Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 33 Send posts to fegmaniax@nsmx.rutgers.edu Send subscribe/unsubscribe commands to majordomo@nsmx.rutgers.edu Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@nsmx.rutgers.edu FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/ Archives are available at http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- Watch Your Intelligence Carrots? Re: That Hot Pink Pic Disc Re: Carrots? help!!!!!! NO RH content Extras: 3 leg byes and a wide, boys. Golden shower of invisible hits Re: Golden shower of invisible hits Re: That Hot Pink Pic Disc Wide boys et al December 27 set list That Beard Wide boys et al (fwd) Re: Finnish weirdos Hot Pink Picture Disk Re: Wide boys et al Fake news? ------------------------------ From: BLATZMAN@aol.com Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:26:25 -0500 Subject: Watch Your Intelligence When I saw Robyn perform just before Perspex Island, he played this song live. It was easily the highlight of the eve, and as I recall, it got the greatest crowd response. How can you not love robyn yelling "I'm not a goddamn TV set!" Anyways, I was disappointed when it didn't show up on Perspex. I wrote Mrs. Wafflehead, but even she couldn't place a song with the lyric about the television (Gasp!) Anyways, when I finally found it, I wasn't let down. It's a shame that this was a bside. I only want to say that if you see the So You Think CD single- buy it, you won't be disappointed. But then again, There's no guarantee!!!! Rock on you Positive Vibe Merchants Dave ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 11:04:48 -0900 (AKST) From: Brett Cooper Subject: Carrots? Does Robyn like carrots or something? I noticed them a lot in the videos from "Queen Elvis". What do carrots have to do with anything? Brett (Cooper) ********************************************************* * "A wise man once said that a person trying to know * * something about everything will eventually know * * everything about nothing; and that a person trying to * * know everything about one thing will eventually know * * nothing about everything." * * -Harrison Blackwood, * * "War Of The Worlds" * *The official address of: * *BC Radio, Inc. * *cooperb@chs.mat-su.k12.ak.us * ********************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:22:43 -0800 (PST) From: prometheus Subject: Re: That Hot Pink Pic Disc On Tue, 13 Feb 1996, david's ramsey wrote: > Regarding the hot pink picture disc...I've got a copy too, and it's > pretty cool. It's got the same songs as on the "Raw Cuts" disc. Also, > there's a plain normal black vinyl version of the pink pic disc called > "Wading Through A Ventilator" which comes in a green sleeve (You might > still be able to find this at Pipeline Records in Cambridge Mass., which is > where I saw it) with some more photos from the same session as the photos > which appear on the pic disc.> i picked up the green sleeve/black vinyl version at rasputin records in berkeley last spring for a fiver. and on robyn's stardom, he did catch some airplay in LA from KROQ with "balloon man". when he came around that time, he played that song, pronouncing as his smash radio hit. prometheus ------------------------------ From: savinien@ea.oac.uci.edu Subject: Re: Carrots? Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 13:47:27 -0800 > Does Robyn like carrots or something? I noticed them a lot in the videos > from "Queen Elvis". What do carrots have to do with anything? > > Brett (Cooper) but doesn't he also use a lot of other kinds of fruit and vegetables (to say nothing of plastic and rubber figurines) too? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:06:45 -0600 From: mbrage@surgery.bsd.uchicago.edu (Michael Brage) Subject: help!!!!!! NO RH content Fegs all, My boss has asked me to construct a web page for our section. I have fallen victim to this because many of my colleagues here are ignorant of computers. I am sure that there is software I can buy, but I also need any advise you can give. Thanks, Michael ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 14:51:41 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Extras: 3 leg byes and a wide, boys. >and also: what songs would have been hits, had a producer/record company been >brave enough? 'So you think you're in love?' and 'Queen of Eyes' both should have been massive hits. >Thank God you're all as twisted as I am; before offering my own theory, I >hadn't seen the other speculations as to the private, self-gratifying habits >of the Wide Boys. wide boys are spivs. Like Arthur Daley, only younger. Or Joe Jackson in "I'm the Man". They got the goods, if ya know wot I mean... Check out Godley & Creme's song "Wide Boys"... >The immor(t?)al James Dignan wrote: immoral? moi? >You, know, the way I always heard it, I thought the song was about a >Geologist/professor Well, it made the earth move for me! :) James "whole lotta shakin' goin' on" ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 01:47:12 -0500 Subject: Golden shower of invisible hits What are the lost Robyn "hits"? What are Robyn's greatest non-hits? Depends. Are we talking "then" or "now"? Or "at the time of release"? I'd assume most of you are like me- more or less repulsed by the current crop of "alternative" radio crap. In the era when Bush reigns, very little of Robyn's oeuvre would connect. What comes to mind? "Freeze", "The President", or "I Wanna Destroy You" (and the Circle Jerks tried that; not even Debbie Gibson could get it over)... maybe "I Am Not Me" as produced by Butch Vig. Note that all of these songs are infinitely superior to the best of the punk-pop currently cluttering the airwaves. Note also that none of the current pop-punk brigade (Green Day, Presidents, the current incarnation of REM, etc.) actually has hit singles... just single-type selections from hit albums. The US singles chart looks to me like the periodic table..."I B All 4 U" by II B True 2 U, and so on... In the UK, at least, "Destroy U" had at least as much of a chance on its first go-round as it would now. If, in the US, Oasis is to Britpop as Nirvana was to "grunge", our boy may yet have a shot. Otherwise, I can only comment on Robyn's previous singles (or should've-been-singles) as released in the US. Although "Flesh #1" would've been a better single from "Globe"-- the title clearly nixed the possibility of its release-- I honestly believe that "Balloon Man" was as big of a hit as it could possibly have been, in the milieu of college radio, which, at the time, was sadly novelty-driven. Camper Van Beethoven was similarly ghettoized-- with many terrific songs to their credit, they're only remembered for "Take the Skinheads Bowling". The fact that "Queen Elvis" and "Perspex" are so common in the cut-out bins has to do with the fact that record companies gambled too early on alternative acts breaking through to the mainstream. They also assumed that intelligence and originality would be one of the key selling points of alternative acts. That concept has clearly gone out the window. In any case, both records were wildly overprinted, and although "Perspex" is Robyn's bestseller, I'd estimate that about half of the people that bought it have by now sold it back. Of the "Perspex" tracks, although "So You Think..." did just fine in its way, perhaps "Child of the Universe" would've connected better with the then-hip Madchester thing. I dunno. It's all marketing and politics. Robyn always has, and continues to, exist outside his time. The hooks of "Flesh #1", "Queen of Eyes" or "I'm Only You" go quite well with a side of Beatles or Byrds, but how do they fit in between R. Kelly and Candlebox? It's an interesting time in pop history. Britain has already swung back 'round to guitar-pop in a way I wouldn't have thought possible, and the US may yet do so, although we've already developed a model of guitar bands as angsty and macho which may make the backlash against Britpop more significant than its advent. Who can tell? And, Fegs all, do we WANT our quirky subculture to break through, or would we prefer to be able to lurk undisturbed on our corner in cyberspace, discussing Robyn in conjunction with other fringe-ified artists like Richard Thompson, Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, and a bunch of Finnish bands that even I haven't heard of? (--But send me a homemade Finnish folk compilation soon, please!--) Food for thought. -Rex ------------------------------ From: ZeroSummer@aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 02:28:19 -0500 Subject: Re: Golden shower of invisible hits <<>> Yeah, but that one song by 2 B 4 U, "8 O' U S Better 'N 4 O' U (Or Even 2)" really kicks ass. Something else in your post: You mentioned Camper Van Beethoven, whom I'd like to give credit to as well. What a great bunch that was. And CVB compilation tapes come out smashingly. Great road listening, and you can get about 40 songs on a 90! Joe ------------------------------ From: "Winkworth, Nick SJ" Subject: Re: That Hot Pink Pic Disc Date: Wed, 14 Feb 96 23:52:00 PST Since volume of email (work related, unfortunately) forced me to be a digest subscriber only, it's hard to spontaneously reply to postings to the list--but I did just want to correct something Rx said about the famous Pink Picture Disk: >> The photos on one side are a >>pair of hysterical band photos (check out Robyn's beard and a tres-70's >>t-shirt with iron-on lettering reading "GIVE IT TO THE SOFT BOYS"), I own the black vinyl version (curiously titled "Wading Through a Ventilator") that Dave Ramsey mentioned. I also have the "Ventilator" 7inch single which also has a photo from the same session. I think you'll find that the bearded gentleman with the dodgy taste in iron-on lettered T-shirts is, in fact, none other than the almost legendary "not that bad" Alan "Wangbo" Davies, of that ilk. (Our hero did not sport a beard at that time, nor as far as I know, at any other time). The photos are interesting in that Robyn is not obviously more prominent than the other band members (In the band photo on the single, Robyn's face is actually obliterated by a fake bullet-hole!) (Of course it is possible that they swapped shirts and that Alan's beard was fake and thus easily transferred--but that would be mere speculation without actually seeing the disk in question). Hope I haven't ruined anyone's fantasies of a bearded RH. Nick "Oh-no-not-another-day-at-UniForum" Winkworth __________________________________________________ "Nice planet." -Worf (STNG) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 1:58:38 CST From: Truman Peyote Subject: Wide boys et al re wide boys: also check out Nik Kershaw's "Wide Boys": "He got no sense but he got money"- at least this how I remeber it but it's been a few since I've heard Nik Kershaw :) And yes I agree that Robyn's always been outside his time. I think that hoping for Robyn to have a pop hit is kind of stretching a moot point (block that metaphor, someone!). Susan oh Edward my love, is that a squid?............:) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 09:13:53 -0500 (EST) From: Rory Patric Connell Subject: December 27 set list Here's something for your archives... Robyn played all this at his December 27th show at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. De Chicarico Street Lystander The Wind Cries Mary (Hendrix) The Devil's Radio Madonna of The Wasps Trilobite I'm only You I Something You Glass Hotel (moves to electric guitar) You & Oblivion Freeze Only The Stones Remain Kingdom Of Love Encore: (electric) Caroline Backwards She Doesn't Exist I Got A Message For You Queen Of Eyes Encore No. 2 (acoustic) Heaven Desolation Row (Dylan) I passed him on the way into the show, but I was too starstruck to say anything to him. He, noticing my stares, just gave me a look like I was going to murder him. Needless to say, it was an amazing show. Some of his best songs, some unbelievable new ones, and witty stage banter galore. Rory Connell ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 07:37:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: That Beard nick w. said: > I think you'll find that the bearded gentleman with the dodgy taste in > iron-on > lettered T-shirts is, in fact, none other than the almost legendary "not > that > bad" Alan "Wangbo" Davies, of that ilk. (Our hero did not sport a beard at > that > time, nor as far as I know, at any other time). well, now I'm going to have to go home and whip out the ol' 12-inch (record of my favorite band). I recall studying that photo rather carefully when I first got the record and deciding that was definitely Robyn with a beard, though that may have been through process of elimination...But if that ISN'T Robyn, then he's not in the photo, which would raise the question: why isn't he in the photo? ["maybe he was holding the camera"- __________ : > > Susan > oh Edward my love, is that a squid?............:) Yes, I fear so, my pet. Edward -- Edward of Sim treefrog@netcom.com "I don't want to hide or run away, like I used to want to every day." - Joe LaRose ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 20:50:18 +0200 Subject: Re: Finnish weirdos From: Aaro.Koskinen@Helsinki.FI (Aaro Koskinen) > woj - while we're on the subject of weird Finns and the like, have you ever > heard the music of Mari Boine? She's a Sami (i.e., a Lapplander), recording > songs in the Sami tradition but with a more western feel. She's put out one > great album on Real World records called Gula Gula. Well worth a listen. Those who want to hear Finnish folk with a more western feel, should definitely listen to CMX . I've heard that Peter Buck is a great fan of them. ;) ObRobyn: Finnish group Room 100 has covered "I Wanna Destroy You" on their debut LP Beehive. P.S. to daveR -- I'm still waiting for my tapes... -- aaro@iki.fi ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 16:32:00 -0600 From: Jim Moore Subject: Hot Pink Picture Disk I, too, own this item. All this talk about it reminds me of something I've always been curious about. It seems to me on the front cover of said Pink vinyl album there are TWO ROBYNS!! I don't have it with me to describe them by--but it seems that there are two guys in the picture that look exactly alike--both like Robyn. Am I going insane? Am I seeing double? Or is it so.... P.S. I was off the list for awhile, but I see that my rigid stance on Mucky was vindicated in my absence!!! I knew I was right... I hate gloaters, though--so I hate myself for saying that. Oh, inner conflict. P.M.S. I've always heard it as "hard boys groove and wide boys a-mass-a-bet" and "he just a-1-0-9's-em" I've never even come close to understanding what that means, but I love to sing along with it. D.P.S. I need to retract my previous comment about "Eye". I listened to it 3 or 4 times this past weekend and I "discovered" some songs on there that I thought I disliked--but after further review I find they are really, really good. Does this happen to anyone else out there? It happens to me a lot with Robyn's stuff. Examples from "Eye" are: Sweet Ghost of Light, Chinese Water Python, Glass Hotel, Raining Twilight Coast, Aquarium and, amazingly: Certainly Clickot! Leaving now, Jim Moore jimm@dbu.edu "Who's been feeding tomatoes to the cat??!!!" - RH ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 17:49:09 -0500 (EST) From: ! Subject: Re: Wide boys et al On Thu, 15 Feb 1996, Truman Peyote wrote: > re wide boys: also check out Nik Kershaw's "Wide Boys": "He got no sense but > he got money"- at least this how I remeber it but it's been a few since I've > heard Nik Kershaw :) Are these the same Wide Boys as in that Marillion album? "and the wide boys...they wear their love bites for their crimes" or some such? i never had a clue what Fish meant by that... doug (slightly worried that he may just have inadvertently started the dread most-embarrassing-musical-skeleton-in-the-cd-rack thread, and enormously relieved that whatever-it-was-yesterday was not, in fact, a heart attack) p.s. if you were the person who wrote to the list questing a copy of the Sequel Records "My Wife..." single with the K records tracks, write me! (and if you didn't, but are questing, write me anyway.) Otherwise, it may be next month's prize on da web-page... __/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\__/-\ = ...nous devons cultiver notre jardin... = = INET:dmayowel@access.digex.net AOL:DougMhyphW Compu$erve:102432,355 = = visit the pathetic caverns! http://www.access.digex.net/~dmayowel = ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 18:28:07 EST From: Daniel Ginsberg Subject: Fake news? Ja, the Bruford, Fripp reissue fell through but word has it that Allan Holsworth and Gordon Beck are going to include a reharmonized and extended instrumental version of Raymond Chandle eveninig right after "Norwegian Wood" on the next Beck/Holdsworth album. And rumor has it that the Sun Ra Arkestra is indeed doing Luminous Rose live on tour. Boot' info not yet available. Living but (but not yet wide), Dan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.