From: owner-ecto-digest To: ecto-digest@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto-digest V2 #312 Reply-To: ecto@nsmx.rutgers.edu Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, 20 December 1995 Volume 02 : Number 312 The Ecto digest is now being generated automatically. Please send problems and questions to: ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Holmes Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 08:34:01 -0800 (PST) Subject: New Happy Convert (was Re: Various thoughts and assundries) Woj writes: >i don't want to sound callous, but i've never understood why people >feel this way about the music they love. those who love interesting >music will search it out and those who do not, well, won't. even if >happy's music was readily available and received heavy airplay, a good >percentage of the world wouldn't like it. remember the recent thread >about what ectophilic music ectophilies don't like? (i'll spare y'all >a list of what stuff i don't like. ;) ) if *we* can't settle on a band >or artist who we all like (and that includes happy), the world >certainly will not either. My personal opinion is that most of the world, for whatever reasons, likes or accepts the trash the media systems feed it. Part of the reason is lack of exposure to alternatives, but a lot of it is just their tastes (and of course, one *could* get into a discussion of how much their tastes are due to environment, vs. innate personality, but *I* won't be doing it this time! =8^) I think people discover what they need, at such time that they are ready for it, or perhaps sooner. >*sigh* > >then again (playing my own devil's advocate), what about those who >would love happy, but not hear of her without some kind of record deal >or series promotion. i guess it's kinda like love: the time that >you're in it is worth all the pain at the end. well, at least in >retrospect. It would be nice if ecto artists could make more money to sustain themselves; I kind of think that with the current structure of the music industry, a major label may not help as much as one might think. It is great that people can put out stuff on their own labels now, with much less cost than before (although still not cheap). But on to the Happy Rhodes convert! My boss, who likes Loreena McKennitt (in fact, he is the one who introduced me to her), accepted my offer to borrow "The Keep" for a day. He put it on continuous play for a day and a half; next week he showed up with his weekend purchase of "Rhodesongs", "Building the Colossus", and "Ecto"! Not bad! - -Richard. BTW - the Keep is awesome! \@/ | Richard A. Holmes (rholmes@cs.stanford.edu) \|/ | "Drum to your future, Sing your dreams alive!" , , | , , ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' Loreena McKennitt / Kate Bush / Katell Keineg / Happy Rhodes / Renaissance / Sheila Chandra / Laura Love / Jane Siberry / Fairport Convention / Danielle Dax / Dog Faced Hermans ------------------------------ From: VNozick@tribune.com Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 11:42:20 -0800 Subject: Happy holidays reply and cover albums The schoolhouse rock videotapes have been available for years, but I think woj was referring to the schoolhouse rock tribute album. I don't know many details about this, but it sounds like another 'hey, we're a so-called underground band, and we need attention. Let's do a cover of some nifty songs!' project. The last I heard is that the album was supposed to be out soon, but don't quote me on it. Yes, I'm cynical. There are way too many cover/tribute albums out there on the market. Most of them are utter dreck (Encomium, anyone?), get 15 minutes of quick fame because of the tributed artist, and quickly disappear from the charts. There is usually one decent, interesting cover tune on the album, and the rest of it is sub-par. Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? ==> Valerie Subject: Re: Happy holidays, ho ho ho From: "I think you'd better drop it..." at Internet_tco Date: 12/20/95 11:08 AM woj said: >which reminds me...anyone know what the status of the schoolhouse rock >compilation is? or was it released and i didn't notice? The tapes have been re-released. We've seen them all over the place, including the local grocery store (Safeway, if you're wondering). They go for about $12.95 a tape and there's 4 of them (History, Math, Science and Grammer). There's also some CD-ROM out for PC's and MAC's that is called GrammerRock. We haven't seen that one yet. Oh, and if you look in Suncoast video, or any other video-type store that sells shirts too, you just might find some Schoolhouse Rock shirts. That's where I got my "Conjuntion Junction" shirt. :) Off to sunny San Diego for the holidays. Time to leave this ice behind. :) Happy Holidays everyone. John ------------------------------ From: maeldun@i-2000.com (Michael Doyle) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 12:52:14 -0500 Subject: Loreena's Christmas discs At 09:12 AM 12/19/95 -0500, Matt Bittner wrote: >The first I received is probably the most "awesome". Loreena >McKennitt's _a winter garden - five songs for the season_. Wow. I second that. A friend made me a tape of it the other day. On the flip side of the tape he put a full-length Christmas album by Loreena called _To Drive the Cold Winer Away_. I haven't really listened to it yet, but _a winter garden_ will be a tough act to follow. > I can't remember the last time I wanted to dance to a Christmas tune. >Her rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" does just that. The >music is "middle-eastern", and has a nice feeling to it. Isn't it great! The last Christmas tune I've wanted to dance to was a rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" on the _Lump of Coal_ compilation. I think it was performed by the Whirling Dervishes and it too had a middle-eastern/surfer rock flavor to it. That disc also has an excellent performance of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Henry Rollins (perfect music for playing DOOM). - - Mike Michael Doyle maeldun@i-2000.com =================================================================== "You sleep like a haiku: You're still; you move. It's that simple." - - C-Cat Trance ------------------------------ From: David Dixon Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 10:11:14 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums On Wed, 20 Dec 1995 VNozick@tribune.com wrote: > Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, > that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? Two words: Sweet Relief. But I agree, tribute albums are usually thrown-together uninspired hunks o' plastic. I was rather disappointed with the recent XTC tribute; Sarah's song was quite good, but most of the other renditions (especially Freedie Johnston's lackluster version of "Earn Enough For Us") just don't hold my attention. D^2 (off to sunny Wisconsin for a week) ------------------------------ From: Neile Graham Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 10:33:00 -0800 (PST) Subject: cover albums Valerie asks: > Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, > that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? Just two: _Back to the Garden: A Tribute to Joni Mitchell_, a Canadian-only release and the label, I believe, has gone under. But this is a wonderful tribute album, and there's only one song I don't like. The rest of the range from okay duplicates to WONDERFUL versions of the songs. Martha and the Muffins do a sublime version of "Shades of Scarlet Conquering" a bunch of people (including Laura Hubert of Leslie Spit Treeo) do "Refuge of the Road" and best of all to my ear is Sara Craig's "This Flight Tonight". Other people on the disc are Spirit of the West, Universal Honey, Molly Johnson--all good. I also listen to _Sweet Relief_ but not nearly so often. - --Neile neile@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ From: "I call him Gamblor." Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 13:54:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums >The schoolhouse rock videotapes have been available for years, but I think woj >was referring to the schoolhouse rock tribute album. I don't know many details >about this, but it sounds like another 'hey, we're a so-called underground >band,and we need attention. Let's do a cover of some nifty songs!' project. >The last I heard is that the album was supposed to be out soon, but don't >quote me on it. Well, the schoolhouse rock videotapes were available before. But between the schoolhouse rock songs they had these terrible little moments of little kids singing with Cloris Leachman. I don't know why they were on the tape. :) Anyways, the latest tapes don't have these little clips and they've added some of the later schoolhouse rock cartoons (one called "Where the Money Goes" is about personal finances, something that Ecto subscribers with EWS have to deal with :) ). >Yes, I'm cynical. There are way too many cover/tribute albums out there on the >market. Most of them are utter dreck (Encomium, anyone?), get 15 minutes of >quick fame because of the tributed artist, and quickly disappear from the >charts. There is usually one decent, interesting cover tune on the album, and >the rest of it is sub-par. >Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, >that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? Um, none that I can think of. We listened to Two Rooms for awhile, but mainly just for the Kate track. The same with Glory of Gershwin (Kate again :) ). I can't think of any other tribute albums that we have. My problem with the tribute albums are that people don't go far enough with the songs. I really like Kate's "Rocket Man" because it's so different from Elton's version. John ------------------------------ From: "Matt Bittner" Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 13:26:51 -0500 Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums On 20 Dec 95 at 10:11, David Dixon typed diligently: > But I agree, tribute albums are usually thrown-together uninspired hunks > o' plastic. I was rather disappointed with the recent XTC tribute; > Sarah's song was quite good, but most of the other renditions (especially > Freedie Johnston's lackluster version of "Earn Enough For Us") just don't > hold my attention. Does anybody know if Sarah's song off this album has been released as a single? Also, wasn't "I Will Remember You" released as a single as well? If so, is it in "general" circulation? Also, any word on Sarah's next release? TIA. Having just gotten the mailing from Quinlan Road (Loreena's label), I wanted to mention to those who aren't aware, that she's planning her next release for - at the earliest - "late 1996". She plans on using an Italian theme, this time. Matt - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Matthew Bittner WW1 Modeler, ecto subscriber, semi-new dad, meba@cso.com PowerBuilder developer; Omaha, Nebraska Disclaimer: opinions expressed by me are my responsibility only. "but it's like santa claus, your parents have to help a Little bit and show him where to buy the stuff and write your name on it in their handwriting after he wraps it." - Anna Sunshine Ison, talking about what's real and what isn't - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 13:32:40 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re: New Happy Convert (was Re: Various thoughts and assundries) Hello, On Wed, 20 Dec 1995, Richard Holmes wrote: > > My personal opinion is that most of the world, for whatever reasons, > likes or accepts the trash the media systems feed it. Part of the All my friends have neat and funky bric-a-brac, etc. 1 of them told me of someone who lives in a house that looks like a 'bless this house' catolog, *everything* pre-fab cutesy. These people can't imagine 'cluttering' their house w/ original artwork, craftwork, etc. I canna ken such a mind-set, but I canna ken a lot in this plane of existance. KrW Commit senseless acts of kindness, and random acts of beauty! ------------------------------ From: VNozick@tribune.com Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 13:44:25 -0800 Subject: Re[2]: Happy holidays reply and cover albums Thanks for telling me about the new videotapes! I always hated the filler stuff. And I just saw the Where the Money Goes SHR this weekend for the very first time - -- when was it done, and who is creating them nowadays? FWIW, I didn't like it nearly as much as the old ones. ==> Valerie _______________________________________________________________________________ Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums From: "I call him Gamblor." at Internet_tco Date: 12/20/95 1:54 PM >The schoolhouse rock videotapes have been available for years, but I think woj >was referring to the schoolhouse rock tribute album. I don't know many details >about this, but it sounds like another 'hey, we're a so-called underground >band,and we need attention. Let's do a cover of some nifty songs!' project. >The last I heard is that the album was supposed to be out soon, but don't >quote me on it. Well, the schoolhouse rock videotapes were available before. But between the schoolhouse rock songs they had these terrible little moments of little kids singing with Cloris Leachman. I don't know why they were on the tape. :) Anyways, the latest tapes don't have these little clips and they've added some of the later schoolhouse rock cartoons (one called "Where the Money Goes" is about personal finances, something that Ecto subscribers with EWS have to deal with :) ). >Yes, I'm cynical. There are way too many cover/tribute albums out there on the >market. Most of them are utter dreck (Encomium, anyone?), get 15 minutes of >quick fame because of the tributed artist, and quickly disappear from the >charts. There is usually one decent, interesting cover tune on the album, and >the rest of it is sub-par. >Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, >that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? Um, none that I can think of. We listened to Two Rooms for awhile, but mainly just for the Kate track. The same with Glory of Gershwin (Kate again :) ). I can't think of any other tribute albums that we have. My problem with the tribute albums are that people don't go far enough with the songs. I really like Kate's "Rocket Man" because it's so different from Elton's version. John ------------------------------ From: jeffy@wam.umd.edu Date: Wed, 20 Dec 95 15:20:21 EST Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums Val asks: >Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play >again and again, that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after >you've given it 3 plays? Funny you should ask that...sitting in the backpack next to me is a tape with _Sweet Relief_. Unfortunately, I've dead batteries, so I'm not listening to it. Jeff ------------------------------ From: Neile