Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 151
Date: Sunday, 28 March 1999

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 151

                  Sunday, 28 March 1999

Today's Topics:

                     Amazing Find!!!!
                      Sgt Overrated
                          Words
         Why Diane Warren deserves an Oscar (tm)
                  New Release by OWSLEY
                    My "Drums & Wires"
                  bubblegum album tracks
      Re: River...way: CHILL (I'm kidding, you know)
Wow! Only to the Wanker fiasco have I ever gotten such a response!
               Respectable or Coronation..?
             I am the Kaiser, koo koo ka choo
                       Sgt. Pepper
                    Dear Ed Miller...
        Don't make me the bad guy in this, please
                  1910 Fruit Nut Company
                  Car-pushers, Take Note
               Sgt. Pepper's & Dave's demos
                       Kingdom Come
                      musical chairs
                   Re: bubblegum album
                 Singles and Songwriting

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Look at me polish these / Tools.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message-ID: <001301be775f$1444bc40$74ef94d1@compaq>
From: "Drude" <drude@sprint.ca>
Subject: Amazing Find!!!!
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 00:03:00 -0800

Well...a strange thing happened to me last weekend. While walking to work,
I came upon a little yard sale. At the yard sale was a little box of Vinyl
(mostly singles). And, lo and behold! I managed to pick up-

    1) No Thugs single. Mint. Cut-out characters intact!
    2)Farmboy's Wages. Mint. Gatefold double in faux-billfold cover.
    3)Wonderland picture disc. Mint!!!
    4)Wonderland picture sleeve. Mint.
    5)Mayor Of S. picture sleeve. Mint.
    6)This World Over. All postcards intact and still attached!!! Mint!!!
    7)King For a Day CD5. In crown-shaped box.
    8)Mayor of S. CD5
    9)Oranges and Lemons. CD5 3-pack.

The gentleman selling them didn't seem to know what he had, and gave me a
wonderful deal on the bunch! Not that I would ever sell, but I am very
curious to see if anyone has any idea what they might be worth (if
anything). Anyway, just thought I'd brag a little...

Do what you will but harm none.

Drude

------------------------------

Message-ID: <01BE7763.AA4EA120@robert>
From: Robert Wood <wobbit@bigfoot.com>
Subject: Sgt Overrated
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 18:44:45 -0000

<Grumble, moan>

What's all this about people's personal Sgt Pepper? Are you saying what
your favourite album ever is? To me, Sgt Pepper the most overrated album in
history. My Sgt Pepper? Sgt Pepper.

And before you start flaming me about not liking the Beatles I think they
were brilliant and have most of their albums. I reckon people believe it's
great because the media tell them it's great. Yeah, it was innovative and
the first concept album, but the songs are dull, dull, dull.

------------------------------

Message-ID: <001a01be7768$c5daaf60$4408b3d1@oemcomputer>
From: "Aaron Pastula" <apastula@earthlink.net>
Subject: Words
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 01:11:40 -0800

>What are the words andy sings at the start of 'snowman' (y'know just
>before 'it isn't even winter but...')

A doom a llama deep a llama do me, Yama; do me, Yama.
Damana deep a llama do me, Yama.  Do we?

>and do they mean anything?

Surprisingly, yes.  They refer to an old Hindu ritual that involved burying
a pack animal (usually a llama, but a camel or donkey would suffice in
times of famine) up to its neck in the sand to ward off sinister spirits.
The more evil you were trying to ward off, the more animals you had to
stick in the sand - in other words, a "llama deep" for every "doom" you
faced.

Following the burying of the llama, one would call upon the well-endowed
gods Yama and Damana and ask for a kind of spiritual coitus.  If granted,
the worshipper could rest assured that hardship would befall he and his
family no longer, and afterward he would have quite a salacious story to
tell to his friends.  Of course, only those deemed truly worthy could have
such intimate contact with the gods - hence the reason why the line ends
with a question, as the mystical threesome is a humble request.  Either
way, the still had to dig the damn animals out of the sand when they were
done.

Next week, class, we'll discuss the third verse of "Helicopter," and its
relation to the guano of a certain extinct bird.

AP

------------------------------

Message-ID: <618F91505D89D21185330001FA6A49544646FC@HFD-EXCH008>
From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com>
Subject: Why Diane Warren deserves an Oscar (tm)
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 08:20:54 -0500

My fellow music lovers:

I am taking the challenge to stop picking on poor Celine
Dion!!! Yes, it's a full well when one carries a small bucket.
However, further research shows that Dion is merely one of the
Devil's servants.

My theory stems from a Boston Globe article on Diane Warren
(March 14th, Arts section). Sure, you know her soundtracks
from the Oscarcast, witness: "Armageddon outta here" by
Aerosmith, "How do I live" by two-count'em-two country
pop-tarts, and "Because you loved me" by Dion. The scary
part, and you may wish to sit down for this, is her role in
The History of Not Merely Mediocre, But Aggressively Bad Music,
which includes:

Laura Branigan, "Solitaire".
Jefferson Starship, "Nothin's gonna stop us now".
Chicago, "Look away".
Milli Vanilli, "Blame it on the rain".
Cher, "If I could turn back time".
DeBarge, "Rhythm of the night". (It took her two weeks to
     perfect one verse of this song, the article breathlessly
     relates.)

She has conquered the airwaves to the point that every
screeching diva song resembles her work even if she didn't
write it, being the sincerest form of flattery and all that.

I'll grant you that she's prolific, well-connected, and driven.
However, those are value-neutral qualities. After being
Oscar-nominated 3 straight years without taking home the statue,
how many goals do we really want to dangle in front of her?

I don't want to miss a thing,
Karl

------------------------------

Message-ID: <E6717F73FA86D211A29900600895C3FE052B09@EXWEB2>
From: "Artz, Peter/EXWEB2" <PLA@pscnet.com>
Subject: New Release by OWSLEY
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 08:45:35 -0500

Hi Folks,

I'm not sure if I've ever posted here before, but it's really important,
so here goes.

AV1 is absolutely splendid!! One of their best!! Now that that's out of
the way.

I picked up a copy of the new "Owsley" release (Warner Brothers) yesterday,
based upon the following review I read on the Jellyfish list.  This is no
crappy one hit "wonder why all of these songs are boring and sound the
same" CD.

I think you people will love this disc.  Please check it out.

Then tell everyone where you heard about it.  Chalkhills of course!!

Peace,
Pete "The Sweet"

Review Begins:
WHAT A RECORD!!! To my ears the sound and vibe of the disc lie somewhere
in the middle of
Sturmer and Falkner tendencies ( though leaning more heavily towards
Jason ), as Owsleys influences are lifted from page one of the pop 101
handbook (Beatles, XTC, Rundgren, 10cc, BFF and more). Rich production
and
splendid lyrics guide the record through it's layers of peircing guitar
hooks, smooth as silk melodies, and heavenly bgv's. Pianos bop here,
synths buzz there, and lots of subtle touches are scattered about like
the candy colored sprinkling on a beautiful cake.... and his voice is
PURE pop.....
 I could go on about the record and each song, but instead I urge all
pop fanatics (especially Falkner lovers) to simply rush out and get this
hot little item while it is on sale and hear it for yourself ... It's
distributed by WB so should not be hard to find.
NOTEs:
1) 2 tracks are lifted from the Semantics "Powerbill" and slightly
reworked.
2) Track 1 co-written by Ross Rice.
3) 1/2 the songs mixed by Tom Lord-Agle.
4) It's bloody marvelous!!!!

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990326135455.5358.qmail@www0m.netaddress.usa.net>
Date: 26 Mar 99 05:54:55 PST
From: domenic staffieri <ddstaff@netscape.net>
Subject: My "Drums & Wires"

Never mind St.Pepperpot, I'm 40 years old, it's a great "popular" album,
but come on, I don't listen to this stuff, it just doesn't satisfy my
listening pleasures. I could name 10 discs, but other than the obvious XTC
discs like Black Sea,English Settlement, Skylarking, I find "Fear of Music"
and "Remain In Light" by you know who to be absolutely delicious played
loud with no lights on. It's a religious experience!

"Making Flippy Floppy"

------------------------------

Message-ID: <36FB933B.71BBC02D@xpress.es>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:01:32 +0100
From: Imanol Ugarte <ix8494@xpress.es>
Subject: bubblegum album tracks

About the About the bubblegum album tracks Andy Miller said:

This brings the total to 7: Standing in for Joe, Candymine,
Cherry in yourTree, Lolly Let's Suck it and See, Bubbleland,

My Red Aeroplane, I'm theKaiser
Anyone got any more?

 I think you can add "Visit To The Doctor" .

Imanol Ugarte

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990326134600.21284.rocketmail@web1.rocketmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 05:46:00 -0800 (PST)
From: nross <phoenixyellowrose@rocketmail.com>
Subject: Re: Re: River...way: CHILL (I'm kidding, you know)

Quick comment... not me taking things personally
as I have in the past:

From: "Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com>
Subject: RE: River of Orchids winding my way

>>Not to single out Nicole exclusively, but to her and all others trying
>>to analyze Elizabeth's statement I say:  ENOUGH!

But its fun to over-analyze!

>>If I am not mistaken, Elizabeth is a SoCal resident, and therefore
due to our fucked-up culture, government, and massive urban
sprawl and other general lack of logic and sensibility of civic
planning, is therefore relegated to the necessary evil of "liking
her car".<<

Same here in D.C., my friend-in-XTC

>>It is quite aggravating and nearly impossible to navigate,
hold down a decent job, and basically just LIVE here without your
car (myself and others who have attempted using mass transit in
L.A. can attest).<<

Our metro is a tad bit better than yours, I suppose.

>>So let's not read more into it than is possibly
there.<<

I repeat, but its fun! I perked up when I saw that one post.
I read these digests in the morning... before starting to do my work...
after spending a very long time driving from one "suburb" to the next.
I like to have my brain teased in to working. Doesn't everybody
think like me? ;-)

>>(crawling back into driver's seat and crouching down to hide).<<

If the traffic effects your mood that much, maybe you should move out
of Southern California. Road rage = BAD.  Push your car from the road,
dude!

Just having fun... felt like being humorous after a fairly easy
drive this morning. By the way... feeling your car is a necessity
is not the same thing as "I like my car".

What is a friend?  A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
--Aristotle

Friends,

I just wanted to add that working out to my kickboxing tape (not Tae Bo)
and listening to CD four of Transistor Blast works quite well!
If anyone out there is like me: little motivation to work out... yet
wants to have an okay fitness level... try working out to CD four!
It may help!

------------------------------

Message-ID: <19990326142537.19564.rocketmail@web4.rocketmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 06:25:37 -0800 (PST)
From: nross <phoenixyellowrose@rocketmail.com>
Subject: Wow! Only to the Wanker fiasco have I ever gotten such a response!

Oh God! There's more from me...
"Let's begin..do doo do doo do do do dooo do do doo":

From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: my two twisted cents worth...

>>You're not the only person to feel that way. Many brilliant, intelligent
people disdain technology and go off to live in the woods somewhere.<<

See... now that I know what's next, its hard for me to say... uh,
thanks?!

 >>In fact, we had an infamous one here in the U.S. recently. His
name? Ted Kosinski-the Unibomber.<<

Thank you sooooo much! That's right, beware all the crazy Nicole.
;-) I guess one never knows......

Elizabeth:

I was being half-flippant too. Just having fun and waking up like
I said in my earlier post.  I understand your car being your safe-place.
Its usually mine when I take long trips with my family...
I get to drive at night... when its dark, no one is on the road and
my hubby, who hates the music I like (in general) is asleep. I feel
completely free... and can listen to XTC or Metallica or Siouxsie
or, for Godssakes... Britney Spears if I feel like it... though I can't
blast it.

Mark:

Agreed... no way I could live without technology. I may have a
romantic and niave view of the world... but deep down I'm a realist!
Give me a few more years and it will all come to pass! :-) I'm only
Twenty-eight and still in school! Despite what I'm learning... my
mind is still growing. Now... can anyone catch the paradox in my
statement?

Oh... and (To... I guess it would be AP's statement towards chalkhills:
 "misinformation highway" my ass, man! And a cute ass it is.

Oh... and to the person who asked if you can hear Molly speak
when you read her posts... I can nearly imagine her on the pulpit.

AND lastly, my Sgt. Pepper: Siouxsie and the Banshee's Tinderbox.

-Nicole

------------------------------

Message-ID: <WFA2zFAhm5+2EwCU@neutronstar.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:28:49 +0000
From: chris <chris@neutronstar.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Respectable or Coronation..?

OK, this is driving me up the wall! I've just visited Molly's great
XTC site (www.angelfire.com/mo/mollyfa/xtc.html) and she mentions
that she started listening to O&L again because she saw a character
in 'Coronation Street' that reminded her of Andy ! Can either Molly or
somebody else clear this one up. Which character ?

Any other TV-XTC lookalikes ? Apart from that shifty looking bloke
playing guitar with Bryan Adams on Top of the Pops the other week ;->

--
chris2

------------------------------

Message-ID: <618F91505D89D21185330001FA6A49544646FE@HFD-EXCH008>
From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com>
Subject: I am the Kaiser, koo koo ka choo
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:41:27 -0500

>Andy Miller: However, I shudder to think where the double
>entendre may lurk in any song called "I'm the Kaiser".

Agreed. I mean, the man didn't even swing! Give me Benny
Goodman or the underrated Bob Crosby and the Bobcats any day.

Had one of those dreams last night: About 15 minutes of a
music video, with music that I recognized as leading up to
River of Orchids. This woke me up in a sweat, because the only
thing I remember is a blow-dry (i.e. idiot TV newsguy) standing
in front of a US weather map with one color for "rain", one for
"sun", and finally an area forecast to get "God's greatest
sacrifice"! Of course, this was totally ignored by all. Doesn't
have much to do with the song, and I'm not much of a Christian,
but maybe big things happen when you're not paying attention,
like perhaps Judgement Day. Good thing my wife just got her
LCSW, looks like I'm gonna need it.

Katy Coope: "Rook" is pretty much taken from the nursery rhyme
"Who Killed Cock Robin". Not to spoil things, but it's a tossup
between the Sparrow (bow and arrow) and Goosey (Uzzi). At Cock
Robin's service, the Rook with his book did the eulogy, if I'm
on the beam, so the song has Cock Robin asking all those
questions of life's meaning to basically a bird of the cloth.
What's the real story behind the poem, does anyone here know?

Dr. Rorschach reminds me of something, but I don't know what,
Karl

------------------------------

Message-ID: <000301be7799$937e9280$7114883e@o.e.e>
From: "John Bartlett" <john@bartlett132.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Sgt. Pepper
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:38:56 -0000

    To show solidarity with Mark...
Black Sea is ( was?) my Pepper.  At 14, I thought NLIOL was the most
profound thing I'd ever heard.
Nowadays, my wife saying,
"Of course I'll look after the children while you go down the pub" is the
closest I get to profundity, but that's getting older for you.
        John

------------------------------

Message-Id: <4882AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C12D0801@MGMTM02>
From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk>
Subject: Dear Ed Miller...
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:29:28 -0000

>>Would you PLEASE take your petty bickering off-line please.  I'm sick
and tired of your childish clutter taking up space in the digest.

I did say "scroll down".....maybe you weren't really concentrating.

>>I, personally, am not impressed with either of you.

Firstly, I don't think either of us are trying to impress anyone. Secondly,
you don't impress me much either, but I can live with it.

>>If
there were even a remote reference to XTC I'd give you the benefit of
the doubt, but your bantering back and forth now just looks like a way
for both of you to show off.

We've both posted countless times about XTC. In fact, most of my posts have
been directly related to current topics of discussion. You just chose to
ignore these, and instead moan about our little skirmish. How very
constructive of you.

Anyway, back in the real world where sensible people would just ignore the
likes of me, and certainly wouldn't waste everyone's time making feeble
bids to appear mature and worthy by handing out unwanted advice, there has
been much progress in my current bid to convert a few people to our
favourite popmeisters. I've managed to bully several people into buying the
album already, and have persuaded my elder sister that she would adore AV1
so much that I'm prepared to buy it for her in the event that she can't
make it into town any time soon. OK, not the biggest display of generosity
in the world, but I'm utterly potless so it's kinda indicative of my
enthusiasm if nothing else! The most effective tool so far has been my
review of the album (hark!  Is that mine own trumpet being a-blown? Oh yes,
it is - look......www.lamcat.demon.co.uk) coupled with thinly-veiled
threats and the occasional foray into hardcore bribery. Works a treat,
although perhaps saying "yeah, it's a bit like Obituary, only a bit
poppier" might have been stretching the truth somewhat....

......and how many copies of Easter Theatre will we all be buying then? I
wouldn't want to let the side down...

Dom.

------------------------------

From: mollyfa@juno.com
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:59:11 -0500
Subject: Don't make me the bad guy in this, please
Message-ID: <19990326.110433.2838.0.MollyFa@juno.com>

I don't want to be the bad person in this.  I'm not the Tipper Gore type
person.  I don't really care if you swear myself, but I was just pointing
out there are people on here that might not appreciate the language on
this.  If you need to swear go ahead.  God, I swear myself, I'm not an 80
year old woman.  But I think we should think before we write.  Sometimes
if we get angry we us language we don't normally use.  I just wanted to
point out to all the Chalkers that don't ever put me in the same grouping
as Tipper Gore or anybody else who wants to censor things.  I just was
trying to point out that you can use other words than swear words.  But
hey, I might be the only person here who thinks that, and that makes me a
bad person.  So I'll shut up and I know people will pick on me again like
they do all the time.

Molly

------------------------------

Message-ID: <36FBB4BA.75997B8@uni-bremen.de>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 17:24:27 +0100
From: Erich Sellheim <sellheim@uni-bremen.de>
Subject: 1910 Fruit Nut Company

Hello everyone,

Andy Miller asked about further songs for the (sadly) aborted bubblegum
project.  I'm pretty sure that I read in the Little Express about a demoed
song called "Visit To The Doctor" (how's that for naughty song topics?)

Oh, and my Sgt. Pepper was Elvis Costello's "Spike" in 1989, one year later
slightly surpassed by "Oranges & Lemons" (which I hadn't discovered until
then).

Do what you will but harm none 'less of course they ask you,

Erich

------------------------------

Message-ID: <36FBA7F0.9D0BF310@averstar.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:29:52 -0400
From: Harrison Sherwood <sherwood@averstar.com>
Organization: Averstar, Inc.
Subject: Car-pushers, Take Note

As the car-pushing debate goes forward, I offer the following as a sort of
sanity check. Published in nuclear-jittery 1984, and thus a bit more doomy
than might be warranted today, nevertheless it still rings true and glows
like burning coal.

For your perusal and delectation, I submit Thomas Pynchon's essay, "Is It
O.K.  to Be a Luddite?" at
http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/pynchon/pynchon.paper.luddite.html Yes,
I keep beating the Pynchon horse within the Friendly Confines, but I beat
it because I love you and I want you to be happy.

Not only is it a fascinating read, showing off in miniature the kind of
wonderful leaps of imagination that The Master performs so effortlessly,
but it goes a long way toward placing Andy's dislike of cars and their
consequences (shared, it appears, by many of us) into historical
perspective.  Here's one passage that set my Spidey-sense a-tingling:

> The craze for Gothic fiction after The Castle of Otranto was
> grounded, I suspect, in deep and religious yearnings for that
> earlier mythic time which had come to be known as the Age of
> Miracles. In ways more and less literal, folks in the 18th
> century believed that once upon a time all kinds of things had
> been possible which were no longer so. Giants, dragons, spells.
> The laws of nature had not been so strictly formulated back
> then. What had once been true working magic had, by the Age of
> Reason, degenerated into mere machinery. Blake's dark Satanic
> mills represented an old magic that, like Satan, had fallen from
> grace. As religion was being more and more secularized into
> Deism and nonbelief, the abiding human hunger for evidence of
> God and afterlife, for salvation -- bodily resurrection, if
> possible -- remained. The Methodist movement and the American
> Great Awakening were only two sectors on a broad front of
> resistance to the Age of Reason, a front which included
> Radicalism and Freemasonry as well as Luddites and the Gothic
> novel. Each in its way expressed the same profound unwillingness
> to give up elements of faith, however "irrational," to an
> emerging technopolitical order that might or might not know what
> it was doing. "Gothic" became code for "medieval," and that has
> remained code for "miraculous," on through Pre-Raphaelites,
> turn-of-the-century tarot cards, space opera in the pulps and
> comics, down to Star Wars and contemporary tales of sword and
> sorcery.

...And, one hardly needs to add, works of popular music that rely heavily
on church carvings of pre-Christian nature deities, season-worship, Nordic
theology, Harvest Festivals, radical environmentalism, et paganistic
cetera.

You owe this one to yourself. It's magically delicious, part of a complete
breakfast.

Harrison "And down with all kings but King Ludd!" Sherwood

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:38:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Ted Harms <tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Sgt. Pepper's & Dave's demos
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.96.990326113128.32720A-100000@library.uwaterloo.ca>

- My Sgt. Pepper's was the Police 'Zenyetta Mondetta' - not the best
Police album (that would be 'Ghost in the Machine') but it introduced to
songs that actually seemed crafted and deliberately made as opposed to all
the previous mindless crap I was listening to before.

I'll admit that, as a youngster, none of xTc's albums ever grabbed me -
they just kinda snuck up on ya when you realized that the songs excelled
because of their subtlety, not some forthright declaration of teenage
agnst...

- One reason that seemed to lead to Dave's departure from the band was
that any contribution that wasn't directed by Andy (or Colin) wasn't
welcome.

I'm wondering: did Dave ever demo any songs for the band?  Has anybody
ever heard them?  Are they any good?

Ted Harms                                      Library, Univ. of Waterloo
tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca                           519.888.4567 x3761
"But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare."  B. Spinoza

------------------------------

From: martin.clinton@dnb.no
Message-Id: <199903260950.BAA02238@sgi.com>
Subject: Kingdom Come
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:48:55 +0100

Hi everyone,

I'm sure some of this has been mentioned before, but here goes....

Somebody mentioned that in the DC comic "Kingdom Come" artist Alex
Ross created a character called Braniac's Daughter, what may not have
been mentioned is that if you get hold of Comicology (a paperback
magazine ABOUT the comic), you see many of Alex Ross' preparatory
sketches for the comic, and under Braniac's Daughter, are 2 pencil
sketches of his first idea and name for the character: XTC.

As for the "Sgt. Pepper" theme going on, mine was 'Black Sea'. That
was the first album I "bought" (or rather my brother bought it for me,
when I asked him to and gave him the dosh). Imagine my surprise when
he came back from Downtown Records in Romford with what looked like a
green paper bag, I thought the dozy sod had bought the wrong record!
Then me thinking I had a dodgy pressing when the crackly bit came on
at the start of Respectable Street....ah, memories....

All the best

Martin

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:57:48 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <v03007801b32123252e87@[209.86.128.164]>
From: Mitch Friedman <mitchf@mindspring.com>
Subject: musical chairs

Just in case anyone was interested, the sound of the chairs at the
beginning of "Harvest Festival" was achieved by Andy and Colin each getting
up from their chair at roughly the same moment, recorded twelve times!

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:18:25 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199903261718.JAA26561@mando.engr.sgi.com>
From: John Relph <relph@engr.sgi.com>
Subject: Re: bubblegum album

"Andy Miller" <andymiller@4thestate.co.uk> writes:
>
>This brings the total to 7: Standing in for Joe, Candymine, Cherry in your
>Tree, Lolly Let's Suck it and See, Bubbleland, My Red Aeroplane, I'm the
>Kaiser

There's also "Jelly Baby" and of course "My Brown Guitar (Some Lovely)".

And don't forget that each song was going to be performed by a
"different" group:

The Captain Cooks (Cherry in Your Tree)
The Lemon Dukes
Knights in Shining Karma

	-- John

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Message-ID: <000701be7413$6b2155e0$63cbac3e@vucqprlj>
From: "David Seddon" <D.Seddon@btinternet.com>
Subject: Singles and Songwriting
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 03:22:48 -0000

>From David Seddon, Loughborough, England.

I find this discussion about singles and the merits of various songs to be
quite fascinating.  It is interesting how we all hear different strengths
in AV1.  I'm enjoying reading people's views tremendously and am dying to
make a few more more comments:

1. I don't think that Green Man is too long for a single.  Lots of songs
get chopped for single release (or indeed get made longer for 12"format).
GM is just over 6 mins.  Respectable Street got a lyric change when it was
7"ed, Towers of London is 5.24 on BS, yet the single was 4.38 ( I haven't
played the 2 through to check this, but that's what my sleeve info
says..off hand I don't know what they chopped for the 7"..no doubt loads of
people will tell me, and if I sat down now for 10 mins I could probably
work it out).  Green Man (to my ears) is very commercially saleable (I know
that AP rightly doesn't always want this quality in his material), and it
would be a technical doddle to turn it into a single should this be a
decision that was made .  For one thing, the long fade out could be
shortened.  If you are looking to attract new listeners, it's not bad to
give people a catchy tune!  I don't necessarily think that GM is a better
piece of songwriting than ET, but I think it is more catchy.

2. Andy's songwriting is just about as good as it gets.  I've tried to
dabble a bit in songwriting myself.  If I could have written any of the
stuff on AV, I would chose YD for it's passion, poignancy and power.  I
think it's devastatingly, witheringly hard hitting.  And ROO because it is
incredibly well written and technically extremely clever.  I wouldn't pick
either as a single, however.

3.Perhaps another way of looking at music is to ask who would want to cover
it (that's one reason why the Beatles were so good...everyone did!).  I
think ICOH scores highly here because, to my ears, it has a universal
theme, is very melodic, has lovely harmonies and has that heart-rending
bluesy quality that's hard to find without sounding cliched: I can think of
a lot of people who might want to cover it, and if they do Andy could make
a lot of money.  I'd be interested to hear what others think about songs
that could be covered.

4. The last two songs on the album sound great late at night with the
lights dimmed.  I love the feel and mood of them.

5. Back to ROO.  In the car to work today I was trying to work out it's
cyclical structure.  The first bit seems to have about 5 elements: 2 lots
of plucked strings, bass, brass and vocals.  By the end there's at least 3
more things going on: 2 more lots of vocals and another brass element.
What a rich tapestry that must have taken some working out!  It's like a
piece of modern chamber music and every single time I play it, I like it
better. Next time I play it, I'll probably find something new!!

6. I really love Harvest Festival.  That line "And what a year when the
exams and crops all failed" is brilliant.  It is a lovely, cheerful,
nostalgaic song and it seems to be celebrating life in all it's glory.  The
girl he fancied as a child now makes him feel great because she's getting
married to someone else.  I love that.  It makes me very happy and, and as
the best music is often joyous, it's probably my favourite song on the
album.

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End of Chalkhills Digest #5-151
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28 March 1999 / Feedback