This is THE FIRST EVER commercial vinyl release of the classic folk horror score, presented in an incredible pop up Witchfinder sleeve!

For many, this is the long LONG awaited score that completes the “holy trinity” of folk horror: The Wicker Man, Blood On Satan’s Claw, Witchfinder General. And all these albums were first commercially found and released by Jonny Trunk. This is the first time Witchfinder General has been commercially released on LP (previously only available as a mega rare 1973 library LP or withdrawn CD!). As well as the superb Matthew Hopkins / Vincent Price pop up, the gatefold sleeves feature stills from the classic film, plus comprehensive notes about the film production history and the music. This is just the package the folk horror fans really want. This is the first pressing, if there is a second it will not come with the pop up sleeve.

Classic pastoral, melodic and scary music. 

First ever release of the scariest, most inappropriate and possibly most influential kids TV music of ALL TIME.

ONE SIDED BLACK VINYL.

There is only 17 minutes of music throughout the series, so we have fitted it all onto a one sided LP. Artwork is by Julian House – legendary hauntologist (Belbury Poly etc) and the man behind some of the greatest spooky band artwork of all time- Stereolab, Broadcast, Primal Scream etc etc.

Sleevenotes by Stewart Lee and inner sleeve notes by Alan Gubby of Buried Treasure Records.

It all looks and sounds superb. Of course it does because it’s a Trunk Records release. 

When Children Of The Stones (AKA COTS) was first shown on kids TV back in 1977, just about anyone who watched was scared shitless. The 7 part drama centred around disturbing happenings in a strange pagan village of very weird and unusually happy people, all set in the midst of the stone circle at Avebury – known as Milbury for the show.

The series shown across British TV (and USA TV in 1980) would scar, disturb and influence an entire generation. Without COTS it’s unlikely we’d have hauntology, spooky folk stuff, stone circle clubs, weird walks and a hunger for such pagan oddities everywhere. And COTS really is the key TV series in many of these modern movements, way before The Wicker Man. Even though The Wicker Man was released in 1973 it was an adult film only released to a few cinemas.

Very few people saw it and its influence really started in the late 1990s with the first release of the music. Whereas COTS on the other hand was shown at 5pm, on schooldays, to a whole nation of impressionable kids, who had never seen or heard anything quite like it. The power of COTS runs deep. So much so Stewart Lee made a whole documentary about it. The release of this long-awaited album will be a “Happy Day” for many.

According to rumour the director of the show was listening to Penderecki as he first approached Avebury to scope out locations before filming. The director thought this was a good way for the music to go, and so Sidney Sager and The Ambrosian Singers produced an avant-garde and often quite oddly terrifying sequence of vocal drones and dramatic peaks based on ancient Icelandic singular word “Hadave” for the show. And they still terrify today.

Sublime unreleased soundtrack by Ron Geesin, to one of the most important and controversial films in British cinema history.

Standard black vinyl (750 Copies) with sleeve art taken from the 1971 film poster. Cool as fuck.

Side One is the score for Sunday Bloody Sunday, the controversial 1971 drama directed by John Schlesinger. Starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson and Murray Head, it tells the story of an open love triangle between a gay Jewish doctor, a divorced woman and a bisexual young male artist who makes glass fountains. Daniel Day Lewis also makes his uncredited screen debut as a yobbo scratching up posh cars. The films significance at the time of release lay in the depiction of a mature gay man who was both successful, well adjusted and at peace with his sexuality.

The music on Side Two comes from two different sources: tracks one to four are from the 1985 Channel Four documentary about Viv Richards. Simply called “Viv” it was directed by Greg Lanning, with words and narration by Darcus Howe. It was (and still is) a fascinating film recounting Richards’ rise from young talented Antiguan to global cricket superstar. It also explored the long history of West Indian players through the English game. Howe later recalled how seeing Viv Richards walking out to bat at the Oval (just down the road from where Howe lived in Brixton) without a helmet on no matter how fast the bowler was - and wearing his Rasta sweatbands of gold, green and red, was inspirational. The documentary was later re-titled ‘Viv Richards - King Of Cricket’ for the video market, and let’s face it, that’s a more commercial title. I’d strongly recommend trying to track it down to spend an hour or so in the company of Viv and Darcus. As I write this it’s still up on a popular online streaming site for free.

The last six cues of Side Two are from a 1970 BBC Omnibus film ‘Shapes In A Wilderness’. Directed by Tristram Powell this was a documentary about the importance and influence of art therapy in mental hospitals, tracing its origins from a painting hut in a wartime military hospital to its successful and widespread incorporation in institutions. It featured fascinating medical insights, disturbing imagery and Ron’s finely tuned accompaniment. On its original transmission John Schlesinger saw it and was heard to say “I must have that composer for my new film!”. And he got his way.

I could spend another paragraph analysing the music and stuff like that but you can listen and work all that out for yourself. But I will say that all the music just confirms the fact that Ron Geesin is one of the most underrated, inventive and versatile composers (and musicians) we have.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1: Sky HIgh Balloons
2: Intriguing Cables
3: Bittersweet Reflections
4: Affections For String Quartet (unknown Studio String Quartet)
5: Chemical Dreams (voice Bridget St. John)
6: Blitzful Memories
7: Piccadilly Bustle
8: Motoring Sparkle (Second Gtr: Bridget St. John)
9: Wayward Balloons
SIDE TWO
Tracks 1 - 4 From The Soundtrack Of ‘Viv’
1: War Of The Willow
2: Slo-Mo Bowl
3: Through Loud Bamboo
4: Antiguan Stroll Tracks
5 -10 From The Soundtrack Of ‘Shapes In A Wilderness’
5: Mad Picture Gallery
6: Sculptural Drift
7: Muttering Mini Monsters
8: Cranial Cathedral
9: Ghostly Wasps
10: Hope And Misery

Legendary privately pressed 1979 LP from Scotland. This illusive, super rare and sublimely wonderful percussion album is like no other. Hypnotic, celestial, even cosmic and ambient in parts and totally unique in all ways, it was played by a group of 11 girls with an average age of 14. The group included Evelyn Glennie, who was destined to become one of the world’s greatest percussionists. This is her first ever record.

The Cults Percussion Ensemble was a group formed by percussion teaching legend Ron Forbes in the mid 1970s. The ensemble must have one of the best group names of all time. To many it will immediately come across as something sinister, a touch spooky and possibly a bit dramatic too. They are certainly two of those but the use of the word “Cults” here is easily misinterpreted. Cults, in this case, is the suburb of Aberdeen.
The average age of the students was just 14. They came from a few of the schools in the area, including the Cults Academy, Ellon Academy, Aboyne Academy, Inverurie Academy and Powis.

My original copy of the album came from Spitalfields market in London. I loved the music the second it started, because it reminded me of Carl Orff and peculiar library. So I started to investigate it further, and eventually, thanks to the highly tuned world of percussion, was given the address of Ron Forbes. I got in touch with him and now we have this, a formal release of something quite lovely that was only previously available very briefly in 1979 at concerts when the young girls performed.

The music here is really quite unique, with a celestial swirling hypnotic quality. The blend of glockenspiels, xylophones, vibraphones, marimba and timpani drums is quite intoxicating and can recall the shimmering warmth of the desert sun one minute (“Baia”) or freezing glacial ice caps the next (“Circles”). The Ensemble perform with an effortless tightness and deftness of touch, building textured layers with recurring percussive motives which appear simultaneously dense and yet sparse, almost sounding like modern sampling. In fact, while struggling to find a musical comparison, during the pulsating introduction to "Percussion Suite" I found myself recalling "Gamma Player", a piece of soulful Detroit techno minimalism from Jeff Mills (Millsart - “Humana” EP 1995) with its rhythmic percussion layered with complex emotion. Weirdly enough, other tracks on that EP also prominently feature xylophone and tuned percussion, although obviously synthesised and programmed, a good 20 years after the CPE first recorded.
Sleevenotes also include a letter from Ron Forbes:

“I decided to form a percussion group to provide an outlet for my percussion pupils to play music specially written for them. The group soon became well known in the region and as a result of winning the outstanding award at the National Festival of Music for youth on three occasions, they were invited to play at other festivals within Europe, one being in Erlangen in Germany - hence the Erlangen Polka - and Autun in France - hence the Autun Carillon. During these visits we were often asked if we had any recordings and so it was decided to make an LP”.

