From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #253 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 Wednesday, September 15 2004 Volume 04 : Number 253 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] Picture Book [Phil Fleming ] Re: [loud-fans] still I dream about those black hills [LeftyZ@aol.com] [loud-fans] correction [LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com] [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box [Steve Holtebeck ] Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? [AWeiss4338@aol.com] Re: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box ["Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Picture Book - --- Miles Goosens wrote: > > Of course I have to contest this. I'm certainly not > arguing that 1972-present Kinks material put > together can equal the amazing first seven years of > the Kinks' recording career. But I would certainly > make very positive arguments for GIVE THE PEOPLE > WHAT THEY WANT, SCHOOLBOYS IN DISGRACE, most of the > songs on LOW BUDGET (better performances of many of > 'em on ONE FOR THE ROAD), WORD OF MOUTH, and Ray's > RETURN TO WATERLOO soundtrack (which overlaps > somewhat with WORD OF MOUTH). In fact, the only > ones I'd categorize as "utterly terrible" are SOAP > OPERA, THINK VISUAL, and PHOBIA. > > later, > > Miles I guess I might be the only one who thought PHOBIA was a decent record... Not a classic, mind you, but I thought "Hatred (A Duet)" "Over The Edge" ,"Close To The Wire", and the title track were pretty good songs. The whole thing was a bit long though. Phil F. NP... Tears For Fears - EVERYBODY LOVES A HAPPY ENDING __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 11:58:50 EDT From: LeftyZ@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] still I dream about those black hills In a message dated 9/13/04 7:03:48 PM, smholt@ix.netcom.com writes: > Our Comcast DMX oldies station plays "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" > (the B side to "Sunny Afternoon" and one of the five greatest rock songs > ever!) in it's regular rotation. I can always crank that one up! > I had never heard that song until last TV season. It was in the closing of SOME WB (I think) show. "One Tree Hill" or "Gilmore Girls" perhaps. It IS a great song. (Not on a "regular" studio album, right?) Left ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 12:46:24 EDT From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] correction "Redneck Woman" (not girl) singer Gretchen Wilson is from rural Illinois, not TR, SC (we do call it "TR"). Where my friend Steph got this info from I do not know. If you think you had a tough childhood, read her bio on CMT.com. Damn! - --Mark S. (If I flick my Bic during every live performance of "Inverness," does that make me a redneck Loudfan?) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:06:22 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box Miles on the Everybody-Must-Get Stones: >>For me, it's really just a three-album run: BEGGARS BANQUET, LET IT BLEED, >>and STICKY FINGERS, with YA-YAS as Monumental Live Supplement. [...] >>I think someone who doesn't want to be a Stones completist but wants more >>than a cursory Jagger-Richards representation in their collection would be >>well-served by just the three albums I mention and HOT ROCKS or THE SINGLES BOX. Aw, c'mon... while some of what you say about "Exile" is true, it should be added to that list if only because it has quite a clutch of classic songs not included in either compilation you mention. Take a look at the track list and see. >>>As always, YTFDDGPMV.* >>Like Rex, it doesn't for me. :-) Hey, I'm not a bad guitarist, but I am mightily flattered to be ranked with Davies. Oh, wait... I'm probably reading that wrong... >>I was very surprised to see that "Tired of Waiting" was a #6 Billboard single in the US, >>and "A Well Respected Man" peaked in at #13 -- I would have thought that they would >>have peaked at the lower end of the top 40 rather than the upper "Tired of Waiting" doesn't surprise me, but "WRM" does. I assume it's part of that phenomenon where, when a popular singles artist suddenly puts out an album that's not well received by the public, the lead-off single has enough time to become a "hit" before the album tanks, and then when the album sinks like a stone, the "hit" is written out of history. Smaller scale case in point, KROQ and similar stations played the ass out of "E-Bow the Letter" before NAIHF came out, and nobody who's a casual radio listener remembers that song any more. >>Of course I have to contest this. I'm certainly not arguing that 1972-present Kinks >>material put together can equal the amazing first seven years of the Kinks' recording >>career. I really think a "Kronikles 2" should be assembled for that period to supplant "Come Dancing". Dude, has there ever been a career-spanning Kinks box (or is cross-licensing too great an issue)? I mean, what a pain in the ass to assemble, but I think the last disc and a half could be similar to the latter half of the Beach Boys box, which is