Lacey was a techno-pagan shaman; a painter; a film-maker; a creator of kinetic sculptures; a performance artist (before the phrase was even coined); a member of the surrealist comedy troupe, 'The Alberts'; collaborator with the likes of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine and Ivor Cutler; inspiration to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band; George Harrison's flautist gardener in 'Help!'; the subject of the Fairport Convention song that bears his name and which features the sounds of some of his creations, and improvising avant-garde electronic musician as documented on the Trunk Records release, 'The Spacey Bruce Lacey'.
'The Preservation Man' captures Lacey in full creative flow and it's not a stretch to view this as almost a companion piece to 'The Lonely Shore'. In that earlier 'Monitor' film the post-apocalypse archeologists make conjectures about the ephemera of our day to day world whilst here, one rejects work-a-day knowledge and instead reappropriates, reconfigures and reinterprets with an infectious abandon.
NOTE: The film is muted, from 8:15 to 9:06. a transcript of the missing section where Lacey discusses dressing as a policeman and crashing parties can be found in the comments of the video.
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