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MEN & VOLTS - A Giraffe Is Listening To The Radio: Men & Volts Play Captain Beefheart

Men & Volts was one of Bostons great bands, and I was sorry to see them fold up their tent in 1993. I had always known they started as a combo dedicated to playing the music of Capt. Beefheart & the Magic Band, but I was not in Beantown during this era, and thus missed the few shows they played in their original format. Over the years I have bugged David Greenberger (who I knew through his work with The Duplex Planet, etc.) about tapes of this material, but he always claimed it was not really up to snuff. Eventually, however, I wore him down and he turned over various audio recordings of Men & Volts playing the Magic Bands repertoire. And man, much of it was totally great. These guys rehearsed three times a week for the better part of 1979 in order to get the stuff figured out, and they really nailed aspects of the material. Those deeply-versed in live recordings of the Captain will notice some differences pretty fast, although many people who have caught this on in-store play have assumed it is a new Beefheart boot. And I think they really managed to capture the essential, weird swing of the Magic Band. The music on the album is a little lo-fi on spots, but we think it will get most people wiggling with pleasure. And the album title is a fairly obscure reference to a Cal Schenkel drawing that referenced a tune from Trout Mask Replica (1969). Figure it out and impress your friends with what a goddamn nerd you are. - Byron Coley, 2017. Edition of 300.

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Regular price $22.00

After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.

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