Graham Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 12:36:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: Sarah McLachlan single Matt asked: > Does anybody know if Sarah's song off this album has been released as > a single? Also, wasn't "I Will Remember You" released as a single as > well? If so, is it in "general" circulation? Also, any word on > Sarah's next release? TIA. The two-track single seems readily available here in Seattle. A number of chains are carrying it. I've even seen a second version for four other tracks (live & CBC versions of songs that have appeared elsewhere on Nettwerk singles, but not in the U.S.) - --Neile ------------------------------ From: dbucak@netaxs.com (Deniz Bucak) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 16:22:04 -0500 Subject: Old Tribe CDs Hi. I have Tribe's _Sleeper_ which is one of those albums I keep hauling out about once a month or so. I haven't gotten tired of it (and not just because songs about particle accelerators apeal to the remnants of an ex-physics major buried somewhere within me.) Anyhow, Mike Doyle tells me that there was some discussion of Tribe here before I joined and that they have other albums. Since I've never seen the previous albums could somebody tell me what they're like and where they might be found (I'm in Philly.) Thanks - - Deniz dbucak@netaxs.com http:\\www.netaxs.com\~dbucak\ "It is a lot easier to ship elephant sperm than it is to ship an elephant." - -Scientific American ------------------------------ From: maeldun@i-2000.com (Michael Doyle) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 16:39:18 -0500 Subject: Re: Happy holidays reply and cover albums At 11:42 AM 12/20/95 -0800, VNozick@tribune.com wrote: >Have you EVER heard a decent tribute album? One that you play again and again, >that doesn't disappear into your cd collection after you've given it 3 plays? I have one cover album that has made it well past 3 plays (and it's not _Sweet Relief_). It's _Thurtene_, the 4AD tribute album from Dewdrop Records, featuring M7x covering "Michele" by Clan of Xymox. It's not a *great* album. Four out of the thirteen tracks I could live without. But the other nine are good, like Orange's version of "Gigantic" by the Pixies and immer essen's cover of "Not In Love" by Ultra Vivid Scene. I have definitely extracted a decent share of enjoyment from it. - - Mike Michael Doyle maeldun@i-2000.com =================================================================== "You sleep like a haiku: You're still; you move. It's that simple." - - C-Cat Trance ------------------------------ From: Nicholas Hill Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 16:45:30 -0500 Subject: victoria williams listserv (fwd) Forwarded from rec.music.folk: Article: rec.music.folk.58364 Message-ID: <4b76lj$ab4@stealth.mindspring.com> From: tim@daenet.com (tim) Subject: Victoria Williams mailing list We will be getting a Vic mailing list up soon, and I just want to get a feel for how much interest there is for it. If you would like to join the list, e-mail audio.visions@daenet.com with "subscribe vic-list" in the SUBJECT header. I'll add your name to the list and e-mail you when its up. Thanks. Tim tim@daenet.com http://www.daenet.com - ------------------------------------ Its about time! Nicholas Hill faucet@pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: kcd@bull.cray.com (Kevin Dekan {x66440 CF/DEV}) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 15:53:27 -0600 Subject: Edie Brickell Wintry Greetings! Hope I don't bore all you folks to death here, but *I'm* feeling particularly bored myself this afternoon and thought I'd ramble on a bit about a CD I picked up recently in a rather unusual fashion. The daughter of a friend of mine was involved in a fund-raiser for school and instead of hawking the usual (pizzas-candy-bars-popcorn- magazine-subscriptions-you-name-it) she was selling CD's that must have come out of one of these CD club type of things like Columbia or some such thing. How she got her cut out of this deal I have *no* idea. Anyway, the selection was pretty sad (like most of these clubs are) and my friend had already picked out the Pat Metheny CD that they offered. I'll just tape his copy. I was about ready to say to hell with it, but I didn't want to disappoint his daughter. And she knows I have an ample CD collection due to EWS and I don't think any excuse would have satisfied her. ;-) So I scanned the list again and saw _Picture Perfect Morning_ by Edie Brickell. I hadn't heard anything by Edie in years... I remember getting a listen or two to a friend's copy of _Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars_ (I think that's the title) a long time ago and I liked what I heard, but kind of forgot about her. I got _Picture Perfect_ about a week ago and after listening to it a few times I think I may have made a pretty fair choice out of a rather dismal offering. It's a well done album. Paul Simon is listed