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alloy-digest Thursday, June 29 2000 Volume 05 : Number 162
Today's Subjects:
-----------------
Re: Alloy: TMDR jams with Bowie! [Robyn Moore <kbrm@iefx.com>]
Alloy: Golden Age of W - Millenium Edition [andyjmail@cheerful.com]
Alloy: strange dream about Thomas [Robin Thurlow <rthurlow@binghamton.edu]
Alloy: Lissu Sings! [DAbbitt32@aol.com]
Re: Alloy: Lissu Sings! ["Robin Thurlow" <rthurlow@worldshare.net>]
Alloy: Song of the Week: Urges ["Mary A. Brown" <Mary_A_Brown@compuserve]
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Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 01:57:58 -0700
From: Robyn Moore <kbrm@iefx.com>
Subject: Re: Alloy: TMDR jams with Bowie!
At 03:34 2000.06.22, you wrote:
> So, you think I would have learned my lesson and never turned down
>tickets again. But no...I had to turn down a spontaneous invite, from a
>friend, to see Bowie here in NYC. And Thomas plays!!! I should have
>known...the signs were all there...Bowie bumped into me and practically
>knocked me over, on his way into the VIP lounge at a WIRE show a week
>earlier. It was a sign from God!!! (excuse me while I kick myself to
>sleep) >>Jon
::comf:: Seems like it's been a week for lost opportunities. However, I
have a feeling we'll all get another chance one of these days.
Oddly enough, you weren't the only one recently to have missed a Dolby
opportunity. My husband was away all last week at USENIX in San Diego,
where he discovered Our Hero was the closing speaker for the conference.
Unfortunately, Kevin's return flight necessitated his leaving before the
speech, and despite a valiant effort, he couldn't get it rescheduled.
Robyn M
@ Robyn Moore <kbrm@iefx.com>
@ http://www.alveus.com/kbrm/robyn.html
@ You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. - S.C.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 06:41:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: andyjmail@cheerful.com
Subject: Alloy: Golden Age of W - Millenium Edition
Hi all,
A suggestion for the holder of the copyright...
how about releasing The Golden Age of Wireless
- Millenium Edition?
All the tracks from all the versions...
including Leipzig (Therapy/Growth too?), Urges,
the Wreck of the Fairchild, Airwaves (Full),
One of Our Submarines, both versions of Radio
Silence, and the longer versions of
Windpower and She Blinded Me With Science.
And possibly include some bonus tracks from the
era such as New Toy (from Live Wireless) and
Airwaves (4 track demo).
Or possibly a cleaned up version of Live Wireless
as a bonus disc?!
All "Digitally remastered" of course :o)
and including the radio noises that link the tracks
on some versions.
With the spread of MP3 and increased piracy, this
could be last chance to make money from such back
catalogue material. I believe there will shortly
be a complete collection of the Beatles hitting the
shelves, in answer to the pirate MP3 CDRs doing the
rounds.
Any comments?
+AndyJ+
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he'll overfish, cause famine
in the next three regions and pollute the atmosphere
with his rotting fish.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 09:29:39 -0400
From: Robin Thurlow <rthurlow@binghamton.edu>
Subject: Alloy: strange dream about Thomas
I had a really odd dream about Thomas this morning. He wasn't in it
exactly; I'd just received a package from him in the mail, in this
dream. It was a small box wrapped in brown paper with the usual
addresses written on it... but also, all over the paper wrapper were
little notes he'd written to remind himself to do things. Errands he
had to run, things he had to do at work, people he had to get in touch
with, all jotted down in a somewhat frantic fashion all over the piece
of mail he'd just sent. I remember thinking in the dream, 'boy, Thomas
needs a vacation...'
!!
Robin T
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 17:50:13 EDT
From: DAbbitt32@aol.com
Subject: Alloy: Lissu Sings!
So guess what I got in the mail today?
Lissu was kind enough to send me a personally autographed copy of her CD
Single "Shelter". More of an EP, really, the CD consists of 4 fabulous
versions of the song (Of course, I ripped it open the second it arrived and
gave it a spin). What can I say, except THANK YOU, Lissu! The note within
was very sweet and I really appreciate the great music.
- -Dabbitt
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 19:35:20 -0400
From: "Robin Thurlow" <rthurlow@worldshare.net>
Subject: Re: Alloy: Lissu Sings!
Lissu, please tell us where we can buy this!
xxx
Robin T
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <DAbbitt32@aol.com>
To: <alloy@smoe.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 5:50 PM
Subject: Alloy: Lissu Sings!
>
> So guess what I got in the mail today?
>
> Lissu was kind enough to send me a personally autographed copy of her CD
> Single "Shelter". More of an EP, really, the CD consists of 4 fabulous
> versions of the song (Of course, I ripped it open the second it arrived
and
> gave it a spin). What can I say, except THANK YOU, Lissu! The note
within
> was very sweet and I really appreciate the great music.
>
> -Dabbitt
>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 23:46:37 -0400
From: "Mary A. Brown" <Mary_A_Brown@compuserve.com>
Subject: Alloy: Song of the Week: Urges
Well, since Robin encouraged me, I'll add my thoughts on Urges.
But first, if I may, I'd like to make a suggestion. Even though it
is space consuming, I believe that posting the lyrics one time for
each Song of the Week is a good idea. I would request that when one
is commenting on the song that s/he only cite those lines that are
relevant rather than just quoting the entire original post. I think
there are some folks who aren't 100% sure of the words to certain
songs because their pressing didn't come with a lyric sheet or their
only copy came from someone was kind enough to tape it for them.
Plus, I know for a fact that there are individuals who, unlike you
and me, Robin, don't pore over the liner notes ;-). And of course,
as the Tap Room and Alloy will attest, TMDR's songs are ripe for
mondegreens (yes, while I'm mortified to admit it, I've misheard
lyrics myself!). I'm also hopeful that having the lyrics right in
front of everyone will inspire more of our group to respond. It's
clear that we all are busy people so anything that would enable us to
spend time writing rather than hunting down our CD booklets would
seem beneficial. And this strikes me as a great opportunity to
establish the *definitive* TMDR lyric collection. Sure, there are
sites which have words to selected songs but it would be a great
resource for old and new fans if they were all in one place. If
you have time constraints, Robin, I volunteer to type them up.
But back to those restless Urges...
I first heard Urges when I was in my early twenties but I was probably
in a similar stage of sexual development as Robin was (Melissa can
more eloquently describe what life was like for a Catholic girl
growing up in the Midwest than I can). I was busy being a serious
biology student so the club atmosphere was something I only observed
infrequently. I was definitely "ashamed of things about my body"
though not in the same way as I interpreted the lyrics, i.e. that the
protaganist was visibly responding to the provocative dress and
movements of the women around him. I'm not proportioned particularly
well and since I was cruelly teased about that when I was younger, I
was quite sensitive about my build. But alcohol allowed me to feel
less self-conscious, just like it did for the guy in the song.
I always loved the way that Thomas sang the second verse:
"She's here the heat is rising
He moves slowly she's a china doll
By degrees, he'll loosen her composure
She knows he knows she knows he knows"
His tone of voice struck me as very seductive and had the savvy
to imply they both know what's going on but they will let the game
play out because, despite our perceived superiority, we humans have
mating rituals just like the birds and beasts. (For more on this
topic see: Urban Tribal) Even though he has a very specific agenda,
the singer is still willing to treat the woman with the care you
would use for a fragile nicknack. "China doll" also conjures up the
models of the female body that Asian women once used when they saw a
doctor because they were too modest to directly tell him their
complaints.
Thomas' voice also got to me with his delivery of the lines:
"Try to contain the stuff that's in your body
Bit silly when your head's no good"
For those of you who are in the UK, I'm sure it's difficult for you
to understand, but there is just something about the way he
pronounced "body" that sent a shiver down my spine.
For me too, the line:
"In the footlight the ape in motion
Spins circles all across the floor"
is especially moving. Geneticist that I am, I know how closely
related we are to simians and it was merely chance mutations that
brought us to where we are.
However, I interpret:
"Girl this time it's a new sensation
It's never been this way before"
as a just another pickup line. The guy is jadedly cool and is trying
to dupe the girl into thinking that she is special when he certainly
doesn't believe it and is only saying what he thinks will get him
what he wants.
I agree with Michael that this song is incredibly powerful when
performed live. There are deceptively simple elements to it such as
the rhythm that is insistent as a heartbeat and that driving keyboard
which become more complex when expanded upon without the constraints
of the studio.
This song's meaning has grown for me over the years, especially
after I heard an interview with Thomas on a radio show, recorded
around the time Astronauts and Heretics was released. A generous
friend sent me a tape of it and at one point Thomas talks about Neon
Sisters. He says that when he was about 20, he and his friends were
part of the New Romantics scene and ran around to all the clubs (he
mentions "Club For Heroes" <and this may be a mondegreen as well!>
which rings a faint bell from those days when I ravenously read NME
and Melody Maker - will you folks across the pond correct or
enlighten me here?). One night he was at a club a few years later
and saw a roadie he used to know. This guy asked him if he had heard
about their mutual friend who died of AIDS. TMDR reflected to the
interviewer, "His past was my past too and his past had caught up
with him." I interpreted this as in his youth Thomas had engaged in
risky behavior, some of which was recorded for posterity in Urges.
One more thing that makes Urges special for me is that Andy Partridge
plays on it. I adore XTC and since TMDR is a fan as well, I'm sure
he was thrilled to pieces to work with one of his idols. I really
enjoy it when someone I care about gets to have a dream come true.
Okay, I'll shut up for awhile...at least until the next Song of the
Week!
Europa
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End of alloy-digest V5 #162
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