CONVERSATION on the subject of THE FALL

CONVERSATION on the subject of THE FALL

A bit of back and forth on the subject of Mark E Smith


Yesterday at 08:22

Hi All,

My Friend John Middle recently wrote...after a scathing attack from me on the subject of the wanker that is Mark E Smith of The Fall.....The original scathing attack may be lost to the ether...but it prompted him to sit back...crack his knuckles....and spew forth the following:


Not a rebuttal .... a scuttle but ul.

Hope you are doing well Tim....

I like reading your outbursts.

You have a unique and sardonic sense of humor that makes me chuckle a lot.

My Mum is my best representative and I dispatched her to consort with you and yours as my proxy in recognition of this deep seated truth.

You are welcome.

John

My old friend Tim Ascough recently regaled me with a dense and expectorant sodden missive on the subject of his intense loathing of THE FALL. As a long time FALL fan I have been made aware of such feeling many times before by many people from many different walks of life. Particularly in the early 80's (when I was initially developing my appreciation of their music) I found myself on the receiving end of negative feedback ranging in tone from incredulous and disbelieving to hostile and annoyed upon playing THE FALL or bringing them up in conversation. Certainly I was never taken aback as THE FALL have a sound and musical angle that can only be described as difficult, abtruse, challenging, ramshackle, cacaphonic and so on ... and so on.

Mark E Smith, THE FALL's only permanent fixture at this juncture has a vocal style that de-emphasizes range and key by way of skewing more in the direction of squeaks, mumbles, hard consonants and hard-talk.

I generally assumed that I would be alone in my affinity with their din.

Back then THE FALL as a band were not considered "cool" at any level. Mark E Smith was considered an annoying but persistent fixture on the "scene" by most. The band dressed "wrong". Their Link Wray/Beefheart/Van Der Graaf Generator/Iggy Pop/CAN/FAUST/Velvet Underground/Country and "Northern" influences were over most peoples heads. They slagged off your favorite band without hesitation in the media...etc etc.

When you met folks who were into THE FALL back then you came across a certain type of music fan. 'Committed' in a word. The type of music fan who understood that great music is oftentimes only revealed as such by way of repeated listening. You have to 'earn' the privilege. FALL fans loved the 'differences' they heard....Wrong notes over right 'business as usual' notes.

THE FALL are about uncompromising vision in combination with committed creative execution. THE FALL for a huge portion of their career pursued these qualities in the face of overwhelming commercial disdain and public disinterest. Mark E Smith is certainly a known and respected cultural renegade THESE days. The dogged persistence that has characterized his 'career' in its entirety has paid off ultimately. The last 5 years have been good to him at a public level. Vindication...

Lets not forget though that THE FALL have been in business since 1977. They have completed 25 original albums. They have released 50 singles. They have issued 50 live and compilation albums. Mark was a dock worker prior to being in the band. He believes in hard graft and testicular fortitude. '' Nothing has happened since 1977 to STOP Mark from 'doing his thing'.....Of course the truth is that his experience in the biz has been rife with the typical (and at times uber-typical) challenging situations and problems. He has endured thirty years worth of such moments to state the obvious. Throughout, he has kept rolling ever onwards.

We are after all talking about the music business....SHOW BUSINESS. Mark has evidently faced down the type of 'shit' that stops most bands in their tracks by album 3 if they are lucky AND determined.

THE FALL are of Mancunian stock and represent the grit and "no mithering please" nature of the place to the core.

Personally, I am into the idea of having a strong 'work ethic', be it in music, art, sport or whatever. Hard work is tough to ignore or downplay ... It can't be "bullshitted" if you know what I mean.

It resonates.

What about the music?

Well .... you develop your craft thru repetition right? THE FALL have gone thru a lot of repetition. The craft is accordingly in good shape. Its not the typical 'craft' mind you. It is born of a contrary nature. It is about the advantages of making music while NOT being a musician.

I DON'T SING I JUST SHOUT .....ALL ON ONE NOTE....SING SING SING SING.....LOOK AT ME I JUST STING......YOUR HEART OUT.

Mark is in his 50's these days. Listen to his last three albums and see if you can pick up on a softening of his approach to creating music. NO NOSTALGIA resides therein. Instead you will find odd and unique sounds and noises. Techno synths in rockabilly shirts. Industrial grind in cod-cabaret sequins. Punk meets APHEX TWIN by way of a detour through a ROCHDALE working mans club. FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN ANTHEMS and freestyle crap-raps. His hips may have proven fragile but his ears are those of an athletic elephant, greedily filtering the RIGHT frequencies for the NEW sounds to add to the OLD new sounds.

