Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 132
Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 132
Tuesday, 23 May 2000
Topics:
Wasp Star arrives in Germany
Anybody Miss Dave?
XTC - Wasp Star
Re: Ultraprophets of thee Psykick Revolution
Aunt Sally
Wasp Star
Faded Wasp Star
first impressions
First impressions of first impressions
Got it!
TVT inanity...
Stung by Wasp Star!
RE: Rolling Stone
Waiting in Vain
Yeee.....
More Football
Football, a long drive and the ultimate lost band a challenge!
smiling clocks
Chalkhills
Amazon.co.uk review
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Chalkhills is compiled with Digest 3.7b (John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>).
I'm stupidly happy / With idiot grin.
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Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 07:52:20 +0200
From: jeffrey.thomas.jt@bayer-ag.de
Subject: Wasp Star arrives in Germany
Message-ID: <0006800024831944000002L042*@MHS>
Hey all you "Kreideberger",
Just got it! ("Monday" is the answer, Vee.) Listened through it once.
Excited, happy, wow! "First first" impression:
To those of you who don't like "Boarded Up": YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING
MINDS!!! What a great song!
I'll send my "second first" impressions a little later!
Ciao for niao
- Jeff
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 10:13:35 -0500 From: Mark <lollard@usa.net> Subject: Anybody Miss Dave? Message-ID: <392AA01F.64964F4A@usa.net> Swimming in delight with my copy of Wasp Star............I have to wonder though......what would it sound like with Dave on guitars?? Mark in a house on a hill in Omaha Still stupidly happy that WS is finally here
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 11:22:01 +0100 From: "Michael Volpe" <mike@volpe.co.uk> Subject: XTC - Wasp Star Message-ID: <000801bfc4a0$bd86c200$dd8c93c3@pc16237> Having been a fan of the boys since - well since they were boys ! - I wanted to register, for the benefit of any followers visiting your pages, my view of the latest album. Been through it all and I must say, without doubt, unquestionably and beyond all argument, this is XTC's finest hour. I listened intake car this morning and was stunned. I read a review by someone on the digest and thought the descriptions of the songs were just too weak to do them justice. Taste of course is an issue but the track he accuses of being "Sting-like" is nothing of the sort whatever. Everything of the past - however good - is consigned to also-ran material now as far as I am concerned. Settlement, Oranges and Lemons, Mummer, Black Sea, Big Express et al, all those great albums. This is the pinnacle. Long live Andy Partridge ! Mike V Visit www.operalondon.com [Attachment omitted, unknown MIME type or encoding (message/external-body)]
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 08:30:48 -0700 (PDT) From: John Relph <relph@mando.engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: Ultraprophets of thee Psykick Revolution Message-ID: <10005230830.ZM65947@mando.engr.sgi.com> Jeff Eason <eason@mountaintimes.com> wrote: > >I'm new to this site but has anyone listed great albums by bands that only >had one release? My favorite in that category would have to be Quiet Sun's >eponymous album with the runner up prize going to Ultraprophets of the >Psykick Revolution's album "Christmas". Actually, the album is called "Ultraprophets of thee Psykick Revolution", the band is Christmas. Christmas recorded three albums, two of which made it to CD, the second being "Vortex". The album "In Excelsior Dayglo" never made it to CD. Christmas has long since warped into Combustible Edison, darlings of the lounge set. Far from a one album wonder. -- John
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 17:39:51 +0200 From: "Alan Welby" <Alan.Welby@village.uunet.be> Subject: Aunt Sally Message-ID: <003c01bfc4cd$27e63000$ce05bed4@default> It has been impossible to sleep, I have tried counting sheep, and finally the door creaks open....is that Santa Claus or my Dad creeping in with with my stocking laden down with Christmas pressies? Who cares?? It is Christmas day at last! Within two seconds of "Santa" leaving the room; I rip open my pressies, greedily devouring everything - the waiting is over..... And so it was yesterday, when Wasp Star finally reached the shops. I scuttled back to Brussels via Eurostar, panting with excitement. I had read all the reviews / fought off downloading from Napster and there I sat in my flat fingering the cd. In to the stereo with the cd and lie back to have my Wasp Star virginity roughly taken..... My first impressions are mixed - for me the stand out tracks are In another life and the Wheel and Maypole. And while I think it is think that album is as accessible as any in XTC's canon, I can't imagine any hits coming from it. Almost all the songs are excellent but none have that x factor to produce a hit with the traditional single buying public (given that XTC is no boy band or an underground dance act). While the reviews have generally been good (deservedly so) and I think that WS will outsell Apple Venus (AV1 has given momentum to XTC which they have lacked since Skylarking) - I have to agree with Huw Davies who sees XTC as Radio 2 band.....not really the place for cutting edge music. On the subject of football teams - my heart sinks with all this sympathy for Swindon Town. Having grown up in the shadow of the White Horse (note: which is in Oxfordshire -ahem-) - there was only one team to support: Oxford United - Swindon's deadly rivals. From what I understand Terry is the only XTC band member who is footie fan and he supported (can you follow football in oz?) Chelsea. How any one could support Swindon is beyond me - even if you have the misfortune to come from there. For those who haven't been to Swindon - it is no Venice (cf Boarded Up). Now that Partridge has some cash coming in, it must be a matter of time before he moves out a la Moulding. Great to see Swindon down in Div 2 and looking forward to an easy 6 points next year! Is Aunt Sally (as mentioned in the Wheel and Maypole and by Joshua Hall-Bachner) a reference to the game of the same name. It is a pub game only played in Oxfordshire / bits of Wilts and Berks by throwing a stick at a white "head" or "dolly". There is even a Aunt Sally league in the Vale of White Horse and I remember an Aunt Sally World Cup in Abingdon (which only had teams from Oxfordshire / Wilts /Berks in it)!! Alan Welby
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 08:41:51 -0700 (PDT) From: chris ormsby <co94_99@yahoo.com> Subject: Wasp Star Message-ID: <20000523154151.24550.qmail@web3105.mail.yahoo.com> The only thing better than listening and reading about Wasp Star on the Internet is having it delivered to you in an hour. Kudos to www.urbanfetch.com for having Wasp Star primed and ready to go (and delivered under an hour) to anyone in Manhattan first thing this morning. This is simply an incredible album. Also, for all you XTC COLLECTORS I notice that a place called Chameleon Collectibles is auctioning off a Hippy Bag, a promotional item for the Duke's of Stratosphear. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=332924421 I am not involved with it. Also, on Ebay in general there are a few XTC items lurking about.......
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 18:58:36 +0100 From: Michael Martin <m.martin@added-value.com> Subject: Faded Wasp Star Message-ID: <002401bfc4e0$84a9c460$070b10ac@m9v7a9> Sorry me hearties, but a bit of a sad de-lurk here. Had Wasp Star all of one day, and it ain't really happening for me. Where did the magic go? Who turned the tunes button off? Not saying it's a bad album, but as of a couple of listens, it is a disappointment. Every so often my ears perked up and had me twitching "there! that bit was XTC! that's them!", but occasional signature flourishes and noodles do not a whole song make. I ignored the advance Chalkhills previews in order to make my own-mind up, but in retrospect I can see where the "this isn't the work of our beloved"-vibes were coming from. I have to say that I've approached every album since (and including) Skylarking with sky-high expectations, which normally take a while to reach some sort of fulfilment, but it really feels like this is maybe the weakest effort to date. Colin's efforts are the most ear-catching for me so far, maybe because there the nearest to what I was expecting - I'm not against progression, but just bring some decent melodies along for the ride... Ironically, I part-paid with a refund from the last Barenaked Ladies CD (utter pants - unwanted present), but so much of WS reminded me of the same kind of sound. Oh dear. I don't suppose this will win me many new friends. If Wasp Star grows on me after a few more listens I'll come back and fess up. AV1 didn't blow me away to start with but I now see as one of their finest, so you never know. On the football theme from a few mails back, am I the only Chalkhills Don? Now relegation - that's real disappointment, oh yes...still, "Wombles 'til I die!" and all that. Pip pip!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 10:28:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com> Subject: first impressions Message-ID: <20000523172806.20356.qmail@web2101.mail.yahoo.com> Tuesday, 5/23/00: woke up, groomed, quick spin through the NY Times then off to Border's for my copy of Wasp Star (had a 15% off coupon). One quick listen provokes this response: It's good! -Not as challenging or immediately stunning as AV1, but really yummy! -This has been said already, but it sounds closest to O&L to me, with somewhat less busy arrangements. -We're All Light has hit single written all over it! -Wounded Horse, while not as bad as the demo, thrills me the least of anything on WS. -Lots 'o sex in the lyrics! Will it be a hit? who knows? Parts of it sound radio friendly, but it's intelligent, which is out of sync with the Kid Rock/Limp Biskit shit peing played now.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 13:12:44 -0500 From: "Wiencek, Dan" <dwiencek@crateandbarrel.com> Subject: First impressions of first impressions Message-ID: <B697DB46B423D411BE970050DA793DE0341FAA@escorp1.crate.barrel.com> Also Spracht Mark Strijbos: > - the "guitar solo" in I'm The Man is a joke. > Those of you who predicted that A.P. would be able to replace or at > least replicate Dave's parts are proven wrong once & for all. Got to disagree with you there, mate ... I think the solo on I'm the Man is a riot. From out of nowhere this pseudo-Arabic, utterly incongruous guitar passage drops inthe perfect complement to this light, slightly silly song. No, I stick to my previous positionit's Church of Women where Gregsy's absence is most painfully felt. It takes really sharp instincts to use space in a guitar solo the way Andy tries to, and he doesn't have those instincts the way Dave does; he ends up sounding simply hesitant. On the whole, though, I think Andy acquits himself rather well. > - i don't think it will be a million-seller in today's market It won't, and you know why? Because the songs are too full of real feeling. One thing XTC has never been about (at least not since the very early days) is attitude. However catchy "Stupidly Happy" is, it could never be a hit because the adolescents and post-adolescents would be too embarassed to blare it out of their car stereos. Maybe if Pearl Jam or some other morose alternative act did it, really slow and with layers of heavy depressing guitars, with a lyric about someone who really was stupid for being happy in a relationship, then people could get into it ... aw, don't get me started. > One final point: Andy, can we please get some really new material > next time around? many of these songs have been floating around > for almost a decade and that's just too long, even by XTC standards. > Get writing! Agreed. Though I still hope to hear Wonder Annual on an XTC record, it's time to move on to whatever the next direction will be. It sounds like Andy's becoming conscious of his reputation and the high standard he's set for himself, which I hope won't paralyze his creativity. And is this the first time the band went into the studio to record a set of songs and ended up recording ONLY those songs, without bringing new material into the studio to at least try out? With luck, Andy's subconscious has been busily storing up ideas, and his next batch of tunes will be killer. Start writing, Andy! And Colin! Dan W.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 18:10:15 +0100 From: "James McRae" <James.McRae@enron.com> Subject: Got it! Message-ID: <862568E8.005E814E.00@notes.ect.enron.com> GOT MINE! Huzzah!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:39:08 -0500 From: "Jan C. Harris" <wow@bluemarble.net> Subject: TVT inanity... Message-ID: <01d501bfc4de$c9e9f4c0$53a6f5d0@janstrigem> So I receive a message this morning from TVT. It is from "customer service." It says, in hideous allcaps: "PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS. THANK YOU." It does not say howe to do this. Do I go to the website? Do I reply to this message? It lists an email addy and some phone numbers at the end. I did figure out why they requested this, (I left the "g" out of Bloomington) but I'm hoping it doesn't put my order on a shelf somewhere. (geez, most companies would figure it out by the zip code.) Grrrr. I saw an ad in Wired which showed a shopping cart floating on a rubber raft on an endless ocean. The internet customer experience.... JanCarol wow@bluemarble.net www.bluemarble.net/~wow
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 14:22:44 -0400 From: "Martin, Alan" <Alan.Martin@ncxix.hcg.eds.com> Subject: Stung by Wasp Star! Message-ID: <B812DC6BF121D411B3FE00508B0B94222E8AC7@chowan.ncxix.hcg.eds.com> Oh my God! More will follow when I recover from being so stupidly happy. . .
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 13:49:42 -0500 From: "Wiencek, Dan" <dwiencek@crateandbarrel.com> Subject: RE: Rolling Stone Message-ID: <B697DB46B423D411BE970050DA793DE0341FAB@escorp1.crate.barrel.com> Chris Coolidge said: > On an XTC note, I couldn't help noticing Rolling Stone already has a > review of Wasp Star in the most recent issue(the one with Tom Green on the > cover- ick). The review is good(three stars), qualified by the reviewer > saying "They don't all rate with XTC's best(that would be a lot to ask)," > but it's a favorable review nonetheless, referring to the songs as > "streamlined, uncluttered miniatures." That's another thing that pisses me off about Rolling Stone, something which people tend not to mention. They'll give a band's new album a shallow, mediocre review, always pointing out how it "doesn't rate with [the artist's] best." Then you check their website, or the Rolling Stone record guide or whatever, and *every* album has the same rating! I don't think Rolling Stone's current music guide rates any XTC album higher than 4 out of 5 stars, and without going back and checking, I think the *only* one rated that high is Skylarking. Which prompts the question: What exactly is the artist's "best work," when everything is rated the same cowardly 3-3.5 stars? Grumble grumble ... Dan W.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 15:20:12 EDT From: Chauncy14@aol.com Subject: Waiting in Vain Message-ID: <99.5335bc2.265c33ec@aol.com> Hey Clan, Just thought you might like to know: I don't have my copy of WASP STAR yet; I haven't heard a scratch of demos; I haven't read any reviews - anywhere; I have avoided all subject matter concerning this on the digest; MUST GET HELP; am tearing my remaining hair out waiting for the f**king cd to show up in my mail; I CAN'T BREATHE; I need new MUSIC..... ARRRRRRRRRGh! I will probably knock OVER the mail man just to get the bloody thing out of his hands, and rip apart all that goofy bloody packaging to get to the coveted cd gem I have waited for over a year......... And now, back to our regularly scheduled programme. Gardner Chicago
