Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 02:00:02 -0400 Subject: SOMMS Digest - 24 Jun 1997 to 25 Jun 1997 There are 16 messages totalling 483 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Fwd: Tony Williams 2. motorvision 3. SG vocab (2) 4. SG T-shirts 5. bdo live at the wireless 6. The hits that made them a household word?????? 7. Idea for Greatest Hits 8. Reality check (3) 9. ben shepherds evil (but older looking) twin? (4) 10. more opinions, vids & stuff etc... To UNSUBSCRIBE from SOMMS, send email to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with the following in the body of your message: SIGNOFF SOMMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 02:24:48 -0400 From: Albert Kim Subject: Fwd: Tony Williams --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Re: Tony Williams Date: 97-06-24 02:17:59 EDT From: FrkShow911 To: epolly@one.net In a message dated 97-06-22 18:44:33 EDT, you write: << If anyone wants more info on Matt's fav drummer, Tony Williams, he is on the cover of the August issue of Modern Drummer (yeah, August, and it is out already..no wonder we feel so damn rushed all the time..) There is a tribute to Tony inside.. >> Yes, please do take the time to check it out. I said it once and I'll say it again---give Tony Williams' late work entitled "Tony Williams Wilderness" a whirl. It's just beautiful. ---Al ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 19:06:00 +1300 From: Stuart Appleby Subject: motorvision i was about to watch my video of motorvison today, and my machine went bananas and snapped the tape! arggh! what do i do now? i could dub someone elses one, but then it wouldn't be on the original tape with "SOUNDGARDEN motorvision" written on it, and if i try to srick the tape together, who knows what will happen. At least i've still got Louder Than Live, but thats black&white with that clown Jason on it, so i might have to buy Motorvision again, which costs big bucks. Doh! Anyhoo, the reason i was going to watch it is that i was wondering about exactly what happened when SG were in the car (i think it was just after Outshined, or Mind Riot, i never got to see) and they see this guy with real funky clothes and real huge hair, so they ridicule him and Matt says "he is f:(king cool". Then it has some speech which has been slowed down speech which i cant understand. Can anyone help?? I also really like that bit when Kim starts going on about Highlights(?) magazine and goofus and gallant (from what i understand). All my friends think its really funny when he says, "goofus rapes the nextdoor neightbours dog". but the thing is, the rest of the band don't seem to react, which i thing is weird. from graham:) -my fingers never smell- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 19:40:18 +1200 From: TessNZ Subject: SG vocab How about the word "Soundgarden"? I'm pretty sure no one ever used that before the boys came along! The only other thing I can think of is the phrase "feeling Minnesota." There's even a movie called that. That was introduced by Soundgarden and now used everywhere. And apparently they didn't even get credit for the title in the movie! And on the favorite video front - The Day I Tried to Live is a damn cool one, (i especially love those flaming guitars) but my favorite is FOBD, partly because I actually like the video version of the song more than the album version, and partly because of how gorgeous they all look. I also like BHS because of the warped faces! Tessa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 08:45:39 -0400 From: Dan Barkman Subject: Re: SG T-shirts HEY SOMMSTERS! I'm a graphic artist! I'd love to help get a shirt going (I also worked at a screen printing shop for 2 years) Yell at me if your interested! Dan & BLUE HONEY Thanks, Dan & BLUE HONEY Click here to check out our Web Site at: http://www.geocities.com/~bluehoneyrocks email the band at: bluehoneyrocks@geocities.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 22:04:31 +1000 From: Nicola Taylor Subject: bdo live at the wireless Hi, just wondering, was live at the wireless's bdo special on triple j worth it? Did they play much soundgarden? Sadly I missed it. Did they have any powderfinger? And if it was worth it, did any one record it? Thanks Nicky ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 10:51:30 -0400 From: Scott Rodriguez Subject: Re: The hits that made them a household word?????? A greatest hits type thing would be fairly lame...though a bunch of songs from some of the live shows they did would be pretty cool, and maybe also including some songs they made specifically for compilation albums. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 20:57:22 +0200 From: Eivind Haarr Subject: Idea for Greatest Hits Hi there! Greetings from Norway again! I have an idea for the "Soundgarden's Greatest Hits" CD everybody is writing about.... How about taking all the best SG songs and dividing them onto multiple CDs??? This could become the SG greatest hits collection....... The CDs could be called "Superunknown", "Down on the Upside" and so on! (SARCASM WARNING SARCASM WARNING SARCASM WARNING SARCASM WARNING) Seriously... There are no such thing as SG's greatest hits, there are only SOUNDGARDEN'S GREAT SONGS. Why bother to make a Greatest Hits album when everyone should buy all SG's albums? Well... you know what I mean? This would only become an effort of making money from people who are not really into SG but like some of their songs. What I would like to see, however, was the kind of CD previously mentioned: A collection of unreleased material and b-sides (and hard-to-get-material, especially for a guy in Norway, where good CD stores are as hard to find as a vegeterian polar bear) In short, a collection of songs not on any of the official albums! And by the way.... The host on Headbanger's Ball specificially pointed that BUTOW was not banned by -=< MTV >=-, which means not only Headbanger's Ball or late shows. (The case could be, however, that the video falls into the category of videos that are rated so high that they're not allowed to be shown earlier than a certain time of the evening. UK rules.. uh.. sucks... But this doesn't mean that it is BANNED... BIG DIFFERENCE!!) On the storm It's time to go (I've got to visit some friends) ---- Eivind the Viking ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 17:17:29 -0500 From: Richard E Horner Subject: Reality check Why does everyone keep complaining about a Greatest hits album, didn't you people read Seth's post. BTW, why do people like live recordings of songs? They usually suck. Its cool if you are there cause you see the band and it sounds right in the venue. It just sucks when put on tape(CD). Besides, there is only one band that has the skill to execute their live stuff correctly(who I won't name because its an SG list), and even their stuff sounds crappy when recorded from the show. I think more people need cool speakers so they can really hear their music. Larry (Orin) can back me up on the speaker thing (1600 watt VMRs, 15", 8", 3") Setting the World on Fire, Rich ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 17:17:30 -0700 From: Bonnie Cochran Subject: Re: SG vocab Tessa (gyde@xtra.co.nz) wrote: > > How about the word "Soundgarden"? I'm pretty sure no one ever used that > before the boys came along! Ummm...what about the plaque that's embedded into the ground in a place where there are these very interesting sculptures that make strange sounds in a park named Magnusson located on a naval station called Sandpoint which happens to be in a city named Seattle of the state called Washington? It reads: A Sound Garden Douglas Hollis 1982-1983 Same place the boys got their name from; their inspiration. Or does that not count, if it was actually two separate words before the boys got hold of it and smooshed them together? :) Bonnie (just being facetious...:)) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 22:05:59 -0400 From: Joe Petersen Subject: ben shepherds evil (but older looking) twin? just a random thought: does anyone else think Ben Shepherd looks like Lyle Lovett? i swear, thats the *first* thing i thought when i first saw him. i think its the hair. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 21:15:35 -0500 From: Orin Subject: Re: ben shepherds evil (but older looking) twin? Joe Petersen wrote: > just a random thought: > does anyone else think Ben Shepherd looks like Lyle Lovett? i swear, > thats > the *first* thing i thought when i first saw him. i think its the > hair. Yeah, I've had that same realization, Joe. I do think he looks alot like Lyle Lovett, the hair, the look, he even has a slight lip thing going in some of his pictures. So you're not the only one who's noticed this... Larry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 19:39:39 -0700 From: Rachel Thompson Subject: Re: ben shepherds evil (but older looking) twin? Yeah, I think we have been on this topic before, but I too have always thought Ben looked like Lyle Lovett, kind of a darker look. Another similar look I've noticed is David Spade looks similar to Matt Camerson, of course Matt's better looking. Peace Love Empathy *Rachel* >just a random thought: >does anyone else think Ben Shepherd looks like Lyle Lovett? i swear, thats >the *first* thing i thought when i first saw him. i think its the hair. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 23:09:50 -0500 From: Betty Anne Redson Subject: Re: ben shepherds evil (but older looking) twin? Rachel Thompson wrote: > > Yeah, I think we have been on this topic before, but I too have always > thought Ben looked like Lyle Lovett, kind of a darker look. Another > similar look I've noticed is David Spade looks similar to Matt Camerson, of > course Matt's better looking. > > Peace Love Empathy > *Rachel* You're right Ben and Lyle look a lot alike, but Lyle looks a lot older than Ben. I also think one of the main reasons they look alike is their hair, but they also have simular facial features. I think Matt kind of looks like David Spade, but I would have never thought of it if Rachel hadn't mentioned it. I think it might be the hair in that case also. Marie ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 14:11:46 +1000 From: John Grieves Subject: Re: Reality check At 17:17 24/06/97 -0500, Richard E Horner wrote: > BTW, why do people like live recordings of songs? They usually >suck. I'd only partly agree with that - the sound quality sucks unless somebody has been clever enough to hook a DAT up to the mixing desk and somebody has put some thought into actually mixing specifically for the DAT. It also helps if you have a first generation recording too... I know why I like live recordings: - it's the only way I can tell that a band is not over produced in the studio (RE: Smashing Pumpkins using 54 guitar tracks on one song on their last album - yet they put on a brilliant show here in Brisbane) and that the band really has some technical skill and is not riding on the back of stereo musicians or the fact that they can do as many takes as necessary to get the song right. {woah, way long sentence) Plus, some things are really suprising on bootlegs/live recordings. I can't give you any Soundgarden examples, because I know that these guys are brilliant musicians but I have no live recordings of theirs with some minor exceptions, but for those who know Mr Bungle, you wouldn't believe how well these guys can reproduce their albums in a live setting. If you know Mr Bungle's albums, you probably know how complex they are musically (no, I won't enter into any discussion as to the value of their music)... The point is you're seeing another side of the band that you just can't judge through the studio produced releases. When you're at a concert, you're not completely objective - the band is only metres away and you've been dreaming about seeing them for ages. With the live recordings, at least I find I'm more objective - and if you gather a sufficiently large range of live recordings, you begin to find the strengths and weaknesses of each musician (eg. geez, that guitarist still can't get that riff right...)