Chalkhills Digest Volume 3, Issue 56
Date: Friday, 13 December 1996
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 3, Number 56
Friday, 13 December 1996
Today's Topics:
Re: slade
various lyrics
Some mo' misheard lyrics
We'll take a tumble, excuse for a fumble
100% XTC
Rememories, Mummerings
Re: My First Time
The proverbial mixed bag ...
RE: dem demos
Classic rock will never die!
AP's Birthday?
An Anal Look at the Best Records of 1996
Beautiful South smashing pubs to XTC
Early BBC sessions
Excuse me while I kiss this guy
Duffy, XTC look alike
Re: XTC News Alert System Needed
The Just Say Noel Compilation, XTC As Power Pop
Re: Street cred
Re: Hitch bitch
XTC Holiday Song Set
Pot vs. Alc pt. 1
OFF TOPIC! roy wood
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Grab a woman beneath the mistletoe.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 15:17:36 +1300 (NZDT) Message-Id: <v01540b02aed5d1a9c496@[139.80.228.170]> From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: slade >>...One Hit Wonders (of which John and I had a great time >>recounting in the car back from New Haven...which reminds me: did you use >>Scandal's "Goodbye To You" or "The Warrior" for your mix tape?) in this >>world. Remember Slade? > >yes - they had quite a number of hits, too... not just one. About ten top >ten songs if I remember rightly. Sort of like hippies trying to do a parody >of AC/DC, and succeeding. just for the halibut I looked it up - Slade had 6 UK number one hits, and a further 10 top ten hits. In all they had 31 charting singles totalling 269 weeks - fractionally longer than the Who, ELO, the Beach Boys or the Kinks. They also hold a record in that their song 'Merry Christmas Everybody' reached the top 100 in December 1973, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986! One hit wonders? I'd say they... erm... why am I typing this? I think I'll shut up now. James
------------------------------ From: Stephen Larson <MereBrian@worldnet.att.net> Subject: various lyrics Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 02:30:44 +0000 Message-ID: <19961212023043.AAA14782@zombie.ncsc.mil> I was given the following lyrics that I have reason to believe are from the early '80's, XTC's heyday (take no offense O&L and Nonsvch lovers). I will be very embarrassed if any of these are XTC lyrics but it's always possible. Can anyone name the Artists/Tunes? 1. "And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell And the last thing I see is my heart still beating" 2. ""You're such a dirty louse, go get out of my house" 3. "Did the earth move for you, Nancy?" 4. "Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo crying in the rain" I know you Chalkhillians won't let me down. SJL
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Message-Id: <199612120311.TAA14879@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 07:07:31 -0700
From: hbmus047@email.csun.edu (Ian Dahlberg)
Subject: Some mo' misheard lyrics
Hi thar,
Nothing more than a couple of misheard lyrics that
came to mind...
"Queen wants Picasso, back from the rascal" -Down in the Cockpit
"I live right over Kitschy, Stone, and Book" -Statue of Liberty
(I always thought Andy was describing his New York residence, an
apartment over some law firm or a tasteless garden supply
store.)
Ian
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 22:23:54 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199612120323.WAA10930@cyber1.servtech.com> From: Joshua Hall-Bachner <particle@servtech.com> Subject: We'll take a tumble, excuse for a fumble >Besides which, most of their political songs are somewhat >disguised and not quite as overt as other bands' songs may be. I'm still looking for someone to back this statement up. XTC have a lot of political songs that make no bones about their content, and more than once they've stepped over the line into inanity. If they're less so than most popular political songs, that only goes to show how incredibly horrible most popular music is today. >He seems pretty evil....and Cancer Man from the X-Files... The character himself is American, although the actor who plays him doesn't do all that good a job of concealing his Vancouver accent... > a) Are these all full-length CDs of unreleased ephemera? Yup. (Although, a good chunk of them is unreleased demos of released songs...) > b) Do most people who have the demos have these *particular* CDs, >or their own nth-generation tapes of things? Both. More people seem to have nth gen tapes, either of the demos themselves or of the CDs. Mine are dubs. > c) How exactly did all this unreleased stuff get, er, released? >Have the band assisted in making these demos available in some way? Andy loves to send out tapes full of demos to people he knows, and encourages (or used to encourage) them to pass them around. Unfortunately, the Evil Bootleg Companies started pressing them to CDs, causing Andy to rethink the wide leash he's given to these tracks. > e) Do other people find the