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 #18 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 18 Tuesday January 28 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: ------- ------- Re: The Madness Of King Syd Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity Re: The Madness Of King Syd Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity Gloss Fish Cover Art robyn vs. syd Re: Nothing to see here... Re: Gloss Fish Cover Art Martin Newell (Robyn too!) in Print (fwd) Martin Newell in Print just about everything (except Robyn) Re: just about everything (except Robyn) Re: robyn vs. syd Re: robyn vs. syd Re: just about everything (except Robyn) Address for GLASS FLESH Big Star (very little RH) Re: just about everything (except Robyn) The (latest) Syd question Peaking at underwater stars Iron Horse show update UM/Christmas Re: UM/Christmas Re: robyn vs. syd Re: UM/Christmas Syd introduction Re: Iron Horse show update ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 14:20:11 -0800 From: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) Subject: Re: The Madness Of King Syd Hedblade@aol.com (Jay Hedblade) wrote: >One more point. << Lots of Syd Barrett fans take it to a morbid > extreme, and maybe they don't want to encourage more people to take > up The Cult of Syd's Madness as a hobby by officially releasing these > tracks.>> The question here, then, is why was Opal ever approved? > Certainly that was a blatant (if wonderful) example of exhuming Syd and his >madness for display. I assume the Peel Sessions disc had to be approved of >as well (and contains one otherwise unavailable song- coincidence?). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Pink Floyd have control over Barrett's solo material. "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream" are officially Floyd tunes, so they could veto their release -- possibly, as Jay and Susan suggest, because they consider them to ghoulishly expose their old friend at his most vulnerable and damaged. If so, they didn't approve of _Opal_ at all, but there was nothing they could do about it besides refusing to collaborate. - David ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 16:14:52 -0700 From: gondola@deltanet.com (Eb) Subject: Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity >From: HAMISH_SIMPSON@HP-UnitedKingdom-om4.om.hp.com > >On the subject of the missing Syd songs, I can't understand why Rog would >hold them back, a) why would he give a toss about Pink Floyd any more, and >b) most Syd fans have probably heard/got them anyway. Well, I'm a big Syd fan and I've never heard his version of "Vegetable Man".... :( >From: Terrence M Marks > >Pink Floyd doesn't need any more money. They were something like the >sixth highest paid act a few years ago. Roger Waters, while not making >that kind of cash, is still hauling it in. Syd Barrett is making a decent >wage too (his albums have cult status and are still selling. And people >cover his songs fairly often, so that brings in money.) I heard that Pink Floyd included "Astronomy Domine" on that live Pulse double-disc purely so Syd could get some more royalties. Whatever Floyd's other materialistic sins of late, that WAS pretty nice of them.... >From: Hedblade@aol.com > >The question here, then, is why was Opal ever approved? > Certainly that was a blatant (if wonderful) example of exhuming Syd and his >madness for display. I thought there was some really interesting stuff on that album. I wouldn't call it just morbid voyeurism. Eb PS I like Big Star's "Radio City" and "Sister Lovers" better than pretty much anything by Robyn Hitchcock. So there. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 22:21:56 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: The Madness Of King Syd On Sat, 25 Jan 1997 Hedblade@aol.com wrote: > In response to our beloved Susan, Venus of the Fegs: :) > it? Think about it- the Syd appeal, aside from the obvious musical > contributions, IS his mystique. The fact that very little material was ever > actually recorded by / with Syd, makes the existance of non-offically > released songs that much more ROMANTIC. It contributes to the mystique > rather than drawing attention away from it. Well, that's the Catch-22, isn't it? > Think about the Beatles reunion; the years and years of spectualtion / > wishful thinking were finally put to rest with the new songs. Haven't we ALL > felt, "well, that's it then." It was put to rest, and regardless of your > personal feelings toward the new material or even the concept of a reunion, > the world can now quit asking the question. I wouldn't necessarily agree. I own a bit of bootleg material that doesn't appear on the Anthology, and while admittedly quite a bit of it is dross, some of it is very interesting and some of it is even quite good. I for one wonder what else is in the vaults. Remember also that the material on the Anthologies was -very- carefully culled, and there is nothing on there that really would disturb one or contradict the casual listener's conception of the Beatles as perpetually sweet happy-go-lucky fellas. I don't think anyone from the Beatle camp is itching to release "No Pakistanis" or "Negro in Reserve", for example, both of which give one pause, to say the least. > tracks.