Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 124
Date: Monday, 24 June 1996
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 124
Monday, 24 June 1996
Today's Topics:
Top 10+ Composers . . .
SuGaRandyPLasTic
Yazbek in Danbury
DRUMS
Difford & Tilbrook
Giles Smith - Lost in Music
Peach Tunes?
Scissor Man update
Time for another release
Nonsvch on MiniDisc
Danbury Modern Folk Music Festival
Thank you one and all
VH-1
Coney Island (for the last time)
Merely A Man - guitar chords
re: GO2 Cover
Re: Go2 insert
O&L Story - also Bill Nelson WWW Site URL Update
Don Was, Dave Gregory & etc
Yaz. Beck.
Go 2 Cover
a few things
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So just love your dog and don't kick your wife.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-Id: <v01510100adeb796d18e0@[206.15.64.126]> Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 13:22:53 -0800 From: mf@well.com (Mitch Friedman) Subject: Top 10+ Composers . . . Hi again. As I started to compile the results to the top ten composers poll, it occured to me that about half of you that sent me your lists could not keep from adding a few extra choices/honorable mentions to the ten I originally asked for. Initially I left out the additional entries but then thought that since this poll was, at best, a general concensus more than anything definitive, I felt that I should include whomever was mentioned by anyone who replied. Naturally that makes it sorta unfair to those who only abided by the rules and sent me ten or less. So . . . whomever only offered ten original choices and wants to add a few more to your lists (and I know who you are!), feel free to pick 3 to 5 more of your favorite composers and send them to me. I'll give you until Saturday the 22nd. And while I'm on the subject, here are some additional choices of my own: Liz Phair Irving Berlin Belew/Bruford/Fripp/Levin John Cage Daniel Johnston I look forward to hearing from some of you again, and compiling the results. Mitch
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Message-Id: <MAPI.Id.0016.00696c76612020204246393330303344@MAPI.to.RFC822>
From: JoE Silva <silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu>
Subject: SuGaRandyPLasTic
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 96 16:39:08 EDT
Shock...two times over:
Firs:t at how this band could have come up with a record that
was so blatantly XTC redux! and Second: how come Geffen is
spending money on promoting this outfit instead of the real
mccoy. Did they just get fed up waiting?
WoW...I mean this Sugarplastic thing is practically libelous.
end rant
JoE
-----------------------------
JoE Silva
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Univ of GA
220 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30602-4712
(706) 542 -4452
-4412 (FaX)
silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 22:45:11 -0400 From: nmcgrath@world.std.com (Nancy McGrath) Message-Id: <199606180245.AA20971@world.std.com> Subject: Yazbek in Danbury In Chalkhills #2-122, Yazbek mentioned: > By the way, we'll be playing the Danbury Modern Folk Festival on July > 28th in Danbury, Conn. along with five other bands and Jamie Bloch, who > Andy Partridge turned me on to. I'm excited about it because he's really > good. Look for his C.D. A few more details on this gig: the Second Annual Danbury Modern Folk Festival is being held at Lake Kenosia Park on Kenosia Avenue. Gates open at 1:00 pm; admission is $10. Other acts on the bill with Yazbek and the aforementioned Jamie Bloch are Kate Jacobs, Margo Hennebach, Walking the Dragon, Treefort and Father Frank's Blues Band. In addition to the wonderful music, there'll be food, arts and crafts and general merriment. And it's all for a great cause: the event is a benefit for Interfaith AIDS Ministry of Greater Danbury. For further information and directions, check out the folk festival's web site at http://www.cris.com/~cjmacs/folkfest1.html, send email to cjmacs@cris.com or call 203/744-0388. See you there! Nancy McGrath nmcgrath@world.std.com
------------------------------
Date: 18 JUN 96 12:12:57 EST
From: PCulnane@dca.gov.au
Subject: DRUMS
Message-ID: <0000rpphbvxb.0000qymisywk@dca.gov.au>
A bit of recent speculation about suitable producers for the next XTC album
- some interesting suggestions were, um, suggested.
But I was wondering about drummers. Who do you think would be suitable?
