The Devil gets all the best movies...

To celebrate the BFI release of Ken Russell’s film The Devils – which I’ve reviewed at length in the current edition of Uncut – I'm posting up some photos from the Daily Telegraph Magazine (issue 350, 9 July 1971), which featured an interview and on-location report by Lee Langley. Until this year I’d only seen the film once - in the early 90s, Channel 4, on a tiny portable black and white TV. Seeing it again in this beautifully restored version, Russell's colour scheme, and the richness of the whole conception, really shine out. And the BFI have excelled themselves with the extras disc, too – behind the scenes footage, film of Peter Maxwell Davies conducting his harrowing score, some rarely seen Ken shorts, etc etc. One of the must-have DVDs of 2012.

A Walk to the Paradise Garden

My eight page feature on Roy Harper is the cover story on this month’s Wire magazine (issue 329, July 2011). The interview was conducted over a couple of days and Roy was kind enough to host it at his home in West Cork. Here is an exclusive virtual tour of the amazing landscape he has planted and built with his own hands in the grounds of his house. It is an idyllic creation, and makes a fascinating counterpoint to the more Edenic aspects of his music – you could almost see it as an organic song inscribed in the landscape...

“The Blackcap sings and the forest rings

The nettles tall around me...”

“With shafts of sun and moving things...”

“... And poems fast and slowly...”

“And fantasies of luscious thirst

For new lust and fresh waters to seek it...”

“Like diamonds set in realities...”

“Of skies drawn back in secret.”

Roy Harper, “Commune” (From Valentine, 1974)

I’m hosting a panel around Simon Reynolds’s new book, Retromania: Pop Culture’s Obsession with Its Own Past, at London ICA this week. Also in the panel will be Cosey Fanny Tutti (Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey), ‘reconstruction artists’ Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, and Caroline Evans, Professor of Fashion History at Central St Martin’s College of Art. We’ll be talking about the prevalence of ‘retro’ and nostalgia in the music, art and fashion in recent decades and pondering whether this has enhanced or diluted contemporary culture. Among other things.

Over And Over And Over And Over

London ICA, 2 June, 6:45pm, £12–£10

The rollicking Revolt of the Apes site has just published an interview with me by Ryan Muldoon.

Hello America

The US edition of Electric Eden is published on Tuesday 10 May (Faber via Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Revised, updated and corrected!

Just finished reading Fire And Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970, by David Browne (Da Capo). It’s a very detailed account of the interlinked fortunes of these artists and groups at a transitional point in rock history (see Jon Savage’s compilation of a few years back, Meridian 70), and the author has already tackled the twin biography of Tim and Jeff Buckley and the story of Sonic Youth. Although the Beatles breakup year feels very well chronicled elsewhere, it's an engaging read, particularly for the mass of material on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – I could have happily read a whole book on these volatile personalities who managed, for a brief interlude, to make some of the most gorgeous folk-rock on earth – and let’s not forget that a good deal of it was powerful reactions to horrific political events – “Ohio”, for instance, written spontaneously two weeks after the Kent State University shootings.

I’ve reviewed the book for the next issue of Word, but meanwhile I recommend steering your wooden ship back to solo albums like Crosby’s If Only I Could Remember My Name and Stills’s first solo LP. Those, at least, are my current soundtrack to these early summer breezes.

60 years ago, on 1 June 1951, the great folklorist A. L. Lloyd hosted Singing Englishmen, a celebration of British folk song. Part of the Festival of Britain, it was held at St Pancras Church near Kings Cross, and involved a programme of folk songs sung by the Workers' Music Association Choir, with arrangements by the composer Alan Bush. Both Bush and the WMA had strong connections to Topic Records, going back to the label's formation in 1939, and stem from an era before any of the major post-war folk revivals, as we know them, had actually taken place (Ewan MacColl and his gang didn't really get going until several years later).

60 years on, the Southbank Centre is hosting its own revival of the spirit of the Festival of Britain. Last Saturday I took my daughter up there and found the forecourt outside the Royal Festival Hall packed solid with people listening to Billy Bragg belting his song “A13 Trunk Road To The Sea” out towards the choppy Thames. (One to add to my short list, in Electric Eden, of that rare commodity, the British driving song.) In the RFH basement, tucked away so you could easily miss it, is an excellent exhibition of Festival of Britain memorabilia – posters, graphics & typefaces, film screenings, an amazing quilt made by local schoolchildren at the time depicting all aspects of British life, furniture, etc – in that unrepeatable 1950s fusion of folk craft and modernism. Well worth a visit.

And this Saturday, I’ll be compering the Festival Hall’s commemoration of Lloyd’s Singing Englishmen event. Entitled The Great Folk Jukebox, it’s been convened by members of Bellowhead, who’ll be acting as a ‘house band’ behind such singers as Marc Almond, Green Gartside, Lisa Knapp, June Tabor, Robyn Hitchcock, Bishi, Oysterband and more, doing their own renditions of British folk numbers. Far from the stark and no doubt rather wholemealy songbook of 1951, these will be versions that draw on the more recent arrangements of the folk-rock era, by the likes of Pentangle, Shirley Collins, etc – illustrating how far folk music in the British Isles has moved since the war. Should be an interesting one.

