From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #1 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Saturday, January 2 1999 Volume 08 : Number 001 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Misc (Soul Coughing/TMBG/Metronomes/etc.) ["Jay Lyall" ] First message of the year [Natalie Jane Jacobs ] NMH: second post of the year [lobstie@e-z.net] Re: Songs and their place on an album ["Daniel Saunders" ] Re: Songs and their place on an album ["she.rex" ] Cricket & Star Trek (XTC content 5%) [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (] best of '98 (long and tedious. I'm sure you won't like it) [james.dignan@] Re: best of '98 (long and tedious. I'm sure you won't like it) [Eb ] Best of '98 [S Dwarf ] Re: back and there [amadain ] paul westerblech [dmw ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 09:28:22 -0600 From: "Jay Lyall" Subject: Re: Misc (Soul Coughing/TMBG/Metronomes/etc.) The Soul Coughing is pretty good...it grows on ya, like fungus....I was did promo work for them and Warner Bros in Houston this past summer...there are a bunch of MP3s from the album circulating...listen before ya buy... Cheers Jay - who just started reading the group again - hi guys! - -----Original Message----- From: normal@grove.ufl.edu To: The Cognitive Dissidents Date: Friday, January 01, 1999 2:32 AM Subject: Misc (Soul Coughing/TMBG/Metronomes/etc.) >Is Soul Coughing's new album any good? I've heard "circles" and it sounds >very very generic (How generic? The local generic station has it in >heavy rotation. The keyboard sound is normal and Doughty sings on >beat. The best I can say about it is "Soft Serve, pt 2"). Is the rest of >the album like that? (I had their previous two albums, and while there >were some standout tracks [like Down to This, Is Chicago or Super Bon Bon] >the album as a whole left me pretty nonplussed). Is the album worth >listening to? > >And I'm looking for TMBG tapes (partic. Dial-a-songs and studio outtakes.) >Would anyone be willing to oblige me and trade for a few? > >And I'm looking for a good free digital metronome sort of thing. I've got >a fairly lousy sense of timing and whenever I try to record something I >shift tempo a few times and wind up not being able to overdub well, which >I guess comes from playing a lot of Syd Barrett stuff when I was learning. >Anyhow, the only metronome software I've found demands to be registered >before it can change tempos, which I severely dislike. Has anyone any >recommendations? > >I saw this item called a "rhythm bandit" advertised in a music catalog for >appx. $30. It supposedly lets you play back just rhythm guitar, and I >thought that that might be neat for that tab project we've got. Has >anyone seen one of these things and how well do they work? > > >Terrence Marks >normal@grove.ufl.edu > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 10:31:58 From: "she.rex" Subject: Re: Songs and their place on an album Michael Wolfe asked: > So, my question is, has anyone else experienced this effect? A sort of, "Oh!... > I forgot that was there!" type feeling, sort of getting taken by surprise, with > one's emotional guard down. If so, where? On Counting Crows' August and Everything After the song Annie Begins sort of reaches inside you, grabs your guts and gives them a nice twist. It is followed by Time and Time Again, which mitigates the effect a bit - while acknowledging the current pain, it promises that this, too, shall pass. I believe this was intentional - if not, it is serendipity. It's not a song to snap you to attention, just to soothe after the hurt. Does this count? She.Rex - ----------------- Just like a car You're pleasing to behold I'll call you Jaguar if I may be so bold ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 12:37:18 -0500 (EST) From: Natalie Jane Jacobs Subject: First message of the year Terry asked about Soul Coughing (I can't reproduce his quote because Pine won't do cut and paste this morning) - re. "Circles," the funny thing about it is that it's got the same approximate chord changes as "Wax Doll," so every time it comes on the radio, I start warbling, "Son, there are breakers here, watch your performing little whales..." I spent last night giving myself one of those trendy henna tattoos and talking music with two 14-year-olds (a daughter of a party guest and her friend). They hate Hanson and like the Who, so I think there's hope for them. I suggested to one of them, a Green Day fan, that she listen to the Buzzcocks, thus planting those first seeds of subversion. (A future Feg? It has to start somewhere, right?) Also, I was playing that computer quiz game, "You Don't Know Jack," and one of the questions contained a reference to Andy Partridge. I suggest