Chalkhills Digest Volume 1, Issue 426
Date: Tuesday, 28 March 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Number 426
Tuesday, 28 March 1995
Today's Topics:
Zappa Meets The Dukes
Re: Chalkhills Digest #424
Video Info/Dukes Stuff
XTC 'Net Interview 003 - Temperamental Andy, Post-XTC employment,
Albert Brown/Goals/Siberry
Dukes / lazybones
Martin Newell
Re: Chalkhills Digest #425
Rugby, chords, kennings, vo
Dukes influences summary
XTC vinyl auction!
And the diamond blue
Re: Chalkhills Digest #425
xtc instrumentality
Re: Lazy Lying Lion
"All You Pretty Girls"
Re: Videos
Blue Diamond?
disappointed video
Greetings and a comment or two
RS chords
Incredible String Band (and more!)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Aaron Pastula <apastula@pepperdine.edu> Subject: Zappa Meets The Dukes Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 1:46:06 PST Greetings-- While the topic is still reasonably fresh, I'd like to jump in.... In the short intermissions on the Dukes album, there is a girl narrating short pieces of dialogue, and behind her is a strange echo effect. If you want to know where it came from (the echo, I mean), check out the first few tracks of Frank Zappa's "We're Only In It For The Money," from which I am sure it was copied. If I remember correctly, in Twomey's biography he mentioned that XTC were fans of Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention...and I believe in one issue of The Little Express there was a picture of Zappa on Dave Gregory's wall... Yeah, REALLY useless information I know, but I think it's interesting how all-encompassing that album really is of that era of music... Maybe I'm getting a little TOO involved... Whatever...goodnight. Aaron.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:45:24 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James) Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #424 mt4s@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu sez: >of A Day in the Life (compare the section after "Then somebody >spoke and I went into a dream..." with the end of the mole). My >final two offerings are both Beatle-related. Vanishing girl sounds >like it would be very at home on Rubber Soul. Some may disagree Oh no no no... listen to the Holleis and you'll find exAcly where Vanishing Girl comes from. It is more ollies than the Hollies were themselves. remember "Bus Stop"? "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress"? "All I need is the Air That I Breathe"? James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno)
------------------------------ From: "J.A.Harkness" <J.A.Harkness@sheffield.ac.uk> Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 12:08:16 +0000 Subject: Video Info/Dukes Stuff With reference to the video thingy posed by John Relph/Thomas long:- I remember seeing 'The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul' on 'The Tube' many, many yars ago in a promo fimed at Port Merion - where '60s cult show 'The Prisoner' was filmed - but I'm not sure if this was specially filmed for 'The Tube' or a bona fide promo...... Also, I have a rather gorgeous promo for 'The Disappointed' which has lots of very medieaval (is that how you spell it) backgrounds/costumes and is quite beautiful to watch......sadly truncated, though, as is 'The Chart Show's' wont.... and I also recall a promo for 'Albert Brown' which featured a rather poor Punch and Judy show starring various Sindy/Barbie/Ken dolls, assorted trolls and other plastic toys.......hilarious! As for more Dukes references......I'd've said 'You're My Drug' was a direct lift from the Byrds 'So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star' rather than 'Eight Miles High' . There are a couple of versions around but one of them starts exactly, and I mean EXACTLY the same as 'YMD'. Or vice versa........ Either way, they are both terrific songs! Take Care Will Yum! "Sometimes I drown in the bliss of it all" FHB.........
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 95 18:09:03 GMT
From: John Nicholls <nicholls@case.co.uk>
Subject: XTC 'Net Interview 003 - Temperamental Andy, Post-XTC employment,
Instalment 003, apologies if it looks like some subscribers are getting
more than their fair share of questions answered but I'm slowly working my
way through the tapes!
If there are any questions thrown up by Dave's replies, send them to me at
the address at the bottom of the message. I will gather them together and
take them round to Dave in a mobnth or so - I know he will be happy to
continue the dialogue.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Gene Yoon <Gene_Yoon@brown.edu>
Q3. How has one (i.e. you and Colin) dealt with the famously temperamental
and stubborn nature of Andy Partridge? Are all of you best friends,
more like family, simply partners in your trade, or all three?
------------
DG: Kind of combination of all three. None of us have a lot of close
friends ... we are each others best friends really, we're obviously a
working partnership as well.
JP: Do you see each other a lot socially?
DG: Not that much. We probably see each other more than we see any other of
our friends, outside the family, but after you've been together for as long
as we have you run out of things to say to each other at times, it's like a
marriage. And we have been together a long time, I mean I've been in the
band 16 years. We understand each other, we come to accept each other's
faults and foibles, it's a good relationship, it's a happy band basically.
There aren't too many frayed egos any more, most of them have repaired over
the years.
JP: What about the first bit, how do you and Colin deal with the famously
temperamental and stubborn nature of Andy Partridge?
DG: Well he's our mate and we've just got used to it you know. Although
Colin didn't deal with it at the time of _Skylarking_, he'd had enough and
he wanted out because he'd just had enough of Andy always being on his back
and getting his way all the time.
When we're in the studio, if it is geting a bit tense, then you just
disappear for an afternoon, let them work on something else, you come back
the next day it's as though nothing has happened. There are times when you
have to walk away from situations if it's getting a bit too stressful.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Gene Yoon <Gene_Yoon@brown.edu>
Q4. XTC may not go on forever, though many would shudder at the thought of
an end. What do you foresee the three of you doing after all has been
said and done?
------------
DG: Parking rental cars. I think I've got a pretty good future in it. I
don't know, because I've always been aware of the possibility, and I've
racked my brains trying to think of something. What could I do when this
all finishes? I mean, the thing to do of course is to try and make enough
money while the band's together that you don't have to work again, but that
looks a little unlikely at this stage.
JP: I don't believe a musician would ever be happy like that. I mean
someone in another job... I'd love to make enough money in my job that I
could do other things, but music is a bit different.
DG: Yeah, it is.
JP: You'd never stop playing your guitar.
DG: I don't think so, no. I can't imagine I ever would, but to do it
professionally you have to have some artistic collateral, like songs. It's
all very well for me to sit in here and play guitar or go upstairs and
make little tracks for my own amusement on my 8-track, but you've go to get
some money from somewhere, so the day will come when I have to look around
and say "Its time to go back to work". Unless I'm lucky enough to be
offered a gig in somebody else's band.
JP: You've done a lot of collaborations in the last few years.
DG: Yeah, well just odds and ends. Arranging - occasionally I get offered
a string arrangement. _1000 Umbrellas_ on _Skylarking_, I got a lot work
out of that, it's something I enjoy doing. But of course it's not
something I'd always want to do, it's nice to do twice a year just to ring
the changes. And if anyone wants me to play guitar with them, if they pay
me my usual fee I'll be more than happy to oblige!
JP: It's a strange question really. I often wonder, where do old musicians
go?
DG: Well, the fact is they go back to normal life and they have to make
ends meet as best they can. Some of them are really successful in other
areas, they start their own businesses in plumbing or central heating or
whatever it is, it's like footballers...
JP: I was just thinking of Don Rogers. [NB: Old Swindon Town FC hero who
opened his own sports store!]
DG: I don't think musicians are always the best... they're not very
together people you know, they're always a bit... there's something lacking
in their makeup that means they're not very good at working, and they have
to accept menial... they probably drive minicabs or become postmen or
something.
JP: Or park rental cars. Steve Warren's gone one better hasn't he - does
he still work for Mitsubishi in Cirencester?
DG: Yes, he's doing very well actually, he was chief buyer last time I saw
him. But he's been very unwell, I haven't seen him for a while.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jsender <jsender@peg.apc.org>
2. What are the three syllables shouted at the beginning of (and
during) Sgt. Rock? Are they words?
------------
DG: Rock, Rock and Rock. Those are the words!
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jsender <jsender@peg.apc.org>
3. IMHO _Nonsuch_ contains XTC's most glorious tracks! Why are there
so many superbly delicate melodies and arrangements? Pre-formed ideas
brought to sessions? Collective mood at rehearsal or recording?
Maturity? ????
------------
DG: All three. That's a kind of rhetorical question, can't really answer
that.
JP: Interesting that this person sees particularly delicate melodies in
this, and you say it's the one that you most enjoyed recording.
DG: Yeah, pretty much, it's one of my favourites, definitely. I was very
very pleased with it when it came out, and I thought it was really
worthwhile, a worthwhile record. There's something in there for everybody,
we did the best we could do and there's not too much in there I'm ashamed
of. And yet no bastard bought it! Every time I hear _The Disappointed_ on
the radio I think "Yeah! That's a hit record! Oh, no, it's not, it's not,
nobody bought it! It's rubbish!"
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jsender <jsender@peg.apc.org>
5. Who are your favourite composers, songwriters and musicians?
------------
DG: I had to write these down because people always ask me this question
and I can never remember, I always think "Oh why didn't I mention
so-and-so", so I scribbled these down. My favourite composers - Bacharach
and David, Lennon and McCartney, the young Ray Davies, Lee Mavers, Tom
Petty, Becker and Fagin...
JP: Lee Mavers? Sorry to interrupt..
DG: From the La's. Really really great songs, what a great album that was.
JP: You said you personally never feel happy with stuff that you record
here, you edit yourself out of stuff. The La's came to mind. Because he
never... his quote about the first album is "It's shit. There's not a good
song on it". For me it's absolutely superb.
DG: Me too.
JP: Just a tragic shame that nothing else happened with the Las, although
I've been hearing rumours recently that they're not ... dormant.
DG: No, they have been recording. No, he split the band up and he's doing
a solo thing, and he's been recording tracks but when it will see the light
of day I don't know. You know it was a terrible shame Steve Lillywhite
took such a kicking over it, because really he rescued it, and like you say
it's a superb record. I've been waiting for the follow-up for so long and
I've given up on ever hearing anything as good again.
JP: Sorry, I interrupted you...
DG: Songwriters - Aimee Mann, great songwriter; Polly Harvey, she's very
good, she's definitely got a style; Todd Rundgren, a superb all round
master musician; Tom Petty, his last album was my favourite album of all
last year. Martin Carthy the folk singer, he's not a songwriter but he's
just a great stylist, he really personifies the best of English folk music,
a great guitarist and singer. And then there's just a number of guitar
players I admire. I've been working with this guy called Lyle Workman who
played guitar on Todd Rundgren's last tour and was a member of a group
called _Bourgeois Taag_. Again, another guy who was a big fan of ours and
I had no idea was interested, but he's a great guitar player and we've been
working on a little bit of... he's been recording an album at home of
instrumental stuff, he doesn't really have a deal, he's just struggling to
face... it's very difficult for him to get his music released and
broadcast. And this guy John Bryan, he works with Aimee Mann, he was her
producer. He plays most of the instruments on her records and is just the
most frightening musician I've ever worked with, a real multi-talented
genius musician. He's a very modest and humble guy, and he probably
doesn't have the wherewithal to make it himself but in the right
circumstances with Aimee - you really should hear the _Whatever_ album
which was her last album from '93 which they worked on together. It's a
fine fine bunch of songs, there's not a duff track on it.
With regard to guitar players, there are any number because I'm influenced
by everything I hear, there are just so many great guitar players around,
in the past and the present. Mostly Americans. I don't think England has
thrown up any really gifted guitarists since the early seventies. I'd be
hard pushed to think of one who's done something significant. Oh, and
another guy I think is really good is Sting, someone else who's been
slagged off rotten for being a "pop star". Again people can't see the wood
for the trees, they have this pre-conceived notion of him as this arrogant
pillock. Which is probably what he is as well, but he's a great songwriter
and a really good musician and I think he should be recognised as such. I
think Sting is cool. I really loved that last album of his,
JP: I'm not really familiar with any of the albums, all I know are the
singles. Sometimes I think they've been unbelievably trite bollocks and
some have been superb and very imaginative.
DG: Yes, the last two singles I haven't cared for at all.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright JP Nicholls, March 1995.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
################################## nicholls@cray-communications.co.uk
####################################### Tel: (UK daytime) 0793-546383
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 23:43:02 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James) Subject: Albert Brown/Goals/Siberry From: James Kosmicki <gkosmicj@cccins.gi.cccneb.edu> >For some reason, whenever I hear YAGM, AB, I feel the need to pull out my >import version of The MOVE's greatest hits. I'm not sure where I hear >the connection, but I definitely hear it. It always makes me think of Herman's Hermits (but I forgive it eventually :) From: DAMIAN The Wonder Dog FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> >...with a twitch of my wrist'. Goals are not scored in Rubgy, ever. >Tries, Conversions and Penalties are scored in rugby. But goals are >scored in football (occaisionally). Drop Goals are scored in Rugby (just to be completely anal :) but yeah, it's fitba' that's being referred to. On Now: When I was a Boy (Jane Siberry :) James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 07:00:26 EST From: stacy@trc.com (Robert Stacy) Subject: Dukes / lazybones What goes around comes around, huh? It's pretty well agreed by many around here that "Vanishing Girl" is pure Hollies (cf Craig's and Phil's responses in #424). Listen to that high harmony on the chorus; the only way they could've got closer to evoking Graham Nash is to drag his actual self kicking and screaming into the studio. ---------- Jon in #424 was wondering about Andy's vocal riffing at the end of "Leisure." This one's an oldie -- thirties perhaps? My best recollection of the lyrics in question, from recurrent viewings long ago of an old Looney Toon, is: Lazybones, sleeping in the sun how you ever gonna get a day's work done? I know Leon Redbone has covered this, but don't know which album it's on. Anybody else? --RSt
------------------------------
Subject: Martin Newell
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:10:29 -0500
From: Erik Seligman <Erik_Seligman@BEEHIVE.MC.CS.CMU.EDU>
I'm surprised I haven't seen much on this list about Martin Newell's
new EP... Has anyone heard it? Any comments? I didn't buy it, since
I have a moral objection to paying $10 for an import disc that only
runs 13 minutes. But I'm wondering if this signals that he has a new
album or something coming out. Anyone know? I loved "The Greatest
Living Englishman".
BTW-- I've noticed that several online CD stores have an import called
"Golden Cleaners", the best of Newell's Cleaners from Venus, for sale.
Anyone have it? Is it good?
---Erik
P.S. If you're an XTC fan who hasn't heard of Martin Newell, go out
and buy "The Greatest Living Englishman" immediately. :-)
------------------------------
From: mallende@Phoenix.kent.edu (mark allender - king of the universe)
Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #425
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:22:48 -0500 (EST)
it was reported that videos were made of these songs:
> Wonderland [unreleased] 1983?
> Love On a Farmboy's Wages [unreleased] 1983?
> Human Alchemy [unreleased] 1983?
> In Loving Memory of a Name [unreleased] 1983?
> Funk Pop a Roll [unreleased] 1983?
> All You Pretty Girls 1984?
> The Dukes of Stratosphear: Mole From the Ministry 1985?
> Grass 1986?
> Dear God 1986?
> The Road to Oranges and Lemons [puppet show] 1989
> Mayor of Simpleton [UK version] 1989
> Mayor of Simpleton [US version] 1989
> King for a Day 1989
> King for a Day [colourised] 1989
> The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead [original version] 1992
> The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead [US MTV version] 1992
and me without cable television!
is there anybody with copies of some or any of these on tape that
is perhaps into helping out other poor chalkhillians in need?
-makotu
--
uh...
------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 1995 09:26:40 -0500 From: "Russell Shaddox" <Russell_Shaddox@quickmail.cis.yale.edu> Subject: Rugby, chords, kennings, vo In CH425, BarryR7704@aol.com wrote: > I always thought the inspiration for "This World Over" (one of my > all-time favorites, yeah I know: ponderous, pretentious and > sentimental) was a Russell Hoban novel called "Riddley Walker". Has > anybody else read that book and instantly thought of XTC I sampled both "This World Over" and "Riddley Walker" when they first came out. And although this connection never occurred to me, the atmosphere and setting of the two works certainly coincide. I think it may be the resemblance of two lyrical, bittersweet post-holocaust stories. I have to say that it is almost physically impossible for me to listen to "This World Over"; it's that painful and sad. It's much more straightforward (and more moving) than "Riddley Walker." In response to my Englishism about "invade the pitch" in "Leisure," DAMIAN The Wonder Dog FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> wrote: > Firstly although the field that rugby is played on is called a > 'pitch' rugby fans very rarely run out onto it at the end of the > game. Football (soccer) is also played on a 'pitch' and football > fans are much more prevalent to invading the pitch Well, swat my hind with melon rind, as Opus used to say. I didn't realize that the Englishism here was not just the "pitch," but the whole phrase "invade the pitch," which I guess means to mob the football pitch after a game. I figured Andy was talking about running out onto the field to _play_ a game. So the narrator's actually a spectator, not a player. Talk about "Lazybones," the guy didn't even get out onto the field when he _wasn't_ laid off! Thanks very much for setting straight at least one unenlightened Yank. And to AMANION@rex.mnsmc.edu, re the beginning chords to Respectable Street: No unorthodox tuning. The first chord is a straight barre B chord. Play the root B note, then hit the whole chord. The second chord is a b*st*rd C#7. It's played this way: 1st (lowest) string: C# (9th fret). 2nd string: F (8th fret). 3rd string: B (9th fret). All other strings open. Play the root C#, then hit the whole chord, then hit the whole chord again with a reverse chop. Experiment around with this and you should get the sound. Also please forgive any errors, since I am doing this from memory without a guitar at hand. CANEVIT@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU wrote: > Last time, XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU asked about the "diamond > blue" of "Dear God." The technical term for such a rhetorical > device is "kenning." It's just another way of saying 'the sea.' It's been a while since I read Old and Middle English, but I believe a kenning has to be a compound of two nouns, hence your Beowulf example "whale-road" for sea. Neither "diamond blue" nor "blue overall" is a true kenning; they're just metaphors. But they are interesting ones. CANEVIT@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU also wrote: > I have to wonder if Andy is a particularly oral personality ... and whether > he really gets into the mere pronunciation of his lyrics. Whoa -- first Brunnanburh, and now Barthes. My brain hurts! :-) This is a very interesting thought and one that I think is right on track. I think there's no doubt that Andy gets into the resonance of the human voice and the sounds it can make -- particularly starting with "English Settlement." Listen to "Leisure" and "Yacht Dance" for two vastly different vocal treatments. The frog sounds in "Knuckle Down," the vocal mosaic at the end of "Melt the Guns" -- he really goes to town voice-wise on ES. Any comments? Thanks for listening -- Russell Shaddox There are said to be Buddhists that can see an entire landscape in a bean. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 09:55 EST
From: Jeffrey Langr <0005392548@mcimail.com>
Subject: Dukes influences summary
In no particular order, a summary of what you and XTC have to say on the
subject of Dukes influences, culled from previous digests:
You're My Drug Byrds, "Eight Miles High", "I See You"
My Love Explodes Yardbirds, "Over Under Sideways Down"
You're a Good Man Albert Brown Beatles, Yellow Submarine
laughter - Pink Floyd from Dark Side
of the Moon
The Move
Pink Floyd (non-Syd Barrett),
"Corporal Clegg"
Small Faces
Vanishing Girl early Who
1st verse - "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps
Tonight)"
Beatles, "Rubber Soul"
Hollies
25 O'Clock clock sounds - Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the
Moon
Electric Prunes,
"I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night"
Pale & Precious Beach Boys, Pet Sounds - "God Only Knows",
"Caroline No", "Good Vibrations"
Bike Ride to the Moon Syd Barrett
The Mole from the Ministry Beatles, 1967, "Strawberry Flds Forever",
"Sgt. Pepper", "I Am the Walrus"
Braniac's Daughter Paul McCartney, "Uncle Albert/Admiral
Halsey"
Shiny Cage Beatles, "I'm Only Sleeping", Revolver era
Little Lighthouse guitar tremolo effect - Spirit
west-coast Stone-influenced groups
Moby Grape
the Dukes themselves Klaatu
Your Gold Dress Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett),
from Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Captain Beefheart, "Dropout Boogie"
Collideascope late-period John Lennon solo
Move, "Blackberry Way"
Have You Seen Jackie Pink Floyd
The Affiliated The Kinks, Unit 4 + 2
Jeff
------------------------------ From: PsychoticS@aol.com Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 10:07:06 -0500 Subject: XTC vinyl auction! Due to a "little one" arriving soon at my house I have several upcoming Goldmine Magazine ads containing a substantial amount of XTC related material. If anyone is interested in viewing the auction lists and doesn't have access to the publication let me know and I will happily forward the lists and the auction deadlines to you. I'm reluctant to post the list here for fear of violating Chalkhills etiquette! If posting the list is acceptable I will do so...can someone educate me?! Thanks for you're time...John
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 10:20:19 EST From: patty@gdb.org (Patty Haley) Subject: And the diamond blue Hi all: > From: flat5@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu > XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU wrote: > >Andy Partridge signs "Did you make disease/and the Diamond Blue?" > >What the heck is "Diamond Blue?" Doesn't sound good. > > What he's signing about (and I think we ought to recognize Andy's pioneering > work with American Sign Language in his songs--just kidding) is THE OCEAN. > Imagine a creator making something as horrific and unnecessary as disease > and then also making the source of all life, the Diamond Blue Ocean. There are blue, yellow, and pink diamonds. They are more rare than the usual white ones. I always interpreted (sign language reference :-)) this line to mean the blue diamond, not the ocean or the almond brand. :-) Also, I picked up _Split Milk_ by Jellyfish on Craig Canevit's recommendation. Wonderful and ultra-swell it do be. Reminds me of the Dukes of Stratosphear at their most harmonious. Thanks Craig, and RIP Jellyfish. -Patty Catherine Wheel World Wide Web Home Page: http://gdbdoc.gdb.org/~patty/CW/CW_home_page.html "If there's one thing I don't believe in, it's you"
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 08:26:33 -0800 (PST)
From: DAVIES@TGV.COM
Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #425
Good morning.
>Does anyone have any info on what types of guitars, basses they've used?
>Being a Rickenbacker fan (e.g. Beatles) I've always wondered if they've used
>Ricks. It sure sounds like it on a few of their records/disks.
Back around the release of The Big Express, Dave Gregory wrote
an article for International Musician (UK) about the wonders of
the Fender Strat. He gave the impression that the Strat is his
favorite axe. (I doubt he limits himself to a Strat.)
I saw XTC in 78 at Univ of Essex (Go2 era, Barry Andrews and all)
but do not recall what Andy played. Can anyone fill in the blanks?
Rick
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 11:56:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Reifel Edward M <3emr1@qlink.queensu.ca>
Subject: xtc instrumentality
in regards to your questions on instrumentation, i have a list of
instruments from a musician magazine from 1989. here goes:
andy:
until '82 he (andy) played an ibanez artist exclusively, but that changed
when he got a fender telecaster squire--"it has a nice clangorous
tone"-that's his current electric one-and-only. On the acoustic side,
partridge has played his martin d-35 on all xtc albums dating from
english settlement. he also has a small yamaha acoustic for "twanging"
purposes, and a woolworth's bass guitar (no name on head) with a "very
unusual tuba-like tone to it."
colin:
uses three basses on oranges and lemons, predominantly a wal. back up
basses were a fender precision and, for double bass sound on "pink
thing", an epiphone newport. "it goes 'poun'" partridge describes helpfully.
dave:
he was crushed that he couldn't take his entire guitar harem (over 20)
with him for oranges and lemons, but he made do with his faves: a 1953
gibson les paul gold-top; a schecter telecaster-style ("quite versatile");
a 1963 stratocaster; a semi-hollow 1964 epiphone riviera with miniature
humbuckers, heard on the pink thing solo ("it has a nice beatley sound");
and one of his first 25 rickenbacker 12-strings shipped to england in the
wake of 'a hard days night'.
hope this gives you some new info that will please you.
i need protection
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 9:15:15 PST
From: John Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Lazy Lying Lion
Micah Heibel <mheibel@lps.esu18.k12.ne.us> writes:
>Subject: Lazybones
>
>There is a song on Harry Connicks "25" cd, with exactly the same
>melody as this little snippet. I believe it is an old Jazz standard.
>It's lyrics are:
>
>Lazybones, sleeping in the sun
>how you ever gonna get your day's work done?
There's also version of "Lazybones" on Esquivel's recent Bar/None
compilation entitled _Space Age Bachelor Pad Music_. An excellent
compilation, warmly recommended, especially if you enjoy strange big
band latin electronic stereophonic demonstration records.
Craig <CANEVIT@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU> opines:
>
>DIAMOND BLUE:
>Last time, XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU asked about the "diamond
>blue" of "Dear God." The technical term for such a rhetorical
>device is "kenning." It's just another way of saying 'the sea.'
Personally I believe that Andy was in fact singing about blue
diamonds, one of the rarest and hence most precious of gemstones.
This in contrast to "disease". God made the good and the bad
(and the ugly, too).
>and speaking of LYRICS:
> the last time I ftp'd the lyrics for RAG AND BONE BUFFET,
>one of the lines in "Extrovert" was "I am the lion's roar and not
>the mouse that gets hurt." I was wondering what the source of these
>lyrics was--I mean, what kind of verification was involved in these,
>or are they just the result of hard listening? Anyway, I had always
>heard this line as "I am the lion's roar and not the masochist's hurt,"
Quoted directly from the file:
I am the lion who's roaring not the mouse that gets hurt
The lyrics come from assiduous listening (on the part of Jon
Drukman, myself, and others). I believe the lyrics make more
sense if the lion is contrasted with the mouse. Animal imagery.
How does a masochist relate to a lion?
