From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org To: fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Reply-To: fegmaniax@ecto.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Subject: Feg Digest V5 #2 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 2 Friday January 3 1997 To post, send mail to fegmaniax@ecto.org To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@ecto.org with the words "unsubscribe fegmaniax-digest" in the message body. Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/index.html Archives are available at ftp://www.ecto.org/pub/lists/fegmaniax/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- a truly odd question yadda yadda yadda Hitchcock, Stipe, Williams, Hansen and Hersh Re: Lists RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). Best of '96 (I give up) standouts The Inevitable But Horribly Wrong Comparison of Beck & RH RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). Re: standouts Years' Best Mossy Elixir: last call RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). Re: standouts 1996 and groceries Italian REM bootleg Re: The Inevitable But Horribly Wrong Comparison of Beck & RH Re: 1996 and groceries ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 18:10:24 -0500 From: james isaacs Subject: a truly odd question Has anyone had the courage to pick up the new album by the Monkees? ALl 4 of them are back on it. I was wondering if Mike Nesmith was still as good as he was in 1968. James ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 18:02:24 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: yadda yadda yadda just some random comments on folks' 1996 retrospectievs: also sprach mlang@inch.com (Matrix): >I realized that indie music has really lost >something for me since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out. earlier this year, i found my pavement records (yeah, real vinyl) and played them all in succession. the only one to stand the test of time was their first. imho, the last really good "indierawk" album that was liquorice's _listening cap_ (which came out in 1995, but i didn't hear it until 1996). my opinion may be, in part, due to the fact that i've gotten less interested in that scene over the past couple years, but even the indiebuzz is pretty silent these days. >1. De La Soul- Stakes is High(*****)- This record is so dense lyrically >and so enjoyable musically. gotta check this out. their first record was astouding, considering the hip hop situation when it was released. i've slacked off in that genre as well, but i'll go out of my way for a de la soul record. >2. Tori Amos- Boys for Pele(*****)- Okay, Okay. I never liked Tori Amos. >I as with many people on this list, thought she was to Kate Bush as Kingdom >Come was to Led Zeppelin. I refused to believe that she had talent. guess the listowner seems things differently than most folks here then. i've been a KaTefan for years, but have liked tori amos from her solo start (and even remember when y kant tori read -- the band she used to front -- released their only album in 1988). frankly, i don't see any more similarity between KaTe and tori than the fact that they both have ovaries and play the piano. KaTe comes from an arty, fantasy place, while tori comes from a gritty earthy place. their piano styles are dramatically different. never understood how anyone else heard otherwise. >5. Ride- Tarantula may have to listen to this some more in light of your comments. i was rather disappointed by it, but haven't gone back to it. >8. Suzanne Vega- Nine Objects of Desire (****) good spin, but, as you say, wears thin quickly. i find it more enjoyable if you space the listens widely. >12. Velocity Girl- Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts (****) >Very sad that they broke up. I am suprised how high this album finished. >It would be very easy to write this band off as fluff pop but their songs after their first single ("my favorite thing"), i thought they could do no wrong. then came the albums. *yawn* the second was a mite better than the first, but neither had the spark that the slumberland single had. >13. The Favorite Color- Color Out of Space (****) >no comment hah! well, if it's any consolation, i liked this record quite a bit and it'd probably be somewhere in between #11 and 20 if i were to actually make a list. also sprach lj lindhurst : >BTW, one of my favorites that no one else seems to have heard about is an >album called "Admiral Charcoal's Song" by Rebecca Moore (late '95, it's on ditto! saw her open