Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 95 Send posts to fegmaniax@ecto.org Send subscribe/unsubscribe commands to majordomo@ecto.org Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/ Archives are available at http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- A&M Comp track list. Re: A&M Comp track list. Re: A&M Comp track list. dumb & dumber, literary Robyn? Mrs. Wafflehead Demographics - youngest member Hitchcock, A&M split the latest change... Robyn video? thank-you! exploding in silence A&M Comp. title ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 00:35:49 -0400 Subject: A&M Comp track list. Say... I was right, this is a GREAT album-- looks like both Blatzman AND the b-side fans get their wishes. Although I don't need any of the "hits", they're actually quite well chosen. (I would've picked "Chinese Bones" over "Vibrating", but am otherwise okay with it.) Very pleased that "Eight Miles High" made it. Two complaints: 1) No "Watch Your Intelligence"-- we should try to change this!!! Perhaps it could replace "Oceanside", which is a better "Robyn-album-opener" than an actual song. "WYI" certainly BELONGS on so poppy a collection. 2) The title. Boring--"Greatest Hits" my ass. Two problems with this: first, all Robyn albums have great titles, even the not so hot ones, and second-- it's arrogant and inaccurate. The A&M records make up only 1/3 of Robyn's solo recording career (less by the time this album gets released); certainly many early recordings are thought of as bigger "hits" than some of these (exactly how does a promo-only b-side become a "hit", anyway?)... Suggested alternatives titles: "Tomatoes, Hummus, Chick Peas and Some Strips of Skin" "Tattered Rags that Hangs on Nails" (okay, a bit esoteric) "Flesh Cartoons" Um, help me out here... Wonder what Robyn will make of it? Artists traditionally hate these "You're fired, but we're doing a compilation to cash in" things-- the counterexample being Neil Young , who helped Geffen compile "Lucky Thirteen", and the quintessential example being Bob Mould, who in interview after interview urged his fans to avoid "Poison Years" (as if the telltale title weren't enough). My guess is he'll be pissed. But I'll buy this for the b-sides I don't have, and to support Robyn's commercial viability. But seriously, let's try to get "Watch Your Intelligence" added! Rex ------------------------------ From: ZeroSummer@aol.com Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 01:53:33 -0400 Subject: Re: A&M Comp track list. re RxBroome: <<<(I would've picked "Chinese Bones" over "Vibrating", but am otherwise okay with it.)>>> And later: <<>> Yes on the latter, but a thrashing, incessant yes on the former. Vibrating over Chinese Bones? What in hell are they thinking? Otherwise a lovely enough comp. Joe (who proposes the title "Regrets Etched in Plasma") ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 10:27:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene B Mirman Subject: Re: A&M Comp track list. I missed some of the stuff on this thread. What will the track listing be and when will it come out? Also, as for WYI, it's a great song, but it's also very easy to find. Or at least it was for a long time. It's not nearly as obscure as the other b-sides. Which, I hope, are included. -Euene ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tipper Gore said to Lou Reed, "Lou Reed, how can we communicate better with our children?" Lou Reed responded, "We would probably have to sit down and talk about it over a bottle of scotch, and maybe, some crack." It's back! My lovely Humor Home page: http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~ebmF92 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 96 09:24:00 -0500 From: Jim Moore Subject: dumb & dumber, literary Robyn? I'm stoked about the new cd AND the greatest hits -- looks like it's going to be a Robyn summer. Topic A ------------ I'm wondering if anyone has seen what I'm about to describe. I'm curious because I haven't heard any mention of it on the list -- but perhaps it's already been discussed and I missed it when my server was out for a couple of months. Apparently there is a cartoon show called "dumb & dumber" that's based, of course, on the hit movie starring Jim Carrey. Rhino records put out a "soundtrack" for the show, and guess who appears on it? That's right -- Robyn Hitchcock himself (and the Egyptians), playing "Balloon Man"!!! I didn't buy the thing, but I was "dumbfounded" to see RH there on the disc. I found this more than slightly ironic, seeing that Robyn Hitchcock is one of the most witty, intelligent songwriters today--and yet because most folks just don't "get him" -- he winds up on the soundtrack for "dumb and dumber" with a bunch of other gimmicky or quirky songs! Topic B ---------- Also, I am reading *The Sound & the Fury* by William Faulkner, and I came across this quote: "Because women so delicate so mysterious Father said. Delicate equilibrium of periodical filth between two moons balanced. Moons he said full and yellow as harvest moons her hips thighs." (Vintage, 1956, p. 159) Sounds like "Moon Inside"... was it a source of inspiration for RH, or merely just a coincidence? Always searching for those literary connections and dripping from a heated cylinder at 450 degrees fahrenheit, Jim "Beaker" Moore jimm@dbu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 09:23:00 -0600 From: mbrage@surgery.bsd.uchicago.edu (Michael Brage) Subject: Mrs. Wafflehead Hello all, I tried to place an order with Mrs. Wafflehead but got my letter back stamped "Return to Sender" I sent the letter to the New York address. Anybody know what happened? Is Mrs Wafflehead still in business? I'd appreciate any help. Michael ------------------------------ From: Ross Overbury Date: Thu, 23 May 96 11:23:21 EDT Subject: Demographics - youngest member I responded to a letter from Daniel Saunders a while back. I believe he said he was 15. If he's still with us, he may be the youngest. -- ROSS OVERBURY Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ From: SPIFFINGNY@aol.com Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 12:30:42 -0400 Subject: Hitchcock, A&M split Thomas questioned the fact that Robyn was dropped from A&M over being unsellable, and my proof is that he told me so himself, months before it happened, when I wrote an article for the magazine Songtalk, published by the National Academy of Songwriters, the Dylan 50th Birthday issue I think. The contract was up for renewal, but neither wanted to take it, Robyn because he hadn't liked the way he handled the singles and things on Respect and A&M because he was "unsellable", which if you've ever worked for a record company is pretty much why everyone gets sacked. I wrote press reelases for Charism Records, who were sucked up by parent company Virgin, and if they had Robyn Hitchcock album it would have out sold all the crap they'd ever released. Come on, a Knack comeback LP? My point is, I don't think he owed A&M any great amount of money, just that he wasn't meeting their expectations even though every album gained ever so slightly in sales over the previous record. These things happen, but the contract was up, and each party had a reason for the split. And I didn't publish that in the article because at the time, it didn't seem fair as the companies get a hold of these things and I didn't want any of the words used against him in any way. Carl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 12:37:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Rory Patric Connell Subject: the latest change... Well, I guess another album title change was inevitable. It's a shame, I was kind of fond of Bee Man Ray and especially The Feelers Was Everywhere. But, I guess this is a common practice for our man Robyn, as I learned while reading an issue of Option from 1988 (which you can still get back issues of) in which he described his album in progress "Flesh Cartoons". He described it as a piano and acoustic guitar album containing such songs as "One Long Pair Of Eyes", "Veins Of The Queen", "Superman", and "The Executioner". He also mentioned that Dave Woodhead (trumpet player on Veins and Freeze) scored the whole thing out. Well, the instrumentation (sans trumpet) sounds like Eye, but most of the songs are from Queen Elvis...Does anyone know if he's talking about the Eye sessions (meaning there should be a lot of outtakes which mainly composed Q.E.) or a completely different recording? The whole situation is pretty similar to the constant shifting of his new album...I guess Moss Elixer is a fine title and I like the vinyl idea. Is Debi Bonet still planned to appear? Her live contributions have been amazing... Also, there's been a lot of talk lately about the original cd mixes...On the earlier mixes of Black Snake Diamond Role is the final verse of the Lizard audible? On my Rhino version, you can hear some faint melodies during the drawn out fade...Does anybody have an idea of what he's saying? The Lizard has always been one of my favorites, so it would be interesting to know more lyrics to it. Alright, that's about it (whew) Rory Connell ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 09:06:44 -0400 (EDT) From: James Isaacs Subject: Robyn video? OVer the weekend, I was watching an old tape of "120 Minutes" that I had made, and They Might Be Giants were hosting. They showed the video for "Driving Aloud", and before it, Robyn said that the chorus parts were segments of a videotaped concert someone did. He also said that someone would probably be trying to sell this to us in the near future. Would A&M have this concert also? I do not recall anyone trying to sell this to us, or I would ahave bought it. James Album title-All my Uncle's Cheeses "Grand Funk Railroad paved the way for the Jefferson Airplane, who paved the way for Jefferon Starship, who paved the way for the Alan Parsons Project. I don't know what they are, maybe a hovercraft." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 13:30:53 -0400 (EDT) From: star child Subject: thank-you! I am sorry to post this to everyone. What happened was that I deleted my entire INBOX by mistake and consequently do not know Hollie Satterfield's address. I also lost her snail-mail address. I just wanted to say a big thank you to Hollie for Alvin Lives (in Leeds). I loved almost all the songs on it (with the exception of Float On, and, actually, Kung-Fu Fighting, which I had never heard before and found to be incredibly racist and rather juvenile.) I'm wondering, do you know anything about Robyn's general disposition toward people of color? (I'm wondering especially about the reference to Nubian slaves in This could be the day, and the depiction of the Chinese railroad worker in The Professor.) I have to go, my coffee break is over. Thanks again. Beth I'm so proud of my pre-operative transsexual lesbian son! -from the movie _Jeffrey_ ------------------------------ From: SPIFFINGNY@aol.com Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 18:23:43 -0400 Subject: exploding in silence Came upon a copy of the Exploding in Silence 12" picture disc today whilst hunting about if anyone's in the need. It's $15. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Carl spiffingny@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 16:35:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Marc Horton Subject: A&M Comp. title Yes, yes, "Greatest Hits" is both an inaccurate and simply banal title. My suggestions: "The Boy Who Cried Vegetation"-(RH, from an interview awhile back) I think "Flesh Cartoons" has always been squirming impatiently in the corner of the room, awaiting its chance to be a title. How about "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pickled Squirrel?" "Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls." -Bruce McCulloch On a not-quite-so similar note, do any of you have any ideas about aliases that Robyn should adopt, for surprise-show and hotel-sign-in purposes? I had a dream sometime back in which RH was fronting a band called "Garish Tawdry and the Underlings." The only other thing I remember was that Elvis Costello was on drums and the set list was comprised of more than a few ABBA covers. Marc Horton / "I'm just from Encino/ Diablo Valley College / Why are you so mean-o?"--Sonic Youth ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.