Chalkhills Digest Volume 7, Issue 48
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2001
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 7, Number 48
Thursday, 6 September 2001
Topics:
I've been taken for lost and gone and I've known for a long long time
This one's pink thing
Re: Josie and the Pussycats
Little Greenman
Brian (Wilson) Paints Andy
A few things...
Blurry rambles
anal corrections
greenman is...
Re: re.
Re: state of shock
"Awaken You Dreamers"
liner note--note noted
Wasp Star Vol 2 is like Abbey Road
Help! and What becomes of the Chalkhills site?
Skylarking with only 12 songs?
Re: Andy vs Blur
An earful...
That there's an XTC lyric!
Reduced site!!!!
RE: Shocking stuff
A Wilson-Partridge composition
XTC's Album Sales
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For how long will this dark age last?
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 08:58:29 -0500 From: "Wiencek, Dan" <Dan_Wiencek@mcgraw-hill.com> Subject: I've been taken for lost and gone and I've known for a long long time Message-ID: <200108311419.f7VEJL02692743@els.sgi.com> Harrison wrote: > A mutual friend recently gave Brian Wilson a copy of AV1 > and Wasp Star. Mutual friend of Brian's and Andy's? Yours and Andy's? Me confusee. > Wilson apparently loved them, to the extent that he expressed > interest in a collaboration with Partridge. Wilson is now on R&R > following his recent tour, and will have more to say on the matter > when he's finished resting up. Partridge has some pretty grave > reservations about the gig--Wilson's had a, er, colorful past, and > Andy wants to assess what extent this colorfulness has affected his > musical decision-making faculties--not to mention his capacity to > put two sentences together without drooling on his lap. Andy's also > a bit worried that his own prickliness about musical matters might > put Wilson off. So don't hold your breath... (But Lordy Lordosis, > wouldn't that be *nice*?) Wow, this is *totally* like a really embarrassing fanboy daydream I once had, about meeting Brian in St. Charles (back when he lived there) and giving him a copy of AV1. There's no way Brian *couldn't* be knocked out by it. FWIW, Steve Dahl, or local talk radio giant, is a friend of Brian's and helped him out with his last studio album, "Imagination" (he co-wrote the title song). He said, in no uncertain terms, that despite Brian's remaining brilliance it was producer Joe Thomas who was really responsible for getting the album together, and that without a stable hand on the tiller Brian is pretty lost. So I think any collaboration (other than just getting together to write songs) would entail Andy doing the lion's share of the work. Still, even if Brian was an inarticulate freak, how could you turn down that experience?
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 09:01:23 -0500 From: "Wiencek, Dan" <Dan_Wiencek@mcgraw-hill.com> Subject: This one's pink thing Message-ID: <200108311422.f7VEM802813605@els.sgi.com> Eric wrote: > > This is quite a stretch, but at one time > >Colin was apparently asked to tour with Pink > >Floyd after Roger Waters left. > > Was this before they got Rick Wright back? And > does anyone notice how Nick Mason sounds like > Colin in "Coming Back to Life"? It was for the Momentary Lapse tour, for which Rick Wright was playing with the band again but not yet a fully reinstated member. And that's Dave Gilmour singing "Coming Back to Life," unless it's Nick Mason's drum track that somehow reminds you of Colin. A day where I can spread some Floyd knowledge is a good day. Dan W.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 03:08:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: "April Zappaterrini" <april@thezaps.com>
Subject: Re: Josie and the Pussycats
Message-ID: <28202.207.8.197.162.999241721.squirrel@12.27.88.122>
> JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS ("Jason And The Argonauts")
> "We'vegotlongtailsandearsforhats thereisnotimeforpurrsorpatswith
> Jo-sie and the pus-sy-caaaaats!"
I was reading this at work and this little song almost made me fall out of
my chair laughing. Please write a verse for it...? :-D
> I'm puzzled...does anyone know what the "Greenman" is?
