Saturday, May 23, 2009

God Bless Fred Cole

Anyone who doesn't love Fred Cole can just turn around and get the fuck out of here. The man is Rock n Roll's fiercest loyalist with forty five years of uncompromised balls-out rebel rock under his well-worn belt. He's never surrendered to mediocrity or bullshit to achieve the filthy lucre of success, he's never diluted his vision for fame, he is the real fucking deal, and maybe you can't handle that shit, amigo. Legend has it that Cole and his band The Weeds were headed to Canada to avoid being drafted off to 'Nam but broke down in Portland. At some point soon after, The Weeds' management made them change their name to The Lollipop Shoppe and move to L.A. None of this worked out and Fred Cole returned to Portland. There he opened a music store and record label called Whizeagle and started fresh with a new band called Zipper. Here is their one and only album, and it is just beautiful. Those of you who are Dead Moon fans will instantly recognize Cole's unique and enigmatic voice, it is the quivering voice of perseverance and resolve, the voice of the everyman's struggle. Those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Cole will fall in love for the very first time and find yourselves clamoring to find any and all things the man ever did, good luck it's staggering. Fred Cole's art is the real McCoy, the dust on your boots, the job you fucking hate, the girlfriend that just didn't work out, and yet you still ignore him, but he won't go away. Fred Fucking Cole!

29 comments:

WILD HUNT said...

yeah, for those who don't like Cole, why don't you just make like a tree, and get out of here!

Shelby Cobras said...

You are also schizophrenic and leading a double life as Portland resident "Fred Cole" (see comment, previous post).

Anonymous said...

First track is 'missing'.

There is a file, but it is reading as 0 bytes.

Anonymous said...

bye bye

Tyler Lunch said...

Great album, you should do a Dead moon at some point.

THRIPS said...

Yeah ditto. fist track is there but not working...

Aesop said...

Okay, let me fix this problem.

Aesop said...

Okay, all good.

josh klimaszewski said...

god bless this blog post

theroseycross said...

a few summers ago, while in the midst of primeval lsd experience, I decided fred cole is the raddest dude ever. Nothing has changed.

JM said...

This is great. Thanks for posting. I love the falsetto on "The Same Old Song." Sounds like Emotional Rescue-era Mick Jagger ripped him off.

theheft said...

I've been looking for this for a while. Cheers! Watch the Dead Moon doc. "Unknown Passage".

MP Roget said...

WWFCD?

Anonymous said...

Aesop-

Thank you for acknowledging the greatness of Mr. Cole. I saw Dead Moon every time they were in L.A., and they were unforgettable. Those Dead Moon albums are all in print and available from Tombstone Records, so you all should buy a few!

-The Anonymous Jew

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this! After a long life of being a big clueless moron, my friend's girlfriend (who is 20 years old!) introduced me to Dead Moon, and I've become obsessed ever since. I look forward to listening to this Zipper album!

Unknown said...

I had never heard of Fred Cole. And then I am told to get the fuck out. Jeezz, how am I supposed to check out the music you fascist.

Unknown said...

thanks for more fred cole in my life. I needed that!

Addison said...

o hell yea

Boxcar Shicklgruber said...

I too had never heard of Fred Cole, and I chose to ignore the request to GTFO and instead downloaded the record. Now, Fred Cole is an important part of my life... I want to subscribe to his newsletter.

Aesop said...

Might you be named Tony Graf?

death.in.bodies said...

Thanks for posting this! I just saw Fred & Toodie's new band, Pierced Arrows, open for the Amebix in Austin! total fucking rock

Anonymous said...

Cover shares the same font as the G.B.H. logo— Dynamo

JMD

chrisc said...

Fred Cole is the personification of american underground.he has carried on playing r'n'r for almost 40 years always staying true to his values and principles despite being ignored by the masses.i still kick myself for not seeing Dead Moon live on several occasions.it's nice to learn that he's still playing music and has a new band.thank you Aesop.

Nid said...

Hey, I forgot to comment on this one before. Like any self-respecting Portlander, I love Dead Moon, but I've never put any energy into digging up Fred Cole's older material. This is a good album - thanks a lot for posting it!

sharktank said...

whoa! one from the cole vaults i had no idea about! This totally rules. I am new to your blog, heard about you from a co-worker who has been jammin' on your african tunes. this site is amazing!!! thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

thank you thank youuu ball bustin' music

SEANFORD said...

the three things you can always count on in portland are strippers, tall cans, and dead moon.

Anonymous said...

This record sucks dead monkey balls. Blech.

Daniel said...

My friend just recommended Zipper and Fleetwood Macs' Than Play on....Anyways ya this Zipper is killer. Thanks.