Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 425
Date: Tuesday, 28 March 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Number 425
Tuesday, 28 March 1995
Today's Topics:
This World Over vs the Deconstrucionalists
Word play
police, great fire, loud family
Invading the Pitch.
The Loud Family, the Noisy Family, and SCTV
Dukes Influences---Archive 'em?
slight delay in survey results
Lazybones
Albert Brown
(none)
Miscellaneous Comments
Re: Videos
XTC instrumentality
Dukes Inspirations
Some ant swears to some questions
"Vanishing Girl" -- Direct Lift from [SPOILER WARNING]
You're a Good Man, Arthur Brown source?
This World Over Origins
Re: Dukes O' Stratosphear = ???
Virgin post
Administrivia:
To UNSUBSCRIBE from Chalkhills, send a message to:
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
For all other administrative issues, send a message to:
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
Chalkhills Archives not available using FTP.
World Wide Web: "http://chalkhills.org/"
The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.
Things got more and more absurd...
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 11:19:38 +0000 From: gimarc@onramp.net (George Gimarc) Subject: This World Over vs the Deconstrucionalists > "This World Over" which I believe is on the BIG EXPRESS album. The song has a >mock-POLICE mood and style reminiscent of "Invisible Sun" and the theme of >much of Synchronicity. In the vocalization, notice how Andy draws out the >word MISS-ILES in that song in the same distinctive way that STING does in >"Russians"and "Fortress Around Your Heart" on Dream of the Blue Turtles. I >see the wholetune as a lampoon of the obvious and "in-your-face" protest song >that pin-heads like STING and DON HENLY have popularized lately. Any thoughts >anyone? When the song was a new one, I spoke to Andy about it cause it touched me deeply. He admited that,.."When I wrote it I had difficulty singing it 'cause of the lump in my throat. It's easier now, but it still gets to me, thinking about what could happen these days." There was never any mention of the Police. The song was written mainly because Andy was hoping for a better world for his children. That's the truth straight from the source. Please don't be a deconstructionalist. Many times things ARE as they seem on the face. George Gimarc Punk Diary 1970-'79
------------------------------ From: DrOnyx@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 02:26:04 -0500 Subject: Word play RE: Btw, that stuff about Kurt Schwitters was garbage: I liked a headline for an article about Webern, which read something like, "Webern wrote the booklet on brevity." Nothing do do with XTC, other than the shared clever word play....
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 04:41:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Brookes McKenzie <RMCKENZI@smith.smith.edu>
Subject: police, great fire, loud family
at the risk of continuing a passe' thread (that's what happens when i dare
to go away for spring break - 51 messages and i have to read 4 chalkhills
in a row), i actually have (and i don't think i'm alone in this) a love/
hate affair with sting as he seems to think he's above writing just 'pop'
songs, but when he can bring himself to do it he can write some pretty
excellent ones - witness the 'message in a box' police box set that's been
mentioned before. 95% of it is damn good. [most amusing thing about it -
the first couple of songs they cut, before even the white reggae of
_outlandos d'amour_ are so punk! "fallout", "nothing achieving" and
"dead end job" are great little punk songs - of course they all sound
the same, which is sort of the problem i have with most punk, but to
hear sting screaming on these songs is hysterical. and now the double
bill of the police/xtc makes even more sense.]
re: patty (i think) and andy's accent on "great fire" - i agree, although
i didn't notice it before, although i think the part you quoted is the
most pronounced it gets - i think that is so cute, it sounds like andy is
taking you aside for a little confession, half making fun of himself or
something, it's very wry the way he says it, "i've been in love be-FORE".
also not to bring up the whole "smoke/fuck" debate again (he's obviously
just whispering "smoke" but it does sound somewhat like "fuck", and i
don't think that's lost on him, especially as the preceding lyric was
"it's never been as hot as this"), but i find it doubly amusing because
not only did i not know what he was saying there, i didn't even know it
was a word at all! i thought the line inexplicably said "curling round
the door, memories of old loves crack and blister" and that the memories
were what was curling! which makes no sense at all. i love that song.
