Chalkhills, Number 22

                  Wednesday, 17 May 1989
Today's Topics:
                   re: dukes influences
                     Dukes influences

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Date: Tue, 16 May 89  23:07:21 EDT
From: jsd@umass.bitnet
Subject: re: dukes influences

Gary (no last name provided)'s list of Dukes Of Stratosphear influences
was interesting.  Having read a terrific interview with the band in which
they totally dissect the album track by track gives one even more insight
into who they were trying to rip off on Psonic Psunspot.  I may even type
it in some day (once finals are over anyway).  On 25 O'Clock, most of it
sounds highly Pink Floyd influenced (the early, weird, Syd Barrett era
of course).  One addition I would make to Gary's list is that "Mole From
The Ministry" totally rips "I Am The Walrus"!! How you could only
mention "Day In The Life" boggles me...

As for the group's interview, here's Psonic Psunspot, as they see it:

Vanishing Girl:
(Andy:) Take the components and listen to all those Hollies' records
and take their sound and reproduce our song but using their tricks, the set
harmonies they sing, the mixture, the little Rickenbacker type electric,
a couple of big acoustics... cha cha chum!

Have You Seen Jackie?
(Andy:) A mixture of Pink FLoyd and Keith West's "Tomorrow"...

Little Lighthouse
Andy mentions a hazy effect from Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much To
Dream Last Night."  Also: "It sounds like the American bands that used
to copy the Stones on the West Coast or the East Coast even, like Blues
Magoos..."

You're A Good Man Albert Brown
Andy: "It's a bit like the records that the Small Faces and The Kinks
touched on where they had that sort of pubby ambience..."  Personally,
I think the McCartney influence is evident.

Collideascope
Andy: "This is supposed to be like a very much 'dyed in the wool' Lennon
piece of psychedelia... somewhere between 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'
and 'All You Need Is Love'."

You're My Drug
Basically, this is The Byrds.

Shiny Cage
They mention basically anything off "Revolver"...

Brainiac's Daughter
Andy: "It's sung in that McCartney sort of boyish falsetto and we got
some daft noises on there to give it that Yellow Submarine thing."
Dave mentions that the solo in the middle is done on a clay pipe called
an ocharino and that the most famous ocharino solo was "Wild Thing" by
The Troggs.

The Affiliated
The band professes confusion at this one, and doesn't really understand
it much except that maybe the situation is sort of Kinks-ish.

Pale and Precious
The Beach Boys from "Pet Sounds" or "Smiley Smile" and the extremely
obvious "Good Vibrations" rip in the middle.

One interesting note before I sign off - the sleeve of the record was
supposed to be scented with patchouli or sandalwood.  Combine the scented
sleeve with the psycho-coloured vinyl and the "useless gatefold" (as Andy
puts it) and you would have quite a treasure...
Too bad it didn't come to pass!

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 !   !\             BITNET: jsd@umass
\!on !/rukman      ARPANET: jsd%umass.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu

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From: sco!stewarte@ucscc.ucsc.edu
Subject: Dukes influences
Date: Wed May 17 16:19:57 1989

Following up on Gary(GJJ5315@star.tamu.edu)'s suggestions:

>        "Leave Jackie Alone" Lyrics along the same lines as The Who's
>                             "I'm A Boy"
Something about this reminds me of Barrett-era Pink Floyd, like "See
Emily Play" or "Arnold Layne".  I'm not quite sure what.

>        "You're My Drug":  The percussion from The Byrds' "Rock 'n Roll Star"
Not to mention very Byrdsy guitars and harmonies.

>        "Shiny Cage":  The Beatle's "I'm Only Sleeping" (what else could it
>                       be?!). The carnival section is from "Lulu Land" (Well
>                       at least Camper Van Beethoven put a section into it
>                       when they covered that song)
Also reminds me of the Small Faces.

>        "The Affiliated":  Sounds like a Love (the group that is) song.
Lyrically, this one is kinda Kinks.  I've never placed the music, but
then I haven't listened to much Love.

What about "Little Lighthouse"?  Somewhere I read a comment by Andy that
it was inspired by American west-coast psychedelic bands like the Blues
Magoos.  I have the first Blues Magoos album, and I don't really see
the similarity; "Little Lighthouse" seems closer to the Electric Prunes
to me.

-- Stewart

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