Chalkhills Digest Volume 12, Issue 54
Date: Monday, 6 November 2006
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 12, Number 54
Monday, 6 November 2006
Topics:
XTC In Police Doc...
Futhermore!
...and a little ugly on the side
Shades of Andy
Re: the Wicker Man
You tube XTC
Is it cold in here, or just me?
Ta Da!
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So with a mop and a bucket / I'll just say forget her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 02:00:00 -0400 From: "Bill Wikstrom" <billwikstrom@gmail.com> Subject: XTC In Police Doc... Message-ID: <4490324e0610302159x544c8022sb338c1b382862e50@mail.gmail.com> Don't know if you guys have mentioned this on Chalkhills or not but XTC are briefly seen in the new DVD Everyone Stares: The Police Inside And Out by Stewart Copeland (yes the very man who seemingly lived in that Drums & Wires T-shirt). They are seen: 1) On the tour bus with The Police (Andy sitting next to Terry and Colin and Dave scattered across from them). 2) Orange, France - Terry standing behind Police tour manager Kim Turner as Kim spittles out some water. 3) Orange, France - Andy rabidly talking to Sting backstage about the bands The Yatchs and Holly And The Italians. I personally updated imdb - or rather informed imdb about updating the Everyone Stares credits. It's a pretty cool, if not criminally short, home-made documentary with funny commentary from Andy Summers and Stewart C. -- - Bill Wikstrom
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:47:51 -0600 From: "James Lowe" <jamielowe@msn.com> Subject: Futhermore! Message-ID: <BAY116-DAV9A19B8BDDE0FADA13AC3BBEF80@phx.gbl> Chalkholders! I must admit that the Amazon offer for the FW collection is a fabulous deal, if I did not already have all the signed autograph editions it would be very tempting. But it is too late now and I have no regrets. I think to the casual listener the price is a winner, because of the demo quality. I have made a couple FW best of compilations for friends and none of them like them mostly because of the aforementioned demo sound. Even though they do like & appreciate XTC. And does the world need another box set? Even as spiffy as the Collectors Album? I have just listened to the the final editions of FW and I read the booklet too. And I for one will say that the extra money I paid for Andy's hand to sign them is worth every penny. Admittedly, I have most of this music already but Reading his words I got the feeling that he was writing to me not to the the world. The flood of wonderful memories that these songs bring back to me is priceless and to share in their making makes them evermore so. BTW; Here's some great music video for you: Have you seen the Dear God Video lately? Well why not? www.thebestlegaladvice.com & Www.999videos.com Lastly, I have a copy of Homespun and Homegrown in mint condition that I would like to sell $7.50 pp USA if anyone wants or needs. Or, I would trade one for a copy of the remastered English Settlement. Please contact me off list if you are interested. Best Regards, Jamie Lowe Live within your income, even if you have to borrow money to do so. - Josh Billings www.islandgoats.org
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:59:37 -0400 From: "Brunkhorst" <brunkhorstk@hotmail.com> Subject: ...and a little ugly on the side Message-ID: <BAY117-DAV1F1A042495E550EFD8810B6F80@phx.gbl> Kevin Wollenweber says: > Hello, Chalkhillers, and especially Kevin Brunkhorst: who, me? > By "corporate rock", I'm guessing that you mean anything that sounds like > it came from an "AMERICAN IDOL". If looked at that way, I totally agree > with you. Anything within the moment, that appeals to a general audience > that doesn't really care whether it is listening to "audio wallpaper" will > make a record company money, even though, if the record company put as > much enthusiasm into a project around a reissue of an album, like any of > the original XTC recordings, money would also be made, although I guess > you could also argue that point as I cannot speak, in actual dollars and > cents, specifically as to what is made on such projects--and a case could > also be made, from reading posts here over the years, of how fickle the > taste of that core audience is. I had to parse that sentence up a lot, but I read you. The major record labels (or more correctly, the ones distributed by the major distribution companies) have lots of bodies on the payroll. Their real interest is something that will go into Wal-Mart and sell big numbers with a single push. There's few (if any) musicians in the sales and marketing departments of those outfits, so they don't much care what it sounds like. And they often simply decide not to promote a particular product if they don't think the payoff will justify the effort. They sometimes pay an advance on a recording, then release it without any marketing at all. This usually guarantees poor sales and exposure. (This has happened to XTC a lot, I'm sure.) On the other hand, if they control the project from the start, by selecting the material, producers, studio, image, etc., in order to attract attention, then it's likely to suck. And most artists have a strong enough vision of what they want to sound like to resist such tampering. > Knowing taht, I guess that it is unfortunate that musicians never did take > control