wall-to-wall wonderful despite being culled from albums which are mostly subpar. (Objections from fans of "Love You" etc. duly and preemptively noted, and I do love me some "Surf's Up" myself.) Then again, why am I always saying "there should be a Scott Miller box set" and stuff like that, when the reality is that I'm part of the, oh, giant wad of everybody who never listens to the box sets they have? - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:20:59 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: [loud-fans] Mix Swap Review: Comin' Home (Autumn 2004) Courtesy of Mr. Michael Wells, he of multiple mailings list also subscribed to by myself, comes the above- and appropriately-titled compilation disc. The cover: a photograph of a large and pleasant looking home in rural or possibly suburban Northe America which I take to be the titular "home", standing before a bank of tall fir trees; in the foreground, a single tree whose leaves have recently begun turning gold and red. Consider yourself oriented. The music contained herein leans in the direction of the modern-ish elegiac acoustic singer-songwriter idiom, featuring a generous helping of nimble finger-picking (which I happen to know to be a talent of Mr. Wells himself) often in combiation with washes of mournful ambient sound provided in equal parts by wooden and electronic means. (I have a feeling that not a single track on this disc was produced by Daniel Lanois, but quite a few feel as if they could have been). So yes, autumnal indeed, but as Fall is annually punctuated by Halloween, so there are a few exuberant surprises here. Let's listen in, Wellsketeers... 1) Becalmed (Brian Eno): One of the instrumental pieces from "Another Green World", presumably in its spiffy new remastered (and thus not-yet-owned-by-me) form. This one never leapt of the album for me, but it's a very appropriate intro piece, attuning the ear to the sound washes that flesh out the acoustic pieces which follow. Stately piano, synth strings, a noise akin to wind... nice. 2) Cross of Flowers (Jeffrey Foucault): deftly finger-picked acoustic, sad, gruff vocals; features the lyric from which the disc takes its title. The "sound wash" on this one is ghostly pedal steel and sustained harmonica. Don't know this artist, but like the tune. About this time last year I went back east to the small town where I grew up for my grandmother's funeral... first time I'd been back there during autumn in sixteen years. Felt like this. 3) Charlie (Peter Mulvey): Another artist unfamiliar to me. As the title might indicate, this is a character study. More husky vocals and finger-style acoustic, a little more sprightly than the previous track. Minimal drums. Tremolo'ed lead guitar flits in and out. I think Charlie is a bartender. Feels like we're still in small-town aimlessness territory. I like it. 4) Caleb's Report (Doyle Dykes): the fingerpicked guitar parade continues... this is an instrumental, one of those impressive solo pieces that sounds like a duet. Sweet little bursts of harmonics throughout. Very nice playing. Dunno if I'd go for a whole album of this, but it's great seasoning for my compilation sandwich. 5) La Ma Weesu (Youssou N'Dour): an example of the kind of world music I'm embarrassed not to have any of, but would be even more embarrassed to have, like, just two or three records of. Fear of Musical Dilletantism, that's Rex all over. Anyhow, if you're like me, you know N'Dour from the Gabriel records and elsewhere, and would recognize him right away. This is an expansive 6/8-time piece with a strong melody, lush choir vocals, and a propulsive acoustic keeping it moving. 6) The Bird That You Can't See (The Apples in Stereo): Possibly included because I've often expressed befuddlement over the mania surrounding the whole Elephant 6 collective. I saw part of a live set by this band at a festival once and thought they were okay, but left halfway through to go check out Nels Cline and Carla Bozulich. The main place I've heard them, though, is on the Powerpuff Girls CD that my daughter has memorized... they actually do one of the strongest tracks on that album, but between that association and Schneider's high-pitched voice, which I would take for a pitch-shift joke were it to appear on, say, a Ween record, I'm hard pressed not to hear them as a kiddie or novelty band. This is not a bad song at all, especially melodically, but as a stab at intellectual white funk it's suffering mightily in comparison to that Talking Heads live reissue that I've been listening to way too much for the past few weeks. Still, I like this more every time I hear it. 7) What I Think She Sees (Del Amitri): Plaintive vocal, arpeggiated (but electric) guitar, strings... a bit AAA, but the drums don't go "big" the way I fear they will and it works out okay. I have the scrappy first album by this band and a few stray later tracks that indicated a Goo Goo Dolls-y kind of trajectory, and this lands just on the safe side of that fence. 8) The Bottle Rocket of Unrequited Love (Dag Juhlin): back to wooden guitars (but get out your plectra!) and shimmering background, um, synths this time? Higher, more plaintive vocals, strong melody. This could be longer without me complaining. Don't know this artist but have just been informed of a connection to Poi Dog Pondering whom I used to like a good deal. Further information would be appreciated... 9) Please Do Not Let Me Go (Ryan Adams): I'm theoretically indifferent to Adams' work, but then I've read more about him than I've heard by him. He can go on in interviews, eh? But this is not bad at all. Firmly back in mournful acoustic territory here. Flatpicks are still out and the part of the sonic ghost is once again essayed by pedal steel. Lyrics feature a Neil Young near-quote, and a few times when this has popped on and I haven't had the track list in front of me, the vocal at the start has oddly reminded me of Mark Mulcahy from Miracle Legion. Take that, Thom Yorke! 10) Railway Shoes/Live Radio Session (Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians): Well, this is quite a good song indeed. Not stripped down too far from the already spare album version. Hitchcock says "whoops" at one point, but with regards to what I'm not sure. Suitably autumnal and woodsy-sounding... good to encounter an old friend here. 11) Turn a Square (The Shins): Only the third song on the comp that I own in any form whatsoever, and a good one. This song rocks in a way that seems to fit the prevailing feeling of the record. There's this one big chord that hits every time the verse is about to come back around that reminds me strongly of some other song I can't place, and it's driving me buggy (I have determined that it is not "The Ledge" by the Replacements-- close but no cigar-- but it might be yet *another* song from that Powerpuff record). But this is a strong selection indeed. 12) On and On (Admiral Twin): Continuing in the power-pop vein... don't know these guys but they remind me strongly of Shoes, whom I like but have never really gotten into that deeply. Still a good tune. There's a sort of incongruous section of atonal noise where the middle 8 should be, but it doesn't derail the whole tune or anything. It repeats at the end with the signature riff overlaying it, and makes more sense there. 13) The Seeker (Rush). Yep, every autumn has its Halloween, so here's one band dressing up as another one for kicks. I'm far from a fan of Rush, but they do a credible job on this Who tune... they don't add any 11/8 sections or anything, and I'm honestly not sure if I wish they had or not (I mean, it is Rush, so...) The question remains: What about the voice of Geddy Lee-- how did it get so high? He won't get to get what he's after 'til the day he dies. 14) Rock Notes (Monty Python). See, this is the bit about Rex Stardust, lead triangle player of Toad the Wet Sprocket (before there actually was a Toad the Wet Sprocket). Funny bit, good for quite a chuckle the fist time through the disc. (I am personally neither flamboyant nor ambidextrous, though.) 15) Sunday Shine (Ben Woolman). Another solo acoustic instrumental, very enjoyable. At the start there's a melody figure which reminds me of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend" but it moves into more intricate territory from there. We've rocked all we're going to, folks... from here on out it's wood music again. 16) Our Lady of the Highways, Live 2004 (John Wesley Harding, Dag Juhlin, Scott McCaughey): I haven't kept up with JWH but enjoyed his early records and his frequent concerts on campus back in th' day. This live version of a recent and unfamiliar-to-me song features verses sung by JWH, Juhlin (again) and the ubiquitous Scott McCaughey of YFF/Minus 5 fame. Another road song, and not a bad one at all. I know Michael was a big booster of this tour (the "all-male threesome") and it's cool that this disc reflects his current gig-going as well as home-listening tastes and experience. 17) Hawkmoth (Paul Curreri): This is pretty damned cool. Some very nice bouncy guitar pickin' frames a song which at first sounds like a more normal roots-folk tune than it is. Actually it's about, among other things, the moth of the title enjoying nectar for dinner and trying to negotiate his way out of being eaten by a bluejay. At least that's how I hear it. Some other nifty turns of phrase along the way... it's a strange set of lyrics, but then so are the words to a lot of old mountain tunes, and these are not incongruous, just interesting and evocative. Wouldn't mind hearing more from this artist. 18) Round the Bend (Beck): A track from Sea Change, the fourth and final familiar-to-me tune to show up here. Something interesting happens to it in this context... Sea Change, as an album, is clearly deeply influenced by Nick Drake, but it seems to drift that way over time, with enough asides into other territory to feel more organic than ripped-off. On its own, though, this sounds so much like Drake that it might as well be a cover. For those who don't know it, it's a mournful acoustic ballad with a big orchestral backing (a little bigger than typical for Drake but still in that realm) taking care of that ambient-backing thing so prominent on this disc. Strangely, though I like this song less here than on its parent album, it makes me want to go back and listen to Sea Change, which I liked a good deal. 19) The River Part X (Ketil Bjornstad & David Darling): Changing out the acoustic guitar for piano, this instrumental still fits the prevailing mood of the compilation and makes for a good penultimate track. A subtle cello takes the duet role here. A nice atmospheric bridge between the previous track and the last one. 20) California Snow (Tom Russell): This takes us out of Fall and straight into Winter, appropriately enough. More sad acoustic music, and another character sketch, this of a lonely man who's loved and lost and appears to be a border guard in a remote location. The lyrics tread close to cornball in places, as can be the case with this type of tune-- reminds me somewhat of something Steve Earle might write, and is melodically similar to "Desolation Row" -- but Russell's creakily-expressive old-school country-folk vocal (a little Haggard-like to my ears) wrings some real pathos out of it, and it ends up being quite touching. Overall, a nicely considered compilation-as-mood-piece record featuring a number of worthy finds... an evocative and rewarding listen every time I spin it. Kudos and thanks to Michael; good stuff all around. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 12:32:26 -0500 From: Chris Prew Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Mix Swap Review: Is the mix tape/CD tree/swap thingie still going on? Where does one join up? Chris Who moved recently and has a much longer commute than he used to, thus the need to fill some dead air.... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:50:16 -0700 From: Steve Holtebeck Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box "Rex.Broome" wrote: > > Miles on the Everybody-Must-Get Stones: > >>For me, it's really just a three-album run: BEGGARS BANQUET, LET IT BLEED, > >>and STICKY FINGERS, with YA-YAS as Monumental Live Supplement. [...] > >>I think someone who doesn't want to be a Stones completist but wants more > >>than a cursory Jagger-Richards representation in their collection would be > >>well-served by just the three albums I mention and HOT ROCKS or THE SINGLES BOX. > > Aw, c'mon... while some of what you say about "Exile" is true, it > should be added to that list if only because it has quite a clutch of > classic songs not included in either compilation you mention. Take a > look at the track list and see. HOT ROCKS and THE SINGLES BOX only includes songs from the London/Decca era (1964-1971), so it doesn't have anything from EXILE. Also there's almost no overlap between the early Stones albums and early singles, and the early (Brian Jones era pre BEGGAR's) albums. The early records are spotty (like most early British Invasion stuff), but I think they benefit from containing songs that haven't been played to death on classic rock radio yet. Just knowing the Stones from "Satisfaction" and "Get Off My Cloud" is like just knowing the Kinks from "You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night" (plus you might go through life thinking that John Cougar Mellencamp wrote "The Spider and the Fly" or something) > >>Of course I have to contest this. I'm certainly not arguing that 1972-present Kinks > >>material put together can equal the amazing first seven years of the Kinks' recording > >>career. > > I really think a "Kronikles 2" should be assembled for that period to > supplant "Come Dancing". COME DANCING only has songs from the Arista era (after 1977), but there's a compilation of early 70s Kinks' songs called CELLULOID HEROES, which was out of print for a long time, but was reissued on Koch in a "bonus" edition (available on emusic http://www.emusic.com/cd/10750/10750922.html along with the spotty 70s albums that all the songs came from). > Dude, has there ever been a career-spanning > Kinks box (or is cross-licensing too great an issue)? None that I've ever seen, but you could make a pretty good one (without too much overlap) by combining Rhino's GREATEST HITS VOLUME 1 (1964-1967), THE KINK KRONIKLES (1966-1970), CELLULOID HEROES (1971-1977), and COME DANCING (1977-1984). Only a few songs are duplicated, and owning multiple copies of "Sunny Afternoon" and "Waterloo Sunset" et.al. isn't the worst thing in the world! Speaking of the Kinks (and the Stones, and the Beach Boys, and the Who), did ALL 60s bands had to start their decline at the same time, and were there any exceptions? I can't think of one single major artist that made it through the 70s unscathed. LeftyZ (on "I'm Not Like Everybody Else") > I had never heard that song until last TV season. It was in the > closing of SOME WB (I think) show. "One Tree Hill" or "Gilmore Girls" > perhaps. It IS a great song. (Not on a "regular" studio album, > right?) It's on Rhino's Greatest Hits album (a really great intro to the early Kinks!), and probably also on the mega-reissue of FACE TO FACE, but it wasn't originally on a regular studio album. Steve Steve ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 22:56:24 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? Anyone heard the new Tears For Fears? Any good? Jen ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:37:34 EDT From: AWeiss4338@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? In a message dated 9/14/2004 10:57:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, sleeveless@zoominternet.net writes: Anyone heard the new Tears For Fears? Any good? Just the title track, and Call me Mellow, the single. Mellow is one of the best singles of the year for me. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 22:39:59 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:50:16 -0700, "Steve Holtebeck" said: > > Speaking of the Kinks (and the Stones, and the Beach Boys, and the Who), > did ALL 60s bands had to start their decline at the same time, and were > there any exceptions? I can't think of one single major artist that > made it through the 70s unscathed. I'm not sure I'd date all these declines as being simultaneous - I'm pretty sure there are a large number of people who'd put The Who's and the Stones' *peaks* in the early '70s - it's maybe more interesting to speculate on what kinds of changes in music (style? recording? market?) happened in the early/mid '70s that made it harder for many major acts to continue at the same level of quality. Maybe a giant asteroid from space? Unlike the The Great Punk Divide of several years later (which seemed to instantaneously render scads of bands nearly obsolete), there doesn't seem to be a huge, pointable-at event in that era...anyone? - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree :: what they are made of, where they come from, or how often :: they should appear. :: --Lemony Snicket ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:06:21 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? AWeiss4338@aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 9/14/2004 10:57:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, >sleeveless@zoominternet.net writes: >Anyone heard the new Tears For Fears? Any good? >Just the title track, and Call me Mellow, the single. Mellow is one of the >best singles of the year for me. > > > > Can you compare it to any of their previous songs? Jen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:57:14 EDT From: JRT456@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? The weirdest thing about EVERYBODY... is that it's the album that THE SEEDS OF LOVE should've been, right down to the artwork. Most pop fans will be very happy. I was really enjoying Orzabal's brooding work without Smith, so I'm a little disappointed. Still, this could turn out to be an embarrassing addition to the year's favorite albums. In other uncool news: Looks like Morrissey has stepped in to save the reissue of Jobriath's LONELY PLANET from being a mere Rhino Handmade edition, and the record will now come out via his Attack imprint. It's been years since I've had the original, but the reissue is 15 tracks clocking in at 46:05, and it's holding up pretty good. Brett Smiley's still better, though. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 01:47:04 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? JRT456@aol.com wrote: >I was really enjoying Orzabal's brooding work without Smith, so I'm a >little disappointed. > I very much like the non-Smith stuff myself. > Still, this could turn out to be an embarrassing addition >to the year's favorite albums. > > Why embarrassing? Jen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 01:57:42 EDT From: AWeiss4338@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] tears, anyone? In a message dated 9/15/2004 12:06:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, sleeveless@zoominternet.net writes: Can you compare it to any of their previous songs? Well the title song does sound a little like their previous work, but Call me Mellow is psych jangle pop. Totally unlike them. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:13:11 -0700 From: "Bradley Skaught" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Open the goddamn box > Unlike the The Great Punk Divide of several years later >(which seemed to > instantaneously render scads of bands nearly obsolete), >there doesn't > seem to be a huge, pointable-at event in that >era...anyone? I recently read a special edition magazine that collected NME articles about "the glam rock era", and I was fascinated to read how the journalists of the time were very concerned that an era of great bands had just passed and now these Roxy Music/Bowie/T.Rex/etc. types were stepping in. There was no mention of why the 60's bands were suddenly not important anymore. One theory might be that the fans hit an age where they were going to experience and explore music as they had before, leaving the new kids to find their own thing. Other theories? B - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.752 / Virus Database: 503 - Release Date: 9/3/2004 ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #253 *******************************