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 #68 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 68 Sunday April 6 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: Things mooody kiwi (and brit) pop Re: Recurring imagery..... Re: Messages From the Cakekitchen Re: mooody kiwi (and brit) pop Seasonal Robyn Re: Sally Field A Rew'd Awakening... Re: seasonal Robyn One more thing: & those photos.. thanks Re: Modernism & Robyn Re: Messages From the Cakekitchen Re: mooody kiwi (and brit) pop mrs. wafflehead in the uk Hammill (slight Robyn content) Re: Trouser Press production goo oozing from my headphones and into my brain... gnomic verse ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 22:43:15 -0500 From: Timothy Reed Subject: Re: Things For some reason, I failed to really register the A+M album - maybe the cover looked too new wavey (and full of repeats)to bother reading the track listing. Anyway, I took another look at it after someone on the list mentioned one long pair of eyes (I think) and although I have a bunch of these b sides on vinyl, it had enough songs that I hadn't heard 'cept live. Turns out that this is a pretty good record! I didn't even know that the Yip Song was on disk, and some of the other numbers have been well-rerecorded on this version. I'm not as much of a fan of the A+M years as I am of earlier and later times, but I was surprised by this disc and am happy with it. Tim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 13:24:39 -0500 (EST) From: Carl Abraham Zimring Subject: mooody kiwi (and brit) pop >Other kiwi bands you'd probably like: The Magick Heads, David >Kilgour, The Muttonbirds, maybe Peter Jefferies, Jefferies's first solo album (long title something along the lines of "The Last Great Challenge on a Dull Earth" -- that's not it but it goes something like it) is great moody stark pop. Anyone who likes I Often Dream of Trains or Eye should give it a listen, especially the song "On An Unknown Beach.". Another record (not from New Zealand, but still quite good) worth listening to if you like Robyn's quiet stuff is Peter Hammill's "And Close As This." Carl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 18:37:48 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: Re: Recurring imagery..... also sprach Lobsterman : >These are images that recur in descriptions for songs and stories. > >2. The piano as a flying machine. or the airplane aboce a giant chessboard. on a similar theme, after listening to a fair number of tapes from this past month's live shows, i may have to retract my hypothesis that robyn was using the book as a prop rather than actually reading from it. the recurring images ("good god, it's muriel" and "are you a shamus or just a dick" are two good examples) seem too, well, recurring for it to happenstance. by the way, the wutk interview that mike runion mentioned is excellent. the deejay who talks with robyn is obviously a fan and quite unprofessional -- in a good way -- which drew some very interesting statements out of robyn. he said a lot about the media and technology which has gotten me thinking quite a bit lately. i hope we'll have a transcription available soon. +w ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 18:42:20 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: Re: Messages From the Cakekitchen also sprach Truman Peyote : >This is probably why I >found Pulp's "Common People" so striking when I first heard it. I was just >going about my business, thinking "I really should turn this crap off", >when suddenly something comes on the radio and it's, hold on, wait, it's A >SONG. just so i understand, can you put into some semblence of words what makes a song a song and a non-song just a collection of notes? i think i know what you are getting at, but i'd rather not put words in the horse's mouth. woj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 18:48:25 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: Re: mooody kiwi (and brit) pop also sprach Carl Abraham Zimring : >Another record (not from New Zealand, but still quite good) worth >listening to if you like Robyn's quiet stuff is Peter Hammill's "And >Close As This." anyone paying attention back when i babbled about roy harper will recall that peter hammill makes up the other third of my male musical trinity (not sure which one is the father, son or holy ghost though). peter's a scion of the progrockthang courtesy of being an integral member of van der graff generator, but he has gone quite a ways beyond that in his solo work. highly recommended. _and close as this_ is mostly quiet, calm stuff. i'd imagine that most fegs would go for _in a foreign town_, _skin_ or moving targets_ for starters. +w ps. if this doesn't scare susan even out of the void, nothing will. ------------------------------ Subject: Seasonal Robyn Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 16:01:54 -0800 (PST) From: "Daniel Saunders" > while. While it may be detrimental to say so I don't listen to RH > every day (although there are always songs going through my head) and > I always find spring/summer to be heavy RH rotation time for me. Does > anyone else experience this phenomenon? Certain seasons for certaion > music? Funny you should mention that. I've always felt that Eye and especially I Often Dream of Trains were very much winter albums. The spare, quiet beauty of the songs and the lyrics on tracks like Flavour of Night and Crystal Branches (does anyone else get a chill when he says, "It's the darkest time of year"?) invoked the period from late fall to midwinter very strongly. Daniel Saunders Life is heaven and hell. All else is silence. - Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 16:11:46 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Sally Field Whee!!! A Flying Nun thread! Damned if any dialogue is possible on that elitist insider NZ-Pop list.... :P >From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) > >The Verlaines newest >album "Over the moon" is out now in NZ, and hopefully will be available in >the US before too long. Anything strikingly different about it? >They've managed to raise a stir here in NZ with the >cover art of the new album Why? What's on the cover? >Also, if you haven't got it >there you, the Tall Dwarfs album "Stumpy" will be there soon, too (and it's >EXCELLENT!). Yes, Stumpy is out in the States already, but I was disappointed with it. The fan-participation notion was a wonderful concept, but not so good when put into practice. The tracks came off more like "stunts" than songs to me, and many of them were so short that they barely sank in. I liked 3 EPs much better (not to mention Songs For You & Me, which even tops 3 EPs). >Other kiwi bands you'd probably like: The Magick Heads, The Muttonbirds Can you describe the sound of these two bands, please? Do the Magick Heads sound like the Bats? >I notice there's a Chris Knox credited with a drawing on Yo La Tengo's >PAINFUL. The plot thickens? Knox toured with Yo La Tengo too...they're buddies. Frankly, I thought he blew Yo La off the stage. Hey Ira, you're not THAT interesting a guitar player! :P Flying Nun records/artists I basically love a whole goddamn bunch: Bats/The Law of Things & Silverbeet (etc.), The Chills/Submarine Bells & Brave Words & Soft Bomb & Kaleidoscope World, The Clean/Compilation, all Tall Dwarfs and Chris Knox (especially Hello Cruel World, Weeville, Seizure, Croaker and Songs For You & Me), all 3Ds, Verlaines/Ready To Fly & Way Out Where & Some Disenchanted Evening & Bird-Dog & Juvenilia. My all-time fave FN record is Submarine Bells. The second tier would include Brave Words, Kaleidoscope World, Hello Cruel World, Songs For You & Me, Ready To Fly and the 3Ds' The Venus Trail & Hellzapoppin (haven't played the new 3Ds all the way through yet...can't comment). I have about 40-50 Flying Nun records total, but I'll gladly admit that I must have a bunch of import-only releases left to discover. It's impossible to fully keep up with that stuff unless you're in New Zealand! :( Or, unless you're filthy rich and love to drop $200-$250 in a record store at a time.... Re: Cardinal/Davies/Matthews: Adored the Eric Matthews album, liked the Cardinal album OK, couldn't warm up to Richard Davies' solo disc (for a '60s pop record, it sure is tuneless :( ). Eb, who's only a mild fan of JPS Experience and Straitjacket Fits and doesn't even think Garbage's PRODUCTION is noteworthy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 16:54:40 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth CC: "Reynolds, Russ" Subject: A Rew'd Awakening... On Fri, 4 Apr 97 Russ Reynolds revealed > as for why Kimberley's guitar sounds so good, you'll have to ask Mr. > Winkworth...a man who not only drinks large beers for lunch but has > actually PLAYED Kimberley's guitar! OK. I guess I better explain this before I start getting nasty letters from Kimberley's lawyer... You see, part of my mis-spent youth was taken up with playing in various crappy student bands in late 70's Cambridge. One of these featured, on lead guitar, a certain non-student (a college carpenter by day) who had a side-line repairing guitars for the local music stores. One day, at his house, he mentioned that the guitar on his workbench at that moment was Kiberley's. He commented on the unusual set-up and challenged us to play it. Naturally, we all had to have a go! It was basically impossible to play unless you were either Kimberley or a 300 pound gorilla. The strings were like washing-lines (and therefore at a very high tension), and the action was set incredibly high. (for non-guitar players, that's basically the distance you have to press down the strings before they touch the frets) I think he may have had the neck reinforced or something, I don't remember. (maybe that was why it was in for repair). Believe me, this thing made Dick Dale look like a wimp. Of course, this arrangement does lend a fabulous ringing tone to the sound--and I'm sure the blood on the stings probably added to the sound too! As far as "large beers for lunch" go, I should point out that brewmaster Russ himself is also quite capable of putting paid to a good afternoons' work in this way. (In fact only one Fegperson of our acquaintance--he knows who he is--was not up to the large beer challenge, and was last seen sipping something rather unbeerlike through a straw...) Sayonara ~N ------------------------------ Subject: Re: seasonal Robyn From: guambat@juno.com (What's a guambat?) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 20:10:55 EST I've always felt that "Winter Love" had a certain wintery-feel to it, while I'd definitely say that "Autumn Is Your Last Chance" reminds me most of fall. :) I know, I know... that WAS bad. Guambat ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 17:17:47 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth Subject: One more thing: & those photos.. One more thing; BIG thanks to everyone who posted their other band/music suggestions. I always appreciate the chance to hear new music -- and I really appreciate the people give me suggestions and ideas (whether I end up liking their suggestion or not). I guess I'm not alone since I havn't seen the usual barrage of "don't post that, its off-topic" nonsense. There are LOTS of new (to me) names here and I'm going to have a helluva lot of fun finding out about them. Next: If anyone took a Fegfoto during the last tour (that is; a photo containing as its subject more than one of the subscribers to this esteemed list) *PLEASE* let me know. (even if it is still in your camera). I just want to know if this web page is going to fly or not. ~N PS I have nothing to add in the modernist/post-modernist debate except to say that I'm much impressed by the intellectual brain power displayed so far. PPS Yes. woj is indeed a wonder. I've said so before and probably will again. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 20:35:10 -0500 (EST) From: mr bean jeans Subject: thanks just so i'm not perceived as an ingrate, i'd like to acknowledge everyone who has publically thanked me for the work put into fegmaniax. i don't do this just so people mention my name on the list, but it's always nice to know that one's efforts are appreciated. if you guys promise to keep feg fun and friendly, i'll promise to give you a place to play (and work harder to expand the web page...sometime). woj ------------------------------ From: Ross Overbury Date: Fri, 4 Apr 97 22:00:28 EST Subject: Re: Modernism & Robyn The Dukes were a lark, but XTC reintegrated that sound with their "real" music in Oranges and Lemons. This is an honest progression of those 60's ideas as much as Robyn's, in my opinion -- a different take on it than Robyn's, but there was room enough for that much variation in the original psychedelic music. Listen to "Garden of Earthly Delights". There's guitar synth and some contemporary sounds, but its lineage is obvious. Jimi and Janis couldn't have imagined what really came next. Funny how our visions of the future so often turn out to be linear projections of the present. The Jetsons showed the future as drive-thru restaurants in space, and Gibson now imagines the future as an internet with peoples' minds traveling it. Over to you, James Dignan.... PS: I *want* hamburger stands in space! -- Ross Overbury Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 21:03:26 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Messages From the Cakekitchen On Fri, 4 Apr 1997, mr bean jeans wrote: > also sprach Truman Peyote : > > >This is probably why I > >found Pulp's "Common People" so striking when I first heard it. I was just > >going about my business, thinking "I really should turn this crap off", > >when suddenly something comes on the radio and it's, hold on, wait, it's A > >SONG. > > just so i understand, can you put into some semblence of words what makes a > song a song and a non-song just a collection of notes? i think i know what > you are getting at, but i'd rather not put words in the horse's mouth. You calling me a horse? Seriously though, I can see long convoluted arguments looming in the distance, and consequently am not touching this one with a 10 foot pole :). Love on ya, Susan very happy because she got the new Rolling Stone with the dishy photos of Beck today :) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 21:05:03 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: mooody kiwi (and brit) pop On Fri, 4 Apr 1997, mr bean jeans wrote: > ps. if this doesn't scare susan even out of the void, nothing will. What void is this you're talking about? Love on ya, Susan I accept voids. I am not sure if they accept me. (apologies to Bob