> Craig in DC
I was puzzled like you until I read this beautiful website:
The Search for The Green Man
http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/greenman/greenintro.html
:-)
april
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 10:49:58 EDT
From: VRMH11@aol.com
Subject: Little Greenman
Message-ID: <140.d38b8b.28c0fe16@aol.com>
Hi! I've been delaying my inevitable posting but could not rest with Craig in
DC pondering Greenman. Of course it is about an alien that takes over earth,
"..bow down to the greenman..." Like Nicole, also from the last mailing, I
traveled to England but also with kids in tow and XTC in my head. It was
amazing how XTC permeates England, for a chalkhead anyway. You can hear how
Tower Of London is just the right tempo to trudge up the steps of it to. If
I could walk on my hands into London, I would have. Another xtcmoment was in
Paris where there was a fair/carnival at the Tuilieres Gardens and a game
booth called "Lovely". It had various items, i.e. vase, lamp, toaster, that
you had to throw a hoop around to win. My mind immediately jumped to a video
of the song with Mr.Partridge in the booth singing and hawking his wares. So
when can I expect more new music from these guys?? Its the only source I can
count on. By the way, My husband and I both share the birthday, 11-11, with
Andy. A friend once told me I am an honorary member of the 11-11 club. It
was a group that has experienced the phenomena of being stoned and looking at
a digital clock at exactly 11:11 and thinking the clock broke or something
was wrong. Uh-huh, okay well maybe you had to be there. Hey, maybe Greenman
is really about money....ya think?
Ginny of Philadelphia
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 11:51:54 -0400 From: Tony Picco <tpicco@iesna.org> Subject: Brian (Wilson) Paints Andy Message-ID: <B7B52AD9.1AF7%tpicco@iesna.org> <<Partridge has some pretty grave reservations about the gig--Wilson's had a, er, colorful past, and Andy wants to assess what extent this colorfulness has affected his musical decision-making faculties--not to mention his capacity to put two sentences together without drooling on his lap. Andy's also a bit worried that his own prickliness about musical matters might put Wilson off. So don't hold your breath... (But Lordy Lordosis, wouldn't that be *nice*?>> Gosh, that's some unneccessarily nasty commentary about Brian Wilson... didn't your mother teach you to be civil? Don't you know we're all light? (I read that somewhere.) And personally, I think Andy's too much of a control freak to easily collaborate with. Brian may be too fragile for Andy. tony picco
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 09:03:24 -0700 From: "Drude" <the-drude@home.com> Subject: A few things... Message-ID: <000201c13236$773b91e0$07b44118@gv.shawcable.net> Hello Hillians... XTC in the news... The latest copy of Maxim Blender Magazine has an interview with Andy Dick, the bizarro drug-addled 'comedian' from News Radio and various awful movies. They ask him to rate some of his favourite albums, and lo! and behold, who should make it onto his list but our pals XTC! This is his review of Skylarking... "This is one of my top five albums of all time. From start to finish, it will take you out of your brain and out of your body, and your soul will go on a trip and you'll come back a different person. This might be sacrilege to say, but it is beyond The Beatles. It takes The Beatles into the 3000 millennium." Sacrilege definitely, but an accurate review I'd say... In other news... Whilst recently rummaging through my wealth of possessions (I'm moving to the east coast of Canada...Halifax to be precise...hmmmm....bricks and fog...can't wait -- been on the west coast far too long...), I stumbled upon several XTC items I had somehow forgotten I owned (!!!). If anyone has any information on rarity/value/etc... I'd love to know (no, they are not for sale...)... 1. A contemporary Drums and Wires white T-shirt (not-so-white anymore, but surprisingly un-faded). 2. The 3 mini-CD version of Oranges and Lemons. 3. The vinyl singles of Love on a Farmboys Wages, No Thugs, and This World Over, all complete with their respective postcards/inserts, etc... T.W.O is actually still sealed... 4. A Wonderland 7' picture disc!!! 5. A mini-CD of Mayor Of Simpleton. and, strangest of all, as I have never seen or heard of one before... 6. A mini-CD single of King For A Day, packaged in a crown-shaped cardboard sleeve (!!??) While I know I got some of this stuff in the early 80's as it was released, I can't for the life of me remember where some of these items came from!!!! Must be all those drugs I did in the 80's.... ...wait, I didn't DO drugs in the 80's... Drude
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 15:58:23 +0000 From: "Tim Brooks" <bridgered@hotmail.com> Subject: Blurry rambles Message-ID: <F146A5ISwoRRMcA9ySx0000342f@hotmail.com> Just to add my tuppence (will this soon become tupEuro?)on this topic. Darren Kamble's response was pretty much spot on. I asked the question to the Blur fan club list after Paul Culnane's original post and got the following reponse from the guy that runs the Blur FC who has close links with the band so its pretty definitive >Re: Andy Partridge Sessions > >According to 3862 Days... >Sunday Sunday, Coping and Seven Days. > >Years ago I did hear SS and Coping at the Food offices. They weren't bad >at all. There was a certain XTC-ness about them, but the songs were pretty >much as they are today. Sunday Sunday had a few gimmickey sound effects I >think. >I read in the latest Q that Andy Partridge was sacked from producing Mary >Margaret O'Hara once too. Has he ever produced anyone succesfully? >Oh, and no. The sessions have never "sneaked out". Nothing ever does leak >from Food. >Martin - Blur FC So Darren I think your first born is safe as these sessions are not available, you'd regret it afterwards anyway, think of the strife from the misses :). If this isn't the case then I too would be more than interested. Andy once described him and Todd in the same studio as two Hitlers in the same bunker, think this probably applies equally to Andy and Damon in the same studio. >On the plus side, Blur's cover of Elvis >Costello's "Oliver's Army" is >about as close an approximation of XTC covering the song as one can >imagine. It is? I'll try again but to these ears its always sounded pretty dire, still better than their cover of Substitute by the Who!! Pleased to see I'm not the only Blur fan on the list, I'm always surprised that they are not mentioned more here as I see much in Blur that I love in XTC. TMB over and out >From the same album, (could be by Partridge though!) "Sunday here again a walk in the park You meet an old soldier and talk of the past He fought for us in two world wars and The England he knew is no more He sings the Songs of Praise but always falls asleep For that Sunday sleep"
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 17:18:32 +0100 From: Warren.Butson@getty-images.com Subject: anal corrections Message-ID: <2BDAE71C765ED511A4B200508B5DC813053CD3@lonexchg00.getty-images.com> A few corrections from previous postings 1) "My Love" AND "No More Lonely Nights", neither of which were Wings songs...! Sorry by My love was by Wings. There are quite a few non-wings tracks on Wingspan (which does make the whole concept a bit pointless) but My love was off Red Rose Speedway by Paul McCartney and WINGS! 2)> The first word on the first song on the first >album of the Beatles' is "well". Actually the first word was "one" from the count-in as in "one,two,three,four..." but as this is a number I guess I'm being a little picky!