regardless of the rest of the album (sometimes i love it, sometimes it
bores me to tears), something about "great fire" is just... delicious,
for lack of a better adjective.
re: the loud family - a friend of mine loves their first album, _plants
& birds & rocks & things_, and i need to listen to it more but on a cursory
examination it appeared to be: jellyfish + [even more 70's cheese]. if
you like jellyfish at all, you will _probably_ like it. also i don't know
about their new album, but it can't be that much of a departure.
as usual i have over-babbled but i just have one other thing to say and
that is that my current favorite stuff is steely dan - the box set which
kicks. but then they really seem to be (as i am finding out the hard way
by trying to get all my friends to listen to them) a genetic switch - on
or off, love or hate and no amount of persuading can make people like them
if they don't.
- brookes
ps. wow. i'm really impressed that there are 1,000 people on chalkhills.
i guess that explains the increased frequency of digests (not that i'm
complaining!). that's really pretty cool.
Well the
Danger on the rocks is surely passed
Still I remain tied to the mast
Could it be that I have found my home at last
Home at last
- Steely Dan
------------------------------ From: DAMIAN The Wonder Dog FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 11:14:17 GMT Subject: Invading the Pitch. Russel Shaddox explains: > This (also) sailed straight over my head (getting the trend here?) when I > first got the album. I thought "invading the pitch" was some sort of wacky > move in the game of cricket. Then I went to Ireland and learned more about > rugby. The "pitch" is the rugby field, as in: "I've forgotten how to use my > legs to go running out onto the rugby pitch." I'm afraid that the same disease that makes someone have to point out that Crowded House are from NZ has affected me. Firstly although the field that rugby is played on is called a 'pitch' rugby fans very rarely run out onto it at the end of the game. Football (soccer) is also played on a 'pitch' and football fans are much more prevalent to invading the pitch so I think that the line is about football and not rugby. Also the line before goes something like this: 'Scoring goals with a twitch of my wrist'. Goals are not scored in Rubgy, ever. Tries, Conversions and Penalties are scored in rugby. But goals are scored in football (occaisionally). Cricket fans sometimes invade the cricket pitch at the end of a match (well wouldn't you want something to do after 5 days of just watching!) but then Runs are scored in cricket and not Goals. 'Nough said. Dames TWD P.s. Does anyone else like Jane SIberry as much as me? Answers directly to me please. (Life is good in the greenhouse:XTC)
------------------------------ From: GOOSENMK@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 07:33:25 -0600 (CST) Subject: The Loud Family, the Noisy Family, and SCTV MELISSA REEVES sez: > Question: Anyone out there heard the Loud Family? My dear husband, yes > the one who doesn't like XTC, showed me this blurb from Stereo Review > on _The Tape of Only Linda_ by them calling them "the closest we Yanks > have ever come to a homegrown XTC". He says he thinks I'd really like > them. I hate it when he's right, so could someone let me know whay they > think? Hmm, Scott Miller, the leader of the Loud Family and its predecessor, the equally wonderful Game Theory, is a big XTC fan, but his music doesn't especially SOUND like XTC. I think where the Stereo Review writer gets XTC from LF is in the eclecticism and melodicism of Scott's music rather than from any definite sonic similarities. A friend of mine has characterized Scott as "the love child of Paul McCartney and Thomas Pynchon," and I can think of no more apt description. GT/LF records practically require prerequisites, what with the dense mix of self-referential sound snippets and oblique references lyrically and musically from everything from St. Chilton to Yes (I kid you not), but all reward repeat listens more so than almost anything else. Your difficulty would be in FINDING any of the GT/LF catalog--the two best (IMO) GT albums, _Lolita Nation_ and _Two Steps from the Middle Ages_, are out of print, and the rest of the GT/LF catalog is available on Alias Records, a nifty but notoriously