Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 245
Date: Monday, 9 August 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 245
Monday, 9 August 1999
Today's Topics:
Owsley...Twain running low on soul coal
The Bears.....grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
under the influence...
It's All a Blur
Stin'
Re: The FCC is making me cry, et al
** IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT **
blistering 'Lips; Brian Vander Ark's collaboration with Andy P.
The Yes Paraniods are after me!!!!!
The Milliennium Bugger
Greenman and Demos (actual XTC content)
A Note On Pirate Radio
Prog. revival
The Bears
Zep-Cobain-and maybe XTC Too
Party and bikes.
Brimstone & Treacle
Cooking Vinyl out of I'd Like That?
The Bears Wedding
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <a1f2bff9.24de3ac2@aol.com> Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 21:43:30 EDT Subject: Owsley...Twain running low on soul coal >As for Owsley, I also have his debut and it is pure pop heaven. If I have >my facts down correctly, he played guitar with Shania Twain or someone >like that. From Nashville. Rick Buist responded: He played guitar for Amy Grant. You are correct in that it is a great album. (Not Amy Grant's; Owsley's) Okay....the facts... Owsley is from Alabama. He's distantly related to the underground chemist named Owsley....of acid fame. His father was a drum major in the much acclaimed Million Dollar Marching Band at the U of Alabama, his mother a singer and vocal coach, his brother a session guitarist, and his sister a classical pianist. Owsley got his start in the biz touring with Judson Spence..(anyone?) in the late '80's, he's even in Spence's videos which were often played on MTV. Next....he and Millard Powers(who is with him on his new release)co-founded a band which quickly dissolved, a band that included Ben Folds....who went on to front the 5. Next.....18 months with Amy Grant. Next......Owsley meets producer Mutt Lange, husband of Shania Twain. Mutt hires him to play guitar and sing a duet with Shania....which he did on shows such as: The Tonight Show, Late Night, Regis and Kathie Lee, & the American Country Music Awards. Owsley made enough money off the Twain gigs to set himself up with a home recording studio.....in which he then spent the last two years recording his new cd. He's on Giant Records.....www.giantrecords.com wesLONG
------------------------------ From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <efa00391.24de45ac@aol.com> Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 22:30:04 EDT Subject: The Bears.....grrrrrrrrrrrrr! rob allen wrote: 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? Rob....yeah baby yeah....I grew up with XTC, and Adrian Belew...there's one particular issue of the XTC fanzine The Little Express in which there is a picture of Adrian and Andy together! Anyway.....I love the Bears. They put out two releases, both of which are great......I also have a bit of live Bears material, vids and cdr's, if anyone is interested. Rumor has it that the Bears are preparing to reunite, and that a new cd will soon be released.....keep your paws crossed. wesLONG http://members.tripod.com/~The_Last_Balloon/index.html
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990808053448.82489.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Megan Heller" <hellerm@hotmail.com> Subject: under the influence... Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 22:34:46 PDT Dom mused on someone else's comments-- >>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. I was actually thinking about the Nirvana influence thing earlier today-- I listened to both the Foo Fighters' first album and Nirvana's "In Utero" and realized I actually like the former a little better. Then I thought about how little how much you like something or even how good it is has to do with influence (something I had to deal with a lot last year in Literary and Cultural Studies. How am I not going back to school this fall? but I digress). I think Nirvana *has* been the most influential band in terms of rock music in the 90s (since, of couse, one can't rule out influences within r&b/rap and even [gasp] country [it's growing--like fungus, but it is]). Of course, as Dom points out, this doesn't necessarily mean this is *good* influence. It can mean weird, strangely polished derivatives of grunge which somehow managed to become things like Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind. On the other hand, where do bands like Radiohead and an artist like Beck (who may be roughly called rock, if he must be classified) fit in? Of course, this is the problem with 'most influential' lists, which we will of course be inundated with as the decade/century draws to a close, and everyone will have a different opinion (Momus, on his website, has already declared Kraftwerk 'Group of the Century', and makes a decent argument, I think-- if you are interested, see http://www.demon.co.uk/momus/thought010899.html). Sigh... I think I may be sick of it already, though. well, enough of my online stream of consciousness... megan.
