Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 44
Date: Sunday, 3 October 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 44
Sunday, 3 October 2004
Topics:
Re: This and that and... oh yeah the other thing
Answer Moo These Questions Two
Re: extra bit on FW #5
That TMBG's "No!" Review...
HARK at this!
Have you got yours yet?
More green for reissues...
My land is burning
Re: Ant on Bar Beaux
Such great heights
Auction, anyone?
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If you take a trip to nowhere it might blow your mind.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:21:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Randy Posynick <randy_posynick@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: This and that and... oh yeah the other thing Message-ID: <20040930162133.87511.qmail@web54202.mail.yahoo.com> Hey Robert, that would be my car, and the bumper sticker was courtesy of Chalkhills' own Jamie Lowe. Frankly, that sticker is the only thing holding together what my wife affectionately refers to as my "shitbox," but it attracts one XTC question a year from passersby, so it serves its intended purpose well enough. Now that you know who I am, there's no need to come to my door, unless it's with an invitation to walk up to the pub some evening to ostensibly talk about music. Around the corner and three house down, huh? Daughter in a stroller? Say hi to Dexter for me! (Am I right? Oh, the irony!) > -----Original Message----- > From: "Macdonald, Robert" > > Last week while I was pushing my sleeping daughter in her > stroller down our street I spotted something that gave me > a start. I was in front of a house that is three houses > down and around the corner from ours when I was suddenly > attracted to a bumper sticker on a Honda Civic that's > always parked in the drive. There in front of my eyes > was an XTC English Settlement sticker complete with chalk > horse. I have only had passing glances of the occupants > who moved in last year, and have never seen anyone driving > the car. Now everytime I walk by I look to see if someone > is around so that I can find out about who's car it is. > Maybe I'll just have to go up and knock on the door? I > mentioned seeing it to my wife who replied, "Oh yeah, I > spotted that weeks ago and meant to tell you!"
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 12:47:32 EDT
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Answer Moo These Questions Two
Message-ID: <13d.30e4235.2e8d92a4@aol.com>
> From: "Thomas Vest" <tvtwo@hotmail.com>
>
> Got my FW's today and I noticed that if you scan backwards on track one of
> FW 5 to -51 seconds, you will get some gibberish of sorts that i think says:
>
> have him skinned. take him outside and have the giraffe bugger him.
This comes from a "spy tape" made by Gus Dudgeon during the recording of the
vocals of Omnibus. Andy drank too much coffee and started doing schtick into
the mike between takes. It's hysterical stuff, gives Robin Williams a run
for his money. I haven't received my Warbles 5 & 6 yet, so I don't know the
extent of the edit that's on there, but the full tape has Andy reciting the
lyrics of Omnibus as Peter Sellers doing Lawrence Olivier doing Richard II
(that's the character ordering the cameleopardeous cornholing, the victim a
goat-giggling Dave Gregory), the story of the p-whipped Tony the Hun (whose
wife chews him out for getting blood all over the antimacassars after
ravaging the Steppes of Asia), and quite a bit more besides. Throughout the
performance Andy's sensitive vocal mic picks up the High Dudgeonic guffawing
and thigh-slapping coming from the control room.
> From: KEVIN.WOLLENWEBER@jpmorgan.com
> Subject: Fuzzy, Was He? Clear Moments!
>
> But what exactly was the rift between Todd and Andy Partridge?
Neville Farmer gives a pretty clear account of the friction. The American
label, Geffen, pressured Virgin for a hit after The Big Express bombed.
Jeremy Lascelles, XTC's handler at Virgin, presented the band with a list of
American producers that might satisfy Geffen and produce a hit for the
American market. Todd Rundgren's name appealed to Dave Gregory, a major
fan, and so they chose him.
The key to understanding Andy's attitude is that for the first time in years
he was forced by circumstances to accept direction from a stranger. Because
of the relative failure of two albums in a row, he had no bargaining power
with Virgin, and had to acquiesce to their instructions. Quite a comedown
for someone who a few short years before had been a major rival to the
Police and Talking Heads for post-punk primacy.
Says Farmer:
Feeling his power usurped, Andy's relationship with Todd
festered rapidly, too. Andy had never played second fiddle to
anyone, but Todd wasn't going to let him undermine his
producer's authority. Andy respected Todd's musical ability but
hated his attitude and sarcasm.*
After listening to their demos, Todd came up with the idea for the "Day
Passes" concept (the life-as-a-single-day theme). He rather high-handedly
dictated what songs would be on the album, and in what running order. He
summoned them to his recording studio in Woodstock, a rural locale that
offered little in the way of diversion. They lived in spartan
accommodations, responsible for their own food, without their wives.
Rundgren apparently was a complete jerk, browbeating Andy in particular.
