Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 55
Date: Sunday, 28 November 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 55
Sunday, 28 November 2004
Topics:
RE: This Little Ziggy
OK, I'm SMiLING already!
Arse Farce
RE: The Capitol Smiles
Perhaps there is something wrong with me.
Uninformed rhetoric.
January 24, 1980 DVD
Tattoo Me
Courtesy of Anders Lundquist
Re: Andy's Cornhole
Court and Mervyn Sparks
Wonderfalls on dutch TV
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 15:43:45 -0500 From: "Krys Olsiewicz" <kolsiewicz@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: This Little Ziggy Message-ID: <BAY1-F25A7A0B3365597974AA721DFB80@phx.gbl> >>Jim <jim@groovedisques.com> wrote: I should probably get back on the Jangly list for the following comment, but may I state here that Martin Newell's memoir, This Little Ziggy, is a work of clear-headed brilliance about not so clear-headed days that a few of you, like myself, may vaguely recall. I'm sure a lot of you dig the man's music and are at least familiar with his writing. If you haven't read this book, I encourage you - no command you - to run out or log on and pick up a copy! << I concur. It's a fantastic read whether you know Martin's music or not. A survivor's tale. Cheers, Krys O.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:09:47 -0800 (PST) From: Jim Smart <jimsmart1@yahoo.com> Subject: OK, I'm SMiLING already! Message-ID: <20041124220947.51599.qmail@web13524.mail.yahoo.com> Jeff wisely wrote: "As a symbolic gesture from his fans at Chalkhills it'd seem to me to be a good "team present". I'm sure he'd love it to bits. And we should get one for Colin, too." And don't forget Dave Gregory, who thinks enough of SMiLE to have recorded his own version of Our Prayer all by himself. As if there weren't already enough amazing things about his resume. I've enjoyed all the SMiLE talk here, though I cringe a bit waiting for the inevitable crackdown on the non-XTC content. Since that hasn't happened yet, I'll throw in my tuppence. Although I'm one of those who had tried to make his own version of Smile from various sources, and as someone lucky enough to have seen Brian perform recently with the fine musicians supporting him these days, I hadn't really been following the latest news. The first I heard of this new SMiLE was on an NPR radio short just a week before the thing was released. I was in my car, and I just had to pull over and let my jaw drop as this information washed over me. I had thought Smile was dead and buried, and that Brian had no wish to deal with it. I don't mind saying that I was near tears as I learned about how they re-recorded everything, and how they got Van Dyke Parks involved, and so forth. It never would have occurred to me to re-record the whole thing. I assumed "doing Smile" meant sorting through the old tapes and using them to make it. I think the story of how this 2004 SMiLE came together is beautiful and fitting. It ranks up there with other great works of the 20th century. It stands apart from the psychedelic era in which it was written. It goes so far beyond the boundaries of rock. When I made my own version, I had read so many conflicting things about how it would all fit together. Was it all about the 4 elements (fire, water, wind, earth)? Was it a teenage symphony to God? Was is just a trip through Americana? Was it a backwards look at life from death back to childhood?I could never see how those would connect. But of course. Three movements, one for each idea. Perfect. So many assumptions have fallen. Brian will never tour again, Brian will never let Smile out of the bag, blah blah blah. Brian Wilson is a survivor, and I salute his spirit and his creativity. Just thinking about his story makes me SMiLE, Jim
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:47:16 -0800 (PST) From: Al LaCarte <allacarte@yahoo.com> Subject: Arse Farce Message-ID: <20041124224716.34941.qmail@web50304.mail.yahoo.com> All: Mervyn wagged: >and that awfully unfunny prelude to "That Wave" < Odd. I found that to be one of the fuzziest warbles. Oh well, maybe Dom will pull over, hop out of his motorcar and get some exercise again. That would be awfully funny. :Al
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 02:21:59 +0000 From: "WAYNE KLEIN" <wtdk12@msn.com> Subject: RE: The Capitol Smiles Message-ID: <BAY3-F7FE0A86EDA6EA2696573ACAB90@phx.gbl> Jeff wrote >And because the sacrifice is so evident, I fervently hope that the people at Capitol or wherever who have been working on the old Beach Boys stuff will now feel the impulse to go and put together a good mix of the Beach Boys "Smile" material (like the attempt started in 1988). Otherwise, I guess I will have to do it by myself -- although a lot of the stuff I have is "39th tape copy" quality. But versions of almost every bit of the record are available either officially or on bootlegs, it *was* pretty close to completion. Jeff, reportedly Capitol is going to do this (maybe I read it here first) as they realized they had gold buried in their vault. Evidently "SMiLE" is doing pretty well that along with The Beatles' "Capitol" boxed set made them take a look at the BB version of "SMiLE"