Thanks to Ron Forbes and Trunk Records, more people can now enjoy the simple hypnotic musical charms of the Cults Percussion Ensemble 

TRACK LISTING

Autun Carillon
Baia
My Love She’s But A Lassie Yet
Circles
Percussion Suite (3rd Movement)
The Little Dancer
Two Jubilee Pieces
Erlangen Polka
Dream Angus
Surrey With The Fringe On Top
Irish Washerwoman
Polymers

The unreleased soundtrack from the 1970 film. Black vinyl with a random sprinkling of “office door” clear ones ie randomly packed.

OVERVIEW:
Oh my God. This is mindblowing. Like Wow. Incredible. Amazing. Breathtaking. Super wow. And wow again. And another wow. Jesus Christ wow. Like bloody hell wow. I really cannot believe it wow. 

THE MUSIC:
Unreleased until now and super duper wow. Like British pastoral jam with killer drums, bass and percussion. Just dying for some huge hip hop producer to come and piss all over it, in a good way. This record is the hidden monster, the one killer OST no one saw or heard.

TRACK LISTING

Side One:
Bartleby 1
Bartleby 2
Bartleby 3
Bartleby 4
Bartleby 5
Bartleby 6

Side Two:
Bartleby 7
Bartleby 8
Bartleby 9
Bartleby 10
Bartleby 11

Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalogue – ambient, spacey, pastoral and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Francis Monkman, Brian Bennett and more – all total masters of the scene. All very cool. All very now. All will sell very fast.

Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he’s never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalogue. By this he means that he’s never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing –that’s the kind of thing that used to happen in the 1990s and the early noughties if you were out there looking hard for library music. But he did manage to get about 25 in one hit about 20 years ago when the BBC shut down their “TV Training Department” near Lime Grove and also when a box of Brutons ended up being dumped at a hospital radio, and they didn’t want the records, so Jonny got a call.

There are lots of Bruton albums in existence – over 330 LPs in the vinyl catalogue, issued between 1978 and 1985. That’s a lot of music to wade through if you are looking for sublime modern day sounds. For many years now the “trophies” from the Bruton catalogue have been the beat or action driven LPs – the two Drama Montage albums (BRJ2 and BRJ8) have always been the big hitters, and others such as High Adventure (BRK2) too.

But Jonny has always found himself drawn to the lime green LPs, the pastoral, peaceful albums (The BRDs), which were full of the kind of gentle, lovely music that would turn up in Take Hart as Tony was painting a woodpecker or a badger or an Autumn tree. The other Brutons he likes are the orange ones (The BRIs) simply because they are full of experimental futuristic electronics and would remind him of 1980s ITV backgrounds. This LP series includes Brian Bennett’s cosmic classic Fantasia (BRI 10). Jonny has been knows to refer to this style of library music as “Krypton Factor library”, because it’s exactly what that strange but successful 1980s TV quiz show sounded like.

In recent years as interest in library music has expanded, we’ve watched
the price of a handful of Brutons really going through the roof - not the just the action and drama ones, but the more esoteric and experimental LPs too – like the BRDs and the BRIs. Jonny gets the vibe that people finally want to hear this other more interesting and experimental side of the Bruton catalogue. So what better time than now to put together a compilation of such sublime period sounds.

Not only does this album bring together a set of fabulous cues that would cost the average man in the street a month’s wages (if the originals were all wanted and if you could even track them all down), but it also chops out the need to listen to other tracks on library albums that are nowhere near as good.

The cues here all date from between 1978 and 1984. They come from the BRD, BRI, BRH, BRJ, BRM, BRR and BRs catalogues.

The composers are all legends within the genre, and here, were doing what great library composers do best – fulfilling a brief and utilising modern studio equipment to both commercial and beguiling effect. 

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
Vibes - BRS 6 – Frank Ricotti 1981
Utopia Revisited - BRJ 18 – Johnny Scott 1980
Trek - BRM 9 – John Cameron 1981
Tropic 2 - BRM 9 – John Cameron 1981
Reflections - BRM 2 – Frank Reidy / Eric Allen 1978
Stargazing - BRI 2 – Francis Monkman 1978

SIDE TWO
Drifting - BRI 3 – John Cameron 1978
Dissolves - BRI 3 – Les Hurdle / Frank Ricotti 1978
Floatation - BRI 9 – John Cameron 1980
One Language - BRR 18 – Orlando Kimber / John Keliehor 1984
Saturn Rings - BRI 6 – Alan Hawkshaw 1979
Billowing Sails - BRD 20 – Steve Gray 1982
The Swan - BRD 19 – Brian Bennett 1982

Album Mastered By Jon Brooks.