up for anna domino at the alterknit sometime in 1996. live, she was very close to the line between monotonous and mesmerizing (ending up on the side of the latter when all was said and done), but the album holds together very nicely. also sprach Merkin Pie : >I bought fewer "new" albums in 1996 then I ever had before. I don't know if >that is a commentary on the state of music or my ever changing moods. i've been amused by all the newspaper articles bemoaning the sorry state of music in 1996: talking about how hootie and the don't-they-blowfish were a bust, the lack of anything really trendy, yadda, yadda, yadda. i suppose if you only look at the mainstream, you find that to be the case, but everyone knows that they is more to it than just the veneer (though, apparently, one can not write about it for syndicated columns). the most amusing musical triumph of 1996 has to be kiss with the highest grossing tour of the year. yahoo! >**Best Beer of 1996: dunno about best beer, but i'm thrilled that red hook is starting to be found on the east coast and depressed that celis is still scarce as... well, *scarce*. woj ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 22:30:19 GMT From: Phil Edwards Subject: Hitchcock, Stipe, Williams, Hansen and Hersh Not a firm of lawyers but some thoughts sparked off by the "other bands doing Hitchcock stuff" discussion... I've got an Italian REM bootleg which credits Billy Bragg (guitar & vocals) and RH (guitar) on one track, Dylan's "You ain't going nowhere". I can't hear Bragg (whose real name is Stephen Williams, incidentally) but RH definitely has a few lines. Not least in the pre-song chat - Stipe: "I'll do the part about the Mongols" RH: "The mongrels? What's the bit about the mongrels?" Stipe: (mumble, mumble, pre-song forgotten-lyric panic...) RH: "Well, just tell them about the mongrels". Stipe: "This is a song about the mongrels..." Two tracks later REM do a cover of "Mrs Robinson", with an uncredited Hitchcock on lead vocal and, well, someone else doing harmony. RH in best sardonic form - makes the whole song sound slightly seedy without undermining its happy pop quality, which is quite a trick really (he does this a lot on _Globe of Frogs_). I've no idea when or where these tracks were recorded. Album of the year: _Odelay_, no question. A massive sprawling scaly-hided *thing* of an album, unlike _Moss Elixir_ (unfortunately). Beside Beck, I can't think of anyone who shares RH's lightness of touch lyrically, his ability to write lines which hover between poetry and joke. One song I heard made me wonder about Kristin Hersh - "You don't inspire a metric tonne of trust 'Cause I'm on fire, and so is all my stuff" - but on reflection I think this probably wasn't meant to sound funny. -- Phil Edwards amroth@zetnet.co.uk "In reality, methane from decomposing manure is very unlikely to have been a hazard on the Ark" - John Woodmoroppe ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 19:54:51 -0700 From: gondola@deltanet.com (E.B.) Subject: Re: Lists >From: lj lindhurst > >Now, come on! No one has named three of the BEST CDs of the whole >year/decade/universe: > >"All This Useless Beauty" - Elvis Costello >and >"Under the Bushes Under the Stars" -Guided By Voices > >And how about Vic Chesnutt? I was VERY disappointed with Under The Bushes, coming on the heels of the much-superior Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, and ATUB bummed me out too, though to a lesser degree. I adore Costello, but ATUB ranks with my bottom 3-4 EC albums, sorry. It still SOUNDS like an album of discarded songs to me (which it is, of course). I did like the new Vic Chesnutt a lot. I've always liked Chesnutt, ever since Little. About To Choke was #10 on my own list. :) Eb ------------------------------ From: "Baker, David(PIN-C09)" Subject: RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 22:18:15 -0500 mlang@inch.com (Matrix) stated: >I realized that indie music has really lost >something for me since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out. to which woj added: >earlier this year, i found my pavement records (yeah, real vinyl) and >played them all in succession. the only one to stand the test of time >was their first. imho, the last really good "indierawk" album that was which I have to comment on. I thought that the first Pavement album _Slanted and Enchanted_ was a fantastic record (and well named) while Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was for the most part a bit dull after a starting strongly. But the record I