From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #16 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, January 19 2000 Volume 09 : Number 016 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: The Importance of Being Accessible [MARKEEFE@aol.com] supertramp and oasis ["jbranscombe@compuserve.com" ] help desperately needed - please reply [Aaron Lowe ] Re: ignorant question [Capuchin ] Re: ignorant cheese [Ethyl Ketone ] Re: "And schmaltzy country rock shall come to rule the earth!" [The Great] Re: ignorant cheese [steve ] Auditie's best of the 90's [steve ] Re: ignorant question [JH3 ] Re: The Ropey Celts ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: The Ropey Celts ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: ignorant question [Michael R Godwin ] Re: dB's question (no RH) ["Ken Frankel" ] Re: ignorant question [Joel Mullins ] Re: ignorant question ["Matt Browne" ] Re: ignorant question [Stephen Buckalew ] Re: ignorant question [ultraconformist@ets.cncdsl.com] EB ALL OVER THE WORLD! ["Faecal Emergency" ] simple folk ["Jason R. Thornton" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 19:04:17 EST From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: The Importance of Being Accessible In a message dated 1/18/00 1:55:03 PM Pacific Standard Time, vivlyon@yahoo.com writes: << > Which is exactly why the typical lyrics of retro power-pop > bands are so worthless. They have nothing at all to do with "personal > experience" or "truth" -- they're merely "assembled" with the sole goal of easy > accessibility, a la Diane Warren/Desmond Child. That doesn't preclude their resonance with the personal experiences of a large group of people. The fact that a song lyric could be engineered for maximum easy accessibility implies that people are _accessing_ something in it, ie: they relate it easily to their own experiences. It's so general, it resonates to some degree with Everyone. >> Doesn't this just speak to people's desperation to be reassured that they're normal enough to make it through the day, though? I mean, you have some song called "Baby, I Love You" and *of course* it's going to resonate with people. Most everyone has (or has had) someone they love in a romantic way (although you have to be pretty damn cool to be able to get away with calling your s.o. "Baby" without sounding like an idiot). << I gravitate towards music whose lyrics describe something that doesn't jibe with just every english-speaking moron in the universe...but do I do that because I'm *so* different and unique, or because I want to think that I'm different, or because I *am* different, just not in a very important way? >> The last two, I think. Then again, I guess it just depends on what you consider important and/or how these potentially trivial differences play themselves out in your own life. Viv and Jeme wouldn't have met if it weren't for the fact that they're similarly different in a not very important way: [they're both crabby as hell! ;-)] They both like Robyn Hitchcock. But our wanting to be perceived of as different (in some "cool" way that would be obvious to any former high school taunter) is just a superficial veil for our commanalities. And the fact that I find the Ronette's "Be My Baby" to be one of the greatest expressions of romantic yearning ever recorded doesn't mean that that feeling I associate with the song is any different from that of a 13 year old girl in Cleveland who gets the same thing out of some song by 98 Degrees (presumably they cover said subject matter in at least half of their songs). In fact, it's gotta be the same feeling, because it's exactly what I felt when I was 13 and was dreaming of 13 year old girls, who were, themselves, probably listening to some bad pop song about yearning whilst they dreamt of some decidedly other (you shoulda seen me back then!) 13 year old boy. Sigh. - ------Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 20:31:18 -0500 From: "jbranscombe@compuserve.com" Subject: supertramp and oasis Can I be the first to say that there are bands who seem completely unavoidable for a few years and then shrivel only to be revived by culty obsessives who agglomerate in the way we do. Supertramp were such and I think the same will be true of Oasis. They are both, IMHO, almost entirely without merit jm "who has discovered that someone who played with a band doing the same London circuit as he did in the late 80s is now the new Oasis guitarist"bc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 08:47:41 -0800 From: "Michael R. Runion" Subject: Re: ignorant question > Here's a fun game: What is the cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure album > that any of us has in our collections? Are we man/woman enough to > divulge the truth? REO Speedwagon "Hi Infidelity" (gulp...and I've even gone through two copies of this!) runners up: Foreigner "4" Chicago 16 Journey "Escape" Mike (now committing musical suicide...) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 09:38:00 -0600 From: Aaron Lowe Subject: help desperately needed - please reply Any Boston-area fegs out there today, reply to me off-list -- it's important. Thanks, Aaron * Aaron Lowe [ aaron@aaronlowe.com ] http://aaronlowe.com "Do you smile 'cause I'm funny? said the man I wasn't joking and I meant the thing I said Not at all, not at all Said the woman to the man I was thinking of an unrelated thing" ~~They Might Be Giants _Unrelated Thing_ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 19:14:22 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: ignorant question On Tue, 18 Jan 2000, Stephen Buckalew wrote: > I'm not sure what's worst right now...the rap-posturing, the rage against > the vaguely defined, or the pure "we're selling sex here with no other > redeeming musical value" Backstreet/Brittany music. I do see much more sex selling Brittany and Backstreet than, say, Debbie Gibson and New Kids on the Block. Though the fellows in Debbie and Brittany's videos look like roughly the same guy (and I mean SAME GUY... he's about ten years older now). > I think vapid power pop can be a sweet quick-fix confection once and > awhile. I can take a Raspberries tune now and then. The problem is that > it's the current commercial musical diet...too much of it can make a person > sick to their stomachs :-p See, this is why we need to do away with copyright and trademark. When the information you produce can be infinitely and perfectly copied by anyone at any time, there's no money to be made selling what is, essentially, ether. So those who make records just to make money have no motivation. And, of course, people who make music (or write or design digital art) because they HAVE to still will create. So we gain both quality and quantity (since everything is infinitely reproducable). So why do we stick to these tired ideas of information ownership? Ugh. > Here's a fun game: What is the cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure album that > any of us has in our collections? Are we man/woman enough to divulge the > truth? > Mine: The Monkee's Greatest Hits....with NO apologies...heck I even play > "Little Bit You, Little Bit Me" in my set! Um, if you have no apologies, then it's not the right album for the list. What DO you have apologies for? Me? Probably Belinda Carlisle, but the Jane Wiedlin album is fully justifiable. Oh, and I don't apologize for the Oingo Boingo even though Viv thinks I should. J. - -- ______________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 00:01:59 -0500 From: Ethyl Ketone Subject: Re: ignorant cheese At 7:14 PM -0800 1/18/00, a feg wrote: >> Here's a fun game: What is the cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure album that >>any of us has in our collections? Are we man/woman enough to divulge the >>truth? Yikes... The soundtrack to "Five Summer Stories" by a band called Honk. (That was a surfing movie in '75 for those few of you who might of missed it...) Runners up: "Blows against the Empire" - Jefferson Airplane. I practically wore holes in the damn thing when I still had my youthful idealism. "The Pretender" - Jackson Browne, yeah, the whiner... "Questions are a burden for others. Answers are a prison for oneself." **************************************************************************** C. J. Galbraith Ketone Press meketone@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 01:35:33 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: "And schmaltzy country rock shall come to rule the earth!" Fegs, I am still alive. I had some problems with the Y2K bug for a while, but my Thothling has finally succumbed to peer pressure and has stopped delaying my entrance into the millennium. Things have been so busy they border on the wacky; in fact, for the first time in a long while I have not read my Fegmail in a week. But I did want to answer this: > It's the dawn of a new millennium. Do we have cool cars that fly? Can >we now all use 73% of our brain's capacity? (okay, TGQ can, of course!) This is, of course, only true if the sentence literally