From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V6 #392 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, January 1 2001 Volume 06 : Number 392 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Live Happy [kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white)] Top 10 Best albums of 2000 according to, well, me. [Marcel F G Rijs ] Re: Jan Hellreiegel [recount dracula ] The best Xmas gift ever. [Craig Gidney ] Lack of Happy Content in Ecto Postings [tenthvictim@mindspring.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 00:58:37 -0600 (CST) From: kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white) Subject: Live Happy Hi, Once upon a time, I flew from Topeka KS to Philly PA to see HR for 2 sets. For both sets I was less than 10 feet from her. When she hits those wonderful high notes she has this extra sparkle in her eyes and an extra wrinkle in her smile, as tho' that sound was tickling the inside of her head as much as it was doing to our ears, or, as tho' she had just seen a loved one enter the room unannounced, each and every time she sang that high. bye, KrW I'm Peter Pan! I'm perpetually young!! OW!! What's wrong with my back? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 14:43:07 +0100 From: Marcel F G Rijs Subject: Top 10 Best albums of 2000 according to, well, me. Hi, Since it's December 31st today, it's time to look back and reflect on what I've listened to this year. Hm, is this at all in any way ecto? :) 1. Blue touches blue - Noa To be brutally honest, I've always liked Noa but never fully liked any of her albums. There were always a few lesser tracks around. Still, Her last Hebrew effort (1998) was worthwhile and her concerts are always an event, so I was very anxious to hear her new offering this year. I was blown away by the concert in Amsterdam, staged a month before release, and it was already obvious from then on that "Blue touches blue" would be one of my favourite albums of 2000. Still, my expectations were high, but not high enough. It's hard to describe the beauty of tracks like "Haunted" and "Long coat in winter" if you haven't heard them yourself. Even "If I give you everything", which is bordering on "too poppy", always touches me deeply. This is a remarkably great album. 2. Minor earth major sky - A-ha The Norwegian trio A-ha was never about the singles. You all know "Take on me", "The sun always shines on TV" and even "The living daylights" (from the James Bond movie of the same name), but what's really important is their album work. It varies from very poppy to almost solemn, majestic music. I was saddened to learn of A-ha's breakup in the early nineties and very relieved when I heard they were playing together at the 1998 Nobel Prize ceremony. At this occasion, they played a new song called "Summer moved on", which is remarkable for the singing skills of Morten Harket, who manages to hold on to one note for what seems like eternity at one point in the song. Imagine my relief when "Minor earth major sky" saw the light of day in April 2000. They're back! And it's all there: the clarity of the synths, the strong hooks and fine melodies, and of course the endlessly pleasant voice of Morten. The aforementioned "Summer moved on" is included, but also the fascinating title track and outstanding songs like "I wish I cared" and "Thought that it was you". Now let's hope the next album won't take seven years... 3. Wat ik wil - Sarah By the standards of England or the US, this shouldn't be a remarkable album. Even I wouldn't be as impressed as I am with this, if the lyrics weren't in Dutch! It's been a long time since I liked anything in Dutch that's not recorded by Frank Boeijen. Sarah performs intelligently written lyrics to a pleasant pop/dance soundtrack. It's not groundbreaking, but lots of fun to listen to. And that title track is beautiful. 4. Abbey Road Live - Colin Vearncombe Clocking in at a meagre 35 minutes, this album, it should be pointed out, is too short. Then again, it would have been too short if it was 79 minutes. It's just not possible to listen to Colin "Wonderful life" Vearncombe and stay cool. You can't help but being touched by the voice, the instruments, the wonderful compositions. This album is a stopgap between last years' "The Accused" and next year's "Water on snow" and serves to remind you of just how gifted this man is. New tracks like "Alive" and "I'll give you something to cry about" (The title alone is worth a Grammy!) are exquisite and the stripped versions of "Ave Lolita" and "Number One" simply divine. 5. When the pawn - Fiona Apple The first of a list of 1999 releases in this top 10. I just bought it in January 2000, so that's a good excuse... The first track of this, Fiona Apple's second album, explodes in your face with a force of sound you just don't expect. On the whole, this album is a lot more varied and engaging than 'Tidal', the debut album. 6. A thousand days - November Project I really didn't know what to expect from the successor to October Project, one of my favourite bands of the 90's, until I got to hear it this summer. It's hard to make the memory of Mary Fahl go away, but the melodies are beautiful as ever and those drums, which I've always loved in many October Project tracks, are still alive and well too. Strictly speaking, this really isn't an album with only five tracks, but I just had to count this in. 7. Lovers rock - Sade I only got this album in December so it might have ended up higher than it does now, if it was released earlier in the year. I've waited eight years for a new album by Sade and it seems the wait was worth it. Right now, I don't think it is as good as "Love deluxe", but usually her albums grow on me and it might even end up in my top 10 again next year. It looks like I'll be listening to this a lot more times. It's good to have her back. 8. Fairy light nights - All about Eve Yet another welcome return! All about Eve formed in the first half of the 80's and split up after the fateful "Ultraviolet" album in 1992. Their singer Julianne Regan did the very interesting solo project 'Mice' but disappeared from the music scene after that. It was very pleasant to hear that they reformed for a support slot for The Mission in November 1999, and even more pleasant to hear that the fire had been rediscovered and more dates happened throughout 2000. Having been to one of their concerts in January, this album will always remind me of that particular event, and although it's not a very remarkable album in itself, the hope that they will actually record a studio album some time is reason enough to keep supporting this band. 9. My beauty - Kevin Rowland I'm a regular reader of Q Magazine (UK) and their coverage of Kevin Rowland's new escapades, starting in the latter half of 1999, was truly fascinating. There he was, the singer of Dexy's Midnight Runners, a band that everyone knows, dressing in "male dresses" and suspected of going through a mid-life crisis. He was ridiculed, in fact, for having the guts to stand out. When readers started writing that it was the music that mattered, I became interested. I found the CDsingle "Concrete and clay" and soon went searching for the accompanying album. I found it in London on a promo, containing the Bruce Springsteen cover "Thunder road", which was deleted from the tracklisting after legal threats from Springsteen. Well, the man's singing is still great, the songs are familiar but so beautifully arranged, and even with the rather dodgy sleeve (or is it because of that?), this is one of my better discoveries of the year. 10. Eurovision Song Contest Stockholm 2000 - Various I don't have to explain that I'm a Eurovision Song Contest fan. I've been watching the program for over 20 years now, but this year was the first time I was actually in the venue when it happened. I can still remember the great atmosphere, the songs, the sudden announcement of 'something happening' in the Netherlands, and the surprise win of the Danish duo, which I'd met in the old center of Stockholm just 4 days earlier. It was a great week in Sweden, and this CD contains all the competing songs for the first time in the 45 year history of the Contest. Does it matter that some of the songs are so cliche? No, it doesn't. This is fun, just like 2000 was for me. Details of these albums and my whole vinyl (just 7" singles for now) & CD collection can be found on www.marcelrijs.com. Kind regards, Marcel Rijs mfgr@casema.net http://www.marcelrijs.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 10:36:03 -0500 From: recount dracula Subject: veda on compilations so, i was just fooling around with the evil evil evil napster and stumbled across two veda hille tracks from compilations that i didn't know about. the first is the duet "blues i get" with meryn cadell taken from a live bob snider tribute album called _poetreason_ released in 1996. i've never heard of bob snider before, but i gather that is a canadian singer/songwriter -- presumably one of those songwriter's songwriter ala victoria williams or michael hurley. the other i found is a solo veda tune "well i guess not" taken from the _lit from within_ compilation on nettwerk. the funny thing is, i've known about this compilation for a while but never realized there was a veda song thereon. hmmm. anyways, it wasn't really a new song since i've heard her do this live. it's more of a poetry reading set to music than a song. there is one other compilation with veda on it that i am aware of. a few years ago, wfuv in new york city released a comp called _city folk live_ which collects a number of live performances on that radio station. veda's track is "bellyfish" recording on 26 june 1997. anyways, are there other compilation appearances other than these? i'm sure there are. unfortunately, veda doesn't list them on her website < http://www.vedahille.com > and meredith only has a listing of guest appearances at the trajectory home page < http://www.smoe.org/meth/vedasessions.html >. anyone? woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 11:10:06 -0500 From: recount dracula Subject: Re: Jan Hellreiegel when we last left our heroes, Andrew Fries exclaimed: >My favourite love song (which is also my favourite break-up song - go >figure!) is so obscure, even by Ecto standards, aha! dare you try to out-obscure me?!? ;) but seriously, i *have* heard of jan hellriegel before, but only because of (a) a friend in new zealand who has mentioned her, (b) said friend sending me a copy of a muttonbirds album that she appeared on and, most importantly to meredith, (c) she's appeared in two roles on xena! ;) >And whatever happened to her, I wonder... there is a site about her at < http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/4633/index.htm > which indicates that a third solo album was in the works as of about a year ago (which was the last time said website was updated). hmmmm. at that site, i also find she provided backing vocals on the straitjacket fits' album _melt_...didn't know that, though i have the album. somewhere. woj n.p. mutenrohi - cousas da lzs (galician celtic stuff) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 15:25:04 -0800 (PST) From: Craig Gidney Subject: The best Xmas gift ever. This morning, I woke up to find an lovely email from Australian singer/songwriter/storyteller Louisa John-Krol. We've been corresponding with each other for over a year, after I'd sent her a brief email letting her know how much I enjoyed her brilliant ethereal cd 'Alexandria.' At the end of the email, she mentioned that my name will be in the thank-you credits of the cd. I feel so warm and fuzzy. December IS magic! - --Craig ===== Craig L. Gidney http://profiles.yahoo.com/quisquose11 Reviews of books and music, http://www.egroups.com/group/Ethereality Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 23:59:37 -0600 From: tenthvictim@mindspring.com Subject: Lack of Happy Content in Ecto Postings Bon Soir, Drew Minasian wondered where the Happy content was on the list. It has been fairly quiet since I have been reading the list. I think there have been two messages from HR. A few comments here and there about lyrics. Mostly, people have been discussing getting a record contract for HR. I have been hunting for Happy content in the archives. I thought of indexing Happy sightings but didn't do it. So, for Drew, I went back and picked up two of the things I most remember about the Ecto archives that I have read so far. I think I am up to the beginning of 1992. There was a good interview with HR in the Sept 1991 archive: Sept 91 / ecto.09.30.91 - E-mail from Vickie Mapes. (Halfway down the E-mails for that day) An explanation of some of HR lyrics: Oct 91 / ecto.10.03.91 - E-mail from Vickie Mapes. (The first quarter of the E-mails for that day) Okay, gotta go. Lyle ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V6 #392 **************************