really want to talk about is Wowee Zowee. Based on the strength of their previous two albums, I bought it when it first came out in 1995 but found it a bit hard to get into. Then, when Pavement toured as part of the Big Day Out (the Australian equivalent of Lollapolloza (sp?)) in early 1996, it motivated me to listen to it again so I was a bit familiar with the material. After a few listens, I was absolutely blown away. It was definitely the album I listened to (and enjoyed) most last year and I'm still nowhere near sick of it. It is frequently bizarre and nearly an hour long but each song is loaded with twisted hooks and the emotional resonance of the songs beneath their lo-fi/arty surface is extremely powerful. So for any Pavement/'indierawk' fans who haven't really investigated the album I highly recommend it. 'It won't happen overnight but it will happen'! The only shame is that given the fairly muted response to Wowee Zowee, Pavement are apparently in the studio at present constructing a more conventional rock album. It could well be fine but I'm afraid that it could be similar to the way Frank Black followed the ambitious _Teenager of the Year_ with the OK-but-uninspiring _The Cult of Ray_. imho should of course be added to essentially everything I have said here. Dave. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 23:15:47 -0500 From: mrrunion@tng.net (Runion, Michael R.) Subject: Best of '96 (I give up) Okay, okay...I swore I wouldn't post one of these things, but after reading so many of them, I guess I just got sucked in. Now, first of all, my list is probably somewhat more mainstream, which bugs me a lot, but I guess I'm just getting old (29, is that old? I think maybe). I had a baby girl this year and that sorta sapped my time to listen and money to buy new stuff, but you know...priorities. Anyway... Top 10 Albums (in no order) ROBYN HITCHCOCK Mossy Liquor (which I do believe is just a tad superior to Moss Elixir) REM New Adventures In Hi-Fi (I'm sorry, but these guys will most likely always make my top 10 list, if they release an album that is) MICHELLE SHOCKED Kind Hearted Woman (Hmmm, I haven't seen this on anyone's list yet. This album at first is a bit difficult, but once you settle in, it really takes you somewhere) JULIAN COPE (again, not on anyone else's list so far. I wish I could put his Interpreter album here, but alas it hasn't been released domestically and I haven't got it on import yet. This entry is based on 2 (or 4?) excellent singles he released during the summer "I Come From Another Planet, Baby" and "Planetary Sit-In". I pretty much worship this guy) PORNO FOR PYROS Good God's Urge (Another one! Okay, maybe Perry's schtick is getting a bit dated, but I thought this album was beautiful, in a "Three Days" or "Jane Says/Rock&Roll/Sympathy" kinda way) LOVE & ROCKETS Sweet F.A. (I know, it could of been better, but it was nice to hear from the old guys again) BILLY BRAGG William Bloke (nearly a perfect little album, plus I could identify with the aging ideology thing) IMPERIAL TEEN (Yeah, I guess I kinda like this one, with its sorta Feelies thing going on) Two more...damn... MARIA MCKEE Life Is Grand (Lone Justice hit campus back in '85/'86 and I've stuck with her ever since. Somewhat monotonous taken all at once, but I like that she keeps trying) SWEET RELIEF II: GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION (Okay, a nice decent compilation with some fine renditions. I'd still rather listen to VIC's Little though) All in all, I agree with what someone else said...the mainstream was a bit blah this year. And thanks to all of the other "Top 10's" I've seen, I've got some ideas of stuff to search out. Thanks. TOP CONCERTS OF '96 BILLY/ROBYN - Atlanta LOVE & ROCKETS/JAMES HALL - Orlando BEST OPENER/WORST HEADLINER OF '96 AMPS/FOO FIGHTERS - Orlando CONCERTS THAT I'M DEVASTATED THAT I MISSED IN '96 MICHELLE SHOCKED - Orlando KEVN KINNEY - Orlando Okay, enough babble. Hey, can anyone help me get a copy of those Unhatched Crablings tapes? Please? __________________________________________________________ Mike & Dianne Runion Cocoa, Florida email: mrrunion@tng.net (home) email: Michael.Runion-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov WWW: http://www.spacecoast.net/users/mrrunion/default.htm "A perfect circle of acquaintances and friends, Drink another, coin a phrase..." -REM __________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 23:15:46 -0500 From: shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott Hunter McCleary) Subject: standouts These year in review things have been most revealing. I've got two faves from '96 that haven't shown up on anyone's list yet (maybe for good reason): The Verve Pipe's "Villains." Sure it looks like RCA is pushing them beyond reason, but how can you knock a band with such great lyrics, an incredible web site and featured spots on Intel commercials? I was really knocked out by this album. Cake's "Fashion Nugget." OK, so it's got a cover of "I Will Survive" (for 10 points, name the other band who covered said same in '96), but these guys sound just like my best friend's old band, and darn it, THEY almost made it. My biggest rediscovery of the year happened when I picked up Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" at my used CD store. I have completely forgotten what a cool album this is. It was like senior year in college all over again only without the angst. ========= SH McCleary 3052 S. Buchanan St., #A1 Arlington, VA 22206 shmac@ix.netcom.com It's the homepage that gets the red out: http://prodigaldog.ppages.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 11:22:57 -0500 From: Paula_Carino@usccmail.lehman.com (Paula Carino) Subject: The Inevitable But Horribly Wrong Comparison of Beck & RH I've encountered the comparison of Beck's lyrics to Robyn Hitchcock's before, but I just don't hear it. Robyn's lyrics, for the most part, seem to have a certain emotional resonance, while Beck's just seem surreal for surreal's sake. And that ain't poetry to me. Comments? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 12:35:18 -0400 From: lj lindhurst Subject: RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). > mlang@inch.com (Matrix) stated: > >>I realized that indie music has really lost >>something for me since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out. ho, the last really good "indierawk" album that was > >which I have to comment on. I thought that the first Pavement album >_Slanted and Enchanted_ was a fantastic record (and well named) while >Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was for the most part a bit dull after a >starting strongly. But the record I really want to talk about is Wowee >Zowee ......... After a few listens, I was >absolutely blown away. It was definitely the album I listened to (and >enjoyed) most last year and I'm still nowhere near sick of it. It is >frequently bizarre and nearly an hour long but each song is loaded with >twisted hooks and the emotional resonance of the songs beneath their >lo-fi/arty surface is extremely powerful. >. > >imho should of course be added to essentially everything I have said here. Well, in MY humble opinion, both _Crooked Rain Crooked Rain_ and _Wowee Zowee_ are without a doubt two of the most brilliant pieces of modern music I have ever heard, and I'm not sure which is better. I don't think _Slanted and Enchanted_ (also a good, but not amazing album) is their first though-- I have a record which predates that, called _Westing By Musket and Sextet_ (?). I think it came out in '89, and it really SOUNDS like it, and it kind of sucks. Nifty cover art though. I heard _CR,CR_ after thinking for a long time that there was absolutely no one out there making any interesting music, and it just blew me (and that theory) away. And the first few bars of _Wowee Zowee_ always give me chills. I have also heard that they live in the Williamsburg neighborhood here in Brooklyn, and that you can regularly see Steve Malkmus (sp?) playing pinball at a local bar called Mugs. (One of my friends lives near there, and she spots them all the time.) lj ------------------------------ From: Motih@aol.com Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 13:26:31 -0500 Subject: Re: standouts well, i haven't babbled about what i liked this year, but i've noticed that no one has mentioned a few things--making me think that there is not a huge hitchcock/synthpop crossover. . . .so anyway: my favorite of the year ends up being ruby's debut, saltpeter. i don't know how to explain this album to those who haven't heard it--kind of an industrial (but not) angry-pop thing. sort of. sort of like portishead, but with feeling. someone else please explain it better. . . next is the new tear garden album (the crippled soul divide). this one's got some very nice stuff on it. i was surprised to see it at a record store, and then surprised it didn't go into weirded-out synth stuff like some of the latest legendary pink dots albums. instead, this one is a series of solid songs with interesting arrangments. ruby