Chalkhills Digest Volume 9, Issue 40
Date: Saturday, 2 August 2003
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 9, Number 40
Saturday, 2 August 2003
Topics:
Warbles Whinge
When you say nothing at all?
Good Music, selling Warbles by the Pound
Fuzzies Running Low On Song Coal?
FW Woolworth Beauties
Complaining about all the complaining
Three cheers for Smudgeboy
Poppy Warbles - digital pops in Fuzzy Warbles 3 & 4
Re: Three cheers for Smudgeboy
Announcing XTC-Weeds Part DEUX!
web based marketing
XTC appear in some Science Friction
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 13:31:35 +1000 From: Paul Haines <prhaines@bigpond.net.au> Subject: Warbles Whinge Message-ID: <6d87669bd1.69bd16d876@bigpond.com> Chalkhillians, I'm gonna have a bit of a whinge about the Warbles releases. I got 'em all so far and will continue to do so (I can afford them, so I'll buy them -- and I'm talking crap Aussie dollars!). I reckon there are maybe four or five songs on each disc which are fucking fantastic. The demos of stuff we already have are usually too similar to the originals to warrant their price/inclusion --exceptions being 'melt the guns', 'goodbye humanosaurus' etc where they are vastly different and therefore collectable-necessity!. (Lovely if the normal- sounding demos came as the bonus disc but!). The instrumentals are interesting (and challenging on the ear) but tend to break the flow. Guess what I'm trying to say is: the Warbles discs are hard listening. When I've got all the releases, I'll be making my own Warbles, pretty much a disc or two of the 4-5 absolute gems on each disc, and a disc of the instrumentals. Mind you I've got over 5 cds worth of bootlegs, but I'm here to support the man! I've purchased just about everything I ever saw by XTC. (Everything on vinyl up to O&L, everything on cd I could find, and started on the remasters -- but only when I find them cheap!) Haines
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 09:00:26 +0200 From: jeffrey.thomas@bayercropscience.com Subject: When you say nothing at all? Message-ID: <OF8A306597.A285BB8D-ONC1256D72.00258A7B@test.bayer-ag.de> Hi "Kreideberger", Now I know that every left needs a right, every up a down, for everything there is a season, and that every good bunch of Chalkhills digests needs a bad or strange one. That being said, I don't usually jump in and jump *on* someone. But I read this in #38: >I hate to be a heretic but I won't buy anything off the Idea Records >or APE websites until they have the prices in US dollars. >I like to know how much I'm paying when I buy something. I have >neither the time or the desire to look all over the web for a >currency converter. I complained last year and they said they would >recitfy the problemo but no such luck. I was once told that if you can't say something good, don't say anything. This is being put to a serious test here. I'm trying as hard as I can, but I'm not sure I'm gonna make it through this post. I've nearly made it now... - Jeff (hopefully *not* an ugly American) Oops! Well, I *almost* made it through. Oh well, while I'm still here, I might as well say that GBP 1 = USD 1.63. God, that was horribly difficult, it must have taken me all of 15 seconds to find.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 09:52:05 -0400 From: Gary McBride <garym@usa.com> Subject: Good Music, selling Warbles by the Pound Message-ID: <D6BB0DC1-C1CB-11D7-87B9-0003938C6AE4@usa.com> Nicole Ross wrote: >what is *your* definition of "bad music". > >what is *your* definition of "good music". > >Just curious about the answers... I don't know the definition of good or bad music, but I know it when I hear it... and regarding the pounds/dollars (millionaire) controversy... don't forget that to subtract the VAT from the price if you're ordering from outside the UK. I compared buying from APE compared to Amazon.co.uk, and it did cost a couple pounds more to buy from APE, but I figured it would mean a LOT more money went into Andy's pocket, rather than fattening Amazon's coffers. Plus I get the golden scrawl! No brainer. And yes, the jewel cases are flimsy... I wonder if they don't use flimsy ones to lighten the weight for shipping. Of course, using a proper box rather than the dreaded "padded envelope" would eliminate the problem as well. Cheers, G
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 21:02:26 -0400 From: "Scott Barnard" <brainiacsdaughter@hotmail.com> Subject: Fuzzies Running Low On Song Coal? Message-ID: <Law12-F76LYu7AHfo98000154ce@hotmail.com> I should start by saying that I love my Fuzzies. Adore them. But here we are, one third of the way in, and I can't help but feel that a lot of the really outstanding stuff has already shown up. We have our Dames and Ships and Marrieds and Gooseys and, well, Everything. I'm still waiting for Rip Van Reuben and Living In A Haunted Heart and a few others, and while I by no means have a comprehensive collection of this stuff, unless a whole lotta previously-unheard-by-me stunners appear (a la Born Out Of Your Mouth and Lightheaded), I suspect, sadly, that we have *definitely* not heard the last of Alan Burston. I am sure there is no shortage of people here willing to set me straight on the treasure trove of demos still to surface for the likes of "Jump", "Down In The Cockpit", "She's So Square" and such, but am I *so* horribly wrong to feel this way? Please concur, enlighten or flame as you see fit. Oh, and please forgive the horrendously lame subject line....
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 20:51:13 -0500 From: "eriC draveS" <zoom98@mindspring.com> Subject: FW Woolworth Beauties Message-ID: <001101c3563d$0f9c4840$da6c56d1@XLZOOM> Hello there. Because I'm so PO'ed at the drubbing you gave the last band I mentioned here, and also the one some of you gave me, as if I had anything to do with their music other than like it, and because the lesson on intolerance flew over some of your heads... I will NOT be reviewing Fuzzy Warbles 3 & 4. You don't want my opinion on matters, so who cares what I think about the new ones? If you bought the old ones you're likely already going to get the new ones, and if you didn't buy 1 & 2 why would you start with 3? Any more of your lip and I'll review the (gasp!) bootleg called "A School Guide to XTC" with early tracks by Star Park. There. I feel better now. eriC "Thank you for taking me down a peg."
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 22:25:20 -0400 (EDT) From: RSMko@webtv.net (Marston Moor) Subject: Complaining about all the complaining Message-ID: <8658-3F272C90-1888@storefull-2232.public.lawson.webtv.net> Dear Children, Broken jewel cases or tray spokes? Too many fuzzy instrumentals? Not enough CD playing time? Currency conversions? Global postal delays? Inflated retail costs? Botched graphics? Virginomics? Xtcdelays? Me? Chalkonsumers, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?? Live with it, Clive- ~~rstv
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:41:35 +1000 From: "Dominic Van Abbe" <domva@hotmail.com> Subject: Three cheers for Smudgeboy Message-ID: <F20w6gppY3AATrHUYV00000573d@hotmail.com> Dave Smith aka Smudgeboy, take a bow!!! Your message in Hills 9-39 had me pissing myself laughing... and ought to have had most everyone else (with the exception of a vocal whiny minority) doing so too. Some of the whining regarding sonic qualities has got me floored. All along FW has been touted as a demo collection. What were you expecting- a 52 piece orchestra??? To my ears the more recent demos (say 1990's onwards) sound pretty fine and the old ones are sonically crap. Dust of one of your old cassette demos from 25 years ago and see how it sounds?? Yes, there are whizz-bang sonic enhancing packages out there these days, but really.... you can't polish a turd can you??? Quibbling about running time is odd too. Are albums seriously judged by running time?? If you're not pleased with the contents then fair enough (each to his own then), but.... running time??? Being old enough to remember the cassette and vinyl age, for mine the perfect length for an album remains about 45 minutes (i.e. one side of a C90 cassette). So far as I can tell, the only thing that CD's have allowed is for an extra 25 minutes of padding to be included on an album, which once would have rightly been B-sides. I can't believe the number of 18 song, 70 minute albums I've bought where the stock summation is "an excellent album, padded out to be a good album- more judicious editing would've been highly beneficial". Christ, I'm even one of those sacriligeous sorts who believe that Nonsuch would've been far better trimmed of 3 or 4 songs, and that AV1 and 2 should have been a 14 song single album of no more than 50 minutes length. Back to my FW rip-offs then.....
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:17:58 -0700 (PDT) From: XTC 4U <xtc4uxtc@yahoo.com> Subject: Poppy Warbles - digital pops in Fuzzy Warbles 3 & 4 Message-ID: <20030730061758.13977.qmail@web41309.mail.yahoo.com> heylo all... longtime lurker (circa 1990) delurking to discuss an apparent bad batch of CD's which has made it into circulation. i received my copies of Fuzzy Warbles 3 & 4 a little while ago and nearly fell off my couch when i heard a little digital pop at about 2'33" during 'Collideascope.' i listened to the section again. again i heard the pop. i continued listening and heard many more pops on other tunes as well. i slipped FW 4 in and i couldn't believe the degree to which songs like 'Gangway Electric Guitar' were inundated with grotesque digital crackling. i tried other CD's players and yielded identical results. i've posted some messages in some other XTC forums to see if anybody else had noticed anything. so far about 5 people have come across the same thing. does anybody know how to get in touch with APE so that we with the faulty CD's can procure pristine copies? in the meantime... i've setup an FTP server for anyone who may have bad copies like myself and would like corrected versions of the tunes in question. tracks i've fixed thus far: Work (FW3) Collideascope (FW3) When We Get To England (FW3) Autumn Comes Around (FW3) Gangway Electric Guitar... (FW4) OMGO (FW4) Where is Your Heart? (FW4) these were the ones that stood out the most for me. if you have others, let me know and i'll look into them. the password for the server is contained in the liner notes for FW 3. in the thank you section, andy thanks... "Eric Parker and all other inspirational (password) paper gods." here's the server info: ftp.n3t.net user: fuzzy[at sign]xtc4u.org pass: (password) [at sign] = @ get it? the files are encoded as SHN's. this is a lossless compression format. using a decoder you can convert these into .wav files. then you can burn a new cd using the 'corrected' tracks. a decoder for windows is on the server. you can find a mac decoder at http://etree.org all the best... sir demon brown
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 08:22:09 +0000 From: "Paul Culnane" <paulculnane@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Three cheers for Smudgeboy Message-ID: <BAY7-F97ImaSPWrBRCK0001383e@hotmail.com> Hey I just wanna second Dom's emotion. Not only did he express my own views on this current controversy eloquently and amusingly, he also reinforced my feeling that Smudgeboy's riposte was one of the funniest things I've read in these hallowed pages in ages! Crikey, there ain't no pleasing some people though, is there? Oh dear, now I've got that bloody Chas & Dave song lodged in my beleagured brain... And, thank you to both Dunks and Wes for suggesting that currency conversion website [www.xe.com/ucc]. Given the wildly fluctuating value of the Australian dollar, and the increasing prevalence of web-only CD sales, I for one will find that extremely useful. Well, today is my birthday and tomorrow is payday, so what do you think I'll be treating myself with? Clue: they are fuzzy and they warble and mine (willingly bought through the Apehouse with not a care for their cost) will have Andy's golden scrawl on the front, and I am sure will afford me much joy. If the jewel-cases are smashed (so far, no probs), I can simply replace them with the clear cases from the CDR blanks that I use. Enuff with the whingeing already. Except to remark that a certain prominent Sydney record bar has FW 3 & 4 listed at AUS$69.98 each. Yikes!!!!!! Paul
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 05:25:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com> Subject: Announcing XTC-Weeds Part DEUX! Message-ID: <20030731122536.96788.qmail@web13405.mail.yahoo.com> Announcing XTC-Weeds Too good of a thing to let go. I have picked up the gauntlet and will hobble forward. Feel free to join if you like. Check it out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/XTC-Weeds/ Have a good one Mole
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 07:34:48 -0500
From: William D Sherlock <bdsherlock@juno.com>
Subject: web based marketing
Message-ID: <20030801.073449.-16090339.0.bdsherlock@juno.com>
Hi all,
Given the recent rants about Andy's marketing skills(?), I thought the
article in this week's "Tuesday Morning, 3 AM" very appropriate. See
www.tm3am.com (the 7/30 column if you get to it after it's changed) for a
description of really how to do things independently of the music biz,
which really ought to appeal to the ever shrinking XTC.
The tenuous XTC link here is the web site mentioned in the article is
Marillion's, whose members include Steve Hogarth, leader of the H Band,
in which our very own Dave Gregory is a member. They even tour!
The upshot of all this, if you don't want to read the article (but you
really should as the columnist, Andre Salles, is always insightful, even
if you don't agree with his musical taste) is that Marillion has used
their website to market themselves brilliantly, even as major label
interest in the band has waned. Anyway, to paraphrase the liner notes
from Boston's Boston (my first album!), "read the article!".
Does anyone have news on the Dukes single? What a tease that was reading
the announcement, and then nothing!
Finally, if you haven't gone out and bought the Super Furry Animals'
latest Phantom Power stop reading right now, and get thee to a record
shop. It's brilliant, up to the usual SFA standards, and sonically
inventive and daring. And not only that...they release an album every one
or two years (hint, hint).
Bill Sherlock
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Ben Franklin
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 08:45:54 +1000 From: Paul Haines <prhaines@bigpond.net.au> Subject: XTC appear in some Science Friction Message-ID: <001c01c3587e$ab768260$eb1a2dcb@vic.bigpond.net.au> Hi Chalkhillians, XTC make a guest appearance in a Science Friction tale to be found at http://www.ideomancer.com/main/ideoMain.htm The story is called "www.rebirth.@#$%" Cheers, Paul Haines
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #9-40 ******************************
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