Billy Childish Various Artists
From Fossilised Cretaceous Seams: A Short History of his Song and Dance Groups
(Damaged Goods Records)
Over the course of the last 45 years in many different groups and numerous aliases Billy Childish has released nigh on 3000 songs, recording as many as 14 albums a year, so the task of reducing his vast catalogue to 33 songs on double album or cd was never going to be easy. Even Childish himself admits he doesn't expect anybody to keep up with everything he releases though Ive no doubt that some obsessive fans try to.
Its a fairly equal distribution of few tracks by most of the bands hes led from the punk of The Pop Rivets right through to his latest group The Guy Hamper Trio which is basically his CTMF trio with additional Hammond Organ provided by James Taylor of the excellent James Taylor Quartet.
Two things that are very noticeable are that some of the best tunes on here were written and recorded with women singers in The Delmonas and The Shall I Say Quois, and that his most recent releases with the aforementioned CTMF, and Guy Hamper Trio are amongst his best, so, as Childish is hitting 65, after all of the hundreds of releases and thousands of songs it sounds, to my battered ears at least, like he might just be getting the hang of this music thing.
Essential Information
Main image by Masao Nakagami. Billy Childish with Thee Headcoats at Shinjuku Loft in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan, early 1990s
