Errors-To: owner-ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #328 ecto, Number 328 Tuesday, 8 September 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Re: Tom's Album Misc pt. 3 Vaya con Dios re: Laurie Freelove Freelove revisited Happy in Philly, next thursday ...and pull your feelings out. Happy Birthday David Blank-Edelman Thomas Dolby and the police Re: Happy in Philly, next thursday Happy Birthday David Blank-Edelman They left!!! :) suzanne vega Tori Amos and (E) ======================================================================== From: Martin Dougiamas Subject: Re: Tom's Album Date: Sun, 6 Sep 92 18:42:32 WST I wrote: > >I only dimly remember it... Jeff writes: > Sheesh. I would have expected _Tom's Album_ to be a bit more widely > known. [...and describes the album] Ah! Now I remember... :) :) ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: Misc pt. 3 Date: Sun, 06 Sep 92 22:15:22 EDT Hi, Well my summer vacation is officially, *really* over now :( My sister's gone, my friends visiting me are gone, and I will soon find my way back to MIT on a more regular basis. (Which probably means I will graduate sooner :) ). Since Newbury Comics had another sale, I stocked up on a couple of CD's and tapes, for which I will give you a more complete review ASAIGTCTRLTT. (That's as soon as I get the chance to really listen to them :) ) I got Brian Eno's new one 'Nervenet', which so far sounds something like a cross between Jah Wobble, 'My life in the bush of ghosts' sans samples, and 'Wrong way up'. That means it sounds really good!! I also got the Shapkespears Sister CD, which I haven't had the chance to judge yet, 2 (two) CD singles of U2's 'even better than the real thing' (the greek techno virus has really bit me, I *love* the alternate remixes!), and the revelation of the month, Peter Gabriel's 'Digging in the dirt' cassingle. The song itslef is *wonderful*, the flipside 'Quiet Steam', I am not very sure about... Now I have a question. Does anybody know what Peter Gabriel's 'Revisited' will be? It's coming out on the 15th, a week before 'Us'. Could it be another Greatest Hits collection, this time by Atlantic Records focusing on his early solo stuff (which wasn't featured *that* much on Shaking the Tree) ? Or rarities? In any case the anticipation of 'Us' is keeping me going!!! And a note to Greg: Check out the compilation 'Just say yesterday' for Silicon Teens, and the Normal tracks!! And thanks to Mitch for the tip on the September Q magazine. The Sophie B. article is really fun to read, and it has a great picture of Sinead with PG, with the statement that she has taken the role of Kate Bush in 'Us'. Happy content: 'Warpaint' is still on sale at the Cambridge Tower (my sister opted for Cat Stevens instead of Happy :( ). More news at 11, Angelos ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 01:54:54 MET From: brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk (Jens P. Brage) Subject: Vaya con Dios Hi, Dirk wrote: > Jens P. Brage suggests: >> Certainly, the European Ectophiles should know Vaya con Dios, so that rules >> out 2) and I doubt 3)! > Sorry, but despite of being a European Ectophile, I've never heard anything > of Vaya con Dios. I'm not very much into Spanish-like music. I like some > instrumental guitar music with a Spanish touch but I hate Gipsy Kings, > for example. Your description of their music is very vague but if they > sound like GK, I won't like VcD. Well, I don't know much about GK, but from what I've heard, their music is quite different from VcD's. A "Spanish touch" is probably the closest VcD gets to Spanish music. You're right, my description *was* pretty vague, but I rather hoped to provoke one of the other European Ectophiles into describing VcD' music! ;-) As VcD is fairly well-known in Denmark, it seemed reasonable to assume that other (at least European) Ectophiles knew about them, as well. > I totally agree with Vickie: >> How to describe the music? Ugh, this is the part I hate, because I'm >> really bad at it, and I can't seem to do it without bringing in other >> artists as a guideline. And I agree as well! However, I'll try to describe VcD a little better: VcD's lead singer has a voice which is strongly reminiscent of Katharina Franck's (from Rainbirds) voice. The instrumentation is very sparse, typically an acoustic guitar, accordion and drums. I think that they do use synthesizers, but only as an "organ", like the organ used by The Doors (or Gary Moore, I was at a Maggie Reilly/Gary Moore concert saturday...). The musical style is very varied, just picking a few examples from the "Vaya con Dios" album: "The Moonshiner" - I don't know how to describe this genre, but it's the kind of music I'd expect was played in the speak-easies in the "good old days". "Lord Help Me Please" - This isn't quite negro spirituals ("Nightowls" has a much better example of that genre), but it still gives me associations in that direction. Very beautiful. "One Silver Dollar" - This one reminds me of Ennio Morricone's music for Sergio Leone's(sp?) westerns: Stark, strong and difficult to forget... "Puerto Rico" - This is the most Spanish track (or actually Puerto Rican, I guess). "Johnny" - Edith Piaff(sp?) might have sung this one, which might perhaps be described as "French cabaret" style. Overall, VcD's music is inspired by a lot of different genres, often with a slightly jazzy feel. Also, a common trait is that the genres are generally fairly old: I'd associate a lot of VcD's music with the 30thies (or thereabouts). Anyways, just give VcD a listen if you should happen to see one of their albums ("Vaya con Dios" and "Nightowls"), you