Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 49
Date: Thursday, 28 October 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 49
Thursday, 28 October 2004
Topics:
RE: SMiLE and XTC
Re: SMiLE and XTC
Re: SMiLE
Drummed & Wired do Black Sea...again!
No, Andy loves ME the most
oysterhead
the inevitable groin
John Peel RIP
RIP John Peel
SMiLE is Wonderful
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 18:49:17 -0400 From: "Michael E. McKinley" <mmckinley@comcast.net> Subject: RE: SMiLE and XTC Message-ID: <!~!UENERkVCMDkAAQACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAAAAAAAADm3cb9CTmkynmKIMP8+vwcKAAAAQAAAAvj9SZRveSEq/FbSlSngrpAEAAAAA@comcast.net> Andrew, Among the folks backing up BW, in voice as well as instrumentation, on his most recent recordings, and in concert are The Wondermints. I've been a huge fan of these guys for a good while. If you haven't heard their own recordings before, you may want to give them a listen. They're pure pop bliss. Submerging back to lurk mode... Mike
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:16:13 EDT From: DanAbnrml9@aol.com Subject: Re: SMiLE and XTC Message-ID: <199.320b5ce2.2ea9b95d@aol.com> In a message dated 10/21/2004 6:44:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, someone writes: > the girl serving in HMV commented on how great SMiLE is. Only > on two other occasions have the serving staff in a major chain > actually commented on my purchases being great albums/CD's, these were > Drums and Wires way back when and Apple Venus Vol 1. So Brian is in > good company. > > BTW - If the serving staff in the major chains have less favourable > comments on my other purchases I appreciate their silence. I've worked for Newbury Comics for 3 years, and I have to say that one of the most fun parts of the job is when someone brings up a pile of great CDs and you get to talk to them about it. When someone's buying something I don't care for, I honestly don't notice... if it's something I love, I always let them know. --J
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:05:11 +0200 (CEST) From: chris browning <chris@boodle.fsnet.co.uk> Subject: Re: SMiLE Message-ID: <5374422.1098720311631.JavaMail.www@wwinf3006> oooh, i'm going to have to disagree here.. >> There's one thing that almost no one has mentioned about this album, the huge elephant in the "Smile" room: The weakest part of this album is Brian Wilson's voice. It's not just that he can't hit the high notes anymore (although he can't), it's that his lead vocals are the weakest part of the album. actually, brian's aged voice is one of the things i love MOST about the new "SMiLE" - a voice so aged, and matured singing "the child is the father of the man" is to me profoundly moving, and one of the reasons why this is one of the greatest albums of the year anyway, back to lurking for ME! chris
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:06:07 -0700 From: Ian Dahlberg <idahlberg@socal.rr.com> Subject: Drummed & Wired do Black Sea...again! Message-ID: <3781A63C-26EB-11D9-BB7F-000393696C30@socal.rr.com> Yes, we're going to tackle the album yet again, this time on a Saturday night instead of the middle of the week. Work off that turkey and sing along- maybe it will end up being an annual Messiah-type thing. Drummed & Wired play Black Sea November 27th 9pm $8 door $6 with a flyer 14 Below 1348 14th Street Santa Monica, CA 310-451-5040 http://www.drummedandwired.com/ http://www.14below.com/ We'll see you there!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 07:09:39 +0800
From: "Carl Lightbody" <clightbody@email.com>
Subject: No, Andy loves ME the most
Message-ID: <20041024230939.86B296EEE9@ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com>
Long time reader (of the chalkhills email newsletter), sometimes
contributor.
Thought I'd finally show you all my beautiful XTC- designed item, signed at
the Apple Venus CD launch tour in Toronto. I hate Toronto, but I was 6 hours
away and figured I would do much more to meet Andy than drive 6 hours. I was
one of the first to get there. I thought I'd arrived on the wrong day. Then
I saw the arrangement they had laid out for Andy to sit in- poor bastard. Of
course he was charming and delightful in every way- he even eschewed
MuchMusic (Canadian MTV to all you Americans) to be with us, his people.
I've been keeping it hidden away for all these (years?) and now that I have
what they call a "digital camera" I can share it with you.
So, I've been meaning to- wait, hold on......what's that, Andy-Guitar? You
want me to touch you...where? That's the naughty chord, the forbidden
chord.....
Thanks,
[ See http://chalkhills.org/img.cgi?images/photo/AndySignedMy.jpg ]
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:54:26 -0700 From: Steve <strwbrry@tidepool.com> Subject: oysterhead Message-ID: <E095D2A4-271B-11D9-BF4F-000393779CC6@tidepool.com> Hi all (especially those who appreciated the recent mention of Primus) Another suggestion is for Oysterhead which has some distinct echoes of the Dukes. Oysterhead was a one year (2001) alternative supergroup of ... Stewart Copeland of The Police (the police toured with xtc) Trey Anastasio of Phish Les Claypool of Primus Funkedelic sixticity from folks who have clearly given Mole from the Ministry and Your My Drug a good listen. Another Steve http://www.tidepool.com/~strwbrry/music/
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 16:15:21 +0100 From: Adrian Ransome <Adrian.Ransome@tsi-ltd.co.uk> Subject: the inevitable groin Message-ID: <497FEA72C392D3118AE700508B73117709AE5C86@nt4server03.tsi-ltd.co.uk> Just wanted to comment about the sad passing of veteran DJ John Peel that was announced this afternoon. Peely was a champion of early Xtc - in fact his show was the first place I ever heard of them: he played Radios In Motion, followed by a droll "That's Swindon's finest, Xtc with Radios In Motion. Not quite the same Motion that Matron used to talk about, hopefully". I think I still have the tape of it, somewhere. The great thing about John Peel was the fact he never bowed to fashion. He played the music he wanted to play, ignored the Radio One playlist, was the only weekday Radio One DJ to be broadcast in FM Stereo for a long while. Peely's show was one of the few places you could hear Belgian Techno followed by Django Rheinhardt followed by bleepy futuristic Japanese speedcore followed by an obscure Chelmsford band's demo tape. Often irritatingly unlistenable, mostly inspirational, always surprising, his show will be sorely missed by people who care about music - even Mogwai fans whose tracks he regularly played at the wrong speed. I still remember the shock of hearing him play Mayor of Simpleton (my first hearing of it) sandwiched between some bangin' drum'n'bass and heavy Jamaican dub. I think he described it as a perfect pop song, but derided the quality of the pressing he was given. Then he played Bogshed. ade
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 11:57:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Marco Conelli <conellicomplex@yahoo.com> Subject: John Peel RIP Message-ID: <20041026185712.29736.qmail@web50202.mail.yahoo.com> John died in Peru on working/holiday with his family.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 06:29:47 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: RIP John Peel Message-ID: <20041027052947.86358.qmail@web86904.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> By now you will probably have heard that John Peel, doyen of BBC and champion of many of our favourite musical artists (as well as the subject of Andy's savagely accurate parody that opens "Transistor Blast") has died of a heart attack in London. "My people were fair and had sky in their hair, but now they're content to wear stars on their brows" - title of first Tyrannosaurus Rex album that John narrated. FYI (big loss, think Kingsmill - prominent & respected Australian TripleJay broadcaster - multiplied by 100) - Paul
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 03:44:04 +0000 From: "dunks58" <dunks58@milesago.com> Subject: SMiLE is Wonderful Message-ID: <0bf418699547459b98f63b8644325eec@milesago.com> I beg to differ with you, Alex. I bought SMiLE last week and have been playing it constantly. I can't find anything in it that I'd describe as embarrassing, least of all Brian's voice. OK, granted, that marvellous instrument is not what it once was (neither would yours be if you'd honked as much hash as Brian) but it's still in remarkably good shape, considering. The more I listen, the more it impresses me. And after all this time, I just can't accept that Brian AND Van Dyke would have got back together and finished it had they both not thought it was worth doing. I was dead scared when I got it and I didn't play it til the next day, but when I did I was blown away, and it's grown on me more and more with each play. I'm starting to think that it's just about as far-out as I hoped it would be, and it's certainly dramatically better than we had any right to expect. I found the hardest thing was to distance myself from the existing SMiLE recordings and try and come at it afresh. "Good Vibrations" is a perfect example -- it's quite disconcerting not to hear the familiar Mike Love lyrics (which, heresy of heresies, I think are great, and perfect for the song). I do find Brian's old 'provisional' lyrics a bit awkward by comparison ... but the good thing is that it means he doesn't have to pay Mr Love dollar one in royalties, which is only fair, considering Mike's bastardly intransigence was a major reason that SMILE was not completed at the time. You can't blame Mike, in some respects -- having now familiarised myself with the new version, I too would have been shitting myself if I'd been faced with the prospect of having to take SMiLE out on the road in 1967 -- it would have been a nightmare at least, and was probably unperformable given the conditions of the day. Having heard live recordings of 'Good Vibrations' from that period, it's clear that they could sing it OK, but they were just not up to the playing side when it came to stuff that complicated. What blew me out was that, if the new version is even remotely similar to what Brian and Van Dyke intended in 1966, then it certainly vindicates what Carol Kaye has long said -- i.e. that it WAS quite near to completion, much more so than most people thought. Evidently the two main jobs that didn't get finished were to get the dumb-ass Beach Boys to finish the vocals, and then to sequence it all. Clearly, on the evidence of SMiLE 2004, most of the various parts of the backing tracks were complete and they just needed assembling and having vocals and 'sweetening' added. Given Brian's known efficiency in the studio -- and can you believe that the basic tracks for the new album were cut in FOUR DAYS??? -- it's even sadder that he obviously got so close and yet was unable to get it over the line. Partly, Capitol's to blame, for being bastards about letting him have studio time, but the Beach Boys have to be fingered as the main culprits, I reckon. And the irony is that within a couple of years, Carl had got his head around it and he was soon plugging away finishing and releasing the big tracks like 'Cabinessence' and 'Surf's Up' and putting out versions of other various bits like 'Cool Cool Water' and 'Mama Says'. The new version certainly conicides with what I had always thought about the structure of the piece, in that it was obviously planned to be a continuous suite, with all the little Heroes + Villains-ey fragments intended as linking pieces between the major songs. (It's also now blatantly obvious where Macca got the idea for the crossfaded tracks, animal noises, etc on Sgt Peppers). He obviously heard substantial parts of it when he visited Brian at the end of '66. I also found it interesting that, while it's always been claimed that Brian didn't want 'Good Vibrations' on the album, IMO in its present form the end would be rather anticlimactic if GV wasn't on there. I always imagined that it would finish with 'Surf's Up'. Verrrrry interrresting. I also have to say that some of the newly-finished bits, like 'Barnyard', 'Child Is The Father To The Man' and 'Holiday', are just glorious, and so damn infectious I just can't get them out of my head. That transition from 'On A Holiday' into 'Wind Chimes' is just sublime ... In closing, I must again confess that I'm one of the luckiest bastards on the planet. Just to make life as perfect as it can possibly get, Brian's second Australian tour went on sale on Monday. The Sydney concert is at the Opera House (how cool!) and best of all, I'm taking the whole family, and we're sitting dead-centre in the SECOND ROW!!!!! Whoo-hooo!! One last thing-- THREE CHEERS to Darian Sahanaja of The Wondermints for doing what no-one else could do in 38 years-- he got Brian to finish SMiLE! (Imagine having THAT on your CV?? hehehe) Cheers to all, Dunks
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #10-49 *******************************
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