From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #128 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Friday, April 30 1999 Volume 04 : Number 128 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: The Flattery Earth ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Alloy: Holy Farking Snit! [Chris Cracknell ] Re: Alloy: TFeryE, BDay III [RThurF@aol.com] RE: Alloy: rudimentary beginnings of Dolby Page 1981 ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] RE: Alloy: The Flattery Earth ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 02:43:28 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: The Flattery Earth Slarvi, Thank you for that beautiful message and the kind and flattering words. I am deeply gratified that TFeryE has touched you so. I, too, am struck by the quality of EACH contribution. I was most fortunate to have the privilege of producing this effort! Thank you, everyone /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 13:12:27 +0100 From: "Lem Bingley" Subject: Alloy: TFeryE, BDay III Thanks to Slarvi and Tim for their encouraging comments re The Valley of the Mind's Eye. Having heard the CD I cringed massively when my own effort came on. I guess everyone feels that way when their own work comes on... or maybe I'm just paranoid. My efforts to understand the structure of Beauty of a Dream continue, despite the fact that it uses far too many notes at once and seems to be all black notes and hardly any white ones when I sound it out. I'm vaguely toying with the idea of playing the whole thing on a real acoustic piano if I can manage to master it well enough to record it in one hit. I haven't had a chance to hear Disk 2 of TFeryE yet, but Disk 1 is breathtaking. Hopefully it will encourage some other beginners to sign up for BDay III. Go for it! Lem Get your free E-mail at http://www.zdnet.co.uk/mail/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 00:43:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Alloy: Holy Farking Snit! No sooner do I slag Canada Post for delaying the delivery of my copy of "The Flattery Earth" (Project B-day ][) than does the package arrive on my door. Well gang, if you didn't participate in PBD-][ then you're really missing out on something cool. I was amazed at just how pro and polished the packaging of this two CD set it. I purposefully did not preview the graphics online so as not to spoil the suprise of the CD artwork. I'm glad I waited. The cover is absolutely brilliantly done. Kudos Keith! Now the music. First up is the greetings. I really liked the intro by /\/\iles. You should work in radio with a voice like that. All the greetings were quite entertaining. There were parts where I think the background music could have been ducked a bit more as it was hard to hear some of the people's messages. Sometimes the music distracted from the messages a bit. But it was still very well put together. Next up was Dissidents by Lee Jackson. A very interesting instumental adaptation. Now I have a version I can sing to Kerioke-style... hey! I can even sing my "Deviants" parody to it. Woohoo!!! Keith Stansell gave us his very first music project ever with a cover of the challenging Dolby tune "Mulu The Rain Forest". I for one was very impressed with this ambitious effort. He's definetly off to a running start. I absolutely loved Lissu's "Pulp Culture" cover on the PBD-I project and was eagerly awaiting this year's contribution. Her keen sense of minimalistic arrangment serves to emphasize the beauty of her angelic voice. If I wasn't married Lissu I would want to raise your children. ;) I really love "I Love You Goodbye". Erik Habbinga submitted "Cruel" for his song. What can I say? "Please Ricky, can't I be in the show?" "Lucy! Eef I tol jew once, I tol jew a oandred times. Jew cannot come to de club." "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Rickyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!" The latin treatment given to this song was very refreshing. I enjoyed it very much. JAMac turned in a brilliant cover of "Weightless". I partricularily was entranced by the drum track. Very well done. I ask you, is there anything smoother than the velvety baritone of Ian Gifford's voice? Wait until you hear his lighthearted rendition of "Europa And The Pirate Twins". You'll be hard pressed to find an answer to my question. Speaking of "Europa", Mary Brown's rendition of "Don't Trun Away" was the next submission on the CD. There's such a beautiful, innocence to Mary's voice. My own rendition of "Hot Sauce" was the next track on the album. Let's see what can I say about my own submission?... It's not my fault, I was drunk! ;) I decided to change it from a Tex-Mex spicey to a Louisianna bayou spicey. Working the song into a 3/4 metre I attempted to turn it into a cajun tune. No synths on this arrangement. My fiddle playing sounds awful, but then I remembered it's Cajun music and you're supposed to hit wrong notes. No gators were harmed during the recording of this song. Lem Bingley's cover of "Valley Of The Mind's Eye" is very haunting. Many may not fully appreciate the genius behind this arrangement because they have never worked with the Ensoniq Mirage and it's weeniest of all built in sequencers. 300 notes and no fancy shmancy editing features. You screw up you start over or live with it. Lem should get some sort of acknowledgement for probably being the first person in history to ever record a song exclusively on the Mirage's sequencer. Way to go Lem! /\/\iles ends the tribute with a brilliant and original cover of The Flat Earth. I love the clever intro. This track and Lissu's "I Love You Goodbye" are my favorite covers on the CD. I love the guitar work on this song. Now we come to the second CD in this year's project. This disk contains original works of music by Alloy musicians. The first is a piece by Lissu called "Shelter". This song was written in '94 and you can really see a strong contrast between the sparce minimalistic styling of her Dolby covers and the richly textured layers of this work. The story in the liner notes is cute too. /\/\iles gives us a tune called "Beat/\/\ix" next which uses Thomas's Beatnik as a musical instrument. Cool tool! The truth is out there. I contributed "Ooplik Vali Das Krochiev" (The Wedding of the Weasels) for this portion of the project. What more can I say that the liner notes don't already so elequently cover? Erik Habbinga gives us a very yummy "Box Of Bread". Listening to it makes me feel like a secret agent. This song oozes cool like Brelcreme. It's downright "Shagadelic". Tim Dunn didn't get his Dolby cover finished in time to make it to the A-disc but he makes up for it by submitting a first rate B-disc contribution in the form of a song titled "Sunny Day / Binary". I can see this song being used in a movie soundtrack in one of those spectacular low budget british movies that become big hits. Lee Jackson sends us his "Duke Nukem Theme". Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum. Oh damn, I'm all out of ass. I've never played this game because those 1st person perspective games always make me horribly motion sick. But this song makes me want to buy a pack of Gravol and give it a try. I hear that there's a "Duke Nukem Movie" in the works. Will we see your name in the credits? The last thing on the B-Side is CJMark's complete Birthday Greeting. A very clever bit of prose based on various "Dolbyisms". I'm glad there was room found for the whole thing. Well Thomas, Project B-Day ][, "The Flattery Earth" should be in your hands and hopefully ears by now. Sorry it got to you so late, we'll all strive extra hard to make sure PBD-III is done on time. I think we've all put together a very nice piece of work dedicated to you, a extra big pat on the back to Stephen M. Tilson, Keith Stansell and Ian Gifford for their hard work bringing PBD-][ to a successful conclusion. If this tribute doesn't let you know how much you are loved, appreciated, and admired by your fans then I don't know what else we can do to send you the message. Thank you Thomas for being the star that holds this eclectic group of planets in orbit together. You've touched our lives with your music and we've touched each others lives with our friendships. I hope that the knowledge that you are responsible for bringing together such a group of people from all over the world together to work on such a project as the PBDs fills you with some pride, because you deserve to feel every bit of it. Happy belated 40th Birthday Thomas. We look forward to your inspiration for many years to come. It's truly a hoot! CRACKERS (One happy clam from hell!!!!) -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 08:57:26 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: TFeryE, BDay III In a message dated 4/29/99 8:26:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time, lem@zdnetmail.co.uk writes: :: I haven't had a chance to hear Disk 2 of TFeryE yet, but Disk 1 is breathtaking. Hopefully it will encourage some other beginners to sign up for BDay III. Go for it! :: wish I could... perhaps some kind soul out there could clue me in on what, exactly, it would take for a beginner with no recording experience to do a song? What's the bare minimum equipment required? (besides a decent microphone which I've been saving up for, to go with my Radio Shack tape recorder) By the way, is it Keith who is responsible for the cover art? I absolutely adore it!! Any chance of your releasing a poster-sized version? :) !! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 16:28:08 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: rudimentary beginnings of Dolby Page 1981 Smashing stuff Robin, And where did you get those amazing pictures? Wow! BTW,...don't change the layout,...that's one of the things I particularly like about the page,...I think it's really well laid out, contemporary, and catches your attention! Super! Lissu xx > -----Original Message----- > From: RThurF@aol.com [SMTP:RThurF@aol.com] > Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 6:10 AM > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: rudimentary beginnings of Dolby Page 1981 > > > PLease don't be too harsh, I'm still playing around with the layout > (unsure > what it will look like til I'm in it up to my neck!) but here is an > example > of what I will be doing with my Dolby page. If you would like to help me > out > by giving me criticisms on the page's legibility (arrangement of type, > etc) > I'd love to hear what you think. Many of the things Dolby is concerned > about > in 1981 are the same things he's still concerned about... restrictions a > record label places on ones creativity, etc. > > http://members.aol.com/RThurF/ThomasDolby1981.htm > > Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 17:32:37 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: The Flattery Earth Oh WOW! I mean,....WOW! I don't know where to begin,..Crackers had me in stitches laughing,....you are cool, man! No one else has balls to do what you do, and you do it great! I loved Hot sauce and the weasel ,...hey,...what does that text mean, or did I miss out on the translation earlier? Hope I get to see you play this stuff live someday! JAMAC's awesome voice had me with my mouth wide open, didn't know you were such a smooth singer, J! Wanna do a duet sometime? Lee's perfect arrangements knocked me off my feet (hey crackers, I get sick when I play Quake/Duke and stuff too,..but my friends recognised Lee's music,..great stuff! Keith,..one hell of a start,...you have me frightened!!,...if this is your first attempt, I can't wait to hear more! Erik,..I always loved latin beats, what a great idea for a cover,...smashing stuff! I loved the low-down, funky little rendition of Ian's "Europa",..made me want to dance, as did the 50's retro Box of Bread,...(I have a secret penchant for that kinda thing!) Tim,...such a professional sound and great song writing,...as we have some to expect!! Lem, you're a clever sod! Those keyboards were great, and I almost got mad at how apologetic you were in your message about your contribution,...my hat is off to you! Stephen & Mary,...What can I say,....you make a great team, that we knew, but now we know that also goes musically speaking! And Stephen, I am MORE than happy for your balancing out the sound on our track! Worthy of a pro studio! Heck, I hope I didn't miss anyone out! I also want to say that I loved hearing the voices of Alloyites from all over the world in the messages track. This project has made me feel so proud to be in all of your company! And Slarv,..gorgeous message you wrote,...hope my singing didn't make you cry,..(perhaps howl like a dog? Heh heh!) BTW, WYMM? Wouldn't that make it incest seeing who your AFPW is?? Ah well,.they say it's the game the whole family can play (OUCH!) Otherwise, would be pleased to accept ::wink!!:: Oh,...this is futile, I can't tell you how much I loved all the music, ALL of it, on these CDs,...you guys are all SO talented! Can't wait for the next time! Kudos to all you guys who did all the background work to make this happen! And finally, another belated happy birthday to Thomas,...Look at what you started! It's wonderful! Thank you for bringing us together with your music! Now I have to rush home and have another listen,... Bye,.....!! Lissu :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: Stephen M. Tilson [SMTP:Stephen_Tilson@compuserve.com] > Sent: Thursday, April 29, 1999 8:43 AM > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: The Flattery Earth > > > Slarvi, > > Thank you for that beautiful message and the kind and flattering > words. I am deeply gratified that TFeryE has touched you so. I, > too, am struck by the quality of EACH contribution. I was most > fortunate to have the privilege of producing this effort! > > Thank you, everyone > /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 10:54:16 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: rudimentary beginnings of Dolby Page 1981 In a message dated 4/29/99 9:32:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time, louise.ulfstedt@teleste.fi writes: :: BTW,...don't change the layout,...that's one of the things I particularly like about the page,...I think it's really well laid out, contemporary, and catches your attention! :: Lissu, thank you for your very encouraging words :) I was trying to work within the limitations of my own confusion, diving into an unfamiliar program. Because you like it, I'm now leaving this section as-is! Next year up, 1982... One of the most stunning things about that 1981 article is that so much of what he said has carried through to this day. His interest in artistic variety & his famous consternation with record labels, his desire to be equally known for his non-pop-oriented work, etc. The photo of Thomas looking back from the sea is a very poetic sort of precursor to his obvious lifelong love for it. He and the ocean look very well together. In this photo I especially love the dark sky framing him. At 23, already such an intelligent, creatively passionate and steadfast man who carries himself well in the public eye. Very rare! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 17:52:21 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: fwd from Ian Gifford re: TFeryE 29-Apr-99 10:19:13 Sb: TFE: The Flattery Earth Newsletter #6 Fm: "Ian Gifford" > INTERNET:igifford@hotmail.com Hi Guys, I have not yet recieved my Flattery Earth Package and I am as anxious as Crackers. I work for Canada Post -sort of- and I know what they are like. They certainly aren't Purolator (hah) However, I am excited at the reviews that I have read and I will surely give my "radio announcers" breakdown once I get it. Hopefully monsieur Thomas will give his impressions as well. We'll see.... So, Good work People and thanks for not making me do it again (hee hee) Thanks for the memories and good luck with the next edition. I will not be contributing, but if you are doing b-sides I may contribute one of those if I am allowed!?! Cheers Ian Ian Gifford Singer/Songwriter, Radio show host. Sundays 12am till 2am (est) http://www.chrw.fm.net mailto:igifford@hotmail.com "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song" Louis Armstrong, 1901-1971 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 17:52:37 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Holy Farking Snit! Ah, Crackers! You had me rolling! What a talent you have with humor. Thug 2: Yeah! Thank you for that exhaustive rundown of TFeryE with kind words and chuckles for all. Glad to hear there were no coffee stains on the booklet, and I trust that if you *did* find donut crumbs in the jewel case that you put them to good use! So, if we all want to marry Lissu perhaps we should join the Mormons and move to Utah. Hey, we'd have a helluva band! > I really liked the intro by /\/\iles. Thank you. I am somewhat unhappy with it, however. And by way of apology: I realized too late that I should have included "on behalf of Alloy" in the spiel. But thankfully I was able to somewhat compensate for that in the documentation. > Well Thomas If this tribute doesn't let you know how much > you are loved, appreciated, and admired by your fans then I don't > know what else we can do to send you the message. Thug 2: Yeah! Another happy clam, /\/\iles P.S. Robin, Yes - Keith is the source of all the artwork and typesetting. And what an OUTSTANDING job he did! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 22:55:22 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: The Flattery Earth The Flattery Earth web site is almost complete. I'm still waiting to get the OK from Ian, but besides that, all songs are there. Unfortunately I was unable to include Lissu's original contribution due to copyright uncertainties with her record company. I guess you'll just have to buy the single or hear it on the radio = ) . Click on Play All on the site and sit back and enjoy: http://www.keith.stansell.com/flattery.htm - -Keith Stansell ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #128 ***************************