------------------------------ From: WWi8064839@aol.com Message-ID: <50c370a8.24ded5bc@aol.com> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 08:44:44 EDT Subject: It's All a Blur The subject of Blur has been kicking around in Chalkhills postings lately. I first discovered them in 1991 after hearing "There's No Other Way." I bought the CD single (which includes three bonus tracks), and was impressed by Graham Coxon's guitar playing. Much less impressed by the lead vocals. IMO, his inventive guitar work on "Modern Life is Rubbish" (1992) is one of the better aspects of the album. This is the album that Andy started to produce for the band, and although Andy was axed in favor of Stephen Street, Andy claims Blur used some of his ideas in the final product. Hear for yourself. I have read that Andy's ideas are especially evident on "Sunday Sunday" and "Chemical World." On "Colin Zeal," it's tempting to think that Andy suggested using various timepiece sound effects. MLIR is not a bad album at all, although - be warned - Blur's lyrics are extremely sarcastic and often depressing; fortunately, they are buoyed by catchy melodies. The American pressing of this CD has around 72 minutes of music; I guess that the record company put all of the B-side material on the disc, which was a great idea since some of the "extra" tracks are quite good. I can also recommend "Parklife" (1994) and "The Great Escape" (1995). Also, check out this month's _Select_ magazine for a cover story on Blur, complete with photos of them as youngsters and a timeline detailing their on-going battle with touring, panic attacks, and Oasis in the British press! Wes
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v03007801b3d34710eb32@[209.242.75.102]> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 09:40:30 -0500 From: John Yuelkenbeck <jy@tomrussell.com> Subject: Stin' The thin' that bothers me most about Stin' when he sin's is the way he drops his g's: "Every Little Thin' She Does Is Magic" "It's the same old thin' as yesterday" etc.
------------------------------
Message-Id: <199908081815.OAA08172@metheny.brainiac.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 14:15:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>
Subject: Re: The FCC is making me cry, et al
Erik Meyer <Erikm@stl.emmis.com> wrote:
> 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.
I am very, very fortunate to be within broadcast range of not one but two
excellent commercial FM radio stations! WMVY (92.7, Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts) and WERI (99.3, Westerly, Rhode Island) are both stations
that give the DJ a great deal of flexibility in what they play and work
agressively at playing new music. I've heard "I'd Like That" and
"Greenman" on both, and I've heard cuts from some of my other faves like
Richard Thompson, Frank Zappa and even Tonio K.(!) played on their
airwaves, and not as part of some special hour set aside for "special"
music but as part of the regular broadcast schedule.
I worked in college radio for years and years and years (decades after I
went to college, and at schools I never attended!) for the pleasure of
playing music that otherwize wouldn't make it onto the airwaves. Finding
these two stations has been a joy. Sure, they're not perfect; WMVY plays
too much 70's singer/songwriter stuff (I suspect James Taylor owns part of
the station) and WERI plays too much Grateful Dead for my taste, but
compared to almost every other commercial station where I might like one
song in ten (and then only until they overplay it), these guys are a breath
of fresh air. I sure hope they make money, because I'd hate to have them
decide they'd be better off buying a format from someone.
