Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 16, 17, and 18

*I started this weekly review in 2012! I have been superlatively tardy. But, alas, it now comes to an end. BTW: This is one of my favorite punk rock records by the band Blaster the Rocket Man.* 

Today's installment is over Tracks 16, 17, and 18 of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.
Go here for comments on Tracks 7, 8, and 9.
Go here for comments on Tracks 10, 11, and 12.
Go here for comments on Tracks 13, 14, and 15.

Track 16 - Venus at St. Anne's

Surf-rock/rockabilly mashup with gang vocals, "Up! Up! Up! Up!" in concert with hand-claps. The underlined portion of the C. S. Lewis excerpt below are the only lyrics to speak of, both passionately and tersely delivered before a time change slowly paves the way to the song's conclusion.

Up!

"I deny the charge. Foam-born Venus...golden
Aphrodite . . . Our Lady of Cyprus . . . I never
breathed a word against you. If I object to boys
who steal my nectarines, must I be supposed to 
disapprove of nectarines in general? Or even of
boys in general? It might, you know, be stealing
that I disapprove of."
- C.S. Lewis

Track 16 - Beehive Behave

Punk rock. Punk rock. Punk rock. The snare drum sounds like a stop-watch on Jolt! Lyrically witty, e.g., "Queen Bee says King me, honey." Also, time change/bridge accents the allegorical observation: "Those worker bees buzz, buzz, buzz . . . No one knows why - it's just - because . . ."

This is a tune for punk rock purists. ;) In true punk rock convention, the song clocks-in at under a minute and fifteen seconds with the concluding imperative -- "Beehive Behave!!!"

Queen Bee!
Queen Bee!
Queen Bee says King me, baby (2x)

Her Royal Monstrosity
hovers above me
I suffer the sting
beware!

Beehive behave! (many times over)

Queen Bee!
Queen Bee!
Queen Bee says King me, honey

Hive Mind
is hope for mankind
Flesh begets flesh
begets . . .

Beehive behave! (again and again)

Those worker bees buzz, buzz, buzz...
No one knows why
it's just 
because . . .

Beehive behave! (to the end)

Track 16 - Baby Unvamp (is Making a Comeback)

This tune is the locus classicus of the Blaster the Rocket Man catalog. Musically: straight-forward punk rock, drum in the pocket. Feels (perhaps) somewhat Ramones-esque. Lyrically: just brilliant, just brilliant, man! The tune ends with repetitive chanting. Also, a couple John Milton quotes are thrown in for good measure. You don't see that everyday in punk rock.

She's comin' back
She's runnin' back
But somewhere along the way
she decided to play the whore
in the mud once more
Forgotten what He shed His blood for
For her

She was burnin' with a passion fire
that soon became a mire of sin
that locked her in
inside her self
"Thou are become (O worst imprisonment!)
The Dungeon of Thyself."*
The chains chaffed
She bled until she said
Oh God what have I become?

"Myself my sepulcher. A moving grave."*
I am a slave once more
A whore cryin' at your feet
So incomplete . . .

Baby unvamp is making a comeback
She's starting to run back
to the Father and the Son
The only One who loves her
unconditionally
with Grace and Mercy

She clings to the Cross of Death
The Cross of Life
Her only hope
The Cross of Christ

She remembers when she first met Him
She was kickin' in a pool of her own blood
Coughin' it up
When He picked her up
She gave self up
and He raised her up

Presented her to the Father
without blame
Made her His bride
Gave her His Name
Erased the shame
She's not the same!

All we little unvamps
once were sluts, were whores, were tramps
But now we are the Bride
of Jesus Christ

She's growing
She's teething
and one day she'll bite you till you're dead!
dead!
dead!
Alive!
in Christ!
Forgiven.

* Both quotes from "Samson Agonistes" by John Milton

Well, that's it. Sorta. Appended to Track 18 are some silly answering machine messages, candid "in the recording studio" dialogue, and a whimsical rendition of "March of the Macrobes."

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 13, 14, and 15

*I started this weekly review last year, but now finishing it. This is one of my favorite punk rock records by the band Blaster the Rocket Man.* 

**This post is technically a day late.**

Today's installment is over Tracks 13, 14, and 15 of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.
Go here for comments on Tracks 7, 8, and 9.
Go here for comments on Tracks 10, 11, and 12.

Track 13 - Frankenstein's Monster Wants a Wife

Jazzy-rhythmic guitar chord progression throughout the song. The first minute-and-a-half is an instrumental opener with an infectious double-picking lead guitar that functions as a refrain throughout the song. Musically this is one of my favorite tracks.

Lyrically this song derives its subject matter from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In that novel, Frankenstein's monster demands - threatens - that his creator make a wife for him. Frankenstein begins to, but aborts the process. I believe Blaster is allegorically using this scene from Frankenstein to illustrate how sin is a vicious monster that then demands more sin from its creator (man). Thus, Frankenstein's dilemma: "Just cut this hand off, it's offending me!" 

She's much too fresh.
Where did you get her?
Now, don't confess
for I must wed her
to my abomination
son of man.

"Doc Frankenstein!"
Who said that?
"Won't you be mine?"
Now, cut that out!
I've got cuttin' to do.
I'm not finished with you.
No chit chat till this is through.

It's no easy operation
to apprehend the apparition,
to make the phantom corporeal,
substantial stuff for us to feel.
Scalpel, please. Make incision.
Scissors! Oh, these quick decisions!
It takes a steady hand...
Curse my monster's sick demands!

How does she look?
Do the scars show?
She's all sewn up
with no place to go,
save on a hellish honeymoon
that ends all too soon
in hell, well...

"Doc Frankenstein!"
Who said that?
"Won't you be mine?"
Baby, how you been?
Oh my, your hand's so cold.
But I'll be bold
and hold it anyhow.

It's all so thrilling 
When you're willing
To fudge and fake
To make a killing
Still I want to tear it apart!
Stop the beating of this hideous heart!
Why do I abandon my endeavor to sever
To pick up the needle and sew it back together?
Oh, it's neverending, can't you see?
Just cut this hand off, it's offending me!
Once dead, but now...
It's alive!
It's alive!

Track 14 - I Like Lycanthropy

Lycanthropy (or Lycanthrope) = Wolfman/Werewolf. To get this song you have to know something about the reality-mythology of man-to-beast shapeshifting. Werewolves are mythological creatures, humans who shapeshift into wolves. You are probably most familiar with Werewolves from the film Teen Wolf starring Michael J. Fox.

In any case, while shapeshifting is truly mythological, what is not mythological is the truth (reality!) that God does curse sinners by turning them over to their sins and their minds become clouded, and, as a result, they become beast-like. As Paul says in Romans 1:21-25:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. 

And because they worshipped the creation (beasts of the field) in place of God, they became like the thing(s) they worshipped (as the saying goes, "You are what you worship."). In the subsequent verses (vv26-32), Paul denotes that God gave them up to "vile affections" and a "reprobate mind". When God does this, the human is given over to sin (perhaps even given over to demons), and sometimes this includes becoming beast-like, e.g., Nebuchadnezzar becomes beast-like, he becomes like a Cow/Ox (Daniel 4), and Jesus cast a Legion (many devils/demons) out of a man who had become beast-like (Matthew 8 and Luke 8) -- the text says that this man had been bound with chains and in fetters but had broken them, and was wandering naked in the wilderness; also, fornication, homosexuality, and bestiality are sins whereby God gives humans over to their sins and they become beast-like, i.e., in the same way that the animals do not exercise discipline and self-control in sexuality, so too humans who have been given over to "reprobate minds" are beast-like through promiscuous sexuality. All that to say, the Bible depicts that humans becoming beast-like is a symbol of God's judgment.

This is a classic punk rock tune. (May their tribe increase!) Distorted guitars. Power chords. Palm mutes. Pick-slides. Opens with vocal refrain overlaying drumming, "I like lycanthropy!" All of this, obviously, is tongue-in-cheek, because the point of the song is that all those given over to sin (those who are beast-like, like the Werewolf in this song) must humble themselves like the Cow-King, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; sinners must humble themselves and look to Heaven, i.e., as Blaster says, "There's no way for new life to begin, No! Unless you confess and turn away from your sin You've got to die with Jesus to know the Resurrection."

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like it!

Don't call it murder when I feed
It's just the nourishment I need
I cannot curb this appetite
or I'll disturb my natural plight

So what if' I'm a wolf on full moon nights
I'm still part man and I've got rights
I'm sniffin' out the blood and I take bites!

If you are walking by
and I transmogrify,
be prepared to run or die!

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!

The wolfman is back!
Don't call it a curse.
Sticker on my car
Read it and weep
for the ones you love.
Says, "Equal Rights for Werewolves!"

I'm sniffin' out the blood and I take bites!
Why do you look at me with a look of fright?
So what if I'm a wolf on full moon nights!

If you are walking by
and I transmogrify
be prepared to run or die!
Run or die!

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!

The wolfman in me
I like lycanthropy (He likes it! He likes it!)
The wolfman and me
I like lycanthropy (He likes it! He likes it!)
Wolf!
Claw! Bite! Sniff! Bark! Scratch! Tear! Growl!
Howl!

Like king Nebuchandezzar
You gotta' turn your eyes to Heaven
Like King Nebuchandezzar
You gotta' turn your eyes Heavenward!

There's no way for new life to begin, No!
Unless you confess and turn away from your sin
You've got to die with Jesus
to know the Resurrection
You' gotta' die, die, die with Jesus
to know the Resurrection
You gotta' die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
with Jesus
to know Life!

I like lycanthropy!
I like it!

(The Mysteriously missing third verse:)

A chorus of Redeemed Ones shouts the truth in 
unison to the werewolf:
"Your throat is an open grave!"
Our Lycanthrope Hero responds in despair:
"I know no other way to behave!"
The Redeemed Ones keep shouting in Love:
"You must repent, you Cursed Wretch!"
The werewolf snarls in defiance:
"I'll not relent. Your flesh I'll fetch!"

Despite the Lycanthrope's unrepentance,
The Crucified One Who is Lifted Up
continues to offer forgiveness to all
monstrosities who will believe on Him.

Track 15 - Tundra Time on Thulcandra

This is another song that is lyrically derived from C. S. Lewis' Sci-Fi Trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Ransom is main character throughout the trilogy. In the first book he travels from earth to Mars, in the second he travels to Venus (and fights/defeats the Unman), and in the third he is the Pendragon of Logres (i.e., the Leader of King Arthur's realm in Britain), and he and his team are instrumental in assisting in the war against the "Macrobes" (fallen angels/demons).

Down in the handramit [this is the canals on Malacandra where breathable air can be found]
I wanna' be on the harandra [the suface of Mars]
An alien on this planet
On my way back to Thulcandra [Planet Earth]

Malacandra [Planet Mars] on my mind 
Perelandra [Planet Venus] all the time
Nevermind, it's tundra time

Get cozy in the cockpit
Snuggle in the turret
Grunts gotta' make the best of it

Warmth from the blast of the laser cannon
Keeps me goin'
When it won't quit snowin'

Man the console
Console the man

Malacandra on my mind
Perelandra all the time
Nevermind, it's tundra time

South wind blows
We know summer is coming soon
Lightning flashes
We know the Son is coming again

And what will the silent planet, Tellus [Latin for Earth]
tell us when they pull Deep Heaven
down on their heads?
I guess this is life during wartime

when Thulcandra is the battlefield.[Earth is the battlefield of incredible spiritual warfare in That Hideous Strength.]

Next week will be the last installment for Tracks 16, 17, and 18!

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 10, 11, and 12

*I started this weekly review last year -- this is one of my favorite punk rock records by the band Blaster the Rocket Man -- and circling back now to finish the review for the latter half of the album.* 

Today's installment is over Tracks 10, 11, and 12 of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.
Go here for comments on Tracks 7, 8, and 9.


Track 10 - Lovebot's Revenge

I don't know if jungle-polka-punk-rock is an established music genre . . . However, if it is, this would be the poster-child song. The song opens with jungle-sounding drumming, then the songs kicks through a verse with guitar phrasing that accentuates the jungle-sounding drumming. And with the chorus the polka-ish rhythm begins. And throughout the song reverberated and layered vocals peppered with labial stops. Most excellent.

"homicide, lust hard by hate"
- Milton, "Paradise Lost"

I'm a bogie in the heart of the jungle
In a hidden lab under the vines of the tangle
I've got my sights on the lights of the city
I want a chemical reaction to something pretty

I'm programmed to fall for ya', pretty baby
You're programmed to fall for me, pretty baby
Aww...fall into my arms!

