nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (09/21/85)
See what you're missing because your not a Kate Bush fan.... Here's a
copy of today's issue of Love-Hounds digest as a sample:
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 85 15:24:26 pdt
From: Jordan Hayes <jordan%ucbarpa@Berkeley>
Organization: Computer Systems Research Group
Home-Phone: (415) 835-8767
Uucp-Path: ...ucbvax!jordan
Subject: Re: Barry *Adamson*
Hmmm... Barry Adamson, true, was with Magazine, but it was Barry ANDREWS
who played with League of Gentlemen and XTC and currently with
Shriekback... Barry Adamson indeed played with Visage...
/jordan
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Date: Wed, 18 Sep 85 19:26:22 PDT
From: allegra!ihnp4!uw-beaver!entropy!fetrow (David Fetrow)
Subject: Pre-Raphaelites
The Smithsonian magazine had a feature on these guys. They were fond of
a painting style that died out as Raphael came to prominence and claimed
to emulate that style. They were quite fond of this one, stunning, model
and they all painted her many times over the years.
I suppose it is possible this model was KB in a previous incarnation.
-Dave "Kludgemaster" Fetrow
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 00:34:34 edt
From: harvard!jerpc.PE!topaz!jer (Eric Roskos @ Home)
X-From: jer@jerpc.PE.UUCP (Eric Roskos @ Home)
Subject: Meaning of RUTH Lyrics
X-Mailer: RRPC-MH MS-DOS Version 0.1X
Well, today I finally got the time to sit down and reread all
the previous comments on the lyrics for RUTH, and also to listen
to it several times. However, after listening to it, I still
can't figure out how the song is about the solipsistic nature of
the art experience or something of that sort.
My mundane and superficial interpretation, which I thought of
after listening to it the first time, still makes more sense
than that (although a convincing argument for a better
interpretation could change my mind)... that this song is about
a woman jogging in the city, who runs by some construction
workers, who are up in the girders of a building under
construction, who begin shouting things at her the way
construction workers often shout things at women. This makes
her angry and hurt, and she wishes they could exchange places so
that they could appreciate this. She wishes she could go out
and jog "with no problems;" but she also wishes she could run up
the side of the building, where the men are safely sitting, and
confront them.
The lyrics puzzle me, though; is the first "it doesn't hurt me"
supposed to be a denial of the reality? Since later she says,
"You don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies."
Or is it supposed to reflect their mistaken sentiments, "Aw,
gee, it doesn't hurt her none."
See, this line "Tell me, we both matter, don't we?" suggests the
object-ification of women which such comments imply. However, I
don't see how "You and me won't be unhappy" relates to this,
unless it means to suggest the relative unimportance of
attraction based on appearance which such comments also imply
(if it meant this, it would seem to be a sort of flaw to me;
since clearly people could be thus attracted and still unhappy.
Or maybe it merely reflects another mistaken idea, like the "it
doesn't hurt her" one.).
There aren't many other lyrics to this song, so it's hard to
find much more in it, for me... but the reason I don't
understand how it might relate to the isolation between the
artist and the audience is that there is a sort of anger and
hostility there; what does "is there so much hate for the ones
we love," or the other suggestions of harm ("unaware that I'm
tearing you asunder") have to do with such a concept? I would
think that a song about that subject would have a sad tone; I
think I could write such a song myself, but it would have
phrases denoting emptiness and isolation, and tonal echoes, and
so on, rather than this sort of angry sound.
--------------
Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos
UUCP-Mail: vax135!petsd!peora!jer@jerpc.PE
"Well, I don't Think that the LORD Meant us to eat Charred
Caterpillars, no matter What condition of Stiffness they're in!"
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 13:13:23 edt
From: Tim Wicinski <wicinski@nrl-css.ARPA>
Subject: Records Stores/Mail Ordering/Rare Records/Information
I want to find some decent record stores that deal with hard to find
and rare records. I especially through mail order. I also would like
to find those stupid record auction magazines. I have an old one
that was sent to me, they only put out one issue, then went under. They
had some people auctioning off some decent stuff (old Zappa/Beefhart, I
saw a hard to find Eno single). What I am looking for are the Eno/Schmidt
Oblique Strategies cards that were out for awhile. I also want to
dig up as much music by Jonathan Richman as I can find ( you should know
him Doug, he is from Boston also!!)