... Finally, with live recordings you get hear some little pearls of wisdom that might be nice to read about, and might've been even better if you were actually at the concert, but you can't go to every concert - it's nice to hear them say it right there. >I think more people need cool >speakers so they can really hear their music. What, the studio releases? If you want precision to really analyse the music and pick at it, I find the best method is with a top quality set of headphones...if you want to really hear the music and feel it too, you can't go past a nice mix of tweeters, woofers and subs... But what you really here is the BEST of their performances...'cos that's all that gets put on those studio releases. >Larry (Orin) can back me >up on the speaker thing (1600 watt VMRs, 15", 8", 3") Is this in a small room or what?!? :> Yipes...that would HAVE to hurt! Don't get me wrong Rich...I love studio releases and live recordings are never a substitute for these. I respect the Smashing Pumpkins for using some many layered guitar tracks because, as Billy Corgan rightly said (IMHO - and I'm paraphrasing here, I can't find the mag in which I read this), the studio recordings really are what will go down in history - you should make them as good as possible. I agree... But if a band wants my respect as more than a studio band, I need to hear how that music translates live. Live recordings are often the only way I can do this. Jackhammer. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 00:12:36 -0400 From: Mike Smith Subject: Re: Reality check you are VERY far removed from knowing what your talking about. if you dont love the music enough to buy boots and put up with the "not studio sound quality" then mabey your not on the same level as the rest of us, im not saying thats bad, its just not on the "die hard fan level". and it doesnt have shit to do with the size or quality, or "coolness"of the speaker. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 12:17:38 -0700 From: Raine Subject: more opinions, vids & stuff etc... >I'm puzzled as to why some of you are so upset by the idea of a >'Greatest Hits' or 'Best Of' or whatever... there's a man, say his name's Bob, driving home from work one day. Bob's pissed at his job, pissed at his life, going thru a midlife crisis. the radio station that he normally listens to isn't coming in. so he changes the dial and decides to put the top 40 or rock station or something on. he's stuck in a traffic jam, bored, frustrated, sick of everything. BHS comes on. at first he doesn't pay much attention, but then it begins to catch his interest, and he finds himself humming all the way home. and then a few months later, he hears about a Sg best of album, remembers BHS, and figures it might be worth buying. listening to it that night he's completely taken w/ every song, and a new Sg fan is born. and this one small change in Bob's life prompts a series of other changes, ultimately leading Bob down a completely different path. don't ask me where i came up w/ this, but my point is- why should any1 be upset, or ashamed, that their favorite band would release a best of compilation? how could any1 possibly consider that "selling out"? i see absolutely nothing wrong w/ it. and yes, i know nothing's been confirmed, this is purely hypothetical. >didn't Chris make up "Superunknown" as one word? i think i remember him saying somewhere that around the time they were making the album, he was watching tv and saw something that he thought said "superunknown", but on second glance realized it wasn't, hence the album/song title. that made me feel a whole lot better- i sometimes do that too. :) >Cheapening of a song usually occurs when the director/record >company either don't understand, are rushed to release a single or >just don't give a shit. well, no matter how disappointing the vid is, it shouldn't affect the song. they *are* 2 completely different works. >in the case of BHS where the song becomes a "theme tune" to the >video the video gives something more to it they're both outstanding... and you can take the vid out of the song, but ya can't take the song out of the vid. >do you not think of the vid when you hear the song? nah, very rarely... sometimes i think of summer '94 and what a fabulous time it was, or how practically every night i'd call the local station and bug them to play it, and after a while they started to recognize me & would call me the "soundgarden girl". :-) mostly i think of what the song means to me personally, all the different ways that i interpret it- interpretations that i formed in my own mind before i ever saw the video. don't get me wrong- i love the vid, it's arguably the best ever made. i appreciate Sg's vids very much, all i'm saying is, their songs can stand on their own. >Well, I think that almost anyone could have done a better job on >the video for blow up the outside world actually, this is one of my favorites... the script was perfect. if only the effects & the set had been better... the budget was way too small. >BTW, I think the mission the band was on in BIMH is to sell >albums. oh, hardee har har... Rich, you wouldn't be making fun of me, now would you??? :-> really tho, you don't see any artistic value in their vids? i was going to write more about that today, but i guess i'll wait till tomorrow. this is already like 10 pages long. :-) ciao... ~Lorraine Long time coming... many served the few ------------------------------ End of SOMMS Digest - 24 Jun 1997 to 25 Jun 1997 ************************************************