Chalkhills, Number 74

                 Sunday, 21 January 1990
Today's Topics:
                  Reactions and Actions
                Re: put on an act,act,act
                    Andy NPR Interview
                   XTC Radio Tour tape

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Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1990 13:33:51 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Reactions and Actions

Stewart sez:
>The latest (Dec/Jan) issue of B-side magazine has an interview with
>our boys.  About 2/3 with Andy, 1/3 with Colin.

Not a great interview, mostly rehash of earlier interviews.  However,
there are a few good bits.  I agree with Stewart in that it's probably
best not to transcribe it immediately, so that _B-Side_ can try to
make a buck first.

Mark sez:
>*Oranges and Lemons*
>Several of the songs do suffer from extensive overdubs, most
>notably "Across This Antheap," but overall it's not a bad record,

"Across This Antheap" does seem a little buried under itself, but I
think it's still a very powerful song.  Perhaps lacking some subtlety.
It always reminds me of Thomas Pynchon's _Gravity's Rainbow_, what
with V-2 rockets landing unexpectedly on London: "And the screaming
sky won't let me sleep."  It has a certain feel about it which does
reflect the crowded never-stop worker-bee atmosphere of the city.  An
interesting question comes to mind: How much of this song is Andy's
reaction to Los Angeles or San Francisco?  Or is it just his reaction
to city life in general?

                               -------

Has anybody had a chance to hear Hiroyasu Yaguchi's album
_Gastronomic_?  Andy played guitars on it, but I haven't been able to
find it here in the States at all.  I believe it's available both on
LP and CD in Japan, but it hasn't made its way west.

                               -------

An excerpt from the latest _Little Express_ "Inbetween" Newsheet,
Issue 29 1/2, November 1989:

         It was standing room only at the Trafford Hall Hotel in
      Manchester this past September 16th, where the first XTC
      Convention took place.  XTC buffs stood should to shoulder
      (at least those who couldn't find a seat!) watching and
      listening to many exclusive videos of their fave group.
         Later in the day the proceedings moved to the Moss
      Trooper, a local pub selling fine British beer; the
      evening's entertainment included an live concert of XTC
      songs performed with great sincerity by the Liverpool band
      "The Miracle Workers" -- a wonderful time was had by all!
      More details in the next L.E.

Also many details of the latest efforts by the boys in the band.  I
can't wait until the next issue comes out.  If you want the address of
_The Little Express_, please drop chalkhills-request a note.

        -- John

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From: sco!stewarte@ucscc.ucsc.edu
Subject: Re: put on an act,act,act
Date: Mon Jan 15 18:44:45 1990

From: phw@neptune.graphics.cornell.edu (Paul H. Wanuga)

>To all of you who bitched and moaned about the "over-production"
>of Mayor of Simpleton on the word "act", and said that this proves
>that XTC has sold out, why don't you try ging back to an album that
>Andy called the last one to be able to go on the road, Black Sea.
>Listen to that fourth song, and count how many times Colin's
>"Love at First Sight(sight, sight, sight, ...)" occurs.
>ELEVEN!  Nobody seemed to mind this, yet one word on a new
>album got so many people in a fury.  I'm surprised that you
>all didn't think that XTC was going classical when they had
>a flute on Skylarking.

Actually, I knew they were going classical back when I heard the
cellos on "Great Fire", so there.  Yeah, and I thought they were
turning into a jazz combo when I heard the sax on "Leisure", too.
A free jazz group, no less.

As one of the people who doesn't like the "act" thing (but never claimed
that this meant XTC had sold out) -- at the risk of reopening a can
of worms that everyone's sick of -- I'd like to once again state that
I have no problem with production per se.  I do not believe that
everything should be recorded live, with no effects or overdubs or any
of those wonderful modern techniques.  It's just that I don't think
that particular echo belongs on what is otherwise such a straightforward,
un-produced-sounding song.  I suppose you could claim it's supposed to
be ironic, having this little bit of fancy stuff on the "put on an act"
part, showing what the narrator isn't.  I can't really argue with that,
but I'm not fond of that kind of oh-so-clever irony, and I don't think
Andy is either.

"Love at First Sight" is a great recording, and the echo there has never
bothered me one bit.  Does that make me a hypocrite or something?

-- Stewart

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Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1990 12:18:12 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Andy NPR Interview

Does anybody have a tape of the interview with Andy Partridge that was
broadcast on NPR's Fresh Air?  It was broadcast soon after _Oranges
and Lemons_ was released.

	-- John

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Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1990 17:36:50 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: XTC Radio Tour tape

                      XTC Radio Tour Tape Update

Chalkhills has finally completed the master tape of the `XTC Radio
Tour' tape.  This tape is a compilation of four live acoustic
appearances last year: WBCN and WFNX (Boston, 5/15), WXRT (Chicago,
5/22), and KROQ (L.A., 5/29), and also contains the audio portion of
the Letterman live ``King for a Day'' performance.

Do you want a copy of this cassette?  Really?  Send a message to

                   <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>

and let us here know what you can offer in trade.  XTC rarities are
always appreciated.

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update 8 January), back issues, etc., send a message to
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The views expressed in Chalkhills are those of the
individual contributors only, what few there seem to be.
Where are you?

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22 January 1990 / Feedback