From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #432 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, December 13 1998 Volume 04 : Number 432 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: A confession: I don't like Happy! ["1LP(P) Knapp, Kevin E." ] Just another reminder ["Mitchell A. Pravatiner" ] wrapping up 98' [Andrew Fries ] natalie merchant and susan mckeown [meredith ] rachael sage at arlene grocery [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 21:40:39 -0800 From: "1LP(P) Knapp, Kevin E." Subject: RE: A confession: I don't like Happy! /* Delurk off */ Hi, Eponine... I'm a Happy fan who absolutely worships about 60 percent of her work, thinks 25 percent of her stuff is, um, "interesting," and doesn't get anything out of the remaining 15 percent. I think these percentages are about right; I own all of Happy's CDs, including the two Aural Gratification compilations and two of Doug's tapes of Happy's live performances... I haven't really been able to get into MWABT, but I cannot urge you enough to listen to "The Keep." It is nothing like MWABT, and it's... it's... heavenly? angelic? Something like that, I think. Trust me... Please!?!?! - --Kevin - ------------------------------------------------------------ "While the core weapon of the 20th century land warfare has been the tank, the core weapon of the 21st century will be the computer." --GEN Gordon R. Sullivan, 25 MAY 93 - ------------------------------------------------------------ Kevin E. Knapp http://www.oz.net/~zaphod/ - ------------------------------------------------------------ /* Delurk on */ > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-ecto@smoe.org [mailto:owner-ecto@smoe.org]On Behalf Of > Eponine > Sent: Thursday, December 10, 1998 3:09 PM > To: All @ Ecto > Subject: A confession: I don't like Happy! > > > Hi all - > > I'm sorta new here. I was on the list a while back, unsubscribed due to > problems keeping up with correspondence while at work (no 'puter at > home), and recently re-subscribed. > > About 2 1/2 years ago I was in the car when I suddenly sat up at > attention and felt myself getting very excited: new Kate Bush music!! > But the DJ said is was "Happy Rhodes". I meant to follow up and find > out more about her, but it slipped my mind and I never did. Then when I > discovered the Ecto world, I though I'd better get hip to Happy. So I > ordered 'The Keep' and 'Many Worlds Are Born Tonight'. > > I listened to 'MWABT' the day it arrived. And: I hated it! I could > really respect and appreciate the originality of the compositions and > production and of course the vocals, but what kinds of words are these? > "Respect"? "Appreciate"? These aren't the kinds of words I use to > describe my favorite musical artists. In my gut, the truth is I really, > really hated 'MWABT'. It got thrown into the "never to be listened to > again" stack. And I never listened to 'The Keep'. (It's still in the > shrinkwrap if anyone wants to buy it off me at a bargain price!) > > My question is: is there anyone else on the Ecto list who dislikes > Happy Rhodes? Or have I just earned myself an expulsion from Ecto?! > > Regards, > > Eponine > > > ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 10:08:31 -0500 From: "Tom Ditto" Subject: re: I don't like Happy It doesn't surprise me that a newbie to Happy's music would find a yawning gap between "I Will" and MWABT. It wouldn't surprise me that someone drawn to the similarity between Happy and Kate would run out a buy Happy CD's. It's what I have called The Shock of Recognition (in contrast with the Shock of the New so much in vogue in "high art"). I recall singing along to Happy's music when I first heard it, as if I knew the songs. I didn't, but somehow they were innately present in my mind as if some part of a collective heart , as she so aptly articulated the phenomenon years later. This shock of recognition did continue for me right through MWABT, but that's due to my exposure to studio recording and electronics. I also benefited from the many years of experience listening to Happy's music, so naturally I recognized her stylizations inside the wall of timbral manipulations. It is a masterpiece, but alas, it isn't the commercial breakthrough that may have been an understanding in her new contract with Samson. MWABT is, in fact, far more challenging that most of her albums. Rather than a first listen, it would best be played later in one's listening experience. Tom ditto@taconic.net "Do you copy? Over..." ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 15:27:01 -0600 (CST) From: "Mitchell A. Pravatiner" Subject: Just another reminder You should get your 1998 Happy Gift Project contributions in the mail to me soon, so I can begin to assemble it by December 15. Mitch ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 09:41:14 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: wrapping up 98' Yeah, it's that time of the year - time to inflict another best-of list upon the world... I thought this was an excellent year for music in the US, but kind of slow here in Australia. Anyhow: My Favourite Record Award will be a bit of a stretch since the record in question actually came out the previous year and is not really full-length either. All the same, with re-release in CD format and the inclusion of stunning bonus tracks I think it can qualify. Now the drum roll please ... and the winner is Sarah Slean, "Universe"! Favourite Local Record Award goes to the Waifs, for "Shelter Me". They are also my favourite new local act of this year. Runner-ups: Happy - MWABT. Stunning record, finally bringing her sound into the 90's! But what would I give for another acoustic record like The Keep... Natalie Merchant - Ophelia. Anything she does will be my favourite as long as it has her voice on it :) P.J Harvey - Is this desire. Wow! I'm still new to this one, but it continues to blow me away. Perfume Tree - Feeler. Luscious, yummy, hypnotic! Tori Amos - From the choirgirl hotel. I'm a bit ambiguous about this one. On one hand it's remarkable how she manages to remain fresh and move on without alienating too many of her fans. But I must admit I don't play this record all that often. Still I can see it is good. It's not her, it's me... Also-mentions: Cowboy Junkies, Grey Eye Glances, Cat Power, Wendy Lands from Canada and Freudian Trip from Down Under. Special mention: Ratsy, "Squished under the train" Came out before 98, so it doesn't really qualify. But I only discovered her this year. Not a masterpiece perhaps, but its low-key charm somehow made it appear in my player a lot more often than some of the bigger names on this list... My Fizzle of the Year award has to go - unfortunately - to Heather Nova, who used to be near the top of my personal pantheon. But her latest is a serious disappointment to me... I ended up liking (or indeed, even remembering without looking at the cover) just two songs from the whole CD! That's just not good enough. And finally, my award "For the Song I Hummed Most Often", in other words, favourite song of the year. For the second year running, this very special award goes to Sarah Slean, this time for one of the bonus tracks from her CD, the title of which I'm not even sure of - is it John XXIII or am I just making this up? Can somebody help? Perhaps it's time I'd find out the title of my favourite song :) But a very close runner-up is "Spotlight", by The Waifs. I'm still waiting for a couple of CDs that just might turn out worthy of including in this list, but I don't think I'll get them before January. So this is how things stand this year. - ------------------------------------------------------ A rich man who hailed from Seattle Wrote Win95 to do battle, But Mac users pity The masses not witty Enough to know Wintel's for cattle. - ------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 00:17:54 -0500 From: meredith Subject: natalie merchant and susan mckeown Hi! Thursday night woj, myself, JeffW and the visiting Steve VanDevender saw Natalie Merchant closing for Susan McKeown at the Oakdale Theater in nearby Wallingford, CT. This is a big theater - we saw Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos there earlier this year. If you don't count festival appearances, I think Susan may well have played to more people in that one gig than in all of her previous performances combined. Susan was accompanied by Lindsey Horner and John Spurney (I think I finally got his name right!). The sound wasn't nearly loud enough, especially on John's guitar, but from what I could hear Susan sounded great. Let me see if I can remember the set list: The Winter King Ce Leis-E?/Black Is The Colour Fuck You The Chariot The River In London So Fair Albatross Snakes It was really weird to be seeing Susan as this little spot way down there on the stage, then look up at the huge screens the Oakdale has over both sides of the stage and see the close-ups of her and the band. Some of the people around us seemed to be getting into her set. Then there was everybody else. I particularly wanted to annihilate the woman two rows behind us who insisted upon talking with her friend with her loudest Fran Drescher impersonation the entire time. I can understand not being interested in the opening act, but for the love of god, go outside!!! Argh. Anyway. After a lengthy intermission, it was time for Natalie Merchant. I wasn't expecting a high-energy set because _Ophelia_ is so evenly low-key, and well, the show pretty much met my expectations. :) It was amusing to watch people trying to jump up and dance whenever a tempo appeared, but even "These Are Days" was pretty lethargic. She definitely had a much better band on her _Tigerlily_ tour. Natalie herself was cool, though. In between songs she read various articles from the U.N. Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, whose 50th anniversary was that day, and on a couple songs she even did some spinning! The audience continued to prove the innate stupidity of the human race throughout the set. Beer should be banned from music venues. :P Fran Drescher kept up her ongoing commentary, and the utterly wasted couple immediately behind us acted like a couple of 14-year-olds until they mercifully left halfway through, probably to go throw up. I don't know where these people come from, honestly. The encore made the whole night worthwhile, though. First Susan joined Natalie on "When They Ring The Golden Bells", the traditional song done with Karen Peris on the album, then the two of them did Katell Keineg's "Gulf Of Araby". I was blown away by the arrangement of this song on Sessions At West 54th, and this rendition far eclipsed it. It was incredible. For a second encore, Natalie came back with her guitar player and they did one of the Woody Guthrie songs from that album Billy Bragg and others did to write music to lyrics Guthrie left behind. It was a lovely end to the evening. Chuck, where did you get to after the show? (If the answer to that is "backstage", I don't wanna know. :P :) +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 00:42:28 -0500 From: meredith Subject: rachael sage at arlene grocery Hi! Last night I finally got to see Rachael Sage perform live. After an utter comedy of errors trying to meet woj at the subway (don't ask), we got to Arlene Grocery about five minutes before she began her (way too short) set. She was with her "Red Rubber Band": drummer, bassist, guitarist, and guy with accordion, melodica, and various percussion things. She perself played electric piano. The set consisted of mostly new material - apparently she's been recording lately. She did do three of my favorites from _Smashing The Serene_, though: "Sistersong", "Air We Share" and "Cultivate". The new songs were all wonderful, and the new album, whenever it may appear definitely has promise from what I heard. I picked up her first CD, _Morbid Romantic_, and I've had a chance to listen to half of it so far. I'm glad that's not the album I heard first, or I probably would've written her off. The production is downright shlocky in places (the 4th track in particular sounds like Wilson/Phillips). I'm not going to form an official opinion of it until I've had several thorough listens, though. Afterwards I got to talk to Rachael for a couple minutes - she was really sweet. She was surprised that I'd found out about the gig, since she hadn't publicized it at all. I explained where I'd heard about it, and she'd actually heard of ecto, weirdly enough. I gave her the URL of the Ectophiles' Guide, and told her I'd be adding a page for her there soon (really, I'd been meaning to, but sometimes I have to give myself a kick in the pants like this to actually do something :). She doesn't have any gigs scheduled that I know of, but I got on her mailing list, so if anything comes up I'll let everyone know. She's a good performer, and I highly recommend seeing her play if the opportunity presents itself. (Did anyone out there see her open for Ani DiFranco this past September? It must've been great for her to get a chance to open for her own supreme musical goddess. Yow.) +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #432 **************************