Tin Huey: Puppet Wipes EP

Puppet Wipes / Cuyakoga Creeping Bent / Poor Alpkoga (live) / The Tin Huey Story

Format: 7" EP

Year: 1977

Label: Clone Records

Price: $4.50

Purchased at: Square Records, Akron Ohio

God bless Akron, you've given us so much.

Admittedly what first brought me to Tin Huey were The Waitresses. Tin Huey's Chris Butler was the driving force behind the band- penning most of their hits including 'I Know What Boys Like', 'No Guilt', 'Christmas Wrapping', and the 'Square Pegs' theme. He is also a Guinness Record holder for 'Longest Pop Song in Recording History.' His song 'The Devil Glitch' clocks-in at a staggering sixty-nine minutes. Chris was also in the crowd that was fired on by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University on May 4th, 1970. In 2005 he (accidentally) purchased the childhood home of Jeffrey Dahmer...

Anyway, this single appears to be vintage pre-Chris Butler.

I'm not going to go into Tin Huey's long history, as it's rather convoluted and esoteric to say the least. Suffice it to say they're still at it. A few random Tin Huey facts:

• They're one of the bands featured in the 2003 PBS documentary 'It's Everything, and Then It's Gone.' The special covers the history of post-punk and art rock Akron groups including Devo, Waitresses, Rubber City Rebels, Bizzaros, and The Numbers Band.

• Tin Huey played at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

I don't really have the words to describe their sound on this EP. Based on my limited vocabulary they remind me a lot of early Devo, especially 'The Tin Huey Story.' Rough, irreverent, and so free-form that they flirt with anarchy.

Regarding the disc itself- I went right to the source and purchased this one in Akron, Ohio. The shop I bought it from had several Tin Huey 7" singles. All were in mint condition. I asked the store owner if they were reissues... and he honestly didn't seem to know. The single is so deadstock-mint that I really can't tell myself, but I will say that there are no reissue markings on it, the paper used for the sleeve is crude and cheap, and I think if it was reissued they wouldn't be using the Clone label so prominently on the sleeve and label?

Cherry Vanilla: The Punk/Foxy Bitch

Format: 7"
Label: RCA
Country: US
Year: 1977
Price paid: $1.50
Location purchased: My Mind's Eye, Cleveland

This is not a punk song, so don't be confused. It's a contemporary scathing parody of punk stereotypes... and a damn' good one at that. So good in fact that if you squint your ears in just the right way it's nearly indistinguishable from the British punk sound of the time.

Take a listen. Yes, she's rough around the edges and she could be somebody's mom. But the song itself is brilliant, the energy infectious, and the band really can play quite well:

Cherry Vanilla- The Punk (video)

Cherry Vanilla herself is quite a character. Most notably she was David Bowie's high-profile publicist during the early 70's, going so far as to (jokingly, I think) offer oral sex to any DJ that would play Bowie's music. She also worked on some of Warhol's theater projects, including the starring role in the UK production of 'Pork.' She's released three full LPs, five singles, and a tell-all book- definitaly not a flash in the pan despite her laughable stage name and tongue-in-cheek style.

I've wanted this single for awhile now. Sadly the condition's not that good, the sleeve anyway. The sleeve art gets the job done with its cute arresting image of Cherry and shocking red font, but I'd hardly call it ground-breaking design. But hell it's on RCA, so what do you expect?