Chalkhills Digest Volume 11, Issue 65
Date: Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 11, Number 65
Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Topics:
Re: Wallpaper
A Word to the wise
Wash away
cover pic
Better
Partridgebot2000
coincidenxtc
Aerial Uffington
New Songs / Rhymes / Kate / More Songs
Another Word to the wise
That Whole Washing Machine Thing And Other Smutty Stories
"Spiral"
new guy intro; just got LP copies of Mummer & 25 O'Clock
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Someone might hear, someone might hear.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 21:49:03 +0000 From: "Darryl W. Bullock" <dwbullock@tiscali.co.uk> Subject: Re: Wallpaper Message-ID: <43858E3C0000C08B@mk-cpfrontend-1.mail.uk.tiscali.com> In the last digest, Paul Culnane wrote: 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. Sorry to be a pedant Paul, but the card does not mention wallpaper for your computer screen, the word computer does not appear at all - I think that Idea/Weatherbox are referring to wallpapers for mobile 'phones (although I could of course be wrong), none of which are yet available but I suspect will be shortly. There are, however, other XTC wallpapers on the net if you search. Try www.jh3.com/xtc/xtscheme.htm for wallpaper, icons, screensaver and soundbites. Or you could just make your own... Darryl Darryl W. Bullock www.writesight.com/writers/thisispop www.spaces.msn.com/members/dwbullock
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:32:53 +0000 From: Mark Fisher <mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk> Subject: A Word to the wise Message-ID: <BFAD4195.58B8%mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk> The December issue of The Word magazine is a must for XTC completists. It features a rather good cover CD including I'd Like That, an interview with Andy choosing his current listening and viewing favourites and a full-page review of the Apple Box. -- Mark
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:07:47 -0800 From: "Wayne Klein" <wtdk123@msn.com> Subject: Wash away Message-ID: <BAY108-F3764430CAB5624CB24468AF9570@phx.gbl> John wrote in response to 2 other posts about Kate Bush's "Aerial": I know it's all a matter of opinion but I agree with John's response to the below >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.") John's response: 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... end of John's response.. Me now. I have to agree with John in all this. To expect an artist to be an example of arrested development is unfair. I know there were folks that were disappointed with both "Apple Venus" and "Wasp Star" but I found them to be marvelous and an example of XTC continuing to try new stuff. On the other hand, I've purchased albums (such as Peter Gabriel's "Up") where I felt completely disconnected from the artist and the music. There have been other albums where I've initially not loved it but have fallen in love with them over time. I have to give "The Sensual World" a 9 out of 10 while "The Red Shoes" did disappoint me a bit although it also had it's moments. As John points out, it's all a matter of taste....and where you are in your life and your own expectations. I seem to remember the same sort of reaction when John Lennon finally released "Double Fantasy". Sometimes the baggage of being someone can be as much a disadvantage as the name recognition. I did get a chance to hear Andy's tune (thanks to whomever posted the link) and thought it was marvelous. I'll download it when it's available but am quite content with my separate albums vs. purchasing the new "Apple Box". I tried the link to Colin's tune but couldn't find the download to listen to. I'm hoping that both of these eventually turn up on an album or collection of some sort. I also seem to recall some interest from Virgin in putting out another "Coat" like anthology of released demos, contributions to soundtracks (I'd love to have a remastered "Cherry in Your Tree" and "The Good Things" as well as "Down a Peg" the greatest gem in the lost treasure of Moulding songs). Perhaps it went the way of the Anthology video project that Virgin was planning and Colin had offered to work on. Still love to see that as well as live stuff.
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 18:14:26 -0500 (GMT-05:00) From: "Danny \\\"Mr. Panic\" \\ Phipps" <phipps117@earthlink.net> Subject: cover pic Message-ID: <20444395.1132960466538.JavaMail.root@elwamui-mouette.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <de-lurk> hey all ... guess who's on the cover of the latest edition of MOJO? (... no, not XTC ...) IT'S KAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes indeed, folks .... the queen returns and her new album is awesome, awesome, and awesome. did i mention that it's also awesome? well worth the 12-year wait, imo. go get it, peeps!! (RUN!! DON'T WALK!) and i agree with the poster in the last digest - "more xtc content versus xtc packaging ... nice idea." here! here! <back to lurking>
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:43:29 -0400 From: "Brunkhorst" <brunkhorstk@hotmail.com> Subject: Better Message-ID: <BAY104-DAV320CB735EB11E96B24138B6560@phx.gbl> Recently suggested by one of our listeners: the PartridgeBot 2000 http://audio35.archive.org/3/audio/dictionaraoke/XTC-senses_working_overtime.mp3 I deem this better than Kate Bush. But only in my opinion. Now if we can get Madonna, Coldplay, and Santana on this, we'd have something real. NP: John Cale: Black Acetate Kevin Nova Scotia
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 02:34:06 -0500 From: coelocanth23@aol.com Subject: Partridgebot2000 Message-ID: <8C7C072EAEBF0D6-1308-B3FD@mblk-d44.sysops.aol.com> vocalize@earthlink.net wrote: Still discouraged that you can't see XTC perform in concert? Well, fret no more! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you - - - - The PartridgeBot 2000!!! ***A small work of genius! Best XTC cover EVER...... Will (thoroughly cheered up)
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 05:44:17 -0800 (PST) From: Jackson <jydson@yahoo.com> Subject: coincidenxtc Message-ID: <20051126134417.63479.qmail@web32612.mail.mud.yahoo.com> While driving out of the post office the other day I notice the license tag of the car in front of me reads "U2 XTC" ...so I beap my horn and pull up along side and say to the guy " so you're an Andy Partridge fan?", and he says " Yeah..they're on the radio right now...(Senses Working Overtime)...local Towson Univ.WTMD. !
