Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 293
Date: Sunday, 24 October 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 293
Sunday, 24 October 1999
Today's Topics:
Response to El Diablo
christmas, singles and misc
Something you don't see everyday
Current CD Recs, my instruments, source for japan imports,
Cocteau Twins
VH1 reminder
Re: xTc Tribute Update
Never Been Near A University
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Homespun vinyl and other things
Where Homespun Import?
Re: A Pearl of Wisdom
all is blackness
Much Shall Be Revealed
Re: XTC in Canada; also, mistaken identities
Hejira
Momus cd f/sale
Gear
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-Id: <l03130300b434a1c15d0a@[208.13.202.172]> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 07:12:46 -0400 From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net> Subject: Response to El Diablo >Regarding the message: >Subject: Satanas vs. El Diablo<< > >Thats funny, how can you have a logical debate online, especially with >someone who referes to their opponant as a Hamster? Real smart... > >Second, regarding that Christian fellow. Settle down. What are you going >on about? I brought up how Christains threaten to bomb a radio station >acording to Andy in the book Song Stories and you say I am being anti >Christian? So, I guess by stating my oppinion I am anti Christian? Also >very smart... Jim Bakker and Ted Kaczynski are both criminals, Bakker's a Christian and Kaczynski's effectively a pagan. "Nuff said. For that matter, Andy's an atheist himself, but he doesn't go around sending people bombs. I don't care what you choose to call yourself personally- there's a guy on another list I'm on who calls himself BinkyBonk, but he consistently makes intelligent (and sometimes extremely funny)observations that make me think real hard. KInd of like Harrison's role on this this one. Stick around and let the comments about your handle roll off your back and you'll be accepted if you make us laugh and/or think. >Food for thought: > >World Party >Aztec Camera >Howard Jones >Housemartins World Party put out a new album a year or two ago, Aztec Camera I haven't heard from in years(not since, oh, early 90's), Howard Jones owns a vegetarian restaurant in NYC and does occasional shows and may have released a new album, but I'm not a fan so I haven't gone looking for it, two of the Housemartins formed a new band called The Beautiful South that released a couple of albums in the 90's and may still be together. >Where are they now?! > >I have Stewarts Vinyl! I never knew it was that rare. I just have it >sitting in my garage. > >Stand on your own head for a change... TMBG Or stand on someone else's head- they call that punk yoga. >What happened to U2? Is it me or did they go from being a historical band >to being the worst group in history? Yeah, Pop was pretty lame. I hear their next album's going to be a much more stripped down and bluesy approach, though. Maybe they need to stop listening to Bono's inflated ego and just let Edge play some geetar. Supposedly it's going to include a song cowritten by Salman Rushdie, lyrics from his most recent novel. I could swear the character Ormus Cama is a cross between Fred Mercury, Bono, and Prince. Christopher R. Coolidge Homepage at http://homepages.together.net/~cauldron/homepage.html "A Great law protects me from the government. The Bill of rights has 10 GREAT laws. A Good law protects me from you. Laws against murder, theft, assault and the like are good laws. A Poor law attempts to protect me from myself." - Unknown
------------------------------ Message-ID: <41BC73C88FDBD2119D2908002BB32B3928A02F@lonexchg02.getty-images.com> From: Warren Butson <Warren.Butson@getty-images.com> Subject: christmas, singles and misc Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 13:52:16 +0100 observations I have made: 1. How could no one mention possibly the greatest (non-novelty)christmas record of all time . "I believe in Father Christmas"! by Greg Lake, it's an epic and was a smash hit in england in 1975, was it a hit in USA? 2.I thought that people who like xtc would definately like squeeze. isn't that the case? for the uninitiated check ot either argybargy, east side story or play. 3. TMBG were better when they were eccentric ie lincoln and flood but I quite liked John Henry. 4.Why is it most men love laurel and hardy but women can't stand it. 5.everyone predicted Greenman as the obvious single from av1-Wrong! what's your prediction for av2 from the evidence of the demos so far? that's it. wazza.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <380EADA0.D6E4FD3E@mail.gci.net> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 22:07:29 -0800 From: adamette@augustine.gci.net Subject: Something you don't see everyday The following is an excerpt from an e-mail that I just received from a friend of mine: (snip) I really like that XTC CD. I also really enjoy listening to the tape you made for me. My favorite song on the tape (one of my favorites) is "I'd like that". You have a good taste in music. :-) (snip) (!!!!) Cheers Patrick Juneau, AK