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 12:28:03 -0400 From: Tony Picco <tpicco@iesna.org> Subject: greenman is... Message-ID: <B7B53352.1AFA%tpicco@iesna.org> <<I'm puzzled...does anyone know what the "Greenman" is?>> Personally, my interpretation is "Greenman" stands for nature and/or nature-based living. My brother, who's a Wiccan, says he feels the song describes Wiccan beliefs... (FYI - Wiccan is the original nature-based religion that came to be misrepresented as 'witches" and "warlocks") tony picco
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 17:55:38 -0400 (EDT) From: eriC draveS <zoom98@mindspring.com> Subject: Re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re. Message-ID: <200108312155.RAA14952@hall.mail.mindspring.net> BOOKS ARE BURNING A HOLE IN MY POCKET > Even though I have no idea which novel >Douglas Adams was talking about, I am >'virtually certain' that the message of the >novel was, in fact, indeed, 42. I have the limited edition of the book he was talking about, Adams fans call it H2G2, people such as myself call it "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The book has illustrations and a hologram cover and COSTS $42. Compleat waste of money. I should've saved it for the XTC remasters, which I might add are NOW on CDNOW. -------- RATHER BE A PARODY WITH MICKEY MOUSE > The album, entitled "Instant Toons", will >debut on a Saturday morning this fall. Great post, I didn't see it coming and banged my head against it like Martin Short in "Three Fugitives" (which therefore must be three times as great as Harrison Ford's "The Fugitive"). "Hey put away that ray! How do you Martians say, 'Oh Dear!'" My favorite parodies of XTC songs are by me. I wrote one about Terminator 2 set to "War Dance": "There's an epidermis That morphs under his skin Even the old combatants Are trying hard to win Well they ain't seen Arnold like that Since Ju-u-udgement Day But when the cyborgs roll And the bullets take their toll You know the blood comes out in spray..." -------- HIPHOP? OH, YOU MEAN 'TIE ME KANGAROO DOWN'? >(as the husband so richly commented, "Are >these guys from Africa?" And, oddly, I was NOT >listening to "Nearly Africa" when he said >this...hmmmm. Of course, he used to think REM >were British until I taught him better.) Kurt Cobain liked a Scots group named "Captain America"... I also made people guess who sang Duran Duran's cover of "White Lines". Strangely, though nobody guessed it was D2, nobody thought it was a hiphop group either. (Sounds like one.) -------- MYERS EVE > Well, of course I'm an XTC fan. Have been >since the late 70's. Oh, you mean THAT Mike >Myers................. At least it isn't the Michael Myers of the Halloween movies. -------- PLAGUE IT AGAIN, SPAM > "They're the Bubonic Plague, expressed in >music. They're the Pop Top Ten if you're >dancing about with buboes and pustules in your >armpits, and have 15 minutes left to live. >They're Pieter Breughel in a Box." "Buboes: You know you want it." Someone's trying to give the Dynamic Duo ideas for their next album, hmmm...? Or is this an announcement for a Pieter Breughel box set? I've seen it in a painting. -------- AH-AH, MISTER WILSON... > 4) A mutual friend recently gave Brian Wilson >a copy of AV1 and Wasp Star. Wilson apparently >loved them, to the extent that he expressed >interest in a collaboration with Partridge. Nice... but the burning question is, did somebody play him "So Pale And Precious"? -------- LOOKING FOR GREEN FOOTPRINTS > I'm puzzled...does anyone know what the >"Greenman" is? I've been singing along to that >catchy tune on Apple Venus for quite awhile >without thinking what the lyrics were really >about but recently I thought "what the hell is >this song about?" Any help/insight would be >appreciated! This isn't it, but it fits a comic strip character I used to draw as a child. He was called Zoom, and he was green and millions of years old. Also, he was a king once, so "Please to bend down..." fit him nicely too. I think it would make a good theme song for the character, but he hasn't appeared in any projects lately because I'm always reading these quite entertaining Chalkhills posts, oh, and being an adult too. -------- X-T-CILLINESS When I first bought an XTC album, "Nonsuch", it was advertised with three other albums as part of a display of "Alternative" music. To that point, I had only heard of "Alternative" as Nirvana, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Nine Inch Nails etc., so I had thought that the "N" section was selling too slowly so they cooked this up. Later I thought "Alternative" was a secret codeword for "Gay", so I generally "Stayed Away" from them all except Nirvana. (I had no idea what THEY were either.) I saw the Nonsuch cover and thought, "Hmmm... I've got this sixteen bucks going around unspent, the cover looks cool, what's the worst that could happen? Apart from their album title starting with 'N'?" My greatest fear was that it would turn out to be non-rock, to the extent that it was all Gregorian chants! Well, a medieval themed cover does that to newcomers. When I opened it all up... OH NO! There's a Dave GREGORY in it! Plus they don't LOOK like a rock band! (Probably a common complaint of non-fans.) My experiences with XTC are like time travel. For one thing, when I bought the back albums, everything sounded familiar, like I'd heard most of it on the radio before. But I'd NEVER heard of XTC until I bought Nonsuch! When I'd heard Dave Gregory left, for some stupid reason all I could think about was, "Did he take the X with him???" Are there any XTC songs that you hear and love, only to forget them and rack your brains trying to remember them, then play the CD again and suddenly remember it, then keep humming it to yourself for hours in an heroic effort to put it into your mind, only to forget it all over again? This has only happened to me once, but it was the Madness song "On the Beat Pete". Damn, I forgot the tune again, I have to go and play it now. -------- Well, I have to catch the last balloon, so this is bye-bye. eriC draveS "They HATED HER!!!!!"
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 18:43:18 EDT From: JEWELSROCK@aol.com Subject: Re: state of shock Message-ID: <2f.1a2d9313.28c16d06@aol.com> state of shock was the lovely song by Mick and the King of pop. Now someone please shoot me for remembering that without even thinking..... Miller.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 07:47:16 -0700 From: "John Keel" <jbkxtc@ev1.net> Subject: "Awaken You Dreamers" Message-ID: <003701c132f4$ff6e1ce0$90525d3f@xtc> Hi kids, I have finally - after years of wishing, hoping & planning - finished my own personal 4-CD set of XTC favs, which I call "Awaken You Dreamers!". The waiting benefited in that I was able to make my collection from all of the new remastered discs, so the sound is great. I spent hours figuring out which songs faded out or faded in, started hard with drums or soft with piano, etc. But, now it's done and I can enjoy the fruit of my labor. I won't bother to go into track listings, but I didn't include any demos due to sound/volume variations, but with any luck the new collections coming out will take care of most of that. Each disc contains one Dukes song at track 9 (which I wish I could say was a preplanned wink to "Number 9, number 9, number 9) but it was just an accident on the first two discs, so I kept the practice up on the last two. I also ended up with more songs from "Nonsuch" somehow, none from "Go 2" except the bonus "Are You Receiving Me?" and I think only one from "Mummer" (get over it Deb). But, hey, these are MY favorites, so there. Speaking of the remastered discs, Angie said in her last post: "(sorry, I can't, nor will I ever I fear, be able to spring for the remasters)". I think I've posted this before, but if you're concerned with paying import prices on the new discs (this is for those of you in the U.S.) - I know that here in L.A. I've seen them priced from $21 to $30 - the higher priced ones were found at Virgin, of course - then go to www.hmv.com up in Canada. The exchange rate is fantastic and you can order the UK remasters for only $11.84 U.S. and the limited edition Japanese ones for only $13.81 each. I'm not sure about shipping and handling, but I know that they had at one time a "buy four and the shipping is free" deal. That may have just been a limited time thing though, so check it out. Either way, it's a dirt cheap price for these discs. That is all. John
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 10:01:01 -0500 From: Chris Vreeland <CVREELAND@austin.rr.com> Subject: liner note--note noted Message-ID: <a05100303b7b6a5eaedb7@[66.68.96.26]> This raised an eyebrow: Hbsherwood@aol.com wrote: >Subject: You know the more it seems we talk about it... >snip...... the only people being paid anything for this >thing are the artist doing the cover and the hapless goober writing the liner >notes essay. unsnip Self-deprecatory inference detected? Anyway, congrats on the gig! ;-) Chris "Or correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm never wrong" Vreeland
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 13:28:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Wasser Dan <crimsonkng@yahoo.com> Subject: Wasp Star Vol 2 is like Abbey Road Message-ID: <20010902202853.33739.qmail@web20010.mail.yahoo.com> Hello everyone. I'm brand new to this site/newsletter. Hope this posting is not TOO boring or out-of-date. 1. Wasp Star Vol 2 is XTC's Abbey Road. I've given it as gifts to several people and they all can't believe how great it is. Everyone (including me) LOVES it. (And, I say that Skylarking is XTC's Sgt. Pepper.) 2. The original demo/version of Man Who Murdered Love (on Homespun) could easily have fit on Rubber Soul. 3. The Chalkhills newsletter looks suspiciously like the Crimson Elephant Talk newsletter. Why? (Why not?) My favs: XTC, Crimson, ELP, Queen, Beatles, Kate Bush, Zappa. Dan
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 16:58:39 +0200 From: Johan Ekdahl <johan.ekdahl@programbyran.se> Subject: Help! and What becomes of the Chalkhills site? Message-ID: <E1FE4AE1AF2DD111885A00A02479F44230338E@sofia.programbyran.se> Stopping by at the (soon-to-be-crippled?) Chalkhills site i wandered into the realms of Adrian Belew and The Bears. If any of You 'hillers can help me with this I would be very greatful: 1) The Bears has released a new CD "Car Caught Fire" but it is not possible to order it from outside of US/canada (yet?). Is someone willing to help me with this? (eg. Order the record and forwarding it to me). 2) I have been hunting for Adrian Belew's "Inner Revolution". As I understand it this one is out of print. Any of You know of internet-based second-hand record shops that possibly would carry this item? Any and all help is highly appreciated! As fot the "slaughter" of the Chalkhills site this is sad news indeed! John: As I understand it the site will not go in its entirely. Any ideas of what to throw and what to keep? If You have to throw "reference material" - how about a "CD tree" for those interested? --Johan Ekdahl, Sweden (johan.ekdahl@programbyran.se)
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 08:28:00 -0700 (PDT) From: electric bassplayer <electricbassplayer@yahoo.com> Subject: Skylarking with only 12 songs? Message-ID: <20010903152800.1709.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com> A friend of mine says he has a copy of Skylarking with only 12 songs. Anyone know what this is? Cheers! http://fretless.homestead.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 16:52:46 -0400
From: "Mike Wood" <stupidlyhappy@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Andy vs Blur
Message-ID: <F109N7q3RziYV6IEMB0000049c8@hotmail.com>
Paul Culnane wrote:
>
>A friend of mine was inquiring about the availability of the recordings
>that Andy produced for Blur. These tapes were supposed to form the basis
>of the "Modern Life Is Rubbish" album, but were scrapped.
Nathan Mulac DeHoff added:
>
>Does anyone know which songs for this album Andy was supposed to produce?
The following is from Blur's excellent official-biography, '3862 Days', by
Stuart Maconie:
GRAHAM COXON: "I was a big XTC fan. I liked the idea of Andy Partridge
producing us. It was the band's idea. Damon went to his house to work on his
four-track and saw his painted soldiers. We did some stuff at The Church in
Crouch End. The trouble was that it ended up sounding like Andy Partridge's
music at that time. You might want to sound like The Eagles but not Don
Henley, you know. We enjoyed working with him. It was fun... but he had this
horrible way of saying 'Trust me' - and I don't trust people who say that.
So there was a slightly nasty atmosphere between me and him sometimes. Balfe
and Andy really liked what we'd done, which I couldn't understand."
DAMON ALBARN: "We started to work with Andy Partridge but that went wrong
very quickly. He had this weird habit of regularly saying 'Don't make the
mistakes that I made.' There was a very odd vibe. it's fairly well known
that he's quite insecure. Maybe because he didn't write 'Making Plans For
Nigel.' I don't think he really knows how to be a producer. For various
reasons it didn't work but what I did get out of that was an eight-track
that he sold to me which I still use. That was great."
Three songs were recorded in the eventually aborted sessions: 'Sunday
Sunday', 'Coping', and 'Seven Days'. None have ever seen the light of day
although the first two, re-recorded with Stephen Street, appeared on Modern
Life Is Rubbish.
- Mike Wood -
---------
"It's toe-tappingly tragic!"
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 16:57:21 -0400 From: Ben Gott <bengott@alumni.bowdoin.edu> Subject: An earful... Message-ID: <B7B966F0.4EB2%bengott@alumni.bowdoin.edu> Gang, I couldn't help but think of Andy Partridge as I lay in bed last night, pounding my head against the pillow, awaiting an inevitable ruptured eardrum. I always liked his description of "banging [his] head against the wall." God, the pain is excruciating. So now I'm left with a week's worth of antibiotics, a left ear that doesn't hear very well, and Prefab Sprout's "Looking for Atlantis" (the song I was listening to before bed, and the song that I hummed through the three-hour ear ordeal). And how was *your* Labor Day? -Ben -- Benjamin Gott Department of English The Rectory School Pomfret, CT 06258
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 17:02:15 -0400 (EDT) From: frippy <frippy@shellyeah.org> Subject: That there's an XTC lyric! Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0109031646580.22669-100000@zippy.shellyeah.org> I just recently moved to St. Louis and had some XTC-related things to contribute to make the next digest more lengthy. First of all, the tragic news. After thorough unpacking and exhaustive searching, it appears my copy of The Big Express decided not to come with me! AUUUGH! OHowever, I've decided to see the positive side to this -- I now have a perfectly justifiable reason to buy the snazzy remastered version. Perhaps I should start conveniently losing my other old XTC albums? Secondly, I was in some novelty shop in aforementioned Midwestern city and saw a large button that said: "Dear God: Did you make mankind after we made you?" An unauthorized, uncredited, incomplete XTC lyric on a button! Has anyone else seen this? I was going to spend my money on this object, but decided I'd rather have the vintage Peanuts buttons instead. I couldn't scan it for you anyhow. - frippy http://mentalsewage.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 10:06:49 EDT
From: Sedivo@aol.com
Subject: Reduced site!!!!
Message-ID: <12c.419daeb.28c639f9@aol.com>
Hello all,
The news that Chalkhills will be greatly reduced is very sad.
After all the effort put in by our esteemed host over so many years, not to
mention countless contributors it seems that it will mostly have to be tucked
away until some other means to support this wonderful website can be
arranged. That is essentially the gist of this posting - How can we help? I
lack technical knowledge of any use to suggest an alternative I fear, but is
there any way we can exert pressure on the people behind this decision? I
have written via the link on the news page, but as yet no reply. Dearest
John, is there anything we can do?????
Lord Seds of Shrewsbury
(appointed by her Royal Majesty,
The Worrier Queen!)
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 23:07:03 +0100 From: "David Smith" <David.Smith50@virgin.net> Subject: RE: Shocking stuff Message-ID: <LPBBJEPFIGBHBJHFDMILGEJDCBAA.David.Smith50@virgin.net> Hello Hillers . . . eriC draveS askeD > Anyone remember the song by the unlikely duo of > Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson? Ten points to > the first Chalkhillian who remembers it. And no > peeking on CDNOW.com. Ooo sir, me sir, at least I think sir . . . twould be "State of Shock" where the young-ish Mick (and his band of brothers, who are strangely black-skinned!) did the singing while the old Mick (who's actually darker skinned than the Jackson lad) contributed the line "C'mon there baby". Class, without the "cl". Still, I do like Michael's new offering. Sorry, but I do! Harrison informed us: > 4) A mutual friend recently gave Brian Wilson a copy of AV1 and Wasp Star. > Wilson apparently loved them, to the extent that he expressed > interest in a > collaboration with Partridge. . .Andy's also a bit worried that his > own prickliness about musical matters might put Wilson off. > So don't hold your breath... (But Lordy Lordosis, wouldn't that > be *nice*?) Nice? NICE? They'd murder each other within the first five minutes! Smudge Done
