Fegmaniax Digest Volume 2 Number 21 Today's Topics: ------- ------ love is the distance... Stray thoughts from Planet X More muons Flame, flame, flame Chilling out r+r (robyn and relaxation) Chillin Gout first time hearing Robyn r+r (robyn and relaxation) Gigolo Stray thoughts from Planet why i like robyn Stray thoughts Flame, flame, flame Madonna of the Wasps Stray thoughts [][][][][][][][][][] From: Dr. Susan Even Subject: Re: love is the distance... To: woj@remus.rutgers.edu (the one who understood the tennis ball) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 12:17:48 MEZ Cc: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu (pleasure of the aching void) > From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu (something shakespeare never said) > Subject: love is the distance... > > >where did "Love is the distance between reality and pain." come from? > > back around the time that _eye_ was released, robyn did a couple songs > for a radio program called _soho natural session_. one was "agony of > pleasure" and the other was "love is what." when introducing the latter > track, he quiped the "love is..." quote. I think it's on the _Madonna of the Wasps_ promo CD -- the disc with the acoustic _One Long Pair of Eyes_ and _More Than This_ cover. Robyn tells a long story about a bean and a petrol pump that ends with this quote, just before he goes into the first song. (Robyn calls himself Johnny Cash and talks about a duck on the Soho Natural Soda promo.) smiles, susan [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 11:22:26 GMT From: J.W.Davies@reading.ac.uk (Jim Davies) To: partridge_john@gsb.stanford.edu Cc: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Stray thoughts from Planet X Do you know what really pisses me off? It's when people set themselves up as fans and then feel that this puts them in a special position---with added authority---to pass judgement upon other people's work. And if the same person, sitting not too far from Palo Alto---where I would like to be right now---adopts a patronising tone and attempts to hyphenate Basingstoke. Well, that's it. That is it. And it's raining. Muon #2: I was listening to R's last couple of CD's and came to this regrettable conclusion: but for one or two songs each, Queen Elvis, Perspex Island, and Globe of Frogs all stink. Spectre is a welcome change. Comments? Or is this heresy by word? No comments. Fuck off. Muon #3: Where do all the clever Hitchcock quotes come from? They appear in many of your signatures but I don't recognize many of them as lyrics. For example, where did "Love is the distance between reality and pain." come from? Robyn is eminently quoteable and I would be very interested in seeing the sources. They come from Robyn, usually. All the stupid Hitchcock quotes come from other people. I'm sure that's the case. And you don't recognise many of them as lyrics because they are clever, and they disguise themselves. Muon #4: Has anyone aside from me tired of Metcalfe's bass playing. Fuck right off. Sorry about the obscenity, but I don't need this sort of bad joke ignorance from a place with decent weather. It's raining here, again, so drop dead. I think it's grand that he can play a fretless and he sure is versatile with his piano skills and he went to music school and learned theory don't you know. But his bass-line is a total disappointment. If no one agrees with this, I'll sit down and cite examples. Why don't you sit down and listen to some other kind of music if Andy's bass playing bores you? In fact, why don't you fuck off (have I said that already?). Hopefully, this prod will be sufficient to get the opinion juices flowing. My bias is towards melodic bass-lines - McCartney-like I guess. Opinion. No, I wouldn't dignify your nonsense by having an opinion on it. Out of muons. You must be out of my mind. (Andy H., I still feel that this was a terrible omission from Golden Cleaners). Bye bye. Jim --> heading for Paradise, or Basingstoke, or Reading p.s. yeah, I'm reciting, but at least it's apposite. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 11:43:12 GMT From: J.W.Davies@reading.ac.uk (Jim Davies) To: partridge_john@gsb.stanford.edu Cc: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: More muons More moans, eh? You wouldn't let it lie. Muon once-removed on his father's side: The guitar solo in the studio version of Arms of Love is note-for-note the solo in Acid Bird. Well, I guess it diverges after a bit I think. Any guitarists out there to check for sure? A great song and I find R.E.M.'s cover of it absolutely incomprehensibly bad. Scales, modes, recurring themes. And you. BTW: I didn't realize the comparative merits of Respect, Globe, Queen E, etc. had already been heavily discussed - sorry - I got on the net in January but I should have figured that out. It just seemed to me that R.'s song-writing had picked up since Cynthia #2 and recording in his kitchen. Yeah. We did think about having a moratorium on discussions of these albums until three or four years after their release, but some damn fool went and mentioned them, so hell, I admit it. We discussed them. BTW #2: Not to beat a ripening dead horse, but I though Matthew Seligman's bass work was great (e.g., Underwater Moonlight). So? Next time the Soft Boys play in your vicinity, be sure to shout "Matthew, Matthew" at the top of your voice. It does seem to cheer him up. BTW #4: The washer/dryer combo. aside, I was seriously curious about the trailing lyrics to "Heaven". I get kind of impacted over lyrics and have been torturing my brain trying to figure out what he's saying. Please. Don't stop. Any ideas? You don't want to know. Things can get repetitious. There are things I've said and done before. Recurring themes. Periodicity. You can start using up time that hasn't arrived yet simply by planning for this. Deja entendu. So I'll break the loop by resolving. Bye bye. Jim "And there in the buffet car, I wait for eternity, or Basing-Stoke, or Reading" There he goes again. Heading for Para-Dise, or Stan-Ford or Berk-Eley. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 15:14:05 GMT From: smeats@lincoln.gpsemi.com (Steve Meats LDC 2392) To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Flame, flame, flame Can I suggest that a separate mailing list should be set up for you guys who just want to send personal abuse to each other all day? As a Hitchcock fan I am generally interested in what people have to say here, but I'm getting a little tired of the puerile nature of some of these postings. If things don't improve I'm going to un-subscribe (and please don't tell me "well fuck off then" as I'm sure there's some genuine wit lurking in there somewhere ), sm [][][][][][][][][][] From: treefrog@netcom.com (An Earthling...Really!) Subject: Chilling out To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 08:41:08 -0800 (PST) I second the motion for ending the violence on this list. Jim Davies, or someone posting under his name (?), should think of trying decaf. Jim, I don't agree with Muon-Man's opinions on Robyn's albums or on Andy's playing, etc., and neither did several other list members, but you're the only one who decided you were in a position to ream the guy for it. Everybody else either ignored or posted polite rebuttals. At any rate, I certainly don't want our Muon poster, whose name I don't remember, to think that Davies speaks for everyone else on the list, as he certainly doesn't speak for me. peace Edward -- treefrog@netcom.COM "Bungalow, bungalow, by the sea." - C. Moulding, XTC [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 13:58:53 -0500 To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu From: ckiv@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: r+r (robyn and relaxation) Hmmm. I sense a growing restlessness in the wind... I'm not sure exactly what I expected to be discussed by a group of Robyn Hitchcock's fans (I think he would find the notion of a bunch of people arguing about him via computer with no other connection either sadly appropriate or hysterically funny) and because my Robyn trivia is limited, I do enjoy getting more of it, but at times feel as if I'm watching a game show ("I'll take Robyn's boyhood fantasies for 300"). I don't have any plan for restructuring our network or anything because I like its casual polite atmosphere (sounds like a bar) but I guess I'm kind of interested in how Robyn has affected the people signed up on this network, or why it is they signed up in the first place. Any interesting testimonials? Being an admirer of his music sort of implies a certain amount of cynicism/skepticism, and I expect I'll get some nice sarcastic replies in response ("I was listening to this one song and all of a sudden I understood that my true purpose in life was to be an anteater snuffling through the grass" or some such thing). But I think that a little bit of personal annecdoting (like that one a while ago about gardening) might liven things up a bit. Responses? ?? [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 18:52:43 GMT From: S.Roberts@astronomy.cardiff.ac.uk (Simon Roberts) To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Chillin Gout Hey do you like the