Chalkhills Digest Volume 7, Issue 56
Date: Sunday, 4 November 2001
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 7, Number 56
Sunday, 4 November 2001
Topics:
Re: Ben Folds
The other band with 2 members
XTC Music Videos
RE: Leckie Does Lobos
Re: Ben Folds
RE: What the f'Keneally?
I must correct myself
Re: Echo & The Bunnymen
Johnny hates jazz
various from Pennsylvania
More snarky comments
Ledare
3D-EP question
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 3.7d (John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>).
I hear the swarming schoolkids' hum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 13:17:42 EST From: DanAbnrml9@aol.com Subject: Re: Ben Folds Message-ID: <ba.1bce5213.290da5c6@aol.com> In a message dated 10/28/01 1:10:42 PM EST, an unindentified source writes: > Well he now has three guys in his regular touring band (who are great, > don't get me wrong, but to be brutally honest, when you hear them live you For the record, the bass player on Ben Folds' tour right now is Millard Powers, who is EXTREMELY talented himself. He (along with the equally talented Will Owsley) fronted a long-forgotten early-90s memphis band called the Semantics. The lineup was actually rounded out by none other than Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, and Folds himself was an early member (he played only on the demos, though). Anyway, they released one album called "Powerbill" that is a sought-after collectors item and it is probably some of the best rocking pop music to come out of the 90s. Powers also released a solo album available only through www.mp3.com, and if you're a Folds fan you'd definitely enjoy this as its in the same vein. --Jason Oh, and I apologize for the lack of XTC content.... does anyone else feel that fall is the best season for XTC-listening? I only discovered them two years ago this autumn and each autumn since I've gotten the bug to put all my XTC cds (well, cept the first two) in the changer.
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 20:26:11 EST From: WTDK@aol.com Subject: The other band with 2 members Message-ID: <15.1cdbbf6d.290e0a33@aol.com> In a message dated 10/28/01 10:10:48 AM Pacific Standard Time, somebody writes: > BTW does anyone have the Echo & The Bunnymen boxed set, and if so, do you > recommend it? I've read that it's a bit light-on for stuff from the first > two CDs, which I always really liked. Crystal Days is a pretty darn good box set. Yes, it only has about half the tracks from the first two albums but is more on the live stuff, b sides, singles and rarities. For example, it has the original single version of The Pictures on My Wall, Read It In Books and a John Peel version of Villiers Terrace. Is it worth having? Absolutely. The fourth disc consists of live stuff from their "covers" tour and assorted remakes. There's 17 previously unreleased tracks plus a whole bunch of stuff that was released on vinyl but never made it to CD. The sound quality is great. As to the Shine So Hard Ep--nothing from it that I can recall but I could be wrong about that. I believe I've seen Shine So Hard available as a Japanese import (including other tracks from other collections). from SOlsen- >>I haven't been on this list long, so I don't know if this has been mentioned yet. If you're going to (re)purchase any of the first 10 CD's, try to get the limited edition remastered mini-lp versions. They are so awesome, in little cardboard sleeves like records and the sound is fabulous. HMV.com has them for US$13.81 and Cdn$20.99. I spent way too much money rebuying all of those plus the same for Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, but there are worse things to spend that money on!<< I agree but would like to have booklets included like The Who reissues with liner notes about the making of each album. Same with the Roxy stuff. Phil Manzanera was going to put a signed booklet with each Roxy album that had exclusive notes on the making of each album. Don't know if he ever got around to doing that. It would be a wonderful idea for Andy and Colin (and it would be nice to include Dave on this as well) once their website is up and running at full steam. Wayne
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:01:44 -0500 From: "Matthew Fouts" <matthewfouts@home.com> Subject: XTC Music Videos Message-ID: <001701c16093$019b52a0$6501a8c0@home.com> Hello everyone These videos are available to watch at www.getmusic.com: 1. Ballad of Peter Pumkinhead 2. King for a Day 3. Mayor of Simpleton 4. Dear God ** - this link currently points to something very different. I emailed the tech staff about it. Follow this link to view them. -Matt
