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 #23 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 23 Monday February 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: ------- ------- Re: The Alpha and the Omega Re: The Alpha and the Omega Re: The Alpha and the Omega Chinese The rosy fingers of Robyn on a wine dark telecaster Return of the Frog Queen Uno question por favoro RE: X-Ray Re: Please, please, please... Please, please, please... harumph! Pass the sick bag... Re: harumph! Re: Pass the sick bag... Re: Please, please, please... Re: Please, please, please... Re: harumph! Re: harumph! Re: harumph! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 21:08:53 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: The Alpha and the Omega On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, The Guambat wrote: > the next week I discovered an indie CD/LP/T-shirt shop > and found the CD "Invisible Hitchcock" (which incidentally > has the title (mis)printed on the CD as "Element of Light"), > and that settled it-- I had to buy a CD player. So I did. This was the first RH cd I owned as well. I think it was somewhere around the 300 mark. The first RH album I bought was Fegmania on cassette (it's the old "Slash" one) when I was about 14, and I think I must have liked it, because looking through my old records at home I also discovered vinyl copies of "Element" and "Groovy Decoy". I didn't become a real feg though, until about 2 years ago, after discovering a strange inability to take BSDR out of the cd player :). I regret to say that the first CD I owned was probably Duran Duran's "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", either that or Ultravox "Vienna", I'm not too sure. Either way it's a little embarassing. > Now I have more RH CD's than any other artist (to my > wife's chagrin). She's my wife, though, not my dead wife, > so that's ok. Robyn clocks in 3rd in mine, tied with the Beatles at 8 (though if you count Invisible Hits, that would put him one ahead), right after Miles Davis (12) and Bob Dylan at an alarming 15. I know, it's just endlessly fascinating :). Love on ya, Susan who thinks a girl needs a gun these days on account of all the rattlesnakes ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 09:47:21 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: Re: The Alpha and the Omega On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, Truman Peyote confessed > On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, The Guambat wrote: > I regret to say that the first CD I owned was probably Duran Duran's > "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", either that or Ultravox "Vienna", I'm not > too sure. Either way it's a little embarassing. i know that before i bought a cd player i had about 6 cd's -- the r.e.m. catalog to date ('fables' had just come out), the first two alarm lp's and depeche mode's _a broken frame_ (which, along w/ the aforesaid _vienna_ i still really like. so there.) the first robyn was a few months in the future, a badly beatup vinyl copy of _fegmania!_ for three bucks, and the first robyn cd was probably 'element' a week later for eighteen bucks. > > Now I have more RH CD's than any other artist (to my > > wife's chagrin). She's my wife, though, not my dead wife, > > so that's ok. > Robyn clocks in 3rd in mine, tied with the Beatles at 8 (though if you > count Invisible Hits, that would put him one ahead), right > after Miles Davis (12) and Bob Dylan at an alarming 15. before the great purge i had about forty cd's by the fall (including quite a few singles, e.p.s, and at least 5 different 'greatest hits'), but i think there were only about three that i really couldn't live without. so these days robyn, miles, monk, r.e.m., the beatles et al are tied w/ about a dozen each. > who thinks a girl needs a gun these days on account of all the > rattlesnakes ! a quote from another of my first dozen or so cd's.... d. n.p. colorblind james experience _i could be your guide_ -- oh,no!! you've just read mail from doug -- dmayowel@access.digex.net==dmw@mwmw.com==dougmhyphw@aol.com -- get yr recently updated pathos at http://www.mwmw.com/pathetic/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1997 10:12:20 -0600 From: Outdoor Miner Subject: Re: The Alpha and the Omega At 09:47 AM 2/2/97 -0500, dmw wrote: >On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, Truman Peyote confessed > >> On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, The Guambat wrote: > >> I regret to say that the first CD I owned was probably Duran Duran's >> "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", either that or Ultravox "Vienna", I'm not >> too sure. Either way it's a little embarassing. > >i know that before i bought a cd player i had about 6 cd's -- the r.e.m. >catalog to date ('fables' had just come out), the first two alarm lp's and >depeche mode's _a broken frame_ (which, along w/ the aforesaid _vienna_ i >still really like. so there.) I too don't see what's so embarassing about _Vienna_ -- I'll admit that liking The Wall of Grand Sweeping Europop Synths is a guilty pleasure, but sometimes you feel extravagant and grandly romantic, and _Vienna_ and _Quartet_ hit that sweet spot as well as anything ever has. Too bad the CDs were quickie catalog jobs w/o proper remastering. Anyone know if the European ones are any better? I bought my first CD player in May 1987; first CDs were Peter Gabriel's 4th album (_Security_, still one of the best-sounding CDs in the collection) and R.E.M.'s _Lifes Rich Pageant_, both of which I actually bought BEFORE the player itself, so I could use albums I knew inside-out to test systems before I bought. First Robyn: I told this story three years ago when I joined the list, but the cast has largely changed since then, so maybe it's time for a rerun. Back in 1985 when _Spin_ first came out, and for that one year was the best mass-market rock mag out there (before preciousness/NME-wannabe-ism ate 'em up), the second issue (yellow cover w/Talking Heads as the feature) had a joint review of Katrina and the Waves' album AND Robyn's _Fegmania!_. I had heard and liked the Waves' album, but never heard of Robyn. Imagine my surprise when the reviewer said that the Waves' record was likable-enough pop, but Robyn's was sheer genius! My curiosity was picqued, so next time I went to the record store, I found _Fegmania!_ (yes, the Slash vinyl), and was an instant convert. Within the year, I had all of the Soft Boys and Robyn albums up to that point. First Robyn CD: GOF when it came out, though I might have picked up the EOL CD around the same time. >> > Now I have more RH CD's than any other artist (to my >> > wife's chagrin). She's my wife, though, not my dead wife, >> > so that's ok. >> Robyn clocks in 3rd in mine, tied with the Beatles at 8 (though if you >> count Invisible Hits, that would put him one ahead), right >> after Miles Davis (12) and Bob Dylan at an alarming 15. > >before the great purge i had about forty cd's by the fall (including quite >a few singles, e.p.s, and at least 5 different 'greatest hits'), but i >think there were only about three that i really couldn't live without. As a benificiary of the great purge, I thank you. And I have nearly a whole shelf of Kinks CDs, so they're far and away #1. R.E.M. would be second, inflated by their myriad CD-5s. Beatles third? Later, Miles ====================================================================== np: The Jazz Butcher, _Draining the Glass_ Miles Goosens goosenmk@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu ====================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 17:13:59 +0000 From: am@enterprise.net (Aidan) Subject: Chinese Flogging a long-dead horse, can I just mention "Turkeys In China" by Fish Turned Human? It may be a pile of shit, but it _was_ sung by Andy Metcalfe. Has anyone mentioned "China Doll", "China Girl" and "I Like Chinese" yet? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1997 14:49:05 -0500 From: WISNIEWSKI Subject: The rosy fingers of Robyn on a wine dark telecaster -- Kay Lord Wisniewski Wis@Worldnet.Att.Net Sing O Muse, of the fury which maddened the dastards When in bright battle, dark Robyn did smite the superscilious gits who raved of obscurity, Of English eccentricity, Mere flora and fauna of fish left to stink, Consigned to the cult of feg list on net--- But now in the triumph of movie celebrity Criticd gnash teeth and tear at their robes- Crying--Brave Robyn, we got you all wrong, As hero stalks off into tent , and their pleas For interview chat, revalations and tea, Fall into hopeless fits of remorse, For each now wishes--he could ride a horse Hello--have felt abit out of it lately--since my record buying was at thrifts this year and mostly classical, showtunes, and all the pop albums I once owned and then lost along the way. In short, no new shiny stuff to shout about. Well, unless you count a great b-day present I got--The Te Deum by Arvo Paart, whoever or whatever that is. Anyway its great,sorta post modern polyphonic early rennaissance, which sounds pretensious(suprise, suprise)but is actually quite beautiful. O>K>, that covered Jans topic--as for Febs-- Except fore the early Syd stuff I cant stand Pink Fkoyd. they are Bbbooorrriiing. Pppretttentious. And stupid but thing theyre smart which is even worse. Favorite Dylan: in no particular order: Sweet Marie, Like a Rolling Stone, Tommorrow such a long time, I dont want to, Mama youve been on my mind, desolation Rowe, shelter from the storm, Tangled up in blue, sad eyed Lady, Visions of Johanna, Tom Thumb Blues,Baby Blue, Love -0, Shes got everything she needs, Highway 61 r.v., I dreamed I saw st Augustine, Too much of nothing, and a bunch more humming at the edge of consiousness. Favorite Robyn? Look at Susans list. Especially putting Tell me about your Drugs first. Also Glass, and Glass Hotel--Ive realized I like Robyn best when hes being heartbreakingly poignent or when he sneers. Which is why I love GoF, hes so angry and mean and miserable. I like the kinder and gentler Robyn, I certianly worry about him less--but he does do bitchy witty nihlism so bloody well--my own black moods would be greatly impovrished if he got too sweet. Yes Bradley--having a 6 year old Ive seen the redone Star Wars-- and I must say , on the big scream with the big sound--its way impressive. And they added in some exta Harrison Ford, which made this space cowgirl very very happy. Susan--is X-ray worth reading?. the Free Librarys copy got stolen before it appeared--and I need encouragement to go bother interlibrary loan about it. Is it all so--arch?, or does he just sound like a wink wink nudge nudge, everybody knows Im a kinky groovy star so Ill be really cool and do the pretend to be staight thing--when talking about sex. Otherwise, life twitters on, and on, and on K ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 15:10:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: Return of the Frog Queen I'm sorry, but I have to reccomend this album to everyone. It's "Return of the Frog Queen", by Jeremy Enigk (formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate). Why? Thematically, it's a dark, orchestral folk album. (Recorded with a string and brass section. Unfortunately, no Jocelyn Pook.) Lyrically, it's the closest thing to Syd Barrett that I've seen, but without all of the rawness. And the packaging is good too. I don't usually notice packaging, but this impresses me. Terrence Marks Second Student in the Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy -Seeking enlightenment through normalcy. normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ From: jpartridge@accel.com Date: Sun, 02 Feb 97 23:08:49 EST Subject: Uno question por favoro Well, two actually: 1. There's this 7" of Love Poisoning (B.O.B. 1) that came with an issue of Bucketful of Brains. Which issue? This is driving me nuts. 2. The Goldmine article reported an unreleased 7" of Where Are The Prawns (RAW 41) from 10/79. Is this even slightly true? That whole article was so riddled with errors I don't know what to take seriously. Random factoids: 1. Re the Peake thread: Mervyn wrote a short story about Titus meeting the evil one. It was one story in a book of three and one of the others was by the guy wot wrote Lord of The Flies (William Golding I think) and the third was by C.S. Lewis. maybe. I'm a little fuzzy on the third one. Anyway, the Peake story was outstanding; I recommend it highly. The sad thing about reading the Gormenghast trilogy was how it chronicled Mervyn's mental deterioration. He suffered from one of those progressive neurological diseases (Parkinson's I think) and the last book required extensive editing because Mervyn had lost track of pieces of the plot and it no longer cohered. (In the old days I would have had to finish that sentence with "no longer was coherent" but nowadays anything's a verb.) 2. Re other books Robyn talks about: he mentions the Crab books by Guy N. Smith a lot. I've read three of them and they're horrible. Sometimes a movie or a book can be so awful that it's good, often through unintentional self-parody. The Crab books get half way there and get stuck at awfulness; they never get past that point to start getting good again. Tom Snyder is a good example, even when he was parodying Dan Aykroyd's parodying him (i.e., Tom). One last thing (non Robyn): Does anybody know the lyrics to the Beatles' Real Love? Mercy buckets. ------------------------------ From: "Baker, David(PIN-C09)" Subject: RE: X-Ray Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 03:18:23 -0500 K wrote: >Susan--is X-ray worth reading?. the Free Librarys copy got stolen >before >it appeared--and I need encouragement to go bother interlibrary loan >about it. Is it all so--arch?, or does he just sound like a wink wink >nudge nudge, everybody knows Im a kinky groovy star so Ill be really >cool and do the pretend to be staight thing--when talking about sex. >Otherwise, life twitters on, and on, and on No, I'm not Susan but I'm going to talk about X-Ray anyway. It is a great read and way superior to basically any (auto)biography I've read about a rock star (authorised or unauthorised). Ray tells his highly entertaining (and surprisingly seedy - no wonder he sang wistfully of innocent days gone by) story articulately without being too wordy and manages to weave his life into his own fictional future extremely successfully given how pretentious it could have been. He comes across as fairly honest and open in his assessment of his life although you obviously only get one (fairly eccentric) viewpoint. Highly recommended! Dave. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 10:49:54 -0500 From: Paula_Carino@usccmail.lehman.com (Paula Carino) Subject: Re: Please, please, please... What are mailing lists and news groups all about--isn't it, ultimately, about communing with kindred spirits? Because of the Robyn list, I've heard about other artists whose work I'd like to explore. I started reading Mervyn Peake! (insert steadily swelling violin music here) I've traded CDs with other musicians who I wouldn't have met any other way. All because of non-Robyn-content messages. And as God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again! Paula ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Please, please, please... Author: tanter@econs.umass.edu at usccmail Date: 1/30/97 11:40 PM This is not to "get at" anyone, but could people please keep non-Robyn discussions between themselves? Lately there's been a lot of non-RH stuff posted and, while there's nothing wrong with it, it takes up an awful lot of bandwidth for those of us who subscribe to the feg digest. If there wasn't so much I wouldn't really care but our mailbox has been getting incredibly full and some people have to literally pay for it all..... Thanks. Don't mean to make anyone mad so please don't get mad! Marcy ------------------------------ Subject: harumph! From: guambat@juno.com (The Guambat) Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 13:33:56 EST The Guambat Speaks! ...anyway, I was just contemplating how, indeed ANYONE could not just love "Luminous Rose"??? It is such a beautiful lament. Don't discount it! It's power is entrancing and will leave you forever altered as its wake leaves your floating corpse bobbing up and down in salty silence... The Guambat has spoken! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 18:50:20 +0000 From: am@enterprise.net (Aidan) Subject: Pass the sick bag... >From the _Cambridge Evening News_: Local musician Kimberley Rew is really walking on sunshine tonight, after his song 'Strike A Light' was selected as en entry for A Song For Europe. Rew, 42, is no stranger to success; after a spell in legendary local band The Soft Boys, he had huge worldwide success with Katrina & The Waves and their hit songs 'Walking On Sunshine' and 'Sun Street'. He said today "I'm really pleased. I think 'Strike A Light' is the best song I ever wrote, and I'm happy it's getting the recognition I think it deserves". The song is already being used by the Samaritans as their nationwide theme tune is a series of television and radio advertisements. Translations for baffled Americans: _A Song For Europe_ is a contest held each year to choose the pappiest, dullest pop song in the country to be Britain's entry for the dismal Eurovision Song Contest (previous winners include Bucks Fizz, Abba and Celine Dion - Cliff Richard only came second), while the Samaritans are a mob of Christian do-gooders in Slough who purport to offer "guidance to those in distress" - aka trying to convert teenage girls upset over Take That splitting up to the church, while wearing woolly jumpers, voting Liberal and being insufferably smug. ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 14:14:05 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: harumph! > ...anyway, I was just contemplating how, indeed > ANYONE could not just love "Luminous Rose"??? > It is such a beautiful lament. Don't discount it! > It's power is entrancing and will leave you forever > altered as its wake leaves your floating corpse > bobbing up and down in salty silence... Well, yes, but Robyn's voice sounds nasally and grating and the song drags on forever with that same boring chord structure. Terry ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Pass the sick bag... From: guambat@juno.com (The Guambat) Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 14:22:44 EST On Mon, 3 Feb 1997 18:50:20 +0000 am@enterprise.net (Aidan) writes: >>From the _Cambridge Evening News_: >Translations for baffled Americans: _A Song For Europe_ is a contest >held >each year to choose the pappiest, dullest pop song in the country to >be >Britain's entry for the dismal Eurovision Song Contest (previous >winners >include Bucks Fizz, Abba and Celine Dion - Cliff Richard only came >second), >while the Samaritans are a mob of Christian do-gooders in Slough who >purport to offer "guidance to those in distress" - aka trying to >convert >teenage girls upset over Take That splitting up to the church, while >wearing woolly jumpers, voting Liberal and being insufferably smug. > Ha ha ha ha ha hA HAAA HA AHA AHAHA AAAA!!!!!!!!! (maniacal laughter) Aidan - YOU RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THe GuAmBAt has spOken! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 10:29:58 -0900 From: BC-Radio@corecom.net (Brett Cooper) Subject: Re: Please, please, please... > What are mailing lists and news groups all about--isn't it, > ultimately, about communing with kindred spirits? This is all great and beautiful, but you obviously have not noticed that this mailing list is to discuss ROBYN HITCHCOCK. It is a real pain to have to sift through all of this non-Robyn related junk when I get home and check my e-mail. On the other list that I belong to, the Alice Cooper Mailing List, people are topical; their messages are about Alice or directly related to him. If they have other things to discuss, they take it to private e-mail and leave everyone else alone. Why do people subscribe to Fegmaniax? Let's see.... Maybe with the hopes of discussing Robyn Hitchcock? > Because of the Robyn list, I've heard about other artists whose work > I'd like to explore. I started reading Mervyn Peake! (insert >steadily > swelling violin music here) I've traded CDs with other >musicians who > I wouldn't have met any other way. All because of non-Robyn-content > messages. And as God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again! > > Paula Once again, this is all great and beautiful, but I do not see where it has any bearing on being topical. If a list loses its focus, like it is beginning to, soon everyone will forget what is supposed to be going on. This is a ROBYN HITCHCOCK mailing list. I'm with Marcy; let's not lose the focus, for it could possibly be the undoing for this mailing list. Brett Cooper _______________________________________________________________ "If I rented my body, instead of owning it, I could at least complain to the landlord." -Anonymous ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 14:52:36 -0500 From: lobsterman Subject: Re: Please, please, please... >This is a ROBYN HITCHCOCK mailing list. I'm with Marcy; let's not lose the >focus, for it could possibly be the undoing for this mailing list. > >Brett Cooper It's not really losing focus, is it? I see it as more of filling the lull in Robyn related news and conversation with other stuff that might be of interest to a Robyn fan. Books that Robyn has read that you might enjoy too, albums that Robyn likes, shirts he wears, Pink Floyd, where is Syd, I love Cibo Matto, recipes for seafood gumbo......this is how we fill those gaps between albums and tours when not much is going on. John /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/- John B. Jones e-mail:jojones@mailbox.syr.edu web: http://web.syr.edu/~jojones "condemned to hell for every sin but littering" -soul coughing \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 14:46:01 -0500 From: mlang@inch.com (Matrix) Subject: Re: harumph! I agree... I think that Luminous Rose is THE WORST Robyn Hitchcock song bar none... steve >> ...anyway, I was just contemplating how, indeed >> ANYONE could not just love "Luminous Rose"??? >> It is such a beautiful lament. Don't discount it! >> It's power is entrancing and will leave you forever >> altered as its wake leaves your floating corpse >> bobbing up and down in salty silence... > >Well, yes, but Robyn's voice sounds nasally and grating and the song drags >on forever with that same boring chord structure. > >Terry ------------------------------ Subject: Re: harumph! Date: Mon, 3 Feb 97 12:45:06 -0800 From: Tom Clark >I agree... I think that Luminous Rose is THE WORST Robyn Hitchcock song bar >none... > >steve I smell POLL!! -tc ------------------------------ From: "Baker, David(PIN-C09)" Subject: Re: harumph! Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 19:03:22 -0500 >> ...anyway, I was just contemplating how, indeed >> ANYONE could not just love "Luminous Rose"??? >> It is such a beautiful lament. Don't discount it! >> It's power is entrancing and will leave you forever >> altered as its wake leaves your floating corpse >> bobbing up and down in salty silence... >Well, yes, but Robyn's voice sounds nasally and grating and the song drags >on forever with that same boring chord structure. > >Terry And it does bog down the album, being sandwiched between two of the albums grooviest moments: Balloon Man and Sleeping with your Devil Mask. I can see why the lyrics to Balloon Man annoy people but the instrumental outro to the song is some of the most infectious music I've ever heard. Dave. PS I'm interested in the bad song poll. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .