Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 151
Date: Sunday, 28 March 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 151
Sunday, 28 March 1999
Today's Topics:
Amazing Find!!!!
Sgt Overrated
Words
Why Diane Warren deserves an Oscar (tm)
New Release by OWSLEY
My "Drums & Wires"
bubblegum album tracks
Re: River...way: CHILL (I'm kidding, you know)
Wow! Only to the Wanker fiasco have I ever gotten such a response!
Respectable or Coronation..?
I am the Kaiser, koo koo ka choo
Sgt. Pepper
Dear Ed Miller...
Don't make me the bad guy in this, please
1910 Fruit Nut Company
Car-pushers, Take Note
Sgt. Pepper's & Dave's demos
Kingdom Come
musical chairs
Re: bubblegum album
Singles and Songwriting
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Look at me polish these / Tools.
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Message-ID: <001301be775f$1444bc40$74ef94d1@compaq>
From: "Drude" <drude@sprint.ca>
Subject: Amazing Find!!!!
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 00:03:00 -0800
Well...a strange thing happened to me last weekend. While walking to work,
I came upon a little yard sale. At the yard sale was a little box of Vinyl
(mostly singles). And, lo and behold! I managed to pick up-
1) No Thugs single. Mint. Cut-out characters intact!
2)Farmboy's Wages. Mint. Gatefold double in faux-billfold cover.
3)Wonderland picture disc. Mint!!!
4)Wonderland picture sleeve. Mint.
5)Mayor Of S. picture sleeve. Mint.
6)This World Over. All postcards intact and still attached!!! Mint!!!
7)King For a Day CD5. In crown-shaped box.
8)Mayor of S. CD5
9)Oranges and Lemons. CD5 3-pack.
The gentleman selling them didn't seem to know what he had, and gave me a
wonderful deal on the bunch! Not that I would ever sell, but I am very
curious to see if anyone has any idea what they might be worth (if
anything). Anyway, just thought I'd brag a little...
Do what you will but harm none.
Drude
------------------------------ Message-ID: <01BE7763.AA4EA120@robert> From: Robert Wood <wobbit@bigfoot.com> Subject: Sgt Overrated Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 18:44:45 -0000 <Grumble, moan> What's all this about people's personal Sgt Pepper? Are you saying what your favourite album ever is? To me, Sgt Pepper the most overrated album in history. My Sgt Pepper? Sgt Pepper. And before you start flaming me about not liking the Beatles I think they were brilliant and have most of their albums. I reckon people believe it's great because the media tell them it's great. Yeah, it was innovative and the first concept album, but the songs are dull, dull, dull.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001a01be7768$c5daaf60$4408b3d1@oemcomputer> From: "Aaron Pastula" <apastula@earthlink.net> Subject: Words Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 01:11:40 -0800 >What are the words andy sings at the start of 'snowman' (y'know just >before 'it isn't even winter but...') A doom a llama deep a llama do me, Yama; do me, Yama. Damana deep a llama do me, Yama. Do we? >and do they mean anything? Surprisingly, yes. They refer to an old Hindu ritual that involved burying a pack animal (usually a llama, but a camel or donkey would suffice in times of famine) up to its neck in the sand to ward off sinister spirits. The more evil you were trying to ward off, the more animals you had to stick in the sand - in other words, a "llama deep" for every "doom" you faced. Following the burying of the llama, one would call upon the well-endowed gods Yama and Damana and ask for a kind of spiritual coitus. If granted, the worshipper could rest assured that hardship would befall he and his family no longer, and afterward he would have quite a salacious story to tell to his friends. Of course, only those deemed truly worthy could have such intimate contact with the gods - hence the reason why the line ends with a question, as the mystical threesome is a humble request. Either way, the still had to dig the damn animals out of the sand when they were done. Next week, class, we'll discuss the third verse of "Helicopter," and its relation to the guano of a certain extinct bird. AP
------------------------------
Message-ID: <618F91505D89D21185330001FA6A49544646FC@HFD-EXCH008>
From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com>
Subject: Why Diane Warren deserves an Oscar (tm)
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 08:20:54 -0500
My fellow music lovers:
I am taking the challenge to stop picking on poor Celine
Dion!!! Yes, it's a full well when one carries a small bucket.
However, further research shows that Dion is merely one of the
Devil's servants.
My theory stems from a Boston Globe article on Diane Warren
(March 14th, Arts section). Sure, you know her soundtracks
from the Oscarcast, witness: "Armageddon outta here" by
Aerosmith, "How do I live" by two-count'em-two country
pop-tarts, and "Because you loved me" by Dion. The scary
part, and you may wish to sit down for this, is her role in
The History of Not Merely Mediocre, But Aggressively Bad Music,
which includes:
Laura Branigan, "Solitaire".
Jefferson Starship, "Nothin's gonna stop us now".
Chicago, "Look away".
Milli Vanilli, "Blame it on the rain".
Cher, "If I could turn back time".
DeBarge, "Rhythm of the night". (It took her two weeks to
perfect one verse of this song, the article breathlessly
relates.)
She has conquered the airwaves to the point that every
screeching diva song resembles her work even if she didn't
write it, being the sincerest form of flattery and all that.
I'll grant you that she's prolific, well-connected, and driven.
However, those are value-neutral qualities. After being
Oscar-nominated 3 straight years without taking home the statue,
how many goals do we really want to dangle in front of her?
I don't want to miss a thing,
Karl
------------------------------ Message-ID: <E6717F73FA86D211A29900600895C3FE052B09@EXWEB2> From: "Artz, Peter/EXWEB2" <PLA@pscnet.com> Subject: New Release by OWSLEY Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 08:45:35 -0500 Hi Folks, I'm not sure if I've ever posted here before, but it's really important, so here goes. AV1 is absolutely splendid!! One of their best!! Now that that's out of the way. I picked up a copy of the new "Owsley" release (Warner Brothers) yesterday, based upon the following review I read on the Jellyfish list. This is no crappy one hit "wonder why all of these songs are boring and sound the same" CD. I think you people will love this disc. Please check it out. Then tell everyone where you heard about it. Chalkhills of course!! Peace, Pete "The Sweet" Review Begins: WHAT A RECORD!!! To my ears the sound and vibe of the disc lie somewhere in the middle of Sturmer and Falkner tendencies ( though leaning more heavily towards Jason ), as Owsleys influences are lifted from page one of the pop 101 handbook (Beatles, XTC, Rundgren, 10cc, BFF and more). Rich production and splendid lyrics guide the record through it's layers of peircing guitar hooks, smooth as silk melodies, and heavenly bgv's. Pianos bop here, synths buzz there, and lots of subtle touches are scattered about like the candy colored sprinkling on a beautiful cake.... and his voice is PURE pop..... I could go on about the record and each song, but instead I urge all pop fanatics (especially Falkner lovers) to simply rush out and get this hot little item while it is on sale and hear it for yourself ... It's distributed by WB so should not be hard to find. NOTEs: 1) 2 tracks are lifted from the Semantics "Powerbill" and slightly reworked. 2) Track 1 co-written by Ross Rice. 3) 1/2 the songs mixed by Tom Lord-Agle. 4) It's bloody marvelous!!!!
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990326135455.5358.qmail@www0m.netaddress.usa.net> Date: 26 Mar 99 05:54:55 PST From: domenic staffieri <ddstaff@netscape.net> Subject: My "Drums & Wires" Never mind St.Pepperpot, I'm 40 years old, it's a great "popular" album, but come on, I don't listen to this stuff, it just doesn't satisfy my listening pleasures. I could name 10 discs, but other than the obvious XTC discs like Black Sea,English Settlement, Skylarking, I find "Fear of Music" and "Remain In Light" by you know who to be absolutely delicious played loud with no lights on. It's a religious experience! "Making Flippy Floppy"
------------------------------ Message-ID: <36FB933B.71BBC02D@xpress.es> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:01:32 +0100 From: Imanol Ugarte <ix8494@xpress.es> Subject: bubblegum album tracks About the About the bubblegum album tracks Andy Miller said: This brings the total to 7: Standing in for Joe, Candymine, Cherry in yourTree, Lolly Let's Suck it and See, Bubbleland, My Red Aeroplane, I'm theKaiser Anyone got any more? I think you can add "Visit To The Doctor" . Imanol Ugarte
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990326134600.21284.rocketmail@web1.rocketmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 05:46:00 -0800 (PST) From: nross <phoenixyellowrose@rocketmail.com> Subject: Re: Re: River...way: CHILL (I'm kidding, you know) Quick comment... not me taking things personally as I have in the past: From: "Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com> Subject: RE: River of Orchids winding my way >>Not to single out Nicole exclusively, but to her and all others trying >>to analyze Elizabeth's statement I say: ENOUGH! But its fun to over-analyze! >>If I am not mistaken, Elizabeth is a SoCal resident, and therefore due to our fucked-up culture, government, and massive urban sprawl and other general lack of logic and sensibility of civic planning, is therefore relegated to the necessary evil of "liking her car".<< Same here in D.C., my friend-in-XTC >>It is quite aggravating and nearly impossible to navigate, hold down a decent job, and basically just LIVE here without your car (myself and others who have attempted using mass transit in L.A. can attest).<< Our metro is a tad bit better than yours, I suppose. >>So let's not read more into it than is possibly there.<< I repeat, but its fun! I perked up when I saw that one post. I read these digests in the morning... before starting to do my work... after spending a very long time driving from one "suburb" to the next. I like to have my brain teased in to working. Doesn't everybody think like me? ;-) >>(crawling back into driver's seat and crouching down to hide).<< If the traffic effects your mood that much, maybe you should move out of Southern California. Road rage = BAD. Push your car from the road, dude! Just having fun... felt like being humorous after a fairly easy drive this morning. By the way... feeling your car is a necessity is not the same thing as "I like my car". What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. --Aristotle Friends, I just wanted to add that working out to my kickboxing tape (not Tae Bo) and listening to CD four of Transistor Blast works quite well! If anyone out there is like me: little motivation to work out... yet wants to have an okay fitness level... try working out to CD four! It may help!
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990326142537.19564.rocketmail@web4.rocketmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 06:25:37 -0800 (PST) From: nross <phoenixyellowrose@rocketmail.com> Subject: Wow! Only to the Wanker fiasco have I ever gotten such a response! Oh God! There's more from me... "Let's begin..do doo do doo do do do dooo do do doo": From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com> Subject: my two twisted cents worth... >>You're not the only person to feel that way. Many brilliant, intelligent people disdain technology and go off to live in the woods somewhere.<< See... now that I know what's next, its hard for me to say... uh, thanks?! >>In fact, we had an infamous one here in the U.S. recently. His name? Ted Kosinski-the Unibomber.<< Thank you sooooo much! That's right, beware all the crazy Nicole. ;-) I guess one never knows...... Elizabeth: I was being half-flippant too. Just having fun and waking up like I said in my earlier post. I understand your car being your safe-place. Its usually mine when I take long trips with my family... I get to drive at night... when its dark, no one is on the road and my hubby, who hates the music I like (in general) is asleep. I feel completely free... and can listen to XTC or Metallica or Siouxsie or, for Godssakes... Britney Spears if I feel like it... though I can't blast it. Mark: Agreed... no way I could live without technology. I may have a romantic and niave view of the world... but deep down I'm a realist! Give me a few more years and it will all come to pass! :-) I'm only Twenty-eight and still in school! Despite what I'm learning... my mind is still growing. Now... can anyone catch the paradox in my statement? Oh... and (To... I guess it would be AP's statement towards chalkhills: "misinformation highway" my ass, man! And a cute ass it is. Oh... and to the person who asked if you can hear Molly speak when you read her posts... I can nearly imagine her on the pulpit. AND lastly, my Sgt. Pepper: Siouxsie and the Banshee's Tinderbox. -Nicole
------------------------------ Message-ID: <WFA2zFAhm5+2EwCU@neutronstar.demon.co.uk> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:28:49 +0000 From: chris <chris@neutronstar.demon.co.uk> Subject: Respectable or Coronation..? OK, this is driving me up the wall! I've just visited Molly's great XTC site (www.angelfire.com/mo/mollyfa/xtc.html) and she mentions that she started listening to O&L again because she saw a character in 'Coronation Street' that reminded her of Andy ! Can either Molly or somebody else clear this one up. Which character ? Any other TV-XTC lookalikes ? Apart from that shifty looking bloke playing guitar with Bryan Adams on Top of the Pops the other week ;-> -- chris2
------------------------------ Message-ID: <618F91505D89D21185330001FA6A49544646FE@HFD-EXCH008> From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com> Subject: I am the Kaiser, koo koo ka choo Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:41:27 -0500 >Andy Miller: However, I shudder to think where the double >entendre may lurk in any song called "I'm the Kaiser". Agreed. I mean, the man didn't even swing! Give me Benny Goodman or the underrated Bob Crosby and the Bobcats any day. Had one of those dreams last night: About 15 minutes of a music video, with music that I recognized as leading up to River of Orchids. This woke me up in a sweat, because the only thing I remember is a blow-dry (i.e. idiot TV newsguy) standing in front of a US weather map with one color for "rain", one for "sun", and finally an area forecast to get "God's greatest sacrifice"! Of course, this was totally ignored by all. Doesn't have much to do with the song, and I'm not much of a Christian, but maybe big things happen when you're not paying attention, like perhaps Judgement Day. Good thing my wife just got her LCSW, looks like I'm gonna need it. Katy Coope: "Rook" is pretty much taken from the nursery rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin". Not to spoil things, but it's a tossup between the Sparrow (bow and arrow) and Goosey (Uzzi). At Cock Robin's service, the Rook with his book did the eulogy, if I'm on the beam, so the song has Cock Robin asking all those questions of life's meaning to basically a bird of the cloth. What's the real story behind the poem, does anyone here know? Dr. Rorschach reminds me of something, but I don't know what, Karl
------------------------------
Message-ID: <000301be7799$937e9280$7114883e@o.e.e>
From: "John Bartlett" <john@bartlett132.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Sgt. Pepper
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:38:56 -0000
To show solidarity with Mark...
Black Sea is ( was?) my Pepper. At 14, I thought NLIOL was the most
profound thing I'd ever heard.
Nowadays, my wife saying,
"Of course I'll look after the children while you go down the pub" is the
closest I get to profundity, but that's getting older for you.
John
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4882AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C12D0801@MGMTM02> From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk> Subject: Dear Ed Miller... Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:29:28 -0000 >>Would you PLEASE take your petty bickering off-line please. I'm sick and tired of your childish clutter taking up space in the digest. I did say "scroll down".....maybe you weren't really concentrating. >>I, personally, am not impressed with either of you. Firstly, I don't think either of us are trying to impress anyone. Secondly, you don't impress me much either, but I can live with it. >>If there were even a remote reference to XTC I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, but your bantering back and forth now just looks like a way for both of you to show off. We've both posted countless times about XTC. In fact, most of my posts have been directly related to current topics of discussion. You just chose to ignore these, and instead moan about our little skirmish. How very constructive of you. Anyway, back in the real world where sensible people would just ignore the likes of me, and certainly wouldn't waste everyone's time making feeble bids to appear mature and worthy by handing out unwanted advice, there has been much progress in my current bid to convert a few people to our favourite popmeisters. I've managed to bully several people into buying the album already, and have persuaded my elder sister that she would adore AV1 so much that I'm prepared to buy it for her in the event that she can't make it into town any time soon. OK, not the biggest display of generosity in the world, but I'm utterly potless so it's kinda indicative of my enthusiasm if nothing else! The most effective tool so far has been my review of the album (hark! Is that mine own trumpet being a-blown? Oh yes, it is - look......www.lamcat.demon.co.uk) coupled with thinly-veiled threats and the occasional foray into hardcore bribery. Works a treat, although perhaps saying "yeah, it's a bit like Obituary, only a bit poppier" might have been stretching the truth somewhat.... ......and how many copies of Easter Theatre will we all be buying then? I wouldn't want to let the side down... Dom.
------------------------------ From: mollyfa@juno.com Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:59:11 -0500 Subject: Don't make me the bad guy in this, please Message-ID: <19990326.110433.2838.0.MollyFa@juno.com> I don't want to be the bad person in this. I'm not the Tipper Gore type person. I don't really care if you swear myself, but I was just pointing out there are people on here that might not appreciate the language on this. If you need to swear go ahead. God, I swear myself, I'm not an 80 year old woman. But I think we should think before we write. Sometimes if we get angry we us language we don't normally use. I just wanted to point out to all the Chalkers that don't ever put me in the same grouping as Tipper Gore or anybody else who wants to censor things. I just was trying to point out that you can use other words than swear words. But hey, I might be the only person here who thinks that, and that makes me a bad person. So I'll shut up and I know people will pick on me again like they do all the time. Molly
------------------------------ Message-ID: <36FBB4BA.75997B8@uni-bremen.de> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 17:24:27 +0100 From: Erich Sellheim <sellheim@uni-bremen.de> Subject: 1910 Fruit Nut Company Hello everyone, Andy Miller asked about further songs for the (sadly) aborted bubblegum project. I'm pretty sure that I read in the Little Express about a demoed song called "Visit To The Doctor" (how's that for naughty song topics?) Oh, and my Sgt. Pepper was Elvis Costello's "Spike" in 1989, one year later slightly surpassed by "Oranges & Lemons" (which I hadn't discovered until then). Do what you will but harm none 'less of course they ask you, Erich
------------------------------ Message-ID: <36FBA7F0.9D0BF310@averstar.com> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:29:52 -0400 From: Harrison Sherwood <sherwood@averstar.com> Organization: Averstar, Inc. Subject: Car-pushers, Take Note As the car-pushing debate goes forward, I offer the following as a sort of sanity check. Published in nuclear-jittery 1984, and thus a bit more doomy than might be warranted today, nevertheless it still rings true and glows like burning coal. For your perusal and delectation, I submit Thomas Pynchon's essay, "Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite?" at http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/pynchon/pynchon.paper.luddite.html Yes, I keep beating the Pynchon horse within the Friendly Confines, but I beat it because I love you and I want you to be happy. Not only is it a fascinating read, showing off in miniature the kind of wonderful leaps of imagination that The Master performs so effortlessly, but it goes a long way toward placing Andy's dislike of cars and their consequences (shared, it appears, by many of us) into historical perspective. Here's one passage that set my Spidey-sense a-tingling: > The craze for Gothic fiction after The Castle of Otranto was > grounded, I suspect, in deep and religious yearnings for that > earlier mythic time which had come to be known as the Age of > Miracles. In ways more and less literal, folks in the 18th > century believed that once upon a time all kinds of things had > been possible which were no longer so. Giants, dragons, spells. > The laws of nature had not been so strictly formulated back > then. What had once been true working magic had, by the Age of > Reason, degenerated into mere machinery. Blake's dark Satanic > mills represented an old magic that, like Satan, had fallen from > grace. As religion was being more and more secularized into > Deism and nonbelief, the abiding human hunger for evidence of > God and afterlife, for salvation -- bodily resurrection, if > possible -- remained. The Methodist movement and the American > Great Awakening were only two sectors on a broad front of > resistance to the Age of Reason, a front which included > Radicalism and Freemasonry as well as Luddites and the Gothic > novel. Each in its way expressed the same profound unwillingness > to give up elements of faith, however "irrational," to an > emerging technopolitical order that might or might not know what > it was doing. "Gothic" became code for "medieval," and that has > remained code for "miraculous," on through Pre-Raphaelites, > turn-of-the-century tarot cards, space opera in the pulps and > comics, down to Star Wars and contemporary tales of sword and > sorcery. ...And, one hardly needs to add, works of popular music that rely heavily on church carvings of pre-Christian nature deities, season-worship, Nordic theology, Harvest Festivals, radical environmentalism, et paganistic cetera. You owe this one to yourself. It's magically delicious, part of a complete breakfast. Harrison "And down with all kings but King Ludd!" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:38:14 -0500 (EST) From: Ted Harms <tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: Sgt. Pepper's & Dave's demos Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.96.990326113128.32720A-100000@library.uwaterloo.ca> - My Sgt. Pepper's was the Police 'Zenyetta Mondetta' - not the best Police album (that would be 'Ghost in the Machine') but it introduced to songs that actually seemed crafted and deliberately made as opposed to all the previous mindless crap I was listening to before. I'll admit that, as a youngster, none of xTc's albums ever grabbed me - they just kinda snuck up on ya when you realized that the songs excelled because of their subtlety, not some forthright declaration of teenage agnst... - One reason that seemed to lead to Dave's departure from the band was that any contribution that wasn't directed by Andy (or Colin) wasn't welcome. I'm wondering: did Dave ever demo any songs for the band? Has anybody ever heard them? Are they any good? Ted Harms Library, Univ. of Waterloo tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca 519.888.4567 x3761 "But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." B. Spinoza
------------------------------ From: martin.clinton@dnb.no Message-Id: <199903260950.BAA02238@sgi.com> Subject: Kingdom Come Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:48:55 +0100 Hi everyone, I'm sure some of this has been mentioned before, but here goes.... Somebody mentioned that in the DC comic "Kingdom Come" artist Alex Ross created a character called Braniac's Daughter, what may not have been mentioned is that if you get hold of Comicology (a paperback magazine ABOUT the comic), you see many of Alex Ross' preparatory sketches for the comic, and under Braniac's Daughter, are 2 pencil sketches of his first idea and name for the character: XTC. As for the "Sgt. Pepper" theme going on, mine was 'Black Sea'. That was the first album I "bought" (or rather my brother bought it for me, when I asked him to and gave him the dosh). Imagine my surprise when he came back from Downtown Records in Romford with what looked like a green paper bag, I thought the dozy sod had bought the wrong record! Then me thinking I had a dodgy pressing when the crackly bit came on at the start of Respectable Street....ah, memories.... All the best Martin
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:57:48 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <v03007801b32123252e87@[209.86.128.164]> From: Mitch Friedman <mitchf@mindspring.com> Subject: musical chairs Just in case anyone was interested, the sound of the chairs at the beginning of "Harvest Festival" was achieved by Andy and Colin each getting up from their chair at roughly the same moment, recorded twelve times!
