From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V13 #240 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, August 24 2004 Volume 13 : Number 240 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: The Panamanian National Anthem* ["Bachman, Michael" ] Neil for Nat ["Rex.Broome" ] RE: Neil for Nat ["Eb" ] RE: Neil for Nat ["Bachman, Michael" ] White Riot on the Sunset Strip ["Rex.Broome" ] RE: Neil for Nat ["Rex Broome" ] Re: Neil for Nat [Tom Clark ] Re: Neil for Nat [Tom Clark ] RE: Neil for Nat ["Fortissimo" ] good thing they didn't let Neil near the Olympic flame ["Michael Wells" <] RE: Neil for Naughtt ["Rex Broome" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:27:17 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: The Panamanian National Anthem* James Dignan wrote: >> >> * "I'm dreaming of a wide isthmus" Stewart came back with: >Could be worse, like the one about the grandmasters showing off in the >lobby of a large, quiet hotel: "Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer". How about Grant McLennan and Steve Kilby with scissors clipping at your proboscis: "Jack Frost nipping at your nose". Michael B. NP Thelonious Monk - It's Monk's Time ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 09:10:27 -0700 From: "Marc Holden" Subject: just jabbering James told us: >I'm supposed to be out doing arts reviews at the moment, but I >managed to put the car through a 360 degree turn 150 metres from >home, so I ain't goin'! Damn, you didn't do any of that fancy stunt driving when I met up with you. Hope the car and the Muttonbirds tape are undamaged. Later, Marc btw--Any Fegs who plan to head to Arizona, starting tomorrow night the bars are open until 2:30 am, so start saving that extra beer money. Also, it looks like the Incredible String Band are going to be doing a US tour. I'm going to try to catch them October 5th in Tucson. You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Frank Zappa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 09:51:29 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Neil for Nat Nat: >>After the Gold Rush is my second Neil album, my first >>being Live Rust, which I got a couple of months ago. I suppose my next pick >>will be whatever record has "Like a Hurricane" on it, because I fell in love >>with that song after seeing Jay Farrar perform it live a while back. This requires wisdom. The official original release of "Like a Hurricane" is on the only-recently-issued on CD "American Stars 'N' Bars" (although it's been digitally available on "Decade" for years). AS'N'B, for all its arguable odds-n-sodsy charms, should NOT be anyone's third Neil Young record ("Hurricane" being atypical of the sound of the record). Although if you do pick it up, maybe you can settle my ongoing debate with my bassist, re: "Will to Love": meandering genius or ill-considered crap? (Note: said bass player also advocates unconditionally for "Trans", so look out, Joe.) I kinda want to set forth a more Nat-specific recommendation than the usual "get Decade and Rust Never Sleeps and go from there" thing. First thing that strikes my mind is (again) "On the Beach", which I might posit for any Wilco fan, actually, as it might be thought of as a marginally more "difficult" version of ATGR and doesn't bear the weight of any overplayed radio tracks, so it can be approached as its own odd beast. "Tonight's the Night" has a similar vibe and is if anything more beautifully ramshackle, but I imagine you might've heard too much rock-crit hyperbole about that one in that artistic-self-destruction-is-the-epitome-of-genius, wasted-is-best vein (I certainly have, although that in no way stops it from being a great record). If "Hurricane" does it for you, though, maybe it's pure Crazy Horse record you want, and I might direct you towards "Zuma", with the same caveat I recently cited for Barbara (a few instances of uncharacteristic (yet apparently sub-Zappa) misogyny). If the version of "Cortez the Killer" on "Live Rust" works okay for you, there's more like that on "Zuma", and the studio version of "Cortez" makes up for its lack of harmonies by omitting the goofy calypso "plenty bad man" section. The early '90's "Ragged Glory" is a little more heterogeneous, but great... probably the purest studio distillation of the live, loud Crazy Horse sound. As usual, more than you need to know... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:06:49 -0700 From: "Eb" Subject: RE: Neil for Nat I've never even heard this one! I haven't heard a few Neil albums from that period...haven't heard Reactor or Hawks & Doves either. I probably have a few gaps left to fill in my Neil collection, but I suspect the holes would be "Ehh, why not?" albums rather than anything which really grabs me. How about "The Scream" being stolen? Isn't that amazing?? Was anything on TV this weekend besides hours and hours and hours of Olympic beach volleyball? Just curious. Speaking of asinine exploitative pseudo-sports, I'm going to see a live taping of "RAW" tonight with Lawndart, so if you get Spike TV and like wrestling, look for me. I'll be front-row. Eb - -----Original Message----- The official original release of "Like a Hurricane" is on the only-recently-issued on CD "American Stars 'N' Bars" (although it's been digitally available on "Decade" for years). AS'N'B, for all its arguable odds-n-sodsy charms, should NOT be anyone's third Neil Young ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:50:48 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Neil for Nat Eb wrote: >I've never even heard this one! I haven't heard a few Neil albums from that >period...haven't heard Reactor or Hawks & Doves either. I probably have a >few gaps left to fill in my Neil collection, but I suspect the holes would >be "Ehh, why not?" albums rather than anything which really grabs me. When On The Beach, Reactor and Hawks & Doves finally got released on CD recently, I only bought On The Beach. Reactor has "T-Bone", which has the lyric "Got mashed potatoes, ain't got no t-bone", repeated over and over, and that is the high point of the album. Hawks & Doves I bought on vinyl when it first came out. It's a bit like American Stars 'N Bars in that it's half acoustic/half electric, but not as good as ASNB. I would rate American Stars 'N Bars (1977) better than both Hawks & Doves (1980) and Reactor (1981), but not as good as On The Beach. The couple after Reactor, Trans (1982) and the Shocking Pink's (1983) one, I don't have or haven't listened to in years. The country acoustic ones from the mid 1980's, I have never listened to. Like Eb, I'll probably break down and get H&D and Reactor eventually, but not before the eponymous first and "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere", which I still don't have on disc. Michael B. - -----Original Message----- The official original release of "Like a Hurricane" is on the only-recently-issued on CD "American Stars 'N' Bars" (although it's been digitally available on "Decade" for years). AS'N'B, for all its arguable odds-n-sodsy charms, should NOT be anyone's third Neil Young ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:07:06 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: White Riot on the Sunset Strip The Sunday incarnation of the Sunset Junction Street Fair in Silver Lake: Interestingly, day followed progression of completely fake '80's band => '60's band with only one original member => '80's band reunited with all members of its quintessential, if not original lineup => completely intact punk era band. Hmm. Sweet & Tender Hooligans: Very popular local Smiths cover band. Culturally interesting because of the huge Morrissey fan base among LA latinos which keeps them in business. Competent, kinda fun in a weird way. Was mildly buzzed from cup of sangria and insane fatigue resulting from a weekend of fairly hard living including late Friday night karaoke, trek to San Diego for bachelor party at horse race track etc., return trip earlier that morning and immediate transition to Street Fair mode. Remember thinking that if slightly drunker S&TH would have actually been very fun in extremely surreal manner. No avenue to get drunker in time for this to occur, so moved on when the solo Morrissey songs started to flow. Arthur Lee & "Love": My first time seeing Mr. Lee despite many local gigs since his release from jail. Read a lot of interviews with him... in a live setting he has a bit more of the burnout vibe than one might have hoped, but the band was good, the songs were great, and his voice was... variable. Would far prefer to see this setup in a small club than with a big crowd on the street comprised largely of the uninitiated. Lee's improvisatory stuff didn't, erm, show a very comfortable grasp of current politics ("They're locking him up today and throwing away the key / I wonder who it'll be tomorrow, Michael Jackson/Martha Stewart/W. Bush or me", and a bizarre "fuck France" rant) but I'm glad I saw this, out on the middle of Sunset no less, and there was a new, rather good song as a bonus. Camper Van Beethoven: Dude, Camper Van Beethoven! Surely at one time my favorite band in the world (circa 1988, I'd say), and I'd never seen them live. They were very, very good. Basically the quintessential lineup, and playing together quite well indeed, covering pretty much all phases of CVB history from 1st LP to impending '04 release. Included songs from Key Lime Pie (recorded without Jonathan Segel) but otherwise eschewed ancillary material (Cracker, Monks of Doom, whatever) leading to some lyrical incongruities (Lowery's more-Pynchonian-than-ever new stuff next to "Club Med Sucks") but musically it all hung together quite nicely. Country cover of "White Riot" now sits right next to vintage fiddle version of "Wasted" in the set list. Lost remainder of my voice (already thrashed from screaming at race