From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #436 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, December 15 1998 Volume 04 : Number 436 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: A depressed tangent (Re: ecto-digest V4 #432) [desmond in a tutu ] Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! [Michael Curry Subject: Re: A depressed tangent (Re: ecto-digest V4 #432) also sprach Xenu's Sister: >At 02:59 AM 12/13/98 -0500, joe n chuck wrote: >>and damn if "the river" doesn't turn out to be a mega-mega hit i just won't >>have any faith in the human race at all! >Well, treading lightly here, nothing whatsoever against Susan >(I've never heard her music)... I said that about: > >"Feed The Fire" >"Waking Up" >"Runners" >"Save Our Souls" >"Temporary And Eternal" >"I Say" >"Hold Me" >"Collective Heart" >"Glory" >"Look For The Child" >"Summer" >and whatever the *next* (sorry "Roy") Happy single is >(unless it's, please no, "Proof") you know, of all these songs, the only one i think had the potential to be a radio hit (or whatever) is "collective heart" -- it's up-beat, has a great hook and that gorgeous cello bridge *yum!* "feed the fire" was a hit of sorts (not to denigrate all that wxpn to did for happy) but the rest of them? dunno. i see them appealing to selective segments of music afficiandos, but none have the general appeal of "collective heart". much as it sucks and much as i'd like to be proven wrong, i don't think happy is ever going to be well-known or even recognized outside the slowly-widening circle of ectophiles (knowing and unknowing) and musicians she's worked worked with. mind you, that doesn't diminish what she does or how we react to it, but i don't think happy has enough mass appeal to be more than a "cult" (for lack of a better word) artist or a musician's musician. alas. *sigh* woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:08:34 -0500 From: desmond in a tutu Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! also sprach Eponine: >I took your advice and listened to 'The Keep'. From the first few >strains of "Temporary and Eternal" I thought, "Oh, yes!" hee hee! >There is something - as Tom Ditto wrote - strangely, thrillingly >familiar about her music. It's as if every single song on 'The Keep' >sprang into existence fully-formed and perfect, and has been hanging >there in the atmosphere on a different frequency, waiting for those like >me to wake up and tune in. whoa. from the head of zeus, indeed. >"Temporary and Eternal" is extraordinary and beautiful and transcendent >and now owns a special place in my heart. this is probably my favorite track of _equipoise_, an album i'm otherwise not too fond of. or rarely listen to at any rate. "temporary and eternal" is sublime. it's zen. most of all, it's sneaky. it's so ephemeral, i didn't even notice it the first few listens...but it's one of those perfect instances of music -- kinda like roy harper's "frozen moment", which, despite being on chord strummed over and over is anything but boring. totally gorgeous. that said, the living room concert version of "t&e" on _the keep_ is light-years beyond the original. again, whoa i say. (parenthetically, "i say" is a close second -- what is it about the last song on happy's most recent records? "i say", "glory", and "serenading genius" are all fargin' brilliant!) >'The Keep' is an instant classic for me, you know, oddly enough, the fact that _the keep_ is a compilation has stigmatized it for me. i'm just not as interested in exploring a compilation (by a single artist anyways) as an album of all-new material. for what it's worth, i feel the same way about _rhodeways_, which i why i almost never recommend them to anyone. go figure. >I plan to get more of her CDs. I am thinking of 'Rearmament', >'Equipoise' and 'Rhodesongs'. i'd add _ecto_ to that list. it and _rearmament_ are probably my fave happy albums. woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:25:09 -0500 From: "Jeffrey C. Burka" Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! Bob Lovejoy sez: > I've been on the ecto list since "Warpaint" came out, and I guess I was > won over in an instant. neat trick, what with _Warpaint_ being officially released on 4/1/91, and ecto not being born until mid-june of that year! But really, I know what you mean. I will never forget the experience of driving ~17 hours straight, from NYC to Bloomington, IN (even had a hallucination of a 6' tall anthropomorphic bunny standing by the side of the road, and no, I was *not* on drugs at the time!), arriving at about 7am Monday morning (4/1), and deciding to check my mail, ecstatic to find that _Warpaint_ had been shipped early and was actually waiting for me on the release day. Ahhhh. jeff np: _Mighty Rain_, Susan McKeown and Lindsay Buckingham (is it me, or is this truly the definitive version of "Danny Boy"? It even beats out the one by the Pogues (lead vox by Cait O'Riordan, who eventually left the band and married Declan McManus) from the _Straight to Hell_ soundtrack, my previous favorite) - -- |Jeffrey C. Burka|||||http://www.cqi.com/~jburka|||||"I've got time to rest / | ||||||||||||||| And I've got a clear, able mind that sees my life going fine. | ||| 'Cause everything I need is right here in my hands..." --Melissa Ferrick | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:36:51 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! Hi! jeffy fonted: >np: _Mighty Rain_, Susan McKeown and Lindsay Buckingham Whoa. Now that would be something .... but somehow I think I prefer Lindsey Horner's version better. Or did the 6-foot-tall bunny standing by the side of the road give you that album? ;) +==========================================================================+ | 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: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:42:52 -0500 From: Michael Curry Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! At 11:25 PM 12/14/98 -0500, Jeffrey C. Burka wrote: >np: _Mighty Rain_, Susan McKeown and Lindsay Buckingham >(is it me, or is this truly the definitive version of "Danny Boy"? It >even beats out the one by the Pogues (lead vox by Cait O'Riordan, who >eventually left the band and married Declan McManus) from the _Straight >to Hell_ soundtrack, my previous favorite) Umm... Lindsay Horner. ;) And though I like Susan's version of "Danny Boy" a lot, for me the definitive version of the song will always be the classic version sung by Frank Patterson (which you can hear, among other places, in the movie _Miller's Crossing_). Mike | Michael Curry / mcurry@io.com / mcurry@smoe.org | | http://www.io.com/~mcurry | | Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? -- Veda Hille | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:44:29 -0500 From: "Jeffrey C. Burka" Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! meth pointed out my gaffe: > >np: _Mighty Rain_, Susan McKeown and Lindsay Buckingham Can't even imagine what it would sound like. It's late and I should be in bed. jeff (and yes, _Mighty Rain_ just cycled through and is back to "Black is the Color". I wasn't entirely sure about this album when I first got it; it's much sparser than all of her other stuff, but I've come to figure out that Susan can pull off, well, gee, just about anything she pleases.) - -- |Jeffrey C. Burka|||||http://www.cqi.com/~jburka|||||"I've got time to rest / | ||||||||||||||| And I've got a clear, able mind that sees my life going fine. | ||| 'Cause everything I need is right here in my hands..." --Melissa Ferrick | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:49:25 -0500 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! Michael Curry wrote: > And though I like Susan's version of "Danny Boy" a lot, for me > the definitive version of the song will always be the classic > version sung by Frank Patterson (which you can hear, among other > places, in the movie _Miller's Crossing_). I tend to giggle when hearing that song: in a classic mondegreen, my ears misparsed its other title when I first heard it, and I was baffled as to why, irrelevant to its lyrics, people called it "The London Derriere". (or however that would be spelled)... - -- - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \|| |/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \| ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:51:02 -0500 From: Michael Curry Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! At 11:45 AM 12/14/98 -0800, Eponine wrote: >I took your advice and listened to 'The Keep'. From the first few >strains of "Temporary and Eternal" I thought, "Oh, yes!" When Happy's >voice comes in, "he is broken, far from free/words were spoken 'tween >him and me..." I was thinking, "Oh I LOVE this!" and by the time her >lower register voice appears several lines later, "well he walks to the >gate and he looks behind..." in my mind I was screaming, "Omigod, >omigod!! I *LOVE* this!!! This is my kind of music!!!" >I plan to get more of her CDs. I am thinking of 'Rearmament', >'Equipoise' and 'Rhodesongs'. I will have to see if my local record >store can get them for me. If not, I plan to break my vow to NOT shop >online and get them from MusicBoulevard!! If any of you think there are >others that I should buy first, by all means, I welcome your opinions. Let me just add my voice to those suggesting that, given your reactions to MWABT and _The Keep_, you check out Rhodesongs and the first two CDs. I think I'm probably attracted to the same parts of Happy's music that you are, preferring the simpler guitar-based arrangements to the more layered, electronic ones (by far), and those three CDs are the best sources of that side of Happy's music. Mike np: Shotgun Wedding -- A Big World Of Fun nr: The Gospels According To Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago | Michael Curry / mcurry@io.com / mcurry@smoe.org | | http://www.io.com/~mcurry | | Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? -- Veda Hille | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 23:17:21 -0600 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: A new confession: I was wrong about Happy! At 11:49 PM 12/14/98 -0500, Joseph Zitt wrote: >Michael Curry wrote: >> And though I like Susan's version of "Danny Boy" a lot, for me >> the definitive version of the song will always be the classic >> version sung by Frank Patterson (which you can hear, among other >> places, in the movie _Miller's Crossing_). > >I tend to giggle when hearing that song: in a classic mondegreen, >my ears misparsed its other title when I first heard it, and I was >baffled as to why, irrelevant to its lyrics, people called it >"The London Derriere". (or however that would be spelled)... I love you guys, I really really do, you know I do, but I'm going to step up as EctoMa and gently, kindly ask you guys to please put the Susan and any other non-Happy talk under a different Subject line. This is a very special thread for me, and I thrill at each message, but to open up this particular Subject Line and see that it's evolving into non-Happy artist talk is distressing me. I never ever say anything negative about non-Happy talk (I encourage it wholeheartedly!) but please humor me this time and allow me to shoo it out of this thread. Thanks, EctoMa (flexing un-used muscles) (aka Vickie) ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #436 **************************