The Great Folk Jukebox

Royal Festival Hall, Saturday 7 May, 7:30pm

Wise words from the departing...

Anyone in the Bristol area this weekend, I’m giving an introductory talk at Musick To Play In The Dark: A Wake for Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, a special event at the Cube Cinema. also appearing: The Man From Uranus, Bronnt Industries Kapital, films, body art, Dirty Talk Disco DJs and more.

I’ve got a piece on English Music in this week’s New Statesman, which devotes a large section to the question of ‘Who Are the English?’ There’s also a great piece by Romantic Moderns author Alexandra Harris. The issue incidentally features a fantastic illustration of David Cameron as a Muslim imam on the cover.

Sowing the seeds

In one of today’s first announcements from the Arts Council of England in their revised budgets in the wake of government cuts, a first round pass of £615,400 plus £30,000 development funding has been granted to the EFDSS, with a particular emphasis on digital preservation and access. Here’ s the text of the initial ACE press release:

“The English Folk Dance and Song Society will work with five other nationally important English folk music and dance archive collections to tell the story of traditional, rural and working class culture in 20th-century England. The project will carry out essential conservation work, digitise the collections and join them through a single web portal, allowing online public access to the collections for the first time. An educational programme will be run in 21 different locations in England with volunteers given training so they can help care for the collection and support the accompanying activity programme.”

Birdsong

Chirrup

Faber 1970.

I’ve got various talks and appearances lined up over the next few weeks. Here’s your chance to turn up and ask all those awkward questions...

Housmans Bookshop

Wednesday 9 February

45 minute talk + Q&A at London's celebrated radical bookshop situated near King's Cross.

Peace House, 5 Caledonian Road, London 7pm, £3 (redeemable against any purchase in the store). Details

Off The Page festival

Friday 11–Sunday 13 February

Not strictly Electric Eden related, but I'll be presenting a tribute to the French musique concrète composer Pierre Schaeffer (whose 100th anniversary was in 2010), including musical extracts and in conversation with Matthew Herbert, a modern exponent of sampled sounds from everyday objects.

The Playhouse, Whitstable, 11:30am–12:30pm, prices vary, tickets

This is part of The Wire magazine’s first festival dedicated to musical discussion and criticism, taking place in Whitstable, Kent. Also appearing: Robert Wyatt, Green Gartside (Scritti Politti), Dave Tompkins, Kodwo Eshun, Jonny Trunk, Christian Marclay, David Toop and more. See here and here for information.

Bristol Grammar School

Wednesday 16 February

Bringing it all back home to my birthplace. Readings, Q&A with Chris Hamlett, live music, food and drink. Part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Bristol Grammar School, University Road, BS8, 7pm, £8/£6, info

by:Larm

Friday 18 February

Q&A session with journalist Luke Turner (The Quietus), as part of Norway’s gigantic annual music convention.

Royal Christiania Hotel, Oslo, Norway, 4:30pm, details

The Sohemian Society

Wednesday 23 February

Readings and in conversation with Paul Murphy on British music and the country versus the city at this intimate monthly Soho literary gathering.

The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place, London W1, 7:30pm, £3, details

Bath Literature Festival

Saturday 26 February

Illustrated talk, readings and book signing. Plus weird and glamoury folk from the fabulous Emily Portman.

Masonic Hall, 12 Old Orchard Street, Bath, 8–10pm, £12/£11, info

AyeWrite!

Thursday 10 March

Talkin’ visionary folk at the massive Glasgow Book Festival.

Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 7:30–8:30pm, £8/£6, info

Andrew Cross is an artist whose work – in film, video and photography – is largely concerned with the changing British landscape. His English Journey (2004) traced transport routes of heavy goods vehicles through countryside, exploring – like Chris Petit’s recent film Context – the secluded rural/suburban environment of the goods transit centre network. He is also fascinated with the outdoor rock festival scene of the 1970s, and one work is a eulogy to Led Zeppelin’s final show at Knebworth, in a series of mournful photos of the spot in a forgotten corner of a field where the stage once stood. Last year he exhibited a photo of a burning barn – set alight by his father in the 1970s – alongside a short extract from Electric Eden.

His latest work, The Solo, features a 35 minute drum solo by Carl Palmer – yes, that Carl Palmer - shot in a minimal style and from a number of unusual camera angles. It elevates the Prog drum solo to a grand, physical, even magical act, suppressing Palmer's flamboyant personality to an almost abstract pattern of riffs and improvised percussive textures. The film is being premiered on Thursday 13 January at the Cockpit Theatre in Kilburn, and I'll be moderating a Q&A session with Andrew and Carl after the screening, which is free.

The Solo

Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, London NW8 7pm.

