Chalkhills, Number 101

                   Tuesday, 3 July 1990
Today's Topics:
                    Re: Chalkhills #99
                        intro-BUST
                   Re: Chalkhills #100
                   Re: Chalkhills #100
                       White Horse
                          Mummer
                    Copping XTC riffs
                  Re: Mummer (and more)

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

From: dhgpa!adkoning@hvlpb.att.com
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 08:04 MDT
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #99

Joe Lynn asks:

>If you were an exec at Virgin and you were assigned the task of
>lining up a producer for the next XTC album, whom, if anyone,
>would you hire?

My choice? George Martin.

He won't be suffering from the "you guys are great" syndrome.

-- Andre de Koning

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date:         Thu, 28 Jun 90 06:35:50 EDT
From: Rob Walters <SFIHC@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject:      intro-BUST

hi everybody. my name is ROB.  i was introduced to XTC's music
by my friend Mitch Friedman. we met at a They Might Be Giants show
in 1988.  i learned that his favorite band was XTC, & he made a tape
of rare b-sides and demos for me to listen to. it is still the only
item i have, besides the "dear god" single i picked up in England.

anyway, this guy Mitch is a total XTC nut.  he has every album & release
on vinyl & cd...he has all these cool 7" singles, they all pop out.
also, Andy sends him demos that nobody else gets.  somehow Mitch got
to  know Andy.  he has even been over his house out in the UK, for dinner.
well, i guess i am a connection for all the people on the list to get
this demo material that nobody has.

when i get a CHALKHILLS digest, i print it up & send it to Mitch.  i told
him that he should tell andy about CHALKHILLS and send the printouts to him.
perhaps andy can begin posting some stuff of his own here.

Mitch is also a vocalist. he produces really weird musical recordings.
he has a band, with only him in it, called HENWAY. his stuff is available
at THE GENERATOR record store in the East Village, NYC.  he has two "solo"
tapes named Popcorn, and Extravaganza Deluxe.  he has had some airplay on
WFMU in East Orange, NJ. real unknown underground stuff.

one interesting thing i have from andy is a thirty second reggae thing
which he used on his answering machine called, "No One Available."
every now & then, i put it on my machine.  my number is 212-402-4035.
it is really cool.

well, that's all i had to say.  i really don't know THAT much about XTC.
i don't have any of the LP's.  *shrug*
bye!

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 09:46:11 -0400
From: Jon Drukman <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #100

Karl has destroyed all credibility he might have had.  I don't think
O&L smacks of being an attempt to make money.  I don't think "Radios
In Motion" is an essential XTC song.  And I certainly can't trust
anyone who would quote lyrics from Shriekback's nadir in their .sig!
Steve Albini is an interesting choice for producer though...  I can
hear it now...

"I may be the mayor of simpleton but I know one thing and that's...
  FUCK ME!!! FUCK ME!!! FUCK ME!!!"

+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ---------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | ZIK ZAK - We make everything you need, |
| \|on |/rukman |  SIT.   Now BEG!  | and you need everything we make.       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Subject: Re: Chalkhills #100
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 09:31:00 -0800
From: Bill Wisner <wisner@hayes.fai.alaska.edu>

> The guy who produced Cosmic Thing by The B52s

Part of it was produced by Don Was (as in Was (Not Was)) and part was
produced by, if I remember properly, Nile Rodgers.

Bill Wisner <wisner@hayes.fai.alaska.edu> Gryphon Gang Fairbanks AK 99775
"Any group who starts out a song by screaming 'SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!' can't
be too bad..." -- Richard Caley <rjc@cstr.ed.ac.uk> on the Butthole Surfers

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

From: stewarte@sco.com
Subject: White Horse
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 11:25:35 PDT

>From: "I put it in a letter. What could be better?!" <wilson@pneuma.enet.dec.com>
>
>I was watching a film, "Girl in a Swing," last night and lo and behold
>in the opening scenes is an aerial view of the "English Settlement"
>cover. I had no idea that this is an actual site in England! Is this
>a representation of a horse? Is this a Druidic structure?
>
>One learns something every day...

Ah, yes, the White Horse of Uffington!   This is a hill carving near
Uffington, just east of Swindon.  There are a number of hill carvings
around England of primitive origin, but due to their nature (they're
just a patch of hillside where the grass and dirt has been scraped away
to reveal bare chalk) they need periodic maintenance, and many of them
were "refurbished" in the 19th century by people who thought they'd look
much better if they looked more like horses.  The Uffington horse is the
only one I know of that retains its more primitive style.

-- Stewart

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date:     Thu, 28 Jun 90 19:50 MDT
From: <RLANTHIE@ducair.bitnet>
Subject:  Mummer

Oh come on, guys.  What's with all the _Mummer_ Bashing?

