From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #91 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, March 10 2003 Volume 12 : Number 091 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Settle a bet ["Brian Hoare" ] Luxory [Eric Loehr ] RE: Settle a bet [Michael R Godwin ] RE: Settle a bet [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: Urge the Pope to intervene! [gshell@metronet.com] Robyn's B-Day Poem ["Velvet And In Onions" ] admiring geekdom ["Natalie Jane" ] Re: Robyn's B-Day Poem [Michael R Godwin ] Re: 24-23 Amendment [gshell@metronet.com] Band seeks female bassist, Native American drummer, more Chinese boys ["] RE: 24-23 Amendment ["Terrence Marks" ] Re: Band seeks female bassist... [gshell@metronet.com] Re: Band seeks female bassist... [Ken Weingold ] Re: free gnatmaniax! [Tom Clark ] Re: Band seeks female bassist, Native American drummer, more Chinese boys [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: free gnatmaniax! [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: Band seeks female bassist... [gshell@metronet.com] And now for something completely different [Eb ] Industrialised women [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] RE: Settle a bet [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] RE: Settle a bet ["Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" ] Rex's Record Review Roundup (long but nonpolitical) ["Rex.Broome" Subject: RE: Settle a bet >Subject: RE: Settle a bet > >...and to directly address the question: I've always thought they were >abutments. (Though plinth is a much snazzier word.) If it once held a bridge it would be an abutment (at end) or pier (supporting deck but not at and end). If it held a statue or ornament then it'd be a plinth. If it held anything else "column" would be good. A stanchion is generally metal, rod or post like in construction that acts a a support - eg scaffold columns. The "official" answer from our technical support guy (we do structural analysis software) is "column", with abutment/pier in second place if you know where the bridge went. Brian _________________________________________________________________ Worried what your kids see online? Protect them better with MSN 8 http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental&pgmarket=en-gb&XAPID=186&DI=1059 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:12:01 -0500 From: Eric Loehr Subject: Luxory Fegs, I asked David Greenberger when Luxor might be available at the Museum; he says: "We're working that out now - it'll probably be a couple months as there weren't enough manufactured overseas to supply us here, so we'll be making some over here now too - working details out now." I was hoping for more like a week or two - - I suggested making MP3's available at the Museum, maybe with a password for folks who buy the album now -- haven't heard back from him yet. Eric ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:03:56 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: RE: Settle a bet On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Brian Hoare wrote: > If it once held a bridge it would be an abutment (at end) or pier > (supporting deck but not at and end). If it held a statue or ornament then > it'd be a plinth. If it held anything else "column" would be good. > A stanchion is generally metal, rod or post like in construction that acts a > a support - eg scaffold columns. > The "official" answer from our technical support guy (we do structural > analysis software) is "column", with abutment/pier in second place if you > know where the bridge went. I think the original question was about the object on "Who's Next": which is surely supposed to be the "2001" thing. The original story has a pyramid, but it becomes something like an obelisk or pillar in the screenplay. - - Mike Godwin PS to tc: No, I'm not a contemporary of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) though she did marry a Godwin... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 17:11:07 +0100 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: RE: Settle a bet - --On Montag, 10. Mdrz 2003 16:03 Uhr +0000 Michael R Godwin wrote: > I think the original question was about the object on "Who's Next": > which is > surely supposed to be the "2001" thing. I never thought of that, but you're probably right. >The original story has a pyramid, > but it becomes something like an obelisk or pillar in the screenplay. Isn't it called a monolith? - -- Sebastian Hagedorn PGP key ID: 0x4D105B45 Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:10:37 -0600 (CST) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: Urge the Pope to intervene! great idea, why don't we petition the pope to visit iraq as a human shield? we could give him a gps and a list of four of five "good" places to which he could stand within 3 metres. on that note, why don't we supply all human shields with a good gps. human shield, now that is actually worth a chuckle. more human shields, save water. gSs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:50:47 -0500 From: "Velvet And In Onions" Subject: Robyn's B-Day Poem http://www.robynhitchcock.com/auditori.htm _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 09:13:17 -0800 From: "Natalie Jane" Subject: admiring geekdom People like Jane are totally unconcerned with > >how dorky they appear to others, and I think that's rather > >admirable... if verging on complete insanity. > >Then you should WORSHIP this guy.... >http://home.twcny.rr.com/ronaldus/spice/dream.htm Uhh... OK, I think I draw the line at psychosis. This guy makes Jane the Timeline Chick look like - well, normal. Also, her homemade T-shirt looked a hell of a lot better than this guy's. n. _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 17:15:28 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Robyn's B-Day Poem On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Velvet And In Onions wrote: > http://www.robynhitchcock.com/auditori.htm Thanks for this. However, there are a lot of typos on the page: Asmodeus, surely, rather than Azmodeus Mick Farren, not Mick Ferren (author of "Texts of festival" etc etc, former vocalist witgh the Deviants when they were still the Social Deviants). bene for been Undersater Moonlight for Underwater Moonlight Seatle instead of Seattle Exitentialism for Existentialism - - MRG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:13:17 -0600 (CST) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: 24-23 Amendment On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Eleanore Adams wrote: > I don't want to get into this discussion, but every court house I have > ever worked in, you are required to take your hat off if there is a > judge present - just protocol. isn't that applied normally only towards men with hats? gSs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:50:27 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Band seeks female bassist, Native American drummer, more Chinese boys James (re: Bells of Rhymney): >>well, to be honest, I am annoyed by the original. But the original is NOT >>the Byrds' version. Erm, I totally knew that but got off on a tangent and forgot to acknowledge that. Covers were different beasts in the days of the Byrds... the transition to "a band is meant to write its own songs in order to be legitimate" hadn't quite happened. Since then covers have become more artist choices than label matchups, and those were the kinds of covers I meant. >>I vastly prefer the Byrds/RH versions and find it >>jarring when I hear the song with what seems like the wrong rhythm. Yeah, they did to their Seeger songs what Hendrix did to "Hey Joe". The Dylan tunes still survive in their original forms because way more people still listen to Dylan than Seeger. (I have good things to say about Pete Seeger, but yeah, when I think "Rhymney" I hear the Byrds). ________ Quail: >>My Rush "2112" cassette didn't have the whole "2112" piece on one side -- >>two minutes before the end, it faded out, and you had to flip it to hear the >>last moments of the finale! Like having all the irritation of an 8-track with none of the extra tape-width. Artifacts of careless mastering just get catalogs out on the new format. I find this kind of stuff oddly fascinating-- it creates unacknowledged "edits" and "alternate versions". One of the weirdest is the CD issue of "Marquee Moon" on which the title track actually ends instead of fading out as it's supposed to/always had, without beng billed as an "extended version". It's just a mistake. I also for some reason love bad indexing and hideous, glaring typos on albums. ___ Natalie, I think the sole and self-evident reason for your appearance in an alternate universe is because you've been hanging out with someone known as "Jane the Timeline Chick". Such a person might live in Portland, but I bet she still visits the folks on Gallifrey. >>My new rule is that girls don't necessarily make a boring genre better (see: the >>Donnas). That's on old rule for me. A newer one: it is cool to have women in your band, but lame to insist that one instrumental role can only be filled by a woman (usually bass or keyboards). I see this in musician-wanted ads all the time. I'm looking specifically in Billy Corgan's direction, but sadly I'm seeing Scott Miller and in the same corner, and are those the Go-Betweens over there? Nahhh... - -Rex, who has had chicks in his bands, yes indeed ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:48:19 -0500 From: "Terrence Marks" Subject: RE: 24-23 Amendment > On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Eleanore Adams wrote: > > I don't want to get into this discussion, but every court house I have > > ever worked in, you are required to take your hat off if there is a > > judge present - just protocol. > > isn't that applied normally only towards men with hats? Correct. Men Without Hats should do the Safety Dance instead. Terrence Marks http://nice.purrsia.com http://www.unlikeminerva.