Andy is quoted in Song Stories: "He'd ask how you were going to do the
vocals and you would stand in front of the mic and do one run though to
clear your throat and he'd say, 'That was crap. I'll come down and I'll
record me singing and you can have me in your headphones to sing along to.'
I just thought it was so insulting."
Rundgren may well have felt the need to assert his authority over the
rebellious Partridge, but some of his recording practices verged on the
bizarre. He had Colin record bass parts before Prairie Prince was brought in
to play drums -- anyone with studio experience will attest, that's
completely ass-backward. He also instigated a system whereby he recorded
all the songs on the master tape in the album's running order, marking start
and finish points on the tape so that, for example, the crossfade between
Summer's Cauldron and Grass wasn't edited as crossfades usually are, but
rather played that way in the studio. To this day, I can't for the life of
me figure out why he thought that was a good idea. (I also have a sneaky
suspicion that this particular allegation against Rundgren might be teensy
bit exaggerated.)
Harrison "Even the world's nastiest producer couldn't fix that dangling
participle in the first line of Grass, though" Sherwood
-----
*Andy has a thing about sarcasm. When speaking to me about his wishes for
the COMC liner notes, he took particular care to direct me not to be
sarcastic. I was puzzled what he meant, because sarcasm would have been
utterly inappropriate for such a piece -- "Oh, XTC. That was a GREAT
band. Tschea, RIGHT!" I wondered if perhaps there wasn't some traumatic
memory in which someone had used sarcasm as a weapon against him. Hmm.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:46:23 -0700 From: ste7phen@cox.net Subject: Re: extra bit on FW #5 Message-ID: <4358F348-1300-11D9-931A-000393779CC6@cox.net> > "Thomas Vest" wrote: > > Correction on the reverse scan time on for the extra bit of dialog. > It is at -26 that you will find the giraffe buggery part. A little > mix up on my end with the "time" button. -51 is the total time of > track one plus the rewind to the dialog. Turn me on deadman. (I buried Paul) Another (dead) Steve
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:04:31 -0400 From: Gary Glauber <gigwords@optonline.net> Subject: That TMBG's "No!" Review... Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20040930215855.01038cd0@mail.optonline.net> cited recently by Robert Macdonald, was mine. The lifted riff most definitely is "The Meeting Place," but I doubt Colin will press charges (since he's lifted a riff or two himself right out of "Barrytown," etc.). Small musical world, eh? Happy to see you read the review, fellow Hillian, but give me some credit with a namecheck now and then. Back to lurking, listening and other L words, Gary Glauber
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 13:20:46 +0100 From: stevesomerset <stevesomerset@blueyonder.co.uk> Subject: HARK at this! Message-ID: <BD830A2E.160B%stevesomerset@blueyonder.co.uk> Hi Folks thought you might be interested in this... After producing `The Wish List' and being encouraged by the positive feedback I got for The Shadow Kabinet tracks I went back into the studio and produced a new album entitled HARK! The album, released on Sound Mind Records, features fourteen brand new songs; from the Syd Barret mayhem of the title track to the haunting 'Nick Drake-ish' Full Moon Song. If you enjoyed the two tracks I recorded for The Wish List I'm sure you will enjoy HARK! But don't just take my word for it ... "When greyness strikes run to the Kabinet of Dr. Shadow. He'll put the pyschedelia back in your step!" - Andy Partridge "Somerset! The great trash alchemist, the man with the rock 'n'roll gazetteer in his pocket, the entire youth culture roadmap in his head, trailing melody in his wake like a faint perfumed mist... his ragged juvenile lead tones, as ineffably English as country lanes and the sort of Sunday teas nobody eats any more." - Mark Hudson Music Critic for The Telegraph We're currently talking to a couple of internet record labels, one of which is based in the States, who want to sell the album. However, I will have stock in about two weeks so here's your chance to pre-order a copy (which will actually work out cheaper for you) at #10 inc p&p. e-mail me at stevesomerset@blueyonder.co.uk I'm not sure I can do overseas orders at the moment so you guys may have to wait until those deals are in place. The album also features Sir John John's talking backwards and forwards! Trust me I think you'll like it! All the best Steve Somerset
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 03:28:20 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Have you got yours yet? Message-ID: <20041001022820.58584.qmail@web86902.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Early this morning (Friday 1/10) a very thoughtful Australia Post courier fought her way through the driving rain to my door and presented me with my parcel of Fuzzy Warbles volumes 5 & 6. Which is mighty quick, since I placed my order only a fortnight ago, and shipping was only supposed to commence a week ago. Naturally I am very pleased! Without depriving you of your own pleasures of discovery, I will say that on first listening, these two instalments are, for me, the most satisfying of the series so far. You're in for a treat! p@ul-of-oz
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 23:50:58 +0000 From: "WAYNE KLEIN" <wtdk12@msn.com> Subject: More green for reissues... Message-ID: <BAY3-F20arnJ3kEPF3c0000abe9@hotmail.com> from kevin w. >>One minor dissatisfaction of my own, though. I also had a copy of the reissue of Brian Eno's ANOTHER GREEN WORLD in its handsome digipack edition and noted the same glaring omission that a reader of ICE Magazine made note of, in the song, "Everything Merges With the Night". Those of you who have it will also notice that the first singing of the name "Rosalie" had accidentally been removed. If anyone knows the address to Astralwerks, please, please impart this info to me, because it had been too long since my purchase of the disk and I no longer have the receipt. Record companies trust the megastores too much and actually believed that, if ya take the disk back to the store, you'll get a "repaired" copy, but who's to say that they know what shipment you are getting that second copy from?<< Actually I returned my copy without the receipt, explaining it had been recalled and exchanged the CD for a brand new one. All the old versions have been recalled and pulled from the shelves (hopefully). However, you can go to http://www.astralwerks.com/. There is a contact area there but haven't used it myself.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 13:39:55 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: My land is burning Message-ID: <20041002123955.26900.qmail@web86901.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Omigawsh! As if the lyrics and the lilt weren't enough. With this song, Andy has finally and fully torn me apart. The best thing he has ever done (and there's some stiff competition)... With "My Land Is Burning", the final track on Mushy Foibles Volume 5, Mr Partridge has really nailed it, and then some. Just listen to everything, but the final denouement, his guitar solo. He wails and cries and screams out for mercy on a simple gat. It's fuckin' overwhelming. It makes me cry too, it really does. Paul
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 22:02:29 EDT
From: Telehead@aol.com
Subject: Re: Ant on Bar Beaux
Message-ID: <83.177bc1c9.2e90b7b5@aol.com>
In a message dated 9/30/04 6:43:36 AM, owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org
writes:
> My pal Anton Barbeau wrote me to tell me that he's doing a tour of
> England. I believe he has a live band with him, but I am not sure.
> In any case, he's going to be making a stop in a particular town of
> interest. See below.
>
> He puts on a good show. Please do try to stop by!
Anton is a friend of mine here in Sacramento, and I second that
recommendation. I believe he will have guitarist Steve Randall in tow,
and Steve is arguably the tastiest guitar slinger in our part of the
world. He plays like a cross between Danny Gatton and Richard Thompson
and he has a real handle on Anton's songs.
If any of you have not picked up "King of Missouri", I strongly
recommend it, as well as "A Splendid Tray" .... well, really any of
his CD's.
If any of you do see Ant, I'd love to know what you think of his
show. Oh, and for those of you in Europe, my friend Kevin Seconds is
bringing his legendary punk band 7 Seconds over the pond in November
for their first ever European tour. 7 Secs was in Britain in May, but
they have never played the continent before now. They put on a hell of
a show, and if you need a fix of good ol' hardcore punk you can't go
wrong. Tour dates are at http://www.7seconds.com/gigs.html .
Have fun!
Warren in Sacramento, Ca.
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 19:30:03 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Such great heights Message-ID: <20041003183003.24979.qmail@web86909.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> I'd just like to register the cold hard fact, that a certain solid music-lover and all-round good fella, is lurkin' amongst us. He's brilliant, and from the vibe I get he means no harm, only to spread the musical word. It would be very easy to fall (somewhere)... His name is Benjamin Gott, and he rawks! Thanxtc Benny. You saved me man! PORL
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 19:44:22 -0400 From: Benjamin Gott <bgott@rectoryschool.org> Subject: Auction, anyone? Message-ID: <26C592DC-1596-11D9-802A-000D9328AB7A@rectoryschool.org> Gang, What fun! I had a great chat with our own Paul Culnane, Aussie extraordinaire, about music and life. It was on his dime, too, so I'm all set! I did want to let you all know that I recently donated two XTC items to my school's silent auction: one copy of "Black Sea" (autographed) and one copy of "Oranges and Lemons" (also autographed). We'll see whether or not they'll make any money for our Annual Fund! And, finally, here's one last item for all of you, related to the "Wrapped in Grey" acetate that's been popping up on the list. 2004 Ben Gott "1996-2004" - HP CD-R (very rare 2004 US original). "Ben Gott 1996-2004" lovingly written on the CD with blue magic marker. Encased in a sturdy plastic jewel case. Contains 13 Ben Gott originals and 5 Ben Gott covers. Custom Ben Gott business card included. Price: $2550.00 Anyone want to buy it? And, unlike, "Wrapped in Grey," this is the REAL DEAL! -Ben P.S. Or I'll just send you one! For free!
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #10-44 *******************************
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