[mod.music.gaffa] responses

ins_aset@jhunix.BITNET (Susanne E Trowbridge) (11/06/86)

>From: Jim Hofmann <hofmann@nrl-css.arpa>
>Subject: Robin Hiccups


>Yawn.  This Hitchcok dude is perhaps the most overated piece of shit
>to EVER come out of "left field".... Please, Mr. Immigration, take him
>back to England where he can bore the welfare pricks to death...

Oh, shut up, Hofmann.  Shut up or I'll get somebody to tie you down and
make you listen to the Housemartins all day.



>E  X  P  E  R  I  M  E  N  T     I  V   ! !  !   !    !     !      !

>The greatest single piece of music in the history of the known universe.

>-- Andrew Marvick

Okay, just ruin my day then -- I'm not going to be able to get to a
decent record store for another week or so!  Grr.


>From: genrad!decvax!encore!munsell!pac (Paul Czarnecki)
>Subject: Yellow and Art of Noise

>Are the bands "Yellow" (sp?) and "Art of Noise" the same band?  I
>just heard Yellow on the radio ('FNX) and I would have sworn that
>it was the AofN playing!

>What gives here?

No, Yello and the Art of Noise are not the same band.  Yello are Swiss,
and they have released about five albums, of which "Claro Que Si" and
"You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess" are my faves.  (I thought "Stella"
was a total bore.)  The Art of Noise used to be on the Zang Tumb Tuum
record label, they're British, and their latest record is "In Visible
Silence."  Max Headroom is featured on the "Paranoimia" single.  I
personally prefer their ZTT work, especially "Into Battle with the
Art of Noise."  Avoid the ten zillion remixes of "Beat Box."


>From: seismo!udenva!showard (Steve "Blore" Howard)
>Subject: New and/or Newly Discover (by me) Bands

>  In order to distract myself from the Great "The Dreaming" Debate, I've
>been listening to some of the following albums.  Info on origins, previous
>work, etc. would be much appreciated:

>   The Housemartins "London 0 Hull 4"

The Housemartins are a fun bunch of Marxist guys from Hull in Northern
England.  Their roots are in gospel and pop.  "London 0 Hull 4" is
their first LP, but they've released four EPs -- "Flag Day," "Sheep,"
"Happy Hour" and "Think For A Minute."  All have loads of extra tracks
and are well worth checking out, especially if you like the gospel
song on the album.  "Take Jesus -- Take Marx -- Take Hope."  Yeah,
right.  I like the music more than I like the message.

>   Jane Siberrey (sp?) "The Speckless Sky"

Jane Siberry...hmm, imagine if Laurie Anderson had a pert and perky
younger sister.  She's Canadian, and has three albums -- don't know
what the first one's called, but #2 is "No Borders Here" and "The
Speckless Sky" is the third and latest.  Saw her live here in Baltimore
last May, on "Hands Across America" day.  Somehow, that seemed oddly
appropriate.

>   While I'm at it, can anyone tell me which Smiths album has "Panic" on
>it?

None!  It's only available on single.  Sire released it here in the US.
It's backed with "Vicar in a Tutu" and "The Draize Train" (an instrumental
on the 12" only).  Incidentally, the cosmetics test where they put
makeup and shampoo in rabbits' eyes to check for toxicity is called the
Draize test, so I assume there's some connection...Has anybody heard
the new Smiths 12"?  I wasn't a big fan of "Panic," so I passed it up.


>From: wicinski <wicinski@nrl-cst.arpa>
>Subject: Woodentops ----

>For a GREAT review of the Woodentop's new LP, check out the latest Schpin
>magazine.  Written by Byron Coley (ala Farced Exposure).

HAH!!!  This is perhaps the WORST record review I have EVER read.
It's not even a REVIEW.  It doesn't tell you ANYTHING about the album.
I think Spin SUCKS and I refuse to buy it...a friend of mine was reading
it and said, "oh-oh, you're not going to like this..."  And he was
RIGHT!!!!   Byron Coley is a f*cking ASSHOLE.  I would rather be
forced to stare at Rolling Stone's celebrity fashion spreads all day
than read Spin's miserable record review section.  Speaking of Stone,
their review of "Giant" was poorly written but at least it was an
actual REVIEW.  BOYCOTT SPIN!!!!!!!!!


>From: elroy!smeagol!earle@csvax.caltech.edu (Greg Earle)
>Subject: Revised Tour dates for Skinny Puppy and Severed Heads

>Be there or miss out, weenies

>P.S. Sue, please try to confirm your rumors before you post innocuous one
>line statements that scare the shit out of me.

