Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 32
Date: Wednesday, 28 July 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 32
Wednesday, 28 July 2004
Topics:
How they came to be
Re Dead Dogs
Dogs Die In Hot Cars
RE: Dead Dogs
Re: Dead Dogs
Three Salamanders and a Hammer
The Future
Re: The Nines
XTC DVD video for trade ?
The Nines and XTC
English Roundabout
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 07:06:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com> Subject: How they came to be Message-ID: <20040722140615.59639.qmail@web41114.mail.yahoo.com> Hey, kids! Got an extra pound (that's $1.84656, or 16 oz., to you American types out there) burning a hole in your pocket? Well then, head on over to: http://www.ape.uk.net/acatalog/How_They_Came_To_Be.html And find out how "This Is Pop!" and "Scarecrow People" came to be! Listen to Andy sit in his Shed and reminisce about the writing and recording of these Pop classics. Larfs! Thrills! Intrigue!! Bodily fluids!!! They're all there, waiting for you to slap your virtual banknote down on the cybercounter and walk away with them in your digital bag. With prices like these, how can you afford *not* to buy one (or two)? -Todd Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body. --Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1841-1935)
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:17:07 +0100 From: "Pledge" <Pledge7@btinternet.com> Subject: Re Dead Dogs Message-ID: <001101c46ff6$922b5d90$e0552bd9@oemcomputer> Re Paul Sandford's comments. Hey, I know Dogs Die In Hot Cars are a complete rip off (even produced by Langer and Winstanley so they also sound like Madness and Costello), but the rub is their album is darned fine and it WILL turn the kids onto XTC. Have you never liked a band, read about their influences and then got into the bands that influenced them? Looking on the bright side there is a hell of a lot of XTC music on the shelves of record shops that the kids can pick up and find out what the fuss is all about. It worked in the States for Madness, who apparently recouped with Geffen in 1998, 15 years after their one big American hit. Why? Because acts such as No Doubt, Rancid and Mighty Might Bosstones namechecked them regularly. I sure hope I'm right about this! Pledge
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:58:46 +0100 From: Anthony Chapman <anthony.chapman@gmail.com> Subject: Dogs Die In Hot Cars Message-ID: <71498c20407220758586a6863@mail.gmail.com> (I'm new here by the way.. have been lurking, and hope I'm not treading on anyones toes). I'm not sure Paul's criticism of Dogs Die In Hot Cars is entirely fair. The track "Man Bites Man" isn't actually on their album. It's definitely reminiscent of some of the upbeat Black Sea era stuff (I'm thinking "Burning With Optimisms Flames"), but it's not just a straight aping. The album really is excellent, and grows on me with every subsequent listen. Nothing on there is really as obviously quirky as MBM, and while the singer obviously idolises Partridge, the songs are very good indeed. Well worth investigating imo. -- Anthony Chapman http://www.scissorkicks.com
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 11:22:58 -0500 From: "Johnny Daytona" <johnnydaytona@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: Dead Dogs Message-ID: <BAY17-F11Mk0J46dfgf0004fc8b@hotmail.com> Hey all, >From: "Paul Sandford" <mail@samnjake.fsnet.co.uk> > >I've only just heard some Dogs Die in Hot Cars...I know there has been some >debate about them on here, and sorry if I'm repeating old arguments, but >isn't there some law against identity theft? I've just heard the track Man >Bites Man and it IS XTC!!! everything from the hook to the hiccup is our ... Stephen Malkmus from Pavement put this sort of thing into context when he noted that nobody has ever got rich sounding like the Fall, and much the same can be said of XTC, Andy Partridge included. The Dogs Die combination of XTC and Talking Heads is pretty bang on, but while the sound is very indebted, their songs are their own. No Science Fission Twinz, no Psycho Kilter, the songs are their own and the songwriting is good. The Dogs Die in Hot Cars album is fantastic. I gave it two listens to stop being annoyed by it, and then after that it has been pure love. Also recommended is the Futureheads - what the Jam would have sounded like if barbershop had been a bigger influence. Cheers, Darren
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 11:10:22 +0100 From: "Stephen Jackson" <planet_skaro@btopenworld.com> Subject: Re: Dead Dogs Message-ID: <000d01c4709d$45846f20$9e728751@default> Paul wrote: >>Having read several reviews which claim that the band 'namecheck' XTC The Dogs have claimed not to be influenced by XTC. In fact, they say they had never heard of XTC until a promoter put reference to the similarity between on a tag line to a concert poster. >>They aren't the first band to ever do this and they won't be the last, but you get a little protective about some Swindonians It's funny how few people get upset about XTC nicking ideas off the Beach Boys.... Swings and roundabouts, I guess. Steve
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 05:02:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Versaci <michael_versaci@yahoo.com> Subject: Three Salamanders and a Hammer Message-ID: <20040723120218.30831.qmail@web20421.mail.yahoo.com> Folxtc, I was directed to this site for a good laugh. It is a post-modern text generator. http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/ While I was there, I noticed that it had some other text generators, including band-names. The one I liked the best is the subject line of this post. http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/bandname Michael Versaci
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 11:46:27 +0100 (BST) From: Dom Lawson <britishsteel666@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: The Future Message-ID: <20040723104627.97760.qmail@web53104.mail.yahoo.com> Salutations, my cardigan-wearing brethren... Just a quick de-lurk and de-brief for you all. There's a band that you simply must seek out, particularly if you are a fan of XTC's first 3 records...and if you're not, what the hell is wrong with you, y'kin eejit? The band is THE FUTUREHEADS, and their self-titled debut album was released this week via 679 Records. They're four early-twentysomethings from Sunderland who sound very much like 'Go 2' meets 'All Mod Cons' meets 'Chairs Missing', only sprightlier and more satisfying than a strenuous wank from a freshly-showered cheerleader. It's also much, much better than Franz Ferdinand or Dogs Die In Hot Cars. Honestly, if you people must insist on reading the NME you have no one but yourselves to blame. www.thefutureheads.com And if you're not satisfied with your purchase, you suck. Biatch. Salut! Dom ===== www.bowlrider.co.uk NP: Meshuggah 'I'
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 11:00:25 -0400 From: Marc LaFoy <marc@screenimages.com> Subject: Re: The Nines Message-ID: <06EFBC4D-DCB9-11D8-AB89-00039375C2E6@screenimages.com> From: "Myers, Michael D." <mmyers@telcordia.com> > I posted a discussion of their music back in Chalkhills Volume 4, > number 135 on 16 September, 1998. A few subsequent people added > their impressions. To this day, I have never heard any other band > totally capture the sound of XTC. Yes, I have heard a range of > other music where I could say that I saw the XTC influence, but The > Nines sound so much like XTC it is frightening. It may as well be > Andy singing one of his great melodic tunes, and they even have the > advanced wordplay down as well. The Nines really are great and certainly deserve more attention than they've received so far. My brother, a Toronto musician, was playing with or recording with The Nines a couple months back and the band leader related that he'd recently got a call out-of-the-blue from Andy remarking that he enjoyed their music. There were other details but I can't remember them - I guess I better ask him the story again. BTW: This list has saved my life musically more than a few times. I thank you all. Marc
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 12:17:20 -0400 From: Ken VanTassell <kenwvt@gmail.com> Subject: XTC DVD video for trade ? Message-ID: <647737520407230917225a58b@mail.gmail.com> Anyone have any XTC video on DVD for trade ? I already have the Rockpalast show, and some clips from MTV. Anything else available ? Thanks, Ken
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:34:28 -0400 From: "Craig Taylor" <craig_taylor200@hotmail.com> Subject: The Nines and XTC Message-ID: <BAY14-F31gTBLUakMiZ00040b26@hotmail.com> "I posted a discussion of their music back in Chalkhills Volume 4, number 135 on 16 September, 1998. A few subsequent people added their impressions. To this day, I have never heard any other band totally capture the sound of XTC. Yes, I have heard a range of other music where I could say that I saw the XTC influence, but The Nines sound so much like XTC it is frightening. It may as well be Andy singing one of his great melodic tunes, and they even have the advanced wordplay down as well." I have to agree with Mike's statement. The Nines sound like XTC at their most melodic. The singer sounds a hell of a lot like Andy as well as Paul Mccartney. I can totally see how Andy would find them appealing. Craig
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:20:24 -0400 From: Anthony Picco <aspicco@earthlink.net> Subject: English Roundabout Message-ID: <B7D64E3C-DFCF-11D8-B0FE-000A95998D50@earthlink.net> Recently, on a non-XTC message board, someone from Swindon posted links to two photos on the official Swindon web, with two aerial pictures of the "Magic Roundabout" that inspired the XTC song... Thought it might be of passing interest to XTC fans... http://www.swindonweb.com/life/magi01.jpg http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi1.jpg And this is what that other poster added in text: This is a cut and paste on the Magic Roundabout which should answer your question better than I could. "Then a revolutionary idea (in more ways than one) which had been tested in Colchester, Essex, was also tested on Swindon's County Ground Roundabout. Until then the area had been a motorist's nightmare which routinely failed to handle the volume of traffic which converged on it from five directions. The new roundabout (see picture) was the work of the Road Research Laboratory (RRL) and their solution was brilliantly simple. All they did was combine two roundabouts in one - the first the conventional, clockwise variety and the second, which revolved inside the first, sending traffic anti-clockwise. PC Steve Dudley, one of the police officers involved with the introduction of the new system, recalled: "There was someone from the RRL up on a crane and officers on each of the five junctions. We would let the traffic build up and then let one lot go at a time. After a few trial runs we let the whole lot go at once. It was quite nerve-racking, but it did work." They called it a multi-mini roundabout, but as far as Swindon folk was concerned, they now had their very own Magic Roundabout. And magic it certainly is. Though it may confuse or amuse new visitors and baffle American tourists, the average Swindonian finds that his or her passage through one of the town's busiest junctions is actually quite fluid, even at peak times. Twenty-five years on, the Magic Roundabout still works, despite ever-increasing volumes of traffic. Though there have been 14 serious accidents and 59 lesser ones recorded in 25 years, that rate is less than one would expect for such a busy junction. Most accidents have involved cyclists and motorcyclists and now a cycle lane running right round the outside of the roundabout, with pelican crossings, should ensure that the Magic Roundabout becomes as safe as it is efficient.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #10-32 *******************************
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