From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V6 #352 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Tuesday, November 25 2003 Volume 06 : Number 352 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [idealcopy] Colin and Minimal Compact ["Jan J Noorda" ] [idealcopy] Hey Paul,Go Here........... [Ari Britt ] [idealcopy] Re: Hey Paul,Go Here........... [Paul Pietromonaco Subject: Re: [idealcopy] Colin and Minimal Compact First difference of course Minimal Compact is a band. It has a singer Samy Birnbach. It has Rami Fortis (guitar) and Malka Spigel (bass) doing both some vocals now and then. And there are Berry Sakharof (guitar, keyboards) and Max Franken (drums). They have a strong kind of warm melancholian guitar rock sound, in their music. The use now and then by acoustic instruments like clarinet, violin etc. by others makes them even more complete. I better say Keith just buy or search some Minimal Compact music. If you like Malka's music or voice. I am sure you will not be disappointed by MC. These I do have Minimal Compact mLP (Crammed 015) w. Dick Polak, Stefan Karo, Marc Hollander, Corrie Bolten and Pieter Banenberg One By One LP (Crammed 021) 1982 w. Dick Polak (MECANO) and Marc Hollander (CRAMMED disques) Three tracks on Made To Measure Vol.1 (Crammed 029) w. Steven Brown (TUXEDOMOON) Jeannot Gillis Deadly Weapons LP (Crammed 030) w. Blaine Reiniger and Peter Principle (TUXEDOMOON) and Marc Hollander btw a Neville Brody sleeve Raging Souls (Crammed 042) LP w. Colin Newman (WELL-KNOWN) Luc van Lieshout (TUXEDOMOON) and Marc Hollander btw a beautiful Russel Mills sleeve two tracks on Fuck Your Dreams, This is Heaven (Crammed 049) video-film soundtrack Immigrants Songs twelf inch 1986 (Crammed 050) btw another beautiful Russell Mills sleeve Lowlands Flight, Made To Measure vol.10 (Crammed MTM 010) 1987 The Figure One Cuts LP 1987 (Crammed 055) w. Luc v. Lieshout and Marc Hollander There must a Live-album I don't have and lot of collaborations with others. Excellent, Jan. To be honest although I've got Malka's Hide, I'm not sure. I've heard MC, or if I have it was so long ago I can't recall it. Are they along similar lines to Hide? Keith Astbury I asked Swim, (in this case Colin) what his role could be with Minimal Compact the coming time. Me: This Question is meant for Colin or Malka. CN: I'll answer as Malka is in Tel Aviv rehearsing with Minimal. Me: Of course I noticed the release of the Minimal Compact Box early next year. There should be one ceedee with rare outtakes of the band. Are there also reordings on it where Colin is playing guitar. I always had the idea Colin is playing on Raging Souls. There is anyway a sound on it that would not be strange on his own records. CN: I think the box set will be pretty nice. Malka did all the images and also guided the graphics so if Crammed don't screw up the production (always a possibility) it should look pretty good (although perhaps too much like a swim release :) Of the 3 CDs I think the most revealing will be the one you refer to which is called "music from upstairs" it has sleeve notes by Malka and has some really strong material. Anyone who wonders how the stuff on her solo albums relates to the Minimal stuff need wonder no more as it's all there. I think I played a bit (but not very much) guitar on Raging souls. There's one bit on "My Will" but that's the only bit I actually remember. There's a theory in the band I played more! Me: Another one. Are you, Colin, also going with them on stage the coming tour? CN: Malka said they are going to ask me to play a couple of songs with them on the last gig Subject: RE: [idealcopy] ot - opinions sought Many thanks to all who reponded to my question...it goes to show what a huge pool of musical knowledge we have on the list... As for Death in June, well as I said I knew next to nothing about him, so I went with an open mind, but I have to agree with Robert here...it was second-rate folky-type stuff. almost as bad as Alasdair Roberts at the Paradiso...(that's just to wind up AT Keith :) I couldn't see much of the dude, people were standing on chairs to see, but I couldn't be arsed. He appeared to be wearing some kind of fright-mask and dressed in a monk-type cowl... but, hey dude, the idea is to make the *music* interesting! Utterly baffling that the strangest assortment of punters I have ever seen are into this stuff...there were a great number of 5-inch platform pvc boots, shaved heads, partly shaved heads longhairs and yes, dudes in full fucken german miltary uniform - - not scary, but obviously mad... To complete the surreality of this scene, the venue, which was a boat on the river, had been decorated for the xmas functions it hires out for, so there was tinsel & xmas trees everywhere.. bonkers! later A > > DIJ isn't even dark & gothic anymore...they are just plain > boring..... > ************************************************************************* The contents of the e-mail and any transmitted files are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Transport for London Street Management hereby excludes any warranty and any liability as to the quality or accuracy of the contents of this e-mail and any attached transmitted files. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify postmaster@Streetmanagement.org.uk. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses. ************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 19:00:41 -0000 From: "Clements, Bruno - BUP" Subject: [idealcopy] No, no, no, no, yes! ...Keith (who owns - somewhere! - Yes Album and Going For The One, and who liked And You & I many yrs ago) IMHO Going for the One is actually a good track and Big Generator rocks along as well - shame about so much of the other stuff! Bruno ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com ********************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 11:44:35 -0800 From: Paul Pietromonaco Subject: Re: [idealcopy] OT - Let It Be Naked... (Long rambling post about Beatles and audio mixing - delete now if not interested.) >I think they should have at least called it Get Back, >as Let it Be Naked sounds terribly naff! Oh yeah - that has my vote for the worst album title - ever! Jeez - they could have called it "Let It Be... From Topographic Oceans" and it would have been better! (^_^) >I would prefer to hear some better remastering of the earlier catalogue >without the "drums in one ear, vocals in the other" stereo mixes which sound >so bad in headphones. And if a "Stereo" Beatles song comes on the jukebox, >depending on where you are in the pub you either get a very loud vocal over >tinny music or no vocals at all. >Presumably those, along with DVD Audio mixes are in the pipeline anyway..... Actually, probably not. There's a reason why the first four records (UK catalog listings) will probably stay mono. The first two albums - Please Please Me and With The Beatles - were recorded to two track. So, when you hear the far left - far right mix, that's all there is. There's nothing to "pull apart" as it were - without resorting to frequency sorting. You know, trebly stuff on the right, bassy stuff on the left. You could kind of "fake" a stereo image with a lot of bandpass EQ panned across the soundstage, but that just doesn't sound very good. (^_^) Starting with the Beatles 3rd album, A Hard Day's Night, they began recording on four tracks - which pretty means left, center, right. They could improve the stereo spread on records recorded this way, but it would still be pretty "directional" - probably better in mono. This means that A Hard Day's Night, and the 4th album, Beatles for Sale, most likely will stay mono, too. It wasn't until the later albums - Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's and onwards - that they began bouncing deck to deck to increase tracks, and actually thinking about the stereo image a little bit. These "deck to deck" albums can be pulled apart, since EMI has kept all of the session bounce takes, and reconstructed to make a 24 to 48 track master. This is exactly what they did for the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack, and probably what they've been doing for the DVD issue of Let It Be. Also - there is extreme reticence among the EMI engineers to touch the Beatles session tapes and remix them from scratch this way. "Painting over the Mona Lisa" is the common comment. The Yellow Submarine Soundtrack sounds very good because most of the 60's tube (valve if you're in the UK) equipment - including the underground echo chamber - is still at Abbey Road studios. The engineer in charge of the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack revealed in a Mix magazine interview that he was supremely concerned about making the mixes sound like the originals. He used as much original gear as possible, and even had a copy of the original mixes that he would compare his new mixes against second by second. My guess is that DVD Audio mixes probably won't come out, too. EMI is into SACDs right? I wouldn't be surprised if some SACDs came out - like the Dark Side Of The Moon SACD - but they probably would just be advanced audio and not mulitchannel. However - the way Paul's been remixing things lately - who knows? (^_^) Cheers, Paul P.S. There's also an interview with George Martin where he revealed that the first four Beatles albums were mastered to CD without his direct involvment. He rejected the stereo mixes, but approved the mono, so that's what EMI used. George was involved with the mastering of the rest of the catalog to CD. However, George's hearing has declined, and he retired from audio engineering, so they may not touch the Beatles catalog directly. You may only see improved audio mixes on compilation CDs (1, Yellow Submarine Songtrack) or unissued sessions (Anthology Sessions). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 21:13:07 -0000 From: "Keith Astbury" Subject: Re: [idealcopy] OT - Let It Be Naked... >However - the way Paul's been remixing things lately - > who knows? (^_^) This would appear not to be the case. This from John Harris - who had visited Abbey Rd - in the latest Observer Music supplement... "The idea that McCartney had neurotically piloted the new version from start to finish was rather scotched by my introduction to Allan Rouse, one of three studio employees who had been handed 32 reels of tape, told to come up with a new album and then left to get on with it. Much to their amazement, when he heard the final version, McCartney requested no changes whatsoever". Keith ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 17:50:18 +0000 From: "John Roberts" Subject: Re: [idealcopy] ot - opinions sought Been up to my eyeballs with work. Here's a pov/history of Crisis and DIJ from a former fan of Crisis, the author Stewart Home. It's written in the context of a wider debate regarding nazism and punk rock: Source: http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/dij.htm While RAR were happy to take the money raised by Adam and the Ants, the organisation clearly felt nothing but contempt for the band, so it is perhaps not surprising that the alliance between this mismatched pairing didn't last long. (5) RAR enjoyed a longer term relationship with "political" punk band Crisis who not only journeyed to many parts of the UK to play RAR benefits, but also did a tour of Norway organised by this SWP front. The close relationship between Crisis and RAR was facilitated by the fact that the punk group's bassist Tony Wakeford was a dues-paying member of the Socialist Workers Party. Equally fortuitously, rhythm guitarist Doug Pearce belonged to the International Marxist Group (Tariq Ali's operation) which helped the band to get Anti-Nazi League gigs, since IMG members worked themselves into positions of power within this broadly based alliance. Wakeford's political affiliations served to secure yet more gigs connected to the Right To Work campaign (another SWP front) which with the lure of new wave rock music had no trouble attracting punks to events that might be viewed as conflicting with the subculture's anti-work ethos. Despite their anti-fascist activism - reflected in lyrics such as: "search and destroy, search and destroy the Nazis, the National Front, smash the National Front, annihilate, annihilate, annihilate" and "I am a militant, I am a picket, I fought at Lewisham, I fought at Grunwick" (6) - Crisis eventually became disillusioned with Trotskyism. At the time Doug Pearce bewailed: "But what I wish was that the left would see us on their side instead of the enemy. I mean we feel more alienated at their gigs than ordinary ones. They don't give us any credit and the money we get they don't even donate in our name! The left in general are really weird, they're still scared of punk, and that's why a lot of progress hasn't been made." (7) Wakeford speaking about the Crisis-ANL-RAR alliance many years later spat: "It ended because we were used by political parties, whose very nature, especially near the top, were full of self-seeking people. The stories are legend and it is too boring to go into. We got fucked." (8) There appear to have been two interrelated problems in the relationship Crisis developed with organisations such as RAR. Despite their membership of Trotskyist groups, the lyrics Pearce and Wakeford wrote all too often show them sliding into anarchism - "I don't need your flag and I won't kiss it, I don't need your law, you can stick it up your arse..." from Militant; "Don't rebel you won't get thanked, you'll just get run over by a tank, don't wanna buy the Morning Star, just be a boss in your big black car.." from Back In The USSR; and "We hate all the coppers and they're just a bunch of Nazis, SPG, SPG..." from SPG. These anarchic tendencies were even more obvious in the way Pearce (with back up from Wakeford) ran the group - remaining