Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 244
Date: Sunday, 8 August 1999

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 244

                  Sunday, 8 August 1999

Today's Topics:

                   Shoveling more smoke
                       cobain & av1
                    Bitch Bitch Bitch
                    The "Cobain thing"
                    re: The Verve Pipe
                  No GREENMAN Single!!!!
                     MGN XTC Hotbed ?
            Re:The FCC is making me cry, et al
                     B-2 Unit Wonkery
                     Future of radio
            Gentle Giant, long-ish digression
                    Re: Prefab Sprout
                       L.A. XTCers
                          Owsley
                    Re. Kurt CoBANE...
                      Greenman. Not!
         The Might Zep, The Bland Cobain & Stink
                      Re: The Bears
                     Pirate Radio!?!?
                       Where's XTC?

Administrivia:

    To UNSUBSCRIBE from the Chalkhills mailing list, send a message to
    <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> with the following command:

	unsubscribe

    For all other administrative issues, send a message to:

	<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>

    Please remember to send your Chalkhills postings to:

	<chalkhills@chalkhills.org>

    World Wide Web: <http://chalkhills.org/>

    The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.

    Chalkhills is compiled with Digest 3.7 (John Relph <relph@sgi.com>).

Even I never knew this is what I'd be.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: JEFFREY.THOMAS.JT@bayer-ag.de
Subject: Shoveling more smoke
Message-Id: <0006800013904829000002L092*@MHS>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 18:05:27 +0200

A "down" day here in "Kreideberger"-land.

Harrison wrote about violence at a rock festival, the "Brand Sixties" and
closed with:

>Peace and love, sister--now show us your tits.
>Ugly world. Ugly, ugly world.

Fascinating stuff, as well-written as we would expect, and intensely
provocative.  Sad, but true, it is an ugly ugly world; nevertheless, the
descriptions are strikingly stereotypically Anglo-Saxon on one hand ("show
me your tits" is harsh, but let's face it, what "northern" countries have a
harder time coming to terms with sexual and bodily aspects than do the
English-speaking ones?  I've never seen any.).  And on the other -- perhaps
I am reading this wrong? -- the text seems to imply exactly that which it
is decrying, i.e. that the 90s "Wouldstock" violence is something that
mightn't/couldn't have happened at the original 60s one.  Like, as if there
were no bad eggs at Woodstock and no one was gang-raped there?  Maybe they
were just too numbed to notice!  Bad people were there then, and if they
didn't show their ugly heads at Yasgur's Farm, then it was just plain
*luck*.  (Cf.  Altamont, as mentioned.)  It is an ugly world, which leads
us to...

May wrote:

>What on earth do overfed middle-class white kids have to
>riot over?  Perhaps they should be blowing up their own
>televisions and computers while simultaneously setting their
>mommy-bought Lucky Brand jeans ablaze.  They have only
>themselves to blame for their disgruntled state.  Perhaps
>it's boredom due to overstimulation and lack of identity?
>I feel like sending up a blimp (appropriate) to travel across
>America with the words GET A LIFE emblazoned in red across
>its belly.

Good idea, I've thought about it, too.  While we're at it, send that blimp
to Europe and give the message to the British, German, and Dutch football
hools, then onto Japan to tell the Brazilian-bashers and...

(Having said all that, will this post influence the behaviour of a single
person?  Thought so...)

If you're looking for me, I'll be out shoveling smoke...

Help me get through these cynical days.

- Jeff

------------------------------

From: dan@gge.com
Message-ID: <37AB140F.447B8207@gge.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:57:57 -0700
Subject: cobain & av1

thought i'd chime in on this kurt cobain thing.
love him, like him or hate him, you can't deny nirvana's influence on
popular music in the 90s. 'nevermind' gave radio a much-needed physik
and paved a path for alot of other similar (ie: punk-ish) bands to vie
for space among the raft of vapid dance pop and power ballads that had
dominated the airwaves. i was never a big grunge fan (or radio fan for
that matter), but found it refreshing to see the pop scene expand the
way it did when seattle was mecca.
i remember seeing green day in a tiny club here in san francisco about 6
yrs ago. i had known about them for a couple of months and was glad to
have a chance to see them play, as i'd just moved here from the east
coast. the show was great & we ended up chatting with them a bit
afterward. a few months later i saw them on mtv in a prime-time slot and
the cover of spin magazine! i believe this is entirely due to the fact
that nirvana broke a hole in the dike and the 'industry' was snatching
up grunge and punk-type bands as fast as they could at that time.
similar phenomenon to the late 70s post-sex pistols craze.
it's not a question of talent or song-writing ability. it's what's
popular, what's marketed, and what kind of niche is created in the wake
of 'the next big thing'.

