Chalkhills Digest Volume 9, Issue 41
Date: Sunday, 10 August 2003
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 9, Number 41
Sunday, 10 August 2003
Topics:
Dukes of Stratosphear demos discovered
fuzzy popples...
Andy P & Harry B
A Yankee in Oz
Re: Fuzzies Running Low On Song Coal?
Fuzzy Quibbles
Re: The 45 minute rule
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2003 14:15:59 +0100 From: "Paul" <pbadger@btinternet.com> Subject: Dukes of Stratosphear demos discovered Message-ID: <005601c359c1$77642d80$203a8751@home> PRESS RELEASE: Dukes of Stratosphear demos discovered LONDON - 3 August - The music world was both shocked and overjoyed today by the news of the discovery of old demos by the Dukes of Stratosphear. For over 30 years the demos of their earliest songs on a collection of tapes have lain in a forgotten rusted locker at Waterloo train station, the key to which has been long lost. On forcing open the door, station attendants found a collection of old reel to reel tapes, with faded handwritten labels bearing titles such as '25 O'Clock' and 'The Mole From the Ministry'. Professor Profundity, Head of Department in Profound Studies at Princeton University, declared the find as the most important development he could remember for musicologists and pop fans alike. "These tapes are remarkable. They show a band at a crossroads, with one tentative nervous foot in the new world of psychedelia - a world new and strange to them, which they don't seem to understand - and the other foot in the reassuring stability of the past, which they don't seem to understand either. Most exciting of all is the discovery of a song called 'Half Past Eight', which is clearly the embryonic vision of the later '25 O'Clock'." Yesterday, journalists tracked down Sir John Johns - real name John 'Johnny' Johnston - at his job as a toilet attendant in Tooting Bec, the career to which he returned after the demise of The Dukes of Stratosphear. "I'm not at all happy about the discovery of our demos," he said, angrily squeezing out his mop into a bucket. "And I'm never going to forgive Cornelius Plum for losing the key to that stupid locker. When our albums '25 O'Clock' and 'Psonic Psunspot' were released, people just laughed and called us rip-off merchants. Now these demos are being posted all over the internet, people are going to say we never did have an original idea in our heads after all." The collection of demos are available for download from http://www.cobwebtheatre.com .
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 18:08:01 -0400 From: "Chris Rees" <ellaguru@comcast.net> Subject: fuzzy popples... Message-ID: <006501c35ad4$df5d34e0$d3b72844@sanarb01.mi.comcast.net> i, too, like our good sir demon brown, got some very static-y, digitally flawed copies of fw 3&4....and i cant seem to get a reply from ape/idea. anyone ever get a response from them? i want to return mine and get them 'all proper'... thanks! cr
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 18:11:01 EDT From: JamieCFC1@aol.com Subject: Andy P & Harry B Message-ID: <1ce.ed0578d.2c6033f5@aol.com> Hi Chalkies Whilst perusing my cd collection the other day I came across one of those magazine CDs that usually end up as ashtrays, coasters, wall decoration for arty folk etc. This one I thought may be of interest to an Andy P connoisseur (which, although an XTC fan, I am not - for shame etc etc). The CD in question contains (amongst other items) 2 tracks by Mr P and Mr B, these being "Bosch" and "Breughel". Apparently the CD was given away with The Mix and neither of the tracks are available elsewhere, although I stand to be corrected... If anyone's interested in this item email me for more details, ta very much! Jamie jamie@gasbanana.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 19:56:08 -0400 From: "Kevin Hiscock" <khiscock@hidebound.com> Subject: A Yankee in Oz Message-ID: <OF561F8B86.BE8474F0-ON86256D78.0082B307-85256D78.00839A3A@prominic.com> I have the great good fortune to be, at the last second, heading to Sydney for a week or so this coming Sunday. It'd be a kick to buy any fellow Chalkhillians in Sydney a pint or two (or just to hear about the places not to be missed - and if the Mercantile Hotel is to be avoided, that'd be nice to know too <g>). Feel free to do the offline, "I'd really rather some on the list to not know where I live" thing. cheers.kah kevin a. hiscock yahoo IM-khiscock http://www.hidebound.com home of The Monster and radio hidebound currently spinning: Gary Numan - You Are, You Are
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 19:03:24 -0700 From: "WAYNE KLEIN" <wtdk12@msn.com> Subject: Re: Fuzzies Running Low On Song Coal? Message-ID: <BAY3-DAV17TNggQ2xSa0000ef58@hotmail.com> "Scott Barnard" <brainiacsdaughter@hotmail.com> wrote: >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. > >Please concur, enlighten or flame as you see fit. I concur but will eventually purchase the bulk of them just to see what AP comes up with. There's always the chance that a brilliant number escaped. My only criticism of the FW series is the way the tracks have been sequenced. I would put all the previously unreleased/unheard/unfinished demos together on a set of CDs like wise for the instrumentals and the demos of songs XTC have released. The various song fragments (the exception of the marvelous Nobody Here telephone message) are of little interest to me. I've resequenced Fuzzy Warbles 1 & 2 with all the finished unreleased XTC songs on one disc and the others where appropriate. When I do get 3 & 4, I'll probably do the same as well. Dominic stated --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) There are a few rare CDs that fill their running time with absolutely essential music but you're right--most of them are filled with, well, filler. Crap. Junk. Even some of those albums at 45 minutes were a stretch. I can think of some albums (like Revolver) that were perfect at 34 minutes. The time constraints of LPs allowed for better editing of material. Oranges & Lemons, for example, is a fine XTC album but has a bit too much filler on it.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2003 09:01:09 -0400 From: RMuRocks@aol.com Subject: Fuzzy Quibbles Message-ID: <2ED27126.21882E4F.007ABAF2@aol.com> > 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??? OK, I'll take another stab at it. Obviously, by classic rock 'n roll album standards, 50 minutes is gracious plenty. I could probably list my 10 favorite records of all time, and I doubt if any of them would hit the 50-minute mark. BUT these were records of all-original material, and not a form of compilation as the FW's are. So it does become an issue I think. For instance, I myself collect Joni Mitchell covers, and have over 1000 now. I put them on compilation CD's, and share them with friends. If I have 150 minutes of material, it makes sense to put them on (2) cd's, which hold up to 80 minutes, as opposed to (3) cd's of 50 minutes each. I friends don't have to send as many blanks, pay as much postage, etc. Of course, my project is not a commercial for-profit venture, but merely a collection for fun (and I have over 50 cd's worth!) In Andy's case, I would think that part of his objective is to get the material out there for fans, and also of course to make money for himself. BUT still, for him to stretch the collection out over a larger number of discs than is necessary seems to me to be a bit opportunistic, especially given that he's selling them at an escalated price, with little or no marketing (and certainly no touring) expense. Rip-off? No, and I wish other artists would follow this pattern. But do I (perhaps selfishly) wish that I felt I was getting more bang for the buck? Sure. I hope I've explained my logic more completely...I'll add again that I think the series is great and I have bought them all thus far. Bob NP: They Might Be Giants, "The Guitar"
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2003 14:09:11 -0700 From: "neil oliver" <neiloli@vpl.ca> Subject: Re: The 45 minute rule Message-ID: <3f316e77.30d2.1746725509@vpl.ca> Dominic Van Abbe wrote: -- 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 find it amazing how exact the ratio is on almost every disc I buy: the number of songs that make an album go on longer than 45 minutes are equivalent to the number of songs that can be cut from the album. Unless it is an XTC album, in which case I am inclined to give them the extra space. Scott Barnard wrote: -- 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 know exactly what you mean Scott. Can Andy really dredge 4 to 8 more CDs out of his archives? He's already covered most of The Bull with the Golden Guts and at least half of Jules Verne Sketchbook. I felt there was already a significant decrease in the balance of significant material to filler on FW 3&4; I don't want to buy 8 more CDs with only 3 or 4 good songs on them (it is VERY expensive to buy these CDs in Canada, however you do it). I know some of you don't want to hear any complaints about the Warbles sets, preferring that we think of them as a kind of gift from Andy. But he's not giving them away for free. I would never complain about things like the sound quality (it's miles better than what I had before) or the packaging (new CD cases aren't exactly expensive) but I think it's fair to want these collections to be reasonably good value, and I don't think they are when they're so padded.
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