Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 429
Date: Wednesday, 12 April 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Number 429
Wednesday, 12 April 1995
Today's Topics:
Immaculate reception: radio?
Respectable Street
Mervyn Peake
Re: Lei-ei-ei-sure
Obscene abomination of a song
Re: The Disappointed + Call for votes on Nonesvch
grey mares and gopher guts
Little Express
Re: It's The Kinks I Tell You!
No More Lurking or I forgot my spoon
Mervyn Peake, fantasy writer
Bill Nelson WWW page & "Through the Hill"
Luka Bloom rules!
XTC 'Net Interview 004 - Blur, Al Bundy, Deputy Dawg
Re: #1(2) Chalkhills Digest #428
Garrulous Mood #342
Respectable Reception
Where in the world is A. P.?
David Yazbek
Re: Dumb And Dumber
Over and Out, Welcome to the Brizards, Solid Gold Humor, etc.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: adkoning@hvsag01.att.com (Andre de Koning)
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 11:17:28 +0200
Subject: Immaculate reception: radio?
About the 'Immaculate Reception' bit in Respectable Street:
Why couldn't it just be about the good radio reception they have (and
brag about, as people living in a respectable street do) on their
'portable Sony entertainment centers'?
Another 2 cents worth...
,
-- Andre
------------------------------
Date: 10 Apr 1995 09:06:46 -0500
From: "Russell Shaddox" <Russell_Shaddox@quickmail.cis.yale.edu>
Subject: Respectable Street
DAMIAN The Wonder Dog FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> wrote:
> Andy <AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu> writes:
> > centers." What you folks may or may not realize is that the immaculate
> > reception was a famous football (American, of course) play where
> I cannot deny the fact that a play in American football was called
> the Immaculate Reception but I do wonder whether Andy P knew of and
> referred to it in 1980.
I wonder this as well. I think "Respectable Street" is referring to England
and not America, and that "immaculate reception" is merely great wordplay
("I'm merely a pun, and I've got ..." oh, never mind). My main basis for
this opinion is the line "when she squeezes past the caravans that never
move from their front garden." We don't call them caravans in the US; nor
do we call them front gardens. If Andy was going to use Americanisms, I
think he would have avoided this very English phrasing.
After my last mistaken foray, I hesitate to explicate Englishisms again,
but I believe a "caravan" is a van or other recreation-type vehicle (the
American word "van" is short for caravan), and "front garden" is what
Americans would call the front yard. In the US, parking a van in your front
garden would greatly reduce your yield of butter beans.
Cheers -- Russell Shaddox
How bright is the magical torch when it's put in our hands?
------------------------------ Date: 10 Apr 1995 09:29:39 -0500 From: "Russell Shaddox" <Russell_Shaddox@quickmail.cis.yale.edu> Subject: Mervyn Peake About Mervyn Peake, mentioned in CH428: He was a fantasy writer from roughly the same era as Tolkien. He's best known for the Gormenghast trilogy: Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone. His books are far more turgid and less accessible than Tolkien's, which I think is responsible for his comparative obscurity.
------------------------------ From: "Louis Barfe's IbMePdErRoIoAmL" <plc005@cent1.lancs.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Lei-ei-ei-sure Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 15:22:09 +0100 (BST) 'Amusement heaven at the flick of a switch' is indeed a reference to a video game of some kind of football. And you're right about the 'splutttering , inffectual and thus perfect' sax solo. Other cases of musical ineptitude which have fitted the bill exactly include the discordanr repeated two-note guitar solo on 'I Want You' by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Any offers? As for the modified 'lazy bones', there's another new line about 'Looking through the Sun' as opposed to sitting in it. This is cos the Sun is a salacious tabloid newspaper here in Britain, whose readership is largely white trash.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 08:32:54 From: Russ Reynolds <RREYNOLD@ksjo.com> Subject: Obscene abomination of a song This is something I've been wondering about for about ten years: Who is that voice on the phone at the end of "My Love Explodes"? The first time I heard it I'da swore it was taken from a Woody Allen movie. I thought I remembered Woody saying that to Tony Roberts (I think in "Annie Hall" where if I'm not mistaken Roberts played a jingle writer). Am I nuts? And if it's not Woody, do we know who it is? Thoroughly enjoying Chalkhills. My two favourite XTC songs are "Dear God" and anything off "Black Sea". --Russ.
------------------------------ From: john%elsouth@ncren.net Subject: Re: The Disappointed + Call for votes on Nonesvch Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 10:13:01 EDT > Would anyone like to share their interpretation(s) of the Nonsuch > song "The Disappointed"? I think that Andy is talking about the emotional > change that he experienced as his marriage began to break up: My only interpretation of this song is "Boy it sucks." I've tried really hard to like this album and I just can't do it. I recently read Towmey's bio and listened to each album in sequence. (except English Settlement which I'd recently binged on). I "found" several songs and the whole "Mummer" album. I also found, once again, that I don't like Nonesuch. I've been able to quantify the problem: It's flacid. It does not challenge at all. Everything is right at the surface - there is nothing going on behind the scenes (hidden meanings, strange chord progressions, etc.) As a result, repeated listenings do not see the album grow, but rather wear. I found that if you played the first 1:30 of any song you heard all it has to offer musically and could just click to the next one. Don't get me wrong, there are some good songs - War Dance is a strong song, but it doesn't have any power - it just has a beat. I guess I like Holly hop on Poppy the most. It has some good wordplay. Wrapped in Grey is a good song. I really hate the Dissappointed, Bungalow, Omnibus, etc. These songs seem like that "Grab bag" that Andy talked about on Oranges and Lemons - where you don't get just one thing - you get a mixture of genres. Problem is, they sound hollow on this album. On Skylarking they managed to take the Spy Theme Music and make it work on Man who sailed around his soul. They totally fail at whatever genre they were working at with Bungalow and Disappointed - IMHO, of course <|8^O I wasn't on the net at time of release and I know you all are too damn nice to repeatedly bash an album, but am I totally out of line, or is this the unspoken feeling of most Chalkhillians? THIS HAS THE SMELL OF A RELIGIOUS QUESTION, SO PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR RESPONSES AND I'LL SUMMARIZE. If you do like the album, please tell me how it's done. - John White CIS Manager Electrical South Inc. john%elsouth@concert.net "Failure is not falling down... Failure is staying down." - Ken Morganstern
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 09:41:49 -0800 From: EMuller@UWYO.EDU (Eric Muller) Subject: grey mares and gopher guts Organization: The University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming Glad to see that my wife is not the only one who knows the gopher repertoire. She sings a slightly different version than the one posted in the last Chalkhills, finishing with "Floating in pink lemonade." She does not do the Vaudeville tag about bringing a straw, either. And yes, this is the tune from "The Old Grey Mare." "What does all of this have to do with the boys from Swindon?" I hear you ask. Perhaps you have missed this enthralling thread about Andy's hidden sources for "All You Pretty Girls." Give it a listen. While I'm posting, let me add this gratuitous comment: I was listening to ES over the weekend, and am now convinced that "Knuckle Down" is probably one of the ten catchiest pop tunes ever written by anyone, anywhere. A bold claim, but that tune is simply unbelievable. Does anyone else place this song on their own XTC top ten list? Eric emuller@uwyo.edu
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 11:52:11 -0500 (CDT) From: Jayson J Funke <funk0027@gold.tc.umn.edu> Subject: Little Express Hello, I'm sorry if I am asking a question that may have been answered in a recent issue, but I am a new subscriber. Can anyone tell me if there has been a Spring issue of the Little Express? Some time ago I let my subscription run out and after I resubscribed I had to write twice to remind them to mail my next issue - and I'm still not sure if they put my name back on their list. Any response would be much welcomed. Thanks, Jayson
------------------------------
From: "Tony Beyer" <beye0024@gold.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: It's The Kinks I Tell You!
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 16:00:21 -0500
XTC fans
Here is an exerpt lifted from a truly epic interview with Andy Partridge
in issue #32 of Big Takeover.
Andy: Well, comparisons with the Kinks are immodest
of me, because I don't think that we've written
anything of the purity of Ray Davies... he has
been such a big influence on me... My song writing
comes out how it does, a lot of it because of Ray
Davies, I think.
For those interested, this interview spans issues 32 and 33 of
Big Takeover.
Keep up the chatter,
Tony Beyer
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 17:21 EST From: Trent Turner <0005727836@mcimail.com> Subject: No More Lurking or I forgot my spoon OK, I've been lurking for far too long! First of all, I found 'This World Over' so poignant, that I used to sing it to my newborn son back in '86, when I would rock him to sleep. Without repeating what has already been said, this is a great song, especially when taken into account with the fear most rational people lived with during the reagan years. Second, the last line of GGGG is '...And all topped off with petrified vulture vomit'. Third, I've been listening fanatically since '82, when my buddy told me to listen to Black Sea at least 3 times. I did, the rest is history. A couple of years ago the entire catalog of albums hit CD & I gave my wife an excuse to buy many new dresses by getting all the CD's I could find in 2 batches :-O I now have White Music -> Nonesuch! Finally, between Andy's poetic nature, imagery more than rhyme, although he can turn a great rhyme, and Colin's rip the heart out & show it to the world lyrics, and that wonderful, cacophonic sound, xTc will always be my favorite band. Finally, and really, I made a tape once of xTc where the selected songs bounced off of three axis's: Personal vs Global, Love vs Lack thereof and pretty vs headbanger. It hung together well, IMHO, as each succeeding song maintained 2 of the previous song's traits but went opposite on the third. What a great band! As I leave, the reign of blows cascades down upon my shoulders ... p.s. I have a couple of 10 second clips of Andy doing MTV PostModern. I also snagged Dave, Colin & AP doing an acoustical version of Scarecrow People! A really tremendous cut! If anyone is cataloging all of the available video, I will make mine available for a peek at all the rest.
------------------------------ From: PTomek@aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 20:26:00 -0400 Subject: Mervyn Peake, fantasy writer In Chalkhills #428, Patty Haley wrote: >So, there we have the latest. Now, who is Mervyn Peake? And is anyone I don't know a lot about him, but he wrote "The Gormenghast Trilogy," a late '60s fantasy epic. The story is set in a huge, rambling, and decaying castle named Gormenghast. The books are titled Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone, and were illustrated by the author. I read the trilogy 10 or 15 years ago. I liked it, though I wouldn't put it on a par with "Lord of the Rings" or "The Book of the New Sun" (any other Gene Wolfe fans out there? Write me!). There are some images from Gormenghast, though, that will stay with me forever--some creepy, some touching, and some simply unforgettable. It makes a certain amount of sense that Andy P. would hook up with this guy. For what it's worth. Pat
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 21:25:12 -0700 From: rushton@primenet.com (Mark Rushton) Subject: Bill Nelson WWW page & "Through the Hill" John Lorch, lorch@umbc.edu, in Chalkhills # 428, in discussing a Fingerprintz/XTC concert in 1979 mentioned in relation to drummer Bogdan Wisczling: >I also saw him with Bill Nelson on his only US tour. No idea what he's up >to now - does anyone else know? Please check out the following: http://www.PrimeNet.Com:80/~rushton/nelson.html ...it's a page I'm currently working on for Bill Nelson information and discography. It's not complete, but I'm working very hard at it! I'm still shocked that so many of my favorite artists have worked with Harold Budd over the years (Brian Eno, Cocteau Twins, Bill Nelson, and Andy Partridge) but then I guess I shouldn't be, they all have good taste! I still love "Through the Hill." It's a dreamy, odd, scary, and nightmarish in places, and sounded downright gorgeous on my new car's CD player in the light rain and fog tonight (ooooh!) rushton@primenet.com Bill Nelson WWW page is finally here: http://www.PrimeNet.Com:80/~rushton/nelson.html Almost complete discography/Pictures/News/Etc
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 15:45:33 +0200 From: d.flach@topos.ruu.nl (Dirk Paul Flach) Subject: Luka Bloom rules! Hi all, caught this one out of a list with someones favorites: >......... Luka Bloom(Irish folk) hard to lose here ....... Hurrah! Hurrah! I found another Luka Bloom lover! Although I generally don't like popular music without drums (yes! XTC needs a drummer - but I've said that before), I make an exception for Mr. Bloom. I don't know of anyone who is able to get a rock feel out of an acoustic guitar. Dirk Paul
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 14:30:46 +0100
From: John Nicholls <nicholls@case.co.uk>
Subject: XTC 'Net Interview 004 - Blur, Al Bundy, Deputy Dawg
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This one's a bit late (I'm trying to do one a week). But hey,
it's heading towards the summer, it's sunny, there's an Italian
motorbike in my hall and the roads keep calling.
As part of a rambling conversation at one point in the tape we
started talking about Blur, and the following transcription
jumps into the middle of that conversation. Less about XTC's
music this time, more about Andy and Dave.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
JP: Did Andy produce a "pre-mix" of _Parklife_?
DG: Not _Parklife_, no, it was _Modern Life Is Rubbish_, he
started work on 2 or 3 tracks and they didn't like what he was
doing so they sacked him. But they did go on to use his ideas.
Apparently, Albarn is a huge XTC fan, and he kept on calling
Andy, or someone from their management kept calling and said
"Please work with this band, they're dying to meet you and they
really want to work with you", and he kept saying "No, I havent
got the time, I don't want to do it", he didn't think the songs
were very good, and they kept on ringing him up and eventually he
said, "Oh well, how much are you going to pay me then, how much
are you paying and can I work with Phil Thornally", this
engineer. And after a long series of negotiations that went on
for about 6 months, he reluctantly agreed to go and work on these
tracks, none of which he considered terribly good songs. After
about a week in the studio then, things obviously weren't going
right and they gave him the push and carried on working with the
enignneer. And then when the album came out, he noticed that
although he hadn't been credited with producing any of it they'd
rooked most of the ideas he gave them.
JP: What songs?
DG: I can't remember.
JP: I'd love to hear those mixes. Did it go as far as mixes?
DG: Oh yeah, Andy's got some at home
JP: I'd written down some questions of my own , that were less
musically inclined, and one that I wanted to ask was who do you
think are the natural successors of XTC, who do you think carries
on the same kind of ... Englishness? For me personally, I see a
lot of XTC echoes in Blur.
DG: Yes, well thats good because I heard the album and I
immediately took to it, and thought "This guy's a Ray Davies for
his own generation", I thought he was that good, and basically
that's all WE'RE doing, treading in the footsteps of Ray Davies
and the Beatles, we're just following the examples that they set
us. And a lot of other stuff besides that. If you asked Andy,
his strongest songwriting influences are going to be John Lennon,
Paul McCartney and Ray Davies.
And there are other people like Paul Weller who always claims to
be from that same school but I don't think he pulls it off, he
hasn't got the talent to pull it off whereas I think that Albarn,
Blur, have. But you know they haven't got a good word to say
about Andy now which I think is very bad of them. Because not
only do they not... when they sacked him, when they decided they
didn't want to work with him anymore, they wouldn't go upfront
and say, "Look Andy this isn't working out, we don't really agree
with what you want to do to these songs, can't we try something
else?". It was just like "Don't bother turning up tomorrow," or
it was relayed through someone else, and then he reads in the
gossip pages of the New Musical Express, they're slagging him off
to the fucking press, and they haven't even spoken to him, and he
was very hurt over that, so the next thing he did was ring up
their record company and say "Give me my money now, I'm not
mixing these tracks, you can fuck off and mix them with somebody
else, just pay me". And it ended on a very sour note.
JP: What a shame. Kids today eh?
DG: It IS a shame, because they are undoubtably of the right
school, they're thinking along the right lines and that
_Parklife_ albunm is very good, I was very impressed with it.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jsender <jsender@peg.apc.org>
7. Who are your favourite non-musical artists?
------------
JP: A great question...
DG: Ha! Too bad I haven't got an answer! Because it's difficult
for me to relate to anything outside music, y'know it like people
say to me "What do you do for fun?" or "What do you do in your
spare time?" and I think "Yeah, what do I do? I play my guitar.
Oh, OUTSIDE of music". I dont know, I watch telly...
JP: What TV do you enjoy?
DG: See all that? [Pointing to set of shelves with about 200
videos]. Mostly it's music actually, but there are a few movies
there, some comedy series. Most of the stuff I taped I haven't
watched since I taped it, I've just kept it there for posterity.
There's some great musical history in there, some stuff from _The
Tube_ from the early and mid-80s, some very obscure videos... And
a lot of comedy, I like comedy, thats my thing. I like... I get
the strangest looks.. I love _Married With Children, the American
sitcom. Which I've never met an American... whenever I mention
it to my American friends they go "Oh, my god!".
JP: Popular over here...
DG: They have no sense of irony, they can't see that the whole
thing is a sendup of its own audience and that's what's funny
about it. I think it's the funniest thing, I sit here roaring
with laughter. But I only know one American who likes it.
JP: Is there any else on TV that you love to watch?
DG: Yeah, I'm a soap fiend, I watch _Coronation Street_ and
_Brookside_ regularly and then there are thing like _Fantasy
Football League_ which I never miss, although I hate football,
I've never been a football fan but I can see the funny side of it
and so can those guys, its really funny, I do think they've got
the right attitude to it. Occasionally there will be a drama
series that I will follow religiously, I liked _The Singing
Detective_ and most of the Dennis Potter things have been really
good. And... what else have I been collecting? Deputy Dawg!
They've been showing some old Deputy Dawg, there was one tonight
and I've been filling up a tape.
That's what I remember - when we first got TV in '67 that was on
and I really used to love it. Any cartoons with character
voices, it was the voices that got me more than the animation or
the drawings. If they had silly voices that was good enough and
I just loved those stoopid Southern accent the Deputy Dawg guys
had.
So you can see I'm literary pauper...
JP: Do you go to the movies much?
DG: No, never. I wait until they come on TV. I make a note of
when they come out, because I read magazines religiously, _Q_ and
_Mojo_ keep me informed basically and I read them from cover to
cover whether they interest me or not. I like to be kept up to
date on what's going on, so I make a mental note of new filns
that are coming out and wait until they come on TV.
JP: What was the last one that you really enjoyed?
DG: The last one that I really enjoyed was Oliver Stone's _JFK_,
and _Barton Fink_, which I thought was a brilliantly made film,
and was one of those films that leaves you thinking, you know,
and yet to watch it, to watch the detail of the photography and
the way it was produced, I thought it was very entertaining. I
was put onto it by Mike Kneeney, this Zappa guitar player I was
telling you about earlier, he's a huge huge fan of the Cohen
brothers and he's now insisting that I check out _The Hudsucker
Proxy_. Which I will when it comes on television!
Every Oliver Stone film I've ever seen has been very very good.
But he obviously works with a huge budget so he'd have a job
making a bad film.
....
I'm very conscious of being a couch ptoato, I feel that every
minute sat watching television is a minute when I could have been
doing something useful, even though it's probably the best
education I'm ever likely to get. I never think of it from that
point of view, I see it as a waste of time.
JP: The strange demon that is television...
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright JP Nicholls, April 1995.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
JP Nicholls ###################### nicholls@cray-communications.co.uk
#####################################################################
------------------------------ From: Pakeough@aol.com Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 16:08:06 -0400 Subject: Re: #1(2) Chalkhills Digest #428 Hello John Lorch! Do you ever listen to WRNR(103.1)? We're based in Annapolis, and I get calls from U.M.B.C. all the time. I'm on 8 to midnight during the week, and I love XTC. Call me some night and make a request. SeeYA. Mike Edwards.(410)269-1031
------------------------------ Date: 11 Apr 1995 17:01:43 -0500 From: "Sherwood, Harrison" <hsherwood@btg.com> Subject: Garrulous Mood #342 So I was leafing through _Chalkhills and Children_ the other day, for time number 4,987 (great bathroom reading!), and was paying especial attention to the picture inserts (hey, c'mon, admit it, _you've_ done it too!). One photo that I hadn't paid much attention to before just leaped out and grabbed my attention by its scrawny little neck and wouldn't let go. The more I stared at it, the more strangely fascinating it became: I'm speaking of the pic of Alehouse, Dave Gregory's old band from 1974. Now as I understand it, among the younger set there's a current fad for resuscitating Seventies fashions and mores. (Foxy Grandpa here--34 years old and _definitely_ counting--gave up trying to keep up with trends-n-fashions somewhere between Haircut 100 and Boy George.) For some utterly unfathomable reason--psycho-socio-economo-politico- sexual, no doubt--it's the Seventies' turn to be ironically fashionable. During the Seventies, of course, there was a Fifties revival, and during the Eighties it was the Sixties. (Twenty years ago _always_ seems to be hip: do you suppose that in 1540 there was a big nostalgia boom for the dear byegone 1520s?) Now, I think that the people who are participating in this particularly odious revivalist craze are, well, Just Too Young to Remember what the hell they're being nostalgic FOR. There. I've said it. Folks, I was a teenager in the Seventies. I remember the Seventies very clearly. (Well, _fairly_ clearly; one of the cool things to do was lie on a beanbag chair and goggle at the world through a haze of marijuana smoke; a fine pastime in itself, but not _particularly_ friendly to long-term memory.) If you want to get an idea of just how horrible and dissolute and apathetic and downright stinking _ugly_ the Seventies were, all you've gotta do is have a good, long squint at that picture of Alehouse. I've mentally titled it, "Why Punk Happened." Whew. Nightmarish. In the foreground there are four unkempt greaseballs, wearing crappy-looking denim and some of the worst hair ever seen on a human being, with these HUGE creased bell-bottoms and the far-away China White glaze that wonders where the next fix is coming from. And there, in the back, the only one in the picture with even a faint glimmer of intelligence on his face, is poor Dave Gregory, in rounded wide jacket collar with white double-stitch piping (ouch!) wistfully staring off into the future, thinking to himself, "Somebody, anybody, PLEASE get me out of this DECADE!!!" Dave looks about the way I felt, deep into 1977, when I was a senior in high school, having my 850,000th cigarette in the boys' room, with Physical Graffitti blasting out of some asshole's boombox for the 850,000th time. Bored. Bored. Bored. Ripe for a little anarchy.... Makes my teeth hurt just to think about it.... I'd better shut up about Alehouse, though, before some peabrain takes it into his head to make a cult band out of 'em or something. And speaking of jokes, if you have the book, look up from the Alehouse photo to the snap on the same page captioned, "Andy Partridge playing guitar with Stray Blues, 1970." Ooooh, great slide technique, Rocky! You know, I wouldn't let you in MY band, either! (For you non-slide players out there, he's playing a dreadnought with a soundhole pickup, holding it on his lap like a Dobro, strumming with a flatpick, holding a bottleneck (not a slide-arm) with his thumb, and not damping the strings with his slide hand in any way. This is _guaranteed_ to produce some truly mind-bendingly godawful noise.) The caption _should_ read, "In a tragedy that shook the blues world to its foundations, Elmore James awoke one day to find his evil voodoo-priestess stepmother had changed him into a 17-year-old English white boy. He never recorded again." Gotta mojo hand, Andy? Fine, just keep it to yourself, OK?
------------------------------ From: AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 15:31:51 GMT-6 Subject: Respectable Reception Fellow Climbers, I've received a number of responses to my assertion that Andy refers to a famous American football play in Respectable Street. Most were good-natured, some less so. There was about a fifty-fifty split for agreement with my hypothesis. Some suggested that he would never have known about an American football play. Others argue that the double entendre (sp?) reference refers to the contraception mentioned in the same line. To those who are not convinced I offer this: This play occurred in the seventies and was talked about on sports television in the States for YEARS afterward. In fact, the phrase became something of a sportscasters' cliche. It is very possible that Andy heard a reference to it while touring the U.S. in the mid-seventies. Being the keen observer of society that he is, he tucked that phrase away for use in a song written a couple of years later. Second, think of the entire phrase, "...and immaculate receptions on their portable Sony entertainment centers." Why would he have added the "s" on reception if he had not been referring to an event? I've never heard of television receptions. I think it makes perfect sense that he, satirizing American society, picks on America's obbsession with the viewing, analysis and discussion of football -- a phenomena that he could not have missed during his travels here. That, to me, is the point of the whole song. Suburban people spend a lot of time doing perfectly ridiculous things that they think are very important. It's just too unlikely to be a coincidence. Modified hypothesis: Respectable Street = American Society; Travels in Nihilon = America's youth as seen through the eyes of a touring English band; Funk Pop a Roll = the American recoring industry. Perhaps one of you folks who lives near Andy can ask him -- that should settle it. Thanks for your time. APM "The wall on which they dash the older engines."
------------------------------
From: NigelColin@aol.com
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 20:14:51 -0400
Subject: Where in the world is A. P.?
As a result of Andy's marital upheaval, it was rumored that he had
been spending all or most of his time here in wonderful NYC.
Does anyone have any concrete information to either confirm or
deny this rumor? What would you say if you had the chance to speak with
Andy? Would it be:
a)"Do you and Todd Rundgren exchange Xmas cards?"
b)"Have you gotten your tickets to see the new XTC, with
Thomas Dolby at the helm?"
c)"Be My Girl- Andy"
d)"You're the greatest, and we'll ALWAYS be listening!"
If he is spending most of his time here, could that have any bearing on
where XTC records its next album?
Please send you responses and NYC Partridge sightings to:
nigelcolin@aol.com
"Well I know it ain't, and so do you..."