poorly-distributed independent label (you don't want to hear the epic struggle of many of us on the LF list to even FIND a copy of the LF's latest, _The Tape of Only Linda_--now there's a reference!). However, Alias has an efficient mail-order service, and most of the major internet (CDNow, CDConnection) and mail order (Noteworty) services can get you any of the in-print stuff. _The Tape of Only Linda_ or GT's _The Big Shot Chronicles_ aren't bad places to start. > I had to laugh when someone mentioned "Travels in Nihilon" as one of > their very favorites as I had named it, along with "Roads Girdle the > Globe" as my two least favorite XTC tunes to Patty's survey. To each > them I do not go unrewarded. The themes and the lyrics are good and all, > but the music puts me off. That's as close as I can come to slamming > Our Boys. Girl. ;-) I only say that because of the distaste that many--not all, mind you, I'm qualifying this heavily--of the female gender seem to show toward anything loud, dissonant, and noisy, which all of the tunes you mention qualify as! Anyone else observe noise-annoys phenomenon among their female friends/s.o.'s? Guess I'm a boy--I like everything you mention, especially "Travels in Nihilon" and "Roads Girdle the Globe"! Robert Stacy sez about the Tubes: > Ow, is that right, James? Never knew this. The only thing I can point > to on their behalf that might partially ameliorate the loss of face > accompanying such an imprudent career move was their appearance on the > "Fishin' Musician" segment of SCTV, during which they embarked on a > bass trip with John Candy, all of them sporting the band's COMPLETION > BACKWARD uniform of suits and ties. Later, they lip-synched to "Sushi > Girl," interspersed with occasional one-shots of Candy grooving along. > Harmless fun for all. Ah, one of my fondest TV memories! I remember trying to stay awake between 12:30 and 2:00 a.m. Friday nights, keeping the TV down so my grandmother in the next room wouldn't catch me with the TV on that late and make me turn it off (remember, VCRs were more than $1000 a pop in those days), just to take in such sights as this! And the Fishin' Musician, Edith Prickley on safari, Gerry Todd (scary how much MTV is like the Gerry Todd show!) waging a video battle against the Japanese, Johnny LaRue's quest for a crane shot, all these things made it woth the effort. I'm consistently amazed by how many Chalkhillians share many of my tastes not only in music but in books, films, and television. Later, Miles
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 95 09:55:38 EST From: tim@cs.cosc.georgetown.edu (Tim Snyder) Subject: Dukes Influences---Archive 'em? Hi, Buds, This "Dukes Influences" topic comes up every few years here. The first time it came up, I did not have the disk, so missed the discussion. I later wrote 'hills and nobody responded! So, does anybody volunteer to take the last few chalked digests and concatenate the comments? (I would, but I have no time.) If one cut and pasted the comments song-by-song, fascinating the product would be! For those who have not purchased the Dukes disk, don't wait like I did. When I finally broke down and bought it, I was startled at how good it was. I place it up there in the top three XTC releases. Enjoy, Tim
------------------------------ From: patty@gdb.org Date: Mon, 27 Mar 95 10:32:06 EST Subject: slight delay in survey results Hi all: I thought this weekend would be spent working on school stuff, including a proposal, paper and the survey. Instead I went outta town and had fun. Hence everything is still waiting for me. It'll be another week or two afore the results get posted, but I haven't forgotten. -Patty
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 11:15:45 -0600 From: mheibel@lps.esu18.k12.ne.us (Micah Heibel) Subject: Lazybones however, is what is sung at the very end of ES's "Leisure" (it is NOT included on any lyric sheets I've seen). It sounds like the line begins "Lazy (bum?), look into the sun..," but I cannot be sure. Anyone have any insight/thoughts on this? There is a song on Harry Connicks "25" cd, with exactly the same melody as this little snippet. I believe it is an old Jazz standard. It's lyrics are: Lazybones, sleeping in the sun how you ever gonna get your day's work done? Never get your day's work done sleeping in the noonday sun. Lazybones sleeping in the shade how you ever gonna get your cornmeal made? Never get your cornmeal made sleeping in the evening shade. etc. etc. When I was little, my mother often sang this song around the house. Maybe this is an actual "American" reference in an XTC. Speaking of this, I enjoy the explanations of Englishisms immensley. Please keep this thread going. Toodles, Micah Heibel "My father always said laughter was the best medicine. Maybe that's why several of us died of tuberculosis." --- Jack Handey
------------------------------ From: AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 11:50:21 GMT-6 Subject: Albert Brown Dear Chalky-folk, Does anyone besides me see in influence of Beatle's Yellow Submarine on Duke's Albert Brown? Tempo isn't quite the same but it has the same bouncing-sing-along-in-a-pub sort of feel to it and it has a very similar middle break with sound effects and men's voices, etc. Also, the laughter at the end of Albert Brown reminds me of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as do the clock sounds in 25 O'clock. Also, IMHO Vanishing Girl reminds me of early Who - clean vocal harmonies over major 7th chords. Speaking of chords, I like the idea of posting chords to various tunes! Anyone know the chords for the beginning of Respectable Street. They have eluded me for years. I assume there's some unorthodox tuning going on but I can't be sure. Thanks, Andy P.S. I'm taking all of your references to Andy's greatness an placing them in my resume. Seems a shame to let such accolades go to waste;)
------------------------------ From: AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 11:55:23 GMT-6 Dear Chalkhillians, Don't fret, but I think we may have been too hard on Bass Player Joe when he asserted that Colin doesn't play fretless bass. I seem to remember an interview with XTC in Musician magazine (after the release of Mummer) in which Colin indicated that he plays a particular bass that sounds like a fretless acoustic but isn't. Listen to Ladybird, for example. I thought that the bass was fretless in that one but I think Colin indicated that it's not. Anyone know the interview to which I'm refering? Please respond and let me know if I am remembering it accurately. Have a day:| Andy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 14:10:25 -0500 (EST)
From: CANEVIT@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU
Subject: Miscellaneous Comments
Hey, gang!
The following is a little rag and bone buffet of topics:
DIAMOND BLUE:
Last time, XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU asked about the "diamond
blue" of "Dear God." The technical term for such a rhetorical
device is "kenning." It's just another way of saying 'the sea.'
It's a device typically found in Anglo-Saxon (that is to say,
Old English) literature, as in Beowulf, where one kenning for
the sea is "whale-road." Our precious Andy uses a kenning
again (and this is my all-time favorite example) in "Blue
Overall, "where "Blue overall / overall all the rooftops. . ."
makes the title phrase a kenning for "the sky."
SQUEEZE and CROWDED HOUSE:
gmerritt@mail.utexas.edu (Greg Merritt), recommended pretty
much everything by these two bands. I just had to say that while I
largely agree, I'd have to qualify it by adding that I find most of
the people I know think CH's "Woodface" to be one of their best,
and most Squeeze fans I've met can't stand Squeeze's first album,
UK Squeeze (even the people who like the album's producer, John
Cale!), and don't really care for their most recent stuff (after
1989). In the case of this band, I'd thoroughly recommend trying out
a greatest hits compilation.
ALBUM COVERS:
There's been talk recently about some of the band's disk
covers, and I have to admit I've been wondering for a couple of
weeks about the cover to BLACK SEA. Does anybody know what the
engraving is behind the lads? I initiallly thought it was taken from
Gustave Dore's illustrations for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of
the Ancient Mariner," but upon hunting it down, I found I was wrong.
Anyway, I was thinking of xeroxing/enlarging the engraving and water-
painting it. (Now if I can just track down four antique diving suits!).
How about the woodcarvings on NONSVCH? Has anybody tracked these down,
or are the back-covers illos new to the album?