staunchly "independent" and refusing to deal with managers or major record labels against the wishes of other band members. In the eighties, anarchist bands were to run campaigns against major record labels, whereas Trotskyists would sign the biggest deal they could get in the interests of putting their message across to the broadest possible audience. Despite the lip service they paid to Trotskyism, Pearce and Wakeford were in practice closer to Proudhonian anarchism. The inability of Crisis to tow the party line was a problem for the SWPers who organised many of their RAR concerts, but it would have been resolved more readily if Wakeford had not been a "comrade" (blame was inevitably deflected from him). Incompatibility combined with the undisciplined nature of the band and their friends - who got in fights with fascists, rival punk gangs and even each other - created tensions. These pressures often resulted in the band being treated shabbily, for example not having their expenses fully covered and not being thanked for their work. There were even instances when the band turned up to do a RAR concert only to find that the PA they'd been promised had failed to materialise, or else the equipment was faulty (in one instance this resulted in Doug Pearce being hospitalised after receiving a serious electric shock). There is a notion that explains a great deal not only about punk rock in general and Crisis in particular, but also the subsequent evolution of both Pearce and Wakeford. - and that is a hankering after "authenticity". The motive force in everything Pearce and Wakeford have done as "adults" is not politics but aesthetics. It was an aesthetic desire for "authenticity" that led them to join Trotskyist groups despite the fact that they were dandies. Pearce, in particular, has always behaved as though it is possible to live differently in this world - a prima donna act in which he pretends to have risen above capitalism while the commodity economy is still intact - and all of anarchism is evident in this aesthetic pose. Aesthetically (and therefore politically) Crisis were much closer to anarchist noise merchants such as Crass than later "Trotskyist" bands from the Redskins to Blaggers ITA (whose bolshevism was an outgrowth of Bakuninism, whereas both Pearce and the Crass are much closer to the anarchism of Proudhon). Crisis wanted to be "real" and utilised politics as a short cut to realising what is ultimately an aesthetic position. In chasing the chimera of personal authenticity rather than the reality of revolutionary transformation, Pearce and Wakeford came to believe their political posturing was sincere. This fanatical but nonetheless deluded self-belief in a political mission was the basis on which Crisis sold themselves to their fans (some of whom were actually attracted by the hilarious gap between what Pearce and Wakeford believed about themselves and what they actually represented). Given the inability of the aesthetically driven Crisis to deliver on what they'd declared as their political positions, it is hardly surprising that the dominant members of the band ended up breaking with RAR and ultimately conventional Trotskyism. Despite their disillusionment with leftism and popular fronts, when Pearce and Wakeford formed a new band called Death In June (DIJ) their first gig was a benefit for Workers Against Racism (a cat's paw of the Revolutionary Communist Party) at Central London Polytechnic towards the end of 1981. At this stage, anyone puzzled by the para-military uniforms and fascist symbolism utilised by DIJ was offered reassurance along the lines of: "When we first formed we were investigating fascism, no bones about that. It's interesting to see what this tainted ideology which has been so powerful had to say in the beginning." (9) The fact that DIJ had publicly affirmed their support for anti-racism by playing a WAR benefit appeared to confirm this. While the lyrical content of songs such as Till The Living Flesh Is Burned betrayed an unhealthy interest in Nazism, for a time it seemed possible that DIJ had an anti-fascist agenda. However, interviews with Doug Pearce dating from the mid-eighties onwards make it clear that if DIJ set out with the intention of demystifying fascism, they were nonetheless confused about the issues involved. This is what Pearce had to say about the Night of the Long Knives to the music paper Sounds in 1985: "Our interest doesn't come from killing all opposition, as it's been interpreted, but from identification with or understanding of the leftist elements of the SA which were purged, or murdered by the SS. That day