amount of this stuff to be as amazing >as I do? Yup. >There seems to be enough stuff here for "XTC Anthologies 1, 2, 3, >4, and 5" to be released in the year 2025. Damn, that would be nice. >Do other bands have this much unreleased material? I don't think so. The thing is, XTC demo basically every single track they ever release, and a lot of others that are never released. Add that to all the studio outtakes and stuff, and you've got a real wealth of unreleased material. >Erich (there are two of us on this list so look out, you Jasons and Joshes!) Last time I checked there was only one of me. As I've said before, Keith, Dave, and Mark seem to be the most prevalent names. >BLATANT NON-XTC PLUG: You know, R.E.M.'s "Murmur" is really one of >the greatest albums OF ALL TIME!!! Yeah, I know it's not XTC, but >I DON'T CARE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! It's related due to the fact that Murmur and Mummer are *TOO DAMN SIMILAR* and I always manage to call them by each other's names. As someone mentioned a while ago, aside from the names, they were released in the same year, have rather "shadowy" cover art, and are both more "quiet" than the band's usual works. >Sorry, Josh, but I'm nearly certain that Colin intended it as a >double-entendre, to mean both types of "grass." Sure, they flattened "the >clover," but note the use of a word other than "grass" so as not to ruin the >double meaning: he's talking about sex, but he's also talking about *stoned* >sex. Ack! How did I miss that? While it doesn't really work in the verses (no real way to fit pot in there, AFAICT), it works perfectly in the chorus, adding an interesting twist to the song. Damn, what was *I* smoking when I wrote that? >I disagree...I find it to be beautiful in its simplicity, just Andy and his >guitar, with a very pretty melody. I love the rhyming lines, "Don't cloister >yourself away" and "The world's your oyster, come out to play." But hey, >that's just me. I always found that the melody sounded like it died somewhere along the way to Andy's guitar, and the lyrics rather inane, with cliches out the wazoo, and no sense of greater irony or humor about it. "Your heart should be an open book," etc. >IMHO, Muzak is the *worst* thing to happen to music in a while. Talk about >evil. There are a lot more evil things in music than Muzak. It's only a rather insulting and annoying rearranging of sometimes good music -- there's worse than that, I guarantee you. Josh Shocked me too, the thing *I* did on grass... :) /---------------------------Joshua Hall-Bachner---------------------------\ | particle@servtech.com http://www.servtech.com/public/particle/ | |"We all have our idiosyncracies -- maybe thinning hair, or gum disease." | \---- Kowanko, "Will You Come To?" ------ Thank You, And Goodnight. ------/
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Message-ID: <32AF9D97.682D@paonline.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 00:52:23 -0500
From: Patrick Adamek <Padamek9@paonline.com>
Subject: 100% XTC
Because some of us get nervous when we read about something other than
XTC on Chalkhills, there will be nothing but XTC in this submission :)
How I got into XTC:
My earliest memory would probably be listening to "Jumping in
Gomorrah" in my family's music listening room and timing my parent's
entrance and exit from the room, as their hearing the sacreligious
message within would surely not be tolerated. I was 8 years old at the
time (1979), and enjoyed the distinct advantage of growing up with 8
older brothers and sisters who exposed me to all types of music.
While it was "Jumping" that captured my attention, it was not until
I heard the first LP side of English Settlement that XTC had captured my
heart. My brother Philip and I still can't figure out how "Senses"
wasn't a major top forty hit...
XTC on the radio:
On one of my many treks from Cleveland to St.Louis, I was passing
through Columbus, Ohio in the spring of 1990 and radio station CD101
played a whole side (which I'm not sure) of ES on their "album side"
show. The format of the station has changed now to heavy metal (sigh)
but while it was still a college station, I'd tune in whenever I was
within 50 miles!
I can recall only one additional encounter with XTC on the
radio...Mayor of Simpleton...while returning from church one Sunday.
XTC nuance:
While not musically or lyrically related, I've always listened for
and had some strange affinity for the sound of the bedsprings at the
beginning of "Smokeless Zone." They can best be heard at maximum
volume.
Chalkhills Brown-nosing:
I echo all of the comments regarding the excellent quality of fans
on Chalkhills. I'd like to believe that the careful consideration and
apparent intelligence of most of the entries are not only reflective of
the quality of the band to which we all comment, but speaks volumes
about how much you have to care about music to understand and appreciate
XTC. After all, "Swallowing is easy when it has no taste."
Peace Patrick
------------------------------ From: shaefner@falcon.cc.ukans.edu Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 00:31:38 -0600 (UTC -06:00) Subject: Rememories, Mummerings Message-id: <01ICWJ252ULE00A8E8@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU> Ben G. asked if we had any memories associated w/ a particular XTC album-- I was camping in Eminence, MO with a couple friends two summers ago, and we listened to Mummer nonstop - on the way down (a six hour drive), throughout the week, and on the way back too, i think. The friends are Brad, who introduced me to xtc (!), and Wes, who subsequently became interested in the fab 3 because of my playing Rag and Bone constantly (my first album). This vacation was perhaps the best week of my life, we had such an awesome time. Great times associated great music. You know, now that I think about it, Mummer is one of my favorite albums (and Murmer for that matter, Insane Boy). I love when Andy 'roles' his voice, and there seems to be a lot of examples from this album. From Jump: Your Blo-o-o-o-d is singing Great Fire: Bring Wa-a-a-a-ter! and Gold: ..will color everything around you Goooold. And i-i-i-it's o-o-k... near the end of the song. This one's actually a little bit more subtle, you have to listen carefully to catch it. I like high energy songs, and it seems that Andy always roles his voice when a high energy song is peaking. Brad can actually do this somehow - I was trying to learn so that I could sing along with him in Eminence, but no matter how much I tried, I could not do it! Speaking of high energy songs: I think this is what I like so much about Yazbek - his songs are so full of energy. Man, I can really get into his music! It's like he is going to jump out of the speaker any time and be playing in my living room. If you're still lurking David - are you going to be playing in NY in March? I plan to be there over spring break and would love to catch a show. Other 'little touches' from Mummer that strike me: Desert Island: With my Umb-r-r-r-ella I go walking (use your lips to do this, go on, do it). Brings a smile to my face every time. Gold: The way the song slows down...and then kinda "dies" as the music slowly fades out after the vocals end. For some reason, I really like songs that "wind down" at the end. Another example that I can think of off the top of my head is Your Dictionary from the new demos. Well, that's enough from me... -Scott http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~shaefner
------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19961211225939.00702638@mail1.electric.net> Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 22:59:41 -0800 From: David Hathaway <davidh@electric.net> Subject: Re: My First Time >From: C Browning <C.Browning-95@student.lboro.ac.uk> > >I remember my first time with XTC vividly. it was a couple of years ago and >Q magazine gave away a fre tape called LIVING IN THE EIGHTIES. i bought the >issue cos it had a rather stunning article by Marcus Grey who wrote th >eeonderful R>E>M companion - IT CRAWLED FROM THE SOUTH. i put the tape on Ok, I have been pretty quiet here lately, and being yet another one of those Davids that Chalhillians know... My first XTC was some time ago. I was a mere tyke, staying up far too late, watching a public access cable show called "Nite Dreems". There, much "new" music was played. DOA. Black Flag. Talking Heads. XTC with "This Is Pop". I was hooked from that point on...Mind you, I took a big break between Black Sea and Oranges and Lemons, and since I have now done penance by buying everything in between, all I can say is : wow, I missed out... (From : AMANDA) >Onto agreeing with Jason (I HAIL YOU!!!!!), by the time I get to XTC's more >politically overt songs, I'm so caught up in how brilliant the music is I >barely realise they're political. Besides which, most of their political >songs are somewhat disguised and not quite as overt as other bands' songs >may be. I didn't realize Reign Of Blows was so political at first. I typically concentrate on the music first, then the lyrics. >From: musicvil@idir.net (John Yuelkenbeck) >Regarding the Clem Burke post: >I'm not much of a drummer, although I won a kit in a Musician magazine >sweepstakes and I've been giving it a go. > >Check out Burke's bashing and thrashing on Blondie's "Union City Blue" >from, I believe, 'Eat To The Beat.' It's what rock drumming is all about. Specifically from that album, while we are talking about XTC "nuances", try Clem's amazing fills in "Die Young Stay Pretty" , or the utterly awesome rhythm in " Victor " . Clem Burke is truly underrated, what a drummer he'd make for XTC... If you want a truly cool Blondie record, get "The Platinum Collection" and then get "Eat To The Beat" for what is missed from the collection... w w w . m o n k e y - b o y . c o m David Hathaway, davidh@monkey-boy.com
------------------------------ Message-ID: <32AF2BEF.CE1@ix.netcom.com> Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 16:47:27 -0500 From: Tony Nowikowski <tonynow@ix.netcom.com> Subject: The proverbial mixed bag ... Howdy folks! To paraphrase to radio talk shows ... "Long time lurker, first time poster!" I've been getting Chalkhills for about three months now, and just finally got tired of seeing all these interesting threads fly by without horning in in my own opinionated way! 8*) So I'll make my first post a BIG honker, on a number of subjects ... -- XTC "sightings" (er, "hearings") ... I've heard them TWICE in public in less than a week, and that's gotta be a record in Cincinnati OH! The first was this past Saturday ... I was out Christmas shopping at a megamall (yuck!), went into the Abercrombie and Fitch store, and what should be playing on the store's PA but "Thanks For Christmas"! Neat-o! Then, today whilst I was driving back to the office from lunch, channel-surfing the radio, I hit the local "mainstream alternative" station just in time to catch the last minute of "Senses Working Overtime". -- First XTC experience: I can't remember exactly when, but it must've been "Senses" on the radio, shortly after ES came out, 'cuz that album was my first XTC purchase, and I got it in late '82. -- Favorite song to hear LOUD: "Extrovert", with a strong second place going to "Burning With Optimism's Flames", esp. the live version on the flip side of the "Love On a Farmboy's Wages" 12" single. -- Favorite details (that I think nobody else has mentioned yet ... I also love a lot of the others listed so far): -- The whirlybird effect at the end of "Helicopter". -- The guitar solo in "Life Begins At The Hop" ... the way the notes go from being very crisply articulated to flowing smoothly at the end. -- That weird, echo-ey snare sound right after Andy sings "Knuckle down" at the beginning of each verse. -- The transition from "English Roundabout" to "Snowman", esp. the way Andy's voice comes up in the mix to that scream/snarl/bark (and the repetition of same at song's end.) -- The old-staticky-radio sound of the intro of "Respectable Street" ... and the slashing guitar thereafter ... -- The studio chatter in the intro of "Towers of London" -- The instruments-as-animals noises in "Great Fire" -- The bent bass notes in the last verse of "Here Comes President Kill" (And I LIKE the distorted vocals in "Reign of Blows". They fit the emotion of the song perfectly, IMHO! 8*) -- The Beatles / XTC connection (?) To return to an older thread, when I listened to the left-channel-only of "Big Day" and heard the out-of-phase guitar, the first thing it reminded me of was those funky semi-stereo mixes of Rubber Soul/Revolver-era Beatles ... the one that sticks out most in my mind is "Nowhere Man" ... which shouldn't be too surprising coming from the board of Todd, right? Actually, the more I think about it, I can come up with a couple of other XTC-Beatles parallels: -- Both bands quit performing live, albeit for different reasons ... but both bands started making MUCH more complex records after that. -- Both have the bassist and a guitarist as strong frontpersons, with the other guitarist getting less notice but being more the virtuoso. -- Both worked with a "name" producer for one album who imprinted their vision on the album (XTC -- Todd Rundgren, Beatles -- Phil Spector). -- Both had some of their albums sliced'n'diced for the US market. (Okay, so it ain't THAT big of a parallel ... still ... does that make Barry the Pete Best of XTC? Conversly, the question occurs to me ... what would the Beatles have sounded like had Ringo quit while they were making, say, "Magical Mystery Tour", and they'd used session drummers after that?) And I would be remiss, wouldn't I, if I didn't include some COMPLETELY non-XTC content?! E.B. wrote: >Compilations: The Who/Live At The Isle Of Wight (the best album >I got this year) Oh, yes, absolutely! I thought the remastered Live At Leeds was good, but to hear "Tommy" live ... BTW, did anyone else catch VH-1's presentation of the Rolling Stones' "Rock'n'Roll Circus"? I'd always read that the Stones kept it in the can for all these years because the Who blew 'em off the stage -- too true! I promise to (probably!) not blather on so much in future posts! tony nowikowski
------------------------------ Message-ID: <c=US%a=_%p=msft%l=DUB-04-MSG-961212093837Z-22880@INET-01-IMC.microsoft.com> From: Peter Fitzpatrick <peterfit@MICROSOFT.com> Subject: RE: dem demos Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 01:38:37 -0800 Hi all, I have all of those CDs listed by David and guess you might like my "critique" of them. First : to answer your questions > a) Are these all full-length CDs of unreleased ephemera? Yes. Mainly demos of songs that made it or never made it to album. > b) Do most people who have the demos have these *particular* CDs, >or their own nth-generation tapes of things? I have some n-th generation tapes that sound better than the CDs. I also used some noise reduction software in order to de-hiss some tapes I received. As a result if I ever traded those tapes with others they would be getting reasonably good quality tapes rather than the often disappointing lo-fi quality one can expect from illegal CDs. (which we should remind ourselves at this point : these CDs are ILLEGAL, the band/writers get NOTHING from the sale of the CDs.....I guess the only silver lining is that Virgin get nothing either) Personally I would prefer that they weren't available on bootleg CD at all. If the tapes are going to be available to fans then let them be available on tape or DAT......just let's not have others make money off the backs of Colin/Andy/Dave. > c) How exactly did all this unreleased stuff get, er, released? >Have the band assisted in making these demos available in some way? Dunno. My suspicions (based on knowledge I have of how some Beatles and McCartney bootlegs surfaced) range from : private tapes sent by Andy/Colin/Dave to friends or fans "in high standing" ; tape ops / assistant engineers in studios ; roadies (well, in the case of XTC.....hardly); record company personnel.... I doubt it *very* much if the band assisted in having these tapes released in this way. > d) There is NO question d). Phew. > e) Do other people find the amount of this stuff to be as amazing >as I do? There seems to be enough stuff here for "XTC Anthologies 1, 2, 3, >4, and 5" to be released in the year 2025. Do other bands have this much >unreleased material? Yes, it's pretty good isn't it ? As a musician I find them very educational. One can learn a lot from the demos produced at "home" and then comparing them to the *real* versions found on albums. Many other bands have much more unreleased material - check out the Beatles for instance. I've just worked my way through the two "Artifacts" series [total 10 CDs], full of studio sessions and a few demos. my 2pence worth. -Peter
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 08:45:49 -0600 (CST) From: AMANDA OWENS <ACOEA@jazz.ucc.uno.edu> Subject: Classic rock will never die! Message-id: <01ICWZXQVAFM8X25EB@jazz.ucc.uno.edu> So what your saying is that Aerosmith, KISS, Rush, the Doobie Brothers, Steve Miller Band, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, Bob Seger, the Guess Who, and a modicum of other bands should just drop off the face of the earth???? Nah. I personally always looked at Grass as being about teenagers doing what little boys and girls do best, and doing it outdoors. But now I'm gonna have to see if I can see it the other way around. I went through my cd's yesterday picking out more little nuances, and here they are (this is long, BTW) Sudden tempo changes in The Ugly Underneath and Wrapped In Grey "Beatownowowow" The ghostly keyboard after "spineless jellyfish" in When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty Laugh at the start of Real By Reel The way Andy drags out the words "nihilon" and "gone" in Travels in Nihilon The echo-ey "BA!!!!" At the end of Living Through Another Cuba Andy's hicupping and "woo" at the start of Melt the Guns "Bo bo bo bo bo down in the cockpit" FINALLY hearing Dave take a little center stage vocal turn in Leisure (Just saw no point in the standing in line) Colin yelling during Ladybird after hitting a sour note, and it being left on the tape anyways. The semi-human, semi-keyboard sounding opening to Human Alchemy Kazoos in Everyday Story of a Smalltowm Chorus at the end of Wake Up Loud church bells during the chorus of Big Day The harmonizing in Ballet For a Rainy Day Andy holding that l-o-n-g note in Scarecrow People Cheering crowd in The Loving The "whew whew" at the end of Tissue Tigers Crashing waves in Mermaid Smiled Later, Amanda XTC song of the day: Beatown non-XTC song of the Day: Damn, I can't remember the title. It's this incredible song by the band The Prodigy, very danceable, sort of in the vein of Ebeneezer Goode. Great New York nightclub music.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <9612121506.AA6888@mailgate.mandg.co.uk> From: David Goody/M&G <David_Goody@mandg.co.uk> Date: 12 Dec 96 15:05:47 Subject: AP's Birthday? I had a day off work on Wednesday to wrap my Christmas presents(!), and while listening to Simon Mayo on Radio 1 (the top national radio station in the UK), he announced the day's celebrity birthdays, including one Mr. Andy Partridge of XTC, whose age was given as 43. Is this correct? If so, how come nobody has wished Mr. Partridge a Happy Birthday on this official mailing list? Also, I attended a local presentation of the hit UK TV series "Shooting Stars" in Ipswich on Wednesday evening, with my esteemed colleague and fellow Chalkster Simon. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, it is a manic celebrity quiz run by comedians Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. The TV show features well known celebrities, but the live show included local celebrities. When the local celebrities were announced, Simon and myself could not believe it, when Martin Newell came forward. Unfortunately, it seemed that only Simon and myself were aware of his talents, as we gave him a tumultuous welcome, in stark contrast to the lukewarm "who the hell is he" that the rest of the audience gave him. Martin described himself as a poet and pop-star, and he was the best of the local celebrities involved, which wasn't difficult, as they included a local radio DJ, the "Oil of Ulay" girl and an Ipswich Town footballer. Still, it was nice to think of Martin as one of the 4 top local celebrities in the Ipswich area. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all Chalksters; here's to a New Year that includes a new XTC album!!
------------------------------ From: HifiToastr@aol.com Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 10:37:02 -0500 Message-ID: <961212103701_167987816@emout08.mail.aol.com> Subject: An Anal Look at the Best Records of 1996 Howdy residents of the Chalkhill For almost 15 years my friends and I have labored over our top 20's (which usually ends up as 50) with no one outside of our small, musically anal circle to share them with. Well, I've been waiting for someone to say "Go" and Jeffrey with 2 F's started the ball rolling on Monday, so here it goes.... 10. The Loud Family - Interbabe Concern - With Game Theory Scott Miller was a master of twisting pop music and experimenting with the studio without losing touch with the basics...great pop songs. After a few false starts he finally hit the mark with the Loud Family. 9. Bob Mould - Bob Mould - Loved most Husker, liked some of the Bob solo stuff (hated a lot of it), totally loved the 2 proper Sugar albums, and this new BM is up there with his best. Solid songwriting, great songs. 8. Pluto - Pluto - Canadian pop punk, with heavy emphasis on the pop. The songs are short and to the point, and unlike most of the bands out lately, it's fun. There are more hooks on this album than McClane Stevenson's hat on M*A*S*H*! 7. The Finn Brothers - The Finn Brothers - I thought this album was ok when I first got it, but after seeing Neil and Tim live I went back and fell in love with it. 6. The Fall - The Light User Syndrome - Mark E Smith is always interesting, I always like what he's doing in concept, but sometime it just doesn't translate to repeated listenings. This time there are more than enough catchy songs that push the envelope. 5. Tommy Keene - Ten Years After - Traditional pop songwriting in the truest sense. Stop at any cut and you've got a winner. Tommy never really deviates from his basic sound, but why would he. 4. The Lee Harvery Oswald Band - Blastronaut - When I was a kid mostly into punk I started checking out Glam rock because all the bands I liked grew up on it, but the bands I came across were cool, but lacking that punch I imagined. 10 years later the LHOB have come up with the glam powerpunch I had in my mind. Ripping guitars, distorted vocals, punchy rhythms, and a killer Move cover. It's Bowie with tons of ooomph. 3. Dodgy - Free Peace Sweet - The last album is one of my all time faves, and this isn't too far behind. Few bands use the studio this well, and even fewer have the songwriting craftsmanship that brings to mind the likes of The Beach Boys, Zombies, and Hollies. Dodgy make the perfect soundtracks for summer. 2. The Posies - Amazing Disgrace - "Pop purists" seem to hate the fact that the Poises "went Seattle" and grunged up the record, but I think this album is amazing. The Poises always write great songs, and this time they rock with big guitars up front. Every song on this album has been a favorite over the year. 1. The Sugarplastic - Bang, The Earth Is Round - Sure I got this album because friends told me it's the best album XTC haven't made. I love it because they do so many of the things a younger XTC did that got me into them in the first place. Maybe it's influence, maybe it's rip off, I don't care, they do it well. There's so much going on here and the arrangements are great. The deadline my friends use for a final version is New Years Day, so my list may change. The top 10 is a lock, but there are 40 more slots that will change. If anyone is curious, have an annual tradition of writing a paragraph about each record on the final list; if you want to see it in January, e:mail me and I'll send you one. Here's the bottom 40.... 11.Overwhelming Colorfast - Moonlight And Castanets 12.Triplefastaction - Broadcaster 13.Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars 14.Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup 15.The Mortals - Last Time Around 16.Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better 17.Brendan Benson - One Mississippi 18.Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry 19.The Wedding Present - Saturnalia 20.Braniac - Hissing Prigs In Static Couture 21.Spoon - Telephono 22.Buzzcocks - All Set 23.Arcwelder - Entropy 24.Girls Against Boys - House Of GVSB 25.Nancy Boy - Nancy Boy 26.Ash - 1977 27.Iggy Pop - Naughty Little Doggie 28.The Makers - The Makers 29.Superdrag - Regretfully Yours 30.Mega City Four - Soulscraper 31.The Jesus Lizard - Shot 32.Junior Brown - Semi Crazy 33.Chixdiggit! - Chixdiggit! 34.Frank Black - The Cult Of Ray 35.Yazbek - The Laughing Man 36.GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI - Introducing 37.Fastbacks - New Mansions In Sound 38.Marshall Crenshaw - Miracle Of Science 39.Zumpano - Goin' Through Changes 40.The Creation - Power Surge I still have these late additions to my collection to throw in here somewhere: Cardigans, Julian Cope (definitely a top 20 artist), Tuscadero (another lock on a top 20 position), Those Bastard Souls, Alec Bathgate, Robyn Hitchcock, Rick Menc, and I'm sure I'll find a few more I forgot about. I promise, this is the longest post I will ever make! Thanks for giving me a forum to ramble about music and let me think someone else gives a damn what I think. "Forgive me if I worship vinyl idols" - Leather Idol by Tuscadero Sleep Cheap Dale (hifitoastr@aol.com)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 08:38:16 -0700 (MST)
From: cminer@cougarnet.byu.edu (Chris Miner)
Subject: Beautiful South smashing pubs to XTC
Message-id: <01ICX02I1TCSBB1I82@yvax.byu.edu>
In an upcoming magazine article, Paul Heaton, the lead singer for The
Beautiful South (ex band member of the Housemartins) shares his favorite
songs to drink to depending on the activity. He said this to Getting drunk
in the pub to ...
"Without a doubt, the best song to smash a pub up to is Love On A Farm
Boy's Wages by XTC. I've only ever done it once with a football crew
- it was the most delierious free-for-all I have ever experienced."
Fancy that!
chris miner
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 15:54:57 +0200 Message-Id: <96121215545783@c31.rb.op.dlr.de> From: hosken@c31.rb.op.dlr.de (Paul Hosken) Subject: Early BBC sessions Back in the late 70's XTC did a couple of BBC 'Sight & Sound In Concert' sessions. The 2 sessions that interest me contained: Session 1 Session 2 --------- --------- Big Town Radios In Motion Mecahnic Dancing Cross Wires Rhythm In His Head Statue Of Liberty Battery Bride Set Myself On Fire This Is Pop New Town Animal In A Furnished Cage Crowded Room All Along The Watchtower Statue Of Liberty This Is Pop Science Friction In A Dance Band Set Myself On Fire Neon Shuffle What I'd like to know is when were these sessions recorded, and which of the songs (if any) have been released on official albums? Thanks for any help Paul
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v01510102aed349adbfa8@[204.188.73.145]> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 07:15:50 -1000 From: jimsmart@hula.net (Jim Smart) Subject: Excuse me while I kiss this guy >Near the end of the last Chalkhills someone listed their favorite ELO >songs. I noticed Strange Magic was missing. Could it be that when >the song is playing it sounds like he's saying, " Gotta, strain my >dick."? Check it out. You'll never hear that song without laughing >again. The same with Jet Airliner by Steve Miller.."Bingo Jed had a >light on." Add to that "Only the Lonely get laid", "The story was heard and the Ritz were served" (Kinks), and, of course, "excuse me while I this this guy" (Hendrix) Jim Jimsmart@hula.net +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ * THOUGHT OF THE DAY * * "There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." * * --Lennon/McCartney * +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 14:31:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Benjamin J. Rubin" <bjrub@conncoll.edu> Subject: Duffy, XTC look alike Message-Id: <Pine.GUL.3.95.961212142734.20105A-100000@dsys.cc.conncoll.edu> Hey, Does anyone have the chords to any Duffy songs? I've figured out a couple and I'm interested in trading. XTC content: Dave Gregory looks just like Jeff Hornacek of NBA fame. B.R.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 12:09:39 -0800 (PST) From: Randy Posynick <posynick@netcom.com> Subject: Re: XTC News Alert System Needed Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9612121130.A1616-0100000@netcom21> keone@ix.netcom.com wrote: >Being deluged with 12 rather plump Chalkhills Digests after going away >for Thanksgiving (and having no time to read through all of them), it >struck me that folks who have news to convey can help us out by prefacing >their subject headers with something like "NEWS:" to alert us >time-crunched folks to earth shattering XTC info. Better yet, how about prefacing subject headers with "XTC:" to denote content regarding XTC.... :) Randy Posynick | Friends help you move; Real posynick@netcom.com | friends help you move bodies.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <9612122004.AA12847@internet1.lotus.com> From: "Robert P. Krajewski" <robertk@lotatg.lotus.com> Subject: The Just Say Noel Compilation, XTC As Power Pop Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 15:16:01 -0500 > From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@notes.cc.bellcore.com> > Subject: XTC popularity > > Saw a review in my local paper about "Just Say Noel"; it briefly mentioned > XTC's involvement. Overall, it said something like it was "quirky but > charming" and gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4... I think "Thanks For Christmas" is the best cut on there. It's good that Michael Penn and Aimee Mann got to do one, because the chiming quality of a lot of their stuff makes it sound like Christmas music anyway. And I wish Sonic Youth didn't contribute such a throwaway track -- feh. Hey, if they can cover the Carpenters, surely they do better than an incoherent remake of a Martin Mull schtick. > I loosely > group them into the "power pop" category (don't laugh, I also put the > Beatles in there along with Big Star, Raspberries, Crowded House, dBs and > many others), and radio rarely plays those kinds of songs (unless it's by > the Beatles). Err, Boston is crawling with lots of Big Star/Raspberries-turned-up-to-11 artists (Letters to Cleo, Tracy Bongham, Cavedogs and offshoots), and the local commercial alternative station plays a lot of *them*. I hesitate to put XTC in the power pop category *now* when their sound has mellowed out (OK, there I did it, I used the "m" word) and even formerly reserved artists like the Posies turn up the guitar and sometimes use naughty words. On the other hand, if something like Yum-Yum can get attention these days, maybe XTC are still power pop.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v01540b03aed60f90d155@[199.171.191.42]> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 12:48:10 -0700 From: gondola@deltanet.com (E.B.) Subject: Re: Street cred >From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@notes.cc.bellcore.com> > >- It used to be that record labels had 2 types of artists; those "hip and >with today's sounds", and the "elite, don't sell too well with perhaps a >cult following but can give us record guys some street credentials". A >good example was Van >Morrison. Van records >didn't sell diddley, but WB could approach artists they wanted to sign and >point to how well they treated a respected artist like Van, so why don't you >sign with us? However, the economics of the record industry changed about >that time, and now most of them don't sign artists just to have the extra >roster credentials. Well, I think there are still plenty of such artists signed to major labels, INCLUDING Van Morrison. Take the cases of Joni Mitchell, Laurie Anderson, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, Robyn Hitchcock, etc., etc. EB PS I really like the Dukes and Rutles about equally. Though I must admit, I've listened to the Rutles a lot more in recent years, for whatever that's worth....
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v01540b04aed6120c66cb@[199.171.191.42]> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 12:58:31 -0700 From: gondola@deltanet.com (E.B.) Subject: Re: Hitch bitch >From: jes <xtc@mindspring.com> > >one must remember that Hitchcock NEVER thinks in a linear fashion. His >songs are never to be taken at face value, nor are they to be seriously >dissected. Boy, do I disagree with you on that one. If you don't think any of Hitchcock's songs stand up to serious dissection, I wonder how much RH you've actually heard. Overall, I'd say that Robyn Hitchcock is (slightly) more important to me than XTC, and one of the biggest reasons is that Hitchcock's "unserious, non-linear" lyrics touch me on a much deeper level emotionally than XTC's. Now, if we're talking arrangements, melodies and other musical issues, XTC wipes RH out. But Hitchcock is NOT just a guy singing about fish and vegetables.... Eb
------------------------------
From: keone@ix.netcom.com
Message-ID: <32AEE7C2.2430@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 16:56:34 +0000
Subject: XTC Holiday Song Set
My local radio station plays something called "Lunch Box Blocks" each
day at noon (3 songs by one artist). I've suggested endless thematic
XTC combinations, but my favorite set has a holiday flair as well as
great segues:
"Snowman"
"Toys"
"Thanks for Christmas"
If you local station is adventurous, suggest it as a special holiday
treat!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199612122104.OAA02920@access.tucson.org> From: "Jeff Smelser" <jsmelser@access.tucson.org> Organization: Access Tucson Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 14:13:31 -0700 Subject: Pot vs. Alc pt. 1 Another quickie folks, > After the Skylarking sessions, Andy complained bitterly about Todd's > affinity for marijuana. Todd , no doubt, knows that pot either enhances, or does nothing to impair, hearing. Whereas, alcohol, on the other hand, is well-known to make one hearing impared...especially in the 8-20khz range. If you've never been stoned during Open My Eyes....need I say more? SMX Jeff Smelser Video Engineer Access Tucson jsmelser@access.tucson.org
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 13:01:16 -0800 Message-Id: <199612122101.NAA09778@barley.adnc.com> From: studio seventeen productions <ambient@adnc.com> Subject: OFF TOPIC! roy wood jeff sed: >Re Roy Wood: Yes, yes! When I joined my college radio station back in 1985 >or so, one of my first big "discoveries" in the record archives was a >well-worn copy of Best Of The Move. Been a fan ever since. Bought the CD >reissue a few years later, later found a sealed cutout of Shazam, and a >couple of years ago, I managed to find Looking On and Message From The >Country records in great shape for $2 apiece, and boy was I thrilled. I >don't have that other one (um...Split Enz? that doesn't sound quite right), >but I heard it once and it seemed too Lynne-dominated beyond "California >Man" and "Tonight." Maybe I heard wrong. Additional note: Somewhere around >the time of discovering Best Of The Move, I also discovered Wood's >Boulders. DAMN, that album is adorable! I generally buy that album whenever >I see it, and force it upon someone as a gift. ;) ROY WOOD SOLO ALBUMS: Boulders is a work of pop genius. However, an early solo record, MUSTARD is even more remarkable. Seek them both out...this guy was the John Lennon or Birmingham :-) MOVE ALBUMS: Shazam is GREAT! There are several BEST OF MOVE CDs......try to find the red one, cause it has the whole (long deleted) first album PLUS some ultra cool early 70s B-sides like "This TIme Tomorrow" (the B-side of "Curly"). I have the Move w/Jeff Lynne, but it starts to lose momentum when he joins (i.e. when not all the songs are written by Roy Wood). just my seventeen cents........ sorry for OFF-TOPIC! dave at studio seventeen 173451681734516817345168173451681734516817345168 * * * * * * he's seated now, and almost ready to * * begin: "lead me in with a count of 17...." * * (Consequences/Godley & Creme) * * visit: http:www.adnc.com/web/ambient/index.html seventeen: the ambient music page 173451681734516817345168173451681734516817345168
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #3-56 ******************************
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