Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 61
Date: Thursday, 25 January 1996
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 61
Thursday, 25 January 1996
Today's Topics:
Hello Recording Club
Harold Budd
Various comments
Royalties
Lyrics
Who's Harold Budd?
Possible soundtrack work
Shirts and Shoes (for Industry)
Mitch Easter?
E-mail campaign
Blur, no! Jane Siberry, yes!
Another Satellite lyrix
Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-60
Aimee, Dave and Andy
More YAZBEK gigs: NYC & Providence, RI
#2-2x to #2-60 :)
shriekback question
royalties, 95 albums reviews, voices
Song survey
Hooked another one!
Sacrificial Bonfire: The Real Story?
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The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.
There's a beat in his arm still.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: 7IHd <ee92pmh@brunel.ac.uk> Subject: Hello Recording Club Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 12:31:42 +0000 (GMT) I know where there are copies of the '93 Hello Recording Club series, new, sealed, for I think #30 (UK pounds), that's about US$45... if anyone has a spare copy of the '94 set and feels the need to trade for a '93 set, please email me. ttfn, Phil _ |_)|_ *| | | )|| http://http2.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~ee92pmh/ ========
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 06:27:56 -0700 (MST) From: Rushton <rushton@primenet.com> Subject: Harold Budd >From: RCroz75755@aol.com > >I picked up the Andy Partridge/Harold Budd collaboration CD called "Through >The Hill" recently and I was curious as to who Harold Budd is. What has he >done in the past? How did he come to collaborate with AP? I haven't had a >chance to listen to the whole CD except for the first two compositions - very >transient! I've listened to Harold Budd now for about 13 years, when I discovered an album he did with Brian Eno in 1980 called "The Plateaux of Mirror" that is just magnificent. If you like "Through The Hill" I encourage you to see out that and 1984's Eno/Budd collaberation "The Pearl" - both are available on CD. From his most recent release, "She is a Phantom" with chamber group Zeitgeist (not the band that eventually became the Reivers) here is some info: "Harold Budd was born in Los Angeles on May 24, 1936. Graduate degree in music composition from USC in 1966, became an "avant-garde" composer, taught at the California Institute for the Arts from 1970-1976. Selected catalog: 1978 - The Pavilion of Dreams 1980 - The Plateaux of Mirror (with Brian Eno) 1981 - The Serpent (In Quicksilver) 1984 - Abandoned Cities 1984 - The Pearl (with Brian Eno) 1986 - The Moon & The Melodies (with Cocteau Twins) 1986 - Lovely Thunder 1988 - The White Arcades (recorded at Cocteau Twins' studios, some tracks with Brian Eno) 1991 - By The Dawn's Early Light (with Bill Nelson, recorded at Dan Lanois' studio) 1992 - Music for 3 Pianos (Budd, Garcia, Lentz) 1994 - Through the Hill (with Andy Partridge) 1994 - She Is A Phantom (with Zeitgeist) "Budd's career as a composer predates his recorded works by nearly two decades. A principal figure in the California avant-garde of the sixties, his minimalist works involved percetion and tolerance, including "The Candy-Apple Revision", and unspecifieed D-flat major chord, and "Lirio", a 24-hour marathon for solo gong. "In 1972 Budd forsook the avant-garde with "Madrigals of the Rose Angel", a work written for a topless chorus of female singers, harp, percussion, celesta and lights. This controversial work and others moved toward an all-encompassing language based on prettiness and surface decoration. Collaberations with Marion Brown and Brian Eno ensued. "By the early Eighties Budd had discovered recording as a potent means of publishing his work, and he began to use the recording studio as an instrument in his compositions, not merely as a facility for documenting them. His seven recordings from the decade include two self-produced works on his own Cantil label. "For the future he envisions a work called "1000 Chords" of free-floating sonic colors scored for a large instrumental and vocal ensemble that simply drift because they are wonderful. Perhaps this recalls his 30 year love for the disembodies hues of Rothko, or, more likely, his even older love for seemingly endless, vibrantly colored, emotionally charged vistas of his native desert." - David Snow, July 1991 Hope that helps! Cheers, Mark Rushton, author of the: Bill Nelson WWW site: http://www.primenet.com:80/~rushton/nelson.html