>> The question here, then, is why was Opal ever approved? > Certainly that was a blatant (if wonderful) example of exhuming Syd and his > madness for display. I assume the Peel Sessions disc had to be approved of > as well (and contains one otherwise unavailable song- coincidence?). I think, as David points out, that the two unreleased tunes in question here were officially Pink Floyd tunes, which explains why Waters et al have a say in the matter. They wouldn't have had a vote concerning Opal or the Peel Sessions. > It seems that every 5 years or so some new Syd "product" finds it's way into > the marketplace. I'd suggest that it is PERHAPS a matter of strategy. They > can keep Syd in money the rest of his life if they keep "discovering" items > to release. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is a bad idea. Whatever > works best for Syd is the important thing. I think this may indeed be the strategy at work. And I think it's Syd's own. Remember, it's been a very long time since those days, and Syd is considered to be relatively sane at this point in time. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he came up with this particular stratagem. If it's his sole source of income, it would behoove him to manage it cleverly, wouldn't it? > Either that, or Waters and > company are just a bunch of nagging, bickering ninnies using Syd as a pawn in > their own personal grudge matches. A far more sickening and, given the very > public displays of acrimony, probable conclusion. Well, that could be what's up with the struggle over these two songs in particular, I don't know. It seems to me that they have a strong desire to gloss over this period in the band's history, and would really prefer that people forget about it, and I wonder if that's not the real reason they don't want these tracks released. What's interesting is how effective they've been at it. So effective, in fact, that oftentimes Barrett fans and Floyd fans are COMPLETELY different people. If you don't believe me try asking your average Wall-head if they know who Syd Barrett is and watch their face go blank. "Piper At The Gates of Dawn", they'll say, "what's that?". Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 22:31:07 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity On Sat, 25 Jan 1997, Eb wrote: > I heard that Pink Floyd included "Astronomy Domine" on that live Pulse > double-disc purely so Syd could get some more royalties. Whatever Floyd's > other materialistic sins of late, that WAS pretty nice of them.... That's too disingenuous by half. "Astronomy Domine" is just good material. Pure and simple. If by using it they get the chance to look like "good guys", then so much the better. > >From: Hedblade@aol.com > > > >The question here, then, is why was Opal ever approved? > > Certainly that was a blatant (if wonderful) example of exhuming Syd and his > >madness for display. > > I thought there was some really interesting stuff on that album. I wouldn't > call it just morbid voyeurism. I don't think that's what Jay was getting at (although personally, I have to admit, I find Opal painful to listen to, because it sounds to me like a mental breakdown captured on wax). There IS some interesting music on Opal and not everyone who owns it/enjoys it is necessarily a morbid voyeur, to use your own phrase. Unfortunately, quite a few of them are. Have you ever met a Syd obsessive? They're frightening people. I know, I dated one, whose condition was unfortunately made worse by the fact that he was a dead ringer for the man. > PS I like Big Star's "Radio City" and "Sister Lovers" better than pretty > much anything by Robyn Hitchcock. So there. Obviously you've been reading that great classic "One Hundred and One Ways To Start A Fight", by an Irish gentleman whose name eludes me. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 03:47:50 -0800 (PST) From: Dollymop Subject: Re: Floyd & Big Star's divinity > > PS I like Big Star's "Radio City" and "Sister Lovers" better than pretty > > much anything by Robyn Hitchcock. So there. > > Obviously you've been reading that great classic "One Hundred and One Ways > To Start A Fight", by an Irish gentleman whose name eludes me. With no Mick inspiration I can honestly say "Piper..." kicks anything Robyn has done, with the exception of perhaps the Soft Boys stuff. As far as Big Star goes, they get extra points for being Southerners, but I don't know if I'm prepared to have them go one on one with Underwater Moonlight or Invisible Hits. -Chad ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 15:22:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: Gloss Fish Cover Art Oh yeah...the Gloss Fish thing needs cover art. It should be out by this time next month. If any artists here would like to volunterr, feel free/ Terrence Marks Second Student in the Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy -Seeking enlightenment through normalcy. normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 15:48:44 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: robyn vs. syd On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Dollymopper wrote in part: > With no Mick inspiration I can honestly say "Piper..." kicks anything > Robyn has done, with the exception of perhaps the Soft Boys stuff. As a complete album, maybe. But RH has sone individual songs i'd say can go toe to toe with just about any of syd's stuff-- even post-SB's. also remember that Syd never had a post-first band period, (unless you count _Opel_) so there can be no effective comparison. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Nothing to see here... Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 14:48:27 -0800 (PST) From: "Daniel Saunders" > >In St. Petersburg > >By the lake > >Where the stake drove > >deep in my heart... > > It's in *Williamsburg* by the lake. St. Petersburg in the *night.* I lived > in Williamsburg for four years and sat by Lake Matoaka many times. However, > by then the problem of stakes being driven deep into people's hearts was > relatively under control... Oh shush. I knew that. I just couldn't remember how the first verse went. It was a small joke... Daniel Saunders Life is heaven and hell. All else is silence. - Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 17:02:48 -0600 From: LSDiamond Subject: Re: Gloss Fish Cover Art Cover art? *grin* hmmmm.. i might be interested.. the whole idea seems to strike inspiration.... will play around with some ideas if no one minds too much.. :) LSDiamond At 03:22 PM 1/26/97 -0500, you wrote: >Oh yeah...the Gloss Fish thing needs cover art. >It should be out by this time next month. >If any artists here would like to volunterr, feel free/ > >Terrence Marks >Second Student in the Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy >-Seeking enlightenment through normalcy. >normal@grove.ufl.edu > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Where was I? I forgot the point that I was making I said that if I was smart that I would save up for a piece of string And a rock to wind the string around. Everybody wants a rock To wind a piece of string around. ~ They Might Be Giants - "We Want a Rock" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 20:47:27 -0500 (EST) From: FA ken clinger Subject: Martin Newell (Robyn too!) in Print (fwd) For those of you not on the Martin Newell list: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 20:41:48 -0800 From: Ann Kennedy Subject: Martin Newell in Print To all Janglies!!! Thought I'd let you know that I publish a fiction/art magazine. The current issue is the music issue, which contains some poetry, liner notes and photos of Martin Newell. In addition, there are interviews with Robyn Hitchcock, Tartan Keats, Steve Wynn, Mick Harvey, etc. The magazine is full of wonderful fiction and incredible artwork. Full color cover, perfect-bound and 120 pages!! If you are interested, a single copy is $5.95+1.20 (total $7.20). Send to: The Silver Web, P.O. Box 38190, Tallahassee, FL 32315 or email me with questions; annk19@mail.idt.net It's a great magazine! Thanks, Ann Kennedy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:36:44 +1100 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: just about everything (except Robyn) El Tel Marks queried: >I'm wondering if anyone on this list has any opinions on the band "This >Mortal Coil"...