implies that The Great Quail can indeed use 73% of *our* brain's capacity, meaning of course the collected Fegs. I have only managed about 1.56% of my own brain; but as my plans come to fruition I feel confident that 73% is an accurate number, reflecting the fact that Mark Gloster has surgically removed 98% of his brain to avoid Quail-control, and of course taking into account that Portland has a fixed 12% Feg Brain Percentage which I will never be able to tap. Rules are rules, you know, and I would hate to cross that *other* misunderstood genius. - --Quail, still working on that LJ girl's brain. So much seems pledged to Randy Newman, I may just scrap it all and write off my losses.... mmmm . . . brains . . . . ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 00:53:48 -0600 From: steve Subject: Re: ignorant cheese Ethyl Ketone: >"Blows against the Empire" - Jefferson Airplane. I practically wore holes >in the damn thing when I still had my youthful idealism. Jefferson Starship - I've owned it on 8-track, LP, and CD. - - Steve _______________ We're all Jesus, Buddha, and the Wizard of Oz! - Andy Partridge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 00:53:54 -0600 From: steve Subject: Auditie's best of the 90's TOP ALBUMS OF THE 90'S (according to voting from members of the Audities List) (Group - Album - Label - Release - # Points - # Votes - # 10's) 1) Jellyfish - Spilt Milk (Charisma, 1993) 227 - 30 - 12 2) Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (Zoo, 1991) 210 - 32 - 6 3) Jellyfish - Bellybutton (Charisma, 1990) 144- 22 - 5 4) Cotton Mather - Kon Tiki (Copper, 1997) 133 - 23 - 2 5) Owsley - s/t (Giant, 1999) 131 - 27 - 1 6) The Posies - Dear 23 (DGC, 1990) 130 - 21 - 5 7) The Posies - Frosting on the Beater (DGC, 1993) 119 - 20 - 3 8) The Merrymakers - Bubblegun (Virgin/Big Deal, 1999) 118 - 25 - 0 9) The Grays - Ro Sham Bo (Epic, 1994) 115 - 17 - 4 10) Crowded House - Woodface (Capitol, 1991) 109 -15 - 5 11) Jason Falkner - Presents Author Unknown (Elektra, 1996) 108 - 22 - 1 12) Ben Folds Five - s/t (Caroline, 1995) 106 - 17 - 2 13) Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway (Atlantic, 1999) 102 - 17 - 5 14) Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix (DGC, 1995) 100 - 16 - 2 15) Nirvana - Nevermind (DGC, 1991) 97 - 16 - 4 16) Fountains of Wayne - s/t (Tag/Atlantic, 1996) 86 - 17 - 0 17) Elliott Smith - XO (Dreamworks, 1998) 83 - 13 - 2 18) Wondermints - s/t (Toy Factory/Big Deal, 1995) 82 - 14 -1 19) Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun (Zoo/Volcano, 1995) 79 - 18 -0 20) Cherry Twister - At Home with... (Not Lame, 1999) 76 - 13 - 2 21) Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (DGC, 1991) 75 - 12 - 2 22) Bill Lloyd - Set to Pop (ESD, 1994) 69 - 14 - 1 23) The Greenberry Woods - Big Money Item (Sire, 1995) 68 - 13 - 2 24) Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience (A&M, 1992) 67 -12 -0 25) Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen (Sony 550, 1997) 61 - 11 - 1 26) XTC - Apple Venus, Vol 1 (TVT) 61 -10 27) Aimee Mann - Whatever (Imago) 60 -11 28) Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory (Epic) 55 - 12 29) R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (WB) 54 - 9 30) Velvet Crush - Teenage Symphonies to God (Epic) 54 - 10 31) XTC - Nonsuch (Geffen) 53 - 9 32) Teenage Fanclub - Songs from Northern Britain (Columbia) 49 - 8 33) Chris Von Sneidern - Sight and Sound (Heyday) 48 - 10 34) Adam Schmitt - World So Bright (Reprise) 46 -9 35) Elliott Smith - either/or (Kill Rock Stars) 46 -7 36) The Merrymakers - No Sleep 'til Famous (Stockhouse) 45 - 6 37) Wondermints - Bali (EMI/Toys Factory) 45 - 8 38) Radiohead - OK Computer (Capitol) 43 - 8 39) Material Issue - International Pop Overthrow (Mercury) 42 - 9 40) Silver Sun - s/t (Polydor UK) 42 - 7 41) Myracle Brah - Life on Planet Eartsnop (Not Lame) 41 -10 42) Jason Falkner - Can You Still Feel? (Elektra) 40 - 9 43) Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Mercury) 40 - 7 44) Splitsville - Repeater (Big Deal) 40 - 9 45) U2 - Achtung Baby (Island) 40 - 8 46) Sloan - One Chord to Another (The Enclave) 39 - 6 47) The Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass (American) 39 - 7 48) Weezer - s/t (DGC) 38 - 8 49) Minster Hill - s/t (Somehwere But Hear) 37 - 5 50) Chris Von Sneidern - Big White Lies (Heyday) 36 - 8 51) Martin Newell - The Greatest Living Englishman (Humbug) 36 - 8 52) The Loud Family - Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things (Alias) 35 - 5 53) The Tories - Wonderful Life (N2K) 35 - 7 54) Orange Humble Band - Assorted Cremes (Half a Cow) 34 - 7 55) Sugar - Copper Blue (Rykodisc) 34 - 6 56) The Beatifics - How I Learned to Stop Worrying (TRG) 33 - 7 57) The Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray (Atlantic) 33 - 8 58) Barenaked Ladies - Gordon (Sire) 32 - 5 59) Brad Jones - Gilt Flake (Ginger) 32 - 7 60) Crowded House - Together Alone (Capitol) 32 - 6 61) The Greenberry Woods - Rapple Dapple (Sire) 30 - 5 62) Velvet Crush - In the Presence of Greatness (Ringers Lactate) 30 - 5 63) Zumpano - Goin' Through Changes (Sub Pop) 30 - 5 64) Beagle - Sound on Sound (Polar) 29 - 5 65) Chris Stamey - Fireworks (RNA) 29 - 7 66) DM3 - 1 Times 2 Times 3 Red Light (Citadel) 29 - 6 67) Linus of Hollywood - Your Favorite Record (Pop Squad) 29 - 5 68) Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop) 29 - 5 69) Poole - Alaska Days (spinART) 29 - 5 70) The Chills - Submarine Bells (Slash) 29 - 6 71) Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes (Matador) 28 - 4 72) Jeff Buckley - Grace (Columbia) 28 - 6 73) Umajets - Demolotion (Clearspot) 28 - 6 74) Redd Kross - Show World (Mercury) 27 - 6 75) The Shazam - Godspeed the Shazam (Not Lame) 27 - 4 76) Wilco - Summerteeth (Reprise) 27 - 5 77) World Party - Goodbye Jumbo (Chrysalis) 27 - 5 78) Gladhands - La Di Da (Big Deal) 26 - 5 79) The Grapes of Wrath - These Days (Capitol) 26 - 5 80) The Mockers - Somewhere Between Mocksville and Harmony (One Eye Open) 26 - 4 81) The Rooks - s/t (Guardian/Not Lame) 26 - 6 82) Beck - Odelay (DGC) 25 - 4 83) Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (Matador) 25 - 4 84) The La's - s/t (Go! London) 25 - 5 85) Willie Wisely - She (TRG) 25 - 5 86) Candy Butchers - Live at Bonbonaire (Unreleased?) (Blue Thumb) 24 - 4 87) Wilco - a.m. (Sire) 24 - 4 88) Redd Kross - Phaseshifter (This Way Up) 23 - 5 89) Semisonic - Great Divide (MCA) 23 - 3 90) Sheryl Crow - s/t (A&M) 23 - 4 91) The Nines - Wonderworld of Colourful (EMI) 23 - 6 92) The Semantics - Powerbill (Alpha) 23 - 4 93) Cowsills - Global (Robin) 22 - 4 94) Dada - Puzzle (IRS) 22 - 4 95) Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Painted from Memory (Mercury) 22 - 3 96) Matthew Sweet - In Reverse (Volcano/Zoo) 22 - 6 97) Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - Mavericks (RNA) 22 - 4 98) Richard X Heyman - Hey Man! (Sire) 22 - 5 99) Wilco - Being There (Reprise) 22 - 4 100) Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape (Capitol) 21 - 4 _______________ We're all Jesus, Buddha, and the Wizard of Oz! - Andy Partridge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 01:35:13 -0600 From: JH3 Subject: Re: ignorant question >Can we vote to get the pre-winco jh3 back? ;-) No. In fact, I don't even want hear that @#$%&!! bastard's name mentioned, ever again! >If you like the song, then they are successful. The lyrics to "Balloon >Man" don't resonate with me as being *actually* true in a non-fiction sort of >way, but they definitely resonate with my sense of humor and whatever other >part of my brain enjoys seeing the images suggested in that song as a fun >little pop ditty provides the music backdrop. I guess I just automatically react badly whenever I see the word "resonate" being used. It seems like such a nebulous term... but from the way you were using it originally, I have to assume you're saying that what makes song lyrics "successful" or whatever is the extent to which one can personally relate to some sort of true experience being described or emotion being conveyed, and I just think that's a big load o' hooey. Personal experiences tend to be overrated, in my opinion. If I wanted to re-live my personal experiences every time I turned on the CD player, I'd listen to songs about programming computers, shoveling horse manure, and getting gnawed on by seemingly cute little kitty-cats who are actually the embodiment of pure evil because they jump up on your computer keyboard and meiufffffffffffhhhhhhooooooooooooooo[p[000i00pk mess up your e-mail messageshuibgiubgl while you're trying to type. But I don't, and what's more, I don't *want to*... And saying that RH lyrics (or anyone else's) "resonate with [your] sense of humor" is like saying that your paycheck resonates with your sense of financial well-being. It may be true, but it just sounds a little pretentious... to me, at least. But I guess that doesn't necessarily make you the embodiment ofrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr444444444 eeeeeeeeeedsdzxzxzzz pure evil. Btw, I'm more glad than ever now that I've never heard "Ain't Nothin' But a Heartbreak". Thanks for the warning, Eb! John "still working on a computer program to shovel horse manure directly at cute little kitty-cats" Hedges ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 08:35:22 +0000 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: The Ropey Celts Bayard wrote: > > isn't that an Enya song? It's THE Enya song. Haven't you noticed there's only one? Yeah, it gets remixed a bit, or played backwards, but they're all the same song. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 08:38:46 +0000 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: The Ropey Celts Vivien Lyon wrote: > > Don't want > to be branded a dirty, gullible _pagan_, fer pete's sake. And you are making it sound as if I have a problem with pagans, too! (Actually, I do. They tend to make me sneeze. Every pagan I know has cats, which are total allergy bombs to me. Now if they had Sea-Monkeys(R), there wouldn't be a problem.) Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:04:52 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: ignorant question I quite liked the idea of Badfinger as power pop, but I am fairly sure that the term originated about 5 years later. The first time I remember seeing it was when Glen Matlock, having been thrown out of the Pistols, announced that he would be forming a band which would play power pop. I associate the term with post-punk melodic bands like the Buzzcocks after Howard de Voto had left, and (talking of Feargal Sharkey) the Undertones. Records with a typical power pop sound from that era are 'My perfect cousin' by the Undertones and 'Shake some action' by the Flamin' Groovies, neither of which is directly about boy-girl romance. 'Another girl, another planet' would probably be power pop if it wasn't for Peter Perrett's voice. On Tue, 18 Jan 2000, Stephen Buckalew wrote: > Here's a fun game: What is the cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure album that > any of us has in our collections? Are we man/woman enough to divulge the > truth? Fortunately this is an album question, so I don't have to mention my extensive collection of Bonnie Tyler singles. The answer is probably the Bee Gees first album, which I bought for 'Craise Finton Kirk'. And I've got 'Blows against the empire' but I thought it was fantastically cool, which gives you some idea ... - - Mike Godwin PS I enjoyed that band 'Dark Star' on TOTP - they seemed to have the real 'Astronomy Domine' flair. Anyone know anything about them? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:12:27 EST From: "Ken Frankel" Subject: Re: dB's question (no RH) Amplifier was originally on "Repercussion" before "Like This." The liner notes to the CD of "Repercussion" say that they changed the lyrics from Johnny to Danny in honor of Danny Amis, so I don't think it was about him. Another song on the album, "Storm Warning" was supposedly about a phone call from John Cale to the original bass player in the Raybeats (I think his name was George Scott, but am not certain). This song is a bossa nova, with the chorus "All your life, you've been a loser all your life," and lyrics like "Don't put your ear to wall, you might not like what you hear." That bass player later OD'ed on heroin, if I remember correctly. It was a long, long time ago. Ken (Who saw the Raybeats cover a dBs song at the Irving Plaza in 1981) >From: "Russ Reynolds" >Reply-To: "Russ Reynolds" >To: fegmaniax >Subject: dB's question (no RH) >Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 16:18:15 -0800 > >Anyone know who the dB's song "Amplifier" is about? I seem to recall >hearing once that it was about a member of the Raybeats. That would have >to >be Danny Amis. The All Music Guide has Amis listed as a guitarist for Los >Straitjackets beginning in 1996, which would be quite a trick if he had >actually gone home and "killed himself last night", however I've noticed >AMG >seems to be mistake prone--especially when it comes to musicians who share >the same name--and there is a gap of about 15 years between the Raybeats >album he played on (Guitar Beat, 1981) and the first Straitjackets album. >Highly suspicious. > >The other snag is that the Raybeats AMG bio says Amis recorded a solo album >in 1983 which would have been well after "Amplifier" was released. Yet >there is no 1983 recording listed in their Amis discography, so possibly >another error? > >Surely one of you walking Encyclopedias-of-Rock knows something about