is extremely important in human history... They were planning execution or overthrow of Hitler, so he wouldn't be around. We'd be living in a completely different world, I should imagine... It's fascinating that a few people held the destiny of the world and mankind in their hands for those few hours and let it slip, and it could've gone either way." (10) It is clear from this that Pearce lacks not only any understanding of politics and history, but plain common sense. Since the brownshirts represented the "left-wing" within National Socialism, they were necessarily fascists. It is the nature of fascist movements to expand or collapse. If Hitler had been replaced as head of the German state by another Nazi leader in 1934 it would have made little difference to "the world" and "mankind" - since resentment about the Versailles treaty was one of the things that brought the Nazis to power and was leading inextricably to war. Likewise, the culture of anti-semitism that had poisoned much of Europe for hundreds of years was exploited by the Nazis for propaganda purposes and the entire National Socialist leadership was eager to take this racism to a murderous conclusion. What is going on beneath Pearce's meaningless bluff about "the destiny of the world" is so obvious that it hardly needs explaining: the Trotskyist myth of betrayal is being attached to National Socialism with Hitler becoming Stalin and Ernst Rohm becoming Trotsky. As if to notify the world that his conversion to "left"-fascism is complete, Pearce raved elsewhere: "At the start of the eighties, Tony and I were involved in radical left politics and beneath it history students. In search of a political view for the future we came across National Bolshevism which is closely connected with the SA hierarchy. People like Gregor Strasser and Ernst Rvhm who were later known as 'second revolutionaries' attracted our attention." (11) However, being a firm believer in contradictions, Pearce has offered other explanations for his interest in fascism when it has been broached via the issue of his enthusiasm for dressing up in Nazi uniforms: "The question did arise but they (the music press) approached it from the right angle, the fetishistic side, the attraction within of a uniform, there's a certain kind of appeal, a sexual power to the thing." (12) This is a rather hackneyed tactic. Pearce defends his interest in Nazi uniforms on the basis that it is a manifestation of his sexuality. If Pearce merely dressed up in fascist togs at home, one would certainly think of him as sad but he would attract less criticism than he does by projecting this "fetish" in public. Being gay does not justify a liking for the garb of fascist oppressors. A distinction needs to be made here between commoditised sexual fetishism and gay liberation. The so called pink pound and the commercialisation of sex do not threaten capitalism, they buttress it, whereas the struggle for human emancipation from the commodity economy - which must necessarily include gay liberation - attacks the sexual fetishisation of oppression and its master Profit. Pearce has consistently marketed DIJ on the basis that aesthetic fascism can be sold as pornography. The technique is simply now you see it, now you don't, or as Pearce puts it: "Our subjects have a political significance, but in a much more oblique way, we don't say, it's this or it's that, like the way Crisis did. It's in this way we're different." (13) More accurately, DIJ are sold - and it is necessary to emphasise salesmanship since this is Pearce's forte (he is a businessman who runs a record label which releases both his own output and that of other "artists") - on the basis that the "group" might be politically dodgy. Contradictory messages are circulated and the fans can then spend hours wrestling with the problem of whether or not DIJ are fascists. DIJ's game-plan for increased market penetration entails a constant slippage between the aesthetic and the political. Pearce uses symbols associated with Nazism but champions right-wing anarchism as a political creed, often articulating his free market doctrine in occult or religious terms: "I am my own religion. I am my own faith. To believe in oneself is the final cult. It's the only real magic which really works. That's why it's also the most difficult." (14) But given the principle of contradiction on which he works, Pearce has also claimed: "The work itself was always deemed more important than the cultivation of individual egos or personalities. Symbols are more suggestive of DIJ's work than bland mug shots." (15) Or spinning off in a slightly different direction: "My actions are instinctual. I feel sometimes I am too much a puppet of my destiny. But my path is constantly re-affirmed, so... I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing!" (16) In other words, drumming to the beat of commodity fetishism, making money by shifting product. Pearce's trick of sliding from one thing to another quickly becomes tiresome, particularly when it is premised on such a shallow manipulation of symbols. Nevertheless, done as if in earnest this con attracts an audience on the Gothic and Industrial scenes (youth subcultures). A typical example of Pearce's sales pitch is given by former Crass fan Robert Forbes in his book Misery and Purity: A History and Personal Interpretation of Death In June where the title track of the album Brown Book is discussed as "a trap that was set and sprung." (17) The title "was taken from the books of the same name which were published before WWII reporting the conditions in Nazi Germany and then after that war by the East German authorities listing Nazi and war criminals supposedly living in West Germany and their influence over that country." Over a vocal rendition of the Nazi battle anthem The Horst Wessel are various voices taped in German, including a shout of "Achtung" (warning). Doug Pearce is allowed to explain: "No matter what I did I was accused of being this, that and the other, by the music press. I thought, alright, let's go all out. On that album I went for contradictions... A Brownshirt is talking about a variety of matters and taking an idiotic stand on some things that were completely anti-SA and much more SS. He accused the SS of being homosexuals which is what the SA were infamous for. That speech was juxtaposed by the half-jewish grandmother saying that life was like jumping from one ice float to another, with each jump they get smaller and smaller. The end is inevitable." So, by juxtaposing obvious and well known Nazi symbolism with some relatively obscure anti-Nazi elements, Pearce imagines he has sprung a trap! Forbes quotes him as saying: "Some people view the name, image and words of a group on such a superficial level that misinterpretations are bound to occur. However, that happens all the time in life - there are loads of stupid people about." (18) Elsewhere, Pearce defends his use of fascist imagery by saying: "Obviously people have fallen into the trap of taking it on a surface value. That is their problem." (19) This cuts two ways, firstly there are those who identify with the symbolism Pearce is utilising, then there are those who oppose it. Pearce imagines he benefits both ways, since hysterical attacks upon DIJ fuel speculation that he is dodgy and thus help shift units of his product to those wanting to consume fascism as pornography. Pearce is a businessman and it is a matter of indifference to him if his fans join far-Right groups such as White Aryan Resistance or Green Anarchist - all that interests him is making money: "Too many people rely upon others to carry them - to accept their responsibilities for them. That is one of the reasons why I now work alone in DIJ. If I need help I work with other leaders. There is no room for passengers. Everyone must speak for themselves. The time for excuses is at an end." (20) From the quotes that are laced through Forbes' book it is apparent that as time has gone on, Pearce became increasingly immersed in fascist modes of thinking. What Pearce might imagine is his Great Wall Of China - a split between aesthetic and political positions - turns out on examination to be as flimsy as the supposedly impregnable Maginot Line: "DIJ unlike the past have nothing to do with conventional politics. We have nothing to tell or offer anybody in that department." (21) The right-wing (individualistic) anarchism to which Pearce subscribes politically was one of the main currents that fed into ideological fascism. Rather than being separate and distinct, Pearce's political and aesthetic positions are very closely related. Indeed, Proudhon was acclaimed as the founder of National Socialism during the Nazi occupation of France, and Pearce's xenophobic views are very close to those of the founding father of anarchism: "I think European culture is the most important in the world and it's threatened by other principal cultures, for example American, Soviet. Whereas it has so much to offer, we should be proud of it." (22) Rather than Pearce controlling the symbolism he is using, the symbolism controls him - as long ago as January 1984 he had to sack his song writing partner Tony Wakeford from DIJ for getting involved with Patrick Harrington and the Strasserite faction of the National Front. (23) Likewise, for Pearce all recent history revolves around Hitler: "The most influential man of this century has been Adolf Hitler! He's shaped the world we live in today with his hate and destruction." (24) Pearce has no understanding of historical causality, the hate and destruction Hitler exploited was produced by a wide range of factors that cannot be attributed to a single man. Asked why he wears the death's head, Pearce produced a reply that was every bit as stupid as his outburst about Hitler: "I just do, that's all. The identification for me in those elements is like total belief, that's why I'm fascinated, y'know? I'm still searching for total belief." (25) There is a stage in child development where babies who are totally dependent on the care of others believe they are omnipotent, and despite reaching middle-age Pearce is unable to dispense with this delusion. His desire to believe that a handful of men shape history reflects his inability to grow up. Since Pearce would like to be a great man, he is unable to accept that such men do not exist and that rather than being "destined" to join them, he is simply an ego-maniac. While Pearce has been doubly infantalised by his job as a pop singer and involvement in a commoditised fetish culture which places a premium on youth, this does not excuse his crass manipulation of fascist tropes to sell records. While there are commentators who have become hysterical about Pearce, the best way of dealing with his scam is to expose him for what he is - an anarchist dry goods salesman. There is a continuity between Crisis and DIJ in terms of both imagery centred on fascism/anti-fascism and a desire for authenticity that is aesthetically driven. It is difficult to imagine Crisis ever making much of an impression without RAR to mediate their presence on the punk scene, or DIJ existing at all without Wakeford and Pearce being slowly seduced by the ideas and imagery RAR set out to oppose (a seduction that began with these two musicians learning the power of political symbolism - at least partially - - through their involvement with RAR). I would stress symbols and imagery in all this, both Crisis and DIJ were aesthetically overloaded to the detriment of both their politics and their music. Although very much a product of RAR, Crisis were also in many ways an anomaly - within a punk culture that thrived on confusion about identity and political belief, Crisis were far more confused than most of their peers. The Art Attacks appear to have been unmoved by their brush with RAR, Adam and the Ants merely ruffled. In contrast to this, Wakeford and Pearce provide examples of "individuals" who were transformed by RAR, but their deep involvement produced effects at odds with the avowed intentions of those who'd set up the organisation. (26) That said, to properly evaluate the role RAR and anti-racism played within both the punk scene and the broader political culture of the seventies and eighties, we need further studies of people touched by and/or involved in these campaigns. It would be wrong to generalise solely on the basis of Crisis/DIJ. http://www.surf.to/ambition ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:40:34 -0800 From: Paul Pietromonaco Subject: Re: [idealcopy] OT - Let It Be Naked... Hi Keith, >This would appear not to be the case. This from John Harris - who had >visited Abbey Rd - in the latest Observer Music supplement... > Thanks for sharing that. (^_^) That's exactly the kind of detail I would like to know. On this side of the pond, there's not much information. Is this Observer Music supplement on-line perchance? Cheers, Paul ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 16:22:45 -0800 (PST) From: Ari Britt Subject: Re: [idealcopy] OT - Let It Be Naked... try this Paul,then do a search.Ari http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/ Paul Pietromonaco wrote:Hi Keith, >This would appear not to be the case. This from John Harris - who had >visited Abbey Rd - in the latest Observer Music supplement... > Thanks for sharing that. (^_^) That's exactly the kind of detail I would like to know. On this side of the pond, there's not much information. Is this Observer Music supplement on-line perchance? Cheers, Paul Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:27:34 -0000 From: "Tim" Subject: Re: [idealcopy] Let It Be Wired Paul Wrote: > (Long rambling post about Beatles and audio mixing - delete now if not > interested.) > > Also - there is extreme reticence among the EMI engineers to touch the > Beatles session tapes and remix them from scratch this way. "Painting over > the Mona Lisa" is the common comment. Seems to be what they did with LIB, but seeing as Spector had already spread soft cheese over the original masters already it was probably less of a sacred cow than say 'Pepper. It would be really cool to make a version you could remix yourself, a DVD that plays back all the separated tracks but give the user a little software plug-in mixer so they could fade tracks in and out, pan, add a touch of EQ etc. Presumably thats technically possible, although probably not commercially viable. Be nice to have the Wire back catalogue in this format, I'd love to get my hands on say Manscape or The First Letter and mess around with the mixes....strip away the layers and see whats underneath. I think Coldcut did something along these lines, but only for one song. The last Mogwai LP came with a plug-in so you could remix one of the songs with AcidPro I think. not sure of any other examples???? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 16:32:21 -0800 (PST) From: Ari Britt Subject: [idealcopy] Hey Paul,Go Here........... http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1088755,00.html Ari Britt wrote:try this Paul,then do a search.Ari http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/ Paul Pietromonaco wrote:Hi Keith, >This would appear not to be the case. This from John Harris - who had >visited Abbey Rd - in the latest Observer Music supplement... > Thanks for sharing that. (^_^) That's exactly the kind of detail I would like to know. On this side of the pond, there's not much information. Is this Observer Music supplement on-line perchance? Cheers, Paul Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:32:27 -0000 From: "Keith Knight" Subject: RE: [idealcopy] OT - was -Uncut(s)'; now Jethro Tull - sorry Yes, Keith, Aqualung means J. Tull in my book not those upstarts who have appropriated the name. It was the sixth album I ever bought so my re-purchase (I got rid of the vinyl years ago) is partly down to the onset of senility. But it's mainly due to a pissed evening with my friend Tim a few months ago when he slurred 'listen to this - it's one of the most beautiful things ever written' or somesuch and amazingly he put on 'Wond'ring Aloud', a short song off Aqualung which I had completely forgotten. The second verse goes: Wond'ring aloud - Will the years treat us well. As she floats in the kitchen, I'm tasting the smell Of toast as the butter runs. Then she comes, spilling crumbs on the bed And I shake my head. And it's only the giving That makes you what you are. And it is rather lovely - it now reminds me lyrically of Elbow's sublime 'Scattered Black and Whites'. And owning the album now means that I can enjoy the rest of the album - which isn't half bad actually - there's something very English about Ian Anderson's work at this time which appeals to me, although whether that means I'll go on to buy 'Thick as a Brick' is moot. Another the Keith - -----Original Message----- From: Keith Astbury [mailto:keith.astbury10@virgin.net] Sent: 23 November 2003 15:18 To: Keith Knight; CHRISWIRE@aol.com; idealcopy@smoe.org Subject: Re: [idealcopy] Uncut(s) > I've spotted Olias of Sunhillow for a fiver in Fopp and although I'm not > adverse to splashing out occasionally on reasonably-priced nostalgia > trips at that shop (which must explain my recent acquisition of > Aqualung) I'd have to be very drunk to hand over money for Jon > Anderson's folly. I've just realised that you might have meant the other Anderson's Aqualung and not the band of the same name. Oh my god, Keith. Would you like to talk about it??? Keith (who owns - somewhere! - Yes Album and Going For The One, and who liked And You & I many yrs ago) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:36:58 -0000 From: "Keith Knight" Subject: [idealcopy] Tour de England Some UK ICers will be very diverted to hear that Kraftwerk are to play a short UK tour according to nme.com. Details are: * Glasgow Academy (March 16) * Manchester Apollo (March 17) * London Royal Festival Hall (March 18) * London Brixton Academy (March 20) Having seen then live somehow three times I can vouch for their excellence - and we should hear some new material this time. another the Keith ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 19:30:40 -0800 From: Paul Pietromonaco Subject: [idealcopy] Re: Hey Paul,Go Here........... >http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1088755,00.html > Thanks, Ari! That's just what I was looking for! Cheers, Paul ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V6 #352 *******************************