From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #378 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, October 5 1998 Volume 07 : Number 378 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Robyn, Roddy & Fantasy Island [Carole Reichstein ] Re: Robyn, Roddy & Fantasy Island [tanter ] Re: new subscriber into [Ethyl Ketone ] Storefront Hitchcock [Eb ] Re: Storefront Hitchcock [Ben ] Re: Storefront Hitchcock [M R Godwin ] Re: Storefront Hitchcock [Ross Overbury ] storefront hitchcock ["John Boudreau" ] Re: Storefront Hitchcock [Christopher Gross ] Var. [normal@grove.ufl.edu] Re: Var. [Ben ] Re: Hits of the 70's [MARKEEFE@aol.com] Re: Storefront Hitchcock [Aaron Mandel ] Re: Var. [Terrence M Marks ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 15:35:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: Robyn, Roddy & Fantasy Island > > Roddy McDowall! Ayyiiieeeeeeeeee! > > I guess I kind of feel in a way like I felt when Andy Warhol died. It's > sort of hard to imagine him being dead, if that makes any sense. He just > seemed like someone who was always there, omnipresent in all B-movies > looking for some touch of class :). The man gave good sinister. I remember > to this day a Fantasy Island episode where he played a very suave Satan, > though I only saw it once when I was about 8 or so :). This was the *best* Fantasy Island episode *ever.* Mr. Rourke (wearing his usual white suit/black tie outfit) dueled with Satan, played wonderfully by Roddy McDowell, who wore a black suit and a white tie. As an impressionable 8 or 9 year old myself, I found the symbolism quite profound. :) These two never actually fought "physically"--they had some ESP/telekinesis thing going on. I saw this episode several times, and it freaked me out when Roddy McDowell appeared and the sun would vanish, and storm clouds rolled in. Ooooh! Robyn content: any chance of him making a guest appearance on the new Fantasy Island? I'd pay good money to see him stepping off a plane, wearing a flower lei and clumsily sipping a fou-fou drink as Mr. Rourke greets his guests. Is there a "Tattoo" character in this new series?? Rambling, Carole ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 19:10:01 -0600 From: amadain Subject: Re: Robyn, Roddy & Fantasy Island >This was the *best* Fantasy Island episode *ever.* Mr. Rourke (wearing his >usual white suit/black tie outfit) dueled with Satan, played wonderfully >by Roddy McDowell, who wore a black suit and a white tie. As an >impressionable 8 or 9 year old myself, I found the symbolism quite >profound. :) Oh someone else remembers this. Wow. I like you people :). >ESP/telekinesis thing going on. I saw this episode several times, and it >freaked me out when Roddy McDowell appeared and the sun would vanish, and >storm clouds rolled in. Ooooh! Didn't he also throw some "Hell" party, with a roast pig on a spit and stuff? I seem to remember this too, and Ricardo Montalban scowling through it. >Robyn content: any chance of him making a guest appearance on the new >Fantasy Island? I'd pay good money to see him stepping off a plane, >wearing a flower lei and clumsily sipping a fou-fou drink as Mr. Rourke >greets his guests. Is there a "Tattoo" character in this new series?? Nope. Just Malcolm McDowell as the somewhat more sinister Rourke, I think they're going for a darker feel here, so no "De plane" stuff. And if I remember rightly, this Rourke wears dark suits, so I'm not sure how they'd costume Satan. The idea of a Robyn appearance really is food for the imagination. Robyn and Malcolm MEET the serpent at the gates of wisdom? Robyn does battle with the returned Sacred Crab? Very cool. Throw in Tim Curry (definitely actually possible, he's done a lot of TV stuff recently) or Peter O'Toole and you'd have an episode for the ages! Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 23:43:13 -0400 From: tanter Subject: Re: Robyn, Roddy & Fantasy Island At 07:10 PM 10/4/1998 -0600, amadain wrote: >The idea of a Robyn appearance really is food for the imagination. Robyn >and Malcolm MEET the serpent at the gates of wisdom? Robyn does battle with >the returned Sacred Crab? Very cool. Throw in Tim Curry (definitely >actually possible, he's done a lot of TV stuff recently) or Peter O'Toole >and you'd have an episode for the ages! I think it would be fun! But I see him as the ultimate tourist getting of the plane in a loud, yellow Hawaiian shirt, big punch glass with an umbrella in it, sunglasses, panama hat or something....looking totally lost maybe, with his fantasy being that he wants to die and then come back to tell about it or something like that. Anything would be good, really, but it won't happen....or will it??? Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 22:05:06 -0700 From: Ethyl Ketone Subject: Re: new subscriber into At 3.18 PM -0700 10/4/98, John Boudreau wrote: >Allow me to introduce myself ... My name is John . I am an American who has >been living in Japan for 13 years . Welcome John! We're really a friendly bunch of folks, overall... >I've been a fan of Robyn's since FEGMANIA . For some reason only heard of >the Soft Boys but never heard anything by the group . What??????? Your joking????? ("Machines can't dream...") >I am also a huge fan of XTC , FAIRPORT CONVENTION and SUN RA . This seems pretty eclectic - you'll fit right in. Hey fegs, we gotta fix this non Soft Boys problem right now! I'll volunteer to send John a compilation that includes The Yodelling Hoover and Ugly Nora (along with that beautiful Cold Turkey cover). Anyone else? John, send me your address offline. (God I love being unemployed. I've made tapes this week, and painted, and wrote and worked in the garden. Another month or two of this and I might become creative again - or a degenerate artist, again) - - carrie ps: thanks to the Seattle fegs who have given me so much info. I am still uncertain but I'm headed up this week for the next round of interviews and I'll take a day and look around. Can't believe the traffic is worse than the Bay Area. This I gotta see... Hell, eLAy has less traffic conjestion than the Bay Area! np: Morphine - yes "Questions are a burden for others. Answers are a prison for oneself." **************************************************************************** M.E.Ketone/C.Galbraith meketone@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 01:58:50 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Storefront Hitchcock Well, the Feglist has been awfully sleepy lately...the below comments will change that, I suspect? I finally listened to Storefront Hitchcock tonight, and took some notes. The asterisked tracks are the songs that struck an emotional chord with me...the others, not so much. I'm a little dismayed at the generous nod to Robyn's cute, wacky side -- is this what he's gotta do to sell records today? I hope not. The blurb on the brown-cardboard CD sleeve is as follows: "This record is the companion to the Jonathan Demme picture, Storefront Hitchcock, a live performance feature film opening in NYC on November 18. Demme, the Academy Award-winning director of Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Talking Head's Stop Making Sense, is a long-time Robyn devotee and this film and album capture Robyn in fine form working through his catalog. This record will be followed next year by a new studio album produced by Jon Brion (who recently worked with Grant Lee Buffalo and has previously worked with Aimee Mann and [!!!!!!] Rufus Wainwright, amongst many others)." THE TALKING HEAD'S???? Yes, that's what is actually written. 1: SPOKEN (:20). A couple of spoken snippets, with a dash of electric guitar. Robyn says this is the "CD version, take one" (adding substantiation to the vinyl-different-from-the-CD theory) and asks the crowd if his hair looks all right. *2: 1974 (5:00). Vaguely similar lyrical tone to "Like a Rolling Stone," early on. "You and David Crosby and a bloke with no hand" -- I don't get that allusion. Help? Interesting that he mentions Syd Barrett by name -- has he done that before? "He's going to have be Roger now, for the rest of his life" -- ha. I like the forceful strums instead of the usual picking jangle. The song's a bit of a run-on, but still very good. More direct than most of his songs -- I like that. My favorite line: "It feels like 1974/ghastly mellow saxophones all over the floor." Ends with a line about "digging Led Zeppelin in [something that sounds like 'Crimspee']" -- help again? 3: SPOKEN (1:23). "Hello Cleveland!"-style namedrops incorporated of "Bloomingdale's" and "Staten Island"...hrm. Robynesque buzzwords: "molecules," "universe," "psyche," "rib cages," "spleens." Wanders from the pointlessness of introducing songs to how nice it is that our bodies don't fly apart, and then back again. I'll pass. 4: Let's Go Thundering (3:36). Deni plays violin -- I still think she distracts more than she helps. Jeez, if Robyn craves new instrumental color, why not hire a piano player? The song is just a sexual come-on, and kind of a tossoff. Melodically repetitive. The more Robyn-lustful of you will squidge over the notable line about a "juicy chasm" and "mossy chine." When her fingernails "caress my head," which head does he mean? 5: SPOKEN (1:32). Babbles on about churches being a collection of carcasses...really uninspired. Buzzwords: "carcasses," "mangled digits," "priest." Then he strums the guitar, refocuses and gets more direct, saying that he believes in God but has "infinite contempt" for religion. He then compares religion to pornography, because both "hijack" spirituality for political purposes. OK...he managed to save the bit from Chrissiesnowdom in the last 15 seconds. 6: I'm Only You (4:54). Typical cascading picking pattern. Just an OK song, based around a list of need-you metaphors that don't connect emotionally like they should. First real guitar solo of the album...eh, whatever. *7: Glass Hotel (3:33). OK, a surefire oldie. Pretty yearning melody, and I like the switch in tone to the more edgy "The radio was playing..." part. Some sweet high-on-the-neck picking at around 2:30 into the track. He's just a jealous guy.... 8: SPOKEN (2:42). Way overlong story about, um, Minotaurs swaddling you in duct tape and dropping you over London like a nuclear bomb, thereby causing a panic. This is your punishment for, um, extinguishing a candle. Absolutely pointless drivel. Chrissie Hitchcock in full bloom. But just like Chrissie, he rambles long enough to produce some nervous titters here and there. Me, I'd be taking a pee break. 9: I Something You (2:35). I really don't like this song much. Intentionally cliched chord progression, which makes it seem like just a singsong novelty tune. And it is, pretty much. Consecutive mentions of Lester Square in two tracks...hrm, more repetition of buzzwords? The self-reflexive bridge only adds to the novelty quotient, though the "unpredictable" jump is cute. Who's playing fuzz guitar? I don't own the K single, but I can only assume that the line "You are my DuchessAustralianHungarianJewishgirl" is a deviation from the original lyric. 10: SPOKEN (:24). And he CONTINUES the London-bomb story...good lord. My mind wanders to that cool Bugs cartoon where he's the WWII pilot being tormented by Gremlins, and the plummeting plane runs out of gas inches before striking the ground. Now THAT was entertaining. 11: The Yip! Song (3:34). Sheesh, another novelty tune. What are the Warner A&R folks up to, choosing to include a clunker like this over such a vast catalog of stronger RH compositions? Pass. 12: SPOKEN (:37). Tunes his guitar, then talks about drinking coffee and being "jittery." He goes on to introduce the next song, and mentions that he wrote it on *September 30*, 1988. Oh MY! I'm emailing D# right now to tell her about how Robyn wrote an album for me. 13: Freeze (4:44). Robyn plugs in for this one. Unusually nasty and aggressive, for him...definitely deviates from his usual patterns. However, the nagging melody line grows pretty tedious, and the lyrics don't really resonate much. Did the original recording mention David Byrne in the lyrics? I don't recall, and it's too much work to check because Queen Elvis is the one Robyn album that I own on cassette. Ends with a show of roly-poly guitar wankery, a la "I Something You." 14: SPOKEN (1:41). He introduces Tim Keegan, and they tune up. Introduces the next track as "comfortable," like a sofa or a "contour-fitted chair." Following is a somewhat funny (true, I'm assuming) anecdote about a Muzak-induced trauma in a Minneapolis hotel lobby, but Robyn has to go and tart it up by claiming he was carrying a meat cleaver around at the time. Oh well. 15: Alright, Yeah (3:13). Tim and Robyn together, and their guitars interlock and chime nicely. But again, not one of Robyn's better songs. Really puzzled by the choices in material on this disc. Like Robyn himself says, it's "comfortable"...and not much else. *16: Where Do You Go When You Die? (4:54). Tim and Robyn again, including harmonica (Robyn, I assume). Folk-blues. Dark and blasphemous, but again, the purposely cliched structure (and glib asides like "watch out, honey") makes it seem like a wry novelty tune. The lyrics are superficially heretical, but don't really dig for any deeper observations. I like the line about one's soul getting stuck in limbo "like a balloon stuck in the trees," though. Defies expectations by switching a line which should end in "a cow" to "a piece of British beef"...ok. Almost a very good song, but not quite. 17: The Wind Cries Mary (3:21). Here's that damn Hendrix cover again. More harmonica. Next.... *18: No, I Don't Remember Guildford (6:15). He's "wrapping up the harmonica session with this one." Speaks a bit over the opening chords, and sounds sincere rather than droll for once. OK, he's serious with this one, enunciating all the syllables very carefully ("...thick and fassst") and giving off a very sober air. A bit of echo is added to his vocal, for extra drama. The "fa-la-la" embellishment between verses is a whimsical touch. I was hoping the lyrics would develop into something more, but they didn't quite make it. Just some collected thoughts of wistful nostalgia, I guess. 19: SPOKEN (:20). Just sort of a quick farewell to the crowd, and a note that the next song features Tim AND Deni. *20: Beautiful Queen (7:20). OK, this is the first catalog choice here since "Glass Hotel" which pleases me. Tim sings backing vocals, in addition to playing guitar. At certain points, there seems to be some sort of electronic processing on Deni's violin, so that it plays in two octaves? Or is someone just adding a unison synthesizer line? Lovely groove to the verse, and I like the abrupt shift of the chorus. A nice sliding guitar solo, and Deni's violin works well on this one throughout. Ends with eerie psychedelic "aahs" at the end, and then a spoken signoff to the concert. 21: SPOKEN (2:36). Robyn and (presumably) his galpal eating together, and talking about finding hair in the dip. Or was it in the falafels? I think this might've worked better conceptually as a "hidden" track, rather than as a separately indexed item. As you can see, kind of a mixed review from me (on the Ebby scale, let's give it a strong 13/20). As far as 1998 releases go, I suppose I'd rank it about 18th out of the albums I've heard. And that ranking may plunge shortly, after I hear the PJ Harvey, Frank Black, REM, Elvis Costello, Beck, Spiritualized and Golden Smog discs. Over and out, Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 06:14:09 -0400 From: Ben Subject: Re: Storefront Hitchcock All I can say is that I doubt anyone on the list will have forgotten this review when our "regular-guy" copies arrive! Not that we'd need the album to start an aruguement! ("Yip Song" a novelty?!?!) Oh, and speaking as someone who *does* own the "I Something You" single (both on vinyl and CD says the weenie :) ) that lyric is the same on the recorded version... Eb wrote: > As you can see, kind of a mixed review from me (on the Ebby scale, let's > give it a strong 13/20). As far as 1998 releases go, I suppose I'd rank it > about 18th out of the albums I've heard. And that ranking may plunge > shortly, after I hear the PJ Harvey, Frank Black, REM, Elvis Costello, > Beck, Spiritualized and Golden Smog discs. > > Over and out, > Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 15:04:40 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Storefront Hitchcock On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Eb wrote: > THE TALKING HEAD'S???? Yes, that's what is actually written. MRG: Keith Waterhouse (journalist and author of 'Billy Liar' etc) has a society called something like "The Society for the Elimination of Unwanted Apostrophes" - he claims that the centres of infection are greegrocers "or, as they would call themselves, greengrocer's ". [Re: 1974] > My favorite line: "It feels like > 1974/ghastly mellow saxophones all over the floor." Ends with a line about > "digging Led Zeppelin in [something that sounds like 'Crimspee']" -- help > again? MRG: "Grimsby" - an east coast seaport on the River Humber. > singsong novelty tune. And it is, pretty much. Consecutive mentions of > Lester Square in two tracks...hrm, more repetition of buzzwords? MRG: "Leicester Square" - possible Kinks influence here? > 15: Alright, Yeah (3:13). Tim and Robyn together, and their guitars > interlock and chime nicely. But again, not one of Robyn's better songs. > Really puzzled by the choices in material on this disc. Like Robyn himself > says, it's "comfortable"...and not much else. MRG: I know what you mean. On last year's "Robyn at Sea" outing, he introduced this song in a very self-depreciating(?) manner, saying it was a throwaway and really not up to much. He still played it, though. [Re: Guildford] > Just some collected thoughts of wistful nostalgia, I guess. MRG: There is an awful lot of nostalgia about in his recent songs (see also '1974' and 'I dream of antwoman' for instance). > As you can see, kind of a mixed review from me (on the Ebby scale, let's > give it a strong 13/20). MRG: Hmmm. It certainly doesn't sound as if the performance was up to the standard of an average Egyptians gig. I have to agree that 'Thundering' and 'I something you' are not really fully-develeoped songs. I don't understand why 'I dream of antwoman' isn't on there - I would have said it was the best of his recent songs (as good as 'One long pair of eyes', but not in the class of 'Airscape'). > As far as 1998 releases go, I suppose I'd rank it > about 18th out of the albums I've heard. And that ranking may plunge > shortly, after I hear the PJ Harvey, Frank Black, REM, Elvis Costello, > Beck, Spiritualized and Golden Smog discs. MRG: 'Top of the Pops' was, atypically, amazing last week, with Polly Harvey, the Eels, and a couple of other tolerable acts such as Divine Comedy. Still a long way to go before Hitchcock appears on TotP, though (thinks: unless he ever appeared in a Captain Sensible backing band). - - Mike Godwin PS I think I spotted Eric Drew Feldman in PJH's backing band, which would make him the first Beefheart sideman to appear on TotP ... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 98 9:57:44 EDT From: Ross Overbury Subject: Re: Storefront Hitchcock Cranky but lovable 'ol Eb sed: > > Well, the Feglist has been awfully sleepy lately...the below comments will > change that, I suspect? What, no Fantasy Island comments? > > *2: 1974 (5:00). Vaguely similar lyrical tone to "Like a Rolling Stone," > early on. "You and David Crosby and a bloke with no hand" -- I don't get > that allusion. Help? Interesting that he mentions Syd Barrett by name -- > has he done that before? "He's going to have be Roger now, for the rest of > his life" -- ha. Yes, that's been in the song since the tour with Bragg. > 4: Let's Go Thundering (3:36). Deni plays violin -- I still think she > distracts more than she helps. Jeez, if Robyn craves new instrumental > color, why not hire a piano player? Spoken like a pianist! > 9: I Something You (2:35). I really don't like this song much. > Intentionally cliched chord progression, which makes it seem like just a > singsong novelty tune. And it is, pretty much. Consecutive mentions of > Lester Square in two tracks...hrm, more repetition of buzzwords? The > self-reflexive bridge only adds to the novelty quotient, though the > "unpredictable" jump is cute. Who's playing fuzz guitar? I don't own the K > single, but I can only assume that the line "You are my > DuchessAustralianHungarianJewishgirl" is a deviation from the original > lyric. It was in the Glass Flesh version, so it's old. Get Glass Flesh, Eb. Resistance is futile. > Did the original recording mention David Byrne in the > lyrics? yes. "but it should have been David Byrne or somebody" > And that ranking may plunge > shortly, after I hear the PJ Harvey, Frank Black, REM, Elvis Costello, > Beck, *Spiritualized and Golden Smog discs. *I wanna hear about this one! Dog digga dog, - -- Ross Overbury Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 23:23:59 +0900 From: "John Boudreau" Subject: storefront hitchcock Anybody out there in fegmanialand fear that the STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK movie might propel Robyn into superstardom and the masses will swallow him up whole and we'll lose him forever ? Moss Elixir on Warner Bros. remember ... Next Stop Beverly Hills ??? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 10:42:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: Storefront Hitchcock On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Ben wrote: > All I can say is that I doubt anyone on the list will have forgotten this > review when our "regular-guy" copies arrive! I won't have forgotten it, but I haven't read it past the analyses of the first two or three tracks either. There was way too much detail for my purposes -- I'd rather be surprised. (But then, I'm the weirdo who always reads reviews of movies *after* I've seen them....) Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 11:08:40 -0400 (EDT) From: normal@grove.ufl.edu Subject: Var. I was watching some infomercial about a Time-Life "Hits of the 70s" package. Lots of Bay City Rollers, Gary Wright, etc. Not one mention of, say, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, the Doobie Brothers, Supertramp, Led Zeppelin or the Bee Gees. My notions of the 70s are all second-hand, but weren't those groups the definition of "Hits of the 70s"? Another thing that bugs me is the John Lennon songwriting contest. The Estate of John Lennon and Sony inc. teamed up to pick the best and the brightest young musicians and only charge a $30 judging fee. Now, recruiting bright young musicians is the sort of thing that record companies are supposed to do on their own, without attatching the name of someone entirely uninvolved for the purpose of appearing "respectable" and without bilking naive young musicians out of their money(They're supposed to wait until the musicians sign contracts before they start bilking. Otherwise how are managers going to get their cut...) And the Storefront lineup seems kinda lame. I always thought that "Thundering" sounded better without Demi. The violin makes it sound kinda gimmicky. "The Yip Song" was the song that most benefitted from Respect's production, I think. It's the sort of song that doesn't benefit from being stripped down. I've had as much "I Something You" and "I don't remember guildford" as I can take, personally. I don't get Eb's "Chrissie Hitchcock" references. List of Comic Strips Worth Checking Out: Alex's Restaurant (http://www.nando.net/nt/comics/alex/today/) Bruno the Bandit (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/5167/) The Class Menagerie (http://www.furnation.com/menagerie/) Few and Far Between (http:/www.fewandfarbetween.com) Freefall (http://www.purrsia.com/freefall/) Goats (http://www.goats.com) Mayberry Melonpool (http://www.melonpool.com) Newshounds (http://www.newshounds.com) Ozy & Millie (http://www.coyotesdaughter.com/~rain/) Sabrina Online (http://www.coax.net/people/erics/Sabrina.htm) Sluggy Freelance (http://www.sluggy.com) Soap on a Rope (http://www.soaprope.com) SPAZ Labs (http://www.odyssey.on.ca/~spazlabs/) Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu np-Duran Duran, Medazzaland. now reading- CS Lewis, The Great Divorce Quote of the day: "When we are (actually) dust, shall we indeed then be in a creation renewed?" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 12:13:25 -0400 From: Ben Subject: Re: Var. normal@grove.ufl.edu wrote: > I was watching some infomercial about a Time-Life "Hits of the 70s" > package. Lots of Bay City Rollers, Gary Wright, etc. Not one mention of, > say, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, the Doobie Brothers, Supertramp, Led > Zeppelin or the Bee Gees. My notions of the 70s are all second-hand, but > weren't those groups the definition of "Hits of the 70s"? I imagine that Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Stevie Wonder, etc. don't appear on many (or any) because whatever company is putting out the compilation can't afford the rights, or those bands just aren't for sale. I.E. How many Beatles tracks appear on "Hits Of The 60's" CD's? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 12:16:20 EDT From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: Hits of the 70's In a message dated 10/5/98 8:10:45 AM, you wrote: << I was watching some infomercial about a Time-Life "Hits of the 70s" package. Lots of Bay City Rollers, Gary Wright, etc. Not one mention of, say, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, the Doobie Brothers, Supertramp, Led Zeppelin or the Bee Gees. My notions of the 70s are all second-hand, but weren't those groups the definition of "Hits of the 70s"? >> Well, yeah, but people still buy the full-length CDs of those more influencial artists (Zep, Floyd, Wonder), whereas the only way to make money off of Gary Wright and the Bay City Rollers is to put them on some lame compilation. - ------Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 12:20:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: Storefront Hitchcock On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Eb wrote: > I'm a little dismayed at the generous nod to Robyn's cute, wacky side -- > is this what he's gotta do to sell records today? I hope not. worse, is it what he has to do to convince record people he can sell records? > *2: 1974 (5:00). > The song's a bit of a run-on, but still very good. More direct than > most of his songs -- I like that. yeah, i was initially turned off by the very pointed real-world references, something that worked so poorly in "The Devil's Radio", but mixing them with a very personal and clear sense of despair illuminates them... the "oh, christ" at the end really needs a nice long silence after it. did it get one, on Storefront? > 9: I Something You (2:35). I really don't like this song much. maybe now that it's on a full-length major-label album it will formally join his back catalogue and thus NOT BE PLAYED AT ALL THE SHOWS. erm, yeah, "dislike" is a mild word for my feeling toward the song. > 11: The Yip! Song (3:34). Sheesh, another novelty tune. What are the Warner > A&R folks up to, choosing to include a clunker like this over such a vast > catalog of stronger RH compositions? Pass. next to "I Something You", i wouldn't call this a novelty song. it's simple, it has a conceptual hook, but at least in the Respect version it was a rave-up. perhaps it just shouldn't be solo? > As you can see, kind of a mixed review from me (on the Ebby scale, let's > give it a strong 13/20). based just on the setlist, that's more than i'd give it. looking forward to hearing it, of course. > As far as 1998 releases go, I suppose I'd rank it > about 18th out of the albums I've heard. And that ranking may plunge > shortly, after I hear the PJ Harvey, Frank Black, REM, Elvis Costello, > Beck, Spiritualized and Golden Smog discs. i've only heard the first two, both of which are being lauded as returns to form... but both of them are by artists whose last releases i skipped entirely after being totally unimpressed by the single, and i'm wondering just how sucky those records were for these middling discs to be so welcome. haven't yet listened to Is This Desire? in a dark room without distractions, though. anyone else see the NYT's article about how the new pop classicists are Elvis Costello and... Duncan Sheik? a ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 13:26:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: Var. > > I was watching some infomercial about a Time-Life "Hits of the 70s" > > package. Lots of Bay City Rollers, Gary Wright, etc. Not one mention of, > > say, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, the Doobie Brothers, Supertramp, Led > > Zeppelin or the Bee Gees. My notions of the 70s are all second-hand, but > > weren't those groups the definition of "Hits of the 70s"? > > I imagine that Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Stevie Wonder, etc. don't appear on many > (or any) because whatever company is putting out the compilation can't afford > the rights, or those bands just aren't for sale. I.E. How many Beatles tracks > appear on "Hits Of The 60's" CD's? Well, yes. But I say that "Cheapest Hits of the 70s" would be a better title than "Greatest Hits of the 70s". (Or "Hits from bands who had decent singles, but whose albums you'd never really consider listening to") Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #378 *******************************