Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 302
Date: Friday, 15 December 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 302
Friday, 15 December 2000
Topics:
LoG, Top... 3, Lyrics, etc.
Digging back into the past.
The Fab Faux
Foolproof Plans & Airtight Alibis
Re: Top Ten List
White Music is out of print
XTC on the Radio and a question
Rundgren's site
request
Abstract: Submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine
Dude, Where's My Classic Kinks Video?
President Kill Again
KC for XTC
New music from AP(?)
"It's a VeeTube Christmas, Charlie Brown!"
too soon dead centre?
Ground Hog Day
Jim Zittel
top 10 for 2000 (no xtc)
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Hooray, now back in your cells, we've President Kill instead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 23:34:54 -0500 From: Sylvan <psiogen@mindspring.com> Subject: LoG, Top... 3, Lyrics, etc. Message-ID: <3A31B66E.DD30CAC0@mindspring.com> Organization: ttp://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/ Andrew wrote: > Non-XTC content. Any "League of Gentlemen" fans out > there? Ooh, ooh, me! Actually, I've crossed over all the way on the [XTC -> Barry Andrews -> League of Gentlemen -> Robert Fripp -> King Crimson] axis, and have ended up as a Crimson fan. Not surprisingly, the League of Gentlemen sound very much like a cross between Barry-era XTC and '80s King Crimson. Both are recommended. (I'm assuming no one here needs to have XTC recommended to them...) I've also tried Shriekback... okay, but not exactly great stuff. -- LC wrote: > My list is kind of pathetic, not because of the quality of the music (it was > great) but because I probably didn't buy 10 CDs this year. Damn Napster! I definitely bought more than ten CDs this year, but only three of them were actually released this year. 3. Working Undercover for the Man--TMBG 2. The ConstruKction of Light--King Crimson 1. Wasp Star--Our Heroes > Have you ever jonesed for one particular song so badly > that you had to play it over and over, dozens of > times, before your need was satisfied? This year: Seagulls Screaming Miniature Sun Starless (Crimson again) Larks' Tongues In Aspic Pt. IV (also Crimson) -- I'm taking a poetry class at the moment, and we've been discussing song lyrics as poetry. I'm planning to smuggle in the lyrics to Seagulls Screaming, which I think would work very well as a written poem, and see what people who've never heard the song think of it. -- Sylvan Currently Spinning: Fear of Music--Talking Heads
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 08:30:19 +0000 From: Marc Wickens <marc@mwic.co.uk> Subject: Digging back into the past. Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.0.20001209082452.00a0eaf0@pop.clara.net> I'm pretty board with most chart music, I adore the latest XTC Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Volume 1 & 2) Can anyone recommend any earlier albums similar to this? I have Dear God, and a few Dukes songs (Brainiacs Daughter and Vanishing Girl) on mp3, what other stuff do you think would suit me?.......................... Cheers. --- Marc Wickens "Have a better one."
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 08:58:14 EST From: KingJeffe@aol.com Subject: The Fab Faux Message-ID: <ad.419a82c.27639476@aol.com> For all you New York area Chalkmonauts, there is a tre' cool band known as "The Fab Faux" playing at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Tuesday, Dec.19th. These guys do the best Beatles cover act you are ever likely to see, with two high profile players in Will Lee (of David Letterman Show fame) and Jimmy Vivino (from Conan O'Brien). The others in the band are no slouches either, boasting some serious pro music biz credentials. To top it off (here's where the XTC connection rear it's lovely head), one guy in the band (Frank Agnello) is apparently a big XTC fan, and gives our lads a nod on their web site (http://www.thefabfaux.com), as well as providing a link to Sir Relph's own Realm of Chalk. I'm there! Peace. BTW - I've no association with this band whatsoever. Just thought there might be some intersest out there.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 11:52:04 -0500 From: Jeff Eason <eason@mountaintimes.com> Subject: Foolproof Plans & Airtight Alibis Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20001209115204.0088b510@mountaintimes.com> Hey to all, Here's my list of the top discs of 2000. It is in now particular order. 1) XTC--Wasp Star 2) Lambchop--Nixon 3) Tom Maxwell--Samsara (SNZ spin-off) 4) Ryan Adams--Heartbreaker (Whiskeytown spin-off) 5) Rickie Lee Jone--It's Like This 6) Various Artists--"Forever Dusty: Homage to an Icon" (Dusty Springfield tribute with Laura Love, Marti Jones, Indigo Girls, Jill Sobule, and others) 7) Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks--Beatin' the Heat 8) Neil Young--Silver & Gold 9) The Persuasions--Frankly A Capella (Zappa tribute) 10) Peter Case--Flying Saucer Blues 11) Neko Case & Her Boyfriends--Furnace Room Lullaby 12) Kelly Hogan--Beneath the Country Underdog 13) Steely Dan--Two Against Nature 14) Nickel Creek--Nickel Creek Two local bands (I'm situated in the mountains of western North Carolina) put out strong releases this year...so I'll give their albums a little cyberplug: 1) Lazybirds--Lazybirds 2) Acoustic Syndicate--Crazy Little Life The VH1 special on John Lennon's final years was excellent. It brought back all of those feelings that I had when I first found out he'd been killed. I was working at a college radio station in Chapel Hill at the time and was surrounded by musical types, most of whom worshipped the Beatles. It was pretty traumatic around the station on Dec. 8 & 9, 1980. Anyone interested in parlaying their top albums list into a chance at free prizes should check out the contest at www.wncw.org. WNCW-FM is the only reason I still own a radio. Cheers, Jeff Eason
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 18:33:49 -0500 From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net> Subject: Re: Top Ten List Message-ID: <l03130300b65864d69c4b@[206.231.24.2]> My top ten list, FWIW; I found a lot more good stuff released this year over last. Practically everything I liked last year was long-awaited new albums by old favorites such as Randy Newman and XTC. This year there's been several fairly new things I've liked, due to a lot of good stuff winding up in the $3 bin at Pure Pop Records. So, in no particular order... 1. Wasp Star-XTC. Good, solid XTC, not as awesome a musical production as Apple Venus 1, but a good collection of songs marred only by the absence of Dave Gregory. 2. The Hardest Part- Allison Moorer. Some of the most gut-wrenching love gone bad songs I've ever heard, and just enough idiosyncratic touches to this fairly contemporary countryish album to make it a little too original for Nashville. What kind of country album has both fiddles, pedal steel, strings, and a dramatic guitar solo that sounds just like Richard Thompson on one of his best days? This kind. And what an expressive voice, and such an attractive woman. Shwing! She's a babe! Yodiyodiyodiyodiyodi...Doesn't hurt that she's Shelby Lynne's baby sister too. 3. I Am Shelby Lynne- I just have a three song sampler from the album, but it's received so much airplay on the local AAA station I feel like I own it already. What you might get if you crossed Lucinda Williams with Dusty Springfield. One of those folk/rock/blues/country whatever you call it hybrids. 4. Smile-The Jayhawks. Badfinger returned from the dead, I'm not kidding. That's what the band Mark Olsson left have turned into, after the interesting but uneven transition album The Sound of Lies a few years ago. I was afraid producer Bob Ezrin would ruin them, being responsible for Pink Floyd's The Wall and Lou Reed's Berlin, among other big and cinematic sounding albums. It actually worked, he forced The Jayhawks to work on nuance, sound and arrangement, and they've come up with one of the best-arranged pop albums I've heard in years, with enough aspects of their old sound intact to keep serious fans from having conniptions. A few songs threaten to be overpowered by the arrangements, but that's a minor quibble. 5. East Autumn Grin- Matthew Ryan. I have No Depression magazine to thank for turning me onto this guy. Very perceptive and intelligent young songwriter(still in his twenties I believe), try to imagine if Bruce Springsteen were just starting to put out albums now he would sound something like this. Good well-arranged roots rock with a post-modern edge. 6. Transcendental Blues- Steve Earle. Not his best ever, but his most consistent, possibly. Not a bad song here, production's a bit boxy sounding, but the title song especially has a sort of Indian raga/psychedelic feel that's unforgettable, even though it doesn't have much of a melody. Plenty of Celtic flavored stuff, a couple of Beatlesque things, the usual Springsteenish rocker and the obligatory gravel-throated death penalty ballad. More please! 7. Allow Me- Jules Shear. Most unexpected, I was expecting him to retire after the dirgy semi-acoustic duets album Between Us a couple of years ago, but my favorite Bob Dylan with a bad cold-voiced songwriter is back with his most direct and bright-sounding album since 84's The Eternal Return, and a much better album it is too. The fetching close harmony vocals of Vicki Peterson and Susan Cowsill certainly help. Jules has loads of talented friends, as evidenced by the stellar company he dueted with on Between Us. 8. Life'll Kill Ya- Warren Zevon. Sobriety definitely hasn't mellowed this guy, one of the most welcome comebacks of recent years along with XTC and Randy Newman, full of simple, effective, extremely cynical and wickedly funny songs about life learned the hard way. Worth the price of admission alone: "Your Shit's Fucked Up." What a drag it is getting old. Even the one cover, the unlikely Steve Winwood tune "Back In The High Life Again" works in this context. 