Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 97
Date: Tuesday, 2 May 2000

          Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 97

                   Tuesday, 2 May 2000

Topics:

                    Children's record
              A new twist on XTC and Napster
                I nearly got in at Hendon
                     My first time...
                       NO!!!! *sob*
                      Sacrelicious!
                      Country Music
          Who wants to marry an XTC millionaire?
        The Trouble With Music -- by Steve Albini
                          Watt?
                       Re: Crushes
             SPOIL...got the real one...SPOIL
                     Rock history 101
                       Twang Twang
            Andy's the man who killed my love
            Layer Upon Layer Of Ironic Whatsit
         Re: Arguments, attitudes & happy threads

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Unknowing we mime, we play for the ministry.

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

Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 16:07:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: Children's record
Message-ID: <20000501230705.20090.qmail@web2104.mail.yahoo.com>

There's been a little talk around these parts about
Andy doing a children's record.
I think that would be a great idea. Los Lobos did a
pretty good one a few years ago, and Jad Fair (of Half
Japanese) of all people did one (haven't heard it),
So I think Andy or XTC would be a good choice to make
a kid's record. If it turned out even half as catchy s
the Giant Peach demos, it would be wonderful!

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

Date: Mon May 01 19:40:09 2000
From: BRJohnson1@aol.com
Subject: A new twist on XTC and Napster
Message-ID: <200005012340.QAA25430@sgiblab.sgi.com>

I was kicking around Napster today and searched on XTC and came up
with a song I'd never heard of before, called "Sunshine Bonnet Pylon."
It was listed as a demo, and the title seemed vaguely Partridgian. So
I downloaded it.

Well, it's not XTC. But it is effin' great. The song consists of
snippets of Dan Rather from the CBS Evening News set over clips of
songs like "Back In Black."

Intrigued, I did a little web searching, and found that it's actually
a song called "Rocked By Rape" (something Dan says in the song), and
it's by a band called ECC. They have deliberatly renamed the mp3 files
and shared them to Napster to spread the song. You search for your
favorite band, find this 'rare' song you've never heard, download it
and listen, and it's their song instead! Genius, if you're on a T1 and
didn't waste 2 hours downloading it.

You can read more on their web page at
http://evolution-control.com/culturejamming.html

Oh, and I heard "I'm The Man Who..." on DC101 last night here in
DC. Pretty kickass.

Brad

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

Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 18:56:29 PDT
From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com>
Subject: I nearly got in at Hendon
Message-ID: <20000502015629.22861.qmail@hotmail.com>

Dear Herne,

Glad you've ssen the light re: Napster! And there was I, thinking that you
didn't give a tinker's cuss about The Struggling Artist...

>My real point was I have a hard time swallowing the concept that the
>trading or borrowing of music is inheritly evil.   And when a group >of
>people like Chalkhills protest such a concept I've just got to >express
>some disbelief.

Well *I* never said it was evil. Admittedly, trading and borrowing are
*technically* illegal, but I think most artists are prepared to tolerate it,
since they know basically promotes their work AND it's usually restricted to
a cadre of hardcore fans who don't really make any money out of it. Some
(like FZ) are less tolerant of the boots than others, but given Frank's
track record in being bludgeoned by avaricious record companies that's
entirely understandable.

Still, I get the feeling that Andy would probably rather NOT have these
demos circulating freely, as they do. From what I gather, he's philosophical
about it, but as he's hinted in interviews, someone in these record
companies is copying these things and handing them out in the first place,
without his permission.

There IS, as you point out later, a considerable demand for such items, and
I doubt that Andy has missed the point that he could be making money
directly, himself, if he sold copies of the demos to fans for a reasonable
charge - something he is, or should be, entirely entitled to do. It is his
own work, after all. And one can't compare it to something like a beta
version of sofware - the public at large don't need to run it to get the
bugs out - that's Andy's job. If, after the fact, he wants to release them,
he should, and he should be paid fairly for a an honest day's work in the
shed.

We're all guilty; plenty of us have copies of the demos. OK I don't
personally - but that's not the point, I have an advance copy of Wasp Star.
It is the way it is, but I think it should - and easily COULD - be
otherwise, and it would benefit all parties.

One other point I wanted to pick up on -

>And I  refuse to be accused of stealing from Andy Partridge.   Hell >I'm
>BEGGING to give Andy and TVT  my money.  Where are the cd's, the >hats, the
>t-shirts,  the videos, the CONCERTS???   It can't all be >Virgin's fault.
>Bring on the stuff!

We all feel the same, Herne. It's one of the reason I'm so frustrated by
Andy's decision not to go down the Todd Rundgren track and sell albums via
internet subscription. I just KNOW it would work, and it seems like the
perfect solution for artists in their situation. I mean, how may people
subscribe to Chalkhills, for Ozzy's sake? It's got to be thousands, at
least?

However, to answer your question - yes it CAN be all Virgin's fault. Unless
I'm very much mistaken they own ALL the rights to ALL the XTC material prior
to AV1, including the videos, the artwork, the logos, yadda yadda yadda.
Regardless of how many units and what kind of marketing Virgin did of the
back catalogue - and I have no doubt a boxed set WILL come - Andy & Colin
will only ever receive the piddling recompense they have earned all along,
under the noxious terms of their contract.

>If collecting non-commercially available items aka "collectibles" is
>theft then why does the industry tacitly support and encourage it?
>Making limited edition items that are supposedly not for public
>consumption.   Someone's writing those press releases where industry
>officials express phony shock and dismay over the fact that movie
>posters are stolen from bus stops or that their recording artist's
>promos are worth money on the net.   They want to have it both ways >and so
>they try unsuccessfully to walk a fine line in a grey area.  >Then they
>have the audacity to blame fans for the demand they create.

Yes I agree. One tangential example which constantly shits me (...pause
while author mounts weary, greying, sway-backed hobby-horse...) is
Australian back-catalogue material. There is a handful of small local
companies leasing back-catalogue from the majors, and putting on CD, and I
applaud them (softly). But they can only do so much, their resources are
limited. Major Australian record companies are grievously at fault here, and
I'll single out EMI and Warner, who are sitting on their fat arses doing
nothing about reissuing some of the best 60s and 70s Aussie material.
Meanwhile on the collectors market, these self-same albums are changing
hands for three and even four figure sums. It seems blatantly obvious that
(A) there is a demand, and that (B) they could make money if properly
marketed. What's the problem? Cost per unit versus profit. It would cost too
much, for too little return - so they say. And you can really only do it by
not paying someone - usually the artist.

It all comes back to ownership. Unless, like Zappa, you can reclaim
ownership of your recordings AND get the masters back, you're stuffed. It an
age-old problem: because they had shitty contracts, and cared more for the
music than the for the fine print, or were because they were simply ripped
off - many of the artists still haven't seen a cent from these recordings,
on LP or CD - EVER.

One case I know of personally is a local artist who produced an album ca.
1971. It has always been well-regarded, and is a highly sought-after
collectible on the international market, fetching several hundred dollars in
mint condition. It's recently been leased from the company who owns it (who,
oddly enough, are in the middle of their own major reissue program),
remastered and put onto CD by an independant label. It's great that this is
available, but as far as I know, the artist in question hasn't been paid a
cent, and wasn't even consulted about the remastering and reissue of an
album of his own songs, even though he lives only kilomtres from the company
who reissued the album.

>In general, why the entertainment industry is so obsessed with the
>internet is beyond me.   At best the net is a marketing tool.  Net
>profits are all virtually non-existent.  CDNOW is supposedly headed
>toward ruin.  And Amazon is still in the red.  A recent survey >someone in
>the industry quoted  to me said people list shopping as >53rd on the list
>of what people use the net for.  53rd!  Frankly I'd >rather go to Tower, a
>place I like by the way, cause it's in the real >world.  I'm a fan of the
>bricks and morter.

