From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V2 #368 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Friday, December 8 2000 Volume 02 : Number 368 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [RS] Blowing The Lid Off Covers ["Clary, John (CLRY)" ] Re: Re: [RS] Blowing The Lid Off Covers [Rongrittz@aol.com] RE: [RS] Covers, Top 10, Folk Music Defn ["Susan Koval" Subject: RE: [RS] Blowing The Lid Off Covers >> I think that what irks me about covers on a Richard album is that even with the covers SNP was a short album... << Sheesh, if you need more time on SNP, Merritt Parkway could have been made longer. But someone called that a "throw-away" earlier this year didn't they? Heh heh. I think that an artist makes a statement with a record. Granted a Label might dictate you keep it to 10 songs so you stretch your material over time for greater money-making potential, but Richard doesn't have that kind of Deal anyway. Maybe he should have recorded it in mono so we could have 120 minutes of music for our $10? Can't Richard be free to make the records he wants? It has been said that TGW was the record Dar wanted to make and so it should be accepted as such. Why should that apply just to lyrics and instrumentation and not to "original to cover" ratio or "total length of time" on the counter? I am very pleased with SNP even with the covers and "filler." j a c ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 16:15:33 -0500 From: patrick t power Subject: [RS] Re: Blowing The Lid Off Covers Ron admitted: <> Hmmm . . . For the most part, I've found that Richard has made *excellent* choices for the covers that he's done. To wit, "Memphis", "Shades of Black, Shades of Blue", "Cold Missouri Waters", "Sing Me Back Home" . . . and those are just the ones that he's recorded. I've heard him do Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927", "Sonora's Death Row", "Friend of the Devil", and "Once In A Blue Moon" (as well as a few others I can't recall) and I think he does them as well as anyone. That doesn't mean that he's infallible, however. I'm not crazy about "Darkness, Darkness" either; I don't believe that his "Sittin' On Top of the World" is all that special, either, but then again, I think that he tends to play that when he has Radislav accompanying him, giving Rad a chance to show his chops on the piano. Pat ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 16:30:01 EST From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: Re: [RS] Blowing The Lid Off Covers >> And by the way I do think that an album, not an EP, clocking in under 40 minutes or so, is too short. Especially for an established artist who can afford the recording process. I mean these people make music for a living, that is their career choice. So make some already. Geesh. << OK, I have an idea. YOU tell Richard to start writing more songs. ;-) Look, it's no secret that he's not the world's most prolific writer. It took two and a half years between "Reunion Hill" and "Somewhere Near Paterson," and even then, he included two covers and two instrumentals. It has nothing to do with affording the recording time. It has EVERYTHING to do with the reality of getting something out into the market, lest people forget you exist. >> And it seems like you agree with me Ron, based on the length of your CD. It is quite long and consistently good. Seems to me your CD (not with me at the moment)is in the 65+minutes range? << 72+, actually (and thanks for the nice words), but we're not comparing apples to apples. I had a lot of material to choose from, since I wasn't at the mercy of having to write any of it. >> But the I know long doesn't equal good, but with Richard I know it would. << The point is, though, would RICHARD think it was good? I mean, there's a reason he hasn't put "Home Team" or "She's in Spain and I'm in Pain" on a CD, ya know. RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 16:44:23 -0500 From: "Susan Koval" Subject: RE: [RS] Covers, Top 10, Folk Music Defn jac wrote: "I think that an artist makes a statement with a record. Granted a Label might dictate you keep it to 10 songs so you stretch your material over time for greater money-making potential, but Richard doesn't have that kind of Deal anyway." This discussion about album length is very interesting. In "The Entertainer," Billy Joel's cynical song about being in the record business, he writes: "If you want to make a hit You gotta make it fit So they cut it down to 3:05" One of the things I love about our folk musicians is they do have LONG songs. A group I just discovered about a month ago is a 5-man band from Canada called Tanglefoot and they are AWESOME! (I'll be putting their albums on my "top 10" list...). So many of their (and other favorites we discuss on this list) songs are 5, 6, 7 minutes long, just not what they are looking for on commercial radio. I just recently read a quote from Tom May of National Public Radio in which he stated the "true meaning of 'folk music '- music written for it's own sake, from the heart." I think this is a very cool way to define folk music, and that there is a lot of truth in it in relation to the singer-songwriters we admire on this list. Sue K ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 16:50:36 -0500 From: Kerry Bernard Subject: [RS] Virus watch (this is legit, unfortunately...) Hey guys, To make a very long story short, I was sent a computer virus today. Thankfully, my computer seems to be ok but I'm told that the reason it didn't affect me was because I use Eudora as my e-mail program and this a virus that primarily affects users of Outlook Express (the guy who sent it to me simply opened his e-mail this morning, received it from someone else, and then it automatically sent itself to everyone in his address book while simultaneously crashing his computer). Anyway, it comes as an attachement called creative.exe and there's some helpful info at McAfee's website: http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/viruses/prolin/default.asp The scary part is how it actually appears to come from someone you know. Even though I'm told it's primarily an Outlook Express thing, I would suggest we ALL be very wary of any attachments we receive (either turn off your "Accept Attachments" feature or just make sure you know what you're opening!). Hope this is helpful (and that you're all doing well!), Kerry :) =========================================================== Kerry Bernard kerry@younghunter.com Young/Hunter Management 781.643.2773 (ph) Arlington, MA 781.643.0416 (fax) =========================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 14:28:19 -0800 From: "Clary, John (CLRY)" Subject: RE: [RS] Covers, Top 10, Folk Music Defn Sue Quoted: >> I just recently read a quote from Tom May of National Public Radio in which he stated the "true meaning of 'folk music '- music written for it's own sake, from the heart." I think this is a very cool way to define folk music, and that there is a lot of truth in it in relation to the singer-songwriters we admire on this list. << And the only thing I would add (maybe it's obvious anyway) is that folk music doesn't try to conform to the commercial form. If you are singing from the heart, sometimes you can't fit it into a sound-bite length bits. You cry or laugh until you're done, so a folk song runs it's course the same way. j a c ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 20:10:47 EST From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] Re: Blowing The Lid Off Covers In addressing RuminatinRon's point, there really haven't even BEEN that many recorded RS covers. Truth be told, only five on official RS releases (one, a hidden track), one on the "Spring" EP and three with Cry Cry Cry: Darkness, Darkness I'll Be There in the Morning Sing Me Back Home My Love Will Follow You Calling the Moon Shades of Black, Shades of Blue Cold Missouri Waters Shades of Gray Memphis I'll agree that the Townes song is weak, and I've never particularly cared for "Memphis," but I think the rest are wonderful . . . better, in some cases, than some of Richard's originals. I love the rich harmonies on "My Love Will Follow You" and "Sing Me Back Home," which we don't get all that often on a Richard CD. "Darkness, Darkness" is an extremely unique and "dark" (no pun intended) use of DADGAD. "Shades of Black, Shades of Blue" is a wonderful song, another one of those covers I was SURE Richard had written until I discovered otherwise. And "Shades of Gray" is an incredible tour-de-force that absolutely shows what a wonderful instrumentalist Richard is, in addition to his singing and songwriting skills. And in concert, his covers often add a touch of whimsy ("I Got Mine," "Sitting on Top of the World" or "The Hobo Song") or romantic melancholy ("Once in a Very Blue Moon," "Making Plans" or "Love Hurts") to his often dour story-song originals. They're very much the type of songs he doesn't ordinarily write, and I think they help mix up his repertoire. >> So why should he bother with someone else's work that invariably will be inferior to his own? << Well, I'm sure HE doesn't think they're inferior to his own. And I think he actually enjoys playing them, as opposed to, oh, "Are You Happy Now" or "Kenworth" for the 7hbz (that's hundred billion zillionth) time. RG ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V2 #368 ***********************************