Milan / High Voltage on Flower

Did you like this song?


  • Total voters
    8

Mr.Segment

Tennalaga Class
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Location
Oslo
As I like the work of Milan quite a bit, under all his various aliases, and with his slightly confusing career /discography which I thought I'd started to get a grip on, I was a bit surprised to see this disc pop up on eBay. Never seen it before. Fuzz drenched folk/psych that, to me, worked real well. Anyone know of this High Voltage group? It doesn't sound like Milan singing. Studio project? Any more releases on the Flower label except for this and his own 45, You gotta have soul?
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That could definitely be Milan singing. In my personal n totally subjective opinion it's absolutely awful.
 
Sounds great to me, it looks like the Milan story gets even more confusing.

According to Milan's sister, who contacted me recently, Ugly Things magazine plan to run a feature on him written by a fan named Martin Winfree.

I've read the (as yet unpublished) story and that 45 is not mentioned.
 
According to Milan's sister, who contacted me recently, Ugly Things magazine plan to run a feature on him written by a fan named Martin Winfree.

I've read the (as yet unpublished) story and that 45 is not mentioned.

I hope he fares better than the recent Brian Ross feature. Looking forward to reading it, would be great to get some more facts brought forward than the scant information currently scattered around on the worldwide web.

Sometimes I wonder why guys like Martin or Mike Stax doesn't ask or double check discog info on a place like the g45 before going to print. It doesn't hurt. Or does it?
 
Thanks!
A good fan read-through. I guess there's only so much information you can safely present when no one is no longer around to verify the facts. But I would have toned down the appreciation for that bootleg if I were him. Because that is what it is, a bootleg, and it is not generating any royalties for family members. If they were ever entitled to any. Strange they don't seem able to verify the unclear circumstances surrounding his death. If he needs some proper scans of some of the 45s presented I'd be happy to provide them. Also soundclips of his last 45 if he hasn't heard them. Unfortunately my copy is a test pressing so no fancy label shot available. But Mr.Buckeye's got one with a Parkway label.

I'd still like to know more about the Flower label!
 
Decent article, a bit too "fan-ish", tho with more off the internet research, the writer could have come up with more facts.

These younger guys who write fan articles have GOT to get this idea that people were focused on making / recording "garage rock" records in the mid '60s. Laughable, really. People did not think in compartmentalized styles when writing songs.
 
As with a lot of Milan's output I can't really say I love "Plastic People", but I think it's fascinating. There are hardly any songs of him I like from beginning to end, but most of them have moments of pure genius.
I think Milan's stuff is quite ahead of its time, as other '60s music from NY as well, although he never really leaves the field of pop music. It has moments that sound like 70s or 80s music to me, especially the melody lines. What I absolutely love about him is his over-the-topness. A bit like Phil Spector but with totally different means and instrumentation. Pop on the verge to noise. It's like: "Wow! How far can you go?!" I find that really entertaining, even amusing.

I got the "Hell Bent For Leather" collection and I think it's great to have a compendium of Milan's work on one record. It would surely be difficult to do that legally, so I'm thankful that a dedicated fan did it. The sound is pretty good, which is important, because the music itself is so exuberant and noisy already. Btw, exuberance is a good word to describe Milan's approach in general. I even like the cover art, because it reflects the flashy pop art aspect of Milan's music quite well.

The article is very interesting, although some minor information is incorrect or misleading. For example Larry Coryell has been in the studio prior to the Head Shop album more than once, not only with his band The Free Spirits.
The most entertaining part for me personally is of course the fact, that Milan is the younger brother of Petar "Radi" Radenkovic, the legendary goal keeper of the soccer team München 1860. Now it's the smaller team in Munich, almost struggling to survive, but in 1966 (!) they won the German soccer championship, when Bayern München was still a minor team. "Radi" was the hero of the hour back then. München 1860 is still the favourite team of many locals here in Munich, and some of my close friends are dedicated fans. One guy, his name is Axel as well, is even the official spokesman for the 1860 fans.

Anyway, I think Milan is a highly interesting figure. Somewhere between Phil Spector, "Wild Angels", glam rock, new wave & pop art. He also reminds me a little of his fellow New Yorker Marcus Uzilevsky aka Rusty Evans with his multiple reincarnations. And that guy is still alive. I wonder, has there ever been a thorough investigation about the "Psychedelic Moods" album or Rusty Evans in Ugly Things or anywhere else? Definitely a milestone in my opinion.
 
Hey, look what the cat dragged in, it's FLO-1!

Amazing. Never seen this before either. Haven't received it yet, wonder if it's the same recording as the Cameo 45. Flip is called I get groovy feelings (written, produced & arranged by Milan) Yikes, what a title.

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Yup.

Both are a Capitol Custom pressing.

SZB - S denoting stereo, Z = 1970, B identifies a custom 7 inch outside client account.

In addition, that ripple ridge on the outermost portion of the label was developed by Capitol circa '69 to aid in "stacking", when people would stack 45s on an automatic record changer - each 45 "drops" automatically from a stack. The Capitol label ridge pressings would "lock" and prevent the 45 from slipping during playback when stacked upon another 45 . Of course, that only works if all or most of the 45s employed the ridge pressing concept. It didn't last that long....
 
Really? What'd be the point of releasing something that would have been so out-dated by 1970? I'm guessing that would make FLO-2 a 1970 disc as well then?

It's only outdated when you are looking thru a distorted perspective from 41 years later, trying to stuff a chosen / selected recording nice and tidy into a category. The music world was not operating in a such a manner back then.
 
Well, the Breeze disc arrived. First of all, beachbob45: You need a trip back to grading school. This is VG, not VG++. 1st class seems like a good starting point. So tired of this.

It's definitely Milan singing on both tracks. So the 45 is in reality another Milan 45. Jersey Thursday is the same recording as the one released on Cameo Parkway. But the CP 45 is the louder pressing of the two. The Breeze 45 may be in stereo, fake or not. Only listened twice, but the instruments aren't as upfront as on the CP release.

Maybe he pressed up copies on Flower because he was disappointed the CP 45 sank without a trace.

The flip was enjoyable if you're an obsessive fan of Milan in general, others need not worry.