Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 243
Date: Friday, 6 August 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 243
Friday, 6 August 1999
Today's Topics:
My one, two, three, four, five cents worth
Mark Strijbos...I'm not black, nor very strong.
new verve pipe song
Re: Radio Seven
Momus fans, few and far between
70's artiste
more Owsley
The FCC is making me cry.
Longstanding opinions
Trying to shovel smoke with a pitchfork in the wind
Yes Dave Sprouts Rollers
The State of Music Today
Blur & XTC
Take a Bow, John
Re: Kurdt and Freddie
Come On Feel the XTC
That Eclectic Decade
Big Takeover offer and a few items...
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <17aaeb69.24db9f5e@aol.com> Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 22:15:58 EDT Subject: My one, two, three, four, five cents worth Fellow XTCGEEKS: First off....thanks to all those who took the time to drop me a line, or post here on Chalkhills, information about Cotton Mather.....a damn good band that I recommend to all. As for Owsley....if you haven't heard it, buy it now. I'm currently reviewing it for the mag I write for, The Music Monitor.....just goes to show you how timely(yeah right) the Music Monitor is! Cathryn Myers wrote: But you know the sad thing about Prefab Sprout is that in the 90's they came out with Andromeda Heights while XTC came out with AV1. I just don't like it. What a horrible follow-up to Jordan: The Comeback. Now that is a concept double album. I never grow tired of it. While I agree with Cathryn about the greatness of PS, I disagree about Andromeda Heights......I think it is far superior to Jordan: The Comeback, which I feel is a bit too slick and overblown. I came in on the Prefab scene when I read an article about Two Wheels Good and rushed out to buy it........a fantastically romantic, funny, and nearly perfect piece of pop........and it has a bit of an XTC connection in that it was produced by Thomas Dolby. Swoon is probably my fave, but I often geek out on From Langly Park To Memphis.....I love the song Cars & Girls!(...which is printed on the cd as "Cards" & Girls....somehow, speaking(writing)as a male, it doesn't carry as much weight this way. Megan Heller wrote: to chris vreeland, commenting on Shudder to Think's "Pony Express Record", while I doubt many will consider it a masterpiece or classic, I blame that only on the lack of exposure. I just listened to that album this weekend for the first time in a while, and I really do think it's brilliant. I like it better than their more recent stuff (although their last album had a happier feel thanks to the lead singer's miserable year-- he was trying to counter it). What a voice! What unusual song structure! What lyrics! What a voice! I have nothing more to add to this....Megan is dead on! Check out my XTC trade/worship site, Optimism's Flames: http://members.tripod.com/~The_Last_Balloon/index.html Oh.....check out this link to my XTC pin collection, and I've got two more on the way to me as we speak.......ohmygodineedtogetalife....hey, ask Mark Strijbos for a scan of his pins, his collection is pretty massive as well...heneedstogetalifeastoo! wesLONG [ http://chalkhills.org/images/misc/PINS2.jpg ]
------------------------------ From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <74abc871.24dba4f6@aol.com> Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 22:39:50 EDT Subject: Mark Strijbos...I'm not black, nor very strong. Mark Strijbos: Nevertheless i'm pretty sure that in 100 years time (Bob) Marley will be remembered for his musical contributions while "great" bands like Duran Duran or Aerosmith will have sunk into oblivion by then. But in all our recent discussions here he wasn't even mentioned... Me: Good call Mark....it's strange, I'm a huge Marley fan & yet I never thought about including him. I sorta forgot about his music now that my days are spent doing something other than taking massive lung bustin' hits of sticky green buds through a multi-tubed, tri-colored & resin-filled, US water-pipe.......hmmmm, trying to remember why I stopped doing that...can't recall...man I must have gotten too, uhhh, too... Mark Strijbos: Too black, too strong perhaps? Me: No....too high. wesLONG
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37AA6B18.45C24E2B@postoffice.pacbell.net> Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999 21:56:56 -0700 From: quetzal <holm-oak@pacbell.net> Subject: new verve pipe song "It was dark as I drove the point home. And on cold leather seats, well it suddenly struck me; I just might die with a smile on my face after all..." You are not the only Moz fan on the block, Veronica. Michael
