From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #431 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, November 18 1998 Volume 07 : Number 431 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: REM content for Pan-Hitchcockian attitudes ["Daniel Barkhouse" ] New stuff in the Museum [Mike Runion ] Re: REM content [Michael R Godwin ] Re: New stuff in the Museum [Bayard ] Re: Eitzel ["Tony Blackman"] Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . [MARKEEFE@aol.com] Re: dream tangent (RH content very low, writer advancing her own agenda) [VIV LYON ] Mor'n this [Bayard ] robyn who? ["Capitalism Blows" ] Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . [Eb ] Re: REM content [Eb ] and the green grass grows all around and around. ["Capitalism Blows" Subject: Re: REM content for Pan-Hitchcockian attitudes I'm gonna rant a bit about REM. About a week back I sent out a rather obnoxious and strange post that only wanted to be a rant about REM. Now, "Begin the Begin" I see a some kind of theme song for the path that the band has always, IMHO, so consciously - and not so subtly at times - chosen for itself. REM's control (or apparent control) over itself, has been impressive to witness. I simply "Adore" the new album, and I'm wondering if this band still incites a similar reaction among my listeners out there. Eb, do you, like, "Up"? Or have the innocence, the thrust, the youthful enthusiasm of the early tunes degenerated for you over time into emptiness, and jaded eloquence - in a few more words - into a carefully marketed product? Or was REM ever that "worth getting excited about"? (And from now on, I think that everyone on this list, whenever they want to rave about a particular artist and/or her/his work, they should just say, "Blank [insert artist and/or title(s) of artist's(s') work] is 'WGEA.'") And then just try to imagine a world without mass media… "bring my happy back again" - -db. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:18:36 -0600 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: The Big What If For some reason lately, I can't help but imagine Robyn playing songs I enjoy but doubt he's ever heard. Do any of you ever do that? Now I don't want to get into the Infernal Covers Debate (which was started among my friends and me with REM's cover of some song, hell, "Academy Fight Song" maybe: there are the "straight" covers, e.g., Nirvana's cover of the Meat Puppets' "Plateau" versus "interpretive" covers, e.g., Devo's cover of "Satisfaction." KnowwhutImean?) I prefer "interpretive" covers -- I think the person playing the song should come through the song, but that's just me. Like, I do think Robyn does come through when he plays "More Than This". Some peoples' songs just sound right for other people. F'rinstance, I'd love to hear Robyn cover Pete Townshend's "Melancholia" or "Mary" or maybe a Robert Wyatt tune. Or even better, a Larry "Wildman" Fischer tune. Ha! Or hearing the Soft Boys covering Steely Dan would have been a hoot. (I know doodly-squat about Phish, but I love how they cover somebody else's albums in their entirety. That's cool.) Heck, Robyn covering "Plateau" would be perfect, too. Then again, I'd love to hear Bjork cover Capt. Beefheart's "Electricity" but that's an even bigger dream. And sure, Robyn has plenty of songs as it is, and I'm not complaining. I just like to imagine. +++++++++ Gene Hopstetter, Jr. http://home.swbell.net/efhop/ + efhop@swbell.net ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 10:58:18 -0500 From: Mike Runion Subject: New stuff in the Museum Hey all, For those of you that haven't checked back, there's a bunch of new stuff in robynhitchcock.com, The Museum Of Robyn Hitchcock. A few paintings, some new photos, a new color photo of the Tomato Pole, and a bunch of sculptures by Lal Hitchcock (now, who is she again?) Mike ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 16:13:52 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: REM content I recently saw the 1-hr REM concert on the Jools Holland show, and I thought they were intriguing but inaccessible. A lot of the best stuff seemed to be the singer and the keyboard player (who doubled on bass) doing a sort of 'Uta Lemper sings Brecht and Weill' act, while the rest of the band contributed minimal backing. Peter Buck kept changing instruments from Rickenbacker electric guitar to banjo to acoustic guitar, but the parts were all so minimal that it really didn't make much difference; and there were a furtive crowd of additional guitarists and keyboard players filling in more stuff at the back. Not bad, but even less like a rock'n'roll band than Talking Heads were. They really didn't sound as if they had ever been influenced by the Soft Boys - at least, they didn't play anything that sounded like "Have a heart, Betty, I'm not fireproof". - - Mike G. (Hi, Hamish! You still stuck in between those brackets?) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:18:53 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: Re: New stuff in the Museum Mike notifies us: > For those of you that haven't checked back, there's a bunch of new stuff > in robynhitchcock.com, The Museum Of Robyn Hitchcock. A few paintings, > some new photos, a new color photo of the Tomato Pole, and a bunch of > sculptures by Lal Hitchcock (now, who is she again?) Lal is the older of Robyn's two sisters. I think Robyn is the eldest child, but Lal may be older. Fleur is the baby of the family. My favorite thing about the site is David - he writes back right away and he's really nice. My least favorite thing is that I didn't get to do it! Ah well, unofficial sites are good things too, eh woj? =b ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 16:58:59 +0000 From: "Tony Blackman" Subject: Re: Eitzel 'twas sed; <> 'kin typical, just when I'm going to be in the U.S., someone good from the U.S. plays over here. Nobody these days has any sense of timing whatsoever. I was only listening to one of Eitzel's albums this morning on the way to work along with such punk gems as the Poison Girls' "Persons Unknown" and Anti Pasti's "No Government". A lost youth isn't what it used to be.... Grumpy Bastard Extraordinaire. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:20:32 EST From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . So, I was listening to the Smiths' "Queen is Dead" as I was driving around in my car this morning. Now, I like this album pretty well, but I always get a little self-conscious when I listen to it, because I don't enjoy it as much as I think I oughtta enjoy it. I know it's stupid, but I'm always looking for that one thing about the album that'll make me just love it. Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it fine? - -------Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:42:03 -0800 (PST) From: VIV LYON Subject: Re: dream tangent (RH content very low, writer advancing her own agenda) - ---MARKEEFE@aol.com wrote: > > > In a message dated 11/17/98 8:58:12 PM, you wrote: > > < and one of them was called "Damn!Damn!Damn!" As it turned out in the > dream, it was a hoax and had actually been written by Thomas Pynchon > and the cast of Saturday Night Live.>> > > Aw, c'mon Quail! A reference to Pynchon! That one was way *too* easy. > You're getting sloppy ;-) > What was he supposed to do? Now I'm nervous... Let it be known- I have only ever completed one Pynchon book, Crying of Lot 49, and that was finished in one day. V, Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland, all have put me into various stages of unrest and rest. vivien philistine or arbiter elegantium? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:44:44 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . On 11/18/98 11:20 AM, MARKEEFE@aol.com wrote: >Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a >classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it >fine? Definitely. I feel this way about most everything by Costello, Dylan, and Lennon. - -tc p.s. oh, and Claudine Longet too... ;^) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:28:37 -0800 (PST) From: John Barrington Jones Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . >On 11/18/98 11:20 AM, MARKEEFE@aol.com wrote: > >>Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a >>classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it >>fine? > >Definitely. I feel this way about most everything by Costello, Dylan, >and Lennon. Wow. I can't say I feel that way about Çostello, and I don't know enough John Lennon to make a judgment, but DEFINITELY Dylan. I've found one Dylan album so far that is a masterpiece all the way through (for me), and that is "Highway 61 Revisited". Can't say the same about "Blonde On Blonde", sorry. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:48:12 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . >Like, I do think Robyn does come through when he plays "More Than This". I don't know whether Robyn "comes through" or not, but I thought his "More Than This" cover was fairly dismal. Or at least, the commercially released version was (maybe you tape trolls own secondary versions which aren't so damn listless). > So, I was listening to the Smiths' "Queen is Dead" as I was driving >around in my car this morning. Now, I like this album pretty well, but I >always get a little self-conscious when I listen to it, because I don't enjoy >it as much as I think I oughtta enjoy it. I know it's stupid, but I'm always >looking for that one thing about the album that'll make me just love it. >Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a >classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it >fine? First one that comes to