Problem is, as I've said before: bricks and mortar cost LOTS of money to
build and maintain and staff. The reason media companies are slavering to go
digital, and get control of the WWW and broadbanding is obvious - they can
merge all their entertainment 'products' into one stream. And broadbanding
offers them the ideal means to sell it - instant, constant access to a
world-wide market, and above all, production and sale on demand at a minute
fraction of the cost of pressing, shipping and racking a CD. Basically, the
only real costs would be the recording itself, and the advertising.

It's kind of like The Krell machine in "Forbidden Planet"  - no more need
for phsyical instrumentality (well, sort of). They CAN'T WAIT to see the end
of the record shop - no more massive losses shipping expensive albums that
don't sell, no more sale or return conditions on shipments, no warehouse or
transport costs, no need to pay the sales rep's or print promo posters ...
in fact no real need (theoretically) to make *any* physical product at all.
If you want it on CD, you buy a burner and do it yourself; if you want the
artwork, you download it - for a fee, of course - and print it out yourself.
That's what they want. Maximum profit at minimum cost to themselves, with as
much of the cost and effort as possible being borne by the consumer.

I think the Web offers some great new avenues for some people, and as I
said, it's something I think XTC should SERIOUSLY look at. But it's also
showing a disturbing tendency towards and even bigger and more serious
oligopoly than existed before. I think Chuck D. is off the mark in
identifying "lazy artists" as the problem. OK there might be a small
percentage who are there to get maximum return for minimum effort, and good
luck to them.

But in the case of XTC, or indeed the Australian artists I've referred to,
we're talking about people who are serious, hardworking career musicians.
People who have dedicated twenty, thirty, years to their craft, who are the
very best at what they do, who are often still out there paying shitty clubs
to handful of people, because it's what they do and they love playing. And
yet they are still struggling, still being ripped off; in many cases highly
talented people have left the business for good, deeply disillusioned by the
way they have been mistreated, and rightly feeling that they never got an
even break.

I know personally of one prominent Australian group from the 70s,  pretty
legendary here, who were VERY successful in their day, selling in in gold
record quantities here AND overseas, yet who have basically never seen a
cent from their efforts. They have a new album almost complete, lacking only
a bit of money and studio time to finish it, and they want to tour and get
something happening again - but they are pigeonholed as a "nostalgia" act.
Now they're in a stalemate, with some of the members basically throwing up
their hands in despair and saying "Here we go again". It seems blindingly
obvious that some kind of Internet subscription would be the way to go. The
nuts and bolts would need to be worked out, sure, but it's got to be better
than going cap in hand to record companies who don't give a shit, only to be
shown the door while bloated A&R snigger up their sleeves at them.

I really hope things like Napster - made legit - can open up new avenues for
musicians. But I doubt it. The oligopoly has already moved to take control -
as I've pointed out before, we've gone from six major music companies to
three in the last two years. This is downright sinister in its own right,
but when it includes mergers with TV and film interests, AND the aquisition
of major-league internet providers on the scale of AOL, you have to wonder
about the future of democracy and free enterprise.

*sigh*

Despondent Dunks

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

Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 21:42:25 -0400
From: "Cheryl" <mcgregoc@mindspring.com>
Subject: My first time...
Message-ID: <001501bfb3d7$ab8dca00$6601f7a5@mcgregocmindspring.com>

Hello!

I'm sorry to be posting so much but I have had some time off to do whatever.

And in doing whatever, I hustled my bum on down to Newbury Comics in search
of some new CDs.  Particularly Trash Can Sinatras...anyway as I enter the
store... WHAM! my ears were hit with the gorgeous sound of XTC (Hey Todd!
Are you having a feeling of deja vu right now?).  Never, never, never in my
whole obsession with XTC have I ever come across them wafting out of a sound
system in a record store.  I floated around the store a bit and found the
CDs I was looking for and then some.  I was feeling bold in my exhilaration
and accosted a sales clerk as he came down my aisle.  So!  Who's the XTC
fan?  I tried to ask in an air of a joking manner, hoping I didn't sound
like a lunatic.  It was in fact him.  We chatted a bit and discussed A
School Guide To XTC, which I was holding in my little fingers.  I then
gladly went to the register and unloaded my bank account from a heavisome
burden.

Washed away in musical bliss,
Cheryl

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

Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 21:42:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Molly Fanton <mfanton99@yahoo.com>
Subject: NO!!!! *sob*
Message-ID: <20000502044223.12398.qmail@web1303.mail.yahoo.com>

Oh what a great time to break my ankle just when the
guys are going on a promo tour. :(  Now I won't be
able to try to see them if they come to Toronto, I was
going to try this year.  *sob* Life's NOT fair.
*sniff*

Molly

=====

Molly's Pages
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/index.html

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

Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 22:03:00 PDT
From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com>
Subject: Sacrelicious!
Message-ID: <20000502050300.98928.qmail@hotmail.com>

I'm gonna put on the asbestos suit, and address myself to Chalkers who have
already heard WASP STAR (with apologies to those still waiting):

- I think "Church Of Women" should have been the closing track.

Am I crazy?

Dunks

	[ Yes, you are crazy.  -- John ]

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

Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 22:46:52 -0700
From: "Radiosinmotion" <radiosinmotion@earthlink.net>
Subject: Country Music
Message-ID: <001901bfb3f9$d1c15440$0200a8c0@digitalpc>

I guess that was too broad of a statement because I was trying to make the
point that its ok for people not to like every kind of music.  However, I
guess the statement about country was a little off considering I am a big
fan of Cracker which really sounds similar to country.  In fact, Camper Van
Beethoven (Pre Cracker) covered a song from Hank Williams (I think) called
"Six More Miles To The Graveyard."

I am also a fan of the blues, and listening to country, I really notice
little difference in the two genres.  I would be interested in a country
tape (cd if possible, I will supply the CD).  I also like Mojo Nixon who
sounds really, well, country-meets-crack.  Sorry for my broad statement.  I
have always pictured country as racist rednecks who spend all their time
drinking beer and complaining and really I should know better than that.

I guess the same could be said about all the music I mentioned, but I was
more trying to make a point.  Though I like some music that almost touches
Disco, I could never stand pure disco music.  Its just useless music in my
opinion, kind of like current Hip-Hop, so called R&B and new "Alternative"
groups.

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 07:19:25 -0600 (CST)
From: Kelly Nickel <nickel@sedsystems.ca>
Subject: Who wants to marry an XTC millionaire?
Message-ID: <SIMEON.10005020725.C@sw-35.sedsystems.ca>

 Friends of Chalk,

The all-knowing and XTC-material-hoarding Mark Strijbos
wrote:

>BTW: i'm still desperately seeking a lonely XTChick (lusty
>or not) to join me in my Little Lighthouse.  Must be
>willing to relocate to Holland; joint custody of my
>extensive XTC collection offered...

Good heavens man! Mark, didn't you learn anything from the
American experiment? She'd just take your gold and diamond
crusted copy of English Settlemnt and leave you immediately
after returning from your cruise to Swindon!!!

(legal disclaimer: not that I am in any way slandering the
lusty ladies/not lusty ladies of XTC)

----------------------
Kelly Nickel - all "NAPSTER'd out" in Canada

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

Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 14:03:17 GMT
From: "Dominique Leone" <d_leone@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Trouble With Music -- by Steve Albini
Message-ID: <20000502140317.5754.qmail@hotmail.com>

While we're talking about Napster and the music business, I thought you
might find this article interesting.  It was written by Steve Albini, famed
producer of such alternative acts as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and a hoard of
others.  Just in case you thought signed musicians were raking it in...

Dominique

The Trouble With Music
by Steve Albini
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 04:52:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Al LaCarte <allacarte@yahoo.com>
Subject: Watt?
Message-ID: <20000502115247.5684.qmail@web1611.mail.yahoo.com>

All:

>Worse, it's been going on so long
that there's a whole generation of adults music
listeners who think that The
Beatles represent the pinnacle of music composition
and performance.<

Case in point.

Al

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 09:59:21 EDT
From: Melsta@aol.com
Subject: Re: Crushes
Message-ID: <2f.4b53b90.26403939@aol.com>

Hi-de-hi Chalkers!

In a message dated 05/02/2000 12:04:37 AM Eastern Daylight Time, our dear
Little Lighthouse keeper writes:

>  Our friend Jane mentioned something interesting:
>
>  > Might I speak for let's say the majority of the 'Chalkhills Chicks'
>  > (and we are a lusty lot) that the preference would be for a Mr.
>  > Partridge tripping and falling into the featherbed rather than a Mr.
>  > Sumner...
>
>  I won't name names but several members of that lusty lot have indeed
>  confided to me that they find themselves strangely attracted to Mr. P But i
>  must hasten to add that there are also a number of torches burning for our
>  Dave
>
>  And i know that back in the Good Old Days at least one Swindon
>  schoolgirl had quite a crush on Terry Chambers.

Terry _was_ quite cute back in the day (can't speak for him now),
and certainly Andy has an infectious charm, but this ol' Hillienne
has always had ever such a soft spot in her heart for Colin "Still
Waters" Moulding. The limpid, soulful eyes, ever so shyly hiding
behind lush, thick "curtain" of (gimme a head with) hair. You know
he's got a lot going on upstairs, and by all accounts a dry little sense
of humor, but he doesn't have to make a show of it all the time.
That Carol must be one lucky lady. Girls? Am I alone?

>  BTW: i'm still desperately seeking a lonely XTChick (lusty or not) to
>  join me in my Little Lighthouse.  Must be willing to relocate to
>  Holland; joint custody of my extensive XTC collection offered...
>
Gee, if my man Ken hadn't got to me already when I was 17 (back
in 1985 and already quite the XTC fan), that would be a very tempting
offer! I mean, Ken can't even stand XTC! Ain't that a kick in the
teeth? And I just _know_ you could get me in to meet Colin! ;-)

Melissa "You be my Andy and I'll be your Erika" Reaves

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 08:01:53 EDT
From: WESnLES@aol.com
Subject: SPOIL...got the real one...SPOIL
Message-ID: <57.51d8257.26401db1@aol.com>

SPOILER?  WHO KNOWS...BUT HERE'S THE WARNING.

I got the "real-final-product" disc in the mail from TVT yesterday.  It
doesn't much differ from the promo dealio___but it does contain lyrics and a
nifty photo of the lads, as well as liner notes which thank June and Pete
Dix___Little Express___as well as some chap named John Relph.

wesLONG
http://members.tripod.com/~The_Last_Balloon/index.html

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 02:31:12 EDT
From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
Subject: Rock history 101
Message-ID: <a5.547cc44.263fd030@aol.com>

Here we go, time to join the fracas!

XTC is not nor were they ever punk, and they are defintely not heavy metal.
The members of XTC were teenagers, like myself, at the end of the sixties.
They were weaned on sixties music, and probably even have memories of early
sixties and even fifties.  They started playing in bands in the early
seventies.  Read Songs Stories, people!!  Look at those pictures!  Andy and
Colin with hair down to their shoulders.  Man, can I relate!  All of us
teenage hippie wannabees!  (And the Gen Xrs think they have a right to be
pissed.  Imagine being on the fence at the greastest party in modern history,
watching, and too young to join in!  I'd have KILLED to get to Woodstock!  In
retrospect, I'd trade my entire life to be 19 in 1965, a nascent rock
musician in San Francisco or London or LA, with five years to go!  Where's
the fucking Devil when you need him?  I'd bet good money that if you asked
Andy, he'd agree.)  Most of the great musicians who came to the forefront
during the new wave had been playing a while, paying their dues in cover
bands.  All trying to find their way.  Some did fusion (Sting), some AOR rock
and even lounge / disco (Joe Jackson).  I can tell you from experience that
in the States there was a period from roughly 1975 to 1978 where you couldn't
get steady local work if you weren't in a fucking disco band!!!!!  All of
these artists, XTC included, were slowly honing their craft and looking for
breaks as rock song writers and players  when punk hit in '76.  None of them
were progenitors or even enthusiasts at first, but fearing death via AOR and
disco (the traps I fell into) they adapted the punk ethos in any hope of
catching a break!  THAT'S what White Music and Go 2 are all about!  That's
why there's such a descrepency in the style of their material from Go 2 to
Drums & Wires, and to a lesser degree, from English Settlement to Mummer.
The change from Barry Andrews to Dave, and later the transition to being
strictly a studio band were tantamaount to shedding their 'fashion' skin and
getting back to what they really wanted to do in the first place.  (Although
they wore that skin very well!  How much more New Wave can you get than their
first two albums?).  The true transitional period, hence, is from D & W to
English Setllement!  Mummer was the 'getting your feet wet in our new home'
album.  That's why people are so uncertain about it.  They (XTC) have been in
their new home ever since.  As someone very perceptive recently pointed out,
their music mirrors their life experiences.  Their urge for artistic growth
was extremely strong.  That's why Andrews eventually had to go.  He was a one
dimensional player (sorry, Barry fans!  Truth sucks sometimes.)  As cool and
kooky as he was, his signature retro Farfisa sound was going to limit them
severely, and Andy and Colin were not going to stand still.  Dave was more
like an old band mate who was into all their formative stuff (that's why the
Dukes worked so well!  Dave was very important in that project.  Think about
it!!!), and was much more well rounded and accomplished as a musician.
That's why Andy feels, and rightly so, that XTC really began with Drums &
Wires.  Am I making sense?

Heavy metal truly starts with Black Sabbath.  Zep was NOT metal - they were
too ecclectic and too good and too early.  They were essentially hard rock,
but they influenced metal a great deal.  (Metal can be considered a specific
spawn of hard rock.)  Poison & Def Leppard are power pop (as someone
correctly pointed out, hair bands), the commercial face of hard rock,
prevelant mostly in the eighties.  Their ilk belongs with Whitesnake, Lover
Boy, Bon Jovi, Golden Earring, Journey (trust me, I had to play some of this
shit) and so on.  I wouldn't even call ACDC or KISS metal, although KISS had
the look.  Metal traces through Motley Crue & such through the 70's, until
it's rebirth with Metallica.  Metallica is the first commercial success of
the marriage of speed punk with metal. XTC has no real connection with this
genre, in spite of their occasional early bouts with walls of distortion, via
punk and early hard rock influences.  Their songwriting was simply too pop
and too superior to associate with metal.

The Ramones were punk.  The Sex Pistols were punk. The Clash were at first,
but became the first authentic link to New Wave.   XTC were not.  Neither
were Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Police, and
so on.  They took the sound and fashion of punk as the window dressing for
their songwriting.  They were successful.  Thus, new wave.  Thus, XTC.

How do I know all this?  In addition to playing, I have taught guitar off and
on since 1974.  I have watched youngsters (the key age is 13)  come to me to
learn how to play like the latest rock Gods contiuously for 26 years.  I know
what clicks and who it's been.  I have recently taught a student a Green Day
song.  And they're considered old news!

To help your mindsets, and to put XTC in perspective, imagine that it's 1979
and we were engaged in a current debate. Black Sea has not hit the shelves.
Even if you're too young to remember.

I strongly urge all of you to pick up a copy of Joe Jackson's recent book, 'A
Cure For Gravity'  Not only is it brilliantly written, but it shows the
underside of a musician's experience before and at the time of the New Wave
explosion.  It is very enlightening.

There you go!  But then again, that's just my opinion.

'Awaken you dreamers'!  Later, you faithful!

Tom 'have I lived too long?' Kingston

PS:  Napster, Schmapster.  Just buy the goddamn CD when it comes out.  OK?

