From: fegmaniax@ecto.org To: fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Reply-To: fegmaniax@ecto.org Subject: Feg Digest V4 #108 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 108 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: ------- ------- Crosby, Gallagher and Theremin Re: Uncarved Wot? Maniaxpression kathy lee.... Almost Cut My Hair Queen Elvis! Rhino BSDR Liner Notes Now Robyn Track Listing Re: Robyn on-line (1) Higsons, (b) vinyl, and (iii) RH and the 'net ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 00:45:31 -0400 Subject: Crosby, Gallagher and Theremin ">Almost Cut My Hair (Toad's Place, CT, 4/94) is this a random robyn emission or a cover?" Somebody already pegged this, but it's fascinating nonetheless. "Almost Cut My Hair" is a David Crosby tune to be found on the CSNY album"Deja Vu-- evidence along with the Byrds single"Ladyfriend"and b-side "Why", all of Crosby's tracks on "Notorious Byrds Brothers", and a handful of others that Crosby is a sadly, irrevocably lost songwriting genius. The fascination here is that Neil Young first appeared, albeit unissued, in a Motown band called the Mynah Birds, fronted by the future Rick James (of "Superfreak" and subsequent spousal-consensual-sexual-abuse convictions infamy). Neil was later, between Buffalo Springfield and solo-artist fame, to collaborate with David Crosby on "Almost Cut My Hair", regarded as an anthem for containing the titular response "But I decided to let my freak flag fly". Rick James was (much later) to release an album under the title "Freak Flag". Pretty weird, eh? _____________________ Theremin: there's a lost (I think) post that I tried to send the list on this topic. I will repost it. Luna's use of a theremin, although I haven't heard it, sounds completely in character. ______________________ Robyn on Oasis vs: Blur: I must confess, with only marginal embarassment, that I agree with Uncle Bobby on this issue. I feel more in tune with Blur's songwriting angle, but Oasis's records BURY Blur's. Listen without prejudice (I gag on my own bile to have written those words) to either of Oasis's albums, think of the Only Ones or the Plimsouls or some such, and encounter, with the possible exception of early Ride, the only "great" "band" of the '90's. Derivative? Duh. Immortal? Unquestionably. Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 10:47:16 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Uncarved Wot? On Wed, 12 Jun 1996, flaky white stuff wrote: >Almost Cut My Hair (Toad's Place, CT, 4/94) > > is this a random robyn emission or a cover? Almost certainly the moronic David Crosby number written for the first CSNY (i.e. SECOND CS&N) album which my folknik mates used to play to death in 1971 or thereabouts. - Mike Godwin ------------------------------ From: candl@lewiston.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 04:53:29 -0800 Subject: Maniaxpression Greetings from a lurker! I've always liked Robyn's music (although he seems pretty nice in person ,too!). ewhat strikes me now... is how crypto-kabbalistic his work is. I mean, he has always revolved around 'spiritual' themes: Human Music deals with angels, Luminous Rose (rosicrucia?), Madonna of the Wasps (WASPS?!), The Wreck of the Arthur Lee, Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom... Dig it. It's like, Robyn's lyric is totally free in it's expression, yet delves into some of those 'spiritual' aspects that make us human...although a lot of people I know go through life oblivious to these nuances (they've got their own nuances!). We just had a conference on IRC about freedom of expression. One of the points made was, that most people don't think of freedom of expression and 'religion' as being complimentary... I think it's because they've never heard music like our boy robyn's. Outta fuckin' sight, man. outta sight. 'Isaac Newton' the big Fig ------------------------------ From: firstcat@lsli.