Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 368
Date: Sunday, 14 August 1994
Chalkhills, Number 368
Sunday, 14 August 1994
Today's Topics:
Hi...I'm new here!
GLE
real Dukes influences (Mole,pt.1)
Crabbed Age & Youth
Vinyl Question
Budd/G.L.E./Mummer/Andrews
Re: Andy Doubletake
Barry Andrews
pulling apart music, Toad review
Record store observations
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY - Swindon's least favourite sons
== No Subject ==
real Dukes influences (Mole, pt.2)
andy and harold/change my world
Re: Intros and all that jazz
Re: Some Thoughts On G.L.E.
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 6 Aug 1994 01:57:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Martin Wagner <hepcats@eden.com> Subject: Hi...I'm new here! Well, well, this is exciting. An XTC list! I love the Internet. Anyway, my name is Martin Wagner, and I started listening to XTC back in high school, between the releases of English Settlement and Mummer. I figured any band capable of putting out a song as marvellously bizarre as "Deliver Us from the Elements" was worth sticking with. I produce an alternative comic for a living titled Hepcats. I began it as a daily strip in my college newspaper, and it was as a result of my working for the paper that I got to meet XTC here in Austin, TX, in 1989. They were swinging through the States on a radio tour to promote Oranges & Lemons, and afterwards they were scheduled to stop by the best record store in town (Waterloo) to schmooze with fans. I showed up early enough to hear the guys still on the radio, doing their acoustic gig, coming over the store loudspeakers. The band came by about an hour later. By that time word had gotten out of the store appearance and a healthy mob had gathered. I must say these are the three friendliest guys I've ever met. Andy is a riot, Dave is very soft-spoken and sweet, and Colin was personable although he seemed to be the one nervous about coming to the store. Anyway, I was able to get my choice XTC collector's items autographed: my Skylarking CD (the first Virgin UK pressing with "Mermaid Smiled" in place of "Dear God"), and my CD-3 of "King for a Day," which, if you haven't seen one, is packaged in this awesome little crown-shaped slipcase. Finally, I heard of Chalkhills through the Internet Yellow Pages. I'm happy to be here, and look forward to some serious skylarking! Martin Wagner hepcats@eden.com
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Subject: GLE Date: Sat, 6 Aug 1994 14:05:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Z Cassell <dcassell@lynx.dac.neu.edu> In Chalkhills #367, someone mentioned that The Greatest Living Englishman is only available by calling a certain number (presumebly the record company). That is not true. I have seen the album on record store shelves (Tower Records, Boston, among others). I do not have the album myself, but I look forward to hearing it. Damon Cassell Boston MA dcassell@lynx.dac.neu.edu
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: 06 Aug 94 22:14:30 EDT From: Steve Levenstein <70750.1117@compuserve.com> Subject: real Dukes influences (Mole,pt.1) ...and now we continue with the interview with XTC... COLIN: And that goes into the birds of "Mole". ANDY: That's right, and I asked Dave to play the very pretty piano piece in the chorus because one of my favourite psychedelic LPs is Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones, and there's lots of Nicky Hopkins sort of frivolous, lacy piano playing. DAVE: That's right, what's the track? EVERYONE: She's a Rainbow! DAVE: That's the inspiration for the piano playing, definitely. ANDY: So the piano parts on Your Gold Dress is us tipping our floppy felt hat to Nicky Hopkin's piano playing on Satanic Majesties Request. COLIN: I like the D.I. guitar in the middle. ANDY: Yeah, it's a smattering of The Hollies' "Stop, Stop, Stop" in there. It's just double track D.I. guitar which means you don't go through an amp, you plug it straight into the desk and you get a very thin sound; and if you make it even thinner by turning the treble up, you can get it sounding quasi-sitar like those sitar guitars you can buy. And the last track "Mole from the Ministry", that was actually written in the studio. What happened was we had a lull one afternoon when Dave went to Birmingham to a little workshop to collect some tapes for the mellotron which was indispensable for this LP. You get three tapes on one rack and he came back with flute, cello and strings. DAVE: Actually, if you've never seen a mellotron before, it's quite unbelievable that you can still, in 1985, buy spares for it. ANDY: It's really rubber band technology. COLIN: One part moves another part moves another part, it's done with levers. DAVE: It's all done with rubber bands, fan belts and levers. Anyway they've got this Mellotronics or Novatronics as they're now called, a little warehouse in Birmingham, and you can still buy racks of tapes, and each set of tapes there are three sounds. Well, we were getting a bit tired of the existing tapes we had in our mellotron so we thought it was time to get some more. The existing ones are all over Big Express and Mummer. ANDY: Yeah, things like the choir on "Human Alchemy" and on "Elements". DAVE: Buying the mellotron was the best $700 we ever spent. We've really had a lot of use out of it and it's sch good fun. ...whew! Let's consider that "Part One" of the Mole story! ---> Steve
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Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 11:55:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: regalvin@mmm.com
Subject: Crabbed Age & Youth
To Kiwi, who was 4yrs old in '79:
ppllllbbbhhtt!! :P
Undoubtably (I hope), I am not the oldest subscriber to this list (I'm 30).
But, thanks anyway for making me feel like petrified dino-droppings. :)
If you check out the other music 'happenings' around '79 (Kiss, Barry Manilow,
Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees -- are we puking yet?), you'll find that
the punk/new wave thing was pretty much the *only* interesting music being
made, dated though it may seem today.
Re: Barry Andrews' and his organ:
I liked it because it was goofy and added to the humourous, playful
element of XTC. somewhat reminiscient of Ray Manserick (sp?) of the
Doors, without the 25 minute solo.
Ta,
Robert Galvin Reply: regalvin@mmm.com Phone: 612-733-7105 ~~~
Snail: 3M Center, Bldg 224-3S-17 Fax: 612-737-5539 \o-o/
St. Paul, MN 55144-1000 | _ |
"""
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Date: Mon, 08 Aug 1994 13:43:27 EDT
From: pjl2@lehigh.edu (PATRICK J LARKIN)
Subject: Vinyl Question
I have a copy of Drums and Wires with a bonus 7". Is this common or something
to hold on to. Also, the version of Skylarking without Dear God and the 12"
Grass single with Dear God, are these common too? Just curious.
_Patrick
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Patrick J. Larkin
pjl2@lehigh.edu
Penn State '90
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: 8 Aug 1994 13:53:48 U From: "Wesley Wilson" <Wesley_Wilson@iegate.mitre.org> Subject: Budd/G.L.E./Mummer/Andrews Just got the Budd/Partridge CD. If you don't have it yet, and don't want to read my comments about it, don't read the next paragraph! At this point, I'm disappointed. I'm hoping this one will grow on me some more, but from my view I can't understand why Andy made this album. Songs like "Frost Circus" and "Procession Towards Learning Land" are wonderful; the songs on *this* album leave me puzzled for the most part, with no particular feeling at all. Some of the songs leave me downright cold. I do like the title track, and a few others, but overall...nah. In my view it's mostly artistic, high-brow twaddle. Especially on Budd's part. Budd's presence really squelches most of Andy's creative, fun-loving musical personality in favor of something that would probably appeal to pretentious readers of The New Yorker magazine. "Bronze coins showing genitals..." Oh, PUL-EASE! Here the next XTC album won't be out until '95 (probably); *another* 3 year's wait between albums. Sigh... RE: The "drumming" on The Greatest Living Englishman. To me, the lack of great drumming or real drumming doesn't matter on *this* album, which is a masterpiece of classic English pop music in the style of the best of the "British Invasion" bands. Great lyrics, a variety of moods, and yet the consistent string running through the album is that, for better or for worse, there's no place like England. The quality of the songwriting is what's key here. Besides, real drummers cost money, and Andy's never had a lot of success training them to his liking :-) I have a feeling Andy has real issues around the value/lack thereof of drummers. Yeah, the Greatest Living Englishman sounds like Dickens on acid, set to music. RE: Mummer There is no question that this is an excellent XTC album. Period. Why it's so downgraded in this forum surprises me. R#005#E: Barry Andrews For sheer off-the-wall inventiveness, it's hard for me to see how Barry could have outdone himself after XTC. His keyboard runs had so much of the "unexpected" in them. By the way, since I'm feeling so opinionated today...I'm really lukewarm about Blur's song, "Magic America." Another song criticizing McDonald's; so what else is new? So many of these bands tour the major cities in the U.S., stay in cheap hotels, and they think that's what the whole country is about. I think "Magic America" is a weak link on the "Parklife" album. Wes
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 22:37:32 -0400 From: "Paul Myers" <pmyers@cmrra.ca> Subject: Re: Andy Doubletake The poster that looks like Andy is for Oliver Stone's NATURAL BORN KILLERS with Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson I think... Paul Myers
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: m.mccormick2@genie.geis.com Date: Tue, 9 Aug 94 04:45:00 UTC Subject: Barry Andrews Here is one more vote for Barry Andrews! I think his wacked out calliope was maybe *the* magic ingredient on _White Music_ and _Go2_. (Although Colin really goes far out on some of the bass work.) Barry played that sucker with wild but gifted abandon. Most of the _Go2_ pumped-up cuts in particular are unimaginable without his sound. No way Dave Gregory (whose genius I worship) could have played on those first couple XTC albums. In England, Barry was considered such a key part of the "XTC sound" that many critics assumed the band was finished when he left. >From what I've picked up in Andy's interviews, it just reached the point where the band wasn't big enough for the both of them. It drove Andy crazy that he could never quite outsmart Barry in their endless arguments. Then after Barry left, he admitted he missed them! As for Barry's own band Shriekback (formed with two refugees from Gang of Four), I agree with whoever said they were really good. By coincidence, just last week I dubbed a tape for (fellow Chalkhillian) Dean Zemel of their two best (IMHO) LPs: _Oil and Gold_ for their early punk-dance era, and _Big Night Music_ for their more mature world-beat-dance stuff. Every XTC fan with any interest in Barry Andrews post-XTC work should get hold off at least these two albums! I saw Shriekback live at their peak (circa 1987) I was just floored by Barry Andrews energy as frontman, and the brilliant over-the-top playing from him and the rest of the (by then much larger) band. Seeing Barry live in a club was the closest I've gotten so far to live XTC! Shriekback have now reunited (they broke up around 1989) and have a new album called _Sacred City_. Has anybody heard it? -Mike McCormick
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Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 11:27:48 -0600
From: Marshall Pierce <piercem@cs.itc.hp.com>
Subject: pulling apart music, Toad review
> Am I making any sense at ALL?? :-)
> Melinda
Yes, I can sense what you are saying and I agree that the range of subjects
and emotion is a major part of what makes XTC one of my favorites. There are
not really any songs of theirs I don't like.
> From: Ashley@apowell.demon.co.uk (Ashley Powell)
> ...Music is there to be heard, not pulled apart, ... but I couldn't really
> say why [one likes certain songs] ....I compose a lot of my own music,
This is kind of a non-sequitor, no? Yes, music is to be heard but here are
2 reasons why it should be pulled apart:
1 - what is it that makes it so good for you - what things do your
favorites have in common? eg I like lots of harmony, from stuff like
B52s (when the ladies sing), to XTC - but also lyrics that are really
saying something
2 - what is it about the song technically that makes it better than other,
especially since this information can be used by the composer. This
also gets into how you hear something new everytime you listen to
certain tunes.
> meaningless twaddle
This is not a really a tactful thing to say when one joins a mailing list
*devoted* to one group.
>Well, that will do as an introduction. I look forward to many bulging
>wallets overstuffed with useful info.
Welcome aboard!
And now, a review of Toad's show at the Ogden Theatre in Denver on 8/6.
Opening band: Wasted Tape ... an appropriate name. I was hoping for
the Greys but we can't have everything.
General admission, over 21 in the balcony - it was hot. Note: the balcony
has a very gradual grade with room for another row of seats between rows -
this also means that if the front-rowers stand, 4-5 rows behind are blocked.
Needless to say, about 3 songs in, the four in front of us (out of the entire
balcony) chose to stand. After multiple, er, polite requests and a few cups
off the head, they finally left but not after the viewers next to us got
thrown out when things got a bit heated.
But, I'm still glad to have see- I mean heard Toad live. They performed most
of the selections from Dulcinea and Fear and a few from Bread & Circus and
Pale, too. I was sure there was more than one lead vocalist and this was
confirmed.
They closed with a comment about how they've been influenced by folk music,
especially the work of G Simmons and A Freeley (I don't think many people
got it), and then played a soft-rock version of "Rock and Roll All Night and
Party Everyday"
If you get the chance, see the band!
---------------
Marshall Pierce
piercem@cs.itc.hp.com
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Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 15:19:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Derek Miner <ind00163@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Subject: Record store observations
Howdy all...
Just returned from the local mass-consumption record hole
(Blockbuster Music, in case you wondered). I saw a couple things that
made me want to break down and write to all of you.
One, at our store here, Martin Newell's "Greatest Living
Englishman" is filed under Andy Partridge! I found this by accident.
Two, (and I believe someone breached this topic briefly) Rhino
Records has a new set of Eighties compilation CDs, and two are distinctly
XTC noteworthy. One has "Making Plans For Nigel" and a second has
"Generals and Majors." In addition, the cover art features an XTC button
(with the English Settlement "XTC" logo) on a jacket, and the back has
the sleeve for a "Generals and Majors" single.
What came to mind when I saw this, however, is that I think Rhino
really likes our boys from Swindon. Think about the fact that their DIY
series of CDs also featured XTC tracks, and now these 80s collections
feature tunes which did not necessarily dent the US market the way some
of the songs on the series did. Does anyone else think Rhino would be
willing to handle XTC if Geffen got rid of them? Rhino does great reissue
work that they take pride in. Witness their recent acquisition of the
ENTIRE Monkees catalogue (yes, they now own EVERYTHING, visual and aural
that the Monkees ever made).
Just some thoughts
Derek Miner
ind00163@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
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Date: Wed, 10 Aug 94 09:41:37 +0100
From: John Nicholls <nicholls@case.co.uk>
Subject: FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY - Swindon's least favourite sons
I have a recollection of a headline article in our local paper that
caused a lot of angry talking around the tea-time table in our house,
about louts and ungrateful yobboes, while I ate my fish fingers and
peas in silence.
Last night I went to the reference library here in Swindon and spent a
couple of hours in the archives, and finally there it was, the Swindon
Evening Advertiser, Thursday 28 February 1980, front page in huge
type...
XTC HIT AT HOME TOWN
------------------
Swindon's a gritty place say Pop Four
------------------
Swindon's globe-trotting rock band XTC are attacking their home
town from far-away New York. The band are currently touring the
States, where they told the press of the apathy, hatred and
resentment Swindonians allegedly feel for them.
In an article syndicated for American newspapers, bass player
Colin Moulding said "The last time we played Swindon it was
really apathetic. There's a basic hatred for us there." He was
speaking of a Christmas show at the Brunel Rooms which sold out
within days and in which the band were shouted back for a brace
of encores.
Guitarist Andy Partridge was quoted as saying: "The people in
Swindon resent us because we got out of the place, and they are
still stuck there"
DUMB
Andy, who has just released a solo album of studio recording
experiments, described Swindon as "a gritty little concrete
industrial blob". Speaking about the hostility they encountered
when the group first "made it" to London, he said "If you come
from Swindon you're a stupid hayseed. They treated us like dumb
country boys trying to be clever."
The group are in the States on a lengthy tour promoting their
latest album Drums and Wires, which was recently released there.
A single, Ten Feet Tall, written by Moulding, has also just been
issued.
------------------
And inside the same issue, the leader in the editorial:
EDITORIAL
------------------
Something to shout about?
------------------
Pop group XTC have been shouting their mouths off about the town
their origin in an American newspaper, the Tribune. According to
songwriter Andy Partridge, Swindon is "a gritty (possibly an
error of transcription) little concrete industrial blob".
Motive for the attack appears at the end of the article by
newspaper columnist Rolling Stone. "There's a basic hatred for
us there. The people in Swindon resent us because we got out."
So there we have it. Swindon doesn't do the boys enough homage
to fit their standing. Shame!
But is it true? Along with a number of other famous sons and
daughters, Swindon has followed the boys" career with more than a
little interest. If we're not all shouting that they're the
greatest, it has probably got more to do with personal taste and
opinion than prejudice.
The lads have come a long way over the last decade and should
have outgrown the temptation to be petty. As far as Swindon's
concerned, all of us here in this gritty little industrial blob
will wish the group all the best for the future.
