Chalkhills, Number 109

                 Saturday, 6 October 1990
Today's Topics:
                   108 and other stuff
                           etc
                    Rag & Bone Buffet
                   Re: Chalkhills #108

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Date:     Fri, 5 Oct 90 20:08 MDT
From: <RLANTHIE@ducair.bitnet>
Subject:  108 and other stuff

Hey guys,

Some interesting stuff in issue 108, but I must say that there
is not much going on here since the release of O&L.  Qhat have folks
been listening to?  I have been listening to Ultra Vivid Scene, new
Pixies, Wire, and other stuff as well.

I recently got Skylarking on CD.  I think I like but I am pretty unsure
about it still.  I remember a friend of mine saying, a while back, that
the new XTC song (Dear God) was fabulous.  I still don't like it that
much.  What's the deal with people on that song.  Do you all share his
impression?  I think there are much better tracks on the disc.  I remember
hearing a 12" version of "The Meeting Place" which I really enjoyed.  It
was a Canadian release and had a number of other tracks on it.  Also got
_The Big Express_ recently which sounds just wonderful.  What I wonder about
(and I know this has been discussed before) is why they put extra tracks on
the CD's between what would be side 1 and side 2 on an vinyl LP?  Seems a
little strange.  Why not tack them on at the end?  Is this a CD "limitation"
of some sort (ie a format limitation)?  Seems highly unlikely...

Rich

BTW, the new Lilac Time is out on CD.

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Date: Sat, 6 Oct 90 18:24:14 EDT
From: tglaab@vtssi.vt.edu (Tom Glaab)
Subject: etc

	Skylarking _is_ on CD.  I have it.  XTC CDs I have are

		GO 2
		White Music
		Drums and Wires
		Black Sea
		English Settlement (Geffen's version)
		Mummer
		Big Express
		Skylarking
	and	Oranges and Lemons

	plus	Dukes of Stratosphear's Chips from the Chocolate Fireball

	I would love to know how to get XTC to do some IDs for my station,
WUVT-FM, Blacksburg Virginia.  Info would be appreciated.

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Date: Sat, 6 Oct 90 21:49:59 EDT
From: Eric Wilson Muhlheim <muhlheim@phoenix.princeton.edu>
Subject: Rag & Bone Buffet

The tasty little item arrived to my local record store about a week
ago (weird, because we had no warning that it would be coming _this_
soon.  Without further ado, the tracks:

	Extrovert			I Need Protection
	Ten Feet Tall			Another Satellite
	Mermaid Smiled			Strange Tales, Strange Tails
	Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen	Officer Blue
	Respectable Street		Scissor Man
	Looking for Footprints		Cockpit Dance Mixture
	Over Rusty Water		Pulsing Pulsing
	Heaven is Paved With Broken	Happy Families
	  Glass				Countdown to Christmas Party
	The World is Full of Angry	  Time
	  Young Men			Blame the Weather
	Punch and Judy			Take This Town
	Thanks For Christmas		History of Rock 'n' Roll
	Tissue Tigers (The Arguers)

At about 78 minutes, I think it's the longest CD I've ever seen.

Critical evaluation/comments:  Ten Feet Tall is the electric Phil
Wainman version--I don't think it's as good as the _D&W_ version, but
an interesting reinterpretation.  Mermaid Smiled is straight off the
pre-bastardization _Skylarking_ (not a bad idea, since I have the US
version on CD).  Respectable Street is the bowdlerized single version.
Another Satellite & Scissor Man are live BBC performances (and the
Satellite performance is _particularly_ good).  Cooks/Protection is the
Colonel single--Cooks is a nutty Albert Brown-type song, while Protection
is kinda tribal (grows on you, tho).  Thanx/Countdown is the Three Wise
Men single--the first song is Brian Wilsonish, while the second is just
XTC getting down with their funky selves.  Take This Town is from the
soundtrack of _Times Square_ (never saw that-was it good?), Happy Families
a remixed version of the song from the _She's Having a Baby_ soundtrack
(frankly, I prefer the other mix).  The stuff from Beeswax (Heaven, Punch,
Tigers, Pulsing, Blame The Weather) is of course fantastic.  Angry Young
Men is really laid-back and jazzy and a really good Colin song.

Tales, Over Rusty Water (an instrumental), and Cockpit Dance Mixture are
sort of slight--actually, I think the latter is pretty boring.  Officer
Blue is fun and noisy.  That's about it, except for the History of Rock
'n' Roll, which really has to be heard to be understood.

It's an import, but spend your money on it!  SPEND SPEND SPEND!!  I did,
and now I'm a happy man.

