Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 12:13:11 -0400 From: Rich Holtzman (Richieis1@AOL.COM) Subject: His Name Is Alive His Name Is Alive "Stars On E.S.P." 1 Dub Love Letter 2 This World is not My Home 3 Bad Luck Girl 4 What are you wearing tomorrow 5 The Bees 6 What else is new list 7 Wall of Speed 8 Universal Frequencies 9 The Sand that holds the lakes in place 10 I can't live in this world anymore 11 answer to rainbow at midnight 12 famous goodbye king 13 Across The street 14 Movie 15 Last Song Recorded on Time STEREO 1992-1995. Produced by Warren Defever. Written by His Name Is ALive, Matthew Smith, Erika Hoffman, Mark Kozelek, Ian Masters, Denise James, and The ESP-Beetles except "Last One" Recorded at Warren's House. Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 13:05:39 CST From: the boy in zinc (eewittme@STUDENTS.WISC.EDU) Subject: stars on esp -- press info first i'm going to post what i got in a press packet from girlie action -- the publicity agency that's promoting the new hnia. i'll post my SUBJECTIVE review in a wee bit. . . the first is a flyer with warren's comments on each song: his name is alive presents... stars on esp (4ad) tracks (a) 1. dub love letter: i recorded ths song the day i got a farfisa organ 2. this world: supposed to be the 1971 heavy blues rock sound 3. bad luck girl: when the tape player in my car broke, i only listened to oldies radio. it's about some kids i knew when i was younger. 4. what are you wearing tomorrow: song from three years ago --- sort of in the older style of hnia but includes lyrics about sniffing glue, growing up in canada, and summertime blues 5. the bees: oldies radio style song -- has a swing-type rhythm. 6. what else is new list: surf type song mixed with the turtles. i tryed (sic) to write a real negative type song "all you give to me is static. you're number one on the what else is new list." 7. wall of speed: recorded in canada in a house while it was being built. 4-track, flute, tambourine, guitar, and maracas. tracks b: 8. universal frequencies: for one week i only listened to good vibrations by the beach boys. 9. sand: another song about canada 10. i can't live: this is the country song. this was the first song i started working on after mouth by mouth was done in dec. 1992. 11. answer to rainbow: love song with racy lyrics. "once i wore my apron low and i couldn't keep you away from my door." rural style wooing. old time. tracks c: 12. famous goodbye king: "i ain't gonna be your boy no more." this song mixes three things together:1. a letter i got from a concert promoter in mexico. 2. trying to break up with a certain girl. 3. coal miners catchin' black lung disease 13. across the streeet: mark koselek from red house painters wrote the melody and some of the lyrics 14. movie: trey wrote this song. he wanted to call it "film." 15. last one: a gospel choir came over to my house and i had them sing over an esp family 45. hmmm. . .that's kind of longish. i'll put the next press release on another post. BiZ Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 16:30:49 -0500 From: the boy in zinc (eewittme@STUDENTS.WISC.EDU) Subject: stars on esp -- the review (long) part three of three...(chuckle) 1. dub love letter starts out with a sample of "last song," followed by dub beats, really odd guitar chords, a woodwind sounding thing (electric clarinet?)/ karin's voice is really nifty on this song. farfisa...synth flute, guitar is kind of like an oldies guitar sound...reverb on vox...nice. karin sounds more child-womanesque (new words rock) than on hiiyh (which is the only hnia i own). 2. this world is not my home starts out with really rockabilly (sp?) guitar, then the rawk fades with a softer guitar picking up the slack. karin sings "this world is not my home...i can't live at home in this world anymore." btw, the phrase crops up quite a bit on the cd. real drums on this one, a little '70s elec guitar in the background...again...nice. 3. bad luck girl ooohhh! this one starts out with '50s pop music guitar that sort of creeps up on you. replace karin's voice with dave clark's and we've got a hit! wonderful retro pop. stereolab would be jealous. chorus is sort of singsongy. "knock on wood. knock on trees..." 4. what are you wearing tomorrow this should be on hiiyh (which if i remember right, warren also said -- see previous message). kind of a lost love sort of thing. you've heard this sort of thing from hnia before, so i won't elaborate too much. 5. the bees tambourine, '50s style guitar again, excellent use of the higher pitch piano (actually sounds like some kind of keyboard) notes. karin sings a bit higher on this one. 6. what else is new hnia don their man or astroman costumes for this surf-style tune. karin's voice kind of dances around the surf-esque guitar/percussion. kind of reminds me of spy music a bit. chorus is light and bouncy, and karin does backing vocals courtesy of modern technology. 7. wall of speed my batteries are dying. may have to pick this one up later. weird synth sounds like the ones found on the esp summer cassette (ohhh!!!! this is an upbeat version of more water!!!! now i see the ian masters connection! duh! how could i be so foolish? for those of you without the esp continent cd, more water is the darker one with piano "a whisper falls on a willing ear, from the shore of a far off land..." there are more lyrics in this one, than the esp continent version, but the influence is there. 8. universal frequencies this is the beach boys, plain and simple. how did they get on a his name is alive cd? warren sings on this. they've got the beats and everything down pat. still very good, though. 9. the sand that holds the lakes in place sounds a bit more like older hnia again. i'll skip to the other stuff before my batteries die...more of the "whisper falls on a willing ear" phrase. 10. i can't live in this world anymore guitar at the very beginning reminds me of a song from hiiyh -- oh, chances are we are mad. kind of a really twisted version of that meets country. "this world is not my home, i'm just passin' through. i can't live at home in this world anymore..." for some reason, this phrase seems to unify the album (pops up in at least three or four songs.) 11. answer to a rainbow at midnight the beginning almost sounds like they ran it through a sampler or something. ticking/watery sounds in the background ala esp summer/continent. more of a pop song. "does your heart beat for me? once i wore my apron low..." 12. famous goodbye king again the old-school hnia with weird-warren-produced-this-album noises in the background. slow-tempo, guitar and light-beat drums. happier than the hiiyh stuff, but still similar... 13. across the street starts out with fuzzy guitar and drums. sounds like the song you'd hear in a made-for-tv movie after the little boy's dog dies -- but in a good way (?!) i have no idea what i meant, but it's a good tune, trust me on this one. probably the slowest song on the album. good for quiet reflection. 14. movie even though trey wrote this song, it fits right in with the rest of the album. pretty minimalist stuff ala hiiyh. karin sings high again. a few simple rhythm-guitar chords. not too complex. i could probably play this song and i can't even play guitar. still good stuff, though. oh, there's some sampled feedbacky guitar near the end. 15. last song this is the gospel choir singing over the esp family record. that's really all there is to it. karin does a bit of singing at the end. the choir still sounds sampled here -- i think it's mono converted to stereo. the choir goes away and karin and some others sing the "this world is not my home...i can't live at home..." line again. good way to close the album. wait! there's an extra treat on the end! whiny guitar, rhythm guitar, karin sings, "when this world's over and done, i'll sleep all day when i get home." some cello sounding thing at the end for a few seconds. overall impression of the album: wonderful. buy it. if you haven't figured it out yet, i don't normally review stuff i don't like (ok, mini review here -- scheer is yucky, but not as yucky as everyone else says. don't buy it. the cover art's gross) the first half of the album is markedly different from your father's hnia (little oldsmobile reference there) mixing surf/'50s am radio/country together with the hnia sound. i'd like to hear more of this stuff, though. it's pretty good. that's all, BiZ, HNIA beat reporter Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 13:21:54 CST From: the boy in zinc (eewittme@STUDENTS.WISC.EDU) Subject: more hnia press info here's the contents of a press release from 4ad: his name is alive - stars on esp "stars on esp" is HNIA's fourth long player for 4ad (um, no it's not) regarding one of warn defever's side projects, the esp-beetles, it has been written "there's a gaping hole where his sensitive side used to be." this somewhat accurately describes the new hnia lp. hnia have spent the last three years working on an album which is surfy, danceable, dubby and friendly. like neil young and The Band (in caps to signify proper noun) before them, hnia captures the sound and feeling of middle america while actually coming at it from a canadian perspective. like the classic era of cartoons, bullwinkle and bugs bunny, hnia makes music that, on the surface, seems like it's for children, but can only be appreciated by adults. incorporating all thse ideas sounds like a pretty dry listtening, however, hnia have developed a sort of junk-rock work ethic that allows them to fuck around with other people's leftovers and really make them shine. previous hnia lp's have been minimal, sparse, mature, and intelligent. "stars on esp" is none of these; it is fast, full, it rocks, it swings, it's funny,it's patterened (sic) after oldies AM radio, it's got some gospel, some COUNTRY, and a little bit of dub. it's great. karen's vocals are smooth and sweet. warren's guitar picks all over the place. trey's drumming is bouncy and swingin'. warn describes the inspiration behind "stars on esp" as "...oldies radio, Smile-era brian wilson, phil spector, the echo and reverb of early reggae and ska, the inspired amateurism of late 60's cult label ESP and the sadly overlooked recording career of man from u.n.c.l.e. star david mccallum." most of the songs were written by warren defever, with the following exceptions; no's 3 & 5 co-written with erika hoffman, no's 8 & 9 co-written with matthew smith, 13 co-written with mark kozelek (of red house painters), 14 written by trey many (hmmm...no ian masters here). tracks 2 & 10 were inspired by the woody guthrie/traditional song of the same name. "last one" is a gospel version of "i can't live at home in this world anymore" performed by esp family. the vinyl version of "stars on esp" (available only in the uk) is a mono remix of the cd you're listening to (damn brits!) of hnia's previous releases, warn says.... "livonia" (1990) - when i was 16 i was very sensitive and wished i could be a contemporary composer, too bad, i was slightly retarded and only had one good idea and some broken stuff. "home is in your head" (1991) - with the surprising success of "livonia" i decided to ditch the 4-track and write 28 one-minute songs about how i got over a difficult adolescence (see livonia) "mouth by mouth" (1993) - i figured out when i recorded a song it would come out on an album so i wrote better songs and did some guitar solos. "king of sweet" (1994) - fake bootleg, junk, ltd ed 2,000. his name is alive "stars on esp" technical information: warren defaver (it's ok to use warn), guitar and many other things. karin oliver, vocals. trey many, drums. recorded and mixed: at warren's house. das all, BiZ, who's going to take a break before reviewing the cd. Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 06:49:42 -0500 From: "Chad E. Burkey" (burkey@CSTAR.AC.COM) Subject: stars on ESP I managed to get a hold of a copy of this yesterday and have been listening to it virtually non-stop since. In addition to what BiZ had said about it (which I believe I agree with) I have the following to add... As far as how this compares to other HNIA albums: I would say that is least like Livonia and most like HIIYH with hints of MBM here and there. This album seems to be a successor to HIIYH albeit much less dark (kind of like HIIYH lite). Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, just different. In much the same way as HIIYH, much of the disc just flows from one song to another with little in the way of concernable silence to indicate one song's ending and another's beginning. One problem I have with it, however, is the odd mix Warren made. Almost all of the vocals are slightly muffled. Because of this, Karen's beautiful voice is missing that cleanness and clarity that I have always been a sucker for. Drums are *very* far back in the mix and are therefore much quieter than one would expect them to be. The guitars are as prominent as they were on HIIYH and sound very similar, too (especially the acoustics). Anyway, these are just some of my initial impressions. BTW, when is the ep supposed to be released? Chad Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 11:58:35 +0200 From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen (larsi@IFI.UIO.NO) Subject: New things, new things... His Name Is Alive - Universal Frequencies & Stars on ESP These two releases segue nicely into one another -- Stars on ESP starts with an echo of the end of UF. Neat! So, you've probably bought these two thingies already, so there's no point in describing it. I'll do it anyway. It's like HIIYH played by the Dirt Eaters. Basically. The first time I listened to it, I found it all to be a total mess. "What's going on here?" Loud noises dropping in from nowhere; the endless repition of the most repetitious song HNIA has ever done ("this world is not my home / this world is not my home"); sweeet pop tunes; MALE vocalists here and there; Karin Oliver; guitar; oddities. The second time through it all felt *extremely* familiar -- it fell into place and made sense. "This world is not my home..." Irritating song. It's repeated 5 times over these two releases and I've been singing it to myself for hours. Warn: You're an evil man. Nice album. Three thumbs up. Etc. I liked the last album better, though. Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 20:53:40 -0700 From: drew schwickerath (schwicke@CS.COLOSTATE.EDU) Subject: stars on esp - an indepth analysis well, fellow listies - i've been mulling over hnia's "stars on esp" for a week o so now. my first thought was "the live tape that blu did during holidays was way b tter." well, "stars" is finally edging its way into the pleasure center of my brain. but that isn't what i want to tell you. what i want to suggest is that the unde lying whole of this brilliant album. "'stars' a brilliant album?" you ask incredulous y. "no way is this on par with 'home is in your head'/'livonia' (depending upon your preference - most of aren't saying 'mouth by mouth', so i'll skip that one)!" yo counter. "how?!" you demand. if you will give me a moment, and stop interuptin , i will explain. 1. what is "esp"? well, i might be lying if i said it stands for extra-sensory perception. warren says it was a 60's label. we should believe warren. howeve , the whole idea of timeSTEREO (warren granted me momentary use of my caps lock key - ll praise his powers) is that a tape recorder was sent back in time to record some reat music (or something like that), right? that is similar to esp (the former defin tion), while the time is esp (the second definition). okay, so i'm reaching, but keep n mind the sounds of yesteryear and the idea of a now-defunct label, as we move on to p int 2. look at the cover of the "stars". think "hey, this looks like a record labe sampler." think "it has sort of a sixties feel, even though it has definite nin ties production methods." we have a strange "27 mars 1996" date and a big old catalo number right there on the front, just like on some of your favorite "in stereophonic so nd" recordings of three decades ago. lots of relevant info on the front, rather tha buried inside. 3. now flip the gem case over and humor me for a moment. this looks like a set of bands and album titles, catalog numbers and all. catalog number 6010.1: the ba d is "Letter" and the album/single is "Dub Love Letter." catalog number 6010.2: the band is "HOME" and the album/single is "This World is Not My Home." brilliant. catalog number 6010.8: the band is (get this) the beech boys, the song is universal frequencies. (definitely that one is from a parallel universe.) these are the tars on esp (the label). 4. to clinch the interpretation of the album art, i turn to the image underlyin the back cover (also found in the insert). it is a coil of electrical wire, a rubbe tube, a star, and such sitting-on/taped-to a table. in the insert, it looks pretty mu h like a bad garage scene or a low budget mad scientist. on the back of the gem case, owever, it looks like an abstract turntable. vaughn gets an applause from me for the combination of 2, 3, and 4. 5. the music. well, it is mostly girl-band type stuff. early sixties. a litt e beach music (universal frequencies). some of the more dark stuff ala - i can't rememb r the bands that did this sort of stuff, but i know that they existed - (what else is ew list and answer to rainbow at midnight). some leakage where the reception of the par llel universe fades or perhaps just where it differs from our own sixties (end of the sand that holds the lake in place and i can't live in this world anymore and, less so last one - oh, and the beginning of dub love letter). 6. this definitely didn't come from our universe. these lyrics have some of th darker sides of things that generally weren't discussed. unwed pregrancies (what are y u wearing tomorrow). suicide - or at least depression (this world is not my home nd all of its variations). murder (famous goodbye king)? definitely only recordable o timeSTEREO. (okay, this isn't really an argument for brilliance, but i wanted t get it in, while i'm analyzing a perfectly good album to...hello?) 7. the music. it is just out and out excellent. even if i throw out all of th arguments for the artistic wholeness of "stars," i still would love the music. he bees is brilliant. it just feels so wonderfully upbeat, it brings an ear-to-ear grin to my face. universal frequencies is the best song the beach boys never wrote. movie is simple, yet wonderful. as usual, it is virtually impossible to explain why the usic is wonderful without talking about either intangibles (the song is "simple, yet won erful") or using (imperial) tons of music theory to back up the importance of the piece. i'll just leave it with the first three sentences. "the music. it is just out and o t excellent. even if i throw out all of the arguments for the artistic wholeness f "stars," i still would love the music." so, while i won't say it is better or worse than , i w ll say that it is brilliant, as a whole. that is one thing that warren (with the help f v23) can do. they did it with "home" and now they have done it with "stars." this i one i'm glad i bought. (how often do you say that?) - drew ob.electronic.freedom.watch - warren didn't *steal* my caps lock key. he holds t in escrow until a court order says that i need it, as per the ((re)re)introduced cl pper legislation. Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 21:32:48 PDT From: Leo Puppytime Subject: ESP Re-release While at Music Boulevard, I saw this: "His Name Is Alive 'Stars On Esp/Nice Day' Four A.D. (A.D.A.) Scheduled for Release 07/07/98" Yeah it did say "Four A.D." just like that, but what is being re-released exactly? Are the two going to be sold together, since it is being listed as a single item coming soon, or does this just mean that both releases are going to be reprinted? I think it would be neat to have all the tracks on one disc with some new augmented v23 art. Does anyone know about this? Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 22:01:09 +0000 From: Timothy O'Donnell Subject: "soul resides in the horse barn", indeed... Anyone with the surname "Puppytime" deserves a prompt response... The re-release of "Stars on E.S.P" will have as extra tracks the entirety of the ass-kicking "Nice Day" e.p. The artwork has been very slightly augmented on the back of the jewel case, to 'squeeze in' the new titles. Timothy Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 23:01:06 -0400 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: Re: stars on nice day? Spiked hydrogen talent wrote: > here's something that occured to me while reading a recent post: > why on earth is 'stars on ESP' being re-released??? > i can't really understand the logic in re-releasing it... > anyone have any ideas about this? My understanding is that this will be a US only release. WIth Warner Bros. not handling distribution anymore, recent albums such as "Stars" must be reissued directly by 4AD US to stay in circulation. Adding the "Nice Day" EP is a value added incentive as well as a collector's nightmare. The fact that "Nice Day" was part 2 with "Universal Frequencies" being part 1 is more of a Warren joke than an actual attempt at a two part companion piece. Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 15:33:09 -0400 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: American Dreaming During the month of July, 4AD US unleashed a batch of releases, some reissues, some things that were deleted for a while and some brand new stuff as well. The following is a critique of these specific releases and how they were handled in a reissue context. The music itself is amazing of course... Sound quality on all is good. HIS NAME IS ALIVE : Stars On ESP No cat. number aside from bar (5263760102) and matrix (4AD6010). Includes the entire "Nice Day" EP (JAD7009CD) tacked on to the end. Cover art IS updated to reflect this addition. Booklet displays the CAD6010CD number as part of the artwork beside song titles but isn't the technical real number since it is not listed. In the booklet itself, the old Warner number is kept making me wonder if the booklets are simply taken directly from old Warner version of the CD. Generally a good reissue and the added and listed tracks are a nice bonus. Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 11:05:40 -0000 From: Roy Burns Subject: I'm a rabid 4AD whore!!!! His Name is Alive Nice Day/Stars on ESP (4AD) Since Warren Defever's outfit is from Livonia, Michigan (Livonia was the title of their first LP), near Ann Arbor and Detroit, they decided to record something in the spirit of their region's '60s roots like Motown mixed with the Stooges/MC5, instead of the '66-'72 Beach Boys-inspired chamber pop of 1997's Stars on ESP. The six-song result is damn good, too. Tracks such as "Hot Tonight" and "Wet" achieve the scratchy claustrophobia of Funhouse Stooges and the dirty riffs of Wayne Kramer circa Back in the U.S.A., while the wonderfully happy "Nice Day" and "Come" are begging for the incredible Marvin Gaye or Mary Wells to leap from their graves to sing them (a young Smokey Robinson or David Ruffin would also do!). But instead of going for a full-on homage, Defever and gorgeous-voiced Karin Oliver stay within their recognizable, carefully crafted ambiance, with all their lovely background touches. Defever works in tougher six-string bite, with hints of hard blues and R&B, but he never lays it on too thick, meaning the vocal melodies are still given precedence. And the Brian Wilson-esque tambourines, bells and wall-of-sound production (which Wilson borrowed from Phil Specter) transforms this exercise in archeology into a now sound. It's too short at 14 minutes, but this mini-LP is another fine work by a group distinguishing itself as an energetic US underground marvel, one greatly worthy of the 4AD imprint of uniqueness and quality. Defever grew up on Stars On ESP. It's hard to believe this multi-influenced, studio eccentric released such unrealized efforts as Home is in Your Head and The Dirt Eaters EP in 1992. Having recorded for four years in his Michigan basement, Defever conjures clear, gentle breezes, coolly moody, broody, sooty stuff that's arresting and warm. Like Britain's High Llamas, only less tribute-like, one senses the guiding hand of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson's experiments circa '66-'69 (think "Girl Don't Tell Me," "Caroline No" and "I Can Hear Music") running through such pretty, alluring, twinkling numbers as "The Bees." Over the top of this murmuring warmth, Karin Oliver's vocals hum along sweet and true. With hints of dub, dreamy sound collages, and acoustic folk, Stars is a lovely, heady work. --Jack Rabid