mo diddley died way back when

a karen cooper complex left me naked...

SOILED.

Bo Diddley meets The Residents.

Or, to quote Bill Altice, former member of KCC:

"The Karen Cooper Complex was "a band that played loosely structured, improvisational rock that was more "Bitches Brew" than Grateful Dead".

Spiced up with some looped guitar - liberally laced with Tourettes - straight out of Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious", the opening track to 1981's lost treasure, "Shinjuku Birdwalk" bodes something approaching fractured genius, and does little to disappoint.

As per our friendly San Francisco coterie, much of the joy in listening to "Birdwalk" lies in keeping one ear open for those tortured jukebox 'samplings' layered cryptically one over the other. Invigorated by a rich open vein of kleptomaniac dissent.

A woman's take on James Brown's "Please, Please, Please". As torn by endless diapery as Maureen Tucker. 

Or bent on surviving postnatal depression with the aid of a safety pin.

Tiring, dear ?

Stitch up some vintage Mayo Thompson and get busy with the Red Krayola.

Lay it on with a trowel. Indulge the palette.

My. I think I am in love with Richmond's Karen Cooper Complex. Retrospectively. A song for Karen falling on my lap just after Ms. Black departs.

I'll buy that for a dollar.

Better still. Listen in for free, lovingly curated by WFMU. You can have your cake and eat it, after all.

Karen Cooper Complex:

Karen Cooper; Frank Daniel;
Bill Altice; Burt Blackburn;
Les Smith; Bo Jacob;
Steve Bernard; Wm. Burke.

postscript:

Guitarist, Bill Altice advises me that "Shinjuku Birdwalk" is soon to enjoy a posthumous vinyl release on a New York based label. Plans are afoot to complement the analogue imprint with a reedited CD - featuring previously uncirculated material - on which Bill revisits the original 'crime scene' to employ contemporary forensics.

In the meantime, the Free Music Archive, inspired by the Creative Commons license,  continues to offer "high-quality, legal audio downloads" in support of participating artists. The FMA archives can be permanently sourced through this site's sidecar links.

▼ KAREN COOPER COMPLEX: YOU CAN'T HAVE IT / SHINJUKU BIRDWALK from "Shinjuku Birdwalk" 1981 (US)
▼ KAREN COOPER COMPLEX: LOLLIPOPS / SIMMER DOWN from "Shinjuku Birdwalk" 1981 (US)