Thanks for the eye time. Doug and Dennis Fano
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 20:18:36 -0400 From: nmcgrath@world.std.com (Nancy McGrath) Subject: David Yazbek In Chalkhills #428, Patty Haley wrote: > Here's the lowdown according to Andy Partridge... > And, oh yes, American jingle-writer David Yazek, who > used to be a scriptwriter for David Letterman, is piecing together an > XTC tribute album. He's already got together with Joe Jackson, Crash > Test Dummies, Al Kooper and Rueben Blades, who apparently has asked > Elvis Costello to sing on his track. It seems like a varied mixture > of names." > Too right, Andy, too right. > > And is anyone > familiar with any of David Yazek's work? And why do I have this sinking > feeling that these legal battles are going to result in the next XTC LP > being a loooong time coming? The man in question is David Yazbek. He is, among other things, co-author of the theme song to "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" (with his long-time friend Sean Altman, of the group who recorded the song -- Rockapella). Yazbek has an album, called "The Laughing Man," due out this year; in fact, I think it is actually available in England already. (I've heard some cuts from it, and what I've heard so far is good!) Last I heard, Yazbek is indeed working on an XTC tribute album. Don't know how far things have gotten, though. Nancy McGrath Relatively new XTC fan Former Chalkhills lurker
------------------------------ From: Richard Aaron Manfredi <manfredi@chaph.usc.edu> Subject: Re: Dumb And Dumber Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 17:38:20 -0700 (PDT) I just wanted to put my two cents worth in about Crash Test Dummies version of "Peter Pumpkinhead." I think that it is really bland, and really didn't need to be done in the first place, if that's how they were going to do it. For one thing, the song sounds just like XTC's version, musically. Sure. it may be sped up a bit, but they even have the harmonica, for God's sake. It seemed like a karoke version of XTC. Perosnally, I respect bands who try to do something different when covering a song. That's what XTC did with "All Along The Watchtower." They managed to take a song that has a cover versoin as popular as the original, one of the most covered songs of all time, and make it original. It may be bratty and snotty, but it's XTC's. That's the key. Along those lines, I thought that Primus's cover of "Making Plans For Nigel" was very good. Some people I know were mildly offended, but I thought that the spirit of the song was kept intact, and given the treatment it deserved. Besides, I kow that Les Claypool has said that Colin is one of his favorite bassists, and it's good to recognize good taste. Richard Manfredi P.S. I believe that Butthole Surfers do the cover of "Hurdy Gurdy Man."
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 20:27:27 -0700 From: dfranson@execpc.com (Dave Franson) Subject: Over and Out, Welcome to the Brizards, Solid Gold Humor, etc. (in response to Jerry Wheeler's trashing of "This World Over" in Chalkhills #427) I was originally not a big fan of "This World Over" also, because I thought Andy was being uncharacteristically ham-handed lyrically and the music was untypically generic. However, the song grew on me through repeated listenings. I began to enjoy the slow musical build of the song. Lyrically, I think Andy is doing some pretty complex things that elevate the song above a ham-handed protest. Consider: - The song addresses a future, post-apocalypse generation in the second person, rather than succumbing to that most basic of protest forms, the songwriter's rant. -The rhyme "...as you bathe your brand new twins... as you dry odd numbered limbs" is very chilling if you can visualize it. -The opening tone of the song is quite subtle, I think. The lines "Ah well, that's this world over, Ah well, next one begins" seem to echo the cynical, fatalistic stance held by many people towards the shocking reality of nuclear armaments. "Oh, well, it's bound to happen..." was not a rare sentiment. As for Andy's "infantile apocalyptic fears," I'd probably rephrase that as "perceptive, realistic fears." If you think the threat of nuclear apocalypse is over, I'm happy for you. I'm not so sure. The USSR is gone. Now some of the individual republics have nuclear weapons stores, under far less control. Not to mention other nuclear powers. I realize that the current fiction reads that Reagan's policies brought down the USSR, but I'm not as willing to give him credit, nor will future generations I think. I found Reagan's constant inflammatory rhetoric disturbing, as did millions of others. And I'm afraid I may be part of the "detested radical elite" who never found "We will begin the bombing in 5 minutes" to be even remotely funny. Peace. --------------- Fellow Milwaukeean Dean Zemel (d.zemel@genie.geis.com) writes in eager anticipation of his on-the-way Brotherhood of Lizards "Lizardland" CD. Well, Dean, I imagine you've received it and reveled in it by now, but here's something to check out... buried at 11'40" on track 13 is a HIDDEN, BONUS TRACK! Also, I hope you agree that Martin's liner notes are excellent! ---------------- David Yazbek <yazbek@pipeline.com>: Thanks so much for the update on the XTC tribute album, and please keep us informed on the U.S. release of "The Laughing Man." ---------------- AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu wins the "Troll of the Month Award" for his hilarious explication of the immaculate receptions alluded to in "Respectable Street." Really, you had me laughing all day! And you caught a couple big ones! (see Chalkhills #428)
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #429 *****************************
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