THE POWER OF PUSSY - Bongwater

YEAR: 1990

LABEL: Shimmy Disc

TRACK LISTING: The Power of Pussy, Great Radio, What If?, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, Chicken Pussy, White Rental Car Blues, Nick Cave Dolls, Bedazzled, Obscene & Pornographic Art, Connie, What Kind of Man Reads Playboy?, I Need A New Tape, Women Tied Up In Knots, Junior, Mystery Hole, Time Is Coming, Folk Song

IMPRESSIONS: Not only did I meet my good friend Ernest (aka Weaverman at Fleapit of the Mind et. al.) on the old Monster Club forum but also got in contact with friend Roxor (aka Barry). Happily I am still in contact with Ernest but Roxor dropped off the face of the planet after a few years. His plans for world domination probably fell through and he had to hightail it out of the galaxy. But not before exchanging boxes of strange music and movies with me. Amongst a cache of cassette tapes Roxor sent me was the complete "Box of Bongwater" set. Somehow I had never come across Bongwater's music but I was sure glad I did when I heard it. Trippy and bizarre with heavy guitars, Ann Magnuson monologues and sound effects tape tricks, Bongwater was a listeners buffet for the earholes!

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Great Radio, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, Chicken Pussy, Nick Cave Dolls, Bedazzled, I Need A New Tape, Women Tied Up In Knots, Time Is Coming, Folk Song

GUEST ARTISTS: Fred Schneider (vocals)

FACT SHEET: THE POWER OF PUSSY is Bongwater's third album. Psychedelic rock group Bongwater is the brainchild of (Mark) Kramer (founder of Shimmy Disc) and actress/vocalist Ann Magnuson. The group only lasted from 1985 to 1992 and produced four albums (and a couple EPs) but was a huge hit during the height of "alternative college radio". They used a bizarre form of psych rock combined with cutting social commentary and wacked-out humour. Magnuson specialized in many songs feature her doing a monologue over an instrumental while she was immersed in many types of bizarre characters. Another feature of Bongwater albums was the inclusion of several off-the-wall covers of songs by artists as varied as The Monkees, Led Zeppelin, the Moody Blues, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore and Harry Nilsson.