Chalkhills, Number 160

                   Sunday, 19 May 1991
Today's Topics:
                    Big Express apathy
                   Re: Chalkhills #159
                  XTC catalog inquiry...
                     la chose en rose
                      generic stuff
                   Dave Stewart/Chords
            Re: The Great "Pink Thing" Debate
         1967/Making Plans for Andy/O&L Recording
                   Re: Chalkhills #159

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Subject: Big Express apathy
Date: Wed, 15 May 91 21:27:56 MDT
From: lyle@whidbey.stanford.edu

In case anyone cares....

>It seems to me that The Big Express is a love-it-or-hate-it album.  I
>haven't seen too many "well, it's just OK" kind of posts on it.

I think it's just OK.  And I happen to speak for a large constituency.
We all think it's just OK.

--lyle

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Date: Thu, 16 May 91 01:29:23 EDT
From: colm@mathcs.emory.edu (Colm Mulcahy)
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #159

i spoke to somebody the other day who claims to have a friend who went
snooping in Swindon a few years back, ran into Andy pushing a pram around,
and says he was invited back to the Partridge's for a cuppa.

believe it or not.

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Date: Thu, 16 May 91 08:53:29 -0400
From: Larry W. Seals <seals@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Subject: XTC catalog inquiry...

Just a quick note...

I was in the local Camelot (which is not known for its wide selection
of any "real" music :-) ) and saw a copy of _Go 2_ on Geffen (black
cover, no label markings, just white type-written text both front and
back with some rather stark pictures of the band).  I was pressed for
time (lunch 1/2 hour, y'know) so I really didn't get a chance to
examine it too closely.  Any info on this disc would be appreciated.

Larry

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From: Bailey@polisci.sscnet.ucla.edu
Subject: la chose en rose
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 08:54:00 PDT

John, dear, et al:

Maybe Andy P. meant it's the BABY's penis? as in, Baby Boy Tenderlove [only
by Mattel] . . . .  P'raps I should now put a none too expeditious end to
this debate . . . and say, we'll all have to agree to differ.  I especially
like the interpretation that the song is about male genetalia `. . . or a
damn fine place to put it!'  Does Andy's baby wear a patch over its missing
eye?

With all due sincerity, Liz

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From: Dances With Voles <jondr@sco.com>
Subject: generic stuff
Organization: Mangled Bloody Carcass Of Sound Productions
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 10:25:05 PDT

Rappin' Johnny Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>:

>Have you got the USA CD of _Skylarking_, Rendell?  I have the UK CD
>and it sounds fine.  It is possible that Geffen did a bad mastering
>job on the USA CD.  And you, Volemaster Jon?  Which CD do you own?

I've got the Geffen disc and it sounds just fine.  I can hear the bass, no
problem, and the highs are not enough to make me wince, so I don't know
what everyone is bitching about.  Maybe they need to get better stereos.

>>It seems to me that The Big Express is a love-it-or-hate-it album.  I
>>haven't seen too many "well, it's just OK" kind of posts on it.
>
>Oddly enough, _The Big Express_ was ranked as the number two album in
>last years Chalkhills Reader Survey.  _Skylarking_ came in fourth.

Yeah, but that's because you and I like it so much that we rigged the
survey, right?  (joke, folks.)

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Rappin' Tony_Collins.ES_AE@xerox.com:

>now.  I have bought all of the albums that I can find locally (Big Express,
>O&L, Skylarking, English Settlement, The Compact XTC).  I'm happy to see that
>it appears that Geffen is releasing some albums locally that I thought that
>I'd have to special order (at least the discography makes me think that).

First, congratulations on your XTCConversion.  To answer your question,
this is your Lucky Day because Geffen is releasing *all* the XTC albums
that you previously had to pay $22 to get.  So, get out your checkbook and
go snag White Music, Go 2, Drums And Wires, Black Sea and Mummer!

>Is Rag and Bone Buffet the name of the new upcoming XTC album?

No, it's the name of the already-out-in-the-UK B-sides, live tracks and
general ephemera collection.  It's going to be released by Geffen soon, so
you can get it for cheap.  Of course, it was well worth the $18 I paid for
it anyway.

>Any recommendations on which of the older XTC albums I should get next
>(assuming I can find them)?

I really like Mummer, Black Sea and Drums And Wires.  So this is really
unhelpful because it means you need 3 out of the 5.  They're all classics
in their own way.  Drums And Wires is sort of brilliant pop; Black Sea is
like D&W only a bit "harder" sounding; Mummer is very gentle and
psychedelic.  Helpful?

Jon Drukman (extended remix)                 uunet!sco!jondr      jondr@sco.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always note the sequencer - this will never let us down.

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Date: Thu, 16 May 91 14:18:01 EDT
From: "WES WILSON, PKO3-2/T12, 223-4891" <wilson@psylo.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Dave Stewart/Chords

How intriguing to read that a band covers "Roads Girdle the Globe"!

But not surprising when one thinks of Dave Stewart. His work with
Egg, Hatfield, Steve Hillage, etc. is very good. I've heard
_this_ stuff, but not the Gaskin collaboration. Worth getting?
Is their version of "Roads Girdle the Globe" full-length?

Also, has anyone tried figuring out "Vanishing Girl", the chords
that is?

I think it starts with an A maj chord and then B min, but I'm having
trouble figuring it out after that!

"1967" proves to be an elusive beast, even in the U.K. But thanks
to a Scottish Chalkhillian I've managed to score a copy, so in a
few I'll give a review of "Strawberry Fields."

Finally...if anyone out there would like to help me secure some
XTC video, please write me. I'm here in the U.S., and "Look Look"
isn't available.

Um...finally (and I mean it this time), anyone else out there a
fan of Gary Numan's 2-CD extravaganza compilation, "Exhibition"?
Wunnerful, wunnderful stuff. Reminds me of why I got into CDs
in the first place, what with 70+ minutes of Numan-songs on each
disc.

Me? I disconnect from you...

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Date: Thu, 16 May 91 16:49:02 PDT
From: barb@velvet.com  (Barbara Petersen)
Subject: Re: The Great "Pink Thing" Debate

In Chalkhills #159, John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com> writes:

> For those who were following the great _Pink Thing_ debate
> raging recently -- BABY ... PENIS ... BABY! ... PENIS !! -- yesterday
> (Mar 19) on national Public Radio's _Fresh Air_ program, the music
> reviewer (forget his name now) was discussing the latest XTC
> recording and mentioned _Pink Thing_.  While I did not hear it
> straight from Partridge's mouth, I believe this to be the definitive
> resolution to the _Pink Thing_ debate:
>
>                       IT'S BOTH!!
>
> (Artsy, eh...?)  Actually, the way it was explained was that Partridge
> (who describes himself as 'aggressively mundane') recently fathered a
> child, and this was the primary inspiration for the song in question.
> But like many artistes, he was some time later delighted to discover the
> double meaning possibly gleaned from the song.  Hence, it was first
> written with a baby in mind, but the author doesn't rule out the penis
> interpretation either.

Hmmmmm.  I dunno.... that seems unlikely to me.  There are just *too*
*many* lines in the song that make perfect sense if the subject is a
penis, and little or no sense if the subject is a baby.  To wit:

    "Pink Thing what would straight folks say?
     That man isn't fit to enter heaven
     That man is a sinner
     Ever burning in disgrace"

Fathering a child isn't generally considered a disgraceful, sinful act;
if the song is talking about babies, this theme is pretty much coming
>from out in left field somewhere.  Masturbation, on the other hand, is
often considered a disgraceful, sinful act.

    "I want to take you out and show you to the girls
     Pink Thing they're a whole new tribe
     If you could only see the way the gingham swirls
     Pink Thing it's a whole new vibe"

Why the emphasis on having the baby meet women?

    "Don't you think it's time you met some female Pink Thing?"

Ditto, only more so.  Much more so.

    "I want to introduce you
     Take you to the brink thing
     [....]
     I want to introduce you
     Make that missing link thing"

Why would he want to take his child to the brink of something?  Most
people don't want their very young children having "take you to the
brink"-type experiences!  And what, in relation to babies, would "that
missing link thing" be?  Sorry, those two lines sound an awful lot like
sex to me....

    "So why is it I'm happy when there's tears down in your eye?"

Most babies have two eyes.  And don't generally cry from just one of
them.

Given that the info in the article John quotes is far from first-hand,
I'm still not prepared to believe the "baby first" theory.  Does anyone
have anything a bit more, well, authoritative?

--
Barbara Petersen                                            barb@velvet.com
        "The being known as Wondergirl is speaking, I believe...."

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Date: Fri, 17 May 91 08:39:29 PDT
From: "WES WILSON, PKO3-2/T12, 223-4891" <wilson@psylo.enet.dec.com>
Subject: 1967/Making Plans for Andy/O&L Recording

1967: Through the Looking Glass

The first song on this CD is "Strawberry Fields" by Colin's Hermits.
It really is the full-length version of the Beatles' song, SFF.
Andy sings lead. The instrumentation is very close to The Beatles'
sound, in fact it seems CHs goes out of their way to _copy_ The
Beatles' sound. It's good to hear this, but...the rest of the CD
is a mixed bag. They're all covers, but some of the covers are
dogs, e.g., it includes "Gentle on My Mind" - yes, the (ack!) Glen
Campbell song; and it also includes the them song from an 007
(James Bond) movie. Why it includes TWO Doors' covers is a puzzle -
one would have been plenty. They should have had a band cover "My
Green Tambourine' or other great songs from 1966-67. One bright
spot is "My White Bicycle," which "Tomorrow" originally did; the
cover here is pretty good. This is an Austrian CD on the Imaginary
label with the teeny-tiniest printing on the CD liner I have
EVER seen!

I also got Making Plans for Andy. Sounds like the last four songs
were taped from under someone's overcoat! But it is a fun CD nonetheless,
and i'm sure to enjoy it. It's one of those rarities that makes
me feel like a devoted fan!

I think I know what it is that I don't like about Oranges and Lemons:
too much reverb in the engineering. The album's full of it. I'm not a
big fan of reverb (e.g., i can't stand the way the Righteous Brothers
stuff was recorded, can you? does anyone like the way the rb's
stuff was recorded? :-)). O&L is as slick as a newly paved road after a
rain shower!

Wes

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Date: 19 May 91 01:22:50 EDT
From: Jones Rutledge <76516.430@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #159

Purple and yellow Geffen Drums and Wires cd - two theories why not Black and
White
1. someone in the art dept really liked the drums and wires cover design and
thought he would pull yeelow and purple from that cover to screen on the cd.
2. It is sometimes cheaper especially among screen printers to use colors other
than black and white. That is, everybody uses black and white but yellow and
purple do not get used that often and sometimes a printer will offer a deal to
lower his supply of less popular colors.

What else has David Lord done?
Something makes me want to connect David Lord with some Cure recordings (iffy
prospect), and Outlandos D'amour by the Police (identity confusion here I
think). My vinyl is out of town so I cannot check on this. Does anybody know?
Any info on E.N. Brookings yet?

Point to ponder - How would you react if XTC had a top ten platinum album and
several charted singles?

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20 May 1991 / Feedback