Originally written and released by Woody Guthrie in 1947, this cover version of “Pastures Of Plenty” by Pete Tevis – a Californian folk singer living in Rome in 1962 – was arranged by Ennio Morricone. A few years later, Sergio Leone wanted Morricone to score his up and coming western called A Fistful Of Dollars. Legend has it Morricone wrote some music, Leone hated it. Morricone then played him this old single. Leone wanted this music but with a new melody over the top. The rest is film music history.

This is the first ever repress of this hugely important single since 1962. Originals copies are mythical to say the least.

TRACK LISTING

Side One
Pastures Of Plenty

Side Two
Notte Infinita

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2019 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Worlds Within Worlds (Part I and II) is one of the most important improvised jazz-based recordings of all time. Released in 1971 it sold just a handful of copies, but has become a keystone in the development of experimental and ambient sounds - originals now fetch £1000+.A perfect released for RSD, this will be the first time this exceptional, unique and highly desirable record has been repressed. Built up using layers of treated and slowed field recordings with Derek Bailey and Evan Parker improvising, WWW offers listeners a mesmerizing sonic experience that remains years ahead of its time. This pressing features a new gatefold sleeve (Kirchin hated the original sleeve), with images of Kirchin, his original field recording tapes and notes by WWW fan Thurston Moore. There are just 1500 being pressed with 250 on gold vinyl, which will be mixed randomly in with the 1250 black versions. There will be no way of telling which colour is which as all LPs will be sealed. The LP will not be repressed. Tracklist:Side One - Part One - Integration (Non-Racial)Side Two - Part Two - The Human Element

Out of print since 2001, a classic trunk records release gets a rare repress. Naïve and pastoral space music at its very best!

As a TV obsessed child, the Clangers was my favourite programme on the box, so you can imagine how excited I was when this came in!

What an unbelievable recording. The entire unreleased score for the entire Clangers TV series - that's music for all 26 episodes. It grows organically (as does the series) from small and simple phrases to complex passages of pure pastoral space music. It all climaxes with the awesome "Harmony Of The Spheres". The running order is exactly as it ran with all 26 episodes and includes some SFX, Tiny Clanger and Oliver Postgate's timeless introduction. This CD also comes with the unique and sweet "Clangers Opera" compiled by Oliver Postgate, an adventure on the Clangers planet starring the Iron Chicken. The CD booklet includes rare photos, early Clangers Sketches and a Libretto for the Clangers Opera written by Oliver Postgate. 

Volume five of the killer Britxotica! series, looking this time at 16 super rare and briliantly bonkers latin and percussive pop cues from the wild British Isles!

Britxotica! (pronounced “Britzotica”) neatly describes an odd and yet undocumented pre-Beatles British musical scene where famed UK composers as well as unknown singers and bandleaders threw convention on holiday and went wild wild wild! Put together by Jonny Trunk with DJ / tastemaker and Smashing nighclub legend Martin Green, these groundbreaking new compilations shine new light on lost and forgotten corners of British culture and sound.

For this, Part Five of our planned Britxotica! series we head to lively latin tinged dancefloors where Brits could cha cha cha to the KIrchin band, “Jump In The Line” with Frank Holder and Mambo with Ido or Don. This killer collection of British dance obscurities brings us lively sounds from the rarest UK record bins, including this time an amazing cover version of the legendary loungecore hit “House Of Bamboo” plus the stunning “Jonny One Note” by Ted Heath, the track that originally introduced John Craven’s Newsround. To sum up, this is another exciting, wild and occasionally bonkers compilation by Jonny Trunk and Martin Green, two of the UKs most wild record collectors. Also, there are men in underpants on the sleeve, What’s not to like?