The drummer they've most recently used on a commercial release was Chris
Sharrock ("The Good Things" from Testimonial Dinner). He was/is the
drummer for World Party. He seems to have a lighter touch than, say, Dave
Mattacks.
Actually, I'd like to see them fly Terry Chambers back from Newcastle,
Australia, to drum for them. I gather from their reunion around the time
of recording Nonsuch, that there's little or no ill-will between Terry &
the others. He's the best drummer they've ever had, and one of my
favourites of all. So, my number one nomination for next drummer is TC.
What do other Chalksters think?
Toodle-ooo. Paul
------------------------------ From: jde@abingdon.geoquest.slb.com (Jon Eva) Message-Id: <9606181151.ZM15732@rs560.abingdon.geoquest.slb.com> Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 11:51:50 +0000 Subject: Difford & Tilbrook >From Todd Bernhardt <tbernhardt@aga.com> : > I'm not going to make any friends here with this one, but I think it's > also because Squeeze hasn't put out anything particularly new or innovative > since the '80s, when Difford and Tilbrook started believing, prompted by > the press, that they were the next Lennon/McCartney. It also could be > because they're, in my experience anyway, TERRIBLE live. I've seen Difford and Tilbrook as Squeeze and as themselves about a dozen times, and they've always, without exception, put on a brilliant show.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 16:55:25 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Giancarlo Cairella <vertigo@like.it>
Subject: Giles Smith - Lost in Music
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960618165045.654A-100000@psycho.like.it>
I've just finished a very entertaining book, "Lost in Music - a pop
odissey" by Giles Smith. He's one of Q magazine's staff writers and former
member of Martin Newell's band "The Cleaners from Venus".
It's a sort of autobiography/overview of the last 20 years of pop music.
There are too many XTC references to list here. The author is a
self-confessed XTC-worshipper and there are many interesting chapters
devoted to XTC-related material.
The book is hilarious and recommended to all music fans. On the strength
of Smith's writing and insights, I've just ordered a CD-collection of the
"Cleaners from Venus".
Best and funniest music book of the year, or of the decade, for me!
Ciao,
G.C.
--
Giancarlo Cairella - L'Agora' Srl - C.so Vittorio Emanuele 15
20122 Milano, Italy. Phone: +39-2-781000
"Pretend to spank me -- I'm a pseudo-masochist!"
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199606181952.AA173587528@hp.com> Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 13:01:59 -0700 From: Luke Lohnes <luke@hplaatc2.nsr.hp.com> Subject: Peach Tunes? Oi all, I am looking for Andy's "James and the Giant Peach" Tunes. I have a bunch of acoustic shows to trade and some rare stuff eg. window box, Bull .... and the like, or if some kind soul would accept a tape and return postage I would be forever grateful. Just email me at luke@hplaatc2.nsr.hp.com or luke_lohnes@hp.com Thanks, Luke
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 16:26:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Ted Harms <tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: Scissor Man update Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.960618161815.27277A-100000@library.uwaterloo.ca> I was home this past weekend (Father's Day and all that, you know) and I procured my parents copy of skewed German fairy tales that had the 'Scissor Man' story. The basic story is that this kid, eloquently named Thomas Thumbsucker (and perhaps a distant relative of Peter Pumpkinhead), was warned numerous times by his mother not to suck his thumbs. Thomas disregards the advice and, lo and behold, a wild man with a monster pair of scissors jumps out from behind a pillar and cuts off the kid's thumbs. End of story. The collection of stories is called 'Die Struwwelpeter' and contains other wonderful stories - the basic moral of all of them is 'Obey your parents or DIE'. If anybody wants me to make available either the original German or a half-assed translation into English, just let me know. Unfortunately, the pictures are half the story but the words bring the point across just fine. Ted Harms Library, Univ. of Waterloo tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca 519.888.4567 x3761 "True affluence is not needing anything." Gary Snyder
------------------------------
Message-ID: <31C7A34D.12B3@interpath.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 23:50:53 -0700
From: "Charles Lee Lovingood, Jr." <lognsdad@interpath.com>
Subject: Time for another release
Greetings fellow hill people,
Got a few minutes, needed to write, so here we go! My first
subject tonight, producers....
I wonder how Andy and Walter Becker would get along? Or perhaps
Walter isn't dreamy enough for the boys. I know he did a great job on
Rickie Lee Jones' "Flying Cowboys", although it was recorded a bit low.
Guess that is the engineers fault, however. Just a thought! Or how about,
this may sound left field, Steve Winwood? All things considered, Steve
has made some really good music in his career; especially with Traffic. I
think a collaboration between he and Andy would be very interesting
indeed. Okay then, mull this pairing over! Andy and Stewart Copeland!
Remember the Klark Kent stuff? Or how about Danny Elfman? Too dark? Ooh!
Here's one! Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church! A collaboration, of course,
as I don't think Marty alone would be up to the task. A friendly enough
bloke, however, and he loves to talk. He and Andy would get along
swimmingly I think. Just some random thoughts. What do you think?
Someone? Anyone? (Doh! Almost a Todd Rundgren reference there. Sux that
Todd and Andy didn't get along better than they did. Todd is a musical
genius!) By the way, the best I have heard yet is the duo of Froom/Blake.
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm! My ears salivate at the mere thought of that one!
Part two..being the second part.
I saw somone recently advertise in these very pages that they would
like to sell their three picture disc box set which contains Go2, Drums
And Wires and Black Sea. If I am not mistaken, he wanted eighty or ninety
bucks for it. Well my friends, I hope no one took him up on that offer,
cause it is still in print and easy to get from your local cool record
shop. I just picked up another copy meself. The price? Thirty two
dollars, wholesale. By the way, can anyone tell me about the Explode
Together disc? Is it worth it?
Part three... The Journey Home...
Is it just me or is Paul Weller an exquisite songwriter? I have worn
his three domestic releases out and just today got the Japanese "More
Wood" disc. Great stuff!
News of utmost importance!!!!!!!!!!
My darling boy got his first tooth today! He is a handsome and
curious lad and is doing very well, thank you for asking!
"To look for hope above the clouds, to look for heaven...."
(Paul Weller.) I'm Lee Lovingood, goodnight! And God bless.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199606192038.WAA11079@utrecht.knoware.nl> From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl> Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 22:39:01 +0000 Subject: Nonsvch on MiniDisc Dear Chalkies, I've come across a bunch of 'Nonsvch' MiniDiscs in the local sales bin. These are probably the only XTC MD's ever produced as the whole MiniDisc medium is dropped. These discs were manufactured in Austria and come with a booklet with the lyrics and some colour photographs. ( like those included with the CD but smaller ) Even if you can never play it, it's a beautiful little item, and it would look very nice next to your 'Look Look' video on Betamax :) If anyone is interested in one of these discs, drop me an email. First come, first served and swap offers are very welcome! bye, m@rk BTW: Testimonial Dinner is excellent! (Thank you, David Y.) <- XTC quote for today -> There may be no golden fleece but human riches I'll release
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 21:14:18 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199606210114.VAA20209@darius.cris.com> Subject: Danbury Modern Folk Music Festival From: chuck and joe <cjmacs@cris.com> Hi fellow Chalkhillians! I know Yazbek mentioned this last week, but I just wanted to make sure that all of you in the Northeast U.S. were aware of the Danbury Modern Folk Music Festival. It will be a Chalkhillian delight - featuring performances by Andy's pals Yazbek and Jamie Block! It's happening on July 28th 1:00 pm at Lake Kenosia in Danbury Connecticut. Tickets will be available the day of the show and are only $10. Plus this is a benefit for an AIDS organization that I work for, so it's all for a good cause. Other artists that are playing include Kate Jacobs, Margo Hennebach, and several local bands: Walking The Dragon, Treefort, and Father Frank's Blues Band. There is a web site up and running with all the information you may need - the URL is in my sig file, so check it out! If anyone goes, please ask around for me and come up and introduce yourself. Hope to see you there! Chuck Stipak XTC song of the moment: "Don't Ever Call The Chickenhead" the second annual DANBURY MODERN FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL http://www.cris.com/~cjmacs/Folkfest1.html
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199606211913.QAA16864@Fox.nstn.ca> Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 15:17:51 +0100 From: enrico@fox.nstn.ca (Erich W.) Subject: Thank you one and all I want to thank everyone who E-mailed me offering to score me The Laughing Man. There were many generous offers from as far away as Wales but the winner was Priscilla in Minneapolis. It's in the mail as I write. Cookies for the postman when he shows up with a parcel... Canada's national radio network (CBC) played Sarah McLaughlin singing Dear God yesterday on it's noon hour show. It's the third time I've heard something from TD on the CBC so I guess the lads have some fans there. Hope you had a good vacation John! We missed you!! Enrico in sunny Ottawa.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jun 1996 14:59:51 +0100 Message-Id: <199606151359.AA06828@felix.dircon.co.uk> From: Simon Sleightholm <nonsuch@dircon.co.uk> Subject: VH-1 Noticed briefly and bleary eyed while watching a pub TV screen after a wee drinkie; VH-1 (a sat. TV channel usually devoted to the works of such Uber-noise-terrorists as the Eagles, Tina Turner, Celine f***ing Dion, etc) have a little ID trailer - "VH-1, Land Of The Giants" - which includes extracts from various rock videos which involve a size distortion theme. That Stones one when the band are enlarged beyond the realms of sanity and run around the city (presumably looking for someone to buy their records) is featured heavily, but there is also a nice shot of Andy taking his foot off the camera from the "Dear God" video. The near legendary XTC-resistant Barry watches VH-1 all of the time, for his Mike and The Mechanics fix, and reports that he has never seen XTC on there ever. If he had, the system would in all likelihood be back in the shop from whence it came - with a big, foot-shaped hole in it. Excuse this posting, but I am a drunk as I don't know what. Toodle pip. * --------------------------------------------------- http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nonsuch/bungalow.htm * --------------------------------------------------- No Thugs In Our House, only XTC.
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1996 10:01:26 +0100 Message-Id: <199606160901.AA03792@felix.dircon.co.uk> From: Simon Sleightholm <nonsuch@dircon.co.uk> Subject: Coney Island (for the last time) Remember when I raised the subject of that Coney Island documentary? Look what I found in the E-Zine Consumable's interview with AP: "About a year before their collaboration, both Partridge and Budd saw a television documentary about New York's Coney Island that coincidentally featured sonic backdrops by each of them. While not knowing who the other composer was at the time, they each made mental notes about how the pieces nicely complimented each others." The full interview is available at:- http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1994/c113094.txt or (ahem) via a link from Bungalow. Careful now, Simon * --------------------------------------------------- http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nonsuch/bungalow.htm * --------------------------------------------------- No Thugs In Our House, only XTC.
------------------------------
Message-ID: <D85FpDAnyIwxEw+N@wordsrus.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 22:48:23 +0100
From: Tim Harris <wordsrus@wordsrus.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Merely A Man - guitar chords
A fairly humble contribution in terms of how complicated it looks -
nevertheless an achievement for me. Perhaps someone who has managed to
decipher the songs where I didn't have a clue where to start (thanks)
can sort out what's going on around the E chord of the verse. Anyway, it
sounds right when you play along with the CD!
E (etc E7, E9?)
Higher
I'm a king yes I'm a head of state
But I'm the kitchen boy who'll wash your dirty plate
I had a message and the message was
We're all Jesus, Budda and the Wizard of Oz
Ab Eb Bbm Eb
I'm merely a man and I bring nothing but love for you
Ab Eb Bbm Ab
I'm merely a man and I want nothin that you can't do
B(7) A(7) B(7) B(7) A(7) B(7)
And you know it's true
B7 E
That with logic and love we'll be lifting humanity higher higher
(solo with brass re-uses the: Ab-Eb-Bbm-Eb sequence)
Tim Harris
------------------------------ Date: 24 JUN 96 15:55:19 EST From: PCulnane@dca.gov.au Subject: re: GO2 Cover Message-ID: <0000isoqqycs.0000ekqqmwkc@dca.gov.au> Alan Glenn asks in 'Hills #123 why there's a gap in the cover artwork of both the CD and vinyl copies of GO2. It's a deliberate design trick and here's how it works: For the CD, take the outer slick and place the rear cover over the CD label until the printing aligns. See? The missing print on the CD label is contained on the back cover, and when aligned, the full text appears. Similar for the vinyl: in the original vinyl issue there was an insert (featuring Moulding's map of Swindon, and a large colour shot of the guys (this shot was not reproduced on the CD cover). You need to align the track listing from the insert so it matches up with the copy on the label. Voila! Full text is revealed. Try it out. Just another fun record cover gimmick from our boys. Just about all their covers had some extra trick feature - it all adds to the fun. Paul-of-Oz
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 00:10:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Chris Zinn <czinn@reed.edu> Subject: Re: Go2 insert Message-ID: <Pine.ULT.3.92.960624000617.8524A-100000@remus> Regarding the question about the space on the back of GO2. My original copy of the record has an insert which "fits" into that blank space, thus completing the text "on the outside of the album cover" with that from the record liner--another conceptual witticism on that most conceptual of XTC records. Regards, Christopher Zinn
------------------------------ From: rushton@soli.inav.net Message-Id: <199606240656.BAA00521@soli.inav.net> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 00:53:02 +0000 Subject: O&L Story - also Bill Nelson WWW Site URL Update Tonight I was browsing through a Target store's typically awful and dinky selections and stumbled upon a bin of cheap CDs. Hmmm, let's see: a Whitesnake album, bunch of other things......whoa! and a copy of "Oranges and Lemons" for $5.99! A typo? No! Too bad I have one already.....must be the old Geffen stock at cutout prices. Prowling around I found some other rather interesting titles, such as: "Thunderstorms and Rainshowers" or something like that - an hour of soothing thunderstorms to relax to after a hard working day.... :-) There was also a cassette called "Eliminate Stress In 37 Minutes" - I'm buying that for Andy, maybe he'll tour again..... :-) Fans of Bill Nelson will be glad to know I've moved my Bill Nelson WWW Site to a new URL: http://soli.inav.net/~rushton/nelson.html Set your bookmarks!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199606241250.IAA10640@mime4.prodigy.com> From: Moonsilver@prodigy.com (MR NOBLE K THOMAS) Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 08:50:43, -0500 Subject: Don Was, Dave Gregory & etc For those of you who truly want XTC to get some airplay next time, I'd suggest producer Don Was who seemingly has enough of a radio- friendly repuation to get program directors' attention merely by dropping his name. Now, I am not suggesting this would be everyone's favorite record but I'm sure DW would jump at the oppurtunity to work with XTC... Does anyone know if Dave Gregory has recorded any solo material? I once read where Andy Partridge noted that DG had recorded some Rundgren sounding material done tongue-in-cheek to parody Todd. Now that is something that I would love to hear (yes, I like both XTC and TR -- it can be done. Try it.) ... in October of 1980 I was attending UNM in Albuquerque and dedcided to catch the Police. Well, a band called XTC opened for them and of course only years later did I start listening to the band. In retrospect, I can only imagine the culture shock of Albuquerque, NM contributing to APs performing nightmare. ... the stars are laughing at us! Toby
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v02130500adf469e005a3@[128.148.109.128]> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 11:23:48 -0500 From: Gene_Yoon@brown.edu (Gene Yoon) Subject: Yaz. Beck. >From: "Simon Knight" <sknight@warchivegw.riv.csu.edu.au> > >Oh, since i'm from Oz, can can someone fill me in on who on earth >David Yazbek is and what's with all the hero worship? With all the >constant references you'd think he was Andy's twin brother or >something. Maybe someone should start up a mailing list for him! :-) If anyone else out there is terribly curious to find out more about David Yazbek, you can check out an interview I did with him back in April for the College Hill Independent, a local student weekly here in Providence, RI. The issue is on the web: http://www.netspace.org/indy/issues/04-18-96/cover.html There is also a record review of The Laughing Man as a sidebar (done by a colleague; decided I was too biased to review it myself). Unfortunately our online editor chose yellow typeface for the links (he uses the cover color for each issue, and this one was amber), so it might not be too easy to read the titles. Oh, and don't mind the cover design. We'd been covering so much serious stuff that doing a takeoff a supermarket tabloid seemed like fun. The interview goes into Yazbek's impressive career in entertainment and his personal music tastes, among other fascintating tidbits. Lucky for me Yazbek's a good talker, so there was plenty of interesting stuff I couldn't include. Reducing that one-hour interview into two pages of the paper was like squeezing out an old metal tube of caulk on a cold winter's day (it was hard). Gene
------------------------------ Message-ID: <26E9D62F01291300@ametsoc.org> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 96 11:38:00 -0500 From: dgershmn <dgershmn@ametsoc.org> Organization: AMS Subject: Go 2 Cover Alan Glenn asked: >I'm sure others have noticed that on the back of the Go 2 CD there is a >large, angled rectangle of text missing. It looks like someone set the edge >of another piece of paper over the track listing when the back sheet was >printed. The same thing happens on the US CD and also on the UK picture >disc CD. Anyone know what this is about? The vinyl version of "Go 2" (I don't have it on CD, so I can't speak for that) has an inserted gatefold poster of the boys in the band (there's a map of Swindon on the back). In one corner of that poster is the missing text from the back of the album. If you take the poster and fit it into that rectangular space you mention, you get the whole cover (it ends up running off the boundaries of what would normally be the edge of the album). Dave Gershman "PUT -- THE CANDLE -- BACK!!"
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 10:48:49 -0500 Message-Id: <v02110101adf41e1d852b@[144.92.184.101]> From: aosterma@students.wisc.edu (Adam J. Ostermann, boy genius) Subject: a few things Just a few things to note: from Chalkhills Digest #2-123: (justified raves for THE DIVINE COMEDY snipped) >And it's not available in this country, due to American laws against concept >albums. > >But if you'd like to know how you can find it, ask. Um, actually, their new one WILL be available in the U.S. (if that's indeed where you are writing from) from Sentana U.S., which is an outbranch of Bar-None records. Last I heard, it should be out sometime in July. And yes, that is a plug to buy the album. And no, I don't work for Bar-None, but I can't imagine a much cooler job in Hoboken, NJ (home of the label). And my inane comments in popular threads: Both Squeeze and XTC (and Elvis Costello, really) are having trouble with modern record store buyers because, and this is strictly IMO, that the public still connatates it with their popular new-wave period. Said problem being the artists have matured, and are now making far more adult-oriented stuff. The problem with THAT is that the critics (and seemingly the public, too) expect them to mimic their old ways, and scoff the band when they don't. (Case in point: Squeeze's VASTLY underrated 1992 CD ^Play^, which got butchered by critics for being a mostly mid-tempo MOR album, despite the fact it was a pretty darn good MOR album. Now, why XTC remain popular with "those wacky kids" (XTC's last album was numero uno in college radio charts for weeks while EC and Squeeze have trouble getting in the top 20) I'm not sure. But all of these bands have seen better sales days, and based on their current outputs (EC's latest is IMO great; will be reciving the new Squeeze any day now, but I quite liked ^Some Fantastic Place^) they really do deserve more. Melodic bass players? Colin, hell yes. Macca, hell yes. But don't forget a great and VERY underrated bass player: Andy Rourke out of the Smiths. Yes, kids, there is a band behind Morrissey's celibate groans (I quite like his voice, but many don't, so I'm covering myself.) Take a listen - esp. the band's early stuff - and you'll hear bass lines that are songs in and of themselves, i.e. "This Charming Man," "This Night Has Opened My Eyes," "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." This, of course, without mentioning his powerhouse "Barbarism Begins at Home," where Rourke out-Chic's Chic. Rourke may not be flashy in the Flea/Geddy Lee/Les Claypool mold (or as I like to refer to it, the "Seinfeld syndrome") but the bass really does add to each of the Smiths' songs. Other bassists I like: Mat Osman out of Suede, Rob Brown out of the Boo Radleys, and Rose Thomson out of Babe the Blue OX (whose new album is absolutely stunning.) There, that felt good. XTC topics? XTC topics? What do you think this is, an XTC Di- oh...never mind... Adam J. Ostermann aosterma@students.wisc.edu
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #2-124 *******************************
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