NOISES OFF Some people treasure their old Beatles and Rolling Stones albums. I, on the other hand, hoard L.P.s such as these from my youth, with their wonderfully sensational artwork by Andrew Prewett. The BBCs DEATH AND HORROR sound effects record got some rave reviews when it came out 1977. On it you can enjoy the fine art of chopping off a head (5 seconds) and hammering nails into flesh (18 seconds), as well as experiencing 3 Werewolves Howling (20 seconds), Lunatics Laughing (42 seconds), and a Panting Hell Hound (16 seconds). The 34 seconds you can spend in Dr Jekylls Lab just arent long enough. Neither are the 40 seconds worth of Squelching Footsteps which bring Side 1 to a threatening and presumably slimy conclusion. As the BBCs Ian Richardson wrote in his notes: spare a thought for the men who make them. They deafen themselves banging tin sheets making thunder, soak themselves with water for a Chinese water torture effect and tramp up and down gravel pits for hours providing necessary creepy footsteps. The cabbages that were mistreated to create decapitation and stakes through the heart were not only highly realistic - there was even some coleslaw left for dinner. The other two discs were less highly marketed, I recall, but contain much to amuse, such as the Sea of Mercury and Andromedan war machine provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on OUT OF THIS WORLD, which came out the previous year, along with some wonderful explosions on the DISASTERS disc and a track intriguingly and appropriately called Drinking Rudely! on the somewhat less inspired OFF BEAT L.P., with its smashing photo by Adrian Davies, Paul Hyett and Nigel Grigg on the cover.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:18:52 +0000
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