From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V13 #277 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, October 1 2004 Volume 13 : Number 277 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Liars (NR) [steve ] Birthday [Barbara Soutar ] RE: The skinny on RH sales! ["Marc Alberts" ] Re: Earth and sun and moon [James Dignan ] Re: Birthday [Capuchin ] Re: Birthday ["Matt Sewell" ] RE: The skinny on RH sales! ["Maximilian Lang" ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V13 #276 [Michael R Godwin ] fegs in spaace ["Brian Hoare" ] Anyone want a gmail account? [Ken Weingold ] RE: The skinny on RH sales! ["Bachman, Michael" ] RE: The skinny on RH sales! ["Brian Huddell" ] Re: The skinny on RH sales! [Roberta Cowan ] No "Respect" ["Rex.Broome" ] Heh :) [Eb ] RE: girlstuff [Eb ] Respect [Luther Wills-Dudich ] Re: Respect [Vendren ] Eye sales ["Marc Holden" ] REAP ["Maximilian Lang" ] museum update ["Roberta Cowan" ] Re: museum update [Miles Goosens ] Re: Respect [2fs ] Re: Heh :) [2fs ] Re: Respect ["Rex Broome" ] RE: Respect ["Marc Alberts" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:23:51 -0500 From: steve Subject: Liars (NR) I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise. > The Bush administration, battling negative perceptions of the Iraq > war, is sending Iraqi Americans to deliver what the Pentagon calls > "good news" about Iraq to U.S. military bases, and has curtailed > distribution of reports showing increasing violence in that country. > > The unusual public-relations effort by the Pentagon and the U.S. > Agency for International Development comes as details have emerged > showing the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush's > reelection campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech > given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad > Allawi. Combined, they indicate that the federal government is working > assiduously to improve Americans' opinions about the Iraq conflict -- > a key element of Bush's reelection message. - - Steve __________ People have a stereotype about what animation is, and don't recognize the possibilities. Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" had the most remarkable command of narrative I've seen in a very, very long time. This is just the best-told movie story of the year, enormously inventive and satisfying and meticulous. To me, it completely revivifies the value of real narrative in a movie. - Scott Rudin, producer of "The Hours" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:53:56 -0400 From: Barbara Soutar Subject: Birthday Eb said: "It's my birthday, incidentally." Mine too. Nobody told ME to fuck off though (sad face icon goes here) Barbara Soutar Victoria, BC ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 23:31:19 -0700 From: "Marc Alberts" Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! Eb wrote: >Here's hoping Spooked lands that tenth sale soon! ;) Hey! I think that was my cue (since I just ordered it). Hi everyone. New to the list here, but a Robyn fan for years as I discovered him sometime around Globe of Frogs. I'm happy that I've found the little list here, and looking through a few of the digest archives, I hope I'll last long enough for someone to give me the official birthday greeting. As a short introduction, I'll say I'm 35, living in Seattle, my favorite Robyn album is hard to pin down but generally goes to and fro between Queen Elvis, Eye, and IODOT. Hard to say what my favorite song of his would be, but "Glass Hotel" and "Satellite" just finished on my CD player, and both of those are among my favorites, so I'll go with them for the moment (although now that I stop and think about it, "Ted Woody and Junior" has lately been the one running through my head as the leaves are just threatening to change and fall here). Anyhoo...sorry to interrupt the proceedings, and I hope to be able to add something slightly apropos from time to time. Regards, Marc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 19:47:15 +1200 From: James Dignan Subject: Re: Earth and sun and moon > >> Actually that whole idea is a non-starter, since the moon will no > >> longer be in earth's orbit in much less than 1 billion years - it's > >> drifting out quite rapidly (relatively speaking). > > > > So much for the ocean tides. > > >I heard, on "Earth and Sky," I think, that much of the Earth's ecology >will be disrupted by the exit of the moon. Alice (my SO) is much more up on the poop of this than me, but yeah, it will fuck with the planet pretty bad. For one thing, it keeps us gyroscopically aligned to a large extent. Taking the moon away will cause the poles to wander away from their current alignment on a fairly frequent basis (astronomically speaking). 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: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:56:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Birthday On Thu, 30 Sep 2004, Barbara Soutar wrote: > Eb said: > "It's my birthday, incidentally." > > Mine too. Fuck you, Barbara Soutar. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 10:42:25 +0100 From: "Matt Sewell" Subject: Re: Birthday I second that emotion (happy birthday Barbara). If you want spankies, however, I'd say Tom Clark was yer man..! Cheers Matt >From: Capuchin >Reply-To: Capuchin >To: Fegmaniax >Subject: Re: Birthday >Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:56:43 -0700 (PDT) > >On Thu, 30 Sep 2004, Barbara Soutar wrote: > > Eb said: > > "It's my birthday, incidentally." > > > > Mine too. > >Fuck you, Barbara Soutar. > >J. >-- >_______________________________________________ > >Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 07:58:13 -0400 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! >From: "Marc Alberts" >Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! >Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 23:31:19 -0700 >Hi everyone. New to the list here, but a Robyn fan for years as I >discovered him sometime around Globe of Frogs. I'm happy that I've found >the little list here, and looking through a few of the digest archives, Don't let the archives frighten you! Welcome aboard Marc. Max _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar  get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 13:40:09 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V13 #276 I'm pleased to say that the Bristol and Glastonbury dates no longer show a double booking: I'm definitely up for Bristol, and if it's brilliant I might go to Glastonbury as well. I notice that it says "British _October_ Tour" (though it includes December dates) but "US _Solo_ tour". With luck that could be interpreted as meaning we will get a proper backing band in the UK. On the sales front, I'm assuming that those fascinating figures provided by Eb were for US sales - but I doubt that UK figures would add much to them. My instinct is that IODOT and Underwater Moonlight (which has been released 3 times, or possibly 4) are the only albums which have made any impact at all in the UK. On the 'jangle' issue, didn't RH once say that the Egyptians were so heavily identified with jangle that they were doomed when grunge came along, and that the decision to split the Egyptians was taken before 'Respect' was completed? Incidentally, I'm completely baffled that anyone can rate Perspex Island at all - it's my least favourite Egyptians record. I'm interested but not convinced by Stewart's view that RH is essentially a folkie. I think the Soft Boys were a progressive rock band and the Egyptians were a sort of acid-rock/folk-rock mix. He has certainly listened to a lot of acoustic musicians, but too many of his songs are written with a rhythm section in mind for him ever to be the new Martin Carthy or Dick Gaughan. WRT The Band: I'm old enough to remember the overwhelming hype when 'Music from Big Pink' came out. It was quite extraordinary, fabulously good reviews everywhere, and all the big name musicians quoting it as their favourite release of the year. I didn't care for it at all - I don't like their vocal sound - but 'The Weight' is a really memorable song, and their treatment of 'I shall be released' is pretty good too. However, one of my oldest guitar-playing mates thinks that The Band are "it" - but he did actually see the notorious 1966 Dylan/Hawks show, when Robertson was at his picking peak, and I think that may have influenced his views. - - Mike Godwin n.p. Bukka White "Special Streamline" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 12:52:35 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: fegs in spaace >From: "Matt Sewell" >Bottom line is, one day the sun's going to explode or die out, and we >only have the next few billion years to work out what the hell we're >going to do! We've got some of these to survive first... http://www.xs4all.nl/~mke/exitmundi.htm and once we've gotten away from here there's always going to be rip, crunch and zzz-zzz to contend with. My concern is that one day soon someone's going to sight a boat made from the finger- and toe- nails of the dead, piloted by a giant. Brian, who screwed up his monthly accounting and won't be Spooked until later in October but is heartened to hear that has been enjoyed by some who were disappointed by Luxor. np Hawkwind , Time we left this world today. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:08:28 -0400 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Anyone want a gmail account? I have some invites. Anyone want one? - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:11:45 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! Eb: >Like I said, don't take that list as law. I doubt it incorporates all >pre-SoundScan sales into the numbers. >I once had someone fetch me SoundScan numbers for Claudine Longet. The >tallies for her early albums were between six and 10 copies!! And I know >her first album was certified Gold. So, obviously, there's sort of a >backward-compatibility problem here. Eb, since you are a big fan of Claudine Longet, you should pick up the nice CD compellation of the French folk singer from the same era as CL, Frangoise Hardy - The Vogue Years. Happy Birthday as well! What Claudine Longet disc would you recommend? Michael B. NP John Cale - Fragments of a Rainy Season ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 14:16:30 +0100 From: "Matt Sewell" Subject: Armageddon/Westerly fegs Great website Brian... actually I'm currently growing my finger and toe nails for exactly the purpose of escaping this doomed world... all I need is to find a giant to pilot the thing... Now then, Godders mentioned that he may make the Glastonbury gig (we're definite for it - It'd be great to see you there Mike!) what about you Brian? I just don't see ye Westerly fegs enough... Anyone else for the Glasto gig? Cheers Matt (doomed) >From: "Brian Hoare" >We've got some of these to survive first... > >http://www.xs4all.nl/~mke/exitmundi.htm > >and once we've gotten away from here there's always going to be rip, >crunch and zzz-zzz to contend with. > >My concern is that one day soon someone's going to sight a boat made >from the finger- and toe- nails of the dead, piloted by a giant. > >Brian, who screwed up his monthly accounting and won't be Spooked >until later in October but is heartened to hear that has been >enjoyed by some who were disappointed by Luxor. > >np Hawkwind , Time we left this world today. > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 07:12:30 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! > Anyhoo...sorry to interrupt the proceedings, and I hope to be > able to add something slightly apropos from time to time. Slightly apropos would be mo apropos than usual. Welcome! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:27:28 -0400 (GMT-04:00) From: Roberta Cowan Subject: Re: The skinny on RH sales! Eb sez: > Got someone to send me Robyn's SoundScan numbers. Note: I guess these > figures aren't entirely useful, because they only count sales registered > under the SoundScan system. Clearly, the numbers get less and less > reliable with older albums. In particular, the numbers for Globe of > Frogs and Queen Elvis seem very screwy. Billboard didn't start using SoundScan for sales tallies until 1989 or 90, somewhere in there. I'm pretty sure that when GoF and QE were released, they were using the old manual (aka "hype") system for reports. Also, another factor to keep in mind is that only retail outlets that had their inventory on computer could be SoundScan reporters. At least one major chain I know of, Tower, was NOT computerized until at least well into the '90s so their sales figures would not have been counted. Interesting figures however--I'm surprised the WB releases had such small numbers! > (wtf is "Standback Dennis Live"?) It is actually a boot but for some reason it was carried by a few chains. I think an indie distributor must have had some copies to sell. I know a friend gave me my copy and he got it at Borders. Roberta ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:45:52 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: No "Respect" Eb: >>At the time, it seemed to me like Respect wasn't promoted at ALL -- I'm >>not surprised it took a sales drop from Perspex Island. It was one of >>those albums where you KNOW the artist is going to be dropped >>afterwards. A&M had already given up on him. That's my recollection exactly. Per my recent subject heading, I think that was part of the Great Post-Nirvana Major Label Purge: "Hey, we signed the wrong kind of 'Alternative' guys... let's get rid of this shit and have one of our metal bands play like Soundgarden instead!" - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:48:31 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Heh :) http://www.youforgotpoland.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:29:59 -0700 From: Eb Subject: RE: girlstuff Sure, Hardy is someone I'd be curious to investigate. I hesitate to stick out my neck about the "best" Longet discs because a feeeeerocious fan debate is bound to break out (oh yes), but I've always liked Love Is Blue and Colours the best. Check your 99-cent bins. Then again, the liner notes for the Cuddle Up With Claudine Longet compilation are so mindblowingly eloquent that sitting through the lesser material is almost worth it. ;) Two disappointments of note: Heard the new Amy Correia album this morning, and it's a huge dropoff from the first one. The debut was 15 or 16 on the Ebscale(tm), this one's more like an 11. Personally, I blame Norah Jones -- though the limited repertoire of Correia's live shows left me expecting the sophomore jinx long ago. It's more of a relax-with-a-glass-of-wine album. I don't hear the grass, wind and trees like I did with Carnival Love (check your 99-cent CD bins). And strangely, Correia's pitch seems a lot more shaky on this one. Sad. Second disappointment (a milder one): Smile. My late-night birthday ceremony was giving the resurrected Smile a sacred lights-out listen, but it didn't leave me breathless like I hoped. Too few tracks are capable of standing alone on their own, some almost-fantastic songs ("Heroes and Villians," "Cabinessence," "Surf's Up") wobble between brilliant sections and weaker ones and, instead of Wilson's usual gift of making complex chords seem obvious and simple, a lot of pieces seem like the reverse: taking simple ideas and dressing them up with lavish arrangements and vocal harmonies. It's easy to understand Wilson's creative process here -- discovering some attractive little piano bits and embellishing, embellishing, shuffling, shuffling. But the inspiration seemed to turn up in the tinkering rather than in the initial concepts. And of course, Van Dyke Parks' lyrics don't have much emotional pull. I don't think this incarnation of Smile is anywhere near as good as Pet Sounds and, at least at this point, I'm not sure that I even like it as well as The Beach Boys Today. The fault does NOT lie with re-recording the songs over 25 years later -- the musicianship is brilliant and the production doesn't seem uncomfortably "modern" -- but I do flinch at Wilson's deteriorated vocal range on a couple of tracks (especially "Cabinessence") where he sings in a lower register than in the original sessions. (Or maybe the original vocals were by Carl -- I don't know for sure.) What's most interesting to me is how many bits I hadn't heard before. I have never been an avid bootleg collector and, as far as Smile goes, I had been fairly content with the generous supply of Smile outtakes included in the Good Vibrations box set (and, it must be said, the out-on-a-limb genius of those outtakes is much more staggering to me than what I hear on the Nonesuch disc). But I was surprised at how much material on this Smile was totally new to me. "Barnyard," "Song for Children," "I'm in Great Shape," "On a Holiday"...all these tracks and more had melodic ideas which were totally fresh to me. My thoughts on the album haven't settled yet, but I really was hoping for "rapture" rather than mere "adoration." Or, to restate in Ebspeak, the album falls short of "whee!" status. Wow...I just checked Amazon, and it *already* has 138 customer reviews posted. Eb - -----Original Message----- Eb, since you are a big fan of Claudine Longet, you should pick up the nice CD compellation of the French folk singer from the same era as CL, Frangoise Hardy - The Vogue Years. Happy Birthday as well! What Claudine Longet disc would you recommend? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 10:58:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Luther Wills-Dudich Subject: Respect From some of Robyn's comments from his appearance on 120 Minutes at the time of Respect, It seemed he knew his time was passed, too. "THat was a clip from when Dave Kendall was hosting this show. Where is he now?...But we're still around". I recall some other comments too along those lines. He did say somethign along the lines of "we were people in our mid-30s doing Beatles type songs when people just wanted to rock after Nirvana." Plus, Who picked "Driving Aloud" as the single? It's a decent song, but the hook of the tune (the chorus) doesn't come until 30 seconds into the song, long after many people would change the station. I think there were many other tunes (Arms of Love, Serpent at the Gates, When I was Dead) that would have been more likely to catch people's ears. - -LWWD Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:07:54 -0700 From: Eb Subject: RE: The skinny on RH sales! I note that IODOT is the second best selling RH album on Amazon, after Spooked. Here's hoping Spooked lands that tenth sale soon! ;) At the time, it seemed to me like Respect wasn't promoted at ALL -- I'm not surprised it took a sales drop from Perspex Island. It was one of those albums where you KNOW the artist is going to be dropped afterwards. A&M had already given up on him. Eb - - -----Original Message----- > > I Often Dream of Trains: 12121 vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:33:17 -0700 From: Vendren Subject: Re: Respect From: "Luther Wills-Dudich" > Plus, Who picked "Driving Aloud" as the single? It's a decent song, but the hook of the tune (the chorus) doesn't come until 30 seconds into the song, long after many people would change the station. I think there were many other tunes (Arms of Love, Serpent at the Gates, When I was Dead) that would have been more likely to catch people's ears. > I think it was a good choice. When I play RH discs to my friends who are unfamiliar with Hitchcock, that is the song that always seems to make people say, "Oh yeah! That song. That's a cool song." A track like "Serpent," while a great tune, is rather generic sounding (it's a Dylan sound) and I don't think would have been all that memorable to anyone not already a fan. Too many bands make songs that sound like that for it to stand out. I do think that "When I Was Dead" could have made a good single - that's one that people seem to focus on when I play the album. According to Billboard, "Driving Aloud" is Robyn's second highest charting single, next to "So You Think You're In Love," reaching 19 on their alternative/modern chart. I remember college and alterna-radio playing the hell out of the tune. I may be biased though. It is the song that made me buy my first RH album. Palle ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 14:17:10 -0700 From: "Marc Holden" Subject: Eye sales >Got someone to send me Robyn's SoundScan numbers. Note: I guess these >figures aren't entirely useful, because they only count sales registered >under the SoundScan system. Clearly, the numbers get less and less >reliable with older albums. In particular, the numbers for Globe of >Frogs and Queen Elvis seem very screwy. >Eye: 10577 I'm not sure where the sales figures come from. Here's what the Twin-Tones Records web-site listed as the sales figures for Eye (typos and all): Released by Twin/Tone Records March 12, 1990 from a license from A&M Records. The album sold 4,689 vinyl copies (limmited eddition of 5,000), 14,990 cassettes and 18,651 CDs. It is "out of print" in the vinyl and cassette formats. The project has since been re-licensed and is out via Rhino Records (with three added "demo" tracks.) So they list a total of 38330 units moved vs. a Soundscan total of 10577. A bit of a difference there. Hope Robyn got paid royalties on the larger figure. These figures also do not include the Rhino pressing, as noted above. Marc http://www.twintone.com/ click on "music" scroll down to 1989 click on "eye" I don't pretend to have all the answers. I don't pretend to even know what the questions are. Hey, where am I? Jack Handey ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 17:49:43 -0400 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: REAP Richard Avedon. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! hthttp://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 17:49:21 -0400 From: "Roberta Cowan" Subject: museum update New U.S. date listed at the museum and it's a good one! November 17: Mountain Stage, Charleston, WV woohoo.. Hopefully this will post to fegmaniax before the show happens :-) I have joined the 20 hr. delay crowd Roberta ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 18:02:10 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: museum update On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 17:49:21 -0400, Roberta Cowan wrote: > New U.S. date listed at the museum and it's a good one! > > November 17: Mountain Stage, Charleston, WV > > woohoo.. I still experince congnitive dissonance when I think about Robyn playing my alma mater in Athens, WV, a few years ago (for one of Mountain Stage's roaming-about-the-state tapings). And it gets even weirder when I think about Eddie being there for the show! > Hopefully this will post to fegmaniax before the show happens :-) I have > joined the 20 hr. delay crowd I notice that you're an Earthlink user. When posting from my regular Earthlink/Mindspring address to my smoe.org lists (as opposed to this spiffy lil' Gmail account, which is now showing me tourism ads for Charleston, WV, because it snooped on the message itself), I've had lots of delays too, so much that I asked Woj off-list about them. Woj helped me pay attention to the detailed headers, which reveal that the delays aren't at smoe.org but on the Earthlink side. My messages to Feg, Loud-Fans, etc., are all going to a "fallback-earthlink" server and sitting there for anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours before they're passed on to smoe.org. But my e-mail to other addresses gets passed on instantly -- it's only my mail to smoe.org that gets diverted to this other server, where, I guess, John Ashcroft reads it first or something. Maybe we all need to write Earthlink about it to find out wtf is going on. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 18:14:41 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Respect On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:33:17 -0700, Vendren wrote: > From: "Luther Wills-Dudich" > > > Plus, Who picked "Driving Aloud" as the single? It's a decent song, but > the hook of the tune (the chorus) doesn't come until 30 seconds into the > song, long after many people would change the station. I've always read that 30 seconds for the chorus was the *goal* - it's difficult to get to it much quicker than that. Anyway, I think that acoustic guitar riff is pretty distinctive - so long as people have something to latch onto, a song can be popular. I'm sure we could cite plenty of hit singles whose chorus doesn't come until much more than 30 seconds into the song. Hell, Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" doesn't even *have* a chorus...unless you count the saxophone lick. Nor does Gary Numan's "Cars." - -- ++Jeff++ The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 18:20:55 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Heh :) So, uh, is there anything here but the picture of the Asshat-in-Chief and the Polish flag? I get the reference, but uh...kind of a pointless website innit? On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:48:31 -0700, Eb wrote: > http://www.youforgotpoland.com - -- ++Jeff++ The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 15:33:58 -0800 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: Re: Respect LW2D/2FFs: > > > Plus, Who picked "Driving Aloud" as the single? It's a decent song, but > > the hook of the tune (the chorus) doesn't come until 30 seconds into the > > song, long after many people would change the station. > > I've always read that 30 seconds for the chorus was the *goal* - it's > difficult to get to it much quicker than that. Anyway, I think that > acoustic guitar riff is pretty distinctive - so long as people have > something to latch onto, a song can be popular. I don't think I ever really knew until years later that Driving Aloud had been the single, or even if there had *been* a single from that album, but it is to my ears the poppiest thing on there, for what that's worth. I am kinda curious about the 30-seconds-to-the-hook rule. Do people really switch the channels after less than 30 seconds of something they've never heard before? I mean, considering that they're listening to a certain station and that station probably plays mostly stuff in the same realm... yeah, if your oldies station suddenly played a Big Black tune, you might see a drop in listenership, but... the only time I change the dial that quickly, and it's usually even faster than that, is when a song comes on that I instantly recognize, and recognize as sucking the big one. - -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 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 16:37:00 -0700 From: "Marc Alberts" Subject: RE: Respect Vendran wrote: > > Plus, Who picked "Driving Aloud" as the single? It's a decent song, but > the hook of the tune (the chorus) doesn't come until 30 seconds into the > song, long after many people would change the station. I think there were > many other tunes (Arms of Love, Serpent at the Gates, When I was > Dead) that > would have been more likely to catch people's ears. > > > > I think it was a good choice. When I play RH discs to my friends who are > unfamiliar with Hitchcock, that is the song that always seems to > make people > say, "Oh yeah! That song. That's a cool song." It's got a good beat, and you can dance to it. However, when I play that one for non-RH fans, I have to speak the lyrics of the chorus for them, and the general reaction is something of the "WTF???" variety. Of course, that's not a bad thing since it's such a thread in RH's songs, but if you're going to go opaque, there are far more "out there" selections that work better, including some of the other ones on Respect. > A track like > "Serpent," while > a great tune, is rather generic sounding (it's a Dylan sound) and I don't > think would have been all that memorable to anyone not already a fan. Too > many bands make songs that sound like that for it to stand out. I do think > that "When I Was Dead" could have made a good single - that's one that > people seem to focus on when I play the album. > Plus, what a great lyric about God and Satan trying to explain their roles in popular music. To me, it's like a big satisfying gulp of coffee at just the right temperature--purely satisfying down to my core. > According to Billboard, "Driving Aloud" is Robyn's second highest charting > single, next to "So You Think You're In Love," reaching 19 on their > alternative/modern chart. I remember college and alterna-radio playing the > hell out of the tune. > > I may be biased though. It is the song that made me buy my first RH album. I bought my first RH album, GoF, before I had ever heard a single. At my college, they had a store that was then unique that only sold CDs (pretty revolutionary at the time) and had numerous listening stations along a long bar where you could listen to pretty much anything in the store. I listened, I really liked "Vibrating" and "Chinese Bones," and thus began the dedicated fandom. Marc ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V13 #277 ********************************