WERI has a LiveAudio feed, so you can see what I mean. They're at
http://www.albumrock.net/
======================================================================
Joe Hartley - Computer Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
12 Emma G Lane, Narragansett, RI 02827 - vox 401.782.9042
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001101bee1c9$f194f5e0$3282bc3e@debraedm> From: "Debra Edmonds" <Debra.Edmonds@dial.pipex.com> Subject: ** IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ** Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 19:07:37 +0100 THE DAVE GREGORY WEBSITE * ------------------------------------------------ Dear Chalkhillians I thought you all might like to know that the long-awaited website of Dave Gregory's is now available! Just point your browsers to www.guitargonauts.com and enjoy!! Just a few things to mention - a 4.xx browser is required. (We are currently working on a low-spec version, and this will be available soon). Also, you should install the Beatnik plug-in to get the sound effects. There is a nifty little on/off and fast-forward switch available within the site as well, so that you can change the music when you have exhausted one track, or turn it off for a while if you are trying to read an article, etc. Let Mark and I know what you think of our latest creation by signing the guestbook. (Dave acquired his new pc this week, and will be visiting his site daily to see your comments!!) Have fun! "Guitargonauts" Debie debie@guitargonauts.com
------------------------------ From: STakesh@aol.com Message-ID: <b130f323.24df4553@aol.com> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 16:40:51 EDT Subject: blistering 'Lips; Brian Vander Ark's collaboration with Andy P. Hi, 'Hillians! Add my vote in favor of The Flaming Lips' new LP, The Soft Bulletin. I was sold after hearing "Buggin'" on an alternative station -- once. (I hope they haven't canned that DJ!) "Buggin'" is particularly infectious, with retro-sounding high-pitched synth effects, twinkly synth notes, harp (or synthesized harp) bits, abrupt, robust, chugging drums-n-bass, and really cute, love- struck lyrics about a girlfriend's allure, even with summer gnats in her hair. Oh, I should mention that this album is really quirky sounding, in the best way... with lots of multi-multi- tracking, inspired sound collages (percussive fuzz gtr., theremin-ish sounds, strings, chorales, xylophone, and slinky drums-n-bass polyrhythms, anyone?). What I really appreciate about the album as a whole is the songs' liberated, arty, freeform quality; these are not dully predictable, formulaic pop songs with a selling hook in the chorus. For me, the album as a whole sounds like the offspring of "Good Vibrations" and Roni Size or DJ Shadow... I heard or read an interview recently with the 'Lips; like XTC, they have become studio obsessives who aren't afraid to take all the money their label can advance them and blow it all in extensive studio sessions. (And you know what that means: they're prob- ably up to their eyeballs in debt to their label...) At least give it a listen, people! ************* Jerseyans can go to their local CDW (Compact Disc World) and pick up a copy of the free in-store music magazine for the whole interview, of course, but here's the most relevant excerpts (for 'Heads, XTC, and Genesis fans, anyway) from Rachel Butera's interview of The Verve Pipe's leader, Brian Vander Ark: RB: How does Michael Beinhorn's production compare to Jerry Harrison's? BV: Oooh. Huge difference. Jerry comes from a school of letting the band play and re-arranging songs and lying back and letting the band do what they do. Michael is hands-on, very militant, everyday, try something new, no, that's not good enough, try something new. It's constant. Big difference between the two. It was definitely a learning experience. There's quite a dichotomy going on there. RB: What was Andy Partridge's opinion of "Wake Up"? BV: Oh, he loved it. That's funny, I haven't heard that in so long. We did a song called "Blue Beret" too and someone mentioned it last night. I completely forgot that we did those two songs. Yeah, he said he loved it and that was part of the reason he asked me to work with him. It's nice. RB: You wrote a bunch of songs with him. Will they ever surface on a CD? BV: Ah, definitely. I think within the next few years I'm going to go into the studio and re-record them. Everything is on DAT and cassette right now from he and I sitting across from each other in his tool shed with a microphone and a couple of guitars. I have that tape but I just haven't had the time. But I definitely will. RB: What did you think of the new album? BV: Fantastic. He played it for me when I was over there. It sounded fantastic. Sounded exactly like the finished product. I think it's the best thing they've done since Skylarking, that's for sure. RB: If your CD collection is on fire, which one do you save? BV: [laughs] You know, this is going to sound really silly, but my Duke, Genesis album. It's the first one I would go for. It's not with Peter Gabriel and that's why it sounds silly. [laughs] I think it's the second one with Phil Collins. But, that album means more to me than any other album because when I was a kid I played it over and over and over every day. I bought it two months ago and I haven't heard itin 15 years. That's what's important, that's what music is, it's not the song, it's the song in the abstract, the idea of the song and what it meant for you at the time. Great songs do that and that album does it for me. I'm such a geek.... ******************************** Well, I can't wait to hear those collaborations. And you Genesis fans out there aren't alone... And no, the 'zine isn't on the web, at least not yet. The chain's website (www.clubcd.com) has a link to it, but there's nothing online but the cover (last month's, no less). Stephanie Takeshita
------------------------------ Message-ID: <000901bee1e0$e84df6a0$a4bd0b3f@default> From: "Joe Funk" <jomama68@email.msn.com> Subject: The Yes Paraniods are after me!!!!! Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 15:59:27 -0500 Concerning; >Do the Sting, Phil Collins and Yes (God forbid there is one) lists > talk of xtc anyone? > Regards- Shawn God forbid there is Yes list, Shawn.... There hasn't been any mention of XTC lately, but they do talk an awful lot about you!!! Hee hee.. hee hee.... heeeeeeee!!!! Jo( My brain hurts!! )Mama
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990809022637.40857.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> Subject: The Milliennium Bugger Date: Sun, 08 Aug 1999 19:26:36 PDT Dearest XTCealants, Thanks to Jeff Thomas for his kind remarks. I try to be nice ... I really do... [pause while Chalkhills collectively reaches for sickbag] And now, I will attempt to activate the old grey matter once again and make a half-hearted attaempt to join in this Mass Deabte... 1. Rock Is Dead? (again?? but that trick never works...) I know I addressed that one already, but ... I've been thinking some more on the subject, so look out. After reviewing "Dancing In The Street" and (finally) seeing the delightful "Rock Family Trees" series recently, it's obvious that an era is passing, or indeed has passed. These shows are part of the grieving process. Does that mean that Rock is dead> HOw the hell should I know? I'm still waiting for an effective definition of "Rock". The "classic" rock era might be ending, sure - but music goes on. The socio-economic factors that created the so-called 'rock era' were unique, and cannot be repeated. All these things have a finite lifespan. Why fret about it? Something new is bound to show up. And if you don't like it ... well you still have all your XTC records, don't you? (At least we have one untouchable advantage over any other era in history: all the best of what has happened in all these phases of music in the 20th century - ragtime, jazz, swing, bebop, rock & roll, psychedelia, glam, disco, techno, whatever ... - it's all there on record. Not a vague guess about how to perform music that has survived as a copy of a copy of a copy of a manuscript - no, we have real, actual recordings of the actual people making the actual music. What greater treasure could we have? Elvis Costello made a pertinent remark about this in the recent Beach Boys special - he said that the recording of Brian performing the demo version of "Surf's Up" was like having a recording of Mozart performing his own music. How true. As Lillian Gish observed - we are the first civilisation in human history that can *truly* record what it does: taking photographs and films of what people actually looked like, and what they did - instead of just describing it in writing - and to make actual sound recordings of their music and speech. What always amazes me is our ability to take these amazing artefacts for granted.) Where was I? Oh yes - Take the Merseybeat phenomenon, for instance: it's impossible not to see how much the world has changed since rock'n'roll took Liverpool and the north by storm. It's fascinating to see just how amazingly vibrant and vital the music scene was back then - dozens, perhaps hundreds of amateur and semi-pro bands all plying this amazingly new, strange music, doing gigs every night of the week. Is there anything like that happening in the UK now? Or anywhere? Maybe, but I bet it's not about guitars and rock music. There were reasons of course; unrepeatable historical convergences: the postwar baby boom, the emergence of "rock" music, the development of TV, the availability of good, cheap electric instruments, the appearance of "hi-fi" 7" singles and LPs etc etc. Now it's a huge global industry. It can never be the same. Personally I don't know where the "next big thing" is going to come from. All I know is that it will come from an unexpected quarter, and it probably won't be about music, and someone's gonna try and make a shitload of money out of it. What? Computers? Oh yeah, more than likely .... 2. Who's Better, Who's Best ... Oh puh-leeease!! Calm down. Cobain, Bowie, Marley, bla bla bla. You say potato ... OK we all have our favourites; we all have our own ideas about who is or is not important. Personally I agree with all of them to a greater or lesser extent. As far as "white" music is concerned, there's a pretty good case that Bowie was right up there in the 70s. But you can't underestimate the influence of Marley either. My theory - and this was also the line that they follow in "Dancing in The Street" - is that many major changes in the rock era have been fuelled by the progressive 'discovery' and absorption of original black music forms into the corpus of white popular music. It's happened all through this century, of course. Black guys develop a hot new style - like ragtime, swing, or whatever - and then it gets picked up and marketed by smart white operators looking for an angle. (And it wasn't always one single style either, as with Merseybeat's unique mixing of R&B with bossa-nova). In rock, it started - obviously - with R&B (Elvis/Holly/Lewis); then Latin music (Merseybeat/Beatles); then blues (Stones/Cream); then disco (Bee-Gees); then reggae (Police/XTC/Clash, etc) and so on. (However this theory rather fails to address the importance of acts like Dylan, or the British folk scene, or progressive bands like Genesis and Yes and Caravan and Gentle Giant - who drew much of their inspiration from traditional white music forms like folk song, or classical music.) Well that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. But basically, it's a bit soon to get any sense of what is really going to be "important" in historical terms. There are obvious exceptions - I doubt that anyone would disagree on the status of Elvis and The Beatles - but for many later trends, the jury must surely still be out? Was Cobain really *the* force of the 90s? Hmmmm. I don't doubt that Cobain had a great impact on some parts of the rather moribund American music scene of the early 90s, but there are, as always, alternate views. One is that Cobain's music represented something of a dead-end, given the now obvious supremacy of the "new" R&B. It also ignores the huge importance and influence of hip-hop and rap. This black music form totally redefined the direction of American popular music, yet it was utterly ignored by white mainstream media, who of course had the totally white (if not totally nice) Nirvana to sell us instead. Fight the power? Good luck ... One other (gender related) observation? We so often seem to talk only about men in these debates, with the implicit assumption that they are the only "real" or "true" agents of rock. One could prosecute a pretty strong case that Madonna is in fact the most important music star of the 90s (regardless of your opinions about her music), if only because of her gender and enthicity. I don't want to downplay the importance of all her predecessors like Janis or Joni (whom I admire and adore) - but the fact is that Madonna is really the first woman to achieve broad-based and lasting status as a truly global rock-star (a la Michael Jackson). Who knows? In 100 years she will quite probably - and rightly - be remembered for her achievements, while Cobain is relegated to a footnote. Her profile is extraordinary, and doubly interesting for her remarkable understanding of how the media portays women, and how she was able to turn that to her advantage, and even subvert it here and there. I don't think all her muscial work is that great (to be brutally frank I pretty much lost interest after "Vogue") but her achivements speak for themselves. And so much of this debate hangs on who and what we know and like. Scholars can argue till doomsday over the relative importance of Charlie Parker or Miles Davis in jazz - but how many people actually hear that music? Unless it's in the popular sphere, it all becomes academic - literally. And at the root, it comes down to historical accidents. We venerate Mozart - partly- because he was lucky enough to be popular at the time, and because (most of) his music survived. We conventionally revere Bach as THE great composer of his era, but in many respects he was the XTC of his day (ta-daaah! Like that one?). His music was seen by his (later) contemporaries as being difficult, rather old-fashioned and far too "clever". If people outside his immediate circle knew him at all, he was a fairly obscure, if well-regarded, south German composer who wrote a lot of tricksy church music. (And let's not forget that it's estimated that at least 1/3 of his music has been lost). Time will tell... and it now tells me it's lunchtime, so I'm off. Dunks
------------------------------ From: Adamette1@aol.com Message-ID: <758ef0d8.24dfc1b3@aol.com> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 01:31:31 EDT Subject: Greenman and Demos (actual XTC content) In Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 244, Bob Bianco wrote: 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???? Before reading the above letter, I was about to write into Chalkhills and compliment the Cooking Vinyl people for such a fine job in releasing pertinent material relative to the new album. I was also prepared to pay the asking price for Greenman, as I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous two "singles." Hearing an author's description of my favorite song from 1999 (I'd Like That) was dreamy. I recorded it and sent it to 4 friends who all liked it and 2 of them bought the single themselves (how's that for promotion, cooking vinyl?). Chalkhills website reads as if the Greenman single is still to come (complete with album art and all), so what gives? How about an on-demand service from cooking vinyl to cut just as many of the CDs as they get orders for? I'll order 10 of them.. Also, does anyone else think that the "demos" do not shed too much light on the development of the finished product (at least in the cases of "I'd Like That" and "Easter Theatre")? To me, they sound like nothing more than an early take of an already finished song. I am SOOOO glad that I never did listen to the demos before the CD came out..... Your Alaskan XTC fan...Patrick
