From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V2 #34 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Friday, February 12 1999 Volume 02 : Number 034 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re[2]: Mute [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] Talk about rip off ["Wilson, Paul" ] Re: Talk about rip off [Matthew Turner ] Dick Witts [Howard Spencer ] Re: Damned/PIL/Wire Covers [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] Re[2]: sales [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] Re: Talk about rip off [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] Re[2]: Talk about rip off [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] RE: Talk about rip off ["Wilson, Paul" ] Re: Talk about rip off [Creaig Dunton ] re: ["Jack Steinmann" ] oh no please no [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] re: oh no please no ["Jack Steinmann" ] Re[2]: oh no please no [paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] Re: oh no please no [Brian ] Re: oh no please no ["JH3" ] Re: AW: Re: Bunch of Stuff [professor ned ] more stuff [rtc@sirius.com (Robert Cambra)] Re: oh no please no ["tube disaster" ] Re: more stuff [Brian ] Re: Re[2]: sales [Vinylecho@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:28:57 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re[2]: Mute i never saw this 3lp + 7" set but that would explain where the "in every city" 7" came from , i guess that was the "incentive". i don't think it got sold in the uk. the 3cd box set was all over the place and seemed a really pointless exercise , you ended up paying £5 for a black cardboard box. along with most people i found this an easy offer to resist. has anyone got a spare set of those postcards they'd like to swop? were they autographed? as an initial offer i'd swop them for a programme from the wir "i saw you" gig , i have a couple of spares.p ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Mute Author: MIME:cngrannell@yahoo.com at INTERNET Date: 10/02/1999 18:59 Mute did a load of limited box sets, one suspects to clear old stock. One recentish one I saw in London comprised of Document and Eyewitness, In Vivo and Kidney Bingos (all Cds) for a price above that of buying them all individually!! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:24:15 -0000 From: "Wilson, Paul" Subject: Talk about rip off Craig Grannell > wrote: Mute did a load of limited box sets, one suspects to clear old stock. One recentish one I saw in London comprised of Document and Eyewitness, In Vivo and Kidney Bingos (all Cds) for a price above that of buying them all individually!! I got this last year in a Mute sale, by mail order. They sometimes run these special offers (currently they are running a 3 for £22 offer on Nick Cave and Throbbing Gristle stuff.) They have been quite good to me in the past. I had a credit note for £7 once and they let me have a £11 CD for it. I also got the Throbbing Gristle 4CD live box set from them - long after it was deleted, just by asking nicely! And I got it a lot cheaper than it should have been! Whatever happened to the Grey Area thing whereby you sent in ten CD covers and they gave you a free CD? BillyD > wrote: Mute is going to do it again with Depeche Mode. They are re-releasing the singles boxes and some new boxes from all the albums since then. I think those boxes sold for around $30 in '91. You can still find all of their cd singles for $5-6. But just think of the box and some cool new pics to go with it... Wot a fucking rip off! If anyone is ripping people off it is WMO. Coatings is the perfect example. You buy what you think is a double CD (it comes in a 2CD jewel case), then you get home and open it up to find that the second CD just won't play (on my machine anyway). I think it has something to do with the fact that it is made of cardboard! It does say you can get the proper CD by sending off more money to them. Bastards! Do they really give a shit about selling any of their stuff (a lot of which is pretty dire). They don't even sell their CD's at a reduced price, which is appalling, considering a lot of the stuff was recorded years ago and it is just a question of them banging together bits of old recordings in a slightly haphazard way! And the sleeve note aren't... well they aren't! Julian Vinylecho@aol.com wrote: One band that has been overlooked from the late 70's postpunk scene is PIL. I know there was discussion only about 1st generation punk but their first album as well as "Second Edition" are explosive. I think these albums display punk power with creativity despite the fact their lead singer is so well known. Brilliant band (well the early stuff - up to and including "Flowers of Romance". Managed to see the at an early Futurama festival. John sang with his back to the audience all the way through, until they did "Attack". He was getting bottled for not doing any Pistols songs. Glad he didn't! Julian Vinylecho@aol.com wrote: As for Wire content I have to add if anyone has heard any great Wire songs by other bands? My favorite has to be "12XU" by Minor Threat. The best one I've heard is "Alone" by "This Mortal Coil". I've got the WHORE and DUGGA CD's and to be quite blunt, they are basically bollox. Paul K Wilson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 05:29:40 -0600 From: Matthew Turner Subject: Re: Talk about rip off Wilson, Paul wrote: > The best one I've heard is "Alone" by "This Mortal Coil". I've got > the > WHORE and DUGGA CD's and to be quite blunt, they are basically bollox. > > Paul K Wilson I thought that the Godflesh and My Bloody Valentine versions on WHORE were pretty swell. Oh, and of course that stellar version of "A Mutual Friend" by Chris Connely...HA HA HA HAAAAAAH! Boy, now was THAT a great idea or what? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 11:46:39 +0000 From: Howard Spencer Subject: Dick Witts "Going through my record collection the other day, I realised that one "of my "fave bands from the early 80's was a group called The Passage. The "lead s"inger was a certain Dick Witts (of Oxford Road Show fame, and former "member "of the Halle Orchestra in Manchester). I once went to see them "immediately "after they released their first album, and they didn't play any songs "from "it! Must sound familiar to Wire fans. Whatever happened to Dick "Witts? He's a writer, the author of `Nico: the life and lies of an icon' (1993) which is pretty good, for a rock biography. The British Library catalogue shows a book about the history of the arts council (1998) by a Richard Witts, which I should imagine is him also. He is, or was until recently, based in Brighton. During one of my many lost weekends in that resort, I had Wittsy pointed out to me in a nightclub. I made a drunken approach, telling him he should re-form the Passage. Oh God, the embarrassement. He is very short - even more so than Graham Lewis! Thinking about Cherry Red records (pace the passage), anyone for Thomas Leer? Where is he now? I thoroughly agree about the disgraceful state of the music press in the UK - it is unreadable shite. And it is a pity about distrribution re. recent Wire solo material - stuff like HALO should be selling truckloads - - yet I've never seen it on sale in England (ditto He Said Omala). I had no problem getting `Bastard' - I just don't rate the music on it all that much, though having said that, I have changed my mind late in the day on previous occasions. - -- Howard Spencer ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 12:52:12 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re: Damned/PIL/Wire Covers One band that has been overlooked from the late 70's postpunk scene is PIL. I know there was discussion only about 1st generation punk but their first album as well as "Second Edition" are explosive. I think these albums display punk power with creativity despite the fact their lead singer is so well known. Which is says alot considering how dated the Sex Pistols sound now. I still think that Jah Wobble is a bass god as well the guitarist especially on "Second Edition" is quite a far out player. i see they are about to issue a 4-cd pil box set which includes some interesting looking stuff like a "metal box" era peel session. i've got all the early albums on scratchy vinyl so i may well invest. i think the stuff up until wobble left (first 3 albums) is incredible , first rate stuff. then they just turned into a terrible rock band getting worse and worse with each release. the last 3 or 4 are so dull its untrue. lydon stands or falls on the musicians he's working with and since wobble/levine he's lacked worthy collaborators. a real shame because when he links up for occasional one-offs with people like leftfield and afrika bambaata you sense he could have achieved so much more.p ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 12:52:12 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re[2]: sales yes , the uk weekly press has "dumbed down" to try and find a market that probably doesn't exist any more. late seventies/early eighties i loved them but nowadays i only buy them when there's a cd on the cover (nice cheap way to hear 12 new bands for a quid). i guess the monthly mags blew them away really , that's where i'd expect to see swim stuff reviewed if anywhere. of course i don't buy or read them all but i'm disappointed the news doesn't seem to get around much. i think with some airplay / press an album like "bastard" could make some waves. but we'll probably never get to know.p ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: sales Author: MIME:cngrannell@yahoo.com at INTERNET Date: 11/02/1999 10:17 In the UK singles sales have dropped very sharply due to the Now compilations et al but album sales have been afftected less. Trying to work out Wire sales via chart positions would be somewhat difficult as only three of the albums made the charts anyway (although many of their releases figured well in the now unimportant indie chart, including Ideal and Bell, which I believe both hit #1). As for sales, I read somewhere that the Mute stuff sold around 10k each early on, dropping off to 6or7k for TFL. That could be rubbish though ... As for Swim~ (particularly the reviews problem) just look at the weeklies in this country now! I have no idea if the situation is the same in the 'States but in the UK we now have MM and NME, both of which are about a quarter of the size they used to be. And instead of caring about alternative music they either slag it off (as with Malka's new album which was called self-indulgent in MM) or, more often than not, ignore it. These papers now carry only two or three pages of reviews and then only the releases they deem important enough to carry. Of course, much of Swim~ will not feature there due to the releases contining different styles and not fitting neatly into a catagory. Also, Colin didn't put a cover of 12XU on Bastard, bad form when MM are still excited about "rediscovering" the EMI Wire albums (in 1995 ...) G-Man and Ronnie and Clyde have managed fairly good press though still less space than deserved. C. == - ---------------------------- Craig Grannell-------------- www: SNUB.COMMUNICATIONS - http://www.snub.dircon.co.uk Wireviews - http://www.snub.dircon.co.uk/wirehome.html ---------------------------- cngrannell@yahoo.com ------- "Creativity is the highest civilising faculty - Ben Okri" --------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:17:29 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re: Talk about rip off > Managed to see the at an early Futurama festival. John sang with his back to the audience all the way through, until they did "Attack". He was getting bottled for not doing any Pistols songs. Glad he didn't! hey , you lucky person. i was a mere child at the time , i only got to see pil on the "this is not a love song" tour with a crappy band of session musos. less said about that the better. i'd have loved to see the first line up but they only did maybe 4 gigs in the uk , the futurama show i've seen some terrible write ups of. i've got a fabulous tape of the first ever pil gig , they do "belsen" and a fabulous pil-style version of "problems". brilliant stuff. always wondered what happened to keith levine , junk trouble? ps was that the futurama joy division played at? did you see them? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:30:06 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re[2]: Talk about rip off not heard the tmc "alone" but their version of colin's "not me" on their 1st album was great , better than the A-Z take. i don't think whore/dugga work completely but there are some great high spots. the "legion of green men" track on dugga i absolutely love. my fave on whore is the laika track. but i do agree mr connolly maybe shouldn't have bothered.p ps is it right that one track on each is wire under an assumed name (polar bear and l.o.g.m)? ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Talk about rip off Author: MIME:gturner@tstar.net at INTERNET Date: 11/02/1999 11:58 Wilson, Paul wrote: > The best one I've heard is "Alone" by "This Mortal Coil". I've got > the > WHORE and DUGGA CD's and to be quite blunt, they are basically bollox. > > Paul K Wilson I thought that the Godflesh and My Bloody Valentine versions on WHORE were pretty swell. Oh, and of course that stellar version of "A Mutual Friend" by Chris Connely...HA HA HA HAAAAAAH! Boy, now was THAT a great idea or what? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 12:50:11 -0000 From: "Wilson, Paul" Subject: RE: Talk about rip off paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se [mailto:paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se] wrote: hey , you lucky person. i was a mere child at the time , i only got to see pil on the "this is not a love song" tour with a crappy band of session musos. less said about that the better. i'd have loved to see the first line up but they only did maybe 4 gigs in the uk , the futurama show i've seen some terrible write ups of. i've got a fabulous tape of the first ever pil gig , they do "belsen" and a fabulous pil-style version of "problems". brilliant stuff. always wondered what happened to keith levine , junk trouble? ps was that the futurama joy division played at? did you see them? Yes I know I'm lucky. I actually managed to get to both the Futurama festivals held in Leeds, and the third one held in Stafford (with The Virgin Prunes playing). Joy Division did play (midway through the first afternoon - but I can't remember whether it was the first or second festival). I too have a tape of an early PIL gig - The Rainbow, Finsbury Park, London. Boxing Day 1978. Was this the first gig? not heard the tmc "alone" but their version of colin's "not me" on their 1st album was great , better than the A-Z take. i don't think whore/dugga work completely but there are some great high spots. the "legion of green men" track on dugga i absolutely love. my fave on whore is the laika track. but i do agree mr connolly maybe shouldn't have bothered. P. ps is it right that one track on each is wire under an assumed name (polar bear and l.o.g.m)? Yes. I think "not me" is pretty damn good too. As to WHORE and DUGGA, maybe I just need to play them a few more times. I don't know, is it true that wire actually do one song on each? That's a rumour I've never come across. Paul KW PS I once had a copy of a film by Charles Atlas called "Hail The New Puritan". I no longer have the tape (I taped it off the TV many years ago). It featured Michael Clarke (the ballet dancer who's always showing off his arse). Anyway, most of the music he dances to is by The Fall, but, if I remember correctly, there was also some Wire stuff in it. Can anyone confirm this? I would love to be able to get another copy. Maybe if we bombarded channel 4, they would show it again! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 08:09:32 -0500 From: Creaig Dunton Subject: Re: Talk about rip off Matthew Turner wrote: > Wilson, Paul wrote: > > > The best one I've heard is "Alone" by "This Mortal Coil". I've got > > the > > WHORE and DUGGA CD's and to be quite blunt, they are basically bollox. > > > > Paul K Wilson > > I thought that the Godflesh and My Bloody Valentine versions on WHORE > were pretty swell. > Oh, and of course that stellar version of "A Mutual Friend" by Chris > Connely...HA HA HA HAAAAAAH! Boy, now was THAT a great idea or what? And don't forget the Main one ;) (If it wasn't for the fact that MBV, Godflesh and Main were on Whore, I probably would have never picked it up, therefore never discovering Wire). And I'm in total agreement with Connely's "A Mutual Friend"...I've never even played the whole track, and I probably never will :) The Mike Watt track was pretty bad too...."The 15th" sung by someone who sounded to me like a drunken redneck lumberjack is just wrong in some way ;) - -- - -Creaig Dunton/Thurston Jenkins http://2fmp.hypermart.net <- 2nd Floor Mafia Productions http://fpc.hypermart.net <- False Prophet Campaign Zine http://2fmp.hypermart.net/mypage <- My Page ICQ: 5417270 AOL: Creaig ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 99 08:23:09 -0600 From: "Jack Steinmann" Subject: re: Reply to: re: I don't know about anyone else, but I find Mojo indispensable reading. My idea of unreadable shite is Rolling Stone. Jack On 2/11/99, Howard Spencer wrote: I thoroughly agree about the disgraceful state of the music press in the UK - it is unreadable shite. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:03:05 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: oh no please no well , after the "success" of my 10 key 77/78 albuum list (thanks to you both) i feel it is now appropriate to list my ten least essential punk/new wave acts of the era. so here goes , the top ten turkeys 1. toyah 2. eater 3. boomtown rats 4. hazel o'connor 5. the unwanted 6. tonight 7. radio stars 8. chelsea 9. the drones 10. punilux sorry to our american friends that this lot are all those i had to suffer living in the uk at the time. but , so you don't feel left out , i'll propose a "lifetime non-achievement" award to richard hell for boring everyone to death with his tales of how he wore a ripped t-shirt once and thus invented punk rock. nice try rich , better luck next time.p ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 99 09:33:47 -0600 From: "Jack Steinmann" Subject: re: oh no please no Reply to: re: oh no please no Punishment of Luxury? I loved their debut album. A guilty pleasure. Broadway should offer such entertainment. Jack On 2/11/99, paul rabjohn wrote: i feel it is now appropriate to list my ten least essential punk/new wave acts of the era. so here goes, the top ten turkeys 10. punilux ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 17:51:34 +0100 From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se Subject: Re[2]: oh no please no outside view is , i suppose , ok. it was stuff like chopping up pigs heads on stage that gets them the nomination. like , really punk rock man. i think not. chelseas "right to work" must be one of the most piss-poor tracks of the whole era. "i don't take drugs and i don't drink beer". yeah right gene. pse give the man a job , anything as long as it keeps him out of a recording studio.p ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: oh no please no Author: MIME:w_explode@hotmail.com at INTERNET Date: 11/02/1999 16:51 >From: paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se >well , after the "success" of my 10 key 77/78 albuum list (thanks to=20= >you both) i feel it is now appropriate to list my ten least essential=20= >punk/new wave acts of the era=2E so here goes , the top ten turkeys >2=2E eater >8=2E chelsea NO WAY!!! How can you dismiss Outside View and I'm On Fire as being amongst the worst of the era. Two classics in anybody's book, I'd say. Will ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:35:44 -0800 From: Brian Subject: Re: oh no please no Yes, Laughing Academy is quite brilliant has any body seen Red lately ?. Jack Steinmann wrote: > Reply to: re: oh no please no > > Punishment of Luxury? I loved their debut album. A guilty pleasure. Broadway should offer such entertainment. > > Jack > > On 2/11/99, paul rabjohn wrote: > i feel it is now appropriate to list my ten least essential punk/new wave acts of the era. so here goes, the top ten turkeys > > 10. punilux ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 14:21:26 -0600 From: "JH3" Subject: Re: oh no please no From: Jack Steinmann : >Punishment of Luxury? I loved their debut album. A guilty >pleasure. Broadway should offer such entertainment. You said it! I know I almost never post to this list, but I have to pipe up on behalf of these guys. I don't think they ever meant to be labeled a punk band, though they might have been lumped in there for convenience's sake by the music press. Sure, they were excessive, overblown grand-guignol twaddle, but that record was just too much fun to dismiss that easily. Still one of my favorites, and "Brainbomb" was a great single too, even if you're like me and generally can't stand speed metal. I'll admit that their later efforts were pretty lame in comparison... John Hedges ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:26:14 +0100 From: professor ned Subject: Re: AW: Re: Bunch of Stuff >i've also got this "wire - the drill - limited edition box set". it's >numbered and mine is # 283. it's got the 7" "in every city (remix) / (a >chicago) drill (edit)" (7 stumm 74, but not the 4 postcards. they came >with my regular copy (uk) of ibtaba. Hmm. This is the thing I have, but it came w/ the postcards too...weird. - -ned - --------------------------------- "My decibels are most fly." http://www.gestalt-media.com/stromkern - --------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 17:48:17 -0800 From: rtc@sirius.com (Robert Cambra) Subject: more stuff Ideal Copyists, 1) Craig Grannell wrote: "This was the way I used to think until I realised I was following certain bands well past their prime and wasting time and money on releases that should never have been". Yes, I'm guilty of following bands slavishly way beyond their prime but I don't consider Wire in that catagory, they're perrenial. When a band really nails it for me I follow like a puppy, foolishly, even long after the thrill is gone, willing to forgive anything if they did something truely great enough just once. Has Bryan Ferry, for example, really done enough good work in the last 24 year to justify all the time, interest and money I've invested since "Country Life?" 2) It's nice to hear that I'm not missing anything essential not naving the ltd. ed. 7" of "In Vivo" / "Stillbird"--but I am still curious. I'd asked about it at Bleecker Bob's once and though they didn't have it the guy I talked to had worked at Mute and was the one who had to shove this single into these stiff brown card 7" mailers. 3) Ned, Paul, I, too, found the "In Every City" remix 7" in the ltd. Ed. box (#250) containing the LPs of "The Drill," "A Bell is a Cup," and "IBTABA." This inexpensive used copy I found in The Haight was a surprise to find and is the only one I've seen. Unfortunately it is missing a postcard or two--damn! 4) How does Robert Wyatt's "Ruth is Stranger than Richard" relate directly to Wire??? Robert Cambra ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 20:10:41 -0800 From: "tube disaster" Subject: Re: oh no please no >>well , after the "success" of my 10 key 77/78 albuum list (thanks to you both) i feel it is now appropriate to list my ten least essential punk/new wave acts of the era. so here goes , the top ten turkeys 1. toyah 2. eater 3. boomtown rats 4. hazel o'connor 5. the unwanted 6. tonight 7. radio stars 8. chelsea 9. the drones 10. punilux<< Several of these I know only by 1 or 2 songs (Toyah -- Dance on the Urgh! A Music War soundtrack ... Radio Stars -- Nervous Wreck on the Catch a Wave comp ... Hazel O'Connor -- whatever played during Breaking Glass when I caught it on TV late one night about 13 years ago) or don't know at *all* (Tonight?). Of the others, I've already noted that I like Eater a lot (Lock It Up is a classic, & Outside View, No Brains, You & Room For One aren't far behind). I've liked what I've heard of Chelsea so far (the first album & the No Escape comp -- the US equivalent of Alternative Hits). I haven't paid enough attention to my copies of the Drones' Further Temptations, the Unwanted's Secret Past or Punishment of Luxury's Revolution By Numbers to venture any firm conclusions. Boomtown Rats I lost interest in after the first LP, which has several good songs (Lookin' After No. 1, Neon Heart, Never Bite the Hand That Feeds). I Don't Like Mondays was a pretty fun single, though. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 19:17:32 -0800 From: Brian Subject: Re: more stuff As for #4 all I can say is . Robert Cambra wrote: > Ideal Copyists, > > 1) Craig Grannell wrote: "This was the way I used to think until I realised > I was following certain bands well past their prime and wasting time and > money on releases that should never have been". > > Yes, I'm guilty of following bands slavishly way beyond their prime but I > don't consider Wire in that catagory, they're perrenial. When a band really > nails it for me I follow like a puppy, foolishly, even long after the > thrill is gone, willing to forgive anything if they did something truely > great enough just once. Has Bryan Ferry, for example, really done enough > good work in the last 24 year to justify all the time, interest and money > I've invested since "Country Life?" > > 2) It's nice to hear that I'm not missing anything essential not naving the > ltd. ed. 7" of "In Vivo" / "Stillbird"--but I am still curious. I'd asked > about it at Bleecker Bob's once and though they didn't have it the guy I > talked to had worked at Mute and was the one who had to shove this single > into these stiff brown card 7" mailers. > > 3) Ned, Paul, I, too, found the "In Every City" remix 7" in the ltd. Ed. > box (#250) containing the LPs of "The Drill," "A Bell is a Cup," and > "IBTABA." This inexpensive used copy I found in The Haight was a surprise > to find and is the only one I've seen. Unfortunately it is missing a > postcard or two--damn! > > 4) How does Robert Wyatt's "Ruth is Stranger than Richard" relate directly > to Wire??? > > Robert Cambra ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 22:22:43 EST From: Vinylecho@aol.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: sales In a message dated 99-02-11 06:57:22 EST, paul.rabjohn@tunnplat.ssab.se writes: << yes , the uk weekly press has "dumbed down" to try and find a market that probably doesn't exist any more. late seventies/early eighties i loved them but nowadays i only buy them when there's a cd on the cover (nice cheap way to hear 12 new bands for a quid). i guess the monthly mags blew them away really , that's where i'd expect to see swim stuff reviewed if anywhere. of course i don't buy or read them all but i'm disappointed the news doesn't seem to get around much. i think with some airplay / press an album like "bastard" could make some waves. but we'll probably never get to know.p >> As sad as the situation is in the Uk it is much much worse in the States. A magazine like Rolling Stone (every blue moon literally) has a musician on the cover the same goes with Spin. Instead these magazines cover the hottest young actors. The Entertainment industry in the U.S. realize now that movie stars and TV stars bring in more money than popular or well respected musicians so mainstream magazines don't cover music very well here. Trust me the UK is still far better off. The only things here that offer me hope are small zines that usually are not well distributed. As for musicians getting press in the States it is all Madonna and Backstreet Boys at least the UK has interesting top 40 stars like Blur, Oasis, and Elastica that are of people who play instruments. My two cents ... Julian ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V2 #34 ******************************