Chalkhills, Number 68

                 Monday, 20 November 1989
Today's Topics:
                      Chalkhills #67
                     Re: The Arguers
                     Angry Young Men
                    Look: Look Look !

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Date: Sun, 19 Nov 89 14:07:46 -0500
From: The AI Enforcer <pja@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Chalkhills #67

I noticed on the credits for _Big Express_ that thanks are given to "Curt and
Roland".  Is this Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears?  If so,
what did they have to do with the album, anything?  Or are they all just
buddies?

							-pete angeline

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Peter J. Angeline      ! Laboratory for AI Research (LAIR)
ARPA:		       ! THE Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
pja@cis.ohio-state.edu ! "Brain, brain... What is brain???" - Kara on Star Trek

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Date: Sun, 19 Nov 1989 14:28:55 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: The Arguers

Karl (batman) MacRae said:

>>        No, I think you got that backwards; Fox declawed the songs and
>>prettied everything up; he gave it a big, LA sound. You can feel his
>>hand all over the thing; it's just so fucking american.

To which Stewart (sco!stewarte@ucscc.ucsc.edu) replied:

>If that were the case, though, you'd expect the demos to be tougher than
>the stuff on the album, right?  They were never declawed.  However, that
>isn't the case (at least not with the only ones I've heard:  "Living in
>a Haunted Heart" and "The Good Things" from the "Mayor of Simpleton"
>single).

Let's see, what demos from _Oranges and Lemons_ have I heard?

    Living in a Haunted Heart
    The Good Things
    My Paint Heroes
    Skeletons
    Mayor of Simpleton
    This is the End

In general, these demos sound very much like other _Oranges and
Lemons_ tracks (in general tone, not in structure, rhythm nor lyrics).
"My Paint Heroes" is an interesting study of modern painters, complete
with associative stream-of-thought lyrics.  It suffers from lack of
production and the inflexibility of a drum machine, so definitely
feels under-produced.  The demo of "Mayor of Simpleton" is *very*
close to the album version.  "This is the End" would have made a
perfect closing song for the album (and I believe it was going to be,
at one time) -- it sounds much like other tracks -- but was too
negative, and they wanted an upbeat closing song (although I feel that
"Chalkhills and Children" is ambiguous, no matter what Andy says).

So I don't think Paul Fox "declawed" the tracks, just that so much was
added that they became muddled -- it became impossible to
differentiate between the layers of the onion you were supposed to be
peeling.

	-- John

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Date: Sun, 19 Nov 1989 23:16:48 PST
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Angry Young Men

I finally found a copy of _The Loving_ 12-inch.  And then I couldn't
wait longer than a full day to hook up my turntable.  I've moved and
it was in a box, but no longer, no matter what else I should be
unpacking.  And I think "The World is Full of Angry Young Men" is a
very good song, very jazzy, in the vein of "The Man Who Sailed Around
His Soul" but in 4/4 time (and it wins for the most words in the title
by a word).  It's written by Colin Moulding and no, it's not a demo,
it's well recorded, produced by XTC (sure sounds like an _Oranges and
Lemons_ outtake, but it's not produced by Paul Fox nor was it
engineered by Ed Thacker).  It's got a very standard structure, both
chordal and lyrical.  Good twangy guitar intro and good use of
silence.  The lyrics are similar to Colin's "Skeletons" but
significantly more positive in their outlook.

	-- John

P.S.  Here are the lyrics, to tantalize y'all.

The World is Full of Angry Young Men
------------------------------------

Gone are the days
When hate filled my heart
I feel now a ever happy man
I laugh now at values that I had
All through my youth
I was shouting and no one would hear
Blind to the ways
Of the people who now I hold dear
It's loud and clear

The world is full of angry young men
Chip on their shoulder
An ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life holds them something
But you only get out what goes in

There was a time
When I fought the world
I see now
It's just an acting stage
I see clear
The colours through the haze

As time goes on
Your opinion will change like the weather
Things that you said
Now seem small
They just don't seem to matter
I look for the better

The world is full of angry young men
Chip on their shoulder
And an ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life holds them something
But you only get out what in

There was a time I was lost in the dark
I ran a race I didn't know where to start
Now I've changed my ways
Seeing better days
I'm turning my world upside down

The world is full of angry young men
Chip on their shoulder
And an ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life holds them something
But you only get out what goes in

Angry young men
That you put in is what you get out

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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 89 14:39:50 EST
From: rpk@goldhill.com
Subject: Look: Look Look !

I rented the laserdisc from a place in Waltham MA called Instant Replay.
It was great seeing ``Making Plans for Nigel'' for the first time in
ten or so years !  Too bad it only goes up to _English Settlement_.

Instant Replay has a wide selection of discs to rent.  The music video
section is most impressive, much better than any tape rental place I've
seen.  They might also do by-mail rentals.  (I didn't check out their
tape section as I was too busy looking through the discs.)

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21 November 1989 / Feedback