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1 The High Life – Marion Ryan
2 Vamos – A – Baila - Chico Arnez
3 Jonny One Note – Ted Heath
4 Wimoweh – Eve Boswell
5 House Of Bamboo – Neville Taylor
6 Baia – Tony Scott
7 Jump In The Line – Frank Holder
8 Mambo For Latin Lovers – Ido Martin

SIDE TWO
9 Fanagalo – Frank Chacksfield Ft Frank Holder
10 Taboo – Charles Blackwell
11 Voom-va- Voom – Eve Boswell
12 Crazy Latin – Don Carlos
13 Vaba -Ba - Boom – Edmundo Ros
14 Boliviana – Victor Silvester
15 Don's Mambo – Don Carlos
16 The High Life – Basil And Ivor Kirchin Ft Toni Sharpe

All Cues Mastered And Sequenced By Jon Brooks, AKA The Advisory Circle

Another superb adventure in the Britxotica! series, looking into rare and amazing exotic British recordings. For this exciting installment we waltz to the British ballrooms for charismatic Cha Cha Chas, magical mambos and a whole set of floor filling fun!

Britxotica! (pronounced “Britzotica”) neatly describes an odd and yet undocumented pre-Beatles British musical scene where famed UK composers as well as unknown singers and bandleaders threw convention on holiday and went wild wild wild! Put together by Jonny Trunk with DJ / tastemaker and Smashing nighclub legend Martin Green, these groundbreaking new compilations shine new light on lost and forgotten corners of British culture and sound.

For this, Part Four of our planned Britxotica! series we head to the now defunct British ballrooms for a set of dynamic and often extraordinary dance numbers - charming cha cha chas (including “Cha Cha Pop Pop”), lively latin and some fabulously freaky footappers including a classic version of “Cerveza”. Composers and artists include ballroom band legends such as Edmundo Ros, Ted heath and Stanley Black, but also we have found work by lost geniuses such as John Graven and John Warren who are very much worthy or reappraisal.

In short, this is another crazy and charismatic compilation of British music so obscure and rare that only Trunk Records could find and package it so superbly and with such effortless and comedic style.

This is the first time his extraordinary music has been released. CD in jewel case with large 16 page booklet, full colour rare photos, essay by Will Fowler. Compiles tracks from the ' Volume One' and' Volume 2' LPs.

Bruce Lacey is the quintessential British eccentric. Bruce Lacey is an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, a shaman, a genius and visionary. Since the 1950s he’s made film, music, art and performances, and collaborated with everyone from the Beatles to Throbbing Gristle.

He was part of the groundbreaking Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition in 1968. He even built a robot that won the Alternative Miss World.

Made and recorded using household objects as well as a modified synthesizer (made by a schoolboy in the early 1970s), it ranges from abstract tribal concrete to droning electronic trance. The music will be released across two separate LPs and one CD. Included will be a fine essay about the history of this inspiring figure by BFI / Flipside archivist Will Fowler.

Bruce Lacey has been a busy man. Since the 1950s he’s been making film, making music, making art, sculpture, rituals, performances and more besides. Many of his films have explored the basics of life and sex all with a sprinkle of irony, realism and ritualism. Many of his films have required music, music which Lacey made himself, improvising with bottles, rattles, typewriters and a tape machine.

By the early 1970s Lacey was exploring stone circles and ancient rights; he’d also bought a home-made synthesiser from a schoolboy who’d advertised it in Exchange & Mart. He’d made it as a home project. A week later Lacey bought a keyboard from another schoolboy in Exchange & Mart. Lacey set about slowly modifying this synth and improvising music influenced by his stone circle visits over the next few years.

This music is made only when “The Muse” descends. It is impossible for Bruce to perform this improvised music live. The music he made was occasionally available on cassette at his exhibitions in the 1970s. The late Poly Styrene (who had a copy) compared Lacey’s music to Tangerine Dream. Lacey had not heard of Tangerine Dream. This is the first time this raw and extraordinary music, by one of the UKs most extraordinary men, has been made available.

Jonny Trunk presents “Funny Old Shit”, a 17 track compilation of funny old shit from the Trunk archive. From calypsos sung by Bernard Cribbins and Robert Mitchum to avant-garde French concrete, with stops at post punk, killer vocal jazz, BBC Radiophonics, music from 'Les Vacances de M. Hulot', early African fusion, Argentinian film music and even some twitchy classical from Glenn Gould, this groundbreaking compilation flies in the face of the current trend for issuing records that to be honest are actually quite average and really very expensive indeed for what they are. This is a total bargain, an education and a right bloody laugh. Although some people will actually think it’s shit - but not us here at Piccadilly. We love ecclectic and we love oddball.