>>From: nobody@kodak.com (John White (x37690))

>>No shat! I still don't like this album. Why? Well, (from possibly
>>corrupt memory), I still like In Loving Memory Of A Name. I used to like
>>Funk Pop A Roll, Ladybird, and Wonderland but I'm tired of them.  I
>>might someday like Me And The Wind, Love On A Farmboy's Wages, and Human
>>Alchemy. I don't like Great Fire or Deliver Us From The Elements.

What about "Beating of Hearts"?  I still think this is a fine album.  I do
thing that "Funk..." does stand out rather like a sore thumb but is a great
song.  As well as is "Wonderland".  As for a request of song rankings, I
cannot oblige as I like them all.  Give them all **** (four stars) or A- to
A+.  This is a wonderful album full of complex, and at times primitive,
rythyms (Beating of hearts, Deliver us from the Elements, Human alchemy) and
wonderful pop songs (Wonderland, Great Fire [yes, I like the voice], LadyBird,
Funk...).  I may be speaking out of defensiveness, you're certainly not the
1st XTC fan to gripe about the album.  I do think you wrong however.  _Mummer_
reminds me of many fine rythyms and textures to music that don't often exist
on many other band's disks.  Anyway, please don't take this as a flame, just
a jaded opinion.

Well hope you are well.  What's up with the band these days, John?

Rich <rlanthie@ducair.bitnet>

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Fri, 29 Jun 90 12:31:28 PDT
From: james@nrc.com (James McGowan)
Subject: Copping XTC riffs

Any guitarists out there interested in figuring out/transcribing Dave
Gregory's guitar parts?  Over the years I've copped the solos from "Reel
by Reel", "Ten Feet Tall", "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty" and
most recently some stuff like "Garden of Earthly Delights" (wonderful
distorted free-for-all runs).  Also, I recently figured out Colin's bass
line to "Mayor of Simpleton" (an absolute gas to play, but let's see
him do it live and sing backup! I know, wishful thinking....).

I'd like to get a discussion going on XTC's evolving musical skills.
This would be an interesting counterpoint to the debate currently raging
over producer/production values.  I have always held the band's
musical abilities in high regard.  Not that I think any of them are
real manglers on their instruments, but the meshing of all their
respective parts astounds me at times.

Jim McGowan			Network Research Corporation
james@nrc.com			2380 North Rose Avenue
				Oxnard CA 93030

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Tue, 3 Jul 1990 17:30:34 PDT
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Mummer (and more)

King Hell Wombat <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu> says:

>How dare you readers let my favourite album ("Big Express") come in
>next to last!  Get some taste, y'all!

I second the motion.

                -------

Re: _Mummer_, John White <nobody@kodak.com> sez:

>The songs I like I tend to like too much and burn out on them. The songs
>I hate I tend to dispise. There are some songs that are coming on, but
>the album is just too damn uneven. What's the deal with Funk Pop A Roll?
>Who thought that fits?

Actually, it makes a fitting end to an album that didn't have any
radio singles.  They probably felt that the album was too pastoral and
quirky for commercial radio, so they put this perfect pop song at the
end just to show that they could do it.  But of course, it's the
perfect anti-pop anti-radio song.  So they created a dilemna.  Play a
song which on the surface of it sounds dance-able and has hit
potential but has lyrics which decry the entire record industry?
Perhaps that song is a clue as to why the record didn't do too well.

and Stewart <stewarte@sco.com> sez:

>>    Beating of Hearts (A)              Jump (Love And Swimming Pools) (A)
>>    Deliver Us From The Elements (C)   Ladybird (A)
>>    Funk Pop A Roll (A)*               Love On A Farmboy's Wages (A)
>>    Human Alchemy (A)*                 Me And The Wind (A)
>>    In Loving Memory Of A Name (C)     Wonderland (C)*
>
>Thanks to the miracles of programmable CD players, we can now hear what
>the original album would have sounded like (except for the remixing, of
>course)...I think I'll try it out at home.  Just looking at it, it seems
>like a better running order...

I don't believe that the songs are in the correct order above.  I
believe they are merely listed in alphabetical order.  So the above
list does not represent a proposed track order for _Mummer_.  In fact,
remember that "Jump" was not to be included on the finished LP.

	-- John

P.S.  For those of you addressing surface mail to yours truly, I mean
me, please note that I have moved.  Please e-mail for my new address.

P.P.S.  For those of you awaiting tapes, please be patient, as the
aforementioned move has taken a toll on my free time.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

For all administrative issues, such as change of address,
withdrawal from the list, discography requests (last
update 3 June), back issues, etc., send a message to
the following address:

	<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>

Any and all views expressed in Chalkhills are those of
the individual contributors only.

---

Go back to Volume 1.

4 July 1990 / Feedback