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 17:19:34 -0800 From: Phil Corless <phil@pkmeco.com> Subject: Aerial Uffington Message-ID: <6.0.1.1.2.20051126171740.01d9ab40@mail.adelphia.net> In the new issue (December) issue of Smithsonian Magazine, the cover article is about "aerial archaeology" and features a full-page photo of our own Chalk Horse of Uffington! Phil Corless www.pkmeco.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:34:02 +1100 From: "Simon Knight" <homefrontradio@hotmail.com> Subject: New Songs / Rhymes / Kate / More Songs Message-ID: <BAY109-F766F10317C4628D8D43D8D0480@phx.gbl> A couple of things: >Whatever happened to revolutionary progression between >records though? A bit much to ask to reinvent the wheel >everytime, I guess... That's why I find the new songs disappointing. If you go away for 5 years I want the next song that appears to be a big progression - such as the 7 year break leading up to "Easter Theatre"... now there's a song worth the wait. Especially if you think in terms of White Music -> English Settlement = 5 years, or Mummer -> Psonic Psunspot. I mean they're OK enough, but... Also the whole "Vinyl / Spinal" debate just shows the Pitchfork writer for the poseur he must be, because he's obviously unfamiliar with Andy's lyrical style, of which forced rhymes are a big part, harkening back to Tin Pan Alley: "Blankets / Clank It's", "Umbilical / Cycle", "Festival / Best of All", "Porpoise / Noise". He mutates language and it makes the songs much more interesting than a standard "moon / spoon / june" lyric. (Or "mad / glad / sad" as that Camel-Toe Granny, Madonna recently spouted). >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.") Upon the first few listens, i'm assuming the intention was to be an ambient piece that plays in the background rather than something that grabs you by the ear and force you to listen. Not sure what i think yet, i'll have to give it more time when i'm in a better mood. Maybe it's just me - I've been trying to come up with a Top 10 for the year and can only think of 4 albums, so maybe i'm just losing interest in music this year. Lastly, i'm compiling a group of songs about songs, songwriting, stardom and a failure to achieve your intent, goals and dreams. (I've noticed post-major label albums always seem to be good for a song of this kind). I"m up to 80 minutes but i want to replace a few of the weaker songs with better ones. Any suggestions I haven't thought of, can you email me off list? Thanks. Here's what i've got: Write Your Own Song - Matthew Sweet Funk Pop A Roll - XTC Nothing Is Good Enough - Aimee Mann Future Generation - the Auteurs This Song - George Harrison Tried To Rock - Lloyd Cole and the Negatives Music Is My Boyfriend - the Hidden Cameras **** Your Slow Songs - the Bear Quartet Johnny Mathis' Feet - American Music Club Songs Of Love - Divine Comedy Tin Pan Alley - Apples in Stereo The Never-Played Symphonies - Morrissey I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff - Regurgitator Hang On Mike - Candy Butchers So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star - the Byrds In Two Weeks You Will Be Forgotten - This Perfect Day Denmark Street - the Kinks One Day One Of These ****s Will Change Your Life - Duffy This Song - Ron Sexsmith Forever - Splitsville Lighting The Way - Superdrag Puppet Girl - Wendy James Sunlight In A Jar - the Lucksmiths Damn Songs - Tim Rogers Star Trip - Velvet Crush Cheers
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 10:42:46 +0000 From: Mark Fisher <mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk> Subject: Another Word to the wise Message-ID: <BFB08FA6.58F2%mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk> The December issue of The Word also contains the information that the Triple FFF Brewery of Alton, Hampshire, has produced a beer called Stupidly Happy. I can't find it mentioned on the company's own website <http://www.triplefff.com/> But it is mentioned here: <http://www.beermad.org.uk/cgi-bin/show_brewery_info.cgi?id=989> -- Mark
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:23:56 +1100 From: "Simon Knight" <homefrontradio@hotmail.com> Subject: That Whole Washing Machine Thing And Other Smutty Stories Message-ID: <BAY109-F22EC15322EF42A2BF3344ED0480@phx.gbl> John Moorish wrote: >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..." "Oh and the waves are coming in Oh and the waves are going out Oh and the waves are coming in" Pssst- she's speaking about the waves of her orgasm, not the old `In and Out' (In Paris Or London). If doing a mundane task like the laundry in her house is *that* much fun, I can see why the album took twelve years. >The Sensual World is a great, sexy record, too: yes, yes, yes. It's sexy for a reason: its original lyric was based on the final chapter (`Penelope', usually referred to as `Molly Bloom's Soliloquy') of James Joyce's `Ulysses' but Kate couldn't get the rights. Yes, yes indeed. I've always