(Lotushouse Records LHRCD19)
CD
The first time I played
this CD I fell asleep. Not, you may think, the most auspicious first
impression but it was a very nice sleep indeed - what wasn't so good was
the bit where I woke up with my head slumped sideways over the arm of
the chair with the worst pain in my neck. The sleep though, was deep
and dark and profound. I'd got to about halfway through the album's 14
minute epic journey towards 'Infinity' and then I was gone. They'd
taken me with them, entirely.
What we have here is a UK
duo of Mark Pilkington on modular synth & electronics and Zali
Krishna on electric sitar & guitar who have produced a set of
intensely celestial kosmische jams; some live, some studio. The
occasional presence of the sitar means that a vaguely Indian aspect is
often shown (as is also implied by the bands name) but it is Germany of
the very early 1970s that is most apparent.
With a
running time of an hour and with a concise palate, many of the tracks,
once the music starts to permeate the room, do run into each other and
the whole becomes more important than it's parts as they paint a really
rather glorious psychotropic colourfield. There are moments I'm not
hugely enamoured with but even these parts often swirl by once it's
achieved consonance with the room (and my head) and they are few and far
between.
I've had this album here for just under a
week now and it has pretty much dominated my ears since it arrived with
the disc being carried from house to car and a rip sitting front and
centre on my MP3 player. If big, bold Krautrock inspired kosmische
excursions are your bag then really do hunt this down cause you'll love
it. If they're not, hunt this down anyway because it's great and it may
change your mind.
This is a 1975 documentary narrated by Lee about the real life inspiration for Dracula, Vlad Tepez, along with the book, it's author and some of the films. It's very much of it's time so don't expect the now commonplace cavalcade of expert talking heads just rolling images and a voiceover. It's an entertaining and interesting overview, competently produced but entirely made by Lee's delivery of the script.
Even if the documentary doesn't appeal it's worth skipping to the 48 minute mark to catch the magnificently mustachioed narrator's closing remarks.
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Summer officially begins today which is just as well as this months Wyrd Britain mix has, I think, a distinctly lazy, hazy, summery feel to it.
Making up the mix this month is a collision of laid back library pieces, some acid-folk wistfulness, two glorious TV themes, some proto post rock and some actual and a little bit of (ch)easy listening to round things off in suitably groovy fashion.
Opening proceedings is the god like genius that is Basil Kirchin who is followed by Reg Wale's 'Fruity Flutes' used as the theme to Farmhouse Kitchen (got to be one of the greatest theme tunes ever).
Anne Briggs is Standing on the Shore before Wayne Hill's absolute classic 'Left Bank Two' the Vision On Gallery theme.
Talk Talk tell of the 'Myrrhman' and the massively under-rated Scottish bass wranglers Ganger make a regular appearance in one of my mixes.
Paul Giovanni documents 'Sunset' over Summerisle (and Sergeant Howie), Sounds Orchestral indulge in some not entirely orchestral sounding 'Soul Coaxing' and finally Tony Hatch is 'Herbin'.' about which we'll say no more.
27th May 2015, the day after what would have been Peter Cushing's 102nd birthday is Christopher Lee's 93rd birthday.
The mischievous part of me thought to just repost yesterday's Dracula blog but instead I thought I'd make something more of it and take the opportunity to share with you his reading of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'.
Lee was born in Belgravia, London in 1922 took up acting after the war and appeared as a supporting actor in some 30 films before landing the part that would in many ways define his career, as the creature in Hammer's 'The Curse of Frankenstein' alongside Peter Cushing's Baron.
Roles as Dracula, both Sherlock & Mycroft Holmes, Duc de Richleau, Fu Manchu, The Mummy, Lord Summerisle and many more followed including major roles in some of the key movie franchises of recent years as Bond villain Scaramanga in the 'The Man with the Golden Gun', Saruman in both 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' trilogies and as Count Dooku in Star Wars episodes 2 and 3.
Seemingly never one to take time off Lee has also provided his uniquely distinctive voice to documentaries, animations, games, a series of heavy metal albums and happily for us here a selection of literary readings.
Sir Christopher Lee we at Wyrd Britain raise a glass to you and wish you the happiest of birthdays.
Today, 26 May 2015, marks what would have been the 102nd birthday of the late great Peter Cushing and what better way to mark the occasion than a viewing of what is arguably not only his finest hour (and 12 minutes) but also that of his friend and co-star Christopher Lee as well.
So today I wish to share with you the 1958 Hammer production of Dracula.
Directed by Hammer's legendary director Terence Fisher (who would, between 1958 and 1960, direct Cushing through roles as Van Helsing, Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and The Sheriff of Nottingham) and starring Cushing and Lee in their career defining roles as Van Helsing and the Count, future Bat-butler Michael Gough, and Catweazle himself Geoffrey Bayldon.
It's an action movie interpretation of the novel with Lee's brooding, stately and utterly cold vampire counterpointed by Cushing's vibrant and dashing action hero leaping on tables, swinging from curtains and finally dispatching his foe in one of the most recognisable of all Hammer scenes.
I know you're all going to enjoy this one. If you're anything like me you've seen it many, many times already but there's always time for another viewing of an absolute classic.
"When once you have
tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return."
Leonardo da Vinci
(attributed)
Available now on the Quiet World label is the debut album from my new music project The British Space Group called 'Eyes Turned Skyward'.
For the last 12 or so years I've been releasing music under my given name and also using several aliases. My music is generally of the slow, low and atmospheric variety mixing deep dark drones with field recordings and spatterings of electronics.
You can hear a selection of music in this post from the end of 2014.
This new project is something slightly different for me. It was sparked by a desire to create music on a theme. Namely my love of British science fiction of the 50s, 60s and 70s, hence the, I hope, suitably old fashioned band name. This urge follows on from two EPs I released around 5 years ago - Phantasms I & II - which consisted of a couple of sets of radiophonic style miniatures - you can hear these at that link above - that spoke of my adoration of the work of a certain Workshop.
There's a follow on album to the two Phantasms EPs coming in early 2016 but in the meantime I would like to point your attention to the first The British Space Group album, 'Eyes Turned Skyward'. It's title comes from the quote that tops this post as I thought in conjunction with the band name it most ably summed up what I was trying to achieve with this music.
Some nice folks have been kind enough to say some pretty lovely things about it.
'I cannot recommend this album highly enough. For fans of electronica,
hauntology, soundtracks, minimalism and experiential music; there is
something here that will touch something in all of you. Watch the skies,
listen ...and wait.' - Grey Malkin, The Active Listener
'With this album, The British Space Group, have created something that is
a must-buy for those into the more thought provoking side of music. It
manages to bridge the gap between 70’s sci-fi soundtracks and modern
ambient/drone. It’s an album that plays like a short movie with each
component vital to the story. It’s an album that must be listened to
from beginning to end as each song represents a chapter in this most
enjoyable story.'- Simon Tucker, Louder Than War
You can buy and / or listen via the player below. I hope you enjoy.
I first came across Aiken's writing in an anthology called 'Ghostly Experiences', which I loved so finding this was a real treat.
This is a collection of short stories of a ghostly, macabre or just plain darkly humorous bent all written in what I'm beginning to see as Aiken's light and playful written voice.
The tone of the book is set immediately with the brilliantly comedic and twisted 'Cricket' and 'The Man Who Had Seen The Indian Rope Trick', both of which feature tales of stuffy Englishness coming face to face with something 'other' and losing out. Next up is a fun but insubstantial tale of music and obsession ('Do You Dig Grieg?') and another of lust and avarice ('Belle of the Ball') before the book hits a decided high point with it's sole science fiction tale, 'Five Green Moons', as an angelic alien visits a small British town looking for somewhere he can make his home. 'Smell' adds revenge into the mix before 'Furry Night' brings romance, sport, peril and lycanthropy to the table.
At this point we are only 7 stories in and with 12 still to go - the next boasts the frankly unparallelled title of 'As Gay as Cheese' - we are already certain that it's going to be a ride unlike many others. Indeed, as it transpires, over the 19 tales we are treated to an imagination that is playful, inventive, exploratory, refined, bloodthirsty, absurd and peerless. I am fast becoming a devotee of the lady's work and as such cannot recommend this highly enough.
I'm going to admit here right out of the gate that I've never been a fan. Marillion were always a bit floppy and fussy for my hardcore punk and industrial leaning tastes. I'm also going to admit that I used to try and wind up a Marillion obsessed ex-colleague by humming 'Kayleigh' whenever he passed and ending random sentences with the words 'Dilly, Dilly'.
Jon, if you're reading, 'Is it too late to say I'm sorry?'
There has though always been one little thing they did that has intrigued me; the slightly malevolent video for the song 'Garden Party', the second single from their debut album 'Script for a Jester's Tear'.
The song itself is a fairly typical pop prog ditty of the type they made their name doing. The music is jaunty and filled with sharp stabs and busy synths overlaid by lyrics detailing the attendees and their behaviours at the titular party.
.........................................................
Garden party held today
Invites call the debs to play
Social climbers polish ladders
Wayward sons again have fathers
Hello, Dad, hello, dad
Edgy eggs and queueing cumbers
Rudely wakened from their slumbers
Time has come again for slaughter
O on the lawns by still Cam waters
A slaughter, it's a slaughter
Champagne corks are firing at the sun again
Swooping swallows chased by violins again
Strafed by Strauss they sulk in crumbling eaves again
Oh God not again
Aperitifs consumed en masse
Display their owners on the grass
Couples loiter in the cloisters
social leeches quoting Chaucer
Doctor's son a parson's daughter
Where why not and should they oughta
Please don't lie upon the grass
Unless accompanied by a fellow
May I be so bold as to perhaps suggest Othello
Punting on the Cam is jolly fun they say
Beagling on the downs, oh please do come they say
Rugger is the tops, a game for men they say
I'm punting, I'm beagling, I'm wining, reclining, I'm rucking, I'm fucking
So welcome, it's a party
Angie chalks another blue
Mother smiles she did it too
Chitters chat and gossips lash
Posers pose, pressmen flash
Smiles polluted with false charm, locking on to Royal arms
Society columns now ensured, returns to mingle with the crowds
Oh what a crowd
Punting on the Cam, oh please do come they say
Beagling on the downs, oh please so come they say
Garden party held today they say
Obviously the above lyrics are copyright to whoever owns them - the page I copied them from didn't say who that was. I'm printing them here purely for those who are unfamiliar with the song. Basically, please don't sue me, I'm poor and friendly to dogs.
The video features the band as a gang of rag tag 'Just William' types, all scruffy school uniforms and grubby knees, discovering the party and deciding to indulge in a spot of mischief. And this is where it gets intriguing as while there's an element of sticky bun pilfering and tying shoelaces together for the most part the mischief takes the form of several displays of sympathetic magic.
They make one Princess Diana looky-likey party goer faint by mimicking her and then holding their breath and another is made to fall from her wheelchair by tossing a bicycle into the river before the video ends with them face painted, stood around a wooden sigil glaring across the river at the party goers whilst the vicar crosses himself repeatedly at the sight and a gale blows up, sweeping both the party and the guests away.
It's all very Hammer, very Dennis Wheatley and very silly. It also seems massively out of character (and please remember I'm saying this as someone whose knowledge of the band is significantly less than minimal) as they always seemed a fairly wholesome bunch; more the types to attend garden parties than the types who would destroy them using supernatural forces but then as I now see it for the first time the singles cover artwork is fairly dark and like I said, what do I know.
Well, what I do know is it's fun. Garden Party was, way back in 1983 / 84, one of the very first music videos I'd seen and even though the music wasn't / isn't to my taste the content of the video absolutely mirrored what I loved (still love) in movies and has stuck in my memory all that time which probably speaks volumes about why I now write a blog called Wyrd Britain.
A mix of acid folk, neo-krautrock, classic indie, wannabe trailer trash and soundtracking.
Hope you enjoy.
Freddie Phillips - Trumpton theme [00:00]
Half Man Half Biscuit - Time Flies By (when you're a driver of a train) [00:53]
Ten Benson - The Claw [03:30]
Magnet - Gently Johnny [06:24]
Appliance - Number Three Channel Is Clear [09:36]
Wolf People - Village Strollin' [13:51]
Julian Cope - They Were On Hard Drugs [16:23]
Queen - In The Death Cell [23:28]
Third Ear Band - Fleance [25:49]
I have a real love for the work of the composer Gavin Bryars and there are at least two of his compositions that I would consider to be essential to any self respecting record collection. I'll share the second with you another time but first we should have a look (and listen) to this singularly beautiful, bewitching and harrowing piece of music.
'Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet' is the title of a number of pieces of music based around a 13 bar loop of a recording of a homeless man in London singing the song of the same name.
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
Never failed me yet
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
There's one thing I know
For he loves me so
I'll let Bryars explain the origin of the recording in this extract from his website...
'In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan
Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant
and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some
people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes
sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a
religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not
ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of
tape, including this one.
When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in
tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed,
too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an
effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took
the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art
Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking
about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of
the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I
left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup
of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally
subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few
were sitting alone, quietly weeping.
I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still
playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This
convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the
possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving,
orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple
faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his
singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to
his spirit and optimism.'
The eventual release of the recording featured several different versions of the song of differing lengths and featuring different accompanying instruments including two versions which feature additional vocals from Tom Waits.
The version I've included here is the longest and, for me, the most gut wrenchingly poignant of them all.
Now, at 26 minutes in length and featuring a vocal line of the same 13 bars repeated over and over again with an orchestral string section slowly building behind him, I'm aware that this isn't going to be to everyones taste but for me it's simply beautiful.
A round up of the three 'Century' books that took the League through the 20th Century and into the 21st. .......................................................................................................
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910
The new volume detailing
the exploits of Miss Wilhelmina Murray and her extraordinary
colleagues, Century is a 240-page epic spanning almost a hundred years.
Divided into three 80-page chapters - each a self-contained narrative to
avoid frustrating cliff-hanger delays between episodes - this
monumental tale takes place in three distinct eras, building to an
apocalyptic conclusion occurring in our own, current, twenty-first
century. Chapter one is set against the backdrop of London, 1910, twelve
years after the failed Martian invasion and nine years since England
put a man upon the moon. In the bowels of the British Museum, Carnacki
the ghost-finder is plagued by visions of a shadowy occult order who are
attempting to create something called a Moonchild, while on London's
dockside the most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has
returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft Holmes'
British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan Quartermain, the
reformed thief Anthony Raffles and the eternal warrior Orlando, Miss
Murray is drawn into a brutal opera acted out upon the waterfront by
players that include the furiously angry Pirate Jenny and the
charismatic butcher known as Mac the Knife
In this first book of the new LOEG series we return to the League some years after the adventures of the first two series but some time before the adventures of the Black Dossier with the League still working for the British Government.
The team now consisting of the youthful and now immortal Mina Murray and Allan
Quatermain along with Orlando, ghost hunter Thomas Carnacki and, gentleman thief, Raffles are drawn into investigating the occult underworld they suspect of trying to bring forth
the Moonchild (whatever that is).
Nemo’s
daughter Janni meanwhile has run away to London where the patrons of
the depraved little dive that she finds work at eventually attack her in
the most vile manner leading her to summon the Nautilus, of which she is
now the captain, and exact her revenge.
I
like this book a lot. It’s blatantly only a third of a story and I much
prefer to read my books fully formed so this was slightly frustrating.
The next volume is going to be the same but hey ho, some LOEG is better
than no LOEG.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969
The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1969 Volume III, Number 2 Chapter two
takes place in the psychedelic daze of swinging London during 1969, a
place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice, and
where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously. The
vicious gangster bosses of London's East End find themselves brought
into contact with a counter-culture underground of mystical and
medicated flower-children, or amoral pop-stars.
This was excellent. It’s been a long time coming but well worth the wait.
Our
three heroes wash up on the coast of England courtesy of a much older
and mellower Janni and the Nautilus. Making their way to London they
begin once more to investigate Oliver Hado and his Moonchild.
Swinging
London was always going to fire up Mr. Moore and what we get is a
massive mash-up of the era with Haddo jumping from body to body and
trying to find his way into the lead singer of the Stones analogue, The
Purple Orchestra.
The
three mains are looser and more in touch with each other but Mina is
struggling to incorporate herself and as such has leaped into the
requisite personality with almost unseemly alacrity.
Once
more the story leaves us hanging. This time on a monstrous cliffhanger
and it’ll probably be several years before the final part. I can hardly
wait.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 In Chapter Three, the
narrative draws to its cataclysmic close in London 2008. The magical
child whose ominous coming has been foretold for the past hundred years
has now been born and has grown up to claim his dreadful heritage. His
promised aeon of unending terror can commence, the world can now be
ended starting with North London, and there is no League, extraordinary
or otherwise, that now stands in his way. The bitter, intractable war of
attrition in Q'umar crawls bloodily to its fifth year, away in Kashmir a
Sikh terrorist with a now-nuclear-armed submarine wages a holy war
against Islam that might push the whole world into atomic holocaust, and
in a London mental institution there's a patient who insists that she
has all the answers.
And so the League's century comes to an end. And what an end it is. This final volume picks up 30 years on from the previous. Alan is a homeless addict, Mina is hospitalised and heavily sedated and Orlando is back from fighting a war overseas to find the UK a dystopian mess and himself once more swapping gender. Upon arrival at the the Leagues old haunt Orlando is contacted by Prospero and tasked with dealing with the now imminent arrival of the Antichrist. In her attempts to locate her fellow League members she is forced to travel to various locations familiar to lovers of teenage wizardry in order to locate the Moonchild / Antichrist before the final battle wherein one beloved character is destroyed and nanny punishes a very naughty boy.
It's a glorious and melancholy end to a key chapter in this fabulous series. With each issue of the League they release Moore and O'Neill drag me further and further into a world that I don't want to see end. Luckily it seems they don't either and the books keep coming.
In the grim cold of February surfaces a thrilling new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book - Nemo: Heart of Ice,
a full-color 48-page adventure in the classic pulp tradition by the
inestimable Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. It's 1925, fifteen long years
since Janni Dakkar first tried to escape the legacy of her dying
science-pirate father, only to accept her destiny as the new Nemo,
captain of the legendary Nautilus. Now, tired of her unending spree of
plunder and destruction, Janni launches a grand expedition to surpass
her father's greatest failure: the exploration of Antarctica. Hot on her
frozen trail are a trio of genius inventors, hired by the
megalomaniacal Charles Foster Kane to retrieve the plundered valuables
of an African queen. It's a deadly race to the bottom of the world - an
uncharted land of wonder and horror where time is broken and the
mountains bring madness.
A
very unexpected surprise when this appeared. I'd heard that they were
going to do these spin-offs but I wasn't expecting one to turn up this
soon.
What
we have is a missing tale of the second Captain Nemo and her attempt to
traverse Antarctica in the footsteps of her father. In pursuit of her
and her crew is a trio of American adventurers in the employ of Charles
Foster Kane and Ayesha (the Queen from 'She'). On their disastrous
journey they discover various Lovecraftian locations and creatures.
It's
a fairly slight (by Moore's terms) little romp but one that adds layers
to the character of Janni (Nemo) and very nicely bridges the gap
between the vengeful Janni of the first volume of 'Century' and the
mellower mature one that turned up later.
I've loved all the League stories and this one was no exception.
(Jess Nevins' annotations to this volume can be found here)
Sixteen years ago,
notorious science-brigand Janni Nemo journeyed into the frozen reaches
of Antarctica to resolve her father's weighty legacy in a storm of
madness and loss, barely escaping with her Nautilus and her life. Now
it is 1941, and with her daughter strategically married into the family
of aerial warlord Jean Robur, Janni's raiders have only limited contact
with the military might of the clownish German-Tomanian dictator
Adenoid Hynkel. But when the pirate queen learns that her loved ones are
held hostage in the nightmarish Berlin, she has no choice save to
intervene directly, travelling with her ageing lover Broad Arrow Jack
into the belly of the beastly metropolis. Within that alienated city
await monsters, criminals and legends, including the remaining vestiges
of Germany’s notorious ‘Twilight Heroes’, a dark Teutonic counterpart to
Mina Murray’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And waiting at the far
end of this gauntlet of alarming adversaries there is something much,
much worse. Continuing in the thrilling tradition of Heart of
Ice, Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill rampage through twentieth-century
culture in a blazing new adventure, set in a city of totalitarian
shadows and mechanical nightmares. Cultures clash and lives are lost in
the explosive collision of four unforgettable women, lost in the black
and bloody alleyways where thrive THE ROSES OF BERLIN.
This
is the second League of Extraordinary Gentleman spinoff books to
feature the exploits of everyone's favourite sub aquatic pirate goes off
to Germany to rescue her daughter and her son in law, the air pirate
Robur.
The
book mixes in The Great Dictator, Metropolis, Cabinet of Doctor
Cagliari, She and more to great effect. I've got to say though that if
it wasn't for the majesty of Jess Nevins and his explanatory website -
http://jessnevins.com/annotations/rosesofberlin.html - much of it would
have been incomprehensible to me as it was written in German and I don't
currently have a friendly German to hand..
It's
a quest book (of sorts) and as such is a little thin on plot but what
there is is typical Moore and there is plenty of distraction in the
always beautiful art from O'Neill who as ever brings the most absurd
worlds to life in stunning, awe inspiring and eye popping glory.
In a world where all
the fictions ever written coalesce into a rich mosaic, it’s 1975. Janni
Dakkar, pirate queen of Lincoln Island and head of the fabled Nemo
family, is eighty years old and beginning to display a tenuous grasp on
reality. Pursuing shadows from her past — or her imagination — she
embarks on what may be a final voyage down the vastness of the Amazon, a
last attempt to put to rest the blood-drenched spectres of old. With
allies and adversaries old and new, we accompany an aging predator on
her obsessive trek into the cultural landscape of a strange new
continent, from the ruined city of Yu-Atlanchi to the fabulous plateau
of Maple White Land. As the dark threads in her narrative are drawn into
an inescapable web, Captain Nemo leads her hearse-black Nautilus in a
desperate raid on horrors believed dead for decades. Through the exotic
spectacle of an imagined South America, Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
steer their fifty-year-long Nemo trilogy to its remarkable conclusion,
borne upon a River of Ghosts.
And
with this volume - the third - the story of Janni Nemo comes to a close
and the next inheritor of the mantle takes their place.
This
time out it's a much more straight forward read - particularly in
comparison to it's immediate predecessor for which you needed a handy
German to translate large swathes of the dialogue. Here, the aged and
dying Nemo sets out on one last adventure to investigate the apparent
reappearance of Ayesha despite having killed her in the previous
volume's Germany of Adenoid Hynkel.
As ever the references abound
and as ever I'm missing loads of them but a few of the more obvious ones
include The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Stepford Wives,
Desperate Dan and The Lost World. This isn't Moore at his most
engrossing it's simply Moore cutting loose and letting the grand lady
have the blood and fire send off and decisive conclusion she deserves
(and desires). O'Neill is, as ever, flawless. An explosive final chapter to
an excellent series. Hopefully not the last we'll see of the League
though as it's easily one of my favourite things.
(Jess Nevins' annotations to this volume can be found here)
Paul Magrs Snowbooks 'Brenda and Effie
Forever!’ is an outrageous Gothic adventure involving ancient vampires,
miniature mermaids, the Phantom of the Opera and his hunchbacked
boyfriend, a fiendish ghost who drives a limousine, Mr and Mrs Claus and
all three Bronte sisters discovered alive and well in a secret base
under the parsonage at Haworth with a sentient, stuffed Art Critic
called Panda. Brenda and Effie are living it up on the
continent. Holidaying in Paris, they are menaced by a mysterious Peeping
Tom with a limp and a hump, who warns them that they must never return
home to Whitby again. Untold disaster will take over the world if they
go anywhere near the North Yorkshire coast… But Brenda and Effie know that they simply have to return to Whitby, even if it means the end of everything they hold dear. Brenda
owns a Guest House by the sea and her best friend Effie runs the junk
shop next door. But together they have another role as the guardians of
Whitby against the vampires, daemons and creatures of the night that
continually plague the quaint but terrifying town. Together Brenda and
Effie must face the most startling dangers ever as they are engulfed by
hideous secrets from their long-hidden pasts. Can our heroines survive all these fiendish shenanigans and live to fight the powers of darkness another day?
And so we come to the last in the adventures of those most cantankerous and geriatric protectors of Whitby, Brenda the Bride of Frankenstein and her witchy neighbour Effie.
Making their way home from an enjoyable and relaxing European jaunt - well that last bit with the kidnapping and the vampires wasn't so enjoyable or relaxing but on the whole... - the pair find themselves warned off returning to Whitby so as to avert a prophesied calamity. The vampires in particular seem most perturbed and insistent hence the rather rude kidnapping attempt.
Ignoring the warnings the pair make their way home and immediately find themselves embroiled in various palavers involving the grotesque Mrs Claus, miniature mermaids, the return of Mr. Danby and most crucial of all the Limbosine and it's regular abductions of Effie in order to stimulate some deeply buried memories. As they return we find out Effie's past and Brenda's pre-ordained future.
As it's Paul Magrs you know it's going to be a fun and lightly written jaunt filled with mischievous appropriation and re-invention and this is indeed the case but aw a conclusion to the series it's just not up to snuff. Too many threads are left hanging, characters behave in uncharacteristic ways that aren't addressed and the finale is both vague and rushed, not to mention deeply unsatisfying. Truthfully it was almost on a par with '...and I woke up and it was all a dream.'
I have pretty much loved this series from a chance find of the first volume in a seaside charity shop and it's been a ride filled with fun and adventure that has touched on so many of my pulp, sci-fi, horror loves and woven them into Brenda's world. The character's were a joy to spend time with and the warmth and (sometimes fractious) camaraderie was infectious fun. As such I really hope this isn't truly the end as to leave it (and them) as he does would be a real shame.
In 1979 TV (in the guise of original Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert) finally got around to letting Nigel Kneale loose on another Quatermass TV series.
It's set many years on from the three classic serials / movies and finds a retired Quatermass (John Mills) forced to return from his solitude in Scotland to search for his missing granddaughter. He finds himself in a Britain he no longer recognises. One of anarchy, mob rule, violence, poverty and devastation. The elderly are forced to hide and fend for themselves, rival gangs wage war in the streets and groups of young people - Planet People (sort of violent, punky, hippies) - roam the countryside driven to search for the sacred sites that will allow them to be transported to a better life on another planet.
Quatermass is a witness to one of these 'transportations' and redoubles his efforts to find his granddaughter, helped by astronomer Joe Kapp (a pre-Manimal Simon MacCorkindale) who, along his family and colleagues, operate a radio telescope in the country. From there he finds himself drawn further and further into the fantastic events that are impacting on, not just the UK but, the whole planet.
At it's release the series was generally regarded as a bit of a flop
but for me it has always been a most glorious addition to the good
Professor's life. John Mills portrayal is perhaps lacking in the gruff,
professorial gravitas of his predecessors but his Quatermass is a
broken man forced to confront a world he has little interest in or
knowledge of having finally turned his back on the trials and travails
of his previous existence. Over the course of the series we see him
somewhat regain his previous stature and his place as the pre-eminent
scientist of the age.
Kneale is at his most bitter here. It is savage in it's portrayal of a society in terminal decline; written at a time of huge social upheaval and political unrest in the UK and screened mere months after the UK election victory of the extremely right wing Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher. It is equally savage regarding the blind obedience of the Planet People to a violent and domineering leader, Kickalong (Ralph Arliss), and their willingness to march headlong and unheeding in his wake. It is a lot more sympathetic to the plight of the older residents of this world whose 'Blitz Spirit' maintains them against the uncaring selfishness of the rest of society and eventually allows them to reclaim and redefine the world.
With it's melding of science fiction, folk horror and it's unerring belief in the power of science it touches on many familiar tropes of Kneale's work and is perhaps a little heavy handed in how it presents itself but for me it is the ending that the Quatermass story needed in order to bring his tale to a satisfying close and one I find myself returning to as often as I do any of the others.
So...
Huffity, puffity, Ringstone Round,
If you lose your hat it will never be found,
So pull your britches right up to your chin,
And fasten your cloak with a bright new pin,
And when you are ready, then we can begin,
Huffity, puffity, puff!
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The second Wyrd Britain mix and one that launches us into a slightly more psychedelic and experimental direction than the first.
hope you enjoy.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - You Done My Brain In - 00:00
Syd Barrett - Dark Globe - 01:39
John Cale - Thoughtless Kind - 03:36
Hawkwind - The Forge of Vulkan - 06:02
The British Space Group - The Last of Time - 08:52
Adrian Corker - Springtide V2 - 16:15
Kemper Norton - 821.914 - 18:54
Peter Christopherson - In My Head a Crystal Sphere of Heavy Fluid - 25:14
Fresh Maggots - Rosemary Hill - 30:50
Michael Cashmore - Snow No Longer - 34:21
- or listen below. 
/ 
- or watch it below.