JOUISSANCE and XTC:
We have for some time remarked on Andy's use of wordplay,
fractured meter, obscure/erudite allusions (and Britishisms), but
do you ever find yourself just having fun singing along to the
songs regardless of the meaning? Particularly in the case of BLACK
SEA, I find that just making the sounds is a pleasurable experience,
as though it still would be even if I was phonetically singing lyrics
from some foreign language. I have to wonder if Andy is a particularly
oral personality (although we have reason to assume he's basically
a genital type, now don't we ;) ), and whether he really gets into the
mere pronunciation of his lyrics. Again I am reduced to asking, "does
anybody else know what I mean?"
and speaking of LYRICS:
the last time I ftp'd the lyrics for RAG AND BONE BUFFET,
one of the lines in "Extrovert" was "I am the lion's roar and not
the mouse that gets hurt." I was wondering what the source of these
lyrics was--I mean, what kind of verification was involved in these,
or are they just the result of hard listening? Anyway, I had always
heard this line as "I am the lion's roar and not the masochist's hurt,"
which, I find, puts me in the awkward position of preferring *my way*
of hearing it to what may very well be Andy's own lyric. Is there a
chance my version is correct?
Well, that's about all for now.
Craig E. Canevit, has to admit that he thought "My Bird Performs"
was *just a song about a bird*!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 95 11:21:51 PST
From: John Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Videos
Thomas Long <tlong@unixg.ubc.ca> posted this query:
>
>Can someone provide a complete list of xtc videos post Look Look?
>I was flipping thru Twomey's (sic?) biography and was amazed to find
>out videos were made of Wonderland and Mole from the Ministry.
Wonderland [unreleased] 1983?
Love On a Farmboy's Wages [unreleased] 1983?
Human Alchemy [unreleased] 1983?
In Loving Memory of a Name [unreleased] 1983?
Funk Pop a Roll [unreleased] 1983?
All You Pretty Girls 1984?
The Dukes of Stratosphear: Mole From the Ministry 1985?
Grass 1986?
Dear God 1986?
The Road to Oranges and Lemons [puppet show] 1989
Mayor of Simpleton [UK version] 1989
Mayor of Simpleton [US version] 1989
King for a Day 1989
King for a Day [colourised] 1989
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead [original version] 1992
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead [US MTV version] 1992
If there are any others, please let me know.
-- John
------------------------------ From: Billy2112@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 14:48:09 -0500 Subject: XTC instrumentality This is my first post to CHALKHILLS. XTC has always been one of my fave groups. Being a guitarist/songwriter, I've always been inspired by their work. Does anyone have any info on what types of guitars, basses they've used? Being a Rickenbacker fan (e.g. Beatles) I've always wondered if they've used Ricks. It sure sounds like it on a few of their records/disks. Also being in the culturally dead zone of western North Carolina, I have not heard of any upcoming new releases from XTC. The last album I have is NonSuch. Anything new coming around soon? Pardon me for my naivety and thanks.
------------------------------ From: "Dave White" <DWHITE@king.kingsedge.windsor.ns.ca> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 19:57:25 AST/ADT Subject: Dukes Inspirations It is interesting to read the speculation on the various influences for the different Dukes songs. I remember reading a few years ago in *The Big Express* a copy of a magazine interview with XTC where they went song by song and in detail described the influences. Unfortunately my copy of that magazine is currently in storage, so I can't offer the list, but there must be at least one other person out there who has still got a copy of it (or the original magazine artice) and could post the info. Any takers? David White
------------------------------
From: flat5@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 19:10:25 -0500
Subject: Some ant swears to some questions
Well, hey.
Been reading for several weeks the very impressively expressed opinions
from the millions, and wanted to unlurk as helpfully as possible by
answering some questions posed in the last ChokeHolds digest. But first,
my XTC-story:
Round about 1987 a good friend asked me if I had ever heard of XTC,
and sang me the chorus to 'Respectable Street'--which was interesting but
did not really convey the magic of the melody. We then watched 'URGH!-A
Music War' and the live version of RS was staggering. Mr. Partridge was
amazing (and was equally amusing jumping around and getting up Sting's nose
in the finale, Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released'.
