🚀 go-pugleaf

Love-Hounds Digest			Friday, May 23, 1986, 04:55 EDT

Topics:

			    Dayglo Abortions
			 Sarcastic Orgasm. . .
	       Re: Re: Anglo/Americo/Notes from all over
		       End of French KT interview
				 Hi-NRG
				PG on KT
		machorock vs discowimp,  (Alfke babbles)
			 Synths aren't evil ...
		self-explanatory (more alfkebabblespeak)
				answers
			 those Brian Eno videos
			      Roxy Romance

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Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 12:17:38 EDT
From: Hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA
Subject:  Dayglo Abortions

You mean they send you albums and you don't EVEN PLAY THEM?????

BEcause of the cover?????  Whatdafug??? Give it to me - I'll get it
mentioned somewheres. . .actually I hear LOTS of good things about
that band,,, this really makes me puke when I hear of people getting
free records and not even playing it.  That's bad, Sue ... I should
forward that to all the record companies and especially the Dayglo
Abortions.  You should be ashamed, not proud.


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Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 12:35:20 EDT
From: Swingset Disaster <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  Sarcastic Orgasm. . .

Here's a review I sent over to a local zine on sarcastic orgasm

THE UNDECIDED/ SARCASTIC ORGASM /PUNCHLINE @ The Eutaw Clubhouse
 on May 10, 1986.


Two bands from D.C. played last Saturday.  Never heard of any of these
two from the regular D.C. grapevine and babblezines.  SARCASTIC ORGASM
are worth seeing - their attitude reminds me of A.O.D. but their 
music is orginal.  They approach hardcore from the jazz/improv end but unlike
a lot of others are pretty successful.  The singer does a great drunk and
ate a dog bisquit I gave him.  Synth player switches from keyboards to
trumpet to violin feedback to metal guitar like you and me change underwear.
Some little leather clad kid exclaimed after one number, "You guys blew
me away and you aren't metal!"  6 to 8 dancers doing the slamorgy thing -
you know where the couples roll around in the pit.  One particulary cute
young thing in a black flag shirt catches my eye.  Ah, youth.

Next band, PUNCHLINE does the early C.o.C. imitation quite well.  Seem
to be emerging from cover band status and include about three going 
thru Van Halen (Atomic Punk sounding better than the original) and
others.  They threatened to do Led Zep but instead did a H.R. cut up
(who they say is in jail ... so is Joseph I - so there must be some
good jamming going on there) ... their originals give them five up and
coming stars from me.  I want to hear them again.  Fast as shit, the
guitar is metal, the singer is punk, the rhythm is speed - the result
is speedmetal.  See them, they're the best around the area in this
genre.  Oh yeah, the dancing?  on and off - some older fellow with
a pink mohawk was putting the young kids to shame. Haven't seen him
around so I assume he was one of the band member's parents?  

First band, THE UNDECIDED were ending as I showed up.  It sounded like
they were doing a cover of "Salad Days" ... pretty good. 

DAG NASTY never showed - the word is they broke up! That's three Dischord
bands in this year!  Who's next?  SCREAM?

								- hofmann

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Subject: Re: Re: Anglo/Americo/Notes from all over
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 10:33:44 -0800
From: J. Peter Alfke <alfke@cit-vax>

Swingset Disaster <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA> sez:
>>From: Bob Krajewski <lmi-angel!rpk>
>>Subject: Anglo|Amero/philia|phoiba

>>Boy, you guys really touched a sensitive nerve there.  A few observations:

>>. Look at things from a musical history point of view.  It is clear that
  >>the most vigorous forms of music on the worldwide scene all heavily borrow
  >>from American sources.  In other words: no blues, no America, no nothing.

>Bob said everything I was trying to say without using the esoteric art of 
>flaming.  The people here who say they're enamored with the "art" of it
>all are really just amused by the cleverness of all the hidden meanings
>they've found in stuff.  For the most part, the English music is fey, 
>surface music.