9. The Confessions of St Ace- John Wesley Harding. Another $3 acquisition, and worth a lot more; I'd heard he was good and found one of his early 90's albums on cassette and it didn't set me on fire. This, his first album in eight years, is much better, incisive and insightful songs crisply recorded and arranged that jump right out at you and don't let go. I like the very moving "Goth Girl" in which he admits to fancying a girl who wears too much black makeup and clothing and has an attitude problem, but he wants to see the vulnerable girl behind the attitude. Like the duet with Steve Earle too. 10. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out- Yo La Tengo. I don't know what to say about them except they sound like nobody else, they manage to move with the times without sounding trendy and still sounding like them, and though I've never been able to get into their earlier material due to its determined indie-rock dodginess(the same problem I have with Pavement), as they get older and more experienced they've honed their sound so much that you know a Yo La Tengo album when you hear it, and like most bands that have been together as long as they have, they finally managed to get noticeably better at what they do. Their most recent is a sleeper that grows on you in a big way. Christopher R. Coolidge "The bad news is, there is no key to the universe. The good news is, it has been left unlocked." -Swami Beyondananda
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:53:57 -0800 From: "Zachary Paez" <newt_floss@hotmail.com> Subject: White Music is out of print Message-ID: <F165o60bRp7PMD6x2J10000b532@hotmail.com> I've searched for White Music at every music store I go to, but I can't find it anywhere. A lady at a Tower store told me that the album had been recalled for remastering. But why would Virgin only remaster that XTC album? Does anybody know a verifiable reason why White Music was recalled.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 08:37:52 +0000 From: Simon_Auger@mandg.co.uk Subject: XTC on the Radio and a question Message-ID: <002569B2.002EB99B.00@mailgate.mandg.co.uk> Hi all, I know this is a couple of days late but I was very busy on Friday and have only just got round to this. Picture the scene, I am lying fast asleep and snug in bed at around 7:30 AM on Friday morning. It is still pitch black outside, there is nothing to wake me. Suddenly the radio stirs into life and I come awake to the sound of Virgin to hear Chris Evans saying 'so which XTC track was it you wanted?' The response being (perhaps predictably) 'Senses Working Overtime'. To be followed by said song. What a way to start a Friday. The wekend is nearly here and XTC are on the Radio, perhaps there is a God after all (please, let's not start that debate again!!!). Moving swiftly on, I have been toying with the idea of getting hold of a Digital Audio Jukebox for a little while now. The one I am looking at has capacity for approximately 100 hours of music. The question quite simply becomes one of what to fill all of that space with. Could anyone come up with a whole 100 hours of XTC to fill it? I'd be interested to hear what you all think. Or, has anyone bought one of these machines, are they a good idea? I have pictures of myself wandering round for days on end just waiting to get to the end of everything before I go to bed. Cheers Simon
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 17:47:10 -0400 From: Andrew Boyle <uscolor@uscolor.com> Subject: Rundgren's site Message-ID: <v04210101b65afac2509e@[192.168.0.3]> Hi all, Before I forget. If you haven't gotten a chance, check out Todd Rundgren's site. It is pretty cool, chock full of Flash animation, and even the picture of Todd and the gang singing for Skylarking. Cool. http://www.tr-i.com/ Andrew Boyle Orlando, FL
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 12:11:03 +0000 (GMT) From: Mandy Taylor <mandyt@cogs.susx.ac.uk> Subject: request Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.03.10012121151350.2820-100000@tsunx.ctn.cogs.susx.ac.uk> Hello all, I'm going to be doing a rockumentary (if you will) on XTC for my university radio station. I can't help but feel that such a programme would be unspeakably enhanced with an interview with Andy &/or Colin. If anyone has any ideas or pointments in the right direction on how to get some contact through to the men, I'd be .. god, over the moon... smiling wistfully into the middle distance, Mandy any replies should be sent to: Mandy Taylor <mandyt@cogs.susx.ac.uk>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 16:03:12 EST
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Abstract: Submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine
Message-ID: <77.d645fa3.2767ec90@aol.com>
>From: Angie Kelson Packer/Shaun Packer <nick@aros.net>
>Subject: Spin Soldier Stories
[snip]
>I used the
>Brittney Spears "Tits, Tits, My Christian Tits" line on a friend at
>lunch the other day, and made hot sauce come out her nose
Particularly distressing, considering that the friend WAS NOT EATING HOT
SAUCE AT THE TIME!!!!
It is baffling, how often this phenomenon is being reported these days.
Epidemiologists on both sides of the Atlantic have reported a disturbing
increase in reports of foreign substances emerging from the sinovial
passages--foreign substances that, one hastens to point out, had been nowhere
near the victim's body at the time of their sudden violent nasal expulsion.
Mythological texts from cultures as disparate as Han Dynasty China and
pre-Columbian Mexico make reference to phenomena described as "Giggleboogers"
(yuk-yuk ha-chu) and "Painful Laughter-Snot" (ha-ha-ha-aiii-titltitl
chiztlotl) respectively, and one folk tale from Papua-New Guinea is
explicitly titled, "The Boy Who Laughed So Hard that Chaulmoogra Oil
Mysteriously Emerged from His Nose." Until now, these folk-tales have been
dismissed as merest fanciful invention, but in light of unfolding research
they will have to be reexamined by medical anthropologists.
Perhaps most fascinatingly, statistical analysis suggests that there appears
to be a pattern to the explosive events, and extensive university research
funds have been allocated to the task of determining the relationship between
the nature of the stimulus and the substance expelled. Early analysis breaks
out thus (with recent research added):
Stimulus Response
-------- ---------
Tits, tits, my Christian tits Hot sauce
Kissinger yells, God Bless Crankcase oil (usually
America! and throws the Russian out 10W40 weight)
That's not my finger either! Surprise, Campbell's Chicken Broth
surprise, surprise! (undiluted)
Johnny! Johnny Fuckerfaster! Chamay Trappist Ale
My aspirins! My aspirins! Silicone bicycle chain
lubricant
Fo' a nickel I will! Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
in solution of spirits
of wine
He got a little behind in his work India ink
But, sir! I've never Kippled! Blackstrap molasses
Caesar? But I barely *know* her! Balsamic vinegar, garlic
flavored with herbes
de Provence
In stormy weather
He'd clack them together
And lightning shot out of his ass Butane lighter fluid
Current scholarly opinion holds that this pattern is highly suggestive, but
of exactly *what* still is the topic of heated debate.
It is fervently hoped that further scholarship in this burgeoning
subdiscipline of epidemiology will assemble a greater corpus of empirical
data, one that will help to enlighten an aspect of the human experience that
has hitherto been marred by its association with mystery, mythical
obfuscation, and hideously cruel practical jokes.
Harrison "Saaaaay... how did you *know* it was hot sauce, anyway?" Sherwood
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 16:27:04 -0800
From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@chromaticsoftware.com>
Subject: Dude, Where's My Classic Kinks Video?
Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B8C9@mgcservices.com>
Well, it's been a while, I've been busy, etc. (I know I'm always saying
that, and I WILL get around to the things I've been promising/threatening to
rant about...)
I know that this is a little late (several digests, and nearly a month), but
soon after someone mentioned the early "video" (or "promo clip" or "filmed
appearance" or whatever term you prefer for pre "video per se" videos) for
the Kinks "Dead End Street", I recalled a tape in my mother's video
collection (I introduced her to them, and she really took to their stuff
beyond my expectations), compiling a number of Kinks videos. I borrowed it
from her, and the back of the box (which I hadn't previously checked out all
that closely) promised great things: a long list of classic songs that I'd
never known had "videos" at all, along with "Dead End" and a number of
latter-day stuff I'd seen the videos to already ("Predictable" etc.)
Well, I should have known to be suspicious when the first song listed on the
box, their unfortunate cover of "Long Tall Sally" was merely played over the
opening credits. As it's not their best, I didn't pay it much heed.
Of course, I was not the least bit surprised that "You Really Got Me" and
"All Day, etc." were just appearances on Top of the Pops (or something like
that), but that was pretty much par for the course, so it didn't
particularly disturb me...
Even when "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" proved to be one of those
spliced-together-after-the-fact pseudo-videos (much like a lot of Videos
made decades later for a number of early Beatle songs), consisting of stock
footage of Carnaby Street, clips from fashion magazines of the time and live
bits spliced in to "sort-of-almost-lip-sync" with bits of the song, I didn't
get too annoyed...
However, I should have seen it coming when only about a third of this song
was played...
Sure enough, through the rest of the thing, only about a third of each song
is played, as superimposed narration of a "Kinks history 101" nature lamely
takes you from song to song.
Yes, "Dead End" was on there, but, of course, only an excerpt not the whole
thing.
A whole slew of interesting videos races by, chopped down snippets every one
of them, except for late period ones I'd already seen ("Predictable", "State
of Confusion", "Do It Again", the One for the Road version of "Lola" etc.).
My surprise and delight at seeing one for Starstruck (unaware that anything
like that had been done for anything off Village Green), featuring them
running around and goofing off in a park, was soon turned to consternation
when, yet again, it gets cut off less than halfway.
The capper: the last two songs listed on the box were "Sunny Afternoon" and
"Autumn Almanac", which I was very interested in seeing even only a bit of,
as I'd never known of any visual versions of these. Of course, this is
because there weren't any: they just played them over the ending credits.
I wouldn't have minded quite so much if the box hadn't billed itself as a
video compilation with a big list of classic songs on the back, though I
realize that "half-assed basic "documentary" with some bits of videos" might
not have been much of a selling point.
And this was put out by...?
...Virgin Video.
XTC content: Next time, I promise.
Ed K.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:21:08 -0400
From: Andrew Boyle <uscolor@uscolor.com>
Subject: President Kill Again
Message-ID: <v04210100b65d18b16b36@[192.168.0.3]>
Let me try to be the first to say, since it seems they have created
the last impossible hurdle:
"Here comes President kill again."
*____________________________
BREAKING NEWS from CNN.com
-- U.S. Supreme Court remands Bush v. Gore case to Florida
Supreme Court.
(meaning "...there is no more time to sort things out but try anyway.")
*____________________________
With further proof from Dubya's home state of Texas:
*____________________________
CNN.com - Texas executes 40th inmate this year - December 8, 2000
Texas, the nation's leader in capital punishment, performed a
record 40th and final execution of the year Thursday, putting to
death a 60-year-old man who murdered a liquor store ...
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/12/07/execution.texas.reut/
*____________________________
CNN.com - Execution extends Texas record to 39 - December 7, 2000
A paroled murderer convicted of killing a police officer during a
Dallas shooting spree 11 years ago was executed by injection
Wednesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/12/07/executions.ap/
*____________________________
I am disappointed in my state.
Especially its legislature.
Supreme Court didn't help too much either.
Sigh. 4 years of Puppethead! My advice is: Duck.
Andrew Boyle
Orlando, FL
P.S. Good morning.
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 06:50:58 -0800 From: "Wes Hanks" <whanks1@earthlink.net> Subject: KC for XTC Message-ID: <000901c06514$1f1cb420$26d285ce@default> This week I traded a bunch of XTC tapes with a friend for a bunch of King Crimson tapes. Who got the better of the deal? Wes "can we start the countdown yet?" Hanks
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:18:48 -0800 (PST) From: brown <mb2@deltanet.com> Subject: New music from AP(?) Message-ID: <200012141718.JAA19895@mail2.deltanet.com> Hi there, kids! As of late, Wasp Star seems to have taken up permanent residence in my CD player.. a fine piece of pop, it still sounds fresh... Anyway, I remembered that way back in October, our flaming optimist -aka- Wes Long, mentioned something about a phone conversation with AP and hearing some new songs.. Did I just dream this up? (it's *quite* possible, given my questionable mental integrity.. hey, what are YOU looking at?!) Wes, what say ye? Deb 'falling with my principal axes vertical' Brown
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:30:41 -0600
From: "vee tube" <veetube@hotmail.com>
Subject: "It's a VeeTube Christmas, Charlie Brown!"
