Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 51
Date: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 51
Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Today's Topics:
What's On.....
ian dury
Digging it up
the Kinks
Re: What's in my CD player?
What's in my CD player?
Amiee Mann at the Oscars
AV1 in the air again
Ween mentions XTC in new article - I'm In Heaven
The day I met Andy
What a newbie listens to
Musical Bum
XTC Listening Party
Making Plans For Nigel cover
residents/my cd player/av2 anticipation/etc.
Namecalling
AV2 & PBP
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Don't you know in this new Dark Age...
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 20:15:43 +0100 From: "Adrian Ransome" <ade@ruhruh.freeserve.co.uk> Subject: What's On..... Message-ID: <007701bf9820$f17f7220$c5927ed4@atidy> ...my in-car entertainment system....... Mogwai- EP Mogwai- Young Team Mogwai- CODY Crowded House- Afterglow Aimee Mann- I'm With (Dave Gregory?) Stupid Teenage Fanclub- Bandwagonesque ..but it's a bugger to drive & change tapes at the same time! By the way, are there two Doms or one with two addresses? Adrian "Blue Chemotherapy Wig" Ransome
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 21:15:45 +0100 From: "chris browning" <chris@boodle.fsnet.co.uk> Subject: ian dury Message-ID: <000301bf982b$80a6e460$536e883e@pbncomputer> very off topic, but still... a moment's tribute to the very very great ian dury who has finally lost his battle against cancer and polio. what a man. i shall miss him deeply. am listening to "new boots and panties" in memoriam. very sad chris
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 11:27:42 -0800 From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com> Subject: Digging it up Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B571@mgcservices.com> In 6-49, Mr. Sherwood said: "Somebody mentioned a French Trombone a minute ago: Can you people NEVER LET SOMETHING DIE?!?!?!" Obviously, I probably shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. What the hell was this (apparently dreaded) "French Trombone" thread? I've seen this pop up a few times, sometimes implying an old thread that apparently went way out of control. If you don't want to go into it, or are afraid that talking about it will drag it out of the grave, crawling with maggots and eager to eat our brains, can someone at least point me to the general era that it can be found in the digest back issues? (I managed to find a couple of the oft-mentioned "Dear God Wars" on my own, but don't feel like another random fishing trip). Morbidly curious, Ed K.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 14:40:12 -0800
From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com>
Subject: the Kinks
Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B56D@mgcservices.com>
In 6-48, Will wrote:
"Having known nothing from the Kinks except You Really Got Me, Lola,
Come Dancing, and the other big singles, I heartily, heartily, OH SO
HEARTILY have five Kinks albums to recommend, which I've dived into
over the past three months with almost uninterrupted relish, every XTC
fan will enjoy getting Kinktified, methinks:
Will's Must Owns By The Kinks
1. Something Else
2. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
3. Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
4. Part 1 Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
5. Muswell Hillbillies"
To which I say: congratulations on one of the great musical discoveries that
one can make. Having come from somewhat the opposite direction (my
Kinks-mania preceded my being an XTC freak), I can't see loving one group
without also loving the other (it was a review that made Kinks comparisons
that inspired me to buy Black Sea many years ago...). I'd personally
probably replace "Lola" with "Face to Face" ("Lola" is oddly enough one of
the Kinks Klassic albums that I never quite got fully behind, though
"Apeman" is as much a classic as the hit in the title) but to each his own.
As far as later stuff goes, nothing is really entirely without at least one
song of merit (or decent Ray lyrics if the musical side doesn't quite do it
for you), but you might want to test some of it on used vinyl before you
spend a lot of money on the 70s stuff (provided you've done the right thing
and kept your turntable). A lot of the stuff in the 70s onward suffers from
too much of a "Regular Rock" sound, which I, probably unjustly, tended to
blame on Dave (Ray could do no wrong...). Your safest bet is probably to
proceed gingerly ahead in chronological order. The "Preservation" rock opera
set is actually not that bad if you've got the patience for the forced
continuity songs (apparently when they toured for those albums, they
actually expanded to a full theatrical company with characters, costumes,
etc.- that horde of people you see on the cover of part 1 is actually "the
Kinks" as configured at the time). "UK Jive" from the late 80s (early 90s? -
I'm at work & not near my records) was a distinct improvement over the stuff
right before it, though still not in the league of their classic stuff
(avoid "the Road" and the vile "Rock n' Roll Cities" - Dave's worst song -
at all costs). As far as stuff before this period/list of albums, I'd
recommend a compilation covering the essentials (See My Friends, I'm Not
Like Everybody Else, Dedicated Follower, etc.) rather than the albums
(beware of British invasion R&B cover filler).
Ed K.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 15:59:41 -0500 From: "Brian" <mattone@bhip.infi.net> Subject: Re: What's in my CD player? Message-ID: <007601bf98f8$8fb6daa0$28e59cd1@Brian> Tschalkgerz! My frequently-listened-to CD list, for what it's worth: Owsley - I've seen this discussed here, so maybe it's not news... but it is good. Leftfield - 'Leftism' Juan Carlos Esquivel - 'Space Age Bachelor Pad Music' - straight from the age of stereo hi-fi... awesome! The Cardigans - 'First Band On The Moon' - these folks sure do know how to write hooks. XTC - 'Black Sea' - yep, this one's been hitting the beam again, and it's still one of the best. XTC - 'AV1' - oh, of course! They Might Be Giants - 'Apollo 18' - perrenial fave. LVX NOVA - Joe Satriani meets planetaium music 'The Inevitable' Squirrel Nut Zippers - too much fun! Rise Robots Rise - the first one, I believe, with the black, white & red cover with figures. Very interesting stuff. Keoki - 'Ego Trip' - next best thing to clubbing... -Brian Matthews http://www.angelfire.com/fl/sapringer SAPRINGER CENTRAL: The Best STAR TREK Parody Site On The Net!
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 22:42:03 +0000 From: Jayne Myrone <myrone@tesco.net> Subject: What's in my CD player? Message-ID: <38DFE3B2.832642F2@tesco.net> Hi everyone - decided to stop lurking & let you know what's currently being played here: Grant Lee Buffalo: Mighty Joe Moon & Jubilee Placebo: Placebo & Without You I'm Nothing (one of the very few good things about MTV for me is the "Vertebrae" station ident. that uses "Nancy Boy") James: Laid Julian Cope: Floored Genius David Byrne: Uh-Oh Janacek: Sinfonetta XTC: Nonsuch well nothing more to add waiting impatiently for AVII Jayne please take a minute & visit the site below. By clicking on the donate button money is given to the UN's World Food Programme. http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html Apples are always inspiring... I have found them so all my life and always shall. Mark Gertler
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 14:37:49 -0600 From: "Robert Kulick" <kulicro@auburn.edu> Subject: Amiee Mann at the Oscars Message-ID: <s8df7257.081@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu> Hi Chaulkies... Slightly off topic, but given the frequency of Dave Grgeory on her disks, I wondered what anyone thought of Aimee Mann's performance on the Academy Awards last night.... Personally I have always dug her music since the Til Tuesday days and in fact almost bought the Melrose Place soundtrack (never found it however) for her and Letters to Cleo. I know Dave Gregory performed on "I should have known", and was sort of wondering if it could have been him playing guitar alongside Aimee, who was just a little too close to the microphone and a little too overwhelmed, I thought, by Phil, Sarah/Randy, Gloria and good ole Robin Williams (Blame Canada indeed!). Anyways, I welcome comments as those of us who don't have generous Aunties sit on our hands and await the Wasp Star becoming visible on the horizon.... Rob
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:47:31 EST From: WillJ4comm@aol.com Subject: AV1 in the air again Message-ID: <9f.35efc2f.26113f03@aol.com> It's happened to me too: after a good 2-3-4 months with little or no interest in AV!, suddenly spring is bursting out and I can't get enough of it-- River of Orchids & Co. must be seasonally activated, because it is in my player every day, and I'm crankin' it for the world to enjoy... Preservation 1&2 -- thanks, Mr. Diamond, I'll check 'em out... By the way, the remastered version of Village Green has "Days" and "Autumn Almanac," which within the last two years Andy said was "the greatest song ever," but I've never heard it because it was only a single! Looks like I'll be shelling out $15 for a new copy of Village Green. Works out nicely, my current one has a scratch anyway and it's all mono (in a bad way), looking forward to hearing the remastered, stereo mix. or perhaps not, depending on what they did to it... Oh, AV2, hasten thyself to me... Will
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 14:23:35 PST From: "Edward Sizzorhends" <skylar_king@hotmail.com> Subject: Ween mentions XTC in new article - I'm In Heaven Message-ID: <20000327222335.22527.qmail@hotmail.com> Hey Chalksters, Any XTC/Ween fans should be interested in this article in the latest Billboard Magazine. In it, Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween), talks about their new single being released March 21 from the release of "White Pepper" due May 2nd. The section reads as follows: *****"Perhaps the biggest suprise on "White Pepper" is the first single,"Even If You Don't," an up-tempo, piano-driven ballad that Freeman likens to XTC. Elektra has high hopes for the track which wowed unsuspecting Radio programmers during a recent industry listening session."****** I get really excited when a band I like compliments or steals (both good in my book)from another band I like. Maybe this will do well and radio will become more receptive to the REAL THING when Wasp Star is released. By the way, anyone not too familiar with WEEN, that have written them off as just a goof-off band, could not be further from the truth. These guys make excellent music and are very big fans of music themselves. It kinda reminds me of how a lot of people just thought Frank Zappa was a weirdo, when in reality, he was a weirdo-genius.:-} But anyway, Ween tipping their hat to XTC....I'm living in good times, folks. Best wishes, The Skylar King
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:47:27 -0600
From: "Paul Averitt" <paveritt@dallas.net>
Subject: The day I met Andy
Message-ID: <007201bf9847$060bcd80$17292cd1@louie>
I'm new to the list, and I've lurked long enough! Here's the deal...
I was in England recording a new album with one of my groups (The Volares).
We had Martin Newell in on the 13th of this month to do a lead vocal, some
backing vox and some guitars. We had recorded a cover of Before The
Hurricane for a Newell tribute CD that's coming out soon, and we suprised
him with it at the end of the session (he loved it!). "You MUST send this to
Andy", he said. Martin is a great guy and very talented.
The next day was our only day off, and we wound up driving up to
Henley-On-Thames, then Oxford, then up to Uxbridge (saw the ES horse!), and,
since we were so close, decided to drive on in to Swindon. We had drinks at
a pub, and decided to find Andy's house. We knew the address (we've been
distant associates with him for some time), and now was the chance to make
good!
We got to the house, and my associate Bucks turns to me and says, "Now Paul,
you KNOW I'm gonna knock!" So, we knocked, and there's Andy Partridge, in
the flesh, asking us what we were doing there! We explained who we were, and
that we didn't want to bother him, and he said, "Well, I'm just finishing up
this book review. Come in."
... and I'm thinking, "COME IN???!!!???!!! What the HELL?!?!"
He shows us the house, pours us some wine, and says "Shame your timing isn't
better. Three days from now I could've given you an advance copy of the new
album. But I have a CD proof of it, if you'd like to hear it."
We went over which tracks I'd heard the demos for and not, and he sat us
down in his front room.
Now, get this. Usually when a new XTC album comes out, I lock the door, put
the phone off the hook, pour a cold drink, pull out the lyric book, settle
in front of the sound system, and have what I always considered a PERFECT
first listen to the new album of my obsession.
Andy Partridge has tarnished that experience forever!
Imagine sitting in Andy's house, on Andy's couch, listening to the new XTC
on Andy's stereo, with ANDY SITTING BESIDE YOU ON THE COUCH GIVING YOU A
PLAY-BY-PLAY ON EACH TRACK!!!!!!
It was the best!
Afterward we sat and talked about what we were doing, their label problems
(Virgin still sucks), and The Beatles. After a while, Andy said "Are you
guys hungry?"
So, we walked round the corner to this great Chinese place called Connie's
(Connie herself is a sweet lady. Visit her when you can.) We had a great
meal and talked about everything! We got on great! He is very disarming and
cordial, and seemed genuinely interested in what we do, and was humble yet
proud at the same time of the new music! We made a new friend!
Oh, did I mention we met his daughter Holly? She's very sweet.
Anyway, we went back to his house, and he played us all sorts of cool stuff.
He played us the Yazbek albums and showed us the tin soldier collection and
I got to strum on his Martin acoustic! It still has a piece of paper taped
to it with the songs for the medleys for the radio tour on it!
The house is modest... he is no rich rock star! But he has the place decked
out with lots of lovely art and artifacts. He is a lovely guy. And Funny!!!!
When we left, he made us promise to send him the Newell cover. We thanked
him and floated all the way back to London!
That was on the 14th. I was back in Texas on the 16th, and I must say it's
mindbending to think that I really made it to Swindon and had an audience
with the great man himself!
Thanks for listening.
Paul Averitt
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the doublepluspop website at
www.doublepluspop.com
and the Volares website, found at
www.thevolares.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:20:34 EST From: "J. Randles" <stmarco1@hotmail.com> Subject: What a newbie listens to Message-ID: <20000327222035.27857.qmail@hotmail.com> Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself to the list- just joined last week sometime. I'm also kinda new to XTC. I guess that means I don't have all their albums or all the lyrics to their songs memorized- yet. *g* Do you want to know the XTC albums I have or don't you? If you don't, sorry. I'll list anyways. *clears throat* Drums and Wires, White Music, Black Sea, The Big Express, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, Nonsuch, and AV1. so I don't have too many more to go. I'm anxiously awaiting the new release in May- have been listening to AV1 a whole lot since I got it, and can only imagine what the new one will be. :) And in reply to the question: >>What are all you freaks listenin' to? here goes: Beatles- Live at the BBC, White Album George Harrison- Dark Horse, Extra Texture, Somewhere in England Beck- One Foot in the Grave, Odelay, Mutations, Mellow Gold Paul McCartney- Tug of War XTC- AV1, Big Express, Drums and Wires Various Artists- Millennium Hip-Hop Party Splinter- Harder to Live I guess you can see I'm a definite Beatles and solo Beatles fan. Certainly, there's never a time when I'm not listening to George somewhere- in my car or apartment. :) So that's about it, I guess. Nice to meet you all and hope I'll be able to, if not participate in intelligent discussion here, at least learn and stand quietly by until the part of my brain not filled up with Beatles info is filled up with XTC info- *L* Jennifer
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 16:02:18 -0800 From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com> Subject: Musical Bum Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B573@mgcservices.com> In 6-49, the Skylar King touched on an issue that has been stuck in my craw for a long time. In a little note leading up to his list of recently-in-play favourites, he said: "(and note when I say Albums - I don't mean vinyl - I mean it as a collection of recordings presented as a whole) This has probably been said before (or perhaps argued about; I've read a lot of back issues from before my time but haven't come across anything relating to this) and is somewhat off-topic, but it's bugged me for quite a while, and it's something I usually jump on (in regular face to face conversation) when the topic comes up, so here goes: Yes! An "album" is a collection of songs or pieces of music that are packaged together! An "album" can appear in a number of FORMATS, such as "VINYL LP" (what most people are thinking of when they think they're being clever correcting you with "don't you mean CD?"), CD, Cassette, a box of goddamn Edison cylinders, or a directory of sound files on a hard drive or network somewhere for that matter. It just pisses me off no end to see those damnable ads where the old guy says "album" to be snottily corrected to "CD". If anyone tries this on you, just scream "AN ALBUM IS AN ALBUM IS AN ALBUM! YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT FORMATS!! IT'S "CD VS. VINYL", NOT "CD VS. ALBUM", DAMN YOU!!" then grab the tip of their nose between your teeth and refuse to let go until they admit that you're right. (I haven't actually tried this myself; let me know how it works out. ;-) ) XTC Content: Can't wait for the new ALBUM. I've got a friend in Japan who I'm asking to keep an eye open when the ALBUM comes out early there (as well as the Japanese version of the Homespun ALBUM). I'm now totally fine with the new ALBUM title. AV1 was a great ALBUM, wasn't it? Albumly yours, Ed K.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 18:41:51 -0800 (PST) From: Molly Fanton <mfanton99@yahoo.com> Subject: XTC Listening Party Message-ID: <20000328024151.29237.qmail@web1302.mail.yahoo.com> I just wanted to remind people about this week's XTC Listening Party. This week it's for, "The Big Express", and I'm having it in the room called, xtclisteningparty. For more details go to: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/xtclisteningparty.html. I hope to see you all there this Wednesday at 10pm EST. :) Molly Molly's Pages http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/index.html