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 15:33:18 -0500 (EST) From: Natalie Jane Jacobs <gnat@umich.edu> Subject: Various comments So I finally got to listen to those Blur youngsters that everyone's talking about, courtesy of one of those "listening posts" in Borders. I only listened to "Country House," and realized - by God, they *do* sound like a "second-rate XTC"! Similar witty lyrics, similar influences, similar intelligence - just not quite as good as the real thing. Still, a second-rate XTC is better than a lot of stuff out there... Damon Albarn is pretty cute, too. Trivia Dept.: I was reading a book on everyday life in 19th-c. England and discovered the original meaning of "rag and bone" (as in "...shop" or "...man"). The phrase doesn't refer to rubbish. The rags were used for paper and the bones for fertilizer - hence, a rag and bone shop is a place where discarded things are made useful, as in Yeats's metaphor for creativity, "the rag and bone shop of the heart." By extension, a "Rag and Bone Buffet" is a place where discarded songs are made into a nifty record. I also discovered in this book that partridge season lasts from September to January, so as of next month, no attacks on Andy will be allowed. Get your best shots in now, folks.... ;) Natalie Jacobs ************** "Now that we have a space station -" "- or FRISBEE -" "- it is at last possible to send a ship -" "- or BATTERIES -" "- all the way around the moon." "- or PLAYGROUND BALL." - MST3K, "Project Moonbase"
------------------------------ From: Jdmack01@aol.com Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 18:12:40 -0500 Subject: Royalties >>From: ZITTEL@aol.com >>in the booklet (great packaging!) is that they say it costs them .066 cents >>per unit to include this cover song on the CD. Does anyone know if this is >>the standard amount an artist gets if his song is covered? >Can this be right? I mean if they sell 10,000 copies of this record does >Andy really only get $6.60? This seems awfully low... -Tobin No, the first paragraph is worded wrong. The statutory rate for a mechanical license is 6.6 cents (or .066 dollars). Therefore, 10,000 copies of the record would net Andy $660. And if the album sells a million copies, Andy would get $66,000! And that's just for album sales. If the song is released as a single, add some more 6.6 cents to the pile. Plus, Andy would make a few cents every time the song got played on the radio anywhere. When you start adding up the revenue one hit song can make, it's no wonder so many would-be songwriters sell all their possessions and move to Nashville each year. Incidentally, the statutory rate in the U.S. has gone up to 6.9 cents for 1996.
------------------------------ From: Jdmack01@aol.com Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 18:13:11 -0500 Subject: Lyrics In "Rip Van Ruben," Andy sings "Dream your Frank L. Richards and this is the great land of Oz." Did he mean Frank L. Baum, the author of the Oz books? Or, who is Frank L. Richards? I may have asked this before, but I got no answer, so here goes. Near the end of the live "Set Myself On Fire" from the "Towers of London" twin pack, Andy and Colin are chanting some phrase over and over again that I simply cannot make out. Does anyone know what it is? Oh, and "The caves of memories" is from "Mermaid Smiled.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 19:57:01 -0500 From: Ted Harms <tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: Who's Harold Budd? Harold Budd is an ambient pianist. He's recorded numerous albums (sorry, no discography on hand) but the one that seems to be his most noted is 'Black Pearl'. He has had ties to Brian 'Mr. Ambient' Eno; not sure if this purely from a production standpoint (as the recording 'Beutiful Thunder' was) or if they collaborated on some pieces. Most of his stuff is out of print or released on obscure European labels. When I was digging around for his stuff (after I bought 'Through The Hill') I usually found 1 or 2 of his recordings but only in the larger music stores. I was quite surprised that AP and Budd collaborated. Can anybody relate how they came across each other or who initiated the project? Ted Harms Library, Univ. of Waterloo tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca 519.888.4567 x3761 "I guess what I'm really looking for is a desert island. But one with room service." G. Gould
------------------------------ From: ZITTEL@aol.com Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 01:03:27 -0500 Subject: Possible soundtrack work Sources have told me that Andy Partridge has been asked to contribute a song for a soundtrack to a Tom Hanks movie (I am not sure of the title of the film). Andy was asked to submit a song that sounds like it was recorded in 1964. Word is that Andy has re-recorded 'My Train Is Coming' to sound 1964-ish. I'll let you know if I hear any other details.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 23:57:17 -0800
From: relph (John Relph)
Subject: Shirts and Shoes (for Industry)
Greetings and Salutations,
After a week of being laid up in bed with a nasty flu I received a
lovely package in the post today. It contained, yes, the
Chalkhills T-shirt!
Phil, you did an excellent job! Yes, it's a great shirt. (And Phil
wrote a note: "You get the first shirt... after all, it's your list!")
Other news: yesterday I received a message from the folks at The
McKinley Group, creators of Magellan, an Internet directory. They
awarded the Chalkhills Web site a "4-Star" rating, their highest!
Look for the Magellan logo on the Chalkhills Web site! (Of course,
they had the URL wrong and my e-mail address as well, so you can't get
here from there, but no matter.)
Speaking of the Chalkhills Web site: an English translation of two
essays which appear as introductory material in _XTC: Testi con
traduzione a fronte_ is now available in the Chalkhills Archives (look
in the "articles" section). The book contains XTC lyrics translated
into Italian. The translator (who shall remain nameless but whose
initials are "J.J.") prefaces his translation with the following
remarks:
There are a large number of direct quotes in the essays
(mostly from AP) which have been taken from English to Italian
and back to English again, so if they appear a bit odd, that's
why. There's an aphorism in Italy, "tradurre, tradire," which
means 'to translate is to betray" and I'm sure that I've
betrayed the original text in many instances; even so it
should give Chalkhillians who don't read Italian an idea of
what is in the essays.
Good stuff, Maynard! John Bob sez, "Check it out!"
My sister, currently a resident of Dallas, Texas, wrote me to say that
Chalkhills also got a mention in their local independent paper. In the
Jaunary 3, 1996, issue of _theMet_, Thomas W. Smith wrote in to the _Ask
the Guru_ column to ask "What's up with XTC?" The answer takes up almost
half a page, the final paragraph reads:
The true completist might want to read the (reportedly
well-written) band biography, _Chalkhills and Children_,
or check out one of the band's better home-pages-mailing
lists, which can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://reality.sgi.com/employees/relph/chalkhills/.
Good luck.
The remainder of the column tells us tuned-in Chalkhillers nothing we
didn't already know...!
And now to our regularly scheduled mailbag...
"John M. Chamberlain" <JC7704A@american.edu> asks:
>
>got any info/opinions on P. Hux? Or am I too late for that discussion? jc
The P. Hux album _Deluxe_ is excellent! The P. Hux version of "Another
Satellite" on _A Testimonial Dinner_ should give an idea of the sound of
the _Deluxe_ album. Note also that _Audities: The Journal of Insanely
Great Pop_ ranked _Deluxe_ as their 1995 Album Of The Year!
On a vaguely related front, _Audities_ ranked _Sing Hollies in Reverse_,
a tribute to The Hollies, as their seventh ranked album of 1995. There's
some great power pop on this tribute. My fave track (which I just cannot
get out of my head) is Jon Brion's headphone spectacular cover of "Sorry
Suzanne". Amazing studio work, great guitaring and singing. Jon Brion
was in The Grays for their album _Ro Sham Bo_, which got some mention in
Chalkhills, and also produced Aimee Mann's album _Whatever_, in support
of which Dave Gregory toured as guitarer and keyboarder. Note that XTC
recorded their own sly tribute to The Hollies: "Vanishing Girl" from
_Psonic Psunspot_.
Laura Parent <laura@geosun1.sjsu.edu> asks:
>
>1) I've been suprised to see so many references to Jellyfish on this
>list. I had thought they were only known to us Bay Area folks. It's nice
>to know others out there appreciated them too. Does anyone know what Andy
>Sturmer is up to these days? And can anyone fill me in on why they
>weren't a huge success? And why Bush IS a huge success?
I can't answer the last question, but I can answer the first. According
to the Jellyfish home page, Andy Sturmer is working on a solo project.
Jellyfish has broken up, in case you did not know. (The ever-present Jon
Brion played guitar on their last album _Spilt Milk_.)
Melissa Reaves <MREAVES@KENTVM.KENT.EDU> asks:
>
>Andy is listed on a couple of Thomas Dolby things (I remember Urges from 1981)
>on, and I quote, "drums ('stick')"
>
>What I'm wondering is whether he is actually on the drums or the Chapman
>stick? "Stick" is just a funny way to refer to drums.
Yes, it is. In fact, Andy is credited with "stick", which I believe
refers to drums, drum machine, and/or other percussion. Definitely not
the Chapman Stick(tm).
Ewalther@eworld.com asks:
>
>Does anyone else hear the stirrings of XTC in Camper Van Beethoven? While
>there's no comparison in the vocals, something about the arrangements
>reminds me a lot of our boys. It must be the 'jangle' factor.
I don't know, but I do know that your humble moderator (I mean me) likes
both XTC and Camper Van Beethoven.
John M. Chamberlain The Prolific <JC7704A@american.edu> writes:
>
> RESULTS OF THE "RANK THE ALBUMS" SURVEY
John, excellent analysis and writeup! I hereby hire you to do the next
Chalkhills Survey (but it has to have more than one question).
-- John
--
Eat recycled food! It's good for the environment and okay for you.
------------------------------ Subject: Mitch Easter? From: wwilson@mail07.mitre.org (Wesley H. Wilson) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 12:31:48 -0500 I think someone else suggested Mitch Easter as producer of the next XTC album. It will never happen, but it might make for an interesting record! I was just listening to "Monster." Anyone want to dub me a cassette copy of "The High" album (they made only one album) for XTC stuff that I have? I really like "Box Set Go" and want to hear the rest of the album! But it's out of print! E-mail me... Wes
------------------------------
From: Ben Gott <BENG@hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us>
Subject: E-mail campaign
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 13:09:00 est
I think it's time that we found out some more information about the
"contract", and where things stand at this point...
VIRGIN RECORDS UK: raft@vmg.co.uk
GEFFEN RECORDS: emax@sas.upenn.edu (college representative)
EMI: hinzman@inx.net
Happy e-mailing!
Ben
http://www.lookup.com/Homepages/58596/home.html
XTC SONG OF THE DAY: Car Out of Control ("Look out!")
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 15:00:35 -0500 (EST) From: "Tom X. Chao" <tqc8542@is.nyu.edu> Subject: Blur, no! Jane Siberry, yes! (One should never go away for a month and then try to read all of the accumulated Chalkhills at once.) Here's my top ten list for 1995: Jane Siberry, _Maria_ (reprise) Whoops! I guess I forgot to hear a bunch of other 1995 releases to fill out this list. But I implore all XTC fans to trade their Blur discs for any or all of Jane Siberry's catalogue. (I recently had a chance to hear "There's No Other Way" and "She's So High" by Blur again after a year or so and couldn't remember why I liked these songs at one time.) For solid, well-crafted music that's intelligent and embraces ethereality without plunging into cloying treacle like (you know who), Jane still thrashes the emaciated, quasi-mystical behinds of her imitators. I recommend all of Jane's discs (about 8 now) but do not start with _Bound By The Beauty_ or even the more-commercially successful _When I Was A Boy_ which does feature some production work from Eno. In fact, just get _The Walking_ (1989), come to think of it. PRODUCERS: Most of the suggestions have been more than acceptable: Eno, Costello, Belew, etc. The Elfman/Bartek mention was inspired. I just had a flash that perhaps a pair of studio geniuses could really muck up the XTC noise and create sonic chaos--yes, Becker & Fagen. Imagine the possibilities! Flame me about your love for Blur and hatred of Jane! Tom X. Chao Author, "Your Chalkhills Entrance Exam (compulsory)"
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 17:53:07 CST
From: "Bernhardt, Todd" <tbernhardt@aga.com>
Subject: Another Satellite lyrix
>From: James Poulakos <engjcp@gsusgi2.gsu.edu>
>Paul Strange is off the mark when he interprets this song as dealing with
>"the passing of years." It is clearly a complaint to an unwanted lover, a
>person who just will not go away. The singing persona is saying, look, I
>am happy the way I am and I do not have room for you in my life. Go away,
>please.
Personally, I always thought that song was a complaint to the fans who show
up at Andy's doorstep wanting to sleep on his living room floor, a
phenomenon he complained about in The Little Express around that time.
(At least when I made MY pilgrimage to Swindon, I had the good grace
not to seek him out -- and the bad luck not to know where he was! :^)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 22:58:43 -0600 From: shonniet@interaccess.com (LaShawn M. Taylor) Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-60 Hello all! School's started, I got a raise at work, and I found two XTC lps at my favorite CD stores. And... a few weeks ago, our radio station decided for their Friday Feature to do the songs of John Melloncamp and XTC all day, every hour on the hour! I have to say I'm starting 1996 cautiously burning with optimism's flame. . . >From: DAMIAN FOULGER <SPXDLF@cardiff.ac.uk> >Subject: Terry and the Lovemen >Do people think that this is Colin and/or other members of XTC, or are some >people from Swindon doing an excellent impersonation of Colin? Yes, Damian, that is definately Colin hiding behind the Terry mask quite well, I must say. The question I'm stumped on is if it's only Colin or are Messrs. Partridge and Gregory hiding behind the masks as well? Most of the background vocals sound like Colin, yet the second singing of the line "The goooood things. . ." has a definate tremulous Andyness to it. Anyone got any ideas? And speaking of TD, has this CD grown on anyone else ever since they've brought it? I've been listening to it a lot more this month and most of my opinions when I'd first bought it has changed, particularly Another Satellite and Dear God. Can't get either of those songs out my head. Ah well. I suppose that's a good thing. >From: Sowsij@aol.com >Subject: Everything >1. Does anyone else who has heard the demo recording of Andy's song >"Everything" think it's the saddest and most beautiful song XTC has never >put out? I think it's the most beautifullest love song Andy's ever did (while One of the Millions continues to be my most favorite beautifullest Colin's song, though The Good Things is rapidly closing in). I can't really list my top '95 songs, because well, I didn't buy that many CDs. Have to wait until the end of this year. LaShawn M. Taylor *-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, my head is spinning like the world | shonniet@flowbee.interaccess.com at the kind of beasts I've seen | Watch for my brand spanking new Let me put my bag down and I'll tell | home page coming soon to an URL about it from the start. . .xTc | near you (knuckle down!!) *--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jan 96 11:50:24 EST From: Peter <ST002436@BROWNVM.brown.edu> Subject: Aimee, Dave and Andy In a recent interview in the local newspaper Aimee Mann briefly discussed her tour with Dave Gregory and Andy's appearance on stage with her. Apparently she and Dave were romantically involved at the time of the tour and she had Andy on to play tambourine while she sang Collideascope. During the course of the song she encouraged Andy to come sing and he wound up belting it out much louder than she could have. And for the record, Aimee is apparently dating Michael Penn now.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 22:51:18 -0500 From: nmcgrath@world.std.com (Nancy McGrath) Subject: More YAZBEK gigs: NYC & Providence, RI Well, I've seen David Yazbek twice now, both times in spite of seriously ugly winter weather. He just keeps getting better. For those of you in NYC who still haven't caught him, you have another chance: Yazbek will be at the Mercury Lounge on Wednesday, February 7 (212/260-4700). Southeastern New Englanders can also see him -- at the Met Cafe (401/861-2142) on Friday, February 2. C'mon, Providence people, especially you Brown folk -- come out and support a guy from your university! And have a blast at the same time. Nancy McGrath nmcgrath@world.std.com