beats it for playing time maybe just because ruby has a more consistent beat for typing to. oingo boingo also put out their last live album (sniff, weep), which is quite good. the new pet shop boys album is a bit disappointing, but not bad. they still sound very much like they did in the eighties, but i like they way they sounded in the eighties. robyn's new album is good. not great, but good. i wished i owned a digitial delay pedal just like his (or bonet's, whoever's it is). and his performance at glenside was great, as far as i'm concerned. but then i love rambling stream of consciousness. . . . . . .tom (the once and future tlr121) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Jan 1997 13:30:16 -0500 From: "Daniel J. Troy" Subject: Years' Best I give in! I'll make my contribution, whatever it's worth. As a poor graduate student, I did not buy the usual allotment of CDs, nor did I attend the usual amount of shows, but I think that says more about my finances and free time than it does about the current music scene. Since I didn't hear nearly enough, I won't attempt any rankings, and I'll apologize in advance if some of these CDs came out in 1995. Thank heavens for Pulp's "Different Class", Vic Chesnutt's "About to Choke", Richard Davies' "There's Never Been a Crowd Like This", Robyn's "Moss Elixir", the Olivia Tremor Control's "Dawn at Cubist Castle", Gorky's Zygotic Mynci's "Introducing Gorky's...", the Screaming Trees' "Dust", the Lemonheads' "Car Button Cloth" , Johnny Cash's "Unchained" (or whatever the new one is called), the Sixths (Stephen Merritt, of Magnetic Fields fame, side project), and most recently, the brilliant, brilliant Super Furry Animals' "Fuzzy Logic" - kind of like Brian Wilson meets the Flaming Lips, or something. Two Predictions for best CDs of '97: Blur and Julian Cope. I already think their new efforts are great and I haven't even heard them yet! On that note, I may as well include Robyn's "Storefront..." soundtrack and XTC (assuming they ever record again). Stuff that's old that I'm just hearing (and loving): Love 2-CD retrospective "Love Story" - probably old news for most on this list. Also, Guided by Voices' "Alien Lanes", Miles Davis' "Milestones", Julian Cope's "Twenty Mothers", the Zombies' "Odessey and Oracle" and the Magnetic Fields' "Holiday". Look forward to buying more CDs in '97. Happy new year, everyone! Dan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 97 15:04:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Mossy Elixir: last call Last call for bay area fegs who want to sample the "Mossy Elixir" homebrew created by Tom, Glen & myself. Sunday, 1PM...Cowboys/Panthers as entertainment, plus some Big Rubber Shark music. Good eats too. RSVP for directions. -russ (408 451-7713 till 4:30 today) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 18:24:19 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: RE: Pavement (No Robyn content). also sprach "Baker, David(PIN-C09)" : >But the record I really want to talk about is Wowee Zowee. yeah, i didn't listen to this as much as i probably should have. i bought it well after its release and don't spend as much time in the room with the turntable as i used to (when the turntable was actually in the same room as the computer). i probably should have noted that i have not fully absorbed this yet. of course, that could also be symptomatic of my decreasing interest in "indierawk". also sprach lj lindhurst : >I don't think >_Slanted and Enchanted_ (also a good, but not amazing album) is their first >though-- I have a record which predates that, called _Westing By Musket and >Sextet_ (?). _westing (by musket and sextant)_ is a collection of pavement's first three singles (on drag city records) and tracks from compilations. it was released after the success of _slanted and enchanted_. woj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 18:30:33 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: Re: standouts also sprach Motih@aol.com: >my favorite of the year ends up being ruby's debut, saltpeter. i don't know ooooo! good choice! >how to explain this album to those who haven't heard it--kind of an >industrial (but not) angry-pop thing. sort of. sort of like portishead, but >with feeling. someone else please explain it better. . . trip hop that's not trippy? ruby has a very physical sound, which matches leslie rankin's voice rather nicely. i missed their first u.s. gig, but i hear it was stupendous. >next is the new tear garden album (the crippled soul divide). hmmmm. yet another album i forgot to buy. *sigh* too much, too much. woj ------------------------------ From: hollie_satterfield@mail.amsinc.com Date: Fri, 03 Jan 97 18:33:56 EST Subject: 1996 and groceries I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the CD "Murder Ballads" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, although the morbidity quotient of this album exceeds anything Robyn has done by a factor of a bazillion. The only album I bought in 1996 that I would like to recommend that has not already been mentioned, however, is "Flirting With the Universe" by the Rainmakers. It has only been released in Canada at this point, although negotiations to release their next album in the US are ongoing. Clever lyrics and the Kansas City, MO, sound. Obligatory Robyn content: The Washington City Paper review of Moss Elixir began, "Patrons of the Social Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue used to expect to run into Robyn Hitchcock rhyming his melons or singing to his pasta." (This particular Safeway is known for being the grocery where you go to pick up chicks and such when you are tired of the nearby Georgetown bar scene.) Now seeing Robyn loitering around the 9:30 Club is one thing, but I cannot imagine the non-sequitur of running into him at the supermarket. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 22:39:47 GMT From: Phil Edwards Subject: Italian REM bootleg In response to the people who've mailed me about this, it's called "Covering 'Em" and it's on the Why Not? (or possibly Backstage) label, catalogue number BKCD 067. It's actually one of a series called "Covering 'Em", consisting of live performances of cover versions - other bands in the series apparently include U2 and Pearl Jam. There are no performance details for any of the tracks; the entire CD (possibly the entire series) is based on performances "captured in various different locations in the USA 1980-1990" - informative or what? RH appears on two tracks: "You ain't going nowhere" (Dylan, though lyrics are mainly improvised) and "Mrs Robinson". Why Not?'s phone and fax numbers are (39) 2 5740 1467 and (39) 2 5740 2890. Oh, and I'm as interested in trading obscurities as the next feguiste, but where most (all?) of you guys are concerned international postage might be an issue! Phil -- Phil Edwards amroth@zetnet.co.uk "In reality, methane from decomposing manure is very unlikely to have been a hazard on the Ark" - John Woodmoroppe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 18:31:10 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: The Inevitable But Horribly Wrong Comparison of Beck & RH On Fri, 3 Jan 1997, Paula Carino wrote: > > I've encountered the comparison of Beck's lyrics to Robyn Hitchcock's > before, but I just don't hear it. Robyn's lyrics, for the most part, > seem to have a certain emotional resonance, while Beck's just seem > surreal for surreal's sake. And that ain't poetry to me. > > Comments? Yes. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one :). First off, as a passionate devotee of so-called "language poetry" and an avid player with magnetic poetry kits :) I think language games for their own sake are not only valid but rather wonderful. Second off, Beck is a genius. Musically (musique concrete with a groove! who'd a thunk it?) and lyrically. Third off, have you heard his folkie-blues record on the K label? I think you'd be pleasantly surprised (Dylan fans especially). And finally- I have a huge crush on him. No one gets away with Beck dissing in my presence :). Love on ya, Susan P.S. I don't think it's a good comparison either, by the way. Apples and oranges. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Jan 1997 20:08:02 -0500 From: Bret Subject: Re: 1996 and groceries At 18:33 1/3/97 EST, you wrote: >I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the CD "Murder Ballads" by >Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, although the morbidity quotient of this >album exceeds anything Robyn has done by a factor of a bazillion. this is odd......... I thought this was the weakest record Mr. Cave has ever released. I have always respected Nick as a songwriter, but that doesn't seem to be present here, (granted, he did not write all of the stuff) but I was very disapointed. ROCK! from Brian, Gordon, ang Guy however, did show a return to the days when these guys were making great music.......... just my $.02 -----Bret (it is a damn poor mind that can think of but one way to spell a word) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .