Midnight Voices                      
The discussion forum for fans of Pete Atkin and Clive James,
their works and collaborators on stage, TV, disc and in print.

Web Digest week 12 (16.11.97, MV408 - 432) begins | index | prev | next |
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Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 15:30:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Ian Chippett <email address>
Subject: MV408: Sales figures etc

Thanks, Steve, for the Seven Cities of Cibola explanation. I thought like
another voice that the reference was to the Atlas Mountains and that maybe
Pete had made an untypical mistake on the demo. As for what you get when you
cross an atlas with a golden horde, well, it might be a whored lass but I
would never dream of saying so.

Thanks again for the sales figures which are about the exact opposite of what
I would have imagined. How could anyone who bought BOTBS not dash out as soon
as he could and buy the next one pausing only to tell his or her mates to do
the same. Especially since the enthusiasm of the review of DTMA in "Melody
Maker" bordered on the delirious. Was it the cover? I would have thought too
that "Live Libel" which is his most direct album with the possible exception
of BOTBS would have sold more than it apparently did.

I don't think that because Clive James's lyrics are crammed full of literary
references we should dismiss him as a plagiarist. If we removed all the
allusions to other writers from T.S.Eliot's works, there wouldn't be anything
left! And I insist that the Shadow and the Widower come from de Nerval so
there! CJ has referred to this author in other contexts.

Could someone tell us who else covered Pete's songs apart from Julie C. and
Val Doonican? It's hard to imagine anyone else doing, say, "Senior Citizens"
or "Between Us" without making a pig's ear of it. 

Oh and I got 2 copies each of the last 2 Digests and 3 e-mails to Steve came
back unopened. I'm sure I addressed them correctly and not to Midnight Vices.

==============================================================================
From: Colin Boag <email address>
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 97 21:19:03 +0000
Subject: MV409: nominations please...

My 4 y-o tells me that two of the Spice Girls are called Mel.

Which is 'our' Mel - nominations invited..?

How about 'Obtuse Spice' or 'Leavis Spice'? 

Best wishes
Colin 
Boag------------------------------------------------------------

==============================================================================
From: <email address> (Simon Reap)
Subject: MV410: Cover I'd like(?) to see
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 22:58:59 GMT

In MV408 IChippett<email address>'s mention of cover versions reminded me.
The other day I was singing Sunlight Gate to myself, and it was only
halfway through that I realised I was using David Bowie's gravelly
voice.  The worrying part was that it sounded OK!

Do any other *really* bad covers spring to mind?

Simon
-- 
Simon Reap           - <email address>
                     - http://www.pipemedia.net/~sar

==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 12:09:59 GMT
From: <email address> (Dr Jeremy Walton. Tel: <phone number>)
Subject: MV411 Re: MV407; MV399; MV397; MV394: On the last hill that shows  you....Zion?

Hi Mel,

>> Glad someone else has picked this up.  My favourite, because it adds to
>> our understanding of the earlier song, is the way in which The Double
>> Agent shows up again in the guise of Antonia Blunt aka The Mole in the
>> novel The Remake.  What makes it even better is that in relation to The
>> Mole, Clive gives a more detailed explanation of his theory of (from
>> memory this) 'terrible simultaneity' (the tendency of real life to
>> juxtapose beauty and terror so that just at the moment when a million
>> people get it in the head, the loved one joins the silks and perfumes of
>> her bed, or in the Mole's case, throws back her beautiful head in
>> pleasure just as equally beautiful heads are thrown back in pain all
>> over the world.)  And yes, in the novel as in the song, the mere fact of
>> her existence compensates the narrator for the lot.

Thanks for this.  In fact, in my suggestion of CJ helping himself to a
good story or simile in more than one location, I was actually thinking
on a more prosaic level (I've remembered some examples now, which might
help to illustrate my point).  The motel which he stays in in the
"Postcard from Los Angeles" (complete with broken actor - not Gatsby,
BTW - floating in the pool) is used by Lancelot Windhover when
entertaining Samantha Copperglaze in "Brilliant Creatures".  And the
novel's whole scene set in Biarritz is recycled from his Postcard from
the same location.  