might get a very pleasant surprise! And they should issue a new album this fall... PS: I saw "Batman Returns" tonight, and you can count me among the believers! The scenery/photography was most impressive, and the first half of the film had a lot of nice word plays, citations (in a general sense) and statements, e.g., Batman's first appearence: Not exactly the kind of hero you'd wan't to have around... The only problem was that they had to turn it into an action movie... Jens P. Brage | Science Is truth for life Watch religion fall brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk | obsolete Science Will be truth for life /\ | Technology as nature Science Truth for life \SphereSoft | In fortran tongue the Answer ======================================================================== From: Tim Cook Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 09:09:36 BST Subject: re: Laurie Freelove HMV in Oxford Circus have got several copies of "Smell Like Truth" at a rip-off 13 quid (26 dollars!). I couldn't resist buying a copy but I haven't had a chance to give it a spin yet. tim ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 22:05:47 -0500 From: rjk1@cec1.wustl.edu (Bob Kollmeyer) Subject: Freelove revisited I can't say I wasted my entire 3-day weekend as I took the chance to get caught up on the piles of ecto that had collected and were laying about gathering electronic dust. Re: Laurie Freelove: Strangely enough, I picked up 2 cd singles before I could find the album at a reasonable price. (tim, close your eyes; I picked up Smells Like Truth cut out up in Chicago whilst record store hopping before the Tori concert for $2.99. I told you to close your eyes.) It wasn't for lack of looking that I hadn't picked it up. The one place that I did find it was *obscenly overpriced record store chain name deleted* for $17; a bit to expensive for a domestic for serious consideration. (don't think I don't feel for everyone in the uk. I swear I could start a business flying to England with cd albums and flying cd singles back with me to the states %-). It just defies reason.) Anyway, point being that she has 2 (at least) other individual releases, one is just a promotional release for SLT with album versions of Smells Like Truth Eyes Arms of a Dream Heaven on Earth The other appears to be the cd single release of HoE as it doesn't contain all sorts of For Promotional Use Only labels in various shapes and sizes on it. Contents: Heaven On Earth (Radio Remix) Heaven On Earth (Freelove On Earth Part I) Heaven On Earth (Radio Edit/LP Version) Looka Dear Prudence (Live)* "Dear Prudence" recorded from live broadcast October 9, 1990 at KLBJ-FM, Austin, TX" Re: Ecto Artist Index A wonderful idea. I had just been thinking about something similar; in fact it may be a good start to the final project. What I was thinking was that if perhaps everyone with ftp access to the archives (and a little free time 8-) could quickly scan 10 or so digests, recording any mention of an artist (excepting, for obvious reasons, Happy) and the digest number, a complete index of artists mentioned would not be that difficult to assemble. Stuff the index in with the archives and one wouldn't have to grab 20 or 30 digests grepping desperately for the discussion about Arson Garden that one remembers "happened sometime this spring" 8) 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( 8( My cd player decided to see what would happen if it didn't spin a disk on a horizontal plane, but instead a few too many seconds vertical of horizontal (in relation to the spinning mechanism and arm, not just one end of the player propped up) For those curious, it tends to rub the surface of the cd clouding the plastic coating. Add to the budget one replacement copy of Rearmament 8(. 8( 8( 8( ! At least it wasn't Ecto. sigh, bob ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 02:29:21 EDT From: jessica@maurolycus.rutgers.edu Subject: Happy in Philly, next thursday Hi! Happy will be in philly next thursday at the benefit concert!!!! Who will be there? So far i know only of myself, Greg, and Bob Brown.. I know there are other philly area ectophiles!? Any of you going to be at the show? We shoudl arrange to get together before and after the show. Perhaps dinner, beforehand? Perhaps get to talk with Happy (and the band) after.. (I'll call her at some point this week to find out if they've got any plans at all for afterwards). in case any of you out there are concrete blonde fans (and even if you aren't, you get to hear me whine a little): CB will be playing *AT*RUTGERS* of all places, the same night. I can't beleive it!! I've been waiting *literally* years to see them. concrete blonde is way way up there on my list of favorite bands ever. 4 albums that i've loved almost every bit of.. all the non-album tracks i've heard, the stuff for movies, the really early stuff...*WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH*!!!!!! Of course if i'm *really* lucky, i'll track down the details of where they are playing in manhattan the following night, and get to see them after all :) wish me luck or i really *will* whine, in person, at at least some of you :) Other assorted things: woj lent greg and I the psychowelders CD (inertia), which i finally got to listen to tonight. It warrants a better listen (I was playing boggle) but on first listen i like it a lot. It reminded me (musically, i coudln't make out any lyrics as i was concentrating on other words) of Braindance. Greg said he could see that, but less so. He's heard the psychowelders CD more than I and is in a better position to comment of course. But to me, it sounded like a slightly toned down Braindance, a little more mellow - not that it sounded mellow, just as though you'd slightly softened and evened out the overal feel of Braindance. Whereas I felt each of the Braindance songs was making a point of leaping out and doing *something* to grab your attention, the psychowelders songs seemed more comfortable with themselves, if that makes sense. Definitely something to be listened to some more, and louder! That'll probably give a different impression. And from what i've *read* of the lyrics, they are probably more pointed than they sound on a first, relatively quiet, listen. For those of you keeping track, my hair is blonde again. (after having beed red for a few weeks). It's still extremely short. I'm definitely happiest with blonde hair. Though i admit the bright fire engine red was *not* bad. (well, *I* liked it. My husband didn't much though :P He thought the normal red was ok, but i thought it was depressing). jessica ======================================================================== From: Martin Dougiamas Subject: ...and pull your feelings out. Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 14:56:46 WST This is something I've been meaning to post here for a year... When Happy sings "Reach into your chest/and pull your feelings out", who else here gets an impression of small, kicking living creatures being drawn from one's chest? There's something terrific about the way she sings the word "feelings"... gives me shivers. Martin (who re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-discovered Warpaint last night. :) -- ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | They call me the breeze, I keep blowin and a'blowin. Martin Dougiamas| | I ain't got me nobody, I ain't carryin' no load. martin@cs.curtin.edu.au| | Ain't no changin' the weather, ain't no changin' me. Curtin University| | I ain't hidin' from nobody, ain't nobody hidin' from me. Perth, Australia| `== Call me the Breeze - J.J. Cale ===========================================' ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 08:53:53 +0100 From: Terry Partis Subject: Happy Birthday David Blank-Edelman Hi David, Here's wishing you a very happy birthday on 9th. September, Have a great and Happy time. Terry ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 12:49:16 MEZ From: Dirk Kastens Subject: Thomas Dolby and the police Hi Ectophiles, Just wanna tell you a nice anecdote that Thomas Dolby told in an interview (KEYS): "On the way back (from Opelousas/Louisiana) we have been stopped by the police in the middle of a tremendous thunderstorm. The policeman asked me for the papers, but I didn't had them with me, because it was a hire car. The custodian of the law, who looked very grimmy anyway, didn't let up, because he assumed that we had stolen the car. I was really afraid to be sent to prison. I told the sheriff with a hint of gallows humour that he should have become a film star with his face, whereupon he replied, that he had thought about this already. Then I said, I would come back in a few months to make a video and I asked him to take part if he liked to. 'Yeah', he said enthusiastically, gave me his telephone number and let me go on unchecked. Meanwhile he's the star in the video and I haven't been sent to prison." Cool. Dirk ======================================================================== Subject: Re: Happy in Philly, next thursday From: "Mark C. Carroll" Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 09:28:25 -0400 ->Hi! ->Happy will be in philly next thursday at the benefit concert!!!! ->Who will be there? So far i know only of myself, Greg, and Bob Brown.. ->I know there are other philly area ectophiles!? Any of you going to be ->at the show? We shoudl arrange to get together before and after the ->show. Perhaps dinner, beforehand? Perhaps get to talk with Happy (and ->the band) after.. (I'll call her at some point this week to find out ->if they've got any plans at all for afterwards). -> I'll be there, along with my girlfriend and my roomate. My schedule is a bit tight (I can't leave Delaware until 4:30), but I'd love to get together with any ecto's who'll be there. (And if we could meet Happy afterwards, that would be amazing too... I'll have to bring along my copy of Ecto, just in case I get the chance to have her sign in!) ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 09:44:22 EDT From: David N. Blank-Edelman Subject: Happy Birthday David Blank-Edelman Thanks! Peace, dNb ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: They left!!! :) Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 11:11:12 EDT Hi, Jessica writes: >Happy will be in philly next thursday at the benefit concert!!!! *envy*envy*envy* :) :) I know I will shoot myself for mising this eventually but at this point there seems to be no way I can get away with yet another week off... :( But I might go see Shakespear's Sister on the 20th. :P Martin wrote something about creatures digging and proding and reaching and pulling feelings out. Could it be a mutation of the ear parasites? 