I would post this to net.music, but I cant get it presently (unless
someone wants to feed me articles...)
---
Ignorance of your culture is not considered cool !!
Tim Wicinski, Naval Research Labs
Arpa: wicinski@nrl-css
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu 19 Sep 85 12:30:26-PDT
From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Records Stores/Mail Ordering/Rare Records/Information
Try Bow Wow Records in Albuquerque on Amherst Drive SouthEast. The prop.
is Andy Horvitz, and their phone number is (505) 256-0928. Andy's great,
and stocks a lot of stuff you can't find in larger urban areas because
the selections get picked over by the cognoscenti. Jonathan Richman
stays with Andy when he tours ABQ. Andy does have a set of strategy
cards, but he may not want to part with them. Tell Andy I sent you...
Also, there's a place in Burbank called Disc-ontinued Records, 444 So.
Victory Blvd. I found an album there that I'd been looking for for
years. Typically, they cater to fanatics and film companies. They're
not cheap, but they'll have a good chance of having things you might
want. BTW, an interesting point - they won't sell you a copy of
something unless they have at least two. They keep an archive
copy of everything. Quite an interesting front office - if you're
in the area, I'd recommend visiting it.
Bob
-------
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 15:35:17 EDT
From: Jim Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject: ball of confusion
Is SHRIEKBACK the dudes who sing 'Ball of Confusion'? ... that's
a neato song!!!!
-Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------
First i got to thinkin'/Then I got to drinking ....
P.S. PLAN 9 tonight at Student Union, University of MD, College Park.....
Review to follow .......
[][][][][][][][][][]
Return-Path: <bdmrrr!potomac!jsl>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 15:51:48 edt
From: bdmrrr!potomac!jsl@seismo.CSS.GOV (John Labovitz)
Subject: Re: Records Stores/Mail Ordering/Rare Records/Information
> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 13:13:23 edt
> From: Tim Wicinski <bdmrrr!seismo!nrl-css.ARPA!wicinski>
> To: love-hounds%mit-eddie.ARPA
> Subject: Records Stores/Mail Ordering/Rare Records/Information
>
> I want to find some decent record stores that deal with hard to find
> and rare records. I especially through mail order. I also would like
> to find those stupid record auction magazines. I have an old one
> that was sent to me, they only put out one issue, then went under. They
> had some people auctioning off some decent stuff (old Zappa/Beefhart, I
> saw a hard to find Eno single). What I am looking for are the Eno/Schmidt
> Oblique Strategies cards that were out for awhile.
Have you been to Yesterday and Today Records in Rockville (Maryland, for all
you non-DC-area folks)? They have a lot of rare and strange records there.
> I also want to
> dig up as much music by Jonathan Richman as I can find ( you should know
> him Doug, he is from Boston also!!)
OOHH OOHH! You like Jonathan too???? Yeaaaaaaaa... you MUST be cool. I'm
trying to get all his stuff too. I wrote to him a while ago (the address of
his fan club is on the Rockin' and Romance album), and he sent me a list of
all the records he's done. If you want, I can xerox the thing and send it
to you (or I could type it in, but it's written by Jonathan himself, and is
pretty funny).
Lessee, I've got ``Rockin' and Romance,'' ``Back in Your Life,'' ``The
Original Modern Lovers'' (which, according to Jonathan, is not *actually*
the Original Modern Lovers -- it's a bootleg album, and Jonathan hates it),
a 12" EP which just came out (has Farad & Sheeran (or whatever it is), Just
Beginning to Live, and a couple others), and the album that has Pablo
Picasso and Astral Plain on it (I don't know the name of the album -- I just
have the tape). I still need to get ``Jonathan Sings'' (which is luckily
still in print) and any others.
Have you seen him in concert? He played at the Saba Club in April and
August, and at the (old) Adam's 21 last June. I think he comes around once
or twice a year.
By the way, he's living in Grass Valley, CA now. He and his wife just had a
baby girl. (Hard to believe him being a father, isn't it? That kid is
going to turn out great.)
--
John Labovitz ..!{rlgvax,seismo}!bdmrrr!potomac!jsl
--
"They don't play guitars; they just sing,
They bring their clothes when they sing,
In fact, that's all they bring." -- `The Baltimores,' Jonathan Richman
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 16:44:44 EDT
From: Jim Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject: Re: ball of confusion
It's been reverbarating in my head all-l-l-l day ...
and I just figured out something wierd .... has
anyone noticed that the chorus of this song is haiku????
dig....
ball of confusion
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
1 2 3 4 5
That's what the world is today
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(poetic liscense on world or is it flame liscense)
and the band played on
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
1 2 3 4 5
WHO ARE THESE GUYS ??????
Is there any other groups that write in haiku ... How
'bout Kate???? Anyone out there ever check it out???
-----------------------------------------------------------
-Jim
-----------------------------------------------------------
personal to patty: Tight shoes and I'm thinking of you
Uh-huh-huh.
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 16:34:02 edt
From: harvard!bu-cs!sam@bu-cs (Shelli Meyers)
Subject: Disco?
As Doug once mentioned, R.U.T.H. is the most-requested song
on one of our Boston radio stations, WFNX. (Of course, this
is only because Doug and I each call 30 to 40 times a day,
but that's beside the point.)
Anyway, I've heard RUTH referred to as "disco". I don't know
about anybody else, but when I think of disco, types like
Michael Jackson and the Pointer Sisters, and Saturday Night
Fever come to mind. Yes, RUTH is *dancable*, but I hardly
think it disco. There are parts of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
that have a strong beat that you could dance to as well.
Does disco even have a definition for contemporary (past few years)
music? Or did it die with the Bee Gees? (Oh *LORD* I hope so....
even though I *like* Madonna....<sorry Doug>...)
---Shelli
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 18:01:21 EST
From: hsut@purdue-ecn.ARPA (Tsun-Yuk Hsu)
Only a week late, the unasked for review of the new Cure album
"The Head on the Door"...
First, a little discography (sorry if there are more Cure fans on
the net than I thought, and EVERYBODY already has a list of Cure albums.)
The first Cure album was "Boys Don't Cry" (US version of the British
"3 Imaginary Boys"), a nice collection of 3 minute bouncy, well-crafted
pop songs. Even then, Cure singer Robert Smith's tendency towards
depression and despair manifested itself (discreetly) on such pieces as
the eerie Subway Song. "Seventeen Seconds" was a wonderful album with
richer textures and colors, and the emphasis has shifted from bouncy
pop songs to a darker style. "Faith" is the first truly depressing Cure
album, with such masterpieces of doom and despair as The Funeral Party,
Drowning Man, The Holy Hour and Faith. "Seventeen Seconds" and "Faith"
are available in the US as a double album called "Happily Ever After"
:-) :-). Then the Cure went all the way with the powerful "Pornography",
with heavy emphasis on electric instruments and keyboards (in contrast
to the acoustic ensembles of "Boys Don't Cry".) The lyrics are also
the darkest and most despairing of the group's albums so far.
"Pornography" is a tour de force, well worth the time of anyone
interested in intelligent, evocative music.
Then the Cure went on vacation and made a bunch of dance
singles which I've been told to stay away from (and I did). These are
collected in the album "Japanese Whispers". "The Top" marked a return
to wonderfully depressing music, although with a much wider variety of
songs than on any of their previous albums. Some old Cure fans were
unhappy about the divergence, but I thought "The Top" had some
classic Cure songs despite its (relative) inconsistency, such as the
religious Wailing Wall and Piggy In the Mirror.
Naturally, I was more than curious to see what the Cure would
do next. Well, "The Head on the Door" looked really promising from its
song titles (Blood, Sinking, Screw --- vintage Cure titles!!), but the
album was actually somewhat less than inspiring. The sound has been
lightened up considerably, with a return to the widespread use of
acoustic instruments. A lot of the songs resemble the first album
in sound, though without the first album's charm and innocent exuberance.
Robert Smith's vocals do lift the weaker pieces from banality, though.
In Between Days, the "hit UK single" according to the sticker on my
album, is a little pop song about unrequited love (or is it a menage
a trois Smith sings about?) Kyoto Song has some clever bits, and some
typically cryptic Cure vocals:
"It looks good
It tastes like nothing on earth
It's so smooth it feels like skin
It tells me how it feels to be new..."
The Blood recalls The Wailing Wall (from "The Top") in its
intricate guitar work and subject matter (the reference is to the
blood of Christ). The second side has the heavier (and better) songs,
in my opinion. The Baby Screams has lyrics almost right out of
the Cure's masterpiece "Pornography", but Smith accompanies it with
lighter, happier music that recalls the first album. A Night Like This
is the closest to the pre-Japanese Whispers Cure that's on this album.
The richly textured keyboards also appear on Sinking, which with
ANLT are probably my favorite songs on the album.
So "The Head on the Door" is not one of the best Cure albums,
but hardly a disaster. For a taste of the "real" Cure, "Pornography"
or "Faith (or even "The Top") would be better choices, though.
Bill Hsu
pur-ee!hsut
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 18:12:42 pdt
From: Jordan Hayes <jordan%ucbarpa@Berkeley>
Organization: Computer Systems Research Group
Home-Phone: (415) 835-8767
Uucp-Path: ...ucbvax!jordan
Subject: Re: Disco
I think that "disco" per se doesn't have to necessarily mean "Bee Gees"...
Besides, I don't think that RUTH is all *that* dancable, compared to
what I might call "disco" these days (like Bronski Beat, for
example...)
Or A Certain Ratio ...
/jordan
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 85 02:19:39 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Certain General?
I just got back from seeing Red Lorry Yello Lorry. They were really
good! (What do you think of them, Mu? You're one of our resident punk
experts...) In any case, I was there for several songs by one of the
warm-up bands, "Certain General". They were really good too! Has
anyone ever heard of them and know anything about them?
-Doug
P.S. After the show, I even got the D.J. to play Running Up That Hill!
The D.J. must really like Kate Bush, because it's the only song all
night that he announced before playing. Unfortunately, he left it for
the very end when most of the people had already left. Still, before
"Running Up That Hill", I never imagined in my strangest nightmares a
hundred people dancing to Kate Bush....
[][][][][][][][][][]
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 85 04:37:52 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Review of "Hounds of Love" in Smash Hits
In the 11-24 Sep 85 Smash Hits there is a review of "Hounds of Love".
"Hounds of Love" is their pick of the month:
If you for a moment imagined that "Running Up That Hill" was a
fluke then one listen to this will put you right. Side one is
crammed with songs that are just as good and even side two's
ambitious concept piece about a drowning girl ("The Ninth Wave")
is surprizingly successful.
Hmmph! "Even side two"??? How about "even side one's collection of
commercial love songs is surprizingly successful", instead.
In fact the only possible drawback is that it's the sort of
record your parents will probably like too and pinch off you to
play.
I dunno about that! Whenever I play "The Dreaming" when my mother's
around, she says "Couldn't you play something in your more mainstream
tastes -- like Pink Floyd?" Then again, "The Ninth Wave" is quite
Floydian at times....
(9 out of 10). Chris Heath.
In the 14 Sep 85 issue of Melody Maker there is an announcement for the
release of "Hounds of Love":
Kate Bush releases her fifth album on September 16. "Hounds of
Love" -- written and produced by Kate Bush -- divides into two
sections. Side one comprises five tracks, including the hit
single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)". All five songs
on side one are thematic -- "describing fundamental differences
between the sexes and how differences lead to misunderstanding
in relationships."
No, they don't! "Mother Stands For Comfort" is about nothing of the
sort! It's a love song to mom. Perhaps the other four songs could be
described that way, but I would say that they are more about being
scared of love and overcoming this problem. I'm not sure how "Mother
Stands For Comfort" fits into this theme.
In the 14 Sep 85 issue of Sounds, there are two letters regarding Kate
Bush. One is a letter from a representative of EMI denying all rumors
that EMI interfered with the album at all. EMI claims that the album is
*exactly* the way Kate wanted it to be. They claim that the album was
delayed because Kate was unsatisfied with parts of it, and wanted to
re-record those parts.
There is a lot of evidence, though, that EMI pressured Kate to change
the name of "A Deal With God" to "Running Up That Hill" and that this
caused a several month delay because all the artwork had to be redone.
The other letter is from a Kate Bush fan who is upset that some people
are comparing Kate with Madonna. I haven't seen anyone do such a thing,
thank goodness. Where are they? I'll kill them!
"You're like my yo-yo
That glows in the dark"
Doug
[][][][][][][][][][]render@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (09/26/85)
Doug Alan asks the musical question:
> See what you're missing because your not a Kate Bush fan....
Answer: after reading your digest, not a whole hell of a lot.
"With fans like these, who needs critics?"
Hal Render
University of Illinois
{pur-ee, ihnp4} ! uiucdcs ! render
render@uiuc.csnet render@uiuc.arpa