By the way, I'll be in Jolly Olde England during the month of
April. In Oxford, specifically. Anybody care to meet up?
-- John
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 12:42:09 -0500
From: Joe Turner <jdt@concorde.com>
Subject: "All You Pretty Girls"
Someone mentioned that "All You Pretty Girls" sounds like "The Old
Grey Mare" (a song that I don't know)...
I was visiting two friends of mine in DC some weeks back, and as we
lay about the living room having a lazy Sunday morning, I put on their
CD of "The Big Express" when asked to choose some music. When "All
You Pretty Girls" came on, my friend Emma began to sing along:
"Great green globs of green greasy gopher guts..."*
I can't listen to "All You Pretty Girls" the same way ever since.
/joe
(* - I'm certain this is an Americanism, so for the non-US among us,
this is a children's song from way back in popular culture, sung
to the tune of you-guessed-it...)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 12:52:13 -0500 (EST) From: "Jay E. Scott" <jescott@ucs.indiana.edu> Subject: Re: Videos The only video I can positively add to John Relph's list is "The Meeting Place." I have a badly dubbed copy of it from either British or German television. And what is the deal with all the unreleased videos from _Mummer_? Does anyone know if a second video collection will ever be released? We here in the States have been largely deprived of these visual delights thanks to the US version of what is described as MTV, but has been described by Nicko McBrain as "Mighty Tight Vag." How right he is... Until next time...
------------------------------ From: Richard.Allen@octel.com Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 10:01:22 -0800 Subject: Blue Diamond? There is, in fact, a type of diamond that is blue. It is extremely rare and hugely expensive. ...on a shallower level, I believe there is a hard cider in the UK called Diamond Blue or Blue Diamond. He may be kenning but he may just really likes smokehouse almonds. ...maybe it's time for my medication. Cheers, Richard Pedretti-Allen p.s. Craig's interpretation of the Extrovert lyric is clever. Now I've got it seriously stuck in my head. Entertaining agony.
------------------------------ From: OLIVER@slais.ubc.ca Organization: SLAIS, UBC Date: 28 Mar 95 11:14:10 GM+5 Subject: disappointed video In regards to John's list of XTC videos: There was a video for "The Disappointed," which I have seen exactly once. It mostly features the band posing in a series of medieval- looking tableaus. It was quite lavish and colourful, shot in a quasi- "Losing My Religion" style. Has anyone else ever seen it?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 12:52:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Eric Muller <EMuller@UWYO.EDU>
Subject: Greetings and a comment or two
Well imagine my relief at discovering Chalkhills, after moving from New
Jersey to Laramie, Wyoming, where people think that XTC is . . . well . . .
three letters of the alphabet. I've been lurking for a bit, but am so
overjoyed at discovering some right-thinking (that is, like-minded)
listeners that I just can't help but put my two cents in.
I fell in love with XTC during my sophomore year of college--a friend
across the hall played "Sergeant Rock" incessantly, and I was hooked.
English Settlement was total infatuation--I don't think it left my
turntable (or I my room) for a week. "Ball and Chain" and "Snowman."
Particularly the dynamics at the end of "Snowman"--fade to almost nothing
and then that rage-filled final scream of a crescendo. Unbelievable.
So now here it is fourteen years later, and I am still in love with the
band. And happy to know that there are so many of you out there in the same
situation!
Two brief comments. (1) In Digest # 424, Mark offered the suggestion
that "Brainiac's Daughter" is "soooo perfectly solo McCartney a la Uncle
Albert/Admiral Halsey." Absolutely! But you needn't attribute the source
to solo McCartney: wouldn't "Martha My Dear" from the White Album also do
nicely? True, "Brainiac" has some of the silliness of "UA/AH" that "Martha
My Dear" lacks, but both "Brainiac" and "Martha" really do hum along in the
same tuneful way, with the same pulsing piano pushing them on.
(2) Aren't we being a bit hard on Squeeze (my other favorite band) by
suggesting that their more recent stuff (meaning, presumably, "Cosi Fan
Tutti Frutti" and later) has dipped to mediocrity? I share everybody's
frustrations with the weaker songs; I always have the feeling that Glenn got
bored with writing conventional pop after "East Side Story," and is
constantly straining to see how much he can get away with in terms of chord
structure and melody without leaving the pop scene entirely, but the gems on
the albums have gotten stronger and stronger. Isn't "Melody Motel" (Frank)
or "The Truth" (Play) or "Some Fantastic Place" (Some Fantastic Place) just
as good, if not better, than anything on, say, Sweets from a Stranger?
