Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 12:15:00 GMT+0100 
              From: Bjarne Laugesen
              (Bjarne.Laugesen@86197365.DA.DIATEL.DK) 
              Subject: Re: Apologies and Giant Sand


         A lot of different musicians have played with Howe Alan Gelb on different occasi
         ns. He makes great records but his strengh is on scene where he improvises bette
          than enyone else. He has played a lot of times here in Denmark, and he is certa
         nly one of my favourites

         Musicians on different occasions:

         Scott Garber
         Tom Larkins (ex. Naked Pray)
         Paula Jean Brown (ex. The Go-Go's)
         John Convertino
         Joe Burns
         Chris Cacavas (ex. Green on Red)
         Steve Wynn (ex. Dream Syndicate)
         Mark Walton (ex. Dream Syndicate)
         Victoria Williams
         Vicki Peterson (ex. Bangles)
         Susan Cowsill


         Giant Sandworms:

         Giant Sandworms (Boneless rec. 1980)
         An Evening at the Wildcat (Se-Mi Round Rec. 1983)

         Giant Sand:

         Valley of Rain (Black Sand/Enigma 1985)
         Ballad of Thin Line Man (Black Sand/Zippo 1986)
         Storm (Black Sand/Demon 1988)
         The Love Songs (Homestead 1988)
         Giant Songs (Demon 1989)
         Giant Sandwich (Homestead 1989)
         Long Stem Rant (Homestead 1990)
         Swerve (Restless 1990)
         Ramp (Rough Trade 1991)
         Center of The Universe (Restless 1992)
         Purge and Slouch (Restless 1993)
         Stromausfall (Normal/Return to Sender 1994)
         Glum (Imago 1994)

         The Band of Blacky Ranchette:

         The Band of Blacky Ranchette (New Rose 1985)
         Heartland (Zippo 1986)
         Sage Advice (Demon 1990)

         Howe Gelb:

         Dreaded Brown Recluse (Houses in Motion 1991)


         Woodcocks (Still Sane 1990)
         The Carp Pond (Houses in Motion 1992)


         Bjarne Laugesen


Date:         Sun, 11 May 1997 14:15:56 +0200
From:         Emiel Efdee <efdee@LUNA.NL>
Subject:      OP8/KCRW/bowie+gusgus/germano-promo

After reading a lot of good things about them in recent postings I finally
found and bought a copy of OP8's 'Slush' yesterday (released over here this
week). This could be my 'album of the year'. At the end of 'Cracklin'
Water' one of the members says "let's do it again"... and they should, the
combination (Lisa + Giant Sand) works very well - they should stick
together for a while.

Question: Is 'Slush' the only OP8 release? Or did they also release a
single/ep...?


Date:         Thu, 26 Jun 1997 12:59:44 -0400
From:         Jeff Keibel <redshift@INTERLOG.COM>
Subject:      Re: OP8

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> I understand that the three people who were not
> Lisa Germano are from a band called Giant Sand?  Should I buy their
> albums as well?

Yes, definitely!  The disc from Giant Sand I've had on high rotation
lately is called "BBQ" (1995, Koch, KOC-3-7914-2).  Named "BBQ" because
the songs are recorded at WFMU New Jersey's backyard live radio sessions
combo barbeque events.  It's very laidback and fun.  Worth checking out
if you like the OP8 disc.  I myself count as another person that isn't
Lisa Germano (or Giant Sand for that matter)...

> Did 4AD turn OP8 down?  Why?  Sounded fine to me.  Kinda like Lisa
> Germano, only different.  :-)

It seems it was almost a 4AD release at one point according to Tower's
in-house promo mag Pulse which labeled "Slush" as a 4AD release.  Ivo
had gone on record as saying he "just wasn't keen on it".  Of course,
the OP8 disc is now released under Thirsty Ear Recordings, in North
America at least...

Jeff Keibel
Scarborough, Ontario
CANADA

e mail:
redshift@interlog.com

Date:    Thu, 11 Sep 1997 19:20:48 -0400
From:    Zarqa Javed <javedz@ROCKVAX.ROCKEFELLER.EDU>
Subject: OP8..again and still

Jason says:

>What makes op8 for me is that it seems effortless to have churned out such a
>damn fine album.  "cracklin' water" for example has this oh-by-the-way half
>spoken intro and then accompaniment of bells unfolding into an ultimatum of
>love stance lyrics.  By the end the seams split ironically and the barrage of
>two vocalists, guitar, bells, bass, muffled percussion and swinging violin
>come out.  This is the perfect song for that one movie with the part that
>hasn't even seen the light of day.  In fact you could probably do a novel or
>two with this as the basis.  Call it conspiercy theory or something.

Just a belated response to this post: right on, man! You put into an
excellent description the reason I can't get enough of this CD and this one
song (it's plugged into my head as I write) And the "oh-by-way-ness" of the
tune is accentuated and proven by someone voicing at the end as the
rattlesnake-sounding thing is played "alright let's do it again".....like
the song that made it onto the CD was the first take, maybe even
unrehearsed, ie *spontaneous*...the mark of good art and good abstraction
and good teamwork. No conspiracy or even performance, the CD just
*happened*. How can anyone not love it?

lovin it,
zarqa