Chalkhills, Number 357

                   Friday, 24 June 1994
Today's Topics:
                        XTC dreams
                  real Dukes influences
                          (none)
                 Martin Newell's Origins
            Martin Newell doesn't know Lorelei
                   Re: Chalkhills #356
                   Barry Andrews query
                 Jules Verne's Sketchbook
                       Andy in CMJ
                FYI: New '80s Compilation
               real Dukes Influences cont.

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Date: 19 Jun 94 20:59:08 EDT
From: Steve Levenstein <70750.1117@compuserve.com>
Subject: XTC dreams

   I believe it was Melinda, in Chalkhills #353, who was mentioning
various folks' XTC dreams. This looks to be the beginning of a
new thread, for I'd guess that tons of fellow subscribers are
sufficiently XTC-obsessed to dream about them once in a while.
   So then, may I relate a couple of my own XTC dreams? Thanx...
(1) I'm out shopping, and I'm in the vegetable section. I notice
that the produce is old and moldy, but there's a truck backing
into the store (yes) and here's our three XTC-men, unloading
boxes of fresh veggies. The truck and the boxes bear the logo
"Andy Boy". (I actually have seen "Andy Boy" broccoli, etc.).
The boys take a break, and we sit together in the back of the
truck talking about XTC's upcoming album and tour...
(2) I'm in a record store (vinyl only), just me, and the clerk
is none other than Andy, circa 1977, with hair.
Zeroing in on the XTC section, I find dozens of 45rpm singles,
most of which I'd never known about. The picture sleeves are all
very colourful, and I give one of the records to Andy, who begins
playing it over the store's stereo. As I awaken, I can still
recall the words and melody of the great song (that never was),
but I forgot them a few minutes later. Aaaargh!!
   Well, I guess you had to be there...
BTW, someone reccomended listening to "Ladybird" in a recent
Chalkhills. So I did, and it (still) sounded great!! Yeah, a
perfect tune for springtime. I really like Mummer these days,
what a fool I was to bring the tape to the dentist in '83!
For years afterward I couldn't listen to Mummer without
recalling the pain and those drill noises... >:-{|}
---> Steve

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Date: 19 Jun 94 21:36:25 EDT
From: Steve Levenstein <70750.1117@compuserve.com>
Subject: real Dukes influences

   Hi Chalkhillers. Well, since the "Dukes influences" thread has
seemed to run it's course, I've dug up my "The Little Express:
Back Issue Compilation Vol.2" to give y'all the real story.

   From "XTC Talk to The Little Express, 19/6/85"
ANDY: ...The actual track "25 o'clock" was one of the last to be
written because I came up with what I thought would be a good title
for the ep/mini-lp, and it's the kind of ludicrously corny title
'cause psychedelic music had a fascination with time, time going
wrong and time going backwards; so I thought it was extremely
'67 psychedelic to call something 25 o'clock, as 24 hours is the
ultimate time, so 25 is the one after, you know, the one beyond
the ultimate, that doesn't exist.
DAVE: This particular track is really a rip-off of the Electric
Prunes' "I Had Too Much o Dream Last Night".
ANDY: In fact, "25 o'clock" is probably the most American sounding
track on the album,it's got that Amboy Dukes and Electric Prunes
feel to it, wobbling feedback, Russian-type bassline; you could
always hang about as long as you wanted with that type of bassline,
make any noises you wanted until you came back in, so we had to
put one to it. All the clock noises were off BBC sound effects
(Big Ben), Dave's metronome, and John Leckie's watch cause we
couldn't find a good ticking sound, so we just held his watch
by the mike.

   OK, I'll continue in a while (unless I'm shouted down).
And, Thank You to Joe for his detailed story of meeting Andy,
a real pleasure to read!
---> Steve

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Date: Sun, 19 Jun 1994 20:17:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Wells <t-top@hebron.connected.com>
Subject: Martin Newell's Origins

Martin was in a band called "Cleaners from Venus," which I understand has
some good music.  (Haven't got around to buying it myself yet)

--Todd

"Swallow but believe us, you won't die of boredom, should you have to
leave us, it'll be alright..."

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Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 09:21:37 EDT
From: patty@gdb.org (Patty Haley)
Subject: Martin Newell doesn't know Lorelei

Chris asked:

>
> Unless I'm misstaken, someone in a past chalkhills asked about the origins
> of Mr. Newell (I forget which posting--no time to go digging). Was this
> info ever unearthed? Specifically, I'm wondering if he was ever affiliated
> with the Pogues. This morning as I was getting ready for work, I opted for
> the Pogues cd "Peace and Love" and when the song _Lorelei_ came on, my head
> did a veritable Linda Blair from the Exorcist. I swear that he's either
> playing guitar on this song or stole it for TGLE (which seems unlikely).
> Has anyone else noticed this or has the midwest summer sun merely baked my
> brain? I suppose this needn't be an either/or proposition though. Thanks,

Chris, y'all's mistaken.  I was a major bigtime gung-ho Pogues fan up until
they kicked Shane outta the band.  The guitar you hear on Lorelei is not
Martin's--Philip Chevron, the song's author, is the band's guitarist, and
therefore it was his work you heard.

In thinking of a Martin/Pogues liaison, I also began to think about an Andy/
Shane song collaboration.  It would probably start off like this:

Andy:  It was an English summer's afternoon...
Shane:  I lay f****d up in a doorway barfing on my shoes
Andy:  I realized that a crowd began to gather round
Shane:  So I cursed 'em all if they didn't give me money for whiskey
Andy:  Deliver me from the elements
Shane:  And also from this hangover...

On another topic, Relphie-san, Melinda "Paging Mr. Saxophone" <White
courtesy telephone, please?>, and others have mentioned having dreams
about collecting XTC goodies, babysitting Andy's kids, etc.   I have
dreams usually about concerts--getting backstage, the actual show, etc.
'Course, with the way things are going for XTC, dreams like this are about
all I'll get...

-Patty

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Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 08:59 EST
From: Jeffrey Langr <0005392548@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #356

J Ross MacKay wrote:
JRM>Well in the spring of '82 I heard Melt the Guns one Friday night on WHFS
JRM>around midnight, cruised to Yesterday's and Today's Records as soon as they
JRM>opened Saturday morning and purchased English Settlement... a few weeks
JRM>later I bought Drums and Wires and started eating a lot of crow.

I suppose I was competing with you to get first hands on prime XTC singles in
Yesterday & Today's top notch 7" collection...  I went there about once a week
begging for any new XTC releases.  For the unwashed, Yesterday & Today is a
once-great vinyl store in Rockville, Maryland, USA specializing in alternative
vinyl.  One room of the store is mostly LP's and the other room is all 7".
Other cool stores where I used to find XTC stuff in Maryland include: Joe's
Record Paradise, Phantasmagoria, Vinyl Ink, and the Music Machine.  Write to 'em
or call 'em!

I too have the record store dream!  It comes around about once every other
month, and it's always a different record store, but the situation is always the
same: digging through the XTC part of the bins, I come across scads of totally
unrecognizable and obviously rare XTC recordings.  Naturally, adding up the
totals in my little brain always results in a multi-hundred dollar tab which I
cannot afford.

To Edward Whitelock:
I have the Jules Verne tape, but no tape deck (it broke!).  I'm open to
suggestions.  Personally, though, I am considering scuttling most of my XTC
vinyl and tape.  Q: is it a no-no to "advertise", as it were, sale of XTC items
here?

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Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 20:50:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: KINDLEY@delphi.com
Subject: Barry Andrews query

I recently acquired a tape of early XTC demos, many of which feature
Barry Andrews on vocals (I am assuming he wrote these as well).  I'm
fairly sure they've never been recorded properly by XTC, but can some
Andrews fans out there help me find out if they've ever been done any-
where (i.e. Shriekback, whatever else Barry's been involved in).

The songs are: "Us Being Us", "Things Fall to Bits" and "Sargasso Bar".
They're good songs, and while I can see why XTC didn't record them
(not really their style, and besides, Andrews was probably out of the
band by the time they got into a studio) it seems to me that they could
be revived by him in the future.

Hope this isn't too off-subject to be justified ...

- Evan

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Date: Tue, 21 Jun 94 15:33:29 -0700
From: bb037@scn.org (Marshall Gooch)
Subject: Jules Verne's Sketchbook

Sorry I've been lurking so long--the Costello list's been
keeping me very busy. Anyhow, I have one extra JVS cassette
that I'd be willing to trade for the second Little Express
tape (name escapes me at the moment). If anyone's interested,
e-mail me at address below. Oh yeah, anyone know when the
Hello disc comes out?

--
Marsh Gooch / Seattle USA / No nasty sigs /

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Date: 22 Jun 1994 10:41:17 -0500
From: "Maris Jansons" <maris_jansons@porsche.visix.com>
Subject: Andy in CMJ

  REGARDING           Andy in CMJ
For those of you who weren't aware, I thought you should know that there is a
short article about XTC in the June issue of the CMJ New Music Monthly.
Without giving the whole thing away, it simply discusses the "Cherry in Your
Tree" single, as well as Andy's affectation with nursery rhymes.

Maris Jansons
maris@visix.com

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Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 10:33:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: WWWGPYA@grove.iup.edu
Subject: FYI: New '80s Compilation
Organization: Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Hey folks,

        Just a quick bit of news:

        Rhino has just released a five cd set, "The Greatest
Hits of the '80s," which features "Generals and Majors" on
one disc and "Making Plans for Nigel" on another.  Also, an
XTC button (the English Settlement, English version, script)
is featured among many on the cover of each disk as is the
picture sleeve to the "Generals and Majors" single, on the back.
Not that any of us should need run out and buy a five disc set
for those two songs, but its nice to see XTC recognized and
appreciated.
        The set as a whole does have a lot of classic new wave
singles that are difficult to find elsewhere, so should merit
attention.  Reading the contents for me was like cataloguing
my memory of all the good stuff, and some of the crap, that
I was hearing on college radio circa 80-84, which helped turn
me on to so many new bands.  And got me into college radio
circa 85-89!
        Submitted for your interest and possible enjoyment...

        Ed Whitelock (Mr. Ed)

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Date: 23 Jun 94 20:44:25 EDT
From: Steve Levenstein <70750.1117@compuserve.com>
Subject: real Dukes Influences cont.

   ...continuing with my transcription of "L.E. Talks to XTC 1985"...

ANDY: Bike Ride To The Moon - this was sung in as "Syd Barrett" an
accent as I could possibly manage, a kind of loopy Cambridge...
DAVE: It's got the most stupid lyric ever written, especially
the last line.
ANDY: Yes, people are going to be writing in asking for the lyrics,
and boy, are they going to be disappointed! Yes, it's very Syd
Barrett, Pink floyd, as in Arnold Laine. There were lots of songs
about bikes in '67, like My White Bicycle, Syd Barrett's Bike, most
people had eccentric grannies who wanted to ride bikes, taking a
trip on their bicycle; so Bike Ride To The Moon has got the lot in
there, including a stolen "Move" bass line for Colin!
COLIN: Yeah, there was a fuzz box effect.
ANDY: Yeah, right, a fuzz box bass because The Move were always
putting this sort of thing on their records,so we thought that would
be just right to throw in there as well. As I say, these are all kind
of "nuts and bolts" psychedalia, you know, you just pinch little
components from all your favourite groups at the time. The bike noise
on it is Ian, or E.I.E.I. Owen playing a car ratchet, some sort of
wheel ratchet.
DAVE: It doesnt sound like a bike at all, it sounds like a ratchet!
ANDY: Yeah, it just sounds like someone standing there whirling
a ratchet!
COLIN: There wasn't a bike on hand, was there?
ANDY: No, we didn't have any session bikes! But we did attempt to
 get an organ...

... to be continued...,   ---> Steve

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For time had made me wait too long.

---

Go back to Volume 1.

24 June 1994 / Feedback