Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 40
Date: Monday, 27 November 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 40
Monday, 27 November 1995
Today's Topics:
Peter Pumpkinhead & JFK
This is pop
Other bands' songs that sound like XTC
More MUZAK More MUZAK More MUZAK
T-Shirt Update
Andy Sings
pink things
Re: The twain where XTC & the Beatles meet
Squeaky Cycle
Andy/Colin Photo Available
Tone painting and other esoterica
A Clarification (Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father)
XTC are Feg fan favs!
Pink Thing.
Re: God Speak (Self-censorship)
Sunny Jim
Andy's sexism
Re: Seasons Cycle Beep
Miscellany
post-weekend musings
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: g.giusti@area.it (Giovanni Giusti) Subject: Peter Pumpkinhead & JFK Date: 24 Nov 1995 07:23:52 GMT Organization: area bbs In Chalkhills Digest #2-37, DougMash@aol.com wrote (about PPH lyrics): > "those who would keep us on their knees" - not well liked > by communist rulers or the mob. Now now, I don't want to start a political thread here as bad as the good old Dear God debate, but - don't assume Andy's feelings about Communism to be as clear-cut as most Americans'. JFK was not well liked by the right-wing American establishment. He was not liked by the KKK or by the various lobbies that infest American politics. And he was definitely _not_ killed by Commies, was he? At least that's how the legend goes in my part of Europe. His confrontations with Krushev are not that much remembered over here. Actually, he's seen as one of the most "liberal" and less anti-leftist of U.S. Presidents. And the JFK movie by Oliver Stone definitely does _not_ mention Communists. IMHO Andy was referring to right-wing fanatics and racists. That's it. G.
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Nov 1995 22:40:40 +1100 (EST) From: horsam@ozemail.com.au (j p horsam) Subject: This is pop Greetings from Dangar Island, 50 kms out of Sydney Australia on the beautiful, if threatened, Hawkesbury River. I'm new to Chalkhills, but I started out when the Statue of Liberty was just putting Superglue in her hair. Every album has been like Christmas to me... it's like opening you presents. My but what a serious bunch of people you are! I think there's a sort of heresy in trying to work out the chords etc to the songs. Whatever you see in the lyrics, keep in mind ..This Is Pop... please consider your dissertations in the light of humour,satire, songcraft and train spotting. Dave Gregory doesn't get mentioned enough. Record producers do serve a useful purpose, look at George Martin. XTC should be exporting their production talents.... teach Paul McC to write songs again... teach some of these grungemeisters how to pull a decent guitar sound for a change. I still don't know why XTC aren't the richest and most famous band in the world. cheers peter Horsam
------------------------------ From: g.giusti@area.it (Giovanni Giusti) Subject: Other bands' songs that sound like XTC Date: 24 Nov 1995 12:48:12 GMT Organization: area bbs Dear friends, OK. I wish to start a new thread here. Maybe it's been covered a hundred million times, if so, just don't follow up! A posting by Christopher R. Coolidge on CD 2-38 about a David Byrne song that sounded like XTC, prompted me to ask the following: Do any of you know any original songs by other bands that at one point in time you have mistaken for XTC, or that sound like XTC so much you actually wondered? For a starter, I'd like to propose "Someone Else's Clothes" by good old Ultravox (from "Systems of Romance", 1979 I think). If you reply by mail I'll be happy to post a digest of answers. G. -- "When it rains it rains (all the colours in my paintbox)"
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Nov 1995 16:42:54 -0600 From: Scott Taylor <staylor@sky.net> Subject: More MUZAK More MUZAK More MUZAK Pardon me, but I just had to send responses to a few points made in past Chalkhills posts... >the MUZAK company is based in Seattle, and apparently doing quite well...one >interesting thing I know about it is: it's on for 15 minutes,then off for 15. A year or so ago, Spy Magazine bagged on a couple of native Seattle grunge artists (I think it may have been Dave Grohl and/or Scott Weiland and/or Eddie Vedder) for having come to the alternative world only after honing their craft as session musicians for the Muzak corporation. Apparently Muzak pays the rent for a fair portion of that city's artistic element. For further elucidation, check out "Grunge Lite" by (I think) Sarah Bell, Muzak-ized reworkings of _Smells Like Teen Spirit_, _Hunger Strike_, etc. >Pumkinhead playing from a radio in the back of the hut.