Chalkhills Digest, Volume 13, Number 40

                 Monday, 5 November 2007

Topics:

                Re: Open for discussion...
                         Remoulds
                  Dark Side of Colin...
"Chalkhills and Children" is the MySpace song of the week
                      SheBeat-mania!
            John "Strawberry" Fields Forever!
                   Clean house or bite?

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Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:45:13 +0000 (GMT)
From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Open for discussion...
Message-ID: <925655.92225.qm@web23014.mail.ird.yahoo.com>

Ben Gott said:

"2)  Today, the same XM channel played "Living Through Another Cuba"
while I was driving home from work.  This made me think that,
although I adore "Black Sea" (especially "Respectable Street," "No
Language In Our Lungs," and "Towers of London"), I like "Drums and
Wires" better.  I'm wondering why, though.  Is it that there are
fewer "filler" songs?  More consistency within the songwriting?  More
playfulness?  What do you think? "

Which tracks do you consider to be "filler"? I think that Black Sea is one
of those perfect albums where every song has its place and importance. I
used to dislike "Travels In Nihilon", but then I grew up (a bit) and really
like it now. (Iam excluding the extra tracks "Smokeless Zone", "Donat Lose
Your temper", "The Somnambulist" which are on my latest version of the CD,
but werenat on the original album).

Rory Wilsher

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

Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:28:13 EDT
From: MVOMALLEY57@aol.com
Subject: Remoulds
Message-ID: <cdc.1f68a47d.34528e9d@aol.com>

Greetings and Salutations

 I am crawling out of my lurking pit long enough to ask the question,  does
anyone know where I can get my hands on a copy of this rare Dave Gregory  treat
Remoulds, I found it on The Traders Den but it is long inactive and no one
is able to reseed. Any help would be appreciated!

Michael

Dave Gregory - Remoulds 1998

original  CDR>CDR>EAC>FLAC

70 of these were given out to friends. This is  a copy of one of those. I Am
The Walrus was not on the set, but had been  released on a Beatles tribute
album.

01 Those Were The Days
02  36-24-36
03 Scarlett O'Hara
04 The Cruel Sea
05 Pretty Flamingo
06 I  Feel Free
07 Tin Soldier
08 Wait Until Tomorrow
09 Fresh Garbage
10  MacArthur Park
11 Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon
12 And How Am I To  Know?
13 Classical Gas
14 All Along The Watchtower
15 Jigsaw Puzzle  Blues
16 Happy Freuds
17 Sabre Dance
18 Our Prayer
19 Because
20  Little Bit of Love
21 Frankenstein
22 Love Comes To  Everyone

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

Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:54:25 -0700
From: Wayne Klein <wtdk123@msn.com>
Subject: Dark Side of Colin...
Message-ID: <BAY108-W39A22E95AA701C7A8606E5F9970@phx.gbl>

Jim Smart <jimsmart1@mac.com> wrote:
>
> I guess it depends what your definition of "hard" is. In my view
> creating a rock opera would have to be one of the most taxing,
> vexing, and hard things for any human to attempt. Fun and
> interesting, yes. But easy?

I really wasn't referring to it being "easy" but that there are a
number of common "themes" that run through Andy's work. Using these
themes he could assemble an a rock opera. It wouldn't be as "hard" as
coming up with two albums worth of new material, plus the concept,
etc.

The hard part for Andy would probably be rearranging the pieces to
work within the context of the piece itself, for different singers and
dovetailing them based on the story he would come up with.

***Just listened to Colin's track from the "Dark Side of the Moon"
tribute album for the first time the other day. I downloaded it from
iTunes. Anyone know who played on the track?

Don't know if Andy was contacted to contribute but I think he would
have done a fine job on "Money".
***

Ben wrote:
> 2) Today, the same XM channel played "Living Through Another Cuba"
> while I was driving home from work. This made me think that,
> although I adore "Black Sea" (especially "Respectable Street," "No
> Language In Our Lungs," and "Towers of London"), I like "Drums and
> Wires" better. I'm wondering why, though. Is it that there are
> fewer "filler" songs? More consistency within the songwriting? More
> playfulness? What do you think?
>
> My favorite XTC album remains "English Settlement," and my favorite
> XTC song remains "Jason and the Argonauts." Just so you know.

Ben, for me "Drums and Wires" just has a more diverse sound. I like
both albums and personally don't feel that there's any filler on
either one. It sounds to me like "Black Sea" was a little more
"rushed". The arrangements aren't quite as interesting.

My fav album still remains "Skylarking" followed very closely by
"Apple Venus". I like "English Settlement" but that album sounds like
it has filler on it to me. It also would have benefited from including
"Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass" vs. "Knuckle Down" a song I just
never cared for. I love "Jason and the Argonauts" but "Snowman" is a
close second on the album for me.

Wayne

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

Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:49:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com>
Subject: "Chalkhills and Children" is the MySpace song of the week
Message-ID: <235697.84677.qm@web32015.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi:

Over at the XTCfans MySpace site (http://www.myspace.com/xtcfans), the
song of the week is "Chalkhills and Children."

If you want to know which '80s synth player loves this song, or what
the *real* Spanish translation for "Los Angeles" is, check out the
XTCfans blog site at http://blog.myspace.com/xtcfans.

I'm floating over strange land
It's a soulless, sequined, showbiz moon...

-Todd

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

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:57:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com>
Subject: SheBeat-mania!
Message-ID: <65160.6103.qm@web32001.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi:

Big things are happening for Holly Partridge and the rest of The
SheBeats! The Fab Five (whom you can find at
http://www.myspace.com/theshebeats) have been working for Apple at
Apple -- yep, working for the computer firm to promote and demonstrate
the company's audio software Logic Studio, whipping up a yummy musical
pie at the Beatles' fabled studios (where they bake beautiful
girls). More news will follow as your humbled correspondent gets the
dish.

In the meantime, if you want a bite, you can check out an interview
that Holly recently did with The Von Pip Musical Express, at:

http://snipurl.com/1sx78

You'll find out *who* their influences are, *what* they've been doing,
*where* they've been living, *when* and how the band got started, and
*why* Noel Fielding might want to keep on the alert (lucky
man). There's even a mention or two of Dear Old (well, Middle-Aged)
Dad. There -- all your journalistic need-to-knows, in one
interview. You're welcome.

Holly's also bagged an endorsement deal with Gibson, so a suh-weet Les
Paul is on its way to her, just in time for Halloween, so she can
scare the competition outta her way. If you're in the London area, you
can check her and the other 'Beats out on 3 November at the Lady Luck
Club. Other gigs are listed at the site above. Something tells me this
is a "catch 'em in the clubs while you can" situation...

-Todd

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I
realized that the Lord doesn't work that way, so I stole one and asked
for forgiveness.
  -Emo Philips, comedian (1956- )

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

Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:25:47 -0400
From: Benjamin Gott <ben@loquaciousmusic.com>
Subject: John "Strawberry" Fields Forever!
Message-ID: <86B24C2F-F266-4558-AD30-60B874178BAB@loquaciousmusic.com>

Hi gang,

In real life, I'm a sixth-grade English teacher.  This means that,
unfortunately, I am subjected to a lot of the same music that you
parents of tweens are subjected to (Hannah Montana, anyone?)

A few days ago, one of my students brought in a CD by a trio of Disney
superstars called Jonas Brothers.  Imagine my surprise when I flipped
the disc over and found that it was produced by none other than John
Fields, former Chalkhillian and the guy who pushed Mandy Moore to
cover "Senses Working Overtime" and "Drop the Pilot"!  (The album was
also mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, which is one of the finest wastes of
record company money I've ever encountered.  I wonder which idiot
suggested, "Hey!  Let's pay one of the best mixing engineers in the
country a ton of money to mix a teen pop album!")

John did nice work.  The songs aren't at all as cloying and obnoxious
as I thought they'd be (although I did have to pop in the new album by
The Magic Numbers after the kids left in order to cleanse my palate).
Hey -- whatever pays the bills, right?

You know what's a great XTC song?  "Humble Daisy."

-Ben

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

Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 21:58:41 -0800
From: Pastula Aaron <pastula12@hotmail.com>
Subject: Clean house or bite?
Message-ID: <BAY139-W43DD9494767C87C86243F2A28F0@phx.gbl>

Okay, bite...

Ben's questions, in summary:

"I have also always believed that "The Disappointed" was a better song and a
stronger single.  Do you agree?"

No...in fact, I've never thought "The Disappointed" was a very dynamic song
at all.  "PP" isn't much better, actually, but it had enough of a hook and
enough of a story to make a decent video.  All things being equal, I think
Nonsuch is actually the one of the more "single-less" of XTC's records,
along with the original version of Skylarking and AV1.  And yes, I know
"Earn Enough For Us" is everyone's favorite XTC song, and it was a single in
Canada, and should have been everywhere else, but Skylarking is too seamless
for true singles.  Not unlike a solid block of sharp cheddar.

Not that Nonsuch is a bad album, mind you, it's just that it doesn't have a
"Mayor of Simpleton" moment on it anywhere...which is too bad, since I
believe it was something of a commercial and critical letdown after O&L,
which led to the Virgin thing, the strike, etc...can you imagine if it had
been a bigger hit than O&L, what XTC in the '90s could have achieved?

I mean, we'd probably still have or would have had Dave Gregory for several
more records, and they probably wouldn't have run out of steam before making
History Of The Middle Ages.

(Which, incidentally, is STILL the best XTC album title that never got used.
Can one of you people who talks to Andy on a regular basis PLEASE tell him
that Aaron in California, whose XTC FAN license plate he and Colin signed in
LA, is going to keep dropping that hint on this list until either 1) I die,
2) he dies, or 3) they make that record.  And since options 1 and 2 suck,
please tell Andy to hurry up.)

"I like "Drums and Wires" better.  I'm wondering why, though."

I'm with you there.  And I think the reason is because side 2 of that album
is one of XTC's finest moments, period.  The songs are just spooky enough,
just odd enough, just catchy enough to carry you all the way through.  It's
their Revolver, the one that was a huuuuge step forward and after which
nothing was ever the same...I mean, even simple things like the pregnant
pauses before the last guitar riff of "Millions" and the nearly-too-long
break between the end of "That Is The Way" and "Outside World" are perfect.

Need proof?  Put on a good pair of headphones, sit or lay down in a darkened
room, close your eyes, and play side 2 of D&W.  That's a listening
experience few bands have ever matched, in my opinion; even XTC themselves.
Which is why Black Sea rocks so hard, but it's why you like D&W better...the
former is like sex, which is always fun, but the latter is actually *sexy*,
and that has waaaay more mileage in the long run.

In closing:

I have 3,000 plus songs on my ipod, and I'm sick of every one of them.  Can
someone please throw some new music out for me...the last great leads I got
off here were the new Jason Falkner album and Fripp's Exposure.  But I'm a
little progged-out at the moment, and I've consumed every Falkner album so
many times my toilet bowl now writes catchy pop, plays the drums and talks
to itself in the studio.  I need something I can't stop listening to...it's
been years since I've had such a thing...help!

AP

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End of Chalkhills Digest #13-40
*******************************

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