Plastic Crimewave’s Galactic Zoo Dossier #7
First things first, however: Galactic Zoo Dossier is not your typical music zine in that its pages are almost all entirely hand-drawn and lettered by the skilled Mr. Crimewave. Yeah, there are a few photos scattered about, and in keeping with the Plastic one’s long-standing obsession with funny books, a handful of scanned-and-pasted strips from vintage comics are accompanied by the artist’s comments. The amazing and impressive bulk of the 100+ pages of this seventh issue of Galactic Zoo Dossier, however, were hand-crafted by Crimewave, with articles often illustrated by his unique, thick-lined portraits of the artists; the issue also includes several pages of the artist’s original collector’s cards.
The crude, penultimate D.I.Y. vibe of the zine takes getting used to, but like a favorite record that you at first hated and couldn’t understand, but later grew to love, the hand-lettered pages become easier to navigate with every article that you read. And this issue of GZD has a hell of a lot of reading for the dedicated follower of fashion. Band/artist features include early ‘70s psychedelic soul outfit Rasputin’s Stash, pop star-turned-folkie Dion, prog-rock forebears the Nice, proto-punkers Crushed Butler, British rockers Manfred Mann, and a slew of long-forgotten psychedelic-era wonders like Sam Gopal, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come, and others. Interviews in this issue include fascinating conversations with Dave Lambert of the Strawbs, Clive Palmer of the Incredible String Band, Kevin Coyne, and cartoonist Gary Panter.
Pioneers of Distortion & Patriarch Hippies
Every issue of Galactic Zoo Dossier is a treat, but along with the expanded page count of this issue comes several impressive works of criticism, art and academia. Scott Wilkinson’s “Pioneers of Distortion & Patriarch Hippies,” which emphasizes the influence of the blues on psychedelia, garage, and folk-rock, is simply fascinating, a well-researched-and-written piece that further broadened a subject that I was already quite knowledgeable about. Kit Moore’s piece on hippie horror films is both informative and entertaining for an old psychotronic film buff like the Reverend, while Crimewave’s “catch-all” articles, like this issue’s pieces on “The British Underground” and Motown’s “psychedelic soul,” are both informative and introductory, leading the reader to find out more about the (often obscure) bands/artists featured.
From an artistic perspective, Crimewave’s collector’s cards are simply amazing works, each sheet of nine cards featuring portraits and information on the featured artist. Issue #7 comes with two very different but equally impressive sets of cards. The first is actually the third set in the “Damaged Guitar Gods” series and features such underrated and obscure six-string geniuses as Rory Gallagher, Phil Manzanera, bluesman Skip James, R&B legend Ike Turner and others, a total of 45 collector’s cards (yes, the sheets are perforated if you want to separate your cards). The second set of cards that comes with this issue is the first grouping of “Astral Folk Goddesses” featuring artists like Nico, Judy Henske, Vashti Bunyan, Sandy Denny, and 23 other distaff songbirds.
Galactic Zoo Dossier doesn’t come cheap, with this issue running $16.00 from Drag City Records mail order. But the zine and accompanying collector’s cards also come packaged with a free CD of some of the most whacked-out music that you’ll ever hear, compiled by Plastic Crimewave. This issue features Teenage Meadows of Infinity, a two-disc set that includes tunes from folks like the Stooges, Blossom Toes, Michael Yonkers, Ed Askew, Devendra Banhart, Vincent Black Shadow and, yes, Mr. Crimewave his own bad self. These rare and exclusive tracks are guaranteed to get your toes tapping and start your head spinning. For the cost of a CD at that obnoxious mall chain store, you can have a copy of Galactic Zoo Dossier #7, eight pages of rock ‘n’ roll collector’s cards, and two full CDs of music – enough psychedelic swag to scrub your brain, feed your soul and drastically expand your musical horizons.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Lauded in the pages of hipster publications like Spin, Mojo, Fader, and Blackbook as “the premier hand-drawn underground psychedelic journal,” hopefully the increased notoriety of GZD has also led to increased sales. A labor this intense, passionate and, dare we say it – insane – deserves more than mere unrequited love in return. (Drag City Records, published July 17th, 2007)
Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine...
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