Venus, Ritchie

***RITCHIE VENUS’ accomplishments going back to the mid-'60s include impersonating Elvis, making films, writing 500+ songs, releasing a 7-inch on Flying Nun in 1983, touring with The Troggs, and releasing numerous LPs, singles, cassettes and CDs on Christchurch's Onset Offset, the label he still runs with Campbell McLay. Unwucht's reissue of his 1998 cassette, recorded at home with a drum machine and cheap gear, shows off Venus's talent as a songwriter, musician, singer and arranger. This desperate glance backward at an aging rock singer's career is full of sorrow, failure, and humor (when the last of the audience is dead, he kills his band and rocks on forever). One particular highlight is "Listen, World," written in 1975, with AXEMEN’s STEVE MCCABE on noise guitar and PATRICK FALGAN of SAY YES TO APES / BROTHER LOVE on drums. Screen printed jacket. Edition of 150.