The Tracks: Bernard Cribbins is a god, so Bernard was a great place to start, and can you name any other song apart from “Gossip Calypso” featured here that manages to squeeze in the words “Oxy Acetylene welder”? No, I can’t either. This is followed by modern classical music played on strange sculptures by the prolific team of Jacques Lasry and Bernard Baschet, Their sound is reminiscent of film music by Cliff Martinez, and that’s maybe because Cliff has a Crystal Baschet sculptural instrument too. If you look on-line you can see him play it. Next we travel to Argentina for some lovely film music and then to an early fusion of Africa and America with Guy Warren and Red Garland getting all hip and proto rap. This is followed by a classic chunk of minimal modern music from 1981 by The Jellies. I’ve put this on the sampler as the record I made of it sold out ages ago and it’s expensive now and loads of people who missed it need to hear just how good it is. Next up is the B side from the first ever BBC Radiophonic Workshop record, which, incidentally was produced by George Martin. After this we can absorb some high culture with Noel Coward reciting Ogden Nash’s words written in 1949 to accompany the romantic classic masterpiece The Carnival Of The Animals, composed way back in 1886. We then move to a high point in low culture and to the world’s best worst singer, Leoni Anderson. She starred with Laurel And Hardy in one of their many films, and her one and only album is a terrifying delight. “Rats in My Room” also featured on Desert Island Disks in August 2013 when award winning film production designer Eve Stewart chose it as one her fave eight tracks.

As a lover of very fine vocal jazz too I had to throw in “Naima”, a staggering version of Coltrane’s classic. During a talk by Robert Wyatt a few years ago he revealed that he though this was one of the best bits of music ever made, and I agree with him. A small piece of educational electronics by Terry Dwyer (more about him in a forthcoming Trunk LP) makes quite a good little plugged-in interlude, which leads us nicely to the main theme for the Jacques Tati classic, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday. Eccentric pianist Glenn Gould then appears with the beginning of his legendary Goldberg Variations recording, and then I realized I seem to be nudging towards interesting classical recording a bit, which I think is no bad thing. And before you know it, we’re back enjoying some proper experimental concrete tape larks.

Never one to resist a film star singing, I found it almost impossible to not stick in Robert Mitchum singing, and then I realized when I was writing these notes that that this was the second calypso-based record on this very small sampler, and then I thought that very fact might enhance the idea of the whole thing really being a bit “shit”. After Bob we can all enjoy a super rare recording issued to accompany the 1962 kitchen sink drama A Taste Of Honey. It’s a song that repeats throughout the film, amplifying the fact that Jimmy, Jo’s lover, has buggered off to sea. We finish with Yusef Lateef’s version of Alex North’s sublime “Love Theme” from the film Spartacus. It’s a perfect musical spot where an incredible film melody has met one of the great experimental jazzmen of all time. The results are quite exceptional. It’s also a cue that I often use at end of a long set, so for me it was the obvious choice for the last cue here.

So chums, that’s Funny Old Shit. The idea is to put together more of these samplers with friends, guest and other groovy collectors and to draw you in further to the funny old shit musical world that is Trunk Records. Thanks for listening.

Jonny Trunk 2014

TRACK LISTING

1. Gossip Calypso - Bernard Cribbins
2. Rapsodie De Budapest - Lasry Baschet
3. Waltz In 16mm - Sergio Mihanovic
4. The High Life - Guy Warren Of Ghana With Red Garland
5. Jive Baby On A Saturday Night (Radio Edit) - The Jellies
6. Waltz In Orbit - Ray Cathode (Radiophonic Workshop)
7. Aquarium - Camille Saint-Saëns, Ogden Nash, Noel Coward
8. Rats In My Room - Leoni Anderson
9. Naima - The Double Six Of Paris
10. Material 1 Bubbles - Terry Dwyer
11. How Is The Weather In Paris - Alain Romans
12. Goldberg Variations BWV 988
I3. Aria - Glenn Gould
14. Classique: Bidule Et Un - Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer
15. Tic Tic Tic - Robert Mitchum
16. Big Ship Sails On The Alley-Alley-O - John Addison, From The Film A Taste Of Honey
17. Love Theme From Spartacus - Yusef Lateef

An album of unrelased music made by Jeff Keen, one of the UK's great avant garde artists. This is music found on cassettes in his studio after his death, was made by Jeff (throughout the 1980s) using field recordings from his local amusement arcade, the radio, the TV, films, an Atari, a ZX Spectrum, a delay unit and a WASP Synth. This is the first Jeff Keen album ever issued.