(Don't ask me how >they got electricity that deep into that jungle...I can only swear it's a >true story) Mmmmmm, tough call... Electricity in a jungle, of all places. Could it have been BATTERIES perhaps? And now, for something actually XTC-related... The Discovery Channel broadcast a piece this afternoon about large chalk and rock drawings from around the world. I caught the promo ahead of time and so was able to run the cable to my PC to get a couple of good screen captures of the Uffington horse featured on _English Settlement_; one of the horse and surrounding terrain in basically the same orientation as the album cover, another looking from the horse's front legs across the length of its body (both are aerial shots, with a person standing nearby for scale reference). I've got them stored as 1024x768 Windows bitmaps, so they'd make nice wallpaper for anybody who's a fan of that album. I can send them as MIME attachments (approximately 750k each as .BMP, 158K as .JPG). Email me if you want them. ST staylor@sky.net
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Nov 95 19:49 MST From: philco@micron.net (Phil Corless) Subject: T-Shirt Update An update on the Chalkhills t-shirt.... As of Friday, Nov. 24, I have received checks from: Beckham, Peters, Wheeler, Brenner, Williams, Sattler, Relph, Barton, Risch, Allen, Thierer, Jordan, Haefner, Scott, Glass, Auerbach, Woiccak, Rhoten, Martis, Thomas, Martucci, Day, Snyder, Reyes, O'Leary, Vongkasemsiri, Hastings, Tomek, Sinclair, Isaacson and Zemel. If your name isn't listed there and you have sent me a check or money order, please let me know. I'm still waiting on the overseas mail.... Most of it will probably get to me next week. Hopefully I'll get the shirts ordered by the first week in December..... It'll be tight, but maybe I can get the shirts to you in time for Christmas! *-------------------------------- Phil Corless Boise, Idaho philco@micron.net *-------------------------------- http://www.lookup.com/Homepages/53541/home.html
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Nov 95 10:43:10 EST From: Peter Ermey <ST002436@BROWNVM.brown.edu> Subject: Andy Sings For the last time, Andy sings Collideascope. Don't let it throw you. He just puts a real strain and sneer into the vocals. The real question is who is doing vocals on their cover of "Ella Guru"? I've always figured it was Andy just 'cos the whole thing sort of sounds like Andy messing around. He loses a little bit of the unpredictable nature of the groove but the vocals are master forgery. I thought that lady's query about using intervals to get at the heart of XTC's music sounded sort of pagan. Is she saying that Andy's deepest intentions will be revealed through a number crunching or that the music is interesting because the melodies dictate the chord progressions? I hope it's the latter. TINKLETUM, TANKLETUM Peter
------------------------------ From: Algae99@aol.com Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 22:48:38 -0500 Subject: pink things If I ever engaged in debate over the merits of "Pink Thing", I would simply state that I thought it was a song Andy wrote about his young child. I would also take mock offense that anyone could ever think someone would write such a descriptive song about peni, or Onanism-outside of GG Allin. (Spit in my eye? I love you for it??) I try to read that song in such a manner, that being fatherly fascination, because I lose respect for Mr. Partridge when I think he is singing to John Thomas. Of course, I have never engaged in such a debate. Certainly more interesting than "Dear God", however, if we did. Is anybody with me? Good producer for XTC- Adrian Belew. He has worked with any number of brilliant artists, too numerous to mention, as well as being a brilliant artist/producer himself. "Mr. Music Head" is a good example. I see "Sgt. Rock" as humor, "Cockpit" as satire, and "My Weapon" as a good dance song. I am glad I confused somebody. Now if I could only not confuse myself so much... James
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 21:58:35 -0800
From: rimshot3@ix.netcom.com (ERIC ROSEN )
Subject: Re: The twain where XTC & the Beatles meet
Thank you to all who corrected me about Nick Lowe having written "What's so
Funny..." It was brain glitch at this end. Won't happen again :) "I
should've known better" being that I saw him open for EC "all those years
ago."
