Wide Open Road

[torch]

I havent seen 'Barton Fink' but if it details a life full of self doubt
feelings of inadequacy and perpetual dissatisfaction with one's
output, this is certainly my experience. In fact along with writer's block, these aspects of the creative life I've mastered.
It's only the actual writing bit I've yet to get a handle on and it's
Pulitzer Prizeville. There is a beautiful novel called ' New Grub Street' by George Gissing which deals with writer's block.
Geoffm's remarks about the nature of inspiration is echoed by
every serious writer.In fact I don't think one is worthy of the
title of writer', poet, musician etc. without that sort of daily
devotion.I've played in bands and written songs but would
never have the gall to describe myself as anything more than a
dilettante.Dave's commitment to his craft was total, and his
song writing ability was so precocious it took a while for his and
the rest of the band to catch up technically. He was no natural
singer but with lessons and work he became a great one. How
much better might Television have been if Tom Verlaine hadn't
been too vain to do the same. The impact of Graeme joining
cant be understated either, his talent enabled Dave to realize
so much that previously just wasn't possible.
                                                                        Torch

[Urpal]

The impact of Graeme joining cant be understated either, his talent enabled Dave to realize so much that previously just wasn't possible.

For someone who hasn't seen Barton Fink you seem to sum it up quite neatly, torch.

Does someone know something we don't? That's the second time Graham has spelt Graeme around here. Do you answer to alternative spellings of your name, glee?

The filling out of The Trifffids sound certainly seems to have coincided with glee's joining the band. From memory that happy circumstance was due to James Patterson(?) asking glee to lend a hand on the LSI session. So how did that develop into permanent fixture status?

[Urpal]

Thanks to the same kind supplier of such rarities I've also heard the live version by Rob Snarski of Wide Open Road, which is sincere and worthwhile (and gets a very hearty audience reaction). It nevertheless bears out the comment Graham has made somewhere that WOR is structurally simple at the core but has rarely been performed as convincingly without the original components.

[robweb]

"We're grown me! We wrestled!"

"You're a sick fuck Fink!"

Urpal, one of my favourite films of all time, and the Cohen's best. Did you figure out what's in the box?

[Urpal]

I assumed it was the head of one of Goodman's victims - the writer's wife? Oh I dunno. It's a bit like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction though isn't it? Symbolic.

[Gazza]

Saw Fargo again last weekend, and though I really liked it the first time round, this time I'm convinced that it's a work of genius, possibly even as good as Barton Fink. Bit disappointed to realise that Prince wasn't in it though.

[thoglette]

You're right it must have been a little daring to inflict violin on audiences in the early eighties. Pedal steel really was unheard of though there was a bit of a tradition in the late sixties to mid seventies of steel on Aus pop/rock music. <snip>  I find it very curious how tastes change. Six or seven years ago country music was a dirty word  in indie rock circles and now everyone has a Ned Kelly beard and plucks a banjo.  

I remember seeing "Evil" on stage for the first time and thinking "what the flying @#$$!"  But two songs into the set and it all made sense.

For all sorts of reasons I found myself going through tapes of Perth bands from the 80s and 90s and realised that there was a strong folk/country theme to much of them - from the psycobilly of the Bamboos, Waltons & Creepers to Chads Tree, Errol H Tout, Marigolds etc more folky approach.   The fiddle didn't seem out of place at all.
Then there's King Pig, AndAnA, German Humour which still could only have come from Perth.

Thog.

[mark t]

Channel 9 are doing a show called Australias top 20 songs tonight at 7.30. It's hosted by bert newton, so I don't have high expectations, but I'll watch in case WOR or something else of interest presents. Its billed as a new series (20 to  01) but carries a repeat tag, so who knows, it might be the apra list, I hope!

[mark t]

Well that was an hour and a bit of forgettable pap. God Bert looks wierd! For what its worth the top 3 songs were Peter Allen- I still call Australia home, Daddy Cool- Eagle Rock and the Easy Beats-Friday on My Mind, not thet they explained how they came to that conclusion. The rest was dispersed with the usual John Farnan, Olivia, Kyie, Inxs etc. Daryl Braithwaite (Howzat!) was at his best, dressed in a blue velour jacket with blue satin lapels and a white tie (no shirt of course), I don't know if there is a name for his hairdo, but I recall at least 2 members of Slade sporting something similar.

[glee]

It was almost the APRA top 20 minus the left field stuff.

[LAMF]

Just saw Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson Piper play at the Northcote Social Club where they did a cover of Wide Open Road which they announced would be on the next Church record. My plane was delayed as I was flying back from Sydney for the show, and my flight didn't touch down until 8:30 pm so unfortunately I missed the GB3 which I had been looking forward to

[Urpal]

I forgot about that show. How was The Church's version of WOR live? It's very good to hear they did it - and are confident enough in their own version to be putting it out on record. Was Graham standing at the sidelines or did he contribute?

[LAMF]

It was a little bit hesitant, but I think that could work very well for the Church with the full band. Tonight it was a duo show, so it was a very stripped back arrangement, though they are trying to do something different to the song rather than do a note for note version. Steve's bass lines seemed to be based on Jill's keyboard parts, and Marty strummed along on 12 string. Tonight's gig was a great night's entertainment, but there were quite a few sloppy moments. The Melbourne air is currently in very poor condition as it's quite smoky here due to bushfires which have covered the eastern part of the state, so Steve did sound a little bit out of breath which did affect his delivery a bit. It's very bad weather for asthmatics right now. Arriving back on the plane from Sydney, Melbourne was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke which would rival a London Peasoup Fog. So while I enjoyed hearing it, it's a bit early to give it a yea or nay other than I enjoyed hearing it, and I will wait until I can hear the band version of it before I can pass judgement on the Church version. It was the second last song of the main set of a show which lasted nearly two and a half hours, so they were a little tired by the time they got around to playing it.

Graham was watching on from the sidelines.

[Urpal]

Thanks LAMF. You've certainly given a sense of the atmosphere of the gig there. Two and a half hours is quite an epic scale of gig. Are they going after the Wagner crowd?  I didn't know anything about the bush fires, but after a gig like that I'd be keen for a smoke too .

[glee]

I got a copy of the recorded version and it's really good...very different to ours, and you'd hope so, acoustic with mandolin. It hints at melodic parts of the original - basslines/keyboard lines etc and is not a generic folk style acoustic rendition. Sung with conviction. Record is not out for a bit yet.
It was quite an epic gig, quite a few laughs, a few cats let out of the bag.
The recorded version of WOR is much more focused than the live one LAMF.