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      Web Digest week 39 (24.05.98, MV1081-1103) begins | index | prev | next |
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      From: Pete Atkin
      Subject: MV1081: Me again
      Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 19:06:45 +0100
      
      Dear All
      
      It's a fascinating (well, OK, semi-fascinating, as the lamented F. Muir used
      to say) lesson in statistical analysis to see how many continuing and
      different ways there are of interpreting the Top Ten data.   I love it.
      
      Just a few brief things (really):
      
      Barry - (caption competition) I'm truly flattered by the comparison with
      Laurel and Hardy, but I have to know:  which of us is which?
      
      Dave (1056) - Paul Keogh did everything I asked him on Wall of Death - it's
      much more that I didn't ask him to do the right things.   It was one of
      those just-written songs that hadn't had any time to get bedded in through
      a few live performances, and I think it suffers from that.   I simply didn't
      know how to achieve the kind of heaviness I thought I was after, to contrast
      properly the two bits of the song.  With hindsight, I think it was the wrong
      way to have gone about it.  If I'm feeling brave, I may demonstrate what I
      mean at Buxton (OK, OK, I know you can't be there - sorry).
      
      Stephen (1064) - the question about what makes a guitar song and what a
      piano song is an intriguing one, mainly because I've never really given it
      any conscious thought.   The thing about chord voicings is a major part of
      it:  the possible ways to sound any given chord are getting on for
      infinitely more on the keyboard than on the guitar, and when the particular
      way the chords work is crucial, it tends to be a piano song - that has much
      more to do with why Thirty Year Man is a piano song than its subject matter
      does, for instance.  (But there are guitar-based examples of this:  I do
      Flowers and the Wine in C, but that is C achieved by playing it in A with
      capo on 3, just because of the chord voiceings).   Others that are locked
      onto the piano in that way (in my head, anyway) include, Master of the
      Revels, Tenderfoot, Hollow and Fluted Night, and there must be more. I have
      once or twice done Sessionman's Blues on guitar, though, which sort of
      surprises me, anyway.  It's generally much easier to transfer a 'guitar'
      song onto piano than vice versa, for that same reason. I have been known to
      do BOTBS on keyboard, for instance, and it's hard to think of many that I'd
      think of as untranslatable in that direction, although there are several
      that I think keyboard (my keyboard, anyway) would tend to clutter up and get
      in the way - Wristwatch, for instance, or most of the jokey ones, come to
      think of it.    In the end, it's just down to 'feel' on individual songs,
      and whether switching (always assuming I'm capable of it technically) offers
      a usefully different perspective.
      
      And, hey, if you're anywhere near Bath next Sunday (31st) the Steve Martland
      Band is playing at the Pavilion.  If you're interested in hearing something
      unlike ANYTHING you've heard before - I mean, really - but which will leave
      you exhilarated rather than mystified......
      If not, well, maybe next time.
      
      Rock on.  Or whatever.
      
      Pete
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 10:55:29 +0800
      From: John Fuery <email address>
      Subject: MV1082: PA COVERS ALBUM
      
      Re: PA COVERS ALBUM
      
      
      Dear MVs,
      
      Following the underwhelming response to my idea of a PA/CJ Covers/Tribute
      album (see MV1036) in which we could propose ideas as to which artist might be
      best suited to cover which PA/CJ song, I'm left with two possible conclusions- 
      
      1) We're a pretty unimaginative lot - which is obviously not the case.
      
      2) PA/CJ's lack of commercial success is totally down to the fact that their
      songs are just too esoteric for other artists to cover.
      
      Aside from Val Doonican's already-extant FATW, the only suggestions have been
      TOM WAITS ("Thirty Year Man", "Between Us There Is Nothing") JOHN
      MARTYN(""Perfect Moments") - both from me, and FRANK SINATRA ("Thirty Year
      Man")from Don Brown in MV1067 and TONY BENNETT ("Thirty Year Man") from Leslie
      Moss in MV 1069. 
      
      Surely there are other PA/CJ songs which Voices can imagine being sung/played
      by other artists?
      
      Anyone else got any comments or ideas about the above? You can if you so
      desire also suggest a "World's Worst PA Covers album" in which artists totally
      unsuited to the songs are suggested e.g. Val Doonican "Rain Wheels" or "I See
      The Joker".
      
      
      Yours from recession-hit Asia
      
      JOHN FUERY
      
      P.S. Won't be able to make Buxton, (put me down for the first CD!) but have
      sent a copy of the BOTBS/DTMA CD to the organisers of the HongKong Folk
      Festival together with Steve's e-mail address to see if they'd consider
      booking PA for this year's Festival in November - should PA be interested in
      doing it.
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 14:10:35 +0100
      From: S J Birkill <email address>
      Subject: MV1083: Covers - here's another
      
      Thanks to Cary for sending a tape of the most recently published (to my
      knowledge) cover of a James/Atkin song. Folk-style singer/guitarist Wizz
      Jones included "Touch Has A Memory" on his 1987 "The Grapes Of Life" album
      on Run River Records. This is the cassette (the only?) version, RRA C005.
      
      Hear it in RA3 at http://www.rwt.co.uk/wizz.ram
      Download it from ftp://ftp.rwt.co.uk/pub/rwt/ra/wizz.ra
      
      Also freshly transcribed (thanks here to Graham Stibbs), Pete's own
      rendition of his train blues, from the radio show "Digance does it ...
      locally" when it visited Cambridge in 1988.
      
      Hear it in RA3 at http://www.rwt.co.uk/train.ram
      Download it from ftp://ftp.rwt.co.uk/pub/rwt/ra/train.ra
      
      -- Steve
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 14:35:36 +0100
      From: Gerald Smith <email address>
      Subject: MV1084 Re: MV1082: PA COVERS ALBUM
      
      At 09:33 25/05/98 +0100, John Fuery wrote:
      
      
      >Surely there are other PA/CJ songs which Voices can imagine being sung/played
      >by other artists? >Anyone else got any comments or ideas ...
      
      How about Toyah Wilcox doing Rain Wheels?! %)
      
      
      Gerry Smith
      
      
      Gerald Smith's Homepage :
      http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gerald.smith/index.htm
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 15:00:07 +0100
      From: S J Birkill <email address>
      Subject: MV1085: Roll Call
      
      Most MV members are "lurkers". The term is conventional jargon, and despite
      its pejorative sound it's not meant as a criticism -- one doesn't have to
      participate to enjoy the discussion and keep up with the news. But once or
      twice I've been asked whether I've heard from someone's long-lost friend,
      also a Pete Atkin aficionado. Just in case you're lurking unspoken
      alongside someone with whom you'd like to (or even hate to!) make contact,
      here's the list, with addresses removed to protect against unwanted
      intrusion. If anyone would like a message forwarding (though not always
      possible with lapsed members), please contact me -- Steve.
      
      Current members, daily list:
      
      Alex
      Bill Anderson
      Pete Atkin
      Roger Barnett
      Steve Bennett
      Cary Bernard
      Tim Binsted
      Alexis Birkill
      Carole Birkill
      S J Birkill
      Colin Boag
      Don Bowen
      Roy Brown
      Peter Bushby
      Andrew Carter
      Edmund Chattoe
      Ian Chippett
      Chris
      Stephen Coles
      Richard Corfield
      Roger Cornwell & Jean Rogers
      Michael J. Cross
      Tony Currie
      Ian Davie
      Michael Davies
      Derek P. Davis
      Helen Dinsdale
      John Duncan
      Martin Eldon
      Jeffrey Farrell
      David Fisher
      John Fuery
      Richard Gibson
      David Griffin
      Chris Harris
      John Harris
      Mike Hodges
      Barry Holley
      Tom Holt
      Graham Huckin
      Kenneth Hutchinson
      Adrian Jenkins
      Dave Jones
      Frances Kemmish
      Rob King
      Bob Kingsley
      Bob Kingston
      Alun Lewis
      Graeme Lindsay
      Ian Lindsay
      Maurice J. Lovelock
      Neil Lovelock
      Murray McGlew
      Peter McInerney
      Ian McNee
      Gary Meek
      Barry Miles
      Mike Millen
      Jeff Moss
      Leslie Moss
      Evelyn Murray
      Martin Nail
      Neil Norman
      Derrick Palmer
      Stephen Payne
      Mike and Mel Powell
      Hamilton Pruim
      John Ramsey
      Drew Rankine
      Simon Reap
      Steve Reels
      Stuart Reeves
      Paul Reid
      Mark Roberts
      John Allen Robinson
      Richard Ross
      Robin Schoolar
      John Schwiller
      Lynn Sheppard
      Mary Shipway
      Michael Shoolbred
      David Sinfield
      Jeffrey Sloneem
      Cliff Smith
      Gerry Smith
      Pete Smith
      Ian Sorensen
      Graham Stibbs
      Roy Thompson
      Ed Tolputt
      John Tolputt
      Nick Tothill
      David Turner
      Andy Victor
      Mike Walters & Christine Guilfoyle
      Dr Jeremy Walton
      Mike Welbrock
      Roger Burton West
      Helen White
      Mark Wing-Davey
      Ian Wright
      Raymond Wright
      
      Weekly List:
      
      Graeme Aldous
      Helen Armfield
      Jim Arnold
      Dave Bondy
      Neil Bullock
      Jonathan Cave
      John Corfield
      Jenny Cotterill
      James Cuthbert
      David Gibson
      Steve Gilbert
      David Gritten
      Graham Hollis
      Chris Jackson
      David Kennedy
      Stephen Lynas
      Ramsey Margolis
      Robert Matthews
      Roger May
      Steve McGrady
      John N L Morrison
      Mick O'Kelly
      Bill Pannifer
      Ray Pemberton
      Jon Ray
      Terry Roberts
      John Ross
      Roger Sherhod
      Rob Spence
      David Turner
      Dorothy Walker
      Philip Winter
      Derek Wright
      
      Not Current (lapsed or resigned):
      
      Richard Adey
      Richard Barrett
      Chrissy
      Ben Delfont
      Rose Dempsey
      Laura Forster
      Keir Giles
      John Gladwyn
      Nick Harding
      Peter Hipsey
      Colin Little
      Pat Llanwarne
      Mick Lynch
      Jonathan Madden
      Benjamin Peterson
      Gordon Rae
      Dave Randall
      Dave Robinson
      Michael Schlagman
      Roger Spiers
      Adrian Stovold
      Alan Terrill
      Karen Traviss
      Henry Yeomans
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: Dave Jones <email address>
      Subject: MV1086 RE: MV1075; MV 1073
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 11:43:59 -0400
      
      >>"A man who's been around" is a nice piece. Who were 
      >>the backing band on that, and where was it recorded ? 
      >  If you mean the Baudelaire version, it was done for the (brief) TV series
      >"The Party's Moving On" and involved a band led by MD and pianist Laurie
      >Holloway throughout the run. Steve's put details on the web site under The
      >LWT Shows. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty certain Pete didn't play
      >piano himself on this one.
      
      Yes, I raised an eyebrow or three myself on hearing that piano work. I hadn't
      heard anything like it from Pete in the past.
      
      >I don't know if Pete's performed the song since then, and perhaps it's a a
      >little on the Tin Pan Alley side, but as a slice of life I think it
      >deserves consideration for an outing sometime... 
      >Graham Stibbs 
      
      I think it could be the Sinatra cover piece, rather than "Thirty Year Man". 
      The piano figure in TYM reminds me of that quintessential lounge song "One 
      for my baby" ("Set 'em up Joe.....", "One for my baby, and one more for the 
      road"), which, by astounding coincidence, was played on the car radio just as 
      I turned it on the other night. OK, it was part of a Frankie retrospective 
      (though on the minority jazz station: the mainstream stations here mentioned 
      Frank's passing on the news and then went back to hyping Hanson).  Listening 
      to "One for my baby" it came to me that, for all that we love "Thirty Year 
      Man" it's playing in a different league. It has a feeling, an image, and a 
      certain lyric structure, but "One for my baby" has a story and a range of 
      emotion that you latch onto very quickly (which is essential for a "popular 
      song"). "Thirty Year Man" you can play again and again, finding new aspects 
      as you do so.
      
      "A man who's been around" is more like that "popular" lounge song.  I can
      easily hear Frank singing it.
      
      Dave Jones
      Around and around in Rochester NY.
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: IChippett <email address>
      Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 16:48:06 EDT
      Subject: MV1087: Cover Versions
      
      If you can't think of a suitable singer to cover Pete's songs, how about
      thinking of suitable songs for Pete to cover? I'd love to hear him doing stuff
      from the works of  Jimmy Van Heusen, Harry Warren, Rodgers and Hart, etc. when
      they knew how to write a tune, etc, etc. 
      
      Ian C
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 15:04:11 +0000
      From: Stephen Payne <email address>
      Subject: MV1088 Re: MV1070; MV1081
      
      Thanks very much to Gerry and Pete for illuminating my guitar/piano
      darkness.  Thinking more carefully, I realise I was wrong to say that my
      satisfaction with the guitar chords is uncorrelated with whether the
      original is piano- or guiitar- centred.  It's just that it's not perfectly
      correlated: another song which seems to me to have a very pleasing guitar
      accompaniment, despite missing some subtleties of the piano arrangement is
      Screen Freak; but indeed most of the most pleasing ones are guitar songs.
      
      Ah well: too late for me to learn the piano I fear, even if I set the
      sights as low as my crummy guitar.
      
      The chords for Care-charmer Sleep were well worth waiting for, thanks.
      Perhaps the biggest surprise of the top ten voting for me was that this
      gorgeous song didn't finish further up the charts....
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 16:23:24 +0100
      From: Roy Brown <email address>
      Subject: MV1089 Re: MV1084; MV1082: PA COVERS ALBUM
      
      >Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 14:35:36 +0100
      >From: Gerald Smith <email address>
      >Subject: Re: MV1082: PA COVERS ALBUM
      >
      >At 09:33 25/05/98 +0100, John Fuery wrote:
      >
      >
      >>Surely there are other PA/CJ songs which Voices can imagine being sung/
      >>played by other artists? >Anyone else got any comments or ideas ...
      >
      >How about Toyah Wilcox doing Rain Wheels?! %)
      >
      
      Sounds good - I could imagine her being the driver too.
      
      My top three are:
      
      Jonathan Ross with 'Prince of Aquitaine'
      Bjork with 'Touch has a Memory'
      Rolf Harris with 'Rider To the World's End' 
      -- 
      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: IChippett <email address>
      Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 02:25:37 EDT
      Subject: MV1090 Re : MV1088; MV1070; MV1081
      
      I agree with Stephen that Care Charmer Sleep is a gorgeous song but it falls
      into the same category of Slight But Considerable Songs which we tend to
      overlook in favour of the big stuff when it comes to voting. Like Luck of the
      Draw, Tongue-tied, Pearl Driller and so on. The song in this category which
      did best was Flowers and the Wine maybe because, apart from the rest, of those
      superb lines in the middle section.
      
      Going back to Care Charmer Sleep, we have another example of a great middle
      bit, this time a musical one, with a really elegant move from A to B to C#,
      then to F to G  to C before we return to the final verse as if nothing had
      happened. Gerry explains this sort of thing better than me but I can't think
      of another song writer who could manage this. Not even Elton John.         8-)
      
      Ian C
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 10:43:39
      From: Richard M Corfield <email address>
      Subject: MV1091: Pi
      
      Dear MV's,
      
      Having laboured long over a hot hard drive I have produced a ranking for
      the top 58 Pete Atkin Songs based on the recent voting exercise. 
      