track as unlikely horse picked randomly by my eerily talented friend Nona won me $60) singing along. Really, really glad I saw this and will probably pony up when they swing through supporting the album. No CVB merch to be had, so today I ordered the new live album and a t-shirt from Pitch-a-Tent. Fanboy reborn. X: Second time seeing them this year. Sounded great. Crowd got really crazy. Police choppers buzzed the crowd once and a pair of 12 year old kids crowd-surfed all the way from the back and got dropped right in front of me and my friends (who were just behind the large mosh pit area). Said kids knew all the words. Interesting. Why not a new record from these guys? They're really on their game. My guess would be that Billy Zoom is sorta punching the clock... clearly enjoying the hell out of these shows, but not especially interested in writing anything new. Songs were exclusively from his original tenure, first three records, mostly. Bonus: they played "Nausea", which was the most glaring omission from the set I saw them do in February. Afterwards, wading through the trash, witnessing a guy do a mural on the street by dribbling water out of his mouth, mojitos at Tantra, more hiking. Today, tired. Love from LA, Rex ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:41:42 +1200 From: James Dignan Subject: Re: just jabbering >James told us: >>I'm supposed to be out doing arts reviews at the moment, but I >>managed to put the car through a 360 degree turn 150 metres from >>home, so I ain't goin'! > >Damn, you didn't do any of that fancy stunt driving when I met up with you. >Hope the car and the Muttonbirds tape are undamaged. Later, Marc all is fine, to quote the Tall Dwarfs - but I drove home reeeeealy sloooowly. still white outside, but there's less snow than yesterday. The roof keeps making occasional whumping noises. FWIW, this is what the centre of the city currently looks like 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, 23 Aug 2004 15:13:39 -0800 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: RE: Neil for Nat Michael b: > When On The Beach, Reactor and Hawks & Doves finally got released on CD > recently, I only bought On The Beach. Reactor has "T-Bone", which has the > lyric "Got mashed potatoes, ain't got no t-bone", repeated over and over, > and that is the high point of the album. It ain't that bad, although it probably stood as the most off-mission Crazy Horse record until the truly bad "Life". For some reason most folks either take Michael's stance (it blows) or pump it up too much, as if it were the Great Lost Crazy Horse Record. I call a spade a spade: it's totally mehhh. "Shots" would be brilliant without those damned sound effects. >Hawks & Doves I bought on vinyl > when it first came out. It's a bit like American Stars 'N Bars in that it's > half acoustic/half electric, but not as good as ASNB. I would rate American > Stars 'N Bars (1977) better than both Hawks & Doves (1980) and Reactor (1981), but > not as good as On The Beach. On the Beach is primo essential Neil in my book, and I rate it over some presumptive classics, so no contest there. H&D is similar to AS'N'B as Michael says: both are half-acoustic and half-electric and largely comprised of unreleased tunes which had been gathering dust for a while. Key differences: AS'N'B is cobbled together from old songs recorded at very different times and thus sounds more patchwork than H&D, which seems to have been recorded all at the same time. The "electric/full band" material on both discs (with the exception of "Hurricane") is equally forgettable: indifferent country-boogie stomps with lazy lyrics nary a sign of the Crazy Horse spark. For my money, all the good stuff on AS&B is represented on "Decade" (although Neil biographer and, again, my bass player both adore the truly bizarre "Will to Love"). H&D antedates Decade, so it's the only place to hear the decent acoustic stuff on side one ("The Old Homestead" is weird but kind of cool and I ac tually like all the others to a greater or lesser extent), and the controversial "Union Man" (this being the beginning of Neil's mysterious "Reagan period"). >The couple after Reactor, Trans (1982) and the > Shocking Pink's (1983) one, I don't have or haven't listened to in years. The > country acoustic ones from the mid 1980's, I have never listened to. Might as well plow forward (just clip this and save it for future reference). Trans is... well, it's Trans. The Shocking Pinks abum is disposible even by the standards of the "back-to-your-roots rockabilly record" subgenre. "Old Ways" is old-style Nashville in a way that, while not unpleasant, sound incongruous and disingenuous in that Neil has always had his own spin on country and it doesn't show up here. "Landing on Water" is the very rare record where Neil falls prey to prevailing production trends (big '80's drums and synth basses) but has some really great songs and nice guitar if you can get past