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 96 08:58:45 Subject: kathy lee.... Wasn't Robyn on a Fun Time cruise with Kathy Lee to Brasil when he saw the dead body on the beach?..... Duet Request: Ball of Confusion (Temptations or Love and Rockets version) ------------------------------------- Jay Lyall Channel Sales Director Livermore Software Laboratories, Intl. 2825 Wilcrest, Suite 160 Houston, Texas 77042-3358 1-713-974-3274 jay@lsli.com Date: 6/13/96 ------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 96 09:27:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Almost Cut My Hair >>Almost Cut My Hair (Toad's Place, CT, 4/94) > >is this a random robyn emission or a cover?" > >Somebody already pegged this, but it's fascinating nonetheless. "Almost >Cut My Hair" is a David Crosby tune to be found on the CSNY album"Deja Vu-- I read a book back in the late 70's called "Paperback Writer"--a hilarious send-up of the Beatles story...things like [paraphrasing, obviously]"...for their second single, EMI wanted them to record a song penned by an up and coming English songwriter. The Beatles, however, wanted to record one of their own songs, so they purposefully played poorly on the non-original tune. As a result, EMI Okayed "Please Please Me" as their second single, and it became The Beatles' first number one. The young songwriter--Freddie Mercury--scored a hit of his own several years later with the song the Beatles had tanked, "Bohemian Rhapsody"..." Anyway, the story concluded with the Beatles deciding to reunite for one more album. All of them had been sitting around at home doing nothing for ten years, so they had nothing to write about but their favorite TV shows (Lennon's "Gilligan's Island" was one of the tunes on the reunion album). As the album neared completion, they needed ONE MORE SONG to round out the set. John and Paul were tapped, George had used up all his songs on his first solo album, and Ringo wasn't even worth asking. So they decided to record a cover tune, and they chose..."Almost Cut My Hair" Wouldn't surprise me if Robyn had read that book. I'd have to say, by the way, that Robyn's versions of "Kung Fu Fighting" and "Almost Cut My Hair" were probably the two most improbable covers in the history of music. -russ "Hey Ringo, where'd you get the midget?" -George Harrison, after a midget enters Ringo's billiard room with a tray of drinks ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 10:34:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Griffith Davies Subject: Queen Elvis! I just had to post this info. I finally tracked down a cd version of Queen Elvis. It was still in the longbox, sealed, and covered in dust. My own buried treasure. ______________________________________________________________ Griffith Davies hbrtv219@dewey.csun.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 96 16:55:00 -0500 From: Jim Moore Subject: Rhino BSDR Liner Notes Someone was kind enough to post the liner notes from the Invisible Hitchcock Rhino rerelease last month, and so I'm going to add the Black Snake Diamond Role liner notes here for Caroline in Canada and all the other fegmeisters who have decided to forgo purchasing the reissue. Later, I will also post the liner notes to the Ryko reissue of Underwater Moonlight. First, though, is anyone as sad as me that there's no "Each of Her Silver Wands" on the Moss Elixir CD? It's my favorite of all his "new" songs and I became quite despondent when I learned it wouldn't be included. Hopefully, he'll include it on the Mossy Liquor vinyl. Now, on to BSDR: ================================================================= "They're just eggs that I laid many years ago; whether they ever hatched or not is questionable." - Robyn Hitchcock Early in 1980, the Soft Boys ceased to function - quite gently, as such things go. The Cambridge quartet - Robyn Hitchcock, Kimberley Rew, Andy Metcalfe, later Matthew Seligman, and Morris Windsor - had gotten it right the third time out (recordings for their first album were so awful only small pieces have been released), with *Underwater Moonlight*. Just exactly right, their peculiar, lilting, very British variation on psychedelia a la Syd Barrett playing elegant sophistication against American antecedents like, say, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. And then they called it a day. Oh, odd bits of tape were pressed to vinyl after, they still worked with each other (reuniting in Britain for a few shows in 1993), and Metcalfe and Windsor would later join Robyn as Egyptians. But the Soft Boys, having spawned a small, devoted cult of followers, were no more. Which left Robyn where he had begun, back in 1974 when he'd moved from London to Cambridge: as a solo artist. In all fairness, *Black Snake Diamond Role* comes close to being the fourth Soft Boys album. Pat Collier engineered most of the sessions at Alaska Studios, where he had recorded much of *Underwater Moonlight*. Matthew Seligman began producing (or coconspiring with) Robyn and played bass on some tracks. Morris and Kimberley were drawn into the record as well. But, for the first time, this was to be Robyn Hitchcock's album. "I really enjoyed making *BSDR*", he remembers, "because it was the first time I'd ever got to make a record by myself. It was the first time I'd got to pick who I was going to have on the individual songs, rather than having _the band_. And so I figured I'd use the strength of the individual Soft Boys rather than the strengths - and the weaknesses - of the collective Soft Boys." Sessions began simply, just Robyn and Morris on drums. "Morris is very nimble, and he picks things up very fast," Robyn says, "but, also, if there's nobody there except me and him, he tends to feel a bit more responsible for the track. So, 'The Man Who Invented Himself' and 'Acid Bird' were just Morris and me. I think the first thing we did was 'Acid Bird' on a four-track machine that Pat Collier had. Morris hadn't heard any of the songs, so I'd just go in and play bass or guitar. I remember playing something on 'Acid Bird' and realizing afterwards that I'd had the wah-wah pedal pressed down into the extreme treble position for the whole take, but it sounded really good, so I double-tracked it. And then I was able to put eight harmonies on it because Pat Collier was brilliant at bumping tracks down, so although it was only an old four-track machine, there's actually 12 or 16 tracks on it." Robyn pauses. "A lot of these records were recorded in Alaska, so I should probably explain it. Right opposite Waterloo station is this rehearsal studio called Alaska, which belonged to Pat Collier, but he sold it in 1987. And there's this smell there which is a combination of - have you ever been in a very old church? - it's a kind of European damp, a medieval Gothic damp, a compounded sort of fungus-glue-tobacco-and-possibly-alcohol smell. Mold, masses of it. Anyway, you open your guitar case in L.A., and assuming you've just come from Alaska, it'll just smell of Alaska." An alternate, longer ("rambling", Robyn says cheerfully) version of "I Watch the Cars" from that initial session appears here for the first time, though not without a few technical difficulties: "I had to find a machine that could actually translate it to mix the tape, because a lot of this was recorded on equipment which is now defunct," Robyn explains. "I Watch the Cars" was recorded the day John Lennon was shot (it was the morning of December 9, 1980, in England; the evening of the 8th in the USA). "We all sat around, Matthew and Vince (Ely) from the Psychedic Furs and Kimberley and me. Kimberley didn't say anything. Matthew said, "That's the price to pay for invading people's minds," and Vince just said, "Why couldn't they have shot Richard Butler?" Lennon singing with the Furs would have been quite interesting, though." Most of the songs on *BSDR* betray a happier, more casual time. "Do Policemen Sing?" fused two memories into one song. Cutting some early Soft Boys material, Robyn wandered into the studio next door, where finishing touches were being applied to a recording by the Welsh Police Male Voice Choir. Later, "some friends of mine got busted, and they were given some cold beans - not as some form of interrogation; they were given some lunch and the beans were cold - so I wrote, "Don't complain in your beans aren't warm." "The Man Who Invented Himself", a kind of rumination about legends like Syd Barrett, was written a few days after Robyn watched Monty Python's _Life of Brian_ and, Robyn admits, is vaguely modeled after that film's finale number "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life." Additional sessions took place on a barge, where Richard Branson had installed a 16-track studio. "Morris and I did "The Man Who Invented Himself" in the middle of the night, on the barge," Robyn recalls. "Howie, our roadie, came along, and there was about an 18-inch gap between the barge and the quay just out by the bow, otherwise the boat was absolutely flush by the river bank. Howie managed to fall in - which was quite an achievement - so he took his trousers off and dried them over the piano. I played "The Man Who Invented Himself". Then Matthew played on "Love." A lot of it was done in the middle of the night on the barge, or in Alaska." Robyn also experimented with a few musicians who didn't come with a Soft Boys pedigree, including Vince Ely and Thomas Dolby. Robyn: "Matthew dragged Thomas Dolby down at one point and said, "This guy's going to be famous, you've got to use him." So Dolby was stuck in front of a fairly conventional keyboard, which he played fairly conventionally; he hadn't got his worldview in front of him yet. "We did some other songs with Vince playing drums, and Kimberley. Vince was a bit more heavy-handed than Morris, a bit more forceful. Kimberley was better off playing with Vince, I thought, because Kimberley's a very heavy guitarist. And Matthew played bass on that. The last thing was "Brenda's Iron Sledge", which was done in a place called Music Works, just up the road from the Hope & Anchor. When it came time to make an album of all these songs and sessions, there were nearly 20 pieces to choose from. "I spent ages stockpiling tracks and agonizing with Matthew and Rosalind, my girlfriend at the time, about what tracks to use," Robyn says. *BSDR* proper ended up with 10 songs; "Dancing on God's Thumb" came out as the B-side of "The Man Who Invented Himself." The rest of the songs came to life later on or died altogether, Robyn explains: "Things like "Give Me A Spanner Ralph", which ended up on Invisible Hitchcock* and "My Favorite Buildings" (also on *IH* but also recorded for *I Often Dream of Trains*) were just some things with acoustic guitar and vocals. Everything on *BSDR* ended up having drums on it, but that wasn't the original intention. I wanted to vary it quite a bit, but for some reason we didn't use those songs. I guess I kept writing new ones. There are four other bonus tracks (in addition to "Dancing on God's Thumb") included here, among them "Happy the Golden Prince," from the "Eaten By Her Own Dinner" 12-inch, and "It Was the Night" with Matthew and Morris, a song later rerecorded with the *Groovy Decay/Decoy* band, both from November 1980. "Anyway," Robyn finishes, "suffice to say, it was a really good record. I mean it was really good fun to play. We sped it up slightly in the cut; I've had to do that again, because I've lost the production masters, so I had to go right back to the original masters to stick this thing together." --- Grant Alden (*BSDR* was originally issued as Armageddon (UK) #ARM 4, 5/81. The working titles for this album included *The Perfumed Corpse* and *Zinc Pear*. Test pressings were made of *Zinc Pear* which included the songs "Give Me A Spanner, Ralph" and "Happy the Golden Prince", but the release was withdrawn and replaced by a new version featuring "Brenda's Iron Sledge") 1. THE MAN WHO INVENTED HIMSELF (2:53) (Original Mix from *Zinc Pear*) 2. BRENDA'S IRON SLEDGE (2:52) (Amniotic Mix) 3. DO POLICEMEN SING? (3:32) 4. THE LIZARD (4:58) 5. MEAT (2:58) 6. ACID BIRD (4:36) 7. I WATCH THE CARS (2:19) 8. OUT OF THE PICTURE (3:37) 9. CITY OF SHAME (3:14) 10. LOVE (4:27) 11. DANCING ON GOD'S THUMB (3:40) (Originally issued as the B-side of the 7" single "The Man Who Invented Himself", Armageddon (UK) #AS 008, 4/81; Later included as a bonus track on the CD release of *BSDR*) 12. HAPPY THE GOLDEN PRINCE (6:39) (Unissued until its inclusion on the 12" EP "Eaten By Her Own Dinner", Midnight Music (UK) #DONG 2, 10/86) 13. I WATCH THE CARS #2 (4:22) (Previously Unissued Version) 14. IT WAS THE NIGHT (3:34) (Previously Unissued Version) 15. GROOVING ON A INNER PLANE (4:08) (Single Version) (Originally issued as the B-side of the 7" flexi-disc "It's A Mystic Trip", Armageddon (UK) #SPURT 1, that came with the 7" single of "The Man Who Invented Himself", 4/81; Later included as a bonus track on the CD release of *Groovy Decoy*) Personnel: ------------- Robyn Hitchcock: piano, bass, lead guitar Kimberley Rew: guitar (3,4,7,9) Knox: guitar (5,8) Matthew Seligman: bass (2-5, 7-15); overbass (10) Morris Windsor: drums & backing vocals (1,5,6,8,10,11,13,14) Vince Ely: drums (2-4,7,15) Gary Barnacle: saxes (11) Tom Dolby: ocean (10) Robb Appleton: backing vocals (10) Howie Gilbert: backing vocals (10) James A. Smith: voices (15) Produced by Pat Collier with a little help from Matthew Seligman Tracks 2 & 15 Produced by Matthew Seligman & Robyn Hitchcock Recorded at Alaska & Music Works (London, 1980-81) Engineers: Pat Collier, Andy Llewellyn, Jo Julian Photography: R.S.K. Studios & Rosalind Kunath Artwork: R.R.H. Thank you to all the above & Richard Bishop, James A. Smith, Tom Hibbert & little insects everywhere. Mental Assistance: Rosalind & Matthew Reissue Produced for Release by Jim Neill A&R Assistance: Rick Gershon Research: Patrick Milligan & Gary Peterson Legal Assistance: Jon Earp Remastering: Bill Inglot & Ken Perry Reissue Art Direction: Coco Shinomiya Design: Art Slave Special Thanks: Paul Bradshaw/Mod Lang All songs written by Robyn Hitchcock & Publised by EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI)/Two Crabs Music (PRS). ========================================================== Hope this is interesting to you folks! Pax, James "Beaker" Moore jimm@dbu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:00:51 -0500 (CDT) From: John Stevenson Subject: Now Robyn Track Listing Hey, To whomever posted that track listing....any idea if the "This is how it feels" is a cover of the Golden Palominos song??? Just curious, john OH, and Robyn & the Braggster sounds like potentially one of the best concerts I've ever seen!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Stevenson (608) 265-4065 UW-Survey Center stevenson@ssc.wisc.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Robyn on-line Date: Thu, 13 Jun 96 18:12:52 -0700 From: Tom Clark Susan was found pondering: >Also, I have to say that my feelings are somewhat mixed. Yes, I'd be excited >to know that Robyn might be reading this very message himself, but wouldn't >this also lead to a bit of self-censorship? I mean, I might be a bit >embarassed if I knew the man himself were reading that whole silly French >chateau thread, for example, or the Great Mucky Debate. Over on the Cracker list, David Lowery and Johnny Hickman are occasional contributors. They write from hotel rooms while on the road. Most of their postings consist of lyric clarifications and "thanks - it was good to see you too" stuff regarding shows and in-stores. I must say, though, that that list has the definite feel of an AOL chat room. I think any artist would be downright flattered to read the kind of discussions about their work that go on here - even Robyn, whom I suspect would not offer much, but would lurk grinningly. Hey, did I just make up a word? Have a nice day. -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 17:32:04 -0700 From: Nick Winkworth Subject: (1) Higsons, (b) vinyl, and (iii) RH and the 'net (1) Re Higsons. Somepeople said: >>"(I always thought the Higsons represented some sort of archetypal >>stuffy middle-aged-type English couple- is it just me?" > >Yes indeed! Actually I imagined a whole sort of pudgy, doughy- featured >family, kid and all... something about eating a lot of porridge doesn't >quite suggest a buncha pseudo-funkster kids. Sorry to disappoint those of you who were enjoying this delightful vision of eccentric family life in England. The Higsons are (were) contemporaries of the Soft Boys. A sort of pub-rock band with (not terribly convincing) leanings towards punk. Don't know if they ever released a whole album--I only have one 7". Their sleeve graphics are great, however. (b) Re vinyl. Having just returned from a visit to the "Olde Countreye" (England, that is), I remembered the consternation concerning Robyn's plans to release the new recording in different vinyl and CD versions. I thought American fegs may be interested to know that in the UK at least, vinyl is not dead. (Not terribly healthy, to be sure, but not dead) I was amazed to walk into HMV (one of the major chains) to see a wall displaying all the top 20 albums--every one in CD, tape ...and vinyl! I wasn't there long enough to find out, but maybe this is viewed something like the "real ale" issue. For those who don't know, this was a very successful grass-roots campaign against mass-produced beer, in favor of more traditional brews by small companies. Is Robyn in the vanguard of some sort of "Real Records" campaign to bring back the LP? Inquiring minds need to know! (iii) RH and the 'Net I agree with John Stevenson (Jun 5) that this is consistently one of the most interesting lists around. A tribute (I would say) to the people who are attracted to Robyn's music -- and thus (fairly directly) to the man himself. Knowing that Robyn is, to say the least, not completely comfortable with being discussed in this electronic forum. Perhaps he'd feel better about it all if he knew the sort of superior interaction that his works have generated. Perhaps all this recent exposure to the 'net will change his mind -- or inspire some new songs. Anyone want to suggest some titles? (Four) This post is way too long already so I'll sign off. ...But not before gloating that while rummaging in the cellar of my house in England I found a couple of posters advertising early Soft Boys gigs in Cambridge. If I can figure a way to scan them I'll send an image to woj for the web page. (V) Err ...that's it. -Nick. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. .