------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990808231902.007b9d10@pacbell.net> Date: Sun, 08 Aug 1999 23:19:02 -0700 From: "Zack 'Vegetable & Mineral' Rock" <e-sheep@pacbell.net> Subject: A Note On Pirate Radio "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." There once was a pirate radio station named WINO (for those of you that didn't catch my last letter). It was a good station that played good music. Everyone loved WINO. Futhermore, the guy that put up WINO was a electronics wiz, cause he was able to put up a radio station that was not only on a completely empty freq., but didn't at all screw up the transmissions of any other radio stations. For a long while, the FCC didn't touch WINO, because the guy basically wasn't doing anything illegal except for the whole pirate radio station thing. <Ahem>. So, WINO was able to stay on the air, 24-hours a day, without anyone messing with them. Until the day Mike Martindale made a phone call. Mike Martindale is bad. Remember the name. If someone ever comes up up to you and says, "Hey, I'm Mike Martindale, I work in radio", spit in his face. For some reason, Mikey was jealous of WINO. Perhaps it was because WINO was the only other radio station in town besides the one Mike was a program manager or something for. And Mike's station sucked. So he called the FCC complaining that every hour WINO would send out "mysterious waves of interference" for three seconds, which was bullcrap. Every gizmo and monitor at WINO declared the contrary. But nonetheless, the call was enough to get the FCC over to WINO posthaste. But since this was the only interference that WINO was connected with, the FCC let the man keep the equipment and told him not to do it any more. And that was it. When I speak of pirate radio, I mean the good stuff. The well made, hi-tech, good-as-any-other radio station such as WINO. Not the crappy pirate radio that is only a step above monitoring Citizen's Band and interfers with everything. If you got a top-notch station going that just happens to be pirate, the FCC will let you off with a slap on the wrist. Apparentaly. Of course, I've not a clue as to the workings of FCC in Texas, so I could be way off depending on the state. I'm tired. Good night. ------ XTC content: I think Greenman is one of the worst songs on the AV1. I mean, it's good, but it doesn't hold a candle to such wonders as Easter Theatre and The Last Balloon, but that's just my opinion. ---------------------------- ------ Futher XTC content: Transistor Blast was the best $50 my friend Alex ever spent on me.------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Moreover: Alex looks just like Andy Partridge. --------------------- Zack Rock.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001d01bee22d$3be19dc0$3797d5ca@wy9k-wtnb> From: "Mike & Kayoko" <pchan@p.email.ne.jp> Subject: Prog. revival Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 15:04:55 +0900 >I maintain that prog rock, like every other music genre, will have its >moment of becoming trendy again. Well this hardly qualifies as trendy but there was already a huge current of "progressive revival" bands back in the early 80's, 99.99% of which were British groups, including Pendragon, Solstice, Marillion, 12th Night, IQ, Dagaband, Pallas, and hundreds of others. The only one to gain lasting international success was Marillion, who are still together now. I won't comment on whether it's trendy, but Marillion certainly has a solid career behind them and have done quite well financially ever since around 1986. They tour all over the world and sell enough to keep afloat. But as for an across-the-board revival, the whole possibility was destroyed by record company apathy. EMI saw the potential in 1983 for a bit of nostalgia, and so poured all their emphasis on Marillion, at the expense of the other groups, all of whom either faded away, or slogged it out independently (Pendragon still do). Marillion had a dynamic frontman in Fish that the others didn't have, so that was probably the main selling point EMI decided to bank on. It worked. Since that time literally thousands of bands have tried to follow what Marillion have done. There are more bands now calling themselves progressive than at any previous time. Most of them, whom we call "neo-prog" (a fitting name if you have ever heard the stuff) are European. (American groups on the other hand seem to be trying to outdo Dream Theater, in exactly the same way). Not a single one of them has had anything like the success of Marillion. Echolyn was the closest anyone has got but look what happeneed to them : signed to Sony for one album and promptly dumped down the bottomless pit. Thus, I'm not holding my breath for prog rock's future trendiness. A bit of recognition would be nice though, if only the neo-proggers would inherit a bit of originality. Mike Ezzo
