From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V2 #69 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Sunday, July 30 2000 Volume 02 : Number 069 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: Hiya ["Stuart Matthews" ] OV: RE: Original album [Jon Hammer ] Re: OV: RE: Original album [Darren Holmquist ] Re: OV: RE: Original album ["Stuart Matthews" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 02:13:26 -0700 From: "Stuart Matthews" Subject: OV: Hiya Hello, all! It's Stuart Matthews, a longtime Dels fans and recent addition to the list. Just thought I'd take a moment to say hello and introduce myself. Some of you might already know me from the Roddy Frame/Aztec Camera list, some from the Trash Can Sinatras list, or some because my better half is a member here. What's to know? Well, I don't say much, read a lot, and play guitar and sing in a band called Orange Olive in California. Our original stuff is coming out some day soon on CD and we're available on two Roddy tribute albums. We also recorded some stuff for the Dels tribute ... That said, I enjoy seeing your posts and have a great day ... Stu __________________________________ Stuart Matthews stuart@taire.com Executive Producer www.angelsbaseball.com www.mightyducks.com 714.227.4545 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 16:17:14 -0400 From: Jon Hammer Subject: OV: RE: Original album At 04:50 AM 7/29/2000 -0400, Kristy wrote: >Okay, so about a week and a half ago, I FINALLY got the lost Del CD . . . I >mean their ORIGINAL work of Warholian art from 1985. Cover art aside, I saw >the photo on the inside of the sleeve and almost dropped it in shock! How >OLD were they when they had that photo taken?? It was great! I loved >Justin in the sweater with the sleeves jaunitly rolled up . . . I could be >remembering that incorrectly, but seeing the band in all of their 80's glory >made me want to hug ALL of them for their fashion sense alone and thank >Buddha for letting me live through the coolest decade the world will ever >know. I've had my copy for a couple of years now, but mine doesn't include a photo of the band. That's a shame. Would love to see how young they looked back then. In fact, its ironic that you mentioned this album, as I listened to it the other night for the first time in quite a while. And listening to it, I realized why. Quite frankly......its bad. Now don't get me wrong. I love the music. I think you can hear the future of the band in the music. But the lyrics are horrible, IMHO. And Justin's voice wasn't very good back then either. On the liner notes, it says that all the songs were written by the band as a whole. Is this correct? Can anybody shed any light on that? I'd love to see them redo that album now. Go back into the studio and take the music with some different lyrics and Justin's voice as it is now, and I think it could be a winner. >Now lets talk about the vocals! I have to admit that hearing the first few >lines made me think I had brought a Duran or ig Country CD by mistake. When >I realised who it was, I laughed my little tooshie off. Don't get me wrong . >. . this is one of the BEST CD's I own and I will treasure it for all of my >days, but listening to it was like being a parent and taking a picture of my >son on his first date! It was so damn CUTE!! The parent/son analogy is a good one. If this had been the first Del Amitri album I'd heard, I wouldn't have given them a second listen. That's why I can't honestly agree that this is one of the best CD's I own, but it is one of the more interesting ones. >Back to the cover art . . . any interpretations? I'm gonna have to sit doen >and think on this one. Freud would have loved it. My liner notes don't say much about it. Must have been one of those pictures that one, or more, of them saw and just had to have on the cover. Or maybe they ran out of time and used a picture hanging in the lobby of their record company? The difference between this album and Waking Hours is incredible. I don't know who took charge of the direction of the band after that album, but they can thank them for saving them. That and Justin's voice changing. Jon Hammer Powell, Ohio mailto:Jon.Hammer@CommerceNetwork.globalec.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 22:17:03 -0500 From: "debbie" Subject: OV: Re: RE: Original album - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Hammer" To: Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 3:17 PM Subject: OV: RE: Original album > > At 04:50 AM 7/29/2000 -0400, Kristy wrote: > > >Okay, so about a week and a half ago, I FINALLY got the lost Del CD . . . I > >mean their ORIGINAL work of Warholian art from 1985. Cover art aside, I saw > >the photo on the inside of the sleeve and almost dropped it in shock! How > >OLD were they when they had that photo taken?? It was great! I loved > >Justin in the sweater with the sleeves jaunitly rolled up . . . I could be > >remembering that incorrectly, but seeing the band in all of their 80's glory > >made me want to hug ALL of them for their fashion sense alone and thank > >Buddha for letting me live through the coolest decade the world will ever > >know. My vinyl's hopelessly tucked away at the moment, but I didn't have any pics in mine. I never even knew what they looked like 'til Waking Hours, then I thought that Justin looked like Corey Feldman, at least the one pic really did! > > In fact, its ironic that you mentioned this album, as I listened > to it the other night for the first time in quite a while. And listening to > it, I realized why. Quite frankly......its bad. Now don't get me wrong. I > love the music. I think you can hear the future of the band in the music. > But the lyrics are horrible, IMHO. And Justin's voice wasn't very good back > then either. Oh, I don't know about the lyrics being horrible. I think the line "Feeling less and less is just an easy way of doing more wrong." was/is brilliant! I used to have that quote posted in my cube at work back in the late 80's/early 90's. > > I'd love to see them redo that album now. Go back into the studio and take > the music with some different lyrics and Justin's voice as it is now, and I > think it could be a winner. I still think it was a winner. It was the first del Amitri (remember the lower case "del" anyone?) album that I heard. I don't even remember which song it was now, but I saw great potential in them. I may be possibly the "oldest" fan (in the sense of knowing of them the longest) on this list as I actually knew of them when they came on that first tour through the US (on borrowed equipment as I've since been told). I wanted so badly to be able to see them that first time (well, anytime to be honest) that they breezed through Dallas, but I was too young to get into the bar. :-( > > >Now