Message-ID: <F43pNc1WGfLOG9ep4Ta00005965@hotmail.com>
Ho!Ho!Howdee!
Can you feel it?
He's coming!
It's...
SANTA CLAWS! The pan-dimensional-
hyper-lobstoid from beyond!
He brings Holiday music for all the good
little Chalkchildren!
He knows where you live!
He knows if you've been good!
He knows what you did last Christmas!
You can find him at...
http://www.idrive.com/waspspun
He has Christmas songs by Eels, Fountains of Wayne,
Jill Sobule, Bruce Sprungsteen, Henry Rollins, and more!
If you get the 'Daily Limit' message (and you will)
get your own idrive. Then, SEND! the files you want to your
own idrive. Log back in and check your 'dropbox'
Ho!Ho!Hout!
}---:)
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 11:25:28 -0000 From: "Chris Clarke" <bonyking@sniffout.com> Subject: too soon dead centre? Message-ID: <001001c06689$d4fd59e0$29a0a8c0@sigta> Please welcome to the stage Hannah Amelia Clarke, born 3rd December 2000 at a whopping 9lb 2oz (and already up to 10lb - eek!) after a pretty painless (for me, anyway) 30 hour labour. Yeah, I know, other people's kids, right? Also can anybody out there recommend a decent book about the Beach Boys, as I have only recently got into them and would like to find out more. No hagiographies though, please. XTC connection - Hannah was almost called Holly but her mother baulked at the last moment. Super Happy Merry Christmas Zeo Alpha Plus X 2 to all of you Chris Clarke
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 21:07:49 -0500 From: "Michael Versaci" <stormymonday@sprintmail.com> Subject: Ground Hog Day Message-ID: <000201c06704$fec0c430$388f56d1@tornbmv> Folxtc, >Question...how many husband/wife, or other partnership, Chalkheads are out there?< When my lovely wife and I first met, I casually mentioned that I liked XTC, and she said, "Really? 'English Settlement' is one of my favorite albums." (BING!) I thought, "What's this? She didn't say, 'Oh, they were the band who did "Dear God." ' and she didn't say, 'XT-who?' " I then volunteered, "I also really like The Beatles, and the music of John Lennon." "Yeah, 'Plastic Ono Band' is a work-of-art!" (BING AGAIN!) *** As our relationship developed, we began to realize that our tastes in music are entirely compatible, with the exception of Sting. Except, now *I* cringe when he sings some of his ridiculous lines like, "With words they try to jail-ya" rhymed with "it's the rhetoric of fail-ya!" I was always so enamored with his music that I never noticed his pretentious / pedantic / sophomoric / laborious lyrics until she pointed them out to me. Now I have to skip songs like "History Will Teach Us Nothing." I can still enjoy "Fortress Around Your Heart," a song that proves that even Sting can stumble into a good lyric every once-in-a-while. We often listen to music together, and she is quite insightful. She adores Andy Partridge, but admits that he would be "difficult" in a relationship. I'm glad he isn't interested in testing the theory! There are many reasons why I love her - but - I have to admit - it is a definite perk that she likes XTC, The Beatles, Peter Gabriel / Genesis, Kevin Gilbert, Gentle Giant and many others, - and - perhaps even more important - she doesn't like Bob Seger, Journey, ELO or Air Supply! She even once posted to Chalkhills under the pseudonym "Princess Izora." So, I suppose that qualifies us as "husband/wife chalkheads." *** When "Wasp Star" first came out, my wife said that *something* was missing, and she thought that the *something* that was missing was Dave. I was quick to point out that the guitar playing on the album didn't suffer from Dave Gregory's absence, and while I would stick to that opinion - I think Andy is an amazingly creative, tasty and unique guitarist - I now think that "Wasp Star" would have been a better record had Dave not left the band. We cannot ignore the power of "musical synergy." Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison were certainly able to conceive of (and sing) 3 part harmonies without the help of each other - and yet - who would argue that *any* of their vocal work on their solo records by themselves or with other singers even came close to the sheer brilliance that they had achieved with The Beatles? A chemistry existed among the group that can not be contrived nor imitated, even by the members themselves. I believe that there was synergy between Andy, Colin and Dave. I think that Dave understood Andy's and Colin's music, and he instinctively knew what to do to make it better. He belonged. I still listen to "Wasp Star," and appreciate it for the damn fine record that it is, but I can't help but wonder what it could have been... *** Just a quick story, and then I'll let you go. A few months ago I was attending a class with some co-workers. One of them (John) was hearing impaired, and he periodically turned off his hearing-aid to conserve the battery. One day, John, my friend Brad and I were driving in the rental car. I had brought some CD's for the trip, and we were listening to "English Settlement." John had turned off his hearing-aid, and Brad and I were laughing and govreeting while the beginning notes of "Snowman" began to filter out of the factory speakers. Brad is a casual fan of XTC, (thanks to me!) but was unfamiliar with "English Settlement." As we were driving, Andy was singing, "Why oh why, does she treat me like a snowman..." and right at the end of the phrase where he utters that guttural sound that is so uniquely Andy Partridge, John sneezed! I looked at him and started laughing! Of course he was completely confused, and even Brad thought that I had lost my mind. I eventually explained to them what had happened, but they obviously did not share in the appreciation of the moment. Michael Versaci "Why oh why, does she treat me like a snowman..............RELPH!" -- Andy Partridge
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 19:55:15 -0800 (PST) From: John Relph <relph@engr.sgi.com> Subject: Jim Zittel Message-ID: <200012160355.TAA14803@mando.engr.sgi.com> Does anybody have a land address and/or phone number for our missing Jim Zittel? He seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet. Only figuratively, I hope. -- John
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 04:34:22 From: "* Hobbes *" <hazchem25@hotmail.com> Subject: top 10 for 2000 (no xtc) Message-ID: <F299xNKaH4PeGSBkHP400001229@hotmail.com> Hmm, ok top ten albums for 2000 hey? I like reading everyone else's discoveries for this year so let's see what i can come up with. Well, taking Wasp Star as a given, let's see if i can come up with ten others, in no particular order. 1) Aimee Mann - Bachelor #2. About bloody time she got some wider attention. She also manages to top her previous album (no mean feat), unlike 2) Elliot Smith - Figure 8 who had an impossible act to follow up the sublime 'XO'. Still, it's an outstanding album, if quite never reaching the giddy heights of the former. 3) Smashing Pumpkins - Machina I + II. Released a criminally underated record with Adore. Followed it up with an even better rock record that people slagged Adore for not being, then proceeded not to buy anyway. And whom seem to have decided to split up just as they were starting to get really interesting. Can you figure out what's going on in the fickle public's mind at times? Thanks for the great free parting gift though. 4) Wannadies - Yeah. Am i the only one who noticed the abundant quality of their previous two power-pop albums, and that this is even better? Unfortunately, it seems so. 5) Wondermints - Bali. Who, with "Cellophane" manage to out-McCartney McCartney AND Andy channeling McCartney. 6) Nash Kato - Debutante. Hilariously overwritten 70's power pop where the songs seem to change time signatures and keys every three bars to deliberately try and confuse listeners, managing to make even Jason Falkner sound like a master of bubblegum simplicity. Extra trashy throwaway fun, as fun should be. 7) Belle and Sebastian - Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant. Makes the Lilac Time sound like Ministry. For when you're feeling fey and folky and not caring if the neighbours think you're fruity for listening to easy listening. 8) Auteurs - How i learned to love the bootboys. An anti-70's-nostalgia record that sounds like the bastard child of Bolan and Bowie, with Gary Glitter waiting in the wings? Go figure. An almost classic, shame about the two filler tracks. 9) Grandaddy - the sophtware slump. Unusual, haunting, touching, strangely affecting music from a singer who may or may not be able to sing, and a backup band who seem to be drifting in from the ether as someone tunes a radio in and out. 10) Divine Comedy - A secret history (the best of) I *know* it was released last year. I *know* it's a compilation. I also know it hasn't left my car *since* last year and made me buy the five albums it's compiled from, so i figure it has to count. Worth checking out if you like Apple Venus Volume One, acute campy Englishness with doses of pretension and quality songwriting.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-302 *******************************
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