Chalkhills, Number 197

                Thursday, 6 February 1992
Today's Topics:
                    The Royal Nonesuch
                      Dear God Video
                     Who Wrote Which?
                 DEWDROPS #5 mentions XTC
                   RE: Kate Bush & XTC
                    XTC Odds and Ends
                The meaning of "Nonesuch"
                   Re: Chalkhills #196
            Comments on XTC from Rundgren list

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From: schrey@prc.unisys.com
Subject: The Royal Nonesuch
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 92 18:23:48 EST

 More about Nonesuch as a word, a title, and/or a ship...

 When I heard the title I immediately thought of _The_Adventures_
 of_Huckleberry_Finn_ (or was it Tom Sawyer) where Huck (or Tom)
 falls in with a couple of con-men.  The con-men come to a town
 and throw a wonderfully hyped-up show called "The Royal Nonesuch."
 Then, as the crowd gets more and more riled waiting for the show,
 the duo try to make off with the much overpaid ticket receipts.
 They are then caught and tarred and feathered.

 Hmmm... Are the boys trying to tell us something...?

      TIM

--
 Timothy M. Schreyer                         schrey@prc.unisys.com
 Center for Advanced Information Technology  (215) 648-2475
 Paramax Systems Corporation                 FAX: (215) 648-2288
 PO Box 517, Paoli, PA 19301

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Date: Tue, 4 Feb 92 17:00:45 PST
From: erwin@bend.ucsd.edu (Sean Erwin)
Subject: Dear God Video

Hello, I'm new, hope this is the right address...anyways, the video for "Dear
God" is my favorite video ever, and I don't have a copy, and I'm wondering,
is it buyable anywhere, if not, does anyone have a high-quality copy that I
can somehow get a copy of?
Thanks in advance:
-Sean Erwin
erwin@bend.ucsd.edu

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Date: 	Tue, 4 Feb 1992 21:23:31 PST
From: Tony_Collins_.ESCP10@xerox.com
Subject: Who Wrote Which?

Let's see.  Try to determine who wrote which songs on the new upcoming album,
based strictly on their titles?  Hmmm. OK John, I'm game.  Here goes:

Colin:
"Then She Appeared", "That Wave", "Bungalow", "The Disappointed"

Andy:
"War Dance", "Smartest Monkeys", "Wrapped In Grey", "Holly Up On Poppy",
"Madame Barnum", "Peter Pumpkin", "Omnibus", "Books Are Burning", "Rook" "The
Ugly Underneath", "Crocodile", "Humble Daisy", "My Bird Performs"

What's the prize for the person who gets the most right?

Tony

	[ The respect and admiration of one's peers?  -- John ]

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Date: Wed, 5 Feb 92 13:15:18 -0800
From: Kevin Carhart <ukevc@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu>
Subject: DEWDROPS #5 mentions XTC

I saw My Bloody Valentine last night at the Roxy in L.A. , and boy do i
have a story for chalkhills... i was wearing my SKYLARKING t-shirt,
partially because it seemed like the most appropriate pastoral thing i
had, and partially because i thought there might be some XTC-heads there.

So I was about to go in when a guy behind me says "hey, that guy has an
XTC shirt!" and I yelled at him that I got it in Ventura or something,
and then he said "here!" and gave me issue 5 of Dewdrops, the fanzine
for 4AD.

It is affiliated with the e-mail mailing list, so the guy might not be
all that exotic after all.. but inside was a little blurb about the
new XTC... one of the reviewers has heard a big tape of demos with 20-some
songs... and the first single is the "Ballad of Peter Pumpkin...." something?
head?     Anyway, it is already being played on KROQ in LA.

What a day, what a show, etc etc... synchronicity!
into the invisible!

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Date: Wed, 5 Feb 92 15:52:49 GMT-0700
From: alk@marys.mnsmc.edu
Subject: RE: Kate Bush & XTC

In Chalkhills #196, Kevin Carhart <ukevc@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu> writes

> Which reminds me, have Kate Bush and the boys ever acknowledged
> each other's existence?

Well, Both KaTe and David Gregory appeared on Peter Gabriel III (or
whatever the one with the melting face is).  Pete seems to get a lot
of cross-overs like that, where the guest artists have never worked
together, but appear on the same album, like KaTe and Laurie Anderson
on "So" or how 'bout Fripp and KaTe?  Or Laurie?
On a similar note, bass player Pino Palladino played both on Gary
Numan's "I, Assassin" album and Don Henley's "Building the Perfect
Beast."  How's that for cross-overs?  Sheesh!

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From: David W. Millians <millia@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Subject: XTC Odds and Ends
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 92 20:00:50 EST

I just saw a new Beatles cover compilation in the stores yesterday, and I
also espied not a single band name that I recognized. Does anybody have this
and does any of the tracks sound like XTC? Seems like a perfect place for
an XTC cover...

The murderer in Fisher King did look like Andy Partridge.

Any song that sounds like a description of humans as foolish MUST be written
by La Partridge.

And I anxiously await the new album... and an end to the school year, cuz
I get married then - definitely on a farmboy's wages!

And Mr. Relph- don't forget the quotes at the end of the list. Best part,
sometimes!
--
David W. Millians  millia@athena.cs.uga.edu  This is a generic Disclaimer
I vow to wear only unwashed lederhosen for the rest of my life.

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Date:         Thu, 06 Feb 92 12:29:33 EDT
From: Emmanuel Marin <MARINP92@frecp12.bitnet>
Subject:      The meaning of "Nonesuch"

Believe it or not, I simply don't remember whether or not I told you about
the meaning of "Nonesuch". Anyway here it is :
"Nonesuch" is the name of the record company which releases music from
the XV to the XVII century, and that Andy is listening a lot now...
Hope this helps (i.e. Hope you didn't know that before) |

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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 92 9:36:08 PST
From: "John M. Relph" <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #196

Kevin Carhart <ukevc@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu> plays a possible fuzzytape:

>Andy gave the friend a tape.. it contains, among other things, a song by
>the name of Jacob's Ladder (is it known to anyone?  John?)

I haven't heard this one, but I think it is mentioned in one of the
XTC discographies I have.

>And XTC's
>answering machine messages!

I have a tape with two answering machine messages, both recorded for
Andy's brother-in-law (Rob Wyborn, late of Paris Productions), and two
jingles recorded for a Swindon DJ, Allen Merston.

>In other news, I am going to see MY BLOODY VALENTINE tuesday at the Roxy
>in LA.  Equally innovative as the boys, in a different vein.  Ahhhhhhhh.

An interesting show was played in San Francisco.  It was good, not
great, but a few of their songs were amazing, especially "Soon", "To
Here Knows When", and "Only Shallow".  Their album "Loveless" is
amazing.  It keeps me sane while I wait for the new XTC.

				. . .

Yuji `RUSHER' Chikahiro <rusher@chem.titech.ac.jp>, fan
extraordinaire, asks about XTC landmarks in UK:

>  Since I'm going to UK in March, I would like to ask chalkhillians to
>introduce or to recommend me some landmarks referring to XTC.  While I
>have an idea to visit Swindon, to tell the truth, I don't know how to
>get there.

Well, if you're in London, call the train station and ask.  No
problem.  I would recommend going to see the White Horse of Uffington,
which was used on the cover of "English Settlement".  You might also
take along the map that comes with "Go 2" and look for all the places
that are listed there.  Go to the GWR Train Museum (is there such a
place?) where the shots for "The Big Express" were taken.  Have fun!

	-- John

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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 92 11:44:20 PST
From: John M. Relph <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
Subject: Comments on XTC from Rundgren list
Organisation: Chalkhills Anonymous

I was forwarded this message that was originally posted on the Todd
Rundgren mailing list.  I asked and received Karl's permission to
re-post it here on Chalkhills.  Enjoy!

------- Begin Forwarded Message

From: Karlelvis.Macrae@EBay.Sun.COM (Gone Daddy Gone, Love is Gone...)
Subject: Re:  XTC
Cc: Karlelvis.Macrae@EBay.Sun.COM

>(Karl, comments from the big XTC/Dukes fan?)

	Yeah, I have one or two.

	XTC stopped being really XTC after their 5th album,
	'English Settlment'. At exactly which point, I have
	not really decided; either right there, or after
	'Mummer' (Last line if the last song 'Funk Pop a
	Roll'; "But please don't listen to me; I've already been
	poisoned by this industry.... Bye Bye!".), or after
	thier 7th, 'Big Express'. By that time, certainly XTC
	had ended.

	The released two XTC albums after that, plus the Dukes
	(Actually two; an EP, '25 o'clock' (Which was a brilliant
	take off, as well as being a good enough record to stand on it's
	own) and 'Psonic Sunspots (Or someting like that), which
	was much less well done, and contains only a few songs
	that really stand on thier own apart from as good parody.;
	the two were released as one CD, 'Chips from the Chocolate Fireball').

	The two post-true-xtc albums, 'Skylarking' and 'Oranges and
	Lemons' are ok, but are so far short of the quality of true
	XTC albums that I never even play them 'Skylarking' contains
	a few really good songs; 'O&L' contains no really good ones,
	and several that would be ok if not for the incredibly bad production.

	My advice; don't bother with those two records unless you're
	a MAJOR fan, and then be prepared to be disapointed.

>Those interested in parodies of psychedelic-era music, including the
>Beatles, should check out the Dukes of Stratosphear material.

	Indeed, this is true. As satire, it's brilliant. The
	best ever. Puts 'Jellyfish' to shame, totally.

>XTC often sounds like the Beatles.

	Sometime lately they do, but that's self-conscious, and has
	really only happened since the 'Dukes.

> Those interested are hereby
>referred to "Scarecrow People" from _Oranges & Lemons_ and "Earn Enough
>for Us" and "1000 Umbrellas" from _Skylarking_, which was produced by
>TR.  XTC's chief singer/songwriter Andy Partridge's voice often sounds
>just a hair's breadth away from Paul McCartney's.

	You've got to be kidding. He never sounds even close to
	McCartney. Try Again.

	-Karl

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    Karl Elvis MacRae batman@batcave.Ebay.sun.com (408)922-4960 M/S MIL21-39
        Sun Microsystems, Milpitas, CA (The armpit of Silicon Valley)
               Steed: VT1100C    Cage: Who Cares?    DoD#1999
            -I don't speak for Sun, and they don't speak for Me-
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