disease continuity in the subject title. No? Me neither. I think people are taking this "Fuck right off" attitude a little seriously. Jim's obviously having a bad day and his post is obviously tongue in hedge. OK so he shouldn't take it out on the list but this is the first time I've seen this kind of abuse, not only from Jim but from anybody, so what's the big deal. Anyone who claims that some of RH's albums "stink" is asking for abuse. The Muon-master didn't even have the coutesy to say IMHO. For what it's worth I disagree with much of the original posting. IMHO Queen Elvis is the strongest RH album. It seems to have the most unbridled energy and a number of the songs are more clever IMHO as a whole, instead of a string of clever one-liners dangling in a goo-ey, surreal mush of apparent nonesense. I am moved by a greater portion of this album, when compared to the portions of other albums which move me. Last time I started listening to it in my bedroom and ended up 5 doors down in a cement mixer. I know you know what I'm talking about. Andy Metcalfe's bass playing does tend to stick to root notes, but it doesn't bore me. I like his sound. Does anyone know or care about the glass/flesh/disease continuity in RH's songs? Why is he obsessed with these things? Rolling jelly from someone who has recently fallen in love with "Agony of Pleasure"... again. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 13:49:28 PST From: lroberts@bellahs.com (Laurence Roberts RD) To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: first time hearing Robyn The first thing I heard by Robyn was "I Wanna Destroy You." It was on, of all places, the Maximum Rock'n'Roll radio show, in the fall of '85 or spring of '86. I was absolutely blown away by the song. I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who fortunately had a tape of the whole of Underwater Moonlight, which I listened to and enjoyed immensely. The next stuff I heard was probably Fegmania or Gotta Let This Hen Out. My first Egyptians show was sometime in the next year or so -- it was at First Avenue in Minneapolis, and at that time they still had the keyboard player. My favorite Hitchcock gig at this point was the Nigel And the Crosses show at the 7th St. Entry in Mpls (a rather small space). It was at the same time as the Egypians were opening for REM (maybe 1990 or so). It was a surprise show. Peters Buck and Holsapple played with them, and they played many great songs including "I Wanna Destroy You." Larry-bob lroberts@bellahs.com [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 14:08:13 -0600 To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu From: gene@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu (Gene Hopstetter) Subject: r+r (robyn and relaxation) >Any interesting testimonials? Here's mine (please put your flamethrowers down, this is all opinion). I first heard Robyn during a particularly difficult, tough time in my life. I couldn't find myself, I couldn't find my family, and I didn't know what to do with my life. Typical, I'm sure. Needless to say, this depressed me quite a bit, and I was feeling like there really wasn't that much in Life or the World worth admiring or beautiful (read: my Freshman angst was getting the best of me). I filled my intellect with angry music and art, and although that has its merits, it's often inarticulate and cold. One day a friend of mine brings a green and gold album (I was immediately attracted to the colors -- the green of fertility, life, fecundity, laced with the gold of wealth, corruption, and the "all that glitters is not necessarily gold" dictum) with a picture of an old man sitting by himself on a pier (all those images struck me: the sea, the pier, a solitary man next to a sea of possibility: allright, so I'm wont to wallow in allegory, I can't help it). He played a song for me, "Flavour of Night" and said, "Listen to this song, it makes me think of a dark empty room in a huge English mansion, and the saxophone perfectly compliments the lines about feathery curtains and ice and the night. This was poetry. This was articulate guitar playing. This was emotion. This was fun and sardonic at the same time. I needed that. Hell, I still do. I was hooked. When I heard "Sounds Great When You're Dead" I was more hooked. I listened to that album only for about a month, and it has been one of my all time favorite albums, of Robyn's or any other, ever since. It moves me. I like Robyn's work. It makes me happy. It's as simple as that. He plays guitar the way I think it really should be played. He uses his imagination the way I do. He has attitudes I either share with him or admire. He can also be quite a silly goofball, and I can relate to that, too. He seems like one of us. He seems tirelessly dedicated to his writing, songwriting, painting, guitar playing, and storytelling, yet he doesn't particularly take it seriously or defend it pedantically. I like that. He's got the equation right, I think: Life is art, not vice versa. Many people thing art is life, and I disagree with that. He can write very introspective, emotional lyrics with delicious chord progressions that make them soar and dive ("Heartful of Leaves", "Agony of Pleasure"), and goofy, three-chord pop ditties that make me grin and tap like a drooling idiot ("Balloon Man", "Another Bubble"). He has range and integrity. Yikes, I guess I got carried away. Sorry. I couldn't resist responding, b/c I don't feel like working... "His leather jacket's quite like mine..." =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Gene Hopstetter, Jr. + gene@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu Writer/Layout/WWW Guy + Tulane Computing Services =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ "Give me some more terminology!" -- Slovenly [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 10:30:15 EST From: tegra!vail@ulowell.uml.edu (Johnathan Vail) Subject: Gigolo How does this line fit into the discussion: "So who's going to break the ice with you in bed?" jv [][][][][][][][][][] Date: 23 Mar 1994 13:58:43 -0800 From: "Mark Gloster" Subject: Stray thoughts from Planet To: "fegmaniax" Mail*Link(r) SMTP Stray thoughts from Planet I don't think it should be necessary to put a moratorium on discussion of recent work, but perhaps critical views should be tempered a bit as some albums tend to grow on one. >Muon #2: I was listening to R's last couple of CD's and came to this >regrettable conclusion: but for one or two songs each, Queen Elvis, Perspex >Island, and Globe of Frogs all stink. Spectre is a welcome change. Comments? Or >is this heresy by word? It is nice to see that people can have different opinions from mine. QE is one of the best albums I have ever heard. PI took many listenings for me to like it (too much McCartney bass lines for me- 8-) ) GOF is great. I like Respect better than PI. I can put on _any_ Robyn album and listen to the whole thing without track skipping. This is extremely rare in the world of mershswillpop. I can do the same with any Stan Ridgeway, Oingo Boingo,some more modern King Crimson albums, but that's about it for me. >Muon #4: Has anyone aside from me tired of Metcalfe's bass playing. I think >it's grand that he can play a fretless and he sure is versatile with his piano >skills and he went to music school and learned theory don't you know. But his >bass-line is a total disappointment. If no one agrees with this, I'll sit down >and cite examples. Hopefully, this prod will be sufficient to get the opinion >juices flowing. My bias is towards melodic bass-lines - McCartney-like I guess. I really don't care for JM's bass playing. It does not move the music for me. Andy seems to be a perfect compliment to the playing and writing of the band. I was fortunate to catch the most recent tour. There are other bands that I put on the highest plateu of respect, but I have _never_ heard any band sound as good live. The usher at the theater, who was standing next to me, had never seen him before, maybe never heard of RH before, was having a religious experience. He kept saying, "I have never heard anything like this before, wow!" He was right. Everything moved as a unit, yet everything seemed somewhat spontaneous. This was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of concert experience. I am of the opinion that RH could not have picked more complimentary bandmates. I hope that people are understanding of whatever I decide to do when I get to my third, tenth, fourtieth album. I also hope I get the chance to do them. "The Pablo Picasso of Printed Circuit Board design. I would like to be the Salvador Dali of song." -Mark Gloster [][][][][][][][][][] From: Adavidwright@eworld.com To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 15:20:28 PST Subject: why i like robyn why i like robyn: i never thought too much about robyn hitchcock before. i heard all the radio friendly songs, like balloon man, madonna of the wasps, so you think you're in love, and radio storm, and a band i had in high school even attempted a cover of chinese wall. but, it all started at a festival in phoenix last april. playing at the festival were robyn, x, rage against the machine, and porno for pyros, plus 3 