Vic Mars presents A guide to your local countryside

Bucolic jam of the highest order. Featuring the tune Butterflies Bees & Other Insects by Vic Mars. The video though mainly features birds.

Another prime slice of bucolica from Vic Mars. This video featuring Walking On A Bearing which is another tune that turned up a few years later on his 2015 LP The Land And The Garden on Clay Pipe Music. 

The video's got ye olde hiking in the countryside. There's cows, roads, ruins, rolling hills, a bus, a village and a headland on the bay. Somewhere in Britain in the 60s or 70s I presume. Lovely.  

The Road Through The Village - Vic Mars [2015] 

More of the same probably from the same source as the previous footage. All manner of out of the way stuff. Some of these old clips seem to be older than the 70s. We get vintage images of canals, birds, boats, fishing, a salvation army band, babies eating butties, eldery folks, gardens, tea rooms, scones with jam and cream, ponds, parks, churches, fishies, ducks, even a bloody horse and cart, flora & fauna, the woods, couples on bicycles, quaint cars, a ye olde hardware shoppe and a tranquil sunset.

The Land And The Garden - Vic Mars [2015]

All this lovely music was apparently created on a mellotron and recorded on tape. Are all the flutes, guitars, dulcimers and glockenspiels synthesized too, I dunno. Mars is influenced by all sorts of things like memories, meadows, kids telly soundtracks by legends Freddie Philips & Vernon Elliot, ye olde composers like Vaughan Williams & Gustav Holst, Vintage British Railways posters, library music, specific geographical locations, early ambient, Virginia Astley, nostalgia for a lost England, school music etc.. All similar ingredients to hautological acts yet there's nothing disconcertingly sinister or particularly eerie about it. The picturesque  homespun warmth of these graceful pastoral jams is a pure delight.

The Land And The Garden is a deeply personal work based on the childhood memories of Mars' native Herefordshire composed while he was homesick in a foreign country. It evokes an idyllic time in the 70s and 80s when he would explore the liminal spaces at the edge of town of where the village meets the countryside and beyond.

Villages, Hamlets & Fetes - Vic Mars [2015]

Step right up every tune is a winner...

Wall Of Ivy - Vic Mars [2015]

In a way those above ye olde nostalgia videos detract from this charming music. I prefer just listening to the album, it's a whole lot more than a cheap nostalgia rush. The beauty of this music doesn't have to be tied to a specific time and place. I'm enjoying it here and now. Having said that this one's a bit Trumpton-y.

A Trip To Trumpton

Camberwick Green - Freddie Philips [1966]

Dreamy acoustic guitar and glockenspiel. 

[1967]

Here is the clock

The Trumpton clock

Telling the time steadily, sensibly 

Never too quickly

Never too slowly

Telling the time for Trumpton.

Mrs Honeyman: The Village Gossip [1966]

Genius succinct twenty second song from Brian Cant and Freddie Philips.

Chatter chatter

Have you heard the latest gossip...

Not a word to anyone

But do you know the... 

Natter natter

Well, my dear, you know 

You could have knocked me over with a feather

I was shocked

Urban Hype - A Trip To Trumpton [1992]

Trumpton samples, breakbeats, anthemic pianos and ruff rave riffage. Hardcore raving goodness or as one mush in the comments says "cheesy chart shite". I mean it's hardly very hard hardcore but its a whole lotta fun. Some called it Toytown Techno or Chartcore.

Grange Hill Theme

Da Feem Choonz

The opening credits for the first episode of Grange Hill from 1978. Featuring the unmistakable sounds of Alan Hawkshaw. 

Apropos of nothing Emma put on season 5 of Grange Hill from 1982 after tea the other night. Not seen these episodes since 1982 but I probably watched it up until the late 80s. Maybe the ABC stopped showing it, if my memory serves. Anyway surprisingly some episodes were still quite watchable, then again some were horrendous and infuriatingly unwatchable. Mainly what makes it interesting though is the time capsule aspect indicating how much our freedoms have been eroded since I was a kid. I mean in Starmer's Britain some of these scallywags would be getting a visit from the the fuzz because of words. 

Alan Hawkshaw - Chicken Man [1976]

Feem tune gold.

An absolute banger and all time classic British telly theme tune.

The jolly bouncing funkiness of it all is so infectious, exuberant and full of cheeky swagger.

Make no mistake this isn't just a great library music or top theme tune for the telly, it's one of the greatest pieces of music of the 70s!

So the Grange Hill theme came from a 1976 music library record from Themes International Music called Rock Comedy. 

Fun Fact: Hawkshaw played keyboards on Donna Summer's classic 1977 LP Once Upon A Time.

Write the theme tune, sing the theme tune.

Opening credits for Minder. Funnily enough Dennis Waterman didn't write the theme tune at all. It was co-written by his Mrs, Patricia Waterman and some other bloke.

Dennis Waterman - I Could Be So Good For You [1979]

Absolute time capsule gold of a video. Filmed at Church Street Market London before the influx. Waterman seems very strange or maybe he's just had one pint too many. Worth watching for the lady with the dog sequence and the bit where he's sleazing onto a saucy parking inspector...  so much awkward... everybody seems to hate him. They don't make 'em like this any more folks.

Back in the days when there was comedy. 

Comedy: It's funny. You might like it. 

You haven't got long to live you know. Go on give it a try.

Opening and closing credits to Only Fools and Horses.

John Sullivan - Only Fools And Horses Theme [1982] 

Here's a video that prints the lyrics which sheds some light on what they're on about. 

Stick a pony in your pocket 

?

*Reliably informed by the Welsh lady in residence that a pony is 20 quid.

Many think this is Rodney singing. I just assumed it was Chas n Dave. Anyway it turns out Only Fools creator/writer John Sullivan wrote the tune intending for Chas n Dave to sing it but they couldn't make it on the day so he just sang it himself.

John Sullivan - Hooky Street [1982]

This clears up what some of those lyrics are. 

Mush

? 

*Emma tells me a mush a dude

The end of an Only Fools And Horses episode is great because you get this, the best closing credits song in the history of telly.

"TVs, Deep Freeze & David Bowie LPs"

"No income tax or VATs

No Money back, no guarantee"

Chicory Tip - Son Of My Father

[1972]

Chipper Moog led glam rock bubblegum goodness on the beach with mums pushing prams in the background.

Number one baby!

Denim - Middle Of The Road

Denim - Middle Of The Road [1993]

Still a fucking top tune!

"Force fed your so called heroes"

I always assumed this was some sort of minor hit because I heard it on Melbourne's airwaves on 3RRR and 3PBS back in the day but maybe it was just on those British obsessed specifically Anglophile shows I used to listen to. And I recall the genius pop triumph Back In Denim getting in the 1992 Melody Maker best albums of the year chart but...

Anyway apparently there's a critically acclaimed book about Felt/Denim/Go-Cart Mozart main man Lawrence that came out last year. So maybe he's finally having a resurgence and will get be famous in his 60s. Can you have a resurgence if you didn't really get a surgence.

Denim - Back In Denim [1992]

Stomping glam choon with massive crowd chorus worthy of a terrace chant. Before Suede and Oasis jumped on the bandwagon. Legendary.

Denim - Song For Europe [1992]

Lawrence and the boys and lady some of whom were Glitter Band veterans on Vic & Bob's Popdoodledandy. This was a 1992 pilot for channel 4 for a show that was never commissioned. The hilarious episode didn't got aired until 2012 and is now considered a cult lost item in Vic & Bob lore. There you go, you learn something every day.

Denim - Summer Smash [1997]

I didn't even know they did anything after Back In Denim. I mean I thought music was done by 97 so I wasn't really paying attention. All the great 90s genres were finished: Shoegaze, Grunge, lo-fi, ambient, hardcore rave, jungle, techno and whatever were over. Post-rock, trip-hop and brit-pop were starting to get way too fucking boring and I wasn't into tech-step or speed garage until later when I realised I had been wrong. 

This tune though coulda been a an absolute summer smash to go along with Bittersweet Symphony and Tubthumping before the teenybopper-ization increased its stranglehold on the second half of the 90s. However that was not to be. The story goes that this Radio 1 single of the week was cancelled just after promotional copies had been sent out due to the death of Lady Diana. It was considered that mourners may have thought the title was in poor taste at that moment in time.

Mozart Estate - Relative Poverty [2022]

Lawrence is still a card and this is funny stuff.

Come On sing it!

"I'm living in relative poh-hov-erty

I'm living on a tenner a day

Goodness gracious

a tenner a day!"

Brilliant video for a brilliant tune directed by Jesus And Mary Chain's bass player Douglas Hart and Valerie Philips. Someone in the comments neatly calls it ChaznDaveWave. Actually the comments are onto it: Syd Barrett, The Kinks, Marc Bolan, Chaz n Dave, wrote the theme tune sang the theme tune - Minder, Grange Hill & Only Fools And Horses. 

Those upbeat bouncy synths redolent of British TV sports themes and library albums put this in a zone similar to hauntological acts like Position Normal and Belbury Poly. Actually I've always thought the first Denim LP could have been a precursor to all that stuff too maybe was it just the track The Osmonds.

Mozart Estate - Electric Rock n Roll

This one's just from a coupla months ago. A revival of of a twenty year old Go-Kart Mozart tune. I wanna feel good, get pissed and go down town tonight to the disco like I'm 23 years old again.

Girl, I feel good now
So put your red dress on
Oh, you look so cool
Nails and make-up done

Oh we're all gonna go downtown tonight
Oh we're all gonna go downtown tonight

All those nights she danced to electric rock and roll
All those nights she danced to electric rock
Electric rock and roll

Girl, oh you taste good
Oh you turn me on
Move to the DJ
I'm gonna shoot my gun

Electric rock and roll

Jimmy!

Saving your frisbee could set your flares on fire! 

...or even worse... 

...aww no...

Jimmy!

RIP Jimmy.

Moral Of The Story: Save your flares not your frisbee.

Lawrence English - Viento

Patagonia [2015]

A very windy wind recording. Lots of wind. Squalling wind. Not just the wind though, all the the things around being affected by the wind like abandoned buildings, trees, road signs, fences, grass and misc. other items. 

Antarctica [2015]

Chilly winds captured in Antarctica. The sound of the howling wind during a blizzard battering the recording equipment and the base camp building causing all sorts of reverberations, drones, low frequency vibrations and general sonic havoc.

The Scenic Route - The Pattern Forms

Five years later: The Scenic Route is a splendid album that still holds up which is pretty good for a retro faux library LP. Lush downtempo electronic library jams. Exquisite arrangements and melodies take this beyond mere library muzak recreations. These are sublime luxurious instrumentals, smooth, sweeping, soulful and cinematic.  

For cruising or daydreaming in any kind of weather at any time of day... 

Nice...

This cover designed by Paul Flack of Trunk Records fame is excellent, appealing on so many levels. So evocative of idyllic seaside drives. Then there's the whole fantasy of living the lighthouse life...

Gee I dunno... you think it was inspired by this 70s library LP cover at all... 

This original design was done by Nina Klein for Studio G's 1974 music library Scenic and Romance: Volume 2.

This fascinating documentary from the BBC Archive might put you off your living in a lighthouse fantasy. 

Peter Balke [1845?]

Clarkson Stanfield [1836]

A coupla great ye olde paintings with lighthouses in. Also containing boats. I like a very lot.

The Secret Love Life Of The Octopus - Pierre Henry

[1967]

Abstract reverb drenched musique concrète.  

I would have liked to have heard the entire thing sans French fella voice over but that doesn't seem to be available on anything. 

Pierre Henry & Michel Colombier - Jéricho jerk [1968]
Musique concrète crossed with funky rock for novelty fusion fun in the 60s.

Pierre Henry - Appocalypse De Jean [1968]

Before industrial, dark ambient, drone and noise you had Pierre Henry and this epic one hour and forty minute apocalyptic musique-concrète jam.  

Biblical man!  

Steve Hiett - Down On The Road By The Beach

[1983]

Dreamy sun drenched summer days to infinity. 

Hazy sea breeze hypnagogic surf guitars glisten on the beach.