Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 344
Date: Wednesday, 27 April 1994
Chalkhills, Number 344
Wednesday, 27 April 1994
Today's Topics:
XTC on Current Bands (and more!)
Re: CD bootlegs
Re: WWW Site
Re: Chalkhills #343
Unit Four Plus Two
Cherry in my CD rack
Welcome (to the garden...?)
King Missile: Wind Up Toys
Here's your chance to talk about you!
XTC Confectionary
sale in the springtime
Question about Dukes
Redd Kross - Phaseshifter
Tryin' to Get Trynin
Re: Chalkhills #343
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Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 19:15:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: SPB0377@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
Subject: XTC on Current Bands (and more!)
Marshall V. Pierce asks whether the members of XTC have ever talked about
bands they admire which started at the same time as them or later. Dave
Kendall (remember him?) asked Andy about this when he co-hosted "120 Minutes,"
and Andy replied that he couldn't really answer since he doesn't listen to
rock music much these days. (He prefers "early music," meaning music from the
Renassaince and earlier, for those who don't know already.) Don't know about
Colin and Dave's opinions.
Also, in response to Melinda's query : "Burning Airlines Give You So Much
More" is the first song on Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy.
Pat Buzby
Oberlin, OH
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 19:11:30 -0500 From: techy@iastate.edu Subject: Re: CD bootlegs Sorry im not going to quote the original author... but the statement made was that most of the XTC CD "Live" Compact Discs were bootlegs... I beg to differ. Although I only have one, the XTC Live in concert 1980... it has an insert written by Partridge as well as a photo on the CD Sleeve... It is the BBC Radio one. Are there others?
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 19:12:21 -0500 From: techy@iastate.edu Subject: Re: WWW Site Well, what else ewould people like to see on the WWW site? I suppose I can put some small. VERY small sound samples on there... but those eat up my disk space. :/ Any ideas are appreciated. :)
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 22:23:50 -0400 (EDT) From: I'm the chef of the treble clef <MELINDA@delphi.com> Subject: Re: Chalkhills #343 > I believe it's supposed to sound like the crunchy guitar > sound of various Chapman-Chinn bubble-glam-pop > numbers in the early '70s, e.g. Sweet's "Little Willy." > T-Rex might fall in that category though they're not a > Chapman-Chinn band. I had started to say I thought "Cherry" had more of a 60s-bubblegum sound than a 70s-bubblegum sound, and then all of a sudden the chorus to "Seasons In the Sun" popped into my head. Go ahead, sing the melody. Sound familiar? > That reminded me to tell "Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hungadunga, > & McCormick" <MELINDA@delphi.com> that it's supposed > to be "Hungerdunger," it just sounds like "Hungadunga" > because of the Marx Brothers' accent. Hey, I grew up in Kentucky -- think of it as phonetic representation. > Say, what the heck > movie is that from anyway? _A Night at the Opera?_ It's from _Animal_Crackers_, Jamison (or should that be Jamerson?) Melinda
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Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 14:23:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: JahUbik <PRSAVAGE@delphi.com>
Subject: Unit Four Plus Two
For Tim Connors, on "Dukes" influences [I'd mentioned this
band as a possible source for bridge of "The Affiliated"]:
> As someone who prides himself in a knowledge of rock
> obscuriana, it pains me to admit that I have never heard
> of "Unit Four Plus Two," mentioned by JahUbik. Can you
> tell us more about them? Can they be found on any recent
> compilations? I'd be interested in hearing them. I
> concede that the bridge of "The Affiliated" might sound
> like more than one band.
Unit Four Plus Two, often rendered as Unit 4+2, was a
one-hit wonder British band. Maybe their hair was all wrong.
"Concrete and Clay" was their only Top Ten item, in about 1965.
There were lots of them (six, I suppose) rather like The
Association. Certainly pre-1967, though memory fades. I'll go
look in some "hits" books at the local Nobel Barn muzak section
and see if there's a listing. (*) Reissue/compilo? Probably.
I never buy them, because of the "naff" factor: You always get
so much junk with the good stuff in compilations. So, I can't
tell ya.
This kind of "mariachi" rhythmic pattern used as a
bridge, or all through, was terribly popular at the time, long
before Love. You can blame Herb Alpert for a lot of things, but
he doesn't deserve the whole rap. Other multiperps were
Bacharach-David, whose ear candy factory was in full squirt at
the time (**). And think of some other UK stinkers of the sixties
that use this kind of pattern: "It's Not Unusual," "You've Got
Your Troubles..." I'm not very big on Latin rhythms, but there's
probably someone lurking who can tell us what this particular
boomp-dah-boomp is really called. Bayon? Merengue? Double
cheeseburger?
But if you find a copy of C&C, someday, listen to the
guitar break. That's the real point of reference, in terms of
tone, construction, the whole thang. Tip #2: I wouldn't break a
leg trying to find it: like so much of this stuff, it's probably
not worth it...
I must admit I've almost completely purged Love from my
memory. To British ears, at the time, there was something
terribly inauthentic and manufactured about them. Now I think
about it, I find myself writing a Post-It note saying
"don't bother now, either..." The Dukes are fun: the actual
musical period, to be honest, I'm not so convinced about.
Changing the subject, ever so slightly, but getting
back into XTC's timeframe: you fans of the Damned--since you
mention them--(and Joe Strummer) will enjoy various comments
made in John Lydon's new book: "Rotten: No Blacks, No Dogs,
No Irish." ;-) Not!
Finally, right back in XTC territory: Has anyone been
looking at common points of reference between the
Newell/Partridge record and XTC's own output? I've spotted a
few, but maybe there's already been a big fat compilation....
BTW, I'm thinking of lyrics in particular, not spot-the-tune.
(*) OK, I did. Nothing much about British chart position, etc,
but it made #28 in Billboard charts in May 1965, and lasted four
weeks. Hardly obscure, then. You should thus expect to hear
it from time to time on one of those geriatric radio stations.
And note: two years before Love.
(**) Yes, yes...I do know that The Stranglers recorded
"San Jose," Elvis Costello did "Don't Known What To Do With
Myself," etc etc...and jolly wonderful these particular
items were too...
--JahUbik a.i
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Anyone who was actually there can't remember
anything about the sixties"
[attributed to Robin Williams, Frank Zappa, Henry
Kissinger, Mr.Ed, et al.]
"No matter how awful a group was, there's always
some poor sod out there who loves them."
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[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 18:11:21 EDT From: "Gene (Sp00n) Yoon" <ST004422@brownvm.brown.edu> Subject: Cherry in my CD rack I finally found a copy of WITWICS: Out of This World.... I asked the guy at the counter at the local alternative music store for it and he found it in a pile of "used" CD's! It hadn't been put on display yet and he thanked me for buying it (a paltry seven bucks) because he couldn't quite figure out how he was going to categorize it. He said it was probably a promo copy. Anyhow, "Cherry" is definitely one of my favorite XTC songs, and I think it was wonderfully produced by David Yazbek, who would be a great choice as a future album producer. The song is very sing-along-able and is refreshingly simple both lyrically and melodically for an Andy Partridge composition, IMO. The cello part is slightly reminiscent of the Rembrandts' "Johnny Have You Seen Her", as pointed out by Derek Miner. Colin has more vocal parts than is usual on most recent Partridge songs (I've always thought Andy's and Colin's voices blend very nicely) leading me to wonder if Colin had more creative input than the songwriting credit would imply. Credits have always gone to either Colin or Andy, never both, but I wonder if there's ever been any real collaboration, a la Lennon/McCartney? There were a lot of Beatles songs written largely by one person, yet still had the Lennon/McCartney stamp on it, so I wonder if the reverse could be true for XTC, and if so, which songs? (Lots of wondering.) Interesting topic, any opinions? As for the Johnny Nexdor & His Neighbors number, it does sound like Andy Partridge but I'm not absolutely convinced it's him; the accent sounds way too American, especially on the part, "And every tongue speaks kind". Sean Altman, who co-wrote the song, is obviously a big XTC fan as "Change My World" is very Partridge-esque, with clever wordplay and the good-natured laughs at the end very much like the end of "You're a Good Man, Albert Brown". Altman sings backup on "Cherry in Your Tree", by the way. No evidence that John Linnell had anything to do with the Neighbors at all, however--no voice and no accordian and nothing in the liner notes. Incidentally, Brian Doherty, who is a session and tour musician for TMBG, plays drums on "Cherry". By now I'm sure many of you have the CD already, so this information is probably irrelelevant.... Gene
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 23:10:50 -0500 (CDT) From: Jimmy Jazz <mccluske@comp.uark.edu> Subject: Welcome (to the garden...?) Hello, I'm new here but have been an XTC fan since a rainy winter morning in 1982, when a friend stuck a tape into the tape deck of his mom's station wagon. "You'll like this," he said, and I did: it was "Melt the Guns." Living in Arkansas, though, it wasn't easy to find much XTC at all, but throughout college I managed to pick up all of the earlier releases, most of them for $2.99 from those remainder sales that university bookstores always seem to have going on. As for my other tasts, they're far ranging, but if I had to name just two or three other favorites, it would be the Clash, Elvis (the king, although i like the other Elvis too), and the Stiff Records compilation. I heard about Chalkhills from my long-lost roommate Bruce Hulsey, with whom I once performed a rather lame version of Respectable St. for a coffee house. I have a question or two that maybe someone can help me with: first, I have a copy of the 3-D ep, and I was wondering if it came with 3-d glasses. Next, in an ideal universe, who would YOU like to produce an XTC album (no, you can't nominate yourself)? And what would that album sound like? Eno and Lanois? Phil Spector? Quincy Jones? After reading over the my first two issues of Chalkhills, I'm impressed by the quality of the dialogue. I'll try no to lower it.... ****************** PETE MCCLUSKEY (mccluske@comp.uark.edu) ****************** * * * "To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds timorous and slothful." * * --John Milton * **************** CALLING POWDERED TOAST MAN, PLEASE RESPOND *****************
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Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 19:22:32 -0800
From: sid@dew.org (Sid Glenn)
Subject: King Missile: Wind Up Toys
>Just picked up the new self titled King Missile album that came out
>this week and I noticed a familiar sounding drum on one of the tracks.
>The song "Wind Up Toys" takes the first couple of notes from XTC's
>"Beating of Hearts" and loops them to form the drum track.
When roomate first played this cd, and that song came on, my mouth went
"What the Hell!!!" The song has a vaguely similar massage of "Toys" I
thought, although nobody in this house really cared, I felt slightly
enlightened.
Sid Glenn
"Quotes are for the weak"
sid@dew.org
Buelah is the cosmic joke
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 16:39:41 -0400 (EDT) From: SBA4316@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu Subject: Here's your chance to talk about you! First of all, a couple things: Steve mentioned Scruffy the Cat as one of his favorite bands. Ditto. XTC fans interested in a tuneful American pop band should really like Scruffy, so check 'em out. The only problem is that Relativity deleted their catelog, so look in the cut out bins at big chain stores and used bins everywhere else. They were a fine band, though they got a little *precious* as they went on. Also, Steve: Russian Constructivism? C'mon, the French theorists came through and wiped all of them out years ago ;) And last: Speaking of literary threory, I'm writing a paper for my lit theory class about the net and its use of/effects on language and communication. What I need is some input from net.users like yourselves. If you've got the time, please e-mail me some sort of message about your experiences with the internet, anecdotes, stories, one-line quips, gripes, whatever. I need 'em. Thanks in advance, and try to keep things kinda short since academic vax accounts don't have all that much memory. You're my drug, Ben SBA4316@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Subject: XTC Confectionary Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 12:56:14 +0100 (BST) From: "Waldo Farfegnugen plc" <niklasn@cogs.susx.ac.uk> I just poppes into my local corner store this morning, and on the confectionary counter I saw some "Nonsuch Nougat". They will be naming fruit after XTC albums next... Waldo JF
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: Ray Sherrod <rsherrod@ecst.csuchico.edu> Subject: sale in the springtime Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 10:18:06 -0700 (PDT) Here are a few xtc things for sale. All prices include postage. All items are mint unless noted otherwise. Happy shopping! 12 inch vinyl: Senses Working Overtime single, with Egyptian Solution, Blame the Weather, Tissue Tigers, dime-sized area of glossy finish removed from cover: $8 Love on a farmboy's wages, with Burning with Optimism's Flame (live), English Roundabout (live), Cut it Out (live) $8 A&M promo, with six live cuts from "Urgh! A Music War", including Respectable Street (livE) $6 Great Fire, with Gold, Frost Circus, Procession Towards Learning Land $7 Go Plus (five songs) $10 Mr. Partridge, Take Away/Lure of Salvage, $10 All you Pretty Girls, with Washaway, Red Brick Dream, $7 Dear God, with Big Day, Another Satellite (live), $7 Live And More, with large picture label on both sides of vinyl, Japanese import with lyric sheet. Songs are Don't lose your temper, Smokeless Zone, Living through Another Cuba/Generals and Majors (live), Scissor Man (BBC recording), Somnabulist, Set Myself on Fire (live), $16 The Meeting Place, with The man who sailed around his soul., and home demos: terrorism, let's make a den, find the fox, the troubles, $9 3D EP, with Science Friction, She's so square, Dance Band, $6 Beeswax, (B sides) 1977-1982, $10 Grass, with extrovert and Dear God, $8 Ball and Chain, with Heaven is paved with broken glass, Punch and Judy, and Cockpit dance mixture, $8 10 inch record on Virgin called "Guillotine", a compilation with xtc's hit song, "Traffic Light Rock" and 7 other new wave hits, $6 3 inch CD- King for a Day/Ding for a Kay (12 ich version), and home demos: My paint heros (heroes) and Skeletons, $12 Hope you all can enjoy these records and discs. -Ray Sherrod
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 15:18:09 EDT From: huskers@snow.seer.com (Huskers) Subject: Question about Dukes I haven't got FTP capability here, so if this is an FAQ or can be found in an FTP site, no flames please! I have owned the anthologized (?) Dukes of Stratosphear 'Chips From The Chocolate Fireball' for a couple years now and enjoy it immensely. I also enjoy the debates about the influences on the songs; but it seems that several folks have quoted some document which at least alludes to these bands of influence. I'm curious since my CD has only got the lyrics to the songs, and no other liner notes of import. If that is too vague, an example is that someone quoted Andy (or Sir John Johns, if you prefer) as having labeled as 'charlatans' the bands whom the Dukes 'influenced'. Are the vinyl copies of the two Dukes' EPs the source, i.e. do they have liner notes that weren't duplicated for the anthology CD? If this has been beaten about before (and it wouldn't surprise me), humor me with a private response please!!! I'd be pretty eager to obtain a copy of liner notes if they existed, or at least the source that the quotes came from. I don't have my copy of Oranges and Lemons (Sorry, I mean Nonsuch) here, but I didn't recall there being THAT much mentioned about the Dukes in that extra insert flyer. Perhaps very confused, aaron --------------------------------------------------------------- Aaron H. Krebs Software Developer huskers@snow.seer.com SEER Technologies, Inc. "Could you please try to understand Cary, North Carolina before one of us dies!" - Basil Fawlty ---------------------------------------------------------------
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: dferg@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 11:08:16 EDT Subject: Redd Kross - Phaseshifter I just read about a new band called Redd Kross in the April Stereo Review best of the month column- has someone mentioned them here already?- and here is what was said: "Redd Kross is bratty Beatles, Led Zepplin with a marshmallow creme center. Powerpoppers with steel plates in their heads...Too clever for the Beavis & Butthead-era, "Phaseshifter" is the smartest blast of affectionately derivative pop whimsicality since XTC mascaraded as Dukes of Stratosphear. And it rocks like crazy". Anyone heard it and *agree* with the hyperbole spewed from the thesaurus Stereo Review has in their "hip" pocket? "I'm laughing at you, not with you." dferg@aol.com
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: 27 Apr 94 08:46:26 EDT From: Wesley Wilson <WWILSON@forumbos.mhs.compuserve.com> Subject: Tryin' to Get Trynin Hey! I checked a few Newbury Comics stores (here in MA) last week, but could not find the Jen Trynin single; however, I still have one source and I hope it works - the phone number Jason Langley so kindly provided! Re: Nicky Holland - I really enjoyed her single from a few years back, "Tonguetied and Twisted," so it's encouraging to hear that Andy is working with her on some new material. Wes
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Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 12:23:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Derek Miner <ind00163@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #343
> Another band that may appeal to fans of Dukes-style
> pastichery is Redd Kross. I haven't seen them
> mentioned here before. They started out in the
> California hardcore mode and traces of this still
> pervade their music, but on many tracks, their
> love for the Beatles is clear. Their new album on
> This Way Up/Mercury/Polygram is called _Phase
> Shifter_ and it contains a great song called "Lady in the
> Front Row," an unholy fusion of the Beatles, the Byrds
> and maybe Cheap Trick. It features a dead-on "Eight
> Miles High" Coltrane-via-McGuinn guitar solo. They
> are also very entertaining live.
And lest us not forget that Redd Kross had a side project with
lots of guest appearances under the name of Tater Totz. Tater Totz
released two LPs with tons of references to the Beatles and Yoko Ono.
The concept for the project (dreamed up after a Kiss concert, no less)
was to immortalize two of the most important influences in music history
(according to the questionably serious liner notes), Yoko Ono and Hayley
Mills (you remember, from "The Parent Trap."). The first album, "Alien
Sleestacks From Brazil (Unfinished Music Business No. 3)" has a cover of
"Let's Get Together" from "The Parent Trap," a cover of "I've Just Seen A
Face" with Danny Bonnaduce (excuse me for that spelling of the name), a
couple other Beatles covers, and a cheesy pastiche whose title is eluding
me now. Side two consists of no less than four versions of Yoko Ono's
"Don't Worry Koyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)". The
jacket is very weird, with a "Yellow Submarine" inspired cover. The
second collection of Totz stuff was called "Sgt. Shonen's Plastic Eastman
Band Request Mono! Stereo!" with a "Help!" album cover parody on the
front (all the guys are Yoko). On this album, the Totz cover "Strawberry
Fields Forever," "Instant Karma," and Shonen Knife guest vocals on
"Rain". The rest is a mixed bag of stuff, with more Yoko Ono covers, and
even a cover of "Rock On".
Sorry for all this digression, but I thought some Beatles fans
and those of us who search out strange music might appreciate that. For
everyone else, please forgive me!
Derek Miner
ind00163@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] For all administrative issues, such as change of address, withdrawal from the list, fan club addresses, discography requests (last update 17 April), back issues, FAQ list, etc., send a message to the following address: <chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> The Chalkhills archives are available at "http://chalkhills.org/". The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. This is your court and these are your dogs.
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