this. >Enlighten me! > >-rUss > > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 11:14:55 -0800 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: ignorant question Jeff Dwarf wrote: > there's a > difference though in writing a simple love song ("love me do") > and a simplistic love song (any material issue or backstreet > boys record), AH! You're not putting Material Issue and the Backstreet Boys in the same category, are you? It's funny you should bring up MI. They are exactly who I've been thinking about in connection with this thread. Yes, their lyrics are simple. So what. They've got some great songs. Joel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 18:30:37 +0000 From: "Matt Browne" Subject: Re: ignorant question On 19/01/00, at 11:14, Joel Mullins wrote: >AH! You're not putting Material Issue and the Backstreet Boys in the >same category, are you? It's funny you should bring up MI. They are >exactly who I've been thinking about in connection with this thread. >Yes, their lyrics are simple. So what. They've got some great songs. Material Issue - that reminds me! Some time ago I presented a radio show where we had a feature in which we'd pick a random record from the station's library and play it immediately. One day it was "Valerie Loves Me" by Material Issue, and it ended up getting pretty regular plays on the show. I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of Material Issue before. I checked the 'net ages ago and only found a small site which mentioned that the singer had committed suicide, but I never really found out anything more. Does anyone know the story behind them? Is any of their stuff still available? (The record we played was some kind of test pressing, bizarrely, and I'm on a really crappy Internet connection so I can't check at the moment.) And - shock, horror - is Valerie Loves Me actually *about* anything?? - -- Matt Browne ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:41:23 -0500 From: Stephen Buckalew Subject: Re: ignorant question At 07:14 PM 1/18/00 -0800, Capuchin wrote: >> Here's a fun game: What is the cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure album that >> any of us has in our collections? Are we man/woman enough to divulge the >> truth? >> Mine: The Monkee's Greatest Hits....with NO apologies...heck I even play >> "Little Bit You, Little Bit Me" in my set! > >Um, if you have no apologies, then it's not the right album for the >list. What DO you have apologies for? Hmmm....I see your point...you want to hear my list of Secret Shame? Runners up: Jefferson Starship "Modern Times" (this is really bad...one bad single and an album's worth of filler) Foreigner "4" (purchased cheap at a garage sale...honest!) Boston "Boston" (I *still* listen to this one occasionally!) Supertramp "Live in Paris" Joe Walsh "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" (One bad single, an album of filler) And the drum roll please: *A Kenny Roger's Christmas* (I don't know *how* this got in my collection...I must have been drunk or stoned or both...and yes...it's as gawd-awful as you might imagine it to be, I've been too ashamed to try to sell it...or even throw it away...what if someone went through my trash??!! I think someone else slipped it in when I wasn't looking...) There may be more...I'm thinking about my vinyl stuff... I feel better now that I got that off my chest Doc...can I go back to my room now? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:11:29 -0600 From: ultraconformist@ets.cncdsl.com Subject: Re: ignorant question >Does anyone know the story behind them? Why yes. The tone of your post is kind of funny to me, this "we found this test pressing, whatever happened to these people" tone, because in Chicago Material Issue was a VERY BIG DEAL. Not to mention they were kind of...hrm, how to explain it, kind of local heroes I guess. Or rather, Jim Ellison kinda was really. I had friends and acquaintances who knew and played with the guy, I was only fairly vaguely "waving acquainted", you might say. Anyway, just gave me a grin to see someone be like "hey, who are these guys?". They signed to Mercury and recorded three albums for them, "International Pop Overthrow", which sold somewhat well, and "Destination Universe", which sold more modestly (tho "What Girls Want" was a moderate alt radio hit), and "Freak City Soundtrack", which sold hardly at all. "Telecommando Americano", which came out on Rykodisc in 1997, is what basically were demos for what would have been the next Material Issue record, and the 1987 "Material Issue" ep (originally on Big Block/Land). >Is any of their stuff still available? Um, "International Pop Overthrow" might be. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 11:19:53 PST From: "Faecal Emergency" Subject: EB ALL OVER THE WORLD! robyndream last night. first one i'd experienced in quite some time. i was beginning to fear that the well (such as it is) had run dry. there i was at the gig (which i believe was being held at the crocodile), be-bopping along, minding my own busines, & cetera. at one point, during a break between songs, a girl called out for "Hey Mr. Balloon Man". robyn asked if she'd been referring to the grateful dead's cover of Mr. Tambourine Man, or the byrds' original? [yes, i'm aware that the song was written by dylan. i'm just tellin' y'all what robyn said. don't fuck-stick the messenger, in other words.] she, rather confused, insisted that she wanted to hear "Hey Mr. *Balloon* Man". robyn began chiding her, and asking all sorts of questions about Mr. Tambourine man -- none of which she was able to answer, naturally. finally, michael keefe -- who'd been standing right next to me throughout -- remitted an very detailed exposition of the history of the song. (which, according to him, had been recorded by the byrds in '56, and covered by the dead in 1980.) robyn was immensely impressed, and proceeded to knock out a very punked-rocked-up reading, delighting the crowd no end. however, in listening to the tape on the way home, i noticed that he sang You've Got To Hide Your Love Away where Mr. Tambourine Man should have been. (incidentally, for much of the duration of my youth, i'd presumed that the lyric was "...hide your love *that way*". don't remember exactly when i was set straight, or even how; but i do remember that it didn't bother me too terribly much.) could somebody who saved it please forward aidan's recent post concerning the Positive Vibrations magazine to me? thanks. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 11:31:33 -0800 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: simple folk At 11:14 AM 1/19/00 -0800, Joel Mullins wrote: >Yes, their lyrics are simple. So what. They've got some great songs. And who of course could disagree with THAT line of reasoning? ;) What is it that makes their songs so great if they can only come up with simple lyrics? I would argue that what makes a song "great" is a combination of a number of factors, reasonably intelligent or at least innovative lyrics being just one of them. Simple-minded lyrics can sometimes be that which distinguishes the great songs from the catchy. And no, intelligent lyrics don't necessarily have to deal with lofty or socially responsible topics to not be classified as "simple." They can be about love. Check out for example the Magnetic Fields "69 Love Songs" for some wonderfully fresh and smart word-smithery on that age-old subject of love. Of course, if this collection suffers from anything, it's from some of the music itself being a bit too simplistic. But while I have a great appreciation for progressive complexity and jazzy intricacies I don't by any means subscribe to the school of thought that says the more and weirder the chords and the more odd the rhythms, the better. And a lot of shredding seems too emotionless and clinical for me. At the same time, some lyrics and some music *can* be a bit too simple and formulaic for me. "Love Me Do" I would probably classify as catchy. If that. It was hardly ground-breaking or particularly impressive even at the time[*], unlike a lot of later Beatles material. My favorite "simple" pop song of the past few years: Brandi and Monica's "The Boy is Mine." I still love that freaking tune - an extraordinary guilty pleasure. I think what you're hitting upon Joel is the age old debate over heart (or "soul") versus head in music. In art even. Oftentimes stuff that's really "out there," or the stuff that technically wows us, fails to resonate with us emotionally. Perhaps this is because our emotional responses are more tuned to deep-seated learned behavior as opposed to reason and are thus tied more to the familiar rather than the new. What really gets to me, what I really consider great, is that which appeals to both the mind and the gut. I don't mind filling the world with love songs, I just don't want them to be silly ones. - --Jason, Jason Me Do, You Know I Jason You [*]=no I wasn't around at the "time" "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #16 ******************************