< not too bad. They're an odd group - an occasional band for various 4AD artists, so if you like the work of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Modern English, Colourbox, etc, then you'll probably find something you like here. Hauntingly gentle and forlorn on their best album "It'll end in tears" (which includes the amazing "Song to the siren"). Many of their songs are covers, notably of people like Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, David Roback and others, who rarely get the recognition they deserve from the public. RxBroome@aol.com posed some puzzlers: >1) "Chinese", one of Robyn's favorite generic adjectives ("...Water >Python", "...Bones", "More... Boys") enjoys a very rich rock legacy. In >addition to the Heartbreakers/ Ramones "Chinese Rock" that we're all abuzz >about, there's Pere Ubu's "Chinese Radiation" and any number of songs >called either "China Doll", "China Girl" or just plain "China". Anyone >care to expand the list? < "China Lake", by David Baerwald "Chinese Takeaway (Hong Kong 1997)", "Chinese Envoy" and "Old China", all by John Cale "China, my China", by Brian Eno and, of course, "I like Chinese", by Monty Python. Perhaps since 20% of the world's population is Chinese, it's only fair they get 20% of the song titles! >3) Hey! My CD collection is rapidly approaching 1,000 titles, and the way >I'm storing them (in basically a 5' by 5' square composed of interlocking >plastic Laserline units) isn't going to hold up much longer. For those of >you to whom 1000 CD's seem like a pittance: how do you do it? Bookcases >are too deep and don't have enough shelves, and the wooden "CD" units I've >seen don't hold much more than 200 apiece. Short of shelling out big bucks >for multiple versions of the classy CD towers sold at Z Gallerie, what >should a boy who'd rather preserve his cash for more music do? (Reply >off-list if you wanna, but I bet there are others out there who face >similar problems!)< Heh - I make my own modular units outa particle board. It's very cheap and easy to use, and here (and I presume there) it comes in handy sizes like 1200x200x15mm (4ftx8"x3/5"). All you need is a handsaw, a drill (even a hand drill), a hammer and some nails. If'n you'd like to know the plan I use, lemme know offlist. PS - 800 CDs and counting... >the solo releases of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan of Go-Betweens ?fame?< I hope you included in that the work of Jack Frost, the occasional band that McLennan is in alongside the Church's Steve Kilbey. Two good CDs, well worth a listen. >Perhaps the record that sums up 1996 better than any other is "The Moog >Cookbook", which applied the most cynically postmodern revisionist >hipsterism to the most pathetically pseudo- earnest tunes of the >retro-punk set, illustrating the perverse dichotomy between the two >aledgedly copacetic mindsets for all to see, whilst simultaneously >sounding both snider and more earnest than anyone else had the balls to >actually be. And it sounded better than Stereolab... cool.< Well, that increased the letter to word ratio! I tend to take a more optimistic view, that the record that best encaptures the zeitgeist that was 1996, and upon which I feel a panegyric encomium needs to be written, is Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brooks' album "Night Song", which weaves the melismatic Qawwali vocalisations of Khan with the minimalist influenced guitar of Brooks, and overlays it all upon a slow dub groove. Khan has already shown a desire to experiment - working with Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack to "Dead Man Walking" and with Massive Attack, who remixed one of his traditional style works ("Mustt Mustt"). Now, aided and abetted by Brooks, whose previous credits have included work with Eno, Sylvian, Fripp, Glass, Riley and others of the classical minimalist/rock experimental borderline, and with some heady basswork from Robert Ahwai, he has come up with an album that is one slow serene groove. Fourth world, trance/ambient tinges, dub... Right tasty. Jim Morrison (or was it a guambat?) once wrote: >"The future's uncertain but the end is always near" < >(doesn't that sound like something Robyn would say?) ...eerie, isn't it?< he also wrote: "The days are bright and filled with pain, enclose me in your gentle rain" in "The Crystal Ship" (which I would LOOOVE to hear our Bobby singing). Hmmm. Crystal ship, Glass hotel... 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) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 08:16:24 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney CC: fegmaniax@ecto.org Subject: Re: just about everything (except Robyn) Adding to the esteemed Mr. Dignan's additions to Rex's query, posited thusly: >1) "Chinese", one of Robyn's favorite generic adjectives ("...Water >Python", "...Bones", "More... Boys") enjoys a very rich rock legacy. In >addition to the Heartbreakers/ Ramones "Chinese Rock" that we're all abuzz >about, there's Pere Ubu's "Chinese Radiation" and any number of songs >called either "China Doll", "China Girl" or just plain "China". Anyone >care to expand the list? < > "China Lake", by David Baerwald > "Chinese Takeaway (Hong Kong 1997)", "Chinese Envoy" and "Old China", > all by John Cale > "China, my China", by Brian Eno > and, of course, "I like Chinese", by Monty Python. Forget not various songs from Japan's TIN DRUM, most directly "Visions of China," but peripherally including (sort of) "Canton" and "Cantonese Boy". Dolph ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 01:22:40 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: robyn vs. syd > > With no Mick inspiration I can honestly say "Piper..." kicks anything > > Robyn has done, with the exception of perhaps the Soft Boys stuff. > > As a complete album, maybe. But RH has sone individual songs i'd say can > go toe to toe with just about any of syd's stuff-- even post-SB's. also > remember that Syd never had a post-first band period, (unless you count > _Opel_) so there can be no effective comparison. Hmm..I don't think that very much of Robyn's material can compete with "Late Night" or "Terrapin". Perhaps "Beatiful Queen" (Liquor version), "Airscape" or "The Leopard" come close, but... ANyhow, wasn't Syd's post-first-band period his solo career? Terry ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 14:52:48 +0000 (GMT) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: robyn vs. syd On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Bayard wrote: > On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Dollymopper wrote in part: > > > With no Mick inspiration I can honestly say "Piper..." kicks anything > > Robyn has done, with the exception of perhaps the Soft Boys stuff. It's a great album, and the sound is highly original. Despite occasional ventures into 'Interstellar Overdrive' territory, I never get the feeling from RH that he is trying to create a new musical form; rather to produce good songs within the limits of a Dylan / Lennon / Barrett style. > As a complete album, maybe. But RH has sone individual songs i'd say can > go toe to toe with just about any of syd's stuff-- even post-SB's. also > remember that Syd never had a post-first band period, (unless you count > _Opel_) so there can be no effective comparison. 'Madcap', 'Barratt' and 'Opal' are all post-first band. RKB was ejected from the Floyd very early in 1968, and all the Jenner, Jones, Waters, Gilmour and Wright-produced 'solo' sessions date from later than that. The last time I saw the Floyd with Syd was at a Christmas '67 gig, along with Hendrix, Traffic, Soft Machine, the Move, Eire Apparent, those sort of acts. They played a pretty average set; Hendrix was travelling by dragonfly and blew all the other acts away... - Mike Godwin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:53:02 +0000 (GMT) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: just about everything (except Robyn) On Mon, 27 Jan 1997, Dolph Chaney wrote: > Adding to the esteemed Mr. Dignan's additions to Rex's query, posited > thusly: > > Forget not various songs from Japan's TIN DRUM, most directly "Visions > of China," but peripherally including (sort of) "Canton" and "Cantonese > Boy". There's a Paul Kantner song which goes something like: 'Let me tell you 'bout a man I know Rode the length and breadth of China On a horse that he made himself ------------------------------ You might also consider 'Hong Kong Blues' by Hoagy Carmichael 'She's the Sheriff of Hong Kong' by Captain Beefheart - Mike Godwin PS Talking of the bark of a tree: If quinine = the bark of a tree, does canine = the bark of a dog? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 11:04:03 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: Address for GLASS FLESH I think what i mean about syd was he never really got to develop as an artist. his imagination is indisputably brilliant, and he did great things (and not so great), but he burned too brightly and too quick, in a sense using everything up at once. whereas robyn had _UM_ and is still doing great things. so it's not really fair to say nothing of robyn's can touch syd's except the SB stuff. get me? The GF cd's are trucking their way from the left coast to the right as we type... if you've paid, send me your address again just to be sure I've got it right. PLEASE PUT "Address for Glass Flesh" in the subject! I've got 783 messages already and need to be able to sort them! and thanks for being so patient. =b ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:05:02 -0500 From: "Daniel J. Troy" Subject: Big Star (very little RH) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------ Regarding Big Star, someone said: > > _Radio City_ is one of my absolute favorite > albums in the world. Their _Live_ cd, though, is even better (not the > recent reunion but the live one on Ryko which was taped in the 70s). > Stripped down, perfect songwriting--the absolute essence of what I think > "rock" music should be. > > Not trying to sway anyone, really, just sticking up for what I think > was an amazing band and one that most Robyn fans would go nuts for. Terry says: *Gotta disagree. I found most of the songs unlistenably...well, they had too much of a beat, if you know what I mean.. Anyhow, I think that Squeeze, The Kinks or The Beach Boys are much more Robynesque than Big Star. RH basically strikes me as well-done, whimsical light pop....Big Star doesn't. I know that he isn't *always* well-done, *whimsical light pop, but usually, he is.. I say: Big Star seems to have two legacies: 1) The "perfect guitar pop" legacy that marks their first two albums and live recordings and 2) The Chris Bell-less third album, unreleased until many years after its recording, which I believe is now known as Sisters/Lovers. Like many on the group, I'd guess, I learned about Big Star through REM"s and Paul Westerberg's recommendations in the 1980s. I think these artists were influenced by the first two albums, though the third is a far more original effort, IMHO. I prefer the third album's moodier pieces, though I enjoy the first two albums, as well (I've never been impressed with the live records). I think it's surprising how influential the first two albums are, given that it's merely a continuation of the jangly guitar pop popularized by the Byrds, Beatles, etc. It's good, at times, great, pop, but represents no significant movement from their 60s heroes. If you can't get enough jangly guitar pop (I know I can't!), check out #1 Record/Radio City, but for my money, the third album represents a more unique achievement. Dan ------------------------------ ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 14:46:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: just about everything (except Robyn) In a message dated 97-01-27 11:36:05 EST, hssmrg@bath.ac.uk (M R Godwin) writes: > You might also consider > 'Hong Kong Blues' by Hoagy Carmichael > 'She's the Sheriff of Hong Kong' by Captain Beefheart "hong kong garden" by siouxsie and the banshees..... ------------------------------ From: HAMISH_SIMPSON@HP-UnitedKingdom-om4.om.hp.com Date: Mon, 27 Jan 97 19:51:23 +0000 Subject: The (latest) Syd question Item Subject: cc:Mail Text I posted my last opinions before getting the digest so I have a few more ramblings. I never think/thought of Syd in terms of his mental stability (except when the UK press decides to take secret photos of him in his garden. No bloody wonder he looks startled.). I just like the way his songs go, lyrically and musically. I got into music via punk. Up until hearing Syd I had assumed that nonconformity in Rock'n'Roll meant making noise and shouting the F word a lot. With Syd it's simply "not giving a toss". I get the feeling that he didn't much care what anyone thought about what he was producing and I like that. His songs are just great fun to listen to. That's what got me into Robyn. I know nobody likes this allusion but I saw him as a new Syd Barrett, and I should point out that I did it without knowing anyone else's opinions or knowing his background or choice of cover versions. Not only that, but I only had Portland, GoFrogs and Inv Hitchcock (vinyl) at the time. I knew nothing of the Soft Boys "psychedelia". I digress. My point is that I like Robyn, especially when he is lyrically abstract/obscure, but I certainly don't consider his mental health. Until recently I never considered RHs lyrics to have a "real" meaning (so sue me) and I liked that. I prefer retaining that sense of the ridiculous. The summary is, Roger is wrong, Pink Floyd got worse as soon as they lost Syd, Syd is a genius, Robyn is a genius, PF are now pointless, the work of geniuses should be held up to the light regardless. Hamish - (exits stage right to loud cheers from the assembled throng - he would like to believe) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:50:04 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth CC: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk, librik@netcom.com Subject: Peaking at underwater stars On Thu, 23 Jan 1997 Mike Godwin Peaked my interest with: > The early hardback editions had some sensational glossy portrait plates > of the characters by MP, but I have never seen them in subsequent > editions and I have never been able to find copies. Does anyone > remember these? Is there a separate book of Peake illustrations > published which contains them? I too have long been a huge Peake fan. Thanks to whoever posted the details of the online stuff -- I'll be sure to check it out. My copy of the trilogy is the Penguin boxed set (paperback) - 1972 vintage - which includes MP's drawings (rather striking portraits of the characters mostly) scattered throughout the text. I have not seen a separate book of illustrations, though I have books of his poetry with illustrations, and I have a couple of books by other authors which he illustrated (I can't remember what they are offhand). Mike then rambled on... > RH content: I picked up a CD of Underwater Moonlight this week, which > had a really silly cover of two dolls instead of the sensible > aeroplane-fish cover that you get with the LP. Does anyone know why > this bizarre change was made? I forgot to look this weekend, but I'm pretty sure my LP copy of UM, bought when it first came out in the UK, does NOT have Lal's sculptures on the cover. Why would they change it for the CD? No idea - unless Robyn simply wanted to gave Lal some royalties, or exposure for her work. On: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 David Librik opined > Hm, Big Star. There is one of those bands that, considering all the > music that I like, everyone tells me I would absolutely adore. And > yet they did absolutely nothing for me. I'm with you on this one, David. Everyone tells me, too, that they were THE seminal band of the period and that if I like RH I MUST like them. Well, they're OK, but unremarkable. I have to confess, my Big Star CD's stay mainly on the shelf. Just trying to stay dry, -Nick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:35:24 -0500 From: Alex Tanter Subject: Iron Horse show update No point holding your breath yet, but according to my source at the Iron Horse, tickets will be going on sale for a mid-end of the month- show in March. Wait and see is my new motto. Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 16:59:50 +1300 (NZDT) From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: UM/Christmas The venerable M R Godwin of Bath spake thus: >RH content: I picked up a CD of Underwater Moonlight this week, which had >a really silly cover of two dolls instead of the sensible aeroplane-fish >cover that you get with the LP. Does anyone know why this bizarre change >was made? And what about that strange note by Andy, singling out 'Queen of >Eyes' as one of the worst tracks? Where do they get this stuff? < what's this? I've never heard of this aeroplane/fish cover! I've only ever seen (both LP and CD with) the two dolls cover. Fegses sweetheart Susan said: >That's because you live in LA, home of candy canes on palm trees at Christmas. It's different out here in the rest of the world. < yes, how true. Out here in the real world we go down to the beach for a swim and a barbecue. 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) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 22:35:49 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: UM/Christmas On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, James Dignan wrote: > what's this? I've never heard of this aeroplane/fish cover! I've only ever > seen (both LP and CD with) the two dolls cover. Me too. Hmm...... > Fegses sweetheart Susan said: > > yes, how true. Out here in the real world we go down to the beach for a > swim and a barbecue. In this part of the real world, where the windchill is currently -21, we stay inside and drink and laugh at fools like James trying to have a barbeque in the snow :). Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 23:00:58 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: robyn vs. syd On Mon, 27 Jan 1997, M R Godwin wrote: > > > With no Mick inspiration I can honestly say "Piper..." kicks anything > > > Robyn has done, with the exception of perhaps the Soft Boys stuff. > > It's a great album, and the sound is highly original. Despite occasional > ventures into 'Interstellar Overdrive' territory, I never get the feeling > from RH that he is trying to create a new musical form; rather to produce > good songs within the limits of a Dylan / Lennon / Barrett style. Thank you. Exactly. Except I don't quite like the word "limits", it's got a perjorative sound to it that I'm not quite comfortable with. I prefer the idea of Robyn as craftsman- he's working the existing marble into fine statues, and that happens to be the sort of marble he's chosen to work with (and an excellent choice, too). The works are no less interesting because he didn't create the marble as well. I'm not trying to discount innovaton here, merely trying to say that that isn't the only criterion an artist should be judged by. Besides which, what Robyn does can be quite difficult- it's hard to mine such a well-worn vein and still come up with gold. I think somebody should submit the above to the "New Yorker" for one of their "Block That Metaphor" sidebars. Yowza! Anyway, I think I did get my point across in some cliched convoluted metaphorical fashion. :) > 'Madcap', 'Barratt' and 'Opal' are all post-first band. RKB was ejected > from the Floyd very early in 1968, and all the Jenner, Jones, Waters, > Gilmour and Wright-produced 'solo' sessions date from later than that. Yes, they are. I would also count those as "post-band" works. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 01:40:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: UM/Christmas > > > > yes, how true. Out here in the real world we go down to the beach for a > > swim and a barbecue. > > In this part of the real world, where the windchill is currently -21, we > stay inside and drink and laugh at fools like James trying to have a > barbeque in the snow :). > Umm...That's James from new Zealand having a barbecue on sunny Christmas Day. They've got their weather upside-down in that part of the world. His song "Cold July Rain" makes a *lot* more sense when you realize that.. Terry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 01:20:48 -0800 From: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) Subject: Syd Some of the things said on here are making me think again about Syd Barrett's post-Floyd work. I'd always assumed that _Madcap_ and _Barrett_ show him trying to write catchy pop ditties with elliptical lyrics, and the general weirdness of the music arising out of Barrett's madness. But Syd's Pink Floyd was mostly about radical musical innovation; their live stuff was more "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" than it was the whimsy they put on _Piper_. So ... could (some of) the bizarreness of the solo Syd sound be intentional? Was he still trying for musical innovation with those monotonous rhythms, loopy chord changes, and unexpected time shifts, or are these (as I always assumed) the unavoidable detritus of his madness? In short, can you answer your friends' descriptions of _The Madcap Laughs_ as "weird shit, man" with "yeah, he was nuts"? - David Obligatory Robyn reference: If Robyn Hitchcock is reading this mailing list, I'll bet he's enjoying the discussion of Syd more than the discussion of himself. ------------------------------ From: William Charles Scheckel Subject: introduction Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 10:14:02 +0000 Hi, I just signed on to the group and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm an American living in Germany, married, working on a PhD and a seemingly lone fan of Robyn Hitchcock. By lone I mean I know nobody (except my wife) who has ever even heard of him. Frustrating. But that's why I signed on. I've seen Robyn live twice. Once in Chicago in 90 or 91 and once here in Germany. I had the chance to meet up with and chat with Robyn after his concert in Frankfurt in October. There were only 23 people there, including the girl behind the bar, the sound guy and Robyn. (He played the same songs he played in Berlin for anyone who saw him or has a tape of him at Quasimodo.) Anyway, the tickets were part of my wife's birthday present and he wished her a happy birthday three times, chatted about working with Peter Buck and the film with Johnathan Demme, how he hoped WB would try to move his album at the beginning of this year, touring alone and how frustrating it is to be stuck on a train (there was a seven hour delay on his train because of track damage and he showed up an hour after the show was supposed to have started.) We joked and chatted for a good 45 minutes at which point he had to find his hotel, and we had to get home. He was so friendly and funny, we could have talked to him all night, and on our way home my wife and I kept saying to each other that it's great knowing that that money we spend on records is going to a person you actually really like, not just a cool musician. Though I was now a signed Queen Elvis CD and a good memory wealthier, real frustration set in the next day when I realized I had no one to tell my story to - nobody who would say "Robyn Hithcock! Cool!" But like I said, that's why I signed on. Looking forward to joining in. Will ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 06:55:51 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: Re: Iron Horse show update also sprach Alex Tanter : >No point holding your breath yet, but according to my source at the Iron Horse, >tickets will be going on sale for a mid-end of the month- show in March. which reminds me: i picked up the current issue of knitting knotes, the knitting factory's periodic newsletter. the january and february schedule are listed along with a "coming soon" section. robyn is listed there. according to a friend who knows a friend who works at the knitfac, the actual dates are march 11th through the 15th. soon as i can get firmer details, i'll send them along. woj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .