Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 35
Date: Monday, 6 March 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 35
Monday, 6 March 2000
Today's Topics:
whats new? Wasp Star?
Re: Church of Women
Re: pooh sticks
What the... ?
Ok, but NEXT time...
the pooh sticks and other things
Dear God, That's A Shameless Plug
The Dukes
What????
Wasp Star(?) release date
Hi! Adolf Hitler on vibes....
Re: Just got off the 'phone with Andy. Lots of News.
Lilac
XTC Listening Party
Re: Science Fungus
Oh Dear
Re: Orgroan A-cum-u-later
Chalkhills.org kudos
Solo agreement
McCartney CD & AVII
Administrivia:
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the Chalkhills mailing list, send a message to
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> with the following command:
unsubscribe
For all other administrative issues, send a message to:
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
Please remember to send your Chalkhills postings to:
<chalkhills@chalkhills.org>
World Wide Web: <http://chalkhills.org/>
The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.
Chalkhills is compiled with Digest 3.7a (John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>).
As the rusting North Star shines above.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 16:44:08 EST
From: Saints3Den@aol.com
Subject: whats new? Wasp Star?
Message-ID: <6a.dcd4e1.25f18c28@aol.com>
Folks- what is that on chalkhills? Instead of AV -ll it may be named
"wasp star"
Last night, I checked to see it could be called "our shiny hearts" or
something like that. And that it could be held back until May. Hmmm... well,
I never really liked the name apple venus, but it sort of fits. Isn't it
kind of late in the game to be switching the name, and I thought they were
now purposely going to be using a word or phrase from the last cd.
So much change! Aint it great !
eddie st.martin
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 18:46:05 -0800 (PST) From: relph (John Relph) Subject: Re: Church of Women Message-ID: <10003031846.ZM19631@mando.engr.sgi.com> Quoth sunhouse@best.com: > > That's funny, Dave Gregory once told me that he loved Andy's demo for >"Church Of Women" EXCEPT for the guitar solo! I was telling Dave how great >I thought that demo was and that it sounded so good that it could almost be >released as-is to which he replied "but we'd have to do something about >Andy's guitar solo". I heard an audible cringe when I told him that I >actually really liked it. Yeah, I really like that guitar solo, probably for the same reasons that Dave doesn't like it. It's rhythmickly twisted, doesn't follow the beat very closely, doesn't have any expected construction, and is always surprising. It's downright interesting! Instead of clever, smooth and ultimately boring. I like the tone of the guitar, too. -- John
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 18:42:06 -0800 (PST) From: relph (John Relph) Subject: Re: pooh sticks Message-ID: <10003031842.ZM19560@mando.engr.sgi.com> Thus spake Ian McCausland <talk@ian.mb.ca>: > >Another hidden gem: Optimistic Fool by The Pooh Sticks. I already had >Million Seller, and I stumbled upon a used copy of this one. >I mean I know this stuff is kinda toungue in cheek but dman, its so good! >anyone know if these guys are still at it? This album came out in 1995. I like that record a lot. It's not a good record to listen to in the car because it has a number of very quiet interludes and such. But the music is good and the lyrics are even more poignant than usual for the Pooh Sticks. Which isn't hard because often Pooh Sticks lyrics are downright silly. "The Great White Wonder" is a pretty good album, too. Check it out. You can probably find it used or cutout for less than a couple of bucks. As far as I know the Pooh Sticks are done for good. I got a message from one of them a while back and he said he was done with the music industry. Speaking of which, his "solo" album is available on the Sympathy For The Record Industry label. It's called "Where The Bands Are", by International Language. Much like the Pooh Sticks, but not as polished. -- John
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 16:59:56 -0800 From: Ed Kedzierski <ed.kedzierski@blvdmedia.com> Subject: What the... ? Message-ID: <08B5DDC2BABCD311BFC6005004A884B013B527@mgcservices.com> I'm sure I'm not the first to ask, but that last bit of news in the "What's New" section of the Web site has me dumbstruck. The record company wants a title change? Which of the three record companies? All of them? Where's this from? There's been no digest for nearly three days and usually (it seems) there's a more detailed post on the list before news like this goes onto the site... All this just fills me with worry. I'm sure the last thing anyone wants to hear about is new label troubles, after everyone thought that that sort of thing was done with once Virgin was out of the picture, especially if it means a more stressed-out Andy (and possible tensions within the band as a result, even though I know that that sort of speculation isn't particularly cool...). The possiblility of a delayed release date was almost enough to make me cry "NO!" out loud; the only reason I didn't is because I'm at work... And the list... it seems like an awful long time since the last digest. Has the posting volume really been that low, or is the list in trouble? (part of the reason for writing now is to boost the volume & see if that hastens another digest.) I'd hate to have de-lurked just in time for everything to come to an end... Also, I've been reading some back issues from last year, and am disheartened by the people who don't seem to be around anymore... Whatever happened to Amanda, the number one Dave fan? And I haven't seen anything from Dom for several digests now (not to make enemies of everyone who decided that he was their enemy, but seeing his name on a post was always a guarantee that I was going to enjoy what I was about to read)... I'll probably get a digest as soon as I send this, and feel like a major idiot, but I'm afraid of being the guy who arrives at a party just when the host has put on some jazz and started to dump the picked-over snack trays with their few remaining bits of hardened sweating cheese into the trash... Concerned, Ed K.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 01:00:43 -0800 From: "Aaron Pastula" <apastula@earthlink.net> Subject: Ok, but NEXT time... Message-ID: <001701bf85b8$20630460$4d86b3d1@oemcomputer> >The New Album : was mastered and approved yesterday. It is titled "WASP >STAR" and subtitled "Apple Venus Volume Two". Fair enough, although I think it's a shame that the original title is being played down. I mean, let's face it - are radio stations going to play it anyway? But what's best for the band is what counts in the end. However, a small request: Mitch, Peter, and anyone else who gets to talk to Andy once in a while, tell him not to let History Of The Middle Ages go to waste. It's just too cool of a title not to use at some point; sounds like a big concept album or something. Anyway... Aaron.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 13:04:49 -0000 From: "chris browning" <chris@boodle.fsnet.co.uk> Subject: the pooh sticks and other things Message-ID: <002901bf85dd$1a3c76a0$a707883e@pbncomputer> hello a kind member of this mailing list has just sent me a big bag of outakes and demos and sundry arcane xtc items, so i am in aural heaven at the moment - thank you! you know who you are! i too loved the pooh sticks album "optimistic fool". there was in the mid nineties a wonderful radio one dj called mark radcliffe (whose sidekick lard used to play bass with the fall), who although still with us is stuck in daytime pop hell. he was a long standing xtc-phile and played much stuff from our boys as my tastes were developing. he also played "cool in a crisis" to death, something - again - i will be eternally grateful for. i did a quick search on the internet for them only to find teh main site is owned by oen john relph - hmmmm? oh and the person who says their first love was madness. absolutely. without madness i would not be listening to any 'so-called' pop music. they rescued me from a prematurely fuddy duddy life of classical music and trad jazz. although i still love these, madness opened the door for all kinds of music to come in. and i include xtc among those. amazingly their comeback album seems as good as you could have hoped. viveat the nutty boys that's enough of me chris
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 23:46:22 -0800 From: Gregory Sandoval <greg@drbeat.com> Subject: Dear God, That's A Shameless Plug Message-ID: <B4E5FF4D.15BF%greg@drbeat.com> Fellow Dwellers of the Chalkened Hills, Haven't been on in a long time and have much catching up to do. I am of course very excited about the upcoming XTC (and recent releases from the other members of my favorite artist triumverant, Steely Dan and Joe Jackson--maybe the world is starting to come around...). Is there any hope of Prince of Orange making the new disc? A friend just gave me a birthday present of a Dear God 7" CD single with several instrumental tracks which I believe, but am not certain, comprise the Homo Safari set in its entirety. Can anyone confirm? I have no idea of this item's collectability, nor do I care, I thought it was just a great gift! And the shameless plug you ask? Well my best friend of some 20+ years (!) has released a very critically acclaimed debut CD. His name is Peter Stanley, the CD is called Smirk. I don't need to tell any of the artists here what a struggle it is to market and sell your own quality pop craftmanship, so suffice to say if you're a fan of intelligent pop music in the ilk of Jason Falkner, Steely Dan, etc., you should check it out. Support your local artist and dreamer and check it out on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004BZIU/sr%3D8-4 Or go to the web site I built for him at www.peterstanley.com. OK, enough plugs. I feel like Visa. Yours in chalk, dr. beat
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 12:26:03 EST From: "garret harkawik" <funktaisia@hotmail.com> Subject: The Dukes Message-ID: <20000304172603.74724.qmail@hotmail.com> In my neverending and usually futile quest to get more people my age hooked on XTC, I recently let a friend of mine who is a huge fan of just about anything from the 60's and 70's borrow Chips From the Chocolate FireBall and, unsurprisingly, he loved it and said it was incredible and wants to buy it. I told him I would let him borrow a real XTC album to see if he liked them, but i'm not sure which one I should give him. Anyone have any suggestions as to which album most resembles CFTCFB?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 21:53:48 -0800
From: "Diamond" <arnos@nantucket.net>
Subject: What????