Sensing my vulnerability to being absorbed by the band, my friend
quickly
whipped up a sampler tape and hooked me but good. The selection:
Radios In Motion - Do What You Do - Statue of Liberty
Are You Recieving Me? - Red - My Weapon
When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty - Outside World - Complicated Game
Respectable Street - Generals and Majors - Living Through Another Cuba -
Love At First Sight - Burning With Optimism's Flames
Yacht Dance - Melt The Guns - It's Nearly Africa - Fly On The Wall
Beating Of Hearts - Love On A Farmboy's Wages - Great Fire
Wake Up - All You Pretty Girls - You're The Wish You Are I Had
Dear God - Earn Enough For Us - The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
Based on this selection, I memorized all of 'Black Sea' and 'Skylarking' --
and eventually worked my way to acquiring ALL the records.
Eventually, I was playing 'Respectable Street', 'Senses Working Overtime'
and 'Earn Enough For Us' in my band What anne Likes ...
So, on to the answers.
JMons@aol.com wrote
>One thing that continues to elude me,
>however, is what is sung at the very end of ES's "Leisure" (it is NOT
>included on any lyric sheets I've seen). It sounds like the line begins "Lazy
>(bum?), look into the sun..," but I cannot be sure. Anyone have any
>insight/thoughts on this?
Andy is singing a line from an old (1920's) song, 'Lazybones':
'Lazybones, sleeping in the sun, how d'you ever expect to get the day's work
done?'
I don't know who wrote the song, but Leon Redbone played it on his classic 1974
album 'On The Track' along with a bunch of other great old songs.
XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU wrote:
>Andy Partridge signs "Did you make disease/and the Diamond Blue?"
>What the heck is "Diamond Blue?" Doesn't sound good.
What he's signing about (and I think we ought to recognize Andy's pioneering
work with American Sign Language in his songs--just kidding) is THE OCEAN.
Imagine a creator making something as horrific and unnecessary as disease
and then also making the source of all life, the Diamond Blue Ocean.
and finally, for today, patty@gdb.org wrote:
...well, she wrote a lot of stuff about the TRUTH of 'My Bird Performs' being
pretty much only what Colin says it is, which I disagree completely with.
Colin can say whatever he likes about his lyrics, but the 'meaning' he may
have tried to put in there will never, and can never, be exactly the meaning
anyone else might get out of it. This is of course especially the case with any
kind of 'poetic' language, i.e., song lyrics. Any time you try to express
an idea
with even the slightest bit of metaphor--and all language is really
metaphorical--
you open it up to the vagaries of interpretation. All Colin could tell me
is what
he was trying to convey--and that is not a FACT.
(Please forgive the following arcane but actually relevant 'Simpsons' line)
But don't take my word for it; here's an actor portraying Charles Dodgson to
explain:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone,
'it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less.'
Oh, and really finally, Thomas C.'s entrance exam was incredibly funny.
Please do more of the same.
Well, that's certainly a fair-sized foray into the Hills o' Chalk. Thanks.
Ned Davis, or Flat5 to you.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 17:26:13 -0700 From: John.Wilkens@Colorado.EDU Subject: "Vanishing Girl" -- Direct Lift from [SPOILER WARNING] ! SPOILER WARNING ! -- When I first recognized that "Vanishing Girl" uses a direct lift from another song, it sort of ruined it for me and I kept hearing that other song playing side-by-side in my head when listening to "Vanishing Girl". Don't read on if you don't want to know... :-# In the discussion of Dukes influences, so folks have mentioned the atmospheric similarities of the songs to various 60s group stylings, but nobody has mentioned how the first verse of "Vanishing Girl" is a nearly direct lift from the classic "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)". Being such a bucolic English band, XTC has incorporated other folk influences in their songs (notice how "All You Pretty Girls" has traces of "The Old Gray Mare" in it), but "Wimoweh" was so popularized by the Tokens that using it makes it seem that they are lifting directly from a pop tune rather than a folk tune. IMHO.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 19:49:08 -0600 (CST) From: James Kosmicki <gkosmicj@cccins.gi.cccneb.edu> Subject: You're a Good Man, Arthur Brown source? For some reason, whenever I hear YAGM, AB, I feel the need to pull out my import version of The MOVE's greatest hits. I'm not sure where I hear the connection, but I definitely hear it.
------------------------------ From: BarryR7704@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 22:21:12 -0500 Subject: This World Over Origins I always thought the inspiration for "This World Over" (one of my all-time favorites, yeah I know: ponderous, pretentious and sentimental) was a Russell Hoban novel called "Riddley Walker". It's a post-apocalypse tale set near London. Everything's been blasted back to the Middle Ages, and the best part about the book is that it's in this hybrid language like "A Clockwork Orange." I've no proof of the connection, nor even cross-checked the copyright to see if the works were concurrent, but the similarities are very strong. Has anybody else read that book and instantly thought of XTC, or noted other literary connections (D.H. Lawrence/"Pink Thing" for sure) I do have it on good authority from a rogue Yakuza cell specializing in music industry graft that "My Bird Performs" was actually entitled "My FROG Performs" until Andy pointed out to Colin the artistic precendent of the famous Warner Brothers cartoon featuring the singing and dancing Michigan J. Frog. Whereupon Colin rewrote the song, much to the relief of both the Virgin Records legal dept. and the French consulate.
------------------------------ From: StevieSkeg@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 22:58:55 -0500 Subject: Re: Dukes O' Stratosphear = ??? If somebody already pointed these out, I apoligize...but I'd have to guess that the inspiration for "My Love Explodes" has got to be The Yardbirds' "Over Under Sideways Down." Also, "You're My Drug" sounds a lot like "Eight Miles High" by the Byrds. Also, a request. I've only gotten a couple of issues of Chaulkhills, (and love it so far) so you've probably all heard this one before: Can XTC sheet music be obtained in any way, shape, or form? Thanks!
------------------------------ From: Richard Aaron Manfredi <manfredi@chaph.usc.edu> Subject: Virgin post Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 23:39:30 -0800 (PST) Hi, I've been lurking for awhile, so I thought it was high time to finally get up the balls and post. My nam eis Richard Manfredi, I'm 19 and I go to school at USC. My first experince with XTC came in 8th grade when my brother was going out with some "nature child" whose name I don't remember. She listened to "Skylarking" with a passion, and my brother listened to it to, even though he was in a punk band. (It's funny what time will do. Now my brother listens to country.) I heard the album once and I was hooked. I clicked on "Dear God", because I had remebered it when it was nominated for the MTV Music Awards. I didn't think much about it then, but when I heard it this time, I got goosebumps all over my body. It was a perfect song for someone who is at the age where they realize that everything isn't perfect, and that a lot of questions need to be answered that probably never will be. Needless to say, I nicked my brother's copy of the album, and I have been a huge fan ever since. Unfortunately, I lived in Fresno, California for most of my life, so it more even more difficult for me to find out about XTC than your average fan; I mean, to hear an XTC song on the radio was a miracle. All I have to say is, thank you Chalkhillians, for proving that there are others out there who appreciate quality music, and that I didn't put up with the questions of "Who the hell is that you're listening to?" and "Why don't you listen to normal music?" for nothing. I'm sure this is something we all have gone through. Anyway, here's a random compilation of comments: Best songs: Couldn't say, too many choices, soory if you think I'm copping out. O.K., if you want one, I'll give you "Snowman", but it usually depends on my mood Most underrated songs: Easier. "Travels in Nihlon", "Ladybird", "Reign Of Blows", "In Loving Memory Of A Name", "Life Begins At The Hop", "Train Running Low On Soul Coal" Weakest song: "Bungalow" (I know I'll get flamed for that) Best album: "Skylarking": obvious, but brilliant Weakest album: "Go 2": once again, obvious; some very good songs, some very lousy songs Thanks for putting up with this, Richard Manfredi manfredi@usc.edu "They taught me how to work but they can't teach me how to shirk correctly"
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #425 *****************************
Go back to Volume 1.
28 March 1995 / Feedback