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 10:01:07 -0600 From: "Wiencek, Dan" <Dan_Wiencek@mcgraw-hill.com> Subject: RE: Leckie Does Lobos Message-ID: <6C7D4904C7A2D94DA0A1A91B4A01C881015058FC@dbq-exchange.mcgraw-hill.com> > Three time Grammy winners and new Mammoth Records recording artists > Los Lobos, have begun recording their eleventh studio album in Los > Angeles this month. Legendary producer John Leckie has been hand > picked by the band to produce their new album. Mammoth? I thought Los Lobos had signed to Hollywood. The thought of Los Lobos working with Leckie is kind of strange, even though the results will probably be good. They've had such a long and fruitful relationship with Froom and Blake I'd come to think of them as honorary members. Hopefully the Latin Playboys will keep going. New label ... new producer ... I hope everything is alright in the Wolves' camp. Sometimes these kind of changes have the scent of desperation.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 08:16:13 -0800 (PST) From: The Colonel <captainextraneous@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Ben Folds Message-ID: <20011029161613.64938.qmail@web12102.mail.yahoo.com> I'm pretty sure that when he said "shouldn't he call himself Ben Folds Three" that is was a JOKE. Duh. The Colonel
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 17:33:53 -0000 From: "David Smith" <David.Smith50@virgin.net> Subject: RE: What the f'Keneally? Message-ID: <LPBBJEPFIGBHBJHFDMILAEANCCAA.David.Smith50@virgin.net> Well, hello me little Chalkie mates - first time for a long while I've caught up with a Chalkhills quickly enough to post a reply, but had to jump in to respond to Cathryn's post praising Mike Keneally. I haven't heard more than a couple of smidgets (whatever they are) of his stuff, but I was intrigued enough that I will now investigate further, but I must take issue with one or two comments in the XTC comparison bit. Sorry. I just must! And it's not just the automatic dismissal of phrases like: > Yes, better than XTC in some respects. That's cool! I'm just as likely to say that about some of my other favourites. But, I saw this bit: > I have been bemoaning Andy's recent penchant for > taking the easy way out by adding a few horns and strings and > calling it a day instead of taking the melody to every possible > destination. So, perhaps it was only a matter of time before my ears > began to search for something "fuller". M'Lud, I refer my learned friend to Apple Venus Vol 1, in particular the tracks "Easter Theatre", "Greenman" and "I Can't Own Her". Now, it's no secret that I personally think Easter Theatre is Andy's finest moment ever ever ever, but even some of the other tracks, you can't say these were "adding strings and horns and taking the easy way out". You can't. You just can't! To be honest, I think that to suggest Andy EVER took the "easy way out" would probably have him spinning with rage (all summer time!). I agree with SOME points about Colin's bas tracks, but when you say: > I don't know if anybody else is as "thorough" with their XTC listening > and makes a habit of concentrating on the bass tracks . . . . . . I can't help wishing you could be as thorough with your listening to the orchestral tracks. Having said that, as ever, one of the best parts of Chalkhills is when people offer up new and/or undiscovered talent for the rest of us to check out. It's very rare that these throw up any duds. So, Cathryn, to your kind offer . . . > > If you do not have the capabilities of creating a cd mix, please e-mail > me and I will do it for you. I will think of it as my chalkhill civic > duty. Fab - count me in please :-) *** Dunks spake thus of Ben Folds (and his missing Five . . . er, two) > Well he now has three guys in his regular touring band (who are great, > don't get me wrong, but to be brutally honest, when you hear them live you > do realise what absolutely superb singers Darren and Robert are). Amen to that - I haven't caught him live yet (I can't afford #40 to see him support James) but BFF kicked ass (arse) live. *** SOlsen@lexecon.com said: > I think Mummer is a great album, but without Toys, Jump, or Desert Island, > I'm sure I'd feel differently. Yes - but believe me, you'd still love it. *** Now playing: BBC Radio 2 ;-) Smudgeboy Famous last words: "Yes, Country and Western" Buddy Rich, upon being asked if he was allergic to anything.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:56:10 -0600 From: SOlsen@lexecon.com Subject: I must correct myself Message-ID: <OFAD67E6AE.6182154E-ON86256AF4.00625326@lexecon.com> In the last digest, I said that the only XTC video I've seen on VH1 Classic is King for a Day, that's wrong. The only one I've seen is Mayor of Simpleton. Doh!
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 16:28:05 -0800 From: "Ethel K" <ekinitz@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Echo & The Bunnymen Message-ID: <F2430kKIBXEHt3V5g2o0001d1f6@hotmail.com> >From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> > >BTW does anyone have the Echo & The Bunnymen boxed set, and if so, do you >recommend it? I've read that it's a bit light-on for stuff from the first >two CDs, which I always really liked. It's a definite must for fans. I feel that it's quite a complete compilation of the early stuff including the early b-sides as well as orignial versions of "Monkeys", "Pictures on My Wall" and "Read it in Books" and more. My one dissappointment is the exclusion of "In Bluer Skies" which is one of my favorites. >Also I *really* want to know how much, if anything, it contains from their >seminal "Shine So Hard" live mini album. I reckon that live version of >"Over The Wall" shits all over the album version, and I still have vivid >memories of seeing the brilliant short film promo for SSH, which I used to >have on tape (why, oh why did I not keep it???). "Over the Wall" is an excellent live experience. :) I'm not very familiar with Shine So Hard. The fourth disc on the boxset has some previously unreleased live material. I highly reccomend it, but then again I'm a hopeless fan. ;) by the way, Hello everyone. I'm a shy lurker from Seattle, WA. ~~Ethel
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 07:17:32 -0500 From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net> Subject: Johnny hates jazz Message-ID: <B804048C.1065%cauldron@together.net> on 10/28/01 12:48 PM, an anonymous contributor wrote: > I've tried. I really have. But finally I must > confess: I hate jazz. Okay, maybe (for the sake of > national unity) "hate" is too strong. Maybe I only > severely dislike jazz. Hmmm, really it's more > accurate to say it just doesn't interest me in the > slightest...so is "utter disinterest" milder or > stronger than "severe dislike?" You be the judge. > > But give me pop in great big dollops. Catchy tunes > and clever verse, dripping in flourescent sugary > syrup. Four minutes or less, if you please! Maybe a good question to ask is what is it about jazz you "hate," have you ever really thought about it? What is it about the music you like or dislike that makes you like or dislike it? It's a question I often ask myself, I had to do it when I met my wife, or I wouldn't have wanted to marry her, our taste in music is so much different in many ways. Yet there is one thing in common, we like what we like because it moves us in a certain way, which ultimately we can't explain. But there are ways an intelligent and thoughtful person can isolate some of the aspects. For myself, the only jazz I actively dislike is musical wallpaper like Kenny G and Chuck Mangione, the kind of thing you hear in dentist offices. Otherwise just about any other form of jazz I can listen to if someone else is playing it, but I won't actively seek it out, with the notable exception of noisy free jazz like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, late John Coltrane and some of the earlier examples of jazz/rock electric fusion like Miles Davis's late 60's and 70's work and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The former I'm attracted to for the same reason I'm attracted to The Stooges, Motorhead, and The Ramones from my punk rocker days, it's loud, primitive, and in your face. The Stooges took the principles of free jazz and applied them to something resembling the rock format. Then in the case of the latter I'm interested because of the interplay of the musicians and the relative freshness of using electric intstruments in a jazz context, jazz/rock fusion opened the possibility of a new form of music that took the exploratory qualities of jazz and the electricity of rock and fused them. Unfortunately it led to crap like Kenny G instead, but it was an interesting possibility. Check Miles Davis' Bitches Brew or Agharta or Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame; the only thing I can think that's similar on the rock side of the fence is King Crimson circa Larks Tongues in Aspic and Red. Still not four minute pop songs, but structured compositions with a beginning and end and fiery instrumental interplay. But if you like your music with vocals, a tune, lyrics, and a four minute structure, I can only recommend Mose Allison, who's been covered by everybody from Johnny Winter to The Who, and has as much influence on modern rock songwriting as Chuck Berry, in a less obvious way. Even if you don't like the format, you can at least appreciate his songs, with lyrics that are as wise and clever as any of the best rock lyricists.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:50:25 EST
From: VRMH11@aol.com
Subject: various from Pennsylvania
Message-ID: <164.314f1ac.29101831@aol.com>
Howdy Chalkfolk,
I've been backpedalling through the last few Chalkhills. The bombings
really knocked us for a loop here. We're still having funerals and memorial
services for unfound people. I live in New Hope, Pennsylvania about an hour
from NYC with about a third of all adults commuting to work there. Chills
when they put the nuclear power plants on high alert and "Ah Well, That's
This World Over" sadly seeped into my brain. But I'm much better now. We
have spectacular fall foliage bursting out so "World Wrapped In Gray" battles
as well as the open hearted "Children anchor my feet". Yeah, it is seeming to
me like XTC is the soundtrack for my life. So I needed something new and
diverting quick! I ran to the record store and bought a batch'o CDs. Starting
with Grant Lee Phillips "Mobilize" based on someone here's recommendation -
very disappointing. Pleasant, technically okay, not dynamic and lyrics were
weak (or maybe they're more pertinent to a 25 y/o single male). Next, Joe
Strummer & Mescaleros "Global A GoGo" very enjoyable if you like Joe's stuff
which I do. Oysterhead - if you like Pfish, Trey Anastasio or are an old prog
rocker you would like it, not for me but I did like the drumming. Weezer is a
good fresh pop rock record. New Order "Get Ready" : I got through 7 tracks,
new material, same sound, well done and then my husband ran off with the CD.
Also, I did check out that "Death Cab For Cutie" track from 2 Chalkhills ago.
It was pretty good, very promising. I will not go to all the effort suggested
by the Keneally fan, I burned that time just reading the instructions. Back
to XTC, I've been chewing on AV1. Mighty tasty too! Does "River of Orchids"
remind anyone else of "American In Paris" by Gershwin with the car horns?
Should I track down this Neta, Neto of Orchids? Suggestions of more good new
music needed, but no sleepy folk stuff please.
- Ginny of Philadelphia
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 20:04:06 -0500 From: "Scott Barnard" <brainiacsdaughter@hotmail.com> Subject: More snarky comments Message-ID: <F88td4gmSknvh7wFI1Z00017127@hotmail.com> <<Thank goodness Skylarking doesn't have any defenders the likes of Debora Brown's total commitment to Mummer or I'd be in for quite a debate!>> But then it doesn't *need* any, does it? <<I hate jazz>> <<Catchy tunes and clever verse dripping in flourescent sugary syrup. Four minutes or less if you please!>> Replace clever verse with irresistible rhythms and you might have been talking about Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the '40's, who always said what they had to in three minutes or less. <<...and someone cruelly proposed the passing of Haley's comet as GO2 day!>> Objection. That was taken completely out of context. There were emoticons involved, your honour.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 19:55:52 -0800 (PST) From: John Relph <relph@sgi.com> Subject: Ledare Message-ID: <200111020355.TAA76341@mando.engr.sgi.com> I don't speak any Scandinavian languages. So I can't even tell the difference between Swedish and Norwegian (although Finnish is pretty distinctive). Can somebody who knows the difference tell me what's on this page? http://www.instrument-online.nu/arkiv/ledare/ledare21.html There's a paragraph about XTC. A translation would be appreciated. -- John -- Mates in your mind not in the hothouse.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001 22:28:38 -0800 From: "Thomas Vest" <tvtwo@hotmail.com> Subject: 3D-EP question Message-ID: <F69Lx0wJ8h6Zvz9M5F60001b2af@hotmail.com> Hello chalkers! I was going through my collection to see what I did and did not have versus what is listed on the website discographies and I have come across something unusual and need some assistance. I have a 3 song, 12" version of the 3D-EP instead of the 4 track listed on the singles part of the site. The catalog # is VS 188-12 with science friction on side A and She's So Square & Dance Band on side B. It was put out by Virgin UK. My question is: 1) Is Goodnight, Sucker really a B side that was not included on my copy of the EP or is this misprinted on the website as a track on 3D-EP? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Other things: I am still digging Nonsuch as I mentioned in my last post but now I am on to Big Express which is also one of my least played in the XTC catalog. Finding it difficult to digest but giving it a try. Hope everyone is well and had a safe Halloween! All the best from San Francisco... Thomas
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #7-56 ******************************
Go back to Volume 7.
4 November 2001 / Feedback