Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 3
Date: Sunday, 18 January 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 3
Sunday, 18 January 2004
Topics:
2003 faves and...XTC!
The Bad Plus - not bad at all
Gack...!
Goodbye Madcowasaurus
bits of this, bits of that
moore of the same
Martin Newell/Brotherhood Of Lizards Memories.
Persistant XTC Favorites?
Swindon and Crap Towns - an apology
King For A Day MP3 CD
Re: best of '03
Wonderfalls
OT: food for thought?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:11:55 EST From: Stroo@aol.com Subject: 2003 faves and...XTC! Message-ID: <1cc.17a682a8.2d35489b@aol.com> Thanks to all you Chalkhillers (Chalkhillians?) who praised Fountains of Wayne on your 2003's best lists. I went out and purchased WIM and am mightily impressed. Can Death Cab For Cutie be far behind? XTC content: it has often been mentioned here that The Wheel and the Maypole is as self-defining a song as exists in their catalog. But a re-listen of Mummer points me in the direction of Great Fire as a song that represents everything I love about the band. For example, just off the top of my head: * Obviously, the analogy of a great fire to falling in love is brilliant. * The actual sound of animals panicking. * The fire alarm, most notably after mentioning "Mister Fireman". * The adding of one single word to change the entire meaning of a phrase: "Bring water...eyes bring water". Or two: "Burning through my house...and heart". * The entire lyrical package, notably "No round of drinks..." And how many other songs do you know contain the word "tinderwood"? And there was something else...oh yeah, it sounds fantastic! Bob
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:32:50 -0500 From: RMuRocks@aol.com Subject: The Bad Plus - not bad at all Message-ID: <19046E9B.70EDC3E9.007ABAF2@aol.com> <The Bad Plus ~ These Are the Vistas: a brilliant jazz combo with a freakishly baddass drummer. > I just discovered these guys myself, Wes...matter of fact I picked it up when I went to get the New Pornographers cd, and I heartily agree with you. It's jazz, but it's not like what you'd think, and like you say the percussion is fascinating; bordering on going totally out of control but never quite going over the edge. Mostly original compositions which match the covers in quality. What I HATED about Steely Dan's "Everything Must Go" (besides the Becker vocal) is the BORING percussion. Geez, I know these guys have to sanitize their stuff for our consumption but something besides that dull disco thump-thump would be much appreciated! Anyway, I second your motion on the Bad Plus. Looking forward to getting 2004 kicked off with new Ani on January 20. Bob NP: Dylan, "Bob Dylan's Dream"
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 21:30:53 EST From: Emooleson@aol.com Subject: Gack...! Message-ID: <1ed.174c1c28.2d3603dd@aol.com> I've been lurking for more than a year. Have I missed anything important? Are they EVER going to record something new? slouching toward nihilon, Steve Oleson Austin, TX
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:09:31 -0600 From: "eriC draveS" <zoom98@mindspring.com> Subject: Goodbye Madcowasaurus Message-ID: <002001c3daeb$17cce6e0$246556d1@XLZOOM> I was going to pull a practical joke on you guys, but before I could do so, truth became stranger than fiction for a moment! My joke was this: Last week I was standing in my favorite grocery store, when all of a sudden, what should I hear playing over the loudspeakers? Yes! That's right! "La De Da" by Ringo Starr! Well, so much for that joke. I was in the local Burger King today, getting my weekly recommended allowance of mad cow, when suddenly they started playing "I'd Like That"! This would be a great thing, perhaps influencing many people to ask about the song and its origins, finally culminating in many new listeners to XTC, increasing their livelihood and reason for making another album (it HAS been nearly four years), were it not for the fact that I was the only one in the restaurant, and I already have all their albums (even "Explode Together"). As I left at the end of the song, there still exists a remote possibility that the song might have kept bouncing off the walls until someone else got to hear it, but probably not. eriC draveS "Bit cold and lifeless like the burger on my plate."
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 02:30:11 +0000 From: "Paul Culnane" <paulculnane@hotmail.com> Subject: bits of this, bits of that Message-ID: <BAY7-F91PrvCWO6hm8U0002e1ef@hotmail.com> Ben: that Kirsty MacColl thing was very funny indeed! And I think your young friend will be pleased with "Galore". Another good one, with a delightful title, is "Electric Landlady". But I'm sure you knew that. Wes: good stuff that you've finally discovered Bowie. Keep exploring, you will be handsomely rewarded. Phil and Danny (and others): nice end-of-year lists for sure. Danny, I'll be emailing you privately about one of the items on your list. John: if it were at all possible, let me assure you that The Electric Soft Parade's second surpasses their brilliant first. Get it! Now playing: Little Axe - "The Wolf That House Built". One of my nephews has finally eschewed his penchant for Cypress Hill and suchlike, and now likes the laid-back sounds of Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, et al. He's a bookbinder and recently fixed the book in my "Coat Of Many Cupboards" which had dislodged from its spine; did a magnificent job too. So I'm making some CDs for him along the lines of his current tastes. I'd forgotten what a cool groove Little Axe makes. In case you don't know, it's mainly a character called Skip McDonald, aided and abetted by such as Doug Wimbish, Talvin Singh, Keith Leblanc and Adrian Sherwood (surely no relation to "him"???), among others. Roots-funk-gospel-soul if you will, and might tasty. One last thing: if you're getting annoyed with occasional postings about a band called Atomica, I'd like to sincerely apologise. You see, in his enthusiasm their drummer, Kai Chambers (definitely a relation to "him") lifted my entire address-book and put everybody on the band's mailing list. You know, people like my 60-year-old brother who's running a street-kids refuge in Vietnam fer chrissakes, as if he cares right now for the exciting electro-funk sounds of Atomica. I've asked Kai to cool it a bit, while offering my unswerving service to help promote his band. So, if you *are* interested, you can listen to their quite splendid debut single "39 Flavours" as an mp3 by following this link: http://www.prickupyourears.com/Atomica/audiodownloads.html Thanks for your patience Paul
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 03:51:01 +0000 From: "Paul Culnane" <paulculnane@hotmail.com> Subject: moore of the same Message-ID: <BAY7-F35zcbLDiKBsuZ00041023@hotmail.com> One of my groovy trading friends sent me some compilation CDs, chockfull of great stuff. On one of them, he listed the last track as: ***** *****, doing a song called ****** ******* ********. I thought that was pretty cute, but worked it out as being Mandy Moore doing "Senses". I know nought about Mandy (lord knows here In Oz we have to grapple with all manner of "Pop Idols" and such, and it's all I can do to avoid such irritants), but I can't quite understand what some people on this list find so offensive about her cover version. To me, it's quite alright. Not splendiferous, but not bad at all. Certainly better than Robbie Williams' execrable cover of "Nigel". I think Mandy did a nice job, and isn't it always a good sign when XTC get covered? And let's face it, at various stages Andy has been co-writing with Sophie Ellis-Bextor (who I would murder to be on a dancefloor with) and the choc-a-holic (Andy's words) Cathy Dennis, who just happened to write one of the most addictive pop-confections of recent times, Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". We can all be smug and pretend to be sophisticated and declare our love for Radiohead and Steely Dan. But "pop music" is another thing, and is very hard to get right. When it's right, it can be blissful. "Cherry In Your Tree" anyone? "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah" - that'll do for me Paul
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 15:02:06 -0000 From: <paul.w.wilkinson@bt.com> Subject: Martin Newell/Brotherhood Of Lizards Memories. Message-ID: <E5B8B1367469B446BB01D9E17968A103021FE7FB@i2km35-ukdy.domain1.systemhost.net> Hi everyone, happy new year to you all. A bit of a long shot perhaps but I was wondering if any of you have any memories of Martin Newell's Brotherhood Of Lizards. To remind you, The Lizards were his project between The Cleaners From Venus and becoming a poet then making The Greatest Living Englishman album with Andy Partridge. Martin is currently writing a long piece for his website all about The Brotherhood Of Lizards, the tour, the times, the people and the music and he is supplying lots of press clipping and photos etc. I was wondering if any of you ever saw a Lizards gig in 1989 or 90. What can you remember about it? Did you take any photos? If any of you has a question they'd like to ask about the Lizards now is the time to do so. Please email Paul at paul@martinnewell.co.uk if you can be of help to us or we can be of help to you. Expect to see a very interesting few pages in the near future at www.martinnewell.co.uk Paul
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 12:09:47 -0800 From: strwbrry@tidepool.com Subject: Persistant XTC Favorites? Message-ID: <4006F387.DC0BEA6C@tidepool.com> I've found it interesting watching my favorite XTC tunes. Since I've gotten the whole set of albums these last few years there a couple songs that continue to get put on the cd player directly more than others. Outshining others has been: When I'm Near You I Have Difficulty - I love hearing this rocking skanky beast punching through my speakers. Mermaid's Smile - proper mix of mystery and the wistful. I've decided I'm going to play this on my guitar... and sing... down by the sea. (right? wish me luck!) Fly On The Wall - I like how the fly commands your attention, especially with his obnoxious little organ (keyboard). Another Steve http://www.tidepool.com/~strwbrry/music/
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 21:13:29 -0000 From: "gary NICHOLSON" <garynicholson@snurge.fsnet.co.uk> Subject: Swindon and Crap Towns - an apology Message-ID: <001401c3dbae$eb1dd860$fd4b4e51@oemcomputer> Sorry, I haven't had time to add my contribution for Swindon to http://www.craptowns.com I've just realised there are far too many crap towns in Hampshire to add to the list first. Yours chalkily (and cheekily), Gary
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 10:43:52 -0600 From: Scott Fischer <webdeja@powderhouseonline.com> Subject: King For A Day MP3 CD Message-ID: <1074271432.400814c8c4008@webmail.powderhouseonline.com> Just wanted to post a quick "hello" to everyone on my first round at the Chalkhills mailing list and to thank Richard Pedretti-Allen once again for the "King For A Day" mp3 CD. If you haven't already picked it up, WHY HAVEN'T YOU!?!? This CD is an excellent addition to the XTC collection you have and such a cheap, affordable price. Where else are you going to get over 100 tunes for under $10? Waiting for word of new XTC, -- Scott Fischer Webmaster@babaganoo.com Check out http://www.babaganoo.com and http://www.kbmusic.net "You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." -- Frank Zappa
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 13:26:27 -0600 From: Scott Fischer <webdeja@powderhouseonline.com> Subject: Re: best of '03 Message-ID: <1074281187.40083ae33bead@webmail.powderhouseonline.com> I'm actually quite surprised I didn't see anyone list "Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power" in their 2003 Best Of! This album would rank as my personal #1 fave for the year - hands down! -- Scott Fischer Webmaster@babaganoo.com Check out http://www.babaganoo.com and http://www.kbmusic.net "You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." -- Frank Zappa
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 13:43:12 -0700 From: Phil Corless <phil@pkmeco.com> Subject: Wonderfalls Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20040117134204.0212d9b0@pop.mindspring.com> The new FOX TV show "Wonderfalls" premieres in the US on March 12. Have we heard yet if one of Andy's songs was selected as the show's theme?
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 04:19:51 +0000 From: "Paul Culnane" <paulculnane@hotmail.com> Subject: OT: food for thought? Message-ID: <BAY7-F64pWdomJ8K5zQ00000dbc@hotmail.com> I found this quote that I thought some of you may be interested to read. It comes from a recent Mojo magazine interview with British eccentric Billy Childish (latest band The Buff Medways), and I for one tend to concur. Over to you Billy... "Am I rationing music? No, but most people are stuffing their faces full of chocolate all the time. They don't practise discernment. They end up liking something which is really substandard out of the desperation of wanting to find something to like. I don't have that desperation". Talk among yourselves Chalksters... Paul
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