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 22:09:10 EST From: BRJohnson1@aol.com Subject: Making Plans For Nigel cover Message-ID: <34.30d4a52.26117c56@aol.com> I didn't see this one in the FAQ... I was kicking around Napster last night and did a search on Nigel and came back with a cover version by a band called Pitchshifter. A little further research found their web page where you can download the mp3. It's heavy. Here's the link... http://www.pitchshifter.com/audiovisual/audiovisual.html Brad
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 21:43:27 -0800 (PST) From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com> Subject: residents/my cd player/av2 anticipation/etc. Message-ID: <20000328054327.29388.qmail@web2102.mail.yahoo.com> hi responding to various things read here: The XTC are the Residents idea: Sorry, I like my friend's theory better (that The Residents are Van Halen) ----- Someone wrote about how awful the Rez's Wormwood tour was. Coulden't agree more! Caught it here in Chicago. It was boring, pointless, and sad, especially considering how great Cube E and the 13th Anniversaty tours were. ------- What's in my cd player? I have a 5-disc changer. In it now are: 1. Brahms piano Quartets (my partner put this one in) 2. Talking Heads-Remain in Light (still sounds fresh and good) 3. The Harry Partch Collection Vol. 2 (one of my Idols) 4. Joni Mitchell-a bootleg cdr of a live acoustic gig from 1995., Great! (e-mail me if you want to trade for a copy of it) 5. John Oswald-Plunderphonics cd (traded for this too. also Great) Needless to say, I don't listen to it on shuffle! -------- AV2 anticipation: While I'm starting to sweat in anticipation, I will say that I was much more excited about AV1. Maybe as the release date draws closer I'll get worked up more. Worked up about other things at the moment (I'm in the running for a great new job, should find out next week). Last year was a good one for music, with XTC, and Tom Waits to look forward to. We've got XTC again this year, who else? I hear rumors of Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega and k.d.lang, artists who'd have me running full-tilt towards the nearest record store on release day. Speaking of new music, has anyone heard the new Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell cds? The NY Times was gushing big time about the new Joni a few weeks ago, comparing it to Billy Holiday's Lady in Satin ------ One last thing,: New stuff on my trade list, check it out: http://www.mindspring.com/~t.hewitt/tradelist.html It was Chalkhillers who got me started as a tape trader, and all my best trades are from people on this list, so I welcome trades from you.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 10:54:49 +0100 From: Belinda Blanchard <b.blanchard@which.net> Subject: Namecalling Message-ID: <38E08168.233173EF@which.net> Hey gang I'm about ten lists behind but just started reading about the reactions to the name Wasp Star. The Italian for Wasp is VESPA hence the name of those nasty little annoying scooters that go "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz beeeeeeeeeep" all the time and take up all the spaces in the proper MOTORCYCLE parks in London, the Vespas being mostly ridden by kids who don't train properly and give the rest of us two wheeling properly trained fraternity a bad name. Talking of bad names - um - What was my question related to that? I've forgotten now. Damn. Belinda
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 22:09:08 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" <rcreation@earthlink.net> Subject: AV2 & PBP Message-ID: <200003280613.WAA17303@harrier.prod.itd.earthlink.net> I just got my advance copy of AV2 today (is this old news already? I haven't read a digest in some time. That's my wife's domain). 1 listen, first impression: not impressed, seems much weaker overall than AV1. Only 1 listen thus far, however. A couple of the songs that I thought were weak on the demos actually come off better on the CD. Also got to spend a few hours in Pac Bell Park today. 1 trip, first impression: it's where I want my ashes scattered. Let's rank today's finds: 1. Pac Bell Park (A+) 2. Apple Venus 2 (C+) I reserve the right to re-evaluate both at the all star break, however. -russ (wife's name withheld)
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-51 ******************************
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