Harmful heat in my hugs hide
My lips are laced with cyanide
Never mind my medicine breath
Come hither for a kiss of Death, now
Hold me, hold me, hold me
Huggin' and a lovin'

Who put the...in the...
Who was that man?
I'd like to 
cut his hands off!

Meanwhile, I'm in the jungle she calls a heart
Boilin' and a burnin' in a cauldron
Mauled by the tiger who eats my flesh
Then the monkeys swing down and devour the rest

Couldn't he tell it was a bad relationship?
Didn't he know we couldn't get a grip
on each other or anything other than ourselves
which we lost in the process as well

I'm programmed to fall for ya', pretty baby
You're programmed to fall fro me, little honey
And great was our Fall, pretty baby
We all have fallen short of the glory of God!

Oh, I'm a romantic thriller
A real lady killer!

Where there once were feely fingers
No protrude poisonous stingers
Feel I'm left with no recourse
But to kill her with no remorse, now
Hold me...huggin' and a kissin'

Who put the...in the...
Who was that man?
I'd like to cut his hands off!
('Cause he made my baby fall in love with me!)

Aw, have mercy
Somebody kill me!

Note: Let no one suppose for one moment that
Blaster promotes violence or murder in this physical,
temporal realm. This song is a satirical
thriller about the very real consequences to par-
taking in what this world celebrates as "love."

So how do we recognize true love in a world
full of destructive counterfeits? "This is how we
know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life
for us." (1 John 3:16)

The violence and mortification that Blaster
does promote, in other songs on this album, is
spiritual and part of a very real war that is, at
this moment, being waged. "Beloved, I beg you, as
aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain
from fleshly lusts, which war against your soul."

(1 Peter 2:11)

Track 11 - Disasteroid

Punk rock. Tremolo picking and vocal growls accentuate this Apocalyptic-minded song. The earth is a "Disasteroid" that will burn up and be transformed into a New Heaven and New Earth.

Disasteroid!
(It's winding down! It's winding down!
It's winding down!)
Your "mechanism" can't organize life at the start
And the universe is ripping apart!
Disateroid!
(It's winding down! It's winding down!
It's winding down!)
Completely catastrophic
Entirely entropic
Nothing or none can stop it!

This world -womb will give birth
to a New Heaven and New Earth

Disasteroid!
(It's burning down! It's burning down!
It's burning down!)
Open system or closed system
Either way you've missed Him who created you
Disasteroid!
(It's burning up! It's burning up! It's burning up!)
In Christ all things consist
By His light you exist another day

You can't change the course of the curse
The transformation will occur
World !
Womb!
In the twinkling of an eye
Mortality will be swallowed up by Life

when the Earth is destroyed!

Track 12 - [Untitled]

This track is a spoken word intro to the following track, "Frankenstein's Monster Wants a Wife."

Frankenstein, Frankenstein, 
Where, where have you been?
In your laboratory
making something ghastly, gory
In the church yard 
digging hard
midst the tombstones
alone with bones
Did you steal the cadaver?
That your son may have her
And thus the monster
will curse his father
Frankenstein, Frankenstein

What have you seen?

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 7, 8, and 9

Today's installment is over Tracks 7, 8, and 9 of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.


Track 7 - Ransom vs. the Unman

Straight forward Rat-a-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat drumming, well placed palm-muted guitars, punk-rock guitar pick slides denoting the transition into the Chorus.  Track 7 and 8 lyrically draw from Lewis' Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. Growing up with Blaster was a blessing. I was a kid raised on a farm in mid-central Indiana, smack in the middle of corn fields, and Blaster was a musical and literary gateway to things outside the normal planetary rotation of rural Hoosier life.

Into the nightmare monster's embrace

The teeth and the claws and the jaws of the face

The ripping of skin and the reeking of breath

The real life enacting of myth

(For he loved not his life unto death) 

[Chorus]

Ransom! vs. The Unman!

Ransom! The Unman!

Ransom The Unman!

Ransom The Unman! (4x) 

He flung himself on the death that was living

"His hands taught him terrible things . . .

He felt its ribs break . . . heard its jaw-bone

crack."

As they pummeled and scraped and attacked

(But he's not of those who shrink back)

repeat Chorus

"In the sphere of Venus I learned war.

In this age Saturn will descend.

I am the Pendragon" (C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength). 

