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        Pete Atkin >> *oDs >> What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
        
(Message started by: S J Birkill on Today at 18:23)
Title: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by S J Birkill on Today at 18:23
-- following a suggestion by Noam Greenberg, and invitations by Pete himself, what should we ask Pete to do for us at the Sutton event in November?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Cary on Today at 19:09
I think we should ask him to sing  :D
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Richard_Bleksley on 02.08.04 at 18:03
Yes, Cary, and from my privileged position I'm able to tell you that, if we ask him very nicely, he might even play a bit of guitar and keyboard too!
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Cary on 02.08.04 at 20:56
Go on Richard - ask him, ask him!!

Did the top howevermany ever become a possibility for a set?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Noam Greenberg on 02.08.04 at 22:40

on 08/02/04 at 20:56:54, Cary wrote :
Did the top howevermany ever become a possibility for a set?


I hope not. In fact, we can make a list of Pete's most unpopular songs and then ask him to play new renditions of some of these. New possibilities mined from old material, etc etc.  A restrained version of "rider to the worlds end"? (I'm thinking of the Lakeside Sessions version of "eye of the universe" as a model).

BTW, will Pete be reading these posts?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Pete Atkin on 02.08.04 at 23:39

on 08/02/04 at 22:40:29, Noam Greenberg wrote :
BTW, will Pete be reading these posts?


Hey, it's an open forum, isn't it?[/quote]
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by JtJ on 03.08.04 at 08:43
Is it just me?
Or is the (very) idea of "Pete Atkin" as an "MV Newbie" with one star a bit odd?

Shouldn't he have 5 stars?
Or 8 albums?
Or whatever?

:D
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Secret Drinker on 03.08.04 at 12:55

on 08/02/04 at 22:40:29, Noam Greenberg wrote :
I hope not. In fact, we can make a list of Pete's most unpopular songs and then ask him to play new renditions of some of these. New possibilities mined from old material, etc etc.  A restrained version of "rider to the worlds end"? (I'm thinking of the Lakeside Sessions version of "eye of the universe" as a model).

BTW, will Pete be reading these posts?


Instead of Pete's "Top X" songs, I agree that it would be more interesting to hear some of the songs he hasn't played very often (or at all) at live gigs in recent years. I think Janice has a spreadsheet which should give us a "Bottom X"?

Of course I would also like to hear all the latest new material and WIP ;-)

Other than that I'll be happy whatever Pete decides to do, as I'm sure I will enjoy seeing him and meeting up with other MVs after what in my case seems like a long time (probably QEH last year, IIRC).

I assume the chance of Pete reading these posts is slimmer than before, as he will have to drill down to find our contributions, like the rest of us. But just in case - Hi, Pete!

Cheers

Paul

 8) How do these smiley things work? All I get is an emoticon...  ;)
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Richard Bleksley on 03.08.04 at 20:58
There was some discussion on this topic on the list a couple of months back.  Suggestions included "Top X," "Bottom X," "Pete's personal favourites," and "Some favourite covers."  Pete and I (hold your collective breath: here come some innermost revelations) came to a tentative off-list agreement that a little of each would make a rather jolly spiffing set ("Good old British compromise," said he.)  

However, there's still time for more suggestions.  It's not until November.

By the way, three in the bottom X category ("Screen Freak," "All the Dead Were Strangers," and "The Last Hill That Shows You All the Valley") got an airing at Eastbourne (said he smugly, having been there).

Going hell for leather for the first "non guinea-pig" two stars....
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Leslie Moss on 03.08.04 at 23:28
Hi Richard. I do hope that Pete performs Screen Freak at PoD. I well remember the very first XoD, in what was effectively Steve Birkill's back garden in Monyash.  Actually, it was a folk festival with Pete headlining, and preceded the formation of MV by a few weeks. After his set, complete with guest appearance by Julie Covington, he asked for requests, and Screen Freak was called out by someone. The audience helped Pete with the lyrics - it was obviously some considerable time since he'd performed it. It's one of my favourites of his songs, and I'd dearly love to hear it again.

I'm also going to request either or both of the songs from his musical play A&R - Over the High Side and Amy's Blues. The best thing about The Lakeside Sessions was the resurrection of these songs.


Leslie
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Secret Drinker on 04.08.04 at 10:23
If Pete's taking requests, I'd like to hear him do Rider To The World's End, as I don't think I've seen Pete do that for a while (but then I haven't seen him at all for a while  :'()

Cheers

Paul
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Theo Clarke on 09.08.04 at 11:31
My day would have a little extra glow if Pete performed 'Be Careful When They Offer You The Moon'.

Theo
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Noam Greenberg on 09.08.04 at 14:09
To be more specific with my request of covers: how about Dylan's "Mississippi" or "Sugar Baby"?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Jan on 09.08.04 at 14:31
PoD would be a most fitting place for the first performance of a song from Winter Spring, the  yet-to-be-heard-live Daughter of the Sun.

In the first year of MV in a discussion about covers Leslie Moss posted a message (MV1168 ) which made me very envious:

Quote:
One of my great pleasures of 1997 was meeting Pete at Steve and Carole's the
night before Monyash, and listening to him performing on the Clavinova not
just his own music but also a selection of Becker/Fagen numbers including
Deacon Blues

That's the one I'd go for.

Jan
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Leslie Moss on 09.08.04 at 20:26
Can I add my voice to Jan's. Your quote of my posting took me right back. Pete plays and sings a pretty mean Becker/Fagan.

I'd also like to request some Shrinks material if this works for a single voice/single instrument. I know this may  sound odd, but I feel I know Pete and Clive's material so well that it's good to have some less familar variety.

While writing, I'm off to sunny Crete tomorrow for a week, so any moderation will have to be done by our esteemed Administrator in my absence. (Not that there's been any need so far, we're all so well-behaved!).

See y'all soon.

Leslie
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Alan_Manton on 09.08.04 at 23:08
I notice that the suggestions for the set list are slowly building up so before it gets full to overflowing, how about the rarely heard (never heard?) Urban Guerrilla, Pete?  Am I alone in thinking that this really is a masterpiece?  I used to think that if I listened to it enough times then perhaps the hero would make good his escape instead of getting wasted in the shootout.  (Mind you I also used to think that if I listened to Madame Butterfly enough times that Pinkerton would get there in the final scene before Butterfly topped herself...).

For a slightly more radical suggestion, of which I am sure that Pete will offer a very good reason why he is not prepared to do it, how about The Eye Of The Universe in the guitar version which appeared on the Seventh Album Demos?  This is perhaps the only one of Pete's songs which, in my humble opinion, has lost some appeal in its final arrangement on The Lakeside Sessions.  Just a thought...

Alan.   :huh:
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Noam Greenberg on 11.08.04 at 00:33
And how about "pressure boys"?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by El Greko on 11.08.04 at 10:33
"Thirty year man" please....
... and "Carnations on the roof".
Oh, and before I forget: "The flowers and the wine".

But I'll be happy just to listen while he tunes his guitar and hums to himself.
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by JtJ on 11.08.04 at 22:56
Hi there!

Guess I'd better request Master of the Revels (again).
Sorry....
But that song's last few outings have found me absent because....
Oh, it's a long story!


(Holding, as we speak, my rejection letter for State Jester (UK)
["The comittee did not feel you took the role seriously enough...."
Good Grief! ] )

:huh:
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by S J Birkill on 15.08.04 at 17:14

on 08/09/04 at 14:31:29, Jan wrote :
In the first year of MV in a discussion about covers Leslie Moss posted a message (MV1168 ) which made me very envious:

Quote:
One of my great pleasures of 1997 was meeting Pete at Steve and Carole's the night before Monyash, and listening to him performing on the Clavinova not just his own music but also a selection of Becker/Fagen numbers including Deacon Blues

For me, the highlight of those impromptu pre-FoD (both occasions, plus Buxton) sessions and rehearsals with Pete at the Dale House piano was his reconstruction from memory of early songs we'd never heard before. Out of this process came History and Geography, Femme Fatale, A Dream Of Fair Women and You Alone Will Be My Last Adventure.

But there were others, not aired, some unfinished so unlikely ever to be performed in public. Among them I recall:

The King Is Dead
The Sun Was In My Eyes
I Wouldn't Hear A Word Against The Spring
The TV Screen Is The Only Light
The New Me
The Go-Away Man

Some were written from the woman's point of view, but that doesn't make them any less valuable to the true Voice. We know and love the thitherto 'lost' Atkin/James songs Pete polished up for The Lakeside Sessions, but my request for PoD would be for him to include one or two of these, the ones perhaps not judged suitable for preserving.

Steve
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Gerry Smith on 17.08.04 at 03:22
A total fave of mine is 'Lady Of A Day'.  A song which has not fared well in MV polls passim I know.  But I've never heard Pete do it live.  So special request for that one then  - on piano.

(And if he doesn't I'll bloody well step up and play it myself!! :-)
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Jon Philpot on 21.08.04 at 14:34
My wife Chrissy would vote for anything from 'Beware of the Beautiful Stranger', but particularly the title track or 'Be Careful When They Offer You the Moon'. I would go for '30 Year Man' or 'A King At Nightfall' - my favourite Atkin/James works tend to be the slower, more reflective songs.
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Secret Drinker on 24.08.04 at 13:13

on 08/17/04 at 03:22:29, Gerry Smith wrote :
And if he doesn't I'll bloody well step up and play it myself!! :-)


I don't think initimidation is the way to get Pete to play what we want, Gerry - watch it or the Changers might threaten to play ;-)

One thing I was wondering is whether Pete will be doing any more "coveted covers" this year? Steely Dan has been mentioned as a possibility, but another writer Pete is reported to admire is John Sebastian - maybe one of his songs by Pete would be an interesting possibility?

Looking at Janice's setlist spreadsheet, I was interested to see that among other songs, Pete seems never to have sung Driving Through Mythical America at any recent gigs. Is there any particular reason for this omission? After all it is the title track of the album. It would be interesting to know just why some of the songs haven't been given an airing - are they too technically difficult (surely not), have politically incorrect or otherwise controversial lyrics, Pete just doesn't like them himself, or what?

Cheers

Paul
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Gerry Smith on 24.08.04 at 13:28

on 08/24/04 at 13:13:18, Secret Drinker wrote :
I don't think initimidation is the way to get Pete to play what we want, Gerry - watch it or the Changers might threaten to play ;-)l


oo-er...!
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Lurcio on 04.09.04 at 23:31
on 24.08.04 at 13:13, Secret Drinker wrote:
I don't think initimidation is the way to get Pete to play what we want, Gerry  

In which case I guess I'd better not mention that if Pete doesn't play 'biro' Amy has threatened to thcream and thcream and... oh, please, Pete, don't let's have to go there!
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Sylfest on 07.09.04 at 18:24
Hill of Little Shoes and I Feel Like Midnight, please!
And more coveted covers.
And, obviously, new songs!
Title: Duet
Post by Theo Clarke on 08.09.04 at 11:13
Since we have an Atkins/James-aware mezzo present ( Naomi Hyamson), might it be possible for 'Duet' to get an airing?  I would entirely understand if either performer cried off from this one; it probably involves way too much rehearsal.

Theo
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by JohnDrummond on 09.10.04 at 11:29
I can't help thinking that, considering the venue, we ought to have a rendition of "Star of tomorrow".  Or would that risk upsetting the pub management?
Title: Re: What shall we ask Pete to do at PoD
Post by Secret Drinker on 17.10.04 at 08:37

on 08/24/04 at 13:13:18, Secret Drinker wrote :
One thing I was wondering is whether Pete will be doing any more "coveted covers" this year?


Talking of covers (which I was) - in the light of recent developments in the Ale for POD thread (see http://www.peteatkin.com/cgi-bin/mv/YaBB.cgi?board=ods;action=display;num=1092383790), maybe we could ask Pete to cover Gordon Parsons' A Pub With No Beer?  :D

Cheers

Paul


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