From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V6 #18 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Sunday, September 28 1997 Volume 06 : Number 018 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Ultradiscs ["David C. Olstein" ] Thoughts on "1974" ["Daniel Saunders" ] Robyn on NPR, briefly [Carole Reichstein ] "Something for everyone at Herfy's today." ["Eddie Tews" ] Re: other msuci (erm... music) [sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain)] [none] [Mark Ponder ] yet another Bumbershoot tale [delavina@juno.com (Christopher A Franz)] I agree big time.... [Mark rubber shark guy Gloster ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 10:45:10 -0500 From: "David C. Olstein" Subject: Ultradiscs IODOT was digitally remastered by Bill Inglot, who is one of the best in the business, and since it's a Rhino release, you can be damn sure they used the lowest generation tapes, so you're not likely to see a gold disc version of that one. As for Underwater Moonlight, I think the sound on that can be improved a bit (just compare the tracks on the album reissues with those on Ryko's Soft Boys anthology). Rykodisc has been released 20 bit remastered gold discs of some of their more familiar titles, and if they choose to release a gold Soft Boys discs, I'm sure it would be Underwater Moonlight. By the way, there's nothing special about the gold disc itself -- the improved quality is due entirely to the quality of the source tapes, the mastering equipment, and the mastering engineer. >But what I would really like is gold Ultradisc versions of some of his >albums. I would love to _Underwater Moonlight_ and _I Often Dream of >Trains_ cleaned up and remastered in 20-bit digital and lovingly >transferred to gold CDs. Sure, they weren't recorded on state-of-the-art >equipment, but I'd like to hear every single nuance and detail squeezed out >of those recordings (like if you listen carefully to "Furry Green Atom >Bowl" in the Rhino issue of IODOT you can hear Robyn tapping -- that's the >sort of stuff I want to hear). I also think they could be remastered to >image a little better, and never having seen the Soft Boys live, I want to >be able to better hear the three-dimensional soundstage of their >recordings, which is sorely lacking in the current CDs. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 10:35:09 -0700 (PDT) From: "Daniel Saunders" Subject: Thoughts on "1974" I have to say, this is my favourite of the new songs so far. I even know all the lyrics, although I don't know exactly the order they come in. My favourite lines are Waiting for the waves to come and crash on the shore, But you're far inland You're in Funky Denim Wonderland and "Who are you, eh?" and the line that Mr. Eddie Tews has been favouring us with these past few weeks. Sure it's fragmentary, sure it's a middle aged nostalgia rant, but I'll take "1974" over "High Hopes" any day of the week. Wasn't 1974 before Robyn actually began his recording career? Does this strike anyone as a bit odd, that "it ended" before his music took off? Oh, Bumbershoot? Well thanks for asking. I don't have much to add that hasn't been said already, except to mention that it was probably the greatest experience of my life to date. The music was terrific - my first RH concert - Seattle was a blast, and it was an immensely delightful experience meeting all the cool people from this list. Credit Cynthia for making everything go smoothly and pleasantly, and for giving me the chance to go in the first place (all the hotels were booked and she let me stay at her house). I hope to see you all sometime soon. I'm taking my SAT I's this October, just so I can apply to the University of Washington and Seattle. :) It's great to be back - not back home, but back on the list. - -- Daniel Saunders "Nobody sees, 'cause everyone's frightened, And you don't get enlightened, if you don't stop and stare." - Julian Cope(?) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 11:57:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: Robyn on NPR, briefly Scene: this morning, I'm up, making coffee and listening to my favorite NPR program, "Car Talk," on the radio. Oatmeal bubbles & hisses on the stove, my sister glued to her computer as usual. As I put sugar in my coffee, and milk, I hear the manic laughter of the Bostonian "Click & Clack (sp?) the Tapit brothers," and then I hear something oddly familiar. My eardrums tremble. "...she doesn't care about the car she used to drive..." duh-duh dUH! She gets a new one every year....." Oh, what a perfect segue for this radio program, what a nice little morning moment. You so rarely hear Robyn on NPR, you know, save the occaisonal interview (no college radio, no "KROCK" in Portland, sadly). ...some years ago, someone mentioned that Robyn drove a white volvo. Anyone seen him in a car recently? My guess is that Michelle drives him around. I've read that he's not a very good driver--he gets distracted--and I have to admit, I'm glad I don't have a tape player in my car because I'd get distracted listening to "Acid Bird" or something and crash into a tree. Better safe than sorry! Enough car talk. - --Carole ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 14:09:47 PDT From: "Eddie Tews" Subject: "Something for everyone at Herfy's today." you know, i don't generally pay much attention to all that seven signs of the apocalypse stuff. but, david bowie shilling for satan (aka microsoft)?? ouch! or, is it that ryko owns all those songs, leaving bowie completely out of the loop? >I originally wrote this as a reply just to Natalie, but found the bit in >the middle to be interesting to me and therefore I have the right to >subject the entire group to it. (Right, Eddie?) absolutely. that's why god invented the delete and/or scroll buttons. >Did anyone REPLY to your posts? Nobody ever replies to my posts. capuchin, you know that's not true. i've told you on more than one occasion how much i enjoy reading your posts, and how i can't wait for your web page to, "return to its full glory." oh wait, i get it. you want me to tell that to the whole list, even though it would be of interest to no one but myself. yes, that is what i'm best at, isn't it? ok. everyone get your eyes up real close to the screen: I LOVE READING CAPUCHIN'S POSTS ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE, AS MUCH AS I LOVE READING THE GREAT QUAIL'S! happy now? natalie, i've liked yours too, even though i can't remember what they were about either. but i'd certainly thought there were a lot more than three of them, so they did make an impression. >He's probably waging some socialist warfare against you right now, >sending you tapes, communist newsletters, and posters of Billy >Bragg!" i like billy well enough, but it's not like i'm on his mailing list or nuthin'. i'd be much more likely to send posters of chomsky, propagandhi, utah phillips, jello biafra, or, hell, our own robyn hitchcock, who is himself a socialist, as i never tire or reminding y'all. on this years Brave New World interview, robyn and trish (i think that's her name) were talking about how robyn and michele had flown, first class apparently, from colorado to california while tim and steve had had to drive. if you listen real close, in the background you can hear tim say, "he's supposed to be a socialist." i thought that was pretty funny. >He pulled out his sign and ran around screaming something or other. >I guess he was just gauranteeing that 'you can't miss me' thing. well, i *did* manage to roust out both chuck and paul. so it wasn't 100% just making a dork of myself, which is usually what happens when i'm allowed out in public. >Soon Tuatara began and Ian, Sayer, and myself promptly fell asleep. >I don't know, it just wasn't interesting. was i the only one in the building that not only *liked* tuatara, but liked it quite a bit? i've yet to talk to anyone else who liked it, though one of my cousin's friends did admit that they were, "talented." you know what's weird? it was six years between TRAINS and EYE, and it's now been seven years since EYE. or, like, at the time GLOBE OF FROGS came out, it had been seven years since the end of the soft boys, and it's now been nine years since GLOBE OF FROGS. tracy, how's the rarities page coming along? almost finished? .chris, you come out of hibernation for exactly one sentence? what's up with that? last week i was in some book store, and the cd they were playing, it was, i think it was just one violin and one cello, performing all metallica songs. it was quite striking. what's the skinny, eb? does anybody know if robyn's ever performed the vocalization at the end of Autumn Is Your Last Chance live? let me rephrase that. does anybody have a tape of robyn performing this vocalization, and if so, would they please get in touch? i know it wouldn't be harmonizing with himself (although apparently some people can do this. mickey hart's involved with them, or was. buddhist monks, or something.) but, i still really wish he'd do it when he plays that song live. it's absolutely sublime. in just a few more days, we'll all be able to exclaim, "ah! october." (!) "I really believe that capitalism ultimately becomes responsible to nothing but itself and its own principles, and we're seeing that in a very accelerated way in this country and globally at this time. It's not that we're not also seeing pockets of resistance which, as you have documented, often don't even get reported. But I guess I would rather be there with those people than part of a celebration at the White House. I don't see that there's anything to celebrate at the White House." --poet Adrienne Rich, explaining why she'd turned down an invitation to receive the National Medal for the Arts from President Clinton. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 16:27:40 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: "Something for everyone at Herfy's today." >last week i was in some book store, and the cd they were playing, it >was, i think it was just one violin and one cello, performing all >metallica songs. it was quite striking. what's the skinny, eb? Maybe you're talking about: Apocalyptica/"Apocalyptica Plays Metallica By Four Cellos" (Zen Garden/Mercury Finland) Or maybe not.... Eb ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 19:47:55 -0500 (CDT) From: sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain) Subject: Re: other msuci (erm... music) >Knowing how many of you are Kinks fans (hello, the deightful Ms Dodge...), Thank you! *bow* >I'd like to know how youse Davies fans regard the likes of Madness and the >Jam, two bands that became bigly popular in Britain during the late 70s and >80s through their Kink-iness. Well, I myself am a HUGE fan of the Jam. Madness never did much for me. I see a definite connection between the Jam and the Kinks. Not so much musically, but spiritually, although the musical borrowings are there. "In the Crowd" is one that sounds particularly Kinks-ian to me structurally as well as subject matter wise (that little bridge part sounds just like "Johnny Thunder" to these ears). Mainly the connection I think is in the concern and compassion for and the vividly detailed emotional portraits of otherwise unnoticed people ("Smithers Jones", for example). Also a certain nostalgia, and a way of capturing a sense of place and time very quickly and evocatively- a lot of Jam songs have a sort of "snapshot" quality that reminds me a lot of Davies' writing. There are even songs in the Jam catalogue that have direct parallels to Kinks songs, in particular "Mr. Clean" ("Mr. Pleasant" or "Well-Respected Man") and "Boy About Town", which sounds to me like "Dandy" done from a first person point-of-view :). Weller's style is slightly different, he's not quite as deft and clever, but more than makes up for it with a passionate sincerity that I find really striking and wonderful. I consider him Ray's somewhat less fey spiritual younger brother :). The Jam's cover of "David Watts" really points this up to me- it falls flat in Weller's hands, I think, because he hasn't quite got the lightness of touch to carry it off- OTOH I think he would have done quite beautifully with "Get Back In Line". Love on ya, Susan ****************************************************************************** "What scares you most will set you free"- Robyn Hitchcock sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 20:37:34 -0500 From: Mark Ponder Subject: [none] >I forgot to mention that the Sacred Crab also commanded me >to buy "I Often Dream of Trains" - a series of great songs >apparently plucked from ten different sources, put in a bag, >shaken up, and pulled out at random. Ehh? Without the bonus tracks, I see it as a quite cohesive cd; it traces the life of a man confused about life; first about his identity/sexuality, then religion, flowing through a briefly melancholy middle age, then getting caught up in the middle of his loneliness before catching a ride on the last train out. The bonus tracks essentially add a little more depth to the cynical side in the middle. >But as far as the bonus tracks go, the demo of It was the Night >on BSDR is IMHO 10 times better than the one on GD. I disagree, though I wish the bouncing sax on the second verse were taken off of GD. Mark Ponder ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 00:12:53 EDT From: delavina@juno.com (Christopher A Franz) Subject: yet another Bumbershoot tale Well, everybody else has chimed in with their Bumbershoot stories, and skimming again over Capuchin's epic tale, I suddenly noticed the following: >It was a long drive. Ian had his mother's BP card. That means more than >free gas. That means free BP Food Mart. I think we hit all of them >between Seattle and Portland going the short way around. Long drive? Now, perhaps this shows my (now remedied) ignorance of left coast geography, but I figured "Well, since I had to spend this week all the way up in San Francisco anyway, I may as well go the rest of the way up to Seattle." ooh, clever. Especially considering that on the trip back I was to go ALL THE WAY back to Santa Barbara. 1,150 miles. One way. A "long drive" from Portland to Seattle? Pah. :) I'm with Capuchin's verdict on the set at the 'shoot: great, but too short. Watching the curtain come down with a sudden "THUD" and the lights come on as if to say "No encores! That's it! Go home!" all I could do was stand and look around as if something was terribly, terribly wrong. The Viva SeaTac boys came out for but three songs, as though to tease us, then depart, not to return for who knows how long. But the Two Bells surprise gig made up for it. I don't think anybody tried to come up with a full setlist for that; here's my best guess: I Something You Cheese Alarm Gene Hackman Chinese Bones All Shook Up (with full Elvis impersonation and dancing) Odds&Ends (?) Viva SeaTac What did I miss in there? A bizarre sight as the crowd was swaying, clapping, and singing along to Viva SeaTac -- all but Bayard, who was sitting stock-still, directly facing the band, trying to get the best recording possible. A small island in a rolling sea of humanity. That's really a great song, and perfect for that venue. You couldn't help but want to sing along, and by the end the chorus was indelibly written into the memory of everybody there, even those who didn't know just who this odd Englishman was. The table next to us went nuts when he hit the "All of the groovers come from Vancouver" line (well, not the table, the people around it); unfortunate that the groover from Vancouver Island had left that morning. Still, the whole weekend was a blast; a million thanks go to Cynthia for her hospitality. She was the glue that kept this gaggle of Fegs together. Keep up to date on the goings-on at I-Ron-Wood studios! :) Oh yeah, that Innocent Boy question Bayard proposed has been driving me nuts for ages. You flash some poise? You flash so coy? You flasher boy? You fatso boy? If that's your ploy? If that's okay? What IZZZZ it, man! I could be Gene himself, for all you know.... - --Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 21:25:59 -0700 From: Mark rubber shark guy Gloster Subject: I agree big time.... Mike runs on: >The Egyptians live were truly stunning. Over the last few months I've >been privileged to hear various gigs on tape (not always the greatest >of quality, mind you), especially a slew from the 92/93 tours. After >hearing so much solo Robyn of late, its exhilarating to hear the full >band and their often drastically different takes on old and new >classics. >For example, I'm currently listening to the 4/28/93 Warfield, S.F. show >and was blown over giggling at their incredible take on Wafflehead. >And the band version of Queen Elvis was chilling. God, those guys were >good! ... I have never heard better sound for any concert than that evening. It was one of the very best concerts of anybody's I've ever seen. They were really in a zone that night. I've described that experience before here. I nearly get chills again thinking about it, Robyn had us in his hands all night. A solo Robyn concert at the Great American Music Hall came close, because of the stories and the piano pieces 'n' stuff, tho. Michael, I'd love to trade for a copy of your 4/28/93 tape too. Let's see, other concerts like what happened to Jake in the church scene of the Blues Brothers movie (zapped by blue light): King Crimson 81-ish Perkins Palace, Pasadena, Discipline tour- amazing (song: "Indiscipline"- they built so much tension and wiped it out in a second); Boingo, Santa Cruz circa '90 (the song was "Sweat"); Laurie Anderson, Perkins Palace (she was very nervous, but she really leveled us); King Crimson this past tour (jezis, they _started_ with "Red" and then it went up from there); Talking Heads, Greek, Berkeley, Speaking In Tongues tour (it was a good thing Tom Tom Club came on for a song or two, or nobody would've blinked all night long). I've seen a great number of bands, but only had a really magical experience a handful of times. A local Santa Cruz band came close a few times, they were called Tao Chemical and were fronted by the weird shaman of astrology, Rob Brezsney, who is threatening to return to the world of music. I'm better rested. My posts make more sense now, albeit only slightly. Maybe you all like me better in my sleep-deprived state tho. Megahappies, - -Markg ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 22:56:28 -0700 (PDT) From: ".chris" Subject: Re: "Something for everyone at Herfy's today." On Sat, 27 Sep 1997, Eddie Tews wrote: > .chris, you come out of hibernation for exactly one sentence? what's up > with that? Yes--you were expecting something else; a paragraph; a picture; a paramecium? over, .chris ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V6 #18 ******************************