Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 200
Date: Sunday, 16 February 1992
Chalkhills, Number 200
Number 200!?
Sunday, 16 February 1992
Today's Topics:
Re: Chalkhills #199
Re: Peter Punkin and Nonsuch
Urgh!
Re: "Nonesuch" title source.
Re: Chalkhills #194
Re: Chalkhills #194
Album-title foreshadowing
Re: British Skylarking
Re: "Nonesuch" title source...
Valley of Andy talks to WFMU
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 92 22:21:03 -0500
From: rescigja@calvin.camp.clarkson.edu (Trout.Complex)
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #199
I have a tape, called Ecstatic, of a live XTC performance. The tunes are:
Big Town
Real By Reel
When You're Near Me I have Difficulty
Life Begins at the Hop
Rhythm in His Head
Mechanic Dancing
10 Feet Tall
Hellicopter
This is Pop
Battery Bride
Crowded Room
?
LIVE! This is what the entire thing
says. I have changed no spelling.
Does anyone know where or when this was recorded? I'd be very interested
to know. The recording isn't very good, but there is a fair amount of
raw power in it. If you can find it somewhere, I highly reccommend it.
--John Rescigno
--Dept. of Psychology
--Clarkson University
rescigja@calvin.camp.clarkson.edu
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1992 20:29:02 PST From: Tony_Collins.ESCP10@xerox.com Subject: Re: Peter Punkin and Nonsuch >Is this true? I asked a guy at a local rekkid store and he said that >no radio promos had been released yet for XTC. Maybe KROQ got one >because of Dusty Street, who hosted their KROQ appearence on the >Acoustic Radio Tour. I listen to KROQ pretty often (just about every day on the way 2 and from work), and I have yet to hear any new XTC material. Also, Dusty Street has not been a KROQ dj for quite some time (more than 6 months at least). She is now on one of the hard rock stations; I forget which one. Tony
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: jtl@sbcoc.com (Joe Lynn) Subject: Urgh! Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 7:54:31 CST In Chalkhills #199, previous message, Jan Schiffman said: > Date: 10 Feb 92 17:08:33 EDT > From: Jan Schiffman <SCHIFFMAN@wmgt-mail.wharton.upenn.edu> > Subject: Re: Chalkhills #198 > > Regarding Urgh!, A Music War, The Butthole Surfers didn't exist yet > and the Police played driven to tears, alone. Not to nit pick but I > have the soundtrack. The idea behind Urgh! was to showcase all of the > current alternative bands that were being distributed by A&M (right! > IRS was distributed by A&M). The Butthole Surfers (Austin, Texas > natives) were not together as of yet, Gibby was still playing > basketball for Trinity College, I believe. As for a dontation of band > members, when the Police played "Driven To Tears" someone played the > synth, but is not credited on the album...I suppose it could have > been Dave Gregory. If you get the chance, rent the video for _Urgh!_. The film opens with the Police singing "Driven To Tears", and ends with an extended version of "So Lonely", in which a whole bunch of artists (who were performing at the same concert) came on stage to sing with Sting and the boys. Andy, Colin, and Dave all came out to play, and Andy shared the mike with Sting for the lead vocals. I haven't seen the video for a couple of months, but I recall about 30 people on stage at the end of the movie. And although "Respectable Street" is on the soundtrack LP/CD, XTC actually sings "Generals and Majors" in the movie. _Urgh!_ was a film that was meant to showcase the alternative bands of the early 80s (well, 1980, anyway); it was put together by Miles Copeland, founder of IRS (and brother of Stewart Copeland), hence the heavy IRS-leaning. Not all the artists in the film were on the IRS roster (XTC, for example); IRS was distributed by A&M at the time, who issued the soundtrack. This is a must-view for Chalkhillians. Joe Lynn
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 10:59:44 est
From: Gary_Hanley@dgc.mceo.dg.com
Subject: Re: "Nonesuch" title source.
Interesting point about the reference to "Nonesuch" in C and C.
