Herman Brood & His Wild Romance: Herman Brood & His Wild Romance

Dope Sucks!

Herman Brood (pronounced "Ehrman Broat") was a true Rock 'n Roll Junkie. The Dutch personification of "sex, drugs and rock 'n roll," he was nearly more famous for his outspokeness concerning sex and drug use than for his music.

He started playing piano for The Moans (who later became Long Tall Ernie and The Shakers) in 1964. Soon after, though, Harry Muskee asked him to join Cuby and The Blizzards and he was with them for the next decade. He started His Wild Romance in 1977. He began painting in the early 90s and became as successful a visual artist (known for his large-scale, colourful works reminiscent of the CoBrA style) as he was a musician.

He even kicked just about all of his habits. At least he cut back to only alcohol and a daily shot of speed. Seems he waited too late, though, as he was told in 2001 that he only had a few months to live. On July 11, at the age of 54, he lept to his death from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton.

Herman Brood & His Wild Romance: Herman Brood & His Wild Romance

1. Saturday Night
2. Doin' It
3. Champagne (& Wine)
4. Back (In Y'r Love)
5. Doreen
6. Hit
7. R & Roll Junkie
8. Dope Sucks
9. Never Enough
10. Pain
11. Get Lost
12. Hot Talk
13. Prisoners
14. Skid Row

This is the US release of the album that was released in Holland (in 1978) as "Shpritsz". The only differences are the deletion of the song "One" and the change of the cover art from the image of a male's hip to the (much less artistically presented) image of a female posterior. I'm sure the record company was afraid that the Male image would frighten customers away just like the cover of Sticky Fingers did.

Oh. And then there's the fact that (as I had noticed previously, but was thankfully pointed out by Billy Shears) the introductory Title Song is a Completely Different Recording from one record to the other. That's a difference, too.

The Coolies: dig..? & Doug

What's So Cool About That!?!

Q: Who are The Coolies?
A: Five fine young men from Atlanta, GA not too different from you or me except for being blessed with seemingly superhuman talent, overwhelming artistic integrity and devastating good looks.

Q: Why do they call themselves The Coolies?
A: Well, the dictionary defines a coolie as "one who does heavy work for little pay." (I'm surprised there aren't more more bands around called The Coolies!)

Q: Why don't The Coolies play original songs?
A: They do! Just ask Paul Simon! He wrote most of 'em!

Q: Do The Coolies like to Party?
A: Only in groups of one or more and on certain special occasions, like the drop of a hat.

I copied those questions and those answers off of the back of the record jacket. They oughta go a long way toward explaining this record.

The Coolies: dig..?

1. Scarborough Fair
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water
3. The 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
4. I Am a Rock
5. El Condor Pasa
6. Having My Baby
7. Cecilia
8. Homeward Bound
9. Mrs. Robinson
10. The Only Living Boy in New York

Allow me, please, to quote a review from Trouser Press to explain the next one. Here goes:
"Amazingly, the Coolies followed the one-joke dig..? with the brilliant Doug, a trenchant "rock opera" about a skinhead who murders a transvestite short-order cook, gets rich by publishing his victim's recipes, falls into paranoia and substance abuse and ends up in the gutter. The sad tale is related through ingenious knockoffs of the Who ("Cook Book"), John Lennon ("Poverty"), the Replacements ("Coke Light Ice"), rap ("Pussy Cook") and metal ("The Last Supper"), and in a comic book — not included with the cassette or CD, alas — designed by Jack Logan, of Pete Buck Comics fame. A quantum leap from its predecessor's one-dimensional silliness, Doug is a work of demented genius."

Here it is.

The Coolies: Doug

1. Talkin' 'Bout Doug
2. Ice Cold Soul
3. Pussy Cook
4. Cook Book
5. Shirts and Skins
6. Coke Light Ice
7. Doug!
8. 40 Foot Stretch
9. The Last Supper
10. Ain't Gonna Eat No More
11. Crack Pipe (Burnin' My Hand)
12. Poverty
13. Talkin' 'Bout Doug (reprise)

In case you don't recognize the inspiration for the name of the Transvestite Short-Order Cook, here's a picture (lifted directly from the Carvel Ice Cream website) of Cookie Puss.