion-fold replica of the three-page Mary Kelley "Press Kit" (inc. a "Signed" 8x10 photo, a page of "Descriptions" of each track, and a stamped page w/ her (then) Brooklyn address & phone number!) that came with early Promo copies of "Greetings," all to hammer down just how absurd this whole prospect has become in this Year of Our Lord 2021; Enjoy!

Upon first glance at this Creel Pone reproduction of an obscure 1980 private-press Synth / Art-noise LP - originally issued on “Vinyl Records” - two things caught my attention: the phrases “Electronic Instruments designed by: Serge Tcherepnin” & “Special thanks to California Institute of the Arts”, both in small text on the back of the jacket - as I understand it, Serge Tcherepnin himself was on faculty at CalArts from the early 70s until he left for San Francisco to start the Serge company in 1975. I imagine that he donated one of his instruments to his Alma Mater, ultimately resulting in Roy Sablosky and Gregory Jones here - both students of Morton Subotnick - logging time on said beast, which they used to render this remarkably prescient set of pieces entirely for “Electronics” (with one notable exception.)

The album opens with the spacious / serene “No Moon No Mirror,” uncannily resembling something out of the post-desktop / Max-MSP mold, only done in the late 70s & in real time with the aforementioned modular mega-beast. From there we’re re-directed 180º to “Intro (Summer Names),” a 16-minute blast of acid / feedback guitar & cracked monotone monologue, barely audible above the din, replete with a bit of Alvin Lucier-lineage psycho-acoustic interference - the feedback tone appears to be “playing” another guitar lying in the space before it’s picked up and viciously strummed ad infinitum for thegreater part of the piece. It's a Post-Punk / Art-school recasting of Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” that needs to be experienced to be believed! On the flip, we’re treated to “Diverted to Frankfurt” - 9 relentless minutes of 12-fold overdubbed variable-width square wave LFO action - surprisingly engrossing - before the epic 16-minute “Forced” lays down some seriously crispy-fried comparator-skree that erupts into a frenzy of Power Electronics ala Philip Best’s early “Consumer Electronics” material, albeit predating said by a few years. 

This one’s definitely for the art-noise crowd; a great mix of Academic Electronic “Concept” and jagged Youth-Noise, completely killer. A record that seldom gets talked about in either circle, which this replication addresses.