NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/bit/listserv/allmusic/15415

Text File | 1993-01-25 | 12.8 KB | 255 lines

Comments: Gated by [e-mail]
Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!darwin.sura.net!paladin.american.edu!auvm!MITVMA.BITNET!MHB
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Mon, 25 Jan 1993 11:34:18 EST
Sender:       Discussions on all forms of Music <[e-mail]>
From:         "Michael H. Bloom" <[e-mail]>
Subject:      The easy ones first
Lines: 244

OUAC: Urban Ambience will be playing live on the Brandeis U. radio station,
WBRS, 100.3 MHz or so, Friday night from 9:30 until we break all our strings.

From:         "Out,
              out - you'll not feel the fall-out..." <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Gamelan scales

>         is there anyone out there who could explain how a Gamelan scale is
> built? I've found it mentioned it in a book, and I gather the notes are not
> the usual semitones...

Here's what I think I hear. The first experience I had of gamelan was Javanese,
a group at Brown run by a professor named Toth (Tim, do you know if he's still
there and if the group is still active?). There were five notes in the scale,
numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. The set I brought back from Java myself also has
notes 4 and 7, for a whole "pelog" scale. (There's a five-tone scale called
"slendro," which I believe is different, not just the seven-tone pelog with
two keys missing!) The notes as I hear them are, 2 is do, so 1 is the flatted
seventh, a slightly blue note. 3 is the second, 4 is a noticeably sour minor
third, 5 is a major third, 6 is a slightly sharped fourth, and 7 is a fifth.
I think. (This is from memory-- contrary to what Carol would have you believe,
I do not bring my breast symbols to work.)

From:         Hosko <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re: Gimme three steps out that door (No Roses)

>                                   ... But, have you actually heard 'No
> Roses_? This is a very different style to her normal albums. I heard
> that when someone suggested that she make an electric folk-rock album
> she didn't like the idea, but that she gave in to persistant requests,
> and that 'No Roses' was the end result. It was Shirley and her husband,
> Hutchings, that formed the Albion Country Dance Band (and they were
> originally titled) and this was their first outing on record...

Yeah. Don't like it, "The Murder of Maria Marten" notwithstanding. I think it
exacerbates all of Tyger's stuffiest tendencies. The way I like my folk music
could possibly be best expressed with a parody of Emma Goldman: "If I can't
dance, I don't want to be part of your tradition!" Of course, I need to make
it perfectly clear that in fact I can't dance, but I play a pretty mean jig.

From:         Buckethead <[e-mail]>
Subject:      John Zorn

> I have come to the conclusion that I must check out something by John
> Zorn. Anybody wanna give me a steer in the right direction?

I second woj's opinion: you want the Naked City record. Improbably enough,
it's on the Nonesuch label. The cover photo is of a corpse in a pin-stripe
suit, sprawled out in the middle of the street, with a fairly visible bullet
hole it its head. That's the most pleasant of the artwork. The music is of a
similar aesthetic persuasion-- you'll love it!

> Another question. A while back, someone (Bloom, I think) mentioned
> another recording that Buckethead could be found on. Who was that artist,
> and what's the name of that album?

He's only on one track, "High School Hellcats," but you should get this record
anyway. The artist is Henry Kaiser, one of the world's top ten guitarists no
matter what _Guitar Nad_ magazine has to say about it, and the record is _Hope
You Like Our New Direction_, which is ironic in that it goes in 17 different
directions at once-- there's a Sufi sacred song (sung by Richard Thompson), a
Vietnamese blues, a Beefheart cover, an intense Zappaesque synclavier exercise
(entitled "Windham Hell"), a spontaneous version of "California Dreamin'" with
Tom Constanten (the world's only surviving keyboardist for the Grateful Dead)
sitting in, and a bunch of other fun stuff.

From:         Jeff Preston <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Japan: Flying in the face of BMI & ASCAP?

>   Does anyone here have any pointers for information on Japanese
> releases (specifically unauthorized releases where the artists see
> no royalties)?  I'm curious as to how these Japanese record companies
> manage to avoid the wrath of BMI, ACSAP and other such organizations.
> Are they somehow exempt from international copyright laws?  I know
> that the RIAA was in a tizzy over the numerous CD rental stores in
> Japan, but that's nothing compared to releasing whole albums of
> material by an artist without paying any royalties whatsoever. How
> are they getting away with this?

I believe I've heard stories of this nature too. I think the deal is, you have
to ask them nicely before they'll give you your money, and they kinda forget
about it and hope that you will too. I advise that you ask Mr. Wayside, Steven
Feigenbaum, about it-- I think I heard some stories from him. If you remind me
in private E-mail, I'll also get you an address for a guy in NYC who may also
have a story to tell; his name is Glenn Leslie, and he's booking foreign tours
for people like Ronald Shannon Jackson.

From:         [e-mail]
Subject:      Re: A cappella, A cappella, A cappella, A cappella, A cappella

> >The Bobs - Great! At times quirky, but never dull. Probably the most original
> >           of the groups here and one of the most fun.
>
> Aren't they great! They perform live a lot - I'll post a calendar soon.

Yeah, they're coming to Boston in the spring, courtesy of World Music Inc.,
the same organization that booked the Tuvan throat singers (who weren't just
a cappella, but were consistently amazing).

> >Tufts Beelzebubs - They certainly don't chicken out when it comes to
selecting
> >                   cover material. Interesting attempts at Bowie's "Space
> >                   Oddity" and Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". I think they reached
> >                   a little too far on these, but it certainly was a valiant
> >                   try!
>
> One of the top ten college groups in the country, in many people's
> opinions. They are very talented! The Contemporary A Cappella Society of
> America was founded by Deke Sharon - 'Bubs '91 and one of their old musical
> directors. They're quite good. They used to sponsor a neat invitational
> every year....

Little known fact: half a dozen of the Bubs sang on my recording debut, a tune
called "Haircuts," appearing on the first _Lyrics by Ernest Noyes Brookings_
album (on the Shimmy-Disk label). They were great: picked up the tune I wanted
them to sing immediately, and then started to play with it: one guy sat down
at the piano and did a Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche of it! Apologies if I've
already tooted this particular horn...

> >Hodja - Binghamton Crosbys : The first tune and I was already snapping along.
> >                             Wonderful combination of voices...

This tune is also from that Todd Rundgren album called _A Cappella_. You can't
miss it in the record store: on the cover, Todd is sitting in front of a studio
microphone, wearing an Indonesian ritual mask. One tune rips off the "Ketjak"
monkey chant, a Balinese pageant based on the _Ramayana_ (as is nearly every
traditional performance piece in the entire culture).

From:         Sonia Kovitz <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Tripping Out in Masuda-Land

> Also hope to say a few things about Amy Denio after I listen to _Spagga!_
which
> I ordered under the evil and pernicious influence of the mysterious woj, plus
I
> received a consolation copy of _Never Too Old To Pop a Hole_ (the other one
> self-destructed), so I get to hear SIDE B (wow) and even re-play SIDE A (hot
> damn).  Mike The Bloomdofferous-Dido, you posted a rave of Amy's settings of
> poems by somebody but don't say where this thing is available; would like to
> follow up.

The record's called _A Beautiful Western Saddle_ by Curlew; the poet is Paul
Haines, who wrote the libretto for Carla Bley's _Escalator Over the Hill_ and
some stuff for Kip Hanrahan. It's on the Cuneiform label, which Tower claims
have full distribution of; you should take them at their word and force them
to stock this magnificent record.

Re Great Society:
> Some of this is pop, some even COUNTRY (Grace is amazing), but what I'm most
> taken with is her brother Darby on guitar (another brother, Jerry, is on
> drums).  Not that Darby is a legend in his own time or anything, but
> just that this is such raw, honest playing.  It inspires me.  Anybody have any
> other ideas for things I HAVE to listen to so I can become a psychedelic fiend
> 30 years too late?

Darby was not her brother but her husband. They were an interesting band, yes,
more for what they tried to get away with than what they actually accomplished!
There are some interesting comments by Grace in the liner notes to the Airplane
retrospective _2400 Fulton Street _ (or whatever that address was), something
about how she had these notions of meaningfully combining aspects of jazz and
raga and stuff in with the music they were doing, and the Great Society simply
didn't have the chops, so she went with the Airplane. This has relevance to
the new fusion thread that just got broached, which I'll try to address in a
meaningful way shortly, but I believe that was the best part of psychedelia
as an artistic phenomenon, that you were encouraged to use everything you
knew about, and then get out and learn more, expand your horizons...

From:         Jeff Beer <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re: Cobham/T.Williams/It's A Beautiful Day

> playing rock or fusion.  That is why I always considerd Cobham as a rock
> drummer, and Jack as a jazz drummer, regardless of the style of music
> they play.

I'm probably just being oversensitive to a perceived jazz snobbery here again,
but I have difficulty not reading this whole exegesis as "Jazz drummers are
new sensitive males, rock drummers are louts."

>     ...  Who do they have?  Tony Oxley, while not in the LJCO is still
> a part of the London scene, is Cecil Taylor's choice on drums.

Grew up with Derek Bailey. Interesting critter. If that's your standard of a
good jazz drummer, I submit de Johnette doesn't make it either.

From:         cinnamon girl <[e-mail]>
Subject:      RE: Kick me out after this one... :)

> I enjoyed your rundown of the ALLMUSIC get together... but... it was much too
> polite!  ;)  We need someone to expose the *dirt* on what *really* happened...
> their *unabashed* perceptions of these people in their non-virtual states
> (Tim?).  I will, of course, encourage you to stray away from the actuality of
> the events to make it entertaining.

Tallest: Tim. Shortest: Ian. Most likely to stick to the subject: Alex. Least
likely: Bloom. Air speed of a migrating swallow: depends which species.

Truly, not much happened. We needed someone such as yourself to catalyze any
truly interesting occurrences, and alas, it was not to be.

> OMC:  The Make Me Wet Man of the Week for this week is...... Richard Sinclair.
>       _Caravan of Dreams_ is lovely.

Told ya so.

From:         [e-mail]
Subject:      I'm in Heaven/ my man John Lee

>       You got to bottle up and go,
>       You got to bottle up and go
>       You all-fired women, sure
>       Gotta bottle up and go, bop bop bop bop"
>
>              ('to me this is pure poetry') :) ;)  ...walt...

To me this is evidence of America's declining educational standards :-)

From:         "OUT,
              OUT--YOU CAN'T SEE MY HAIR FALL OUT..." <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re: Gabriel and MTV -- Len's question belatedly replied

> Rossy _Island of Ghosts_ (Real World).  Great album to take you away
>   for an hour to another culture (Madagascar).  Put together with sounds
>   of lemurs and the regional birds, it is a pleasant acoustic diversion.

How's this compare to the _A World Out of Time_ material? I got a whole disc
of Tarika Sammy, which I think is weaker than what they did with Kaiser.

> Not too many folks can do the "Crimson" thing or the "Lamb Lies Down"
> thing anymore.  Many artists are going for the "short and quick" tunes--
> catchy and just-right for short attention spanned listeners of today.
> Anything longer is considered an extended mix. Ahh, the mentality of
> today's music.  I'd better quit before I start going on again about
> modern music.  Bah.

Nobody can afford to rehearse that kind of material! Anyone with that level of
musical aspirations goes out and buys a MIDI computer, and then can't sell his
music except in the New Age bins, so he has to emasculate it.

From:         cinnamon girl <[e-mail]>
Subject:      RE: Wicked Game Video?

> She's twelve... going on thirteen... the slut.

Cool beans. Do we have a Jerry Lee Lewis revival in the offing?