From: owner-basia-digest To: basia-digest@smoe.org Subject: basia-digest V1 #68 Reply-To: basia@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-basia-digest Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "basia-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. basia-digest Saturday, 23 March 1996 Volume 01 : Number 068 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Miss T Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity Similar sounds Re: Similar sounds Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity The 1997 (or '98 or '99 or '00 or '01) Tour Re: Basia's weight is.... Re: Similar sounds ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J.S. Lohr" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 14:59:47 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Miss T On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, David Cervantes wrote: > So we're speculating on Basia's weight? I feel awkward (like a sicko psycopath) doing this, but I'll bite: I'll guess about (screw the metric system) @110 pounds. You think that's too light? Just take a look at the "Drunk on Love" CD Single cover...the poor girl looks borderline anorexic. Oh, and if I had to make a stab at her height I'd say roughly 5'7". > More questions: What color would her hair be if she didn't dye it? Good question...I've seen it go from an auburn brown to black. I'd lay my money on black. > What are her measurements????? Whoa, that's a little too much for me. That's crossing that invisible line into psycho-ville. :D > Now this is meaty stuff! If only she were as popular as Fran Drescher > or Paula Abdul so we'd see her hot bod plastered all over the Enquirer > and Star!!!! And me a happily married man with a four-month-old baby > boy ;^D Get your mind outta the gutter, boy! This is... ============================================================================= Like ohmigod! Roach has a homepage! Find him at the Internet Roach Motel!!!!! ============================================================================= "http://zeus.towson.edu/~jlohr1" Dig up all the dirt on Agitprop's Finest Son, the Net's most famous Roach, and Wal-Mart's Biggest Pain-in-the-ass. ============================================================================= note: the page is unfinished - please excuse some of the cruddy links! -Roach ============================================================================= ...the end. ------------------------------ From: Vince Mora Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 13:12:56 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity JS> At least that's easier to swallow than this JS> "Jobim, the Samba God of Brazil" junk. Nice. JS> And yes, Time and Tide did share some characteristics with the JS> Getz/Gilberto LP, but I think that can be attributed to Ronnie Ross' (who JS> was noticeably absent on the Sweetest Illusion) saxophone work more than JS> anything else. No, it can be attributed to Basia being a big fan of latiz-jazz and samba music. Ronnie Ross is just a session musician and had nothing to do with the songwriting. JS> Now do you see why I'm going bezerk JS> over "Water of March?" This album could give me a whole new perspective JS> on a collection of music that I otherwise hated... it could do the same JS> for alot of people, but because of Sony Japan the Basia fans at large JS> here in the US probably won't ever hear of its existence. That's JS> outrageous... inexcusable... atrocious... disgusting! JS, the world does not revolve around the US. Plenty of music by major labels is released in Europe and Japan that is never heard in the US. There is simply a whole world out there with things going on that excludes the US. Oh well! [re: Level 42's last album not being released in the US] JS> I was livid. Super livid. I was a die-hard fan who had no choice but to JS> live in total ignorance because a UK record company decided that the US fan JS> base wasn't large enough to warrant releasing the album in the US. They didn't decide that; that's a fact. No record company is going to spend money that it knows it will lose -- that's a fact too. JS> It drives me nuts. I'm as much JS> of a fan of the music as they are, so why aren't I entitled to being able JS> to walk down to my local CD shop or ANY CD shop for that matter and just JS> walk in and buy this super boffo CD? Why? Because the @#&*ing record JS> companies know that they can have their way with us... What do you mean, "have their way with us"? You ask a record company to press 100,000 copies of a CD for a market that it won't sell in, and what do you think they'll say? They'll say they'd lose tons of money. Why? Because they're IN BUSINESS. They're not here to provide a public service. They're here because music SELLS, and they hire the talent so they can make the most money, not so they can "give the public the arts" or something. JS> because they know JS> that they don't have to release a CD somewhere because they know that the JS> fans will probably break their backs and spend a fortune for imports if JS> it means that much to them. "Hell, let the fans lose