Flying Saucer Attack: Classic or Dud?

i'm just hearing fsa for the first time
"at night" is amazing!!

@Scott Seward

What album did you play on 45? I'm very curious about this!

For me the best FSA's are Further and New Lands (I feel the latter is being ignored way too much!).

New Lands is my favourite FSA album. But I didn't much care for Further.

(hell, I suddenly seem to remember it was actually Elvis Telecom (Chr1ss right?) who got me into FSA in the first place, via recommendation on the DroneOn mailing list, ages ago!)

(hell, I suddenly seem to remember it was actually Elvis Telecom (Chr1ss right?)

Yup!

There's not one particular stand out FSA album that I reach for more than the others. I have a vague nostalgia trip for the first self-titled LP. I first heard it in '93 at a friend's place in SF - typical winter fog outside and side 2 just made the whole setting work out. The week after that, I found the LP at Noise Noise Noise with the description "Hot New Something" on the shrink-wrap (still kept that part of the shrink-wrap intact because of the description)

My main FSA memory goes like this: It was 2am. I'm driving somewhere NW of Lakehurst, New Jersey because I wanted to see where the Hindenburg crashed and I'm trying to find the I-95 turnpike. There's a major rain/sleet storm going on (worst I've ever tried to drive through) and I'm the only car on a road filled with trucks (all of whom see nothing wrong with driving full-speed through a Major Fuck Off Storm Of Doom). I needed something to keep me going and the first thing I grabbed was a live FSA tape from some early 1993 gig in Bristol. Hadn't listened to it yet so I didn't know what I was getting into. No songs but one long drone out that begins similarly to one of the "Popul Vuh" instrumentals that winds out into a mammoth space/time/metal-tearing Something both terrifying and awe-inspiring - sorta like viewing a slow-motion asteroid impact that takes a hour to complete. I did eventually make it to Connecticut where I finally passed out in a hotel room, but I was convinced that I was going to be killed by a truck, killed by the road spray thrown up by a truck, or would suffer the worst case of missing time ever and eventually wake up at the city limits of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Heavy stuff. I can understand why people were so pissed by Jim O'Rourke's clown joke at Terrastock I.

Oh god, the clown joke. The legend.

For a long time, my favourite FSA album was "Further" ... I found their poppier stuff to be hit-and-miss (although when they "hit", they *really* hit, e.g. "Outdoor Miner" or "My Dreaming Hill") but "Further" is the most focused of their drone-y records, if that makes any sense (the jams are consistently reigned into 5-6 minute run times and therefore they cut out before they have a chance to overstay their welcome).

But over the past couple of years, I've re-evaluated "New Lands". This was a rare case in which I really liked an album (it was in my year-end top ten list for 1999), didn't listen to it for a while (a few years), and came back to it to find a *completely* different album than what I remembered. My initial reaction was "I liked THIS in 1999??" because it was way out of step with what I had been listening to at the time. I could barely recall exactly what I liked about it in 1999, but I knew that they weren't the same things I was hearing and newly appreciating from c.2005-now. It was like hearing a great album for the first time ... all over again!

So "New Lands" is my favourite now. Nothing seems to happen on this album -- there aren't any memorable melodies that stick with you once it finishes playing, and all the tracks blend together as if thrown into a noisy, hissing melting pot -- but more than any other FSA album, it's more about the mood than the melody, like being huddled indoors, waiting out a storm that's blowing past your house, and being somewhat relieved when it finally passes by.

What's the clown joke?

FSA's Dave Pearce came to Terrastock for his first U.S. performance, but none of his usual collaborators made the trip. Instead, he was backed by Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke, who overpowered Pearce's gentle picking with his white-noise guitar, and ruined the vibe by telling a dumb and seemingly endless joke midway through the set.

http://articles.citypages.com/1997-05-14/music/psychedelic-revival/

Is there a clown joke transcript someplace?

Here's one version:

Where I come from (West Linn, OR) the Clown Joke is told slightly differently. It is about a man named Bob who is a bum. Bob the bum has always wanted to go to the circus, but he, being a bum in a long line of bums, has never been able to afford it. Finally one night a group of Bob's friends (other bums) see that the circus is in town and pool their collected change in order buy a circus ticket and out of crude asshole humor decide to go without Bob who is passed out in an alley. (Hey, they're bums what do you expect.) So then they come back laughing like middle school girls and when Bob asks what's up, they let him know what they did and told him how great the circus was. Bob, seeing one of his own precious life dreams being ridiculed by those he once thought his only friends and family, gets extremely angry and being unable to cope with his anger drinks himself into oblivious and passes out in an alley (Hey, he's a bum.)

Well the next day Bob has to come to terms with his life and the cruel world he lives in. He decides the only way he can live with himself is to show everyone who has doubted him and achieve his dream - going to the circus. So Bob cleans himself up and 20 minutes of narrative later, Bob has purchased a ticket to next years circus and is inside.

So Bob watches the circus and it is fabulous! He loves every minute of it. And finally the final act everyone has been waiting for - The Clown! The crowd goes silent as The Clown steps into the ring and asks for a volunteer. The spotlight zooms over the crowd and finally lands on one man, Bob. Bob stands up, in a slight haze of joy.
The Clown then asks him,"Sir, are you a horse's hoof?"
Bob (smile on face): No.
Clown: "Sir, are you a horse's head?"
Bob (Pause): No.
Clown: "Then you sir - must be --, --, a Horses ASS!!" (Now teller of joke has to immediately move on so audience doesn't think this is the punchline.)

So the crowd bursts out laughing. Parents, kids, circus freaks, everyone is standing and laughing at Bob. Needless to say - Bob is pissed! He finally achieved something and actually worked for it (Important since he is from a family of bums) and now it is thrown back in his face. More story is narrated, and once again Bob passes out in an alley. (He's a bum, remember?)

So then next morning Bob wakes up and decides the only way to live with himself is to get even with that clown - to redeem himself by enacting the ultimate form of revenge upon the clown which hurt him so. To further this end Bob gets more jobs, enrolls in martial arts and once a master of the physical realm enrolls in insult school where he learns all different forms of insults in every culture and for every occasion - including the very special art of Comebackery.

Narration continues for a minimum of 20 minutes describing all the steps Bob takes and how Bob begins to formulate a plan for ultimate revenge on the clown. During this time Bob has worked himself off the streets and his hatred burning within him has driven him to success in other areas. Finally it is time for the circus again. Bob has the first ticket and is first in the tent. He now meditates, going over his plan for ultimate revenge in careful detail in his head - over and over. The circus acts go by in a flash for meditating Bob and finally The Clown steps out. The crowd is excited - full of energy. Here is The Clown. The Clown asks for a volunteer. Once again the spotlight goes over the crowd, and lands on Bob. Bob stands up (completely buff now, a true badass). The clown repeats the lines of his joke, ending of course with "You sir, are a horse's Ass". Except this time...

The crowd is about to laugh except their laughter is stifled by the anger and hatred emanating from Bob. The tent is dead silent. Bob raises his right arm and points at The Clown. In an entirely calm cool state he looks The Clown directly in the eye, ready for this moment of self redemption he has worked so hard toward - prepared to unleash the ultimate insult upon this clown. He takes a small breath and says ....

Fuck you, Clown.

So, imagine all this being told to the crowd given the situation and anticipation that Elvis T has described.

At Terrastock 5, when Sonic Youth played, there were several catcalls re: the clown joke. Which Jim noticed. He tried to laugh them off. To cover up the fear.

That's a better joke than i expected it to be.

Youtube version, WOW: The Long Clown Joke

the archetypal shaggy dog story

cover of "outdoor miner" may be better than wire original. ain't easy to pull that off

-- kamerad, Friday, 6 June 2008 05:34 (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

Was just coming here to say this!

'strue.

One of those bands where the first thing you heard might always be your favorite. For me that is Distance. Great band all the way around though.

Anyone at that 1997 Terrastock? In its own small way, for a couple of different corners of the 90s indie landscape, that seems like an important event.

Surely not so small. Well, in my head. ;-) Elvis Telecom was there at least.

Further is just about the perfect record for that point where the night starts giving way to the dawn. I've listened to that album quite a few times at that time.

Further is my favorite as well.

further is so good. so feeling it right now.

I FEEL U

in the light of time

FSA = infinite classic. i was jammin further a lot the week before xmas.

it's the kind of album you surrender to and let it wash over you. i'm serious here.

http://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/2007/09/flying-saucer-attack-further-melody.html

I owned several FSA albums, and I think it was at that point that I stopped embracing everything my shoegaze guru suggested. To me, it was the musical equivalent of finger painting.

bought the Telefunken collaboration from amazon.co.uk for very little money (both 25m+ tracks were 79p meaning it was 1.58 in total) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Station/dp/B002EJTQ3M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1252069711&sr=8-3

BUT the middle of Part 1 is very crackly (only the middle, not the quieter starts and ends, and none of part 2). is this a problem with the cd or is it a feature of amazon's ripping and encoding?

http://theperfumedgarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/flying-saucer-attack-peel-session-5th.html

thought i'd post this as well. i don't think much of this ever made it onto records but i remember Resolution Island as being lovely.

It's been a LOONG time since I listened to DISTANT STATION. I don't remember it being "crackly" though. It is cold, alien, and distant as fuck, tho.
Thanks for the link! Never heard this stuff before, been a big FSA fan for years.

I don't remember the crackling, will try to listen to the CD when I get home though.

(I love Distant Station - kinda weird that a remix from a sometimes-frenetic IDM-rave dude would be 40 minutes of SOTL-esque ambience perfectly on the cusp between creepy and blissful, but there we go. Tele:funken posted on the John Peel quotes thread, meant to get his email off it before ILX went no-emails-on-posts and ask if he was still making music, but never did)

i've just had a look at the file in audacity and you can see it clipping left, right and centre. that whole chunk is just a solid mass of blue. 8(

tele:funken's discogs entry stops at 2004...

sounds crackly on mine, which is either a vinyl or cd rip

ok, thanks. it does look like a classic case of digital clipping based on the waveform and that's likely to be true with the physical cd too. a pity.

perfect for this weather in the northeast right now

hey, yeah. wait, NE USA or NE UK? i guess it doesn't matter. i finally got "chorus" a few weeks back and i'm stoked.

i was listening to new lands just this minute and was gonna revive this thread!!! weird. must be in the air.

chorus is so great.

all my flying saucer attack records are in new york. i will get to listen to them tomorrow.

Have been listening to the first album quite a lot recently. It might be wrong, but I fucking love the Suede cover.

i was listening to new lands just this minute and was gonna revive this thread!!! weird. must be in the air.

i love when that happens

I owned several FSA albums, and I think it was at that point that I stopped embracing everything my shoegaze guru suggested. To me, it was the musical equivalent of finger painting.

― derelict, Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:12 PM

LOL is that nutrition nazi derelict?

new lands is awesome btw

further iirc.

its all good

new lands gets into skullflower territory almost

http://.imageshack.us/img367/6234/ustrees1972thechristtreefrontcoverxt6.jpg

i am gonna rock the fuck out of Further and Chorus today in honor of this revive.

chorus