local bands including best kissers in the world and a band called the chimaeras, which featured guitarist doug hopkins, formerly of the gin blossoms. naturally, it sounds just like them. he was kicked out of the gin blossoms because he was a lush, but only after he wrote most of the group's current album, including the song that's been so overplayed that i'm sure even every 5 year old in america knows it by heart. at this festival, he botched a solo, so he quit the band who still had another show to play that night. a few months later he shot himself. i don't know if the suicide was related to the flubbed solo, but the whole story makes for an interesting side note. i was really there to see porno for pyros, but i was also curious to see what robyn's version of arms of love was like, as i had the rem version since before respect came out. this was robyn's first show of that tour (unless you count a one off in athens a few weeks previous), and it blew me away. my first impression was that he was just completely bassackwards. They started the set with the current single (radio storm) and followed that with the most popular song (so you think...). AND, they played them both totally acoustic, even though they weren't really written that way. the second thing that hit me was the overall sound. most of their show was done acoustic, and that combined with Andy's brilliant beautiful MELODIC bass lines (as a bass player, jim davies _does_ speak for me when he tells the lame-o to fuck off), combined with morris' percussion which is just short of full drumming, was exactly the sound my band was trying to achieve at the time. i fell in love and bought three albums the next day. the end. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 17:38:40 -0600 (CST) From: GOOSENMK@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu Subject: Stray thoughts To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu This is in response to a couple of points made by John Partridge (Patridge John) in his 3/22/94 post: 1) I too have the "Alright Yeah" b-side, and, while I like it, I was a bit disappointed with it since I had seen Robyn and the boys do it live on their summer '92 acoustic tour, where it was a hightlight of the show for me. The studio version seemed to lack something... 2) as for _Globe of Frogs_, _Queen Elvis_, etc., biting the big one except for a few songs, well, this is one of my pet peeves. While I consider myself far from being an uncritical fan, I disagree strongly with that train of thought that holds that Robyn began to slip during/after _Fegmania!_. I thought writing and playing were very strong on the whole _Element of Light_/_Globe_/ _Queen Elvis_ sequence, and _Globe of Frogs_ especially was a winner in my book, since it contains some of my favorite Hitchcock compositions ("Vibrating" , "Luminous Rose," "Chinese Bones," "Globe of Frogs," and "Beatle Dennis"). In fact, I've often used _Globe of Frogs_ to introduce newcomers to Robyn, with usually successful results. The only songs I DON'T like on the aforementioned albums were the two that closed _Queen Elvis_, "Autumn Sea" (beautiful music, but the spoken part seems out of place) and "Superman" ("Superman, Superman, crunchy little Superman" is one of the few Hitchock lyrics that makes me crunchy little Superman" is one of the few Hitchcock lyrics that makes me CRINGE). I think the fact that Robyn himself plays quite a few of these songs, esp. "Chinese Bones" and "Globe of Frogs," in his live shows over the last 3-4 years, shows that he thinks they're worthwhile. BTW, you're not alone in your opinion on later Hitch stuff, though I disagree with it. The entry for Hitchcock in the estimable _Trouser Press Record Guide_ says much the same thing, i.e., that Hitchcock lapsed into cuteness and lyrical obscurity after _Fegmania!_. I always liked those records, and especially after hearing Robyn explain what some of the songs were about when I've seen him live, I have real difficulty believing that ANY of his songs are nonsensical, per se. Anyway, that's my two bits... Later, Miles Goosens [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 18:20:01 GMT From: J.W.Davies@reading.ac.uk (Jim Davies) To: smeats@lincoln.gpsemi.com Cc: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Flame, flame, flame Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 15:14:05 GMT From: smeats@COM.gpsemi.lincoln (Steve Meats LDC 2392) Can I suggest that a separate mailing list should be set up for you guys who just want to send personal abuse to each other all day ? As a Hitchcock fan I am generally interested in what people have to say here, but I'm getting a little tired of the puerile nature of some of these postings. Me too. I'm sick to death of idiot speculation, insulting nonsense, pathetic whining, and my own reaction to it. :) If things don't improve I'm going to un-subscribe ( and please don't tell me "well fuck off then" as I'm sure there's some genuine wit lurking in there somewhere ), sm Yeah. It could be good. Someone accused me of getting out of bed on the wrong side today. Maybe they're right. Maybe I am being unreasonable. (Well, okay, I *am* being unreasonable, I admit it). And for those of you who contribute wonder to this group (and most of you are called Andy), I apologise for my ranting and I thank you again. But I'm old and tired. So this is my last message to the list. Bye bye. Jim -> not counting the unsubscribe request [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 17:54:15 -0600 (CST) From: GOOSENMK@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu Subject: Madonna of the Wasps To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Susan said: >(Robyn calls himself Johnny Cash and talks about a duck on the >Soho Natural Soda promo.) Having not heard this, I can't say for sure (I'd love to hear it, BTW), but I wonder if calling himself Johnny Cash is a nod to Ray Davies and the Kinks? the Kinks, one of (IMO) the biggest Hitchcock influences. Let me explain my logic. On the live album of the two-lp set _Everybody's in Showbiz_, Ray introduces the band before "Muswell Hillbillies," and as he reaches the point where he's introduced everyone but himself, he says in a (for Ray) low-pitched voice, "Y'all know me, I'm Johnny Cash." I've always been amused by this, and I wonder if Robyn had this, either consciously or subconsciously, in mind. It wouldn't surprise me. Robyn and I think alike sometimes--our theories of Bryan Ferry (yeah, like I know Robyn personally! ;-> ) are much alike, and often he confirms in interviews things I had already thought might be certain references in his songs... Later, Miles ...We like Bryan Ferry, yeah!/I got a message for you [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 16:22:13 PST From: ruppen@qal.berkeley.edu (Andy Ruppenstein) To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Stray thoughts Speaking of QE, Miles "GOOSENMK@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu" Goosens writes... >...The only songs I DON'T like on the aforementioned albums were the two that closed _Queen Elvis_, "Autumn Sea"....and "Superman" ...("Superman, Superman..." is one of the few Hitchock lyrics that makes me CRINGE). Proving once again that your mileage may vary. I've always loved "Superman" for such phrases as "...she's the squeeking head on a pleausure box" and "it took the Holy Roman Empire just to get you by my side". The thing for me about QE is that I think I don't like it much until I actually play it, when I always find myself liking it more than I expected. You better believe it, Andy / ruppen@qal. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 22:39:03 -0500 From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame) To: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu The first Robyn album I ever bought was _Fegmania_ and it remains one of my favorites. I bought it because I'd heard "My Wife and My Dead Wife" on the radio and loved it (I'd also heard "Do Policemen Sing?" but didn't realize it was Robyn until later.) I'd have to say my favorite albums are _Fegmania_, _Queen Elvis_, _Invisible Hitchcock_, _I Often Dream of Trains_ and _Gotta Let This Hen Out_. Seems to me like QE was the last really good album he's released. _Eye_ and _Perspex Island_ were okay, and while they both had some good songs on them they just ... I dunno they just didn't do it for me, they seemed less like overall good albums than albums with a few good songs on them, if that makes any sense. And about the only thing I really liked on _Respect_ was the Moose Mark story. The only song I can even remember from it is "The Yip Song." [shrug] Just my opinion. Your mileage may vary. Does anyone know if _Black Snake Diamond Role_ is still available, preferably on CD? I'd also like to lay hands on the _Brenda of the Lightbulb Eyes_ video. -- Stewart [][][][][][][][] End of this Fegmaniax Digest. Archives can be found on fegmania.wustl.edu:/fegmaniax and ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax. For administrative questions, subscription requests, and all that boring crud, send mail to fegmaniax-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu. Slipping you the midnight fish...