>>. Since Americans in general are so ignorant of their musical heritage, many

>True, not all of us but yes, in general and yes, the Brits do tend to take
>it and mangle it (MaClaren being the prime abuser). There was a comment where 
>someone called Amercan music "he-man" music.  If that means, it's an active 
>yet agressive form, hell yes!  I see this as a compliment (thanks whomever)  
>But,I'd venture to say this wanker stuff disscussed here is in turn "she-man" 
>musak.  It's much more passive and introspective and stagnant.  Now that I'
>ve insulted all the genders, we continue.

Well, you haven't insulted all genders, just the female.  Your "Hell yes!
Toss me another brewski, duuuude!" bit was doubtless not intended as offensive
to males ...

As for "mangling": what's wrong with it?  Many many American bands are
working directly from the "roots" framework, which is O.K, but it's just
one way of doing things.  British bands take the American blues/country/
gospel basics, as well as the rock refinements, and interpret and
deconstruct them.  As I'm a postmodern kinda guy, I often find this more
interesting than the basics.  (This is not to say that all American
bands stick to the roots, but they're usually much more reverent toward
them.)

>>. The Emperor Has No Clothes: (anti-flame)

  >>. Synths are evil.

..etc..

I thought that Bob was just quoting all the American-testosterock
cliches as an "Emperor has no clothes" thing, and Hofmann goes on taking
them all at face value.  Who's right here?  I think some of the
statements Bob quotes (and I don't know if he believes them) have some
validity, but most are just ridiculous.  Synths are evil, indeed.
"Anything new is *strickly* for faggots", hmmm?  The proggers showed
that you didn't have to be an avant-garde Stockhausen-oid to use synths,
the syth-poppers showed that you didn't have to be pompous to use them,
and bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Executive Slacks show that you
don't even have to have binky-binky bouncy hooks or moussed haircuts to
use 'em.  The synth is an amazingly versatile instrument, and dismissing
it as "evil" is an absurd generalization that goes nowhere.

And kids: let's not fall back on homophobic (British music is by and for
flaming-limp-wristed-pouffter-dickless-faggots) or sexist (British music
is feminine, i.e. "much more passive and introspective and stagnant")
cliches.  Get real.

					--Peter Alfke

"`That's by Stockhausen', the hip graybeard informed
her, `the early crowd tends to dig your Radio Cologne
sound.  Later on we really swing.  We're the only bar
in the area, you know, has a strictly electronic music
policy.  ...we got a whole back room full of your audio
oscillators, gunshot machines, contact mikes, every-
thing.  That's for if you didn't bring your axe, see,
but you got the feeling and you want to swing with
the rest of the cats, there's always something
available.'"
	--Thomas Pynchon, "The Crying of Lot 49"

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Date:    Thu, 15 May 86 11:37 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: End of French KT interview