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 23:23:05 -0500 From: "Bram and Bill" <bramnbill@rcn.com> Subject: Perhaps there is something wrong with me. Message-ID: <FHEEINHIGKCGCIPNKMMIOEGMCGAA.bramnbill@rcn.com> Fellow Chalk Folk, For the past few weeks I have been reading gushing review after gushing review of Brian Wilson's SMiLE. I have listened to it, and frankly, I don't quite get it. I should say that I have never been a fan of the Beach Boys or Wilson. Yeah they have nice harmonies, and Wilson throws in interesting instrumentation here and there, but it's far from consistent. It doesn't hold my ear and never has. It could be that the subject matter of their songs bores me to tears normally. (In fact, the only XTC/Dukes song I ALWAYS skip over when I'm spinning Psonic/Chips is "Pale and Precious". That Beach Boys tribute does not belong on that disc! It's totally out of place.) I would never, in a million years put Wilson's work on par, or even close to par with Lennon and McCartney, or that wonderful song-writing "arse" Andy Partridge and to a lesser extent Colin Moulding. Jason Falkner is another great songwriter that comes to mind... Those guys write songs that have made me float on air for decades! I guess there is something wrong with me. There is, after all, no accounting for taste. JWSEED (PS I do like "Good Vibrations". Good song.)
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 12:56:41 +0000 (GMT) From: STEPHEN JACKSON <planet_skaro@btinternet.com> Subject: Uninformed rhetoric. Message-ID: <20041125125641.2467.qmail@web86601.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Mervyn wrote >>Does anyone know another band/performer who refuses to go on stage? Carly Simon? Kate Bush? And, to some extent at least, the Beatles when they stopped touring in the mid-sixties (rooftop gigs excepting) >>And I don't buy that stage fright crap either. Lots of performers suffer stage fright, some to the point of being physically sick prior to going on stage. But so fucking what? They get on with it, they get used to it and they overcome it. This only demonstrates a rather simplistic view of mental illness. I'm sure all the people who suffer from bipolar disorder, agraphobia etc. would really benefit from "getting on with it"... I don't know much about AP's health, but I do know that he was on prescription drugs for mental illness. Besides which, I think the ridiculous sums of money that have been offered to XTC to tour would have persuaded AP to tour, if he was really capable of it. >> The stuff I hadn't heard and which must have been considered not good enough to grace an album carrying the prestigeous XTC logo was there in demo form only. What is the point of that? Well that's unbelievably obvious isn't. If it was selected to appear on the album, it wasn't recorded. That's why you get the demo. It's the demo or nothing. I'd rather have the demo. >>Now imagine an XTC Nationwide Tour. Why? It's not happened for 22 years, so why start wondering now? Steve
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 09:43:53 -0500 From: "Chris & Melany" <ellaguru@comcast.net> Subject: January 24, 1980 DVD Message-ID: <000901c4d2fd$386f3eb0$c16f2a44@Sony> http://www.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=15505 I put in quite a few hours cleaning this one up for you kind folks here. Enjoy! cr
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 20:58:54 -0500 From: "Bram and Bill" <bramnbill@rcn.com> Subject: Tattoo Me Message-ID: <FHEEINHIGKCGCIPNKMMIIEHCCGAA.bramnbill@rcn.com> i really did not think that I was the only person on earth with a chalkhorse tattoo, now, thanks to the don device posting, i know of three others. there is no way in hell that my wife would get one too however. mine is on my left arm, barely visible below my short sleeve shirt sleeve. i happen to be a park ranger at one of our nation's (the united states') national parks. it is one that is highly visited by folks from all over the world. so, if you find yourself some spring/summer (for that is the only time i wear short sleeves) in a national park and you see a ranger with a chalkhorse peeking out from under his arrowhead patched sleeve, introduce yourself. BC