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 09:37:18 +0100 From: John Morrish <morrish@ntlworld.com> Subject: A Wilson-Partridge composition Message-ID: <B7BCF44A.32FF%morrish@ntlworld.com> The thought of Brian Wilson and Andy Partridge working together reminds me of that alleged Chinese curse, sometimes translated as "May your dreams come true". On one level, it's hard to imagine anything more glorious. But you can understand Andy's caution. Brian has been making regular comebacks since approximately 1969, his career proper having only lasted about five years. In each case, the driving force seemed to be someone other than Brian himself. Consider Holland, where Brian had to be bullied relentlessly by manager Jack Rieley and his old pal Van Dyke Parks to finish Sail On Sailor so Capitol would accept the album. Consider the "Brian Is Back" campaign accompanying 15 Big Ones, when he was still in "Bigfoot" mode but was made to "surf" as part of an agonising TV special. Then there was the whole Eugene Landy saga, when Brian trotted out a lot of songs written as occupational therapy, with "Dr" Landy as lyricist (on half the royalties). Then Don Was brought him back again... Then there was the country and western producer he hooked up with for his last solo album... The current renaissance is particularly intriguing. Last year he toured Pet Sounds (anyone see it? I wish I had), and now he's often quoted making knowledgeable remarks about all those hip young bands who want nothing better than to surf along in his colossal wake. To all intents and purpose he's a contemporary artist again, making his own intelligent career choices and being part of the music scene. Which hardly seems like Brian at all. It's certainly nothing like the Brian I interviewed a few years ago. He was in London to promote the first solo album and he was in sorry shape. Just to meet him was one of the greatest moments of my life, and I wasn't disappointed, but it was one of the weirdest interviews I have ever conducted. He was barely with me at all, gripping the edge of his seat to keep himself going. After every question, his eyes rolled up into his head and I wondered whether he was ever going to come back. A tall blond "surf Nazi" kept coming in to massage his shoulders and whisper encouragement just to keep him going. And what little he actually said was grotesque. He solemnly assured me that he wasn't a genius. The real genius, he said, was Dr Landy. Hadn't Dr Landy written most of the words on the album, and produced it, etc? Some people took the view that he was "acting out", knowingly performing this mental-patient routine so as to avoid connecting with the real world. I'm not sure I buy that. I hope his recovery is as complete and genuine as it appears. But if I was Andy I'd want to know all about the people surrounding him, and what they want. Still, it could be a wonderful collaboration. It is arguable that they have a lot in common: self-educated, highly original, perfectionist, stubborn. That genius word is lurking somewhere, too. I think genius is really "extreme aptitude". Andy is a fizzing ball of verbal and musical energy, originality and intelligence. Brian seems to have been a bit like that in 62-67, but his real abilities, unlike Andy's, were almost entirely musical. Comparisons are odorous, but I find that Brian's music touches me more directly than Andy's ever has. He established a sound world that was all his own, and then, with Pet Sounds, changed everyone's expectations of what pop music could be. (The B**tles have always acknowledged that.) Andy has been as much the beneficiary of that as anyone. Of course, Brian started working in a time of formulaic, impersonal, vapid music (rather like now, you might say), so he stood out and was given a chance, whereas Andy was one more young provincial star expressing his individuality when that was the norm. Whether that devalues Wilson's achievement is a moot point. All I would say is that true genius creates the taste it goes on to fulfil. Everyone here loves Andy's music, but it has never been exactly persuasive to the rest of the world: and if we have to have a league table that lack of persuasiveness -- Andy's choice, on some level -- must place Andy's music behind Brian's. After a long patch of enormous creativity, I sense things have slowed down a bit for Andy. If he works with Brian, he can expect a great deal of frustration and tedium, but perhaps a little bit of magic. What has he got to lose, except possibly a few illusions? They say you should never meet your heroes, but I don't agree. And to work with them... John Morrish -- www.journolist.com Internet stuff for journalists
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 11:21:11 -0700 (PDT) From: travis schulz <xtcisadarngoodband@yahoo.com> Subject: XTC's Album Sales Message-ID: <20010906182111.36348.qmail@web12308.mail.yahoo.com> Just curious if anyone might be able to shed some light on how well XTC's studio albums have sold. Did Oranges and Lemons ever make it to Gold in The U.S.? Mummer? Black Sea?
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