Chalkhills Digest, Volume 11, Number 29

                   Monday, 4 July 2005

Topics:

                 Ringo / P Hux Responses
     Looking for Mark Garland re: gaston concert pics
                    Ironic Evahflowin'
    Live 8 concert (thank you Sir Bob, and the others)
                          Ringo
             ringo rules, but does not rock.
                       More Beatles
                          Ringo

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Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 06:37:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Versaci <michael_versaci@yahoo.com>
Subject: Ringo / P Hux Responses
Message-ID: <20050702133720.75500.qmail@web30913.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Folxtc,

I very much appreciate the thoughtful responses to my my comments
regarding Ringo.  I miss the old Chalkhills, and this last issue
reminded me of how things used to be around here.

I had posted the same comments regarding Ringo on the "Last Plane Out"
(Kevin Gilbert and general discussion.)  Here are my follow-up
comments:

I would add the Lennon was a good guitarist as well. His finger-
picking and rhythm playing (and licks) were all played perfectly. I
think he was as good on the guitar as he wanted to be. He played
some nice stuff on "I Feel Fine," "Honey Pie," (I'm pretty sure that
tasty little guitar lead is him,) "Get Back," and 1/3 of "The End."

Ringo certainly was a Beatle, and they would have been something
different without him. He was such a charismatic character, and he
looked like he was having so much fun back there. He was loved by
the fans and by his fellow bandmates. I think his drum parts are
intersting and warm, and the records still sound great. All those
things count. I still think as a drummer, he had some issues in the
area of tempo and timing, and those aspects of a drummer's skill-
set count as well. As I said, Listen to "Back In The U.S.S.R." with
Paul on the drums. We know that is Paul because it was during the
time that Ringo had quit. Still sounds like the Beatles, doesn't
it? And, it rocks. What other songs does Paul play on uncredited
that we naturally attribute to Ringo? It isn't documented, so most
of us will never know.

Ringo's issues didn't seem to hurt anything, and indeed The Beatles
remain in a class by themselves. For whatever reason though it just
rubs me when people state categorically that he was a "GREAT"
drummer.

>I think you might enjoy reading Ian McDonald's 'Revolution In The Head' <

Mr. Sherwood would agree, but the book is out of print and hard to
find.  I'm sure I would really like it.

>What are you trying to tell us, Michael?<

Nothing really.  I was interested in what other people who shared my
love for the Beatles and XTC had to say on the subject.

>I have a Parthenon (now known as P.Hux) recording called "Purgatory
Falls" which is a loving collection of songs he dedicated to the
memory of his first wife who'd died from cancer.  Highly recommended
recording, too, I might add!!  I'm very interested in getting more
material by him, so thanks for the link, Michael.  :-)  <

I agree, "Purgatory Falls" is a great record, but very painful to
listen to because of the subject matter.  "Deluxe" (also available
from his website) is also worth the few bucks, and was from a happier
time.  For those who don't know, he does a killer version of "Another
Satellite" available on "Testicular Dinner."  There are also two live
acoustic records available, but I prefer the full-blown studio
arrangements.

Top Five XTC Songs Today:

"You and The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful"
"Easter Theater"
"Wrapped In Grey"
"I Remember The Sun"
"Beating Of Hearts"

Top Five Ringo Drum Songs Today:

"Rain"
"Hey Jude"
"Slow Down"
"Come Together"
"Dig A Pony"

Top Five Recording Artists that Most People Never Heard of:

Kevin Gilbert
Owsley
P. Hux
The Mommyheads
Martin Newell

Michael Versaci

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 11:12:58 -0500
From: "Rich" <rich@clevercaboose.com>
Subject: Looking for Mark Garland re: gaston concert pics
Message-ID: <000e01c57f20$eaa107b0$8e0a1b41@dual>

Hello all, first-timer here:

I'm looking for Mark Garland who provided the Gaston Hall, Jan 24 1980
concert pics.

Some time ago I downloaded the video torrent of the concert.  Great to
have, but frankly both the video and audio were in very poor
condition.  I managed to brighten up the video and remove some noise,
which I think improves things.  Much more successfully, a friend of
mine who has his own recording studio spent some time to fix the
audio.  Now I'm putting together a new DVD of the concert, which I
plan to re-release as a bittorrent.  Unfortunately, I lost the
original artwork and need to replace it with something.

I was hoping to ask Mark Garland for permission to use one of his
pictures on the DVD.

Thanks for any help contacting him.

Rich MacDonald
Lawrence, Kansas.
http://www.clevercaboose.com/rich

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 14:40:13 -0400
From: Duncan Watt <dwatt@fastestmanintheworld.com>
Subject: Ironic Evahflowin'
Message-ID: <B9C9181B-EB28-11D9-A410-000393AF5124@fastestmanintheworld.com>

XTC xighting: "I'd Like That", on Laura "just bomb 'em all" Ingraham's
incredibly far-right-wing radio show. Beyond ironic. Wish she knew.
Guessing she never will.

Duncan

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2005 13:11:32 +0100 (BST)
From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Live 8 concert (thank you Sir Bob, and the others)
Message-ID: <20050703121132.95194.qmail@web86902.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>

Hey

No doubt others will have comments, bring 'em on.

Me: simple: got many things to say.  But tears really (profuse).  How
can I muddle about with my feeble woes, when I see those poor (but
pretty) kids on my TV?  How can *you*?

Geez, it was pretty bloody good wasn't it? (The concert, that is).

Dunno how this works, but even if you're in my position (ie bereft of
cash), give what you can.

I gather that the basic message comes in two slogans: "8 men in one
room can change the world" and: "Make poverty history".

Come on, let's do it, while we rock about in our living rooms...

Paul

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 03 Jul 2005 10:08:01 -0500
From: "Curtis Martens " <curtmart@powwwer.net>
Subject: Ringo
Message-ID: <20050703150926.795AF2CCD4@mail.sinewave.com>

 From The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn: Ringo has a
tremendous feel for a song, and he always helped us hit the right tempo
first time. He was rock solid, and this made the recording of all the
Beatles' songs so much easier.- George Martin. Lewisohn adds: It is true
that only on a handful of occasions during all of the several hundred
session tapes and thousands of recording hours can Ringo be heard to
have made a mistake or wavered in his beat. His work was remarkably
consistent and excellent from 1962 right through to 1970.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2005 10:48:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jemiah Jefferson <jemiah@q7.com>
Subject: ringo rules, but does not rock.
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0507031039240.5852-100000@q7.q7.com>

On Sat, 2 Jul 2005, Chalkhills wrote:

> As for the timing issues, I see it and I don't.  Certainly, the most
> obvious and annoying example of this was "You Won't See Me", which is
> horribly inconsistent.  (Yes, they worked fast, didn't use click
> tracks, etc.  But face it, he's WAY off on that song.)

So's everyone - my first experience with playing with stereo separation
was done listening to this song because the vocals are so wack on the last
verse (as so helpfully pointed out in "Tell Me Why", that book that taught
me more music theory than I ever learnt in school). And yet (or maybe
because of this) it's one of my favorite songs.

> During the Beatles years, Paul did play the two songs mentioned, plus
> a couple of others.  While I like "Ballad", I don't hear "USSR" as
> being locked, I hear it as being stiff.

I'm with you there. A song that works well as a cover (esp. live), but
always leaves me feeling incomplete in the original. Paul's later live
versions of "USSR" blow the studio track out of the water.

--
R.I.P. Luther Vandross

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 10:02:30 +0200
From: jeffrey.thomas@bayercropscience.com
Subject: More Beatles
Message-ID: <OF96B35597.BB25006A-ONC1257034.002593E3@bayer.de>

People of the collines de la craie,

Lots of Beatles discussion going on in #28.  David said:

>Paul also played drums (and guitar) on Helter Skelter, with John on bass.

I *seriously* doubt this assumption.  One, the drums are pure Ringo,
two, he screams "I've got blisters on my fingers", and 3, although, as
you said, Ringo " had left the band for much of the White Album, and
that Paul had played drums on a good number of tunes," that good
number included only "USSR", "Prudence", and possibly "Ob-La-Di" of
the "band tracks", as well as some of the more Paul-y quasi-solo
tracks.  The timing of Ringo's departure and return to the studio make
this quite clear.

I also doubt that it was Paul adding drums to "Got To Get You Into My
Life".  Ringo often double-tracked his drums, just like the others
double-tracked stuff, and there's really no reason to assume it was
Paul doing the drum doubling.  Starting in '66, they spent a lot of
time re-doing stuff and Ringo was no exception.  They did change roles
quite a bit.  Paul or John on lead guitar, George or John on bass,
etc.  But most of this stuff is fairly well documented.  Why should
Paul's drum bits be any different?

Au revoir,

Jeff

* * * * *
PS - I mentioned in my last post that Tre Cool of Green Day definitely
had a thing for Terry Chambers going on in one song.  I still can't
think of the title -- any GD fans out there who listen to drums who
can help me?  It was sort of a "Making Plans for Nigel" or "Tissue
Tigers" kind of sound.  Tre Cool also obviously listened to The Knack
while growing up, a couple of songs on "American Idiot" really have
that Bruce Gary sound (e.g. compare "We Are the Waiting" with "She's
So Selfish").

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 15:53:54 +0100
From: Philip Lawes <philip_lawes@postmaster.co.uk>
Subject: Ringo
Message-ID: <PM.11324.1120488834@pmweb8.uk1.bibliotech.net>

As a (possibly) final word don't forget that there's more to being in
a band than just bashing the instruments.  Ringo's steady influence
effectively held the Beatles together as a group during the most
stressful times of the touring era, so without him the band's history
may well have ended in the mid-sixties and a fair few of those
annoying tracks would never even have been recorded.

Now I'm out of hibernation for a while can ask whether anybody knows
anything concrete as to the gestation of 'Tunes'?  Haven't heard
anything in a looong while.

Phil

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End of Chalkhills Digest #11-29
*******************************

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