Track 8 - March of the Macrobes

As mentioned above, lyrics for this song are drawn from Lewis' That Hideous Strength.

Macrobes! Macrobes!

Here come the Heads!

The Chosen Heads of the Bodiless Men

Macrobes! Macrobes!

Here come the Heads!

Here come the Chosen Heads

of the Bodiless (Men)

From ape to man to god

by rape we plant the pod

to propagate the fraud

From ape to man to god

by rape we plant the pod

to liquidate the body

You could be a vessel for

that hideous . . . strength

You could be the gateway

The time is here

They're drawing near

Can you feel the tension

from another dimension?

Leave flesh behind.

There's only mind.

Or set the brain apart

to elevate the heart

Whatever happened to the individual? (N.I.C.E.)

Where is his soul? (R.A.P.E)

(As you walk along the brightly lit corridors

you hear a soothing, androgynous voice

overhead.)

"Welcome to the National Institute for

Coordinated Experiments where we offer

Rationalized Alternatives to Plausible

Evidence," etc.

There's no unity

in your dichotomy

Section by section

dissection

Vivid vivisection

at the point of integration

with no relation

to the whole

You've no choice left you

but to make

an irrational leap of faith

For the Macrobes are marching over you!

Marching Macrobes

Marching

Macrobes on the march (cha! cha! cha!)

Track 9 - Cop City

This is an instrumental "surf-rock" sounding song with Spanish counting thrown in for good measure, "Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro!" Conventional guitar riff opener eventually transitioning into a reverberated guitar phrasing, and "Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho!"

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 4, 5, and 6

Today's installment is over Tracks 4, 5, and 6 of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.

Track 4 – Stampede!

This is a cowboy punk-rock anthem about a stampede of intergalactic cattle/celestial beasts. Musically quite fun, a very rowdy song, and was a crowd favorite at shows. This song is the first track on Blaster's Live CD (Disc 2 of The Anatomy of a Monster), which, as far as live albums go, is a pretty rough record from a production standpoint. However, punk-rock generally hast not placed much merit in the metrics of production.

Stampede is lyrically a lot of fun. Anytime a song allows me to chant "Stampede!!!" and "Yippy ki ay!" and "Whoa hoss, easy fella!" it makes me giddy like a kid again. As enjoyable as that is, lyrically the song is a neat allegory with a twist of fantasy. 

Out on the range one night
We saw a strange sight comin' right out of the sky
It was a monster herd of the unheard of
Livestock of the Cosmos
A multifarious multitude of intergalactic cattle
Well, round here we don't take kindly
to no otherworldly
And a cowboy's gotta' do what a cowboy's gotta do
I took my rifle from the saddle and my lassoo too
Let's round us up some supper, boys!
Ride 'em fast! Ride 'em hard!
(Chasin' the Devil's herd)
Move along, move along, move along
lil' dogies!
(Drivin' the monsters from the Earth)
Yippy ki ay, Yippy ki oh
Keep that cattle movin'
Got it rollin' to the killin'
Gonna' rope up the unwillin'
Saw a rocketship wagon
driving' hideous horses
Had the whole team in its tractor beam
They gave an awful, eerie scream
that chilled my blood and spooked my steed
but I shook it off and took aim at the cockpit
Well, the boys were firin' too
and we all know we hit our target
as we watched the spacecraft
goin' down in flames
Then our eyes bugged in surprise
as the skies turned into chaos
The herd was loose
STAMPEDE!
Steady boys, there's gonna' be noise!
Ride 'em fast! Ride 'em hard!
(Chasin' the Devil's herd)
Move along, move along, move along
lil' dogies!
(Drivin' the monsters from Earth)
Yippy ki ay, Yippy ki oh
Keep that cattle movin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin' rawhide!
We'll kill 'em when we catch 'em on earthside
I'm back on the range
to keep the strange from further invasion
Protecting my family and my property
I'm back on the range
to keep the strange from further invasion
Protecting my family and my property
I'm back in the saddle again
where you don't know who's your friend
and the queer-horned cattle feed
on the lonely, bluish weed
Sometimes at night
I hear the mournful cryin'
of bestial extra-terrestrials
Whoah hoss. Easy fella'

Track 5 – Human Fly Trap (Our Hero Escapes from Venus)

The following is the introduction to track 5 in the album's linear notes.