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19991021105950.01c06180@netcom5.netcom.com> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 11:25:33 -0400 From: "David W. Millians" <millia@netcom.com> Subject: Current CD Recs, my instruments, source for japan imports, First posting in a while- so, as traditional, props to Mr. Relph for continuing the best mailing list I know. Boy, has the volume skyrocketed. I shouldn't have been surprised, but the new Chris Cornell album is marvelously poppy. It was vaguely synchronistic, too- I had just been playing the Jason Faulkner, and got the new Cornell, and he plays on one song. Anyway, check out samples online- hopefully they illustrate some of the range of the songs. Not all songs are poppy, but about 2/3 are, and they are wonderful. If you're hesitant because you didn't like Soundgarden, you shouldn't be- Cornell has always contributed poppier stuff than Kim Thayil et al did, and he's not using any really peculiar tunings here. Instruments: I have an heirloom bagpipe that dates to at least the 1780s and a custom lefty banjo. I don't get invited to jam often. No guitar right now- I'm saving up for a lefty Gretsch '57 SilverJet with bigsby tremolo a la Billy Zoom. I looked, but the only place I could find online that could get the Japan version of homespun was cdeurope.com. If anybody has other suggestions, you can send them to me and I'll summarize later. Waiting on homespun, -- David W. Millians - sum quid sum millia@netcom.com
------------------------------ Message-ID: <380F33BB.21594B7E@bond.net> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 11:39:40 -0400 From: Mark & Barb Kirk <mondacello@bond.net> Subject: Cocteau Twins > Molly mentioned: > > <<Cocteau Twins' version of Frosty the Snowman>> > > Wow, how could I forget that song. I just adore > Elizabeth Frasier's vocals on this song. Her voice is > so beautiful. I've been a fan of The Cocteau Twins > for a long time, but I have none of their albums yet. > I know this isn't XTC related, but does anybody have > any recommendations on a good first Cocteau Twins > album? Ahhhh, Molly you have great taste. The Twins are amongst the bands of my younger years (along with XTC, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Robyn Hitchcock) that I will never tire of listening to. My first CT album was 'Treasure', way back in '84... it was sort of the transitional point in their career, combining both their early neo-punk abrassiveness with the beautiful dreamlike quality that would come to true fruition on later albums such as 'Heaven or Las Vegas', 'Four Calendar Cafe' and 'Milk and Kisses'. Incidentally, Bella Union (the label the Twins created shortly before their demise) has just released 'The BBC Sessions'... a two disc package that covers all of the bands radio performances. A nice retrospective look, and a fitting epitaph for this wonderful band. ... AND, Liz is still currently working on her first solo album, due out next year. P.S., don't forget 'Winter Wonderland', I feel the better of the two tracks on 'Snow'. ~Mark Kirk~
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 09:09:09 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199910211609.JAA08364@mail2.deltanet.com> From: Brown <mb2@deltanet.com> Subject: VH1 reminder Hey, all you Yankee-Noodle Chalkdogs! Have you sent those XTC/Behind The Music requests in yet? No? Those disturbing nightmares and strange food cravings will continue until you do... Remember to send them to: VH1POSTAL@aol.com -Head them towards the charming Nancy (viewer services), who has politely declined my XTC requests in the past. -or- go to the VH1 website and click to SHOWS Don't forget to get your friends involved...lobby hard, kidz... I will post a reminder next week- Be Mighty, Debora 'sinister chin' Brown
------------------------------ Message-ID: <380F486B.64606D58@mailorder.com> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 10:07:55 -0700 From: Kerry Chicoine <kchicoine@mailorder.com> Organization: American Computer Group Subject: Re: xTc Tribute Update Dearest Chalkhillians, In reponse to my recent post re: compiling yet another xTc fan tribute CD, here are the tentative submissions I've received as of today, Thursday, October 21, 1999: Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen Kevin Kelly Making Plans for Nigel OR No Thugs... Leighton Humble Daisy (it's yours J!) James Campbell I'm Bugged OR Procession Towards... Todd Bernhardt Dear Madam Barnum OR Earn Enough... Nipper and the Seaturtles This is the End Harrison Sherwood Mermaid Smiled Kerry Chicoine There's still plenty of room for more, More, MORE xTc songs! Don't be shy! Reserve your favorite song now! Borne on foaming seahorse herd, Kerry Chicoine aka Kompost http://www.mp3.com/artists/15/kompost.html http://www.cdbaby.com/buy/kompost.htm http://www.popstar.net/kickstand/
------------------------------ From: spitts@thesaurus-computers.co.uk Message-ID: <80256811.0069DCB6.00@thesaurus-computers.co.uk> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 20:15:21 +0100 Subject: Never Been Near A University Afternoon Chalkfolks, In 288 Molly stated: > To me you can either like Squeeze or XTC, not both, but I like both < I've been trying to fathom the logic of this statement and it's making my head hurt. It sounds like the sort of thing that Doctor Who would say to an evil computer to cause it to self-destruct <fffzzzzzzttt> and it is having a similar effect on my brain. For me Squeeze and XTC are two of the finest bands in my record collection, with both having that quintessential 'Englishness' that generally separates the artists that I listen to the most from those that I merely consider very good (other examples would be Roy Harper, Nick Drake and Billy Bragg and at a push I might just be able to shoe-horn The Fall and 'pre-Collins as vocalist' Genesis in there). The only way that I'd be able to separate the two bands would be to observe that (IMO) XTC have never made a bad album, and indeed hardly have a bad track to their name (on the studio albums at least), whereas Squeeze recently dropped that ball with the (again IMO) execrable 'Domino' and certainly have a handful of cringingly bad tracks to their name (including a couple of Xmas themed tunes that make the XTC ones on Rag&Bone look like the height of Christmas cheer) In 289 macthedad admitted: > Just recently I began playing some of their tunes for my two year old < That's the ticket, get 'em whilst they're young :) I've been playing XTC (amongst a great deal else) to my bairns and whilst they do occasionally show shocking lapses in taste (Darrell recently admitted to liking Geri Halliwell's 'La Dolce Vita' <shudder>) they seem to latch on to the better stuff with alacrity. Earlier this week I asked them what they'd like to listen to whilst we sat down for our evening meal. "XTC" suggested my (9 year old) son. "Smartest Monkeys ... you know, the one with Peter Pumpkinhead" piped up my 6 year old daughter, Jacqueline. "No, no" insisted her brother "the one with Greenman on it" (and after a moment or two even remembered the album title). I just smiled quietly to myself and put "Apple Venus" into the CD player. We even ended up discussing what a chorus was in terms of the words to the aforementioned tracks from Nonsuch whilst Easter Theatre was playing. I just hope they don't stop listening to such gems simply because their Dad likes them and Dorothy Spirito opined: > People *claiming* to be Christians may have threatened that radio station, but people who have dedicated themselves to living the example Jesus Christ gave, which is, in a nutshell, love God and love others -- would *not* have < You may feel that the rest of us should make the distinction, but in general terms if you associate with an organisation - whether it be a political party, religion, trade union, whatever - you have to accept that such confusions may arise, especially in the minds of the uninvolved. Organised religion doesn't exactly have a great record on avoidance of violence in pursuit of the conversion of heathens, and it is ingenuous of you to expect to distance yourself from that if you don't also distance yourself from the organisation itself (which you may do, for all I know, but it didn't sound like it) In 290 the devil himself asked: > I have not bought the Transistor Box set yet, thats next. What did everyone think of that? Is it worth the money? < If you like the early XTC catalogue, then definitely. There are some cracking versions, both live and amongst the radio sessions, of songs that weren't exactly average in their original incarnations. Worth every penny IMO Several recent mentions have been made of: > The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping < Is their stuff readily available in the US on CD, because I've had little luck tracking anything down over this side of the pond (although I have to admit that I've not yet taken a trip into the Smoke (old Lahndahn tahn) to try the likes of Virgin, HMV or Tower)?? I have Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? on cassette and Bruisology on vinyl and I'd like to replace them, and add anything else the band might have done, with the silver discs that aren't as susceptible to the attentions of small children and the increasingly clumsily arthritic fingers of their father. (FWIW I prefer to buy my music in the shops where I can finger the merchandise first, but I am not totally averse to buying via mail order or the web if necessary) > Melissa "They used to say I looked like Tina Weymouth" Reaves < She was a punk Lolita CBGB era :) later in the flow Melissa asked: > I want songs that have to do with children and childhood and parenting and the parent-child relationship and growing up. Any more suggestions? < May not be the most popular/upbeat suggestions but how about The Last Balloon and Smartest Monkeys as warnings WRT what can go awry if we're not more careful of our children's future?? In 291 Kompost thought that > "Great! Didn't They?" would be a silly-cool title < Without restarting any grammar/spelling debates, surely that should be 'Grate, didn't they' (at least, that is how I'd interpret Andy's riposte)?? Cheers, Steve (who doesn't own any musical instruments, can't even play the triangle, doesn't have any other collections that he'd like to share, and thinks that lists of hardware are about as exciting as streams of consciousness on the relative merits or otherwise of Nirvana or the tell-tale appearance of trolls)
------------------------------
Message-ID: <380F6F57.EDEB3197@averstar.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 15:54:00 -0400
From: Harrison Sherwood <sherwood@averstar.com>
Organization: Averstar, Inc.
Subject: How Does Your Garden Grow?
"Rock stars: Is there *nothing* they don't know?"
--Homer Simpson
Fungal Obsessive Completist Sherwood went to Tower yesterday and snagged
a copy of Homespun (before icky old TVT yanked it off the shelves).
Back home, listening to what small parts of it I hadn't heard already in
one form or another, and pawing through the packaging the way one does,
I marveled at the cover-design conceit that replicates AV1's visual
presentation, down to the grubby pencil sketch of the Andy-and-Colin
photo montage from the original. While thus engaged I came across the
little epigraph on the back of the CD cover, in the same place as that
Wicca Golden Rule "Do what you will but harm none" thingy on AV1:
"A bird's bush in your hand is worth it too."
I was completely flummoxed. What does this *mean*? I spent yesterday
evening pawing desperately through Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a
Thousand Faces," Fraser's "The Golden Bough," William James' "The
Varieties of Religious Experience" and Bulfinch's Mythology, visiting
Neo-Pagan websites, researching Runic, Tantric, Celtic and Shamanic
writings, holding it up to the mirror to see if it spelled something
backwards*, and pacing widdershins around the conservatory, muttering
distractedly and frightening the servants. It's *got* to be some sort of
artfully veiled comment on the "original" Rede, but what? *What*?
After a night of feverish tossing and turning, filled with nightmarish
avian and topiary imagery, I awoke this morning and resolved to take the
bull by the bush--no, I mean the bush by the horns--and plumb the depths
of this deep, dark conundrum. Entering "bush" and "bird" at various
Internet search engines finally yielded some glimmers of light--I felt
like a lost spelunker emerging from a damp cave, blinking in the
sunshine. Most revelatory was the painting located at
http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/botticelli/venus/venus.jpg. From
somewhere deep in my encyclopedic store of art history lore, I dredged
up the little-known subtitle for this painting, an inside joke among
Botticelli's clacque in 1486, much later appropriated by Longfellow:
One if by land, and two if by sea
But the bird keeps her hand on the bush
Modestly.
And there, off to the right-hand side of the painting, we see the very
bush to which the Renaissance wits were referring--a mountain laurel, if
my guess is right. That there don't appear to be any birds around it,
and that we native speakers of English refer to a bird's pedal appendage
as a "claw" and not a "hand" are the merest trifles; those Italian guys
could spin symbolism out of the sheerest gossamer.
So, out of this melange of Neo-Paganism, Renaissance Classicism, and
venereal Partridgean wit, a clearer picture begins to emerge. Plainly,
in the Partridge _weltanschauung_, "Do what you will" is not enough;
this hedonic maxim, redounding of the animistic traditions of ancient
Britain, must be tempered with the moderating humanism of
fifteenth-century Italy. The Manichean oppositions between the two
traditions are resolved and made whole by a simple device, one that
Partridge himself plainly meant us to perform--I refer to the
concatenation of the two mottoes:
"Do what you will but harm no bird's bush."
Awe-struck, contemplating the profundity of the truth revealed thereby,
I sign myself,
Harrison "Ward, don't you think you're being a little hard on the
Beaver?" Sherwood
-----
*It does, in fact: "oot ,it htrow si dnah eht ni hsub s'drib A" if
you're curious.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <380F8B03.2DF4C582@zfn.uni-bremen.de> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 23:52:03 +0200 From: Erich Sellheim <sellheim@zfn.uni-bremen.de> Organization: Zentrum =?iso-8859-1?Q?f=FCr?= Netze Universitat Subject: Homespun vinyl and other things Hi everyone, reading all the talk about Homespun, I was wondering if anyone has got the vinyl version, as no one has mentioned it yet. I got it a few days ago; same design as the CD, no gatefold cover like AV1, the liner notes are on one side of the inner sleeve, and the handwritten lyrics are missing. The only thing "new" is the band sketch on the other side of the inner sleeve which has Andy at the front (and not Colin, like the CD version), but that was the same with the photos used in the different AV1 formats, so no surprises here; just a great album. Has anybody noticed that the "Frivolous Tonight" demo is different from the version that was circulating on tapes some time ago? Another question: How come half of the last few digests were filled up with suggestions of Christmas classics, and no one picked "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" by Wizzard which is fabulous (much like nearly everything else Roy Wood ever did)? If you're going for something very silly, you also might like to listen to "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" by Spike Jones. And another Christmas song by Cliff Richard was called "Mistletoe And Wine", but that one's a bit lame IMHO, nothing like his (and this will really offend some people on this list) good stuff. Some other things: Someone asked about the unreleased XTC song "Pearl" which is really a hidden gem. The demo is just Andy singing and playing acoustic guitar; it's from about 1980 and in its gentle style clearly pointing forward to things to come. I once listened to an interview where Andy spoke about the (I think) "Black Sea" sessions, how he played the song to the rest of the band and how they all reacted by making vomiting gestures, so that may be the reason it was never properly recorded. Martin Newell did a nice acapella version of it which can be found on his vinyl 7 inch box set "Don't Step On My Rainbow" (released on German label "Jarmusic"). Some other person mentioned a song called "Westminster Cathedral"; well, I think you mean "Winchester Cathedral", and that one's by The New Vaudeville Band. If I come across as being 80 years old by knowing this, I'd like to say that I'm really only 26. On a similar note, are there other "Song Stories" readers who stumbled about Colin's "Harvest Festival" remarks about the song becoming dangerously close to Clive Dunn's "Grandad" and wondered what kind of song that actually is? Well...I found out! It was a huge hit in Great Britain in the early 70s and has to be heard to be believed. I had figured it might be a song ABOUT a grandad, when actually it is a song SUNG BY a grandad, with a voice sounding as if singing the song was the last thing he did. And do you know Keith West? I once read a list (might have been in "Song Stories" again) put together by the Dukes, containing musical influences on all the songs they did, and in the case of "Have You Seen Jackie?" they said something like "Everything by Syd Barrett and Keith West". While I don't really see the link to Keith West, I urge everyone to seek out his only hit "Excerpt From A Teenage Opera", a gorgeous song with marvellously kitschy children's singing; absolutely recommended! Best wishes to everyone, Erich
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s80f519e.043@wpo.it.luc.edu> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 17:46:41 -0500 From: "Jerry Kaelin" <JKAELIN@wpo.it.luc.edu> Subject: Where Homespun Import? Amazon.com had the import listed, but they emailed me back, saying it was unavailable.....Anyone know where it is available? Email to "the list" and I presume that John will publish the source for the sake of other seekers....THANKS.
------------------------------
Message-ID: <19991021232112.9455.rocketmail@web208.mail.yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 16:21:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: pancho artecona <partecona@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: A Pearl of Wisdom
Hey there,
A fellow named Travis asks
" I was on the Martin Newell site "Wildman Of
Wivenhoe" and read an interview where Martin Newell
noted his use of an "unused XTC song" entitled Pearl.
Has anyone here heard this cover originally written by
Andy P.?"
I am glad someone has mentioned the song. I heard tha
original a couple of months ago and asked the list for
more info (eg, was it a Partridge composition?). So I
guess it was written by Andy eh? I have a really bad
tape of it and I think he says something regarding
Steve Lillywhite in relation to the song. The song
itself is quite beautiful, with connections to the
later lyric "Makes your Shakespeare hard and your
oyster Pearl" ("Pearl Oh Pearl/ Don't cloister
yourself away/ Everybody loves a pretty girl/ The
world's your oyster come out and play").
Anyway, more info would be appreciated.
Pancho XPRXTCFAN
------------------------------
Message-Id: <199910220112.VAA02731@nantucket.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 21:08:26 -0400
Subject: all is blackness
From: "Diamond" <arnos@nantucket.net>
>>Bad grammer is something up with which I will not put!
>Wasn't it "A dangling participle is something..."? Who
>said that first, by the way?
I think Winston Churchill. I may be wrong
Here's a list of things I can see from my computer.
Blackness... blackness... Oh, wait, let me open my eyes first...
There we go. I can see much better now.
on a much lower and more resounding note, does anyone have any feelings or
recomendations they'd like to make to me about what Adrian Belew discs to
buy? In the used CD section of my local CD shoppe, there's "Here" and some
long titled one that I can't remember. they also have "Salad Days" that
Isn't used. ANy of these good? Any CD's by him that are better, please
reveal to me. I'll have Charlie order them (Charlie owns the record
store... we're like this X)
Also, Mellissa, glad you liked it. Can't wait to here your version., since
that predicament has befallen me several times in the past (Fallin behind
in the 'hills"
Kevin Diamond
illin' in the 'hills
_____________________________________
"No one in the world ever get's what they want, and that is beautiful.
Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful"
-John Linnell/They Might Be Giants
------------------------------
Message-ID: <19991022025151.9103.qmail@www0p.netaddress.usa.net>
Date: 21 Oct 99 19:51:51 PDT
From: vee tube <veetube@netscape.net>
Subject: Much Shall Be Revealed
Ian?
Fast'N'Bulbous CD?
Yes!
Imaginary Records CAT. No. ILL CD 200
(More info off post)
Karl. I'm not sure if this is what you were
looking for but, It's all I've got!
"Green's the colour of the sparklin' calm, in the
morning, when we rise.
Donovan "colours" 1964 Hickory single #1324
(I was already 12 when this came out and had no idea
that a scant 3 years later I would be baking banana skins
at 200 degrees for 47 minutes)
DANGER...DANGER...DANGER WILL ROBINSON...XTC CONTENT AHEAD!!!!!
XTC parodies? Well, you could always look up...
"The 'freakin' ballad of Mr F*ckin.Winky Fish!!!!
Digest # 266
XTC Covers, You know, some of you Chalk Heads need to get OLD!
I mean you go on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on
OOPS!
You see, the Boys don't really need to cover other people
because they are so emphatically consumed by their own
singularity!
For those of you in Ria Linda. Singularity: 1.An infinite
series of cosmic re-generations culminating in...
Oh F*ck it
On the other fin, I'm sure the Dukes could glom much
inspiration from the 'Stone's'
2000 Light Years!
Pearch!Out!
}---:)
------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.2.32.19991021231828.007019a4@mail.interlog.com> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 23:18:28 -0400 From: David Oh <davidoh@interlog.com> Subject: Re: XTC in Canada; also, mistaken identities >From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net> >Subject: XTC in Canada >I first heard XTC in Canada, when they played Nigel on CHOM-FM quite a lot >the summer I graduated from high >school... XTC's always been more popular >in Canada than the rest of the world. Drums And Wires actually went gold, >as I'm pretty sure English Settlement, Skylarking, and Oranges And Lemons >did too. i first heard xtc on cfny-fm 102.1 - now known as edge 102 - way back in late '79. drums & wires was a top 10 album, as was black sea & english settlement... at that time. and that is my point - at that time. xtc, along with a few other bands like u2 and talking heads, were the darlings of the "new wave" movement here in the late 70s/early 80s. xtc were then receiving a lot of attention - on "alternative" radio and tv (anyone remember "the new music"?) - but have since received only minimal airplay at best, notably only with "dear god". "all you pretty girls" made but a small ripple on the radio, mostly due to its video rotation on (not)muchmusic."the mayor of simpleton" was hardly a hit upon release - a great shame, that, imho - while "the disappointed" sank like a stone; all this on "alternative" radio, not mainstream, m-o-r, or contemporary hit radio. the closest xtc get nowadays on radio in the toronto area is when "dear god" gets played, the sarah maclaughlin version, or "the ballad of peter pumpkinhead", the crash test dummies version - certainly not the original versions. forget about any of the other single releases. so, that was my point - once they did, but now, virtually never! also, i'm not so sure about your claim that xtc has always been more popular in canada than the rest of the world. "skylarking" and "oranges & lemons" are (apparently) gold in both canada and the u.s., however, a gold record in canada is 50,000 units sold, while in the u.s., it's 500,000 units. quite a discrepancy, i'd say... xtc certainly had a stronger following in canada before they made any headway in america, as most bands usually do, but i don't think they are more popular here than anywhere else... maybe per capita.... now, onto another point: what is (are) the most ridiculous case(s) of mistaken identity you've heard regarding xtc? i have two: 1. when i mentioned xtc at a party once, a girl said, "ooo, i like them, especially 'i need you tonight'". she was thinking of inxs, of course. when i corrected her, she implied that xtc must've gotten their name from inxs... i didn't feel like telling her it was the other way around - i don't think it would've mattered to her. i sought out more stimulating company elsewhere. 2. at the toronto av1 record signing in february, tower had a big sign announcing "andy partridge of xtc". two elderly women saw the sign, and the crowd, and then one of them asked me, "is he the guy from the partridge family?" so, how 'bout you? anyone got a similar story of mistaken identity? peace & xtc, davidoh