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:00:02 -0600 (CST) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: Band seeks female bassist... On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Rex.Broome wrote: > -Rex, who has had chicks in his bands, yes indeed girls are cool. period. and in amsterdam there are girls on bikes with guns. that is especially cool. one started to think i was a stalker but then i reminded her, she had the really big gun. the only problem with chicks in the band is they are often followed by an undesireable, and that has always turned out to be a greasy assed man. gSs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:18:15 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Band seeks female bassist... On Mon, Mar 10, 2003, gshell@metronet.com wrote: > girls are cool. period. and in amsterdam there are girls on bikes > with guns. that is especially cool. one started to think i was a > stalker but then i reminded her, she had the really big gun. the > only problem with chicks in the band is they are often followed by > an undesireable, and that has always turned out to be a greasy assed > man. And who is the lucky one who ends up getting so close to said undesireable's ass to tell that it is greasy? - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:20:02 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: free gnatmaniax! on 3/9/03 10:46 AM, Natalie Jane at emma_blowgun@hotmail.com wrote: > He shook my > hand. He's a much bigger guy than I thought he would be - tall, heavy-set, > with big hands and a big sleepy face. And all I can say is.... ARRGHH! I > MET PETER BUCK! :) At this point I am legally required to re-post my "Peter Buck Hates Me" missive: Summer 1982: I see The English Beat at the Agora in Hartford, CT. That band with the weird singer that does "Carnival of Sorts" opens for them. Between sets my buddy and I are hanging out in the back of the venue when the guitarist walks by. He's really tall and thin, wearing cool pointed toe cowboy boots. I wave and try to tell him I enjoyed the set, but he just walks by, not even making eye contact. April 1, 1989: I see Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians at The Paradise in Boston. Peter Buck joins them on stage for a few songs. After the show I'm hanging out on the sidewalk chatting with Morris when Peter and Andy Metcalf come flying out of the club and into a waiting taxi, each carrying two six-packs. I wave and try to tell Peter I enjoyed the set, but he just runs by, not even making eye contact. November 16, 1999: I see Robyn Hitchcock at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I'm having dinner at the venue beforehand and Peter Buck walks by. I try to say Hi, but he just walks by, not even making eye contact. June 24, 2000: I see Robyn Hitchcock and Grant Lee Phillips at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I see Peter Buck walking around quite often. I don't care. April 4, 2001: I see The Soft Boys at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. The Minus Five opens with Peter Buck on bass. After the show I'm buying a tee shirt and Peter Buck sticks his head in the merchandise booth. Out of the corner of my eye I see him smile at me, but I just finish the transaction and leave, not even making eye contact. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:32:31 -0600 (CST) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: Band seeks female bassist, Native American drummer, more Chinese boys On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Rex.Broome wrote: > That's on old rule for me. A newer one: it is cool to have women in your > band, but lame to insist that one instrumental role can only be filled by a > woman (usually bass or keyboards). I see this in musician-wanted ads all > the time. I'm looking specifically in Billy Corgan's direction, but sadly > I'm seeing Scott Miller and in the same corner, and are those the > Go-Betweens over there? Nahhh... If you mean "it's a drag that bands seem to want women only if they play certain instruments, i.e., bass or keyboards," Lindy Morrison (Go-Betweens) was the drummer. If you're saying "it's a drag that bands seem to confine themselves only to one woman at a time," both latter-day original Go-Betweens and the reformed version have had two female members at once (add Amanda Brown; and if you count the Sleater-Kinney folks backing as band members). Ironically,given what you're saying, Scott Miller's bands (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm doing this from memory) have featured women in every instrumental role *except* bass player (lead guitar, keyboards, drums). And a couple of times, Game Theory featured two women, if that's what you meant. - --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 ::glibby glop gloopy nibby nobby noopy la la la la lo:: np: Henry Cow _Unrest_ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:38:12 -0500 From: Eric Loehr Subject: Re: free gnatmaniax! At 11:20 AM 3/10/2003 -0800, Tom Clark wrote: >April 4, 2001: I see The Soft Boys at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. The >Minus Five opens with Peter Buck on bass. After the show I'm buying a tee >shirt and Peter Buck sticks his head in the merchandise booth. Out of the >corner of my eye I see him smile at me, but I just finish the transaction >and leave, not even making eye contact. > >-tc But would you have let him tell you how much he enjoyed you being at the show if he'd given you a tinfoil Thoth? Eric "Peter Buck free since 1953" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:45:40 -0600 (CST) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: free gnatmaniax! On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Tom Clark wrote: > on 3/9/03 10:46 AM, Natalie Jane at emma_blowgun@hotmail.com wrote: > At this point I am legally required to re-post my "Peter Buck Hates Me" > missive: From the diary of Peter Buck: 1982: I don't know what day it is, but I know it's summer. Played the Agora in Hartford, Connecticut last night, opening for the English Beat. Good band - but in twenty years, the singer will be playing people's weddings after shows in the midwest to earn a few extra dollars.* Saw this odd-looking guy after the show - I think he's the brother of a man I killed last night. Damn, that satanic contract better pay off soon. April 1, 1989: Robyn keeps looking at me funny...I think he knows something. Damn those eccentric and perceptive Brits with their interest in spooky afterlife thingies. Jesus - last night got really scared - the *same guy* from 1982 was at the Boston gig, and he was obviously trying to get my attention. Well at least the contract's paying off bigtime these days. November 16, 1999: Y'know, Satan took away half our fame when I wouldn't agree to let Bill Berry die - but shit, that spooky guy who's been stalking me since the beginning is *still* around. I'm getting really freaked out... June 24, 2000: I see Robyn Hitchcock and Grant Lee Phillips at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I see that one guy walking around quite often. I don't care anymore, because of the new deal I made: all I've gotta do is get really drunk on an airplane, and everything will be okay again. Odd - but the ways of Satan are mysterious to mere mortals - and to me! April 4, 2001: Finally saw That One Guy again. But he's powerless against me now. I smiled at him - almost told him - but hey, why ruin the surprise? - ---- * True! A friend of my sister had Dave Wakeling play at her wedding a few weeks back... - --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 ::Solipsism is its own reward:: __Crow T. Robot__ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:36:19 -0600 (CST) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: Band seeks female bassist... On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Ken Weingold wrote: > And who is the lucky one who ends up getting so close to said > undesireable's ass to tell that it is greasy? generally you don't have to get real close. gSs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:41:35 -0800 From: Eb Subject: And now for something completely different Sheep Head Breaks Music Fan's Skull OSLO, Norway - A flying sheep's head hit a concertgoer and fractured his skull at a concert of metal band Mayhem. The band, part of Norway's death metal music scene, was carving up a dead sheep as part of its stage act when the animal's head flew off lead singer Maniac's knife and struck Per Kristian Hagen, 25. The show was Thursday in Bergen, 487 kilometers (302 miles) west of the capital, Oslo. "My relationship to sheep is a bit ambivalent now. I like them, but not when they come flying through the air," Hagen told The Associated Press Monday from his hospital room. "I have a headache now." He is expected to recover. Hagen, a Mayhem fan, filed involuntary assault and battery charges against the band. The charges carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison. Mayhem member Rune Eriksen, whose stage name is Blasphemer, said the incident was unfortunate. "The whole thing was an accident, but maybe it would be an idea for another show," he said. Eriksen promised Hagen a free ticket to the group's next performance. Police detective Carl-Petter Leganger told the AP an investigation has started, but "nothing suggests this was a conscious act." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 12:09:59 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Industrialised women Sabina asks: >i'm doing a projeect for world history and we're learning about the >industrial revolution...specifically in england. well, we're supposed to >do a project on different aspects of the industrial revolution period and >i got the topic of "women's rights". >my textbook has about 1/2 a page on women's rights in britain during the >industrial revolution, and that's it (well it's better than the 2 short >paragraphs for women's rights in france!). i was wondering if any british >fegs could help me out? like give me an internet link or the name of a >book or something? >help, pretty please? :-) thanks! >I should start with Mary Wollstonecraft, who was the primary (not to say >the only) women's rights writer in England at the time. good point. MW (mother of the writer of Frankenstein, as well, IIRC) was worth reading. Simon Schama's TV series (and book) "The history of Britain" also mentions the writings of John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, notably Mill's book "On the subjection of women", published in 1869. Though this may be of no help whatsoever, I found a similar request on a net discussion group - and it lists a few book titles. I cannot vouch for whether the books are of any use, but they might be worth looking for. Here's the other message: >Can anyone direct me to sources that reveal the deplorable working >conditions of women and children during the early part of the industrial >revolution (in either Europe or America)? I am aware of a few survey >sources that focus on the proletarianization process and the changing >division of labor and working-class family: Robertson (1982), An Experience >of Women; Tilly and Scott (1979), Women, Work, and the Family; Valenze >(1995), The First Industrial Woman. it's possible those three works will at least point you in the right direction James (who recently traced his partner's genealogy back to Ironbridge in the 1820s) 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: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 12:55:57 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: RE: Settle a bet >> On the cover of "Who's Next", is the thing they have just peed on a >> 'plinth', or a 'stanchion'? (Or, god forbid, an 'abutment'?) You'd >think I >> would know these things. They are all defined largely by use: a plinth has something on top of it, whether a vase, a door frame, a column, or a wall. A stanchion is an upright supporting pole or block. An abutment is an architectural feature which shares a a common vertical boundary with, and supports, its neighbour. According to that, a stanchion would normally be a type of abutment. Also by these definitions, since there is nothing else in the picture being supported or sharing a common vertical boundary (except air and urine) the block cannot be either a plinth or an abutment. I'd hesitate to call it an abutment either for exactly the same reason (what is it supporting?). I've always thought of it as (to use the words of one of my own songs!) a concrete megalith, although the word column is probably as correct architecturally. Re the freak with the spice girls fetish that's been talked about here... he's plausibly the sort of person that would do google searches on his name to see who's talking about him, no? In which case, writing about him online is probably not the wisest thing, yes? James 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: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:43:12 -0800 From: "Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" Subject: RE: Settle a bet Yea! Verily, at 12:55 PM +1300 3/11/03, it was written by James Dignan that all should kneel low and, cupping their hands behind their ears, reflect momentarily upon these hallowed words, for within them lies the seed of truth: >Re the freak with the spice girls fetish that's been talked about here... >he's plausibly the sort of person that would do google searches on his name >to see who's talking about him, no? In which case, writing about him online >is probably not the wisest thing, yes? Yes, in fact, he does search on himself - I saw the usenet post where he discuovered the woman claiming to have received that horrible letter from him. But Fegmaniax list archives don't seem to turn up in Google (see ), and besides, I've got a multi-tiered protection from unwanted responses to online posts. First, despite the tone of some posts, I never say anything I wouldn't want my real name attached to. Also, 'plinth@' is a dedicated list-only email address which I can cancel or change anytime, and all the common default email addresses for a domain (postmaster@, webmaster@, admin@, etc.)are blocked on kupietz.com. Then, although my "real" email address is easily found in the internet, all my incoming email runs through a constantly-upgraded bayesian filtering system before it gets to me, to keep out the unwanted buggers, and then, if someone does succeed in getting unwanted or nuisance emails through to my main email address, I simply slay them using my awesome psionic powers. So, in short, if someone is pissed at something I wrote on the internet, they're going to have to call information to get my mailing address. I greatly prefer getting hate mail in hardcopy. You, on the other hand might want to be careful - read Traino's breathless, fanatical paean to how vexillology changed his life here: . Just kidding. Thanks for weighing in on the Who's Next question. I think "megalith" is my favorite answer so far. Mike - -- ======== We need love, expression, and truth. We must not allow ourselves to believe that we can fill the round hole of our spirit with the square peg of objective rationale. - Paul Eppinger At non effugies meos iambos - Gaius Valerius Catallus ("...but you won't get away from my poems.") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 19:43:09 -0500 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Angry Naked Pat This is kinda odd, fairly popular now. Must admit(shamefully) that I saw the Superbowl Is Gay video on The Jimmy Kimmle Show(only because Sarah Silverman was on). I think it's Kinda funny. http://www.angrynakedpat.com/ _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:54:19 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Rex's Record Review Roundup (long but nonpolitical) Last week Amazon delivered my big box o' new records that have the potential to be much loved by me. Lots of 'em, hardly a disc not linked in some way to another. Still forming opinions, but here are some preliminaries: ___________ Massive Attack, 100th Window: I expected to be disappointed based on reviews, but with my expectations thus lowered I was surprisingly pleased with this. True, it's the first Massive Attack record that isn't an instant classic in my book, but it's still far from bad and does what a MA record should do for the most part. Sinead O'Connor, I dunno... a step down from Liz Frasier, not really necessarily in quality so much as in the baggage her persona brings these days. Her tunes here, like that Afro-Celt Sound System song a few years back, are sung in a kind if spirit-guidey, "be yourself and everything will be cool" mode, and I have a tendency to hear that from her and think, hmmm, Sinead dear, isn't your life kind of totally messed up? Other than that (and the 11 minutes of percolating sequenced bass at the end of the last tune which nonetheless stops 6 minutes short of how long it could go) this'll probably ideal listening for summer on the back porch with a beer, as usual. It does continue the streak of possessing its own very distinct identity as a record, while still being instantly recognizable, which is cool for those of us who have been into the band since the beginning. __________ Throwing Muses, Self-Titled (2003) Damn, it's really cool that this even came into existence, and beyond that, it's quite a blistering and bracing bit of work indeed. Sound-wise it's a big improvement over "Limbo" which had for years been their presumptive swan song-- the new record is equally ferocious but much rawer and more live-sounding than the sort of over-processed sheen that compromised the best stuff on "Limbo" (that's just me; a lot of Muses fans love that record). Songwise, Kristin's got some tunes here that harken back to a whole bunch of the band's past phases... a couple of nice herky-jerky multiple-time-signature things which put one in the mind of "House Tornado" for the first time in a long while, a few borderline power-pop stompers, and even a few that spend much of their running time in ballad territory. Lyrically, as usual, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but at first blush it sounds like about a 6.5 out of 10 on the "Vicky's Box" scale of manic-depressive-bipolar-confusion. Maybe because Kristin sounds like she's having fun howling over the band again, and because Tanya Donnelly's back (vocals only) to sweeten things up a bit, which results in a real rush of a pair of closing tracks. Or maybe she just saved the truly harrowing stuff for the solo record... speaking of which... ______ Kristin Hersh, The Grotto: One must appreciate the Muses record if only because it seems to have taken the pressure off of Kristin to replicate "the band sound" on this solo release the way she has on her past few (although the last one, "Sunny Border Blue", was saved by a varied sonic pallette and some great songs)... on this one she goes back to the stark, delicate acoustic sound of her first two solo records-- the overall effect is even Nick Drakier and more downbeat than Beck's "Sea Change". It's a welcome change, made even sweeter by the subtle accompaniment of Howe Gelb on piano and Andrew Bird on violin. As on the new Muses record, it's clear that, as personal as her songs are (and these sound really personal), Hersh gets the best results playing with others, loose and live. And if you take the two records together, you get the feeling that her best record might yet be ahead of her, and it might sound something like "Rust Never Sleeps". But I wouldn't advocate distilling the two records down to one this time around, as I usually do with the "two simultaneous records" gambit... both albums are their own creatures and almost filler-free. ___________ Laika, Lost in Space 1993-2002: Do any other Fegs like these guys even a fraction as much as I do? The conceptual leap between Robyn's lyrics and Margaret Fiedler's isn that hard to make, but Laika's sound is more spooky-groovy, albeit miles more inventive and engaging than your average female-fronted-trip-hoppy outfit. Anyhow, I really love them and must cop to the fact that Margaret is one of the few musicians whom I both respect whole bunches and have the hots for-- I think the twain meet a lot more frequently for most folks than it does for me. This here is, oddly, a nicely packaged 2-disc best-of and rareties roundup. Very enjoyable if hardly essential. Interestingly, a few of my absolute favorite tracks from each Laika album don't make the cut, which makes this more involving even if it's way different from the comp I would've some up with. And because I'm sure Eb's not reading this far, lemme just say, the record has some truly awesome liner notes. I'd venture to say that at least two (probably more) of the tracks were picked so the band could write about them in the booklet. _____________ The Go-Betweens, Bright Yellow Bright Orange (plus bonus disc): Dammit, I seem to have lost this disc since the first time I listened to it on Friday (although I still have the 4-song bonus EP, which is nice, hideously packaged in cross-promotional art as it is). Must be in the car somewhere. Anyhow, I really enjoyed it; might well be my favorite record in this pile, in fact. But what do I know; I liked the first reunion album, "Friends of Rachel Worth", too, and from what I've heard a lot of GB's fans weren't so keen on it. I'd say that both of these newer records sound more like "old" Go-Betweens, loose and lo-fi, than the last two "original run" '80's records did, and I like that. On this one there seems to be a little more interplay between Grant and Robert than on "Rachel", including alternating lead vocals on one track. Forster's lyrics make the bigger impression on the first listen, but that's often been the way I see it until Grant's tunes sneak up and lodge themselves in my brain a few spins down the line. It's short (less than 40 minutes) which does beg the question, why not just include the two new songs on the bonus EP? "Girl Lying on a Beach" has a nice rambling solo feel and it would've maybe made a nice "Last Trip to Tulsa"-like closer... shorter and mellower but every bit as out-of-tune. (Also, since the Sugarplastic's "Bang the Earth Is Round" has recently been mentioned, I should note that the umbrella on the cover of BYBO looks like it came right out of the hand of that little pissed-off cartoon king character on that album's cover.) _____________ The Clean, Anthology: Another double-disc thingy, the first disc being a collection of almost all of the EP's and singles from the original early '80's run of the band, the second, highlights and outtakes from the reunited band's LP's from the '90's (along with the Laika comp, that's two two-disc retrospectives of bands with only three proper albums, for a 66.6% increase in each group's output of full length discs, but there you go). At first listen to disc one I was slightly underwhelmed, not so much by the lo-fi presentation (which I expected) but more by the seeming scattershot nature of the tracks culled from so many different sources of varying quality. My thinking was that it would be much better to hear this stuff in the smaller, coherent doses of its original issues, but honestly, why would you now that this is available... and also, I was listening to it at work, where any number of things that sound great to me under any other circumstances instead make me feel like a bunch of American Idol fans are looking at the back of my head, uncomprehending of how anyone could derive pleasure from such noise. On a second listen, though, almost everything clicked in as totally classic, with even some of the sludgier instrumentals taking on some degree of joyous energy and the songwriting shining through a bit more. I hope to god Steven Malkmus cut these guys a royalty check as least as big as the one he owes Mark E. Smith, because... damn, they are the exact midpoint between the Velvets and Pavement, more so even than, say, the Feelies or Galaxie 500. Kinda temporarily sours my appreciation for "Slanted & Enchanted" in rather the same way the Neu! reissues put me off Stereolab, but such is musical justice. Disc two is quite nice as well, more polished but no less primal... both more consistent and less so, if you follow. The outtakes are a nice touch but it is obvious why they were outtaken... still, it's probably the best package that could be done, as you could surely almost but *not quite* squeeze all three LP's on that disc, and how frustrating would that be? Liner notes rating on this one: 7.5. Cute and handwritten by the drummer, but not wildly informative. Packaging docked a point because the spine is instantly chewed into by the swinging inlay the first time you open the tray to extract disc two. Oh, and joyous news for ye detractors of bizarre/stupid rock punctuation: the extraneous parentheses seem to have disappeared from the title of the song "Drawi(n)g to a (W)hole". ___________ Pretty good haul overall. With Luxor and new records from Wire and Lucinda Williams due next month, maybe I can quit buying new records for this year soon and get back the plumbing the distant past as is my wont. - -Rex, childless and wifeless for a week and somewhat befuddled by the prospect ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #91 *******************************