Dylan) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 09:01:29 -0500 From: mr bean jeans Subject: mrs. wafflehead in the uk have any uk-based fegs gotten any mailshots from mrs. wafflehead lately? right now, mrs. wafflehead web page is consistent with the flyers that were handed out at the march gigs, but i'd like to make sure that the uk-specific information is correct. i'd appreciate it if a uk-based feg with a recent wafflehead price list could just check the page and confirm that things look alright. the url is . thanks. woj ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Apr 1997 11:55:47 -0500 (EST) From: Carl Abraham Zimring Subject: Hammill (slight Robyn content) woj replied to my Hammill tangent thus: >highly recommended. _and close as this_ is mostly quiet, calm stuff. i'd >imagine that most fegs would go for _in a foreign town_, _skin_ or moving >targets_ for starters. _Sitting Targets_ is a marvelous album, and a good introduction to the man. If you'd like a broader introduction for the same price, pick up _After the Show_ or _Past Go_. They're neat compilations of Hammill's solo work available via (fairly inexpensive) imports, and they fill the bill in much the same way _Uncorrected Personality Traits_ should for Robyn. _Over_ is also really great, but fairly depressing (read: _Eye_ fans should lap it up). Carl wishing for a Pittsburgh concert. . .someday. . . ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Apr 1997 13:55:51 -0400 From: Greg Harris Subject: Re: Trouser Press A big thanks go to Dolph for the tip about the Trouser Press website. I've been a fan of their record guides for several years now & had been wondering why they hadn't offered an update in 5 years. Now I have to run to my nearest bookstore to pick up a copy. Thanks again! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 13:36:40 -0800 From: Mark Gloster Subject: production goo oozing from my headphones and into my brain... With all this discussion about good=no visible means of production vs. evil=layering crap all over what may have been a song but now it's just fecal matter to the far reaches of the galaxy, I feel pressed to respond that I'm a lowercase fan of Garbage, and I've never seen a picture of the lead singer (though now I'm quite curious). I like Ministry and older NIN. I like Jesus Jones. I'm a big fan of Mark Gloster and Big Rubber Shark. They all use what others might call way-too-much-production sometimes. Maybe they are all trying to hide behind simple musical architecture, but in thoughtful big production at its best, they aren't just cats clawing mountains of sand over little globs of crummy songs. Often producers make everything sound like them- the producers. That does get tired. The best one will not throttle and idea or an emotion with the doughy, gummy, goo that has been synthesized by some marketing department to spritz out mathematically formulated hits. As musicians and producers, we all make mistakes that make us cringe later, but sometimes we can still love our children (recordings) that we put into the schlub-o-matic. I don't hear many people slagging Pink Flo for squirting goo all over everything, perhaps because sometimes it sounds great. Application to RH... I think Robyn's right about grooavy decayo- it doesn't work. I _love_ the A&M years of his work and also Moss.... I also wish that the Soft Boys could have been better recorded/produced. There. I've just thrown more fuel on the fire. I hope I don't get excommunicated again. -Mark Gloster hiding behind my PowerMac ------------------------------ From: tews@vcommons.com (Eddie Tews) Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 00:06:45 -0700 Subject: gnomic verse hi, has robyn ever performed Autumn Sea live? i mean, i'm sure he must have, but i've never heard it or read about it or seen it on any set list anywhere. i agree that Glass is an excellent song, and probably underrated. but when you think about it, so are a lot of songs from FEGMANIA! Strawberry Mind, Dwarfbeat, The Fly particularly. Heaven is a fine song, but did it really need to be issued 3 million different times? a while back i used to sing Insect Mother all the time at work, and people got really sick of it. but it was like a mania. i just had to belt out Insect Mother whenever i went into that place. is robyn getting more overtly political? it's always been under the surface, of course. and his rare forays have been notable. (The President is one of the great all time political songs, and the line, "When I hear the word 'Democracy' I reach for my headphones," may just be the best line he's ever written.) and we all know he's extremely intelligent, and has very interesting opinions on very diverse issues. but i was surprised to see him touring with billy bragg, playing a benefit for striking newspaper workers in detroit, and singing about rush limbaugh. just a thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .