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Consumable Online Issue 036
From gajarsky@pilot.njin.netWed Apr 12 21:17:34 1995
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 16:13:22 EDT
From: Bob Gajarsky <gajarsky@pilot.njin.net>
To: cc: ;
Subject: Consumable, 4/12
==== ISSUE 36 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [April 12, 1995]
Editor: Bob Gajarsky
Internet: gajarsky@pilot.njin.net
Sr. Contributors: Jeremy Ashcroft, Martin Bate, Al Crawford,
Dan Enright, Tim Kennedy, Reto Koradi,
David Landgren, Tim Mohr, Joe Silva, John Walker
Other Contributors: Kelley Crowley, Tim Hulsizer, Melissa Pellegrin,
P. Nina Ramos, Michelle Richmond, Jamie Roberts,
Linda Scott, Ali Sinclair, Jon Steltenpohl,
Jorge Velez, Scott Williams
Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann, Damir Tiljak,
Jason Williams
Address all comments, subscriptions, etc. to gajarsky@pilot.njin.net
==================================================================
All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s).
Permission for re-publication in any form other than within this
document must be obtained from the editor.
==================================================================
.------------.
| Contents |-.
`------------' |
`------------'
REVIEW: Annie Lennox, _Medusa_ - Jon Steltenpohl
REVIEW: New Order, _(The Best of) New Order_ - Bob Gajarsky
REVIEW: Nitzer Ebb, _Big Hit_ - Jamie Roberts
REVIEW: Moby - _Everything is Wrong_ - Joe Silva
REVIEW: Sarah McLachlan, _The Freedom Sessions_ - Jeremy Ashcroft
REVIEW: Jann Arden, _Living Under June_ - Tim Kennedy
REVIEW: hHead, _jerk_; Sons of Freedom, _TEX_ - Johnny Walker
INTERVIEW: Mike Pinder - A Mood for Today - Joe Silva
TOUR DATES: Black Velvet Flag, For The Ladies, Goo Goo Dolls / hHead,
Indigo Girls / Band de Soleil, Low Pop Suicide / Latimer / Compulsion,
Kathy McCarty
NEWS: Errata (with Voyager), Labels on the net (World Domination, Bar None),
Wonder Stuff
NEWS: Grammy Awards on the Net (Recap) - Brad Waddell
INDIE REVIEWS: Valhalla - Linda Scott, Think of 3 - Reto Koradi
Back Issues of Consumable
---
REVIEW: Annie Lennox, _Medusa_ (Arista)
- Jon Steltenpohl
The title is the only thing ugly about Annie Lennox's new album.
_Medusa_ finds Lennox's voice as beautiful and stunning as it was when she
was a Tourist, a Eurythmic, or even a _Diva_. To fans of Annie Lennox and
the Eurythmics, this should come as no surprise. When Annie and Dave got
it right, the result was pure magic, and _Diva_ proved that Annie Lennox
could have that same magic without the help of Dave Stewart.
Although an album of covers, _Medusa_ shares the magic of
Lennox's past work. Stephen Lipson returns as collaborator and producer,
and, like _Diva_, the sound is based on keyboards and synthesizers with
guitars, flute, orchestra, and percussion added. Chimed arpeggios
float up and down the soundscape, and a subtle beat runs in the background.
Lennox's voice is sampled and layered over and over again like a chorus of
angels.
"No More 'I Love You's'" begins _Medusa_. The lyrics are bittersweet,
and the mood goes from mellow to intense and then eases off at the end. She
makes this a classic Annie Lennox song. Not only are the vocals filled with
passion, but underneath the lyrics and the notes, you can feel Lennox
experiencing the actual emotions. It's one of those traits that elevates
Lennox to a level that few artists ever reach. Like Freddie Mercury and
Janis Joplin before her, Lennox lives every note of every song.
"Downtown Lights" recalls both the feel of _Diva_ and the best of the
Eurythmics. It starts out with a steady beat and a calm, synthesized
background. Lennox enters with a powerful whisper and, then, at certain
times, the song backs off and focuses on the sparse, pulsed harmony that
was the trademark of the Eurythmics albums of the mid-80's. That sound was
missing from _Diva_, but Lennox has returned to it for parts of _Medusa_.
_Medusa_ closes with the Paul Simon song, "Something So Right." It is
a self-conscious confession of one lover to another, and it's a quiet
lullaby that you fall in love with instantly. Although it may never have
been a big hit, "Something So Right" is one of those songs that people
cherish long after the big hits seem old.
Thankfully, _Medusa_ isn't a typical cover collection that's dominated
by worn-out hits. Annie Lennox has such a distinctive flair that _Medusa_
might as well be an original album. Like her previous work, fragility and
strength are balanced equally throughout _Medusa_. It is an amazing feat
that Lennox pulls off again and again. _Medusa_ is one of Annie Lennox's
most engaging and consistent albums.
---
REVIEW: New Order, _(The Best of) New Order_ (Qwest/Warner Bros.)
- Bob Gajarsky
New Order, the British group formed from the ashes of angst
pioneers Joy Division nearly fifteen years ago, has recently released
their second compilation album, _(The Best of) New Order_.
Although a best-of album was released nearly six months ago in
Europe, the American compilation bears a different look than its
imported counterpart. Excluding several remixed songs ("True Faith '94",
"Bizarre Love Triangle (remix by Shep Pettibone)", "1963 '95" and "Blue
Monday '88"), the new version has no songs in common with the previous
greatest hits collection, _Substance_. And, in a pleasant change from
the norm, Warner Brothers contacted New Order's fans to determine what
tracks to include. The source for this feedback? The Internet, in
the New Order fanzine *noise*.
Six of the poll's top ten songs made the collection, and some
songs which were mysteriously omitted from _Substance_ surface here,
including "Love Vigilantes" and "Age of Consent". An airy version
of "1963", remixed by Arthur Baker surfaces, as does another Baker
remix, the first single from the collection, "Let's Go (Nothing For Me)".
While New Order has been criticized for weaker albums since the
advent of _Substance_, this one highlights the influential songs from
each of those releases (such as _Technique_ and _Republic_) to put
together a nearly flawless selection of tunes. The one-off World Cup
song, "World In Motion", sees its first appearance on any album and,
like most New Order songs, reflects layers of keyboard sounds piled on top
of each other to create irresistible pop/dance/alternative music.
When track selections differ, European releases, in comparison
to their American counterparts, are usually a better buy. Licensing
difficulties and monetary arrangements often result in the European
issues yielding more and/or better tracks for the collection. However,
_(The Best of) New Order_ is a break from that vicious cycle. The European
version of New Order's compilation is nice, but the American version is
a crucial must-get to any fan of keyboard based alternative music.
---
REVIEW: Nitzer Ebb, _Big Hit_ (Geffen)
- Jamie Roberts
This new effort by an ever-present big name in industrial-lite
leaves me with a big question. Try and guess what it could be...
Cohesive wouldn't be an appropriate word for _Big Hit_. It seems
Nitzer Ebb tried every conceivable style and approach, and came up with
nothing on all of them. "Cherry Blossom" is a painful attempt to approach
the harder, cutting edge. It falls flatter than one could imagine, sounding
corny and almost pathetic. The buildup in "I Thought" is agonizing, with no
payoff to follow. They even take a stab at balladeering with "Boy" (excuse
me while I put the tissues away).
The formula (if there was one intended) is not even close to working.
However, just when I was getting mad that I had to listen to this, I heard
"Hear Me Say". It was a glimpse back to the "Join In The Chant" days, that
reminded me not only of their past driving beats, but also of the fact that
they rarely make proper-english sense.
Now for the question...Big Hit? In whose book???
---
REVIEW: Moby - _Everything is Wrong_ (Elektra)
- Joe Silva
Don't be fooled. In that seemingly small niche of the musical spectrum
where the colours of techo reside, there are more than a handful of
sub-genres to contend with. Granted, most of the partitions are still
established by small packs of finicky British club rats who insist that
all their beats be pure and should they deviate a BPM in either direction,
they'll take their devalued pound notes and spend them elsewhere. "Jungle"
techno is coming, so they say, but for the moment, I wouldn't lose any
sleep over it. But if you need a more concrete illustration of the disparate
factions, just take a juxtaposing look at the spliff toting Alex Paterson of
the Orb and Moby. The former sticks to his blissful washes of sound and Pink
Floydian cum spaceman extravagances which put him at the top of the ambient
heap while Moby..well, Moby's a synth patch of a different colour. Anytime you
take a severely pissed, militant Christian vegan and arm him with a Mac, a
keyboard and major label, there's bound to conflict among the faithful. When
the hordes filled Madison Square Garden (!!) for a techno fest that Moby
took part in circa his last release, (1993's _Move_ EP), they were more
than a little stunned when he showed up onstage with an electric guitar
and actually used it. And while he's made no secret of his past
affiliations with all manner of musical styles, six-stringed and otherwise,
they had yet to surface in the very up front manner that they do on
_Everything is Wrong_. All bets are now off. Deceptively stepping off with
the elegiac "Hymn," Moby lunges from the disco bent of "Feeling So Real"
to a Doc Maarten-ed harcore version of his "All That I Need is to Be
Loved" and back to the Erasuresque feel "Everytime You Touch Me" in under
ten minutes. No, the transitions aren't necessarily smooth (sort of like a
compilation tape you make ten minutes before you head out for Spring
Break...), but as a portrait of someone who's making a valid attempt to
display any amount of their musical depth in the space of one project,
you've got to figure the options to be somewhat limited. And while most
wouldn't dare turns up their trendy snouts at the Beasties for mixing in
their punk heritage with the hip-hop sensibilities that they copped
later in life on _Ill Communication_, Moby will likely be skewered by the
ravin' masses who labeled him a messiah ages ago. But to hell with that.
Let Moby stradle as many genres as his hard drive will store. For those
who have dared to labour through a couple double CDs worth of billowing,
undefined ambient landscapes peppered with the odd organic and earthy
sample or two tossed in for flavouring might appreciate Moby's struggle
for diversity. From the delicate structure surrounding Mimi Goese's elysian
vocals on "Into the Blue" to the dance-purist smack of "Anthem" there's
enough here to forever yank Moby out of the techno pigeonhole he might be
lodged in.
---
REVIEW: Sarah McLachlan, _The Freedom Sessions_ (Arista/Nettwerk)
- Jeremy Ashcroft
A full-length music CD that's also a multimedia CD-ROM for no
more than the cost of a regular CD? Perhaps this release is a preview of
what we can expect of all future CDs.
_The Freedom Sessions_ can be thought of as a companion piece to
Sarah's previous release, _Fumbling Towards Ecstasy_, since seven of the
eight tracks are alternative recordings of tracks from that album. Although
Sarah's own comments on the CD-ROM that they are "outtakes, rough-mixes
and experiments" sells them short - the songs are every much as "finished"
as the originals and in some cases, possibly more interesting. Notably,
the single track that isn't a "cover" of one of her own songs is a cover
of someone else's - Tom Waits "Ol'55".
To cover the the music first of all...
For anyone unfamiliar with Ms. McLachlan, I would suggest that
she could almost be considered a female Peter Gabriel - there's a certain
depth and richness in the recording, the combination of new technology
and acoustic instruments and the willingness for experimentation.
Probably Sarah's finest instrument is her own voice - my favourite
track, "Good Enough", is a prime example. Over a simple piano and
(synthesized) orchestral backing, Sarah combines both her rich, deep
voice with her lighter, higher voice to great effect - hard to describe,
but almost a happy melancholia.
Some of you may know her song "Hold On" from the excellent _No
Alternative_ AIDS awareness compilation - this album features a much
simpler, piano accompanied version. Personally I prefer the original in
this case, but - without giving away all the secrets - there are still
more versions of the same song hidden away somewhere.
Another personal favourite is the reworked "Ice" - Sarah almost
disowns it on the sleeve notes "often mistakes are the best way to learn
how not to do it", but her almost abstract electric guitar experiments
make it a really engaging track for these ears.
Since most of the fun of CD-ROMs is experimenting and discovering
things for yourself, I'm hesitant to say too much about it, but as a
taster for those of you with a multimedia setup on your Mac or Windows
machine...
Launching the program presents you with a screen of various icons
- a compass, a lizard, plane tickets, etc. - together with a spoken
greeting from Sarah, inviting you to click the icons to explore. For
example, clicking on Sarah's name brings up a brief biography, clicking
on the compass gives you an animated chart showing the route of Sarah's
last North American tour and you hear her comments about life on the
road.
To check out Sarah's back catalogue, you click on a picture of
the sun - that gives you photos of her previous three album sleeves and
clicking on one of those gives you the track listing. Click again on a
song and you either hear a minute or so of the track or a clip of
the accompanying video.
Clicking the plane tickets brings up a section about a visit
Sarah made to Thailand and Cambodia to film a documentary for Canadian
TV. Apart from seeing clips of her meeting children there and singing to
them, this section also tells you about the charity work she was
supporting over there and about the horrors that the charity works to
prevent. Don't worry - the tone of the rest of the CD-ROM is much
less serious, though again, I don't want to spoil the surprises any
further.
In summary, though the CD-ROM aspect of the disc is perhaps less
interactive than others that have been released, they are usually 3 or 4
times more expensive than regular CDs. As a "free" extra, I think Sarah
and her record company should be supported - I'd certainly enjoy similar
additions from my own favourite bands and I'd suggest this was an
essential buy for anyone that likes her kind of music.
---
REVIEW: Jann Arden, _Living Under June_ (A&M)
- Tim Kennedy
It is a peculiar feature of the North American subcontinent that they
seem to produce lots of female singer songwriters with their handwritten CD
sleeves. Is it all Joni Mitchell's fault? The UK just doesn't generate them,
despite its high turnout rate of pop stars 'per head of population'.
Jann Arden Richards has got a wonderful voice. It is a real pleasure
to listen to such a superbly tuned set of tonsils. Her music quite often
strays into the easy-listening department of the musical store of life, but
in these days when wide sections of the hip and cool are re-evaluating the
likes of the Carpenters what the hell is wrong with that?
She is 32, and has been through 'the school of hard knocks', working
her way round her native Canada (even fishing for a living) until finally
landing the big one with this platinum CD last year.
She knows how to knock off a cheerful tune too. With a voice
of this fine timber and often heart-rendering quality, it would be easy
to go for tragic little minor key numbers and try for the drippy
bedsit marke; she could even make a fine country singer if she wanted to.
Some of the CD reminds one of Maria McKee, Arden having a powerful
voice and having a rather 'earthy' aspect to her delivery. Her material
isn't far removed from M. McKee's especially on the opener "Could I Be
Your Girl" which even has a slightly dance beat and an almost spiritual feel.
Lyrically Jann deals in the cut and thrust of real-life relationships.
There are lots of biblical references and most songs are written in the
first person. She is adept at expressing emotions without being
self-indulgent and there are some nice vocal touches, for example on
"Demolition Love", a quiet number rendered powerful by some inspired
singing.
If one wanted to be cruel one might tag her 'a new Stevie Nicks';
the track "Looking For It" almost falls into this category. There is some
nice guitar playing on this song. "Insensitive" and "Gasoline" continue in
this varied though familiar vein.
She is old enough to have grown up with later Fleetwood Mac's
_Rumours_ and that ilk. I'd like to think she endows this oft-abused musical
tendency with a little sensitivity and a lot of heart.
Okay-the lady was never a combatant during the punk wars, but her
emotional life has seen plenty of conflict, and showing through as it does,
this prevents _Living Under June_ from being a bland listening experience.
To comment specifically on the lyrics seems a little caddish, when Jann has
already bared her all. They are quite interesting and moving in parts.
The guitarist utilizes all the flourishes of 70s guitar balladry with
aplomb and embellishes the voice nicely. The rest of the accompanying
instruments merge professionally into the background.
On "Unloved", an acoustic ballad, she is joined by Jackson Browne
who apparently popped his head round the door a few times during the
recording of the CD.
As for all girls, Mum is special and Jann's gets her picture on the
CD as well as her own song "Good Mother". Indeed it is quite a moving track
and another great vocal performance. Mom Arden is lucky; Siouxsie Sioux
once did a terrible hatchet job on her old Ma on an album. Parents of
musical offspring take heed...
The only track I take issue with here is the jazz weepie "It Looks
Like Rain". She sounds like Streisand on this. I don't look
upon this sort of thing as being anything to do with pop music,
rock music or whatever - call me prejudiced if you will. It should
stay in the section of the record store marked 'For Terminal Grownups Only'.
The other standout track is "I Would Die For You" which ooh, almost
rocks, well she sounds like she means it anyway. The guitar gets a little
bit raunchy though the song is no pacier than say Springsteen's "Point Blank".
Perhaps this isn't the CD to slip on while getting ready to go out
for a night out with the boys, or girls. If you put it on for when
friends came round there'd be a few awkward silences. It's "nice
quiet evening in" music, and there's no harm in that. Jann can
inspire and give insights, and this is a good CD. I would like
to hear her voice doing more folky material next, with maybe the kind
of strings/acoustic arrangements that for example Nick Drake once used.
The AOR ballad style of much of the material here has been done too much
by other people -if not with quite so much feeling.
---
REVIEW: hHead, _jerk_ (IRS);Sons of Freedom, _TEX_(Divine Industries)
- Johnny Walker
Similarities: Both Canadian bands. Both produced and/or recorded by
Dave "Rave" Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy). Both use standard guitar / bass /
drums setup. Both bands can be contacted by their fans on the Internet.
Differences: Everything else.
These two releases encapsulate the extremes of Canadian rock, being
as far apart in spirit and intent as Toronto is in miles from Vancouver.
Unfortunately, the basically bland soundscapes of the former city's hHead,
rather than the pulverizing, uncompromising, funky hard rock of the latter's
Sons of Freedom, is the rule rather than the exception in the "rock scene" in
the Great White North.
hHead's _jerk_ really isn't bad: it just sort of lays there like a
faded rug that really wouldn't cause you to take notice one way or the other.
What we've got here is perhaps the ultimate geek-rock mix: Rush crossed with
Pearl Jam, albeit PJ Lite. hHead comes up with a brand new mutation: Geddy
Vedder!
The album's lead-off track, "remedial," for instance, critiques
the alienating effects of the educational process, and sports a catchy enough
riff and an OK hum-along quality along with some rather mundane lyrics ("I'm
stupid I guess / but I'm not trying my best / because this assignment is
bogus"). Both Geddy Lee and Eddie V. have written similar diatribes, but
they usually invest them with a bit more spirit than is found here.
As the album rolls on, it soon becomes apparent that every song is
tailor-made for the new 90's genre of "victim-rock." There's no joy
on _jerk_, and yet there's no real anger or rage either. This is
prozac-fueled stuff which neither hits the highs or plumbs the depths:
_jerk_ is always polite, typical of the city which spawned it, a
place so conservative that the acronym TGIF has there been changed to
TGIM (Thank God It's Monday). A couple of times the band threaten to
bust out of the fog, as on "gipped," which, with its bluesier
atmosphere sounds like a sub-Meat Puppets outtake. But then it's back
to the land of Nod for the title track, a real musical dud which tells
the tale of another victim--this time a jilted lover--but gets lost in
its own inertia.
The song "will," which is apparently some kind of ode to Sylvia
Plath, most appositely sums up hHead's problem: they obviously _aspire_ to
the kind of feeling expressed in Plath poems like "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus,"
but they can't summon up the "will" to achieve it. hHead are thus lazy
victims who want the payoff without the making the necessary emotional
investment. They can't bust out of the confines of middle-class life enough
to really feel, and so end up whining neurotically instead.
Sons of Freedom (SOF), in complete contrast to hHead, explore the
territory outside society's bourgeois limits with wicked glee. The
latest SOF release, _TEX_, is a rollicking good time spent on life's
fringes, with hardly any time spent wallowing in guilt and self pity,
but plenty of it spent in a variety of altered states.
Everything that hHead fears to acknowledge, SOF embrace. Not since
the mid-70's heyday of Bowie, Reed, Iggy Pop and the criminally overlooked
Only Ones has anyone explored the actual world which lies beyond the mere
cliche of "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" with the elan of SOF singer/lyricist
/guitarist Jim Newton (who, in both looks and outlook, could be the brother of
Only Ones leader Peter Perrett). And, as usual, Newton is backed up on _TEX_
by the tightest hard-rock unit in the biz, the "3 Dons" (Binns-bass; Harrison-
guitar; Short--drums), who produce a funky instrumental maelstrom which sounds
like an amalgam of _Funhouse_-era Stooges, mid-70's druggie-rock Aerosmith,
Killing Joke and even early PIL. This heady brew provides the backdrop for
Newton's dark and decadent lyrical obsessions, as he trawls both the
backstreets and the hidden recesses of his own psyche.
In contrast to hHead's inertia and solipsism, SOF is a band of
experience and action. On _TEX_, songs like "Sugar High" and "Yer
Too High" (catching on to Newton's muse?) function as Songs of the Siren,
making you want to go out in the world and do nasty, forbidden things. "Sugar
High" especially is pure, unadulterated SOF, freed from the corporate yoke
(_Tex_ being a indie release following major label classics _Sons of Freedom_
and _Gump_ and subsequent corporate fuckups), with Newton detailing a stream
of consciousness hallucination of joyous debauchery: "Kisses sour / slip on a
condom / sex with poison, that's my sin . . . Sugar high." The song ends
with Newton going over the top vocal-wise as his band mates exhort him in the
background. Would have been fun to be in the studio for this one.
Other _TEX_ songs unite the extremes of high and low, body and mind,
sacred and profane, in one unique package. "Heaven," a long-time concert
fave, is one of the very finest numbers in the SOF repetoire, sounding sort of
like _Berlin_ era Lou Reed trying to rewrite "Stairway To Heaven," dropping
all the Celtic tomfoolery and adding a dash of downtown dirt. Sheets of
metallic guitar overlay a looping Curtis Mayfield-styled bassline as Newton
evokes a scenario which makes you question whether there really IS any
difference between religious and narcotic-fueled revelation: "Take a picture of
this place / and watch it fade away . . . When you see your past and future
blending into one / You're in heaven . . . this is heaven."
Highlights abound throughout _TEX_'s 16 tracks. "Get your God away
from me / Or I'll bring him on his knees before me . . . Will I ever come down
again?" wonders the stoned narrator of "Yer Too High." No Geddy Vedder here!
Meanwhile, the 3 Dons concoct a seemingly limitless amount of rhythms which
will have you leaping around the living room in no time. The extended
instrumental break in "I Believe," for instance, could be used to define the
term "white noise," the intensity building almost unbearably before the song's
descending main riff kicks back in. The spooky "Underneath Yer Window" is a
nice change of pace, based around a solitary guitar figure and a more r&b
styled vocal from Newton. "Best Friend" is likewise rock solid punk-funk
built around an irresistible rhythm.
So I guess you know which of these albums I'd buy if I were you. The
Vancouverites win hands down. So far, of all 95's releases, _TEX_, with nary
a duff track, has remained glued to my CD changer the longest. As for hHead,
well, they'd like to be suicidal but they're only depressed. Which makes them
depressing, somewhat like the music scene in the city they hail from. Good
night, Geddy Vedder.
And, to contact these bands? hHead can be reached at: hHead@tvo.org
while Sons of Freedom info can be obtained at: jimbobo@wimsey.com The
hHead interactive press kit can be obtained at the FTP sites that distribute
Consumable, included at the end of this issue.
---
INTERVIEW: Mike Pinder - A Mood for Today
- Joe Silva
It's probably a generational issue, but when my editor first made
mention of possibly speaking with Mike Pinder, I wasn't struck by any bolts
of recognition. But then a clump of press arrived in the mail, and I was once
again staring at a small vacuum in my pop knowledge. It happens all the time.
Just when you think you have the majority of pop history lodged under your
belt, you read something that reminds you that you've still only grasped a
twenty-fifth of it at best and you're still missing out on a slew of
"must haves."
But this one, I should have nailed to the floor right away. Go to the
sacred spot where you keep your records, pull out the Moody Blues' _Days of
Future Passed_ (you've got one, trust me...) and flip it over to the back
side of the sleeve. There's Mike Pinder's name. One of the founders of the
Moody Blues, Pinder was the one of the people who toted around this weird
keyboard called the Mellotron back in the heyday of the first UK pop
invasion. From their dawn until the zenith of their career, Pinder remained
with the band's through most of its artistic success'. But at the end of the
band's world tour in 1974, Pinder left the UK and eventually severed ties
with the band after the sessions for _Octet_ soured. But for a lost pop
figure, Pinder can still generates a fairly big stir. Recently, while
promoting his newest batch of songs, _Among the Stars_, Pinder signed
autographs for seven hours worth of fans in a Las Vegas record store.
On the day I spoke to him, he had just received an order for 2,500 more
copies of the new record, which may not seem "mega" in terms of the
Pearl Jam market, but Pinder's sold every copy of his CD right out of
his home grown label. No distribution deal, no major league contract, nada.
Considering that most of rock elders of his era couldn't see themselves even
driving by a studio without six figure assurances on paper first, Mike's
attitude is rather distinct. After years in the industry where he "got to
know the names of more limo drivers than anybody else...," he prefers it
that way. The following is an excerpt of our conversation:
Consumable: When you were putting _Among the Stars_ together,
was there any thoughts on your part of going to an established label with it?
Mike Pinder: No, no it was the opposite thought. I kept it quiet
and made my own plans and it's just working out great. It's a great
opportunity for me and my wife Tara to work together. The whole idea is to
keep control of what we're doing. It's a lot of work, but everything I'm
doing is floating on good will.
C: What are some of the more memorable experiences you've had with
the fans now that you're getting back in touch?
MP: One girl said she had been using Moody's music and now my new
record as a pain killer. She rolled back her sleeve and showed me this
giant scar all the way up her arm where she'd had this incredible operation
and she said "The only way I've been able to control the pain from this is
by playing your music." She was just beaming.
C: Are there any creative memories you attach to this record, in terms
of when you put it down?
MP: It is somewhat of a diary of a decade because I did continue to
write. As you can tell from some of the various songs, some were done when
my children were younger. So I am presenting it that way, as a sort of
catching up or what I did while I was away. A lot of people refer to me as
this "lost Moody," but well, yes, you might have thought I was lost, but I was
actually in this other place and this is what I was doing. This is my
log. Mostly they were head arrangements, which I like very much because the
unexpected can happen.
C: Does the 'Follow Your Bliss' shirt that you're wearing on the cover
clue us in to any New Age spiritualism that you're into?
MP: Well I'm very aware of it. It would be true to say that I was New
Age in 1976 with _The Promise_ [his previous solo release]. That was the way
the New Age was before it became commercial. I'm fully expecting to see
New Age birthday cards from Hallmark next week. And if you pick up any of
the magazines, everyone wants your $500 (US) for seminars. It's just another
big supermarket of people cashing on people who are searching. So I'm
very unhappy that New Age has been turned into a musical box. All of these
new Adult Contemporary stations, they all started playing New Age music and
now they're playing all this smooth jazz. There's about eighteen or twenty
top artists who are doing the real thing, but everything else is just filler
to me, just drum machine, midi studio jazz wanna-bees. I think it's a
terrible format. So the whole New Age idea has nothing to do with the
original movement was about back in the sixties. I don't align myself
currently with any of that kind of stuff.
C: To settle some of the conflicting stories of you're leaving the
Moody's, did it have more to do with being sick of the rigmarole of
recording and touring over and over again, or not being satisfied creatively?
MP: When I left and I came to the States in 1974 after the world tour,
we had visited 57 countries, playing for millions of people and we had just
about done everything at that point. We had been back in the studio one time
and it was very unfruitful. We just sort of sat there for a couple weeks,
looking at each other in the studio. The well had run dry at that time. I
wanted to come to America, because I saw the awesome potential. I think the
guys didn't have a great time accepting that I did that even though I told
them I was only twelve hours away by plane. Then Tony Clark came over to
organize a reunion, and at that time I still hadn't received my permanent
residency card and I couldn't come to England, because I couldn't back in as
was the case at the time. I think what happened was that the way the
message got interpreted there was that 'Mike doesn't want to come to England,
you've got to come to America if you want to do this.' which is a very
arrogant statement. So they had that sticking in their craw and the lack of
communication, put everything into a total shambles. No, I didn't have a
nervous breakdown. No, I didn't go live with the Hopi Indians.
C: Is it hard for you to be objective about their stuff now?
MP: It is obviously not quite the same kind of music as when I with
the band, but I still find some of it quite pleasurable even though it does
have a slightly different direction. They're doing what they want to do and
as long as they're happy, that's all that matters. The contact had just
become a vacuum, but more recently I've been making the effort to be more
in contact. In fact, I met with John and Justin two weeks ago in Reno and
we were all quite friendly. Enough water's been under the bridge.
Mike Pinder will be releasing another album in the near future
featuring some of his poetry as well as a book in the fall. His current
album is titled _Among The Stars_ and can be ordered via phone at
800-PINDER1.
---
TOUR DATES:
Black Velvet Flag
April 12 New York, NY ABC No Rio
April 15 Cambridge, MA Middle East
For The Ladies
April 15 Boston, MA T.T. the Bear's (with Fuzzy)
April 22 Boston, MA Middle East (with Tuscadero)
May 1 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's (with Velocity Girl)
Goo Goo Dolls / hHead
April 13 State College, PA The Crowbar
April 14 Sea Bright, NJ Tradewinds
April 15 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's
April 16 Philadelphia, PA TBA
April 18 Washington, D.C. 930 Club
April 19 Virginia Beach, VA Abyss
April 20 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
April 22 New Orleans, LA TBA
April 24 Houston, TX Urban Art Bar
April 26 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
April 30 Milwaukee, WI TBA
May 1 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
May 2 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro
May 3 Detroit, MI St. Andrews
May 5 Cleveland, OH Peabody's
May 6 Buffalo, NY Blind Melon's
Indigo Girls / Band de Soleil
April 18 Hanover, NH Dartmouth College
April 19 Burlington, VT Memorial Auditorium
April 20 Providence, RI Brown University
April 21 Saratoga Springs, NY Skidmore College
April 22 Atlanta, GA Earth Day
April 24 New Haven, CT Palace Theatre
April 25 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Center
April 26 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
April 27 Bethlehem, PA Stabler Arena
April 28 New Brunswick, NJ Rutgers Intramural Field
Low Pop Suicide / Latimer / Compulsion
April 13 Omaha, NE Ranch Bowl
April 14 Springfield, MO Regency Showcase
April 16 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
April 17 Milwaukee, WI Rave
April 18 Chicago, IL Double Door
April 19 Grand Rapids, MI Reptile House
April 20 Detriot, MI St. Andrews Hall
April 21 Toledo, OH The Underground
April 23 Pittsburgh, PA Cloud Nine
April 24 Toronto, ONT TBA
April 25 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
April 26 Cincinatti, OH Bogarts
April 27 Buffalo, NY Neitze's
April 28 Albany, NY Saratoga Winners
April 29 Long Branch, NJ Brighton Bar
April 30 Boston, MA Mama Kin
May 1 New Haven, CT Toad's Place
May 2 New York, NY Limelight
May 3 Philadelphia, PA JC Dobbs
May 6 Baltimore, MD 8x10
May 7 Washington DC Bayou
Kathy McCarty
April 12 Gainesville, FL Covered Dish
April 14 Jacksonville, FL Einstein A Go-Go
April 15 Savannah, GA Velvet Elvis
April 17 Atlanta, GA The Point
April 18 Athens, GA Atomic Music Hall
April 19 Charlotte, NC Tremont Music Hall (tentative)
April 20 Columbia, SC Rockafella's (tentative)
April 21 Richmond, VA Twisters
April 22 Washington, DC The Republic Garden
April 25 Philadelphia, PA Tin Angel
April 26 New York, NY Brownies
April 27 Providence, RI Met Cafe
April 28 Boston, MA The Rat (tentative)
April 30 Northampton, MA Bay State Motel
May 1 Toronto, ON El Macombo
May 4 Syracuse, NY Bogey's
May 5 New York, NY Bottom Line
May 6 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's
May 8 Oberlin, OH Oberlin College
May 10 Chicago, IL Lounge Ax
May 11 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
---
NEWS:
ERRATA RE:Voyager - The information from last week
on Voyager was erroneous - here is the complete and correct information,
authorized by the producers of the event, Satellite Productions.
Voyager 2, on Saturday April 22, is not sold out - plenty of tickets
are still available. This is the only night that Plastikman will perform live.
The Detroit room will feature John Aquaviva, Richie Hawtin, Terry Mullen,
Eric Haupt and Boomer. Orbiting DJ's include Derrick Carter, Lenny Dee,
Adam X, Josh Wink, Scott Richmond and Overload, and the ambient
room will feature Greg Campbell, Matthew Hawtin and BPMF. And, of course
Plastikman will perform live.
Voyager 1.5, on Friday April 21, showcases the talents of
the two pioneering techno scenes in America - Detroit and Brooklyn.
The Detroit Room will include Dan Bell aka DBX, John Aquaviva,
Richie Hawtin, Terry Mullen, Eric Haupt and Boomer. The Brooklyn
room will include Frankie Bones, Jimmy Crash, Heather Heart, Terra,
Sprout, Einstein, Grin as well as a live performance by Disintegrator
Both events are at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage. For
further information and ticket information, call the Satellite Hotline
at 212-465-3299.
Labels arriving on the net: World Domination has a site on
the World Wide Web at http://underground.net/Worlddom/ (make
sure the "W" is a capital letter). One of their artists, Low Pop Suicide,
is on tour (see dates listed later in this issue).
Hoboken's Bar/None Records, which helped launch the career of
They Might Be Giants, Freedy Johnston, The Tindersticks, Yo La Tengo,
Kathy McCarty/Glass Eye, Esquivel and many other artists, has an e-mail
account. They can be reached at BarNoneRec@aol.com and will send out
catalogs of their material upon request.
Miles Hunt, formerly of the Wonder Stuff, has quit as MTV Europe's
120 Minutes host and plans to make more music. He takes a dim view of his
Wonderstuff back-catalog and lists the Golden Palominoes' _Pure_ among his
favorite albums last year - so future projects may sound utterly unrelated to
the Wonder Stuff. The Stuff, without Miles, has reformed under the name
We Know Where You Live.
The Grammy Awards on the Net
- Brad Waddell
The Information Superhighway still has some potholes, but the
events that are happening sure show exciting promise. On March 1,
the Grammy Awards telecast was carried live on the Internet, and
it used nearly all of the capabilities of this new medium, and
was quite an event.
The company who set it up was Metaverse, the company formerly
known as mtv.com until MTV sued Adam Curry, former MTV VJ for use
of the name for his Internet server. Adam then quit MTV and went
on-line full-time, creating music newsletters and World Wide Web
sites for corporations and events such as Woodstock 94.
During the Grammys, a booth was set up backstage which
had two cameras pointed at the grammy feed and the backstage press room
>From this, live video was fed directly to the Internet. However, to call
this video is a loose use of the term, as it is a window about the size
of 4 icons (1 inch by 1 inch) in black and white. The speed of the
video was based on the speed of a user's network connection, which
for me was 14.4bps, so on average I got 1-2 frames per second, and
no sound.
Also on line was the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) system where
Adam, the people watching, and stars who came by the booth could all chat
on-line in real time. I saw posts from David Crosby (while he was
captured by the video camera) and Garth Brooks. Unfortunately,
the chat system was plagued by people connecting up wrong, and
typing one character per line, scrolling the text off the screen
too fast. Those with the best video reception were
those at work or school with ethernet or direct connections,
while those of use in the on-line cheap seats had intermittent
video feeds where cameras would drop out entirely, come back
later, and sometimes not update for minutes at a time.
A web page was set up for the show, with an easy link to
download the video program, and with pictures of the nominees
(and sound samples of the major awards) easily displayed. It also had a
direct link to the telnet chat window which changed as the show
progressed. A winners page was added, although this was not
continually updated during the presentation.
I was frustrated that they did not do more updates, since I was
hoping to hear if Nesmith's "The Garden" had won best New Age
album, and Nesmith's Pacific Arts employees were calling me to
see if I heard! Eventually I begged someone on the chat line, and
they told me who won.
They also had a bulletin board of sorts, where you would enter a
message via the web page, and it would be posted to an on-line
page of viewer comments. Interspersed in the web page were photos
taken moments earlier, probably with a digital camera. Photos of various
celebrities were included, as well as a diary of the adventures of
setting up the entire process. Backstage interviews, in a complete live
form, allowed the viewer to witness more than the 2-3 seconds which
appears on Entertainment Tonight.
As a whole, the experience was fun, even with all the problems,
as it took another step towards showing how the Internet can be the
people's medium. It showed that we are on the cusp of a social
change which will eclipse the introduction of the telephone,
where digital communication will become as common as the VCR, and
everyone can operate the Internet equivalent of pirate radio/tv
and underground newsletters which reach millions of potential
readers with almost no fees.
---
REVIEW: Valhalla (DEMO)
-Linda Scott
Valhalla is a central Pennsylvania rock band formed in 1992.
Currently unsigned, they have written 25 songs, developed a fan base
and appeared at area concerts. Judging the band by its three track
demo tape is especially difficult due to poor recording quality.
These guys sound like a weaker version of Pearl Jam. Singer Rob
Siler has an interesting voice, but doesn't sound quite like Eddie Vedder,
but guitarist Jack DeFrank and drummer Dave Turner produce some music
which definitely has a PJ feel to it. Better use of the talented DeFrank
could be made with longer solos where Siler remains quiet. It's unfortunate
that just a tape was used because the musical quality has the potential to
be quite good.
Valhalla will be taking the next step up from local band and is
currently being courted by several labels, so be looking for them soon.
For further information on Valhalla, contact their representative, Michael
Heicklen, via electronic mail at mjh@primenet.com
---
REVIEW: Think of 3, _Personalities_ (Thinking Man Studios)
- Reto Koradi
This self-recorded 3-track EP is the first common release of
Josh Drennan (guitar, vocals), James D. Harvey (guitar, bass) and
Peter A. Van Emburg (drums). The relaxed sound is dominated by melodic bass
lines that unavoidably create associations with early Level 42. Together
with the excellent drumming, they give the solid basis for catchy melodies
that dig deeper and deeper with repeated listenings. Josh's vocals are
pleasant, although not highly characteristic. Only one track rocks more by
adding Prince-like guitars.
A promising debut, these very talented and skilled musicians would
deserve a chance for a full length release. Think of 3 can be reached by
e-mail at thinkof3@aol.com or by phone at (610) 695-9216.
---
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===
