Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 108
Date: Tuesday, 30 April 1996
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 108
Tuesday, 30 April 1996
Today's Topics:
a tiny Residents mention
Sad sad day
Andy's (copy)rights
Re: chocolate fingers...
Mitch's report
High-schoolers & XTC
The irony
Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-107
Bootlegs and the New LP
post-Sky ToDD
re: Mystery Virgins and Snowballs' Chances
I'm a Toddler too!
xtc influenced music....
Re: When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Why?
When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 3
When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 2
When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 4
"XTC" used in advertisement
paper/iron/DAT?
Q Magazine's Surf's Up
Re: Andy on Gabriel 3 (#2-107)
Chains, Damn Bands, Under Stress
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The cozy caress of lust and beer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:44:03 -0400 (EDT) From: "Tom X. Chao" <tqc8542@is.nyu.edu> Subject: a tiny Residents mention Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.91.960429133947.24117H-100000@is.nyu.edu> I just bought a copy of The Residents "Commercial Album" (ESD) when the AP/Residents thread turned up here. Weird! The "Commercial Album," by the way, consists of 40 one-minute songs. The ESD reissue adds 10 (!) bonus tracks, making it a 50-song disc! I highly recommend it. TXC P.S. What happened to the David Byrne flame war?
------------------------------ From: Ricky Kreitman <RICKY@vhf.org> Subject: Sad sad day Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 11:03:00 PDT Message-Id: <318503B2@smtpgw.vhf.org> I was in Sam Goody (at Universal City Walk) yesterday and saw Oranges and Lemons on the bargain rack (for $5.99) next to Whitesnake, Cher, Def Leopard, and Gordon Lightfoot.
------------------------------
Message-Id: <v01540b00adaab4153bc2@[206.66.11.15]>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:04:57 -0500
From: dcberry@airmail.net (David Carson Berry)
Subject: Andy's (copy)rights
mf@well.com (Mitch Friedman) writes:
>Virgin owns the rights to
>everything they've ever done and Andy never will. In fact, the closest
>he'll get to owning his catalogue is that 70 years after he dies, his
>relatives will inherit the rights to the songs.
Not in this country (nor any other that I know of). Currently, for
post-1977 works, U.S. copyright is good for the life of the author plus 50
years. After that period, it's *public domain*. For pre-1978 works, by
the way, copyright is good for 75 years from publication (or copyright
registration, if unpublished). Thus, we are already seeing music written
1920 and before go into public domain (copyright expires Dec. 31 of the
anniversary year). Whether by Igor Stravinsky or Irving Berlin, there is
now a lot of music that is legally free to use. (Though, many early works
were later "revised" in some way, and so the copyright has been essentially
"extended" in many cases.) If Andy's heirs can somehow claim rights to a
song 70 years after his death, I, as a composer, would certainly like to
know how.
--David Carson Berry
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
/ \
| ========================================= |
| = David Carson Berry = |
| = Music Theory & Composition = |
| = Yale University [Fall 1996] = |
| = Internet: dcberry@airmail.net = |
| ========================================= |
\ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ /
\ _ _ _ "A dry, sardonic verb." _ _ _ /
\ - - - - - - - - - - - - /
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:02:09 -0500
Message-Id: <185044f0@burntas1.bvc.frco.com>
From: chrikas@burntas1.frco.com (Christopher Kasic)
Subject: Re: chocolate fingers...
in Chalkhills 2-102, Martin Monkman said:
> And the replies of Simon ("an instrument of the devil ... must be
> eaten in multiples of six") and JP ("As loved by generations of
> English grannies") had me ROTFL! You two hit it spot on. BTW,
> they are readily available here in Canada.
A pox on the U.S. candy market! ;)
Seriously, I just drove to Canada with my fiancee [listening to XTC]
and, among other things, picked up a dozen or so of those good
honeycomb, coffee flavored chocolate bars from Cadbury. The clerk's
response: "American, right?" Next time, it's chocolate fingers!
King [of the off-topic, but short, postings] for a Day...
chris
------------------------------ From: Martin_Monkman@fincc04.fin.gov.bc.ca Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 11:55:01 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Mitch's report Message-id: <9603298308.AA830804189@FINSMTP1.FIN.GOV.BC.CA> I came away from reading Mitch Friedmans's post (Chalkhills #2-107) very disheartened. It seems less likely than ever that we'll get a new album this year (although the proposed "Somesuch" album and other compilations are something to look forward to). I can't imagine that the legal dispute could be settled, a new contract negotiated, and a new album recorded, mixed, pressed, packaged, hyped, and shipped in the 8 remaining months. So here's to '97 ... I'm saddened that bootleggers have made artists (Andy is but one) more possessive of their creations. It's bad enough to hear that the "legitimate" recording companies are ripping off the artists. But as evidenced by the "Somesuch" proposal, authorized releases of the demos (a "Basement Tapes" approach) may be a way for XTC to fulfill their obligation (the four albums still owing) while at the same time making the boots redundant. It's my understanding that XTC won't be able to release the demos under any other label anyway (i.e. Virgin owns the demos as well as the song publishing rights). And there's the new songs to consider ... please don't let these fall into the wrong hands! Martin song choice: "Cynical Days"
------------------------------ From: Ben Gott <BENG@hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us> Subject: High-schoolers & XTC Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 15:07:00 edt Message-ID: <318513F6@pentium3.hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us> Hi, Chalkies: Good news! My roommate just bought "White Music"! He loves XTC, and wants to buy many more CDs. See? My generation is not lost (yet...) Ben XTC SONG OF THE DAY: Tissue Tigers
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 14:13:51 -500 (CDT) From: Lars Schubert <larss@scisoc.org> Subject: The irony Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9604291312.A7488-0100000@scisoc.scisoc.org> He scolds you (and himself): We are all a bunch of satellites gumming up the atmosphere, rabid for our musical feed, which we really do not need. Am I the last one to find hypocrisy in our postings about "the intellectual superiority" of XTC's lyrics and fans, or irony in that fact (along with the fact that Andy doesn't want anything to do with this list of his greatest fans)? Would it be unrealistic to consider that to an outsider, we may look like a pathetic group of snobby gits who concert far too much of our spare time being generally unproductive? Or that to an outsider, we may simply look like a big bunch of wankers from time to time? Then again, it would be really unsound to be even seen talking to someone like that... Wow. This post is heavy, yet shallow. This is a great list, and XTC is my favorite band (ummmm... they are just a band, aren't they?), but sometimes I just wanna scream... You're all (aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiihhhh!!!!!!!)..., well, almost all, great. I mean, I'm not so great, and maybe there are a couple other people out there who... naaaah. I'll crawl back under my simple, out-of-orbit shell and continue lurking. Please look in the mirror before you start flaming me. I know I'm a little out of order here, but I can anticipate the tenor of your fiery fingers... otherwise I wouldn't be on this list, and I wouldn't have addressed this reflexively... hell, I would have made it instrumental. Wow, I guess I really DO need that new album... -Another Pseudo-intellectual, Smart-ass, Rabbit Mayor of P.C.-ton P.S. I'm not Andy and I do like at least 10 recording artists, some of whom INCLUDE members who are non-white, non-males. Now, I must bound off to hear my brand new, lunch-money ransomed "Pellets, Lettuce, and Saltlick" CD.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:05:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199604292005.QAA21566@darius.cris.com> Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-107 From: Julian Weiss <JulianW@cris.com> >Another friend had trouble >grasping them: "When did this record come out?" he asked, bewildered, >when I played him "Go 2," and his response to seeing XTC in "Urgh!" was >"Who *are* these guys?" But he's never insulted them or said he dislikes >them. He just doesn't get them. As we fans of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 say, "The Right People Will Get It". Julian
------------------------------ From: Benjamin Woll <bwoll@abacus.bates.edu> Message-Id: <9604292053.AA25416@abacus.bates.edu> Subject: Bootlegs and the New LP Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:53:25 -0400 (EDT) Since it seems that XTC will not be making a studio LP within the next year (at least), I think that Andy's Demos provide XTC's fans with a bit of a treat - and what is wrong with that? If Andy is worried that the demos are not showcasing his best material - that is OK - we all, as reasonabely intelligent people understand that everything he touches is not genius, and that one of the big decisions the band has to make while recording a record is which songs are fit and which don't. (This is an area XTC has had problems with in the past, the best parts of Mummer are not the bonus tracks on the CD, Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down only on Waxworks, and some of Colin's tunes like The World is Full of Angry Young Men and Down A Peg have become castoffs, unheard by some of XTC's biggest fans). So, let us decide. If Andy is concerned about the money, he should release a solo LP, and the same goes for Colin. Yes, it might hearken the breakup of a great band, but the music must live on past these legal squabbles. I know that the rantings of a frustrated fan might not be interesting reading, but DAMNIT I NEED MY FILL OF GREAT SONGWRITING! A thought on XTC's lack of popularity: I agree that their songs are lyrically and musically complex and clever, but REM and U2 have some equally difficult, but still popular material. The lack of touring does not help, but Steely Dan became huge without the benefit of performing live for years at a time. Nat Jacobs hit one big nail on the head about the "happiness" so much of XTC's material effuses. My sister complains that the "singalongability" and "bounciness" of tunes like "You're a Good Man Albert Brown" and "Mayor of Simpletion" does nothing but annoy her. I think that many modern rock fans have something against melody - and XTC reeks of melody, especially when compared to the likes of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Live, and even REM. I believe that another important contributor to XTC's modest commercial success is Andy's voice. It took me a few years to fully appreciate Andy's range and tone because, quite frankly, his timbre is not immedaitely appealing. I hear complaints about his voice from friends all the time, and I can only respond by saying that it grows on you. I think XTC would be more successful (notice I didn't say better) if Colin sang everything. So, screw Virgin, keep trooping onwards Andy, Colin, and Dave, and give me some new XTC. My trigger finger is itchy. Cheers, Ben
------------------------------ Message-Id: <MAPI.Id.0016.00696c76612020203135434130303138@MAPI.to.RFC822> From: JoE Silva <silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu> Subject: post-Sky ToDD Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 15:22:02 EDT I'm fairly certain that I read Todd saying something to the effect that Geffen paid him good money to do what he thought was best with the material, and as the on paper producer he wasn't going to subjugate himself to Andy's will/eGo. But both of them have had a decent time to mull over the experience now, and I'm sure they're both none too sensitive about the issue. I think Andy told countless interviewers that he felt like he had to put "Todd's kicking right." -------------------------- JoE Silva Senior Contributor Consumable Online silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu
------------------------------ Date: 30 APR 96 10:26:35 EST From: PCulnane@dca.gov.au Subject: re: Mystery Virgins and Snowballs' Chances Message-ID: <0000sgomuecq.0000qyiockae@dca.gov.au> Keith Hanlon asked in #107 whether Virgin's changing hands may "affect our boys' contract disputes". This question apparently arose from a news item he saw on CNN. The former head of Virgin records was Richard Branson. He sold it to EMI in, what, '92? '93? He went on to concentrate on other ventures, including his airline, Virgin Airways. That this news item moved from discussing record companies to airlines would seem to confirm that they were indeed discussing Mr Branson. You can see him dressed as a General in the "Generals & Majors" promo video. Richard Branson was well out of the picture before the current contact disputes between XTC and Virgin escalated. But the guys copped a fair rogering from Virgin throughout their career by all accounts. So no, Keith, I don't expect this "news" will have a bearing on the dispute. Hope this helps. Paul Culnane. Canberra. Australia.
------------------------------ Date: 30 APR 96 11:38:08 EST From: PCulnane@dca.gov.au Subject: I'm a Toddler too! Message-ID: <0000lrttjdvl.0000kaquaguu@dca.gov.au> Paul Brantley was discussing Todd Rundgren, playing XTC on his radio show, in Chalkhills #107. Who's seen the March edition of "Goldmine" (US collectors' mag)? It has a big, long feature interview with Todd. He briefly alludes to XTC/Skylarking 2 or 3 times but doesn't really add anything new to the saga. What is interesting though, is the whole feature. Fascinating insight into the creative process, at least from Todd's point of view. Check it out. (Or e-mail me with your fax number for a copy). And while on the subject of Todd, Skylarking and Stratosphear fans might enjoy these TR albums which I've selected from his vast & varied catalogue: "Something/Anything", "A Wizard, A True Star", "Todd", "Faithful", "Deface The Music". You won't be disappointed. Paul of Oz
------------------------------ Message-ID: <3184DD15.31A6@mindspring.com> Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:15:33 -0500 From: Ted Lee <clayhnry@mindspring.com> Subject: xtc influenced music.... Hello. I'd like to let you Chalkhillians' in on an XTCish treat called Clay Henry. While your sitting around waiting for the lads to produce another gem, you can get your hands on genuinely Andy/Colin/Dave influenced tuneage from the Atlanta combo Clay Henry. Sort of what you'd get if you crossed Andy Partridge with Elvis Costello and made him play through Weezer's amps. Clay Henry has produced two albums of sonic bliss ready for your consumption. 1994's No Taang For Ted was a "demo" album of 18 tracks recorded in 3 days on makeshift 8 track equipment. 1995's Supersize is a scaled down, more agressive album of sorts (heavily influenced by the Black Sea ideology) with 13 tracks of pop pinache. Check us out at http://www.mindspring.com/~clayhnry/henry.html.... And don't be shy to drop us some email ! Clay Henry and the Anti Matter Quartet
------------------------------ From: MiKearns@aol.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 23:42:07 -0400 Message-ID: <960429234206_386360966@emout09.mail.aol.com> Subject: Re: When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Why? Just got Mummer CD with 6 bonus tracks and became acquainted with it in the car over the course of a weekend of driving (along with Procol Harum's "The Long Goodbye".) As the music gradually grows on me I think of the Chalkhills thread regarding the lack of more wide-spread acceptance (much less love) of XTC. Natalie Jacobs has referred to the emotional brightness of their music and how out-of-sorts that is with the relative blandness of the musical tastes of many, and even of those trusted few who have a marked variety and expansiveness of tastes. I agree: much of what passes for interesting these days is quite bland to my taste too; and while some people may enjoy more substantial things (like Beethoven), that does not guarantee that they will "get" XTC. to be continued...
------------------------------ From: MiKearns@aol.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 23:52:38 -0400 Message-ID: <960429235237_524739879@emout15.mail.aol.com> Subject: When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 3 continued... I think trust and commitment is the key: if a new Kinks or Elvis Costello CD comes out and I don't get it -- I expect that in time I will, because I trust that there is something there, and am committed to the task of finding it. In the case of XTC, some trusted friends of mine gave me some XTC stuff to check out. They didn't come up to me the next day to say "What did you think of it?"... I came up to them a few weeks later and said "Wow!" Still, I don't know what it takes to "convert" people to this music. I don't think I have ever done so successfully (probably because I haven't spent enough time, or spent it with the right people, trying). I've given away five O&L cassettes -- no response. Maybe I should give away CDs or LPs -- it's easier to skip around on these media -- then things start to happen.
------------------------------ From: MiKearns@aol.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 23:52:43 -0400 Message-ID: <960429235241_524739940@emout14.mail.aol.com> Subject: When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 2 I would like to add to this my theory of "larger musical forms". XTC, Elvis Costello and Ray Davies are three masters that come to mind in the rock genre some of who come off as merely 'facile' (probably that quality to which those people who say they 'appreciate' but don't _like_ XTC are referring) -- i.e., able to shift meters isometrically, modulate to remote keys and modes, and do things melodically that are almost unthinkable. Such is often my first impression of the music... that is -- until a piece starts to become... how shall I say -- 'hummable'! One problem is that they are thinking in larger, more expansively developed themes. I do not think that in each song there are several songs trying to get out... I just think some songs take a longer time to seep into the average attention span (I don't mean to insult anyone who holds fast to the opinion I am rebutting - I consider my own attention span to be far below average). continued...
------------------------------
From: MiKearns@aol.com
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 23:52:46 -0400
Message-ID: <960429235243_524739960@emout18.mail.aol.com>
Subject: When You're New To Me I Have Difficulty: Part 4
I will close with a passage from the chapter in Leonard Bernstein's "The
Joy of Music" entitled "Why Don't You Run Upstairs and Write a Nice
Gershwin Tune" -- an imaginary dialogue between LB and PM. ("Professional
Manager"): PM: "... Your songs are simply too arty, that's all. You try
too hard to make them what you would call "interesting". That's not for the
public, you know. A special little dissonant effect in the bass may make
_you_ happy, and maybe some of your highbrow friends, but it doesn't help
to make a hit... You just have to learn how to be simple, my boy..." L.B.
"You think it's so simple to be simple?"
I do not make the XTC/Bernstein comparison lightly. Genius is genius.
Thank you, and good night.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v01530503adac6215874a@[139.80.196.84]> Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 16:34:54 -0800 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: "XTC" used in advertisement Date: Sat, 20 Apr 1996 14:55:00 -0700 From: Christie Byun <cbyun@ocf.Berkeley.EDU> Message-Id: <199604202155.OAA17058@locusts.Berkeley.EDU> Subject: XTC nail polish? >I just read in my May issue of Vogue that a cosmetics company named M.A.C. >is putting out a nail polish color entitled XTC. I wonder if they're going >to pay royalties. while on the subject of the three sacred letters being used to advertise... anyone noticed the ads for the movie Exotica (I take it the same ads are being used worldwide). The word "Exotica" appears on the screen, with every second letter (that's "XTC", for the numerically challenged) brightly highlighted and slowly drawing back into the rest of the word. James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 02:46:38 -0500 (EST) From: Brookes McKenzie <RMCKENZI@smith.smith.edu> Subject: paper/iron/DAT? Message-id: <01I44WL59DC2B3X3BA@SMITH> wow. in the same issue of chalkhills, we saw how andy's demos are money, property (the currency of record companies and the impoverished artist's only coin), and treasure/booty (to the fans, some of whom in the right circumstances might themselves be record-label execs, as in the doug powell/polygram parable; but who also in their more-or-less innocent desire for the songs as _art_ provide the water in which bootleggers swim sharkily), whereas what has always struck me the most about demos as an object of debate and/or desire is how utterly _temporary_ they are - it seems lunatic to base a system of economics on a currency that perpetually decreases in value. No artist can remain invested in a song for ten years, unless it happens to be the best one she ever wrote. And nine times out of ten almost all of the demos floating around in circulation immediately become next to worthless as soon as the full versions come out on the album. This is especially true for andy's demos as they are (or would seem to be) so close to how he wanted the song to be in the first place that the only changes are in the quality of the production and the energy and input that DG and CM contribute, by the very fact of their playing if not by actually changing (bass lines, etc.) the songs. and the songs that don't get the lucky kiss of an A&R guy's fairy wand of approval take on a sad ghostlike quality when you know they'll never see daylight as full-fleshed beings (c.f. "everything" and "living in a haunted heart" - although one could argue that in a way these particular songs work better in this plaintive form only, due to their wistfulness that maybe wouldn't be able to withstand AP's full-speed-ahead studio approach - i think "rook" would be better that way, certainly), whereas before you knew their fate they had the cheeky nerve to think that they could be judged on their own merit rather than some inscrutable (or, horribly, all-too-scrutable) standard, some hidden expectation that the most promising ones even apparently failed to meet. this is brought home to me by the recent (last week's i think) chalkhills listing all the new demos being considered by record co.'s, in which "prince of orange" and "some lovely (my brown guitar)" are included, when i think the ONLY reason they are in there is that someone with sense actually got to _hear_ them - if any comparable person had heard "work" or "goosey goosey" or any of those songs, s/he would have put them up for fleshing-out in a heartbeat (i think both "prince of orange" and "some lovely", while quite nice [particularly the latter], should really be on the next dukes album rather than the next release of XTC). my point being that why on earth is virgin so concerned with snatching up all of andy's demos when we all know that they're going to fuck up royally in letting them be produced? what good is the currency that, after being fought for tooth and nail, gets thrown away upon receipt? - brookes "Love is to me that you are the knife which I turn within myself." - F. Kafka, letter to Milena
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 11:24:56 +0100 Message-Id: <199604301024.AA06116@felix.dircon.co.uk> From: nonsuch@dircon.co.uk (Simon Sleightholm) Subject: Q Magazine's Surf's Up Readers of Q magazine may have noticed that the June issues Surf's Up internet column of Stuart Maconie has a couple of XTC references. I have an occasional correspondece with Stuart, and some weeks ago I sent him details of Chalkhills, Beatown, Nonsuch Colouring book and my own page for inclusion in the column. Stuart being Stuart, he appears to have lost it. At least he managed to get the Nonsuch Colouring Book a mention. As he requested in the magazine I have sent him on the details of the other pages again. Q are planning a quide to the best band/artist sites on the web. If any fellow Chalkhillians have any particular favourites they should mail them to:- Q_magazine@dial.pipex.com Bye, Simon. * --------------------------------------------------- http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nonsuch/bungalow.htm * --------------------------------------------------- It's just a little place, but it's all XTC...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 11:30:32 -0400
Message-Id: <v01510102adaba697c54d@[128.122.161.36]>
From: vanvalnc@is2.nyu.edu (Chris Van Valen)
Subject: Re: Andy on Gabriel 3 (#2-107)
Ted Mills wrote:
>At that time, circa 1980, Andy was everywhere. I guess he was having his
>15 [minutes]. He turned up on albums by Peter Gabriel (III) Thomas Dolby
>(Europa and the Pirate Twins) Ryuichi Sakamoto (B-2 Unit) as well as
>aforementioned Commercial Album. What happened?
Andy wasn't on PG3, but Dave Gregory played rhythm guitar on one track
only(I don't remember if it was "Family Snapshot" or "And Through the
Wire").
Someone posted about Andy doodling at signings. I had a similar memory of
this. I offered my copy of Nonsvuch for him to sign. In addition to the
signature he drew a little stick figure on one of the castle's parapets
yelling "Hey Chris!!!". My girlfriend gave him our copy of Skylarking and
he signed and drew musical notes coming out of the flute with the words
""Ooooh Jackie!"
CV
If you have an unpleasant nature and dislike people
this is no obstacle to work.
--J.G. Bennett
Catch "Forever Knight" on the Sci-Fi Channel every Monday at 8PM and
midnight, EDT.
--Lucien LaCroix
------------------------------ From: Bob Thomas <BobT@cait.wustl.edu> Subject: Chains, Damn Bands, Under Stress Date: Tue, 30 Apr 96 11:44:00 CDT Message-ID: <318643EB@msgw.cait.wustl.edu> I'm awaiting vol 2 #108 to read the reaction to my mostly Eric Matthews post, but I wanted to discuss a couple ideas from #107. First, Natalie Jacobs writes: >the perplexing question of XTC's lack of popularity, there's a common >reaction I get in my attempts to convert others to XTC's music. I know that reaction and I have written about it in this digest. When I wrote about it before, posing the same sort of question -- what is it about XTC and their music that makes people say "huh?" -- someone wrote an excellent thought about how their music is imbued with "quality" of a the kind written about in Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. (Sorry I don't remember who that was, and if I were less of a lazy slog, I'd look it up in the archives.) That quality comment rang true for me. The fact is, many people don't care about music (or cars, or motorcycles, or gardening) enough to hear and see those attributes. We can only hope they care enough about other things. Then there's the question of taste based on experience or lack thereof. My old friends still listen to Bob Dylan from the 1960s and the Grateful Dead >from whenever. I love Bob Dylan but I wish he were making records like Peter Blegvad's latest. I don't like the Grateful Dead, never have, never will. There must be something wrong with me. I realize, though, that these friends don't listen to music the same way I do. They don't listen as carefully, anyway, and as a result, they don't have a need for well crafted music like XTC. They'll say to me "That Hootie guy is pretty good." "OK," I say. I can't explain why Natalie's sophisticated friends don't get XTC. My theory is not complex enough, but I think she's right to suggest that the emotion in the music plays a part. And emotion in the listener. Van Morrison's fans can listen to him sing doo-doo-doo and dip-dip-dip all day long and feel good about it. I'm one of them, so I should know. XTC reaches deeper and wider. Listen to Andy sing "High climbs the summer sun. . .", then listen to that Billy Idle imitation at the end of Outside World, "You can keep your animals". I love music. I need more of it. Other people don't. Ah well, that's this thread over. Second, Adam J. Osterman, thanks for your Eric Matthews comments. I don't think you should have implied that he sounds like XTC, though. I will look into this SUGARPLASTIC stuff. And Third, Sorry, Melissa, for the lack of XTC content in my last post. Hope your work is going well. Hasta Luego Bob
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #2-108 *******************************
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