Disc 1, BITS, is available for streaming here
Disc 3, BOBS, later released as Ambient II [FORG 02, 2007], can be heard as part of an 8CD 'Virtual Boxset' of
A Walk In The Park and related music, available on YouTube, beginning here
Like its predecessor, Flotsam & Jetsam, this album is not current new material. Instead, it contains pieces which were recorded at the same time as previous albums, but missed the cut. Not because they aren't any good, it's just their face didn't fit, you know what I mean?
BITS
1. 39 (Murkin) [6.26] This was originally planned as the opening track of The Birds & The Bees, but I plumped instead for Slow Motion to create the atmosphere I was looking for. Had it appeared on that album, it probably wouldn't have been called 39, which was a working title based on the number of beats in the sequence which repeats throughout the piece, divided 6,6,7-6,6,8.
2. Water Music (Handel) [2.56] A touch of spectral mutation gives a slightly warped feel to my arrangement of this well-known piece by honorary Englishman, George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759). The story of this piece is that Handel (born Georg Friedrich HŠndel in the same year and same country as Johann Sebastian Bach) was employed by George, the Elector (a kind of King) of Hanover in Germany. However, deciding that London was where it was at, he obtained permission to make a short visit - and promptly 'forgot' all about his promise to return! Imagine his embarrassment, then, when Queen Anne died and who should turn out to be the next King of England, but his old boss, George, the Elector of Hanover . . . The two Georges made it up, though, and it is sometimes said that it was the Water Music, which Handel composed for the King as a surprise when he went for a boating trip up the Thames, which finally brought them together again.
Originally intended for inclusion somewhere between Occasional Train Blues and River on A Walk in the Park, I decided in the end, it didn't really fit, and the Accordion Man was given another number instead.
3. Choppy Waters (Handel/Murkin) [1.14] A technique I used in The Bells on The Birds & The Bees was to sample and chop up my version of Byrd's Bells of Osney, and use that as the basis for an entirely new composition. At the same time I also did this to Handel's Water Music, but after chopping it up and putting the bits back together in a different order, I decided not to add anything new. It was meant to go directly after Water Music on A Walk in the Park, but when Water Music was chopped, so was Choppy Waters.
4. Sheep May Safely Graze (J.S.Bach, arr. Murkin) [2.46] This guitar/bass/drums/sax arrangement of Bach's classic was to go on Walking with Bees - which has, amongst others, a recurrent sheep theme. However, the style and instrumentation didn't go with the surrounding tracks, and it was put out to pasture until such time as it could be brought back into the fold.
5. Temple Bells [25.18] A development of themes used in Temple Loop 4 and Secret Underground Laboratory on Devil's Island Discs, this piece includes a number of additional themes, and is scored entirely for tuned and untuned percussion of many sorts. It employs a lot of my favourite devices: repetition - sometimes of phrases of different length or different time signatures; sections contrasting fast and slow, solo or ensemble writing; some pleasant tunes and some barely-listenable-to cacophony - you know the sort of thing . . . It was intended for Return to Devil's Island, but as the tracks developed to fill Discs 1 & 2, this one didn't find a place.
6. The Avengers (Laurie Johnson) [4.49] Like Thunderbirds (on Devil's Island Discs), another of my favourite 60's TV themes. A track I've been working on, on and off, for some time, and now it's finished.
7. Minor Loss of Faith (Losing Faith, Variation 3) [1.51] One of the Losing Faith Variations that got left off The Birds & the Bees - there were just too many of them! Variation 4 ended up being called something else, so this one was left alone, until adopted here. The minor in this case is D minor.
8. The Islington March [3.28] Recorded during the 'Brass Band Sessions' that produced the Losing Faith Variations (including Variation 3, above), this is a rousing version of the theme from Islington first heard on the first album, From Aardvark to Zebra.
9. Brass Spy [6.03] Another version of the Music from an Imaginary Spy Film, also from the 'Brass Band Sessions'. Part of this arrangement ended up in Elastic Band on The Birds & the Bees.
10. The Conversation [2.02] Bruce and Victoria repair to the local hostelry after the end of recording.
11. Sailsloop 3 [6.00] While working on the variations on Sails in the Wind that became Drifting on Disc 2 of Return to Devil's Island, I completed this track, but it didn't fit what I was trying to do at that point, so it remained homeless until today.
[TOTAL: 60.03]
AND
It's back to 1972 again! And the band whose live albums only ever had one track per side return with two more lengthy workouts from their concert repertoire. Nowadays we can easily fit it all on one side of a CD, so no need to jump up in the middle, take the needle off and flip it over!
1. Boyz [26.42] a) Boyz (Boyce) [5.28] b) Bill's Blues (Murkin) [9.20] c) Solos (Murkin) [9.34] d) Boyz (reprise) (Boyce) [2.20] 26.42
2. Skyride [19.30] a) Intro (Murkin) [4.04] 30.46 a) Launchpad (Murkin) [6.05] 36.51 b) Orbit (Murkin) [5.23] 42.14 c) Heroes' Return (Murkin) [3.58] 46.12
[TOTAL: 46.12]
BOBS
Another piece of ambient noise and electronics, based on sounds from A Walk in the Park.
1. Long Walk Along the Canal (Murkin) [62.58]
[TOTAL: 62.58]
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