From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V1 #151 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Thursday, July 5 2001 Volume 01 : Number 151 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go ["Andrew Hamlin" ] [loud-fans] Musical Muppetry ["O Geier" ] [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner [Stewart Mason] Re: [loud-fans] Musical Muppetry ["Andrew Hamlin" ] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner ["John Sha] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner [Aaron Man] Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go [John F Butland <] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner [Stewart M] [loud-fans] Mr. Fancypants [Stewart Mason ] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner [Charity S] Re: [loud-fans] Mr. Fancypants [Aaron Mandel ] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner ["O Geier"] Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner [JRT456@ao] Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go [Dan McCarthy Subject: Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go >4.) Marillion, ANORAKNOPHOBIA Ah, wonderful to see someone else digs this! Steered me back around to life-is-worth, not only -living, but - -engaging, in the wake of WHITE AFRICAN. >I'm sure there are others... Scott Walker's soundtrack to POLA X... Hard to describe Scott Walker albums, I know, but could you take a shot at it? Most instrumental or no? This is, I'm pretty sure, his first album since TILT, my 1995 Album Of The Year. Looking around for that CLIMATE OF HUNTER tape, Andy "This is english crazy movie. Do you understand these 'BAKA' scenes?" - --note from an all-Lego recreation of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, at Sandou's Rising Sun Minfig Headquarters, http://www.geocities.co.jp/Hollywood/9060/english.html . Sandou also features Lego recreations of DESPERADO, DOBERMANN, and, on a separate site courtesy someone called Maestro S. Fujita, the first three Star Wars movies. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 19:23:03 -0000 From: "O Geier" Subject: [loud-fans] Musical Muppetry Okay, moms and dads... I've noticed something on the Sesame Street videos my daughter watches. To wit, almost every time there is a 'band', either rock or country performing, muppets mind you, the 'guitar' players seemed to be universally left handed. In one segment, the guitar, banjo and bass player all were southpaws. Is this a puppetry device, designed to make it easier to manipulate the doll, or is a calculated effort to mainstream lefthandedness, or am just looking too damn deep?? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 13:46:58 -0600 From: Stewart Mason Subject: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner So I'm in the Krogers in my neighborhood last night, picking up stuff for dinner and tonight's cookout, and while I'm walking down the frozen food aisle, I realize that I'm singing along to the song that's playing on the supermarket PA, but I can't quite place it. It takes a while, until the song's almost over, but finally I recognize the song: Mike Nesmith's "Some of Shelly's Blues," the version from his 1973 album PRETTY MUCH YOUR STANDARD RANCH STASH. This is now the most obscure song I've ever heard playing, in its original version, in a supermarket or some other public place, beating out Lloyd Cole's "Margo's Waltz" playing at the Cattle Baron restaurant in Portales in 1995. Stewart NP: ASTRAL WHELKS--Todd Dillingham ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:52:59 -0700 From: "Andrew Hamlin" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Musical Muppetry >I've noticed something on the Sesame Street videos my daughter watches. To >wit, almost every time there is a 'band', either rock or country performing, >muppets mind you, the 'guitar' players seemed to be universally left handed. > In one segment, the guitar, banjo and bass player all were southpaws. I offer enlightenment hither: http://www.cais.com/rinzel/mayhem/hands.html Now what was that thing playing a bell alongside Zoot... Andy "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - --Mahatma Ghandi ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 17:05:27 -0400 From: "John Sharples" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner S: >So I'm in the Krogers in my neighborhood last night, picking up stuff for >dinner and tonight's cookout, and while I'm walking down the frozen food >aisle, I realize that I'm singing along to the song that's playing on the >supermarket PA, but I can't quite place it. It takes a while, until the >song's almost over, but finally I recognize the song: Mike Nesmith's "Some >of Shelly's Blues," the version from his 1973 album PRETTY MUCH YOUR >STANDARD RANCH STASH. Ahh, my fellow Nez fanatic, are ye slipping (it took THAT long to peg)? I hate to engage in one-upsmanship (one-upsgeekship?) here but I can't help point out that I once heard an oddly-faithful (to the original you cite) *instrumental* version of that song on the 'zak in the West 96th Street Gristede's I used to haunt. But that's not even the most obscure selection I heard in that store--those honors go to a version of Hiatt's "Memphis in the Meantime" that was also bizzarely arranged to be quite close to the original recording! It even had the herky-jerky Keltneresque drumming and a decent approximation of Cooder's lead sound handling the vocal line. ("Some of Shelly's Blues" after all has been covered several times, by the Dirt Band, Stone Poneys, and Continental Drifters to name three, so I figure it's not quite as obscure, though obscure nonetheless.) I also enjoyed their faithful-instrumental "When Doves Cry"--it even lacked a bass part! I even hesitate to call this service "Muzak" being so faithful to the originals, although it's obviously meant to serve the same purpose. The store in question burned down in a most spectacular conflagration shortly thereafter. Infer away. So Stewart, what's the best Nesmith solo disc, in your opinion? JS PS Is Nesmith's version of "Shelley" technically a cover, since the Monkees recorded a version that lay unreleased until the Rhino Gods smiled down upon it? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 18:36:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner On Wed, 4 Jul 2001, John Sharples wrote: > I even hesitate to call this service "Muzak" being so faithful to the > originals, although it's obviously meant to serve the same purpose. actually, Muzak offers something like 20 channels of music to their clients, last i checked, of which only one is their famous cheesy instrumental settings. the rest are just radio, albeit without commercials and especially formulated to make people work or buy, as the case may be. three years ago i called them up and chatted with a customer rep for quite a while. other great 2001 releases i forgot: Ad Frank - MR. FANCYPANTS; Silver Scooter - THE BLUE LAW. a ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 19:23:55 -0300 From: John F Butland Subject: Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go At 07:47 PM 01-07-03 -0700, Andrew Hamlin wrote: >>Mama Digdown's Brass Band - Mama's House > >This an actual brass band? Yessir - sousaphone, 2 tenor saxes, 2 trumpets, trombone, snare drum, and bass drum. They cover Jackson 5, Sheila E, John Coltrane, and bunch of traditional stuff, too. I've been really getting into this stuff lately - Dirty Dozen BB, Rebirth BB, Forgotten Rebels BB, etc. Magical stuff. Mama's House includes a recipe for beans and rice in the booklet, too. best, jfb John F Butland O- butland@nbnet.nb.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 18:31:54 -0600 From: Stewart Mason Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner At 05:05 PM 7/4/01 -0400, John Sharples wrote: >>So I'm in the Krogers in my neighborhood last night, picking up stuff for >>dinner and tonight's cookout, and while I'm walking down the frozen food >>aisle, I realize that I'm singing along to the song that's playing on the >>supermarket PA, but I can't quite place it. It takes a while, until the >>song's almost over, but finally I recognize the song: Mike Nesmith's "Some >>of Shelly's Blues," the version from his 1973 album PRETTY MUCH YOUR >>STANDARD RANCH STASH. > > >Ahh, my fellow Nez fanatic, are ye slipping (it took THAT long to peg)? I can say only in my defense that Nesmith's songs (especially from this era of his career) can be tricky to peg if you're not expecting to hear them--he quite often didn't use standard verse-chorus-verse structure and the titles often didn't appear in the songs. >I even hesitate to call this service "Muzak" being so faithful to the >originals, although it's obviously meant to serve the same purpose. The music/Muzak in the Frontier, my local 24-hour diner extraordinaire, probably uses the same service. I've heard faithful instrumental versions of the Beach Boys' "Surf's Up" and Marshall Crenshaw's "There She Goes Again" in there. I think it's time for Charity to chime in about what was playing in the Vietnamese restaurant during her mom's birthday dinner earlier this week... >So Stewart, what's the best Nesmith solo disc, in your opinion? Totally a matter of mood. I often lean towards TANTAMOUNT TO TREASON just because it's so weird. Sometimes LOOSE SALUTE, sometimes INFINITE RIDER ON THE BIG DOGMA. >PS Is Nesmith's version of "Shelley" technically a cover, since the Monkees >recorded a version that lay unreleased until the Rhino Gods smiled down upon >it? I feel that a songwriter cannot cover himself. Now, it's arguable that if, say, Paul McCartney recorded a version of "I'm So Tired," that would be a cover, even though his name is on the credits, because that's so clearly a Lennon song. But McCartney recording a version of "Blackbird," that's just doing a new version of one of your own songs. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 18:45:54 -0600 From: Stewart Mason Subject: [loud-fans] Mr. Fancypants At 06:36 PM 7/4/01 -0400, Aaron Mandel wrote: >other great 2001 releases i forgot: Ad Frank - MR. FANCYPANTS; Silver >Scooter - THE BLUE LAW. Never been crazy about Silver Scooter, but I have to agree most emphatically about MR. FANCYPANTS, which I heard for the first time only about three days ago. Ad Frank's solo debut was perfectly charming and all (and it had one of his very best songs ever, "Postpunk At Cambridgeside Mall"), but it was really ramshackle and kind of half-baked in spots. MR. FANCYPANTS is much more "produced," but it's also a far more consistently strong set of tunes. "U-Hauls and Ryders" especially is just wonderful, a story of a breakup that's all about the everyday details of a move instead of something more showily "emotional." Best thing he's done since Miles Dethmuffen changed their name, I think. There's details at http://www.adfrank.com, and unless he's changed it recently, there should be a piece I wrote for Amplifier some time back serving as his official bio. S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 21:06:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Charity Stafford Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner Stewart said: > I think it's time for Charity to chime in about what was playing > in the Vietnamese restaurant during her mom's birthday dinner earlier > this week... I had a feeling he started this thread with the intention of getting me to tell y'all about this. It's a really wonderful little Vietnamese restaurant in our neighborhood in Allston, called Sai Gon - strongly recommended to the Boston/Cambridge Loud-fan contingent. Especially if they're playing the same stuff the night you go - I assume it was some CD or tape, rather than official Muzak, and it was an Asian stringed instrument with that sound somewhere between a koto and a banjo, and besides some appropriately Asian tunes I managed to identify the American folk tune "I gave My Love a Cherry," "Tammy's In Love," and "Tell Laura I Love Her." I recommend the tofu fingers appetizer (from the vegetarian section of the menu) and the eggplant in garlic sauce. The thing that comes in a crepe is pretty wonderful, too. Charity ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 21:13:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Mr. Fancypants On Wed, 4 Jul 2001, Stewart Mason wrote: > Never been crazy about Silver Scooter, i was lukewarm on them until the EP they put out last fall with a cover of New Order's "Run"; once i heard the resemblance there, i realized that was kind of what they'd been doing all along, with just enough jangle that i thought they were a mediocre Bats imitator. > Best thing he's done since Miles Dethmuffen changed their name, I > think. "U-Hauls" has been a favorite of mine since he started playing it at shows, but the recorded version has a completely pointless outro, making it less perfect than "Bay Of Fundy" and "Barking Up The Wrong Girl" in my humble opinion. a ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 01:54:20 -0000 From: "O Geier" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner I heard on a MUZAK type station "Terrifying Love" by Marshall Crenshaw, from his best, and out of print CD 'Mary Jean and Nine Others'. I though THAT was bizarre. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 22:18:43 EDT From: JRT456@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] obscure supermarket music--current frontrunner This makes for an appropriate time to mention the glossy trad-Muzak version of "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" playing at a Krystal's in Alabama last month. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 01:06:53 -0400 From: Dan McCarthy Subject: Re: [loud-fans] We're only half as far as we need to go At 10:13 AM 7/4/01 -0700, Andrew Hamlin wrote: > >4.) Marillion, ANORAKNOPHOBIA > > >Ah, wonderful to see someone else digs this! Steered me back around to >life-is-worth, not only -living, but >-engaging, in the wake of WHITE AFRICAN. Yeah, and wonderful to see that Marillion has regained their stature from their previous album, Marillion.Com. I was hoping it was just a fluke because I didn't like it very much at all (not to mention the ".com" title is almost unforgiveable). Anoraknophobia reminds me very much of Afraid of Sunlight, though, which is maybe my fave album of theirs, so I guess there's life in them yet. > >I'm sure there are others... Scott Walker's soundtrack to POLA X... > >Hard to describe Scott Walker albums, I know, but could you take a shot at >it? Most instrumental or no? This is, I'm pretty sure, his first album >since TILT, my 1995 Album Of The Year. Fairly easy to describe this one, actually. It opens with an excerpt from "The Cockfighter" from TILT, and then what follows are a series of instrumentals. It's not entirely a Scott album; there are contributions from Smog and some others. One interesting thing is that the album includes lots of spoken snippets from the film that overlay onto the instrumental tracks- it can be entertaining, or annoying if you're just trying to listen to the music. It doesn't really feel like a Scott Walker album due to the distressing absence of vocals, but the orchestral music is very nicely composed and works well as cinematic score material. Worth listening to not becuase it's Scott Walker, but just because it's good film score music. ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V1 #151 *******************************