Chalkhills, Number 119

                Tuesday, 27 November 1990
Today's Topics:
                   Re: Chalkhills #118
             The Lilac Time - & Love For All
       Questions re Drums and Wires and Homo Safari
                   Convention '90 News
                 Record Collector article

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Date: Mon, 26 Nov 90 11:17:46 -0500
From: Jon Drukman <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #118

I thought the backing lyrics on "The Loving" were "strange dream"
(or maybe "strange trip").  Not very helpful, but maybe we can
at least get a consensus on what it sounds like.

The trumpet solo on Extrovert is probably Todd Rundgren on a sample
player.  Just a guess.

/j/

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Date: Mon, 26 Nov 90 16:20:40 -0500
From: DJ Spunky <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu>
Subject: The Lilac Time - & Love For All

Finally found a cheap copy of "& Love For All" on CD (only $6!)

It's not fantastic, but it does have its moments.  The title track is
particularly good.  You can definitely spot Andy's influence at
several junctures.  It does kinda droop into self-indulgent folksy
whining at points, and that bugs me.  Oh well, the good stuff is
pretty catchy.

+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ---------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | ZIK ZAK - We make everything you need, |
| \|on |/rukman | -Fight The Power- | and you need everything we make.       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Date: Tue, 27 Nov 90 13:24:38 EST
From: poole1@husc9.harvard.edu (Geoffrey Poole)
Subject: Questions re Drums and Wires and Homo Safari

	Just a couple of quick questions from a newcomer to Chalkhills.  I
don't have all the back issues yet, so if these have been answered recently
feel free to e-mail me rather than posting.

	First, I have what appears to be an early US release of Drums and
Wires.  It has a Virgin Records label and is listed as being distributed by
Atlantic Records.  The running order is also different from other copies I've
seen.  Its LBOTH, Helicopter, Making Plans, Ten Feet Tall, When You're Near Me
I Have Difficulty, That is the Way (end of side 1), Real by Reel, Millions,
Outside World, Roads Girdle the Globe, Scissor Man, Complicated Game.  My
question is:  Is this relatively rare (like the original version of Skylarking)
so that I tape it rather than play the album, or is it common?
	My second question is about the Homo Safari tracks.  The CD packaging
itself is amazingly unhelpful.  What exactly is it?  I've heard that "Dear God"
is on it as well as some of the Mummer B-sides that are on the import CD.  Is
it like Beeswax part II?  What's the deal?
	Thanks for the help!

Geoff Poole  -"Todd is Godd"
INTERNET: poole1@husc9.harvard.edu   BITNET:poole1@husc9.bitnet

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Date: Tue, 27 Nov 1990 21:03:52 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Convention '90 News

First News from the XTC Music and Friends Convention '90!

I received a letter from a friend in the UK, Cressida Hamer (that's
her on page 19 of the Winter/Spring 1990 issue of _The Little
Express_), and she tells me:

      [the letter] arrived a day or two after *The Convention*
    spookily enough, so it was too late for me to ... pick up
    a copy of the new Dukes song you mentioned.  But then, no
    one picked up a copy of said recording because due to a,
    hem hem, "technical hitch" there were none to pick up!

      But Paul assures us that such a record will be
    forthcoming in the future and hey!  I believe him.

      Needless to say an enjoyable time was had by all and my!
    It was just dandy to see a lot of familiar faces one year
    on.  "The Lads" didn't show up (of course!) but Andy P's
    brother-in-law, Rob Wyborn, was there ...

      June and Peter Dix were also there from "The Little
    Express" and Peter mentioned the possibility of the next
    convention taking place in Canada next year.  It's all a
    bit up in the air at the moment though ...

      Paul had a video of "The Lads" twanging some of their
    new songs, recorded in Andy's studio, and they sounded
    like a FINE bunch so hang on to your hat for those.

Canada sounds fine to me, let's hope it comes off, and if it does, I
hope I see you all there!

	-- John

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Date: Tue, 27 Nov 1990 21:21:43 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Record Collector article

The new November 1990 issue of _Record Collector_ magazine, No. 135,
contains a fairly good history of XTC and their collectable releases.
The article also has a fairly decent discography complete with a
collectors' pricing guide for mint copies.  The article also has a
picture or two I haven't seen before.

I'll be quoting from the article in future issues, but first!  Here's
the news.

      Latest reports from the band indicate that work began on
    a new album in September ...  In the meantime, Andy has
    been producing the Lilac Time, Dave has been doing
    likewise with Cud, while Colin made a surprise stage
    reunion in Swindon with old colleague Barry Andrews back
    in May.

      The Imaginary Records `tribute' series has benefited
    further from the involvement of XTC members: David (as
    David Dreams) paid homage to Jimi Hendrix with ``Third
    Stone From the Sun'', while he teamed up with Partridge as
    Colin's Hermits for a version of ``Strawberry Fields
    Forever'' on the ``1967'' compilation.

      While it seems unlikely that XTC will ever record
    another Dukes of Stratosphear album (the band have now
    developed into their apparent alter-egos), it is hoped
    that the new decade will see a return to like work for
    XTC.  Since their final tour back in 1982, the band's
    music has progressed dramatically, and they are now
    rightly regarded as one of the truly inventive acts in
    contemporary music.

    [by Gary Ramon]

OK!  Real reports of an album being recorded!

This is much better than the spurious rumor I heard at the recent KFJC
Record Swap that new XTC promotional singles had been sighted.  Of
course, there were none in evidence and the spreader of the rumor
couldn't say where they had been seen nor by whom nor when.

	-- John

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