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:18:25 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199903261718.JAA26561@mando.engr.sgi.com> From: John Relph <relph@engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: bubblegum album "Andy Miller" <andymiller@4thestate.co.uk> writes: > >This brings the total to 7: Standing in for Joe, Candymine, Cherry in your >Tree, Lolly Let's Suck it and See, Bubbleland, My Red Aeroplane, I'm the >Kaiser There's also "Jelly Baby" and of course "My Brown Guitar (Some Lovely)". And don't forget that each song was going to be performed by a "different" group: The Captain Cooks (Cherry in Your Tree) The Lemon Dukes Knights in Shining Karma -- John
------------------------------ Message-ID: <000701be7413$6b2155e0$63cbac3e@vucqprlj> From: "David Seddon" <D.Seddon@btinternet.com> Subject: Singles and Songwriting Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 03:22:48 -0000 >From David Seddon, Loughborough, England. I find this discussion about singles and the merits of various songs to be quite fascinating. It is interesting how we all hear different strengths in AV1. I'm enjoying reading people's views tremendously and am dying to make a few more more comments: 1. I don't think that Green Man is too long for a single. Lots of songs get chopped for single release (or indeed get made longer for 12"format). GM is just over 6 mins. Respectable Street got a lyric change when it was 7"ed, Towers of London is 5.24 on BS, yet the single was 4.38 ( I haven't played the 2 through to check this, but that's what my sleeve info says..off hand I don't know what they chopped for the 7"..no doubt loads of people will tell me, and if I sat down now for 10 mins I could probably work it out). Green Man (to my ears) is very commercially saleable (I know that AP rightly doesn't always want this quality in his material), and it would be a technical doddle to turn it into a single should this be a decision that was made . For one thing, the long fade out could be shortened. If you are looking to attract new listeners, it's not bad to give people a catchy tune! I don't necessarily think that GM is a better piece of songwriting than ET, but I think it is more catchy. 2. Andy's songwriting is just about as good as it gets. I've tried to dabble a bit in songwriting myself. If I could have written any of the stuff on AV, I would chose YD for it's passion, poignancy and power. I think it's devastatingly, witheringly hard hitting. And ROO because it is incredibly well written and technically extremely clever. I wouldn't pick either as a single, however. 3.Perhaps another way of looking at music is to ask who would want to cover it (that's one reason why the Beatles were so good...everyone did!). I think ICOH scores highly here because, to my ears, it has a universal theme, is very melodic, has lovely harmonies and has that heart-rending bluesy quality that's hard to find without sounding cliched: I can think of a lot of people who might want to cover it, and if they do Andy could make a lot of money. I'd be interested to hear what others think about songs that could be covered. 4. The last two songs on the album sound great late at night with the lights dimmed. I love the feel and mood of them. 5. Back to ROO. In the car to work today I was trying to work out it's cyclical structure. The first bit seems to have about 5 elements: 2 lots of plucked strings, bass, brass and vocals. By the end there's at least 3 more things going on: 2 more lots of vocals and another brass element. What a rich tapestry that must have taken some working out! It's like a piece of modern chamber music and every single time I play it, I like it better. Next time I play it, I'll probably find something new!! 6. I really love Harvest Festival. That line "And what a year when the exams and crops all failed" is brilliant. It is a lovely, cheerful, nostalgaic song and it seems to be celebrating life in all it's glory. The girl he fancied as a child now makes him feel great because she's getting married to someone else. I love that. It makes me very happy and, and as the best music is often joyous, it's probably my favourite song on the album.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-151 *******************************
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