lets talk about the vocals! I have to admit that hearing the first few > >lines made me think I had brought a Duran or ig Country CD by mistake. When > >I realised who it was, I laughed my little tooshie off. Don't get me wrong . > >. . this is one of the BEST CD's I own and I will treasure it for all of my > >days, but listening to it was like being a parent and taking a picture of my > >son on his first date! It was so damn CUTE!! That it certainly is! It's kind of funny, but I have this painting in my "doll" room of this boy kissing a girl while leaning over a garden wall, and you know what song pops into my head immediately when I see it, don't you!? :-) > The difference between this album and Waking Hours is incredible. I don't > know who took charge of the direction of the band after that album, but > they can thank them for saving them. That and Justin's voice changing. > Well, they were fairly young when that was recorded. I'm thinking they were about 18-20ish, which isn't young by today's "boy band" standards, but all in all, it is still young in my book. Heck, I still think we're all young as the 30 somethings that we are. :-) have a great day, debbie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 22:35:31 -0700 From: Darren Holmquist Subject: Re: OV: RE: Original album As far as I can gather, there are 3 different cover variations of that first album, on CD. The first one I got, after Waking Hours, has the name DEL AMITRI in red on the spine. The J-card folds out into a "mini-poster' which *I believe* was the inner liner of the 12" vinyl. That is a US release. The second US release has the name DEL AMITRI in blue (or purple, the light's not so good in here). The sleeve doesn't fold into a poster, it's just blank on the inside. Then there's the import version, with Del Amitri in italics on the spine. The J-card opens up to credits and a B&W photo of the band, with Iain having the shortest hair of the bunch. I've used this photo on my CD-r of the Rome '86 concert. The music itself took some time to grow on me, but it did. Bear in mind 3 members of this particular band, went on to create Waking Hours... Only guitarist Bryan Tolland didn't make it back into the fold after the Chrysalis debacle. My biggest question has always been, WHO IS MICHAEL SLAVEN?? He gets songwriting credits for KTTG and HOR... where did he go? What has he done? Did he quit the business like Tom Petty's original bass player Ron Blair?? What gives? As to the lyric writing that has been mentioned... Lennon & McCartney started with "Love, love me do. You know I love you." Del Amitri decided to start with "I suppose love lives in a dust bin behind the garden wall..." Everyone needs to start somewhere. The fact that they were young, and the mid-80's were full of big time music, they had a lot to compete with. So, Debbie and Jon, give the album some time. I still hear nuances of the first album in Waking Hours! It should be the other way around! Listen to the b-sides (if you can) and you'll hear them having a lot of fun. That makes that first album "Sound" sound better... knowing they're having a good time. At least it does me. Back to administering... Peace, Darren PS Yes, there is at least one person who saw them play several times in 1986, here on the list. If you've got the early editions of I&P, her story is there. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 00:11:07 -0700 From: "Stuart Matthews" Subject: Re: OV: RE: Original album Well, gotta say something here. The Dels first album might not reach the magnificent production standards which we've all grown accustomed to, but in my mind it still is and always will be their best. Yes, Justin's voice is raw but it's spirited. Not as natural sounding as it sounds today but certainly he got his point across. He did to me, anyway. Me and my college roommate wore out three copies of vinyl back in the day ... And Iain's guitar playing, mistakes and all, ... in my mind, he made more hits than misses with those mistakes. The band was certainly earnest back then. To me, it still sounds like freedom and spirit, and maybe I'm stubborn but I love that feeling. Plus, the band did things in the studio in that day of experimentation that they probably will never try again, but those little experiments remain brilliant to this day. Listen to the layered background vocals on the outro of "Heard Through A Wall" or "Breaking Bread" and then listen to them over again. See if you can pick out what I mean. It's probably a matter of you had to have been there when ... Stu > As far as I can gather, there are 3 different cover variations of that > first album, on CD. > The first one I got, after Waking Hours, has the name DEL AMITRI in red on > the spine. The J-card folds out into a "mini-poster' which *I believe* was > the inner liner of the 12" vinyl. That is a US release. The second US > release has the name DEL AMITRI in blue (or purple, the light's not so good > in here). The sleeve doesn't fold into a poster, it's just blank on the > inside. > > Then there's the import version, with Del Amitri in italics on the > spine. The J-card opens up to credits and a B&W photo of the band, with > Iain having the shortest hair of the bunch. I've used this photo on my > CD-r of the Rome '86 concert. > > The music itself took some time to grow on me, but it did. Bear in mind 3 > members of this particular band, went on to create Waking Hours... Only > guitarist Bryan Tolland didn't make it back into the fold after the > Chrysalis debacle. > > My biggest question has always been, WHO IS MICHAEL SLAVEN?? He gets > songwriting credits for KTTG and HOR... where did he go? What has he > done? Did he quit the business like Tom Petty's original bass player Ron > Blair?? What gives? > > As to the lyric writing that has been mentioned... Lennon & McCartney > started with "Love, love me do. You know I love you." Del Amitri decided > to start with "I suppose love lives in a dust bin behind the garden > wall..." Everyone needs to start somewhere. The fact that they were > young, and the mid-80's were full of big time music, they had a lot to > compete with. > > So, Debbie and Jon, give the album some time. I still hear nuances of the > first album in Waking Hours! It should be the other way around! Listen to > the b-sides (if you can) and you'll hear them having a lot of fun. That > makes that first album "Sound" sound better... knowing they're having a > good time. At least it does me. > > Back to administering... > > Peace, > Darren > > PS Yes, there is at least one person who saw them play several times in > 1986, here on the list. If you've got the early editions of I&P, her story > is there. > > > ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V2 #69 *********************************