From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #159 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 Tuesday, June 1 1999 Volume 04 : Number 159 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Reflections from The Flattery Earth ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Re: Alloy: Alloy Homepage [RThurF@aol.com] RE: Alloy: New TMDR webpages ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] Re: Alloy: Reflections from The Flattery Earth [Brian Clayton Subject: Alloy: Reflections from The Flattery Earth Dear Alloy and Flattery Earthlings, It has been one month since the release of The Flattery Earth. I wanted to give everyone who might be interested a chance to post their reflections on the songs and greetings before I stepped into the light again. First off, I am extremely gratified to have heard and read all the wonderful things folks have said about our Flattery Earthlings and their tributes to Thomas! It's nice to know that I wasn't crazy while assembling and mastering the recordings, when I thought to myself that here we have something memorable, enjoyable, and shining with talent. I honestly feel that the greetings, each and every song, and the graphics all represent yet another fantastic facet of the finished work. The Flattery Earth doesn't sag anywhere. I would like to address those individual facets in like manner to earlier commentaries. A-SIDES Greetings --------- Ian, you did a fantastic job! What you came up with here was well beyond my imagination. The way you so cleverly weaved the various themes together - starting so appropriately with The Flat Earth, the (now that the story is told) happy accident of added emphasis to Sean Cier's eloquent and well-considered greeting, and the lead-in to Lissu's... It all adds up to ten in my book. I know it is good because even though the track is nearly 7-1/2 minutes long it seems to just fly by! Dissidents ---------- I am still stunned at the complexity of this piece - and yet, for all its complexity, none of the myriad details are lost in the mix! That is Art. I am taking a personal lesson from this for my future recording attempts. (Petulantly, I think that in any future tribute Lee participates in - I will not, because he makes me look bad! ) I love the quiet outro and cool-down at the end. Those footsteps evoke a powerful image for me. I think of Soviet arch-spy Karla in his solitary walk across the night-shrouded bridge from East to West when he defects at the end of John Le Carre's spy trilogy. Mulu The Rain Forest -------------------- Keith's offering, too, is rich in detail and nuance. When Keith dropped his initial dib (The Wreck of the Fairchild) as being too difficult in favor of Mulu, I thought, "Wow. Now *that's* a difficult song!". And what a wonderful performance he turned in! All the backwards reverb stuff, the crickets and bird-song in the background, the great vocals, the inspired use of clarinet, and that great sounding piano and bass add up to one great cover. Way to go, Keith! Mulu is smiling. I Love You Goodbye ------------------ Straight from the Moonbase . . . I love the way this one sneaks up on you. Then the big horns segue to a driving pulse appropriately matched to that over the top e-clap. Hypnotic. And then the melody comes. Lissu seems to have that elusive balance of breath and tone so many professional singers should be so lucky to possess. Her voice draws you in with warmth and promise. Very stimu..., erm, soothing. Lissu, quit your day job! Cruel ----- Whenever I hear the introductory riff to Erik's arrangement I think of (and sometimes ape) Stevie Wonder's opening rant in "Don't You Worry `Bout A Thing". One of the aspects of Erik's music I appreciate best is his ability to keep an arrangement clean and open- sounding. Erik once again shows us he is a superb instrumentalist and an outstanding fretless bass player. I have very high expectations for his next dib, "The Wreck of the Fairchild". Weightless ---------- What can I say about this piece? How about: it is the MOST Dolby-like cover we have so far been treated to. Dennis accurately and artfully captured the mood of this piece, did it with a fullness of detail, and yet made it undeniably his own. His silky smooth voice was a real surprise, too! Weightless is soothing and pleasant to listen to, again and again and again! I am glad Dennis chose this over his original dib (Leipzig). Europa and the Pirate Twins --------------------------- I feel Thomas accurately sussed this one as having an "island" feel, but I wouldn't go so far as to invoke Don Ho, as Ian did. Personally, I really like the way the way it all comes together in the following passage, "We made a vow that DAY!" Boom! I didn't care for the modified harmony at first, but after a few listens I now find it quite natural. Hot Sauce --------- Crackers' music typically reminds me of something good. This one clearly reminds me of The Rolling Stones(!) and their predilection for indigenous American folk-music tributes in songs such as "Country Honk", You Gotta Move", and "Sweet Virginia" - all of which I like. "Drunken Cajuns" (TFeryE liner notes) indeed! With "Hot Sauce", Crackers has captured that Mick-and-the-Boys-chemically-enhanced-and- cuttin'-loose sound. Great stuff! Valley of The Mind's Eye ------------------------ This lovely, sweetly simple, and yet apparently technologically challenging (see thread: Weenie Sequencers) rendition gets stuck in my head for hours - days even. Here it comes again! Very haunting, Lem, and very musical. There is a section I really like at the end of the piece where the melody becomes beautiful improvisation, but alas, the song ends just seconds later - leaving the audience wanting more. B-SIDES Shelter ------- It took a while for my ear to make sense of this, but after a few listens it grew into my favorite. I enjoy the fantasticly intricate percussion and just how much mileage Jori gets out of a simple bossa-nova guitar sample (from vinyl, complete with scratches). That panning tom-tom effect is quite spectacular, too. And woven through all this is Lissu's wonderful love song. Very addictive. I dearly hope to have a published copy of Shelter and all its remixes someday . . . AND that I can find it at any record store! Ooplik Vali Das Krochiev (The Wedding of the Weasels) ----------------------------------------------------- It's like I said - Crackers is always reminding me of someone. This time it's Kurt Weill. The Wedding... sounds like an unpublished song from The Threepenny Opera. To sum up, altischerenen das wierna funden Krakers. Fiernen scrashivh unda loudnen, vierst a schupfungamenganen. Keinder uulst drimpfun alta kast zoomeren!!! Box of Bread ------------ I keep expecting Peter "Clouseau" Sellers to come lurking around the corner . . . Again, Erik demonstrates his understanding of the power of silence by offering us another uncluttered and lovely work, and another lesson for me. Seems I've always tried to fill in the blank spaces, but Erik demonstrates how to use quiet to great effect in this blusey swing. Sunny Day / Binary ------------------ Another tune that is prone to becoming stuck in my wetware player, especially the punch-line chorus "YEARS FROM NOW...". The guitar outro is strongly reminiscent of the same section in Zep's "The Rain Song". When in the final mastering stage of TFeryE I noticed the touch of finesse: absolutely flawless fades and editing. It's a brilliant song, and a great teaser for Tim's next release! Duke Nukem Theme ---------------- We close with a song that's been with me for years now, an audio-only bonus track from the full version of the computer game "Duke Nukem 3D". The first time I heard this version, on headphones, at the computer, I just about came out of my chair! In fact, I did, and immediately put it on the big stereo at warp 7. Wow! I had heard the original version in what I guess was general MIDI beforehand (during gameplay with very limited and obviously electronic instrumentation), but when I heard this one I thought, "How cool! They actually hired a band to play the theme full-bore. WooHoo!" And of course, years later I had the distinct pleasure of making Lee's acquaintance, on Alloy(!), and discovered that he did it all with silicon smoke and MIDI mirrors! I still like it, and again have learned something. CJMark's Complete Birthday Greeting ----------------------------------- A stunning and over-the-top bit of fannalia.. Presented here in its nearly unedited form... Mark recorded this to my answering machine.. twice! And each take was virtually identical....just like you hear it here. I selected this one (version two) because it was a little closer to perfect...but they were both splendidly done and uncannily alike! I can only assume that Mark scripted all this....and if not, then I'm scared of that! ..... GRAPHICS and PACKAGING I am still blown away by the fine job Keith did on all this - and the calm and easy-going way in which he handled his nutsy-cuckoo perfectionist producer. It really sets the stage for our work. The (non-Alloy) people Mary and I have shared TFeryE with are typically impressed right off the bat by the professional look our recording has, and doubly so when we explain it was produced "at home". Add to this the fact that Keith also contributed a greeting, a song, and did ALL the duplication, and you *must* realize that Mr. Stansell dedicated a significant portion of his free time (and money) to further our cause, and made us all look fantastic in the process. I am forever in his debt. I hope the Flattery Earthlings feel similarly. We all owe Keith big time! IN CONCLUSION, months ago I said, "The quality of our work will far outlast the timeliness of its completion", and I feel we have acquitted ourselves nicely of the obligation contained in that statement. My only regret for The Flattery Earth is that it took so long. Again, I thank all of you for your wonderful contributions in greeting and song. In a way, it's a shame that we've a limited audience, but so it must be. Non Dolby-geeks need not apply. Most importantly, however, I think we've made a point with Thomas, and I hope he is as proud of his fans as I am! What a bunch we are! Yours *truly*, Stephen M. Tilson ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 22:45:41 PDT From: "Ian Gifford" Subject: Alloy: Re: Bueller etc. etc. Hi guys, Just to answer /\/\iles' question about the Bueller thang.... ...Both!! "Ferris..." was an inspiration for one of my most evil sounding (yet very entertaing) songs. Ben Stein has that crazy game show that I like better than any I have seen! Now... Has Thomas ever been on Celebrity Jeopardy? That I would like to see. 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 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 02:05:46 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Alloy Homepage In a message dated 5/30/99 5:50:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, milliner@iag.net writes: :: I will be adding more Beatnikification in the future. :: I wish I were so skilled! It really is the perfect touch. I'm going to inflict my strange little designs on visitors to my page since I have no Beatnik abilities (for starters... a gaf cipher of TMDR to use as a backdrop pattern!) I'd love it if you would link me to your page, Russ, when mine is published. I hope to publish any day now... I'll let you know! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 13:17:55 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: New TMDR webpages Just had to say,...this is a terrific collection of web pages, Russell! Loved the design/layout & the beatnik touch! Lissu > -----Original Message----- > From: Russell Milliner [SMTP:milliner@iag.net] > Sent: Sunday, May 30, 1999 4:16 AM > To: alloy > Subject: Alloy: New TMDR webpages > > > I have finally released my new TMDR website. It is still a work in > progress, and will be for a while. I have lots of info, pics, and stuff > to put up there, so check it out every once in a while. If you have any > suggestions, requests let me know. > > http://www.iag.net/~milliner/tmdr/ > > -Russell Milliner ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 21:53:20 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) From: Brian Clayton Subject: Re: Alloy: New TMDR webpages Nice work, Russell! I see you've included a lyric section, which is something I felt the FES needed work on. In fact, I started to compile TD lyrics myself at one point, then ran into the phenomena that you allude to in your listing for "The Flat Earth"--namely, what is on lyric sheets isn't always what is heard on the album. Being the purist I am, I had hoped to put together "definitive" lyrics, but never found the time to transcribe them all. Perhaps you will prove more persistent than I. :) BC - --- Brian Clayton "The main motive for going beyond the Rim... stemish@lns.com there's a heck of a big Taco Bell out there..." -- jms ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 21:57:12 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) From: Brian Clayton Subject: Re: Alloy: Reflections from The Flattery Earth What he said. But wait, two songs from the Flattery Earth were not listed! The sublime versions of "Don't Turn Away" and "The Flat Earth" somehow eluded the praise they deserve. A curious oversight, but one that I'm sure the rest of us will not allow to slip by, now will we? BC - --- Brian Clayton "The main motive for going beyond the Rim... stemish@lns.com there's a heck of a big Taco Bell out there..." -- jms ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #159 ***************************