Another Product of Shaking Skin House
Oct. 4th, 2004 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI did a little bit of research into the International Criminal Court issue that Bush brought up during the debates, and it looks like the main reason the United States didn't join was that it could be "used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecution of American troops" [1]. While I can see that this would be a concern, Bush's position still doesn't sit too well with me, because it seems too much like his typical "America is always right! We can't be bothered paying attention to what those lesser countries think!" attitude. It seems to me that the more appropriate approach would be to try to reform the ICC, rather than avoiding it altogether.
Last night,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje made me watch the two-part series finalé to Full House. Michelle falls off a horse, and the resulting trauma makes her grow up to be an anorexic cokehead. Okay, she actually just loses her memory in an unrealistic and unconvincing manner. Besides, to be fair, I guess it's only half of Michelle that becomes drugged-up and anorexic (not that the other half looks all that healthy either), which might explain why she was only in rehab for half the recommended time.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on Volume 6 of Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles project.
The Laugh Track—A track of Andy cracking up during the “Omnibus” recording session. Kind of interesting to have, but not exactly something you’d want to listen to over and over again.
The Stinking Rich Song—This was one of the songs that Andy wrote for the animated James and the Giant Peach film. I forget why they weren’t used, but I think it might have had to do with money or something. I’ve seen the movie, but I really don’t remember any of the songs that Randy Newman did for it. I would have preferred Andy’s songs, but then, I guess that goes without saying. This one has Andy doing the voices of James’s two evil aunts, which is pretty amusing to hear, but he claims it hurt his throat. Not too surprising, really.
I Can’t Tell What Truth Is Anymore—I like the lyrics to this Nonsuch-era demo. The music is good, too, but I especially enjoy lyrics like, “Is the world still round and flat, like our grimey bathroom mat?”
Candle Dance—Another ambient kind of thing, written for a film.
The Tiny Circus Of Life—A nice little song, with some cool circus music and sounds. As Andy admits, it’s sort of similar to “Dear Madam Barnum” in theme.
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul—A demo of what I usually consider to best the weakest track on Skylarking. Oh, well. It’s still nice to have, and since I think Skylarking might be my favorite album of all time, even the worst song certainly isn’t bad.
In My Hand—This is a cover of a song written by a friend of Andy’s. It’s actually a really good song. Not very Andy-ish, but something I think I would like even if he weren’t singing it.
Difficult Age--The point of this one seems to be that EVERY age is difficult. The music is kind of repetitive and not too interesting, but it's an interesting idea for a song.
Pink Thing--I've always liked this semi-dirty but fun song, which can also be heard on Oranges and Lemons. The demo is rough-sounding, and not as light and airy as the finished version. The liner notes include the sentence, "Of course being more of an upright member of society these days, if I spot a [double entendre] in my lyrics I whip it out immediately." Ah, Andy, you and your dirty yet genteel manner.
Shaking Skin House--An idea for a song that eventually developed into "Merely A Man." A "shaking skin house," by the way, is a person. I generally find these really rough ideas to be more interesting than the almost-the-finished-product demos that pervade much of the Warbles discs.
Bike Ride To The Moon--A slower version of the Dukes of Stratosphear song. The Man in the Moon has a goofier voice in this demo. Incidentally, if I may get pedantic for a minute, one thing I've always wondered about in the lyrics of this one is the line "And I might be a positive boon." Isn't a boon ALWAYS positive? {g}
My Love Explodes--Much like the previous track, this is rougher, slower, and less psychedelicized than the version that ended up on the 25 O'Clock EP.
Omnibus--Introduced in a silly faux-Bulgarian voice. For some reason, the introduction appears at the end of "My Love Explodes," but since it mentions an Omnibus, I assume it's supposed to introduce this track. Mostly the same as the finished version, but with a few different euphemisms.
Across The Antheap--Andy calls this rough demo "swampy." I can definitely see where he's coming from.
Across This Antheap--It's interesting when a rough demo is followed by a more developed version of the same song. This was done with "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" on Homegrown, and it's done much the same way here. This is quite similar to the album version. I don't think it ended up being this long, but that's probably largely because the percussive ending was cut out.
Human Alchemy--The ending of this song is awfully long on the album, but I think it might be even longer here. As much as I love XTC, I think they sometimes have a problem deciding when to end a song.
Moonlit Drive--This is a pretty neat little instrumental, but I don't have much else to say about it.
Prince Of Orange--I used to have an MP3 of this song, but, while I'm pretty sure it was the same recording, it didn't include the second half. I know it was on a CD that Andy did for the Hello Recording Club. Did that version include anything beyond "causing fanfare to those listening, now" and the keyboard solo? Anyway, this is a bright-sounding song, which makes me wonder why Andy cries at the end. I'm not alone in wondering that, though. He himself writes, "As for the crying, where did that come from?"
End Of The Pier--Andy admits that this is similar to "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her," although I think this is probably catchier and less chaotic. Not that I don't like "Seagulls," but the cacophony is part of the point of that one, and this has more of a bright carnival sound, complete with sound effects. "It's raining on the beach" in "Seagulls," while it sounds pretty sunny here. As with Volume 5, one of the best songs on the CD was saved for last.
I guess my only real complaint about the Warbles project, aside from the exorbitant cost of the individual CDs, is one I could also make about Homespun and Homegrown. Too many of the demos are just slightly less polished versions of album tracks. They're still nice to hear, especially when looking for slight changes in lyrics or music, but not something you'd want to listen to all that often, when you can just play the actual albums. Really rough demos, like the skiffle version of "Dear God" on Volume 5, or the separate songs ("The Pot Won't Hold Our Love" and "Everything Decays") on Homegrown that were eventually combined to form "The Wheel and The Maypole," while not usually all that great musically, tend to be more interesting.
Overall, though, I think the Warbles CDs are a good idea, and probably the closest we'll get to new XTC for some time. I kind of wish more bands would do something along the same lines. For instance, a few CDs of They Might Be Giants demos and rarities would be nice to have. I guess that was kind of what they did with TMBG Unlimited, but I'm sure the Johns have enough other stuff in the vaults to bring out some stuff on actual CDs, and without all the ultimately unnecessary "previews" of Mink Car and No! tracks. (And no, TMBG doing a similar project isn't an original idea of mine, but I forget who suggested it initially. Someone on the alt.music.tmbg newsgroup, I think.)
[1] SOURCE: Edith M. Lederer. "Many Oppose U.S. Peacekeeper Exemptions." Associated Press Online, 21 May 2004.
Last night,
bethje made me watch the two-part series finalé to Full House. Michelle falls off a horse, and the resulting trauma makes her grow up to be an anorexic cokehead. Okay, she actually just loses her memory in an unrealistic and unconvincing manner. Besides, to be fair, I guess it's only half of Michelle that becomes drugged-up and anorexic (not that the other half looks all that healthy either), which might explain why she was only in rehab for half the recommended time.Anyway, here are my thoughts on Volume 6 of Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles project.
The Laugh Track—A track of Andy cracking up during the “Omnibus” recording session. Kind of interesting to have, but not exactly something you’d want to listen to over and over again.
The Stinking Rich Song—This was one of the songs that Andy wrote for the animated James and the Giant Peach film. I forget why they weren’t used, but I think it might have had to do with money or something. I’ve seen the movie, but I really don’t remember any of the songs that Randy Newman did for it. I would have preferred Andy’s songs, but then, I guess that goes without saying. This one has Andy doing the voices of James’s two evil aunts, which is pretty amusing to hear, but he claims it hurt his throat. Not too surprising, really.
I Can’t Tell What Truth Is Anymore—I like the lyrics to this Nonsuch-era demo. The music is good, too, but I especially enjoy lyrics like, “Is the world still round and flat, like our grimey bathroom mat?”
Candle Dance—Another ambient kind of thing, written for a film.
The Tiny Circus Of Life—A nice little song, with some cool circus music and sounds. As Andy admits, it’s sort of similar to “Dear Madam Barnum” in theme.
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul—A demo of what I usually consider to best the weakest track on Skylarking. Oh, well. It’s still nice to have, and since I think Skylarking might be my favorite album of all time, even the worst song certainly isn’t bad.
In My Hand—This is a cover of a song written by a friend of Andy’s. It’s actually a really good song. Not very Andy-ish, but something I think I would like even if he weren’t singing it.
