From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #72 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, February 26 1998 Volume 07 : Number 072 Today's Subjects: ----------------- *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post [G] flavour of oasis [seven@cs.utwente.nl (Susan Even)] Re: fegmaniax-digest V7 #71 [dwdudic@erols.com (luther)] ...or, as billy bragg calls them, "osmosis"! [dwdudic@erols.com (luther)] Re: momus [Keith Hanlon ] Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post [Terrence M Marks ] Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post [nicastr@id] repetitious Robyn [Jim Moore ] Re: instrumentation [spine@iastate.edu (James Francis)] Jingle Jangle ["BENJAMIN.BRETTENNY" ] Re: instrumentation [hal brandt ] Re: repetitious Robyn? ["JH3" ] Re: instrumentation [Jason Thornton ] Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better [Russ Reynolds ] Queen Elvis [was *Long* why Robyn etc.] [Russ Reynolds ] Re: instrumentation [Eb ] Re: instrumentation [Eb ] Re: Queen Elvis [was *Long* why Robyn etc.] [Capuchin ] Re: Queen Elvis [Russ Reynolds ] Re: instrumentation [Capuchin ] Re: *short* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be [Terrenc] Re: instrumentation [Aaron Mandel ] Re: instrumentation [nicastr@idt.net (Ben)] Kimberley solo? [Russ Reynolds ] Green Day vs. originality [Miles Goosens ] Re: instrumentation [hal brandt ] catchin' up on some threads [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dig] Deni Bonet News [wojs of mass destruction ] In sorrow not in anger [Carole Reichstein ] Re: catchin' up on some threads [Eb ] rh diversity ["Maxey L. Mullins" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 10:48:44 -0000 From: Gary Sedgwick Subject: *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post > As for stuff sounding similar, I'm talking about the conceptual songwriting > level, everyone else is talking about surface arrangements and production > touches. The songs don't have breaks in rhythm -- they flow. Very little > jagged rhythms or dissonance past Can of Bees/Invisible Hits, easygoing 4/4 > almost all the time. No power chords -- just picked arpeggios and the like. > The electric songs just sound like acoustic songs plugged-in. Chord > progressions all descended from the British Invasion and folk. All pop, no > rock 'n' roll. No country either, even though you'd think that wouldn't be > much of a stretch. You could find isolated examples to the contrary of the > above, but they just don't make much of a dent when matched with his entire > oeuvre. > > Look, RH would rank among my 30 favorite artists ever. He's great and neato > and nifty. But the reason he doesn't rank higher than 30ish is the > sameyness of his catalog. Is there ANY chartable development in his > songwriting since the early days? Beyond a bit more willingness to write > something sweet and intimate, I really don't think so. The lack of > diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. Robyn is > incapable of communicating a smile in his vocals (or true aggression/anger, > for that matter). That gets to be a drag for me. I don't look forward much > to his albums anymore, because I know exactly what I'm going to get. Sure, > they'll be good, but it's going to be the same thing. I know he'll never do > something new which I like as well as my favorite RH albums -- his growth > curve is over. This isn't true of, say, Elvis Costello. Costello can still > surprise me. > > Eb I'm with Eb on this one. For me, some of Robyn's best work *musically* is the Soft Boys stuff - Cranked up guitars, interesting cross-rhythms, dissonance and harmony flung together in equal measure. And there were some songs which genuinely *rocked* - I Wanna Destroy You, Give It To The Soft Boys, Leppo And The Jooves. But the 'jangly' broken chord sound of Human Music was slowly developing into what would dominate nearly all of his solo work. And what happened to the cross-rhythms and dissonant chords? Now, this isn't to say that I don'l like his solo work - far from it - but I reckon both Eb and myself would like to see Robyn belt out a riff based roller-coaster of a song again. Even the songs that use a distorted guitar these days are usually set to (or the distorted guitar actually is) the standard folky arpeggiated rhythm part. We all know Robyn *can* rock - he just doesn't do enough of it. As for the vocal style, I was having the 'communicating a smile' conversation with one of my flat mates the other day. For me, it's the other way around - Robyn is nearly *always* bloody smiling when he sings. And I think this links in with Eb's comment on his lyrics - Robyn's great at using surreal metaphors and humour, but the problem is that he does so virtually all of the time. I guess that's why Eye is my favourite album - for a few all too short moments, we get glimpses of an emotional Robyn, not disguised behind fish or lizards. Those songs make me feel a lot more involved and trigger more emotions than most of his other work. I'm not saying Robyn shouldn't write bizarre and funny (and intelligent) lyrics - I think that's the main reason why we're all on this list - but a healthier mix would be nice. Now, Oasis... I actually bought and liked the first album. And I still think it has its charm. The sound of that album was different at the time, and the songs were full of energy - even the lyrics, though lacking, had their charm for being such contrived rhyming couplets (doctor - helicopter, tissue - Big Issue). But album number two made me *hate* Oasis. Trying to integrate string orchestras, *trying* so hard to write meaningful sounding lyrics (bloody Wonderwall - this song epitomizes why I hate Oasis), and blatantly ripping off riffs and chord sequences from well known 60s and 70s hits. Even Noel readily admits to this. Wonderwall might be in a different time and tempo, but the chords are a jumbled up version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. Noel actually said that the chorus of Stand By Me was lifted from All The Young Dudes. The Imagine piano intro to Don't Look Back In Anger. I've got no problem with the T Rex / Slade / Status Quo (heh!) glam sound, it's the real rip-offs. The Beatle quotes. Liam's 'look at me, I'm John Lennon now' look. And I don't think America has had the full force of the Oasis media machine. 'We're bigger than God as well' (yes, Noel did say this. So contraversial). Something that gives insight into the depth that Noel approaches songwriting is the depth of thought that goes into quotes like "I hope he dies of AIDs" (talking about a member of Blur). And we've only just had the 'most annoying voices of all time' discussion... can you imagine Liam singing softly? Not wailing? I think this is all accentuated by the fact that there *is* talent there. Noel writes great melodies (over the top of someone else's chord pattern). The "And I want you to know / that my mind's made up now" bit of She's Electric is wonderful (although it sounds pretty familiar). They had a good sound (first album). What use have they put it all to? And someone said they come from Liverpool - they don't. They're archetypal Mancunians. They just wish they were Scousers. Gary BTW, Robyn would make my top 20. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 12:35:06 +0100 (MET) From: seven@cs.utwente.nl (Susan Even) Subject: flavour of oasis Hello, Listmembers. Here's a nagging question regarding Oasis and Robyn. The past Saturday, I listened to the three Oasis albums back to back in a shop here. In one of the booklets (I think it was the Morning Glory album), there's a short paragraphy/story thing. In it, the phrase "ice cream hands" appears. Does anybody know if there's another source for this phrase, other than Robyn's Flavour of Night (on Trains)? Thanks, Susan p.s. Don't flame me; I didn't buy any of the Oasis discs. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 12:46:37 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (luther) Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V7 #71 On Wed, 25 Feb 1998 03:25:14 -0500 (EST), you wrote: >------------------------------ > >Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 19:47:24 -0600 >From: Miles Goosens >Subject: Re: oasis > >At 02:37 PM 2/24/98 -0600, Maxey L. Mullins wrote: > >>well, if we're gonna make a list. i think that green day should be on >>the very top of it. they've been reincarnating the same damn song for >>years. > >And it was the Buzzcocks' song to begin with... Nah, Green day just ripped off the Clash... Well, at least they are now considered as beens... Oasis isn't...(yet). I still can't get enough of this k.d. lang disk! -luther ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 12:40:14 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (luther) Subject: ...or, as billy bragg calls them, "osmosis"! On Wed, 25 Feb 1998 03:25:14 -0500 (EST), you wrote: >Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 11:51:33 -0600 (CST) >From: sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain) >Subject: Re: No-way-sis > >> MOST rock lyrics are bad, but they seem to do nothing but >> string together cliches and hope they rhyme. It seems that half of >> their songs don't have subjects. Even Motley Crue manages that - I >> think. > >Well, yeah, I think part of it is the "rock anthem" thang (Noel said in an >interview I saw once that he consciously tries to write "anthem-style" and >"as generally as possible"). But I was trying to figure out yesterday just >exactly what it was that bothered me about their lyrics so much, and I >think that that was basically it. That the songs didn't seem to have any >reason for being. Even the lamest top 40 alternabands seem to have some >- -reason- for writing, or -something- distinctive about the lyric, some >personal quality, but Oasis lyrics remind me of the song-composing machine >in "1984". Well, it may be Noel's writting method: Get really fu$ked up, and them wake up the next morning, and - hey!- a song has appeaered written down. The thing is, chemical use, I have seen, makes one 1)not write as well, and 2)rip-off whatever you are listening to at the time. What, nobody has heard about the lawsuits against noel gallagher for copyright infringement? -luther np.-- k.d. lang- all you can eat (excellent!!!) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 08:50:58 -0500 From: Keith Hanlon Subject: Re: momus I brought up Momus a couple of months ago, and I didn't get a bite! "20 Vodka Jellies" is nice, but it's just a collection of out-takes. Try the new one ("Ping Pong"), or if you can find any of those imports, get "Circus Maximus" (his first album, all acoustic, and DAMN BRILLIANT), or "The Ultra-Conformist" (futuristic caberet). Actually, if you can find any of those imports.... LET ME KNOW! When Momus played in Chicago recently, my good friend and co-Orchestraville bandmember got up on stage to play "human beatbox" during "Maoist Intellectual." There's a photo of the perfromance at the Orchestraville website: http://www.frognet.net/~khanlon/orchestraville (Check under "What's New?") Robyn content: we're heading to the studio Thursday to record "the Executioner" for Glass Flesh!! I'll leave you with this: "One of the reasons John Lennon is more interesting than Noel Gallagher as a songwriter is that he wasn't ashamed of the fact that he'd been to art school and was dating a Japanese conceptual artist. John Lennon received and relayed in turn a stream of fresh ideas which, had he been an avid reader of today's NME, he would probably have learned to call 'art wank'." - - Momus, 1997. Later, Keith ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 10:39:40 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post Hmm... I say that while the A&M albums all are quite similar, Invisible Hitchcock is a keyboard-based album (mostly) which is not in RH's conventional style. Moss Elixer is...different, but I can't say how. Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 10:42:31 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: ...or, as billy bragg calls them, "osmosis"! > Well, it may be Noel's writting method: > Get really fu$ked up, and them wake up the next morning, and - > > hey!- a song has appeaered written down. The thing is, > chemical use, I have seen, makes one 1)not write as well, and > 2)rip-off whatever you are listening to at the time. Hmm... If only he'd switch to the chemicals that Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, Roky Erikson, Arthur Lee et al were so fond of. (And either produce a good album or get locked up for 20 years) np-Sopwith Camel, The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:01:51 -0500 (EST) From: lj lindhurst Subject: Re: ...or, as billy bragg calls them, "osmosis"! >> Well, it may be Noel's writting method: >> Get really fu$ked up, and them wake up the next morning, and - >> >> hey!- a song has appeaered written down. The thing is, >> chemical use, I have seen, makes one 1)not write as well, and >> 2)rip-off whatever you are listening to at the time. > >Hmm... >If only he'd switch to the chemicals that Brian Wilson, >Syd Barrett, Roky Erikson, Arthur Lee et al were so fond of. >(And either produce a good album or get locked up for 20 years) Yes, you're right. Noel needs MORE and BETTER chemicals. I agree! lj ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 08:46:50 -0800 From: Jason Thornton Subject: Re: instrumentation At 07:22 PM 2/24/98 -0500, Bayard observed: >> Eb, longing for Hitchcock to make a new album that isn't "jangly" >i guess we've been through this once or twice. an observation: any >artist's "sound" will sound "samey" when compared with *everything else*. >No? And if it isn't the critics at large will accuse the artist of being a chameleon, as they did with David Bowie. - -------------------------------------------------------------- Jason R. Thornton || Chapman Stick, Silver #2125 - -------------------------------------------------------------- "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson - -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 12:02:06 -0500 From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) Subject: Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be worse post >nearly all of his solo work. And what happened to the cross-rhythms and >dissonant chords? They joined Katrina and the Waves... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:31:00 -0600 From: Jim Moore Subject: repetitious Robyn This thread about repetitious music has reminded me of something I've often wanted to ask the "list"... After listening to just about everything that is "Robyn" for the past 13 or so years I've noticed a curious tendency Robyn has in a number of his songs. Being a non-musician I can only attempt to describe this "thing", so I apologize beforehand if it is incoherent. Anyway, there are a lot of Robyn songs that have this same underlying "thing" in them: he picks the strings slowly, going from high to low or vice versa, over and over. This is for the melody part of the song. Let me give a couple of examples: "Raymond Chandler Evening", "Autumn Sea", "Take This in Remembrance"... it's usually found in his slower, more brooding numbers. I'm at work so I can't think of any more examples off the top of my head, but I know that there are lots and lots of songs that fall into this "category"... I guess my question is twofold... 1) what do you call this, musically? 2) has anyone else noticed this? 3) do other artists use this as well? THREE! THREEFOLD QUESTION!!! Amongst my possible questions are such diverse elements as... Metabolically yours, Guambat ps. One of the things about Robyn that I like is his variety of musical styles--so I would never accuse him of being boring or repetitive. Just trying to point out something I've noticed in quite a bit of his music. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 11:35:51 -500 From: spine@iastate.edu (James Francis) Subject: Re: instrumentation > Is there ANY chartable development in his > songwriting since the early days? Beyond a bit more willingness to write > something sweet and intimate, I really don't think so. I just have to disagree with this. I think his recent songwriting has really shown a lot of development--songs like Daisy Bomb, 1974, If We Hear Music, almost all of the new stuff, including much of the last album, has a sort off-balance but perfectly formed feeling to it. I can't think of another songwriter who writes like this (though I don't describe it well). And I completely disagree with the idea that the Soft Boys were his songwriting peak. I love the Soft Boys, dearly, but as a songwriter I feel Robyn's grown a great deal. As a *recording* artist, he doesn't always succeed as well--production really seems to stifle him. > The lack of > diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. Robyn is > incapable of communicating a smile in his vocals (or true aggression/anger, > for that matter). That gets to be a drag for me. Again, I think a lot of us are drawn to this. The reason I can't listen to most music on the radio is that the vocalists all drip with emotion and it's tiresome. With Robyn I get much more of the emotion from the structure of the song, the lyrics, the melody. Restraint makes music listenable for much longer periods of time, in my opinion. > This isn't true of, say, Elvis Costello. Costello can still > surprise me. This I don't get. He's a guy who's growth curve truly seems to be over. All of the experiments, changing sounds, etc. seem like a clear sign of a guy who's looking for something revitalize him. Thank goodness Robyn doesn't fall into all that. I, personally, wish he'd just go into the studio on a Tuesday with his acoustic and record 16 new songs live and ship 'em out. But we all have different ideal sounds, I guess. --Jim Francis ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 17:45:37 +0000 (GMT) From: "BENJAMIN.BRETTENNY" Subject: Jingle Jangle I agree, most of Robyn's songs(not all of them, i must add) have a 'similar' feel to them musically, except maybe the early Soft Boys stuff but...if i listened to his songs purely for the musical element, i woudent bother, ide buy a Byrds compilation. Yours BEN ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:12:10 -0700 From: hal brandt Subject: Re: instrumentation ;P (Emoticon-boy) wrote: > Very little > jagged rhythms or dissonance > No power chords > All pop, no > rock 'n' roll. No country either > Robyn is > incapable of communicating... true aggression/anger > his growth > curve is over. Admittedly, Eb's posts tend to rub me the wrong way and maybe I've isolated the above quotes out of context, but I haven't read a piece of "criticism" this misguiding and disparaging since Roger Eb(ert) reviewed David Lynch's "Blue Velvet". > Is there ANY chartable development in his > songwriting since the early days? Beyond a bit more willingness to write > something sweet and intimate, I really don't think so. I think any of his new songs are a far cry from something like "The Unpleasant Stain". His willingness to write songs that you dismiss as "sweet and intimate" does display his songwriting evolution from the aforementioned misogynist tripe. > The lack of > diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. The same can be said of your "reviews" of Robyn! [Caution: A plethora of promo CD's may be hazardous to your listening pleasure.] Seriously though, Diversity may not be RH's goal. I see his catalog in the same way I see Zappa's. One big "Project/Object" with many facets and loads of conceptual continuity. It may not be chameleon-like, but it's uniquely Robyn and continuously interesting. /hal ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 13:04:15 -0600 From: "JH3" Subject: Re: repetitious Robyn? Jim Moore writes: >Anyway, there are a lot of Robyn songs that have this same underlying >"thing" in them: he picks the strings slowly, going from high to low or >vice versa, over and over... I guess my question is twofold... >1) what do you call this, musically? Arpeggios? If there's a special word for the type of arpeggio where you do a 6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6 (or similar) pattern on the guitar strings, nobody's told me, and I've been playing for years. >2) has anyone else noticed this? Presumably. But I wouldn't call his tendency to do this a lack of musical imagination (not that you did) - it's more like he's limiting himself by necessity. Robyn has to sing and play at the same time in order to reproduce the material in a solo live setting, and it's very difficult to sing while playing an arpeggio that doesn't have the same times for each note, or where you're constantly moving all over the fretboard. But lots of musicians (the Neutral Milk Hotel guy, for example) will just shout and whack away at basic acoustic guitar chords and rarely do the fancier arpeggio stuff Robyn does, because then they can't jump around onstage as easily while they're playing. (Others solve the problem by not singing.) Try to play "Eerie Green Storm Lantern" and sing it at the same time, for example. It's an easy arpeggio to play by itself - it's almost all quarter notes (depending on how you count it) but there's a single grace note in there that makes it very difficult to sing while playing it. Take that grace note out and it gets much easier. (But maybe I'm just uncoordinated...) >3) do other artists use this as well? I guess so. Listen to some old Byrds or REM albums maybe? >THREE! THREEFOLD QUESTION!!! >Amongst my possible questions are such diverse elements as... And our nice red uniforms and - ARRRGH, I'll have to send this again... John H. "Still gurgling behind the" Hedges ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:36:38 -0800 From: Jason Thornton Subject: Re: instrumentation At 10:40 PM 2/24/98 -0700, Eb said: >It's just that *musical* >diversity/innovation is not much of a factor in my affection for Hitchcock. I still find Hitchcock's music interesting - yet, I too, don't look toward his "diversity" (in comparison to other artists) or "innovation" as a strong element in my appreciation of his work. Of course, I would go so far as to suggest that too heavy of an emphasis has been placed on "innovation" in 20th Century Art, and too much time is spent searching for the NEXT BIG THING, rather than enough energy spent *fully* exploring the new traditions that have arisen. This, I believe, is why recent nostaligia "trends" have taken hold so readily. I strongly feel that some artists are better served experimenting within certain molds, rather than branching out - the young lions of jazz being one such group of artists; Robyn, with his Byrds-like guitar jangle being another example. >As for stuff sounding similar, I'm talking about the conceptual songwriting >level, everyone else is talking about surface arrangements and production >touches. I suppose the word "jangley" didn't convey all that you meant it to. ;) >The songs don't have breaks in rhythm -- they flow. Perhaps Robyn would rather his songs flow in such a manner. >Very little >jagged rhythms or dissonance past Can of Bees/Invisible Hits, easygoing 4/4 >almost all the time. No power chords -- just picked arpeggios and the like. At the risk of sounding flippant, my only real response to this is "So?" There are plenty of artists out there doing just this. Would branching out to power chords really improve the "quality" (as opposed to diversity or innovativeness) of his songwriting? I don't want to sound like I'm defending Hitchcock solely because he's a "fave," and thus in my eyes he can do no wrong. Nor am I attacking diversity, innovativeness, jagged rhythms, or dissonance by any means (heck, King Crimson and Brian Eno are two of my other "favorite" artists). But, I will defend Hitchcock for the choices he has made, which I think serve better overall the quality of his work than the changes you suggest. >The electric songs just sound like acoustic songs plugged-in. Chord >progressions all descended from the British Invasion and folk. Agreed. And, I have to say, I "like" that. And, despite that, RH still sounds different enough from a great deal of "what else is out there" to be classified as innovative, if only for sticking to his own particular style, much along the lines of underrated songster Chris Isaak, I might add. Doing what they want to do, staying within specific sub-genres perhaps, but with songwriting styles that are cool AND un-hip (or hip and un-cool, who knows). >All pop, no >rock 'n' roll. I disagree wholeheartedly. But there's too much "crossover" between these two vague classifications for either of us to really be "right." >No country either, even though you'd think that wouldn't be >much of a stretch. So what? No, really, so what? (Again, trying not to sound overly offensive.) Maybe Robyn can't write a decent song within the country parameters to save the lives of a busload of 16-yr. old cheerleaders... Is what he *isn't* really such a limiting factor in his overall "greatest" (or position on ones Top Artists list) when you look at what he *is*? >You could find isolated examples to the contrary of the >above, but they just don't make much of a dent when matched with his entire >oeuvre. I, personally, have no urge to find any examples to the contrary. Nor do I wish for Hitchcock to provide any more. >The lack of >diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. Why would one necessarily find his so-called lack of diversity all that tedious? In fact, each new song grabs me - despite and/or because of its signature Hitchcockyness. One CAN stick to a songwriting style without necessarily becoming boring... Personally, as a listener, I am much more diverse in my overall tastes - but, hell, I don't expect an one artist attempt to cover all of them (or even a good number of them - although some have done a great job at such attempts). If I do get bored after listening to the third RH album in a row, and want something country (or, for me, contry-ish) I'll chuck on Johnny Cash or "Almost Blue." And, Robyn is hardly emotinally flat... >Robyn is >incapable of communicating a smile in his vocals (or true aggression/anger, >for that matter). Disagreement, again. I find him capable of both. Perhaps his "smile" and his "anger" are both too subtle for your tastes, but they are there, and well communicated. Personally, I look forward to another jangley RH album, and look forward to purchasing the new Mark Hollis, which will I'm sure be much less jangley. I also look forward to seeing Projekct Two twice live next month, and, hopefully, David Torn this Sunday. I hope RH never makes a free-form improv ambient art/prog-rock album. I hope Oasis tries it, though. I bet it sounds like Revolution #9. >I know he'll never do >something new which I like as well as my favorite RH albums -- his growth >curve is over. This isn't true of, say, Elvis Costello. Costello can still >surprise me. Hitchcock always surprises me - I'm surprised how many terrific songs we can write *within* the same style. I gotta agree, though, Costello still surprises the shit out of me as well - most recently with "Brutal Youth" and "All This Useless Beauty." Cheers! - -------------------------------------------------------------- Jason R. Thornton || Chapman Stick, Silver #2125 - -------------------------------------------------------------- "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson - -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 11:53:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: *Long* why Robyn could be better >I'm with Eb on this one. For me, some of Robyn's best work *musically* >is the Soft Boys stuff - Cranked up guitars, interesting cross-rhythms, >dissonance and harmony flung together in equal measure. I'll jump on the Eb bandwagon at this point too. One of the things that drew me to Robyn Hitchcock was the diversity...along with the jingle jangle of "Queen of Eyes" you had the odd time signature of "Leppo and the Jooves", barbershop sounds of "uncorrected personality traits", psychedelic spoken word of "Happy the Golden Prince", and punk stylings of "I Wanna Destroy You" all from the same artist. Most of that seems to have gone by the wayside and I do miss it. But then I still have the old CD's so I don't have to go very far to find it. On the other hand I think within the genre he has settled into he remains among the best. In my opinion THE best. In case anyone was going to ask me. - -russ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 12:08:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Queen Elvis [was *Long* why Robyn etc.] ======== Original Message ======== >nearly all of his solo work. And what happened to the cross-rhythms and >dissonant chords? They joined Katrina and the Waves... ======== Fwd by: Russ Reynolds ======== huh? My experience with Katrina and the Waves records is that if you want them to sound dissonant you have to leave them out in the sun for a while. No, I think Kimberley's contribution to the Soft Boys was primarily extra jangle (and extra volume). One of the reasons I enjoyed Queen Elvis was that there seemed to be a return of those cross-rhythms and dissonant chords (Knife, Superman, f'rinstance), albeit not as plentiful as on them ol' Soft Boys records. QE also had some interesting arrangements, some witty lyrics, even a good spoken word bit in "Autumn Breeze" and some of his best jangle things besides. An underrated album IMO. - -russ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 15:52:36 -0500 From: "J. Katherine Rossner" Subject: catsup After a week out of town, assorted bits and pieces... ##### >From: The Great Quail > >I agree, Capuchin! Some of my best relationships have been with severed >heads. Must have been too may Saturday Morning Monster Movies, and I am a >*chemist* after all -- I even own a fully equipped lab, mwa-ha ha ha! >But the "behind the eyes" part, wow -- Even *I* don't go that far; plus >once you have them re-animated in a tank of green glowing fluid, if they >can't bat their eyelashes at you alluringly, what's the point? (Wait, >Mark's acting up again. I need to make him a girlfriend, and fast. . . ) lol...and this gives me an excuse to recommend a disc I've been playing a lot recently: SUPERMAN'S MIDLIFE CRISIS, by Joe Giacoio--definitely not so off-the-wall as RH, but gently wacky singer-songwriter folk--in this case, recommended particularly because of "Dr. Frankenstein's Dating Service" ("make her just as I remember/just as tall and just as blonde"). OK, so most of the songs end up in Sensitive New Age Guy territory, but the approach is pleasantly quirky, and I like them all. First song won my heart with the opening, "My brother stuck keys in electric outlets; Mom never knew what for. But I told him tiny people lived in the walls, and those were the doors. Hey, I'm the older brother, so that's my job..." And "Women's Clothing": "Sometimes I wear women's clothing/But not for enjoyment/See, I've got this theory about women/if you can't date 'em, join em....Walk a mile in someone's shoes if you wish to understand/Believe me, I've gone twice as far/If you can learn that much/From a pretty pair of pumps/Wait 'til you try the Wonderbra..." *** >From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) >ah, but who will be the first to mention Mikhail Bulgakov's excellent "The >Master and Margarita"? I think you're first; may I second it? (At least, I remember years ago thinking it one of the best ever. I've been waiting to re-read until I didn't have to use a translation, but that will be while.) *** >From: shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott Hunter McCleary) >Subject: Kate W: Swamped Ophelia -- RH Content(!) > >Cable programmers are taking advantage of our (apparently insatiable) >appetite for all things Kate (with and without her 15 extra), so I caught >Hamlet this weekend for the second time and I was reminded that she made a >darn fine Ophelia. She was a great Ophelia, but I couldn't stop wondering what Emma Thompson's sister was doing in bed with Kenneth Branagh. :) >Anyway, one of the great casting turns in Hamlet is Billy Crystal as the >gravedigger. It occurred to me that Robyn would have been a pretty cool >choice in that role as well. Of course, he'd stick out of the grave a good >bit more than Crystal.... Wonder if there are any other of the Bard's roles >that Robyn might fit well into. > >Any thoughts? Yes! Well, I've not yet seen Robyn in person, so my impression might be off...but I can really picture him as Mercutio. And as Puck. (The friend for whom I played part of the Intro to RH Mix Tape says Bottom rather than Puck.) **** I dislike Iris Dement's voice, but she writes some great songs. Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin do a cover of "Our Town" that nearly brings me to tears... Re: FWD: Subliminally Seduce Women Instantly!: But what about those of us who want to seduce *men* instantly (or otherwise)? And the most erotic song I know is Greg Greenway's "Under the Night Forever Falling". Which I expect none of you have heard (David, you don't count!); if you're curious, check out my Favorite Album of 1997 (OK, it was released in '95 or '96, but I only discovered Greenway last year), SINGING FOR THE LANDLORD. **** >From: Aaron Mandel > >On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, donald andrew snyder wrote: > >> > Harrison. Also, "Be Here Now" is a song title from George's _Living In >> > The Material World_ (which I haven't heard). >> >> I think it is also a reference to what John Lennon thought rock and roll >> says: "be here now." Does anyone know the story behind this? > >i think the phrase, for the beatles, originated with a guru camed Babe Ram >Dass. (correct me on the name, someone.) he wrote a book called it; it >may have been his motto. > Close; the name is Baba Ram Dass. Crony of Timothy Leary's--and I'd thought the latter was the author of that book, but you may be right. Didn't BE HERE NOW come from the Maharishi, anyway? Katherine the hapless folkie - -- Ye knowe ek, that in forme of speche is chaunge Withinne a thousand yere, and wordes tho That hadden pris, now wonder nyce and straunge Us thinketh hem, and yet they spake hem so. - Chaucer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 13:03:49 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: instrumentation Brandt bristled: >Admittedly, Eb's posts tend to rub me the wrong way >and maybe I've isolated the above quotes >out of context, but I haven't read >a piece of "criticism" this misguiding and >disparaging since Roger Eb(ert) reviewed David Lynch's "Blue Velvet". Zzzzzz. Boy, if that was the most disparaging criticism you've read in 10 years, I wonder what you've been reading. >> Is there ANY chartable development in his >> songwriting since the early days? Beyond a bit more willingness to write >> something sweet and intimate, I really don't think so. > >I think any of his new songs are a far cry from something like >"The Unpleasant Stain". His willingness to write songs that you >dismiss as "sweet and intimate" does display his songwriting evolution >from the aforementioned misogynist tripe. Who says "sweet and intimate" was a dismissal? Hey, I'm the one who gets wet-eyed every time he hears "She Doesn't Exist." But still, it's the same game pieces, just buffed up a bit. >The same can be said of your "reviews" of Robyn! >[Caution: A plethora of promo CD's >may be hazardous to your listening pleasure.] "Yeah," and an "overdose" of Grateful Dead "concert" tapes works wonders "too." >Diversity >may not be RH's goal. I see his catalog in the same way I see Zappa's. Jeez, you say diversity isn't his goal, and then you compare him to the most diverse, versatile musician of ALL TIME? Eb, who hasn't heard Momus but has been curious about him for awhile ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 13:03:49 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: instrumentation Jason asked a whole lot of questions, like: >>The songs don't have breaks in rhythm -- they flow. > >Perhaps Robyn would rather his songs flow in such a manner. Sure. But when you have a catalog as extensive as Hitchcock's, an ability to revitalize and reinvent oneself over the years is important. Look at how well REM does this, even though all their albums still have an overall "conceptual continuity" (not to mention Costello, yet again). But Hitchcock hasn't done this, and that's why the music scene has moved past him. All he does is change producers over and over, and hope that the creative tension there will bear some fruit. It's not enough for me. Hey, I still like his records a lot -- Respect and Moss Elixir were both in my top 10s for those years. But I know that I'll never get truly *excited* about a RH album again, because he always works with the same game pieces. >>Very little >>jagged rhythms or dissonance past Can of Bees/Invisible Hits, easygoing 4/4 >>almost all the time. No power chords -- just picked arpeggios and the like. > >At the risk of sounding flippant, my only real response to this is "So?" >There are plenty of artists out there doing just this. Would branching out >to power chords really improve the "quality" (as opposed to diversity or >innovativeness) of his songwriting? It would make his songwriting less predictable, and that would please me greatly. >And, Robyn is hardly emotionally flat... His songs aren't. His voice is. >And if it isn't [samey], the critics at large will accuse the artist of >being a >chameleon, as they did with David Bowie. As far as I can tell, calling Bowie a "chameleon" has usually been meant as a COMPLIMENT. And yes, there's another spectacular example of someone who knows how to reinvent his sound while maintaining an overall sense of unity. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 13:21:48 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Queen Elvis [was *Long* why Robyn etc.] On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Russ Reynolds wrote: > One of the reasons I enjoyed Queen Elvis was that there seemed to be a > return of those cross-rhythms and dissonant chords (Knife, Superman, > f'rinstance), albeit not as plentiful as on them ol' Soft Boys records. Yeah, oddly enough these bits turned me off at first but the rest of the album hooked me. Then as time went on, I came to love and appreciate the more complicated bits and they kept me listening. > QE > also had some interesting arrangements, some witty lyrics, even a good > spoken word bit in "Autumn Breeze" and some of his best jangle things > besides. An underrated album IMO. *ahem* Autumn Sea. But I don't think it's underrated at all. I give it enormous marks. Still my favorite. I've listened to it about weekly for the last eight or nine years. J. ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 16:44:37 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: instrumentation On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Eb wrote: > Is there ANY chartable development in his songwriting since the early > days? maybe it's hard for me to answer this, because robyn has put out all of two records in the roughly 7 years i've been a fan. but while i see what you mean, i'm not sure he's stagnating so much as making conservative choices about what gets to record. "Zipper In My Spine" should have been on the album that became Moss Elixir, but instead it's vanished. i hope the same doesn't happen to tentative steps back into diversity like "Daisy Bomb" and "Jewels For Sophia". maybe the man needs a real band. a ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 14:31:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: Queen Elvis >> QE >> also had some interesting arrangements, some witty lyrics, even a good >> spoken word bit in "Autumn Breeze" and some of his best jangle things >> besides. An underrated album IMO. > >*ahem* Autumn Sea. yeah, I caught that just as the airplane was flying across the screen (Doh!). I can never remember the name of that tune for some reason. He should have just called it "October" Happy George Harrison's Birthday to all. - -Sir Frankie Crisp ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 14:23:42 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: instrumentation On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Aaron Mandel wrote: > maybe it's hard for me to answer this, because robyn has put out all of > two records in the roughly 7 years i've been a fan. This was kind of a sobering thought. I guess it's true. I kind of took all those Rhino rereleases and Y&O so well that I didn't notice the lack of new material. > but while i see what > you mean, i'm not sure he's stagnating so much as making conservative > choices about what gets to record. "Zipper In My Spine" should have been > on the album that became Moss Elixir, but instead it's vanished. Hey, yeah... good call for new yet different sounding tunes. Do you have that single, Eb? Zipper In My Spine is, to me, quite unlike the other recent materials. > i hope > the same doesn't happen to tentative steps back into diversity like "Daisy > Bomb" and "Jewels For Sophia". maybe the man needs a real band. Um, I really like Jewels For Sophia and maybe I haven't listened to it as many times as the folks that really love it, but why do you think this is so different from his other recent compositions? Me, I think it'd fit on ME just swell. J. ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:08:07 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: *short* why Robyn could be better and why Oasis couldn't be On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Ben wrote: > >nearly all of his solo work. And what happened to the cross-rhythms and > >dissonant chords? > > They joined Katrina and the Waves... > Nod... If we're going to talk abotu sameness and going downhill after the Soft Boys, Kimberly is a real obvious target. (His solo album is good, but all K&tW released in the US sounds like every other girl-fronted 80s band) Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:19:17 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: instrumentation On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Capuchin wrote: > Um, I really like Jewels For Sophia and maybe I haven't listened to it as > many times as the folks that really love it, but why do you think this is > so different from his other recent compositions? i'm not crazy about the song, but if memory serves (haven't listened to my tape much since the orgy) it's a somewhat different style. "Roll Dem Bones", too, i think. "1974" is very folk-based but not as montonous in style. but frankly, robyn (along with stephin merritt) convinced me that the acoustic guitar isn't that versatile. a ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:59:14 -0500 From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) Subject: Re: instrumentation >>Admittedly, Eb's posts tend to rub me the wrong way >>and maybe I've isolated the above quotes >>out of context, but I haven't read >>a piece of "criticism" this misguiding and >>disparaging since Roger Eb(ert) reviewed David Lynch's "Blue Velvet". > >Zzzzzz. Boy, if that was the most disparaging criticism you've read in 10 >years, I wonder what you've been reading. > Eb, since you seem to know what every musician is doing wrong or right, why don't you become one and show them how it's done? - -Bart Simpson ("....outta my way, I'm Hitler!") ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 16:19:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Kimberley solo? >(His solo album is good, but all K&tW released in the US sounds >like every other girl-fronted 80s band) the original Canadian release of the first Waves album (Walking on Sunshine?) was really much better than the US version and actually included at least one tune with Kimberley singing lead. On the whole it was a lot edgier than anything else they ever did. Also I think Kimberely wrote most if not all of the songs on that record, whereas the last time I looked at a Waves album that other guy (De La Cruz or something) had written most everything. BTW I don't really consider Bible Of Bop a "solo album"...basically it was three singles and their B-sides put together on a 12" record that played at 45 RPM. Backing bands included the Soft Boys (I swear you can hear Hitchcock counting one of the tunes in), the dB's and the Waves. I do think that Hitchcock sounds best when Kimberley is thrashing the strings along side him and adding his very english accent to the backing vocals. But I also think you could find very few artists who started out in bands whose solo work outshone their best work with the band. - -russ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:15:07 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Green Day vs. originality First me, then luther: >>And it was the Buzzcocks' song to begin with... > > Nah, Green day just ripped off the Clash... You must have Green Day confused with Rancid... ;-) later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 01:24:27 -0700 From: hal brandt Subject: Re: instrumentation ;P (Emoticon-boy) wrote: > Very little > jagged rhythms or dissonance > No power chords > All pop, no > rock 'n' roll. No country either > Robyn is > incapable of communicating... true aggression/anger > his growth > curve is over. Admittedly, Eb's posts tend to rub me the wrong way and maybe I've isolated the above quotes out of context, but I haven't read a piece of "criticism" this misguiding and disparaging since Roger Eb(ert) reviewed David Lynch's "Blue Velvet". > Is there ANY chartable development in his > songwriting since the early days? Beyond a bit more willingness to write > something sweet and intimate, I really don't think so. I think any of his new songs are a far cry from something like "The Unpleasant Stain". His willingness to write songs that you dismiss as "sweet and intimate" does display his songwriting evolution from the aforementioned misogynist tripe. > The lack of > diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. The same can be said of your "reviews" of Robyn! [Caution: A plethora of promo CD's may be hazardous to your listening pleasure.] Seriously though, Diversity may not be RH's goal. I see his catalog in the same way I see Zappa's. One big "Project/Object" with many facets and loads of conceptual continuity. It may not be chameleon-like, but it's uniquely Robyn and continuously interesting. /hal ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 14:29:23 +1300 (NZDT) From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: catchin' up on some threads catchin' up: >PPS: But anyway, do you think if I throw a pie at Tipper Gore, Jodie will >be impressed with me? the rest of us will! *** >>Why does this remind me of Burning Man? Sounds kind of idyllic, eh? Set >>up a Feg camp out on the playa....create small villages, shelters and >>roads (DeChirico Street, Glass Hotel)...and, after three days of frenzied >>dancing and lucid dreaming, we could torch the 300 foot tall Thoth! Hmmm... remember what happened to the Gong list... *** >>~ I go out a lot, and I like to sleep late. I am also occasionally hung over. >Danielle is now an honorary Bay Area Feg! Welcome! But that Bay is West Coast, and Danielle lives much closer to the East Coast Bays... *** >After that, my "favorites" include King Crimson, U2, David Bowie, and >Rush. But they are only slightly ahead of Bob Dylan, Hawkwind, and Jethro >Tull... Hmmm. the Quail and I share something more in common... I'd love to hear Ian Anderson sing "The Black Crow Knows". *** >In case anyone's interested, the epic Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll for >1997 albums is now posted hmmm again. Some albums I distinctly did not like in that top 50. Then again, I guess I'm in the minority in not liking "Brighten the Corners" ("Crooked Rain" is far better) or "Dots and Loops" (try "Mars Audiac Quintet"). And how come "Trailer Park" (my vote for second best album of 1996[1]) gets into the 1997 list??? *** >Somebody mentioned a while ago about hearing Richard Thompson perform his >3-minute summary of Hamlet. Does anybody know if he in fact wrote it? Is >it on CD? The time I heard it was on the radio performed by a female >folk-singer (and I don't think it was Linda). don't know about that, but I can heartily recommend seeing Tom Stoppard's "Ten Minute Hamlet (with 30 second encore)"if it's ever performed in your 'hood. Screamingly funny. How to summarise a long play in ten minutes, then again in 30 seconds. *** >I find French rap hilarious. what? even the wonderful "Le nouveau Western" by MC Solaar? I dislike most rap, but for some reason like rap in foreign languages (the name Falco is about to appear again...), be it Falco's German rap, Einar from the Sugarcubes with his bonkers Icelandic rap or (my personal favourite) the great shuffling sak/rap of "Pozhetunmai" by Russian rapper Kino. Of course, unless you've heard rap in Samoan, you haven't lived... *** >Regarding Hollywood's depiction of women, not only is it offensive that >98% of actresses on screen must comform to a rail-thin standard of beauty, >but they pass off ugly, aging boomers like Nicholson and Harvey Keitel as >being sexy, while their female peers can't even get jobs once they hit 40. >Aside form Harold & Maude, how often do we see a romance between a young >man and an older woman? It happens the other way around fairly often. hmmm. you mean like White Palace? Dangerous Liaisons? The Graduate? There are a few. ›ranted not as many as the other way around, but I dare say there are less relationships in real life that are that way around as well [1] before anyone asks, Night Song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook. James (who's immediate past girlfriend was 10 years older than him, and who is waiting for the Northern Exposure/Hamish Macbeth crossover...) PS - help! I am trying to remember the title of a dire US cop show from the mid-70s. The title was the name of the lead character, which I think was Adam something or other. All I can remember of the show apart from that was the annoying call sign "Kay Emm Dee niner-niner-niner-zero!" PPS - hey - whatever happened to the return addresses in the subject headings of the digest? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 20:34:54 -0500 From: wojs of mass destruction Subject: Deni Bonet News >Yes folks... > That Fab Fiddler is at it again! > Singing her songs for your listening >enjoyment... > > THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH > at 10 PM you'll find > ** DENI BONET** > at the > ** SIDEWALK CAFE ** > 6th St & Avenue A > (hey, that rhymes!) > >This show, and the next one at... > *** ARLENE GROCERY *** >95 Stanton St btw. Ludlow & Orchard > ** TUESDAY, MARCH 10th at 10 PM ** > >...will be Deni's special time to try out >some new and adventurous ideas before her >AMAZING SLOT at the SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST >MUSIC CONFERENCE in Austin, TX! She'll >be appearing at... > > ** THE STATE THEATER ** > on THURSDAY, MARCH 19TH AT 10 PM > Appearing on the same bill with > ** John Hammond and Robyn Hitchcock ** > >SXSW is one of the biggest and one of the >most important music conferences in >North America... > >MARCH 19th is also the premier date for >the JONATHAN DEMME/MGM movie.. > ** STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK ** > featuring DENI with ROBYN HITCHCOCK! > Look for it soon in a theater near you! > >Check out the new and improved website at: > denibonet.com >Send all e-mail to: > denibonet@aol.com > >Hope to see you soon! Keep your feet dry! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:09:39 -0800 (PST) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: In sorrow not in anger Eb (who else?) said: The lack of > diversity gets tedious for me, and so does the emotional flatness. Robyn is > incapable of communicating a smile in his vocals (or true aggression/anger, I've never been drawn into the Eb fray, but for crying out loud. I must post. You say Robyn is incapable of putting a smile into his vocals? Are you referring to his records, or to live performances? "...got a ripe tomato here in ecstasy..." Oh yes, this is postively gloomy. :) I *do* sort of know what you mean, but I prefer *not* to hear an obvious smile in Robyn's vocals. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a Hitchcock record. But he definitely puts a wistful, dreamy romantic, even cheery cast to lots of them. "Radio Storm" and "Beatle Dennis" (that's the one about the plane crashing down on the studio, isn't it?) come immediately to mind. As for your claim that Robyn doesn't put true agression/anger into his vocals, well then, you've never listened to *Eye." But then, that album is more of a *keening* one that overly *angry*...that sardonic, hostile line of "should I say it with flowers or should I say it with NAILS?" just slays me. Pass me the bottle of whiskey NOW. I've always thought *Freeze* was rather chilling as well, but the record is nothing compared to seeing Robyn perform it live. Between the blustering guitar riffs and Robyn's evil eye, my, I get shivers. Carole ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 19:52:54 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: catchin' up on some threads >>In case anyone's interested, the epic Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll for >>1997 albums is now posted > >hmmm again. Some albums I distinctly did not like in that top 50. Then >again, I guess I'm in the minority in not liking "Brighten the Corners" >("Crooked Rain" is far better) or "Dots and Loops" (try "Mars Audiac >Quintet"). And how come "Trailer Park" (my vote for second best album of >1996[1]) gets into the 1997 list??? Trailer Park was released during 1997 in the States, hence the belated votes. As for Brighten the Corners, I think Crooked Rain WAS better reviewed than Brighten. But Brighten was still good enough to do well in this year's poll. I'm not sure where Crooked Rain placed in that year's poll, but I bet it did very well. >be it Falco's German rap, Einar from the >Sugarcubes with his bonkers Icelandic rap It occured me the other night that I *really* should have listed Einar in my "annoying singer" list. ;) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 00:09:27 -0600 From: "Maxey L. Mullins" Subject: rh diversity There has been a lot of discussion lately on Robyn and his degree of predictability and versatility. I feel it's about time I got my two cents in. Everyone has an opinion. So, here's mine. First of all, I will admit that there is a certain sameness to much of Robyn's music. He's not venturing out into different musical styles every time you turn around. And thank god for that. Yes, he is somewhat predictable. But that's one of the things that I love about RH. I can always depend on him. Whereas each album has its own sound, RH never strays too far from his own style. And why should he? He's found something that really works. He changes just enough to keep his music sounding new and different without leaving that style that is so "Robyn." A lot of this does happen in the production and not the songwriting. But production is a major part of music. Deciding what instruments should be used and how much and where and what they should play is crucial to defining thhe song. However my favorite of his albums are the ones with the least amount of production. (Trains and eye). I just really dig the raw sound of the acoustic guitar, piano, and vocal harmonies. And I don't see how anyone can say that those albums aren't any different from ones like "Invisible Hitchcock" or "Globe of Frogs." They all sound completely different. For instance: "A Skull, a suitcase, and a long red bottle of wine" sounds almost like lounge music. "Sleeping with your Devil Mask" is reminiscent of the Soft Boy era rock and roll. And "Furry Green Atom Bowl" is in a category of its own. I could pick almost any other 3 RH songs and find extreme differences in them as well as many similarities. But I think that the songs I mentioned above prove just how diverse RH really is. Not convinced? Want more examples? How about "Birds in Perspex," and "Do Policeman Sing?" and "Trams of Old London"? If that's not an example of diversity, then I don't know what is. I suppose you would rather see Robyn release a speed metal album, or maybe some techno. That would be diversity. That would also be complete sh!t. That wouldn't be "Robyn." It seems to me that would be going against his true nature. And there would be a lot of very disappointted fegs out there. It would become the new discussion on this list. "What happened to Robyn?" "Why did he release this garbage?" I'm sure Eb would have all kinds of things to say about that. Well I think we're much better off the way things are. We're on this list because we love what Robyn does and we want him to continue doing it. If you want to talk about diversity or predictability let's not forget to mention just about everything you see on MTV and VH1. Not only does every band keep putting out singles that sound just like their last single, but every band sounds just like every other band. All this grunge and alternative and Lesbian Fair crap is a bunch of shallow, egotistical, already been done twenty years ago garbage. Whatever happened to originality and creativity? In my opinion, RH is one of the most diverse and original artists around today. In fact, he's one of the ONLY artists around today who is diverse and original. Isn't that why we love him? There's no one else like Robyn Hitchcock. Oh, and someone said something about the acoustic guitar not being versatile. What are you talking about? You obviously know nothing about the guitar. I've been playing for about 8 years. I love the acoustic guitar for the specific reason that it is so much more versatile than the electric. It's also harder to play. Lots of people hide their lack of ability behind a bunch of distortion and noise. Don't get me wrong. I like the electric. I too like to hide behind it some. But the acoustic is more honest, more human. And I'm glad that's what Robyn has been leaning towards these past few years. Well, there I said it. Now I'll shut up. So long my fellow fegs! =Joel ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #72 ******************************