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001901bf1c3b$f7467020$0fe0868b@GaryHooper> From: "Gary Hooper" <hooperg@bigpond.com> Subject: Hejira Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 13:15:11 +1000 Tyler Hewitt wrote in Digest #291: "Well I've recommended this one before on this list, but you really need to get a copy of Joni Mitchell's "Hejira"." I just had to leap in to second that emotion. One of my all-time top 10, not just for the arrangements, the sinuous bass playing of the late Jaco Pastorius perfectly complimenting the guitars of Joni and Larry Carlton, but also for the LYRICS! A recent thread has concerned lyricists, and this album alone should guarantee Joni Mitchell a place on any "best of" list. The album is full of road imagery, I believe used as a metaphor for life's journey,meditations on lovers lost, reflections on the fleeting nature of happiness and the solitariness of existence. (...starting to sound like Sartre here!) Alternately melancholy and uplifting, in the words of a local TV "guru" : "do yourselves a favour"! - Gary.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <015d01bf1c41$46d85d60$71ae163f@default> From: "brynneandscott" <brynneandscott@email.msn.com> Subject: Momus cd f/sale Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 23:55:26 -0400 Organization: Microsoft Corporation >Wes Long (WESnLES@aol.com) shares his cd player lineup-- >Momus 20 Vodka Jellies (thanks Jeffie) excellent! a wonderful collection! very good listening (although the "grunge" tracks can be a little painful).< Which reminds me. MOMUS-Stars Forever double cd I have a sealed copy of this if anyone is interested. I placed an online order for several cds and they sent (and billed me for) an extra copy of this one. It was on sale for $11 so I'll pass it on for the same w/no shipping charge to the U.S. The album is a collection of songs about people and other things such as Reckless Records (Chicago), Minty Fresh, the Minus 5, Girlie Action, Other Music (NY) and the Indiepop List. He was paid $1,000 by each person or group to write their personal song. Some of the catchiest songs I've heard in awhile are on this release and in a variety of styles. Great fun. (There is some adult content so consider yourself warned) Please reply to brynneandscott@msn.com Scott Shaw
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19991022035803.24052.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> Subject: Gear Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 20:58:02 PDT WI'll weigh in with my contribution to the ongoing "you show me yours, I'll show you mine" musical gear competition: Currently, and since time immemorial (1977, actually) my chief accomplice has been my dear old '68 Fender Stratocaster, (rosewood fretboard, tremolo arm) originally sunburst, but refinished in livid hot pink by some unknown hand back in the late 60s or early 70s. She's a darlin' ... - Fender Squier Precision bass, a cheapy, but not at all bad for the price - a rather nice black Ibanez 6-string acoustic (bought for a song at the local pawnshop) - Boss ME-6 multi-effects unit - built like a tank and it makes lots of outrageous noises; one of my favourite toys - Zoom drum/bass thingy - can't remember what the model number is but it's a bottler; still getting my head around this one - Jim Dunlop wah-wah pedal - shitty little Hofner practice amp (one day I'll get that Marshall...) - Fender bass amp (forget the model - it's in storage cos my house is too small) - upright piano, on which I have been known to simulate musical sounds at certain times On the casualty list (i.e. loved and lost) - Mini-Moog synthesiser (*sob* why, why, why did I sell it???) - Roland Space Echo (ditto) - Hofner Strat-style solid-body covered in red imitation croc-skin vinyl (mega-nifty, but poverty made me sell it) - Burns semi-acoustic - Fender Musicmaster bass - Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger - Coloursound Wah-Swell pedal PS - Todd - how the hell did you afford all that gear?? I'm stunned. You actually OWN all that stuff???? Ye gods .... PPS: Christmas? Baaah! Humbug!! Dunks
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-293 *******************************
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