The twain where XTC and the Beatles meet:
>From: M Wilson <mw25@unix.york.ac.uk>
>
>> From: Danny <100637.2212@compuserve.com>
>> Subject: Collideascope
>>
>> Surely Collideascope is Andy imitating John Lennon. Check out the nasal
>> Liverpudlian accent.
>
>I think it's a pastiche of `I'm Only Sleeping' off the BTL's
>`Revolver' LP. Certainly the best John Lennon impression I've heard.
If anything is a pastiche of "I'm Only Sleeping" I'd say it's "Shiny Cage."
Collideascope is clearly Andy doing a superb JL but no specific tune comes
to mind. Every time I hear him say "Wakey, wakey, little sleep" [sic?]:
i. I feel as if I'm about to discover the tune that inspired it-- but
then it slips away.
ii. that it really is JL!!
>From: XDEVANS@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU
>
>Speaking of the Beatles, which we weren't, really, I heard "Free as a
>Bird" today on the radio. I'd like to see something like "The Good
>Things" get that kind of publicity (it's coming after a long absence,
>after all, and is something of a better song), but who am I fooling.
Perhaps there will someday be an XTC Anthology (probably would take an
act of G-d ;)
>From: BugRoom@aol.com
>Subject: Oops, said the 7-letter word. Only twice. Sorry.
>
>---> "Anyone but Jeff Lynne! I was very disappointed to hear
>he produced the new B****es' material!" <---
Me too. Everything he touches somehow "turns to ELO." Once I get past
that, I find it to be a worthy tune.
>Did he really? I heard "Free Like A Bird" on the radio. I
>thought it had that "Travelling Willbury" sound (whom I don't
>really mind). What really cheeses me off about all this is that
>it's an OLD John Lennon DEMO. NOT a new Beatles song!! All
>doctor-ed up with added "stuff". I don't mind, very much, that
>this happened... I just get weary of DJ's treating this like it's
>supposed to be the 'new Beatles single'. They all get down on
>it because it's not the next "Hey Jude". Whaddaya expect? I
>personally think the whole thing is SILLY. Very embarrassing.
It's still a whole lot better than the 3 of them going around calling
themselves the Beatles (like Skynyrd, Floyd, etc.). JL demos are
really the only way they could "reunite." I think it was done out of
genuine sentiments and ultimately redeems itself. It's unrealistic to
expect something that will knock our socks off for the same reason they
refused to reunite in the '70's -- expectations will always exceed
reality. Getting JL's voice in there could only be done with his demos
and no one's trying to keep that a secret so I think we all know the
notion of "new" is euphemistic.
Having watched the three broadcasts, I must say it is a towering visual
achievement. The editing, compositing, restoration and colorization is
extremely tasteful. It does justice to what they must have had in mind
at the time but lacked the technology to implement.
As a documentary it set a very specific objective -- to say what it was
like to be who they were at the time. To get the last word out of the
horses' mouths so to speak. It achieved that in spades. If you're
looking for more wide ranging discussions like politics, religion,
sociology etc., it crops up now and then but this wasn't meant to be a
treatise on things outside their expertise.
When one thinks about how they were monumentally ripped off by EMI
(sound familiar?), screwed by Michael Jackson, etc., who could blame
them for doing what they have done? BTW, IMHO, the news of Jackson
selling the rights to their songs for $80,000,000 (double what he paid
for it a decade or so ago) gets me thinking that maybe SONY (the
purchasers, who also pay his "salary" of 1 Billion dollars) "made him
an offer he couldn't refuse" in response to his "indiscretions." This
would imply that they're worth a good deal more. Just a thought.
I realize this is a tangent for which I humbly apologize, but I think
this needed to be said because there are real parallels with XTC here.
