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 #29 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 29 Sunday February 9 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: Scott & Bees Re: Can of Bees, Game Theory LA Times article [Demme film] what is FEGMANIA? Re: blatant commercial spam Re: Scott & Bees (some RH content at end) Re: what is FEGMANIA? Re: Scott & Bees (some RH content at end) Still no RH Re: Can Of Bees ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 15:23:23 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Scott & Bees >From: "Daniel Saunders" > >The other thing is a band I've heard mentioned several times on this list: >Game Theory. I like the name (do they have a song called Prisoner's >Dilemma), but I know nothing about them, aside from that one of their best >albums is called "Lolita Nation". Any fans on the list? Lolita Nation is OK, but rather indulgent. It seems to me like the best Game Theory album is almost indisputedly The Big Shot Chronicles. >From: dmw > >i know that several of you are already on the loud-fans list, and that a >few others are already familiar with the work of longtime so cal power >popster scott miller with his bands game theory and loud family. since >he's not british, no one is ever likely to level the adjective 'eccentric' >at miller the way they do at mr. the hitchcock, but the man melds >delirious polysyllabic spills to glorious hooky melodies decorated with >all sorts of crunchy sonicisms in a way that's less wilfully odd and >overtly funny than r.h., but just as smart and witty. I really don't think Game Theory/Loud Family are anywhere NEAR in RH's league, and I do own all those records. I find Miller's songs are often maddeningly UNhooky -- all these tricky twists and turns which just break up the beat and the melodic flow. And his lyrics rarely, if ever, say anything significant to me. He seems a lot more interested in cutesy allusions and show-off wordplay than any sort of emotional content. An interesting little songwriter, but far from essential listening, IMO. >From: Terrence M Marks > >Hmm...[Can Of Bees] is nothing like Underwater Moonlight. It's punky. I >don't like >it much. I consider it the great disposable Hitchcock album. I wouldn't call it "disposable," but yes, it's one of my least favorite Hitchcock records also. Just too jagged and sloppy. RH hadn't quite found his artistic sea legs yet. Eb ------------------------------ From: "(The Rooneys)" Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 19:48:22 +0000 Subject: Re: Can of Bees, Game Theory > > Couple of questions: > > > > I believe I now own almost all of the "major" hitchcock albums, but I was > > wondering about Can of Bees. I really like Underwater Moonlight, but I've > > actually heard very little about the aforementioned (what reminded me of > > it was Russ Reynolds "Ban of Keys" comment). Any words of advice? > > Hmm...It's nothing like Underwater Moonlight. It's punky. Not punky so much as "in your face." > I don't like > it much. I consider it the great disposable Hitchcock album. Then please dispose it on me, Terry. I consider it to be the best (although, I am an EYE fan). If the Soft Boys' impetus was to sort of turn everything upside down, this is the only album IMHO that came close to doing so. Sandra; Rat's Prayer; Leppo; Pigworker; Sacred Crab; Skool Dinner Blues; Fatman's Son: certainly not the deepest lyrics ever written, but if this album doesn't drive you, nothing will. - Bill ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 20:23:18 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: LA Times article [Demme film] Apologies if this has already been posted. Robyn Hitchcock does four concerts in a Manhattan storefront--a bit off the wall, even for him. Weirder still, it's Jonathan Demme's idea, and he's filming it. By Elysa Gardner NEW YORK--Robyn Hitchcock, whose offbeat music has made him a critics' darling and cult favorite, is good-natured about his lack of mainstream success. "I basically play for intellectuals, hippies, dissidents and perverts," the English singer-songwriter says. Should his self-deprecating wit permit it, though, he can now add one more category to that group: Oscar-winning film directors. On this rainy morning, Hitchcock is sitting on a small stage in a storefront overlooking 14th Street in Manhattan as a camera crew films the third of four two-hour daytime concerts that will be the focus of Jonathan Demme's next feature film. The project, whose working title is "Storefront Hitchcock," is scheduled for a fall release. With credits ranging from "The Silence of the Lambs" (his Oscar) to "Philadelphia," Demme is one of America's most respected directors. But it's an opportunity to see Hitchcock that has inspired most of the hundred or so fans assembled here to