Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 114
Date: Thursday, 1 November 1990
Chalkhills, Number 114
Thursday, 1 November 1990
Today's Topics:
Re: Chalkhills #113
Chalkhills #113
What's in a name?
Chalkhills #113
Recent reference to Skylarking
In Reply To ...
Where are all the XTC b-sides?
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 27 Oct 90 09:55:16 -0400 From: Jon Drukman <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu> Subject: Re: Chalkhills #113 Wes asks about the origin of album titles -- Oranges and Lemons doesn't have to do with the color that Andy may be seeing. It refers to the children's nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St. Clemens" -- this rhyme also figured prominently in Orwell's _1984_. Andy said that to him, the poem represented things that have been around forever and endure... --------- As for Rag And Bone Buffet having a different version of Extrovert, I don't hear any difference... /j/
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 29 Oct 90 09:43:35 GMT From: toby@hce.computer-science.manchester.ac.uk Subject: Chalkhills #113 Re mummer. A mumming play is an ancient English folk play where the characters play different roles. The actors are called mummers. Toby
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From: The Man Who Invented Himself <stewarte@sco.com>
Subject: What's in a name?
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 90 18:17:13 PST
From: wilson@psylo.enet.dec.com
I continue to wonder:
What does "Go 2" mean?
Hmm, couldn't tell you, really. I'm not sure it really means
anything, but it seems as good a name as any for a second album.
What does "Mummer" mean?
A mummer is someone who participates in this strange English yuletide
tradition that involves going round to neighbors' houses anonymously
(newspaper suits are/were apparently a popular way of ensuring
anonymity) and performing little morality plays. This roughly
paraphrased from some of Andy's comments on the subject. Hence the
inner-sleeve photo showing the three of them wrapped in newspaper
(which was, incidentally, originally to have been the front cover
photo, but Virgin thought no one would understand it).
think this has been mentioned yet), "Oranges and Lemons" refers to
Andy Partridge's feeling that he sees colors coming out of the music
that XTC produces now, colors that he claims he didn't start seeing
until "English Settlement."
"Oranges and Lemons" may refer to that, but it also refers to a
nursery rhyme ("Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St. Clemmons" or
something like that). This seems significant in light of the distinct
child-oriented nature of the album (cf. Chalkhills & Children, Pink
Thing, Hold Me My Daddy).
-- Stewart
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Tue, 30 Oct 90 19:20:14 GMT From: toby@hce.computer-science.manchester.ac.uk Subject: Chalkhills #113 Apparently, XTC convention was a hoot. I didn't go, though.
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Date: Tue, 30 Oct 1990 22:26:03 PST
From: John M. Relph <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
Subject: Recent reference to Skylarking
Here's an excerpt from "The Arcane Science of Sequencing" by Harold
DeMuir, found in the November 1990 issue of _Tower Records' Pulse!_:
Another instance where sequencing played a pivotal role
in an album's creation was XTC's _Skylarking_. For that
project, producer [Todd] Rundgren chose and sequenced the
material before entering the studio, constructing a song
cycle out of the 30-some-odd demos the band had sent him.
"From the batch of demos we started with, we could have
come up with a completely different record," Rundgren says.
"But the agenda for the album, as I saw it, was that at
that point in time the band needed to seduce people into
listening to them, rather than constantly sparring with the
listener. I tried to find some unifying thread to
determine what songs would be appropriate for the record,
and we came up with the idea of a cyclic thing -- birth and
death, the turning of the wheel. When we went in to
record, we knew where everything went and how everything
fit together; we actually laid out the timing information
in a way that would accommodate the segues between songs."
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Date: Tue, 30 Oct 1990 22:59:51 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: In Reply To ...
tarim@ucscb.ucsc.edu (71128000) asks:
>Okay, I've been convinced that I won't be happy unless I get the NEW,
>Improved import remastered compact disc of English Settlement. Hopefully
>this isn't something that's already been mentioned and I missed, but:
>when I go down and order it, does it have a new catalog number which
>differentiates it from the old unimproved version?
>How do I insure that I get the correct version?
I can't find any catalog number that is different, the main difference
is that the disc you want is the one with 15 songs. Minor differences
include the colors of the booklets, the lyrics included with the more
recent disc, etc.
. . .
"All the kids are complaining that the songs are too slow."
<wilson@pneuma.enet.dec.com> says:
>I'm wondering if someone can send me or maybe tell me the issue
>numbers of "Chalkhills" that contain the chords for XTC songs?
>I remember seeing the chords for "Mayor of Simpleton," and I would
>like those, but I'm thinking there may be other songs covered as
>well.
Try digests #32 and #33. Maybe someone out there has more chords to
send?
. . .
oconnor!siouxsie!jtl@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Joe Lynn) sez:
>Unless my ears are playing tricks on me, the version of
>"Extrovert" on _Rag & Bone Buffet_ is a little different
>from the one on the "Dear God" 12-incher (Geffen 0-20630):
>the horns start in a lot earlier on the Geffen version.
>(I've been listening to _Rag & Bone_ for a couple of days
>now, and I keep meaning to take out "Dear God" to compare.)
>Has anyone else noticed this?
I don't have the Geffen 12-inch. Does it have a playing time listed
for "Extrovert"? If it is actually a different edit, I'd like to know
for the discography. The version of "Extrovert" on the original
"Grass" 12-inch is the one that's on _Rag & Bone Buffet_.
>Another (obvious) observation was the similarity of the Three
>Wise Men's "Countdown..." to Nick Lowe's "(I Love The Sound Of)
>Breaking Glass." I guess it's the similar instrumental effects.
I don't find the songs all that similar. "Countdown..." always
reminds me of Kool and the Gang or something stupid like that. XTC
goes disco-mas inferno with a little scratching in there to bring it
up to date?
>A friend of mine just went to Tokyo, so (of course) he got
>a list of CD and LP "wants" from me. One of the things on the
>list was the elusive Hiroyasu Yaguchi album _Gastronomic_.
>He went to two record stores, and it was sold out.
Bummer, I want that disc, too. And speaking of discs in foreign
places, has anybody been able to locate the Alice CD from Italy?
. . .
wilson@psylo.enet.dec.com continues to wonder:
>What does "Go 2" mean?
Well, in Britain, a "go" is like an American "turn". So when it's
your turn to play your card, English (and Irish) people say, "It's
your go." Also, there's the phrase "I'll have a go at it" which
means, to us Yanks, "I'll try". So perhaps _Go 2_ is as simple as
XTC's second attempt at making an album. Their second go-round, so to
speak.
>What does "Mummer" mean?
Here's an excerpt from an interview published in the June 1984 issue
of _Musician_ magazine:
"In comes I," explains Andy Partridge, principal
songwriter/singer and outspoken wit of XTC, is a line
frequently used in the mummer plays that take place around
Christmas time in rural England. The ancient tradition
has the players -- the townsfolk -- dress in suits of rags
and tatters [and newspapers] and follow a basic script
having to do with cycles of death and rebirth. Just an
ordinary folks' entertainment in the days before telly,
which is why traditions like mummers are now rapidly dying
out.
Disguise is important to the mummers, says Partridge,
and recognition would "spoil the magic. If somebody said,
`Ere!'" (Partridge's Wiltshire accent, full of "errs" and
an unpronounceable way of saying "ou," broadens, flattens
and widens to become a perfect Monty Pythonesque yokel.)
"`You're Fred the Baker!' he's have to go home in tears
'cause he'd been recognized. It's an ordinary people's
show business. They don't go on stages to do it; they do
it in the street or they knock on your door and come in
your house and do it."
Disguise is also important to _Mummer_, the album. This
is a band in a business devoted to pushing yourself in
front of other people and demanding attention, but XTC has
no enthusiasm whatever for the task. They try to keep
their sense of normalcy and reality by planting themselves
in their surroundings to keep the sentiments true, but
disguising the facts with metaphors to keep people from
getting too close. "None of us are really into
hey-notice-me," says Partridge. "We'd all like to be rich
and obscure."
Hope this explains something.
-- John
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 90 18:08:30 EST
From: Mitch@umass.bitnet
Subject: Where are all the XTC b-sides?
After getting R&BB, I was curious as to exactly where which B-sides
were located on CD's, so I dug out an old discography and went through
picking out non-LP tracks and determining which CD they were on. Here's
what I came up with. Please let me know if I missed anything!
Science Friction - White Music CD
She's So Square - White Music CD
Dance Band - White Music CD
Hang On to the Night - White Music CD
Heatwave - White Music CD
This Is Pop (single version) - The Compact XTC CD
Are You Receiving Me? - Go 2 CD
Instant Tunes - White Music CD
Go + EP - Explode Together CD
Homo Safari (No. 1) - Dear God CDEP
Bushman President (Homo Safari No. 2) - Dear God CDEP
Pulsing Pulsing - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Are You Receiving Me? (live) - NA
This is Pop (live) - NA
Life Beings at the Hop - The Compact XTC CD
Limelight - Drums And Wires CD
Day In, Day Out - Drums And Wires CD
Chain of Command - Drums And Wires CD
Ten Feet Tall (U.S. Version) - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
The Somnambulist - Black Sea CD
Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down - The Compact XTC CD
Don't Lose Your Temper - Black Sea CD
Smokeless Zone - Black Sea CD
Set Myself on Fire (live) - NA
Battery Brides (live) - NA
Scissor Man (BBC version) - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Living Through Another Cuba (live) - NA
Generals and Majors (live) - NA
Strange Tales, Strange Tails - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Officer Blue - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Beatown (live) - NA
Roads Girdle the Globe (live) - NA
This is Pop (live) - NA
Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box) (Homo Safari No. 3) - Dear God CDEP /
Senses Working Overtime CD
Blame the Weather - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Tissue Tigers (The Arguers) - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Looking for Footprints - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Punch and Judy - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Heaven is Paved With Broken Glass - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Cockpit Dance Mixture - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Over Rusty Water - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Gold - Mummer CD
Frost Circus (Homo Safari No. 5) - Mummer CD
Procession Towards Learning Land (Homo Safari No. 6) - Mummer CD
Jump - Mummer CD
Desert Island - Mummer CD
Toys - Mummer CD
Burning With Optimism's Flames (live) - NA
English Roundabout (live) - NA
Cut it Out (live) - NA
Washaway - The Big Express CD
Red Brick Dream - The Big Express CD
Blue Overall - The Big Express CD
Take This Town - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Mantis on Parole (Homo Safari No. 4) - Dead God CDEP
Extrovert - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Dear God - Skylarking CD
Terrorism (demo) - NA
Let's Make a Den (demo) - NA
Find the Fox (demo) - NA
The Troubles (demo) - NA
Mermaid Smiled - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Another Satellite (BBC version) - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Ella Guru - Mayor Of Simpleton CD3
Living in a Haunted Heart (demo) - Mayor Of Simpleton CD3
The Good Things (demo) - Mayor Of Simpleton CD3
One of the Millions (edit) - NA
King for a Day (12" version) - King for a Day CD3
My Paint Heroes (demo) - King For A Day CD3
Skeletons (demo) - King For A Day CD3
The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Mr. Partridge: Take Away / The Lure of Salvage - Explode Together CD
The Colonel: Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
The Colenel: I Need Protection - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
The Three Wise Men: Thanks for Christmas - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
The Three Wise Men: Countdown to Christmas Party Time - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Jules Verne's Sketchbook (demos) - NA
Johnny Japes and His Jesticles: Bags of Fun With Buster - NA
Johnny Japes and His Jesticles: Scrotal Scratch Mix - NA
Traffic Light Rock (live) - NA
Traffic Light Rock - White Music CD
I'm Bugged (live) - NA
Science Friction (live) - NA
Respectable Street (live) - NA
Happy Families - Rag & Bone Buffet CD
Note: The Compact XTC also contains edited versions of the following:
Statue Of Liberty, Are You Receiving Me?, Making Plans For Nigel,
Generals And Majors, Towers Of London, Sgt. Rock, Sense Working Overtime,
This World Over, Wake Up
(NA = Not Available on CD)
Boy, wouldn't those misc. live tracks make a nice disc?
Never satisfied,
Mitch
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] For all administrative issues, such as change of address, withdrawal from the list, discography requests (last update 30 October), back issues, etc., send a message to the following address: <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> All views expressed in Chalkhills are those of the individual contributors only.
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