as Producer along with Roy Halee. I can hear Paul's influence on the album, in fact he plays guitar on a few of the tracks. It's just nice, breezy, easy-going music that's easy on the ears. Edie is credited with all the lyric and music writing. I like most of the tracks on the album, no real throwaways here. There's even a song that brings back the sound of the late '60's or early '70's called "Good Times" that makes me look back fondly on those days. Yeah, I'm that old to remember some of that stuff. ;-) Barry White does a spoken instrumental on the song and they make it work. I haven't seen Edie spoken of here on ecto very often but I think this CD could qualify as ecto-fodder or close enough not to matter. Well, thanks for listening and helping me through this mid-week boredom. Cheers, -Kevin ------------------------------ From: 32 flavors and then some Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 17:40:06 -0500 Subject: Re: Old Tribe CDs dbucak@netaxs.com (Deniz Bucak) sez: >Since I've never seen the previous albums could somebody >tell me what they're like and where they might be found (I'm in Philly.) there are two albums which were released prior to _sleeper_. they are _here at the home_ and _abort_. they are essentially the same collection of songs, but feature different versions and different orders. _abort_ is easily found, but _here at the home_, which was independantly released is practically unfindable. either album is great - - _abort_ features the most numbingly stunning sequence of five songs known to humanity , but _here at the home_ features a stunning version of the song "abort". get both if you can, but you'll probably have to settle for _abort_ on disc and a tape of _here at the home_ from the dubbing project. woj ------------------------------ From: 32 flavors and then some Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 17:44:10 -0500 Subject: Re: Sarah McLachlan single Neile Graham sez: >The two-track single seems readily available here in Seattle. A number of >chains are carrying it. I've even seen a second version for four other >tracks (live & CBC versions of songs that have appeared elsewhere on >Nettwerk singles, but not in the U.S.) i saw the second version this week often while shopping, but didn't pick it up (gotta buy presents for others, not me!). it seemed readily available throughout new jersey. which brings me to a peeve: it seems that the american record companies are picking up the bad habit of releasing two versions of singles from the british folks. granted, it's on a slightly different scheme: one version is packaged in a vinyl lp-like sleeve and usually has only one extra track, while the second version is more like the cd singles we've had so far (more extra tracks, packaged in a jewel box or digi-pack). does this annoy anyone else? grrrr. woj ------------------------------ From: 32 flavors and then some Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 17:46:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Loreena's Christmas discs maeldun@i-2000.com (Michael Doyle) sez: >I second that. A friend made me a tape of it the other day. On the flip side >of the tape he put a full-length Christmas album by Loreena called _To Drive >the Cold Winer Away_. I haven't really listened to it yet, but _a winter >garden_ will be a tough act to follow. good thing _to drive the cold winter away_ came first, huh? ;) woj ------------------------------ From: basil@naxs.com (Brad Hutchinson) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 20:48:12 -0500 Subject: The Heads Merideth asked: >> Oh, also, if you're a Talking Heads fan, there's a sample of a new >> Byrneless Heads song. It's called "No Talking, Just Heads" and the singer >> on this track is Debbie Harry! I was afraid that the new incarnation would >> just be a repackaged Tom Tom Club but it doesn't sound like it! >Whoa. What is this, is there going to be an album, >and when will it be available commercially?!? According to the web page I got the sample from there will be a new album soon (it even has David Byrne's blessing) though they're calling themselves "The Heads" hence the new song title. There is a forth new member whose name is T. Blast Murray. The page doesn't have a release date but I've tried to re-sub to the talking heads list. I suspect there will be info on this there which I will pass on as I get it. So far, all I've heard is that the album will have lots of different singers (Deborah Harry and Michael Hutchinson from INXS--is that his name?). The page where I found all this is: www.bart.nl/~francey/theheads.html I'm happy about this. The Byrne solo albums just didn't fill the Heads void. brad Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking. - --Wallace Stevens brad hutchinson: bhutchin@pen.k12.va.us or Jill Sunderlin and brad basil@netaccess.naxs.com ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V2 #312 ************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu