innocence and despair: the langley schools music project.
i'm confident this must be glasscock for some of you, but hopefully this will attract the effort some new fans. i played the cd for some friends this week and they hadn't encountered it before (and they were riveted by it), so hopefully b3ta will appreciate it too.
the story: in the mid-1970s, a few small schools in rural western canada employed an unorthodox and rather inspired musician named hans fenger to teach music. he shuttled between the schools and did what he could with minimal available resources and let his students guide the process as much as they wanted. after a short period of time, the students put on a series of concerts which were recorded and, strangely, pressed to vinyl for the kids and their families to buy and play. about 150 kids participated in the shows, which were recorded in 1976 and 1977.
the master tapes were lost, but the records still exist and the cds were mastered from the restored vinyl. this is pop music at its best, i think, utterly unencumbered by irony or shame. the results are not perfect - there are missed notes and inelegancies in sound engineering - but, i'd rather listen to this cd than nearly any pop music of the last ten to twenty years by 'professional' musicians.
finally, the schools involved are acting as trustees for the royalties from the sales of the cds, and are using the income toward musical education in their district. students who participated in the original recordings can, if they wish, be paid pro-rated royalties (or donate them back to the schools). each student is also welcome to a free cd upon proof of their claim - the schools are having trouble tracking down all the former students.
sample mp3s are here, and i'm told the whole cd is downloadable if you poke about. it's well worth buying, if you feel it suits your taste (i love it - space oddity and calling occupants of interplanetary craft are particularly brilliant).
edit: there are youtube links out there too - i didn't review them all, but a couple of things i saw were interesting.
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postbear has metal knees, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 6:27,
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i dislike children's choir singing but these are tollerable and somewhat interesting.
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d d, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 6:49,
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I've got this album...
...and it's f***ing ace!
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LeightonJimbo has remembered his password!, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 12:19,
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