Head music with energy.

VALUES and having an ANGLE.

No love songs.....

Mark like myself would rather read a HORROR STORY.

The Mills and Boones preoccupation of modern pop music is somewhat narrow right???? RIGHT?

What if we make the atmospheric presence of a song its HOOK?

BAD DRUGS and PARANOIA. BACK STABBING and RIP-OFFERY. Y'know life.......

Thats without going into the BAD stuff.

The 'wirey' out of tune guitars that chicken scratch at your psyche.

The "drums being kicked down the staircase" BIG BEAT.....Gary Glitter meets JAMES BROWN uptown.

The purposefuly anemic but HUGE and turgid bass undulations.

ONE NOTE SOLOS.

Mark scratching on the microphone so that it sounds like someone or something is trying to scrape its way OUT OF YOUR SPEAKERS upon playback.

LO FI NO FI .....RIGHT FI.....FEE FI thumbed noses.

"TURN THOSE BLOODY SPACE INVADERS OFF - UHHH" ... keyboard tone setting.

And to top it off......from my perspective at least the funniest and most interesting lyrics in modern music.

BOB DYLAN FANS TAKE ELEVATOR TO 13th floor AND EXIT THIS DIATRIBE BY WAY OF WINDOW PLEASE....


An example of this lyrical prowess......I could pick any of a thousand.

Check this one out for example.....

It's about methedrine related insomnia....squalid ciity living...creeping paranoia and worry.

Such that you cannot....WALK THE FLOOR AT NIGHT IN PEACE. Pacing the floor y'gedditt?

Such conditions must be the fault of another.....CITY HOBGOBLINS perchance???


CITY HOBGOBLINS

Spiders know these things
Gremlins know these things

Tap, tap, tap, tap

You think it's the pipes
But who turns on the lights?

Our city hobgoblins

Ubu le Roi is a home hobgoblin
at night
always ready.

City hobgoblins
Infest my home at night
They are not alright
Ten times my age
One-tenth my height

Our city hobgoblins
Buzz of the all-night mill

Ah but evil
Emigres from old green glades

Pretentious eh?

Our city hobgoblins
They'll get yer

I saw Queen Victoria
on the back of a large black slug
Where?
in Piccadilly, Manchester

Our city hobgoblins
They stay
I say
We cannot walk the floor
at night in peace
At night in peace
At night in peace





ME NOW.....So in closing I leave you with this thought.

Tim knows his music.

He perhaps makes several good points about MARK. He is undoubtedly a man with a strong sense of self. He may well have a large ego. He is unruly, disagreeable and contrarian in nature it would seem. I have never properly met the man so can't really be the judge of such matters.

His empirical history provides us with one obvious elemental truth about Mr. Smith.

He is a survivor. Plain and simple.

In my view....

He is a working class success story from Manchester who succeeded through bloody minded persistence and self-belief.

Begrudge him or commend him...Your choice.

MARK COULD NOT CARE LESS either way I imagine.

A genius ????? God knows.

HIP PRIEST?

(stolen from Burroughs...notebooks out plagiarists)

No such thing.

A haggard "speedy" snaggle toothed POET LAUREATE for the terminally disenfranchised.

YES...

I believe so.

and a lot more besides when you really get into it....

Email to the provider of the DVD "extra's" commentary for BLOW UP - a movie by MICHELANGELO ANTIONIONI

BLOW UP - MOVIE BY MICHELANGELO ANTIONIONI

I recently watched this movie thanks to NETFLIX. I checked out the commentary which was provided by Peter Brunette, a film professor at WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY who was known for his book on the films of MICHELANGELO ANTIONIONI. From my perspective, the commentary completely mis-interpreted the film based upon an ignorance of both English culture in general and the MOD counter-culture that the film documented. I expressed my thoughts to Peter in the form of the following email.

BLOW UP is a great film incidentally. It really captures the vitality of early 60's youth culture in LONDON in vivid color. ANTIONIONI was a great master of cinema. I must say in fairness to PETER that he certainly provided plenty of technical and general information and insight into the methods of ANTIONIONI. I definitely learned a great deal from him in regards to this aspect of the film.


Peter

You did not ask for any feedback on this movie. Nonetheless, in the spirit of the rather bull-headed protagonist in the movie BLOW UP, I am going to presumptiously present some anyway without deference to social niceties etc.

For some real insight into the film you might want to do some research on MOD couter-culture proper. Thinking of this as a movie about SWINGING LONDON for me is far too vague of an observation. It is very specifically a movie about MOD culture in London which was the most progressive and influential subculture of that period. The protagonist in the film is clearly an un upper echelon MOD success story. An "ace face" as such folks were and still are known in England. This is evident from his very specific sartorial statement of identity. The chelsea boots, velvet jacket with (essential from exacting MOD standpoint), third pocket, white trousers, Ben Sherman shirt and so on. His assistant also displays his MOD credential very prominently.

From this perspective it is possible to gain a great deal of insight into the fractured nature of the story's plot. There was a very common propensity for usage of pills amongst mods mostly uppers. BLOW UP could easily be interpreted as a rather cautionary tale of a young hip MOD impressario whose amphetamine usage is taking him into the realm of psychosis and paranioa. This is evidenced by references to his looking "tired", his quick mood changes and fast paced progression from scene to scene, his jerkiness of movement, his short attention span and much more. Ultimately he is cracking up as a result of his lifestyle. 60's London was full of such MOD speed freak impressario's who oftentimes had rather extreme career arc's as a result of their pill fueled approach to achieving their (oftentimes culturally revolutionary) personal ambitions.

A similar theme was also explored in QUADROPHENIA by The Who.

Interestingly, The Who were the first choice of band for the performance scene in BLOW UP. They passed on the opportunity which led to The Yardbirds taking the role in proxy. Indeed they not only stepped in for THE WHO but quite literally 'aped' THE WHO's aggro performance style of which the destruction of equipment was a hallmark. Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds guitarist, was known far more for his dexterity and masterful usage of effects (wah wah) and did not feel the need to resort to any sensationalistic tactics ordinarily. If you look at footage from that period of THE WHO performing, you will often see their audience transfixed and stationary staring at the band in disbelief and to a degree fear. THE WHO were violent and intimidating. They would blow up their gear with actual explosive charges and did not hesitate to assault fans who they thought were stepping out of line. A great example being WOODSTOCK during which PETE TOWNSHEND of THE WHO took exception to ABBY HOFFMAN taking to the stage during their set. His way of expressing this unhappiness was to knock ABBY H off the stage with a round house swipe of his guitar.

In many ways BLOW UP is a very "true to life" documentary that captured a significant shift in the cultural winds of 60's LONDON. This is even shown in the driving scenes that you commented upon. They show LONDON in transition from the 'gray', bombed out and austere post world war 2 City that it was into the rebuilt cultural hub that it became. The CITY itself is one of the predominant characters in the film.

If you care to explore this MOD perspective on the movie I would have to recommend "Stoned" - the sutobiography of Andrew Loog Oldham. He ultimately managed the ROLLING STONES and was the quintiscential ROLLS ROYCE driving, impeccably dressed MOD impressario of that era. The protagonist of BLOW UP could easily be based upon Oldham.

It is my firm belief that you cannot understand this film properly without understanding the rather beautiful and arcane MOD sub-culture that spawned its existence. As a youth movement it required many of the elements that you see in the movie as precepts for "belonging" within its ranks. Class warfare, the naked ambition of the first generation to grow up in England without rationing for many years, drug usage, celebration of youth, sartorial elegance and so on.

With that assertion I bid you.

Adieu

John

Reviews of my last outing at the RUBY ROOM to DJ....Not sure what to make of them overall. It seems like there were mixed feelings about my styley...As per usual.

The Ruby Room

4 star rating
1/30/2009

I have to weigh in with a response to the two ladies below who are talking about the music they heard a few Saturdays ago. First of all they are obviously not regulars as they would know that Tim and Alfredo, the owners of The Ruby Room normally play records on Sat nights. I was there that SAT night and the dude they are talking about was subbing in for Alfredo. That dude is pretty weird. He shows up at the Ruby Room or Radio on rare occasion and is always dressed up like an old man or something. Stripy loud jackets and shit. I talked to him one time b/c he was sitting next to me at Radio on his own. Instead of raging he was like drawing or something. Total geeky. I asked if he dug these chick sitting by us. He starts going on about his wife and baby and shit and gets all misty eyed on me. So I notice he is wearing glitter and figure it must have come off a ho or something. I ask him if he is coming from a strip club. He asks why I would ask such a weird question. So I bring up the glitter and he tells me that he wears it to make him look pretty. I tell him that I'm not into faggots but whatever. So the weirdo grabbed me by the neck and threatened to kick my ass. He totally bruised my neck and tore my new shirt from xmas. So all I wanna say about that English guy is that he is a fag and should be allowed in there. He should go to the White Horse or something. Alfredo told me that Sat that he was showing off too much and that people don't like that hip hop shit so I doubt he will be back anyway. Sorry ladies. Had to call out that faggit. Like he has a wife and shit. Glitter wearing fool.
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Pamela B.