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 04:52:55 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Versaci <michael_versaci@yahoo.com> Subject: Courtesy of Anders Lundquist Message-ID: <20041127125255.25633.qmail@web20426.mail.yahoo.com> Folxtc, >From John Relph: >> I found a mention of Andy Partridge and XTC in Aftonbladet, a Swedish publication. There appears to be a paragraph concerning Mr. Partridge and Olivier Messiaen. However, my Swedish is not so good. Would anybody care to try their hand at a translation? (Babelfish doesn't do Swedish to English yet.) http://www.aftonbladet.se/noje/kronikor/klass/klass000816.html << I met Anders Lundquist on the Kevin Gilbert "Last Plane Out" list. He is a music journalist from Sweden, and a very cool guy with impeccable taste in music. I fowarded John's request to him and he was kind enough to send the translation. Michael Versaci "All music comes from the crotch". I grew up with that rule, encouraged by excited rock critics who kept saying that "music is sex". But the music that turned me on rushed right up to my brain and electrified my body from there. My penis was down in the darkness and didn't hear a thing. So, early on I started to swear in Rock Church. I loved Debussy just as much as The Cramps. Still the rocksexy ideology has given me prejudices, one of the worst being the one against "religious music" - something which I have seen as the opposite of sexy music - ihbitated and boring. And I have kept thinking that with my head full off Prefab Sprout, Stravinsky and soul. But Prefabs paddy McAloon studied to become a catholic priest before he filled his pop music with theology, and look att all of the 20th century's black popular music: salted with sex but rooted in religion. Yep, all musical orgasms are spiritual. Listening to The cramps without beoing aware of the religious heritage of rock'n'roll is as empty as watching porn. The catholic composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) only spoke with God. But his music is still among the most excitingly modernistic you can hear. From Stravilskys rhythmics and Schonbergs twelve-tone theories he created a super-sensibe science fiction-musical world that also included aincent greek poetry, indian music, jazz and - birdsong. Where normal bord watchers were content to just telling what kind of bird it was, he noted the singing in detail and incorporated it in his work. In the last art of "Des canyons aux etoiles", the orchestras play exact melodies from (seven different birds whose names I dont know the English words for). It sounds insane and insanely beautiful. The 43 year old pianist Pierre-Laurent Amiard has specialised in Messiaen, after having studied for him and his wife Yvonne Loriod for several years. His new interpretation of the piano cycle Vingt Regards is the strongest piece of music I've heard this year. A lot of the magic of the music is built on the magic of chords, and I am reminded of an experiment that Andy Partridge in XTC did ten years ago: he chose his most complex favorite chords and sampled them, so that each chord was on a single key on his keyboard. Then he played full chords on his keyboard, each finger playing a full chord. The end result, however, was not close to Messiaens manic, hymn-like labyrinths of chords, "palindrom rhythms" and layer after layer of scales. Often, the different musical blocks take various dramatic shapes, like a heavenly version of the animated Snoopy movies where all grown-ups are "played" by musical instruments. Because, of course Nessiaen was sexy, too. Vision de l'Amen he wrote for two pianos: a steaming sexually ritualistic thelogogical tango he only wanted to play with his wife.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 12:47:09 -0800 From: "Neil Oliver" <neiloliv@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Andy's Cornhole Message-ID: <BAY1-F815F0091563B0FFE38BF5DDBB0@phx.gbl> Mervyn: If listening to Andy's home recordings doesn't really interest you and you think the Fuzzy Warbles project is a waste of your money, that's fine. It's not for everyone, and personally, I wish he had been a little more selective with the set myself. But what's the point of attacking him personally in this way? "The irritating instrumental experiments and ditties and that awfully unfunny prelude to "That Wave" made me think that Andy had finally copped out." Copped out how? These are bits and pieces that Andy recorded for fun. No one is claiming that these are studio-quality, commercially viable pieces of music. The discs are called "The Demo Archives." What were you expecting? "The stuff I hadn't heard and which must have been considered not good enough to grace an album carrying the prestigious XTC logo was there in demo form only. What is the point of that? If the bare bones of "Merely A Man" can be worked into a masterpiece, perhaps a little extra work and a sprinkle of Partridge magic might have been able to do the same for, say, "I Don't Want To Be Here". But it seemed Andy couldn't be bothered. Just like we have to wait eons for each genuine XTC album. Too fucking lazy." I don't even know where to start with this. Of course the songs are in demo form - they're demos. What other form should they be in? The songs that Andy didn't record with XTC are songs he didn't think were good enough or songs the rest of the band weren't interested in recording. Not every song turns out to be a masterpiece. It has nothing to do with Andy being lazy. You have no idea how much work he may or may not have put into writing and recording those songs. They're very polished recordings considering they're demos. But sometimes a song just doesn't fly for whatever reason. Even so, Andy's unreleased material is generally of a very high standard, something you can't say for most artists. "And I don't buy that stage fright crap either. Lots of performers suffer stage fright, some to the point of being physically sick prior to going on stage. But so fucking what? They get on with it, they get used to it and they overcome it. Does anyone know another band/performer who refuses to go on stage? (Ok, maybe Bananarama but that was because they couldn't perform). It's Andy being an arse again." Who are you to decide that Andy should have to perform if he doesn't want to? It's his business. Clearly he doesn't enjoy it and he feels so strongly about it that he has sacrificed all the promotional and financial benefits XTC could have received from it. Andy doesn't owe you a live show or anything else, particularly if you think he's a fucking lazy asshole.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 20:25:24 -0800 (PST) From: Wes Long <optimismsflames@yahoo.com> Subject: Court and Mervyn Sparks Message-ID: <20041128042524.58272.qmail@web50804.mail.yahoo.com> You've a right to speak your mind Merv, and if your arrow was aimed at creating a swarm in our virtual hive I imagine you've hit the center mark with your ever-harsh post. If, however, you were aiming at the truth... Andy's a damn gracious chap, and a good friend too. He's been shockingly open and generous with me over the years. Now, I've never sat in the studio with the man and attempted to sail one of his songs in a direction of my liking... to this end he may very well be an asshole. You're familiar with his music, how great is it? Andy hears it a certain way and wants it that way; thank your favorite potentate for that. As a fan, I too am a bit frustrated that we won't get to hear some of these Warbles in their full-blown beauty, but I'd much rather hear 'em this way than not at all. How about you? To say that Partsy is "Too fucking lazy" is just over the top, Merv. You're not finding fault with Andy's music, just with his life. Andy Partridge's life is none of your fucking business and it's nonsense like this that will most likely make him fold up his tent for good at some point. Who the hell would blame him. With fans like these, who needs enemies? To suggest that Andy's got problems because members of the band have suffered a falling-out after years of performing together is nuts. Are you at all familiar with rock-n-roll, brother? Have you ever been in a band? Hell, it's a miracle that *any* band can stay together. This part is what prompted me to post: "And I don't buy that stage fright crap either. Lots of performers suffer stage fright, some to the point of being physically sick prior to going on stage. But so fucking what? They get on with it, they get used to it and they overcome it. Does anyone know another band/performer who refuses to go on stage? It's Andy being an arse again." Holy shit, Mr. Compassion, Andy stopped doing something that contributed in making his life a living hell. He's a real prick for not considering your feelings when making decisions about *his* life. Your a cold-hearted prick and I hope like hell you aren't in a position of authority somewhere. wesLONG
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 12:59:44 +0100 From: Andre de Koning <andre.de.koning@gmail.com> Subject: Wonderfalls on dutch TV Message-ID: <4aa9f832041128035935a83ec1@mail.gmail.com> Just a short note to say that I just noticed that the Wonderfalls series (13 epiodes) will be shown on dutch TV. Sunday 16:45 on Yorin (uhh, that's today but you can tune in next week). Andre
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #10-55 *******************************
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