From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V15 #121 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, June 2 2006 Volume 15 : Number 121 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: old mozzer [Eb ] RE: old mozzer ["michael wells" ] Re: old mozzer [Eb ] RE: old mozzer ["michael wells" ] RE: old mozzer ["Marc Alberts" ] RE: old mozzer ["Marc Alberts" ] Re: old mozzer [2fs ] Re: old mozzer [Tom Clark ] Re: old mozzer [2fs ] RE: old mozzer [J ] REAP [Carrie Galbraith ] Re: Stop Your Sobbing [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] Buck [Dolph Chaney ] RE: old mozzer ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: Buck [2fs ] re: I think I'm gonna hurl [xx ] Re: old mozzer ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Re: old mozzer [2fs ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V15 #118 [2fs ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V15 #118 ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Re: old mozzer ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Feels Like 1988 ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Re: Buck ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 18:46:08 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: old mozzer > So, just for a quick "hmm...", this would probably have been my top > ten of that year, 1988. Note, this is based on my occasionally > apocryphal catalogue, so if some of these albums aren't 1988 that's > the reason: > > Top 10: > 1. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) > 2. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) > 3. Globe of Frogs (RH) > 4. The White Arcades (Harold Budd) > 5. Copperhead Road (Steve Earle) > 6. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) > 7. Dream of Life (Patti Smith) > 8. 16 Lovers Lane (GoBetweens) > 9. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) > 10. Workers' Playtime (Billy Bragg) > > other notables of the year: > Starfish(Church); Watermark (Enya); Whatever Happened to Jugula? > (Roy Harper); Casual Gods (Jerry Harrison); Joe Jackson Live > 80-86; The indescribable wow (Sam Phillips); Bird Dog (Verlaines); > 20 years of Jethro Tull boxed set. 1988 is one of my favorite musical years ever, though our tastes are (as usual) quite different. I have most of those albums you list, but wouldn't rate any of them especially highly except the Sugarcubes, Phillips and RH. And I think Dream of Life was pretty darn bland, once you got over the excitement of Patti coming out of retirement. For me, the great albums of 1988 are led by stuff from Sonic Youth, Pere Ubu, Camper Van Beethoven, the Pogues, Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, Sam Phillips, Tom Waits, Last Exit, Wire, the Sugarcubes, Nick Cave, Throwing Muses, the Pixies, the Ophelias, Soul Asylum, RH, Dinosaur Jr., Public Enemy, the Fall, the Feelies, Prince, Crowded House.... Oh, and the "Stay Awake" tribute album. In other news, I'm on the edge of committing myself to being pro- White Stripes. Mercy. Eb PS Bird Dog is from 1987. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 21:36:52 -0700 From: "michael wells" Subject: RE: old mozzer > You might be right: is there another act that's stayed intact for as long as U2? Rush, and for much longer. I've seen their 10, 20 and 30-year anniversary tours. Mercy. And that Lollapalooza lineup is looking a bit more interesting, at least in the second-stage-level stuff. Michael "did I beat the Vincester with this?" Wells ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 19:52:40 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: old mozzer >> You might be right: is there another act that's stayed intact for >> as long > as U2? > > Rush, and for much longer. I've seen their 10, 20 and 30-year > anniversary > tours. Mercy. Not the original lineup, though. I bet Queen would have been still together, if fate had not intervened. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 22:02:13 -0700 From: "michael wells" Subject: RE: old mozzer REM used to rule and now they suck. Does that sum it up? As a guitar player it is hard for me to hear Peter Buck get slagged so quickly now. For about four or five years there I thought he was one of the most insightful guitarists on the planet (not meant to be ironic); his parts always had acres of space, were wildly different across the album, most importantly always FIT THE SONG, plus occasionally he'd throw a 'Can't Get There From Here' at you. OK the ship sailed a while ago, but /man/ I used to envy his ability to come up with such perfect guitar lines (Just on Document alone - are you kidding? Fabulous stuff). Much as I love "Meat is Murder," the Smiths never really raised it to a level that meant something interactive to me. I never wanted to *play* a Smiths song on guitar in front of other people, for instance. Whereas playing an REM song at a basement party in 1987 was damn near certain to get you a free beer, and possibly laid as well. And didn't Grant Lee Buffalo fall to the REM-opening slot curse? It was about that time, IIRC. Michael "and getting laid was what it was all about, people" Wells Pps. Grant-Lee just announced a couple of midweek shows here in August. Whereas a few years ago I'd already have bought tix, the most recent material has given me pause. Anyone seen a recent show? Has the live act changed? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 20:25:14 -0700 From: "Marc Alberts" Subject: RE: old mozzer Jeff quoted Quail: > PS: *U2 was not meant ironically. They have never put out a bad song, let > > alone a bad album! For, like, over twenty five fucking years. Kiss my > ass, > > you infidels. Brother Bono will show you the light, if only you allow > the > > scales to fall from your eyes! There's plenty of room in the tent, > > brothers > > and sisters! Even for music store clerks, Mojo Magazine wankers, > Pitchfork > > snobs, dispirited hipsters, and Yo La Tengo fans. And Rex -- always room > > for > > Rex. > > > > Hmmm. I will stand up at least and say I'm in the "they do not suck, > bonehead!" club. But to my ears, some songs end up being just a bit > indistinct. A lot of them are on All That Leaves Your Behind or whatever > it's called. They've always been just a little bit out of it, a little bit > not-quite-cool. But so what. Indeed, the tent is large: just because > they've > not been "cutting edge" since maybe the first couple albums doesn't mean > there hasn't been a hell of a lot of quality music. Coincidentally, I considered both REM and U2 unassailable until almost the exact same point in time. U2 lost me with Achtung Baby, and REM lost me with Green. Before those two albums, they were my two favorite bands along with The 'Mats (another band that died out for me in the late 80s). Maybe it was that the new ways U2 and REM went just didn't appeal to me absolutely, or maybe it was that I found Robyn, Tom Waits and The Pixies all in 1987 and I moved taste-wise more than they moved, but in all cases it really hasn't been the same for me and I've found the later albums very difficult to listen to. Honestly, I think it's more that you could tell both bands were really working to put out good music rather than just letting it happen like they seemed to before, and the music became more calculated-feeling compared to the works of Shane Macgowan or Black Francis. Marc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 20:45:46 -0700 From: "Marc Alberts" Subject: RE: old mozzer James wrote: > So, just for a quick "hmm...", this would probably have been my top > ten of that year, 1988. Note, this is based on my occasionally > apocryphal catalogue, so if some of these albums aren't 1988 that's > the reason: > > Top 10: > 1. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) > 2. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) > 3. Globe of Frogs (RH) > 4. The White Arcades (Harold Budd) > 5. Copperhead Road (Steve Earle) > 6. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) > 7. Dream of Life (Patti Smith) > 8. 16 Lovers Lane (GoBetweens) > 9. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) > 10. Workers' Playtime (Billy Bragg) > Not a bad list, really. Not exactly what I would put in mine, but generally understandable. For me, it would look something more like (estimating how I would have ranked them then): 1. If I Should Fall From Grace With God (The Pogues) 2. Globe of Frogs (RH) 3. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) 4. Surfer Rosa (The Pixies) 5. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth) 6. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) 7. Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction) 8. Big Time (Tom Waits) 9. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy) 10. Straight Outta Compton (NWA) I can't believe how much we listened to Ice T, Public Enemy and NWA back then in the college days. I just about never listen to any rap at all now. Marc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 22:54:01 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/1/06, Eb wrote: > > >> You might be right: is there another act that's stayed intact for > >> as long > > as U2? > > > > Rush, and for much longer. I've seen their 10, 20 and 30-year > > anniversary > > tours. Mercy. > > Not the original lineup, though. Hmm...I would not have remembered that. Then, I'm not a Rush fan. Stupid other drummer, ruining Rush's chance at "intact for longest time with original lineup." You just wait till Peart invents the time machine - then we'll see what happens - uh, what will have to have happened - to Mr. John Rutsey. Hell, even his name is an anagram for NOT RUSH YET. Or would be, if he were Tohn Rutsey. Stupid gods. I bet Queen would have been still together, if fate had not intervened. Or even the Who! I can see it - Moon's become a born-again Christian, shaves his head, and weighs 450 pounds. Entwistle - after recovering from the heart attack and marrying the woman he was with at the time - becomes the world's foremost collector of paintings depicting equine erotica. And in a curious twist, Moon walks in on Townshend just before Pete was going to do "research" on the Internet, trips, and squashes his laptop. But 'twas not to be. Instead - as Eb put it - fate intervened. Stupid fate. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 20:55:26 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: old mozzer On Jun 1, 2006, at 6:46 PM, Eb wrote: > In other news, I'm on the edge of committing myself to being pro- > White Stripes. Mercy. Don't worry, it won't last long. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:03:09 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/1/06, 2fs wrote: > > > Hmm...I would not have remembered that. Then, I'm not a Rush fan. Stupid > other drummer, ruining Rush's chance at "intact for longest time with > original lineup." You just wait till Peart invents the time machine > According to AMG, he may already have done so. Seems that the siteclaims Rush's first album was released in May 1974...but recorded from January through April of 1987. In the future, all Rush albums will have been recorded in 2112. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 14:28:46 -0700 (PDT) From: J Subject: RE: old mozzer On 5/31/06, Jill Brand wrote: >> And I think REM are boring. >> I agree, and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and express how painful it was to see Peter Buck play with Robyn. Whoo boy. I guess I always knew he wasn't much of a guitarist, but I always found that endearing in how humble it sounded and I related to it much more than other guitarists. But now, I don't know, I thought he was just really bad. Granted, they were someone else's songs and he was obviously up there just for fun. That said, I'm one of these who dislikes any REM past Fables, which I still love, especially the song Driver 8. They created a lovely mood in that one and not many bands were writing songs about trains at the time. I used to crave that song. Julie Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 00:23:28 -0700 From: Carrie Galbraith Subject: REAP OK, this has no celebrity aspect, no fame, no anything, but a 20 year old friend of my niece, also aged 20, and my nephew, age 22, killed herself on Monday of this week. The police found her - she hanged herself - and there was a note but we don;t think we;ll ever know the contents. Her parent threw her out of the house at age 17 because she stayed away one night and they are Seventh Day Adventist and felt she was in league with the devil. So why does this hit so hard? On Saturday was the graduation party of both my niece and nephew as they transfer on to 4 year schools. The young suicide was present. And we can't help wondering how much seeing a family who accepts and loves without condition affected her decision.. It's a terrible thing, no way around it. I believe these are equally important REAPS. So here's to Megan, may she rest in peace. Be Seeing You, - - c ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 12:07:24 +0100 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: Re: Stop Your Sobbing Quoting fegmaniax-digest : > fegmaniax-digest Thursday, June 1 2006 Volume 15 : Number 120 > really???? [Jill Brand ] > > Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 14:30:52 -0400 (EDT) > From: Jill Brand > Subject: really???? > I like the first three Pretenders albums > OK, but I think that SYS is too Phil Spectoresque for that song - there > are no empty spaces. Anyway, I want to hear from some oldsters who didn't > hear the Pretenders version first.> Jill * Er, hi Jill! - - Mike Godwin, aged 58 and not getting any younger... n.p. Dead End Street (I dig yer) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 07:58:47 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: Buck At 04:28 PM 6/1/2006, J wrote: >On 5/31/06, Jill Brand wrote: > > >> And I think REM are boring. > >> > >I agree, and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and >express how painful it was to see Peter Buck play with >Robyn. Whoo boy. I guess I always knew he wasn't >much of a guitarist, but I always found that endearing >in how humble it sounded and I related to it much more >than other guitarists. But now, I don't know, I >thought he was just really bad. I can see where you get that, and Buck would probably agree! But Robert Fripp (who's playing with Buck in a new project called Slow Music) apparently likes what he hears. This is from Fripp's blog -- "During soundcheck, sadly for Peter, (who carries the least equipment of any of the Slow Musickers) his equipment broke down. Which doesn't seem fair. That's equipment singular, or Peter's one & only pedal didn't work. This leaves a Rickenbacker guitar plugged straight into a Fender Champ. But, with a player of Peter's capacity & talent, that's already well ahead of the game." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:14:47 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: old mozzer - -----Original Message----- From: owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org [mailto:owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org]On Behalf Of Marc Alberts Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 11:46 PM To: Fegmaniax Subject: RE: old mozzer James wrote: >> So, just for a quick "hmm...", this would probably have been my top >> ten of that year, 1988. Note, this is based on my occasionally >> apocryphal catalogue, so if some of these albums aren't 1988 that's >> the reason: >> >> Top 10: >> 1. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) >> 2. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) >> 3. Globe of Frogs (RH) >> 4. The White Arcades (Harold Budd) >> 5. Copperhead Road (Steve Earle) >> 6. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) >> 7. Dream of Life (Patti Smith) >> 8. 16 Lovers Lane (GoBetweens) >> 9. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) >> 10. Workers' Playtime (Billy Bragg) >> Marc came back with: >Not a bad list, really. Not exactly what I would put in mine, but generally >understandable. For me, it would look something more like (estimating how I >would have ranked them then): >1. If I Should Fall From Grace With God (The Pogues) >2. Globe of Frogs (RH) >3. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) >4. Surfer Rosa (The Pixies) >5. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth) >6. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) >7. Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction) >8. Big Time (Tom Waits) >9. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy) >10. Straight Outta Compton (NWA) I agree with Eb, 1988 is also one of my favorites. I once played Stay Awake for my sister who is a huge Disney fan, she wasn't thrilled. Here is my list: 1. 16 Lovers Lane (Go-Betweens) 2. Globe of Frogs (RH) 3. A Bell Is A Cup... Until It Is Struck (Wire) 4. House Tornado (Throwing Muses) 5. Everything's Different Now (Til Tuesday) 6. Surfer Rosa (Pixies) 7. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth) 8. Idlewild (Everything But The Girl) 9. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) 10. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:21:22 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Buck On 6/2/06, Dolph Chaney wrote: > > At 04:28 PM 6/1/2006, J wrote: > >On 5/31/06, Jill Brand wrote: > > > > >> And I think REM are boring. > > >> > > > >I agree, and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and > >express how painful it was to see Peter Buck play with > >Robyn. Whoo boy. I guess I always knew he wasn't > >much of a guitarist, but I always found that endearing > >in how humble it sounded and I related to it much more > >than other guitarists. But now, I don't know, I > >thought he was just really bad. > > I can see where you get that, and Buck would probably agree! But Robert > Fripp (who's playing with Buck in a new project called Slow Music) [picks jaw up off floor; checks for damage] What? Next you're going to tell me Ted Nugent's got a doctorate in veterinary science... "During soundcheck, sadly for Peter, (who carries the least equipment of > any of the Slow Musickers) his equipment broke down. Which doesn't seem > fair. That's equipment singular, or Peter's one & only pedal didn't work. > This leaves a Rickenbacker guitar plugged straight into a Fender Champ. > But, with a player of Peter's capacity & talent, that's already well ahead > of the game." > I think the thing is that Buck isn't an improviser, at least not in the usual rock-guitarist way. You can hear that in their drunken crawlthrough of "King of the Road": it takes Buck the longest to get to the right key, if I remember correctly. Since I'm fairly apt at catching on mentally to what's going on in terms of key and meter (rather unapt in, uh, actually moving my fingers correctly), that always surprises me...but I've heard generally really good guitarists who just can't instantly follow even a very typical key change, for instance. Different skills. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:11:10 -0700 (PDT) From: xx Subject: re: I think I'm gonna hurl Sombody once said: >I useta hafta call the WALKER TEXAS RANGER production >office as part of >my >job. Their hold music was the show's theme song on a >loop. Chuck, >erm, >sang that song. And they put you on hold a lot. That is truly spectacular! I've been doing a lot of work with WTR lately - you should hear it in German. Saw an episode recently with Tobey McGuire. Go to www.chucknorrisfacts.com for more thrilling information. BTW, the Steven Segal blues thing reminds me of the band "Blueshammer" in the movies "Ghost World". - -griffith Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:43:45 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/1/06, 2fs wrote: > > And actually, so does R.E.M. - complicated by all those auxiliary members > that have played with them for years but aren't, so far as I know, actual > members. I think that, in another late career "why god why" move, R.E.M. did make Bill Rieflin an official member shortly after the release of "Around the Sun" (spits on ground). I think ZZ Top must trump U2, but that's about it. Sonic Youth has had the same core lineup forever (adding and dropping O'Rourke barely registers) but there are those early pre-Steve Shelley releases, and I was talking original-original lineups. Certainly New Order is up there as well, although having been a different band beforehand makes it a little odd (were they ever officially a three-piece?) I also tend to discount acts who were "broken up" and "reunited", even if they say it was "just a hiatus" (e.g. Wire, who nonetheless get positive points for, upon temporarily losing one member, also temporarily losing a congruent percentage of letters in their name). - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:54:52 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/2/06, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > > > I also tend to discount acts who were "broken up" and "reunited", even if > they say it was "just a hiatus" (e.g. Wire, who nonetheless get positive > points for, upon temporarily losing one member, also temporarily losing a > congruent percentage of letters in their name). > Not to mention the amusing little joke whereby the drummer left because he didn't feel there was enough for him to do - and the dropped letter in the band name (the "e") is a silent letter. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:55:57 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V15 #118 On 6/2/06, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > > > > On 6/1/06, 2fs wrote: > > > > > > Would have been better to dribble things out on b-sides, etc., I think. > > > Weren't there some earlier singles released under the "Hindu Love Gods" > name? Little Athens thing with another local singer, I think... seems like > maybe Zevon played piano on the last of the batch and thus became a Love > God. One of 'em might've been Bill Berry's "Navigator"... I've never heard > those, but would kinda like to. > Yep. Some guy named Bryan Cook. And it was "Narrator." All this from the AMG entry. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:32:00 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V15 #118 On 6/1/06, 2fs wrote: > > On 6/1/06, grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > > > > > > well, that's the whole feel of the record - you get the feeling it > > was never meant to be really serious, just some guys having some fun > > recording together. it's almost as if releasing the thing was an > > afterthought. > > > > Pretty much was - it stayed in the can like five years. > > Would have been better to dribble things out on b-sides, etc., I think. Weren't there some earlier singles released under the "Hindu Love Gods" name? Little Athens thing with another local singer, I think... seems like maybe Zevon played piano on the last of the batch and thus became a Love God. One of 'em might've been Bill Berry's "Navigator"... I've never heard those, but would kinda like to. - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:57:14 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/1/06, Marc Alberts wrote: > > > Coincidentally, I considered both REM and U2 unassailable until almost the > exact same point in time. U2 lost me with Achtung Baby, and REM lost me > with Green. Interesting. REM lost me a little with GREEN but got me back later and produced some stunning essential stuff to my mind. Whereas, as suspect as the idea behind ACHTUNG seemed really suspect, it ended up being the last U2 album that I truly love... and I think it is truly great. Nothing since then has excited me all that much, but neither has any of it let me down as deeply as the crappy REM records. - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:52:50 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: old mozzer On 6/1/06, michael wells wrote: > > REM used to rule and now they suck. Does that sum it up? > > As a guitar player it is hard for me to hear Peter Buck get slagged so > quickly now. For about four or five years there I thought he was one of > the > most insightful guitarists on the planet (not meant to be ironic); his > parts > always had acres of space, were wildly different across the album, most > importantly always FIT THE SONG, plus occasionally he'd throw a 'Can't Get > There From Here' at you. OK the ship sailed a while ago, but /man/ I used > to > envy his ability to come up with such perfect guitar lines (Just on > Document > alone - are you kidding? Fabulous stuff). It's exactly that that makes "Reckoning" almost as great as the other records. Damn, that it is some guitar. I really feel like he did a lot more with a lot more nuance than almost anyone else out of that post-punk "less is more" school. I can almost draw the line to where he strangely, disappointingly started playing more "normally". Nobody cares, but for me as a player, it all springs from Buck and Neil Young; even when I play stuff that doesn't sound like them stylistically, to me it's clear that I'm somehow playing "like" them. Okay, I can be done being a disspirited fanboy for a while. - -The Sad Professor Much as I love "Meat is Murder," the Smiths never really raised it to a > level that meant something interactive to me. I never wanted to *play* a > Smiths song on guitar in front of other people, for instance. Whereas > playing an REM song at a basement party in 1987 was damn near certain to > get > you a free beer, and possibly laid as well. > > And didn't Grant Lee Buffalo fall to the REM-opening slot curse? It was > about that time, IIRC. > > Michael "and getting laid was what it was all about, people" Wells > > Pps. Grant-Lee just announced a couple of midweek shows here in August. > Whereas a few years ago I'd already have bought tix, the most recent > material has given me pause. Anyone seen a recent show? Has the live act > changed? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:24:24 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Feels Like 1988 Wow, that was a hell of a year. I can sure as hell sign off on everything almost everything everyone's mentioned with the exception of the Triffids and Harold Budd, which I haven't heard, and that Jerry Harrison record which I found dreadful and sounds even worse now. There were some serious high water marks from '85 - '89, as I have it figured. In retrospect that's probably because indie/alternative rock was not yet a money game... there was no reason to make that kind of music other than actually wanting to, so there were as yet no Sponges and Spacehogs and Marcy Playgrounds and Alices in Chainses or all the bands with one-syllable one-word names that did that one song. Count me in as another someone who did listen to a lotta hip-hop back in those times and can't be bothered now. I think there are a lot of us. Gotta love the random iPod... np: "8 Ball" by NWA. And many miles away something etc. blah blah dark Scottish lake. Oh, and now I get "Om" from Side 3. That 's fun. - -Rx On 6/2/06, Bachman, Michael >> Top 10: >> 1. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) >> 2. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) >> 3. Globe of Frogs (RH) >> 4. The White Arcades (Harold Budd) >> 5. Copperhead Road (Steve Earle) >> 6. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) >> 7. Dream of Life (Patti Smith) >> 8. 16 Lovers Lane (GoBetweens) >> 9. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) >> 10. Workers' Playtime (Billy Bragg) >1. If I Should Fall From Grace With God (The Pogues) >2. Globe of Frogs (RH) >3. Lincoln (They Might Be Giants) >4. Surfer Rosa (The Pixies) >5. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth) >6. Life's Too Good (Sugarcubes) >7. Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction) >8. Big Time (Tom Waits) >9. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy) >10. Straight Outta Compton (NWA) 1. 16 Lovers Lane (Go-Betweens) 2. Globe of Frogs (RH) 3. A Bell Is A Cup... Until It Is Struck (Wire) 4. House Tornado (Throwing Muses) 5. Everything's Different Now (Til Tuesday) 6. Surfer Rosa (Pixies) 7. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth) 8. Idlewild (Everything But The Girl) 9. Born Sandy Devotional (Triffids) 10. Ultra Vivid Scene (Ultra Vivid Scene) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:30:35 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: Buck On 6/2/06, 2fs wrote: > > > I think the thing is that Buck isn't an improviser, at least not in the > usual rock-guitarist way. You can hear that in their drunken crawlthrough > of > "King of the Road": it takes Buck the longest to get to the right key, if > I > remember correctly. That was a while ago. There's some pretty sharp playing on, say, the live "Country Feedback" on the BEST OF bonus disc. Since I'm fairly apt at catching on mentally to what's going on in terms of > key and meter (rather unapt in, uh, actually moving my fingers correctly), > that always surprises me...but I've heard generally really good guitarists > who just can't instantly follow even a very typical key change, for > instance. Different skills. Note that Mills is yelling key suggestions at Buck the whole time, and they are all wrong, so that doesn't help matters (Mills is getting the notes right but hasn't worked out the over all key yet). Also, they are drunk. I am fascinated but the Buck / Fripp thing, too. - -Rx ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V15 #121 ********************************