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(TV) Leader of TV-Contest /Egghead/Van & Def. of 'British Album'/Overr ated 'Exile on Main St.'
Folks,
Due to the surprisingly large # of responses to the Verlaine Quiz Sampler Contest, I have not had the free time to tally up the scores until now. With less than 60 hours until the Contest deadline the top three are: (1) Keith Allison (total of 2,445 points); (2) Maurice Richard and (3) Patricia Littleton. So far there are only three questions that no one knows (all) the correct answers to:
7) Fill in the one word blank: Tom Verlaine was voted 'Most blank' by his high school class before moving to New York City in 1968? (90 points)
9) Name six jazz musicians whom Tom listened to on records around the 7th grade? (65 points for each musician)
10) Name the B-side of a single by The Byrds that Tom especially liked while in high school? (185 points)
Anyone else care to take a crack at these these three?
Leo
PS:
Michael Carlucci wrote: "The only LP I might have questions about is Van's "Astral Weeks". Not in it's brilliance but in it's being a British album. Unfortunately I do no have a copy in stock at the moment, but wasn't the LP recorded in Woodstock > or am I thinking of Moondance & Tupelo Honey? As much as Lou Reed is a New > York artist I think of his 1st solo LP, Transformer, and Berlin as British LPs. They were done with British musicians and in British studios. The same with Hendrix's "Are You Experienced". Anyone else agree with this sort of logic? M T C"
Leo says: This raises a whole can of worms: What criteria should one use to define a 'British album' versus an American album? Is it simply determined by the country of origin of the performer, or are there other more over-riding [? ] factors, e.g., where it was written [no], recorded [no] , who were the other musicians and their country of origin [no], the subject matter, the origins of the performer's underlying influences, other intangibles, etc.? I would agree with Joe Hartley below, and go with the performer's influences and the sensibility that he/she is trying to achieve. Joe Hartley wrote: "There is some Van that I'd consider British, but he bases so much of his work on exploration of American Blues and R&B (i.e. "Jackie Wilson Said") that it's got to be considered on an album-by-album basis."
> This month's Q Magazine list the 100 Greatest British Album Ever.
> 1. Revolver
> 2. OK Computer
> 3. Exile on Main Street
> 4. London Calling
> 5. A Hard Day's Night
> 6. Astral Weeks
Leo: 'Exile On Main Street' is overrated; it would have made a great single-LP/CD but as a double it contains way too much filler and the production/recording is very murky. (I know some claim the Stones deliberately intended it to sound murky, but I don't believe it.) Artistically/aesthetically, I much prefer 'Let It Bleed' although I must confess it has been so overplayed (by radio and me in past) that I never listen to anymore. Many years ago I made a conscious effort to restrict my listening to music by Television/Verlaine to 'special' occasions (for fear I might OD and grow tired of it). Lucky for me I had to give up my feeble attempt to ration TV's music in his way, but more importantly, despite my initial fears, in 21 years I have never grown tired of listening to this music (I think this says a lot about the music's artistic quality and depth).
Raymond [ray @wavewalker.freeserve.co.uk] wrrote: "These kind of lists seem to be appearing more and more frequently nowadays and are really starting to get on my wick---is there nothing else to write about?"
Leo: Amen! Such lists can be fun and sometimes result in interesting discussions, but I believe they get way too much attention, are way over-used (possibly a symptom of our obsession to compile lists at end of the 20th century), and---------------risking the wrath of my fellow MMooners, and of being called a friggin' egghead----the amount of time and energy devoted to such lists---- dare I say it-----displays a certain 'intellectual laziness'.
I'll take my deserved lumps and any rotten eggs hurled my way, now. Thanks, that last paragraph made me feel like a new man!
Leo.
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On Wednesday 5/17/00 Casey, Leo wrote:
I want to make one final, pitiful attempt to make people aware of the Tom Verlaine/Television Quiz which is located at Howard Webb's (aka Santadog's) Television and Tom Verlaine page: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/7784/
I am going to steal an idea of Howard's from a couple of years ago when he tried to get more people to sign his web page Guest Book. That's right, I am such a desperate person that I am going to resort to bribery!
The 5 people who score the highest number of points to the 16 question Verlaine Quiz Sampler below will receive the following prizes:
1st Prize: Your choice of any Television/Verlaine album in CD, LP (pristine, imported Japanese vinyl pressings), or Cassette format;
2ndPrize: a rare (vinyl) 45 of 'Ain't That Nothin' ' which is a different version than appears on the Adventure album, or choice of other 45s from Adventure ('Foxhole'/'Careful' or 'Glory/Carried Away');
3rd Prize: Television promo CD singles or other assorted TV treasures;
4th Prize: Your choice of one of the following 12" EPs: 'Kaliedoscopin'/'Sixteen Tulips'/'Vanity Fair'; 'Let Go the Mansion'/Let Go the Mansion' (Instrumental version)/Lindi-Lu; 'A Town 'Called Walker'/'Smoother Than Jones'/'Smoother Than Jones' ( the 'A' version)/'Caveman Flashlight'; (all are imports); 'Prove It/''Venus'; 'Foxhole/Careful'; Marquee Moon' (stereo/mono);
5th Prize: Verlaine 12" EP of 'Always' (re-mix)/'The Blue Robe' or of 'Postcard from Waterloo'/'Days on the Mountain' .
(I realize that most of you probably already have these recordings-----but what the hell-----maybe you could give a copy to a friend to spread the music. None of the above is for sale by me; you have to answer the 16 Quiz questions to get any of this stuff.)
Deadline is Wednesday night May 24, 11:59 pm (EST). The 'Honor system' will be used since the correct answers to these 16 questions [as well as the original Quiz's 130 questions] appear at Howard's (Santadog's) web site. Quiz-cheaters will be forced to memorize and indefinitely repeat the lyrics to Verlaine's 'The Blue Robe'.
Leo
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