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 09:00:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: Twang Twang
Message-ID: <20000502160028.2630.qmail@web2102.mail.yahoo.com>

Christopher Coolidge posted in defense of alt-country.
I concur! There's a lot of good country music out
there if you go beyond the mainstream. I know there
has to be more alt-country fans on Chalkhills-I've
traded tapes of this music with a former Chalkhiller.
I like most of the retro/alt/roots/non-mainstream
country I've heard, and very little of the mainstream
stuff. Check out the Mavericks, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou
Harris, Johnny Cash (American Recordings, released
about 5 years ago, is supurb, and his complete Sun
records 2-disc set is a must-have), Steve Earle, etc.
BR5-49 are really cheesey, but enjoyable on some
lovel. The Mekons have dabbled a lot in country, and
are a great band.
I come and go with this music a lot,and am currently
on a 'not listening to it' phase, but I can still
recommend it. Gues my point here is not to dismiss
country based on what you may have heard on the radio.
That stuff is crap.

Tyler 'Todd's Mom is such a sweet lady' Hewitt

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 08:34:40 -0700
From: Paul Rogers <progers@pcrmusic.com>
Subject: Andy's the man who killed my love
Message-ID: <1ECA24EBA3B1D311B9C500485450E78E8852@www.paccomsys.com>

I heard the new XTC single on the radio here last night. "I'm the man who
killed love".
Now first I have to say I am one of the most rabid XTC fans alive (since
1980 when I heard Black Sea). XTC is the most influential and inventive band
since the Beatles.  In fact they kind of are my beatles.

That said, with all due respect, the new single is less than inventive.
Thats being kind.   It has a bloated "old rocker" feel to me.  As clever as
the lyric may be, it isn't married to the usual groundbreaking musicality.

I'm hoping for more from the rest of the record.  Please

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 18:00:02 +0100
From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk>
Subject: Layer Upon Layer Of Ironic Whatsit
Message-ID: <4782AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C1BD4CC5@mgmtm02.parliament.uk>

Porkers,

I hate to say it, but I don't really think XTC are a heavy metal band. I was
merely jestin'. Evidently my none-more-subtle humour is just a little bit
too cunning for some of you. Perhaps I should swear more.

I would, however, be perfectly happy to argue the toss about Metal,
preferably off-list but if not I can always crowbar an XTC reference into
the discussion. Shit, now I'm giving away all my brilliant tricks!

And furthermore...

ERIN now offers a comprehensive range of services in the area of WebSite
Content Management, tailored to meet specific requirements and built using
tools such as DynaBase, ColdFusion, ASP, and other scripting environments.
These solutions always encompass scalability and robustness, as well as
dynamic, interactive, and (in an increasing number of cases) multilingual
components.

That's handy then.

Dom.

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

Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 20:03:02 +0100 (BST)
From: Rory Wilsher <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Arguments, attitudes & happy threads
Message-ID: <20000502190302.15676.qmail@web1505.mail.yahoo.com>

Ed Kedzierski wrote:
"10.	A lot of people don't care for this song, but I'm
a sucker for the
piano in "Washaway"."

YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!

I LOVE this piano!

Also, the pause in Easter Theatre in the penultimate
chorus "stage leeeeeft.....enter Easter etc"

And so much other stuff that by the time I type it out
you'll have forgotten the thread. AV1 and Nonsuch just
happen to be on permanent spin in my car at the
moment.

Also, as a relative newbie to this list I heartily
concur: it's the variety and diversity of opinions,
and the occasional slanging match, that keep me
interested. Sometimes I smile; sometimes I laugh out
loud: "SHUT YOUR WRETCHED PIE TRAP YOU RIDICULOUS
PRICK!", f'rinstance. Sorry, had to crowbar that one
in somehow! Anyone who likes XTC should be used to
hearing strong opinions lustily propounded by now.
(God, how polite was THAT?)

Rory "Was he a great man? A great BIG man, anyway"
Wilsher

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #6-97
******************************

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2 May 2000 / Feedback