Jeff Keen is one of the great undoscovered artist of out times. A missing link between the DADAists, Cocteau, Warhol, Picasso, Jack Kilby and just about anyone else you can think of, Jeff made art every day of his life. Art seemed to explode from him, and he worked across all mediums with boundless creativity and very much his own style. He developed his own graphic, visual and speoken art language. The BFI have issued a 4 DVD set of his films. His collages and paintings are currently being exhibited in Brighton, New York and Paris. The Tate have started buying his work. He’s now dead and his stock is quickly rising. The music on this relase was made in and around the 1980s, using methods unique to him; in his ramshakle studio he’d have a mic, a radio, an Atari, a ZX Spectrum, a WASP synth, effects units and his own very ususual mind. He mixes field recordings with his very own language (“Bltazwurds”) and takes on the characters he developed over his artistic life.

This is very much an art / music release. The sound is a little like the industrial albums made in the late 1970s and 1980s, intense, odd, otherworldy, unpredictable. As a result, the vinyl is being pressed in limited numbers, unusual colours and comes in hand made packaging. Notes by Jonny Trunk, there is also an important essay by David Toop and recollections by Will Fowler of the BFI who worked closely with Keen.

TRACK LISTING

01. Rayday
02. Atari Sounds 4 Track Mix
03. BlatzomFragzWhitenseWasp9
04. Song Of The Plasticator
05. Mix SynthAtariWar6
06. Artwar Noise Loop
07. BlatzomFragzWhitenseWasp6
08. Artwar Light And Dark Show
09. BlatzomFragzWhitenseWasp2
10. Omozap To Plasticator
11. Omozap Master
12. Rayday Readings
13. Plasticator Loop
14. MixSynthAtariWar8

Privately pressed in Scotland in 1979, this elusive and quite wonderful percussion / jazz album is like no other. Played by a group of 11 girls with an average age of 14, the group included Evelyn Glennie, who was destined to become one of the world’s greatest percussionist. This is her first ever record.

Johnny Trunk says:

The Cults Percussion Ensemble was a group formed by percussion teaching legend Ron Forbes in the mid 1970s. The ensemble must have one of the best group names of all time. To many it will immediately come across as something sinister, a touch spooky and possibly a bit dramatic too. They are certainly two of those but the use of the word “Cults” here is easily misinterpreted. Cults, in this case, is the suburb of Aberdeen.

The average age of the students was just 14. They came from a few of the schools in the area, including the Cults Academy, Ellon Academy, Aboyne Academy, Inverurie Academy and Powis.

My original copy of the album came from Spitalfields market in London. I loved the music the second it started, because it reminded me of Carl Orff and peculiar library. So I started to investigate it further, and eventually, thanks to the highly tuned world of percussion, was given the address of Ron Forbes. I got in touch with him and now we have this, a formal release of something quite lovely that was only previously available very briefly in 1979 at concerts when the young girls performed.

The music here is really quite unique, with a celestial swirling hypnotic quality. The blend of glockenspiels, xylophones, vibraphones, marimba and timpani drums is quite intoxicating and can recall the shimmering warmth of the desert sun one minute (“Baia”) or freezing glacial icecaps the next (“Circles”). The Ensemble perform with an effortless tightness and deftness of touch, building textured layers with recurring percussive motives which appear simultaneously dense and yet sparse, almost sounding like modern sampling. In fact, while struggling to find a musical comparison, during the pulsating introduction to "Percussion Suite" I found myself recalling "Gamma Player", a piece of soulful Detroit techno minimalism from Jeff Mills (Millsart - “Humana” EP 1995) with its rhythmic percussion layered with complex emotion. Weirdly enough, other tracks on that EP also prominently feature xylophone and tuned percussion, although obviously synthesised and programmed, a good 20 years after the CPE first recorded.

The LP comes with a new sleeve and the CD has a 6 page fold out booklet, which includes biographies and rare shots of the ensemble

STAFF COMMENTS

Philippa says: Not what you'd expect a privately pressed album by a group of 14 year old girls from late 70s Scotland to sound like. Forget preconceived ideas about scratchy, poorly recorded school bands, this is an impressive percussive jazz album with great sound.

At last! The classic music from this important TV series is now available! Yes, to many people who grew up near a television in the 1970s and 1980s, Fingerbobs was a curious, formative and hugely inspiring series. Only 13 episode were made but were often repeated. It starred the audacious Fingermouse, a host of his paper friends (Scampi, Gulliver, Flash), and was fronted by folk musician, actor and former Play School presenter Rick Jones as “Yoffy”. Each episode involved simple craft, music and a story or fable based on that week’s theme (such as sound, wood, shapes and shadows). The whole series was conceived, created and modelled in a briliant home made style by the legendary husband and wife team Joanne and Michael Cole, the minds behind much of Playschool, the books and TV series Bod, and Ragtime.

The Fingerbobs album has been quite hard to put together; there are no masters and very little paper based archive to speak of, so no set stills, no paper puppets. All that really remains are a few scraps of paper in the Cole’s very small archive and the Fingerbobs annual, which contains nothing but pecualir drawings, none that really relate to the show. But, as the album was going to print Lo Cole found an exceptionally rare promotional flyer for the series in 1973 when it was first aired, and this wonderful little gem is what has been used to make the fabulous artwork.

In order to produce a musical album worthy of release, Jonny Trunk entrusted the ears and musical abilities of Jon Brooks (AKA The Advisory Circle) to pull together a musical collage of the whole series. So, we have all the themes, all the songs, all the instrumentals, a scattering of stories too. The music is a touch folky, a little whimsical, classically nostalgic, humble, hip, witty and occasionally camp (Gulliver’s song). Fingerbobs was possibly the last remaining unreleased score from TVs golden era, and finally, thanks to this first ever release, we can now enjoy it whenever or wherever we want. Like in the car with the kids. Which is a very good thing indeed.

Wow. 1964 was a pretty special year, especially for groovy jazz in Britain. Not only did it see the release of "Moonscape" by the Michael Garrick Trio but also the birth of these fine and exceptionally rare recordings. Modern, jazzy, exotic and progressive, early British jazz rarely sounded so good or beautiful.

In 1964 the Modern British jazz scene was growing, progressing and bursting out in creative musical rashes. Following the release of Moonscape (The UKs rarest British jazz LP), Michael Garrick teamed up with horn legend Shake Keane to cut an EP of modern ideas in a quartet setting called "A Case Of Jazz". It was issued the same year in a run of just 99 copies. At the same time, flugelhorn maestro Shake Keane was working with several arrangers and set ups, one of the results being a peculair (and possibly unreleased) acetate of four cues: two recorded with The Hastings Girls Choir, two in a small but lively and slightly latin combo.

Coming directly from Michael Garrick’s own archive, these exceptionally rare eight cues from 1964 have now been brought together for this unusual and exciting release. Opening with two cues with Keane and the Hastings Girls Choir, the music is etheral and strangely exotic. Moving then through a fine British bossa nova and into the quartet recordings we find the music pleasing, progressive (for 1964), creative and exciting. Also of note is the mighty fine Sun Maiden, which has the kind of classic piano riff and repetitive regal rhythm so sought after by many jazz collectors. These tracks and complete album are worthy additions to the growing archive of classic modern Brtitish period jazz, and feature two major artist flourishing early in their careers.

Originally privately pressed in 1964 as an edition of only 99 copies, "Moonscape" is possibly the rarest, most desirable and certainly most valuable modern British jazz record ever made. As one of the original 10" vinyl copies could set you back up to £2000, Trunk thought it was about time the album had a proper release. Recorded in London, "Moonscape" was pianist Michael Garrick's debut album, a beautiful lunar jazz set. Musically the album has a slightly floaty, drifting sound and represents an early British foray into The New Thing - the free jazz sound of America. Highlights includes include the blissful, melancholic "Sketches Of Israel" and complex 6/8 trip "Man Have You Ever Heard".