'Words...' is my second favorite Happy song, so it makes perfect sense to me as a sequel to Poetic Justice. Links? Words-Poets, the obvious difference being the antithesis between the overemotional ear-parasites who finally left Happy's ears and mutated to become the chest parasites who are closed and hard to reach? :) Later, Angelos ------- 'digging in the dirt to find the places we got hurt' - PG ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 10:28:16 EDT From: ksilver@startek.com (Keith Silver) Subject: suzanne vega Keith says re SV/DNA: >> There's kind of >> a Kate Bush/Utah Saints parallel. >Who are Utah Saints? What did they do to Kate Bush songs? I feel somewhat unqualified to answer this since I'm not the Kate Bush fanatic that some people around here are and since I've only heard the Utah Saints song once, but the U.S. put out a song called "Something Good is Going to Happen" (I think) which sampled (many times) that line from from KB. Someone in gaffa pointed out that as far as the lyrics of the song go, Kate actually did more singing via the sample than the band itself. I found it similar to what DNA did with Tom's Diner since the original artist had more singing time on the new song than the "mutating" band. I did hear that the Utah Saints received permission to use the sample. >Anyway,I am pretty sure that SV isn't too hurt by what DNA did to her >music - I heard rumours that there were about 4 different remixes >of Tom's Diner by 4 different groups, and she put them all together on >one disc and sells it under her own name or something. Anyone >care to confirm this? According to the Noteworthy catalog, they have a listing for Vega, Suzanne/Various Artist, Tom's Album-13 Versions of Tom's Diner. AM 5363 .GF $9.03. I've never heard the album so can't comment on it. >John says about SV's third album: > I prefer "Days of open hand" more than the other two. The production > is incredible; there are great sounds in the background, such that one > always finds more to notice the more one listens (try headphones). And Alan replies >I do enjoy music which has lots of subtle sounds mixed in, but unfortunately, >the album is weak in the sense that the melodies are much too simple and >the lyrics, even if they are interesting, are too repetative. >The songs just get boring after a while. Well, after John chastised me for my preferences in SV's albums, I realized that I had not listened to "Days of Open Hand" in a very long time so I went back and listened to all three. Having done that, I'll stick by my original rankings of the first three albums of 1, 2, 3, with 2 and 1 being very close. With the exception of "Room Off the Street" on "Days of Open Hand", there just isn't much that stands out to me on that album. Maybe it's that I saw her perform most of the first two albums live that the songs on them have more impact for me. I have to agree with Alan that many of the songs on DoOH are simply boring. For some reason, I find the melody of "Book of Dreams" downright annoying and I usually have to skip over it. Maybe the production on the third album that John likes so much is the problem for me. Her first album was very sparsely produced which coupled with her somewhat monotone voice had a stark effect that I found very unique and enthralling. In "DoOH" she seems to be getting away from what she does well. It will be interesting to see what her latest album is like. We'll know this week! Keith ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 9:04:44 PDT From: "John M. Relph" Subject: Tori Amos and (E) Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the Tori Amos concert in San Francisco. The concert was held at the Palace of Fine Arts, a very nice little place, where every seat is good. There were actually two shows, and I attended the early show. Opening for Tori Amos was E, whose debut album is entitled _A Man Called (E)_. 'E was great! 'E played about half of the songs from his album, with only a guitarist, Parthenon Huxley, who also produced the album, and a bassist as backup. They opened with "Hello Cruel World", and also played "Mockingbird Franklin", others from the album, and a new song called "L.A. River". They also covered "I'm Only Sleeping", complete with the "backwards guitar", which was actually Mr Huxley singing, and "Freebird", which at one point featured lighters held to the sky. Quite humorous, and a nice relaxed fun performance. After their great and unassuming set, I went out to the lobby and procured E's and Mr Huxley's autographs, as well as accidentally being handed a promo cassette for the album. Oops! Then the lights flashed and I reclaimed my seat for Ms Amos' performance. She came out and immediately started playing, sticking a bit of "Twinkle Little Star" into the introduction of the first song. She also immediately started writhing about the piano, kicking her right leg about and arching her head back. Very Melodramatic. In fact, it took about three songs before I could really get into her performance, due to all the posing. But she is a very good pianist and quite a powerful singer, as well as writing good songs. (I enjoy her album very much.) After about the third song the show was very good indeed, including her comments before the songs. My fiancee remarked that she didn't know if she would want to know such an intense person! Ms Amos played a number of songs from her "debut" album, a Led Zeppelin medley including "Whole Lotta Love" and "Thank You", and a couple of songs I didn't recognize. She came back for two encores. At the start of the first encore a person from the crowd gave Ms Amos a Very Large bouquet of flowers. She immediately poured the entire contents of her bottle of mineral water onto the bouquet, saying that she had cases of the stuff backstage. During the second encore she played the now-familiar "Smells Like Teen Spirit". But by the second encore all her posing and thrashing about seemed again like a pose, and I just wanted the concert to end. Which it did. -- John ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is a README file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me (or leave in the incoming directory, just let me know) things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)