The Belbury Parish Magazine

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The Seasons on Trunk

A very exciting new release on Trunk this week, its The Seasons by the BBC Radiophonic workshop’s David Cain and poet Ronald Duncan.

Trunk says: “Originally made as part of the BBC’s Drama Workshop broadcasts, this album was meant for educational purposes. Coming in the later period of what is commonly known and remembered as “Music and Movement” or “Movement and Mime Classes”, the album was issued briefly as a teaching aid for the modern thinking 1960s classroom. The idea was to play the album and get the school children to dance, improvise, think and create to the sounds and words.”
David Cain
The original is now worth around £200 and probably one of my luckiest ever charity shop finds a few years back.(In your face Sue Ryder ! ). Its an album that’s very much part of the DNA of Ghost Box; the perfect example of the spooked educational media we  reverence and reference so often. A few familiar sounds here to BBC RW aficionados, with much more besides. There’s a disitnct folksy / early music feel with Ronald Duncan’s icy, not quite child friendly poetry running throughout.
A long time in the making for Jonny Trunk, this one but lavishly kitted out with photos of the original slides made to accompany the record, notes by Mr. Trunk, Jon Brooks and an interview with a surprisingly curmudgeonly David Cain by Julian House. This one definitely will be on the exams so make sure you get a copy. Vinyl and CD in the Trunk shop now or through the usual iffy channels for those of you on the Trunk mailing list.

Belbury Poly remix Bill Ryder-Jones

Leyland Kirby, Moon Wiring Club and Belbury Poly were recently invited by Domino records to remix tracks from the current album If… by Bill Ryder-Jones.

Performed by the Liverpool Philharmonic and various guests its the first solo album for the ex Coral guitarist turned composer and is conceived of as a soundtrack to Italo Calvino’s novel If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller.

Domino say “Grand orchestral movements sit side by side with stark, nakedly emotional vocal pieces that weave a a bleak but beautifully moving and always visceral narrative.”  The three remixes here represent very different approaches to the source material by three artists that like Ryder-Jones share an interest in memory and the uncanny.

The Belbury Tales (pre-order now for 24th Feb)

The new album from The Belbury Poly, The Belbury Tales is due out on the 24th February. This time round the album explores ideas about the re-invention of the past and along the way spins some tall tales about childhood, the supernatural, initiation and pilgrimage (both spiritual and physical). A concept album in the spirit of British prog, its appropriately dressed up in even more lavish than usual Julian House artwork featuring a wonderful piece of Belbury based fiction by Electric Eden author and journalist, Rob Young.

For several tracks on this album the Belbury sound is augmented by two very talented guest musicians: drummer Jim Musgrave (Land Equivalents) and bassist and guitarist Christopher Budd (Chris also dreamt up and co-wrote the track Earthlights) . 

Here’s a selection of clips, a few other tracks have been aired in some of the recent Radio Belbury shows…

It’ll be available on Vinyl, CD and download. You can pre-order it right now in the Ghost Box shop. Vinyl customers will be entitled to a free download version (offer exclusive to Ghost Box shop customers only).

Ghost Box is a record label for a group of artists exploring the misremembered musical history of a parallel world.

“Buying one of its releases feels like stepping into another world” The Guardian

“...what's most impressive about Ghost Box is the aesthetic consistency and sheer quality of the material, recalling the heydays of labels such as Factory, 4AD and Warp.” Quietus

“...some of the most delightful electronica to arise in Britain since Aphex Twin, the Black Dog and Global Communication.” The Sunday Times

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