Hardly a serious defect, really (it'd be more culpable if he'd based it
on, say, his visit to Tokyo), so let me quickly follow up with the thing
I *really* can't stand about CJ - his voice.  When I first heard that he
was going to be on TV, I rejoiced - just *imagine* how funny he could
be, saying all that stuff instead of writing it down.  And yet, he fails
(for me) so spectacularly - the tone, the timing, the presence just
aren't there.  Does anyone else find him more entertaining in print than
in the flesh?  And could it be any more obvious why he employed PA and
his fine voice to act as the promulgator of his words?

Cheers,

Jeremy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 15:50:42 GMT
From: Graeme Lindsay <email address>
Subject: MV412

The royalties just keep rolling in!!!!!

I recently returned from a trip to Singapore (via Singapore Airlines)  which I 
assumed would be a 'PA free zone'.  However, on the in-flight entertainment 
strategically placed between Mark Knopfler and Randy Newmann was 'Thirty Year Man'.

There was no explanation from the DJ, Steve Madden, except that PA had recently 
returned to live performances.  Is the most obscure sighting of PA?

Graeme Lindsay
Coventry University

PS I have just received my copy of the CD and as I have been off line for the 
past two weeks I presume that others have noted that 'Biro' is now 'Bird'!!!!!!

==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 17:55:29 +0000
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV413 Re: MV408: Sales figures etc

>
>Could someone tell us who else covered Pete's songs apart from Julie C. and
>Val Doonican? It's hard to imagine anyone else doing, say, "Senior Citizens"
>or "Between Us" without making a pig's ear of it. 
>

I guess that's mine to pick up. I've had these on file for some time but
haven't yet incorporated them in the Discography. Maybe tonight ...

The attached commentaries are from Pete. If you're listening Don, John, Joe
or Doug, I think he'd really like you to cover some more:

Master of the Revels - Don Partridge
(Listed as "I Am The Master Of The Rebels", written by Pete Atkinson). Don
is the gypsy one-man-band busker who had the big hit with "Rosie" which was
produced by Don Paul at Essex Music (producer of BOTBS, DTMA and AKAN).
This is from a Swedish-only album recorded live in a park in Stockholm. Don
was big in Sweden at one time, I believe.

Girl on the Train - Joe Stead
Joe was big around the folk clubs in the early 70s. I think you'll agree
the subtle changes he makes to the song definitely enhance certain aspects
of it. For instance, if you don't really understand the lyric, much better
to do as Joe does and simply leave out the most troublesome verse.
Elsewhere, of course, just changing the odd word will do the trick. And
hey, it's folk music, isn't it, so the tune can be anything you want.

Errant Knight - John the Fish
A folk-singer who ran a club in Cornwall. This is another one from an album
on a microscopically small folkie label to whose commercial expansion I
proved unable to contribute.

The Flowers and the Wine -- John the Fish
From the same album.

The Flowers and the Wine -- Doug Ashdown
From a Decca album. He's an Australian folksinger who was in London for a
while in the early 70s.

-- Steve

==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 07:38:42 PST
From: "Jones,David L" <email address>
Subject: MV414 RE: MV411


>> And could it be any more obvious why he employed PA and
>>his fine voice to act as the promulgator of his words?

This brings into fine focus a point I've been wanting to make.
Pete is a lot more than a mouthpiece, and we're neglecting
his half of the partnership by concentrating on Clive's lyrics
and their associations.

It is of course harder to talk about music than about words - for
one thing we're mostly still at the pidgin stage when it comes to
having a language to use to describe music.  But surely we can
still look at songs and ask where Pete's contribution comes in.
Delivery is everything. Some of the lyrics stand by themselves and
would be accessible as poems.  Others really need Pete's
music for their full effect.  Some of Clive's lines are long enough to
qualify as whole verses: Pete took those and fashioned musical
phrases that bring out their message.

Now I'm going to have to go back and listen to my two albums (soon
to be augmented, hopefully, by the CD) and get my own thoughts in order on
these issues.  Two preliminary observations: Pete tends to insert
a caesura for dramatic effect at the end of various verses and refrains
when Clive is doing his "this is sort of a repeat but with a twist at
the end" sections, and, like others, I find the music behind "The Wall 
 of Death"
to be uncomfortable. You get hooked in by the wonderfully snide "okeydoke
my armchair hero" bits but the "Wall of Death" refrain is as subtle as a
steamhammer.

Dave J.

==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 09:10:07 +0000
From: Leslie Moss <email address>
Subject: MV415: BOBTS cover

To Steve and any PA contemporaries out there.

I was wondering about the LP sleeve for the original (Fontana) version of
BOTBS. I have always assumed that the girl in the background, sitting on the
covered wagon, was Julie Covington. Am I right?

Leslie

==============================================================================
From: Mark Roberts <email address>
Subject: MV416: RE: MV414; MV411
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 09:49:56 -0000

----------
From:  Midnight Voices <email address>
Sent:  18 November 1997 08:24
To:  The recipient's address is unknown.
Subject:  MV414 RE: MV411

Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 07:38:42 PST
From: "Jones,David L" <email address>
Subject: RE: MV411
To: Midnight Voices <email address>


>> And could it be any more obvious why he employed PA and
>>his fine voice to act as the promulgator of his words?

This brings into fine focus a point I've been wanting to make.
Pete is a lot more than a mouthpiece, and we're neglecting
his half of the partnership by concentrating on Clive's lyrics
and their associations.

It is of course harder to talk about music than about words - for
one thing we're mostly still at the pidgin stage when it comes to
having a language to use to describe music.  But surely we can
still look at songs and ask where Pete's contribution comes in.
Delivery is everything.

I agree, I can still remember the first time I heard a Pete Atkin 
song, No Dice,all those years ago and it was Pete's voice and delivery 
that got me hooked. The songs just got better as with more listenings 
the lyrics started to open up.

While I am here I might as well add my favorite line from a PA song 
is

'The Jag is shedding tears along the airflow,
And its plum colour lustre, sobbing like the deep end of the 
rainbow."

Brilliant.


The very worst lines are of course

"Standing on the runway, waiting for the take off"
"But were not moving, forgot to take the brakes off".

...............................or maybe that was Hawkwind, I forget 
*-).


Cheers,

Mark Roberts

==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 09:59:44 +0000
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV417 Re: MV415: BOBTS cover

>
>I was wondering about the LP sleeve for the original (Fontana) version of
>BOTBS. I have always assumed that the girl in the background, sitting on the
>covered wagon, was Julie Covington. Am I right?
>

No -- I think she was called Lee. Sorry, I don't have her number ...

Steve

==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 18:35:43 -0500
From: Frances Kemmish <email address>
Subject: MV418: New CD

My CD arrived this morning. Is this the first one in the New World?

Since I don't own a CD player, I am playing it on my computer. I had my
daughter transfer it on to a cassette so I can play it on my cassette
player in the car. All of this means that I don't get to listen to a
very good version of the music, but since it is a year since I was able
to play my LPs, I am quite happy to settle for what I can get at the
moment.

This is also my first opportunity to listen to "Touch has a Memory",
which was not on my copy of "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger". I am
also reminded that, since the last LP I bought was "Driving through
Mythical America", I am always inclined to think of that as the last
that was recorded, even though I do, in fact, know that that is not so. 

I have the same problem with my Jimmy Buffet tapes. I bought them in
various stores across the USA, during a drive from Norwalk, CT to
Portland, Oregon. I bought "Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes"
last, in Twin Falls, Idaho, and always think of it as one of his later
issues, although it was quite an early one.

Now, I can annoy my kids by playing Pete Atkin in the car. I must plan
another cross-country drive for the time when I have replaced all my PA
albums.

Fran

==============================================================================
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 07:53:45 +0800
From: MM <email address>
Subject: MV419: General comments.

Have really enjoyed reading the postings, although a lot of it goes over
my head.

I first heard of Pete Atkin from Clive's "May Week Was In June", and I
arbitrarily decided that I would like him, in the absence of any chance
of ever actually hearing him. For no real reason I had pictured a sort
of English Tom Lehrer, but since finding the lyrics on the web site I
realize I was wide of the mark. The CJ/PA ones are a lot deeper.

As I live in the north of Western Australia in a fairly remote area, I
was pessimistic about getting hold of any of the music, but now that I
have the serial number of the re-released album I will try some of the
internet CD retailers and should find something.

In fact I listened to a bit of a song through one of the links, but my
gear is obviously not up to scratch because it was very slow in coming
through.

I love most of Clive's books, and so am really pleased to see some
discussion on these as a sideline to the music postings. Brilliant
Creatures was my favourite, although I went through a stage of liking
The Remake more, possibly because I read somewhere that Clive considered
it a better book. It is now obvious from some of the postings that I was
appreciating them on an embarrasingly superficial level, but after many
re-readings I am at least coming to some understanding of the surface
stories. Having said that, after the ending of The Remake turned
everything on it's head, I have no idea what what really must have
happened. I assume (hope) that we are not intended to be able to
mentally recreate it with the Mole straight, Joel Court as a jewish
non-astronomer, etc. etc.

Despite my geographical lack of similarity, I get a reassuring feeling
of comradeship from reading the group postings. There is a sense that we
are mostly middle aged, middle class, middle brow sorts. Incidently I
was mostly a rock music fan in my young days (The Who were my
favourites) but I am coming out of the closet on classical stuff lately.
Folk is something I have always listened to, on and off. I liked some of
the English "crossover" stuff; the folk style beefed up with electric
bass.

Anyway, keep it up.

Murray McGlew.

==============================================================================
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 23:09:32 -0800
From: M Powell <email address>
Subject: MV420: Faded Mansion on the Hill

The Faded Mansion on the Hill

I agree with the Voice (sorry, I can't find the email to acknowledge who
it was) who suggested that the faded mansion on the hilll is a metaphor
for the old man's fading body.  Once again, there's a T.S.  Eliot link: 
in Gerontion, the old man facing decrepitude and death is:

An old man in a draughty house
Under a windy knob

and elsewhere

My house is a decayed house.

The image of 'the streaming traffic of decay' also recalls for me the
bit in The Waste Land where in the midst of the Unreal City 

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many
I had not thought death had undone so many.

and the idea is just the same:  the constant movement suggests death
rather than vitality.

What I find really fascinating, though, is what happens next in the
progression from city centre via the affluent suburbs to the sea.  Joni
Mitchell follows a similar route on her first album - in fact, side 2 is
called Out of the City and down to the Seaside, in which the mood lifts
straight from the harsh and mercenary to a state of spiritual innocence.

As you'd expect from Clive, the transition in Faded Mansion is far more
ambivalent.  The move from city centre to suburbs and sea isn't Joni's
escape from materialism, but following in the steps of those who've made
it and can afford it.  But it's a flawed haven where the spoils of their
achievement are already in the grips of the same process of decay, as
we're shown in a masterly succession of images - the out-of-date
Cadillac (hard to think of a bigger symbol of sex and power left behind
by time), the faded mansion and (my favourite) the grass breaking up the
driveway as time and nature reassert themselves over the individual's
temporary intrusion.  The rich men never leave the beach not just
because they can afford not to, but because they'll die there.  

And finally, those homing yachts of summer, which I've always thought
such a poignant image of youth, strength and freedom, all just out of
reach.  The connections which spring to mind are the final paragraphs of
The Great Gatsby, especially the green light at the end of Daisy's quay,
and the frequent references to the sea and to sailing as a symbol of
physical death and spiritual liberation in T.S.Eliot's works.  A brief
pause to look them up reveals Gerontion again, Marina and,
appropriately, The Waste Land (IV):  Death By Water. 

To acknowledge David Jones's email - I'm nowhere near as confident with
music as with words, but there's no doubt about what Pete's setting adds
to this.  First there's the plodding one-note-at-a-time movement up the
scale of the verse, like the footsteps of the man who really doesn't
want to be there going through the motions of getting to work in the
city, then the repeated figure which underlines the bravura series of
triple rhymes.  Then there's the bridging passage ("But the graveyard of
tall ships is really here"), in which the rhythm seems to mirror
ordinary speech, emphasised by Pete's almost harsh delivery, and then
into the smooth, tranquil melody of the chorus.  You can almost *see*
the sails lifting in the wind - until the sombre repeated final chords
bring us back to earth (and mortality, of course).

Mel Powell

==============================================================================
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 10:24:14 +0000
From: Stephen Payne <email address>
Subject: MV421: Thoughts on FM &C

I must say that I really enjoy Mel Powell's criticisms.   I'd be interested
to know your background Mel - are you just an inspired and scholarly
amateur?  You've certainly persuaded me to read Eliot.

Wonder if this group might share favourite poets - after all we've shared
favourite singers and songwriters?   To make a start if anyone cares, I've
recently discovered, and love, the poems of John Updike.  My other
favourites would be more obvious: e.e. cummings tops the list.  But I
wouldn't claim to 'know' any poetry in the way Mel evidently knows Eliot.

For me, the Faded Mansion has always had an extra layer of metaphor than
those Mel mentions.  The city is my current state of mind (as well as my
material circumstance), the coast is the place of my dreams.  But my dreams
are flawed: even if I realised them they'd be transient and hollow.  I
don't know whether this was an intended meaning or not, but as Pete has
reminded us on several occasions, why should I care?

Despite all the above, I'd also been struck by the fact that so many of the
discussions are about the words rather than the music, which seems
especially a shame given Pete's contribution to the list.  Much as I admire
and love Clive's lyrics, it's Pete's talents that I'd kill for.   It's
almost sad how much I enjoy clumsily strumming along to the chords from the
web site: I've just discovered Perfect Moments and Payday Evenings, and
somehow my truly terrible renditions have made me appreciate the beauty of
the songs afresh.

S

==============================================================================
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 11:42:06 GMT
From: <email address> (Dr Jeremy Walton. Tel: <phone number>)
Subject: MV422 Re: MV421: Thoughts on FM &C

Hi Steve,

>> It's 
>> almost sad how much I enjoy clumsily strumming along to the chords from the
>> web site: I've just discovered Perfect Moments and Payday Evenings, and
>> somehow my truly terrible renditions have made me appreciate the beauty of
>> the songs afresh.

Just wanted to add my appreciation of the appearance of these two on the
web site; I was driving in this morning, buoyed up by my recollection of
the heart-stopping rendition of "Touch has a memory" that I slayed the
local folk club with on Monday night, and started to wonder about what
else I could get away with there.  "Hmmm - I've always wanted to do
Payday Evening," I thought.  "Perhaps I could post a request for the
chords in MV".  But then, I checked the website, and...there they were! 
Thanks, Steve (and Pete).

I'll let you know how it goes down.  ;-)

Cheers,

Jeremy

==============================================================================
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 12:55:36 PST
From: "Jones,David L" <email address>
Subject: MV423 RE: MV420: Faded Mansion on the Hill

----------
From: Midnight Voices
To: David L Jones <email address>
Subject: MV420: Faded Mansion on the Hill
Date: Thursday, November 20, 1997 12:13AM

Mel Powell wrote:

>And finally, those homing yachts of summer, which I?ve always thought
>such a poignant image of youth, strength and freedom, all just out of
>reach.

There's a similar image at the end of "May Week was in June", when
Clive muses about why he, like so many other expat Aussies, sits and
watches the rain wash down the window pane in London, knowing that
in Sydney the sun shines and the yachts are sailing home under the
famous bridge.

Or something like that.

Dave Jones
Rochester NY
Who is not comforted by the thought of unusually warm weather in the UK
Especially when dealing with sub-freezing nights and a foot of snow
Like now.

Where did I put those skis?...

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:10:10 +0000
From: Christine Guilfoyle <email address>
Subject: MV424 Re: MV353: Missing MV Posts?

In message <email address>,
Midnight Voices <email address> writes
>Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 15:23:24 +0000
>To: Midnight Voices <email address>
>From: S J Birkill <email address>
>Subject: MV353: Missing MV Posts?
>
>Hi all,
>
>I discover today that some MV members may have been missing messages sent
>out since MV331 approx.
>

We've missed a whole lot of stuff, but I think that's due to our ongoing battle
with Demon rather than any problems on your part. I've just today received a
whole batch of past MV stuff - fascinating and also frustrating, in part,
because I could have given you all the AJ Weberman and the TS Eliot references
from the start, smartaleck that I am. There also seems to be reference to
potential CDs/videos from Monyash - not sure what's envisaged because we missed
the earlier pieces, but count us in for any CDs/videos that are going.
Incidently, on the question of ordering the new SFM CD, for those oop north
Decoy Records on Deansgate in Manchester managed to get it within 3 days of
ordering. 

Mike Walters/Christine Guilfoyle

==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 23:48:23 -0800
From: M Powell <email address>
Subject: MV425 Re: Digest: Midnight Voices week 9 (MV291-333)

Midnight Voices wrote:

> 
> Haven't yet received ordered CD from Magpie, has anyone else? I was told
> when I ordered it was due out mid-end October.

I ordered the CD several weeks ago and phoned to complain about its
non-appearance two days ago.  I was told that: 

a)  they quote a 28 day delivery time

b)  I would get it around the end of next week (i.e. about 28 Nov)

It arrived today (21 Nov).  I haven't tried it yet but apart from the
Biro/Bird typo I hope that future releases will have the lyrics
included.

Mike Powell

==============================================================================
From: Cary <email address>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 23:56:50 +0000
Subject: MV426 Re: Something for your amusement (no pa. content)

Vices, ( isn't it terrible what happens if you leave an 'O' out!! ),

An amusing little ( or not so little ) answer to what happens with 
automated lists.Posted recently to the Suzanne Vega mail list.
If you're not reading this it means our esteemed moderator has 
filtered it out !!?? (please feel free to Steve!)

		[Oh, is THAT what a moderator's supposed to do? -- SJB]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A LIGHTHEARTED LOOK AT LISTSERVS

Q: How many Internet mail list subscribers does it take to change a light
bulb?

A: 1,331

1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb
has been changed.

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light
bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

53 to flame the spell checkers.

156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb
discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list.

41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.

109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this
email exchange to alt.lite.bulb.

203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and
alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.

111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all use light bulbs
and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list.

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to
buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this
technique, and what brands are faulty.

27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs

14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post corrected URLs.

3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this
list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.

33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers
and footers, and then add "Me Too."

12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot
handle the light bulb controversy.

19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.

1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.

47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was meant for, leave it
there.

143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.

--------------------------------------------------------------


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        
                _/\     /\_
    Cary       a    a
 Like Mary    @ 
    With  a     'C'    for cat
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(should show a cat - if not ... 
picasso eat your heart out!!)

==============================================================================
From: Cary <email address>
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 13:08:27 +0000
Subject: MV427: The new CD

Vices,

At last I've had a chance for a first listen to the CD from Magpie 
records which arrived safe and sound. A few thought's.

Sunrise - I don't remember anyone mentioning this one. What a 
beautiful song. Poetically it reminds me vaguely of John Donne's - 
The Sun Rising. For the record BTW if I had to name only one 
favourite poet it would be Brian Patten.

Have You got a Bird I can Borrow - well it *was* Magpie records that 
released it this time. Love the song - Pete and Clive at their 
quirky best.

Frangipanni - one of the few tracks I hate. Sounds like it belongs on 
Live Libel.

Touch Has a Memory - is it my imagination or is this being played a 
half speed? I'm sure the another recording I've heard is faster. I 
think it sounds rather dirge like.This is one of the tracks where I 
love the sentiment in the title but can't quite agree with it.I've 
also had to take a quick trip to the web site ( instead of to the 
bank ) to find out what on earth  "Hearing and sight find three"  was 
supposed to mean ..... I've been pondering that one for ages. Wasted 
pondering since the line is "Hearing and sight fight free" - makes 
much more sense.... I think.

Honky Tonk - 3rd version I've heard and possibly my favourite. I used 
to try and sing along to the Mermaid Frolics version of this - I 
wonder how many words I used to get right - I didn't have the 
advantage of the lyrics back in 1977 - 20 years ago!! "Who knows 
where the time goes?"

Laughing Boy - This will make my favourite compilation tape for the 
car.

No Dice - I played this to a student I have working with me at the 
moment. Giving her no clues I challenged her to say who it was. No 
surprise that she couldn't but her comments were interesting. "Sounds 
70's ish" "Late 60's influence" "A bit like David Bowie stuff - 
telling a story" The telling a story thought was what confused me 
first about No Dice until our own Spice Girl shed some light. No Dice 
does sound like a continuing story rather that 4 separate scenes. I'm 
still not sure I really understand it but I'm a lot closer than when 
I started. My student also expressed great surprise that the lyrics 
were Clive James , "I didn't know he did anything like *that* "

Thief In the Night - still one of my favourites. I always had the 
feeling with the "First call and the very last call of all" line,
that the first call IS the very last call. That once someone was 
beguiled by the guitar they were trapped for life. Pete hasn't been 
able to put his guitar down has he?

Faded Mansion -  years ago, a friend whom I used to give a lift to 
work, didn't like my musical tastes - Punk, Heavy metal - so I 
made a compilation for her of softer songs. This was one of the 
songs which found favour with her. I always feel that the first line 
has a sense of turning your back on some injustice that if you really 
put your mind to it you could do something... Turning a blind eye. I 
know that it doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the song but I 
always found the image very strong and it has become one of my "well 
worn phrases". Faded Mansion also contains one of my all time 
favourite CJ lines  " time has not yet found the time to kill"

Hm - a lot of thoughts for a first listening, "There's no room inside 
here to show you us all"

A quick question from the sleeve note, something ( else ) I don't 
understand."Trombone and Tuba - Salvation Army Class A No.4521, Mosso 
'Blood and Fire', Russell Davies"  I know who Russell Davies is, I 
presume the Salvation Army ref. is a Salvation Army Band (quick 
aren't I?) but can anyone explain who or what Mosso is and what does 
the 'Blood and Fire' reference mean?

Enough - I've obviously too much time on my hands today, nice change 
( What about the washing, the dusting, the forms to be filled in ?? )
- ah, my conscience calls me, goodbye for now Vices.


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        
                _/\     /\_
    Cary       a    a
 Like Mary    @ 
    With  a     'C'    for cat
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(should show a cat - if not ... 
picasso eat your heart out!!)

==============================================================================
From: B & J Cotterill <email address>
Subject: MV428: Versailles, Winchester
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 14:18:36 -0000

In response to MV400 and others, I visited Versailles about 10 years ago and saw 
what could definitely be described as a theatre under some stairs.   The stairs 
were outdoors and near the Orangery, but I can't be more specific.   Reference to 
the guide book bought at the time doesn't help, but we did both think - that's it
 - the theatre in the stairs.

Ref Winchester - well done Colin for organising it and yes, I too felt 
disappointed at the small turnout, especially having driven over an hour to get 
there myself.   But I brought a friend with me who has not heard Pete before and 
she was impressed.   She said she'd like to hear more of him, which leads me on 
to MV381 "there's a weight to Pete's music that does not sit easily with today's 
generation".

My son (aged 23) has been a fan for almost all his life and has introduced the 
music to one friend in particular.   They were both at Islington and enjoyed it 
enormously.   To some extent with one's own children, it is brainwashing - you 
play the tapes in the car and they just absorb the music.   But when their 
friends like it too, there must be an appeal of a broader nature.   My other 
children would have been at Islington as well, had they not been scattered 
around the globe at present - I'll be sending one of the Magpie CDs to my 
daughter in Australia.

And finally, how do I go about booking Pete to play at my local venue?

regards

Jenny 

==============================================================================
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 23:07:26 +0000
From: Christine Guilfoyle <email address>
Subject: MV429 Re: MV412

In message <email address>,
Midnight Voices <email address> writes
>Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 15:50:42 GMT
>From: Graeme Lindsay <email address>
>To: Midnight voices <email address>
>
>The royalties just keep rolling in!!!!!
>
>I recently returned from a trip to Singapore (via Singapore Airlines)
>which I assumed would be a 
>'PA free zone'.  However, on the in-flight entertainment strategically
>placed between Mark 
>Knopfler and Randy Newmann was 'Thirty Year Man'.
>
>There was no explanation from the DJ, Steve Madden, except that PA had
>recently returned to 
>live performances.  Is the most obscure sighting of PA?
>
>Graeme Lindsay
>Coventry University
>

-- The Singaport Airlines sighting (hearing?) may be the most obscure, but I'm
not sure it's the most incongruous. My wife swears that, circa 1982-83, she saw
PA make an appearance on the immortal quiz show '3-2-1', singing 'Errant
Knight', dressed in costume armour. As evidence, my wife also reports that Pete
was required to announce the clue 'Camelot Arthur Ruled Initially' (geddit?).
Pete may of course wish to deny this, and claim that he and Dusty Bin are just
good friends. 

Personally, I have a memory of seeing Pete performing with Terry Jones in a
Monty Python sketch in an Kite Show in Cambridge around the same time. Multi-
talented, eh?

By the way, to add to Steve's list of cover versions, the folk-singer/guitarist
Wizz Jones covered 'Touch has a memory' on one of his albums a few years back. 

Mike Walters

==============================================================================
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 11:27:32 +0100
From: David Griffin <email address>
Subject: MV430 Re: MV427: The new CD

CJB wrote:
>>Have You got a Bird I can Borrow - well it *was* Magpie records that
>>released it this time. Love the song - Pete and Clive at their
>>quirky best.

Isn't this was  one of the few where Pete both wrote the words and the
lyrics? I remeber it getting banned on BBC radio because it was regarded
as advertising for "Biro". (Clive then wrote "Little Sammy Speedball" to
make sure that the BBC would NOT play that, and then Alan Freeman goes
and spoils it all by playing it on his radio programme!).

David

==============================================================================
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 09:53:52 PST
From: "Jones,David L" <email address>
Subject: MV431 RE: MV427: The new CD

I just received the CD also, not bad for ordering by phone from the USA
10 days ago.  2 quid P&P, air mail.

Don't ask me how many songs I've actually heard before. Maybe half a dozen?
The title tracks for sure, Girl on the Train, possibly Practical Man. Then 
memory fails. 20 years, for heaven's sake. Oh yes, Master of the Revels, 
and Rider to the World's End from that TV clip (it was the 1948 Show, wasn't 
it?) but this version seems slower than the TV version.

Of course, even with the 'familiar' tracks I'm hearing some things for the 
first time. The extra instrumentation on record is not just for filler. I'm 
thinking especially of the trumpet solo at the end of DTMA.  The reference 
to Strawberry Fields is pointed, almost sarcastic. What is it saying ? Whose 
idea was it ?  It sounds like a warning that we're just replacing one set of 
dangerous myths with another.

I'm listening to 'Sunrise' right now. Repeatedly.  I'm hearing distinct echoes
of mid- to late-60s McCartney here and at other points on these two albums.
There was one track where the melody seemed to skim teasingly low over
some Beatles song or other, but I couldn't think of which one. And then "Have 
you got a Biro..." brings back memories of Bowie in the intro. Oh by the way, 
one for the annotator: "Bring me a piano and a box of rubber bands" in 'Biro' 
has to be a reference to John Cage and his 'prepared' pianos.

Ah here comes "Girl on the Train". Beautiful. I think I'll just kick 
back and listen....

Dave Jones
Rochester NY.

==============================================================================
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 19:22:46 +0000
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV432: Pete Atkin Chronology

New to the Website: Pete's biographical chronology in his own words --

http://www.rwt.co.uk/pachrono.htm

Congratulations Mike and Christine for finding it first!

Re Dai Davies (Cary, MV427): "Blood and Fire" is the Salvation Army's MOTTO
-- another SFM typo!

-- Steve

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