Mr. Hedges *immediately* go out and buy this game, to complete his collection! :) I'd like to answer Lord K's question about spirituality, but it would take a long time and I'm tired. Maybe when I don't have a cold anymore. Happy New Year, everyone! n. p.s. My tattoo looks kind of smudgy, but what the hell. I'm cool and hip, like Madonna! np: Van fuckin' Morrison ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 10:03:56 -0800 (PST) From: lobstie@e-z.net Subject: NMH: second post of the year hi all and happy new year- was "the aeroplane" release by NMH a 1997 release or a 1998 release? the only dates i could find in the packaging anywhere ws 1997, but that referred to when it was recorded. anyone who knows, knows. but you could also please tell me. - -john ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 12:05:20 -0800 (PST) From: "Daniel Saunders" Subject: Re: Songs and their place on an album > On Counting Crows' August and Everything After the song Annie Begins sort > of reaches inside you, grabs your guts and gives them a nice twist. It is > followed by Time and Time Again, which mitigates the effect a bit - while > acknowledging the current pain, it promises that this, too, shall pass. I > believe this was intentional - if not, it is serendipity. It's not a song > to snap you to attention, just to soothe after the hurt. Does this count? My problem with August and Everything After is that every song after about the first three sounds like that kind of a song, the song which should end off an album. The album has a beginning and an end, but no middle! Round Here is great, but after listening to the whole thing my impression is always one of wimpiness. Daniel Saunders ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 18:04:38 EST From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: Songs and their place on an album In a message dated 12/31/98 10:15:15 AM, you wrote: <> The Verlaines' "Ready to Fly" album usually gets me like this, with the next-to-the-last song: "Moonlight on Snow." There are a few songs before that one that always have me paying closer and closer attention to the lyrics. Then, by the time that one comes on, I usually find myself reading along and becoming totally absorbed (drivers beware!). The last song on the first Tindersticks album, called "The Not Knowing," gets me like that, too. Actually, these two songs are similar in that they're both bittersweet and have a bit of a "classical" feel (some classical instrumentation and arranging). - -----Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 15:23:21 -0800 From: Eb Subject: WOW Sheesh, 32 discs??? I also read that Neil is recording a new studio album with Phish! Eb from wallofsound.com December 28, 1998 Neil Young Gets Set for 1999 Will 1999 finally be the year that Neil Young begins putting out the extensive archival set he's been promising for the past decade? Indications from both Young's camp and from his label, Reprise, have been in the affirmative, and now the most detailed confirmation yet has come from Young's longtime manager, Eliot Roberts. In a brief chat with the British music magazine Mojo, Roberts says he expects the first installment of what he calls "the Big Project" to indeed be released during 1999. Roberts also surmises that the endeavor has grown to a 32-CD "life story" that will be released in four separate volumes during the next few years. The first installment, according to Roberts, will comprise seven CDs featuring more than 70 unreleased songs, along with three bonus CDs of landmark live performances in Young's career—the 1966 "Riverboat" concert, a 1968 solo acoustic show at the Royal Festival Hall in England, and a 1972 show with Crazy Horse at England's Hammersmith Odeon. "It's hard to describe except to say that it'll be vast and unique," Roberts says. Young is also expected to release a acoustic-oriented solo album during 1999, which he'll support with a tour, and he'll be featured on the upcoming four-CD Buffalo Springfield boxed set.— Gary Graff ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 20:09:35 From: "she.rex" Subject: Re: Songs and their place on an album At 12:05 PM 1/1/99 -0800, you wrote: >My problem with August and Everything After is that every song after about >the first three sounds like that kind of a song, the song which should end >off an album. The album has a beginning and an end, but no middle! Round >Here is great, but after listening to the whole thing my impression is >always one of wimpiness. Yes- this *is* a whine-fest. But there's a place for that. My favorites are Round Here, Omaha, Mr. Jones, Anna Begins and Rain King. I also like the live versions of these on Across a Wire, but this 2 CD set is only for the die-hard CC fan, I'm afraid. I think the biggest mistake on A & E A was Perfect Blue Buildings - only worth listening to once and kills the set before all the good ones have been heard. But Time and Time Again soothes lyrically as well as musically after the pain (for me almost pleasurable) of Anna Begins. And I forget about it almost every time, so that it comes as a surprise when I just pull out the CD for a listen and don't use the memory or jump up to change tracks. I am basically an album person rather than a singles person. When I bought this CD I hadn't gotten anything new in a long time. I sat on the floor with headphones on and the lyric sheet and followed along through the whole set and this became a favorite CD for me at the time. Murder of One is ok, too, but a song like that is only satisfying if you're not in a good relationship - enjoying it almost feels like a betrayal - does this make sense? You're right, half the set sounds the same, but the other half is pretty good if you're in the right mood. Your Fellow (Longwinded) Feg, She.Rex - ------------------ The wild winds blow Uopn your frozen cheeks The way you flip your hip it always makes me weep ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 14:42:11 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Cricket & Star Trek (XTC content 5%) i don't know why i find the term "test" so interesting in this context. does it have something to do with, this is supposed to be the most rigorous test of one's cricketing abilities? is there a cricket world cup? (such an ignorant question!) which has been the most dominant side in test matches of late? not sure why they're called tests - Rugby and Rugby League international matches are also called test matches. As for who's the strongest at the moment, Australia and South Africa are the strongest, the remaining seven test playing nations are roughly equal below those two. >I'm sure there have been some knockout 'world cup'-type contests, but only >as a recent marketing ploy. It is geographically too complicated for all >the first-class nations to play each other every year. there have been world cups of one-day internationals (regularly held every 4 years - Sri Lanka are current world champions), but the first world cup for test cricket is still in its planning stage. >They finally broke the lousy odds, >swell evens rule: every odd-numbered Star Trek flick has basically been >lousy and every even-numbered one has been swell. Has anyone else noticed >that? yup - I've also noticed that the best Star Trek is when they're not taking themselves seriously. They obviously had a lot of fun with the Tribbles episode of the original series, the Whales movie, and (TNG's) Data impersonating Sherlock Holmes. Haven't seen enough of the other spin-off series to know whether they follow the trend, butfrom what I've seen Star Trek is definitely at it's most enjoyable when they're taking the piss out of themselves. James PS - had the opportunity yesterday to hear some demo versions of songs from XTC's upcoming Apple Venus. If I'd heard them the day before, they would have been on my 1998 best of list (coming up next...). They definitely ain't lost it! The year is off to a GOOD start! James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 14:42:13 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: best of '98 (long and tedious. I'm sure you won't like it) Before I launch into this list, let it be said that there are several albums not included on this list, simply because I have not yet had a chance to hear them. These include Robyn Hitchcock's Storefront Hitchcock, in either of its two different forms. They also include the Church's Hologram of Baal, reputedly their best for ten years, and the boxed sets of John Lennon's Wonsaponatime and XTC's Transistor Blast, both of which sound excellent. I also still have to track down a copy of Liz Phair's Whitechocolatespaceegg and Jeff Buckley's posthumous release (called, if memory serves, My Sweetheart the drunk). Billy Bragg and Wilco's Mermaid Avenue is also in the "Must seek out" pile, along with Superette's Tiger and HDU's Higher++. FWIW, my last CD purchase of 1998 was Three the Hard Way's "Old skool prankstas" - mellow rap. I also omitted my recent attempt to try to scratch the surface of that giant undiscovered (for me) world that is jazz. I have been listening to various compilations of everyone from Chick Corea to Artie Shaw, and have discovered a liking for various artists that I would not have expected to like ((John Coltrane, for one). The real list is divided into two sections: Favourite releases of 1998, and favourite releases of previous years that I have finally got my grubby mitts on. Since I spent several small fortunes on CDs this year, and also went through several thousand of local student radio Radio One's CDs (where I've been doing review work on their back-catalogue), cutting down this list to manageable proportions is a daunting task. BEST RELEASES OF 1998: The top ten - 1. Mutations (Beck); 2. Is this desire? (PJ Harvey); 3. Sunmachine (Dario G); 4. Smitten (Buffalo Tom); 5. Big Calm (Morcheeba); 6. Celebrity Skin (Hole); 7. From the Choirgirl Hotel (Tori Amos); 8. Pakajam (Andy Brown); 9. Stunt (Barenaked Ladies); 10. Version 2.0 (Garbage). Bubbling under: International Velvet - Catatonia; Push the Button - Money Mark; Let it come down - James Iha; Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev; The last dog & pony show - - Bob Mould; Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist; The Best of T.Rex; Shadows on a Flat Land; BBC Sessions - Jimi Hendrix; The Islander - Dave Dobbyn; Best of Toots and the Maytals; Mechanical Animals - Marilyn Manson; Electroshock Blues - Eels. BEST NEWLY-HEARD/ACQUIRED RELEASES OF PREVIOUS YEARS: 1. Envy of Angels (Muttonbirds); 2. Free Peace Sweet (Dodgy); 3. Mars Audiac Quintet (Stereolab); 4. Morning Glory (Oasis); 5. Different Class (Pulp); 6. Shoot out the lights (R & L Thompson); 7. David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights; 8. Listen to the Band (Monkees); 9. Uncle Anaesthesia (Screaming Trees); 10. This is Hardcore (Pulp). Too many to simply list a bubbling under. Instead, some comments: I discovered some big names this year. Foo Fighters (The colour and the shape) for another. From another era and another style, Richard and Linda Thompson's classic Shoot out the lights and I want to see the bright lights tonight were on my shopping list, along with Joni Mitchell's For the roses. Other artists I listened to were simply strongly influenced by the past - I went sifting through the back catalogues of Britpop present, and came up with some gems: Pablo Honey by Radiohead, (What's the story) Morning Glory by Oasis, Modern life is rubbish, by Blur, and A storm in heaven by Verve. A Brit-pop album I initially hated came back to insinuate its way into my brain - This is hardcore, by Pulp. I also bought their classic Different class, in which Jarvis Cocker proves himself one of Britain's best lyricists. From the various dance and trance genres I heard Loop Guru's Intrinsic Passion of Mysterious Joy and Transglobal Underground's Psychic Karaoke, Future Sound of London's Dead Cities, and Springheel Jack's 68 million shades. Leftfield's Leftism was helped (for me at least) by the vocal skills of Toni Halliday, the sexiest singer on the planet. Last year I mentioned that Dreadzone's Biological Radio sounded worryingly like hip-hop Yes. Then I heard The Deseo Remixes, which is... hip-hop Yes: Jon Anderson remixed by various DJs. Mining the sixties for inspiration was Dodgy, whose Free Peace Sweet was one of my most played CDs this year. And I indulged myself by getting the four CD Monkees boxed set Listen to the Band. Anyone who thinks the Monkees were not worth listening to as they did not play their instruments and were totally manufactured needs to hear this and read some of the facts behind the fallacies (such as that several of the Monkees top songs were written, produced and played by the Monkees with only one session musician, bassist John London. Compare that to the number of extraneous musicians used by many of the top groups of the sixties - those produced by Phil Spector, for example). On the local front,David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights, Envy of Angels (The Muttonbirds) and Radio Swampy (Swampy) all proved that there is still good Kiwi music to be discovered. Other countries to provide me with interesting listening included Australia (Three-legged Dog, by the Cruel Sea, and Cuisine, by Severed Heads) and Ireland (Valhalla Avenue by Fatima Mansions). As with 1998 releases, women provided a lot of beautiful sounds - - Sam Phillips The Indescribable Wow, Luscious Jackson's Fever in, fever out, and the Indigo Girls 1200 Curfews all worthy of note, but all made pale by Stereolab's Mars Audiac Quintet. The last grab-bag of comments is the fine music that I haven't managed to mention elsewhere: Screaming Trees' 'Dust' and 'Uncle Anaesthesia'... grunge, yes, but inventive grunge. The bonkers ska-punk of Snuff's 'Potatoes and melons, wholesale prices, straight from the lockup'. Supergrass's 'In it for the Money', Teenage Fanclub's 'Thirteen', Suncatcher's 'Owflower', Ultra Vivid Scene's 'Rev', and Velo Deluxe's 'Superelastic'. James ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 17:48:35 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: best of '98 (long and tedious. I'm sure you won't like it) James: >BEST RELEASES OF 1998: > >The top ten - >9. Stunt (Barenaked Ladies) Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Eb, gagging down the vomit ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 20:27:36 -0500 From: tanter Subject: Re: First message of the year At 12:37 PM 1/1/1999 -0500, you wrote: >Also, I was playing that computer quiz game, "You Don't Know Jack," I just got it today--all 4 versions--and it's way cool. Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 18:40:58 -0800 (PST) From: S Dwarf Subject: Best of '98 1 Pulp: This is Hardcore 2 Neil Finn: Try Whistling This 3 John Wesley Harding: Awake 4 The Afghan Whigs: 1965 5 Beck: Mutations 6 The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Filthy Lucre, Here's The Sex Pistols [as a comedy album, of course] 7 The Creatures: Eraser Cut EP 8 Eels: Electro-shock Blues 9 Kristin Hersh: Murder, Misery, & Then Goodnight 10t R.E.M.: Up & The Smashing Pumpkins: Adore [both of which could use a couple tracks hacked off; and Adore is definitely the best damn Nitzer Ebb album since _Showtime_] 12 Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, & Rendezvous: The Songs of Elvis Costello 13 PJ Harvey: Is This Desire? 14 The Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions 15 Billy Bragg & Wilco: Mermaid Avenus [needed more Billy Bragg, less Wilco] haven't yet go: Elvis & Burt Neutral Milk Hotel most dissapointing: JAMC; James Iha best reissue: Throwing Muses _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 02:11:22 -0600 From: amadain Subject: Re: back and there >Hello, Im back, have just skimmed the digests, leaving me with... > >Susan , are you there? Please say yes. This listserve wouldnt be the same >without you. Oh, I'm around. I spent a week at my grandmother's house over Christmas and had no access. Am I really so prolific that 6 days with no posts might lead someone to think I wandered off in a huff? Do I seem like someone who wanders off in huffs? Something to ponder :). >(If you get me drunk enough, I will explain to you how Crowley, >experiencing an >extreme reaction formation to Christianity which nesseccitated a veil of >blasphamy in his works, actually , ended up expressed certain Christian >ideas ) It all goes back to my beloved Yeatsie "for God has pitched his mansion in the place of excrement/and nothing can be sole or whole that has not been rent" (got a nickel for every time I quote that? can I borrow some money?). Simultaneous difference and non-difference of reality. I better quit before someone calls me new-age. >Robyns POPularity, I have always wanted Robyn to be popular so he could make >a decent living. And that's why I'd like it too. The man should have money for his old age, and well, frankly, I can't understand those people who want to keep him a little secret in a little group. I mean, it's all very well to have a wonderful curious secret I spose, but we are talking about a human being's living here. A human being who needs shelter and food and heating in the winter. He's not just a life-support system for songs and stories. I worry a bit about him in this respect, tho not as much as I worry about Momus. >personal ego, and into true self. This, however, is not something the >majority of >humanity has ever found pleasant. It just irratates them as >a rule. There's no arguing with THAT. Love on ya, Susan pondering the impact of media on the young and impressionable, after watching quite a bit of the Twilight Zone marathon and realizing how much impact it had on her ethical sense and general worldview ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 11:54:11 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: paul westerblech On Thu, 31 Dec 1998, Eb wrote: > (EVERYONE seems to say that "Actor in the Street" is just *staggeringly* bad.) > worst song ever released by paul. also one of the worst songs i've ever > heard. and i'm not exaggerating. i wish it weren't placed between two this is a bit of a bummer, since i thought the grandpaboy record(s) were actually half-decent. on the other hand, i dunno if i can trust someone who criticizes ol' paul for mildly tweaking a cliche (best thing that never happened, i think it was). i mean, i loved the mats more than the next guy, but i always thought westerberg was overrated as a lyricist (he had his moments, c.f. "the ledge" and "swinging party", but i think most of the magic was in the gestalt, not the words alone.) anyway, wish y'all a good year. - -- d. - - oh no!! you've just read mail from doug = dmw@radix.net dmw@mwmw.com - - get yr pathos:www.pathetic-caverns.com -- books, flicks, tunes, etc. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #1 *****************************