that. "Life" is a get-me-out-of-this-record-deal affair and tantamount to Horse abuse; the only bright spot is getting some sick jollies out of the Gary Numan vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd experiment "Around the World". Back on Reprise, you get the so-called "big band" record with the Bluenotes; it ain't half bad, nor is it the genre-pose you might expect. More like regular Neil r ock songs with horns and bluesier finger-picked lead guitar from Neil that I really like. Next up is "Freedom" and the beginning of the "comeback phase", so I'll leave off there. Questions? > Like Eb, I'll probably break down and get H&D and Reactor eventually, but > not before the eponymous first and "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere", which I > still don't have on disc. Good call, although those CD's are well overdue for remastering. But hey, it's Neil. "Time Fades Away" is still vinyl-only, and it beats the pant off most everything mentioned above. - -Rex (Never Sleeps) - -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:47:11 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Neil for Nat On Aug 23, 2004, at 9:51 AM, Rex.Broome wrote: > "Tonight's the Night" has a similar vibe and is if anything more > beautifully ramshackle, but I imagine you might've heard too much > rock-crit hyperbole about that one in that > artistic-self-destruction-is-the-epitome-of-genius, wasted-is-best > vein (I certainly have, although that in no way stops it from being a > great record). > Speaking of "Tonight's the Night", my wife is in the middle of reading "Shakey" (Neil's bio), and she occasionally hits me with factoids such as: Bruce Berry was the brother of Jan Berry from Jan & Dean. Oh, and Stephen Stills is an asshole... Has anybody mentioned "Harvest Moon" yet? I thought it was a nice compliment to "Harvest". And don't forget the Dead Man soundtrack - great gobs of guitar noodling. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:54:12 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Neil for Nat On Aug 23, 2004, at 11:06 AM, Eb wrote: > How about "The Scream" being stolen? Isn't that amazing?? > Pretty ballsy of those guys just running out of the museum with it! > Was anything on TV this weekend besides hours and hours and hours of > Olympic > beach volleyball? Just curious. > My TiVo's been working overtime this past week. It's great to be able to buzz through all the up-close-and-personal crap and all the other filler they throw at us. That beach volleyball really is popular, I guess - I'll give the Brazilians the gold in the "best ass tan" category! > Speaking of asinine exploitative pseudo-sports, I'm going to see a live > taping of "RAW" tonight with Lawndart, so if you get Spike TV and like > wrestling, look for me. I'll be front-row. > As much as I'd like to... - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 20:28:24 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: RE: Neil for Nat On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:13:39 -0800, "Rex Broome" said: > Michael b: > > When On The Beach, Reactor and Hawks & Doves finally got released on CD > > recently, I only bought On The Beach. Reactor has "T-Bone", which has the > > lyric "Got mashed potatoes, ain't got no t-bone", repeated over and over, > > and that is the high point of the album. > > It ain't that bad, although it probably stood as the most off-mission > Crazy Horse record until the truly bad "Life". For some reason most > folks either take Michael's stance (it blows) or pump it up too much, as > if it were the Great Lost Crazy Horse Record. I call a spade a spade: > it's totally mehhh. "Shots" would be brilliant without those damned > sound effects. I don't get how much bad venom is spewed on "T-Bone" - I mean, citing its lyrics as if it's the dumbest thing in the world - as if Neil had nothing more to say - rather misses the point. It's *supposed* to be braindead noise! So turn it up. Me, when I want to really annoy people, I prefer turning up "F&#@in' Up" (or however they write it) - but that's just me, and most definitely not Rose, who nearly killed the much younger me over a very drunken late-night episode of turning that song up to around 12 as me and former friend Larry (even drunker than I was) rolled crashing into our apartment at 3:30 in the morning... I can't remember the rest of the record. It's a pretty good loud Crazy Horse record, just not the best one. > (this being the beginning of Neil's mysterious "Reagan period"). Yeah, what the fuck was that. > Might as well plow forward (just clip this and save it for future > reference). Trans is... well, it's Trans. You know, I never realized how "Neil" those songs are, beneath their faux-technopop arrangements - until I heard Sonic Youth's version of "Computer [can't remember the title & always confuse it w/similarly named Kraftwerk song]" - which, except for the bizarro Frippworld riff, sounds almost like Crazy Horse doing the song. The Shocking Pinks abum is > disposible even by the standards of the "back-to-your-roots rockabilly > record" subgenre. "Old Ways" is old-style Nashville in a way that, while > not unpleasant, sound incongruous and disingenuous in that Neil has > always had his own spin on country and it doesn't show up here. "Landing > on Water" is the very rare record where Neil falls prey to prevailing > production trends (big '80's drums and synth basses) but has some really > great songs and nice guitar if you can get past that. Is that _Lucky 13_ comp - the Geffen Lawsuit Years comp - still in print? Cuz that'll get you most the best of that era... (I actually kinda like "Will to Love"...) - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: crumple zones:: :: harmful or fatal if swallowed :: :: small-craft warning :: ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 19:41:49 -0500 From: "Michael Wells" Subject: good thing they didn't let Neil near the Olympic flame Rex: > Sweet & Tender Hooligans: Very popular local Smiths cover band. Didn't we have a S&TH nom de plume on this very list a few years ago? Rex on Neil: > Good call, although those CD's are well overdue for remastering. But hey, it's Neil. "Time Fades Away" is still vinyl-only, and it beats the pant off most everything mentioned above. Speaking of TFA, John Wesley Harding's All Male Threesome did an eerily good version of _Don't be Denied_ on their recent tour stop here. Quoth the droll one: "this song should be like all great threesomes...messy." Tom C > Has anybody mentioned "Harvest Moon" yet? I thought it was a nice compliment to "Harvest". I was thinking the same thing, but since my posts have been taking...oh, about 26 hours to list...by the time you read this it will appear that I've been thinking about it for quite some time. Tom C getting to the bottom of things: > That beach volleyball really is popular, I guess - I'll give the Brazilians the gold in the "best ass tan" category! Yeah, but where would you hang the medal? Michael "good thing they don't do drug testing on Olympics viewers" Wells ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 08:45:13 -0800 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: RE: Neil for Naughtt Jeffrey: > I don't get how much bad venom is spewed on "T-Bone" - I mean, citing > its lyrics as if it's the dumbest thing in the world - as if Neil had > nothing more to say - rather misses the point. It's *supposed* to be > braindead noise! So turn it up. Me, when I want to really annoy people, > I prefer turning up "F&#@in' Up" (or however they write it) - but that's > just me Not even! Now, there is a difference between those two songs in that not only does "Fcukin' Up" have a full complement of lyrics... they are really, really good. It's a shockingly concise and cogent discourse on the dangers and consequences of emotional disengagement. I'm not even kidding. "T-Bone" is precisely as you describe it. I'm not putting it on my next mix disc, but I don't skip it on the CD now that I can. > I can't remember the rest of the record. It's a pretty good loud Crazy > Horse record, just not the best one. "Opera Star" is funny. "Surfer Joe" is kinda cool. "Southern Pacific"... I like train songs, so there you go. "Pipeline" is surprisingly okay surf-type stuff with some lingering Devo influence. And again "Shots" is a very good song marred by annoying sound effects. Oddly, I think ReAcTor may be the *first* Crazy Horse record that's flat-out rock all the way through. Seriously. > You know, I never realized how "Neil" those songs are, beneath their > faux-technopop arrangements - until I heard Sonic Youth's version of > "Computer [can't remember the title & always confuse it w/similarly > named Kraftwerk song]" - which, except for the bizarro Frippworld riff, > sounds almost like Crazy Horse doing the song. "Computer Age" = Neil, "Computer World" = Kraftwerk; "Computer Blue" = Prince (nb. "Cinnamon Girl" - both Neil and Prince). "Sample and Hold" is pretty solidly Crazy Horse-y: compare the octave-fuzz guitar riff under "new design, new design" to "Into the Black". (I just picked up a used DVD of the Berlin concert with the Trans band... unsurprisingly *not advertised as such...) > Is that _Lucky 13_ comp - the Geffen Lawsuit Years comp - still in > print? Cuz that'll get you most the best of that era... And a few unreleased tracks. The most irritating thing about that comp, released in, what, 1993?, is that it calls itself "extracts from the forthcoming archives boxed set" and the artwork features the names of tons of lost songs from that era which remain unheard. > (I actually kinda like "Will to Love"...) I'm rapidly realizing I'm in the minority on this one. At least I got mashed potatoes. - -Rex - -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10 ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V13 #240 ********************************