Re: Stand down Marvick, stand down pleeeeaase, stand down Mar-vick ...

[rutgers!uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor (Mais, ou sont les neiges d'antan?)]

(Great EB quote there.)
 
>>Actually, IED might even be willing to agree that Skylarking
>>is one of the best LPs "of the year." The obvious point to make
>>is that this isn't saying much, since there were NO very good LPs made
>>in 1986. Think of the kind of mark in history an LP like Sgt. Pepper's
>>made; surely you are capable of seeing that 1986 produced no such record.
You know, I've been remarking of late that I tend to find this whole
business of inventing a twee persona for oneself and stuffing it with
cute little Britwords and sundries strikes me as something that's more
commonly found in emotional cripples and persons with little faith in
their own real-time egos: people who would rather invent a life than
have one. But reading this little bit of comment from California
starts me thinking on quite another tack. This playacting on andrew's
part allows the boy to spout all kinds of wonderful objective judgements
and take no credit for them at all. It's IED who's the smug, condescending
one, not poor andrew. Maybe andrew actually believes that we're
willing to make a separation between the persons and somehow forgive
*him* for acting like your garden-variety elitist when he has his
little IED suit on. Yeah. Look at that above paragraph and tell me
you're reading the work of someone who has carefully considered the
language in which he couches his critical pronouncements. He seems
ah so blissfully unaware of all this, though.

IED *might be willing* (what'll you give him....)

The obvious point (obvious to all but fools)

there were NO very good LPs made in 1986 (what can I say there?)

surely you are capable of seeing (there's hope for the unwashed yet)

Think of the mark in history an LP like (I'm certainly aware of
it and if you use your brains, you'll be aware too.)

Just back up a posting or so and check this stuff out....
  
>>As Doug says, this is absolute bullshit, and it reveals the sore
>>limitations of your own expertise on the subject in which you claim
>>such superiority. Have you never heard of John Cage? Hell, there are
>>even several pieces "composed" by Satie in the twenties, which are
>>widely recognized as prototypes of conteporary minimalism.
>>And of course, parts of the Well-Tempered Clavier, The Art of the Fugue,
>>and the sixth Suite for solo cello (all by Bach) are masterpieces
>>of extreme minimalism.

We'll avoid for the moment the point that andrew seems to have 
confused Minimalism as a compositional category (to which we 
might well appeal to Eno's releases on the Obscure label in the
min-70s..a then relatively unknown bunch who have since become
well known and identified as Minimalists: Gavin Bryars, John Adams,
John White, Michael Nyman, and Eno's own "Discreet Music") with 
minimalism. Perhaps if andrew  made an effort to listen to himself, he'd
*hear* the kind of smugness  and elitism dripping out of that
tone of response. Remember, andrew: those who are truly discerning and
righteous like yourself can certainly spare a little charity for the
churlish and unwashed masses-particularly if you truly *do* believe
that the ideas you defend are more important than your/IED's ego.

Oh. This is all a kind of clever charade, and andrew is assuming his
IED persona so that he can say things he could never say on his own.
As of the last posting, there's even some clever little note
about someone doing his typing for him while while that cad Raffles
and little Buttercup are off on holiday. And just think: all those
clever little horsie and bunny sig lines are coming from a single,
very real human being on the other end of a terminal somewhere. Makes
you quiet and sad.


-- 
"And all the seven heavens showed to me/their magnitudes, their speeds, 
the distances/of each from each. The little threshing floor/that so
incites our savagery was all-/from hills to river mouths-revealed
to me..." Dante, Paradiso (XX I,148-152) Gregory Taylor (gtaylor@astroatc)