Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 26
Date: Thursday, 9 November 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 26
Thursday, 9 November 1995
Today's Topics:
Huh?
T-Shirts
I figured I'd go to the source
XTC as background music
I'm Already There
big anniversary
RE: quasi-religious thread
Andy, Colin and Dave Paint....?
harold budd + andy meeting
Re: God flames
Re: Nagged by God
Comparisons & another useless piece of English information...
Re: Chalkhills & Children
Officer Blue
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I'm all religious figures rolled into one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 15:07:36 -0600 From: weisrot@cscoe.ac.com (Todd Weisrock - CIS) Subject: Huh? >>The Fall This Is Pop >>Deacon Blue Towers Of London >>The The I Am The Audience >>Kirsty MacColl Scarecrow People >>Grant McLennan One Of The Millions >>The Wonderstuff Have You Seen Jackie? >>This Picture Extrovert >>James No Thugs In Our House >>Steve Wynn Here Comes President Kill Again >>The Magnetic Fields I'm Bugged/Beatown (medly) >>Nick Heyward The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men >>The Pogues You're A Good Man Albert Brown >>Lloyd Cole You're The Wish You Are I Had >>Steve Kilbey What In The World? >>Marty Willson-Piper Respectable Street >>American Music Club Cynical Days >>The Church Travels In Nihilon >>Sisters Of Mercy Rook >>Lycia No Language In Our Lungs >>M1 Alternative Mole From The Ministry >>Red House Painters Runaways >>This Mortal Coil I Remember The Sun >>The Mission Great Fire >>The Cult Complicated Game >>Eden Human Alchemy >>The Moon Seven Times Chalkhills & Children >>Dead Can Dance In Loving Memory Of A Name >>Black Tape For A Blue Girl Ballet For A Rainy Day Boy, I always thought of myself as a music fan!! Am I the only one who has only heard of one or two of these bands?? Later, Jim (Kee)
------------------------------ Subject: T-Shirts Date: Wed, 08 Nov 95 14:43:59 +28616 From: Gregory Silvus <silvus@lumina.ece.cmu.edu> I'm still trying to catch up on my Chalkhills reading, but I need to add a buck fifty to the t-shirt discussion. Great idea. I like the chalkhorse idea, too, and putting it on an olive-colored shirt would look way cool. Matter of fact, scrap the quote. Just the horse on the back of an olive shirt would make everyone ask questions. gReg
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 95 13:57:08 EST From: patty@gdb.org (Patty Haley) Subject: I figured I'd go to the source I decided I had to find out what caused the Andy/Thomas Dolby connection, so I figured I'd go to Thomas Dolby himself on this one. I emailed him and told him of the story I'd heard from a Chalkhills member who wrote to me and told me he heard it was from Thomas' days singing in the Paris Metro. So, here's the word from the man himself. Read and enjoy. -Patty ----- Begin Included Message ----- Date: 07 Nov 95 17:40:31 EST From: Thomas Dolby <72662.3112@compuserve.com> To: Patty Haley <patty@gdb.org> Subject: Re: Your affiliation with Andy Partridge Patty, Please copy the following reply to the XTC mailing list, complete with my email address (this is not my personal one, it's for fanmail!) Although I did in fact start out my professional musical career singing for change in the Paris Metro, that is not where I first met Andy Partridge. It's a long story but here goes! I was an ardent XTC fan from before they got a recording deal. I used to follow them around Southern England when they played pubs and clubs, and I was always in the front row. I would either watch Andy in total awe of his guitar playing, singing, compositions and stage presence (for those of you who never saw them live, Andy had a MONSTER stage presence) or else I would stand in front of Barry Andrews, trying to cause an aneurism in his cranium. (Sorry about this, I was young and foolish.) As I rocked out to old faves like 'Radios in Motion' and 'Atom Age' I wanted more than anything else on the planet to become XTC's keyboard player. Years later Andy told me that would have been too much ego in one band! Anyway, as history would have it Dave Gregory got the gig and Andy started doodling on synth on their records. I was mortified of course, but resolved to go off and make records of my own instead. I did do a short spell as a keyboardist in a band called Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club, and to my delight we landed the support slot on an XTX tour of Britain. It was right about the time they had just written 'Making Plans for Nigel', and hearing that guitar riff in a soundcheck, I knew deep down I was about to have to share them with the rest of the world! And as it turned out I was right because that was the song that broke them worldwide. I exchanged phone numbers with Andy at the end of the tour, and I sent him some demos I'd done. He was very encouraging about them and, to my amazement, offered to help me record them. So I booked two days in a little 8-track studio and made a single which Andy played on, co-produced, and refused to get paid for. The single was 'highly acclaimed' (a common euphemism for 'it didn't sell diddly') but it got me an album deal with EMI. Andy also played harmonica on 'Europa' off my 'Golden age of Wireless' LP. After I finally extracted myself from EMI Records in the early 90's (what a nightmare) we were briefly labelmates at Virgin. Then EMI bought Virgin and I was back where I started. Andy came to see my Virtual Reality installation 'The Virtual String Quartet' at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1992. I'm not sure he got it. But to my surprise he did have in tow an ex-girlfriend of mine, with whom he has since become a big item. The last time I saw him he came to London to play some blinding guitar on an ill-fated single of mine entitled 'Your Karma Hit My Dogma.' I hope this clears up the mystery. If any XTC fans would like to find out more about what's going on on my side of the fence, feel free to visit my new Web site the Flat Earth Society (http://flatearth.tdolby.com) All the best, Thomas Dolby. ----- End Included Message -----
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 13:50:28 -0600 (CST) From: kimw@rice.edu (Kim E. Williams) Subject: XTC as background music Re: XTC songs pop up in the least expected places: last Friday I went to GNN's "Best of the Net" Awards ceremony in San Francisco. Among the music used as background before the opening of the event, they played "Procession towards learning land" (one of the "Homo Safari" instrumentals). **** I can top this one...how about an instrumental version of Thanks For Christmas over the speaker system at Houston Intercontinental Airport last Christmas. I found myself humming along before I realized what it was. My brother was leaving to go back home and when I told him what it was, he didn't belive me, but he listened and realized that really was what they were playing. - Stick a fork in me - I'm done. (Voodoo Mark Band -Fighting)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 11:56:18 -0800
From: relph (John Relph)
Subject: I'm Already There
7IHd <ee92pmh@brunel.ac.uk> writes:
>
Vzzzbx <h8hc035@wilbur.mbark.swin.oz.au> writes:
>
>Okay, now to the Drums And Wires bit... my copy [which I ordered from the
> UK and received a few weeks ago] is different to all those listed in the
> Discography. The closest one to it is:
>
> + CD, Virgin UK, CDV 2129, 1990?. front cover has
> ``Compact Price'' stripe and white border, back cover yellow,
> correct track listing. reissue.
>
> ...but my copy doesn't have the 'Compact Price' stripe, or the white
> border, and the back cover is the same as the front with different colours
> [I assume this is in the style of the original D&W release on vinyl].
Then the one you probably have is:
Making Plans for Nigel; Helicopter; Day In Day Out; When You're
Near Me I Have Difficulty; Ten Feet Tall; Roads Girdle the
Globe; Life Begins at the Hop; Chain of Command; Limelight;
Real by Reel; Millions; That is the Way; Outside World; Scissor
Man; Complicated Game.
+ CD, Virgin UK (Holland), CDV 2129, 1994?. regular cover, no
stripes or borders. reissue.
As regards covers (A Testimonial Dessert), remember that the first
requirement was that the bands/artists involved had to love XTC in the
first place. Now, with that in mind, who would we pick? (I wonder if
the Galactic Cowboys like XTC...)
With that in mind, I can only think of a few people who I would choose
to be on _A Testimonial Dessert_:
Suzanne Vega (covering something from _Oranges & Lemons_)
Mike Kennealy (anything, possibly from _Drums & Wires_)
Prairie Prince (the Time Bomb) and friends (not from _Skylarking_)
Dear God? Theological theory bores me.
>From: vertigo@well.com (Giancarlo Cairella)
>
>By the way, does anyone own the "Dear God" CD-Single (the one with the
>complete "Homo Safari" series tracks) and would like to sell it?
The _Dear God_ CD single seems to be fairly easy to find (at least in
the U.S. of A.).
7IHd <ee92pmh@brunel.ac.uk> writes:
>
># From: BObannon@aol.com
>
># "We're all Jesus, Buddha and the Wizard of Oz." -- Merely a Man.
>
>You missed the "I'm all religious figures rolled into one" in the next
>verse, which explains better what he's saying here. But even so this is
>out of context. Read the rest of the song, (I think) he's saying 'look,
>I might appear to be something completely out of your league[*], but at
>the end of the day I'm just like anyone else'. I don't think this is
>intended as a comment about any of the people listed in the song.
I thought this could be taken two ways. The first as you say above,
that no matter what our appearence or accomplishments, we're all
basically the same. The second is that God is not something outside
of us, not a higher powerful entity, but that God is within us, indeed
within everything. So in truth we are all Jesus, Buddha and the
Wizard of Oz. Heaven isn't a place we're all headed to (or away from)
after death; heaven is here on Earth if we are godly, that is to say
"good", people. We make our own Hell or Heaven. Andy says:
Everybody says join our religion get to Heaven
I say no thanks why bless my soul
I'm already there!