figured Joyce wrote it purely as a commercial consideration, figuring that people would wade through 1000 pages of anything as long as they're guaranteed a wank at the end of it. (Think of how much better `Atlas Shrugged' would be if John Galt's speech involved him discovering his sexuality with a British Soldier against an old Moorish wall in Gibraltar). Because Molly's Soliloquy is a stream of consciousness, it's always suggested you read it slowly for easier comprehension, (though for some reason the reading light is usually better in your bathroom). As well as the obvious erotic songs in the XTC canon, (`Easter Theatre', `Wonder Annual'), I was always taken by the sequencing of `Summer's Cauldron' with `Grass'. Colin supplies the scene and action - Andy supplies the images and sensation. Together it's 5 minutes of an old European `Art Film', where everything is soft focus and saturated colour and glimpses of breasts, and it's not dirty because the critics say it isn't. It's strange how the guys came up with such a natural pairing of two songs, (though I hope they weren't rolling about on the riverbank together when they wrote them, which conjures up images of `the Wind In The Willows' gang walking by and Rat covering poor Mole's eyes in shock). Isn't it funny that songs that speak of sexuality from an adult viewpoint don't have `explicit lyrics' stickers? The same thing with books. I wasn't allowed into an R-Rated movie at 13, but the librarians never stopped me from borrowing Henry Miller and D.H. Lawrence, or even that surprisingly filthy novelisation of `the Terminator' that made me suddenly think: "Ahh, so *this* is why people are into science-fiction!". I find this hilarious now, because They Had To Know Why I Was Reading Them. 1st Librarian: "Here comes our little literary chronic masturbator again-" 2nd Librarian: "Point him towards William Burroughs - if he wants to read smut we'll make sure he's instantly punished". This has all left me with the unfortunate condition of finding history intensely arrousing, which makes me wish Kate had gone the whole hog and made Mrs Bartolozzi a Victorian Washer-Woman. (Send the Decemberist's 'Chimbley Sweep' around to her house and it's almost "What The Butler Saw" in song). Trying to get the image of Kate Riding her Maytag out of my head, Simon
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:42:39 -0800 From: David van Wert <mcknife@earthlink.net> Subject: "Spiral" Message-ID: <C8028343-B177-4915-8819-35FB88A1D022@earthlink.net> On Nov 25, 2005, at 12:07 PM, eriC wrote: > 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 The reviewer was mistaken, perhaps confused by the ending "L" sound the words share. In the rhyme scheme of the song, Andy never attempts to rhyme "spiral" with anything at all. "Vinyl" and "spinal" are intended to rhyme with each other, not "spiral." Same goes for "eternal" and "infernal." "Spiral" leads off lines and gets repeated a lot, but it's not intended as part of the rhyme scheme, which (first two verses) is: ABBC, ADDC Spiral is the *first* word of the A phrase. "Spiral-- dug by the diamond" is a single phrase in the scheme, not two. David http://www.davidvanwert.com "That which does not kill me leaves me weak and defenseless so the very next thing can kill me." -- Friedrich Nietzche, having a bad day
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:47:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Pastor Tim <consecratedfool@yahoo.com>
Subject: new guy intro; just got LP copies of Mummer & 25 O'Clock
Message-ID: <20051128194726.17949.qmail@web51601.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, everyone --
I'm the new guy on the block around here so I thought I'd introduce
myself by mentioning two of the records I just got from a friend out in
Los Angeles who's been sending me his entire collection of vinyl. I
got brilliant clean copies of Mummer & 25 O'Clock and neither looks as
if it's ever been played. I haven't seen either of these lps since my
college days so as you might figure I'm stupidly happy.
I'm Pastor Tim, I live in Montana, I have more music in my studio than
I'll ever have time to listen to, been an XTC fan ever since I first
played "Drums & Wires" on my college radio show back in '79, The Former
Yugoslavia track made me laugh and cringe ("trying - to - tell - the -
difference - between - A! - lemon - and - A! - lime..."), Mark Burnell
calls me friend and reveals to me the meaning of such Anglicisms as "as
useful as a chocolate d---o on a radiator", and he suggested I join up
when our conversations kept turning to Andy, Colin, & Dave. So, that's
me in a nutshell, and I expect that information will be as useful to
you as... well, you can probably guess the rest. [chuckle...]
+ Pastor Tim
"Men have gargoyles round their hearts..."
-- Church of Women
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #11-65 *******************************
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