mind: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Sure, it's real pretty and soothing, but it all just bleeeeeeeds together for me. There are loads of critically acclaimed BANDS which I fail to appreciate (Los Lobos, U2 and Pearl Jam, for instance?), but it's harder for me to think of individual albums as examples. How about Springsteen's "The River," whose songwriting virtues are obliterated by painfully mechanical rhythm tracks that make my brain waves go flat? Eb, who passionately hates the Smiths but doesn't feel guilty about it np: Stereolab/Aluminum Tunes ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 22:58:16 -0000 From: "Kieran Turner" Subject: RE: welcomes (still minor RH) > Secondly,welcome Keiran,nice to have you on board. However I > have to admit you disappointed me greatly in your first post > by saying I promise not to be a complete nutter. :) Surely it would be more worthy of concern if I *didn't* try to lull you into a false sense of foetal warmth & security first..? > Sorry, we don't want you if you don't display at least some > minor signs of lunacy ( eg, posting long boring rants Well, I could tell you about my discovery of Robyn via the guy who - back in 91, so don't bother with any sympathy - ran off with my then partner. They got married, so he had to be doing something pretty full-on, and I had to admit he had a certain alarming calm about him, so I started to give his fave artist a bit of a listen... ...and from such emotionally charged introductions, obsessions are born. My collection of every Steve Harley record I could find doesn't look so big anymore, alongside the shelves of RH versions, singles, revisions, etc etc etc. That, of course, is not in itself a rant. The fact that my next two partners also rushed off and married people immediately after we broke up, did kind of bother me though... ;) K ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 18:08:05 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: Mor'n this > >Like, I do think Robyn does come through when he plays "More Than This". Yeah! The interesting thing about this version, for me, is how he sings in kind of a higher, sweeter tone than is usual for him, then in about the third 1/3 of the song, drops down into his characteristic, lower, more spoken-sounding singing. It made me laugh the first time I heard it - Robyn reveals himself. > version was (maybe you tape trolls own secondary versions which aren't so > damn listless). Well, there's always the '86 or so version of "Beatle Dennis", which of course interpolates "More Than This.." that's pretty far away from listless. (Minutia alert: in More Than This, is the lyric "Fallen leaves in the night, who can say where they're going" or is it FALLIN' leaves? hi Jeme. =b ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:08:48 PST From: "Capitalism Blows" Subject: robyn who? DAN BERN, 11/17/98, TRACTOR TAVERN, SEATTLE a while back, mr. john barrington lobsterman jones posted saying that dan had become the artist for him that robyn once was, and asked me if i could relate? i said that, no, much as i love dan, robyn is still the one and true god. (see, i wish i had even a passable vocabulary. i wish i knew some words besides "fucking," and "unbelievable," and "amazing." that is to say, i wish i knew how to properly convey the sense of absolute awe i felt at being in dan's presence last night. (and there's nothing quite like a club show, is there? the tractor is an intimate little venue, and we were standing right on top of the stage. every facial expression, every whispered utterance, every drop of sweat...) ) but after the double whammy of SMARTIE MINE and last night's show, my worldview has been thrown into a complete chaos. it's as if the cosmic rug has been pulled out from under my knickers. maybe robyn himself has sent dan here simply to test my faith in him (robyn.) if that be the case, i fear i may just fail this most important of tests. i fear it greatly. the opening act, corn sisters, were: neko on snare and vox, carolyn on geetar and vox, and both were wearing these cool tambourine contraptions on their feet. they played a fairly long (for an opening act) set of countrified folk ditties. some songs were super. some just pretty ok. but all in all, quite enjoyable. near the end of the set, neko pulled out a vibrator shaped like a corn on the cob, and presented it to carolyn. carolyn was visibly flabbergasted, and proclaimed it the nicest gift she'd ever been given. she couldn't even sing for a while, such was the magnitude of her delirium. finally she composed herself, and they delivered a rather salacious song about the joys of eating corn on the cob, which brought the house down. you know how dan likes to mill around the venue during the opening acts? at least the times i've seen him, he's always done that. well, at one point during the corn