-- John
--
Truth, justice, and the American way are mutually exclusive.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 16:48:18 -0500 From: Ted Harms <tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: big anniversary It seems Chalkhills #500 is coming up. (I just received #2-25 and the new method of cataloging changed after issue #462.) Any special plans? A 'Best-Of' issue? How about Top 500 favourite lists (favourite xTc songs or reasons why they should tour)? How about some cake? Ted Harms Library, Univ. of Waterloo tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca 519.888.4567 x3761 "Quis costodiet ipsos constodes?" - Juvenal, Satires, VI, 347
------------------------------ Date: 8 Nov 1995 17:01:36 -0500 From: "Ken Salaets" <ksalaets@itic.nw.dc.us> Subject: RE: quasi-religious thread Someone once sang: "Go ahead and kill your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend. Do it in the name of heaven, you can justify it in the end..." I think the song was called "One Tin Soldier" or something like that. Pretty fair observation, in my view. As for me, my faith and belief in God is firm and not based on any man or woman's opinions. Hence, it is not harmed by contrary expressions, nor for that matter, by those who may agree with me! I am comfortable in my beliefs, and not afraid nor put off by those who may disagree. It's a mighty big world we got going here, and it seems to me there's room enough for all of our ideas. Besides, Andy has a knack for merging his opinions with melody and rhythm, and I, for one, find them both amusing and entertaining. Does that mean I have to agree? Hell no! But that also doesn't mean that I don't... ;>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 16:06:39 -0600
From: vanvalnc@is2.nyu.edu (Chris Van Valen)
Subject: Andy, Colin and Dave Paint....?
Here's a variarion on the "TD is Great vs. Sucks" debate and the ongoing
theological salvos.
Who should XTC cover???
The rules are as follows:
1) No Brian Wilson songs. (Too obvious)
2) No B*****s. (ditto)
3) No drum solos.
4) No crybabies.
5) So far they've covered only Beefheart("Ella Guru") and Dylan
("Watchtower"), so the field's wide open.
Go to it!
Cheers,
CV
in a milkbar and feeling lost
------------------------------ From: "Smith, Daniel R." <DRS@DC4.HHLAW.COM> Subject: harold budd + andy meeting Date: Wed, 08 Nov 95 16:08:00 PST >From Laura Parent <laura@geosun1.sjsu.edu>: > > Does anyone else out there really like the Budd-Partridge disc "Through > the Hill"? I swear it is the best sleeping music ever. > > Does anyone know the history of their collaboration? I think they met when, in a bar late one night, Harold was getting mouthy at the pool-table (too much ale, i reckon), and Andy swatted his butt with one of the band's wonky keyboard tunes from Go2, left over from the last tour, that they didn't use. Harold then got supremely pissed off and popped Andy over the head with his guitar strings. Naturally, a brawl ensued. After 20 minutes of duking it out, they found themselves completely exhausted, laying in each others arms under the pool table, like worn out boxers in a ring of death and carnage. Out of breath, no less. They realized: mortal enemies do not lie under the pool tables during a fight. They kill each other. We have nonsuch energy left to do that. So they simultaneously asked each other "Are you a married?" I mean, they asked: "Are you a musician?" They discussed the endless possibilities available to them over a bag of rusty M&Ms until daylight. This was a long time ago. I guess they kept in contact over the years by a satellite dish hooked up by a fork and knife. They finally got the project done, recently. You can hear strange likenesses to bar fights in the "Island of Western Apples" (? I think that is the name?), if you listen carefully. Mike Oldfield was there as well, but when he saw the fight, he ran like hell. Even though he ran into a wall, he didn't have to fight at least. If you don't believe me, go ask Andy yourself. His glasses are still a little crooked when he smiles. But I should know; I was there.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 18:49:23 -0500 Subject: Re: God flames From: "David G. Shaw" <dshaw@tiac.net> I've been reading this list for two months, and have only posted here once before. I am very close to abandoning this whole mess -- I wanted to read about a band, not the list members' religious beliefs. Give it a rest already.
------------------------------
From: M Wilson <mw25@unix.york.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 17:40:08 +0000
Subject: Re: Nagged by God
> From: BObannon@aol.com
>
>"Dear God" is not Andy's first attack
> on Christianity/God; in fact, he has taken several swipes at the religion
> throughout his career. Here are some examples:
>
> "We've seen no Jesus come and gone." -- Travels in Nihilon.
>
> "The lamb is brought to the ground under the weight of the crown, a crown
> of thorns and dark deeds, the swastika and the hammer and symbol are
> sickles that reap only weeds." -- Reign of Blows.