come out in stormy weather. He's an artist whom "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" calls "one of rock 'n' roll's most gifted eccentrics," performing music that "evokes much of the same benign insanity that marked John Lennon's most whimsical moments." The audience sits in rapt appreciation, unperturbed by the rolling cameras and men in headsets, as the lanky, plainly dressed singer performs his literate folk-rock songs, accompanying himself on guitar and getting support from guitarist Tim Keegan and violinist Deni Bonet. The only sounds to be heard aside from music and applause are laughter at Hitchcock's wry observations between numbers, and the odd whistle for the raven-haired, apple-cheeked Bonet. Demme is mostly silent and unobtrusive, absorbed in his work. He's no stranger to working with pop musicians, having directed videos for Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young, as well as the 1984 concert film "Stop Making Sense," which helped boost the Talking Heads into the ranks of million-sellers. The potential commercial value in being the subject of a Demme film is not lost on Hitchcock, a big fan of the director who lists his "Married to the Mob" among his favorite films. While grabbing a snack in the lounge of his Manhattan hotel shortly after shooting wraps, the singer expresses enthusiasm and gratitude--in his fashion. "I think this film is very timely for me," Hitchcock says, leaning back in his chair. "In the past, I've had a couple of radio hits, or been trendy on college [radio]. Now I'm 43; I'm not really a rock musician as such. I can't go around, or I don't choose to go around, piercing my navel or working out or becoming a junkie so that I can get written up in Spin. I've forked off on a different tangent. So this [film] will be good for me. . . . "My career is like a balloon, and I guess I need a shot of helium every 200 miles, or whatever. I think this film will provide one of those." Demme and Hitchcock look like compatible partners as they work on the set, each exuding a comfortable, unassuming intensity. Minutes before shooting starts, the singer mingles with crew members at a catering table near the performance area, joking in a quiet, relaxed manner. Demme is similarly casual and congenial while conferring with his colleagues and some representatives from Orion Pictures, which will distribute the movie. The collaborators met in April 1995, when Hitchcock performed at a club in Piermont, N.Y., a small town near Demme's home. Hitchcock had recently disbanded his longtime backing band the Egyptians and was between record deals. Demme describes himself as an "obsesso new-wave/punk fan" in the early to mid-'80s who liked several of Hitchcock's singles with the Egyptians--though he missed out on the Soft Boys, the guitar-pop band that Hitchcock fronted from 1976 to 1981. But he was "knocked out" by the live club show. "It was as fantastic a music performance as I had seen in years," he recalls. "I asked if I could go backstage to shower compliments on him. We were introduced, and I sort of volunteered as a video director if he needed one." After signing with Warner Bros. Records last year, Hitchcock took Demme up on his offer. The singer isn't a fan of videos in general. "I think they're just another excuse to watch television, and they're a real substitute for people's imaginations," he says. Still, he liked the idea of doing one that at least featured a live vocal performance, which is also Demme's preference. They started shooting one song, then did three more. When Warner Bros. got involved, it expanded to an hourlong performance suitable for a longform video. Says Hitchcock: "Then one day Jonathan called me on his way to the dentist, and he said, 'We're talking about 90 minutes now. I consider this to be my next movie.' And I thought, 'Wow.' " Demme had successfully directed both the concert film "Stop Making Sense" and 1987's "Swimming to Cambodia," which consists of a long monologue by the author and raconteur Spalding Gray. So he saw no reason that a film that alternated between spare, acoustic renditions of Hitchcock's songs and his razor-sharp banter couldn't work. "Musically, Robyn's obviously got it," Demme says. "He has a wonderful voice, he's a terrific guitar player, and he writes hooks and melodies that challenge anybody's. And I thought that his whole verbal thing was a fantastic additional creative dimension that could help make a movie." The concept makes sense to Geoffrey Weiss, vice president of artists and repertoire at Warner Bros., who brought Hitchcock to the label. "Robyn is as much a monologuist as he is a musician," the Los Angeles-based executive says. "He's always been a great songwriter, but he's also a great personality; and if all you've seen are his rock shows with the Egyptians, that hasn't been as apparent. Capturing that storyteller aspect was very important to Jonathan, I think." It was Demme's decision to put Hitchcock in a storefront in Manhattan's bustling Flatiron/Union Square district. Years earlier, he had caught a memorable show in a storefront on the similarly chaotic 23rd Street by a theater company that made clever use of local color. "I knew there would be a pretty heavy flow of traffic," Demme says a few days later, looking back on the shoot. "And I thought, 'Who knows? Maybe we'll attract some attention and something interesting might happen.' I thought we would get at least one rowdy, drunken group of teenagers who would moon us or something, but nothing like that happened. "We did have fleets of firetrucks pass by, and a cop pulled someone over across the street. And there were the occasional delightful small crowds. And as the light changed outside, it brought an amazing visual quality to the filming. "Also, I loved the idea of seeing Robyn work as other people went to work," he adds. "14th Street is a street of working people; everybody has something to do down there. And I really thought that that was an appropriate, organic setting for Robyn, because one of the many ways that I think of him is as a people's troubadour--a mad visionary, admittedly, but also a people's troubadour." Hitchcock himself was completely at ease with Demme's approach. "It was all pretty natural," the singer says. "It wasn't unlike being in a club, apart from the fact that there were four cameras and 30 crew members, and no one in the audience could smoke or drink. And it took place at lunchtime." Though the Talking Heads had already broken into the Top 20 album charts by the time of "Stop Making Sense," the film soundtrack was the group's first million-seller. Hitchcock has yet to break into the Top 100 with any of his 15 albums, but this exposure might change that. Warner Bros.' Weiss is cautiously optimistic about the prospects for both the movie and its soundtrack. "We're going to be promoting this aggressively," he says. "We're not expecting to make Robyn a pop star . . . but if we can get every person who's ever been a fan to see the movie and buy the [soundtrack album] and turn a few other people on to him, I'll be thrilled." Don't expect that album to be a straight musical document of the film. As usual, the unpredictable Hitchcock is likely to surprise us. "The album will have a few songs that aren't included in the film, and it may lose a few songs that are in the film," he says. "I don't know how many of the verbal raps we'll keep, either. Maybe we'll have different raps. It has to stand on its own." As Demme sees it: "With his musical gifts, Robyn would be vastly more well known had he written the sort of middle-of-the-road pop songs that make great hits. The nature of his creative beast is that he has been unable to take the easy road to popularity, but I'm hoping that the movie helps him take the higher road to greater recognition." - - - Elysa Gardner Is a Freelance Writer Based in New York ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 20:46:09 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: what is FEGMANIA? a friend of mine asked me this question today. I told her there was a long explanation in the liner notes, and she said "Just give me the short version." So off the top of my head, I classed it as a kind of natural, organic insanity. A benign insanity, as the LA Times writer put it (I think that did get posted already. oops.) Any other thoughts? I suppose it's basically either a way Robyn invented of looking at the world; or a way of looking at the world that Robyn invented. =b ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 22:59:13 -0600 (CST) From: donald andrew snyder Subject: Re: blatant commercial spam Broke down and got Interbabe Concern yesterday. It's damn good. Believe the hype, Andy On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, dmw wrote: > i know that several of you are already on the loud-fans list, and that a > few others are already familiar with the work of longtime so cal power > popster scott miller with his bands game theory and loud family. since > he's not british, no one is ever likely to level the adjective 'eccentric' > at miller the way they do at mr. the hitchcock, but the man melds > delirious polysyllabic spills to glorious hooky melodies decorated with > all sorts of crunchy sonicisms in a way that's less wilfully odd and > overtly funny than r.h., but just as smart and witty. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 23:21:10 -0600 From: Outdoor Miner Subject: Re: Scott & Bees (some RH content at end) I'm filing a major dissent with Eb here, but please, everyone, don't take this as a flame, just a spirited disagreement. No Beach Boys controversy here (and it pains me that the Feg list has become sporadically contentious enough that I feel the need to even make a disclaimer)... fingers crossed anyway. >>From: "Daniel Saunders" >> >>The other thing is a band I've heard mentioned several times on this list: >>Game Theory. I like the name (do they have a song called Prisoner's >>Dilemma), but I know nothing about them, aside from that one of their best >>albums is called "Lolita Nation". Any fans on the list? > >Lolita Nation is OK, but rather indulgent. It seems to me like the best >Game Theory album is almost indisputedly The Big Shot Chronicles. Scott Miller makes two kinds of albums -- albums of shorter, relatively more poppier material, and longer, more challenging sets, usually alternating the two. _The Big Shot Chronicles_ and _Two Steps From the Middle Ages_ are examples of the former; _Lolita Nation_ and _Interbabe Concern_ (the latest from Scott's current outfit, the Loud Family) examples of the latter. I usually go for the more difficult fare, but either flavor is delicious. Guess I like mine "native" spicy... >>From: dmw >> >>i know that several of you are already on the loud-fans list, and that a >>few others are already familiar with the work of longtime so cal power >>popster scott miller with his bands game theory and loud family. since >>he's not british, no one is ever likely to level the adjective 'eccentric' >>at miller the way they do at mr. the hitchcock, but the man melds >>delirious polysyllabic spills to glorious hooky melodies decorated with >>all sorts of crunchy sonicisms in a way that's less wilfully odd and >>overtly funny than r.h., but just as smart and witty. > >I really don't think Game Theory/Loud Family are anywhere NEAR in RH's >league, and I do own all those records. I find Miller's songs are often >maddeningly UNhooky -- all these tricky twists and turns which just break >up the beat and the melodic flow. I'm voting with Doug here, but let me elaborate here (though Doug puts it rather well): For many of us who like Scott, one of the things that draw us back to his albums IS the difficulty, the "tricky twists and turns." True, if what you want is straightforward big chimey hooks and verse-chorus-verse lyrics, there are plenty of great folks out there who can serve you better -- the Shoes, Dwight Twilley, the Rooks, etc. But for me, at least, the way that Scott's writing defies your expectations makes it that much more interesting. Does it take some adjusting to the fact that "I've Tried Subtlety" doesn't have a proper chorus even though the verses lead you to expect one any minute, and that the title refrain occurs only twice and well toward the end of the song? Yes. Does it lose anything by not conforming to "expectations"? Not in my book. Your mileage may (and obviously does) vary. >And his lyrics rarely, if ever, say >anything significant to me. He seems a lot more interested in cutesy >allusions and show-off wordplay than any sort of emotional content. An >interesting little songwriter, but far from essential listening, IMO. I've heard this criticism of Scott before. Maybe it's harder to get at Scott's "emotional content" but songs as grand as "The Red Baron" and "Regenisraen," scathing as "One More for St. Michael," and hopelessly sad as "Amelia, Have You Lost" seem to be chock fulla more than Miller's own amusement at his vocabulary and cleverness. Also the latest album by the Loud Family, the aforementioned _Interbabe Concern_, written in the wake of Scott's divorce, is shot through with alternate doses of venom and longing, often in the space of a single lyric. You do practically need prerequisites to take on a Miller lyric -- one of our Loud-Family listers and former Feg Stewart Mason describes him as "the bastard child of Paul McCartney and Thomas Pynchon." Rather than underscore the Pynchon part of the equation, I'll emphasize the McCartney genes: Scott's difficult lyrics go down pretty smooth 'cos the hooks -- twisted and bent though they may be, hooks they indeed remain -- keep bringing me back for more. And now, the ObHitchcock portion of the message: >>From: Terrence M Marks >> >>Hmm...[Can Of Bees] is nothing like Underwater Moonlight. It's punky. I >>don't like >>it much. I consider it the great disposable Hitchcock album. > >I wouldn't call it "disposable," but yes, it's one of my least favorite >Hitchcock records also. Just too jagged and sloppy. RH hadn't quite found >his artistic sea legs yet. And here I'll lean more toward Eb -- _A Can of Bees_ has always struck me as a profoundly adolescent album, with its wanking song, its leering at fat girls, its general show-offishness lyrically and musically. Not just too many notes, but too many words, neither with much purpose, both too clever by half. I discovered RH in 1985, so my Soft Boys experience was all ex post facto, but if I had bought this album in 1978, I'd never have imagined that the startlingly brilliant compositions and performances of _Underwater Moonlight_ came from the same band. That being said, does anyone else think that the live/alternate versions of COB material on _1976-81_ (not to mention the Lady Mitchell tape that made its way around here) go a long way toward rehabilitating this material? Some of these songs seem quite lost in the studio, but seem to gain direction and form live -- to employ Robynesque metaphor, go from studio-habitating two-dimensional animals safely caged to three-dimensional monsters of songs, roaming the streets of Cambridge, toppling guildhalls and cloisters with giant swishes of their tails... Later, Miles ====================================================================== np: Midnight Oil, _Place Without a Postcard_ Miles Goosens goosenmk@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu ====================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 00:22:33 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: what is FEGMANIA? On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, Bayard wrote: > > a friend of mine asked me this question today. I told her there was a > long explanation in the liner notes, and she said "Just give me the short > version." So off the top of my head, I classed it as a kind of natural, > organic insanity. I think that fegmania is one of those things that is rather difficult to explain to those poor benighted members of the human race who have not experienced it. > A benign insanity, as the LA Times writer put it (I > think that did get posted already. oops.) I've heard that phrase before that though. I think J.D. Considine coined it, as I remember it from the "Rolling Stone Record Guide"- something like "a purveyor of a benign insanity similar to John Lennon's", if I rmemeber correctly. > Any other thoughts? I > suppose it's basically either a way Robyn invented of looking at the > world; or a way of looking at the world that Robyn invented. Neither. It's a way of looking at the world that people who dig him happen to share with him and each other, I think. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 00:28:13 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Scott & Bees (some RH content at end) On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, Outdoor Miner wrote: > That being said, does anyone else think that the live/alternate versions of > COB material on _1976-81_ (not to mention the Lady Mitchell tape that made > its way around here) go a long way toward rehabilitating this material? > Some of these songs seem quite lost in the studio, but seem to gain > direction and form live -- to employ Robynesque metaphor, go from > studio-habitating two-dimensional animals safely caged to three-dimensional > monsters of songs, roaming the streets of Cambridge, toppling guildhalls and > cloisters with giant swishes of their tails... Yes, yes, yes! I heard those versions before I heard the ones from "Can of Bees", and actually I was seriously disappointed with the C of B ones, so much so that I have yet to buy a copy. Just weighing in with my $.02. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 01:56:17 -0500 (EST) Subject: Still no RH 1) Got "Brightside" by Viva Saturn today (3 guys from Rain Parade) It's...not that great..I was really expecting more from Steve Roback, Matt Piucce and the other guy...just doesn't have the edge that Rain Parade did.. 2) Does anyone here have any info on Steve "Peregrin" Took's album "Missing Links to T. Rex"? (credits incude Twink and Crazy Diamond. I know that Twink worked with Syd during the early 70's (about when this album was produced). I'm almost certain that Crazy Diamond is just some dude's pen-name (as in not-Syd), but I happen to dig soundalikes too.) Any info appreciated. 3) On the same note, can anyone reccomend any good "Piper"-era Pink Floyd/Marc Bolan/Donovan-style fairytale rock/folk bands? Please? Terrence Marks Second Student in the Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy -Seeking enlightenment through normalcy. normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 09 Feb 1997 01:20:18 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth CC: rreynold@ksjo.com Subject: Re: Can Of Bees On Sat, 8 Feb Russ Reynolds interjected: > Don't pay any attention to this .... A Can of Bees > is a mighty fine piece of work. > > I've never understood why CoB seems to get no respect on this list. Russ: you are not alone. CoB definitely gets my respect! Still frequently played after all these years. It's the album that best captures the energy and creativity of the early Soft Boys for me. -N Uh-Ohh - that's 100% RH content. Sorry. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .