Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 97 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: ------- ------- It Was the Night/Love is What Robyn and literature 66/96: the softboy celebrates Invisible Perspex Re: Hitchcock, A&M split Assorted bits compilation title Re: Robert Zimmerman (little RH content) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 23:23:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Terry Marks Subject: It Was the Night/Love is What Has anyone else noticed the extreme musical similarity between Love Is What and It Was The Night? Jsut wondering Terry "The Human Mellotron" Marks a013645t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 15:01:02 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Robyn and literature The other one said: >Always searching for those literary connections and >dripping from a heated cylinder at 450 degrees >fahrenheit, Hi Jim although it's not strictly a literary connection, have you tried reading any of John Sladek's books? Very, very Robynesque. There's a great book of short stories called "Keep the Giraffe Burning" that is definitely worth checking out if you enjoy Robyn's stories - these have very much the same bizarre quality (in the first story, for instance, a three-legged elephant, a woman who is being chased by a philosophical argument and a man who salutes cockroaches team up to save the world!) James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno) ------------------------------ From: billpannifer@easynet.co.uk Date: Sun, 26 May 1996 16:11:42 +0100 Subject: 66/96: the softboy celebrates Robyn Hitchcock Borderline, London, *25 May 96* 1st set (solo acoustic): She Belongs To Me 4th Time Around Visions of Johanna Baby Blue Desolation Row -- 2nd set (with band, Homer): Tell Me Mama Baby Let Me Follow You Down Tom Thumbs Blues Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat One Too many Mornings Thin Man Rolling Stone __ Dignity (semi-acoustic w/lead, bass) Queen Jane (w/band) ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 02:25:27 -0400 Subject: Invisible Perspex Somebody finally challenged my distaste for "Invisible Hitchcock", whilst it becomes fashionable to loathe "Perspex Island". Someone else mentioned "Blood on the Tracks" and "Plastic Ono Band", which illustrate just why "IH" is disposable. Most of Robyn's albums take you to a specific time and place, like "Blood" and "Plastic" do. "IH" takes me to many different places, and most of them seem trite, kind of aborted... you could name lots of other Robyn songs that belong in this category, but they're all saved by "fitting" on their respective albums-- "Agony of Pleasure", "Superman", "Wafflehead", "Mellow Together", "Midnight Fish", etc... if these had been the rejects from their respective albums, we could have an album composed of their ilk instead of "IH", and it wouldn't be very good either. At least the infinitely superior "You & Oblivion" has a sort of unifying ethic, or at least somehow magically seems to... That said, I own "Invisible Hitchcock", more or less for "reference"-- to check out the songs I want to hear and investigate from time to time. I rarely listen to it in its entirety, but it does have good songs. Still, if I were to prioritize Robyn's albums to recommend to a friend (the friend being a non-Feg-ified clone of myself) I would place "IH" dead last. "Perspex" I love. It's simply a great pop record, one that someone HAD to make, and I for one am happy it was Robyn. "Lysander" is classic in every sense; "Ride" is transcendantal. Yes, there's a little less lyrical bizarreness than usual-- although I think the fact that the VERY normal "SYTYIL" was the single makes the album seem more pedestrian than it really is; the two aforementioned songs are penty idiosyncratic, and for God's sake, it has a song called "Vegetation and Dimes" on it! No, it's not "quintessential" Robyn, but there's quite a bit of "Underwater Moonlight" in there, inasmuch as it's perfectly produced for what it intends to be ("Element" belongs in this category, too). Ah, well, who cares what I think. Rex ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Hitchcock, A&M split Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 11:54:41 -0300 From: "Thomas Narten" >Thomas questioned the fact that Robyn was dropped from A&M over being >unsellable, and my proof is that he told me so himself, Thanks. >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. But if A&M thought he was unsellable, why doesn't WB think the same? >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. Do you have sales figures for all the albums? I'm actually surprised to hear that sales are increasing. Thomas ------------------------------ Date: 27 May 96 13:16:45 EDT From: Bad Vibe Merchant <101356.2516@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Assorted bits Having just read three months of mail, here's some rather out-of-date replies to some things that were mentioned on the list. a) _Kiss Yourself_ was the working title for _Perspex Island_. b) Although The Damned did a music spot on _The Young Ones_ ('Nasty' - and most of it had dialogue over it) - but the Captain didn't play that time. Robyn does got a name-drop on his 'Riot On Eastbourne Pier' (on the _Revolution Now_ album). c) Speaking of live albums... According to Mushy, the Hitchcock-plays-Dylan thing on 25/5/96 is to be released as a live album "if it doesn't sound like crap". Unfortunately, it may well not come out; there were lots of problems with microphone pickups (as in; the DAT machine kept falling over and pulling the audience pickup with it; the people near the audience pickup included a heckler and two people earnestly discussing how bad it was; the sound levels went to pot on the high notes). If anyone wants a copy of my tape of it contact me but *I'm very busy and can't promise I'll have time to do them all*. d) PVs 6 & 7 are coming out as a long magazine-short book depending on the amount of stuff. It'll include reprints of the more interesting stuff from the back issues as well as new stuff and a pile _this_ high of newspaper and mag reprints. Any contributions, please send them blah blah blah. Aidan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 96 15:29:34 From: spine@iastate.edu (James Francis) Subject: compilation title while we're throwing around possible alternate titles for "greatest hits," how about "people get what they deserve"? (it's catchier, though just as cynical, as "you paid for it once, now pay for it again.") just a thought. also, a question from a busy new-comer to the list: what, exactly, is the release date for "moss elixer/mossy liquor"? sorry if it's been covered many times before. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 18:06:07 -0400 From: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu (John, Jacci, & Madison) Subject: Re: Robert Zimmerman (little RH content) >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. speaking of UK tapers, did anyone manage to tape any of the gigs at the 12-Bar club in January? Robyn played one show each week for four weeks, with supposedly no material overlapping. And I think maybe this was the time frame where Homer rehearsed some of the "mossy liquour" stuff live at these shows. if anyone taped 12 bar shows and or the Bob Dylan show, could you please get in touch? (if you want to do some trading, that is.) still waiting patiently for the Mossy release date (i betcha they wait until all them college kids start school again for the fall---lots of $$$$$ floating around), John %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% John B. Jones e-mail: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu http://web.syr.edu/~jojones "Just because you're better than me/ Doesn't mean I'm lazy Just because you're going forward/ Doesn't mean I'm going backwards." -Mssr. Billy Bragg %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.