From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V4 #59 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Sunday, February 25 2001 Volume 04 : Number 059 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [idealcopy] Stampede [jasonmb@calweb.com] Re: [idealcopy] Eardrum Bingoes/RFH [PaulRabjohn@aol.com] [idealcopy] Eardrum Bingos/Trees [Wireviews ] [idealcopy] Ab Ovo in comparison [=?iso-8859-1?q?Graeme=20Rowland?= >"Strike a medal..." I think. >or drive your car to the 'Potsdamer Abkommen' bar. > >A reference to a bar which, if my friends from Berlin are to be >believed, was a mucho cool hangout for musicians recording at the nearby >Hansa Studios with Gareth Jones in the mid-80s (Wire at the time of The >Ideal Copy, Depeche Mode et al). It was situated on Potsdamer Platz, >which was a pretty desolate area before the wall, which basically cut in >half, came down, and it would have been the first place to get a drink >for anyone coming from the East into this part of town. Legend has it >that it was also one of the first bars in Berlin to hold regular S&M >events... Thanks, that's been bugging me for a while. No wonder I couldn't figure it out. - -- Jason Borchers jasonmb@calweb.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 07:01:19 EST From: PaulRabjohn@aol.com Subject: Re: [idealcopy] Eardrum Bingoes/RFH In a message dated 24/02/01 02:32:44 GMT Standard Time, timrobinson@cwcom.net writes: > So this thing the 80s Wire did where they played Eardum Buzz and Kidney > Bingoes at the same time. How did that work in practice? Did they just > play tapes of the tracks at the same time? Thats what it sounds like on > the Video FAQ thing. /////// basically colin sang kidney bingos while , on the chorus , graham simultaneously sang eardrum buzz. on that tour it was 3 guitars over a programmed rhythm trrack ; don't ask me what was on the backing tape though..... > > > One of the items just after the Michael Clark dancers was entitled > 'Grahams Trees' and at the the time we had wondered what that was going > to be, but forgot after the the mind-boggling evening and the mad > Krautrock club night at the Garage afterwards. > What was this exactly cos I don't remember any trees being involved. > > ////// i think the trees were in the video projected behind the start of > the he said set. this may have been the footage that was going to be in the > aborted mute compilation video , i think the plan was to use it to fill the > gaps or something. p ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 06:07:05 -0800 (PST) From: Wireviews Subject: [idealcopy] Eardrum Bingos/Trees "So this thing the 80s Wire did where they played Eardum Buzz and Kidney Bingoes at the same time. How did that work in practice?" Quite well, actually. I hadn't listened to this track in ages, but dug it up just now to refresh my memory. Basically, imagine the guitar riffs from Kidney Bingos and Eardrum buzz overlaid, with a slow Manscapesque electonic beat. Then have Colin alternately singing the KB/EB verses, along with Graham overlaying the 'buzz' lines from EB in the 'chorus' while Colin sings 'Money, spines...'. "Did they just play tapes of the tracks at the same time? Thats what it sounds like on the Video FAQ thing." The video FAQ doesn't contain Eardum Bingos, as it was only a live track. The FAQ (audio originally done by the BBC) simply plays both at the same time. The Wir(e) version is actually quite melodic... "I remember reading the review of their Reading show in NME at the time and thinking...contrary bastards!" In what sense? Contrary to popular belief, quite a lot of 'old' stuff was resurrected during that period in a similar way to what the band did for RFH. During the Manscape tour, one could hear alternative versions of Ahead (awful), Advantage in Height (one of my favourite Wir(e) pieces *ever* -- if only I had a soundboard recording of this! I guess it's now eclipsed by the y2k version, but this lives on for me!), 12XU (well, 12Drill U) and various chunks of samples, such as Small Black Reptile's intro, which was I am the Fly. I thought it was Wir(e)'s best live period during the mid '80s to '90s and better than the over-produced album (Manscape) in many respects. "One of the items just after the Michael Clark dancers was entitled 'Grahams Trees' and at the the time we had wondered what that was going to be, but forgot after the the mind-boggling evening and the mad Krautrock club night at the Garage afterwards. What was this exactly cos I don't remember any trees being involved." Ah, Graham's infamous tree video. I can't remember if this was used in the end and my memory of the story is somewhat shakey. However, IIRC Graham did a lot of video documentation during a certain period of Wire's history ('80s?). The result of one of them had a lot of trees in it (presumably filmed on the road, whilst travelling between gigs). Hence the 'tree' title. Or maybe my mind's just playing tricks on me. :) Craig. ===== - ------- Craig Grannell / Wireviews --- http://welcome.to/wireviews News, reviews and dugga. Snub.Comms: http://welcome.to/snub Veer Audio: http://listen.to/veer - -------------- wireviews@yahoo.com --- Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 15:55:03 +0000 (GMT) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Graeme=20Rowland?= Subject: [idealcopy] Ab Ovo in comparison Alistair asked me (off list) >>>>I wanted to know how 'Ab Ovo' stands in comparison to BG's other stuff... Well its more extreme than 'The Shivering Man' in that it doesn't use beats which resemble drums. Its as varied in its way but seems much more of a piece. Its quite obliquely humourous in parts and gets very dissonant and shifts very fast on the long & abrasive title track but never tips over into total chaos the way 'Soli' from 'In Esse' does. Its one of my favourite CD's and I'd say buy it and make up your own mind! Its probably closer to the 2 long tracks on 'Music For Fruit' than any of his other earlier recordings. There are no vocals, but a lot of drone and unlike 'In Esse' there are some vague echoes of Wire. I rate it as his solo masterpiece and I've played it so much and in so many permutatuions that its become almost as much of a second skin as '154'. It sounds like nothing else which can never be a bad thing! Put it this way - I bought 'The Shivering Man' but it wasn't until 'Ab Ovo' that I went and got all his other solo recordings. However 'Ab Ovo' was very much informed by his CD loop mutations at Disobey, and marks some definite departures from the working methods of the first four. In short, sound in itself certainly became more important than rhythm. This isn't surprising as 'Ab Ovo' was Bruce's first outing which was intended to stand entriely alone, unlike the his earlier soundtracks for dance and animation. And it oozes a quiet confidence and I still find it getting better with every listen. If you want more background on 'Ab Ovo' & the Beekeeper era, check out http://www.webinfo.co.uk/crackedmachine/BCGILBERT.htm Slow Yes (The) Graeme ===== Cracked Machine webzine http://www.webinfo.co.uk/crackedmachine "What one thinks of as extremes seldom are" :: BC Gilbert Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 21:21:03 -0800 (PST) From: Rick Hindman Subject: [idealcopy] FYI- and an OT snapshot from the week - - For anyone who may be interested, I was looking at Ebay earlier today. Someone who lives in the UK is selling a copy of "Singing Fish/Not to". I seem to recall it mentioned recently, so there you go. A cool moment in a local music store - I was just browsing around and found The Fall's "Hex Enduction Hour" for $5.95! All of their other albums were $14.95, so I was picking it up when I realized the music playing in the store was really familiar. After a moment it struck me that they were playing "A-Z"! They played the whole album, which I thought was really cool and thanked them for playing it! Then I found an inexpensive copy of Dead Can Dance's "Serpent's Egg" too. That was a really nice visit. I had been kind of bored with music shopping lately and needed that . RJH Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V4 #59 ******************************