Event free, booking essential on 020 7258 2925

The Solo is also on show with a selection of Andrew’s other work here between 12–15 January:

Mummery+Schnelle Gallery, 83 Great Titchfield Street, London W1, Wed–Sat 11am–6pm.

No fear of time

My piece on Sandy Denny in the Guardian.

Happy New Year...

... To all readers of this blog, and by way of a late Yuletide offering, I should direct you straightaway to this incredible, gigantic Electric Eden playlist on Spotify. It really covers the range of the book, from the early 20th century pastoral composers via the 50s folk revival, 60s folk-rock/psych and through to the Unthanks, Trembling Bells et al. Well done Seamus, whoever you are!

Sleazy RIP

Sad news today, as reports come in of the death last night of Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson of Coil, apparently in his sleep after an illness. As anyone who's got to the final chapters of my book will know, I think Coil were heading into fascinating pagan/wildwood territory in their final phase, before the tragic death of John Balance. Sleazy worked hard afterwards to keep the Coil legacy alive as well as brilliantly reinventing his own work as the Threshold Houseboys Choir. I had the pleasure to meet him a few times over the years – we even DJed together once! – and for all his extreme interests he was a real gent in person. With a life that stretches from design work with Hipgnosis to the founding of Throbbing Gristle, plus the professional film directing and the epic psychedelic journeys of Coil and its offshoots, he takes a great deal with him as he goes.

Normal service resumed...

Sorry for the hiatus on this blog for the past couple of months. Unfortunately I got zapped with a very nasty illness at the end of October that put me in hospital for three weeks. Happy to say I've been out for a while now and getting back up to speed. Apologies to anyone who'd been hoping to see my appearances at Hebden Bridge, Housman's Bookshop and the Idea Store in Whitechapel, all of which I had to miss, though a couple may be rescheduled at some point. There's more Electric Eden related activity early in 2011 which I'll announce here in the near future.

It was a strange experience going into hospital while it was still a mild autumn and emerging into an icy winter. Still, there’s a new Patrick Keiller movie to contend with, BFI DVDs of old Public Information Films, an excellent BBC Four documentary on Elgar, the Sandy Denny box to wade through, a marvellous new CD by Britfolk-rock-inspired Americans Fern Knight, and Mick Houghton's brilliant account of Elektra Records, among much other stuff. Best of all, my wife is guest presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction this week and next! Hear it at the usual start time of 23:15 GMT or of course pick it up on the BBC iPlayer.

I can also announce that a US edition of Electric Eden will be published in spring 2011 by the good folks at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Faber are also preparing a smaller paperback edition in the UK to be released around the same time. In both editions, a bunch of small errors – some of which have been pointed out in various reviews and comments – will be corrected. I’m always happy to have any bloopers pointed out so please feel free to write to me if you think you’ve spotted one.

Book corner

Interest very much piqued by this review in last Saturday's Guardian. Alexandra Harris’s Romantic Moderns promises to be highly complementary to the themes in Electric Eden, focusing on the tensions between modernism, landscape and nostalgia in the English art and literature of the 20th century. I’m currently awaiting a copy and will review in more detail here once I’ve had a chance to read it.

Also deserving a mention is Mick Houghton’s Becoming Elektra, a thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated tome covering the whole span of Jac Holzman’s wide ranging enterprise. I’m hoping there’ll be a bit more on Elektra’s UK interests – particularly The Incredible String Band – than appeared in Holzman’s own autobiography. Mick will in fact be participating in tonight’s Caught By The River Social Club event at the King & Queen pub, Fitzrovia (see below). Start time for the talk is 7:30pm.

September diary dates

A couple of upcoming events this month, which I’m taking part in, that might be of interest:

Ghosts from the Basement

Saturday 25 September

Launch event for new Village Thing label compilation, with a panel discussion featuring just about anyone who's written (or writing) a book on folk in the last few years: myself, Will Hodgkinson (The Ballad of Britain), Jeanette Leech (Seasons They Change), Mark Jones (Bristol Folk), Richard Morton Jack (Galactic Ramble) and Colin Irwin (In Search of Albion).

The live line-up of this all-dayer is really strong too: Wizz Jones, Steve Tilston, Tucker Zimmerman, Ian A. Anderson, Dave Evans, Ian Hunt, Maggie Holland, Keith Christmas, The Owl Service, Jason Steel, Straw Bear Band, Pamela Wyn Shannon, The A. Lords with Mark Fry and more...

Cecil Sharp House, Regent’s Park Road, NW1, 2–11pm, £20 all day (£25 on door), evening only £15 (£20 on door). Tickets from Cecil Sharp House, 020 7485 2206.

Caught By The River Social Club

Wednesday 29 September

Electric Eden readings and Q&A session with Rob Young, hosted by Richard King (co-editor, Loops journal). Plus The Memory Band play music from The Wicker Man. Presented by the estimable anglers of the Caught By The River collective.

King and Queen pub (upstairs room), 1 Foley Street, London W1, 7–11pm, £5.