Chalkhills Digest, Volume 11, Number 64

                 Friday, 25 November 2005

Topics:

              XTC, Kate, Gaffa and Cormorant
                     Put Me On Again
        re: XTC fan on "Television without Pity"?
            A little Trainspotting in Austin.
       Well, paper my wall with a peacock feather!
                     Re: XTC and Kate
                  The PartridgeBot 2000

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Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 16:19:58 -0500
From: coelocanth23@aol.com
Subject: XTC, Kate, Gaffa and Cormorant
Message-ID: <8C7BB662138F447-161C-751D@mblk-d43.sysops.aol.com>

Dan Wasser <crimsonkng@yahoo.com> wrote:

I also listened to Crimson's "The Power To Believe"
(which I love) and Kate's new one: Ariel.

I'm extremely disappointed with Ariel.  (It took her
10 years to write THIS?!?!?!?!)  The first two songs
are pretty good but it's all downhill after that.  (Is
there a Kate newsgroup in which I can vent?)

***Yep, try rec.music.gaffa or go to gaffa.org and sign up to the
love-hounds list....

This hot, sexy lady forgot how to rock out ... or even
write a melody.  The Dreaming (a "10"), it aint.
(It's not even The Sensual World which was merely a
"5."

***I think me and thee are in a minority, mind you....you'll get
hideous gushing hyperbole for a lack-lustre and trully disappointing
album...I like aerial tal....but it's only 65 secs long.....not much to
recommend from a double album, is it?

"Cormorant" however, is fantastic......go Barry!

Will
(First post in many, many years.....)

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

Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 20:15:40 -0600
From: "eriC draveS" <zoom98@mindspring.com>
Subject: Put Me On Again
Message-ID: <005101c5ed78$61c3af80$0a0110ac@XLZOOM2>

David van Wert wrote:
Actually, he's rhyming "spinal" with "vinyl," not "spiral."
Just for the record (ha ha)

eriC replied:
I heard both words used as rhymes in the song. Perhaps you missed it? The
first line's rhyme is "vinyl" but the second's is clearly "spinal". Anyway,
it was another reviewer who heard it first, and I prefer "vinyl" as it goes
with his references to "45s".

eriC

"Keep your fingers busy."

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

Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 03:19:33 -0500
From: brainiacsdaughtr@aol.com
Subject: re: XTC fan on "Television without Pity"?
Message-ID: <8C7BBC245EAD155-1FD4-70DB@mblk-d49.sysops.aol.com>

Awesome.  I'm visit TWoP on a regular basis and hadn't noticed any
other XTC fans around there.  Guess I wasn't looking in the right place.

Laurie Collins
http://www.myspace.com/larcollinsmusic

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

Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 10:04:30 -0600
From: Chris Vreeland <CVREELAND@austin.rr.com>
Subject: A little Trainspotting in Austin.
Message-ID: <7104E1E9-67E9-45DC-ABB2-54D5ABD48769@austin.rr.com>

Hola Calizadores,

KUT here in Austin, the local university-run NPR affiliate, has a
thrice-daily blurb they do called the Austin Music Minute. It's
basically a little promo-piece for a local band, usually with an
upcoming show, or CD release. The announcer, Theresa Ferguson, talks
for about 45 seconds over a piece of the band's music, then towards
the end say's "we're listening to the music of Blah-Blah and the Blue
Bloods" then turns it up for the last 15 seconds of the minute.

Well, we got lucky a couple weeks ago, because our guitar player,
Brian, happens to know Theresa, and the Dukes of Simpleton landed a
slot on the Music Minute the Tuesday before our show. This was all
well and good, as it brought out probably 100 people that wouldn't
have otherwise been there, but it also seems to have brought on a bit
of a surge in XTC-playing on KUT as well. Immediately following the
12:00 playing of the AMM, John Aielli played Harvest Festival and
spent a minute or two blowing smoke about how great XTC was. Then
last week, as I was driving to work, one of the KUT promo pieces
("coming up later today on KUT.. tune in at 2:00 pm for blah, blah...
etc.") was on between Morning Edition segments, and the background
music was Earn Enough For Us. I think Theresa must have other duties
down there besides the AMM, and slipped in a little XTC as background
music, after re-discovering them at our show. Which, by the way, all
you suckers missed.

Chris "I totally made up that Spanish greeting" Vreeland

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

Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 02:23:30 +0000 (GMT)
From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Well, paper my wall with a peacock feather!
Message-ID: <20051121022330.34013.qmail@web86907.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>

Right. I seek your help (some might opine that I should have sought
some kinda "help" well before this, but I duygruesse)...

  If you buy the Apple Box, it comes with a little card containing a
PIN whereby you can download the two new songs.  But on said card, it
also tells you that you can get a ringtone for your mobile phone.
That's no use to me, for I have resisted, eschewed and generally
disdained the bloody devices so far.  However, being interrupted
abruptly while dreaming on the bus, or in the cinema, or praying in
church, etc, well I can think of a worse idea than for the ring tone
to be "Stupidly Happy".  I mean, I'm *so* over the crazy frog.

  But my thing is this: the little card (remember I mentioned that 3
eons ago?) also says you can get wallpaper for your computer screen,
if you go to the "boutique"
[www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/boutique/boutique_1.htm]  I drew a blank.
I couldn't find annyfink.  I don't think I've gone *completely*
doo-lally quite yet, so if anyone can give some advice, it will make
an old man very happy.  I'm hoping for a vulval peacock eye on my
screen when I fire it up of a morning, yadig?

  Currently playing: the Jap version of "Homegrown".  It's got the two
bonus tracks and the cute book of Colin's and Andy's artwork.

  Gotta go scrub my toilet now, it's a bit "Trainspotting" (is that
too much information?)

  L&P to all from Paul

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

Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:15:11 +0000
From: John Morrish <morrish@ukf.net>
Subject: Re: XTC and Kate
Message-ID: <637AB6BC-2F7F-4DE4-8600-F3265BF6AB21@ukf.net>

I know it's all a matter of opinion but this couldn't be more wrong:

> I'm extremely disappointed with Ariel.  (It took her
> 10 years to write THIS?!?!?!?!)  The first two songs
> are pretty good but it's all downhill after that.  (Is
> there a Kate newsgroup in which I can vent?)  This
> hot, sexy lady forgot how to rock out ... or even
> write a melody.  The Dreaming (a "10"), it aint.
> (It's not even The Sensual World which was merely a
> "5.")

I think Aerial (Ariel is a washing powder) is a really stunning
record. Kate Bush may be a "hot, sexy lady", but she's also a 47-year-
old woman, a mother, and the record reflects that.

It is a true "History of the Middle Ages" and all the better for
that. I don't think I've ever heard more affecting songs about what
it means to be this sort of age, our parents gone or in decline, our
children growing up, thinking about the past as much as the future,
looking to nature for consolation...

Obviously songs like "Bertie" (chorus: "Lovely, lovely, lovely
Bertie") are not going to make much sense to anyone without young
children, but you've got to admire someone who just comes out and
says what the rest of us feel - some of the time - but never quite
get round to expressing: "You bring me so much joy / And then you
bring me more joy." It's not far from "Chalkhills And Children",
after all.

Again, a song like Mrs Bartolozzi, all about doing the washing, is
hardly traditional rock'n'roll subject matter, but so what? It's
brilliantly pictorial and erotic in a grown-up way. I mean, "My
blouse wrapping itself in your trousers... my skirt floating up
around my waist / As I wade out into the surf..."

As for melody... the record is absolutely alive with melody, and
beautifully arranged and produced. She even lets Rolf Harris sing a
line - and it works.

But no, she doesn't rock out. If you want that, try something a bit
more adolescent. I gather the Rolling Stones have an album out.

John (48)

PS: The Sensual World is a great, sexy record, too: yes, yes, yes.

XTC content, as opposed to XTC packaging? That would be nice.

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

Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 07:46:14 -0800
From: vocalize@earthlink.net
Subject: The PartridgeBot 2000
Message-ID: <58F88555-110C-4D6C-8520-026A7B594467@earthlink.net>

Still discouraged that you can't see XTC perform in concert? Well,
fret no more!

  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you - - - -  The PartridgeBot 2000!!!

http://audio35.archive.org/3/audio/dictionaraoke/XTC-senses_working_overtime.mp3

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End of Chalkhills Digest #11-64
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