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19990806003842.009561d0@mail.clemson.edu> Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 00:46:41 -0400 From: Adam Tyner <ctyner@clemson.edu> Subject: Re: Radio Seven >From: MinerWerks <dminer@gte.net> > >The FCC is now allowing companies to own up to SEVEN radio stations in one >market. I don't even LISTEN to seven stations in my market. I've seen the >rise of this trend in the last few years. If you ask me, when the FCC >relaxed regulations and allowed companies to own FOUR stations, >programming creativity dropped dramatically, and so did jobs. But think! Now you're guaranteed that no matter what city you're in, you'll always be able to find Britney Spears playing at any time. I think this is a horrible move and will hopefully lead to people getting totally fed up with commercial radio, however unlikely that is. I hate to sound like one of those elitists who think that anything popular is instantly horrible, but the fact that MTV is going strong on the musical equivalent of fumes in a gas tank shows me that there's a huge market that doesn't mind hearing the same few songs by the same few artists every couple of hours every single day. (Perhaps that's because listeners don't have a viable alternative? Who knows?) >I know a lot of us are not "radio" fans, but I've got some good memories >of when radio was at least decent and willing to try some new stuff - I >could live with it. I might as well just throw that out the window now - >and you might as well kiss the chance of EVER hearing new XTC music on the >radio again goodbye. There's always college radio. The station I DJ for, WSBF, is rather strict about playing "household name" bands, and although I'm sure they'd consider XTC to fall into that category (heck, our program director says They Might Be Giants and Ween are household names, yet oddly will play the much more widely known Sonic Youth), I play XTC quite regularly and haven't been fussed at yet. :-) A couple of the DJs with '80s specialty shows play XTC a lot too. AV1 never showed up in rotation, which disappointed me, though. -Adam
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990806051103.91892.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Megan Heller" <hellerm@hotmail.com> Subject: Momus fans, few and far between Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999 22:11:03 PDT Sebastien Maury inquired on the topic of Momus-- >Megan Heller, may I have the honour of being the first? >Seb. finally! I was starting to wonder exactly how obscure he was. megan.
------------------------------ From: jsteich@mindspring.com Message-ID: <000b01bedfce$a9b1a040$34918ad1@funtosplamisham> Subject: 70's artiste Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 01:43:49 -0400 if anyone wants to know, the most important rock performer of the 70s was david bowie. thanks. jesse.
------------------------------
Message-ID: <000701bedfd0$92bcf040$b2601e18@we.mediaone.net>
From: "Drew MacDonald" <drewmacdonald@mediaone.net>
Subject: more Owsley
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 22:57:31 -0700
I'm glad to see all this interest in Owsley from Chalkhillers, but I
shouldn't be surprised. He shares many musical sensibilites with Our
Boys. I can't imagine anyone from this list not appreciating his album.
To expand/correct some info in previous Digests: Will (his first name) did
indeed play with both Shania Twain and Amy Grant, but his first major foray
into the music scene was with a band called The Semantics, which included
Millard Powers (now also a solo act, also appearing on the "Nashpop"
compilation mentioned by Chalkhiller Michael) and one Zak Starkey on
drums. Ben Folds also played with the Semantics briefly.
Only one Semantics album ("Powerbill", produced by Peter Asher) was ever
recorded. It was a pure pop gem which unfortunately came out in 1993, a
grungy period in which pure pop gems were even less welcome in the
marketplace than they are now. It died quickly. (In fact, I'm not even sure
it was ever properly released in the USA; the used copy I found is on the
Alfa International label out of Japan, licensed from Geffen). The record
features versions of the songs "Coming Up Roses" and "The Sky Is Falling,"
both of which appear on the new Owsley self-titled.