steve wrote:
>Now that the smoke has cleared and most of our emotional attachments
>to AV1 have dissolved...  Where do folks see it in relation to the rest of
>the discography?

it's hard to say. if i was a relatively new fan i think i might hate
everything pre- black sea. indeed, everything pre-black sea seems like a
different band to me so it's hard to look at the catalog as a whole. if
i was a skylarking-and-on fan i'd put it at: skylarking, nonsvch, av1
and lastly O&L. but i'm an english settlement-and-on kid, so i would
say:
E/S, nonsvch, skylarking, mummer, av1, big express, then O&L. am i
forgetting anything?
what's funny, and contradictory, is that the song 'chalkhills &
children' has been #1 of my personal mental top-40 chart for like 3
weeks!

I'm skating over thin ice,
while some nonesuch net holds me aloft,
dan

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990806170914.11807.rocketmail@web110.yahoomail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:09:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: Bitch Bitch Bitch

Molly wrote:

>I don't see what was wrong with Queen in the 80s?  I love Queen in any
>era, but I have really bad tastes in music since I like Genesis and other
>progressive rock groups.  And if anybody "suggests" other bands to my list
>I will comment.  Nobody's going to say, "Oh put this group in this ara,
>because they were better."  Quit judging people's musical tastes.

Several things to respond to here:
1. I thought I was suggesting changes to David Seddon's list, not
yours.
2.  I was not trying to bash progressive rock (this time). My tastes in
progressive run more towards Can and Henry Cow,  but everyone else can
listen to what they want, I could care less.
3.  I was not judging people's musical tastes (this time). I thought
the post in question dealt with INFLUENTIAL bands, not favorite ones. I
put the Smiths on the list, for example,  because like them or hate
them, they have had a pretty huge influence over many of the British
bands of the '90's.
4.  Saying thet Queen were not as good or as influential in the '80's
as they were in the '70's is hardly news to anyone. Again, whether ot
not you like them has nothing to do with it. I am a huge REM fan,  but
I suggested them for the '80's list because their '90's work is not
nearly as good or as influential as it was in the '80's. I can
criticize the later work of a band I like, cant you take a little
criticism of a band you like?
5.  In response to my changes, David Seddon wrote "Can't disagree
particularly with your comments, Tyler.  They're fair points".

Music fans are all opinionated sorts. We all think our tastes are
sublime and everyone else's shit.  It's true, whether or not you admit
it. Many of the postings on this list prove that point. A little good
natured chiding about the relative merits of this or that band is fun,
and wont leave any long-lasting scars. I took all kinds of grief while
in high school for being the only person in the tiny village I grew up
in who listened to 'new wave', and I turned out (relatively) fine.
And, I'm only human. Next time I'm feeling really bitchy, I'm liable to
send off a post slamming not only music but anything else I can think
of (I've done it before).
I guess what I'm trying to say, in a long-winded way, is: Lighten up!

------------------------------

Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990806142455.009235f0@smtpgw.ametsoc.org>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 14:24:55 -0400
From: David Gershman <dgershmn@ametsoc.org>
Subject: The "Cobain thing"

Howdy all,

David Seddon sedd:
>Afraid I just can't see the Cobain greatness thing...
>I don't think he wrote any music people are going to want to cover in 10
>years time and he wasn't that great a musician.  The Nirvana albums bored
>the life out of me and I found it very hard to discern any sort of melody
>thru' the noise. What exactly was it that he or his music are deemed
>to have done that was fresh, interesting or musically new?  I can see that
>he and his band had energy, but so what.  We could all name a hundred
bands with that quality.
>Finally, he also became 100 times more important after his death and that
>gives the game away for me!

I'm not going to try to convert you to Nirvana, but let me just point out
something to the anti-Cobainers here that you seem to be willfully
overlooking or selectively forgetting: Cobain and Nirvana *were indeed*
considered very important even before his death! They were pretty much the
biggest (and best) thing going in rock in the early '90s, and his death may
have increased his personal legend, but the band was *not* merely
considered just another rock band before his death.

As for your question: "What exactly was it that he or his music are deemed
to have done that was fresh, interesting or musically new?," let me quote
from the All Music Guide to help answer that:

> Prior to Nirvana, alternative music was consigned to specialty sections
> of record stores, and major labels considered it to be, at the very most,
> a tax write-off. After the band's second album, 1991's Nevermind, nothing
> was ever quite the same, for better and for worse. Nirvana popularized
> punk, post-punk and indie-rock, unintentionally bringing it into the
> American mainstream like no other band before it. While its sound was
> equal parts Black Sabbath (as learned by fellow Washington underground
> rockers, the Melvins) and Cheap Trick, Nirvana's aesthetics were strictly
> indie-rock.  They covered Vaselines songs, they revived New Wave cuts by
> Devo, and leader Kurt Cobain relentlessly pushed his favorite bands --
> whether it was art-punk of the Raincoats or the country-fried hardcore of
> the Meat Puppets -- as if his favorite records were always more important
> than his own music. While Nirvana's ideology was indie-rock and their
> melodies were pop, the sonic rush of their records and live shows merged
> the post-industrial white noise with heavy metal grind. And that's what
> made the group an unprecedented multi-platinum sensation. Jane's
> Addiction and Soundgarden may have proven to the vast American heavy
> metal audience that alternative could rock, and the Pixies may have
> merged pop sensibilities with indie-rock white noise, but Nirvana pulled
> at all together, creating a sound that was both fiery and melodic. . . .
> The band's legacy stands as one of the most influential in rock & roll
> history.

Couldn't have said it better myself,

Dave Gershman

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990806202401.21577.rocketmail@web122.yahoomail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 13:24:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: julescheer <julescheer@yahoo.com>
Subject: re: The Verve Pipe

<<Now the new album is out. Does anyone know if Andy
(or Kate) actually participated?>>

I'm holding "The Verve Pipe" in my hot little hands.
Although the XTC influence is present, Andy is not
(Kate either).  The influence is obvious on several of
the tracks..."Hero," "La La," "She Has Faces" and "In
Between" especially.  It's a terrific album!

Rumor has it that "Blow You Away" will probably end up
as a B-side (it was left off the album at the last
minute).  There are other rumors circulating re:
TVP/XTC collaborations, but nothing firm enough to
report.

------------------------------

From: BobB22@aol.com
Message-ID: <ac4cb89d.24dca404@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 16:48:04 EDT
Subject: No GREENMAN Single!!!!

I am only taking a guess on this but when I talked to Cookin Vinyl Records
they told me that Greenman was not scheduled to be released......I was also
told by them that they no longer have the CD single I'd Like That W/ Demo
and how the song came to be as told by Andy........NOW, either XTC is
selling Cd's like hot cakes or again XTC is stuck with a label that will
not promote them.......is it me?????? or is XTC only great to a few of
us??? Any comments????

Bob Bianco......see my Beatles site at  
http://members.aol.com/BobB22/index.html

------------------------------

Message-ID: <005901bee052$b3490600$92bc883e@e.e>
From: "john" <john@bartlett132.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: MGN XTC Hotbed ?
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 22:28:31 +0100
Organization: i

>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)

      Well, I make that 4 people with ties to MGN/ ex MGN companies on this
list. Perhaps Bob Maxwell himself had "Senses" on the stereo as he went over
the side. This is getting to be more than a coincidence. Perhaps that's 4
copies of the new single sold (which is released on 9-8-99 according to my
local cd emporium.)
    Cheers,
        John

------------------------------

From: dan@gge.com
Message-ID: <37AB5996.A70DF5CF@gge.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 14:54:57 -0700
Subject: Re:The FCC is making me cry, et al

i have to say i have been so jaded for so long that i literally can't
remember the last time i was turned on to something new and interesting
via fm radio. it was probably more than 10 yrs ago, i shit you not. the
only time i listen to the radio is in the car and then its strictly npr,
baby. i'd rather listen to a monotonous discourse on labor strife in
burma for half an hour than hear one commercial played. hell, i'd
probably tune in to pop stations from time to time, out of morbid
curiosity if it weren't for those obnoxious, insulting, insidious
commercials.
i digress.
what i want to know is, what does it mean; 'seven stations in one
market'? one market of what? could someone email me privately and
explain how that works?
oh, and zack, those people who get busted for home-grown pirate radio
stations? you'd probably get in less trouble if you were selling
security info wholesale to north korea while simutaneously importing 10
tons of heroine a week into the country through the white house basement
while disguised as the pope than people who do that. the fcc doesn't
f*ck around, and they don't take kindly to the proles muscling in on
valuable advertising space. as zippy would say, "yow!"

ralphie wrote:
>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

never noticed before, but by god, you're right! i can hear donald fagen
singing it so clearly! in fact i agree with you whole-heartedly about
steely dan. also, there's another great bunch of songsters that said 'up
the tour circuit' and found their identity in the studio.

-dan

------------------------------

Message-ID: <022e01bee05f$672a6860$f74778c7@JH3.alternatech.net>
From: "JH3" <jh3@netins.net>
Subject: B-2 Unit Wonkery
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:59:55 -0500

Ah, finally a chance for some first-class XTC trainspotting
wonkery!

Rob Allen writes:
>>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.

...And Shawn Berkeley:
>...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.

I've been told that as well, about the liner notes. It's always
bothered me because I consider myself something of an expert
on Andy's guest appearances on other people's records. I've also
been told that none of the other guest musicians were guitar
players, so I figure that the guitars on the album were entirely
done by Andy, who didn't play keyboards at all back then
(1979-80). Also, as XTC fans, we just assume that anyone with
a chance to work with Andy Partridge on their album would want
to feature him very prominently, but that isn't the case here - his
parts are buried in the mixes beneath those bubbling, gurgling,
1980-vintage synths. But after listening to it many times through
the headphones, there are six songs I can hear Andy-esque
guitars on, namely:

"Differencia" (there's this sort of scratchy muted-string arpeggio
going on in there that gets replaced by a synth at the end)

"participation mystique" (the distorted guitar, also towards the
end, is so low in the mix you can barely hear it)

"E-3A" (in which there's some upper-fret noodling, starting about
halfway through, that sounds like the sort of Beefhearty thing Andy
would have been likely to do at the time, vaguely reminiscent of
some of the Homo Safari numbers)

"Riot In Lagos" (released as a 12" single - I think Andy mostly just
plays one or two guitar notes on this one, as if it were a percussion
instrument)

"Not the 6 o'clock news" (in which you can just barely hear an
acoustic (!) guitar being played in the classic choppy Andy style,
again almost as if it were a percussion instrument)

"the end of europe" (where he's doing some heavily flanged
distorted feedback stuff, also low in the mix, that predates
Sonic Youth by at least a few years)

We'd need somebody who was actually at the recording
sessions to give us something official. But it was a long time
ago, and finding someone who remembers that much detail,
especially on a record like that, isn't very likely. It would've
been nice if they'd made Andy's contributions more audible,
and nicer still to give him parts on "Thatness & Thereness"
and "Iconic Storage" - IMO the two most memorable tunes on
the album - but what the hell, I guess we'll always have those
Martin Newell and Stephen Duffy albums. (Not to mention XTC
albums...)

And as long as I'm posting this anyway, the people who are
saying such nice things about the Owsley album are absolutely
correct. You, the discerning music consumer, should heed their
wise and valuable advice and pick this up, pronto.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to (belatedly) thank and applaud
The Fabulous Bob Estus for his time and talents in putting together
the animated Oranges & Lemons cover AVI file (which you can get
at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/4623/lemonade.htm ),
easily the coolest thing I've ever seen on the Internet. If you haven't
checked this out yet, you're wacked! Get with the program!

John "why no between-the-name quotes?" Hedges
XTCware: http://www.alternatech.net/jh3/xtc

------------------------------

Message-Id: <s7ab23f9.085@mail.emmis.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 18:04:47 -0500
From: Erik Meyer <Erikm@stl.emmis.com>
Subject: Future of radio

I am writing this before finishing reading my current
digest, so forgive me if I repeat anything.  This is in
response to all the talk about corporate radio, and its
downward spiral.

I currently have a crappy job with an active rock station,
so almost every little bit we play is crap, but the perks
are good.  We also own two other stations in the market, and
are in the process of possibly buying a few more in the
market.  I do feel as though I have something to add.

What makes radio suck is the dependence on research, and the
idiots with Arbitron diaries.  At the same time, as long as
clients look at the ratings, we must also consider them
important.  But don't think that a program director is about
to put a song on the air 40 times a week just because a
label tells him to.  A song must either be seen as good by
the programming staff for the market demographic, or people
all around the country are buying it.  I feel, and I think a
lot of you would agree, that the average music listener
doesn't know his ear from his ass.  Therefore the music
played, for whatever reason, sucks ass (I'm trying to keep
my poor language to a minimum).

I'm sorry but don't blame radio for the fact that the
majority of the music released is complete crap.  Hell, I
don't know why Bob Mould, Moz, and Frank Black among others
who I love dearly , have lost their souls.  Although, I am
stuck in the hell called corporate radio.

On the subject of having 7 stations, who cares.  As long as
radio is profit driven, like everything else in this world,
bad music will continue to be produced for people that like
bad music.  Even after writing this I hope I can stay on the
list, but we who are critical of the music we listen to are
a minority.  I still believe that we should blame the idiots
that listen to the Backstreet Boys, and Limp Bizkit for
creating the demand.

Well, I hope I got my point accross, I'm going to go shoot
myself.

Erik

------------------------------

From: fheaney@erols.com
Message-ID: <000001bee05d$c41a7080$39e37ad1@default>
Subject: Gentle Giant, long-ish digression
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 18:47:38 -0400

Aaron Pastula wrote:

> 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.

It's true; he is not wrong.  Probably the only thing that kept them from
taking off was their lack of a distinct personality, as was had by Genesis
(Peter Gabriel), King Crimson (Robert Fripp), and Yes (Jon Anderson, and to
some extent, Rick Wakeman, whose flashy keyboard playing made him extremely
popular).  But musically, they compare pretty well, overall.  I recommend
their third and fourth albums, "Three Friends" and "Octopus".  (And they're
priced really cheaply at CDnow...if you find one of their coupons for $10
off a purchase of $15 or more, they'll come to around $6 each, including
tax and postage.)  Then if you haven't had enough overlooked prog rock
after that, you can start buying up the essential Caravan ("In the Land of
the Grey and Pink", "If I Had to Do It All Over Again...", and "For Girls
Who Grow Plump in the Night").

I maintain that prog rock, like every other music genre, will have its
moment of becoming trendy again.  Certainly some current bands could fall
under the same classification, like Porcupine Tree (try "The Sky Moves
Sideways") and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, or exhibit some influence (Built to
Spill, Squarepusher, Tortoise, maybe The Loud Family...and this is the last
time I'm going to tell you people, their CD "Days for Days" was the best
album of 1998).  I predict the prog revival will evolve from an offshoot of
electronic music.  Remember, you heard it here first.

XTC content: The above-quoted Aaron Pastula has the same initials as Andy
Partridge.

-- Francis Heaney

"Sociability is hard enough for me."
   -- Blur

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990807001840.72702.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: "carey guitar" <careyguitar@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Prefab Sprout
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 17:18:40 PDT

Then band I was touring with last summer did a dozen shows opening up for
the Jesus & Mary Chain. This was before, during and after the brother's big
fight onstage which resulted in William leaving the band after 2 days of
fisticuffs... The band and the crew were wonderful if a little
untamed. They were like pirates, really. We were all in the hotel lobby in
Denver and they were chatting music, and I cut in & asked them what they
thought of Prefab Sprout. I couldn't resist jerking the Chain's chain, as
it were. It was like I pissed in their eggs. After some stinky looks of
disbelief, they kind of acknowledged that they existed, then told me what
town they were from. I remember a few of them liked Robert Fripp.

The Sprout is good, long live the Sprout! What's good about them: the
singing, full and jazzy; Dolby's influence; those aching-heart lyrics (ah,
yes!); very original.  Also the fact that my ex gave me their tape and
she's never going to get it back.

I ran into a englishman the other day.  Actually he was driving on the
wrong side of the road. I asked him about Swinbourne. He said it's kind of
magnet for high technology these days.  After reading the XTC book I
thought it was all abandoned trains.

Well, that's all for now except I wish Andy & Colin were touring.

hoisting a virtual pint from afar me twinkling 1 & 0's - Carey

------------------------------

Message-Id: <199908070119.SAA18233@intergate.sonyinteractive.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 18:18:08 -0700
From: Bob Estus <bestus@intergate.sonyinteractive.com>
Subject: L.A. XTCers

Hello,

Sorry for the short notice! (I *do* hope a Chalkhills comes out this
weekend) There's a small L.A. XTC gathering scheduled for this Tuesday
August 10th. Chalkperson Randy Hiatt and I are in town for the major
computer graphics convention "Siggraph" and thought it would be opportune
to meet with others of our ilk whilst there.

The where and when will be decided shortly after settling down this Sunday
the 8th and may depend on number interested, but will most likely be a
restaurant close to the part of town the Convention Center lies in.

The main objective is to exchange tapes, photos, stories, while consuming
dinner and or drinks. (If friend Mel shows up he should have photos of
"close encounters" of the Swindon kind.) Location suggestions welcome.
Interested parties contact me by Monday the 9th at:

Bob Estus
The Holiday Inn Pasadena
626-449-4000

see you then,
-Bob

p.s. Info about the convention, if interested http://www.siggraph.org/s99/

------------------------------

Message-ID: <37AB5714.55A6@bhip.infi.net>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 21:43:49 +0000
From: Brian <mattone@bhip.infi.net>
Subject: Owsley

Tschalkgerz!

For what its worth:

I've been listening to a new CD... guys' name is Owsley, and his
self-titled debut from Warner Bros. Records is pretty darned good.
He shopped his own home-made final master around to everyone until he
found a company that would release his album as is, without thinking
they needed another chef (producer)  in the kitchen (studio).

Some of it sounds like the Beatles, in which case will point towards the
XTCsound, somewhat.

Recommended.

-Brian
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/sapringer

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990807055249.10376.rocketmail@web308.yahoomail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 15:52:49 +1000 (EST)
From: Brent Palmer <brent_palmer@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Re. Kurt CoBANE...

As someone strongly empathising with David Seddon re.
Kurt Cobain/Nirvana, please allow me to pour a huge,
steaming vat of contempt on the grunge "revolution".
(After all, its abrasive, alienating presence still
failed to plug the flow of tawdry slush dominating the
Top 40, didn't it?)  For all the press' shovelfuls of
sentiments like "alternative", "gritty reality",
"spokeman for a generation", etc., no-one can convince
me of Seattle sludge's merits.

No doubt this viewpoint may paint me as an "old bore"
at best (for the record, I'm 25); a fascist knee-jerk
reactionary at worst.  A torrent of flame-mail could
well be heading my way.  But in a nutshell, my
viewpoint of the post-"Smells Like Teen Spirit" era is
this:

_The music industry needed Kurt Cobain like a hole in
the head!_

Meanwhile, XTC will remain _truly_ alternative to the
core, a breath of fresh air to sustain us
fashion-oblivious misfits who have yet to be
bludgeoned into "alternative" conformity. (It used to
be the Blackshirts, and the Brownshirts - now it's the
Korn-shirts!)  So thanks to all those fellow
miscellaneous flotsam-and-jetsam who are still
enraptured by classy, clean, melodic pop with a
delightfully cerebral bent!  "Don't let the loveless
ones sell you a world wrapped in grey..."

Brent,
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

===
Email: brent_palmer@yahoo.com.au
__________________________________________________________
"Why shouldn't art be pretty?  There are enough unpleasant things in the
world." - Auguste Renoir
"The music business is a hammer to keep you pegs in your holes." - Andy
Partridge, XTC

------------------------------

Message-ID: <002501bee09f$d6bd3aa0$0100a8c0@mallard>
From: "Dean Skilton" <dean@welded-widgeon.com>
Subject: Greenman. Not!
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 07:41:10 +0100
Organization: Welded Widgeon

I recently tried to order "I'd Like That" from Cooking Vinyl's web site,
and received this reply:

[Hi Dean,
Unfortunately I have to inform you that the XTC single 'I'd Like That'
is already sold out and there won't be a third single of AV l either.
But there will be an album of the demo versions for AV l, called
'Homespun' out on 27-09-99. AV ll will follow early next year.
Sorry !]

I replied, suggesting that they reconsider, given that 'Greenman' was
always (for me) the most obvious track on AV1 to be a single.

------------------------------

From: JStrole@aol.com
Message-ID: <b3495f50.24dda323@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 10:56:35 EDT
Subject: The Might Zep, The Bland Cobain & Stink

Led Zeppelin--Kurt Cobain--influential?!  With influences like that music
would turn into some homogenized, boring state, with all originality sucked
right out.

Can someone please point out a cohesive lyric that Robert Plant actually
wrote?

Can someone think of a moment that you just didn't feel sorry for
Mr. Cobain?

It was all done before and it was done much better than the two groups
mentioned above did.  While we're at it let's face facts that Jimmy Page
was the 4th best lead guitarist from The Yardbirds (don't you think Top
Topham was the cat's meow).

The Police were known to be fervent XTC fans.  Stewart Copeland wore his
Drums & Wires shirt to tatters on tour.  Plus, I have always felt Sting's
music was quite influenced by Andy.  I wouldn't be suprised to hear a
40-piece orchestra on his next solo adventure.  His solo work has been
watered down XTC songs, to me.  Come to think of it, he hasn't put out much
new material lately, coincidence?

Harry

------------------------------

From: WTDK@aol.com
Message-ID: <9b9863c1.24ddb5c1@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 12:16:01 EDT
Subject: Re: The Bears

From: "rob allen" <prefab11@hotmail.com>
>
>O.K. Chalkhillers.... help me out here. Anybody remember Adrian Belew's
>80's pop band the Bears? I've read nothing but great things about 'em. I
>know their CD's are out-of-print. Anybody heard them? Any plans for
>re-release?

Yes I've heard both albums and they are terrific. I still have the first
(misplaced the second during a move a long time ago). I'd suggest
contacting Thirsty Ear Records as they have just issued an Adrian Belew
anthology (with no Bears songs I might add) which includes solo and group
work.  Thirsty Ear might be in the process of pursuing the reissues (or
might like the suggestion) .It's possible that Cave Man Records wouldn't
license the songs from those albums.

The first album can still occasionally be found in the used bins at various
record stores.

Wayne Klein

------------------------------

Message-ID: <37AC5AA5.314A@realtime.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 17:11:18 +0100
From: chris vreeland <vreecave@realtime.com>
Organization: Vreeland Graphics
Subject: Pirate Radio!?!?

For those about to rock...
	Austin TX apparently is under attack from radio pirates! I'm not
certain of this, but I have detected a low power non commercial radio
signal where there should be none. I've tuned in off and on for the last
two days, and finally caught a deejay, who identified the station as
"Radio Free Austin, an unsposored, uncensored community experiment."
Couldn't find anything concerning it in the local media, so either they
are unaware, or perhaps this is old news, and I'm the last on my block
to find out. They are playing lots of strange and unusual music that I
don't recognize, and covering a lot of genres- the only song I've heard
before was "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan- fitting for pirate
radio, if that's what it is. Commercial Radio might be going to the
corporate dogs,but as long as there are those who will risk the wrath of
the FCC in order to broadcast for the sake of the art of music, then
there remains that spark of hope.
7 stations per market, indeed! My dial will be set to none of them.

Godspeed, ye brave and hearty pirates!

Chris Vreeland

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 19:23:33 -0400
From: douglas m clep <vtube@compuserve.com>
Subject: Where's XTC?
Message-ID: <199908071923_MC2-8031-B3A1@compuserve.com>

   Who are we? Why are we here?
The first time I heard XTC was after our bass player went to see the
Police, The next day he woke up, Ran to the record store, and came back
w/Go+
         "Nuff Said?"
   Where do you hear XTC?
  Here in Dallas I hear a "Right Wing Whacko" Radio talk show weenie use
the intro to GREENMAN as "bumper" music!
   I have also heard "My Bird" at the supermarket. And the guys on "Car
Talk" have been known to play "Roads Girdle"
   Where do you hear XTC?
Steve: Yes the smoke has cleared and Yes, AV.V.1 is still a GREAT! CD! Is
it their best?
        WHO CARES!!!!
Holly: Squeeze is not a bad word! Enjoy all music!

Everybody: Squeeze is not a bad word, But F**K is! So is B**ch, and C*nt
And I see no reason why we should put up with such language! Please whatch
yourselves!

                   }---:)

------------------------------

End of Chalkhills Digest #5-244
*******************************

Go back to Volume 5.

8 August 1999 / Feedback