Anyway, thanks for reading these ramblings! I look forward to the next
digest!
Eric Muller
emuller@uwyo.edu
------------------------------
From: flat5@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 19:00:31 -0500
Subject: RS chords
To pick up the XTC/Police thread, how *synchronicity*-esque that
AMANION (or should I say, 'I'm merely AMANION...') should ask for the
chords to Respectable Street, after I claimed to be able to play it in the
last post--spooky.
Anyroad, the opening chords, in standard tuning, are B maj. and C#7(#9),
which is voiced thus:
Play a B maj. barre chord on the 7th penis--sorry, 7th FRET--then move the
chord up a whole step to C#, but leave the B and E strings open and ringing
at top (notes: C#, G#, C#, F, B, E). Magic!
Two other useful chords for RS: E maj. and F# maj.
Um, it just occurred to me that you might have wanted the 'old-timey' piano
chords which truly open the song (and comprise the bridge)--these are them:
A maj. B maj. E maj. D aug., but arpeggiated like this:
c# d# e d
a b b a#
e f# g# f#
c# d# e d
(For Floridian Chalkhillians only) a little test to tell if you're
playing it right is, the first half of this riff sounds like the 'Star
Hustler' TV show theme by Debussy (though I believe old Claude had a
slightly different name for the tune when he wrote it).
Actual thanks for this bridge transcription belong to fellow ChalkVillian
Mr. BKWright, who showed it to me years ago. Thanks, Keathe!
Ned Davis, or Flat5 to you.
------------------------------ From: loopy2@enternet.com.au Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 11:35:14 +1000 Subject: Incredible String Band (and more!) Greetings to y'all from a pommie lurker here in Australia. For the record - I've been an XTC fan since 3DEP and seem to be the only XTC fan I know here in Oz. When I discuss XTC with most Australians, their reaction is usually "I thought they'd broken up years ago!" and the only song anyone can remember is Senses... - how depressing. Imagine my joy in bumping into you guys'n'gals - I've been lurking for the past few issues now and have been thoroughly enjoying the merry banter! Thanks to all of you and especially his highness Mr. John Relph for setting up such a great forum. Reply to Craig:- >There are two '60s bands that I'm not familiar with whom I would have >expected the Dukes to pay homage to: the Incredible String Band (because >they were one of the primary English psychedelic bands) and Hapshash and >the Coloured Coat (whose cover art style is gently mocked on the cover of >'Psonic Psunspot'). Unfortunately, since I've never heard anything by >either group, I have no way of knowing whether their styles are in evidence >on the Dukes' records. I don't have much on Haphash though I do remember the album fairly well (one of the first on coloured vinyl and all that) but I am a fan of the Incredible SB and I would say that there are virtually no direct references to them on either of the Dukes albums. ISB were very folkish during their heyday, drawing much on traditional Scottish and Irish folk music, although their lyrical content was very deep to say the least! They all went off to the US and became Scientologists when they broke up. Robin Williamson has done a few albums of his own (with a Scientology bent)since then, and Mike Heron formed the band 'Heron' which was very short lived but I did see them once in Birmingham (not very interesting I'm afraid - but lovely people) Other stuff So sorry to hear about Viv Stanshall - a sad loss. I had the privelege of working for him one night about 15 years ago - man, could he get through the Rum and Mary Jane! Split Enz I work as a recording engineer here in Sydney and had Mal Green in the studio recently. He's drumming in a band called 'Donny Hop & the Kings of Bop' - a relatively uninteresting blues standard type covers band. Pretty sad, but he seemed to be happy and enjoying still playing. I note lots of you guys making reference to XTC-like bands but am surprised that no-one mentions Blur. They seem to me to be the closest thing that I've heard to XTC in years and I luv 'em. I also think that most XTC fans would like australian band - The Church - not because of their similarities (there aint many) - but because if the depth of musical and lyrical content. Yay - Principia Discordia! I'm surprised that there isn't a Robert Anton Wilson / Illuminatus discussion group on the Internet (or is it 'cos I havn't found it yet?) Well - that's my spit Thanks again folks and be seeing ya on the next Seasons Cycle Colin Wright <loopy2@enternet.com.au>
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #426 *****************************
Go back to Volume 1.
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