Maybe this is somekind of trend. On Skylarking, "Ballet for a Rainy
Day" starts off with "Orange and Lemon..."!
-- Gary
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1992 21:40:46 -0500 (EST) From: Chap Godbey <cg47+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: Re: Chalkhills #194 About the Primus cover: It's also on a promo disc (I found it in a used-CD store) for another Primus song. It's a horrible cover, but that's because XTC owns the song too much and it doesn't fit the singer's nose (not voice, nose.) However, Primus rules. Go buy one of their records. You'll feel better. Chap.
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1992 21:43:20 -0500 (EST) From: Chap Godbey <cg47+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: Re: Chalkhills #194 Oh yes... "Making plans for Bison" is definitely a straight cover...Shonen Knife did indeed nick most of it. They're cute kids, though. Chap again
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
From: Treefrog@cup.portal.com
Subject: Album-title foreshadowing
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 18:09:49 PST
meep@wpi.wpi.edu (A Son of the Silent Age) writes:
>There've been lots of theorizings about "Nonesuch" being a ship's name or
>a record label, but couldn't it just be a bit of self-derivation?
>
> I'm skating over thin ice, while some nonesuch net holds me aloft...
>
>Sound familiar?
Yeh, that was the first thing I thought of when I heard the new title,
especially since the title of the last album was paraphrased in a song
off of *its* predecessor ("Ballet for a Rainy Day" off _Skylarking_).
Maybe when the new album's out we can all scan the lyrics and vote for
what line will be used to name the next one. :-)
Peace
Edward
* "I'm sitting here, in the abandoned brain, * Edward Thomas Keller *
* waiting for take-off in it. * Treefrog@cup.portal.com *
* They say it's never gonna work again, * *
* but I can spare a few minutes." * The Whethermen *
* -Robyn Hitchcock * *
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
From: Ray Sherrod <rsherrod@ecst.csuchico.edu>
Subject: Re: British Skylarking
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 10:17:17 PST
I have a vinyl U.K. copy of Skylarking which has Mermaid Smiled on it.
In the liner notes to Rag and Bone Buffet, Andy says that the first batches
of the U.S. Skylarking were pressed with Mermaid Smiled. Is this record
rare, or did the British substitute Dear God for Mermaid Smiled just like
the U.S. did?
Ray Sherrod
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 03:14:22 PST
From: barb@velvet.com (Barbara Petersen)
Subject: Re: "Nonesuch" title source...
In Chalkhills #199, meep@wpi.wpi.edu (A Son of the Silent Age) writes:
> There've been lots of theorizings about "Nonesuch" being a ship's name or
> a record label, but couldn't it just be a bit of self-derivation?
>
> I'm skating over thin ice, while some nonesuch net holds me aloft...
>
> Sound familiar?
Hmmmm.... Perhaps we have a trend here -- take the name of the album from
a lyric on the previous album? Since we also had, in the song "Ballet for
a Rainy Day", from "Skylarking" --
Orange and lemon raincoats roll and tumble together....
--
Barbara Petersen
barb@velvet.com
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 16 Feb 92 21:21:25 PST From: John M. Relph <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> Subject: Valley of Andy talks to WFMU Organisation: Chalkhills Anonymous 29 June 1991 WFMU, Uppsala College, East Orange Jim Price speaks to Andy Partridge Phone interview, edited for broadcast Recording courtesy of Woj Transcribed by John Relph Part Four . . . WFMU: Geffen Records has just released "Rag & Bone Buffet", a compilation that Virgin had out six months ago. What do you think of this package? Andy: My god, that's a very perverse collection. And put together for a very strange reason, too, because they're all songs that have never appeared on CD for any length of run. A couple of them have appeared on CD and then disappeared for some reason or other. But basically it's safe to say that all of them have never been on CD and so it's literally -- that's the reason that they exist, so they don't. . . [Dog barks.] That's my dog there, he's commenting on the same subject. There we are Charlie, that's the first time you've been heard on WFMU. Charlie, do you want to say something else? There you go. That's Charlie Parker, my dog. He's not too good on the saxophone, I'll give him that. He's got a great Monk piano style. I'm gonna let him out, somebody's called at the door, he needs to tear them to shreds. Or at least give them a nasty lick. "Life's very tame, he's letting the dog out." Where was I? WFMU: "Rag & Bone Buffet." A: If we didn't put this stuff on CD then it would have just disappeared off the face of the earth because most companies don't make vinyl anymore. WFMU: So it's a collection from all periods, all sorts of odds and ends, rarities, B-sides, odd mixes, that sort of thing, right? A: It's stuff under other names, it's B-sides, stuff that was supposed to be on albums, and then was chopped off at the last minute, because of somebody's whim at the record company. Things like "Punch and Judy", that was going to be one of the tracks on "English Settlement", in fact we even cut a running order with that on. And the excuse for it was very petty, I think the actual excuse was, "There's too much music." Sounds like a line out of "Amadeus". "How shall one say, XTC, too much music." So they chopped it off. Things like that, you know. They're songs that come from an incredibly disparate source. Special projects, and pseudonyms. WFMU: On the cover there are three metal sculptures. Are those yours? Did you make those? A: They're actually piles of farmyard junk. I asked somebody to bring some boxes of junk from their father's farm into the photo studio. And so they turned up with just all this desperate rusty muck. Dave Gregory and myself pulled out what we could and made the band. In junk. An American said to me recently, "What's `rag and bone buffet' mean? What's `rag and bone'?" In England the rag and bone man is a junkman. WFMU: How long did it take to make those? A: Oh about an hour or so. But that's the best band photo session we've ever done. It's tricky to kind of talk about it, because they said, would you talk to some people, about "Rag & Bone Buffet", but it's difficult to have an overview because it's such a weird slice through such a weird strata of our career. WFMU: It really is. [dead air] A: In fact I can say no more! It's a complete rag and bone buffet! It's almost the perfect title. WFMU: It's a must-have, though. A: Well, if you like playing air guitar on would-be Christmas singles, then it's for you. WFMU: It's much more than that. It's very long, it has a lot of important songs. A: CDs should be long. I learned the other day that the great rock and roll swindle is not only the price of CDs -- in England they were immediately twice the price of vinyl -- but also the fact that everyone says eighty minutes is the most you can get. A technician told me last week that you could get four-and-a-half hours running time on a CD but it's not allowed because "it would be bad value for money for the record companies." So just think what we're missing. WFMU: Although I can't complain, because CDs tend to be longer when they re-release our favourite artist's... A: Sure, they dig up some more obscure stuff. Well, I like 'em because I like value for money. I'm a sucker for double albums. I think all double albums are beautifully flawed. They're like a gorgeous woman with a huge mole on her cheek or a bald patch or something. They're totally stunningly beautiful but they're all flawed and that makes them really attractive for me. So many double albums are just packed with stuff that probably should have died at birth musically, but it's fascinating to hear it. [To be continued]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Can you believe it? The two-hundredth issue of Chalkhills! Chalkhills was originally created in April 1989, following the release of "Oranges and Lemons". Soon afterwards, when subscribers complained of too much traffic, we found (and heavily modified) some digestification software and the Chalkhills Digest was born. Now it's nearly three years later, there's a new album on the horizon, and as of this moment there are 285 recipient addresses in the mailing list. Chalkhills is actually received by more people than that, because a number of those address are re-distribution addresses or local newsgroups. So join me in greeting Kurt Wilhelm, our newest subscriber. And the real credit for making Chalkhills what it is today goes to YOU, the readers of Chalkhills, for your interest, your observations, your questions and your contributions. Thank you. For all administrative issues, such as change of address, withdrawal from the list, fan club addresses, discography requests (last update 29 January), back issues, etc., send a message to the following address: <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> The Chalkhills archives are available at "http://chalkhills.org/". Please keep signatures to four lines at most. All views expressed in Chalkhills are those of the individual contributors only. Rook, rook, read from your book.
Go back to Volume 1.
17 February 1992 / Feedback