Look, I'm sorry!  That's what I get for listening to the jerks at the
9:30 Club.  The guy who said it was cancelled was the same person who
refused to accept my college I.D. as a valid proof of age, which meant
I had to have a massive skull and crossbones stamped on my hand...
oh, the chagrin.  If I can talk somebody into giving me a ride to
D.C., I will be there, OK?

My parents were visiting last weekend and my dad put on my copy of
"Bites" because he thought Skinny Puppy was a "cute name."  (My dad's
favorite artists are along the lines of Linda Ronstadt and the Pet
Shop Boys.)  His verdict -- "Skinny Puppy sucks!"

By the way, did you hear that Laibach's next album will feature
cover versions of several Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond songs?

Yours for more mischief,
Sue

Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU.UUCP (01/21/87)

Really-From: Mark Katsouros <KATSOURO@UMDD>

> From: bill coderre <mit-amt!bc@seismo.CSS.GOV>
> Date: 28 Dec 86 16:16:17 GMT
>
> The strip is really called "The Angriest Dog in the World" and appears
> in the Washington Post, and nowhere else I've seen. It's a kick, tho.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, it appears exclusively in The City Paper.
Incidently, what does this strip have to do with MODern MUSIC?

> Date:    Tue, 20 Jan 87 17:02 PST
> From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
>
> For the sake of argument (and out of a profound sense
> of desperation), IED challenges anyone reading this to name ONE record
> made since the early Seventies that attains a level of thematic and
> musical complexity, multi-level meaning and sophisticated cohesion of
> music and production comparable to that achieved by Kate Bush since 1982.
> IT CANNOT BE DONE! SUCH MUSIC DOES NOT EXIST!

Though I agree with the above, there are two records that I think should be
mentioned as fitting the above mold better than any others, if one was to not
consider Kate's obviously superior work:  EMERSON LAKE & PALMER's WORKS Volume
1 and GENESIS' THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY.  Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto
No. 1 on ELP's WORKS Volume 1 will always be one of my favorites, no matter how
overwhelmed I become with Kate's music.

Mark Kat(e)souros

"And I'm hovering like a fly
 Waiting for the windshield on the freeway."

Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU.UUCP (01/24/87)

Really-From: Mark Katsouros <KATSOURO@UMDD>

> Date: Wed, 21 Jan 87 11:40:40 cst
> From: hsu@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu)
>
> Sorry, I can't let that go without a comment. I was quite underwhelmed
> :-) when I first heard Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto 8 years ago,
> and I still am now. It's no more than an uninspired smorgasbord of
> early 20th century classical piano cliches, notably Prokofiev.
>
> Emerson is a superb technician, and ELP has written some fine songs,
> but that concerto is a sterling example of the faults of early '70s
> artrock: clinging to old forms without revitalizing them with new
> approaches, and presenting hackneyed cliches as original, "respectable"
> ideas. I think industrial musicians have done a much better job
> of digesting and revitalizing the techniques of experimental music
> in the classical tradition.
>
> [][][][][][][][][][]
>
> Date:    Thu, 22 Jan 87 20:28 PST
> From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
>
> Well, though IED hates to disagree with Mark, who
> usually turns a sympathetic ear to IED's ravings
> about KT, he is inclined to agree with Bill's
> assessment of Emerson's concerto. Any kind of familiarity
> with the real thing will show up the awkwardness
> and structural poverty of the Emerson piece.

Give me a break.  Please.  I'm quite familiar with "the real thing", thank you
both.  And the title of this piece makes it obvious that Emerson is not trying
to pass it off as a "new thing", but instead, a performance of the
traditional.  Hell, Sting literally stole a Sergei Prokofiev theme for his
"Russians", but so what?  It's a hell of a song.  Have you really listened to
Emerson's concerto?  I mean really listened?  That's one complex, nicely done,
traditional piece of music.  Hell, I wish I could sound a tenth as dramatic on
the piano.  Perhaps I'm judging the piece from an entirely different
perspective.  Perhaps I'm overwhelmed by how difficult it seems to play such a
piece.  Just listen to the layers in the second movement.  And have you
listened to Lake's "Closer To Believing"?  It's got some of the prettiest, most
poetic lyrics, combined with the same sort of "drama" found in Emerson's
concerto.  Sure, it's no Kate, but that album is one intense accomplishment as
far as this listener is concerned.

Mark Kat(e)souros

"Lay your heart upon the table
 And in the shuffling of dreams
 Remember who on earth you are"