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:37:10 -0700 From: "Hiatt, Randy" <Randy.Hiatt@fsbti.com> Subject: Yeee..... Message-ID: <F34536084B78D311AF53009027B0D7EA144AD6@FSBEX01> Haaa!!!!!! I'll have headphone rash soon. Randy (in Seattle) Hiatt
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 20:43:37 +0100 (BST) From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: More Football Message-ID: <20000523194337.21503.qmail@web1501.mail.yahoo.com> Just realised that this is funnier: I have no interest in English football. I support Chelsea. Except I don't. I still support Palace Nil. Rory "Oh for God's Sake" Wilsher
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 20:25:25 +0100 (BST) From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Football, a long drive and the ultimate lost band a challenge! Message-ID: <20000523192525.2730.qmail@web1503.mail.yahoo.com> We invented it so I won't call it "soccer"! Huw Davies wrote: "It's interesting to see what English football teams people on this list support. QPR, Chelsea, Leyton Orient (my own team) and as I seem to recall, Dom is a West Ham fan. Of course, as an XTC fan I have sympathies for poor old Swindon Town FC. Apologies to those who have absolutely no interest in English football/soccer." I have no interest in English football. I support Crystal Palace. Tomorrow, I have to drive up to Chester (from Kent). How many times can WS play on the journey (and back on Thursday)? Oh joy! I'm expecting about 10 times! If I don't know this album THOROUGHLY by then . . . I expect every song to be engraved on my (mem)brain! Once upon a time (1982?) I bought an album called "Fabrique" by a band called Fashion. I believe they also made a second album, "Twilight Of The Gods" (or was it "Idols?" dunno). They did a sort of guitar'n'bass (slappy/plucky style I'm not a muso) mixed with synths and sequencers, but it was GOOOOOOOD! Anyway, they had no impact on the charts, or people in general. The tape, of course, has long since gone to the great Cassette Deck In The Sky, and there doesn't appear to be any info on this band (let alone CD releases) that I can find. Anyone? Anyone? Question: did Dom invent Tom to have someone to argue with? Rory "just kidding, Tom and Dom" Wilsher
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 15:46:39 -0500 From: RNV <rnv@mac.com> Subject: smiling clocks Message-ID: <B550585C.127%rnv@mac.com> > I believe the time to which you are referring is 2:50. This puts both > hands at a slight upward cant, making the clockface "smile". It's > done in ads, etc. (I just double-checked, and also found ads > showing 10:10, which is the same, but the hands are reversed.) Except that a clock would never display 2:50 as being the same as 10:10. By the time the minute hand has reached the 10, the hour hand should almost be at the 3. So maybe we can say that the time *you're* refering to is closer to "1:50." XTC content: guess what I've been listening to all day? Yes, I'm stupid, Lee. Happy? --RNV
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 15:48:12 -0500 From: "Jan C. Harris" <wow@bluemarble.net> Subject: Chalkhills Message-ID: <023e01bfc4f8$ad424c40$53a6f5d0@janstrigem> Awright 'Hillians, This is one of the most excellent lists I've seen. Lots of variety and articulate writers, and good netiquette (though I'm still uncertain of quotes, since no one else here seems to mark quotes with <<<quote>>>). A superb influence, as I now have Wasp Star and Drums and Wires on the way. (Black Sea to come, but I can only afford to expand at a certain rate...) ON THE WAY!!!!!! Yay!!!!! (okay, so I'm miles behind everyone else, but I'm still excited!) JanCarol wow@bluemarble.net www.bluemarble.net/~wow
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 22:22:56 +0100 (BST) From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Amazon.co.uk review Message-ID: <20000523212256.14465.qmail@web1506.mail.yahoo.com> Here's Amazon.co.uk's review of WS: The subtitle is perplexing: though apparently intended as a companion piece to XTC's 1999 comeback album Apple Venus Volume One, the songs on Wasp Star have little to do with the pastoral orchestrations of Apple Venus and much more in common with the XTC albums that preceded it, especially Oranges & Lemons and Skylarking. This is altogether welcome news, of course: though nothing XTC have ever put their name to has been dull, their greatest strength has always been fairly straightforward pop songs with subtle kinks in the musical and lyrical structure (think "Senses Working Overtime", "Love On A Farmboy's Wages"). The finest moments of Wasp Star--notably the epic pop hymn "The Wheel and The Maypole" and the spectacularly titled devotional "You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful"-- stand comparison with those or any other of XTC's many finest hours. That, in pop terms, makes the best moments of Wasp Star about as good as it gets. --Andrew Mueller One word springs to mind: RESEARCH! Anyway, I've posted my own review, as I'm sure everyone else has. I gave it a 5 (well, duh!). Currently (23/5) ranked 17 on sales. Rory "Dumbly Delirious" Wilsher
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-132 *******************************
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