Oakland, CA

1/19/2009

I also was at the Ruby Room this last Saturday. I go there pretty regularly. There was a different DJ playing with the regular guy for sure. He was wearing white pants and sounded Scottish. That guy was crazy! He danced like a mad robot. His tunes and mixing were way better than the usual crew. Sometimes he got a bit scratch crazy but overall I was fully impressed too. I remember him mixing The Police into ZZ top and making it sound like techno sort of...Who was that dude? I could not understand a word he said.

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Jackie P.

Oakland, CA

1/19/2009

The Ruby room is always fun. Enough has been said already on this subject below. I went there this last Saturday (17th) with a few friends and saw/danced to one of the best DJ's I have ever experienced. He gave me a CD called ElectroPhonic Funk which I have been listening to non-stop ever since. Unfortunately I did not catch his name. This cat was tearing it up while mixing an amazingly diverse set of tracks. The Cure, Sly Stone, Michael Jackson and Chicks on Speed all mashed up together with some intense hip hop technique. Throughout he was also literally bouncing off the wall to the beat like some sort of de-blackened James Brown. I am going back next Sat to see if he is there again. If anyone knows who this was though please drop me a line. I want to thank him for the CD and a great night out.

Transcriptors - High end turntables one of which was featured in CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Founded in 1960 by the late David Gammon, Transcriptors was one of the World’s leading manufacturer of manual turntables, tone arms and accessories, and one of the most modern Hi Fi manufacturing plants in Europe during the 60’s, 70’s and the early 80’s. Many readers will be familiar with our turntables, which have been widely used in numerous television commercials, and in many films, including the classic 1971 film ‘A Clockwork Orange’ which used our 1964 Hydraulic Reference turntable in various scenes throughout the film. Our products have been copied and reproduced all over the world, from the ‘Concept 2000’ and the ‘Audio Linear’. Even today’s modern turntable design’s bear there origins to the striking designs that were designed by David Gammon, perhaps no better compliment could be paid to his famous turntables.

Sadly David passed away in December 2005 after a long illness. He leaves five children Michael, David, Natasha, Ben and Olga, and four grandchildren.


Phase1 | England 1960 - 1967

Employed by Almer Components as chief engineer that he designed the Transcriptor arm along with the sweep arm and stylus brush. These designs were born, due to the lack of professional devices that were manufactured by various audio companies

His friend Brian Allan (who was a photographer at the time) suggested to David that they should take some photographs and send them to Hi-fi News as a joke not thinking they would get published. He was amazed to find in their next issue that the pictures had been published. David started producing the Transcriptor Arm and the accessories part time in his flat. It was not until he was approached by an audio research laboratory in the early months of 1963 , that he started production of the Reference turntable. The laboratory required a turntable that could meet the strict criteria required for highly accurate audio testing, and so the Reference turntable was designed. It was designed around the Transcriptor arm and was the most advanced turntable unit that had been produce at that time. He also designed a turntable unit for the then British audio company, Goodman's.

In 1964 after leaving Almer Components, they offered him two room's for thirty pound's a week at Holloway Road, which were situated above the Almer Components premises, and with a small workforce of seven he started production on a full time basis. However after a year, he out grew the premises, and moved to Theobald Street, Borehamwood.

Phase2 | England 1967 - 1973

After moving to the new factory he was now in the position to increase turntable production. A year later this resulted in his next design, the Saturn. The table was produced alongside the Hydraulic turntable. In 1969 the late Stanley Kubrick visited David at his Borehamwood factory and asked him if he could purchase a Hydraulic Reference to use in his latest film project. He let Stanley have the turntable free of charge. The turntable made its appearance in the bedroom and hospital scene of the 1971 classic, A Clockwork Orange which starred the much acclaimed actor Malcolm McDowell. Various turntable parts were also used in another Stanley Kubrick production, 2001 A Space Odyssey. His other designs included turntables for department stores which allowed them to show there goods in their display windows.

CLOCKWORK ORANGE - Alex foments a menage a trois by way of reference to his peerless sound system and its illustrious reproduction capabilities

++++++
Alex: “What you got back home, li'l sister, to play yer fuzzy warbles on?
I bet you got, say, pitiful, portable picnic players?
Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angels' trumpets and devils' trombones.
You are invited!” -- A Clockwork Orange

Ruby Room - Sat 17th - "Trying not to succumb to the Cheese loving masses"

Any Christina? Any Brittney?

I spun records at the RUBY ROOM last Saturday with Tim, one of the owners of this establishment and all around good guy.

(More to come)

THE FALL - My Playlist on YOUTUBE

For those of you who like THE FALL and/or Mark E Smith. Below you can access my collection of video footage concerned with aforementioned subjects.

www.youtube.com/view_play_list

GOLDEN YEARS - Alcohol and the creation of the coolest scenes.

The thing about bars....

The occasionally beautiful but oftentimes ghastly "dumbing down" effects of Alcohol when ingested by a random sampling of our co-citizens many of whom were already "deficit spenders" to start off with....

A fit looking bald man with a scar on the corner of his works the room as adeptly as possible given the sartorial handicap of flip flops and stone-wash.

On the other side of the bar, by the pool tables, a "soon to be bald" man with a brave and sensible crew cut dances to the sub par Reggae Dancehall track that emanates from the Internet. He really goes for it...feverishly swinging his hips around in circles while stroking imaginary buttocks with his outstretched hands. Air "doggy styling" it to death and genuinely feeling sexy whilst so doing. He must have received positive feedback for prior versions of this performance in my mind. His confidence is high. A girl sitting at the bar notices and encourages him by name...."Git down Reginald...you go!" she emits squeakishly.

Two gay African American gents at the bar make eyes at me. Likely the result of my wearing a dusting of silver glitter as is my customary wont. They are distracted by the arrival of Sonic Youth on the Jukebox as my choices finally start to kick in....Apparently they were the prior custodians of the air space. Abusers would be a more apt description in my view. Aural insults qued up with intent to pollute the collective head. Mediocre Nu-Metal/Emo dirge followed by plastic r and b sentimentalization "on click".

"What is this shit?" Asks one of the other..."It must be one of your picks". Comes the response.

"Tis not....! I have no idea what this shit is...."

They start to "pretend fight" over the matter.

ON AN EXPRESSWAY TO YRRRRR SKULL!!!!!!

The lads interpret Sonic Youth's interjection (a corruption of the classic 60's soul song title -"Expressway to yr Heart") as cause for intensifying their drunken slap/shove/grab "joke" altercation.

A bar stool falls over.

Gay lads are still lads....with lads strength and lads testosterone...I observe.

"Hey you guys!" I exclaim....."Try to retain at least a shred of dignity huh??"

The fluffier headed of the two takes note of my comment and acknowledges its acuity by way of a sheepish shrug of the shoulders and embarassed smirk. Their combat abruptly comes to a close.

Optimistically they choose to interpret my decision to engage them as potential evidence of my romantic interest in one/both of them. Their bar stools swivel around until they are oriented libidinously towards me. I am hit by a two nosed, four eyed, toothy grin powered homo erotic broadside somewhere in the vicinity of my "fo'castle". Their assault is rendered impotent though upon encountering the turgid and monotonous entrenchment of my heterosexuality.

"Golden Years" kicks in on the jukebox.

"Run for the shadows....run for the shadows." intones David Bowie.

The lads decide to take his advice and march for the exit.

I look at my watch. 1.35 am.

It is my birthday I realize.

"Golden Years."

A girl vomits onto the pool table to my right upsetting the gentlemen who are playing 8 ball thereon.

I finish my Guiness and leave.

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lINK TO rOCKET mORTON VIDEO ON YOU TUBE AND UNRELATED GRAYHOUND STORY

www.youtube.com/v/K7OsdI9H...fs=1">


Above ... link to new video on YOUTUBE that corresponds with ROCKET MORTON's house classic..."BE". Joe Bob says check it out...

Alles is Kaputt!


BBC NEWS
Final punt for famous dog track

Over the years Walthamstow greyhound track has attracted stars from Winston Churchill to Brad Pitt, lured to the venue for a night of gambling and excitement.

But on Saturday the dogs will burst from their traps for the final time.

The London stadium, famously featured on the front of Blur's album Parklife, has been sold to property developers.

Its owners say falling profits and attendances have forced them to sell-up after 75 years.

L&Q Housing Trust, part of the development consortium Walthamstow Stadium Developments Limited, will take ownership of the land on 1 September.

Walthamstow without the stadium is like Paris without the Eiffel Tower
Barry Clegg, Walthamstow Greyhound Owners Association

A mixture of new homes are set to be built and developers say half will be "affordable" properties.

But before then, punters can enjoy one last flutter on the dogs.

It was first opened in 1933 by William Chandler, who started out operating as an illegal street bookmaker.

And the pink and red neon of the stadium's celebrated sign quickly became synonymous with a good night out in the East End.

Internet gambling

Walthamstow Stadium has also been a popular location for films, music videos and TV shows including Eastenders, London's Burning and Murphy's Law.

Adverts for lager, cars, sports clothing and even cereal have been filmed there as well.

Under the development plans, the facade will be retained in recognition of the track's famous history.

Over the years the stadium has stayed in the Chandler family.

But William's grandson Charles, chairman of the British Greyhound Racing board, says operations have become "unsustainable".

The advent of high street and internet gambling means punters are no longer betting in such great numbers with the bookies, tic-tacs and totes on its trackside pitches.

Other celebrities who have visited Walthamstow down the years include actress Lana Turner and footballer- turned-actor Vinnie Jones.

And before fame and fortune, a young David Beckham used to collect glasses in the stadium's restaurant.

Its iconic place in greyhound racing history means it will be sorely missed.

A protest against the sale took place in July.

Despite this, and a last-ditch attempt by a consortium of businessmen and wealthy individuals to save the track for racing, it is not expected to succeed.

A family spokesman said as far as the Chandlers were concerned the stadium had been sold and would pass into the possession of developers on 1 September.

'Lovely pets'

The Walthamstow Greyhound Owners Association has contacted the stadium's 11 trainers to ensure all the dogs will be cared for.

Chairman Barry Clegg said most of the 500 greyhounds that race at Walthamstow would move on to pastures new.

"The majority will continue with the trainers and race at other tracks," he said.

"But for the ones that are getting near the end of their careers, the kindest thing would be to find them a new home.

"They make lovely pets and are wonderful with children.

"There are massive misconceptions about them. They are complete coach potatoes. They only want a little walk and spend the rest of the time sitting down."

Mr Clegg, who used to have his own pack of dogs at the stadium, added: "I'm absolutely gutted to see the stadium close. I've been coming since I was a boy.

"Walthamstow without the stadium is like Paris without the Eiffel Tower.

"It's an iconic building, it made you feel alive. It was a sport second to none. There's no better feeling in the world."

Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-...7558967.stm

Published: 2008/08/15 00:35:17 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Sublime moments in Cinema.....with theE Bomber - the narcotic undertow of Disney's JUNGLE BOOK.

Do you remember watching the Disney Movie "The Jungle Book" as a kid? I certainly do. As a matter of fact someone must have bought the soundtrack for me back when I was a mere sprog. I surmise this having found the soundtrack LP amongst the pile of records I had left behind in England as a kid last time I went back to visit. I have spent some time listening to it since then having subsequently brought it back to the States with me. Recently I picked up an American version from Goodwill along with a video cassette of the actual movie. Disney has never short changed the consumer when it comes to options for purchasing their output suffice to say....

While the whole soundtrack is noteworthy for its timeless appeal and straight up grooviness, ("Bare Necessities", "I wanna be like you" etc) I find myself drawn to the down-tempo stylings of "Trust in me", when it comes to picking a favorite track. This soporific, string laden, jazz/blues inflected track is graced with lyrics that can be interpreted innocently or from a more worldly perspective.

"Slip into silent slumber....slowly and surely your senses will cease to exist" ..... (excerpt from lyrics)

The accompanying scene in the movie is one in which a treacherous snake hypnotizes Mowgli, the young boy who is the hero of the story with his ever spiraling eyes. It does this with a view to ultimately eating him once he is thoroughly subdued. It does not take too much imagination to see how this could symbolize the passage of an individual from drug user to drug abuser to addict to deceased...The seductive and increasingly disabling nature of heavy narcotic experimentation represented by the snake and it's efforts to engage and dispatch Mowgli.

"Adam and Eve meets Drugstore Cowboy as envisioned by Damian" {future Hollywood Pitch for a remake}

"Trust in me" has a similar feel to "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed in terms of musical temperament and pacing . Its underlying semi-covert subject matter may well be the same too methinks...

"Your gonna reap just what you sowed" and all that....

"Ahhhhh ... a run of the mill heroin lullaby/funeral dirge from our friends at Disney. One for the wee kiddies out there."


YR IMAGINEERINGLY

Phonic theE Bomber

p.s. I might be wrong about all of this