Owsley has been touring the US as an opening act for Fountains Of Wayne
this summer, a good match. Unfortunately, his album is already
well-represented with multiple copies in the used bins (at least here in
Los Angeles) so Lord knows what his eventual commercial fate will be. I try
not to get too accustomed to equating my favorite artists with commercial
failure, but sometimes...
Well, that's enough for a post with little-to-no XTC content.
Drew
------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990806021302.007b7100@pacbell.net> Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 02:13:02 -0700 From: "Zack 'Vegetable & Mineral' Rock" <e-sheep@pacbell.net> Subject: The FCC is making me cry. "The FCC is now allowing companies to own up to SEVEN radio stations in one market." Seven? Seven? Seven radio stations? Seven? In one market? Seven? F-word. This is terrible news. You know, there used to be a station in my town that played good music. It was the first place I heard "Making Plans For Nigel". It was the first place I heard They Might Be Giants. Beside Tiny Toons. I used to call it up all the time and request Talking Heads and Madness..... and they would play it. It was great. They were always trying out new music. In fact, I think it was the station that I'm currently speaking of, hereafter know as Live105, that sponsored the first American Radiohead concert. It was truly a great station. Then it was bought by CBS. Now they air Howard Stern until noon and Loveline from 10 to midnight. Everything in between is either crap or less then crap. Like Hole. Or Garbage. Or Rage Against the Machine. Or Korn. Live105 was my beautiful forest, CBS was the littering hippies, and I now am the Indian shedding a single tear. For a time, there was a brief ray of sunlight streaming thru the airways. WINO radio, a FM pirate station. The played all sorts of great stuff, I even heard them play the Residents one time. The Residents. Oh, man. And speaking of man, guess who it was that shut WINO down? The Man. Uncle Charlie. The FCC. The FCC shut down a music lovin', no profit, no harm radio station, and they let large, money lovin' companies have seven radio stations in one market alone? This is very, very, wrong. But what can I do, you might be asking yourself, I am only one person. I do not have the money or influence to change anything. Well I say, not with that additude you don't. S-word, arn't we the listening public?! Are we not a mad mass of voters? Seriously, I mean we must have some sort of power, this is a democracy, is it not?! WHAT THE H-WORD IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?! HAVE WE ALL GONE COMPLETELY INSANE!? WHAT'S THIS BACKSTREET BOYS CRAP?! WHAT THE H-WORD IS A LIMP BISKIT?! FUTHERMORE, WHAT'S A NOOKIE?! FORGET STING, WHO THE F-WORD IS THIS PUFF DADDY GUY?!?! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE ART OF MUSIC?! WHEN DID EVERYBODY START TRUSTING BUSINESSMEN MORE THEN THEIR OWN EARS?! AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHH!!!!!! So I encourage all who read this, please, for the sake of the country, do what ever you can to stop this raping of the public's collective ear. Write letters, post some web pages, and if you have the means, put up a pirate radio station and start flooding the land with decent, creative music. Like XTC. Please. I'll give you a dollar. Zack P.S. I won't really give you a dollar. P.S.S. Sorry for the yelling. I needed to vent. P.P.S.S. Anyone here like the Field Mice?
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001101bedfee$8795bb20$3c86b3d1@oemcomputer> From: "Aaron Pastula" <apastula@earthlink.net> Subject: Longstanding opinions Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 02:31:49 -0700 Hello, All -- Just to touch upon a few subject that have been floating around... I was in high school when Nirvana hit it big. I remember the shift that occured when it happened...perhaps it wasn;t the most poignant musical moment of the 90's, but there's no denying the fact that Cobain's talents were a welcome breath of fresh air. If nothing else, he shook things up when they desperately needed shaking...in fact, that;s probably part of the reason why their success was so widespread. I felt the effects of this even more when he died...I remember this sense of indescribable loss. Call me overly sentimental, but he was the only artist of the 90's that really made me sit up and take notice, and no one has even come close since...and, I really don't think that anyone could have. This is, perhaps, as much a tribute to the timing of Nirvana's success as it is to their (his) talents. As for prog rock, no one has mentioned Gentle Giant. Though certainly not the most popular prog group, they are without a doubt (in my enlightened opinion) the most creative and talented of bands to emerge from this era. Any prog fan who isn't at least partially versed in the music of GG is missing out on a HUGE HUGE talent. Trust me. I am not wrong. And harkening back to a VERY old thread, Nonsuch is one of XTC's best records, hands down. AP
------------------------------
From: JEFFREY.THOMAS.JT@bayer-ag.de
Subject: Trying to shovel smoke with a pitchfork in the wind
Message-Id: <0006800013892533000002L032*@MHS>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 12:40:59 +0200
Hey "Kreideberger",
Having now caught up with my missing digests, I am tempted to jump into
that oh-so-dangerous tributary of the ongoing debate over music, i.e. the
aspect re. "flaming"/attacking of others and the associated bickering in
this digest. It's uncomfortable territory for me, which is why I usually
just sit back and enjoy the ride. I also am quite aware that even if I say
"Cheers to Dunks and Mark for keeping the tone civil", or "Must it always
be so aggressive, guys?", that it won't do a bit of good, because there
will be others who live for the fight, who love to argue and debate, and to
be caustic or even...sarcastic (I was terrified of Doug...). (I also find
it interesting to read that the Brits are apparently better at
taking/dishing out/understanding irony and sarcasm than the Americans are,
etc. 'S'that so? Hey, whatever blows your dress up, I guess.)
But 2 aspects are of particular interest to note:
1) That those who are capable of understanding irony and/or sarcasm seem to
like to bait those who don't. I personally feel this is abusing your
"power" (here: abilities) at the expense of another, which is pretty bad
behaviour. I also would venture a guess that those who act this way don't
give a shit about my opinion. This, of course, makes those people wankers.
2) That both camps should try to remember that the written word is without
inflection -- or at least the finer nuances thereof -- and therefore easy
to misinterpret. I almost lost a dear internet friend of mine because,
while reading my messages, she didn't inflect my words in her head the way
I did when I wrote them. This is particularly true of aggressively written
sarcasm, i.e. don't just tell Molly or whoever to "imagine Dom writing
with a smile in his voice", also tell Dom to chill a little when writing.
No, you can't completely censor a personality or turn an overly sensitive
person into a cool one, but both sides can try.
Here in Germany, the term for a very obvious hint or action (usually
well-meant ones) is "waving with a fencepost". The problem here being
that, for example, even if almost everyone could see the "wanker" thing
coming, at least one person couldn't and this was probably a calculated
risk. Not too nice -- even if funny. And if it wasn't a calculated risk,
then the old adage about the "truth isn't only what was said, but also what
was heard" comes into play. There's no need for carnage here at
Chalkhills. Do what you will, but harm none ('less of course they ask
you).
