Midnight Voices                      
The discussion forum for fans of Pete Atkin and Clive James,
their works and collaborators on stage, TV, disc and in print.

Web Digest week 36 (03.05.98, MV1018-1033) begins | index | prev | next |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: IChippett <email address>
Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 17:14:18 EDT
Subject: MV1018 Re : MV1015; MV1013: Bottom 3

Jeremy,

For one's submissions for a Bottom 3, I think the Number One on one's list
should be the one one dislikes most. For myself I dislike Wall of Death more
than my second choice which in turn I dislike more than my third choice.
Dislike is in fact not really the word. Mm, food for thought there.

Sorry about all the ones in sentence one!

Ian C 

==============================================================================
From: Dave Jones <email address>
Subject: MV1019 RE: MV1018; MV1015; MV1013: Bottom 3
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 13:21:49 -0400

>From: IChippett <email address>
>Subject: Re : MV1015 Re: MV1013: Bottom 3
>For one's submissions for a Bottom 3, I think the Number One on one's list
>should be the one one dislikes most. For myself I dislike Wall of Death more
>than my second choice which in turn I dislike more than my third choice.
>Dislike is in fact not really the word. Mm, food for thought there.

Well, as one who has decided that one's duty is to return to the songs that
one has previously deprecated and decide what, if anything, is really giving
one the pip, one has to say that one finds it almost impossible to find that
one is totally repulsed by all of the content therein.  Granted that one is
dismayed by the raucous and, dare one say, trite lead guitar work on "Wall of 
Death", one still has to admit that the piece is lyrically and musically 
interesting in its own way.

Lyrically the song is a classic Jamesian "progressive aggregation" number,
where a narrative (well, really a series of vignettes) alternates with a 
refrain that adds a line or phrase with each repetition, typically working 
towards some final image.  The most obvious example is "Thirty Year Man", 
where one starts with "At the end of the room/The piano glistens/Like the 
rail at the end of the nave" and adds "And I play a few things", and then 
"While no-one listens".

"Wall of Death" (pardon one's memory here) had "The Wall of Death/Is a time 
of Truth", adding "It's a scream of wrath" and "At the loss of youth". One's 
attention is also drawn to the setup rhymes for "I knew I was through joking", 
which finally stretch one's credibility with "He talked like a baby tiger 
choking". This can sound evocative or artificial depending on the moment.

Musically the piece goes through moods very quickly, to jarring effect. Well,
this isn't a comfort song.  The transitions work well enough within the
verse/refrain. One can even find some worth in the hammering "Wall of Death"
line following the wonderfully snide "Put your money where your mouth is" 
section. Where one goes off the edge of the cliff is in scrambling back to 
the rocky "Head man" line to start the process all over again.  "Thirty Year 
Man" has the familiar lounge piano underpinning to carry it through, but 
"Wall of Death" is on shaky ground. After the last refrain the playout 
really doesn't take us anywhere and we are left dangling.

In the end I think (one has had it with 'one') that "Wall of Death" feels 
unbalanced and incomplete, all sturm and no drang.  As much as you may like 
the parts, you still shake your head at the end.  As an exercise in self-
flagellation (a Jamesian vice) it fails to evoke either identity or pathos, 
unlike "Shadow and the Widower", which works with much more familiar images 
of romantic rejection and urban isolation. Few indeed are those who've been 
harassed by the Head Man, but we've all been dumped.

"Wall of Death" doesn't have any unique faults, but it also lacks the
redeeming features that save flawed gems like "No Dice". Nobody is going to 
ask for it as an encore, but you have to respect the artists for trying to 
make it work. It just didn't quite make it.

Dave Jones
Second guessing in Rochester NY.

==============================================================================
From: Elphinking <email address>
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 16:12:34 EDT
Subject: MV1020 Re: MV1019; MV1018; MV1015; MV1013: Bottom 3

Sorry, have I strayed into Pseud's Corner in private Eye here?

==============================================================================
From: D P DAVIS <email address>
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 19:55:03 EDT
Subject: MV1021: Decloaking - Top 10

         After lurking in the background for some time now I've finally been
tempted into making a contribution.
        I limited myself to the vinyl albums I have (7 including the RCA
"BOTBS") as I have not had chance to listen enough to the "new" songs on the
Monyash CD's to form a real opinion :

1/ Girl on the Train (My introduction to PA - via Kenny Everett - see below.)
2/ A King at Nightfall.
3/ Flowers & the Wine.
4/ Thirty Year Man.
5/ Wristwatch for a Drummer.
6/ Carnations on the Roof.
7/ The Man Who Walked Toward the Music.
8/ Thief in the Night.
9/ Perfect Moments.
10/ Errant Knight.

         As with most I found the choices hard to make. It changes even as I
type it out. So much good stuff to choose from, so many with memories
attached.

        Coming back to "Girl on the Train" - it chose itself as No. 1 due to
its' impact on me when I first heard Kenny play it "- a recording off a re-
recording off a 4 track sweaty machine off a home recording full of dust & jam
-" (Yes Steve I finally found my recording of the show - poor sound quality
but magic! - ).

        Due to working away from home I read my E-mail rather too infrequently
and was horrified to be  reading of the commencement of booking for Buxton 10
days late. Rushing to the 'Phone I was so happy to get Row D "about 4 seats
from the centre aisle" that I neglected to ask the seat numbers!.
        Anyway Stella & I will be there - driving up from Essex and probably
straight back down again afterwards.
                            Derek.   
        
==============================================================================
From: Dave Jones <email address>
Subject: MV1022 RE: MV1020; MV1019; MV1018; MV1015; MV1013: Bottom 3
Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 13:36:55 -0400

>From: Elphinking <email address>
>Subject: Re: MV1019 Re: MV1018; MV1015; MV1013: Bottom 3
>
>Sorry, have I strayed into Pseud's Corner in private Eye here?
>

Well, I said what I said and there it is.  However I am reminded of
the wine critic who wrote to the Eye saying "anytime I open a bottle
and do not confine myself to saying that the contents are red or white,
dry or wet, I wind up in Pseud's Corner" (cont. p 94)

Dave Jones
Pseudo pseud in Rochester NY.

==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 22:12:12 +0100
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV1023 Re: MV998; MV996; MV983: Eastbourne

Eastbourne date confirmed as Wednesday, August 5th. Venue contact details
via Web links posted in MV996 -- The Crown is on Crown Street in the Old
Town district, between the A22 Upperton Road and A259 The Goffs/High
Street/Church Street, 500yds WNW of their junction, about 3/4 mile out from
the town centre. NGR TV 599997. The club room is upstairs -- be prepared
for a packed house!

-- Steve

==============================================================================
From: "John Schwiller" <email address>
Subject: MV1024: Small World
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 00:01:35 +0100

I just mailed an old friend about Midnight Voices and Buxton gig and got 
this back..
  
"Well here's at thing.. Pete Atkin, (I know him actually!) lives in ****** 
[to protect the innocent], and is the partner of the administrator at ******* 
[ditto, and where my friend used to work]. Small world!  "
  
So that could be another couple of seats if there are any left.
  
John S

==============================================================================
Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 13:04:00 +0100
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV1025: Discography

The new discography pages are now open for business, at the old address:
http://www.rwt.co.uk/padiscog.htm

Let me know if you find any links that don't work or point to the wrong
resource, or any components that appear to be missing. Any offers to
annotate a song lyric will be gratefully received!

On the subject of missing, please note the Web digest
http://www.rwt.co.uk/mvindex.htm
runs about 4 weeks behind the e-mail version of MV, so the latest part of
the index page often has links which don't yet go anywhere, returning the
dreaded '404' report! I don't need to know about these.

Regards

Steve

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 05:44:01 +0100
From: Leslie Moss <email address>
Subject: MV1026 (was duplicate MV1025): Jeff's wedding

Thought my fellow Voices might like to know that next week one of us is
getting married. My brother Jeff lost his wife early last year from cancer,
but happily he met a delightful lady, Sharon, and they are getting hitched
in Edmonton, Alberta next Thursday. Several of you may remember Jeff from
the Monyash concert and the evening before at Steve's.

As his best man, I am coordinating 'telegrams' and I know that Jeff would be
tickled pink if he received wedding greetings from us Voices. He can be
contacted on .

Thanks to you all.

Leslie

==============================================================================
From: B & J Cotterill <email address>
Subject: MV1027: turtles
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 12:26:32 +0100

With regard to the line: as if the car was a turtle dreaming;  my son, who
actually requested Practical Man at Islington, feels that it describes the
sort of dream a turtle might have.   The turtle, being a slow creature,
might wish to travel at great speed.   I think it is one of  those lines
which needs grammatical analysis.   Did Clive mean as if the car was a
turtle and that it was dreaming of streaming lights or as if the car was
the subject matter of a turtle's dream.   Well, enough of that, I now have
a question to put to other Voices.
If you were to play one track to someone to introduce them to Pete's songs,
which one would it be?
I tried Canoe on my sister, but she didn't seem too enthralled, and I can't
remember now what I first heard which made me want to hear some more.  
Although Faded Mansion has come up as number one, I wouldn't use it in this
context.   What have other people tried?
best wishes
Jenny   

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 14:38:03 +0100
From: Roy Brown <email address>
Subject: MV1028 Re: MV1027: Betting on a one-track pony.....

>From: B & J Cotterill <email address>
>
>If you were to play one track to someone to introduce them to Pete's songs,
>which one would it be?
>I tried Canoe on my sister, but she didn't seem too enthralled, and I can't
>remember now what I first heard which made me want to hear some more.  
>Although Faded Mansion has come up as number one, I wouldn't use it in this
>context.   

I would. If my local record shop ever gets my BOTBS/DTMA CD in for
me(!), I shall have them play Faded Mansion to encourage them to stock
an armful of them......

But it doesn't prepare you for DTMA or No Dice. So I might try them with
'Laughing Boy', which is more upbeat while still being literary, and
seems to hint at the possibilities both of the quieter and of the louder
songs.

Personally, I don't like to expose newbies to Pete in doses of less than
one LP, and the one I use is DTMA.

The usual reaction is stunned silence, the realisation that everything
they have heard to date from everybody else is dross compared with it,
and the urgent need to find an all-night record store where they can get
their own copy at once.

But provided they can muster a *little* more enthusiasm than that, they
can be my friend..... :-)

-- 
Roy Brown               Phone : <phone number>       Fax : <fax number>
Affirm Ltd              Email : <email address>
<postal address>        'Have nothing on your systems that you do not    
                         know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.' 

==============================================================================
From: "andy & lynn" <email address>
Subject: MV1029: Competition
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 19:42:05 +0100

After the euphoria of the 'top ten' (I don't know why but I get the feeling
that most voices had been fantasising for nearly thirty years about the day
someone asked them to name their top ten atkin /James songs), I had an idea.
I ran it by Steve and he suggested that I put it to the masses.

One of the wonderful/sad spects of Pete's music is that it was all written
so very long ago.  While its somehow satisfying that the body of work has
been more or less closed for twenty five years, its sad that there has been
no recent output - I imagine that this is because Clive has 'moved on'.

The idea is this.  We have a lyric competition.  Pete would be the judge
and, who knows, if he is sufficiently moved (and it doesn't feel too much
like infidelity), he might write a tune.  If he likes it he might even play
it and some lucky soul's happiness would be complete.  The alternative
possibilities are that no-one enters, that all of the entries are rubbish or
that Pete thinks its a silly idea.

Anyway, to kick off, with possibly more to follow at a later date....


Clown's Feet

I make my way between the lines of infra red and nylon twine
As delicate as human hair.  Invisible, yet surely there
I'm optimistic at the first, yet bound to fail for I am cursed
with clown's feet

And sixteen years of kicks and slaps, contempt in front of other chaps
Can leave a woman overcome, frightened, angry, anxious, numb
But I don't know, I've only heard, so please forgive my choice of words
and clown's feet

I spent my time behind the lines, between the barbed wire and the mines
I wander through this no-one's land, where danger hides at every hand
I deal in unexploded bombs, with boxing gloves and sugar tongs
and clown's feet

And now that things are tense and taut, we're overwhelmed and overwrought
A careless word a tactless touch could be the straw that proves too much
And in the space between us both, I stumble through the undergrowth
with clown's feet.

Andy Victor

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 21:21:15 +0100
From: Pete Smith <email address>
Subject: MV1030 Re: MV1027: turtles

>From: B & J Cotterill <email address>
>With regard to the line: as if the car was a turtle dreaming;  I think it is 
>one of  those lines which needs grammatical analysis.

Too right! It should read " as if the car were a turtle dreaming".

-- 
Pete Smith

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 21:27:31 +0100
From: Pete Smith <email address>
Subject: MV1031 Re: MV1027: turtles

>From: B & J Cotterill <email address>
>If you were to play one track to someone to introduce them to Pete's songs,
>which one would it be?
> 
Thief in the Night

It's short, catchy, beautifully performed, and has lyrics that can be as
much or as little as the listener wants to hear. 
-- 
Pete Smith

==============================================================================
From: "lynn sheppard" <email address>
Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 09:55:22 +0000
Subject: MV1032 Re: MV1028; MV1027: Betting on a one-track pony.....

My husband introduced me to PA by playing me  "Tongue Tied". It 
worked for me! Now he never plays PA and i am still an addict!        
             Lynn Sheppard 

==============================================================================
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 10:44:20 +0100
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV1033 Re: MV937: RealAudio downloads

This week's RWT log file still shows a few unsuccessful attempts from
addresses I recognise as belonging to some of our members, to download the
.ra files for playing off line.

They ARE available, but as I explained in more detail in MV937 (please
refer), the HTTP address for file download is subdirectory /real, not /rwt
which is where the .ram metafile links for PNM on-line playing of the files.

This only applies to those items on the RWT server.

Sorry to repeat this, but I don't like to think of members getting
frustrated in their attempts to access a resource that's theirs for the
asking.

Of course, shift-clicking (in Netscape anyway) the new 'RA download' icon
on any of the Discography sub-pages will automatically deliver the right
file ... unless I've made an error somewhere!

-- Steve

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web Digest week 36 (03.05.98, MV1018-1033) ends   | index | prev | next |

The discussion forum for fans of Pete Atkin and Clive James,
their works and collaborators on stage, TV, disc and in print.
Midnight Voices