Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 96 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: ------- ------- off topic- but in spirit-pls help if you've got a moment... Re: robyn and people of color Re: thank-you! I want his job off topic- but in spirit-pls help if you've got a moment... CHUO radio show Re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 95 Re: I want his job Greatest Hits... KFF Robert Zimmerman (little RH content) yet more KFF a china pug Re: a china pug good vibe Re: a china pug disappointments? Re: a china pug ------------------------------ Date: 23 May 96 23:41:37 EDT From: Sillyme <102465.41@CompuServe.COM> Jazz Butcher Folks Subject: off topic- but in spirit-pls help if you've got a moment... I do not have access to a reliable web browser or ftp or any other such working organism. And I'm a bit lazy..... But - hey with it being that time of year when all those folks with .edu addresses are jumping ship - well list activity is something out of the ordinary- right? SO bear with me.... Are there lists for: Love & Rockets, Wire, David Bowie, Spacemen 3, Julian Cope, This Mortal Coil, Coil, Tom Waits...... I know this is alot to swallow- so hit yer delete key or if you can help me fwd some e-mail addresses to me PRIVATELY! so as to not trouble any of you any further. You're all so kind and diverse and we're much more connected than we often think! Thanks in advance...... And don't bother wth the flames- I'm a vacuum. And we all know what happens to fire in a vacuum...............For Edward, Robyn & Pat- Thanks( a skull a suitcase and a long red bottle of homemade bloodwine made from the veins of the Queen who would be friends with the devil if the dirtry st0inkin' devil wasn't such a bum- and all....!) ANYWAYS, love to yuz alls from Philadelphia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sillyme (102465,41@compu$pend.com) ------------------------------ From: savinien@ea.oac.uci.edu Subject: Re: robyn and people of color Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 18:37:41 -0700 ehnl@columbia.edu wrote: > 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, i don't know about this, but consider that part of the joke (punchline?) in his father's novel _percy_ is protagonist's horrifying discovery that his transplanted penis was from a half-asian donor... my bets are that rh doesn't really consider people of color. if that's the case (and i don't want to offend any british citizens out there) maybe it's a response to the british imperialist movement that broke down in areas such as africa and china. after it all, the inhabitants of the (formerly) colonized areas become just another mass of bawling refugees and exotics to the (former) colonists. it seems to me that rh uses "ethnic" references for "color" in his songs, and doesn't portray people of color as "people" in particular. for instance, in most of his songs, they're presented as an indistinct group or a place or an inanimate object (e.g. "chinese bones," "nightride to trinidad," and the afore-mentioned examples). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 20:51:22 -0700 (PDT) From: "Trixie, Bunny, and Peaches" Subject: Re: thank-you! On Thu, 23 May 1996, star child wrote: > thank you to Hollie for Alvin Lives (in Leeds). I loved almost all the > songs on it (with the exception of Float On, and, ... get thee behind me, satan! i must profess my love for this song, not in some abstract metaphysical way. but, in the same way that i love all those ac/dc songs. you just can't help it. if you dodn't love it now, give it time. it will come. but, one must find the original by a band called the 'floaters'. then, the names ralph and charles will come to life. and KFF does have a slight tinge of biased elements, but i feel it is not in a malice way, nor unintentional [sp?], either. i do not know why carl douglas recorded it originaly, any quesses? but, i think it is along the same lines as poking fun at drunk cowboys living in trailer parks. although carl douglas's version makes robyn's recorded on alvin seem incredibly week, but live robyn & the e's pulled off a stunning rendition. .chris ------------------------------ From: BLATZMAN@aol.com Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 00:17:36 -0400 Subject: I want his job I believe there is one great big fool who'se job is to pick the "greatest hits" of an artist he knows nothing about. I am just pissed off. I know we all have way different opinions about this, but why put Vibrating on there? UGH!!! Whatch you Intelligence will continue to be the great lost track that could have turned the lightbulbs on. I have yet to hear The Living Years, but I've only heard good things. I think they should either put together an album for us, or an album for the "them". Now I'll have to buy this miserable thing just for the one track I don't have... I'll bet most of us already have 90% of that material... And not to disappoint, I was serious when I asked for an album of hits. I'd really really love to see it happen cause it would be just awesome. I think it would have been good for his career. I would actually much rather buy a BIG POP ALBUM of songs I already have than a patching together of hits, shasty misses, and live performances (most of which I have anyway). Vibrating... What were they thinking? ------------------------------ Date: 23 May 96 23:41:37 EDT From: Sillyme <102465.41@CompuServe.COM> Jazz Butcher Folks Subject: off topic- but in spirit-pls help if you've got a moment... I do not have access to a reliable web browser or ftp or any other such working organism. And I'm a bit lazy..... But - hey with it being that time of year when all those folks with .edu addresses are jumping ship - well list activity is something out of the ordinary- right? SO bear with me.... Are there lists for: Love & Rockets, Wire, David Bowie, Spacemen 3, Julian Cope, This Mortal Coil, Coil, Tom Waits...... I know this is alot to swallow- so hit yer delete key or if you can help me fwd some e-mail addresses to me PRIVATELY! so as to not trouble any of you any further. You're all so kind and diverse and we're much more connected than we often think! Thanks in advance...... And don't bother wth the flames- I'm a vacuum. And we all know what happens to fire in a vacuum...............For Edward, Robyn & Pat- Thanks( a skull a suitcase and a long red bottle of homemade bloodwine made from the veins of the Queen who would be friends with the devil if the dirtry st0inkin' devil wasn't such a bum- and all....!) ANYWAYS, love to yuz alls from Philadelphia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sillyme (102465,41@compu$pend.com) ------------------------------ From: SPIFFINGNY@aol.com Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 20:38:48 -0400 Subject: CHUO radio show Geez, third post of the day, too much going on. Just spoke to John Sekerka, editor of THRUST in Ottawa, Canada and tomorrow (Friday) from 6 to 9 on CHUO 89.1 fm will be the huge Hitchcock extravganza, with demos from the Captain Sensible workings, the Grateful Dead covering "Chinese Bones" and a slew of other rarities, 3 hours in fact. Canadian fegs tune in if possible. A tape will be made I'm told so...more as it falls on me. Carl of SpiFFinG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 96 08:58:32 EDT From: KeN SaBaTiNi Subject: Re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 95 KEN SABATINI On Thu, 23 May 1996 22:36:53 -0400 James said: >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 I asked this question about a year ago and don't think I ever heard a answer. Its funny, just yesterday I was thinking about this very thing--the live video--and told myself I'd have to ask the list again. As I recall, on this same 120 minutes broadcast (maybe another one) Robyn said a film crew taped him and the Egyptians playing the new album in its entirety live (this was Respect), and because they only had one camera they did the whole thing two times. I'm less certain about the "one camera" part, but I recall him saying they taped two versions of the live show. The whole thing happened in his back yard on the Isle of Wight. I was pretty excited when I first heard Robyn talk about this . . . so very long ago. Any answers out there? Where did this video go? Probably A&M's fault no doubt ;) Here's one more request. I've heard that Robyn records most of his shows on DAT. Why, WHy, WHY has there not been a live CD since Gotta Let This Hen Out? I can understand why a major label record company would rather not waste time and money on such a venture, but why hasn't Robyn released something like this on his own, or in conjunction with something like Twin Tone or some smaller label? Within the last few years Billy Bragg released a live CD that was sold through his fanclub only--for a nominal price at that (10 or 12 dollars). Couldn't something like this happen through Mrs Wafflehead? Hmm, now that I think about it, I vaguely recall Mrs Wafflehead selling a *tape* of a Soft Boys reunion concert. But I'd like a CD of Robyn--one of his acoustic shows over the last few years ... or maybe a collection of stellar songs and stories from a number of shows. Back to Lurkesville, Ken ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ken Sabatini The value of the average conversation Dept. of Psychology could be enormously improved by the University of Georgia constant use of four simple words: Athens, GA "I do not know." -Andre Maurois ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 06:27:49 -0700 (PDT) From: "Trixie, Bunny, and Peaches" Subject: Re: I want his job On Fri, 24 May 1996 BLATZMAN@aol.com wrote: > I believe there is one great big fool who'se job is to pick the "greatest > hits" of an artist he knows nothing about. > perhaps, we should ask this person(s) if it is 'lucky' or 'mucky', at some point in the future? mabye they know something we all don't. .c ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 10:31:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene B Mirman Subject: Greatest Hits... I'm still wondering if someone could tell me what songs are on this album. All I know is that Vibrating is on and Chinese Bones isn't. That does seem sad. And somewhat surprising. Though I do like Vibrating. If someone could please e-mail me with a track list I would quite pleased. -Eugene ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Fri, 24 May 96 09:14:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: KFF <> The American TV series "Kung Fu" was in its hey day at the time, grasshopper. classic case of "cashing in". -russ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 13:48:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Griffith Davies Subject: Robert Zimmerman (little RH content) Happy Birthday to the man. Well, I wish I could go to both of the shows that RH is performing. That tribute to Dylan at the borderline sounds incredible. Any Tapers going? (please please). You UK fegs are lucky. Have fun at the shows & enjoy. filled with much envy, griff ______________________________________________________________ Griffith Davies griffith.davies@csun.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 09:27:47 -0400 (EDT) From: star child Subject: yet more KFF First, thank you for your input. Secondly, I agree with you that any bias was unintentional and free of malice. That wasn't what I meant. I just thought it was ignorant in a less-than-sensitive way, and made the subject of its song into a parody--for example, that whistling that's apparently supposed to sound Chinese/Asian. I mean, what if he had a song about Hanukah and during the chorus he whistled "Hava Nagila" (sp?) and sang, "Everybody was eating Knishes, 'cause they had funky Jewish wishes"? That, I am sure, would also be unintentional and non-malicious. But the result is catastrophic. Beth I'm so proud of my pre-operative transsexual lesbian son! -from the movie _Jeffrey_ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 17:02:17 -0400 From: flaky white stuff Subject: a china pug Also sprach BLATZMAN@aol.com: >Vibrating... What were they thinking? maybe they were reading my thoughts - that was and still is my favorite track on _globe of frogs_. i can understand an objection based on it not being a "hit" (though college radio - or at least my station - did gravitate to that song when the record was released), but sounds like there is a stronger current of dissatisfaction going on here. is "vibrating" that disliked by the majority of fegs? Also sprach Eugene B Mirman : > I'm still wondering if someone could tell me what songs are on >this album. look at the web page. the track listing was posted a couple days ago and i updated the site immediately (http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/). woj ------------------------------ From: "Aaron J. Sparrow" Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 18:06:48 -0500 Subject: Re: a china pug I like "Vibrating" quite a bit as well. No question "Chinese Bones" is more indicative of Robyn's songwriting, with the well-developed melody/harmonies, but "Vibrating" is a fun song and a catchy tune. On that album, I am most partial to "Luminous Rose", as much as anything because of the way he romanticizes the idea of dying in the ocean and decomposing organically. ("The Rat's Prayer" is also fantastic, in this vein - many thanks to whoever posted the lyrics on the web site). I wanted to respond to Rex's post from a few weeks ago, when he wrote Invisible Hitchcock off as disposable. I urge you to give it another listen. It's certainly not one of his best (though that's to be expected since it's composed of tracks that didn't make the initial cut, and the songs don't necessarily gel together). But there are a lot of really good songs on it, especially the acoustic ones. "I Got a Message for You" and "Point it at Gran" are of the same caliber as the extra tracks on I Often Dream of Trains (Midnight release, anyway). And some of the Moog experiments, most notably "Mr. Deadly", "Let There Be More Darkness" and "The Abandoned Brain" are quite good too. There's no particular flow to the album, but the low production and folksy quality make for a very personal-sounding album, much like I Often Dream of Trains and Eye (two of his very best). I guess I'm just saying that, all in all, there are enough good songs to make it a worthwhile purchase. Which brings up an issue I've been meaning to discuss. Has anyone else had problems adjusting to the 2 most recent albums? Respect has grown on me, but I still do not enjoy Perspex Island. Am I missing something? It just sounds like the songwriting isn't quite as interesting; the songs just don't seem to be infested with the usual dose of Robyn's personality. I loved Eye because everything is so deeply personal, but all I get from Perspex Island are some pretty tunes. Even "She Doesn't Exist" seems like a poor-man's version of the same material covered in "Fifty-two Stations", "I Used to Say I Love You" and "Linctus House". Please help me like this album! Aaron ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 18:46:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: good vibe Vib-rating is not only my favorite GoF track, but probably my favorite a&m track! sounds great loud, and it's got chanting. they didn't have to throw chinese bones off, though, they might have done better to get rid of beatle dennis, or better yet, DarkGreenEnergy (but let's not revive the 'worst songs' thread!) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 21:53:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene B Mirman Subject: Re: a china pug On Fri, 24 May 1996, flaky white stuff wrote: > Also sprach BLATZMAN@aol.com: > > >Vibrating... What were they thinking? > > maybe they were reading my thoughts - that was and still is my favorite > track on _globe of frogs_. i can understand an objection based on it > not being a "hit" (though college radio - or at least my station - did > gravitate to that song when the record was released), but sounds like > there is a stronger current of dissatisfaction going on here. is > "vibrating" that disliked by the majority of fegs? > I agree. I think it's a fine song. Mostly, I'm pleased that they put She Doesn't Exist on it, and some of the Respect b-sides I don't have. Otherwise, I don't really care. I don't think the collection is that odd. It's most of the singles, a few other good songs off of the albums, and some rare stuff. I could imagine a worse collection of A & M stuff. > Also sprach Eugene B Mirman : > > > I'm still wondering if someone could tell me what songs are on > >this album. > > look at the web page. the track listing was posted a couple days ago and > i updated the site immediately (http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/). > Thanks, though I don't have a web browser right now. But thanks to everyone who sent me a tracklist. -Eugene ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Fri, 24 May 96 21:05:56 CDT From: Truman Peyote Subject: disappointments? I hate to say it but I'd have to agree with Aaron Sparrow. Um, I know it's sacrilege to some but I LOATHE "Perspex Island". It's not an awful record, just kind of a boring one, and pretty much a letdown. I would agree that the songwriting is not up to its usual brilliant par. I'm not much of a "Respect" enthusiast either, truth be told, although it's a huge step forward from "Perspex" and does contain a few gems, most notably "Arms of Love" and the much maligned "Wafflehead" (I know this is also a controversial opinion, but I just can't help it, I find "Wafflehead" a devastatingly amusing take on the "sexy innuendo" genre in general and in particular the "smooth loverman" schtick of one Barry White). Then again, I really can't get into a lather about anything post-"Eye", save "Y&O", which IMHO doesn't really count as a new release in the sense that the songs on that were written over a period of years. I think most of Robyn's best and most personal writing emerges on the acoustic records (post SB's, of course, and I said most, not all, I'd have to be daft to make THAT claim), especially "Eye", which is one of my favorite records of all time, not just my favorite RH record. It holds up to the great standards already set by "Blood on the Tracks" and "Plastic Ono Band", the two great classic rock and roll confessional records (not coincidentally, both recorded by songwriters well-known to have influenced our boy Robyn). Susan aspiring Greil Marcus at large :) "God save little shops, china cups, and virginity"- R. Davies ------------------------------ From: Beebster@aol.com Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 05:03:11 -0400 Subject: Re: a china pug >Which brings up an issue I've been meaning to discuss. Has anyone >else had problems adjusting to the 2 most recent albums? Respect has >grown on me, but I still do not enjoy Perspex Island. Am I missing >something? Perhaps I'm hallucinating again, but I seem to remember reading an interview somewhere in which Robyn said that with Eye, he was trying to see what would happen if he stripped most of the music away from some songs until they were mostly just words, and with Perspex he was trying to do just the opposite. - Cath :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.