Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 156
Date: Wednesday, 7 June 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 156
Wednesday, 7 June 2000
Topics:
UK Chart News (sigh!)
the "D" word, fan differences, etc.
Retraction
The Orchid Show/Update
production musings & Love!
Casey Kasem
Hiccup?
Standing up for Colin...
Joe's "Wife"
An Open Letter To TVT Records.
Re: Kids dig XTC...& wOUNDED HORSE...
sigh
Musical cliches
Belly Dancing in the Dungeon
Reply to "Andy is not Sting..."
Acoustic Tales Apology & Collins Bass Playing
"this is the voice of god!"
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No way to spend a life -- Ooh!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 00:30:39 +0100 (BST) From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: UK Chart News (sigh!) Message-ID: <20000606233039.25670.qmail@web1505.mail.yahoo.com> OK, it was entirely predictable, but...it was just us. WS has dropped out of the UK, HMV and amazon.co.uk charts. So, pretty well everyone who bought this album did so in the first week (day? hour?) of release. Still, we haven't had a single release here yet... anyone know what's happening with ITMWML in the UK?(I seem to recall info about a June release) but can't find anything about it on Cooking Vinyl or HMV.co.uk sites. Rory "All characters are based on real people. Probably you" Wilsher
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 16:47:56 -0700 From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com> Subject: the "D" word, fan differences, etc. Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B6AC@mgcservices.com> In 6-153, John Hedges touched on something that's been bugging me: Which reminds me: Why does hearing demo versions of AV1 and WS songs in advance have to "ruin" the listening experience once you have the finished albums? I heard the demos, and I love(d) them. I'm listening to Wasp Star now, and I love that too. All you folks who are having problems with this should just listen to the album a few more times. Keep listening until the problem goes away... I totally agree that there's no way that this has to "ruin" things. For myself, I'm pretty much immune to spoilers, so the weight a lot of people were putting on the "surprise" aspect makes it sound like that's the be-all and end-all of the listening experience. I'm not a musician myself, but I'm fascinated by production, as well as the workings of any creative process. For me there were plenty of surprises for me to enjoy when I heard the final versions. It's similar to when I was fascinated by movie special effects as a teenager - I'd read every book & magazine article on how these things were done; people would ask me "well, doesn't that spoil the mystery & make it impossible to suspend disbeleif?' but I on the other hand couldn't understand how people could have such a problem switching between knowing how it's done & then turning on one's "belief suspender" while watching a movie... (not an exact analogy, but... well, for some people knowing how something's done spoils the magic, for others it somehow becomes more magical. Not that I think that XTC use "trickery", but hopefully at least a few people out there will know what I mean.) I'm completely mystified by the people who aren't enjoying this album, but it seems to me that all the methods of determining just what separates the lovers from the haters (or dislikers) that have been put forward so far just do not hold water. I think that we can all agree that: Some people who heard the demos loved the album. Some people who heard the demos did not love the album. Some people who did not hear the demos loved the album. Some people who did not hear the demos did not love the album. The whole "hear the demos, hate the album" logic that a lot of people are trying to use as some sort of rule just does not apply. I also don't think that any sort of "early stuff fans" vs. "later stuff fans" separation is going to work either. (though how about "full career fans" vs. people firmly in either camp? I'm a "full career" fan myself & I love the album... though I doubt that this would hold up as any kind of reliable rule either.) Warren Butson seemed to hit the nail on the head: It sometimes seems to me that the only thing that unites us is that we like xtc, there's always so much variation on likes and dislikes, is that because we're just all very opinionated or is it xtc's fault for being so varied in their styles? I think it's both. One of the things I like best about this list is the way that our appreciation for this band is like an intersection which we've all approached from different directions, resulting in a kind of multi-car pileup of opinions and perspectives (the fun kind of multi-car pileup, of course, as opposed to the usual painful, terrifying non-metaphorical kind; your individual experience may of course vary). Ed K.
------------------------------ Date: 7 Jun 00 09:55:56 AES From: Paul.Culnane@dcita.gov.au Subject: Retraction Message-ID: <0004nzjllnrx.0004lrdnttpp@dcita.gov.au> Please disregard my last post in which I offered copies of the Andy Partridge Triple-J interview. A technical hitch (ie I accidentally erased the recording) prevents me from copying it for anyone. So please don't email me with requests. Mind you, it seems like every man and his/her Jack Russell taped *and* transcribed the bloody thing so maybe someone else out there might be willing to offer copies. Thanks ~p@ul
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:34:31 EDT From: Christowle@aol.com Subject: The Orchid Show/Update Message-ID: <84.63e8000.266ef297@aol.com> Hello to all- I just wanted to tell you all to keep your eyes open for the upcoming previews/interviews for The Orchid Show, featuring the Neta Dance Company with music by XTC. Time Out will be running a feature dance article on it and there will be a preview article of the show in the Village Voice and the New Yorker. Check it out! And you gotta see the show! Call the Kitchen box office: 212-255-5793 ext. 11 to get your tickets. If you miss the Orchid Show in NYC.... you can always come to Poland where it will be performed in the Krakow 2000 Festival... Christina
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 17:56:04 -0700
From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com>
Subject: production musings & Love!
Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B6AD@mgcservices.com>
In 6-153, Brett Reaves wrote:
First off I have read that XTC have recorded most of the
guitars on this album with a device called the POD. I own one of these
lovely devices and was pretty sure it was what they were using when I heard
the opening riff to Playground. It is a great tool that digitally recreates
the sounds of many of the famous tube amplifiers that have graced your
favorite albums since the Beatles. However brilliantly it does it's job, the
POD is still just a digital re-creation of these sound and not the sound of
an actual amp itself. It does not have the same dynamics or physical
reaction with the environment that a real amplifier does. Subliminally,
this may effect your emotional response to some degree.
Well, the POD may not be true analog, but I definitely prefer it to "plain
vanilla" digital. Artificial life is better than no life at all. Some of the
stuff that Andy was saying in a recent interview about how distortions in
the recording process helped make some of our favourite old recordings sound
the way they do is something I've suspected for years. Whenever an artist
has re-recorded an early work because of the "lousy sound" of the original,
something has really been lost, and not just the spontaneity of the original
performance. Distortion & noise is something to be used, not stamped out
(and I'm not just talking about guitar feedback, but the sounds of "classic"
recording technology itself). The whole notion of "fidelity" is a bit of a
fallacy anyway, as far as I'm concerned - I mean, "fidelity" to what?
Everything is recorded separately & relentlessly edited anyway (even with
bands with a full contingent of live players), so any "performance"
visualized in the listener's head is just an illusion. The only fidelity
that matters at all is fidelity to the artist's intentions, and that is all.
Also along the same lines, Herne recently said something about the sound of
both AV1&WS being "low-tech"...
Well, if "low tech" means that the strings in AV1 sound like real wood, glue
& gut instruments (hear the bows squeak! Smell the rosin!) instead of
over-vibrato'ed mush like some damn Celine Dion thing then I'm all for it.
If low tech means that the acoustic guitars on "I'd Like That" & "Your
Dictionary" sound like real wood-bodied instruments held in someone's hands
instead of a set of guitar strings hanging in limbo somewhere without a
body, then count me in as a low tech fan (even if it's POD-emulated low
tech). And I'll say once more (and possibly again in the future if provoked)
that the electric guitar sound on Wasp Star is my favourite since Big
Express.
Herne also said something along the lines of this being a combination of
"overproduced" and "low tech". I think I see what he's saying, but in my
case I find this to be the perfect combination. It's the kind of
"overproduction" that I love, basically "pile on whatever's necessary to get
the sound we want - after all we're a studio band!" combined with a pleasing
rawness in the actual component sounds being used.
Absolutely perfect, as far as I'm concerned.
I think one of the things that always appealed to me in a lot of original
psychedelia was a result of ambitious production hitting the ceiling of the
limitations of the technology of the time. The resulting distortions were
something that people worked hard to eliminate, but in retrospect it seems
obvious that it added something to the charm of those recordings.
As for production on other XTC albums (at least those whose production seems
to be most frequently debated; the usual "these are opinions & emotional
reactions, not pronouncements or judgements, etc." disclaimers apply)...
1. Now, I don't want to be listed as a "Nonsuch" slagger, I love all the
songs on that album & have gained hours of enjoyment from it, but I think
that it's probably my least favourite production job of any of their albums,
because of the "uninterfered-with" digital sound specifically.
2. I understand why people say they think O&L is "overproduced" (and I'd
never just tell them to shut up!), but I disagree; the whole "open the
closet door & get buried under an avalanche of musical instruments" effect
is one of that album's not inconsiderable charms. Everything's so close
together and in your face, with no dead air...
3. Skylarking... I've read a lot of people complaining about "too
compressed" etc., and one guy a while back taking Andy's "cake" analogy &
saying he thought it was too much of a cardboard cake with paper
decorations. Well, all of these things are what I like about it (let's not
even get into the usual Rundgren baggage, m'kay?). It's like a ViewMaster,
where there's a 3d effect, but each "depth" is 2 dimensional, but that just
makes the effect cooler. Again, I can only respect the decision to make the
record sound as "cool" (sorry) as possible, without some silly attempt at
"fidelity" to a listening experience that exists nowhere in the real world.
4. Big Express just kicks ass. Get over complaining about the damn drum
machines.
This is not a list of my opinions of the production of every damn album
("thank God!" did I hear you say?) so I'll end it there. These are just
things that have occurred to me as I've read other people's various
production quibbles over the past several months, but never replied to at
the time.
A lot of this post is also based on the "theories" I used to drunkenly spout
to any friend who'd listen back when I wanted to produce records (my only
teenage "rock star fantasy", as I was never a musician & can't sing to save
my life...).
One last thing...
Also in 6-153, John Hedges wrote:
But if it *has* to be an allusion to some old sixties band,
then I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably Love - as in Arthur Lee and
co. Ol' Arthur was quite fond of that sort of thing. If you have "Forever
Changes" you can sort of hear what I'm referring to on a song called,
interestingly enough, "Live and Let Live." (If you have other Love albums,
well, you're a bigger fan of Love than me!)
I just recently discovered this band & can't believe it took me this long!
This is right up my alley & I would have fallen for this stuff no matter
what musical phase I was in at the time (though I may have had to hide it
under the bed from my industrial or hardcore friends...). When I was
checking the stores for accidentally-early-on-the-shelves copies of Wasp
Star, I kept irresponsibly buying stuff that caught my eye, & on a whim
(just a couple of idle reccomendations from friends & a person or two on
this list) I picked up "Love Story" a very lovely Rhino box set including
all of "Forever Changes" plus a ton of other great stuff (it also has one
of the best box set booklets I've ever seen, and the band history in it even
mentions XTC among their artistic heirs). Anyway, I played it constantly
right up to the release of Wasp Star, and it's recently been what I play
when I want to give WS an OD-avoiding rest (just the past day or two - I'm
not tired of WS, but I don't want to become so). Great stuff.
Ed K.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 17:46:49 -0700 (PDT) From: travis schulz <xtcisadarngoodband@yahoo.com> Subject: Casey Kasem Message-ID: <20000607004649.3970.qmail@web1102.mail.yahoo.com> It was quite weird to hear Casey Kasem mention XTC on his top 20 countdown this past Sunday. This is what he said verbatim...."Daniel Jones credits Peter Gabriel and the bands XTC and Tears For Fears as his greatest influences. Here is his band SAVAGE GARDEN moving up two notches to number thirteen with Crash and Burn.....". Our station's Casey cd is mine for proof that XTC is world famous.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:53:06 EDT From: Apaul29@aol.com Subject: Hiccup? Message-ID: <4c.673cb99.266ef6f2@aol.com> Is it just me or is that "hiccup" on Stupidly Happy actually Andy saying "guitar"?
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 22:44:43 EDT From: WTDK@aol.com Subject: Standing up for Colin... Message-ID: <30.61665a1.266f111b@aol.com> Random thoughts.. >>Standing in for Joe---Here's my vote for best song on the album. Possibly the strongest of Colin's Apple Venus period material that actually made it to CD. Simple storytelling. Well executed. << Couldn't agree more! A great song that is undervalued (like many of Colin's contributions) In #150, Sushiman asked: >Which tune is your kid's favorite? My daughter votes for I'm the Man Who Murdered Love and We're All Light. Bob said: >I miss the chaos of "Train Running Low.." and the dissonance of "100 Umbrellas" and the experimentation of "It's Nearly Africa" and the clever surprise of the Dukes project. I am willing to bet that later converts to XTCism are more excited about Wasp Star than, say, pre-Skylarking converts are, and I think this is largely because of the point I am trying to make. I would disagree (the nice thing about this forum is the ability to do just that). I've been listening since English Settlement and really, really like Wasp Star a lot. In your previous paragraph (which went on a little too long to quote) you also compare WS to specific songs from a number of albums. You're comparing Oranges to Lemons--a lot of highlights over a long period of time to a single album. Doesn't quite wash. Although WS may not have the "hit you in your face" value (and that's because we're familiar with the band and a lot of their music), both Colin and Andy try a number of new approaches on the album that make it noteworthy. saidL Bop also >I'm not particularly comfortable with the rather casual attitude Colin takes toward betrayal and adultery in "Standing in for Joe." Are we supposed to think it's cute that the character in the song is not only screwing another man's wife, but screwing over his best friend in the process? Unless I'm missing the satire, I find those lyrics rather shallow and heartless. And how ironic it is that the song is sequenced directly before "Wounded Horse," a tune in which Andy laments the very thing Colin has just made into a complete joke. I don't know I detect irony, satire and a sense of someone trying to rationalize something that is wrong (without success I might add). Then again, it's only a song. Looks like Colin's making observations not judgments per se.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 21:33:59 -0500 From: Steve Schiavo <schiavo@home.com> Subject: Joe's "Wife" Message-ID: <393DB496.57D712F6@home.com> Bob O'Bannon: > I'm not particularly comfortable with the rather casual attitude > Colin takes toward betrayal and adultery in "Standing in for Joe." > Are we supposed to think it's cute that the character in the > song is not only screwing another man's wife, but screwing over his best > friend in the process? Unless I'm missing the satire, I find those lyrics > rather shallow and heartless. The word wife does not appear in the song. It's an "I stole my best friend's girl" song. As for missing the satire, it was intended for the bubblegum album. - Steve
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 23:16:55 CDT
From: "vee tube" <veetube@hotmail.com>
Subject: An Open Letter To TVT Records.
Message-ID: <20000607041655.16077.qmail@hotmail.com>
Dear TVT-er-er-er-r's
Thank you for allowing me to spend $$$ on XTC!
Thank you for asking me to SCREW my favorite local
indi-store. You know, the one that let me borrow
'Fossil Fuel' (an import in the U.S.) It didn't say
it was re-mastered so,I asked to take it home and
A-B it with the individual albums. They said "anything
for you Vee!"
What the F*/K am I talking about?!?!?!?!?!
The 'bonus' Man single! That's WHAT!
The last time I checked your website,you didn't list
one store in the entire state of Texas that I could spend
$$$$$$ at and get the 'bonus'CD. THANK!YOU!
(Please note: I'm not a native and I'm not into the whole
YEE! HAR! WE'RE! TEXAN! SHIT!)
BUT! It's a pretty BIG market! Just ask ABC NBC and CBS
who OWN! the local TV stations! THANX AGAIN!
So, if I want the 'bonus'CD I have to SCREW! my local stores?
Well,READ MY GILLS! }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}!
I will try to end this post on a positive note.
Dear TVT, I would like to give you $$$$$$. Please let me...
...BUY!THE!G*D!D*MN!SINGLE!
Or, let us down HQ MP3s of the two demos!
THANK YOU!
}---:)
P.S I'm not asking for myself (plenty of 'Chalksters' have
offered me CDRs) so if you won't 'UP' the MP3s, I'll make
sure everybody on the 'Hill who wants to hear them,will.