right away of their back catalogues and now we, the fans, are > suffering for it, because record companies are run by some who don't > really know or care what classic material really sells and why!! The > kinds of surveys done on the subject sound to me like questions asked of a > panel on the previously mentioned prefab muzak show. We're doomed!! XTC > is doomed!! Yes, until the labels collapse under their own weight. This has already begun. Already, marginal things like jazz have pretty much disappeared among the major labels. It's a volume business. Meanwhile, it's up to the enlightened listener to seek out the good stuff and buy it without the help of marketing and promotion. What's new? > Re-recording one's back catalogue is okay for recent bands like Cracker, > but what the hell is a group like the Who supposed to do? Of course, I > think taht their record company is cooperating, as we know that Pete > Townshend's solo stuff is nicely reissued, but one can never expect XTC to > reform now that it is highly unlikely and decide to actually record their > material all again as they don't feel quite the same way about that old > stuff as they once did when first starting out!! You know the old saying, > "you can't go home again". Go on tour. Established artists can make money on tour, and sell few records, like the Stones. The Who album isn't likely to make big money. Their fans all have mortgages and tuition to pay, so they'll go to the concert, smoke their yearly joint, and have a memory. Kids have all the disposable income, and they are the target market, and have been for years. Since the Beatles, actually. So, yes, XTC are doomed. > My idealistic feeling about it all is that, as I said, record companies > really don't care about those old things anymore, so why not give the > artist the chance to buy their back catalogue and do with it what they > will? Yeah, I know that doesn't bode too well for artists that may not > have that loose change to go out and buy back their music, but there are > some who might take that chance, like Andy and Colin, and reissue it as > they, themselves would like. But if the back catalog sells without any work being done, like... Steve Miller's Greatest Hits, or Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell, then it's a cash cow, and nobody wants to get rid of those. Besides, if they get it back, then they're going to rerelase it with remastering and B-sides, and you're going to have to buy it again. Kevin (who sold his RCA copy of David Bowie's 'Heroes' for $100 in 1990, before the Rykodisc one came out)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:54:58 -0800 (PST) From: Off Screen <o_screen@yahoo.com> Subject: Shades of Andy Message-ID: <20061101065458.8321.qmail@web31909.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Interesting listening to Sheryl Crow's bass player Tim Smith: www.myspace.com/timsmithsongs one track so far has Colin-esque bass as well.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 09:16:04 +1300 From: "Neil Sheppard" <shepster247@gmail.com> Subject: Re: the Wicker Man Message-ID: <3d42c8180611011216q30a90180i1cba76576ae40f8e@mail.gmail.com> Ref the Wicker Man - Half Man Half Biscuit have the quote: 'Killing me won't bring back your apples!" On the cover of their 'Voyage to the bottom of the Road" album. Shep.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:09:35 +1300 From: "Wai and Keith Taylor" <keithandwai@hotmail.com> Subject: You tube XTC Message-ID: <BAY19-F1962E985D3CE880581AA45A0FD0@phx.gbl> Some amazing live videos posted to You Tube over last couple of day..from Black Sea tour in Melbourne Australia...ones posted by lokrume04 are the better ones....Outside World, Life Begins At The Hop, Generals and Majors, Respectable St, No Language In Our Lungs. Brought back great memories of their shows in Auckland New Zealand (one theatre, one club the next night!) a few days before.... Ciao Keith
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 17:13:45 -0800 (PST) From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com> Subject: Is it cold in here, or just me? Message-ID: <20061106011345.77105.qmail@web32009.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi: This week on the XTCfans MySpace site (http://www.myspace.com/xtcfans), the song of the week is "Snowman." If you want to know more about how this particular Snowman was built, check out the XTCfans blog (http://blog.myspace.com/xtcfans), where there's an exclusive interview with Andy about it. Brrrrr.... -Todd "People will always be tempted to wipe their feet/On anything with Welcome written on it." -Andrew Partridge, songwriter and musician (1953- )
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 08:36:06 -0600 From: "James Lowe" <jamielowe@msn.com> Subject: Ta Da! Message-ID: <BAY116-DAV1483C38272F2FA6CE73711BEF30@phx.gbl> Chalkholders; My XTC sticker site has returned to the world of the living thanks to our inimitable web master Bill Sherlock. http://xtcstickers.jamielowe.net/ And if you like the Band XTC I know you'll like the free music downloads from some of these bands. http://www.rainbowquartz.com/default2.asp Best Regards, Jamie Lowe www.jamielowe.net
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #12-54 *******************************
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