Chalkhills, Number 92

                   Tuesday, 8 May 1990
Today's Topics:
                    Re: Chalkhills #91
                    Re: Chalkhills #91
                    Urggh:A Music War
                 The Girl from Simpleton
           Re: Towers of London, Colin Moulding
                      Something New!

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date:         Fri, 04 May 90 16:33:07 EDT
From: Mark Hessman <ST601287@brownvm.brown.edu>
Subject:      Re: Chalkhills #91

     Regarding *Compact XTC* : What I have heard was that it was supposed
to be released domestically sometime in April.  I have not been music
shopping in a while, and so I would not know if this came through or not.
But if it did, there should be copies everywhere.  =)

     Next : to push for *Mummer* on CD... =)

     Let's see... anybody know what the band is up to now?  They should
be due for some new material soon, that's for sure... but I haven't heard
anything.  Anybody with any clues, please fill us in.

                                              -- Mark

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Fri, 4 May 90 22:24:40 -0400
From: Jon Drukman <jsd@gaffa.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills #91

In regard to USA domestic XTC CD's - don't forget the Dukes Of Stratosphear
disc.  Also, the She's Having A Baby soundtrack and the Mayor of Simpleton
mini-CD!

/j/

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date:    Mon, 7 May 1990 10:07:21 CDT
From: "THOR::GJJ5315"@star.tamu.edu
Subject: Urggh:A Music War

I found a copy of Urggh: A Music War today on CD.  How are the other
performances.  I like a lot of the other groups, but I'm not spending
15 dollars for below par performances.  What's the recording quality?
Is it really worth it beyond the XTC track?

Gary Jedlicka
GJJ5315@Star.tamu.edu

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date:    Mon, 7 May 1990 10:07:42 CDT
From: "THOR::GJJ5315"@star.tamu.edu
Subject: The Girl from Simpleton

This may be a stupid question but...who is the woman in the "Mayor
of Simpleton" video?  Is she Andy's wife?  Drive over to Texas and
nail me with a railroad spike if I'm missing something that should
be painfully obvious.

Gary Jedlicka
GJJ5315@Star.tamu.edu

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Mon, 7 May 1990 20:27:21 PDT
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Re: Towers of London, Colin Moulding

Daniel S. Rice <rice@ernie.berkeley.edu> asks:

>Does anyone have any idea what "Towers of London" is about?

First impressions (after years of listening): it's about the lack of
regard the upper classes have for the workingmen who built the towers,
bridges, railroads, and the Underground of London.

       -------

William H Stoner III <bilbo@cis.ohio-state.edu> asks:

>Would someone out there tell me if "take this town" is decent?  There's a
>copy of _Times Square_ soundtrack goin for $3.00 near me. is it worth it?

I really like "Take This Town".  For $3, that seems like a deal.  I
don't know what else is on the soundtrack album, however.

>Who was in the band, and when? the discs I own are very short on this kind
>of info.

XTC started as Andy Partridge on guitar and vocals, Colin Moulding on
bass and vocals, and Terry Chambers on drums.  They got the
opportunity to record some demo tracks and decided they needed a
keyboard player, so they looked around and ran into Barry Andrews.
They "interviewed" him at a pub, got totally smashed and voila! he was
in the band.  They recorded two albums with this lineup and then Barry
got disillusioned and left the band.  So Andy called up Dave Gregory,
a very talented and proficient guitarist that had been in a number of
bands before Andy even played guitar.  Andy, Colin, Dave, and Terry
recorded three albums, and then Andy had his nervous breakdown and XTC
stopped touring.  During the recording of the following album,
_Mummer_, Terry left the band to live in Australia with his new wife.
XTC has continued since as a three-piece band.

Various studio musicians have assisted since, but none have been
considered permanent members.

>I was thinking of compiling a "Songs of Colin" tape.  Could someone out there
>give me a list of what songs by him aren't on: Go2, Drums and Wires, English
>settlement, Mummer, Black Sea, The Big Express, skylarking, and L&O?

	Blame the Weather
	Dance Band
	Find the Fox
	Heatwave
	Instant Tunes
	Life Begins at the Hop
	Limelight
	Looking for Footprints
	Officer Blue
	Skeletons
	Smokeless Zone
	The Good Things
	The World is Full of Angry Young Men
	Washaway

>Also
>who wrote which of the Homo-Safari tunes???

Andy wrote all of them.

	-- John

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Tue, 8 May 1990 22:00:44 PDT
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Something New!

        -- News Flash --

  Finally, something new from one of the members of XTC.

  Alan Duffy has just released _"if 6 was 9"_, an album which pays
tribute to the one and only Jimi Hendrix.  Mr Duffy is the same lad
who put out _Fast 'n' Bulbous_, the Cap'n Beefheart tribute album
with XTC's version of "Ella Guru".

  On the new album, David Dream has contributed a new recording of
"Third Stone from the Sun".  According to our latest issue of _The
Little Express_, David Dream is really XTC's own Dave Gregory
(donning that good old purple shirt again).

  David Dream's recording is quite a good one, fairly faithful to
the original but with some new twists.  The song is quite long,
almost seven minutes of psychadelic madness complete with screaming
electric guitar solos and slowed down vocals.  And we get to hear
Mr Dream sing!

  _"if 6 was 9"_ also includes a raging cover of "Who Knows?" by
Bevis Frond, a very long jamming version of "If 6 Was 9" by
Obsequious Cheesecake (I am led to believe that they are actually
Bob Weir, Henry Kaiser, Glenn Phillips, and friends), and covers by
The Monks of Doom, Thin White Rope, Giant Sand, The Mock Turtles
and more.

  Dave Gregory had this to say in the latest issue of _The Little
Express_:

      ... yours truly booked time at a little 16 track studio
    near Swindon in August and attempted an up-dated "Third
    Stone From The Sun".  I think I probably ended up biting
    off more than I could chew!  Let's just say it was a brave
    attempt.

  Enjoy!

	-- John

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

For all administrative issues, such as change of address,
withdrawal from the list, discography requests (last
update 8 May), back issues, etc., send a message
to the following address:

	<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>

Any views expressed in Chalkhills are those of
the individual contributors only.

---

Go back to Volume 1.

9 May 1990 / Feedback