>
> "We're all Jesus, Buddha and the Wizard of Oz." -- Merely a Man.
>
> "Is there a God in heaven? Everybody says join our religion, get to
> heaven. I say no thanks, why bless my soul I'm already there." -- Season
> Cycle.
>
> "All of a sudden we find heaven's not there." -- All of a Sudden.
>
> " . . . a child to the virgin came; will you tell them that the reason why
> we murdered everything upon the surface of the world is so we can stand
> right up and say we did it in his name?" -- This World Over.
>
> "Jumping in Gomorrah I'm religion free." -- Jumping in Gomorrah.
None of the above seem like a general attack on religion to me. They seem to
indicate that Andy hasn't much time for organized religion - the kind that
preaches love and always finds an excuse not to practice it. Many of XTCs
songs sound very 'pagan' to me though I'm fairly certain that Andy isn't a
pagan either. eg:-
Summer's Cauldron
Season Cycle
Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
Dying
Sacrificial Bonfire
Garden of Earthly Delights
Chalkhills and Children
Peter Pumpkinhead
Humble Daisy
That Wave
World Wrapped in Grey
And most of all - Rook
Then again I could just be reading into them what I want - like everyone else?
--
Martin Wilson, University of York, UK
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals
An it harm none, do what you will
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 16:11:31 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Comparisons & another useless piece of English information... From: Vzzzbx <h8hc035@wilbur.mbark.swin.oz.au> > >This might be a topic that's been covered millions of times here already, >but does anyone have any XTC songs that could have been inspired by other >songs? (part 2!) Next time I'll leave replying till I've done some more thinking.... There was an old song by someone like Al Green (I've looked it up, it was Johnny Nash...) called "(what a) Wonderful World" which had lyrics like: "Don't know much about geography/never read too much of history...." and generally heads off sounding like the singer was a former mayor of Simpleton... Maybe, just maybe, there was a bit of self-inspiration with the bass line from one XTC song (One of the millions) inspired by a vocal line in another one (All you pretty girls)... --- Another piece of Anglicism that people may not be aware of (talk about the Uffington Horse reminded me to look it up): Ermine Street (as mentioned in Chalkhills and Children) is one of Britain's traditional "Royal Roads" dating from Roman times and probably earlier. The best known one is Watling Street, which runs from London (and is now the A5) to Shrewsbury. The others are Icknield Street and the Fosse Way. Ermine Street runs north from London towards Lincoln, and was a major Roman road. The most obvious straight stretch is now used by the A10 and A14, between Cheshunt (London) and Huntingdon. BTW, if I wanted a lot of the recent messages, I would have subscribed to "Phenomenology'r'us", not "Chalkhills". Andy's atheism (or not), OK. Whether God exists? Come on... people have been arguing that for millenia - we're not going to settle it here. James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno)
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Nov 95 15:43:34 EST From: ldsteve@MIT.EDU (Stephen Gilligan) Subject: Re: Chalkhills & Children TO Ben Gott: I found the Chalkhills & Children book over the summer at Tower Records in Burlington , MA. I'm sure they've still got it. I found it most entertaining. I'd heard/read about some of the stuff before 'cause, well, when you follow a band you just do. Right? It's heavy on the earlier years probably because they were the most active. There's no musically technical stuff (like "I started playing this song in E but moved it to G 'cause I sang it better there, etc.). I don't know about you folks but I find that kind of thing interesting. Email me if you'd like me to look for it next time I'm out there (Christmas shopping soon). Oohh, "It's Nearly Africa" just came on my disc player. Shake your bag of bones.. Oh, hey, I have an extra "All you Pretty Girls" 12" if anyone wants it. I'll trade for any XTC type thing (demo copies or such). I can seem to pass those kind of things by if I see 'em in a store. Even if I already have it, I just love those picture singles and I'm sure someone out there will want it. IMHO, No Thugs from the Drums & Wireless disc is simply one of the greatest versions of anything, anywhere, ever!!! So much energy!! Back to work - One of the millions
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 19:34:58 -0800 From: David Mintz <dmintz@prcrsi.com> Subject: Officer Blue >Re: Elizabeth Noseworthy <enosewor@morgan.ucs.mun.ca> > >#> Who is it that says 'Is this the right >#> tempo we're at at the moment?' at the start of 'Officer Blue'? > >I wish I knew, it's the same voice that says 'Ladies and gentlemen, >presenting for the very last time' in Dear Madam Barnum. I always thought >it was Andy, but I've never heard him speak normally. :) I recall reading somewhere that it was Terry Chambers that spoke those words at the start of 'Officer Blue'. David Mintz (An avid XTC fan for over 14 years now!)
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