In ten years they will be the same age as the Beatles are now. I, for
one, would like to see a documentary done on XTC that is as good as the
Beatles Anthology. The technology is already getting easier to use and
cheaper to acquire. I work with a firm that sells non-linear digital
video editing systems so I have some idea of what I'm talking about. I
imagine the biggest problem would be legal i.e. rights to material
(video and sound) especially in the current environment.
XTC may not have had the sales and popularity to allow for the "effect
on society" angle but the Chalkhills & Children book would be just the
start of what could be covered. AP says he's not big on video but many
XTC videos are tastefully done (I especially like "All of a Sudden").
As a matter of fact XTC lyrics are usually so visual that videos are
nearly superfluous!! I would love to see them with the flexibility
that feature length video/film would afford. If nothing more than "Let
it Be" sessions of them making a new record, not just a song, as was
done with Towers of London.
>Oops... is this the XTC list? (ha). Let me try to tie this in here.
>Okay... got it. My ultimate TD request would be for John
>Lennon to do "Books Are Burning". It already sounds like a JL
>song. Guess that one can't be done.
Couldn't agree more plus it has all the frightful qualities that "1984"
had on first reading.
To the individual who thought the intro of "Disque Bleu" sounds like
the Beatles' "In My Life," I think "And I Love Her" is closer.
**************
And in the end,
the love you rake
is equal to the love...
you bake.
**************
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 11:42:06 +0500 (EST) From: Slackman <tgs@telerama.lm.com> Subject: Squeaky Cycle Danny writes: >>...there's one tiny little detail on Skylarking >>which has always bugged me, and that is the curious >>high-pitched tinkling sound at the start of the >>middle section. It's on both my vinyl and CD copies. >> >>Funnily enough it happens over the words "I really >>get confused on who would make all this". A sign?? >>An act of God?? Nah, probably just a studio >>glitch that got missed or couldn't be fixed. Still, >>funny to find a flaw like that on what is one of XTC's >>most smoothly-produced albums. I've been dissecting this song piece by piece, as I am doing a version for the "Skylacking" tribute, and I find this very curious, as well. When I first heard it, I thought my portable phone was ringing! Upon closer listening, I think it's high pitched feedback from a guitar. As to why it was left in, I have no idea - it's incredibly annoying. I doubt it was something that couldn't be removed - I would be very surprised if it wasn't on its own little track that could have been edited. It certainly couldn't have gone unnoticed - I don't think Tod was *that* stoned! TS "There are two types of people in the world - those who think there are two types of people, and those who don't."
------------------------------ From: DougMash@aol.com Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 12:58:53 -0500 Subject: Andy/Colin Photo Available I had a photo I took of Andy & Colin scanned in in .JPG format. If anyone is interested in getting a copy, E-Mail me (DougMash@aol.com). It is from a record (O&L) signing June 1989 at Record World in Garden City, NY (a stop on the acoustic tour). The guy in the background is some long-forgotten local DJ. I need help with one other thing. Are there any (US Please) Chalkhillians with access to a good scanner? I have self-portraits drawn on 8 1/2" x 11" paper by Andy & Dave (& also several other '80s popsters!) that I'd like scanned in. If anyone wants to volunteer, I'll mail you a clean copy to scan. E-Mail me the file & I'll distribute. I'll let everyone know when they're available, so don't bother me for a copy yet! Cheers!, Doug
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 13:41:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Natalie Jane Jacobs <gnat@umich.edu>
Subject: Tone painting and other esoterica
I was interested by the remarks on "tone painting" - the use of musical
devices to suggest what's going on in the lyrics. I'm a big fan of
Schubert songs and, of course, he does this all the time: actually, he
probably invented it, the devious little man. Most of of the examples
that spring to mind, though, are actually ongoing evocative motifs and
not "tone painting" per se, like the dissonant barrel-organ drone in "Der
Leiermann" (the most depressing song ever written).