Y.B.: How did you come upon the idea of working on this concept
      which fills an entire side, which has become extremely
      out of fashion?
K.B.: It's not nice to call it a concept, because automatically
      it causes panic, and everyone is convinced that they're
      going to die of boredom.
      But that's an idiotic attitude. A concept allows you to
      develop a piece of music around a theme, at a length which
      exceeds ten minutes. Before pop music, all the great works
      of music were of this kind, of this shape and of this
      attitude. It's unjust. I've wanted to work on something of
      this kind for a long time. For me, the more an idea is
      extended, the more riches it contains.
Y.B.: This allowed you to use traditional music, which you
      like very much.
K.B.: Irish, as far as this particular album goes. English and
      Irish folk music have had a gigantic influence on me, since
      I was a child.My brothers played it constantly at home and
      that affected me profoundly. Whenever I hear Irish folk
      music, nowadays, I feel drawn to it; I greatly enjoyed
      introducing it into my own vocabulary and using its musicians.
Y.B.: On The Dreaming you went to some pains to announce on the
      sleeve that this music must be played very loudly. That
      amused me at the time.
K.B.: In the studio, you heard it really loud. For mixing, we
      had to turn it down, to pay attention to details, but my
      desire was to be totally overwhelmed by the flood of
      sound. In any case music, all music, was made to be
      heard at the volume at which it was played, that is to
      say in this case LOUD.
Y.B.: That album was a difficult one to accept, for the
      uninitiated.
K.B.: I have no doubt that those who buy singles because they
      like my hits, are completely mystified upon hearing the
      albums. But if it comes to that, they should listen to
      it LOUDLY! If a single theme linked The Dreaming, which
      is quite varied, it would be human relationships and
      emotional problems. Every being responds principally
      to emotions. Some people are very cool, but they are
      silenced by their emotions, whatever they might be.
      To write a song, it's necessary  that I be completely
      steeped in my environment, in my subject. Sometimes
      the original idea is maintained, but as it takes
      form, it possesses me. One of the best examples would
      be this song that wrote on Houdini: I knew every one
      of the things that I wanted to say, and it was necessary
      that I find new ways that would allow me to say them;
      the hardest thing, is when you have so many things to
      fit into so short a space of time. You have to be concise
      and at the same time not remain vague, or obscure.
      The Dreaming was a decisive album for me. I hadn't
      recorded in such a long time until I undertook it, and
      that was the first time that I'd had such liberty. It
      was intoxicating and frightening at the same time. I could
      fail at everything and ruin my career at one fell swoop.
      All this energy, my frustrations, my fears, my wish to
      succeed, all that went into the record. That's the
      principle of music: to liberate all the tensions that
      exist inside you. I tried to give free rein to all my
      fantasies. Although all of the songs do not talk about
      me, they represent all the facets of my personality, all
      my different attitudes in relation to the world. In
      growing older, I see more and more clearly that I am
      crippled in facing the things that really count, and
      that I can do nothing about it, just as most people can
      do nothing. Making an album is insignificant in comparison
      with that, but it's my only defense.
Y.B.: Alot of people complain that your music has become too
      complex, inaccessible, exclusive.
K.B.: People's reactions before any kind of music reflect more
      their own personality than that of the composer. As far
      as my lyrics are concerned, I take a great deal of care;
      they are very oblique and describe situations that are
      not always simple. It's not always easy, but it's necessary
      to make an effort and listen actively, give of oneself.
      But even if nobody understands my stories, to understand
      the music, once more, they must play it LOUD!
Y.B.: As a general rule, you're not very optimistic.
K.B.: I wouldn't say that I'm not. I think I'm realistic. If
      you want to accomplish things, you must accept compromises.
      That applies particularly to human beings, who are
      so determined to get what they want, that they only give
      in when they've been defeated. It's necessary to know how
      to give in, to accept and defer, sometimes. Situations of
      love, for example, begin very simply, then, even before you
      can perceive it, they become a spider's web of problems,
      so inextricable that they end in the most complete chaos.
      I just lived through a marvelous and destructive adventure.
      I believe furthermore that love and inter-personal
      relationships are the most important things in existence.
      My family represents everything for me. And even if, every
      time, failures repeat themselves, I never take them as such,
      but rather as new tests on the path that I have still to run.
Y.B.: This makes more than five years since you last mounted a
      stage. Is there hope for 1986?
K.B.: I was hoping to avoid that question!!! I certainly want
      very much to play on stage again, but it's a decision for
      which the consequences are enormous, both financially and
      in terms of the amount of time and energy that are necessary.
      I've just given everything in me to complete this album
      and I'm not certain that it's for the best that I plunge
      into such a venture, all the more as I've received several
      propositions of an entirely different order, but which would
      not be compatible with a tour. As they say over here:
      "Allons voir {Wait and see}!"
END OF FRENCH INTERVIEW

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Date: 15 May 86 16:13:00 PST
From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>
Subject: Hi-NRG
Reply-To: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>


I thank Peter Alfke for describing the essentials of Hi-NRG music.  I am
surprised, that TRANS-X's 'Living on Video' is a good example of it, however.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Living on Video is a good example of anything.
Alfke is right, however, it is 'shit' but only 'nearly complete shit'.
It is only roughly approximate to the rest of the stuff on the album (same
name) although the production standards suck, overall.  There are reasons
for this suck-out trash, though.  First, when Pascal was working in a French
medium, he remained largely unsold.  Not only was the language barrier a
problem mut the cosmic-mind-expanding-space-out nature of the music he was
doing was not so popular either.  So, what's a young drummer turned guitarist
turned synthesist to do ? SELL OUT, of course.  Unfortunately, Pascal did not
know how to sell out correctly.  His first move was buying a lot of MIDI
synths and some new effect boxes.  Next he needed a medium.  Since the
sequencer cliches of Georgeo and Gary Numan are easy enough to duplicate,
they made a nice backdrop for the rest of the stuff.  His next step was in
finding other musicians that would contribute to the material (i.e., play
that stuff without getting sick).  He failed to be successfull in that area.
Thus, as he had in the past, he did a pretty much solo (except for the vocals)
album.  So what resulted was, correctly identified as disco, and what's worse,
lo quality disco.
What I find really funny about this, is, that Pascal hates disco.  Back during
the first disco revolution in the mid-70's (Bee Gees, AWB, etc), when we
were exploring mind-ZAP music, Pascal and I actually penned a song parody
entitled Disco on the Moon.  It seemed as though the whole progressive Montreal
music scene was telling disco jokes (I think disco was taken much more seriouslythere then here).  Ten years later, Pascal has a disco album which is pretty
bad on most levels, not hyped to any great extent (as a matter of fact, LOV is
almost unknown on the East coast), but manages to go gold in Mexico and Germany despite its hopless inadequacies.  This is, in effect, an example of how
people will buy trash, if it is packaged well.  Also, it is a sad commentary
on how and why musicians sell out.
Pascal maintained a low profile for about 8 years as a starving progressive
musician.  His three previous albums (all French) were dedicated to the beliefe
that there can be mind/music meld, and were reasonably good tries at that
end.  Now, in one swoop, he becomes popular (at least in Mexico and Germany),
and starts to see a payoff.  Reinforcement works in strange and mystical
ways.
Now to sadly tie this in with the proposed topic of conversation, Kate Bush.
I predict that we have seen the near end of her non-commercial efforts.  Hell,
Fairlights are expensive, as are home studios (especially ones that enable
production of a product that is up to the technical standards of the industry).
I will be very much surprised if the next LP release is not more commercially
oriented than HoL.  Also, I expect that the first single from the next release
will make Sledgehammer sound like The Dreaming, so as to make the name Kate
Bush a household word among the high school set.  I could be wrong, I don't
know Kate personally.  I would also like to see her not sell out, we all need
our heroes.  Unfortunately, I do know Pascal Languirand quite well, and in the
long run, money talks (money is of course not the only reinforcer here, 
popularity and fame are also important iongredients in a mass sell out).  I 
hope all of the high school fans of the sell out album will be ready for the
mental explosion eminent when they rush out and buy The Dreaming.  I hope I'm
wrong, but I've given up believing in 'the perfect dedication to musicianship'
in artists who depend on their product as a livelyhood.  The trend Kate has
exhibited from Lionheart to The Dreaming falling back to HoL, is sufficient
to warrant my speculation.  This disease, called success, is catchy, indeed.

'Impaled on nails, of ice'

John
------

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Date:    Thu, 15 May 86 16:01 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: PG on KT

Interviewed in Record Mirror, May 10,
p. 27, Peter Gabriel was asked about
Kate's work on his album, So. Here is
the relevant passage, written by Mike
Gardner:
"Don't Give Up" -- probably a future
single and a duet with Kate Bush --
is a look at relationships under the
stresses and strains of unemployment.
The song features allusions to the
American dustbowl and has gospel and
country influences. In fact, a country
singer {NME alleges Dolly Parton} was
first mooted for the female vocal until
he {Gabriel} again picked Bush -- a
collaborator on "Games Without Frontiers"
and "No Self Control" on his third album.
    "Kate did a great job. I'm a great
fan of her singing and her voice. I think
she sang on that track very differently to
how she sings on her own records -- in
a very sensitive way. There are similarities
in the way we work. She works as slowly as
I do -- with is reassuring."



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Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 16:51:45 EDT
From: Swingset Disaster <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  machorock vs discowimp,  (Alfke babbles)

Let me start this with pointing out that I forgot about alot of really
good English bands ... including:

Rudimentary Peni
Sacrilage (London)
and Part 1

The rest?   Well, I ain't gonna say anything since it's obvious others have
made up your mind for you ... Hi NRG?  *GGGGAAAAGGGG*
>>True, not all of us but yes, in general and yes, the Brits do tend to take
>>it and mangle it (MaClaren being the prime abuser). There was a comment where 
>>someone called Amercan music "he-man" music.  If that means, it's an active 
>>yet agressive form, hell yes!  I see this as a compliment (thanks whomever)  
>>But,I'd venture to say this wanker stuff disscussed here is in turn "she-man" 
>>musak.  It's much more passive and introspective and stagnant.  Now that I'
>>ve insulted all the genders, we continue.

>Well, you haven't insulted all genders, just the female.  Your "Hell yes!
>Toss me another brewski, duuuude!" bit was doubtless not intended as offensive
>to males ...

Who the hell are you to speak for females.  Shit, who are you to speak for
males or me?  I don't consider agressiveness a particular compliment, it's
just the w a y   t h i n g s  a r e.

>As I'm a postmodern kinda guy, I often find this more
>interesting than the basics.  (This is not to say that all American
>bands stick to the roots, but they're usually much more reverent toward
>them.)

Define post-modern ... you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

>I thought that Bob was just quoting all the American-testosterock
>cliches as an "Emperor has no clothes" thing, and Hofmann goes on taking
>them all at face value.  Who's right here?  I think some of the
>statements Bob quotes (and I don't know if he believes them) have some
>validity, but most are just ridiculous.  Synths are evil, indeed.
>"Anything new is *strickly* for faggots", hmmm?  The proggers showed
>that you didn't have to be an avant-garde Stockhausen-oid to use synths,
>the syth-poppers showed that you didn't have to be pompous to use them,
>and bands like Cabare
That's right - bandy some obscure names around, think you're real cute don't
ya?  There was a lot of validity in what he said ... not all but some.

Yeah .. testosterock ... but give me more ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ....

At least it's rock and not disco ... ya know?


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Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 17:04:01 EDT
From: don't forget the Blow Monkeys <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  Synths aren't evil ...

It's just that some synth players ARE obnoxious.  I really don't find
anything interesting about the machine (derivative of macho by the way),
tin-pan, rubber band electronically timed artifical for the sake of
being artifical sounds.  I think synths are wonderful as a low-cost, easy
to transport substitute for organs or (if set up properly) pianos.  Though
I'd prefer to hear flute or violin or oboe in  a piece played on the real
think - I can certainly empathize when the band can't afford to bring
a flotist or violinist along and substitute synthesizer.  The bands that
I consider the prime offenders of over synthesizing are like Depeche Mode,
Peter Gabriel and Genesis, Yes etc etc etc. I say - "Use it - don't abuse it"

I never said I agreed that "synths are evil" and RPK is right - this is
an attitude among some bands but mostly among the fans of American underground.
Most of the bands either can't afford a good synth (yeah, I know the shouldn't
be playing music then, right Alfke?) or what they can afford they don't feel
as comfortable with  it up on stage.  

>From what I've heard of Great Plains and some others, they use synths very
sparingly and as ornament (and perhaps melody) only.  When the synth becomes
a centerpiece, it becomes pretty boring - quick unless you are Birdsongs
of the Mezzizoic (sp) or (obligatory Kate note) you know who.  But then these
are usually recording masterpieces and very hard to duplicate on stage without
"cheating" ... 

Take THAT however you want, Alfke as it's obvious your level of comprehension
has faltered from too much synth musak .. and let Dick Clark work out all
the details.

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Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 17:27:02 EDT
From: yeah - let's get real <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  self-explanatory (more alfkebabblespeak)


sexist>And kids: let's not fall back on homophobic (British music is by and for
sexist>flaming-limp-wristed-pouffter-dickless-faggots) or sexist (British music
sexist>is feminine, i.e. "much more passive and introspective and stagnant")
sexist>cliches.  Get real.

Alfke, get yer head outta yer butthole!  Lissen up - tho you didn't
accuse me - let me say that I've never equated wimpwavo with gays
that would be an insult to some very fine people (mainly, gays) 
... but as for SEXIST you're the one who called American underground
for the MOST PART "HE-MAN" music.  Now correct me if I'm wrong but
doesn't sexist cliches include those that MAKE THEM ABOUT MALES TOO?

The liberal asswipe double standard STTTTTTTRIKES AGAIN.

"and what's behind curtain number 3, Johnny?"

	{  KABANG!!! ... solitary sound of wavo head rolling 
	   down a otherwise quiet alley- way }


Get real, Mommy....

					--James Hofmann

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Return-Path: <umcp-cs!jhunix!jhunix!ins_aset>
Date:     Thu, 15 May 86 17:38:29 EDT
From: Susanne E Trowbridge <umcp-cs!jhunix!ins_aset@seismo.CSS.GOV>
Subject:  answers

"Where can I get those Jane Siberry albums?"

Her latest is distributed by the mighty A&M Records (Windham Hill/
Open Air is the actual label, though) so even the most dreadful
mall record shop should have it.  If not, it should be ridiculously
easy to order.  Of course, I went looking for the Smiths' debut
album in the summer of '84, after it had been out for at least
four months, and the hopeless record shop I went to had never even
heard of them, even though they are affiliated with the mighty
Warner Bros/Sire.  It pays to patronize the shops of those who
actually make an effort to keep up with music that isn't
necessarily in the top-40.

"What is Hi-NRG music?"

High energy...it got its start in the gay discos, but there is some
crossover (Pet Shop Boys began working with the master of Hi-NRG
stuff, Bobby Orlando, or just Bobby O for short).  It's basically
synthesizer music with lots and lots of beats per minute.  Disco,
even.  Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby" is Hi-NRG.  Some of
the better known artists are Divine (yes, the star of John Waters'
films), Hazell Dean, The Flirts, Princess, etc.  Quite a bit of
it can be found on the British charts.  

Most Hi-NRG "artists" have very little to do with the creation of
their music; they are just mouthpieces for producers like Bobby O.
If you want to hear it, seek out a gay disco (like our fabled Hippo
here in Bal'mer) and you will undoubtedly hear quite a bit...

-Sue

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Date: Wed, 14 May 86 14:01:18 cdt
From: ll-xn!caip!uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor (Greg Taylor)
Subject: those Brian Eno videos
Apparently-To: Love-Hounds

>From: John Kitamura <ihnp4!utcsri!kato>
>
>Brian Eno update:
>	The CD version of MORE BLANK THAN FRANK has at least one ambient
>track on it ("1/1", from Music For Airports). I don't recall if it differs
>	Also I noticed a video and CD release by Eno (I can't remember the name
>but I think it's something like "Thursday Afternoon") with little or no
>information regarding what appears on either product. Does anyone have
>these items?

Yeah. I have the stuff. The video is a series of portrait-type paintings
of a semi-nude woman. The monitor must be turned on its side to view
the pieces. The video treatments are very slow and very subtle, often
just little skeins of colour being blown slowly onto the skin.

The CD is actually the music to the piece. It's the late-period Eno
technique of setting up multiple loops of subtle changes. Unlike
some of his other ambient stuff, there's a single, sustained chordal
wash that covers the whole of the piece. It's in the "The Pearl" and
"Apollo" vein, only much longer and slower. Many very nice little
touches are done at excruciatingly low volume levels. I initially did
not care all that much for it, but now find that it's really grown
on me.

And the patented Eno tape hiss that colours everything else he's
done is or seems to be largely absent.

By the way, the CD from MBTF replaces King's lead hat with "back in 
Judy's Jungle" Heaven knows why they did that, but hey.


"As one who sees within a dream, and, later/the passion that had been
imprinted stays,/but nothing of the rest returns to mind,/such am I-
for my my vision almost fades/completely, yet it distills within/my
heart the sweetness that was born of it."(Dante/Paradiso,XXXIII 58-63)



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Date: Thu, 15 May 86 15:22:41 cdt
From: ll-xn!uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor (oh...*Gregory* Taylor...never mind.)
Subject: Roxy Romance
Apparently-To: Love-Hounds

>Love-Hounds Digest			Thursday, May 15, 1986, 04:53 EDT
>Who is Jacques Brelle?
It's Brel. He's a French songwriter who wrote a particularly
lovely kind of bittersweet ballad. Many of his songs were made
famous by Edith Piaf. If you ever heard any Judy Collins' "Whales
and Nightengales" there is a lovely cover of Brel's "Marieke" on
it. Problem is that you've got to speak French. There are English 
translations of Brel's things, but they aren't as good as the originals
in my humble, non-Frogspeak-with-particular-aplomb opine.

>God send my ANYONE who can relate to my "abnormal" daily fix
>of Roxy Music &/or Bryan Ferry.  Jesus, I listen to Roxy soooo
>much each and every year I have to replace albums.....Guess a
>CD would be more practical, huh?
Yes, I can, though my needs aren't daily. For all our whining about
how wonderful Kate is, I'd be hard pressed to find any other single 
group of artists who so successfully redefined everything that came
after them (like Diane Arbus' use of the 2 1/4" square photograph)
quite apart from specific style (read "emphasis on style" and have
so singularly changed the face of British popular music. With the
exception of Paul MacCartney's old band. I guess that one could claim
that the Sex Pistols fall into that category, but I feel that they're
indicative of a trend rather than actually the original harbingers of
it. That's a bad thing to say here in a Kate Bush newsgroup, I guess.

Anyway, the Roxy CD is all it's cracked up to be, and clocks in at a
great time. I've only the slightest argument with their concentration
on "Flesh and Blood" period stuff, and the slightest argument with
which Brian Ferry covers they chose, but hey. The canon ain't half 
bad, and most of the important work is all there. George Melly coined
the phrase "Revolt into Style" (and Bill Nelson ripped it off) to 
characterize the co-optation of "youth culture" in the marketplace
in the "trad jazz" era. Listening to the RM stuff, I think we have
a case of "Style into Revolt...." The elevation of the surfaces of
"pop" music to a kind of self-conscious world-weary construct that has
strongly affected the whole of Britpop for the last 12 years or so.
All you young whippersnappers here cannot possibly imagine how the
first Roxy album sounded buzzsawing out of the speakers when I first
brought it home (I heard "Virginia Plain" on the BBC world service
and spent weeks looking for the record back then. Note that this makes
me visionary and cool. And old.). Between that and "Is your love strong
enough" there is a world of shift that's worthy of some serious thought.

Tim W.:
>These 80's kids remind me of the hippies of the 60's: I mean they got
>bored of fighting for their ideals and decided to join the human race,
>and they became the yuppies of today.  They all sold out pretty much to
>the machinery, and in a big way.  It's kind of sad to see these thirty-plus 
>year old cretins trying to defend their actions for becoming the way
>they did. 

Sad is the word for it, Tim. As Hannah Arendt has suggested in her
writings on the roots of Authoritarianism, the death of idealism is 
a rich ground for fascism, since the burned cynic has little or nothing
to lose. Multiply that by x00,000,000 and you've got the 80s. As for
the causes themselves, they still defy easy categorization, and still
refuse to collapse at the touch of the ideological/economic/epistemic
wand. Now we even have a really lovely set of straw men (Falwellians,
the new Right, etc.) to moan about. They're great targets, but I fear 
that they blind us to something very simple: the ease with which they
can be lumped together in a single, faceless mass allows us to believe
that they're not like us and never could be. Such a view also allows
us to neatly sidestep whatever vague dread of whiff of apprehension
we may ahve that we're not very happy with our identifications, either.
Of course, this mailing list may not be the best place for us to talk
about this in detail (I keep thinking about the extent to which Kate
Bush is a kind of modern-day apotheosis of the "Romantic Egotist"
hooked to a mass-market and a technology that extends her reach).

And the *really* interesting bit for all you youths is to wonder how
many of your peers will deal with the notion that the "realistic"
attitudes about money and influence and drive in the marketplace
require an endlessly extensible economic infrastructure that cannot
hold, and a kind of attitude about self-empowerment that may turn
out to be at odds with the vagaries of the world-where the Heathen
rage and the Unrighteous prosper (you must, of course, redefine those
terms for a secular age). The key phrase here is "diminished expectations"
and it will be interesting to see how *their* diminised exps are 
different than *mine.* End of sermon/ramble/essay, and back to the
hounding already in progress. Hi, Tim.
 
"As one who sees within a dream, and, later/the passion that had been
imprinted stays,/but nothing of the rest returns to mind,/such am I-
for my my vision almost fades/completely, yet it distills within/my
heart the sweetness that was born of it."(Dante/Paradiso,XXXIII 58-63)



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-- 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under.

Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{decvax!genrad, allegra, gatech, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds
gds@eddie.mit.edu