BASSASSED!OUT!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 23:36:41 EDT From: RiknBkr@aol.com Subject: Re: Kids dig XTC...& wOUNDED HORSE... Message-ID: <4c.67526a9.266f1d49@aol.com> MARK ELLIOTT wrote: >I also have a mint imported copy of the NO THUGS IN >OUR HOUSE 45 ..came with a fold out sleve with cut out >paper puppets of the waspy headed wife & husband, a >judge, & a sleeping Graham ..according to SONG STORIES >, this is a coveted item...any one else have this??? Got it. I have a funny story on that sleeve when Andy & Colin signed it for me last year. Andy drew one of his doodles on it. He put a "Hitler" mustache on the mother along with my name in her grey hair. I think I was over-enthusiatically telling Andy how much my kids loved "senses" from the time they were able to speak that I think he picked up my Nazi pursuit of XTC listening indoctrination on my children. I still get a chuckle out of it, though. BTW, both of my girls love Greenman from AV1. In fact its requested after baths during hair combing, along with the Specials "Ghost Town". The other Phil C.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 13:10:23 +1100 From: SEBASTIEN MAURY 02 9950 3315 <maury.sebastien@a2.abc.net.au> Subject: sigh Message-ID: <200006070434.OAA0000016936@inmail01.abc.net.au> Dunks, Dunks, Dunks. Must you constantly bait me and everything I hold dear? Depeche f***ing Mode?? Could you possibly >have found a band I despise more? That gormless bunch of poncy synth >twiddlers, with the junkie lead singer who wishes he was Michael >Hutchence??? In my highly esteemed (yet worthless) opinion, DM are one of the very few bands that started off exceedingly cheesy (like XTC) with embarrassing yet hilarious synth lines (of which I just couldn't get enough...), but have managed to graduate waay ahead of their class. The brooding attempts in "Black Celebration" to transcend their dodgy beginnings began fully to flower in the surprising "Violator" with its dark, minor-key fragments of love and fidelity. The 90s saw the superb Songs Of Faith And Devotion, with an array of fascinating instrumentation and styles, leaving far behind the one-dimensional circa 1985 synth sound for which they are (unfairly) remembered. They stand about as far from there now as XTC's River of Orchids (say) does from Traffic Light Rock (for example). And I haven't even got into the depths of guitar squalled mashed pop that was the follow up in 1997, Ultra. They *are* in fact reaching forward with each new album. So what if Dave Gahan is a junkie? So is Steve Kilbey from The Church. And countless other creative souls from all fields! Oh and Davo is a baritone,like Steve and me, so I *have* to defend him from scurrilous rumour and innuendo. I think Wounded Horse sounds nothing like Depeche Mode past or present (but perhaps future?). Perhaps Chris Gaines should do a cover. Seb.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 21:40:44 PDT From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> Subject: Musical cliches Message-ID: <20000607044044.25907.qmail@hotmail.com> Chorkies, Housekeeping: 1. To avoid any flaming: Joe Easter - I really did enjoy your post. Intense, I'll grant you, but obviously heartfelt. Please ignore my cheekiness. 2. To "Radios In Motion" (do you have a real name? One would do) Thanks for the Andy quotes - very illuminating. (Roll on "Fuzzy Warbles"!) And so to the matter at hand... Re: John Hedges' post >Subject: Love Murderers! >A while back Harrison S. challenged us all to guess the >"musical allusion" in ITMWML's arabesque guitar lead. <snip> >...we have a generalized cultural assumption ... As Tonto would say: "Whaddya mean "we", white man?" :p >...that Middle Eastern countries all have cruel & barbaric prison >systems. >So if you're trying to provide a musical coda that suggests >a dungeon, you >probably want something with an arabesque flavor to >it. (Of course, >several Middle Eastern countries really *do* have >barbaric prison systems, >but that's probably beside the point.) john, your post reminds me of a discussion I had a while back with the trouble-and-strife regarding 'musical cliches'. (Bear with me on this one - it's easy to illustrate in person but harder in writing.) The opening bit of Andy's solo in ITMWML is a prime example - one of those cliched musical phrases which commonly crop up in old Hollywood movies and TV shows (the Crosby/Hope 'Road' movies are obvious culprits). I'm sure we could all think of quite a few of them. Sometimes its hard to indentify where and when they originated; others are clearly identifiable, although how they came into their current usage is obscure. The music links between the segments of "The Goon Show" was the first place where I was aware of these things being specifically quoted for their cliche value. Similarly, Frank-o-philes will know that these cliches were part of Zappa's stock-in-trade. With his background in advertising, he was well aware of their trash-icon status and often quoted them in his music (e.g things like the "Tonight Show" theme, those grandiose toga-movie flourishes he was so fond of, and of course the ever-present "Louie, Louie".) Peter Blinn's website has a page dealing with some of this although most are specifically American usages: http://www.amug.org/~blinn/music_1.html (It also has links to lots of other "useless information" sites. Most amusing.) Here's a few music cliches I can think of off the top of my head: * the 'Arabesque' -- denoting that "you are in an Arabian bazaar" or "you are in a harem" ... * the 'Oriental' -- as used by The Vapors in "Turning Japanese" * the 'Red Indian' -- many variations, but all roughly similar, generally arranged for horns and percussion, based on that familiar BOOOM-boom-boom-boom drum pattern (cf. any episode of "F-Troop") - 'The Stripper' -- the brassy burlesque piece used whenever anyone disrobes. Oddly enough, this one *is* actually called "The Stripper" and was written by David Rose, composer of that classic slice of orchestral cheese, "Holiday For Strings" - 'The Circus': that ubiquitous "clown"/"big top" music. It is in fact a classical piece called "Entry Of The Gladiators" by Czech composer Julius Fucik (1872-1916) (With a surname like that you'd always want to be SURE it was spelled right!) Sometimes it's as simple as a 'stock' arrangement, like: * the "Oceanic" -- that oh so familiar horn/flutes/strings combo that denotes "we're setting sail" or "we're at sea" and frequently throwing in a grab of that pesky 'Sailor's Hornpipe' thing for good measure, in case there's anyone really stupid watching. All the above perfectly illustrate Hitchcock's maxim that if the music and the image are saying the same thing, one of them is redundant. In closing I am irresistably drawn to a digression concerning stock sound-effects cliches. Who can forget...? * "Darkest Africa" -- that well-worn amalgam of bird and animal sounds familiar to lovers of the Tarzan genre. (This one always tickles us Aussies, because one of the 'exotic' "African" species they commonly use is actually the kookaburra, a Large Australian native kingfisher with disctinctive cackling call. About as un-African as you could get.) * "The Ricochet" -- as used in every gunfight scene since about 1950 (Trivia note: in the old George Reeves series, this effect, played backwards, is the sound Superman makes when he lands) * "Noisy Lightning" -- we all KNOW lightning and thunder are rarely simultaneous (unless you're too damn close), yet no-one ever seemed to question the big cracking noise that always instantly accompanies movie lightning. * "The STACC" (Squealing Tyres And Car Crash) -- as familiar as your mother's heartbeat ... What does all this Cultural White Noise mean? I have no idea. Just part of the ongoing Project/Object, I suppose. Dunks
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 02:04:33 EDT From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com Subject: Belly Dancing in the Dungeon Message-ID: <97.65d5c69.266f3ff1@aol.com> Just a quickie - >Maybe Andy was talking with someone about bands that >inspired various Dukes of Stratosphear tunes, and in the >course of admitting that one of the songs was an homage >to Love, said, "yeah, we really murdered Love on that one," >or something to that effect. Followed by, "Hey, what a great >song title!" Wow! Hmmm.... John Hedges could be on to something here. As Ed K. pointed out, there's definitely some sixties homage going on here. Besides the Love reference, the leads that popped into my mind were "Over, Under, Sideways Down" (The Yardbirds? I don't have a copy), and. of course, Taxman by the Beatles. But unlike those leads, Andy's playing what sounds like a harmonic minor over the dominant (sorry, don't mean to be technical, just don't know how else to say it), which is what gives it it's Middle Eastern flavor, as well as the sitar / sarud style pseudo phrasing. Great fuzztone! Nasty! There's a sneer on that lead! BTW, thanks so much to Mark S. and Steve V. for your off list tips! Tom (eh, short enough?) Kingston
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 08:14:00 +0200 From: Klaus Bergmaier <klaus.bergmaier@maxonline.at> Subject: Reply to "Andy is not Sting..." Message-ID: <51018E3C4D8BD311A8E90000C0C7910D01CB0C@NTSRV> Dear all! Jim Smart wrote: * When Sting sings 'mundi', he pronounces it "MOON-di", * as heard on the Synchronicity album, which I haven't heard in 15 * years. I recall him singing "spiritus mundi" at one point. When Andy * sings it, he pronounces it "MUN-di", like the day of the * week. Undoubtedly there will be a Chalker who will know which * pronuciation is correct. Here I am. I'm standing, standing in for your Latins teacher. I never had one, but I am Austrian (just to soothe you, I did of course not vote for Haider and his Nazi party, as I am a social democrat) and we still pronounce most of our stuff as is was in old rome. Correct is [aksis mundi] in phonetics, which is something like "uxis moondy" in English pronounciation. The Chalkhillian who posted, that TWATM reminded him of "Fly on the Wall" is absolutely right. The one funny thing is, that FOTW is one of Colin's. I sometimes wish AP and CM would write stuff together. The moments I like most on WS are, when Colin raises his voice on Andy's songs. This actually sends shivers down my spine. The both of them are such a good team... BTW I always burst out into laughter when they do "The pot won't hold our..." during the fade-out. I'm still preparing a detailled review of WS for posting but I didn't find the time to work it out properly yet. X-tatic wishes Klaus klaus.bergmaier@maxonlie.at Homepages: http://eurosolar.donau-uni.ac.at/Lgtele/Teiln.htm, http://www.tim.donau-uni.ac.at/WahlKrems97/kandspoe.htm http://cust.nol.at/wolfsberger/atelier/webgaler.htm http://www.krems.gv.at/Magistrat/Gemeinderat.htm http://tim.donau-uni.ac.at/Lgtele/Teiln.htm http://chalkhills.org/FAQ.html http://www.elephant-talk.com/discog/fripp/index.html http://www.charm.net/~duke/xtc/beatown2.html Soundfiles: http://www.charm.net/~duke/xtc/apple.aif http://www.charm.net/~duke/xtc/apple2.aif
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 03:13:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Radios In Motion <radiosinmotion@iwon.com> Subject: Acoustic Tales Apology & Collins Bass Playing Message-ID: <383713244.960361985096.JavaMail.root@web183-iw.dat01.mail.com> Just wanted to say sorry to Mr. Relph and everyone else for not reading through the discography before asking about the Acoustic Tales CD I saw on eBay. John has a really well put together discography that pretty much lists everything. Oh, I know someone mentioned this before but I had to say something again. A lot of people talk about how good Andy is, but Collin is a damn fine musician. I am only learning now how to play guitar and bass, but I have to admibt some of the most mesmerizing bass I have ever heard has been from Collin's playing. He is an esential part to the XTC sound.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 04:37:02 -0400 From: "Daniel Phipps" <phipps@schoollink.net> Subject: "this is the voice of god!" Message-ID: <000b01bfd05b$8ead8100$c88c04d8@pavilion> 'hillians, all!! -- i just went to the chalkhills site and found all these wonderful sound-bytes and samples of various things that the guys in xtc have said / sang! man, this is so cool! i've now saved some of these .wav files onto my harddrive and now when i boot up my computer, andy tells everyone to "try not to operate this computer while intoxicated and i find it's best not to lick your mouse." then right before my computer shuts down, a booming voice tells me "this is voice of god! andy couldn't be here!" technology surely is an amazing thing sometimes, innit? :-) thanks for the eartime... (now waiting for warbles that are fuzzy...) -- /dan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- /dan & ginger phipps <phipps@schoollink.net> "right here in this moment is right where i'm meant to be..." (edwin mccain) ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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