From: owner-ecto-digest To: ecto-digest@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto-digest V2 #323 Reply-To: ecto@nsmx.rutgers.edu Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, 31 December 1995 Volume 02 : Number 323 The Ecto digest is now being generated automatically. Please send problems and questions to: ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "S. Lunsford & T. O'Reilly" Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 17:41:40 +0000 Subject: Sage's Top Ten Hi everyone! Okay, I swore I wouldn't bore anyone with my list of favorite albums, but the messages I've gotten from the list so far about what the best ones were have been so interesting that I feel inspired to add my own. Hey! Hey, wait, don't delete this message -- they're not ALL Ani Difranco albums, honest! :^) This was the year I started truly enjoying music -- not only did I get involved with ecto, I also started to just buy albums because they looked/sounded interesting instead of standing in the music store for 3 hours, wandering around with one cassette in my hand and then getting disenchanted. So here goes: 10. Passion - Steven Sondheim I know, I know, it's not ecto, but it's a beautiful musical with two lead singers who I actually got to see live before I bought the album. 9. Sarah McLachlan - Sherlyn Koo Wull! Sherlyn made a tape for me of all of her most wondrous songs from a bunch of different albums, so I can't identify any one album as my favorite. 8. The Story - Grace in Gravity While I didn't like this album quite as much as Angel in the House (Todd stole it and it's in the car now, or I'd be listening to it right now, dammit :^) ) it's still quite lovely. Songs with amazing lyrics that tell a story have always been what I love most about music. 7. The Story - Angel in the House I practically fell off my chair the first time I heard the Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball sing in harmony together. 6. Garbage - self titled? Anyone who knew me back when I actually *owned* a Barry Manilow 45 of "Two Ships That Pass In The Night" would be astonished to see me singing along with the screeched lyrics of this album, but I can't help myself, it's way too much fun to sing along. 5. Paula Cole - Harbinger The songs can get incredibly depressing, so I don't listen to it for long stretches at a time, but there's something indefineable about her voice that I very much enjoy, and "I Am So Ordinary" is definitely my favorite song. 4. Dar Williams - "This Is Not The House That Pain Built" I admit to not being very fond of most of the songs on The Honesty Room (I almost never like 'fast' songs and most of these are pretty boppy) but this song never fails to have me in tears by the end. Besides, I like to sing harmony with Dar while I'm listening to it. 3. Ani Difranco - Puddle Dive This quote: "How come I can pick my ears, but not my nose? Who made up that rule, anyway?" says it all. 2. Ani Difranco - Not So Soft blah blah blah, you've heard me rave about this one before 1. Ani Difranco - Out Of Range If I can just figure out a way to combine "The House That Pain Built", "You Had Time" and "Ameilia" from "Angel In The House", I'll have created the perfect song. Biggest disappointments: Jewel (Pieces of You) Throwing Muses (Red Heaven) Innocence Mission (glow) I *loved* their other albums, did they get a new producer or something? Jane Siberry (I forget the name of the album) okay that's it (*grin*) Just me, the dingbat - -Sage ____________________________________________________________________ Sage, Todd and the eight feline cohorts: sagetodd@postoffice.ptd.net Not to mention: http://www.dfw.net/~soulmate/ where you can fall in and spend hours. Literally. ------------------------------ From: Paul Cohen Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 20:11:51 -0500 Subject: Re: Re[4]: My Top 10 >Anyway I doubt you obtain 3000 of them by 2006. I don't. Not at the rate I'm going. >One day you just realize that there is less and less >to discover in music itself and in new bands too. Especially if your tastes >do not compatible to anyone you know. And you can more and more often >listen the same CDs, which music you associate with brilliant moments >of your life... Oh you are oh so wrong. There is always new music and new bands to discover. For instance, right now I'm listening to my first Clannad albums. They're a band I just never bothered to get into, though I've certainly skirted into their territory. It matters not if my tastes are compatible with those I know. At home when I'm working on the 'puter, the music is always blasting. At work, I curtail what I bring in to eliminate too many strange looks, but people are usually amazed at all the music I bring in that they've never heard of and like. ____Paul Cohen______________King of Prussia, PA___ ____pmcohen@netaxs.com___http://atonce.com/pmc/___ ------------------------------ From: Paul Cohen Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 20:11:53 -0500 Subject: Re: Sage's Top Ten Commenting on Sage's list: >Biggest disappointments: >Throwing Muses (Red Heaven) Well, considering it was released 3 years ago, it really doesn't belong on a 1995 top ten. Try this year's "University" and I'm sure you'll find it a more satisfying experience. ____Paul Cohen______________King of Prussia, PA___ ____pmcohen@netaxs.com___http://atonce.com/pmc/___ ------------------------------ From: "Joanna M. Phillips" Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 22:34:35 -0500 Subject: Spending spree Well, here are the CDs I bought yesterday: Lisa Gerrard: "The Mirror Pool"--only listened to a little of this, but I can tell I definitely will like it, as I like Dead Can Dance . Anuna: "Invocation"--I have listened to only a little on here also. So far they strike me as a cross between a Really Good College Glee Club (fancied- up, classical-sounding folk songs) and monks doing Gregorian chant ::grin:: Seriously, I do think I will like this . Katell Keineg: "O Seasons O Castles"--only sampled this so far. She seems to have really good lyrics! And poetry readings on here too! This sounds like it will be a good variety of songs! Kate Price: "Deep Heart's Core"--SWOON! I love this! I love hammered dulcimer anyway...and yes, she *does* sound like Loreena McKennitt! Some Celtic stuff, some gypsy/Middle European stuff...all *good*! the innocence mission: "Bright As Yellow" (I didn't feel like taking the chance on an entire CD of theirs...)--welllll...I don't really care for the lead singer's voice that much...although if I give it to my housemate and *he* plays it, I'm sure I will come to like it ::grin:: The Proclaimers: "Sunshine on Leith"--we just saw "Benny and Joon", so I had to get this :) I really like this album! A nice collection of various styles, and all with that lovely Scottish accent :) Windham Hill Artists: "A Winter's Solstice V"--so very lovely! I now have all five of the Winter's Solstice albums :) :) :) Carole King: "Tapestry"--finally! I have replaced my sold-when-I-was-broke LP from long ago! This is a classic :) Bought earlier this month: Enya: "The Memory of Trees"--except for a couple of songs ("Anywhere Is" (which I *like*--it's like an ever-turning wheel/travelling song) and one other I can't recall just now), this is almost a carbon copy of her last album or two. But....it's good for putting on in the background :) P5: "the sound of music by pizzicato five"--really fun and bouncy! Makes you want to dance all around the house :) Deep Forest: "Boheme"--I *love* this album! I have only listened to it once so far, but it conjured up a lot of little vignettes in my mind. I can't wait to go travelling with this CD again :) I have NO idea how many CDs I bought this past year...maybe 100? I dunno. But as you can see from my list, a LOT of them came as a result of recommendations here on Ecto--thanks, y'all!!! :) I have to get another copy of "The Keep"!!! I gave mine away when I thought I didn't care for it much--silly me! Eep! - -jo- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna M. Phillips | "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty fleur@one.net | being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What fleur@genie.com | do you want--an adorable pancreas?"--Jean Kerr ------------------------------ From: "Joanna M. Phillips" Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 22:47:24 -0500 Subject: Top 5 or so... I don't have a Top Ten for 1995...but the CDs that spent a LOT of time in my CD player(s) were (in no particular order): October Project: "October Project" October Project: "Falling Farther In" (I got to see them in concert here at Bogart's (Cincinnati, OH) in October-- it was wonderful!!! And I was remiss in not doing *some* kind of review at the time ::looking ashamed:: It was loud, the crowd was loud and adoring, the music was wonderful, the harmonies so beautiful (just like on the album), Mary Fahl was so intensely, darkly beautiful, her voice was so incredible... it was a very powerful experience for me, obviously ) The Rankin Family: "North Country"--such incredibly pure, lovely female voices; Jimmy Rankin sounds like a young Bob Shane (of the original Kingston Trio), only better ; great harmonies, great songs! I am sure everyone in the house got tired of me playing this CD to death ::grin:: Maire Brennan: "Misty Eyed Adventures"--this album makes you want to dance, is good background, touches one spiritually, puts a song in your heart, ETC. Good for a lot of moods . George Winston: "Forest"--I have this playing now. For music while I am at the computer, I need something without words, something that is soft...This is a haunting, LOVELY album! I'm sure there are others that I am forgetting that I played a lot...but these are the ones that sprang immediately to mind :) Happy New Year everyone! - -jo- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna M. Phillips | "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty fleur@one.net | being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What fleur@genie.com | do you want--an adorable pancreas?"--Jean Kerr ------------------------------ From: "Joanna M. Phillips" Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 22:52:29 -0500 Subject: CD-ROMs (Puppet Motel, etc.) As far as I know, Laurie Anderson's "Puppet Motel" is not available for the PC yet...:-/ But I just purchased Sting's "All This Time", a 2-disc CD-ROM interactive thingee. NOW I have to actually upgrade my computer in order to *run* it! (am I an avid Sting fan or *what*?!) :D Anyway, I will be ordering a new motherboard within the next week! Yayayay! Will get back to the group about what this is like later! :) - -jo- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna M. Phillips | "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty fleur@one.net | being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What fleur@genie.com | do you want--an adorable pancreas?"--Jean Kerr ------------------------------ From: rlovejoy@netaxs.com (Robert Lovejoy) Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 22:57:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Re[4]: My Top 10 Gleb notes: > One day you just realize that there is less and less >to discover in music itself and in new bands too. Especially if your tastes >do not compatible to anyone you know. And you can more and more often >listen the same CDs, which music you associate with brilliant moments >of your life... Yikes! I'm 47 and I feel I've barely scratched the surface of music. I play an instrument, and the more I learn the more I realize there is to learn! To me, it's the opposite: I find more and more to discover in music, and I love to hear new bands apply their spin on the old matrix! Gleb, it sounds as if you are stagnating somewhat. I know a lot of old coots my age who only listen to music that defined what they considered the best times of their life. It's as if they calcified, they chose to stop growing. I deeply hope you reopen yourself to the wonder and mystery of life and music. Don't worry about anyone else's taste in music; we are all different. Find what moves you and enjoy it. And if you can find nothing that moves you in music, ask yourself what things in life give you awe and goosebumps, and develop those feelings! Hoping I'm not out of line, Robert ------------------------------ From: rlovejoy@netaxs.com (Robert Lovejoy) Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 22:57:26 -0500 Subject: My Winter Vacation Just back from a wonderful stay at a Bed and Breakfast in Cape May. Angel of the Sea is a lovely victorian mansion packed with amenities that provided my wife and I a most wonderful getaway. Now it's nice to be back home. I see all the year's best lists are up. There was some mighty fine music this year. I can't begin to attempt to rate any of it, but I for one love The Keep, as you all know I must! Beyond that obviousness, ecto's myriad lists and comments are great fun to read - yay team! It is a pleasure to see so many wonderful artists recognized by all of you. There is so much to listen to I could explode! Well, I must start clearing out this backlog of Email! Happy New Year to everyone, and best wishes for an exciting year filled with great music! Robert, awaiting Happy's new studio album... ------------------------------ From: "Joseph Zitt" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 00:12:29 +0000 Subject: Re: CD purchases this Christmas and more On 28 Dec 95 at 14:10, Yngve Hauge wrote: > Meredith Monk - Atlas, Facing North and Turtle Dreams > Ok, I had this Meredith Monk kick just before > christmas and I loved them. I had looked for something > by her for a while when I looked through the Jazz > section and found them!! Ooh... I love Meredith Monk -- saw her several times in NYC and in Israel, and have many of her albums. If anyone stumbles across her film "Book of Days", see it immediately. I taped it off PBS years ago and still watch it a lot. I'm working on putting together a vocal ensemble myself, and her work (along with various Dada, Fluxus, and otherwise avant-garde stuff) is a big influence. I'd love to do one of her pieces. - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ==== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Organizer, SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List \|| |/Joe Zitt's Home Page\| ------------------------------ From: "Joseph Zitt" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 00:12:29 +0000 Subject: Re: Top 10 List and random responses On 27 Dec 95 at 10:36, ! wrote: > What is this "Bhudda" thing, please? Is it related to the Hanif > Kureishi novel of the same name?? Yup: It's derived from his soundtrack to the British miniseries based on the book. Lotsa good stuff. - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ==== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Organizer, SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List \|| |/Joe Zitt's Home Page\| ------------------------------ From: "Joseph Zitt" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 00:30:14 +0000 Subject: Top 11th? I *knew* I shouldn't have submitted a top 10 when there was still some December left !-) I picked up "Rising" by Yoko Ono/Ima (Ima is her son Sean's band) and it's wonderful, if not for all tastes. It sits in that wide middle ground between, say, Diamanda Galas's "You Must Be Certain of the Devil" and Jane Siberry's "Maria" with a touch of REM. The album is simple and unpretentious, with most of the material touching back on her experiences in Japan before and after WWII. The instruments circle around and behind her voice as she sings, speak, whispers, howls, pants, shrieks, and sputters. For the first time in a long while, she sounds like she isn't trying to prove anything, but is just recording what she feels. Some may be driven away by the range of her vocals (not in terms of pitch but in the variety of things she does with her voice) or by her often simplistic lyrics, but if you can hang on past first impressions of those, you're in for quite a ride. As a whole, it's moving and starkly beautiful in its own uncompromising terms. Hmmm... That six CD Ono Box I saw a few days ago is seeming more appealing now... - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ==== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Organizer, SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List \|| |/Joe Zitt's Home Page\| ------------------------------ From: "Joanna M. Phillips" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 02:57:21 -0500 Subject: Re: Re[4]: My Top 10 At 10:57 PM 12/29/95 -0500, Robert wrote: (snip) >I deeply hope you reopen yourself to the wonder and mystery of life and >music. Don't worry about anyone else's taste in music; we are all >different. Find what moves you and enjoy it. And if you can find nothing >that moves you in music, ask yourself what things in life give you awe and >goosebumps, and develop those feelings! A reminder to *all* of us, Robert :) *Thank you* :) ::remembering hearing Pavarotti sing "Ave Maria"--GOOSEBUMPS!:: - -jo- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna M. Phillips | "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty fleur@one.net | being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What fleur@genie.com | do you want--an adorable pancreas?"--Jean Kerr ------------------------------ From: ariel_b@pipeline.com (Ariel Brennan) Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 11:28:18 -0500 Subject: Re: Ah, the weekend's ectophillic acquisitions, plus! On Dec 27, 1995 14:20:24, 'Neal Copperman ' wrote: >Ok, I'll admit that it's limiting, in that it certainly is a subset of music >that is out there, but I think for many of us it's a larger subset than you >include. I don't think so. I'm not limiting it to the Kate/Tori/Sarah/Happy type stuff, after all. As you say before: >Sure, female-singer-singwriter makes up the core of it, but it >wanders all over the place, bringing in a tinge of country, experimental, rock, >you name it. And I agree. It's just that, within those categories, it tends to be female-singer-songwriters that get discussed. Actually, female singers, usually singer-songwriters, but not always... After all, there's been some discussion about Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball (which I need to buy >:), and she didn't write a word of it, from what I read on the back. Not that I remember what the point of this paragraph is. ;> >However, I don't want to get into an "is so" "is not" kind of >discussion or a nitpicky semantics issue. Okie. Me neither. Especially not when I've slept one hour out of 48. ;> I don't think I'm CAPABLE of getting into semantics, since I barely remember how to type. >Actually, just because HMV, Tower, Sam Goody or anywhere else has them for $15 >doesn't mean they aren't available in the cheap bins. Depends on where you go, I guess. I've never SEEN a $3 bin, but apparently they exist. ;> Cheapest I've *ever* seen is 3/$25, which is pretty cheap, but not $3... >Just three weaks ago I >bought The Sound of Music by Pizzacato 5 and Jonatha Brooke's Plumb, each for >$2. Ok, I was surprised too. But the fact that you can regularly find a disc >used in the $3 to $5 range doesn't stop major stores from selling it at full >price. (And probably shouldn't.) I guess you have to shop around or something. But, I don't bother to look around; I would, but I can only walk but so much before my shoes hurt my feet, ie, I'm really lazy. A - -- "I don't care, cause sometimes, I said sometimes, I hear my voice, and it's been here..." - Tori Amos ------------------------------ From: ariel_b@pipeline.com (Ariel Brennan) Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 11:31:13 -0500 Subject: Re: Best of '95 On Dec 27, 1995 16:30:06, 'Paul Cohen ' wrote: >>>Nan Vernon - Manta Ray >>Agreed again. Of course, I didn't like it much to begin with. ;X > >Oh do I disagree. I think this is one great album. Well, strokes and all that. There's something about Nan Vernon's work that seriously irritates me. Which is a shame, but I tend to be kind of picky. A - -- "I don't care, cause sometimes, I said sometimes, I hear my voice, and it's been here..." - Tori Amos ------------------------------ From: ariel_b@pipeline.com (Ariel Brennan) Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 11:36:08 -0500 Subject: Re: Diamanda, Laurie Anderson On Dec 27, 1995 14:37:54, 'Neal Copperman ' wrote: >Heh, I think you should run out and buy Plague Mass or Vena Cava or what's that >one - Housewives with Steak Knives, or something like that. I'd love to be >there to see your reaction. (Be sure to let us know if you decide to do that.) Somehow I doubt I will. I have something of a problem with buying music just to see if it'll scare me out of my mind. ;> >Anything but the Singer and the John Paul Jones disc. Interestingly enough, those are the two I've been considering picking up. I never did like chants and screeching. >When she came out, naked from the waste up, covered in oil and >illuminated by red light (appearing to be covered in blood), and opened her >mouth and starting singing/shrieking, the music and voice echoed through my >chest cavity. I really could feel it course through my body, causing my lungs >to constrict and my heart to beat fast. I can see THAT being scarey... Re: Laurie Anderson >Actually, they pretty much are. (well, maybe more performance art than spoken >word, but I'd say Angel Food sounds much like performance art too. Don't know >what she's like live. Hey, has anyone seen Meryn Cadell live?) I don't know what she's like, period. Don't have one Laurie Anderson album; I feel so guilty. ;> >Ugly One is the dics of stories. The last two releases excited me more than anything she's >done in ten years, and both were sort of a return to form of her earlier work. That one I listened to briefly on a listening station. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was like at all... A - -- "I don't care, cause sometimes, I said sometimes, I hear my voice, and it's been here..." - Tori Amos ------------------------------ From: Steve VanDevender Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 00:55:57 -0800 Subject: refried ectoplasm of 1995 I just saw a reference to a new Stereolab album titled "Refried Ectoplasm", and decided that was the perfect title for my list of albums I liked this year. It's not a top ten list, because I couldn't rank them by prefence and if there are ten in the list when I'm done, it's pure accident. _Ben Folds Five_, Ben Folds Five -- Most Fun Album of the Year. I used to wonder why I liked it so much. Now I realize I don't have to justify it to myself or anyone else. To quote them, "Go ahead and laugh all you want. I got my philosophy." Go see them live when you can -- they are touring some more next year. _University_, Throwing Muses -- They can still throw without Tanya Donnelly. Maybe even better. It rocks. _The Mirror Pool_, Lisa Gerrard -- This would almost be like the best of Dead Can Dance, although without Brendan it doesn't always have the same edge. Lisa is perfectly competent by herself, though, and her compositions are marvelous. _Maria_, Jane Siberry -- She can't fail. How many more genres are there left for her to explore? (OK, it does seem unlikely that she'll do grunge rock.) _The Keep_, Happy Rhodes -- Well, duh. I'd really love a new studio album, and after _Rhodesongs_ yet another acoustic compilation seems a little unoriginal, but this does fine. Especially nice for digging a few old gems out of the vaults. I'll forgive her for the extremely Christian Christmas carol (it sounds beautiful), but not for yet another version of "Save Our Souls". _Sleeper_, Tribe -- It's too bad they disbanded. They really seemed to be going somewhere. I'll have to go on a quest for _Abort_. _The Mask and the Mirror_, Loreena McKennit -- If I didn't watch _Strange Luck_, I probably wouldn't have this. But all it took was one exquisite song ("The Mystic's Dream") to hook me. Once I found out who it was, I had to have it. _Shimmering, Warm, & Bright_, Bel Canto -- Sometimes the technopop flavor takes the edge off, but it always keeps coming back. _Falling Further In_, October Project -- Rich, thougtful, tasteful, beautiful. _Hips and Makers_, Kristen Hersh -- _University_ was where the punkish side came out. This is the quirky, inscrutable side of Kristen Hersh. And now for the flip side: stuff I got but never quite caught on to. _Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements_, Stereolab -- I tried, and I don't hate it, but I just don't want to listen to it much. _Glow_, The Innocence Mission -- It's just too quiet. I still love their eponymous album. Is _Umbrella_ more like it? _Geek the Girl_, Lisa Germano -- The themes are great (meaning-wise) but not very catchy to me (music-wise). ------------------------------ From: "Joanna M. Phillips" Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 04:52:23 -0500 Subject: more purchases...! So I had a gift certificate to this wonderful bookstore up the street ::grin:: Which has a record department :) And I got: The soundtrack to "The Santa Clause"! There is a Loreena McKennitt song on here! It's called "The Bells of Christmas"...I don't know if it might be on any of the promo CDs or things like that...but I know I don't have it on any of the regular albums (including "A Winter Garden"). Ensemble Galilei: "Following The Moon"--this is a trio of ladies (plus a couple guest musicians) that play recorders, harp, violas...and psaltery! among other things! The music on this album is a mix of Irish, Scottish, and English jigs, airs, hornpipes, etc. ... plus some court music! I got this because it was on one of the listening stations :) Yum! Nightnoise: "A Different Shore"--"modern" Celtic...some instrumentals, some vocals, very fine :) Haven't listened to much yet, only sampled on the listening station. But I have "Shadow of Time" by them, so I knew I would like this :) All for now! HNY! - -jo- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna M. Phillips | "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty fleur@one.net | being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What fleur@genie.com | do you want--an adorable pancreas?"--Jean Kerr ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V2 #323 ************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu