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 30 (22.03.98, MV833 - 850) begins | index | prev | next |
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From: Dave Jones <email address>
To: 'Midnight Voices' <email address>
Subject: MV833: Beware of the Slippery Melody (RE: MV824: News)
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 11:33:35 -0500

>Thanks all for your input -- good to hear the newbies speaking out. But
>let's hear the old favourites too -- we're overdue I think for another of
>Tom Holt's challenges to Clive's title as house wit, and for some more lit
>crit from Mel.

In that spirit I'll revive one that disappeared into the ether a while ago and
I never got around to reposting.  And please: don't send this to Pseud's
Corner......

--------------------
I was picking out "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" the other day and
it soon became apparent that this highly accessible song has its own
non-conformist tendencies.  We already talked about "Lady of a Day",
with its lack of a harmonic center, and whole-tone scale, but that one
sounds different from the beginning.  With "Beware of the Beautiful
Stranger" there's nothing apparently harmonically strange about it.

Every note in it is right there in the major key list (we'll talk as if it
were C instead of E-flat), but then you notice that the melody neither
starts nor ends on C, and in fact the note occurs only twice, both times
on the way to somewhere else.  So, there's none of your cadence to
the tonic that gives us a sense of closure at the end of a melody.

The lines in the melody tend to end on G, F, B and E, all of which
keep us expecting more melody for resolution.  The last line ends
with the cadence A-E, which leaves us hanging in A-minor instead of
C-major.  Returning to the beginning of the melody from there requires
help from the harmony in the G7 chord.

The harmony seems to give this song a lot of its structure.  An opening
in the C-maj chord tells us what key we're in, followed by G7.  Then we
jump into Dm as the lyric hits an emotional counterpoint in the third line,
and after that we're working towards Am at the end of the verse, with a
sense of foreboding that comes with the minor.  G7 hijacks us back to the
major for the next verse.  There's almost a cyclic feeling about this song,
as if you can't end it because there's no resolution anywhere.  I suppose
that's how it manages to tell a story across so many verses.

In fact, of course, it does end, and instead of writing some kind of
a coda Pete resorts to the "Tierce de Picardie", shifting the Am chord
into its major form.  A bit artificial, but it does the job.  It's helped by
the A-E cadence, which is compatible with either chord.  The Am is there
to leave us with more uncertainty as to the fate of the narrator, but we
probably wouldn't be happy just fading out on that chord, so we get a
musical trick to nudge us into finishing the song.

Not having a minor-major chord to finish this with, I'll just say:

BFN

Dave Jones
Going round in circles in Rochester NY.

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:22:53 +0000
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
From: Leslie Moss <email address>
Subject: MV834 Re: MV828: Buxton title

Maybe I'm missing something but what I thought was a jokey discussion about
possible titles for the Buxton concert has metamorphosed into proposals for
the real title. I must admit I'd assumed that it would simply be called
something like "An evening with Pete Atkin and Clive James" or "Pete Atkin
and Clive James In Concert" - why does it need another title? I agree that
"Perfect Moments" is a bit twee. People who actually are prepared to buy
tickets won't give a toss about its name anyway - they'll either want to
hear PA/CJ or they won't!

Leslie

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:24:24 +0000
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
From: Leslie Moss <email address>
Subject: MV835 Re: MV832: Pete Atkin exchanges grunt with Lou Reed (Re: MV820)

At 12:03 22/03/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 12:01:07 +0000
>To: Midnight Voices <email address>
>From: S J Birkill <email address>
>Subject: Pete Atkin exchanges grunt with Lou Reed (Re: MV820)
>
>Pete says:
>
>'Fraid the PA-Lou Reed encounter was about as cursory as it gets, in the
>great tradition of support acts, especially in those days.  It consisted of
>a simple vocal if not actually verbal acknowledgement.  I seem to remember
>his level of communication with just about anyone backstage that night was,
>shall we say, somewhere below the waterline.
>
>-- Steve
>
Sounds like a Perfect Day!

Leslie

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From: Dave Jones <email address>
To: 'Midnight Voices' <email address>
Subject: MV836 RE: MV824: News
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 13:09:48 -0500

>New this week on the Website, chord transcriptions:

Is my "For Instance" official yet ? It didn't make the list
this time but it's been accessible (but unlinked) for some time.
Thanks to Pete and Ian C. for amendments to Wristwatch:
it's been an education learning Pete's style of chording. Now
I know about his preferences in m7th's, "Thief in the Night" is
getting much closer to realization....

Dave Jones
Searching for the root in Rochester NY.

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:33:05
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
From: Richard Ross <email address>
Subject: MV837 Re: MV830: SPAM and MV827: Acronyms

My ISP, Nildram, has an excellent spam filter for both mail and news.  In
the case of mail, it blocks out messages it decides are spam, and then once
a week sends you a list of the senders and the subject lines.  You can then
decide if any of them are worth reading.  So far, MV has escaped rejection!
  And not having to download all the "make $5million in a microsecond" news
messages is useful, too :-)

Regarding acronyms, perhaps the best solution would be for the first person
to refer to a song title or whatever in a thread by its full name, using
the acronym afterwards for the obvious time saving reason.  That way, those
of us who don't know all the titles by heart (yes, I know that's heresy!)
don't have to look at our record sleeves to work them out....

Regards,

Richard

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From: IChippett <email address>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:30:16 EST
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV838: Wristwatch

I noticed that while Lady of a Day makes use of the whole-tone scale,
Wristwatch almost does as it goes from B to Dd to Eb to F to G but doesn't
quite reach A. Also there's a chord with a base on every note on the chromatic
scale except one, G# or Ab. Is this significant?

Please yourselves!

Ian C

==============================================================================
From: IChippett <email address>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:30:15 EST
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV839 Re: MV835; MV832: Pete Atkin exchanges grunt with Lou Reed (Re: MV820)

Pete must have played with quite a lot of people over the years. Does he have
any other stories to relate about his experiences? I'm sure the MVs would be
keen to hear them. 

Ian C

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From: RGIBSONESQ <email address>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:19:16 EST
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV840 Re: MV774: More from Pete: Steps/Biro/Faves

I'm glad to see Pete mention Shawn Colvin, she's been a favourite of mine for
many years.  Saw her in concert last week, her first since winning the Grammy
and she was delightful - intimate but bursting with confidence.  When I lived
in Buffalo, New York, my local CD strore had a rack of "If you like this -
then try this" CDs.  I discovered several good performers that way, including
Danny Gatton - recommended for Stevie Ray Vaughan fans.

In the style of Shawn Colvin I'd offer up Dee Carstensen and The Four Bitchin
Babes.

Regards
Richard Gibson
A Brit abroad.

==============================================================================
From: RGIBSONESQ <email address>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:25:50 EST
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV841 Re: MV790: "Together Again"?

Snappy show title eh?

I always liked "From cult to legend, skipping fame and fortune"

Regards
Richard Gibson 

==============================================================================
From: RGIBSONESQ <email address>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:35:52 EST
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV842 Re: MV818; MV817; MV814 "Together Again"?

Show titles - 

isn't it about 25 years since the first era of fame for Pete and Clive?

then what about "Back on the road again - the Silver anniversary show"

Regards
Richard

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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 10:13:51 GMT
From: <email address> (Dr Jeremy Walton. Tel: <phone number>)
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Subject: MV843 Re: MV833: Beware of the Slippery Melody (RE: MV824: News)

Hi Dave,

>> I was picking out "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" the other day and
>> it soon became apparent that this highly accessible song has its own
>> non-conformist tendencies.  We already talked about "Lady of a Day",
>> with its lack of a harmonic center, and whole-tone scale, but that one
>> sounds different from the beginning.  With "Beware of the Beautiful
>> Stranger" there's nothing apparently harmonically strange about it.

Thanks for the analysis, which was interesting.  Perhaps I could just
add PA's comment (from the "Touch has a memory" sleeve notes,
http://www.rwt.co.uk/notes.htm) that the idea of starting a song by
ambling down the scale was one he lifted from the Beach Boys' "Heroes
and Villains".  I don't know much about the tortured musical genius that
was Brian Wilson, but I think he wasn't averse to throwing in the odd
surprise in his melodies (the example that springs to mind - which I
think has already been mentioned in here - is the unusual interval he
uses in "The warmth of the sun").

Cheers,

Jeremy

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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 11:07:13 +0000
To: midnight.voices<email address>
From: Stephen Payne <email address>
Subject: MV844: Show title

Just to add my vote AGAINST "Perfect Moments" - with all respect to those
who suggested it.  I'm afraid that to me it sounds like something Julio
Iglesias might call a show.

I'm afraid I can't think up a snappy alternative, but I can think of
someone who has a way with words and mighht have some ideas.......

S

==============================================================================
From: Dave Jones <email address>
To: 'Midnight Voices' <email address>
Subject: MV845: More from the Bardic Mining Company of Kogarah Pty.
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 10:20:43 -0500

Taking my cue from the line "Of giving local habitation to the air" ("You
Can't Expect to be Remembered") I found the following.  I'll quote
the whole monologue because it's the sort of thing that Clive probably
found quite resonant (cf self-descriptions as "romantic egomaniac" etc.).

"A Midsummer Night's Dream", Act V Scene I

THESEUS 
                           More strange than true: I never may believe 
                           These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. 
                           Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, 
                           Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 
                           More than cool reason ever comprehends. 
                           The lunatic, the lover and the poet 
                           Are of imagination all compact: 
                           One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, 
                           That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, 
                           Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: 
                           The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, 
                           Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; 
                           And as imagination bodies forth 
                           The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
                           Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing 
                           A local habitation and a name. 
                           Such tricks hath strong imagination, 
                           That if it would but apprehend some joy, 
                           It comprehends some bringer of that joy; 
                           Or in the night, imagining some fear, 
                           How easy is a bush supposed a bear! 

Dave Jones
Tilting at windmills in Rochester NY

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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 21:10:12 +0000
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
From: Pete Smith <email address>
Subject: MV846: Title

"Perfect Moments" is embarassingly awful. Enough to put off all but the
most ardent fan I should think.
-- 
Pete Smith

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Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 00:28:42 +0000
From: Paul Reid <email address>
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
Subject: MV847 Re: MV 834

I agree with Leslie Moss: no other title is necessary: "Pete Atkin and
Clive James in Concert" says it all.  Enough of this tweeness!

PAUL C. REID

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From: Richard Corfield <email address>
Subject: MV848: Seventh Album
To: midnight.voices<email address>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 14:36:11 +0000 (GMT)

Hello all,

I have just finished listening (again) to the Monyash CD's. So here's a
question to (I hope) stimulate some discussion. What would it take for Pete
to record the seventh album? All of the new material that I heard - History and
Geography, Search and Destroy as well as the masterful Canoe is as
brilliantly thought-provoking as it always was. Are there plans afoot to 
get Pete back into a recording studio? It seems criminal that good stuff 
like this has been lying around un-released for the past 25 years.

Best regards to all,

Richard Corfield

==============================================================================
From: Cary <email address>
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 04:10:55 +0000
Subject: MV849 Re: MV848: Seventh Album

Richard asked,

>  Are there plans afoot to get Pete back into a recording studio?

Maybe this quote from the Mojo interview will point to an answer.
"These days I'm a freelance radio producer and I'm still performing 
whenever anyone asks me. I'm planning to record some more too, I've 
started doing demos at home."

On a different subject, I saw mentioned on the cover of a Clive 
James book that there is a collection of Clive's poetry. Does anyone 
know if this is still available .... does anyone have it? If so, is 
Clive's style when writing poetry the same as song lyrics? I wonder 
if any of the poems started life as lyrics, or vice versa. I guess 
that opens up the argument again of whether the lyrics can exist on 
their own as poems.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        
ROCK FOLLIES - The Classic 1970's TV Drama starring 
Julie Covington, Charlotte Cornwell and Rula Lenska. 
Online at:-  http://members.xoom.com/Follies
Pictures,sounds and much more (unofficial site)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regards - Cary (like Mary with a 'C' for cat)

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Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 21:31:24 +0000
To: Midnight Voices <email address>
From: S J Birkill <email address>
Subject: MV850: The MOJO Playlist

Y'all who bought Mojo (April) with Pete's interview might care to check out
page 152. A letter, fax or e-mail could help give another strong endorsement 
to the re-issue process ...

Steve B

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Web Digest week 30 (22.03.98, MV833 - 850) ends   | index | prev | next |

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