- Jeff "got to get back to the garden" Thomas
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199908061144.MAA28923@mailhost.dircon.co.uk> Subject: Yes Dave Sprouts Rollers Date: Fri, 6 Aug 99 12:44:26 +0100 From: John Morrish <morrish@dircon.co.uk> It's good to see that the dear old Independent of London has at least one reader. Readers of my little feature about bands breaking up -- http://chalkhills.org/articles/Independent9908.html (Yes, you can have permission, John) -- will probably have guessed that some of the examples given -- Yes, PiL -- owe more to the ready availability of their phone numbers than deep personal enthusiasm. YES I have to say that Steve twiddly-twiddly-twiddly power-chord Howe of Yes/Asia/GTR/Yeggles fame is a very pleasant guy. And the Tales of Phonographic Commotions he told me, while being somewhat over-long and repetitious, were still quietly hilarious. Like a lot of these ProgRock people he's an ordinary old-fashioned guy with tremendous technical facility but no particular social, political or even artistic agenda. Usually someone else in the band would do all that for them, while they concentrated on polishing their chops, their instrument collections and their piles of krugerrands. So they're funny, and relaxed, and they don't take it seriously. A lot of post-punk artists, meanwhile, are still practising their tortured artist impressions DAVE Moving swiftly on, Dave G seems happier than he has been for a while. The Violinda saga seems to have fizzled out but he has done a whole album's worth of guitar for Cathal Coghlan (sp?) of Fatima Mansions and Microdisney (coming soon on Cooking Vinyl) and really revelled in it. XTC content: the legal details of their separation are now settled. Dave is talking to Colin, and has even been round to see the studio, but not while Andy was there... SPROUTS Years ago I asked the brothers McAloon what they thought of XTC. The response was a certain amount of sneering, but at that time Paddy and especially Martin were convinced that they were going to carry all before them. A big contract with CBS (now Sony) had persuaded them of that. But unfortunately the hits kept not coming, and now there's nothing much to choose between two of the world's greatest unknown bands. It's shameful that Andromeda Heights didn't make it to the States, and if I was over there I'd be on to CDNow quicker than you can say Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque. It's a great record, if you accept Paddy's central direction, which is to write "Classic" songs of the sort that Sinatra might (in a parallel universe) have been persuaded to sing. This sort of delusion really destroyed Bryan Ferry, but Paddy thrives on it. This couldn't me more removed from Andy P, who is a Romantic Artist, aiming to be ever more individual and true to himself. But in other ways Paddy has long since turned into Andy. Those few musicians who played on AH say that Paddy (who doesn't tour) gave them a demo that was identical in all but audio quality to the finished record he wanted, and then asked them to reproduce it. The other difference is (I think) that Paddy is as religious (Catholic) as Andy is sacriligious: "There'll be no stampede on those Pearly Gates". Think of that and quake... ROLLERS Sorry, I don't know how they came to dominate my piece. Four words in paragraph 28, and all of a sudden there's a big picture, a standfirst and a headline ... Someone at the Indie clearly had a bit of a crush when she was younger... Any takers for Anomie and Bonhomie? I thought not... John Morrish
------------------------------ From: Huw Davies <DaviesHPT@cardiff.ac.uk> Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 12:54:55 GMT0BST Subject: The State of Music Today Message-ID: <602D8D74B01@PARKLA1S.CF.AC.UK> To those of you who are concerned about the state of the music charts today I think what Giles Smith wrote in his book "Lost in Music" still rings true: "When people complain that the charts are full of crap, they forget one crucial thing: that even when they were brilliant, the charts were full of crap. Crap is what the charts are made to be full of." On the subject of definitive 70's artists: what about David Bowie? The trouble with bands like Yes and even Led Zeppelin is that they are too much of their time and they haven't aged well. XTC content? Well there is a Giles Smith-XTC connection so I think that's enough. Huw Davies (http://members.tripod.co.uk/davieshuw/index.html)
------------------------------ From: OMBEAN1@aol.com Message-ID: <38f88d9b.24dc45b4@aol.com> Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:05:40 EDT Subject: Blur & XTC Hillo, Has anyone seen/ heard the new Blur song " Coffee & TV"? They have a nice ending that sounds a lot like "The Ugly Underneath". Werent they the band who said Andy was making them sound too much like XTC? Correct me if I'm wrong. Its a great video by the way. COME ON RAIN!!! Roger
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37AAF37E.D5264526@averstar.com> Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 10:40:15 -0400 From: Harrison Sherwood <sherwood@averstar.com> Subject: Take a Bow, John > From: "jonathan monnickendam" <monnickj@hotmail.com> > Subject: Dave Gregory & The Divorce > UK readers ; get hold of the Independent 3/8/99 p8 which talks about band > break ups and reforms, the Bay City Rollers, teh Eagles and Yes > (topical).But in amongst all these super stars is our very own Dave G, no > chance of a kiss and make up. > [ http://chalkhills.org/articles/Independent9908.html ] What's particularly cool about this fine, exhaustively researched article is that it was written by your friend and mine, Chalkhills denizen John Morrish, who really ought to post more. Don't you think? Harrison "After this post I'm gonna kick your ass" Sherwood
