Dear Sinister, I have been gazing silently on your lovely and mulitvaried countenance for too long. You have floated quietly into multiple email addresses and desktops and laptops over a few years. I wondered if or when I would ever actually post something myself, and finally another insomniac evening has me listening to the new record as the sun comes up in Los Angeles and feeling giddy enough to type to a thousand geeky phantoms in the wires. I almost chimed in during the mad 'twee' debate just to say 'stop the madness' but the debate was so deliciously geeky I didn't want to break its groove. Stuart seemed to psychically respond to it in his own liner notes two months later with his remark about talking with a friend about favorite words: "Whatever, you can bet the conversation did nothing to contribute to the GNP of the Glasgow area," which I thought was great. Twee debaters take heed: you also did magnificently little for global economics, which is great. Actually, so far that moment in the liner story is my favorite on the record, oh well. But I do like the record. And no, I'm not one of those johnny-come-lately yanks somebody posted about who likes "Legal Man" best. I was actually a dropout for a while. Kind of got lost in TBWTAS and it went downhill from there. I'd gotten in with IYFSinister through a friend who was trying to explain to me the meaning of the word "twee" (no kidding). My worldview shifted, and I got gentler. I went backwards from there to Tigermilk. Then came the gradual decline, and I got lost in the mishmash of the dreaded Other Songwriters In the Band in the next records, although I did like "Seymour Stein". I don't know if y'all know the music business stories about that guy: Seymour was not your average a&r man. He's a legend, not only for signing huge people for several decades, but also for seducing one young boy in each of the bands he signed. So the mocking send-off Stevie (right?) gives him is pretty hilarious. And it softened the damage that democratization did to B&S. Anyway, IYFS is still my favorite, yes, that and Tigermilk are like gentle rain patting on your roof when you're inside on a grey day, and what can be better than that. So far on "Catastrophe" I like "Piazza", and not only cuz it's all about my foggy hometown San Francisco. The rest of the record is still percolating. The 'My Shepherd' references start to come on a little thick in "If You Find Yourself Caught in Love" and "Roy Harper" (oy). But I have to say I think "I'm a Cuckoo" is great. It's like sprinkling flowers all over Phil Lynott's grave. For those of you who never rocked, that song is basically Thin Lizzy, but in fairer tones. The guitars chords change on the 'and' just like "The Boys are Back in Town" and the twin 3rds guitar lines were THE Thin Lizzy trademark, so the Thin Lizzy-o rhyme is just perfect, and not a forced rhyme as some have claimed. Anyway, that song makes me happy this morning. I feel like the heroin is leaving Phil Lynott's body forever and he's coming back to life and dancing. 'Big ups' as they say in my town to the other shy former silent partners who made me less bashful by recently coming out of the woodwork, or the wainscotting, as the case may be. (claddie, ann, mike, etc.) And hello to all you regulars. Wish it were dreary and raining, Ethan +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+