Review: DAVE E AND THE COOL MARRIAGE COUNSELLORS - s/t EP

Here's a bootlegged gem capturing the legendary Dave E with a post-ELECTRIC EELS endeavor. What you have is a studio cut ("Searching Through Sears", a spontaneous live performance sans band "Love Meant To Die", and a live cut "Psychology 101". All three tracks are equally brilliant, and not just for a passing novelty value chuckle. "Searching Through Sears" was originally featured on CLE Magazine #3's 8" flexi insert. 2000 copies were issued in 1981. The flexi showcased several Cleveland underground bands, including PERE UBU. Back to the first cut: An utterly depraved zombie suburban odyssey featuring heaping spoonfuls of xylophone; the instrument of choice for the infirm. Ingredients include: social commentary, children's TV show theme song, alcohol and electro shock therapy. Next up is the live and spontaneous radio performance of "Love Meant To Die". He performs a cappella, providing "doo dee doos" for instrumentation between verses. As off-the-cuff and incomplete as it is, I can only imagine this being a perfect rendition of the song, which somehow manages to yield a complete vision of what the song was to become, as well as a perfect display of Dave E's creative potential and a balance of humor and nihilism. "Psychology 101" continues this formula on the live stage. A laid-back jazzy number accompanied by saxophone. A tangled and tragic tale of man and woman. I haven't been able to dig up much information on this 7". My guess is that this is not a reissue but something that was assembled out of scraps of the band's ephemeral existence (even more so than the ELECTRIC EELS, who only performed live a half dozen times before imploding). Dave E does talk in the radio recording an upcoming release on his to-be label, Christmas Pets Records, but I gather this never came to be. A friend told me that Dave is now Born Again and performing in a church band. No clue as to this story's validity.
(bootleg)

Track Listing:
A: "Searching Through Sears"
B: "Love Meant To Die" "Psychology 101"