      For those of you who glaze over at the mention of statistics please read on
      (if my old math's master knew that young Corfield was in charge of this
      operation he'd long ago have reached for his oxygen mask...;-)).
      
      Anyhow, 
      
      The way that the voting was organised reflected three measures of the
      popularity of a song:
      
      1) The score that it was given (between 1 and 10) which can be expressed as
      an average i.e. the total score divided by the number of people who voted
      for it.
      
      2) The spread of the individual votes around that mean (technically the
      standard error)
      
      3) And of course (as pointed out by Michael Cross) the number of people who
      voted for it in the first place.
      
      So, the measure that I've used reflects all of these: 	(x/se)*n
      
      where x is the mean score
            se is the standard error
            n is the number of votes.
      
      	This index not only reflects how highly a song scored, it also reflects
      how consistent were the scores for it. In other words it penalises averages
      calculated from a large spread of original values and emphasises averages
      where the voters agree very well on the score. An example of this would be
      'Tonight your love is over'. This song ranks 5 out of 58 because the people
      who voted for it all agreed that it should score highly (10+9+8+9+9+8). On
      the other hand The Hypertension kid is penalised (and performs less well in
      the final ranking) because of the very large spread of scores it was given
      (5+9+7+10+8+2+10+9+3).
      
      Finally weight is given to the most important measure of all: How many
      people voted for it.
      
      I'd like to thank Dr Cortina Borja (University of Oxford, Department of
      Statistics) for his advice on the statistical approach.
      
      And so here's the list:
      
      Score    Song         
             1 GIRL ON A TRAIN
             2 THIRTY YEAR MAN
             3 FADED MANSION ON A HILL
             4 THIEF IN THE NIGHT
             5 TONIGHT YOUR LOVE IS OVER
             6 BEWARE OF THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER   
             7 PERFECT MOMENTS
             8 WRISTWATCH FOR A DRUMMER
             9 PAYDAY EVENINGS
            10 FLOWERS AND THE WINE
            11 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
            12 CANOE         
            13 CARNATIONS ON THE ROOF
            14 SUNLIGHT GATE 
            15 A KING AT NIGHTFALL
            16 SENIOR CITIZENS
            17 SESSIONMAN'S BLUES
            18 THE HYPERTENSION KID
            19 BETWEEN US THERE IS NOTHING
            20 PRINCE OF AQUITAINE
            21 ARRAY OF PASSIONATE LOVERS
            22 TOUCH HAS A MEMORY
            23 I SEE THE JOKER 
            24 SECRET DRINKER
            25 LAST HILL THAT SHOWS YOU ALL THE VALLEY
            26 NATIONAL STEEL 
            27 TONGUE-TIED
            28 MASTER OF THE REVELS
            29 LAUGHING BOY
            30 SUNRISE        
            31 NO DICE        
            32 SHADOW AND THE WIDOWER        
            33 BALLAD OF AN UPSTAIRS WINDOW
            34 HOLLOW AND THE FLUTED NIGHT
            35 SCREEN FREAK
            36 PEARLDRILLER
            37 SEARCH AND DESTROY
            38 LADY OF A DAY
            39 ERRANT KNIGHT
            40 DOUBLE AGENT
            41 YOU CAN'T EXPECT TO BE REMBERED
            42 RAIN WHEELS
            43 ALL I EVER DID
            44 RIDER TO THE WORLDS END
            45 PRACTICAL MAN 
            46 APPARITION IN LAS VEGAS     
            47 TENDERFOOT
            48 ORIGINAL ORIGINAL HONKY TONK NIGHT TRAIN BLUES
            49 CARE CHARMER SLEEP
            50 THE BEAUTIFUL CHANGES
            51 HAVE YOU GOT A BIRO I CAN BORROW?
            52 WHERE HAVE THEY ALL GONE?
            53 ROAD OF SILK
            54 MAN WHO WALKED TOWARD THE MUSIC
            55 BLACK FUNK REX
            56 EYE OF THE UNIVERSE
            57 WALL OF DEATH
            58 DRIVING THROUGH MYTHICAL AMERICA
      
      Several low scoring songs couldn't be ranked. These are the songs with 1 or
      0 voters.
      
      	LUCK OF THE DRAW
      	MY EGOIST
      	FRANGIPANNI WAS HER FLOWER
      	WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
      	A MAN WHO'S BEEN AROUND
      	ALL THE DEAD WERE STRANGERS
      	BE CAREFUL WHEN THEY OFFER YOU THE MOON
      	FRIENDLY ISLAND SONG
      	TIME AND TIME AGAIN
      	NOTHING LEFT TO SAY
      	STRANGER IN TOWN
      	OUR LADY LOWNESS
      	LITTLE SAMMY SPEEDBALL
      
      A word of warning: You've heard Mark Twain's assessment of statistics,
      'Lies, damned lies, etc'? Well that needs to be borne in mind. All this
      does is rank songs by their *average* popularity. I'm sure that most of us
      would produce a completely different top 58 (or top 71 - I can see at least
      three songs in the unranked section that I like very much personally).
      
      However, when it comes to thinking about what Pete and Clive should use
      when invited to contribute on the radio or TV etc, I think that this list -
      together with Ian's and Michael's - could be helpful. The top ten are
      statistically very defensible - probably the top twenty actually. 
      
      So, that's it. Steve has posted the results and the associated graph on the 
      web, at http://www.rwt.co.uk/top58.htm. Please bear in mind  when you look 
      at the results that where n (the number of voters) is less than three, 
      statistically we're on thin ice. 
      
      Please feel free to dissect my approach. I'd welcome the feedback. And Pete
      - any chance of Stranger in Town at Eastbourne or Buxton? ;-)
      
      And finally, we need to think of a name for this statistic. I personally
      favour 'Pete's index', 
      
      or in shortened notation:		 Pi 
      
      ;-)
      
      Best regards,
      
      Richard
        
      
      **********************************************************************
      Dr Richard M. Corfield                    Tel: <phone number>
      Department of Earth Sciences,             Fax: <fax number>
      University of Oxford,                     INTERNATIONAL
      Parks Road,                               Tel: <phone number>
      Oxford OX1 3PR                            Fax: <fax number>
      UK                                        email: <email address>
      **********************************************************************
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 22:04:00 +0100
      From: S J Birkill <email address>
      Subject: MV1092: Morgan Studios (see MV874, MV965)
      
      Richard Corfield's photos of the former Morgan, on the corner of Willesden
      High Road and Maybury Gardens, NW10, can now be seen (sorry for the delay) at
      
      http://www.rwt.co.uk/morgan1.jpg and
      http://www.rwt.co.uk/morgan21.jpg
      
      -- Steve
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: Mark Roberts <email address>
      Subject: MV1093 RE: MV1084; MV1082: PA COVERS ALBUM
      Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 10:18:11 +0100
      
      >
      >>Surely there are other PA/CJ songs which Voices can imagine being
      >>sung/played by other artists? >Anyone else got any comments or ideas ...
      >
      >How about Toyah Wilcox doing Rain Wheels?! %)
      
      How about Toyay Wilcox NOT doing Rain Wheels !!!
      
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      
      Mondex International Limited
      47-53 Cannon Street, London  EC4M 5SQ
      England
      Registered No: 3122085, England
      
      Telephone No: <phone number>
      Web Site: http://www.mondex.com
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 10:17:32 +0100
      From: Roy Brown <email address>
      Subject: MV1094 Re: MV1091: Pi
      
      >From: Richard M Corfield <email address>
      >
      <Snip a great deal of useful info>
      >
      >And finally, we need to think of a name for this statistic. I personally
      >favour 'Pete's index', 
      >
      >or in shortened notation:               Pi 
      >
      
      Good name for a 'Best Of' CD do you think?
      
      The most popular 22 songs over 7 LPs, approximately........ :-)
      -- 
      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.' 
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 13:41:12 -0400
      From: Chris Harris <email address>
      Subject: MV1095 Re: MV1091: Pi
      
      
      Re the statistics
      
      I don't think it was Mark Twain who said it - but had the garment  been
      invented he probably would have;
      "Statistics are like a bikini, what they reveal is interesting but what
      they conceal is vital".
      
      How about the ASPIC; Atkin Song Popularity Indicator Coefficient.
       
      
      Chris.  
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 21:14:20 +0100
      From: Leslie Moss <email address>
      Subject: MV1096 Re: MV1095; MV1091: Pi
      
      At 20:41 28/05/98 +0100, you wrote:
      
      >How about the ASPIC; Atkin Song Popularity Indicator Coefficient.
      > 
      >
      >Chris.  
      >
      ... with Clive James as the dandy I suppose?!
      
      Leslie
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: <email address>
      Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 17:36:05 EDT
      Subject: MV1097: Buxton - the advertising campaign
      
      I dont know which Voice managed it, but someone has pulled off a masterstroke.
      
      I've just discovered that on the back label of every bottle of Buxton mineral
      water, after all the guff about how it's filtered through ancient limestone,
      has a natural balance of minerals and that it's bottled at source etc.,
      there's a triangle with a figure 1 inside it.
      And beneath the triangle, the single word:
      PETE.
      
      Honest!  Now all we have to do is get them to print '...Atkin, In Concert, Sep
      20th', and it's bound to be a full house.
      
      Don Bowen
      Sparkling gently in Harrow.
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: <email address>
      Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 01:54:49 EDT
      Subject: MV1098: New Top Ten
      
      I'd like to thank Richard for all the time he's put into making a
      statistically valid Top Ten as opposed to my amateurish version. I'm a little
      disappointed that "Tonight your love is over" and "Wristwatch" have crept in
      in place of some others but that's probably because I didn't vote for them
      myself. It might be interesting to know (he says looking innocently at the
      ceiling) just how many of Richard's personal Top Ten have moved up in his
      revised version ...
      8-))
      
      Ian C
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: Richard Corfield <email address>
      Subject: MV1099 Re: MV1098: New Top Ten
      Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 08:42:54 +0100 (BST)
      
      Ian, 
      
      How could you? I'm deeply wounded. So far Practical Man and Apparition
      remain resolutely far down the list. But I'm trying to get some time on the
      University's Cray and I think that by introducing log/quadratic scaling I
      can fix that...
      
      Richard
      
      > 
      > I'd like to thank Richard for all the time he's put into making a
      > statistically valid Top Ten as opposed to my amateurish version. I'm a little
      > disappointed that "Tonight your love is over" and "Wristwatch" have crept in
      > in place of some others but that's probably because I didn't vote for them
      > myself. It might be interesting to know (he says looking innocently at the
      > ceiling) just how many of Richard's personal Top Ten have moved up in his
      > revised version ...
      > 8-))
      > 
      > 
      > Ian C
      > 
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 13:16:49 +0100
      From: S J Birkill <email address>
      Subject: MV1100: The Monyash CD - end of the line
      
      Dear Fans
      
      The 2 copies of the 2-CD set sent out this week to MV members bring the
      total so far to 83. We have decided to set a cut-off point at 100, in true
      limited-edition style. The present rate of trickle of orders should then
      bring the edition to a close on or around the anniversary of the Festival,
      or at the latest by the date of the Buxton concert.
      
      So, anyone still intending to order the discs should put their orders in
      soon. Full details are given in past MV messages, notably MV455, MV710 and
      MV800. If you only have access to these via the Web archive, the 'censored'
      details (originally summarised in a PS to MV800) read:
      
      <omitted from Web Digest>
      
      Update on availability of recordings: 
           VHS PAL tape (UK/Europe system): SOLD OUT
           VHS NTSC  (North America/Japan): 4 copies remain
           CD-R 2-disc set: 17 copies remain
      
      Anyone desperate for the videotape might like to check their TV's and VCR's
      manuals - most PAL VHS machines sold in recent years will replay NTSC tapes
      in NTSC or 525-line quasi-PAL, and newer TVs will handle these standards
      transparently. Resolution is, understandably, not to PAL quality.
      
      The re-issue 2-on-1 CD (BOTBS/DTMA) from See For Miles is still current,
      and all MVs should have purchased at least one copy and told all their
      friends to, the better to ensure the follow-on of AKAN/TROS and SD/LL! The
      former of these is at the rights-negotiation stage at the moment; we will
      advise MVs as soon as there's any word on its release. We'd like to have
      copies available for sale at Buxton, but there's no indication yet of
      whether that will be possible.
      
      Magpie (see our Web site) is perhaps the best mail-order option for
      BOTBS/DTMA; MVs in North America might like to try Maurice Lovelock
      <email address> in Canada, who had a small number of copies for
      distribution.
      
      We have no plans for a Buxton 'live' album, and the usual restrictions on
      audience recording equipment will be imposed at the Opera House.
      
      Best
      
      Steve
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: Dave Jones <email address>
      Subject: MV1101 RE: MV1100: The Monyash CD - end of the line
      Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 10:34:52 -0400
      
      >We have no plans for a Buxton 'live' album, and the usual restrictions on
      >audience recording equipment will be imposed at the Opera House.
      
      Chorus of groans from across the pond...
      
      One wonders exactly what it would take to change this prospect. Box
      of choccies and some sweet talk ?  Anonymous contributions to Swiss
      bank accounts ? Money order made out to Molly Quotts ?
      
      I suppose that with the involvement of BOH and the Hypertension Kid there
      are legal and copyright issues that transcend anything encountered in a
      tent in a Derbyshire field. That being said, if money alone were the issue,
      and the collected transatlantic MV's each ponied up the price of a decent
      night out over here ($50 to $100 depending) as front money, would
      it be enough have any effect ?
      
      If, in saying this, I've implicitly volunteered for anything, then I accept.
      
      Dave Jones
      Amateur Banker in Rochester NY.
      
      PS What are they putting in the mineral water in Harrow, and how do we
      get some ?
      
      ==============================================================================
      From: <email address>
      Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 13:59:06 EDT
      Subject: MV1102: National Steal Service
      
      I have been invited to subscribe to a new magazine called 'Dr.Atkin's Health 
      Revelations'.  It offers the latest breakthroughs in complementary medicine -
      including the good doctor's new lifestyle plan. Will the treatments include 
      snorting frangipanni and pearl drilling instead of trepanning ?  Better be
      careful  - this could be live libel.
      
      Barry Holley.
      
      PS. Which is which, Pete ? Well we all know who is  the hardy annual in the 
      ever changing world of TV presenters.... and who deserves the laurels when it 
      comes to performing those timeless ditties......   
      
      ==============================================================================
      Date: Sat, 30 May 1998 21:45:47 +0100
      From: Kenneth Hutchinson <email address>
      Subject: MV1103 Re: MV1049: Caption?
      
      Dear all,
      The caption suggestions seem to have withered on the vine or have I
      missed someting in the last couple of weeks.
      Anyway the bemused expressions of our very own Butch and Sundance
      obviously show we are intruding on the following conversation:-
      
      PA:  Well CJ is this viagra all its cracked up to be?
      
      CJ:  Too right cobber, turned me into a thirty year man - and I'll have
      a full head of hair by Tuesday.
      
                                      Regards,
                                              Ken
      
      If anyone has the power to make us happy or unhappy it is our friends.
      -- 
      Ken Hutchinson
      <email address>
      http://www.idmon.demon.co.uk/index.htm
      
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Web Digest week 39 (24.05.98, MV1081-1103) ends   | index | prev | next |
      
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