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v04011700b3d47418a82c@[209.250.145.95]> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 08:12:03 -0400 From: "T. Thornton" <trish@pigdump.com> Subject: The Bears Why am I not surprised to hear the only mention of The Bears on the Chalkhills digest??! I got into the Bears when I first heard them on CBC All-night show Nightlines with (at the time) Ralph Benmurgi. Mind you, when I heard them at that time -- 1985-6 I believe -- they were called the Raisins. I didn't hear anything more for a while until I heard the same song remixed by the Bears. I bought the album... vinyl. Really. Great Mort Drucker artwork on the cover. Then they came to Toronto and put on a great show. It was fun seeing Adrian Belew having a 4-minute-pop-song-career for a couple of years. The music was/is great, really melodic, sincere, fun... I have both of their albums (Self-titles and "Rise and Shine") on CD if anyone wants a copy. Trish Toronto
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990809134719.24572.rocketmail@web116.yahoomail.com> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 06:47:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com> Subject: Zep-Cobain-and maybe XTC Too Greetings Hillians, Harry spouted off in Digest 244. >>"Led Zeppelin--Kurt Cobain--influential?! With influences like that music would turn into some homogenized, boring state, with all originality sucked right out." OOOPs!!! Sorry!!! Too late for the most part! Not that I agree with you but since the topics of late have been the staleness of music at least as played on the radio, I beleive we have become a boring, homogenized state with all originality sucked right out at least on the airwaves. Of course the same could be said for music well before the advent of either of these bands if you wanted to pursue that line of useless closed minded pondering. >>"Can someone please point out a cohesive lyric that Robert Plant actually wrote?" Sure--""And she's climbing a stairway to heaven"" it's meaning is obscure and open to interpretaion but it is certainly cohesive. Perhaps the word you were looking for was "comprehensible"? Possibly Harrison would like to illuminate us with his intrepretation of the song, I am sure a mind as developed as his has wrung some meaning from it that mine has not. >>"Can someone think of a moment that you just didn't feel sorry for Mr. Cobain?" Yes when I saw the band as they were promoting the Bleach LP (In my opinion the only Nirvana LP by the way)and he was singing songs about fucking high school girls. Pity was the farthest thing from my mind. >>"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)." Strickly a statement of your opinion. Backed up by no facts or examples. This ladies and gentleman is a perfect example of a weak argument. I was very interested to read Dave Gershman's All Music Guide quote on Nirvana in Digest 244. I think it largely rings true. The band was much bigger than their music warranted mostly due to Kurt's personality I beleive. A cult of personality can be a dangerous thing, particulalrly when a band only has three members. And now there are two. My hopes that the two that are two will once again become three alas I really miss my good friend DG. themolefromtheministry
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37AEE624.4764412F@which.net> Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 15:31:00 +0100 From: B Blanchard <b.blanchard@which.net> Subject: Party and bikes. About the Party I advertised yesterday Sunday 8th August. Sorry none of you could make it - but me mine and my friends had a great time. Re the show us yer tits posting last time. I am an English female who loves her motorcycle(s) and my favourite poem goes something like this: Show us yer tits Show us yer tits Do you like my Bike? Show us yer tits. By Dr Gregory Frazier in Colorado. Just can't answer for taste, can we! Belinda
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s7aeac82.004@tcwgroup.com> Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 10:24:21 -0700 From: "Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com> Subject: Brimstone & Treacle Fresh off the Wall St. Journal presses: Sting signs an agreement with Compaq Computer to allow Compaq to advertise using his "Brand New Day" single, neatly coinciding with the release of the album of the same name and fall tour (heavily sponsored by you- know-who). Furthermore, the CD cover prominently features Compaq, and Sting may appear in their adverts displaying (and I quote) "how Compaq technology affects Sting's professional and personal life" making this the first time that advertiser and artist have worked so collusively. This contract extends through December 2000. Still in disbelief that these strange bedfellows could possibly be that close?... check out Sting's website - sting.compaq.com *------------------------------------------------------- Logging in from beautiful Glendale, CA USA "Waiting for AV2" daneperes@aol.com -or- bramage64@aol.com *-------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 12:04:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Benjamin Lukoff <blukoff@alvord.com> Subject: Cooking Vinyl out of I'd Like That? Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.990809120301.4284B-100000@locutus.alvord.com> BobB22@aol.com wrote: > 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........ Does this mean that my order for the single at CDNow, which is currently on backorder, won't be filled?