--Eric Muhlheim (muhlheim@phoenix.com)

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Date: Sat, 6 Oct 1990 19:38:48 PDT
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #108

MC Radioactive Lobotomy Victim <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu> says:

>So, has anybody got a definitive list of what is stolen from where in
>the Dub Experiments tracks?  "New Broom" has the drum track from
>"Making Plans For Nigel."  "The Cairo" has lots of stuff from "Homo
>Safari."  At least two of the songs have the drum track from
>"Helicopter."

The following, taken from _X-plaining XTC Part 2_ and originally
posted in Chalkhills Digest No. 94, is a list of the tracks from _Take
Away / The Lure of Salvage_ and their origins; all original tracks are
>from _Drums and Wires_ except where noted:

    Signal Ad (Commerciality) - "Refrigeration Blues" (a _White
    Music_ outtake)

    The Day They Pulled the North Pole Down - "Heatwave" (B-side
    of "This is Pop?") slowed down

    The Forgotten Language of Light - the percussion track from
    "Millions", the Japanese couldn't figure out what Andy's
    scat singing was all about, so assumed it was an ancient
    Indian language (explained in Japanese on the lyric sheet
    that was included in their edition)

    Steam Fist Futurist - "Real by Reel", used as a prelude to
    this track in some live shows in 1980

    Shore Leave Ornithology (Another 1950) - "Pulsing Pulsing"
    (UK B-side of "Making Plans for Nigel")

    Cairo - "Homo Safari" (B-side of "Life Begins at the Hop")
    sped up, with Andy's wife Marianne handclapping

    The Rotary - "Helicopter"

    Madhattan - "That is the Way"

    I Sit in the Snow - bridge from "Roads Girdle the Globe"

    Work Away Tokyo Day - "Day In Day Out" sped up, plus Barry
    Andrews' saxophone track from all nine takes of "Red" (from
    _Go 2_) played simultaneously

    New Broom - "Making Plans for Nigel" slowed down

>And what is this _Xplaining XTC_ thing?  It looks terribly interesting
>- I must've missed the first time it was mentioned though.

I just found out where it came from.  _X-plaining XTC_ was a two part
article published in _Aware_ magazine in 1982/1983.  I have a
photocopy of part two, and there's lots o' good stuff in it.  More to
come.

>Has anybody seen the Lilac Time album in America yet?

Yes, the CD is available at larger "record" stores near you.  I have
also been able to find CD-singles (12cm) for _All For Love & Love For
All_ and _It'll End in Tears_.  I like this album, although it's
fairly mellow.  It's pastoral in a _Mummer_-like way.  "Fields" is
excellent, and Andy plays some solos as well.

>"the best thing that happened to me was a memory"

Yours or someone else's?

				. . .

Robert Dagnall <dagnall@ocf.berkeley.edu> is Looking for XTC CDs (say
it three times fast):

>	I am interested in acquiring the entire
>collection of XTC CDs, but am having difficulty
>finding some albums.  Has Skylarking been
>released on CD?

Yes, it is available from Virgin/Geffen in the US, and Virgin in the
UK, Canada, and Japan.  The Canadian version includes "Dear God" and
"Mermaid Smiled", while the other versions have only one of the two.

>	What companies market XTC?  And do the
>products vary, e.g. are Geffen CDs better in
>some way, or worse, than Virgin's rendition of
>the same XTC album?

Geffen markets XTC's catalogue here in the States.  Yes, the products
vary.  Geffen's release of The Dukes of Stratosphear's _Chips from the
Chocolate Fireball_ has black and white liner notes while the Virgin
UK CD has colour.  Geffen's _English Settlement_ has no lyrics in the
liner notes, while the Virgin UK CD has lyrics and improved sound
quality.  I definitely recommend the Virgin UK CD.  Make sure it has
all 15 songs, however.  An early release of the CD had only 13 songs.

_White Music_, _Go 2_, _Mummer_, _Black Sea_, _Drums and Wires_, _The
Compact XTC_, and _Explode Together_ are not available in the US from
Geffen.  They must be purchased as imports.

>	Are any of the albums unavailable in CD
>format?

Well, _Beeswax_ isn't available, but I believe the soon-to-be-released
_Rag 'n' Bone Buffet_ CD will contain all of the tracks from
_Beeswax_.

>  Are there any that are available that
>you'd advise leaving alone until they come out
>with a remastered or otherwise improved version?

I haven't done a real close comparison of the available CDs, except
for Virgin UK's and Geffen USA's _English Settlement_ CDs.  Has
anybody done an A/B comparison of _Black Sea_, _Skylarking_, or
_Oranges and Lemons_?

	-- John

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