From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #308 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, September 30 2002 Volume 11 : Number 308 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Horse's mouth [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] hi matt [andrew ] Tooth fiery ["HVACad" ] Re: Re: Horse's mouth [Stewart Russell ] Re: hi matt [Jeff Dwarf ] plugging stuff for people related to you [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #307 ["Brian Hoare" ] Re: I was bored, so... ["matt sewell" ] Re: ragas and NDL ["matt sewell" ] Re: ragas [Michael R Godwin ] Re: ragas (fwd) [Michael R Godwin ] elf power live? [100% e6, 0% RH/SBs] [Stewart Russell ] RE: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters ["Brian Huddell" ] Re: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters [Stewart Russell ] Re: ragas [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: ragas [Michael R Godwin ] NDL Vinyl [Brian ] "unexpectedly, spectacularly good, for such a long time." [Stewart Russe] RE: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters ["Brian Huddell" ] Nextdoorland - looking for my microscope ["ross taylor" Subject: Re: Horse's mouth On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Stewart Russell wrote: > Side 3's vinyl only, yes? If I'm reading the Soft Boys' website right (www.thesoftboys.com, and click on "shop"), it'll be available on CD. Lucky scum who see them on tour can answer this more definitively though. - --Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::Oxygen isn't a text:: __David Robbins__ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 10:11:06 -0700 From: andrew Subject: hi matt >From: Eb [M. Seligman:] >Anyway, he's lurking and reading the Feg reviews of NDL. He said I >could pass on these comments about what he calls "the fundamental >problem": > >"the vocals are too loud....that leads to them feeling a bit exposed, >and the record is a bit stiff....I would love to hear this record >with the vocals ducked back 15% and I think there may be ways of >adjusting the stereo picture to achieve that? It doesn't surprise me that he blames the production. :) I generally like the sound, actually, and I think the performances are fine. My disappointment is pretty much confined to the songs themselves, which I don't think showcase the band's talents very well and which I find uninteresting in general. My own suspicion there was that Robyn has become very used to writing songs with a more personal bent and found it a bit awkward trying to choose songs that were appropriate for a band to record. But I could be completely off-base there. >He's also very, very fond of "Disconnection of the Ruling Class" off >Side 3 -- his operative word seems to be "scruffy." He thinks it Can't wait till November, then! >Personally, I'm a bit surprised at how "light" the Feg reviews have >been. In the past, every Robyn-related release was put under the >magnifying glass 'til it started to smolder. Line-by-line lyrical >analysis, etc. I was kind of hoping for some of this as well, to make me feel better about the songs. I'm not especially good at it myself. Drew ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:08:12 -0600 From: "HVACad" Subject: Tooth fiery > Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 13:24:00 -0700 > From: Eb > Subject: giddyup #305 > > >From: drew > > > >What I WAS expecting was a > >little more fire and depth than I feel I got. > > Well, what was the last Robyn album which sustained any real "fire"? > "Fegmania," maybe? Ay, ay ay! _EYE_! Eye was serious substance and tooth and fire. Unless you mean the kind of fire that melted down hundreds of Groovy Dec(a/o)y albums. with a hearty Amen to Can of Bees as best THE Soft Boys release, - - Bill ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 15:27:56 From: Stewart Russell Subject: Re: Re: Horse's mouth Jeffrey wrote: > > If I'm reading the Soft Boys' website right (www.thesoftboys.com, and > click on "shop"), it'll be available on CD. phew, petulant consumer rant avoided! Stewart (listened to NDL a couple more times. It's getting better. It really does feel like an SBs album.) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 13:48:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: hi matt andrew wrote: ^ this is suddenly kinda formal, ain't it? > My disappointment is pretty much confined to the songs themselves, > which I don't think showcase the band's talents very well and which > I find uninteresting in general. My own suspicion there was that > Robyn has become very used to writing songs with a more personal bent > and found it a bit awkward trying to choose songs that were > appropriate > for a band to record. But I could be completely off-base there. I think that maybe you're on to something here, at least as far as the lyrics are concerned, since the lyrics he was writing back in the late 70's weren't terribly personal at all, and in recent years especially they have been. So maybe Robyn felt that it would be inappropriate somehow to have a song like, say, "You & Oblivion" on a new Soft Boys album, so he limited the possible selections by excluding more recent personal songs from consideration. I actually do think that the production needed to be a little tougher though. I think my general reaction is pretty much what it seems like most people have been saying: it's a solid album, but not spectacular. An almost dictionary defintion of a B+ album. and I also think that the tention of "Mr. Kennedy" is undercut by them playing it too quickly -- it would have been better at about the same pace as EC's "Man Out of Time." ===== "If we don't allow journalists, politicians, and every two-bit Joe Schmo with a cause to grandstand by using 9-11 as a lame rhetorical device, then the terrorists have already won." -- "Shredder" "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt . New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 13:52:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: plugging stuff for people related to you http://www.appleslap.com/ the related person in question wasn't an actual member when the cd's were recorded, though he did produce 3 songs on the EP (3 others were produced by Chris Von Sneidern!, including their tribute to everyone's favorite TV carpenter). ===== "If we don't allow journalists, politicians, and every two-bit Joe Schmo with a cause to grandstand by using 9-11 as a lame rhetorical device, then the terrorists have already won." -- "Shredder" "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt . New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:09:33 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: ragas and NDL >>To me it's so funny how avocates of various bands compete to show that >>"their" guys did raga-rock first. "See My Friends" vs. "Paint It, Black" >>vs. "Love You To" vs. "8 Miles" (not to mention "Why")... does it count if >>they used a sitar? Does it count if they DIDN'T use a sitar? > >By the way, you neglected to mention "Norwegian Wood," which clearly >came before some of the other songs you mentioned. I don't recall >whether "See My Friends" or "Norwegian Wood" was released earliest, >but I think one of those two is probably the first ("Norwegian Wood" >obviously played a more important role in introducing Indian music to >Western culture, regardless). a lot of the problem with talking about "which Beatles song" is that after Norwegian Wood's first faltering steps the raga approach seemed to appear on a lot of songs around the same time. There's definitely an influence on the guitar break from "Taxman", for instance. Norwegian Wood was more important for introducing Indian instruments that stylings, I think - the playing style was very faux-raga. But it was enough to get people interested in what could be done using sitars. >Personally, I'm a bit surprised at how "light" the Feg reviews have >been. In the past, every Robyn-related release was put under the >magnifying glass 'til it started to smolder. Line-by-line lyrical >analysis, etc. maybe if some of us ever see a copy :( And as for side 3, that's just a pipedream for me :(( James np - Paper Sun (Traffic) nf - Botswana James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 20:30:39 -0400 From: guapo stick Subject: soft boys athens tickets for the soft boys show at the 40 watt in athens have finally gone on sale. general 40 watt ticket information cane be found at . if you want to order online, you can do so via pitch-a-tent records' web store: http://www.pitch-a-tent.com/cgi-sz/webcwrap/szw/st_prod.html?p_prodid=158&p_catid=11&sid=it0gF0WiMPGEBb-17102302830.9e woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 07:11:33 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #307 >Subject: Re: Horse's mouth Stewart >Side 3's vinyl only, yes? If so, and it it turns out to be quite the little >rocker, I'll be ROYALLY fucked off. I can't afford a record deck, and >certainly not for one EP. robynhitchock.com says it will be a cd, available from gift shop in october. Brian np Can of Bees _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 09:55:26 +0100 From: "matt sewell" Subject: Re: I was bored, so... I chose bollocks because it's much easier to say whilst burping than shite - in fact over here (in the UK), it's really the word of choice when one is burping and wanting to say something... Shite, for me, will always come in bags or out of gobs... Bag'o'shite.... Matt "gobshite" Sewell >From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) > > Wiener! > >I have never been to Austria in my life! > >Or does it mean something else in the US? > > >c'mon now, surely no-one says that in the UK or NZ? It was always > >" ... Wanker!" with a clear pause between the two utterances > >ah... I see. > > >Surely this thread is bollocks! > >Personally, I think shite is a better word for it (as long as you pronounce >it to rhyme with light) > >James - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: Click Here ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:15:56 +0100 From: "matt sewell" Subject: Re: ragas and NDL It's an interesting fact that Macca played the solo on Taxman - I guess he was probably the most exploratory Beatle at that time (arguable, perhaps). Same solo also to be found backwards on Tomorrow Never Knows, apparently... Cheers Matt >From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) > There's definitely an influence on >the guitar break from "Taxman", for instance. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: Click Here ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:34:55 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: ragas From: "Rex.Broome" >To me it's so funny> how avocates of various bands compete to show that >"their" guys did raga-rock first. "See My Friends" vs. "Paint It, Black" > vs. "Love You To" vs. "8 Miles" (not to mention "Why")... does it count if >they used a sitar? Does it count if they DIDN'T use a sitar? * Both Rex and Eb claim 'Paint it, black' as a raga rock record. This is totally new to me - I just don't see it. 'Paint it, black', like 'White rabbit' and 'Alone again or' is obviously flamenco rock. It has normal chords and melody (as opposed to just A and G and a modal scale) and the dum diddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum rhythm is straight off Ravel's 'Bolero'. * I agree that 'See my friend' has the definitive tamboura drone sound, but it doesn't have a modal guitar solo. Eb's view: > I don't believe "Eight Miles High" even falls in this category. The big > story about that song isn't the influence of raga music -- it's the > influence of modal jazz and Coltrane. *That's* what gets cited in all > the academic rock-music books.... > By the way, you neglected to mention "Norwegian Wood," which clearly > came before some of the other songs you mentioned. I don't recall > whether "See My Friends" or "Norwegian Wood" was released earliest, > but I think one of those two is probably the first ("Norwegian Wood" > obviously played a more important role in introducing Indian music to > Western culture, regardless). * IIRC, 'Norwegian Wood' is the first actual use of a sitar on a pop record, but even that isn't raga rock, it's just a folky tune. OTOH, that Harrison one which goes "dung diddy dung, de diddly ung DUNG - make love all day long" is definitely raga rock. What's it called? Is that the one Rex refers to as "Love you to"? On the issue of 8MH, the Byrds certainly claimed to have pioneered raga rock, and I can't think of any other song on which they could have based this claim. My recollection is that _at the time_ they publicised it as raga rock, and several years afterwards McGuinn went public on the fact that it was Coltrane influenced. But the important point is that they brought "vaguely modal" sounds into pop music (see next). Jeffrey opines: > I don't think *any* of those records *really* incorporated raga, which > is way more complex than what's usually referred to when someone says > "raga rock." But then, when someone says "raga rock" they're usually > just finding a fancy way of saying "modally inflected, vaguely > non-Western-sounding rock." (Okay, it's a simple way of saying that.) > And in *that* case, well, there are loads und loads of MIVNWS rock > records out there, and there continue to be. * Agree totally. But there was a time when modal solos and quasi-Indian noises were totally new in rock'n'roll. I'll tell you the most influential raga rock record of all, and that is "East West" by the Butterfield Blues Band, with solos by Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield, rapidly followed by "Eastern Jam" by Country Joe and the Fish, with solos by Barry Melton and also possibly by David Cohen. On Mon, 30 Sep 2002, James Dignan wrote: > a lot of the problem with talking about "which Beatles song" is that after > Norwegian Wood's first faltering steps the raga approach seemed to appear > on a lot of songs around the same time. There's definitely an influence on > the guitar break from "Taxman", for instance. Norwegian Wood was more > important for introducing Indian instruments that stylings, I think - the > playing style was very faux-raga. But it was enough to get people > interested in what could be done using sitars. * Agreed. > > np - Paper Sun (Traffic) * Now there _is_ a raga-pop record ... crazy stereo mix. - - Mike Godwin n.p. Tomorrow "Incredible Journey of Timothy Chase" (raga rock solo by Steve Howe) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:59:58 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: ragas (fwd) M R Godwin wrote: >On the issue of 8MH, the Byrds certainly claimed to have pioneered raga >rock, and I can't think of any other song on which they could have based >this claim. My recollection is that _at the time_ they publicised it as >raga rock, and several years afterwards McGuinn went public on the fact >that it was Coltrane influenced. * That word 'publicised' set me thinking. The Byrds had a famously effective publicist, Derek Taylor. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he invented the term 'raga rock' to sell this record, regardless of McGuinn's actual infulences. - - MRG n.p. Lemon Pipers "Jelly jungle of orange marmalade" ('there are Tangerine Dreams out there in orange marmalade' - so that's where the name TD came from...) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:15:18 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: elf power live? [100% e6, 0% RH/SBs] I see that Elf Power are playing The Horseshoe here in Toronto. I like their CDs; are they any good live? Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:32:59 -0400 From: mary Subject: Re: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters At 11:22 PM 9/27/2002 -0500, steve wrote: >"Enhanced" doesn't necessarily mean copy protected. I think that every >enhanced CD I've put in a computer has launched the video first. I've had >luck just launching an audio app and having it take over the CD. >Worked this week with the new PG disc on my PC at work. Three of the cds (Peter Gabriel, The Hives, and Porcupine Tree) I bought are "enhanced" and when I put them in my laptop, I can't even see the audio tracks. And when you look at the flipside of the disc, there is the break between the video and audio portions that have been burned on the cd. That's why I was wondering if the magic marker trick worked. Perhaps it is a Mac vs. Windows thing. I definitely can't access the audio on a machine running Windows 2000. s.Mary n.p. the new Peter Gabriel because I'm at home and can play it on my stereo. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 07:49:51 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters > Perhaps it is a Mac vs. Windows thing. I definitely can't > access the audio on a machine running Windows 2000. I've got the enhanced Peter Gabriel and it plays fine on my Windows 2000 server and my XP box. This is not a copy protection issue but a software problem on your system, sorry to say. You might try installing a freebie audio player (I like Winamp) and see if that sets right whatever is wrong. +brian in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:57:43 -0400 From: mary Subject: RE: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters At 07:49 AM 9/30/2002 -0500, Brian Huddell wrote: >I've got the enhanced Peter Gabriel and it plays fine on my Windows 2000 >server and my XP box. This is not a copy protection issue but a >software problem on your system, sorry to say. You might try installing >a freebie audio player (I like Winamp) and see if that sets right >whatever is wrong. That's good to know that it must be a software thing. However, I do use winamp and can't get the cds to play on either the laptop or the pc. s.Mary ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 09:31:47 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: Re: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters mary wrote: > > That's good to know that it must be a software thing. see if you can disable autoplay/autorun on CD loading on your machine; the data segment may be given precedence by the system. "Up" works (and rips) just fine on my Linux box's DVD drive. The only CD I have that *may* be protected/corrupted is US release of "Souljacker", but its seems to rip okay. At times like this, I really miss Jeme from the list. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:44:04 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters On Monday, September 30, 2002, at 07:57 AM, mary wrote: > However, I do use winamp and can't get the cds to play on either the > laptop or the pc. My success with the PG disc at work was with the standard WMP that comes with XP Pro. - - Steve __________ I for one, am convinced: I am switching my laptop to Mac OS X. And best of all, you don't have to be ashamed to go to a Linux guru meeting with Mac OS X, because it's just a UNIX with a very nice GUI." - - Moshe Bar ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 09:45:26 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: Re: NDL + Aaron Mandel wrote: > > On the other hand, I *like* "Lions And Tigers" -- very Globe Of Frogs to > me. It has that grotesque nature which first attracted me to the SBs; kind of alluringly unpleasant -- a little window on a twisted world that you half wish hadn't opened, half glad it did. > New Beck: fleh. To me, it's "Beck Shucks Off Slacker Pupa, Revealed As Middle-Aged Folkie". That's not to say I don't like it, tho'. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 09:00:12 -0500 (CDT) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: ragas On Mon, 30 Sep 2002, Michael R Godwin wrote: > * Both Rex and Eb claim 'Paint it, black' as a raga rock record. This is > totally new to me - I just don't see it. 'Paint it, black', like 'White > rabbit' and 'Alone again or' is obviously flamenco rock. It has normal > chords and melody (as opposed to just A and G and a modal scale) and the > dum diddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum rhythm is straight off > Ravel's 'Bolero'. "White Rabbit," yes on the "Bolero" - but not the other two. You're right about the flamenco influence...but where does that come from? THat's right - - the several centuries of Moorish dominance of Spanish culture, and so the characteristic flamenco sequence of E, F, G (implying a flatted second minor scale) is Arabic in origin. Once again, an Eastern influence. > Eb's view: > > I don't believe "Eight Miles High" even falls in this category. The big > > story about that song isn't the influence of raga music -- it's the > > influence of modal jazz and Coltrane. *That's* what gets cited in all > > the academic rock-music books.... But again, the modal jazz influence comes from Eastern sources: Coltrane was listening to Indian music. Really, though, it's not all that exotic: people had a vague idea of what "Eastern" scales sounded like for quite some time before the mid-sixties: there's Ravel's "Bolero," already mentioned, as an obvious example (and Ravel was strongly influenced by Spanish music - see above). New thread: the use of whole-tone scales in rock - see Devo's "Shrivel Up"... - --Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::You think your country needs you, but you know it never will:: __Elvis Costello__ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 15:19:20 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: ragas On Mon, 30 Sep 2002, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > "White Rabbit," yes on the "Bolero" - but not the other two. You're right > about the flamenco influence...but where does that come from? THat's right > - the several centuries of Moorish dominance of Spanish culture, and so > the characteristic flamenco sequence of E, F, G (implying a flatted second > minor scale) is Arabic in origin. Once again, an Eastern influence. I think we are approaching agreement - thanks for pointing out the Indian influence on Coltrane. However, I stick by my original contention concerning 'Paint it, black'. Listen to the way the guitars pound out classic flamenco rhythm over the ad lib rave-up section: "I wanna see it painted, painted black, black as night, black as coal, I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky, I wanna see you paint it paint it paint it paint black"... On the topic of "Alone again or", I think the fact that Bryan Maclean lived in Southern California explains a touch of Mex influence. Am I right, West Coasters? Particularly the Herb Alpert-type trumpet solo. - Mike Godwin n.p. Manitas de Plata, Sole lagrima PS Have you noticed how "White Rabbit" often gets credited to 'Slick', so that you assume it's by Grace, and not by her brother Paul? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:55:40 -0400 From: Brian Subject: NDL Vinyl Alright. I bought both the vinyl and CD version of NDL. Question before I open the record: Does it have a picture sleeve. And does the 7" have a picture sleeve or is it just white? Anything specially different from the vinyl and the CD cosmeticly? Geek fact: I have 8 copies of Underwater Moonlight! 5 on vinyl and 3 on CD. Good lord! Nuppy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:16:05 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: "unexpectedly, spectacularly good, for such a long time." I'm sorry to bring this up, but this is so spectacularly grotesque: The thought of Edwina "egg" Currie and John "grey" Major getting it on... I'd prefer not to. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:19:54 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters > > However, I do use winamp and can't get the cds to play on > either the > > laptop or the pc. > > My success with the PG disc at work was with the standard WMP that > comes with XP Pro. Right, I can use any app to play it. I was just suggesting that a fresh install of *something*, WMP, Winamp, whatever, might fix it. But the fact that she can't play it on two different machines has me stumped. +brian in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:28:49 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: Enhanced, Death, Horses, and Scary Monsters > Does anyone know a woman who has achieve an orgasm while riding? I've > been riding since I was a little girl and have never had the pleasure ; 0 I have, er.... Yes, I have heard no less than two women claim this. One, however, said she, well, helped things along a bit.... > I'm so psyched that Kaiju Big Battel is coming back to New York. Quail can > attest to the "unparalleled levels of chaos and destruction" caused by a > "monstrous mob of maniacal villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, > city-crushing monsters." YES! All Fegs should attend any Kaiju Big Battel they can! It is quite definitely a Feggish event of Fegostrophic proportions!!!!! Long live the Cycloptopus! - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:32:26 -0700 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Re: elf power live? [100% e6, 0% RH/SBs] At 08:15 AM 9/30/2002 -0400, Stewart Russell wrote: >I see that Elf Power are playing The Horseshoe here in Toronto. I like >their CDs; are they any good live? Yes, most definitely I've seen them five or six times now, and they always put on a great show. They usually throw in at least one terrific cover into the set, too, like Bowie's "Five Years." - --Jason "maybe you're not riding those horses correctly" Thornton "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:26:06 -0400 From: "*FS Thomas*" Subject: History Repeats Itself Itself "Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." - Hermann Goering, Luftwaffe Commander, Nuremberg Trials 1946 - from "Nuremberg Diary" by G M Gilbert (Signet, New York, 1947) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 12:44:54 -0400 From: "ross taylor" Subject: Nextdoorland - looking for my microscope I too am surprised how much I like "Pulse" "Mind is COnnected" and "Cherite." My main criticisms are relative -- the songwriting (and maybe RH vocals?) aren't as strong as Jewels/Star. As I've said, I'm really a fan of Jewels/Star, I think they are a later style of Robyn's at its best. They are both very personal yet also pushing the envelope of weirdness, at least regarding the lyrics. I think the personal aspects make him push his vocals too. NDL sounds as though, among other things, it might be as stab at commercial potential. Maybe I'm biased as a fan, but some of the songs while not RH's absolute best, sound like they have a chance of going over with the great unwashed, "Mr. Kennedy" "Sudden Town," or "Unprotected" as a catchy "controversial" song. Or "Cherite" ... the whole thing sounds radio friendly. Not my favorite descriptor, but can you blame them? And the guitars do sound good. Anyway, some of the songs-- "Mr. Kennedy"-- one of at least two songs about life on the road here, bit of a rock cliche. I loved it on 1st hearing & it was the one I already knew best. I think I actually liked the live versions better--more "balls." On the audience tape those 1st couple of chords from Kimberly, while the song is still starting, sound like fucking Keith Richards; here they just sound like the backing arrangement. The two-note chiming figure from Robyn at the start & end remind me of another rain song, Television's "Breaking in My Heart" (recorded by Verlaine). Both songs start promisingly & do build into an energetic jam, but the songs per se don't really go anywhere (in both cases I like the 1st verse better than the rest). "me and mister kennedy/ reaching out to catch the 1st few drops/ tell me mister kennedy/ will our behaviour make them call the cops?" Uh, no. But I like the SBs jam better than what Verlaine put on record. "Unprotected Love"-- I really like the sound of this. The lyrics seem mostly like a case of RH smoothing things out for a bigger audience. Mostly very straightforward, "nobody wants to be vulnerable/ everyone wants to be horrible" boy, can I buy that. Competitiveness is in our souls now. Sounds like late period Lennon. "Fish inside a glove" sounds like Robyn acting out being Robyn. "That's what I'm known for." The chorus is the kind of shock the radio can deal w/, saying something kind that also sounds like politically incorrect advice to despense w/ the latex. The harmonies here & elsewhere are very welcome-I sorta wish there were more. "Sudden Town"--of the 3 simple, fast songs, this is my favorite as a song. More life on the road, but the descriptions work better for me & the way the nastiness gets worked in, but you still feel he's sort of digging looking out the window. "Strings"--I like the lyrics here best, I think it's a human relationships blues that covers a lot of ground. Like the guitars, like the way the song moves around (the break-it-down, build-it-back-up part is one of the best I've heard in a while) but I wish it had a bit more in the way of rhythmic or melodic hooks. "Japanese Captain"--I *may* like the music to this best. The lyrics I'm not sure of, they might be whimsy. Could a "Japanese Captain" be a sub captain, i.e. devious? "Under the table is good/ but under your hands is better" I'm stretching. What a great outro! "Cherite"--Not amazing musical structure, but might be the best vocal. I like having a pretty straightforward song w/ a couple of words that are mysterious--like figuring out "stuck on my windscreen" in "Get Off Of My Cloud" (for a yank), or "we can still barrelhouse down by the riverside" in "Crossroads." (Or "still buy a house"?). "Cherite"=charity? "If I have not charity..." what's the biblical passage? And what's "Le shay"? "Lions and Tigers"-- again, like later Lennon. I think it's a pretty straightforward w/ it's stuff about "keepers, with their keeper boots and keeper eyes too close together," about conventional types & free but dangerous types. Looking back at some other weirdo he fought with & thinking "we're really the same." Love the intro, & it does come back at the very end. Probably more of this later. Ross Taylor Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V11 #308 ********************************