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Re: (TV) Re: Winter Hours



    Sad to say I have no extra copies of any of the records. With the
exzception of a few of the indi records most are out of print. I believe
CD now has the "Wait Till The Morning" CD produced by Bongos founder 
Rob Norris(also a post-Lou Velvets alumni). Our Chrysalis Record I believe
was our best but unfortunately like most new bands we were a tax write off
right from the start. Not too mention that our manager and A&R rep were
pals and probably struck up a deal so that they'd both make money. I know
I probably sound like Tom here, but I really believe this. When the record
was finished we never saw our A&R guy again. He was useless anyway, but
still
we needed him to go to bat for us and he didn't. Anyway, our last 3 LP's
went
from # 8, to #6 to # 4 in the Rolling Stone alternative charts. The
comparisons
were anywhere from Television to Richard Thompson to the Moody Blues and of
course for those lame-ass critics who couldn't think for themselves R.E.M..
Thius
really use to piss me off. Almost every band that had 2 guitar players in
the
early to late 80's automatically sounded like R.E.M. I once complained to
Michael
Stipe about this who always defended us in the press. He thought it was very
unfair
that no just Winter Hours but Miracle Legion, O-Positive, Dreams So real,
and
even later Rain Parade records all were compared to REM. Stipe did what he
could
but the critics were just not all that creative. Nowawdays it seems most
bands
get compared to Pavement. Oh Lester Bangs where is thy soul? You'd think
this guy
would've made more of an impression on rock critics, apparently not. Anyway,
I 
probably went on far too long here. But I always get a bit riled up when I
think
of all the work that we put into the indi thing which took us 6 long years
to get
ourselves onto the Rolling Stone top 10 and in less than 6 months Chrysalis
Records
tore it all down. There are at least 100 stories like this from college rock
bands
in the 80's. So if you're on an indi label, stay there. There's nothing the
majors
can do for you now that you can't do yourself. Thanks all, M T C
----------
>From: serovner@mindspring.com
>To: tv@obbard.com
>Subject: (TV) Re: Winter Hours
>Date: Thu, Jan 20, 2000, 10:08 AM
>

>Mike,
>
>I seem to recall that the Winter Hours albums received favorable reviews in 
>the press, but for some reason I never picked them up.  I also never 
>realized that you were in the band.  If I had, I would have bought 
>truckloads of them!  How can we folks on the list get a listen to the 
>material?  Got any extra copies laying around?  
>
>Steve
>
>
>tv@obbard.com wrote:
>>     My band Winter Hours was fortunate enough to do a one month
>tour across the USA with Translator back in 1988. They were the
>most inspirational band we ever opened for. Eery night was different.
>The guitar playing between the two Steve and Bob was fabulous. If they
>locked in, there was nothing finer. They has one song that Bob wrote that
>was my favorite "Lazurus". It was breath taking. There is the perfect case
>of a band that tried to do what they wanted after having a AOR hit and the
>label 415/CBS squashed them like mosquitos. Each new LP sold less then the
>one before until they broke up in 1989 which was great for Winter Hours
>because we were able to recruit Dave Sheff(Translators drummer) and with
>Lenny
>Kaye and Chrysalis Records, make the finest record of our career. Dave was
>brilliant and powerful. He was totally in tune to his surroundings. Even
>still,
>I was saddened by the bands break up. There weren't many bands like them
>around.
>Guitar solos(thanks to REM) were pretty much unheard of at that time.
>Translator were
>like the Grateful Dead of the Alternative/College Radio scene. I for one
>miss them.
>I especially love their last LP which was recorded live in the studio. True
>story:
>I once asked Steve barton how the song "Everywhere That I'm Not" came about.
>It came
>to him in a dream He was sleeping and was awoken from his sleep by this
>dream, picked up
>his guitar, wrote the song is 10 minutes, recorded it on a casstte player
>and went back to 
>bed. Those types of songs are the best when they just come to you and all
>the pieces
>just meld together. And a great song that is. I wonder what they're up to
>now?
>I'd heard they were reforming around 1993 or '94 but that was it. Haven't
>heard
>anything since. Too bad. I may have a soundboard tape or two around of them
>if
>anyone's interested. It may take a while to locte them but it would be worth
>the
>effort. Bye, M T C 
>
>----------
>>From: jpg@sirius.com
>>To: tv@obbard.com
>>Subject: Re: (TV) Mr. Obbard wrote:
>>Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2000, 9:33 PM
>>
>
>>How about another very good unnoticed band: Translator.
>>They came out about the same time as REM , but suffered from being in San 
>>Francisco in
>>the '80s. Steve Barton, their chief song writer had a fabulous way with words and
>>rhythm.
>>Any comments?
>>
>>MICHAEL CARLUCCI wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> >Just discovered
>>> >"Another Girl, Another Planet"
>>> >>>
>>> >
>>> >Now you need to discover the band; The Only Ones are something special
>>> >
>>> >    Now there's a band that went completely unnoticed. It's a damn shame too.
>>> These guys had it all. In their short lived career they made 3 magnificent
>>> LP's
>>> and a handful of singles. One single that brings tears to my eyes is the
>>> single
>>> with Peter Perrett and Pauline Murray doing the song "Fools". What a great
>>> song.
>>> Their last LP "Baby's Got A Gun" went straight to the toilet the week it was
>>> released. There were more promos around then stock copies. Too bad cause it
>>> was their
>>> finest LP to date. Then there were the "Even Serpents Shine" and the 1st LP,
>>> the
>>> latter with Another Girl, Another Planet which has some of the finest chord
>>> changes known to man. Peter Perrett was/is one of Rock & Roll's  greatest
>>> unsung
>>> heroes. When the Only One's appeared at max's kansas City around the time of
>>> their 3rd album there might've been 30 people in the audience. What a cryin'
>>> shame.
>>> As far as I know there K only releases of their 3 official LP's plus a
>>> fabulous
>>> live album. For anyone whoever cared about good, understated guitar music,
>>> this
>>> is your band. Thanks, M T C
>>>
>>> >
>>> >BTW, upon repeated listenings to "Other Voices" (the new Patti Smith 
>>song with Tom
>>> on lead guitar), it has to be one of Tom's most un-inspired moments. As
>>> mentioned
>>> earlier, if I didn't know that it was Tom Id've never guessed it. It may as
>>> well
>>> have been Oliver or Lenny playing the solo. I pains me to say this. Despite
>>> this,
>>> the song is one of Patti's finest in many years.
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
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>>
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