------------------------------ From: box@nemesis.com.au Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 00:34:12 -0500 Subject: #2-2x to #2-60 :) I hope this gets through, I'm still not sure how well the email works on this new server... Ahh, it's good to be back. I [Vzzzbx@wilbur.blah.blah.au] have since switched accounts, hence the different email address. :) I haven't made a contribution in about two or three months. However, I have read every line of every Chalkhills Digest, and I'm finally up to date. Here goes, please bear with me... my cuppeth runneth overeth... First things first. I [finally!] got hold of a copy of 'Chips...' over christmas. Incredibly impressive material, especially Brainiac's Daughter, which is possibly the most beautiful pop tune I've heard in many years. Shame they're both on the one CD though, Psunspot is definitely another XTC album; 25 O'Clock isn't. IMHO of course. During my lengthy hiatus I managed to convert no less than THREE!! people to XTC. One heard Smokeless Zone _really_ loud in my car and started buying albums, and now his girlfriend likes them as well. Another friend heard Dear God in the car and wanted to me play it again and again. My good deed for 1995. I've been hunting second hand record shops for old XTC vinyl, and I found the original Grass single [with Dear God on the flipside], and the Australian green vinyl release of the Generals And Majors single with the Australian tour dates in the sleeve. Lovely. I enjoyed reading the Nonsuch debate, and choose to vote for the affirmative party [if there is one]. Nonsuch is a rare gem, and it has some sentimental value to me, being my first XTC album. I listened to it last week for the first time in about 12 months and was overwhelmed by its magic and beauty. Oh, and I also adore O&L. And every other album they've ever done. Oh well... I think the reason O&L and Nonsuch are such big departures from their old sound is due to Andy's kids. O&L was written for Holly [so I've heard], and Nonsuch could well be an extension of that mood. Oh, and regarding the 'should XTC quit?' thread. I think they should go for as long as they're happy. If you don't like the material, you don't have to listen to it. Judging by the equally positive and negative response to Nonsuch, I'd say it's well worth hearing any subsequent efforts. Who knows, maybe they'll pioneer another unique sound... Oh, and regarding the 'why aren't XTC commercially popular?' thread. If they _did_ become as big as, say, Blur, they'd be dragged down as quickly as they were built up. The record company wouldn't want them hanging around, Colin's tunes and lyrics would be even less confident, and the music business in general would write them off as old hat. And they might even split up under the stress from the record company and legions of fans expecting something better. This is how I see it, and so I'm much happier with them as they are -- a quality pop band with a loyal cult following and huge respect within the industry. I don't remember who it was that mentioned Andy's grumpiness and Colin's apparent maudlin [probably lots of people], but I can't help thinking XTC isn't an appropriate name for them anymore. Maybe Colin Maudlin's Hermits? [I didn't mean that, really...] Finally, thanks to John Chamberlain for your survey -- what you concluded from such a small sample knocked me senseless. I'm a psych student so I know how hard it is to gain a coherent set of results from such a small sample group. Brilliant! :) I'm sure I had more to say, but you'll all be sick of me now. Awaiting #2-61 with baited breath... Adam [STILL can't find Testimonial Dinner in Australia]
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 15:02:44 +0700 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: shriekback question Not-so-much-XTC-as-Shriekback question: since Barry Andrews was part of Robert Fripp's band the League of Gentlemen at the same time as Sara Lee, am I right in thinking that he probably met Dave Allen via Sara around this time (1981)? Or was this fateful meeting unrelated to the League of Gentlemen? James
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 17:48:07 +0100 (MET)
From: markus gruber <h9150394@obelix.wu-wien.ac.at>
Subject: royalties, 95 albums reviews, voices
Hello, fellow Chalkhillwomen and -men!
This is Klaus Bergmaier from the heart of Europe (Austria) again!
I didn't participate for a while, therefore there are a few things of
minor interest for you, but as there are three things (the good things),
I'd like to briefly sumarize (spelt correctly), shall we?
1. Someone figured out that Mr. Partridge gets 6.60$ as royalties for
10.000 sold albums with one of his songs covered. If there are really
0.066US$ to pay per album (it would be much more in Austria - about
0.1$or even more), then there's no 6.60$ for the composer, because the
publisher takes 50% off; 3.30$ left for AP, and also the composers and
authors union requests a few per cent for their work (in Austria 15%); so
what's left for the songwriter is about 3 bucks, in case the 0.066$-thing
is correct.
2. In all your highly amusing and interesting 1995 album reviews all of
you forgot k.d.lang's "All You Can Eat". This album is one of the best
productions I've ever heard (give and take the songwriting). I do like
this album not only because I adore those "All you can eat"-salad bars
and buffets from the US (there's nothing like it in Europe, not even a
free refill), but becaus of it's innovative sound and mix, although IMHO
this album is much to short (not even 40 minutes).
3. I think it was me, who - some weeks ago - stopped all the bruhaha
about 'who sing which song' by shouting (not just saying), that the
composer is always the singer. Well, two nights ago I listedened to the
Chips from the Chocolate Fireball Anthology by the Dukes of Stratosphear
and the result is:
.......i'm not quite sure anymore.........
.......i feel deeply ashamed..............
.......please forgive me, everyone i shouted at.....
.......please help me by saying something...........
Please tell me, anyone who knows for sure, who sings what on the 25
o'clock album tracks 1, 2 and 6?
That's it from Austria, I do feel so small now
Klaus
------------------------------ From: box@nemesis.com.au Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 12:38:16 -0500 Subject: Song survey I hope John Chamberlain dosen't mind me doing this... :) As I'm currently completing a Psychology degree, and I have a statistics exam next week, I thought it might be prudent to collect some raw statistics and interpret them. So... What I thought I'd do is a survey of XTC's studio songs. If everyone sends me their favourite ten songs I can [hopefully] collate them into an overall ranking. If some interesting patterns emerge [or if I have time], I'll also dip into trends and biases. So, there you have it. Okay, just send 'em in whenever you're ready. I might as well make the deadline an arbitrary date, say... the 5th of February. Oh, and thanks to John C. and Mark Fisher for the idea. :) Adam <box@nemesis.com.au> [ Please make sure to send your votes to <box@nemesis.com.au> Do not send them to the list. Thanks. -- John ]
------------------------------ From: Ewalther@eworld.com Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 10:52:37 -0800 Subject: Hooked another one! Gave my old ES vinyl to a friend after getting the CD (it's the textured cover with all liner notes - she doesn't know what she's got!) to try to make a convert & it 's working! At first the response was 'I have to be in the mood for this stuff'. This evolved into 'The words are hard to read but worth it'. Now it's 'What do I get next?'. Missionary work has its rewards....
------------------------------ From: GROOVE25@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Date: Thu, 25 Jan 96 16:07:15 CST Subject: Sacrificial Bonfire: The Real Story? Can someone out there verify a rumour that "Sacrificial Bonfire" (off of *Skylarking*) was orinally written in reference to a wild party at Colin's house? Rumour tells it that the line "...the clothes that were draped/Was all that told man from ape" is actually a thinly veiled swipe at Mr. Andy Partridge who got VERY drunk and (by night's end) very naked as well. Interestingly, some not entirely incompatible theories have it that the song is actually an extended allusion to XTC's (1980?) reformulation, and that the "scapegoat blood spilled" was literally that of former keyboardist Barry Andrews who, shortly after announcing his intended departure, was ritually slaughtered by the band so that its newest member or "child" (i.e. Dave Gregory) could "grow fat" on his "meat". Any thoughts on this?
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #2-61 ******************************
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