One XTC thing I've been noticing is in "Rocket from a Bottle," one of my
favorite songs. There's the explosive upward-rising guitar solo in the
middle, as well as the way Andy extends the end of each line to go up
like, well... a rocket ("I feel strong like the tide toda-a-a-a-AY!").
Neat. And hey - I've just compared Andy Partridge and Schubert. How's
that for a Sunday afternoon?
And in the esoterica department, there's a nifty free magazine emanating
>from the Detroit area called ORBIT. Their notoriously pseudo-hip and
sharp-tongued record reviewers had this to say about TD:
"Well, it's about time. Back in their day, these guys were the chart
hot-shots that had the brass cheek to record songs that, although lacking
in the commercial aspects, still retained enough spunk to obtain the
public's friendship. This great collection carries eleven of their best
sung by a plethora of today's musical genre [sic], including cuts from
Freedy Johnston, They Might Be Giants, and The Verve Pipe. But the real
gems to be found here are the Rembrandts with "Making Plans for Nigel,"
Joe Jackson on "Statue of Liberty," and the truly breathtaking
interpretation of "Dear God" from Sarah MacLachlan."
What do you think, sirs?
Natalie Jacobs
**************
"Gods by the bushel! Gods by the pound!"
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 13:59:09 -0800 From: Michael Travis <JSMDT@acad1.alaska.edu> Subject: A Clarification (Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father) In the last edition of Chalkhills, I wrote: > Algae99@aol.com wrote: > > Did the 3 Wise Men do a track on "Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father"? I > > have only seen it once about 800 years ago, but at the time I was > > not memorizing artists. Someone told me that they did have a > > track on it. > > Nope. (I have this album.) I wish they had. > > There is a cover of Strawberry Fields Forever by "Colin's Hermits" on > a disc titled _1967: Through the Looking Glass_. and Big Earl Sellar <splitred@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca> wrote: (in response to the same question) > The THREE WIZE MEN do the initial theme and the reprise. > ^^^^ I was thinking that Algae99 was asking about any XTC contribution to this album - playing under the name of the "Three Wise Men" (psuedonym under which the _Thanks For Christmas_ single was released). Without digging it out I knew that there was nothing XTC related on the album, hence my answer. Mr. Sellar is quite right though, that the Three WIZE Men are on it. The album credit lists them as being "courtesy of Rhythm King Records". That, plus no mention of this in the discography seems to confirm that it isn't those stealthy Swindon lads. The recording doesn't sound like them either.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 02:39:52 +0000 From: robt@atlas.co.uk (Robert Telford) Subject: XTC are Feg fan favs! Hi all, I don't know how many of us on Chalkhills also subscribe to Fegmaniax (the Robyn Hitchcock list), but they've been conducting a fairly substantial poll of Fegs' favourite other artists - and XTC came out on top - edging out the Beatles by a few votes. I've quoted the results below. I wonder if Robyn Hitcock would hit No. 1 if we conducted our own poll? Cheerz, Rob ------- begin forwarded message ------- From: ZeroSummer@aol.com Date: Fri, 24 Nov 1995 10:11:01 -0500 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Fave artist poll results Following is the top 20 list of fave artists by points. In parentheses are the number of votes followed by the total points. The scale was 11 for #1 to 2 for #10. After that, listed are the top 21 artists solely by votes received, for anyone who doesn't like the weighted system. There's not much difference between the two lists. Later on, I'll post total alphabetical results. A total of 43 pollees voted for around 230 artists. By the way,the Beatles vs. XTC battle brought some real excitement into my life. It goes without saying, of course, that I need to get out of the house more. P.S. I was sort of cornered into combining both VU and Lou Reed and the Pixies and Frank Black, two pairs I had hoped to keep separate. But so go the whims of the voters. Oh, well. TOP 20 BY POINTS 1. XTC/The Dukes of Stratosphear (13, 112) 2. The Beatles (13, 106) 3. R.E.M. (11, 79) 4. The Church/Steve Kilbey (9, 69) 5. The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed (10, 66) 6. Pixies/Frank Black (8, 64) 7. Elvis Costello (7, 59) 8. The Kinks/Ray Davies (6, 57) 9. They Might Be Giants (7, 51) 10. Bob Dylan (6, 49) 11. Peter Gabriel (7, 44) 12. Neil Young (5, 41) 13. Pink Floyd (7, 40) 14. Frank Zappa (4, 39) 15. Syd Barrett (4, 37) 16. Nirvana (4, 29) 17. Richard Thompson (4, 28) 18. The Who (3, 28) 19. Billy Bragg (3, 26) 20. King Crimson (3, 25) TOP 21 BY VOTES 1. XTC/The Dukes of Stratosphear (13, 112) 2. The Beatles (13, 106) 3. R.E.M. (11, 79) 4. The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed (10, 66) 5. The Church/Steve Kilbey (9, 69) 6. Pixies/Frank Black (8, 64) 7. Elvis Costello (7, 59) 8. They Might Be Giants (7, 51) 9. Peter Gabriel (7, 44) 10. Pink Floyd (7, 40) 11. The Kinks/Ray Davies (6, 57) 12. Bob Dylan (6, 49) 13. Neil Young (5, 41) 14. Frank Zappa (4, 39) 15. Syd Barrett (4, 37) 16. Nirvana (4, 29) 17. Richard Thompson (4, 28) 18. Julian Cope/The Teardrop Explodes (4, 24) 19. Tori Amos (4, 23) 20. Television/Tom Verlaine (4, 22) 21. Throwing Muses (4, 20) Comments, anyone? I personally expected an XTC victory. ------- end forwarded message ------- __________________________________________________________________ Robert Telford robt@atlas.co.uk Tel. +44 (181) 641 9456 __________________________________________________________________
------------------------------ From: DAMIAN FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 09:28:56 GMT Subject: Pink Thing. > him what he had found so offensive & he said it was Pink Thing. Now, I > always thought it was a lighthearted song about sexuality. I've never > discused this song with other XTC fans, so I was wondering if there are XTC > fans who find this song offensive, or if my friend was overreacting. Just >curious. Uh-oh!!!!!!!!!! [ This discussion has happened before! Read your back issues of Chalkhills! See the Web site. -- John ]
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 02:39:45 -1000 From: motherwest@InfoHouse.com (Michael) Subject: Re: God Speak (Self-censorship) >From: DAMIAN FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> >Subject: God speak. > >Okay that's it, the final straw!!!! >...impose a voluntary ban on all God >exists/God doesn't exist type mails. Sorry, but I refuse to have anything to do with censoring this newsgroup. When I encounter a topic I don't find interesting, I simply scroll down the page to the next message. I'm sure there are many radio programmers who have grown tired of encountering challenging music they don't particularly care for. The result is the safe and bland radio formats devoid of our favorite band. Michael Bergman motherwest@infohouse.com http://www.please.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 95 13:24:29 GMT From: jde@intera.co.uk (Jon Eva) Subject: Sunny Jim "Sunny Jim" was a cartoon character used to advertize a breakfast cereal, called "Force", many years ago. (Something like "Over the roofs jumps Sunny Jim, FORCE is the food that nourishes him" - hence AP's line "Sunny Jim couldn't jump it" in 1000 Umbrellas). Nowadays Sunny Jim is used as a slightly patronizing term for a young man, (e.g. Don't get lippy with me Sunny Jim), and is usually followed by a punch in the face. I have feeling of Deja Vu about this question, it's probably one of those that crops up every six months or so, but I can't find it in the FAQs. Jon Eva
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 03:27:55 -1000 From: motherwest@InfoHouse.com (Michael) Subject: Andy's sexism Greetings Chalkhillians, Off the top of my head, I can think of several Partridge lyrics that seem to sing the praises of strong, independent women: Shake You Donkey Up is about a man who treated his love poorly and she told him to get lost. "Isn't it a shame you kicked that girl / Isn't it a shame she kicked you back, jackass." The second verse tells how she was supportive of him, yet he "...still dug (his) spurs in." She refused to be a victim and told him to get lost. Instead of telling the woman to be quiet in Don't Lose Your Temper (as one might assume from the song's title), Andy instead seems to enjoy the fiestyness he encounters. "Don't lose your temper / 'Cos I love you when you're wild." In fact, he is dismayed that an office job and its rules of decorum seem to be draining the energy out of his girlfriend. "Whatever happened to my fighting, biting, lightning lioness." But the most telling line concerning his sentiments: "You musn't change the things that make you what you are." Oddly enough, the third song that came to mind was "Burning With Optimism's Flame," in which Andy encounters a woman who first "...claims she's found a way to make her own light." And then "She says she's burning up all her guilts and shames..." And how does Andy respond to a self-sufficient woman strong enough to create her own happiness? By happily following her example. "Now you see I'm smiling... / I learnt her lesson..." This makes for a happy ending. "Now I'm thinking okay / I'm turning night into day." Michael Bergman motherwest@infohouse.com http://www.please.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 95 09:42:17 EST From: dabl2@nes.nlm.nih.gov (Don Lindbergh) Subject: Re: Seasons Cycle Beep >From: Danny <100637.2212@compuserve.com> >Subject: Act of God / Song Soundalikes .. >....there's one tiny little detail on Skylarking which has always bugged me, >and that is the curious high-pitched tinkling sound at the start of the >middle section. It's on both my vinyl and CD copies. > >Funnily enough it happens over the words "I really get confused on who >would make all this". A sign?? An act of God?? Nah, probably just a studio >glitch that got missed or couldn't be fixed. Still, funny to find a flaw >like that on what is one of XTC's most smoothly-produced albums. This always caught my ear too. I believe it's the sound of a digital watch beep/alarm. The significance appears to be the somewhat incongruous existence of things like digital watches amid all else God (or whoever) created. Sonically/musically it's incongruous to the rest of the sounds in the music. That's my take on it anyway. I bet it was Todd's idea..... --Don DABL dabl2@nes.nlm.nih.gov
------------------------------
From: Ben Gott <BENG@hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us>
Subject: Miscellany
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 95 10:04:00 est
Good to be Bach. Vacation was great. :-)
1. "Down in the Cockpit" is a sexist song (IMHO), but wonderfully so...
2. "Chips from the Chocolate Fireball" is available on CDnow! I ordered
"Psonic Psunspot", but received "Chips" instead. Hmmm. CDnow!'s address is,
simply: http://cdnow.com.
3. I think that the next XTC producers should be David Yasbek and John Relph.
4. I was watching VH-1 during the Thanksgiving weekend, when they had their
"A-Z" countdown. I didn't stay up late enough to see if they showed XTC, but
my friend Bob taped it for me...I'll let you know which videos (if any) they
showed.
Since your hammer struck my heart...
Ben
beng@hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us
Home Page: http://www.lookup.com/Homepages/58596/home.html
XTC SONG OF THE DAY
"The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men"
------------------------------ Date: 27 Nov 1995 10:47:14 -0500 From: "Ken Salaets" <ksalaets@itic.nw.dc.us> Subject: post-weekend musings Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 16:06:50 +0000 Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-33 > From: Danny <100637.2212@compuserve.com> > Subject: Collideascope > > Surely Collideascope is Andy imitating John Lennon. Check out the nasal > Liverpudlian accent. << From: M Wilson <mw25@unix.york.ac.uk> << I think it's a pastiche of `I'm Only Sleeping' off the BTL's << 'Revolver' LP. Certainly the best John Lennon impression I've heard. Check out McCartney's "Let Me Roll It" from Band on the Run (or was it Venus and Mars?). > From: Doug Mitarewski <dmitarew@Direct.CA> > Subject: Ohmagaud -- a 1st time post > [pop sizzle whiz pfft cough snurt chomp spoing, etc.] Say, what is this, Prodigy!?! I feel like we've been thrown back into the xark ages of xigital xialog!
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #2-40 ******************************
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