money on this JS> release," is probably RCA's US marketing strategy for the last Level 42 JS> album. Sorry, but you're naive, JS. The record company doesn't make extra money off of US fans buying imports. The price gouging comes from distributors having to ship the stuff overseas! Vince - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- vince mora aka synth oberheim http://www.swcp.com/synth/ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't anthropomorphize computers. They don't like it. ------------------------------ From: "J.S. Lohr" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 17:04:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Vince Mora wrote: > No, it can be attributed to Basia being a big fan of latiz-jazz and samba > music. Ronnie Ross is just a session musician and had nothing to do with > the songwriting. Ok...if this is the case, then why was this sound abandoned on "The Sweetest Illusion?" Basia had an almost entirely new backup band...you cannot convince me that the absence of these old session players had absolutely nothing to do with the abandonment of the samba sound. > JS, the world does not revolve around the US. Plenty of music by major > labels is released in Europe and Japan that is never heard in the US. > There is simply a whole world out there with things going on that excludes > the US. Oh well! Did I say it does? My point is that I feel sorry for the fans...fans EVERYWHERE. Like the Europeans who weren't able to pick up a copy of BOB... believe me, if I could get the addresses of every single European fan who can't find a copy of BOB then I would buy them a copy and either sell it to them for list price and postage or I would try to trade them for something else - it certainly would be a hell of a lot cheaper than going through an importer. Hell, look at a band like Matt Bianco - a ton of Mr. Reilly's stuff has yet to be released here in the States... and what is the outcome? "Who the hell is Matt Bianco?" Hell, record stores don't know whether to put the albums under "m" or "b!" Look at poor Dirk...King of the Matt Bianco fans and he didn't even know Gran Via had been released until a while after the fact! MY POINT ISN'T THAT MY POOR SPOILED ASS WON'T BE ABLE BY IT IN ANY DOMESTIC RECORD STORE, ITS THAT *THE FANS IN GENERAL* WON'T BE ABLE TO BUY IT. > They didn't decide that; that's a fact. No record company is going to > spend money that it knows it will lose -- that's a fact too. > What do you mean, "have their way with us"? You ask a record company to > press 100,000 copies of a CD for a market that it won't sell in, and what > do you think they'll say? They'll say they'd lose tons of money. Why? HOW DO THEY KNOW IT WON'T SELL IF THEY DON'T RELEASE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sure, they use past sales histories to go on, BUT WHAT ARE THEY USING IN THIS CASE? SOME PIECE OF SHIT LIVE ALBUM? > Because they're IN BUSINESS. They're not here to provide a public service. > They're here because music SELLS, and they hire the talent so they can make > the most money, not so they can "give the public the arts" or something. NO SHIT! BUT WHO BUYS THESE ALBUMS? _YOU_ DO! _I_ DO! _WE ALL_ DO! Don't you see? I don't care what you people do with this album - buy it for God's sake; I'm not gonna stop you. I simply wish to state that I've had it with having drive my car all over the East Coast looking for goddamn imports because some greedy British executive won't give a recording a chance to catch on with a foreign audience. This is my protest...MY protest. Plain and simple. If I remain alone in this protest, so be it. > Sorry, but you're naive, JS. The record company doesn't make extra money > off of US fans buying imports. The price gouging comes from distributors > having to ship the stuff overseas! Excuse me, Vince, but when did I ever say that the record company DOES make money off of US fans buying imports? Please enlighten me, because I can't seem to find it in anything that I've written. And just to clear things up, here's exactly what I typed which you rebutted with the preceeding paragraph: "because they know that they don't have to release a CD somewhere because they know that the fans will probably break their backs and spend a fortune for imports if it means that much to them. 'Hell, let the fans lose money on this release,' is probably RCA's US marketing strategy for the last Level 42 album..." Where does it say that the record companies get the "fortune" that US fans have to pay? Please tell me, Vince, because I'm naive and incapable of opening my eyes to the true meaning of my OWN WORDS. I would appreciate if in the future you would not insult me by putting words in my mouth, thank you very much. JSL. ------------------------------ From: "Derek Christner" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 16:34:05 EDT Subject: Similar sounds Hello everyone, I was just courious if anyone knew of any bands that have a similar sound to Basia. I'm not looking for slow sounds like Sade. Rather fast upbeat jazz pop sounds like Basia! If anyone knows, I'd be interested in knowing! Thanks! Derek E. Christner Christde@cc.emu.edu ------------------------------ From: "J.S. Lohr" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 17:41:22 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Similar sounds On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Derek Christner wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I was just courious if anyone knew of any bands that have a similar > sound to Basia. I'm not looking for slow sounds like Sade. Rather > fast upbeat jazz pop sounds like Basia! If anyone knows, I'd be > interested in knowing! Thanks! I know I got burned a few months back with the Julia Fordham/Sting comparison but, I'll test the waters again: Well, there's always Matt Bianco...you can always get the non-Basia stuff like "Matt Bianco" (an excellent album - it sounds alot like "Time and Tide") or even (sorry, Dirk) "Indigo." I haven't heard anything else by the Mark twins so... There's also Swing Out Sister, who in my opinion have a little bit more of a dancy feel to their music than Basia traditionally does - but they definitely have some similarities in their music. Since you narrowed out the slower stuff, that cuts out Everything But the Girl and maybe Julia Fordham, but they're both worth checking out...also on the slower side of the fence there's Nikki Holland, old Jill Sobule...basically any female artist that was on VH-1 before someone dropped the Hootie Bomb on it. Oh, Incognito, too, I guess, has some similarities (in the music especially - I mean, they share the same backup band!). Toodles! This is... ============================================================================= Like ohmigod! Roach has a homepage! Find him at the Internet Roach Motel!!!!! ============================================================================= "http://zeus.towson.edu/~jlohr1" Dig up all the dirt on Agitprop's Finest Son, the Net's most famous Roach, and Wal-Mart's Biggest Pain-in-the-ass. ============================================================================= note: the page is unfinished - please excuse some of the cruddy links! -Roach ============================================================================= ...the end. ------------------------------ From: Vince Mora Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 17:13:35 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity > > No, it can be attributed to Basia being a big fan of latiz-jazz and samba > > music. Ronnie Ross is just a session musician and had nothing to do with > > the songwriting. > > Ok...if this is the case, then why was this sound abandoned on "The > Sweetest Illusion?" Perhaps Basia wanted to try something different. Nothing stopping her. > > JS, the world does not revolve around the US. > > Did I say it does? My point is that I feel sorry for the fans...fans > EVERYWHERE. > > MY POINT ISN'T THAT MY POOR SPOILED ASS WON'T BE ABLE BY IT IN ANY > DOMESTIC RECORD STORE, ITS THAT *THE FANS IN GENERAL* WON'T BE ABLE > TO BUY IT. Well, this point certainly wasn't made before -- all I heard was you shouting that fans in the US should always be served. If the above is your point then you've made it clear now. > HOW DO THEY KNOW IT WON'T SELL IF THEY DON'T RELEASE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!! > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Based on past sales of Basia albums, domestically compared to abroad. Basia does better in Japan, so they're more likely to pour their bucks into selling it there rather than here. This obvious isn't a good thing for US Basia fans, but it's the reality of business, and there's no use crying "unfair!" to a huge megacorp, in my opinion. > > Because they're IN BUSINESS. They're not here to provide a public service. > > They're here because music SELLS, and they hire the talent so they can make > > the most money, not so they can "give the public the arts" or something. > > NO SHIT! BUT WHO BUYS THESE ALBUMS? _YOU_ DO! _I_ DO! _WE ALL_ DO! Don't Calm down! > > Sorry, but you're naive, JS. The record company doesn't make extra money > > off of US fans buying imports. The price gouging comes from distributors > > having to ship the stuff overseas! > > Excuse me, Vince, but when did I ever say that the record company DOES > make money off of US fans buying imports? Then what did you mean by "marketing strategy", as in: > 'Hell, let the fans lose money on this release,' is probably > RCA's US marketing strategy for the last Level 42 album..." There are obviously some wires getting crossed here, so if you could clarify it would be appreciated. > fans have to pay? Please tell me, Vince, because I'm naive and incapable > of opening my eyes to the true meaning of my OWN WORDS. And try to RELAX. Vince - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- vince mora aka synth oberheim http://www.swcp.com/synth/ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981 ------------------------------ From: "Dennis J. Majewicz" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 96 21:00:37 -0500 Subject: Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity So...is it premature to expect that there will be a 1997 tour? I can hardly wait! I promised my son that if there was ever another, that he would get to go. BTW, this whole response to Ken's latest news item is truly amazing. Let's step back in time a bit... Picture it. It's Spring of 1995. Somehow you get advance word that there will be three full length Basia CD's, as well as a new holiday single, coming out in the next year-and-a-half (or so). What do you think your reaction would be? Could you imagine the postings this list would get? Dennis - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis J. Majewicz Empire Sports Network majewicz@buffnet.net "On the road to a non-linear, tapeless, DIGITAL tomorrow!" - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: "J.S. Lohr" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 21:14:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: The "Water of March" Atrocity On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Vince Mora wrote: > > > No, it can be attributed to Basia being a big fan of latiz-jazz and samba > > > music. Ronnie Ross is just a session musician and had nothing to do with > > > the songwriting. > > > > Ok...if this is the case, then why was this sound abandoned on "The > > Sweetest Illusion?" > > Perhaps Basia wanted to try something different. Nothing stopping her. Ok...I'm not dismissing everything BUT the session stuff, but I think it was a factor. The changing of managers might've also, believe it or not, (I've seen it happen before) played a part. > > > JS, the world does not revolve around the US. > > > > Did I say it does? My point is that I feel sorry for the fans...fans > > EVERYWHERE. > > > > MY POINT ISN'T THAT MY POOR SPOILED ASS WON'T BE ABLE BY IT IN ANY > > DOMESTIC RECORD STORE, ITS THAT *THE FANS IN GENERAL* WON'T BE ABLE > > TO BUY IT. > > Well, this point certainly wasn't made before -- all I heard was you > shouting that fans in the US should always be served. If the above is > your point then you've made it clear now. Well, I tried including the UK fans in a previous message (after all, they've got it 100% worse than we do here in the US) but when it comes down to it, I can't speak for anyone else when they barely speak for themselves. Granted, I think the Internet has caught on more fiercely here in the US than anywhere else and we're just a teensy bit biased towards what the US fandom has to deal with. And since none of the non-US fans took me up on my "buy it for free/trade it with me" offer for BOB I assumed that it had been released everywhere. > Based on past sales of Basia albums, domestically compared to abroad. Basia > does better in Japan, so they're more likely to pour their bucks into selling > it there rather than here. This obvious isn't a good thing for US Basia > fans, but it's the reality of business, and there's no use crying "unfair!" > to a huge megacorp, in my opinion. Basia does, indeed, sell better in Japan. Here's the thing, though: if the numbers are correct, she's never gone double-platinum ANYWHERE, be it here in the US or in the UK (or in the rest of Europe) or in South America or even in Japan. So she may sell better in Japan, but she doesn't sell THAT much better. But on the other hand, I think the Japanese fan base is a lot less volatile than the apparently temperamental US fan base. So I don't think its as much sales as it is CONSISTENCY in sales...the sales of "The Sweetest Illusion" (and BOB, too) I think proved just how unreliable the US fan base can be. Still, that's no excuse for passing us by on a new album. > Then what did you mean by "marketing strategy", as in: > > > 'Hell, let the fans lose money on this release,' is probably > > RCA's US marketing strategy for the last Level 42 album..." Oh, I meant that as a joke...as in, RCA's marketing strategy was that they had no marketing strategy. Like Socratic irony... they claim to know that they do not know. > There are obviously some wires getting crossed here, so if you could > clarify it would be appreciated. > And try to RELAX. I'm sorry Vince, and everyone else...its just I'm deeply upset by finding out what this album really was. I'm a firm believer that an artist, the industry, management, etc., is NOTHING without the fans. After all, we're the ones who spend the money that pays for this industry to keep going. Without a strong fan base, many artists would be nothing more than (and I've said this before) a cashier at McDonalds with a penchant for music. Plus, after working with local entertainment publications (including my own), Sony's been a big uncooperative pain in my ass for a long time, so much so that we just plain don't include them in the "fun" anymore. All the other record companies are extremely helpful and sympathetic to our needs... everyone, that is, except Sony. "Water of March" is nothing more than the straw that broke the camel's back. Sorry everyone. Toodles! This is... ============================================================================= Like ohmigod! Roach has a homepage! Find him at the Internet Roach Motel!!!!! ============================================================================= "http://zeus.towson.edu/~jlohr1" Dig up all the dirt on Agitprop's Finest Son, the Net's most famous Roach, and Wal-Mart's Biggest Pain-in-the-ass. ============================================================================= note: the page is unfinished - please excuse some of the cruddy links! -Roach ============================================================================= ...the end. ------------------------------ From: "J.S. Lohr" Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 21:31:39 -0500 (EST) Subject: The 1997 (or '98 or '99 or '00 or '01) Tour On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Dennis J. Majewicz wrote: > So...is it premature to expect that there will be a 1997 tour? You mean a Farewell Tour? :) > I can hardly wait! I promised my son that if there was ever another, that > he would get to go. Geez, Dennis...let's take this one step at a time. Let them get the album finished, first! But on the topic of a new tour: maybe we should try to arrange some sort of mailing list get-together at one of the shows...make it sort of a mini convention type deal. > BTW, this whole response to Ken's latest news item is truly amazing. Let's > step back in time a bit... > > Picture it. It's Spring of 1995. Somehow you get advance word that there > will be three full length Basia CD's, as well as a new holiday single, > coming out in the next year-and-a-half (or so). What do you think your > reaction would be? Could you imagine the postings this list would get? Probably somewhere along the lines of (from me anyway): "Wow! I can't believe there's gonna be a live album! I bet its gonna be awesome! And I can't wait to go down to my LOCAL CD shop to buy BOTH studio albums!" I don't know if I'd want my hopes raised that high. Keep the faith. Toodles! This is... ============================================================================= Like ohmigod! Roach has a homepage! Find him at the Internet Roach Motel!!!!! ============================================================================= "http://zeus.towson.edu/~jlohr1" Dig up all the dirt on Agitprop's Finest Son, the Net's most famous Roach, and Wal-Mart's Biggest Pain-in-the-ass. ============================================================================= note: the page is unfinished - please excuse some of the cruddy links! -Roach ============================================================================= ...the end. ------------------------------ From: Philip B Hall Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 23:30:13 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Basia's weight is.... On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Dirk Pilat wrote: > > >I hate metrics (except when it comes to dollars). > > > > Yeah, but ft, lbs, inch, yards and all the other crap makes more sense????? > I propose we switch to metric inches, metric yards, etc. and everyone will be happy. Oh yeah, I definitely like LITERS (or is it litres?) over pints and quarts. ------------------------------ From: Philip B Hall Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 00:21:10 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Similar sounds On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Derek Christner wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I was just courious if anyone knew of any bands that have a similar > sound to Basia. I'm not looking for slow sounds like Sade. Rather > fast upbeat jazz pop sounds like Basia! If anyone knows, I'd be > interested in knowing! Thanks! > > Derek E. Christner > Christde@cc.emu.edu > Well, in terms of song structure, arrangements etc giving the jazz/pop feel I don't think you could find a better comparison than Steely Dan/Donald Fagan. If there has to be a female voice, then some of the stuff Manhattan Transfer has done comes close. Matt Bianco, of course, if you can find it. Some of the Pointer Sisters material (a la 'He's So Shy')is excellent. Also, k.d. laing's 'Ingenue' [sp] is a fantastic album. Oh yeah, there's this other Canadian female artist named Holly Cole who leaves me with a wry sort of good feeling, but she's definitely low key. I think the central theme uniting Basia fans, however, is the unfortunate realization that the type of music Basia and Danny create is unique in the music industry. It is inherently sentimental and romantic, and above all innocent and optimistic, which seems to provide a good foundation for the up-tempo themes they generate. All of which means there just is not a whole lot of that stuff around, these days. I just bought a boxed set of Henry Mancini that I think provides a generous dose of lithium when you listen. In that vein look for the Mercury CD of the collected works of Leroy Anderson, and there are some nice Burt Bachrach CD's, too. I know, ancient stuff, but their stamps are all over Basia's music. At least, I hear it....the bottom line is that it's damned hard work finding really good music. That's why Jeff gets so PO'd when SONY jerks around with Basia's releases..... Phil ------------------------------ End of basia-digest V1 #68 **************************