Left End - Spoiled Rotten (Good American Hardrock 1974)

Size: 71.8 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

Great Youngstown Ohio band sadly overshadowed today by Poobah (not that Poobah wasn't a great band, but Left End was actually signed to a major label.)  They deserved a better fate than the total obscurity they are damned to today.  They didn't even rate a mention in Martin Popoff's excellent Collector Guide To Heavy Metal-the 70's (Jukin'Bone is another conspicuous absence.) Should appeal to fans of '70's Alice Cooper.  What was in the water in Ohio in the early 70's?  Left End, Poobah, Rocket From the Tombs, Damnation Of Adam's Blessing, James Gang, Electric Eels, Granicus, Mirrors, Styrenes--Jesus! 

Obscure one-album wonders who are supposed to still be around to this day. A fantastic fivepiece band playing 70's hardrock of the finest order. Singer Dennis T. Menass leaves NO ONE unattached! Despite being virtually unknown to most people, the bands name often comes up when discussing heavy 70's rock with diehard fans of the genre. Wellknown on a cult level, perhaps. 

Back in 1974, as I was mourning the loss of my beloved Glass Harp, I get a call from my friend Dave. He tells me about this band from Youngstown that I just gotta see. “No, thanks” I said. I’m sick of going to Cyrus Erie and hearing bands that can’t play, can’t write or are just plain lame. Glass Harp, as far as I was concerned had set the bar higher than anyone ever could again. Well, I got this call from Dave a couple more times and out of sheer boredom, I finally decided to go see this great band of his. 

I walk in to Cyrus Erie and some typical local band is playing some cover tune I’d heard a million times before. All of a sudden, the stage goes dark. There was a power failure. Well actually, after about 5 minutes, it’s announced that a member from the headlining band had “unplugged” the opening band because they suck! “You’re kidding, I thought”. Then, I look at the back of the room and there’s a bunch of goons waving at the stage and heckling the poor, unsuspecting openers. It wasn’t until the headliner hit the stage that I realized it was THE HEADLINERS THEMSELVES that had perpetrated this crime. “Oh, they’d better be good” I thought to myself, or this prank will fall on it’s face. 

The band rips into their first song and my face hits the floor. The song was “Spoiled Rotten” and the band was LEFT END. My God! I’d just never seen anything like this in Cleveland before. They were loud, powerful, catchy as hell, and had one of the greatest drummers I’d ever seen. Their guitarist was prancing around in a silver space suit and was only upstaged by their WEIRD lead singer who was wearing a pair of fishnet stockings, 12” platform tennis shoes and a T-shirt with a huge arrow that pointed at his crotch which read “Where’s Linda Lovelace”. He also had one black ring painted around one eye like Petey, the dog on the Little Rascals. And this dude could sing. Maybe sing was too tame a word. He peeled the paint off the walls. Kinda like if Ethel Merman was in a Metal Band. His name was Dennis T. Menass. I’d never seen anything like him or THEM before. The guitarist took one of many wicked solos and I then realized something else. His leads are panning from one side of the stage to the other. These Heavy Metal creeps are running live in true stereo! In fucking 1974, in fucking Cleveland, Ohio at a teen club! Next thing I know, the band hits a power chord and the stage explodes! It looked like they dropped the bomb at Hiroshima. I had just been introduced, at the tender age of 16, to pyrotechnics. I was just speechless. My friend Dave turns to me and says, “How do you like your Glass Harp now? 

Later in the set, the singer is telling one of his “stories”. He had a bunch of them. All of a sudden, our eyes meet. We both get the giggles. I was a huge fan of professional wrestling and had gotten the joke like a half a minute into their set. Dennis T. Menass was trying to be the consummate bad ass and there was me, laughing and blowing his cover. After the show, I see him surrounded by a throng of fans. I figure, “He’s talking to them and nobody had died yet, so I guess I’ll go over there and say hi”. Menass stops dead in his conversation, looks at me and screams, “Get over here you bastard!”. I didn’t know whether to head his way or run. I decide there’s enough witnesses there so I sheepishly walk up to this freak. He puts out his hand and says… “Dennis T. Menass. How ya doin”. He then announces the crowd that I’m the guy who kept making him laugh and fucked up his set. I apologize and say, “From now on, I’ll try not to look at you”. He laughs and say, “Aw, Forget it. But don’t let it happen again”. We both start laughing and shake hands. He says, “Hey, you want to stop back and meet the guys? I’m like “sure”. He takes me back to the dressing room at Cyrus Erie and that’s where I meet Drummer Patsy Palombo, Guitarist Tom Figinsky, Bassist Roy Guerrieri and Guitarist Jim Puhalla. They were extremely warm & funny and made me feel like I’d known them my whole life. Tommy asks me if I play and I said I’m a drummer and play a little guitar. He hands me his Strat and says here, check this out. I fumble through a couple of scales and he goes, “hey man, you got some nice stuff there, keep playing”. I said, “coming from you, that’s a huge compliment”. He goes, “naw…I suck! I have about five riffs and I’m sick of hearing them”. Dennis chimes in that Tommy is just “like that”. He’s the best guitarist around but he can’t take a compliment. We talked for quite some time and when they finally left, it was going on 3am. It was probably the best musical experience I’d ever had to that point.(by Brian Dempsey) 

01. Loser
02. Bad Talking Lady
03. Spoiled Rotten
04. Take It In Strike
05. Sweet Lovin' 
06. Every Little Thing
07. Mary-Jo
08. Talkin' 
09. Whisky And Bye
10. It´s Over

1. Link
or
2. Link
.