We may be growing up, but at least we're mature to that extent.
------------------
My friends and I couldn't believe it. Our heroes, saying this about
us. Two months after their triumphant Christmas homecoming gig (see
previous posting - it was December 1979, not 1982!!).
However on Friday 29 February 1980, the very next issue carried an
article stating that Andy had phoned from Seattle immediately upon
hearing that the article had been in the Adver. He said that the
offending article was taken from an interview conducted several months
previously, he had been misquoted and the comments taken entirely out
of context. The band were very angry about the whole affair, and
were extremely happy with the enthusiasm of their Swindon fans.
We were happy again. XTC 1, American Music Press 0.
Mind you, if the band hadn't said anything about the article, they
would never have been able to drink in the pubs around here again ...
JP Nicholls
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 10 Aug 94 16:31 BST-1 From: joeo@cix.compulink.co.uk (Psion plc Joe Odukoya) Subject: == No Subject == Dear all, Last week I attended a special screening of two films, part of the NME (a UK music mag) music event. The films were "The Beatles first visit to America" and "Star-shaped" by Blur. After the films Blur turned up to answer questions so I took the opportunity to - Joeo -
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: 10 Aug 94 21:27:31 EDT From: Steve Levenstein <70750.1117@compuserve.com> Subject: real Dukes influences (Mole, pt.2) ...and now part 2 of the MOLE story... ANDY: What transpired is that we thought you can't make a psychedelic album unless you've got mellotron cellos and flutes at least, so Dave went off to get the tapes, and I was tinkering around on the piano in Chapel Lane studios and just came up with this little descending riff, and started to muck around with very John Lennon piano chord shapes and thought well we better come up with some lyrics that would have been pertinent to the time and the mole was a suitable kind of animal cause groups would be writing about things like moles, as "We are the Moles" by The Moles or "I am the Walrus". You know, any kind of lumpy animal with a slight Alice in Wonderland surrealism about it was fair game. So the title "I'm the Mole from the Ministry" sort of fell out and all these ludicrous lyrics got written as we were kind of learning the track in the studio; so the track was actually written in the studio and put together and recorded that evening. It just sort of fell together very quick and we sort of tarted it up as we went along, with these brand new flute and cello tapes, and did sort of a George Martin walrusy 5 minute string arrangement underneath the playing. It was great fun doing it and in fact a Japanese fan wrote asking what the tune was being played at the end of Mole from the Ministry when the slight return comes in, the backwards piece, and he thought he'd recognised it from Go2. Dave's actually playing the little tune over the slight return, and it's the main riff behind "Life is good in the Greenhouse" on Go2 being played on a Zippy Zither, about $7, so there's a bit of cross fertilization for you! DAVE: I wonder how many people would spot that! ANDY: But it was great fun to do, we could all imitate as many Beatle-isms as we want. We've got the bass guitar to be as McCartneyfied as we could. DAVE: Oh, I got this great George Harrison guitar tone with a sort of slow tremolo on it with the strings all slack and baggy. You can just hear it chungling away under the chorus, it got a little bit buried in the mix; and there's this wonderful mistake in the middle! We were running through the track and like we said it was all first takes, there was no chance to go back and repair anything, and I was fiddling around trying to think of things to play. Because the guitar was tuned down three semi-tones, my ears hadn't quite figured out the guitar part, and I played this awful bum note in the middle and you can just hear it, it shoots over the top, and I said "I'll do that properly", and they said no, we won't use it, and what happens? DAVE & ANDY: We used it! ANDY: Yeah, it's a very bum note but it's quite nice, it's authentically George, I can assure you! But the voices at the end that seem to be going lome, lome, actually that's mole backwards cause we were chanting mole, mole, over the fade-out which was used backwards at the end. DAVE: And most of the little voices you hear chattering... ANDY: (Excitedly) Oh, yes! DAVE: ...came off of a sound effects album, you tell them all about it, Andy! ANDY: OK, here we go...all those little chatting voices throughout the track saying things like "Fish and visitors smell after three days", things like that. What it was is an LP that I bought for 25 pence in a junk shop, and it's all about the year 1776 which was the American Revolution and it was an LP of speaking supposedly famous quotes from 1776, and what we did was go through and pick out the best quotes of Benjamin Franklin, and shuffled them all up and sped them up and slowed them down. DAVE: It's such a bizarre concept for an album, I couldn't believe it. It was perfect. ANDY: You couldn't get more obscure if you tried, and it was quite accidental. Most of them are phrases or sayings of Benjamin Franklin as in "fish and visitors smell after three days". DAVE: Oh, and there was a horse in there as well. ANDY: Oh yeah, I think that's part of Paul Revere's ride. His neighing horse actually comes through in the mix just before the "Day in the Life" middle section. I think that's all the Dukes stuff we can ramble on about. ...but Andy was wrong! Tune in next time to another interview >from a later issue of The Little Express for the band's mummerings on Psonic Psunspot! ---> Steve
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: OLIVER@slais.ubc.ca Organization: SLAIS, UBC Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 14:53:59 GM+5 Subject: andy and harold/change my world Greetings, CHalkhillians! I haven't actually resubscribed to the list yet but I have access to my university account this weekend and thought I would read the summer's issues and comment. First of all, do people really think that Andy is singing on that other Carmen Sandiego track? Come on, now, how can you all listen to XTC album after album and not be able to recognize Andy's voice, particularly when there's a real XTC song on the same record? I grant you it does sound sort of like Andy, but I think it's the guys who do the music for the show (isn't one of them a friend of Andy's?) doing a parody of/tribute to Andy's goofier writing and singing style. Even though the band has a jokey name, the credits identify all the musicians and they're basically the people who play on the other tracks. And it certainly isn't John Linnell singing the bridge; his voice is even more unmistakable than Andy's. I got the Budd/Partridge album, and while I think it's fine for what it is, I wish they had developed some of the ideas a bit more. I don't mind that there's no vocals, but I think they could have made the pieces more involved instead of just repeating one chord over and over. But that's ambient for you. The cover is more interesting than the music. >From the sounds of that phone interview, we'll be waiting a while yet for new XTC. I find it hard to believe Andy has only written four songs in two years or whatever he said. I suspect the no drum/orchestral idea will not prevail, actually. Does anyone actually have concrete information about either the greatest hits album or the current status of their record deal? See you all in September, neil oliver
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: CurtissH@aol.com Date: Sat, 13 Aug 94 06:50:00 EDT Subject: Re: Intros and all that jazz Steve, In answer to your question, I for one, am 31. But I don't think that age matters. I've only been a fan of XTC for a little over a year, myself, even though they started out while I was in high school. And my other favorite band, the Beatles, were recording their first album on the night that I was born. It's all relative, man. Music is eternal. --Curtiss Hammock, Atlanta, GA USA
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: CurtissH@aol.com Date: Sat, 13 Aug 94 06:50:09 EDT Subject: Re: Some Thoughts On G.L.E. Kyle Skrinak made some valid points in his review of "The Greatest Living Englishman" by Martin Newell: >The album's weaknesses backup what I've been saying all along >about Andy's weaknesses--his production and his "use" of a drum >programming machine. Okay, so the production is kind of wankey. If you view music the way that Mr. Skrinak does, TGLE is not for you, clearly. I look at it differently, though. For me, songwriting comes first, and production is just icing. If a really good song is poorly produced, I will still like it. If a lame song is well produced, I won't like it. A song exists before it's writer ever gets near a recording studio, and that is the essence of the song. It can be played on an acoustic guitar and sung by one or two people, and it is either good or not. Bad production doesn't render a good song bad, nor vice versa. I also found "Through the Hill" recently, and though the production is top notch, the album doesn't do much for me. It makes great background music, and I wouldn't call it bad--I just don't have too much use for ambient music. It doesn't fill the need that I expect music to fill. So the bottom line for me is that I like the songs on TGLE. I wouldn't call them high art or anything, but they evoke an emotional response, and they make me feel good. (And I hope I haven't painted Mr. Skrinak in too bad a light. He did admit to liking a couple of the songs, and either way, this is all just opinion.) --Curtiss Hammock, Atlanta, GA USA
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to: <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> For all other administrative issues, send a message to: <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> The Chalkhills archives were once available using FTP from "net.bio.net". The Chalkhills home page is available at "http://chalkhills.org/". The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. Village and city girls by the quayside
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