Difficult Age--The point of this one seems to be that EVERY age is difficult. The music is kind of repetitive and not too interesting, but it's an interesting idea for a song.
Pink Thing--I've always liked this semi-dirty but fun song, which can also be heard on Oranges and Lemons. The demo is rough-sounding, and not as light and airy as the finished version. The liner notes include the sentence, "Of course being more of an upright member of society these days, if I spot a [double entendre] in my lyrics I whip it out immediately." Ah, Andy, you and your dirty yet genteel manner.
Shaking Skin House--An idea for a song that eventually developed into "Merely A Man." A "shaking skin house," by the way, is a person. I generally find these really rough ideas to be more interesting than the almost-the-finished-product demos that pervade much of the Warbles discs.
Bike Ride To The Moon--A slower version of the Dukes of Stratosphear song. The Man in the Moon has a goofier voice in this demo. Incidentally, if I may get pedantic for a minute, one thing I've always wondered about in the lyrics of this one is the line "And I might be a positive boon." Isn't a boon ALWAYS positive? {g}
My Love Explodes--Much like the previous track, this is rougher, slower, and less psychedelicized than the version that ended up on the 25 O'Clock EP.
Omnibus--Introduced in a silly faux-Bulgarian voice. For some reason, the introduction appears at the end of "My Love Explodes," but since it mentions an Omnibus, I assume it's supposed to introduce this track. Mostly the same as the finished version, but with a few different euphemisms.
Across The Antheap--Andy calls this rough demo "swampy." I can definitely see where he's coming from.
Across This Antheap--It's interesting when a rough demo is followed by a more developed version of the same song. This was done with "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" on Homegrown, and it's done much the same way here. This is quite similar to the album version. I don't think it ended up being this long, but that's probably largely because the percussive ending was cut out.
Human Alchemy--The ending of this song is awfully long on the album, but I think it might be even longer here. As much as I love XTC, I think they sometimes have a problem deciding when to end a song.
Moonlit Drive--This is a pretty neat little instrumental, but I don't have much else to say about it.
Prince Of Orange--I used to have an MP3 of this song, but, while I'm pretty sure it was the same recording, it didn't include the second half. I know it was on a CD that Andy did for the Hello Recording Club. Did that version include anything beyond "causing fanfare to those listening, now" and the keyboard solo? Anyway, this is a bright-sounding song, which makes me wonder why Andy cries at the end. I'm not alone in wondering that, though. He himself writes, "As for the crying, where did that come from?"
End Of The Pier--Andy admits that this is similar to "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her," although I think this is probably catchier and less chaotic. Not that I don't like "Seagulls," but the cacophony is part of the point of that one, and this has more of a bright carnival sound, complete with sound effects. "It's raining on the beach" in "Seagulls," while it sounds pretty sunny here. As with Volume 5, one of the best songs on the CD was saved for last.
I guess my only real complaint about the Warbles project, aside from the exorbitant cost of the individual CDs, is one I could also make about Homespun and Homegrown. Too many of the demos are just slightly less polished versions of album tracks. They're still nice to hear, especially when looking for slight changes in lyrics or music, but not something you'd want to listen to all that often, when you can just play the actual albums. Really rough demos, like the skiffle version of "Dear God" on Volume 5, or the separate songs ("The Pot Won't Hold Our Love" and "Everything Decays") on Homegrown that were eventually combined to form "The Wheel and The Maypole," while not usually all that great musically, tend to be more interesting.
Overall, though, I think the Warbles CDs are a good idea, and probably the closest we'll get to new XTC for some time. I kind of wish more bands would do something along the same lines. For instance, a few CDs of They Might Be Giants demos and rarities would be nice to have. I guess that was kind of what they did with TMBG Unlimited, but I'm sure the Johns have enough other stuff in the vaults to bring out some stuff on actual CDs, and without all the ultimately unnecessary "previews" of Mink Car and No! tracks. (And no, TMBG doing a similar project isn't an original idea of mine, but I forget who suggested it initially. Someone on the alt.music.tmbg newsgroup, I think.)
[1] SOURCE: Edith M. Lederer. "Many Oppose U.S. Peacekeeper Exemptions." Associated Press Online, 21 May 2004.