------------------------------ Message-ID: <EB3FE924F73DD11187E400805FEA8E81010A683E@bcbcmail.bcbc.bc.ca> From: "Macdonald, Robert " <RMacdonald@bcbc.bc.ca> Subject: The Bears Wedding Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 16:07:24 -0700 Hello my lovely fellow Chalkhills Digest subscribers Well this is my first post for the year 1999 and we're only eight months in! Yeesh....where does the time go? I am finally putting my work down to share a couple of stories with you all. Someone asked about the Bears recently. Well I had the good fortune back....oh god it's so long ago that I can't remember the year. Oh well, it was the year that Adrian Belew was releasing his first album with The Bears. The band was touring just before the release of the record and they happened to be coming to little (trying to look old) Victoria. The college radio station that I worked on was sponsoring the show so my friend who was music director at the time and I got on the guest list, and then were supposed to interview Adrian and the band after the show. They put on a great long show and looked like they were having a blast playing together. Great pop songs with wonderful harmonies. They played everything of the album and a couple of covers (???) and for a second encore they played Elephant Talk! After the show we went back and pulled out our tape deck and stared talking with Adrian. He was a very friendly funny guy who tried to put us at ease because my friend and I were very nervous standing in front of this guitar god. The only problem though was that naturally all he wanted to talk about was The Bears project and all that we could think to ask him about was King Crimson, Talking Heads, David Bowie and Lone Rhino.....etc. He gave us copies of the new record and the rest of the band all signed it for me. I enjoyed the disc very much and always heard a real XTC influence in a lot of their songs off of both records. Of course as we all know, pure pop records are not a sure path to fame and fortune so I was not surprised that the Bears project faltered and faded away. If you can get your hands on either of the records though they are definitely worth a listen. It's Monday as I write this and just this past weekend one of my best friends got married. I was in charge of the music while people mingled at the reception so both Big Day and I'd Like That were played to a crowd of 150 people. A cute trendy looking girl who was working for the caterers said she liked the song and asked me who the band was when "I'd Like That" was playing so I told her and she looked back with a blank expression. So I sent her off with the words, "yes x-t-c....just the letters.....yes that's the name of the band x-t-c". My wife came over to me and asked what the girl had been saying so I told her not to worry that she'd been flirting but I clearly told her I wasn't interested and sent her on her way. Anyway...hello to all of my friends and acquaintances out there...hope you are all well and still keeping up with this thing? As for me I've been busy listening to more or less of the following same pop records as everyone else: Fountains of Wayne, Owsley, the new David Sylvian, Tortoise, Jamiraqui, Jason Falkner, AV1, Sam Prekop, Elliot Smith, Olivia Tremor Control, Guided by Voices etc. etc. and would like to hear Cotton Mather's Kontiki but it can not be found up here. That's it. Cheers Rob Macdonald Victoria, B.C. Canada
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-245 *******************************
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