Chalkhills, Number 21

                   Tuesday, 16 May 1989
Today's Topics:
                      Miltonic XTC?
                     Dukes influences
             XTC live radio, WNEW-FM New York
          XTC performance on WFNX (Lynn/Boston)
                         Re: XTC

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Date:         Tue, 16 May 89 00:21:42 EDT
From: Ben Zimmer <ZIMBENG@yalevm.bitnet>
Subject:      Miltonic XTC?

I usually don't think of XTC while reading poetry, but I was struck by a
certain passage of Paradise Lost that sounded a lot like:
   "And all the world is biscuit-shaped, it's just for me to feed my face
    And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste . . ."
Well, you know.  Here's the passage:
    "                     food alike those pure
     Intelligential substances require
     As doth your Rational, and both contain
     Within them every lower faculty
     Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,
     Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
     And corporeal to incorporeal turn."
                                      (Paradise Lost, Book V, 407-13)
A coincidence? Probably.  I know Partridge and Moulding can get literary
("Can't all think like Chekhov," "Jason and the Argonauts," etc.), but this is
pretty esoteric.
                                                     Ben Zimmer
"That is the most obscene
 abomination of a song ..."

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Date: Tue, 16 May 89 03:40:16 CDT
From: GJJ5315@star.tamu.edu
Subject: Dukes influences

I guess that I would have asked this question sooner or later.
What influences can you find in the Dukes songs?
Here is a list of some that I found.

25 O'CLOCK (the whole things reeks of Pink Floyds "Piper at the Gates of Dawn"
	"Mole from the Ministry": middle section with Andy "ahhing" comes from
				  "A Day in the Life". Same feeling, different
				  chords.
PSONIC PSUNSPOT
	"Vanishing Girl":  Verse melody comes from "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
			   Some say the song sounds like a "Hollies" outtake.
	"Leave Jackie Alone" Lyrics along the same lines as The Who's
			     "I'm A Boy"
	"Good Man Albert Brown":  The Beatles (especially "Yellow Submarine"
				  in the middle.\
   	"Collideascope":  I say it sounds like Lennon. A read a review with
			  a reference to The Move's "Blackberry Way". Never
			  heard that song though.
	"You're My Drug":  The percussion from The Byrds' "Rock 'n Roll Star"
	"Shiny Cage":  The Beatle's "I'm Only Sleeping" (what else could it
		       be?!). The carnival section is from "Lulu Land" (Well
		       at least Camper Van Beethoven put a section into it
		       when they covered that song)
	"Brainiac's Daughter":  McCartney!  With the bubbles section from
				"Yellow Submarine"
	"The Affiliated":  Sounds like a Love (the group that is) song.
	"Pale and Precious": Beach Boy's "Good Vibrations"

I know that I offended alot of people's sensibilities by probing so deep.
Still, I'd like some feedback.

Gary

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Date: Tue, 16 May 89 14:06:14 EDT
From: Gary L Dare <gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: XTC live radio, WNEW-FM New York

For those of you in this area, XTC will be on 102.7 later this
afternoon (Tuesday).  The rest of you can drive or fly in! (-;

gld
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Gary L. Dare				> gld@eevlsi.ee.columbia.EDU
					> gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.EDU
	"SLAINTE MHAITH!"		> gld@cunixc.BITNET

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From: Stuart Troutman <stuart@apollo.com>
Date: Tue, 16 May 89 11:07:56 EST
Subject: XTC performance on WFNX (Lynn/Boston)

XTC live acoustic performance on WFNX-FM (Lynn/Boston MA)
---------------------------------------------------------
approx. 30 min. interview/performance (~6:35-7:10pm)
Mon. 5/15/89
(noon show had been on WBCN, Boston - see earlier post)

set consisted of:
*Scarecrow People
*medley ("oldies but baddies"):
    -Senses Working Overtime ("from the punk wars of '77")
                               ("no, 1877")
    -Grass
    -Love on a Farmboy's Wages
*Blue Beret (an "Oranges & Lemons" outtake)
*medley ("strung together in a Frankenstein sort of way")
  (from the new album):
    -One of the Millions
    -(title eludes me..."a hundred heartbeats high"(?))
    -Garden of Earthly Delights
*Mayor of Simpleton
*King for a Day

(above quotes from Andy)

Partridge was very exuberant, as usual, but insisted on making
disparaging comments about these impromptu radio performances,
frequently commenting about the trio's performances as "destroying"
the songs, and often referring to the music as not popular, not
of any particular interest to anyone. He was having a tough time
with some of the higher vocals, and frequently griped about the
guitars being hopelessly out of tune (calling the music things like
"the Tibetan national anthem"), but this isn't to suggest that he
wasn't enjoying himself anyway. It only sounded like two guitars
playing most of the time, though three voices were apparent. They
worked well with the limited studio set-up, the lead voice (Andy's
or Colin's) well up front, and the harmony voices in the background,
slightly off-mike, with a touch of reverb. The little guitar break
in "Farmboy's Wages" (immediately before the chorus) was perfect,
exactly as he played it on record. He repeated the afternoon's comment
about "testing the water with our toes", in regard to a return to
live concerts. The dj tongue-slipped at one point and said, "Oranges &
Lemmings", which they liked a lot. Andy added, "Orangutans & Lemmings".
This was their second visit to WFNX. They'd been over earlier in the
year to promote "O&L" and "had expected it to do go to #1 in Borneo
and then just die quietly." [Barry Andrews had also been by the station
some months back, when Shriekback was passing through the area.]

Alas, I was in the car during this show, so I have no tape of it.
(To be honest, it wasn't musically thrilling, but it was interesting
at least.)
                      -Stuart Troutman

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Date: Tue, 16 May 89 13:52:47 -0700
From: relph@presto.ig.com (John M. Relph)
Subject: Re: XTC

In article <2720@scolex.sco.COM> of rec.music.misc Ron Record (sco!rr) writes:
>In article <JEFFB.89May4161257@grace.cs.washington.edu>
>jeffb@grace.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Bowden) writes:
>#This is about the fifth or sixth mention I've seen of this album in this
>#thread.  What does XTC sound like?
>
>XTC is what would have happened had John Lennon joined the Talking Heads.

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