In the seemingly limitless possibilities of science fiction there are many Venuses to be explored. Let not this one be confused with Lewis's transcendent vision of Perelandra which is referred to elsewhere on this album. In fact, it is basically an alternate reality of the  Perelandrian paradise in that it shares  her sensuous beauty but not her unfallen state.

This "evil twin" is not a New Eden, but a False Eden that entices its isolated explorers toward self-gratification which slowly transmogrifies them into a suitable food for consumption - namely, the Fly. (And how does this half-human, half-fly monster escape, you ask? by eating Jesus, of course!)"

This song begins with delayed guitars and also has some excellent keys/organ parts. Lyrically this is a song that reveals its narrative's moral by antithesis--the Hero has mutated into half-fly/half-human and in order to escape this "False Eden" he must "FLY" (as in fly away, flight, run away). He is caught in a False Eden, a world that has teeth. This Hero is caught in the trap of a False Eden/Venus Fly-Man Eater. However, this is a Salvation story. Our Hero escapes. He escapes because the Lord severs him from the "maw of death". Salvation and grace, indeed.

Report #1 to Space Station:
"How very breathable the air is here.
My head is clear. I have no fear.
Sensuous is the status
of my sensory apparatus.
My research is going quite well
and I've been getting to know my self
While chasing the planetary standard.
Embracing this land in all her grandeur
with open arms and all five senses
and to her charms I feel defenseless.
But I have dreams where it seems
my body has a fly head
and a fly has my head!
Can't anybody hear that little fly
on the wall screaming?
It's got a tiny human head
screaming, screaming for help!"
A heart to harden
in a carnivorous green garden
of sentient, bionic botany
gigantic mouth closing down on me!

Report #2 to Space Station:
"Can you see me on this communication?
I've changed. I'm a mutation.
A variation of you former friend.
But all you see can see is this
hideous head of a fly!
Don't try to rescue me.
Oh no, no this planet's all my own.
Won't you just leave me alone?
(Who knew this world had teeth?
Into it I go and down beneath.)
Can't anybody hear that little fly
on the wall screaming?
It's got a tiny human head
screaming, screaming for help!"

Linear Note -- The following fragment of a transcript was found
in a blood stained notebook lying open near the
scene of carnage. A similarly bloodied stylus was
also found, with which the message was presumably
written.

"If the shuttle is leaving
I'll not be cleaving.
Lord, sever me
from this maw of death.
The same word that describes what I have become
also defines my graciously given means of escape.
To flee. To run away"
FLY!
FLY!
FLY!

Track 6 – [Untitled]

The entirety of this track is an excerpt from Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in C.S. Lewis' sci-fi/space trilogy. The spoken word is over background noises, mechanical yet organic droning with incremental thuds (I can't decide if it is akin to a heartbeat or something sounding-like-the-noise-that-is-made-inside-of-a-car-trunk while a car commutes over a long bridge). This excerpt is the introduction to Track 7 - "Ransom vs. the Unman" (anticipation!). 

No insect-like, vermiculite or crustacean Abominable,
no twitching feelers, rasping wings, slimy coils,
curling tentacles, no monstrous union of superhuman
intelligence and insatiable cruelty seemed to him
anything but likely on an alien world. He saw in
imagination various incompatible monstrosities -
bulbous eyes, grinning jaws, horns, stings, mandibles.
Loathing of insects, loathing of snakes, loathing
of things that squashed and squelched, all played
their horrible symphonies over his nerves. But the
reality would be worse: it would be an extra-
terrestrial otherness - something one had never
thought of, never could have thought of. In that
moment Ransom made a decision . . . 

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Tracks 1 , 2, and 3

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes. 

Today's installment is over the first (1st) three (3) tracks of Blaster the Rocket Man's 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Track 1 – Deploy All Monsters Now!

With hand clapping and chanting “Destroy-oi-hoy-oi-hoy!!!” this album begins. You tap your fingers; you nod your head; bloodflow quickens through your veins. (Is punk rock efficacious?) Transitioning into full band (guitar, bass, drums), the instrumentation continues to carry the tune with four/four beat and two chords, and it is masterfully catchy. Mapping the soundscape is a bit complicated because eventually music structure speeds up, chords change, and before long the song is running away like a train destined to derail . . . inevitable, eventually there is a  jangling of tonalities and broken rhythms, structure is lost and musical measure is made molten, the listener is pummeled by the feedback of electric guitar, etc., and then the song concludes with a simple bass guitar line, and over that bass line an excerpt is sung from For Science (originally performed by They Might Be Giants).

Destroy! [repeat, etc.]
.  .  .
I will date the girl from Venus
Flowers die and so will I
Yes, I will kiss the girl from Venus for science!

This is a great song. This is a great Track 1. A great way to kickstart an album. Blaster draws the listener in with familiarity but then introduces tension and offset the initial coherence with mystery (both musically and lyrically). Call me a sucker, but I am hooked!

Track 2 – It Came from Down South

This track is an instrumental. Western, chink-a-chink rhythm guitar and hand-claps (with bass and drums, obviously), which is then offset with a simple and infectious guitar lead. It will make you dance and smile.

Track 3 – Hopeful Monsters are Dying Everyday

A punk-rock (Ramones feeling, somewhat) tune with vocal vibrato. The oscillating voice really grips you, especially the repetitious "bodies, bodies!" The song is short and sweet . . . less than a minute and a half long. Overall, music is strong but it is the lyrics that are absolutely fantastic.

We're all hoping for a beneficial mutation
in our bodies, bodies
Beyond adaptation or variation
of our bodies, bodies
We wanna' take the next step
We wanna' transcend, but
Hopeful monsters are dying everyday

We wanna' breed the new breed
of bodies, bodies
Searching for a mate
who'll thwart the state
that is the fate of our bodies, bodies
They say if anyone can
The "superman" can
Still hopeful monsters are dying!

New creatures in Christ
inherit bodies glorified
yet we carry in our bodies
the Death of Jesus
which is the hope
of life eternal

The hope of glory
We hope in God

Take up and listen!

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ - Linear Notes

I am going to blog through the songs and lyrics of Blaster the Rocket Man’s album Blaster the Rocket Man in "The Monster Who Ate Jesus". Blaster was a punk rock band formed in the 1990s. They were from Indiana. I started listening to their records in middle school, while they still performed under their original moniker Blaster the Rocketboy. Their name changed to Blaster the Rocket Man for their 1999 release TMWAJ.

TMWAJ is my favorite Blaster record. Unarguably a punk rock record, but it has influences ranging from country/western to surf rock. Some of the songs from TMWAJ can be streamed on the band's myspace page. Finally, the following excerpt is from the album’s linear notes.

"These pages rustle with the stealthy movements of strictly orthodox, old-fashioned monsters: werewolves and horrors spawned by the great deep; quasi-humans and robots, vampires and fearsome survivors from the dark abysm of the remote past, abortions from the scientist’s laboratory. Such creatures present a wholesome, indeed a cheerful contrast to the psychological deformities of contemporary sick humor, the pretentious sadism of the latest modern Gothic tale, the revolting hokum of television.”

So said Clifton Fadiman in his foreward [sic] to the 1967 anthology, Famous Monster Tales. In the same spirit, Blaster offers these humble and horrific songs of wholesome, orthodox monsters to cheer you and, hopefully, to edify you as well. These stories are essentially creature features that eerily illustrate a simple fact: human beings are creatures designed by a Creator. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

Because we are created in His image, we understand that God is Holy and Just and that we have become abominations in His sight because of our sin. “There is none righteous, no, not one . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10, 23) “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6)

All we like monsters have shed innocent blood. “Their throats are open graves. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their feet are swift to shed blood. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:13-18)

But thankfully, He is the God who loves monsters. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

These words were written concerning the real, historical Jesus of Nazareth, who walked the Earth in space and time. “For I delivered to you first the of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:3-4)

Thus, those monsters who have confessed their sin to God and believed in His Son, Jesus Christ, have become truly Orthodox Monsters. They are the New Creatures, the Unvamps, the Aliens and Strangers. Indeed, I am the monster who ate Jesus. For He said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:54-57) This saying offended the people of Jesus’ day and is still doing so today. Nevertheless, we love and serve the Living Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ, because He first loved us. What are you eating? (What’s eating you?) “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Next Tuesday I will blog through the TMWAJ's first three tracks: Deploy All Monsters Now!, It Came From Down South, and Hopeful Monsters are Dying Everyday.