Weekend Gallimaufry - BBC Radiophonic Workshop - 1964
By Gordonskene Sunday May 10, 2009 6:00pm
(Making an indelible impression on a curious teenage mind.)
If there was one single thing, one defining moment that turned my life around as a teenager, it would be the first time I heard "The Dreams" in 1966.
No, The Dreams are not a band - nobody played guitar, you can't dance to them. The Dreams was the first part of a four part Electronic Music piece originally broadcast over the BBC in 1964 and released by the BBC Transcription Service to radio stations in the U.S. shortly after.
It was described as "an invention for radio" conceived and written by Barry Bermange and scored by The BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The result was haunting, hypnotic and totally overwhelming for these fifteen year old ears. It completely changed the way I listened and reacted to music.
Having only captured half of it on tape at the time, I waited years to find the complete recording, when a radio station tossed out their BBC Transcription library. We collectors are adept at being dumpster divers, even before it was fashionable.
For a long time I thought Barry Bermange (a talented writer on his own) was the one behind the whole concept. I didn't realize until much later that The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was actually the brainchild of Delia Derbyshire, and she was the one responsible for the incredible electronic sound that accompanied the voices.
Her work has been sadly neglected over the years (she died in 2001), but reading about her I came to realize she had a huge influence over a lot of people in the 60's, from Luciano Berio to The Beatles.
Hearing The Dreams today is just as fresh as when I first heard it that Saturday night in 1966.
Some things are just destined to stay with you.
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oh my - listen to all those upper class accents - the introducer is particularly plummy. It's hard now to find a BBC accent that isn't regional.
... if memory serves me right ... was the person who put together the original Doctor Who theme - the music was written by Ron Grainer (who also wrote "The Prisoner" theme) - but she did all the production.
You're absolutely right. I'm pretty sure BBC Records issued an album of her Doctor Who tracks some time back. I don't know if it's been reissued on CD though.
Thanks for the information.
Gordon
In audio engineering circles, Delia Derbyshire is about as celebrated as a tape slinger can be. The woman was hot stuff when it came to pre SMPTE free wheeling sync!
As in The Magnificent Void from 1996:
www.steveroach.com/Music/discography.php?albu...
One of my favorite atmospheric works ever along with his Structures From Silence in 1984.
Delia was obviously way ahead of her time.
Thank you for this - I love audio collage like this, but have never heard of 'the dreams' until now.
...she had a huge influence over a lot of people in the 60's, from Luciano Berio to The Beatles.
The first set of dreams are truly creepy. This reminds me of the Beatles Revolution 9, though John Lennon, with Yoko Ono's influence, takes his musical experimentations to a whole other level of weirdness.
...gallimaufry?
Yep - didn't hit the second L.
Delia's a big name in the electronic musician world as well. Audiences may not have heard of her, but she's got quite a cult following among the musicians themselves. It's great to see eclectic posts like this being included as well as more mainstream offerings. Ta very much!
I don't know if Negativland's Over the Edge was influenced by this program, but if you like The Dreams, you'll love Over the Edge.
http://negativland1.netfirms.com/ote/
Somebody had far too much time on their hands. "Single defining moment?" LOL! Get help.
I love this piece, and it had a similar impact on me when I first heard it. Delia made a lot of beautiful noise, but most of her works seemed to chafe against the BBC's limitations of style and length. "The Dreams" gave her more room to stretch out and is one of her most fully-realized works... and is still very effective today, forty years on.
Your dumpster-rescued version definitely has better audio than the other online versions of this I've heard. Is there a place online where I can beg, borrow, or buy a lossless copy of this from you? You'd make me a very happy audiophile. :)
C&L is one of my daily bookmarks already, but this a very welcome suprise, and totally out of left field. Thanks!
Hey Charles:
Send along an e-mail address and I'll see what I can do.
Thanks and keep listening!
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
You can reach me at charles@tr...
My previous copy of The Dreams seems to have been recorded off wireless, since there's a constant high-pitched whine throughout. When I listened to your 64k mp3 again last night, I realized for the first time how effective the transition between the "running" and "falling" tracks are. As one of the narrators says she runs off the cliff, all the heartbeats and all noises just... stop, leaving the listener hanging there in the air with her.
(Incidentally, you wouldn't've happened to rescue Barry and Delia's other three Inventions for Radio, would you? I think The Dreams is the only one available online in any form...)
If you liked this, you might enjoy ABC Radio National's "The Night Air", which is like a slightly more subversive audio collage version of "This American Life".
Here's a link to their weekly podcasts:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/default.htm
And here's a good episode from two weeks ago:
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/curren...
Another good reason to subscribe to ABC Radio National's podcasts. They are wonderful, The Night Air is an amazing show. I agree with you 100%.
Thanks for mentioning this and I hope everybody checks it out.
Thanks again,
Gordon
I've been a long-time fan of Ms Derbyshire's work. A veritable trove of tapes came to light recently, underscoring just how far ahead of her time she was.
She was also seems to have been a very very engaging presence, in spite of her "Shane MacGowan" dentition.
I hope those newly discovered tapes see the light of day.
And yes, I heard about the "Shane McGowan" analogy. I understand that was what got her in the end. A sad story too often repeated with others, I'm afraid.
Thanks for your support. My whole reason for doing this blog is to share things with people they aren't familiar with, or haven't heard in a long time. With people like you around, I hope to be doing it for a long time.
thanks again,
Gordon
I see a number of recommendations in this thread, I'd like to add "Soviet France" to the list (sometimes filed as Zoviet France). "Voice Print Identification" is very much like this track - compellingly weird stories related in a variety of charming accents, along with rather chilling, even disorienting atmospheric music.
Thanks for the recommend. I'll check it out!
Gordon
This is moving even further away from "The Dreams", but since it tickles the same part of my brain that enjoys Over The Edge and The Night Air, maybe someone will find this useful: Blue Jam.
All three seasons are available online in realaudio format at http://cabinessence.cream.org/, and in mp3 format via bittorrent at btjunkie.org. A commercial release is out of print, but inexpensive to buy used from the UK.
From wikipedia:
"The programme gained cult status due to its unique mix of surreal monologue, music, synthesised voices, heavily edited broadcasts and recurring sketches. It featured the vocal talents of Kevin Eldon, Julia Davis, Mark Heap, David Cann and Amelia Bullmore. Morris himself delivered disturbing monologues, one of which was revamped and made into the BAFTA-winning short film, My Wrongs.
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