sisters' set, he came up and stood right by us. after the song had finished playing, i told him how utterly blown away i am by SMARTIE MINE. he just whispered a meek, almost embarrassed, "thanks." indeed, i was kind of keeping tabs on him throughout the length of the sisters' set, and he looked pretty weary. i figured that maybe he was jet-lagged, and that we were possibly in for something of a lethargic show. and it looked like that would be the case as he slowly made his way to the stage, not saying anything, and still looking quite the tired young man. carolyn had left her pint glass in front of the mic stand, and dan slowly moved it to the front of the stage. then...the familiar fire returned to his eyes, the devilish grin reasserted itself, and dan lamented that, "the corn sisters are *always* leaving their shit on MY stage!" he then started dissing the sisters, and saying he "just don't know" about them, and generally explaining that they meant trouble. he then started into Jerusalem a little bit, paused, and stated, "i mean, i'm from *iowa*, and i *still* don't know about the corn sisters!" ok. here's the setlist. but it might do to bear in mind that, even though many of these songs have familiar-looking titles, almost every one of them were performed with wildly different lyrics and/or arrangements than we're used to hearing. so, for all intents and purposes, most every song was "new" last night. MAIN SET [dan on acoustic, vox. also, neko had left her brushes lying on the drum, and the vibrating of the stage caused them to audibly "play" at some points.] Jerusalem - ---left out quite a few lyrics, for whatever reason. I Had A Dream Most American Men - ---concluded with a hilarious spoken bit, done in a southern accent, about how some pta bigwag had taken ill, "and by that i mean, he's hospitalized," and would everyone please sign the card for him, and it'll be delivered to him on monday. Neutrinos Have Mass [josh on electric, backing vox] Leave Your Acting For The Stage - ---it was with the entrance of josh that what had so far been a very good show began taking on the aura of a memorable, (here's that word again) epic event. dan's intensity kicked up a couple notches, and they really energized each other. [josh on snare] Credit To The Living - ---very good song about how it's easy to praise the dead, but maybe we should give more credit to the living. sample lyric: "kurt cobain was a genius! ben harper? he's ok." [josh on electric, corn on the cob vibrator on snare] Dots [vibrator turned off to save batteries. "i'll need it later." --josh] The Suit I Wanna Buy [josh on "travis" (snare). "it's in the contract. gotta have a drum solo. okay, he'll have a drum solo. 'is he good?' 'oh, he's great!'" - --dan] Marilyn - ---i missed the side break about three-quarters of the way through. why? because i'm a FUCKING imbecile, that's why. check that. i'm a motherfucking imbecile on a motherfucking stick. and somebody oughta blow my miserable ass sky fucking high. [josh on throat singing, snare, backup vox] Go To Sleep [exit josh. also, at this point, dan mentioned that he was "disappointed" with the crowd.] Without You Rollerblades - ---did i see somebody say that this is actually called Warm? One Night In Three - --about how one night in three, dan dreams that he's playing mcenroe at the u.s. open. once in a while, he takes him to five sets, and one glorious night, he even defeated him in three. included a spoken explanation of one time when he hit the absolute perfect backhand, which he saw --with his mind's eye-- land just inside the court, though it kicked up a little chalk because this dream was taking place in the mid-'70's, and at that time, the u.s. open was played on a clay-like substance, so throughout the match, a little bit of chalk had actually been displaced into the court. during this explanation, josh and the corn sisters were in the back carrying on and making a bunch of noise, and dan yelled back there: "hey, shut up a minute!" [josh on electric, sisters corn on vox] I Saw That Train a-comin' - ---ahem. i'll take credit for this one! as josh was making his way back up onto the stage, i yelled for them to "bring the sisters back up." josh rejoinded that he *was* the sister (a reference to a running gag about dan and josh being half-brothers. "and if you know anything about half brothers sharing the same mother, but with different fathers, you know they're very competitive.") then dan ordered neko to sing the next one. but both her and carolyn were reluctant, so dan and josh went over to stage left, where the sisters were leaning against the wall, and they sang it from there. [back to just dan and josh] Uncertainty Blues Bright Lights - ---included a very funny fantasy the gist of which was, instead of all these techies trying to prevent the year-2000 crash, they should be do something *positive*, like making every network tv program crash for eight months, beginning on jan. 1, 2000. then all the underground internet shows would become popular. Ecstatic Addiction Float Away [josh on backing vox] Yellow Star - ---this was not only the highlight of the evening for me, but possibly the highlight of my entire concert-going year. a year that included, for example, seeing robyn hitchcock playing piano in san francisco, neutral milk hotel burning down the house in seattle, dan unplugging in the middle of a song and tossing off a magnificent acoustic set in portland, the old geezers mike watt and joe baiza blowing everybody's doors off in seattle. this is just an astounding song. almost certainly one of dan's ten best. dan broke two strings near the end, and after they'd finished, dan and joshed shared a touching embrace. FIRST ENCORE [dan on electric] Waiting For Van Gogh - --very good, intense rendering of what had previously been something of a ho-hum song for me. i've now a new-found respect for it. Oh Sister - ---this was by request. as he was coming up for the encore, somebody yelled out, "play that one about your sister!" SECOND ENCORE [dan on electric, josh on snare. dan had to play electric because he'd broken the strings on his acoustic. some fan said something to josh about dan stealing his guitar, and josh corrected him that he'd factually had to rent it from dan.] Kids' Prayer - ---i liked this electric/snare arrangement, so it did hold my interest. but i still don't care for the lyrics. Long Gone Blues and that was all she wrote. this was a very difficult show to tape, because of all the instrument swapping, the un-miced stories and songs, and because so many of the songs varied greatly in intensity and volume. but, apart from missing the sidebreak on Marilyn, i think it didn't turn out too bad. anyway, prosser was videotaping it. this little mini-tour has seen everything, hasn't it? from a drum machine, to a cascade of new songs, to...the juggernaut that was last night's show. when IN UTERO was released, some people were comparing cobain (and while dan didn't play Kurt as he usually does in seattle, he couldn't resist dropping cobain's name two or three times) to john lennon. well, after last night (and, of course, after hearing SMARTIE MINE,) i feel like, there isn't anything dan can't do, musically. i feel like his upside potential is unlimited. i know *lots* of artists have been proclaimed the "next beatles" through the years. and while, almost surely, dan will never be more popular than jesus, i've a feeling everybody in the hall was thinking the same thing i was last night: "dan bern is the messiah." Obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy publications or writings, or mail containing information on where, how, or from whom such matter may be obtained, and matter that is otherwise mailable but that has on its wrapper or envelope any indecent, lewd, lascivious, or obscene writing or prinitng, and any mail containing any filthy, vile, or indecent thing is nonmailable (18 USC 1461, 1463). ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:16:15 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . . >Eb, do you, like, "Up"? Or have the innocence, the >thrust, the youthful enthusiasm of the early tunes degenerated for you >over time into emptiness, and jaded eloquence - in a few more words - >into a carefully marketed product? I already briefly mentioned that I think Up is the worst REM album ever. Which is not to say that's a lousy album, but it's pretty damn mediocre. Put it this way: I like it less than Storefront Hitchcock, and that's the ONLY REM album which I'd rank below Storefront Hitchcock. I was deeply disappointed with Up. It sounds >Like, I do think Robyn does come through when he plays "More Than This". I don't know whether Robyn "comes through" or not, but I thought his "More Than This" cover was fairly dismal. Or at least, the commercially released version was (maybe you tape trolls own secondary versions which aren't so damn listless). > So, I was listening to the Smiths' "Queen is Dead" as I was driving >around in my car this morning. Now, I like this album pretty well, but I >always get a little self-conscious when I listen to it, because I don't enjoy >it as much as I think I oughtta enjoy it. I know it's stupid, but I'm always >looking for that one thing about the album that'll make me just love it. >Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a >classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it >fine? First one that comes to mind: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Sure, it's real pretty and soothing, but it all just bleeeeeeeds together for me. There are loads of critically acclaimed ARTISTS whom I fail to appreciate (uhhh...Los Lobos, Metallica, Bauhaus, Me'Shell Negeocello, New Order, Pearl Jam, Garbage, Giant Sand, Grant Lee Buffalo, Ani DiFranco, Radiohead, Beastie Boys and lots of other rap, U2, math-rock a'plenty, Green Day, Grifters...), but it's harder for me to think of individual albums as examples. How about Springsteen's "The River," whose songwriting virtues are obliterated by painfully mechanical rhythm tracks that make my brain waves go flat? Eb, who passionately hates the Smiths but doesn't feel guilty about it np: Stereolab/Aluminum Tunes ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 98 15:22:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more . . >Anybody else have this problem with some album that's always written up as a >classic album and which everyone else seems to love, but you just like it >fine? Eb: >First one that comes to mind: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Sure, it's >real pretty and soothing, but it all just bleeeeeeeds together for me. I'm with Eb on that one. "Exile on Main Street" is another. And on a somewhat smaller scale but applicapble here, dare I say "Eye"? - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:21:47 -0800 From: Eb Subject: oops Christ, I sent the same post twice, and neither post was really finished. Fuggit, I give up on myself. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:25:13 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: REM content MG: >Not bad, but even less like a rock'n'roll band than Talking Heads were. What a peculiar criticism. First, what's wrong with not being a rock 'n' roll band? And second, that Talking Heads reference is way left-field.... Eb, obviously distracted today ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:27:15 PST From: "Capitalism Blows" Subject: and the green grass grows all around and around. yeah, the museum is really nifty and all. but, am i the only one who thinks that andy an' morris should each be given their own room to do with whatever they please? well, maybe that's awfully unrealistic, but, DAMMITALL, i sure miss those guys! (by the way. re: brits and their damnable pants. the other day i received an egyptians video, and during Uncorrected Personality Traits, morris was revealed to have been wearing shorts! although they were fairly long, as shorts go.) nah, your memory's fuzzy. you weren't talking none at all --excepting between the main set and the encore, when i wasn't taping-- and even administered that chick a nasty, though unsuccesful, evil eye. if it'd been me on the receiving end of that, i'd have not only shut the fuck up, but possibly considered suicide to boot. her harmonies on Silver Dagger *were* beautiful, but they didn't turn up on the tape. but then, neither did her otherwise very annoying mouth. the lord giveth and the lord taketh away, feggies. the lord giveth. and the lord taketh...away. whoa. maybe i'm all mixed up here, but i thought there were only *two* phyla? jeez. i *expect* my history teachers to tell me nothing but lies. i mean, if they did otherwise, they'd get the hatchet so fast it'd make gabe kaplan's head spin. but, my *biology* teachers lied to me as well? is *nothing* sacred? the man on the k single is robyn's uncle. does this mean robyn's dad and uncle were identical twins? fun fact of the day! there are now more brand names than there are species... ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 18:53:51 -0500 From: Ben Subject: Re: Albums which one *ought* to like more (0% JLH breasts) Hmmm... I always thought "What's Going On" was fantastic. The lush orchestral arrangements with a bit of funk in the mix, the way that the tracks are linked together musically and lyrically (and though the sound of the album is pretty and soothing the lyrics are the opposite) and of course a great set of songs delivered the way only Marvin Gaye could. I don't think the Shoes are all that great. I think the Tony Williams Lifetime's "Emergency!" sucks. Is Pearl Jam critically acclaimed? And what about those albums that every critic pans but you love? BTW, I can't believe Eb missed the big celeb death of the day... Damn! Damn! Damn! "Go ahead, give us a call. Tell them Esther sent you!" Eb wrote: > > First one that comes to mind: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Sure, it's > real pretty and soothing, but it all just bleeeeeeeds together for me. > There are loads of critically acclaimed BANDS which I fail to appreciate > (Los Lobos, U2 and Pearl Jam, for instance?), but it's harder for me to > think of individual albums as examples. How about Springsteen's "The > River," whose songwriting virtues are obliterated by painfully mechanical > rhythm tracks that make my brain waves go flat? > > Eb, who passionately hates the Smiths but doesn't feel guilty about it > > np: Stereolab/Aluminum Tunes ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #431 *******************************