Message-ID: <200003050256.VAA02684@nantucket.net>
>Also, TVT has requested that the album not be called "Apple Venus
>Volume 2" (at least not as the main title). XTC is not opting for
>the 'name it after a lyric from the last one' scenario this time
>though.
>So far a possible title is "Our Shiny Heart" which refers to the 'x
>ray of a cross section of a solarized apple' look to the cover art.
What? How could they not call it Apple Venus 2? That ruins the whole
point. It's supposed to be one album! That's insane! I suppose it's
cause of all the Homespun confussion. I mean, come on, if people can't
tell the difference between something titled Volume 1 and something
titled Volume 2, they shouldn't be opperating a CD player. Tell andy
not to give in, and to tell the TVT boys to shove their demands up
their blowhole! ...sorry, I get kind of emotional at times like
this...
Kevin Diamond
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/79/the_french_electric_all-st.html
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/84/bass-cleff.html
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/85/starving_artists.html
--
"The universe does not have laws, it has habits, and habits can be broken."
-Tom Robbins
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 14:19:44 EST
From: "JANE SPENCER-DAVIS" <janesunfish@hotmail.com>
Subject: Wasp Star(?) release date
Message-ID: <20000305191944.85505.qmail@hotmail.com>
Hi Y'all,
Well, this is now review, but just to doubly confirm the bad news I emailed
TVT records to beg and plead for some XTC merchandise to purchase and in
their reply they said that the release date is May 17th. Boohoo! And, what
is the deally-o with "Wasp Star?" what an odd name! Molly, thanks for the
listening party-and thanks for your patience with my 'novicity' with the
whole affair. What do people think about the new Steely Dan disc? I like
"Janie Runaway", "Gaslighting Abbie" and "Two against Nature", however I get
a lot of 'shades of Kamakiriad' out of it.
Carefully constructing the definitive
throat warbler mangrove,
Jane
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 11:28:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Nick Howorth <nik_h_1999@yahoo.com>
Subject: Hi! Adolf Hitler on vibes....
Message-ID: <20000305192801.27725.qmail@web3207.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi Kids!
I'm World War Two's Adolf Hitler. You may
remember me from such classic albums as 'Drums and
Piano Wires' (including the hit song -'I'm Hanging
from a Lampost') and the smash hit Broadway comedy
'Holocaust!' But enough of me, I'm here to endorse my
good friend Duncan Kimball's new book, 'I'm Right,
You're Wrong' with a forward by wacky would-be
dictator, Austria's 'Freedom' (ho! ho!) Party Leader,
Jorg Haider (a great personal showbiz friend of mine).
In these days of free speech and rapid internet
communication, it's reassuring to know that there's
still a place for self-publicising, closed-minded know
alls. Should you vote Republican or Democrat?
Sometimes you can have too much free choice, can't
you? With all the stresses of modern life, isn't it
good to know that there's someone like Dunc working
tirelessly to make up your minds for you when you
could be doing something more interesting like
stifling individual creativity or my own personal
favourite, not tolerating anyone whose views differ
from mine (a great icebreaker at parties!) Yes kids,
Dunc's your man so take note and hey, keep burning
those books!!
love, Adolf.
P.S. Look out for my new single - it's a collaboration
with that old Chilean crooner General Pinochet called
'The Disappeared' here's a singalong snippet:
'The Disappeared
All vanish in their millions
We take them on a bus
To a stadium that's just
Filled with bits of broken arms
(And legs and teeth...)'
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 16:45:24 -0500
From: Ben Gott/Loquacious Music <gott@tmbg.org>
Subject: Re: Just got off the 'phone with Andy. Lots of News.
Message-ID: <B4E5EE70.173D%gott@tmbg.org>
Peter,
Great to hear, from you, and I'm glad that all is well in merry ol'
Ireland...
That's great news about the new album -- I'm surprised that it'll be called
"WASP STAR" (what lyric is *that* from?), but can understand radio stations'
reluctance to play anything AV1 because of its "orchestralness"...
Things are great around here -- I'm writing this from another person's house
(I've decided to take the weekend off, thank you very much!)
Hope the family is doing well, and I'll talk to you soon.
Cheers,
-Ben
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
Benjamin Gott . Loquacious Music . Brunswick, ME 04011
AIM: Plan4Nigel . Tel: (207) 721-5366 . http://listen.to/loquacious
And it feels like I'm seventeen again / Feels like I'm seventeen...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 18:09:21 -0500
From: Ben Gott/Loquacious Music <gott@tmbg.org>
Subject: Lilac
Message-ID: <B4E85350.1774%gott@tmbg.org>
Gang,
Just a note to say that I found the two Lilac Time albums in the cutout
bin at Strawberries, of all places -- one was $7.99, the other $3.99.
Keep your eyes peeled...!
-Ben
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
Benjamin Gott . Loquacious Music . Brunswick, ME 04011
AIM: Plan4Nigel . Tel: (207) 721-5366 . http://listen.to/loquacious
Tired of asking why / Tired of trying to work it out / So I...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 16:04:40 -0800 (PST) From: Molly Fanton <mfanton99@yahoo.com> Subject: XTC Listening Party Message-ID: <20000306000440.29193.qmail@web1301.mail.yahoo.com> This coming Wednesday, I will hold another XTC Listening Party on Talk City. I'll be posting the details on my web site: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/xtclisteningparty.html. The time is 10pm EST, the room: BlackSea. I'll hopefully tonight post the info tonight, so keep checking. Mollyh Molly's Pages http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/index.html
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 09:57:30 -0000 From: "Smith, David" <David.Smith@tfeurope.com> Subject: Re: Science Fungus Message-ID: <802EE5D7277AD21188D10008C728D44801821EFD@TFSECMSG02> In response to Riccardo Bachman's posting re discovering XTC in Italy - absolutely LOVE the phrase about Science Friction growing on him "like a fungus"! Unfortunately as a late discoverer of XTC (around Mummer time) I never got to see them live - thank the stars for "Transmission" eh? Just a quick tenuous link to Riccardo's Italian heritage - I was in Milan in January (what a fabulous city!) and managed to find the two missing links in my XTC CD collection - namely Mummer (with all those extra tracks) and English Settlement (hey, with all those extra tracks!). OK, OK, I know that's probably not that big news in in this arena of dedicated Chalkhillians who trade everything from AV2 demos to Andy's old toenail clippings, but hey, I'm new to this! Best of all they cost less than #8 each! I love Italy! By the way, I haven't checked the Chalkhills site for it, but does anyone else remember an interview with Andy in "Q" magazine (many years ago) where the interviewer was privileged enough (so he says) to witness Andy digging out a verruca with a drawing pin? Class! Laters Smudgeboy E-Mail: david.smith@tfeurope.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 10:54:30 -0000 From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk> Subject: Oh Dear Message-ID: <4782AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C1BD49B9@mgmtm02.parliament.uk> >>to andy partridge - thank you so very much for allowing us that rare opportunity to meet you, to ask our questions and for your patience.....(etc) Oh, take your tongue out of his arse for God's sake! Cheers. Dom.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 11:37:05 +0000 (GMT) From: Chris Clee <cmc@sanger.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Orgroan A-cum-u-later Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0003061130070.20527-100000@piranha> duncan kimball wrote I've read some spaced-out shit in my time, but Orgone Energy is right up there with crystal healing, Feng Shui and alien abductions. What f***ing crock. what do you expect from an old hawkwind track :p (actually i rather liked it) What form does this energy take, exactly? If it can be accumulated, how is that no-one ever seems to have been able to measure or detect it before or since? it appears to take the form of dave brock (possibly bob calvert) lyrics in a rather long and 'stoned' track on the space rictual from liverpool in 1972ish...you detect it via one of those ancient vinyl playing instruments, preferably inebriated on some intoxicating liquor of some description. This leads to the difficulty in detection when sober :-) 'tiz a good if dated album though ttfn chris TGCCATCGGATCTCCTGCCTAGAGGAG
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 08:37:58 -0600 From: "Jamie Lowe" <jamielowe@email.msn.com> Subject: Chalkhills.org kudos Message-ID: <008601bf8779$a72251a0$7c5d1a3f@unlpm> Dear Chalkholders: Greg Kot the Chicago Tribune Rock Critic had this to say about http://www.reality.sgi.com/relph/chalkhills "For fans of the rock band XTC, and an excellent model for any band to follow in creating its own site." This appeared in an article in Sunday's Chgo. Trib. by arts and entertainment experts sharing their favorite internet destinations. More disciples to the cause! Thank you Mr. Relph. Jamie
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 09:19:19 -0600 From: "Todd Bernhardt" <todd.bernhardt@enterworks.com> Subject: Solo agreement Message-ID: <38C3CC77.80064018@enterworks.com> Organization: Enterworks, Inc. Hi: > From: Ian McCausland <talk@ian.mb.ca> > Subject: pooh sticks,flaming lips, and pet sounds Here I thought we were going to see some reference to the Upright Citizens Brigade's lethal-weapon-of-choice -- the Pooh Stick (tm) -- but nooooo. Pity. Sunhouse wrote: > Dave Gregory once told me that he loved Andy's demo for "Church Of > Women" EXCEPT for the guitar solo! I was telling Dave how great I > thought that demo was and that it sounded so good that it could almost > be released as-is to which he replied "but we'd have to do something > about Andy's guitar solo". I heard an audible cringe when I told him > that I actually really liked it. Sure would have been interesting to > hear what Dave would have done with it... From 1998: TB: Church of Women are you keeping that on the album? AP: Yeah, but I dont know if thats going to make the first record or the second at the moment. We havent even edited his [Prairie Prince's] drum takes on that yet, so I cant really tell you any more about that. TB: Just for my own benefit, are you planning on playing the guitar solo on that, or are you going to give that to Dave? AP: No, that solo really annoys me on the demo. TB: Does it really? I love that solo. AP: I tried so many different things, and I thought, Oh, fuck it, Im just going to mess around, and Ill just tell Dave that hes got to come up with something of a certain nature in here. So, for the demo, so it would sound sort of complete, I just kind of noodled with this heavy-metal nonsense. And everyones turned around and said, Oh, I really like that solo, but seriously, it was just to stop the tape from sounding like a big hole there. I put a load of stuff in and sat down with Dave and said, I want something here, but youre not to play anything like that. So I guess Andy and Dave agree on *some* things, eh? As always, thanks for the updates, Mitch and Peter. Interesting stuff. --Todd
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 08:26:57 PST From: "Ralph Simpson DeMarco" <sawpit@hotmail.com> Subject: McCartney CD & AVII Message-ID: <20000306162657.22146.qmail@hotmail.com> Dear Affiliated Members: What? Andy wants to distance XTC from the Beatles by declining the McCartney Tribute CD?! I think that's a bit too late. Every single rock book, review, online catalogue etc, refers to the XTC-Beatle connection. Gimme a break! XTC needs all the exposure they can get, and being on that McCartney tribute CD would be a great idea (and may convert some new fans). I just hope they re-consider. Two: OK AVII may be boring as a title, but Our Shiny Heart? or WASP STAR? C'mon, I hope those are bad jokes. Nice to know Bob Ludwig is mastering AVII. His is the man who created a stir with his stellar work on Steely Dan's Goucho. His name is found on 25% of the albums I own from the last 25 years. Went to college with his daughter and got the chance to visit thier home. Back in 1987, Ludwig had the biggest album and CD collection I had ever seen. Ralph
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-35 ******************************
Go back to Volume 6.
6 March 2000 / Feedback