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4782AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C12DB65A@mgmtm02.parliament.uk> From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk> Subject: Re: Kurdt and Freddie Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 12:10:14 +0100 >>I love Queen in any era, but I have really bad tastes in music since I like Genesis and other progressive rock groups. Molly, seriously, can we have a little less self-pity? Since numerous people, myself included, are clearly big fans of progressive rock, your statement is rather pointless and not a little petulant. Mind you, I'm a fine one to talk.... >>Quit judging people's musical tastes. No. That's what 90% of our dicussions are based on. Take that away and we'd have nothing to talk about. Besides, one of the most enjoyable things about discussing music is the fact that we can slag things off and be unreasonable without anyone getting hurt. The phrase "Phil Collins is a talentless wanker" is in no way a criticism of anyone who listens to him (tee hee....well, maybe just a little bit!) and the fact that someone disagrees with you about Queen (and I must admit I think most of their 80s stuff sucks cack from a stoat's ring-piece) doesn't mean they're attempting to make your life a misery. Having said that, this has been pointed out hundreds of times before. It's the 60-second attention span forum!!!! >> I really think the biggest or most influencial artist of the 90's was Kurt Cobain for a number of reasons. But I may be opening up pandora's box... Yes, I can hear the lid creaking backwards..........I shall restrain myself on this occasion, limiting myself to pointing out that we always referred to him as Kurt No-brain, the man who disappeared up his own self-pity.......... Obviously Nirvana were good, and Cobain wrote some brilliant tunes (with feeble lyrics, but that's heroin for you), but his influence on music has been largely negative - all that self-indulgent, whining, apathetic drivel which now passes for rock music. At least Marilyn Manson has a sense of humour! Also, Kurt left us with that stupid Courtney Love woman. Honestly, never has such a minor talent made such an effort to be noticed.....and at such high volume too. ...but then I assume that a lot of XTC fans were left cold by the whole grunge thing. Being a Metal fan (STOP GROANING!!!) it all struck me as slightly comical - i.e. if it looks like Metal, sounds like Metal but it's up its own arse, it must be grunge! - particularly the way Nirvana were seen as being REAL while Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains were sneered at for being corporate rock.......like there was a difference!!! ...and speaking of Heavy Metal..... >>Well, I guess there are plenty of XTC fans who also enjoy Prefab Sprout. You can count me in on that one, particularly with regard to "Swoon" and "Steve McQueen". I saw them live at Hammersmith Odeon once, on the 'Jordan' tour, and Paddy McAloon wandered through the audience during "The King Of Rock'n'Roll" (not one of their finer moments, it has to be said) and shook a few hands, mine included. I must be the only Sabbath obsessive to be thrilled by such a thing.......odd really. Salut! DOM.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199908061416.KAA26314@nantucket.net> Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:53:02 -0400 Subject: Come On Feel the XTC From: "Diamond" <arnos@nantucket.net> Recently, I've been thinking about what makes an artist or a band great. Specifically, I was thinking about why I love XTC so much, but I realized that my answer works for all the bands I love. The answer I came up with for why I love XTC is the fact that every album has it's own feel. It's one step in another direction from the previous album. They're always evolving. I mean, look at their first two albums, and then look at Drums and Wires. What a leap! And then from D+W to Black Sea! again, imense change, getting more and more pop-influenced, while defining their own sound even more. Then think about how they changed from Skylarking to O+L, obviously influenced by their dukes of stratosphere side project. Then look at their latest release. AV1 is, I think, a monster of an album. Terrific, beutiful, pop masterpeice, unlike anything they've done before. Another surprise from the greatest band ever. And now, with AV2 soon to come, we start thinking about what surprises are ahead of us. What are these (Now two) boys from swindon going to bring us next? I can only wit here and wait. Kevin Diamond P.S. Someone mentioned music videos in the last post. I always thought that ROO would make a great music video. I even have an idea of what it should be in my head. But alas, it was not ment to be. (ROO is actually my favorite song on that album. And what's with people dissing this album, saying it's uneven. The only song on it I really don't like is Knights in Shining Karma, besides that I think it's an awsome album. anyway, taa taa for now (TTFN).
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990806153507.12186.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Ralph Simpson DeMarco" <sawpit@hotmail.com> Subject: That Eclectic Decade Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 08:35:06 PDT Greetings to the Affiliated: Chris(the other one)wrote: >Personally I'd pick Pink Floyd or Elton John as more representative of the >spirit of the 70's on a musical level, they certainly graced more college >and high school turntables than Yes anyway. Hmmm. Yes had one great album "Fragile". It is hard to find any other album they recorded which comes even close to that one. I think Yes was a band that could have been great, but the song writing left a bit to be desired. If you're talkin' college and high school, it really depended on where you went to school. I went to a State School in a New York suburb and I was told by a professor that when the Talking Heads played at my old college in 1977, they were booed off stage! My school was hippie heaven where bands like The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Steely Dan, The Allman Brothers, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Can and Frank Zappa were more popular than anything new and off-beat. For the majority of students, Punk or so-called New Wave was just not tolerated. I'm sure this was not the case in other colleges (especially in New York City), or in England for that matter. Nobody can come close to agreeing who or what "defines' music in the 70s because the 70s were, in my opinion, the most eclectic decade of popular music ever. For goodness sakes, The Band was releasing new music until 1976, and at the same time. groups like the Sex Pistols and the Clash (and XTC) were just taking off, P-Funk was arriving on the Mothership, Disco and ABBA was huge in Europe, and Bob Marley was making reggae an international phenomenon. We all have our own pet bands. For me, Steely Dan defines the 70s. Progressive, slick and very intelligent song writing. They blended rock, jazz, r&b, and world music with intelligent lyrics. I suppose Dave Gregory and I have similar tastes. What's not mentioned in Song Stories about Colin's "Angry Young Men" is that it is the most Steely Dan-ish song XTC has ever recorded. Just listen to Dave's solo - sounds like Larry Carlton to me. Anyway, that's all for now, Ralphie
------------------------------
From: shawn_berkeley@frontiercorp.com
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 08:54:06 -0400
Message-ID: <00180c47.c21508@frontiercorp.com>
Subject: Big Takeover offer and a few items...
All-
-If anyone would like my used (in only the best sense of the word)
copy of The Big Takeover, it will be sent free in the usa (sorry) to
the first to reply to (sberkeley@frontiercorp.com).
_____________
>>Rob Allen wrote
>>I have been a big fan of YMO and Ryuichi Sakamoto for 20 years
>>(same as XTC!). Andy Partridge plays on Sakamoto's 1980 "B-2 Unit"
>>CD. What DOES he play? The liner notes just mention his
>>name. That's all. This oddball CD is worth seeking out.
-Definitely Sakamoto continues to be great (Anger/Grief was a strong
one {Sony classical!}) and B2-Unit is quirky-non-pop-goodness, but I
have never been able to identify Andy's contributions either. In
the Japanese liner-notes (translated for me) there is no further
info in this regard. Sakamoto may have wanted to work with Andy due
to "Take-away/Lure of salvage" becoming a semi-hit in Japan; B2-unit
has that "made on the mixing board" feel to it that TA/LOS has
doesn't it?
_______________
-Do the Sting, Phil Collins and Yes (God forbid there is one) lists
talk of xtc anyone?
Regards- Shawn
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-243 *******************************
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6 August 1999 / Feedback