Artist : Edward Williams
Title : Life On Earth (Music From The 1979 BBC TV Series)
Genre : Soundtrack
Year : 2009
Date : 062010
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 16
Label : Trunk Records
Source : Vinyl
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 48:11 min
Size : 59,10 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.life on earth begins in the sun's 00:37
energy
02.first fossils - blue greens - ciliates 03:54
03.comb jellies - hydromedusae - birth 03:56
of a medusa - gymnopedie for jellyfish
04.coral larvae - arabesque for flatworms 02:03
05.the giant clam - slow dance for 03:28
nudibranchs - glaucus and valella
06.the sex life of the fern - spores, 04:23
fertilization and growth - pine cones a
07.coming out music - the leaf bug - the 04:06
spiny leaf insect sheds its skin - coco
08.fish of the sea - shoals and loners 02:53
on the reef
09.eusthenopteron and the primeval swamp 01:21
10.nile crocodile family - oral 02:10
transport for the young
11.mating dance for prairie garter snakes 01:50
12.birds in flight - stork - fairy tern 03:22
- sooty tern - tropic bird - frigate bi
13.a gullimaufry of small mammals - 05:11
duckbilled platypus swimming - desman u
14.the big mammals - elephant and their 02:38
ancestors - lion hunt - wildebeeste sta
15.japanese macaques - warm baths in a 02:37
snowscape
16.man - a choice for the future of life 03:42
on earth
-------
48:11 min
As is usual with Trunk releases itÆs
best if I just tell it like it is and
was. So, hereÆs the story of this
remarkable thrity year old recording,
followed by a biography of the great
Edward Williams. And a full tracklist.
All very excitingà
The genesis of this release is a little
unusual. A good friend of mine, John
Cooper, mentioned over a cup of coffee
that heÆd recently found a couple of
interesting records in a charity shop in
west London. Acton I think he said. One
was the work of composer Chris Gunning,
the other the music from Life on Earth.
I knew about the first record, but the
second was far more curious. IÆd never
seen an album of music from this TV
series, and if I had seen it I would
have bought it. According to John, who
didnÆt have the album with him at the
time, it had no label information, no
real information anywhere except for a
track listing and composer name. He said
IÆd like it, so my quest began to
investigate it a bit further and try and
find myself a copy. As much as I tried
very little could be dug up about it û
there was no listing of the recording
anywhere at all. In fact very little
more information could be unearthed
apart from the name of the series and
the composer both which I already knew.
An even more peculiar incident then
occurred a few weeks later. Someone
posted a picture of this mysterious
album on a music website called
Waxidermy, and included in the
description that heÆd found the record
in a charity shop. He also added that
ôthere is a plaintive John Cameron /
Basil Kirchin - esque quality to the
compositions that Jonny Trunk would
approve ofö.
Right I thought, this is all getting a
bit too weird. But still I couldnÆt find
a copy. I approached the BBC to see if
they knew much about it, and they knew
nothing. Then a couple of months later I
got a call from a major London record
collector, Steve Stasis. He had
experienced a peculiar musical epiphany
and had decided to sell every record
heÆd manically collected over 20 years
all at the same time. He asked if IÆd be
interested in buying his entire library
collection of 500 albums. I went to have
a look, and in the collection was the
green, black and white sleeve of the
Edward Williams Life On Earth album. I
really couldnÆt believe it. I bought the
library collection, sold it on to a
friend the next day and just kept the
Edward Williams album for myself. At
last I could hear it. And what joy. The
music reminded me very much of my first
encounter with library music and the
magical, twinking ambient sounds of
science, nature and music for jellyfish.
Right I thought, this is all getting a
bit too weird. But still I couldnÆt find
a copy. I approached the BBC to see if
they knew much about it, and they knew
nothing. Then a couple of months later I
got a call from a major London record
collector, Steve Stasis. He had
experienced a peculiar musical epiphany
and had decided to sell every record
heÆd manically collected over 20 years
all at the same time. He asked if IÆd be
interested in buying his entire library
collection of 500 albums. I went to have
a look, and in the collection was the
green, black and white sleeve of the
Edward Williams Life On Earth album. I
really couldnÆt believe it. I bought the
library collection, sold it on to a
friend the next day and just kept the
Edward Williams album for myself. At
last I could hear it. And what joy. The
music reminded me very much of my first
encounter with library music and the
magical, twinking ambient sounds of
science, nature and music for jellyfish.
Some frantic letter writing followed.
Edward Williams had to be traced.
Eventually I tracked him down and on a
fine Spring morning went to meet him at
his home in Bristol. It was fascinating
to learn that he had connections with
other important musical characters that
I was dealing with, like Tristram Cary.
I also learned that Edward had invented
the soundbeam, an incredible musical
education tool. He also told me about
his extraordinary 1970s VCS 3 touring
band called ôUncle JamboÆs Pendular
Vibrationsö.
Edward also explained the genesis of the
rare and elusive vinyl album. Basically
heÆd had less than 100 copies privately
pressed for any members of the orchestra
who had played on the recording and
wanted one.
By the end of Summer 2009 I had licensed
the whole recording from the BBC, but
then the problem arose about the
artwork. I had tried the picture
licensing department of the BBC but had
no response, and then luckily found a
pristine copy of the famous Life On
Earth book in a second hand store in
Lower Marsh. The photo credits for the
front and back images were not
attributed to the BBC as I originally
thought, instead they belonged to David
Attenborough and John Sparks the
renowned naturalist and producer on the
series. As youÆd expect Sir David
Attenborough is not the easiest man to
track down, but with a little detective
work and with the help of a freelance
editor friend of mine called Mike
Crawford (formerly of Springwatch), a
chain of messages began to crawl across
the hierarchy of BBC Natural History
that ended a week later with a phone
call from the great Sir David himself.
He told me that they had had the idea of
chamber music for the series, and
thought that EdwardÆs music was ôjolly
goodö. Sir David also gave me permission
to use his famous frog for the cover
art, even though someone had lost the
photo on his behalf some years ago. I
then managed to contact the great David
Sparks and he gave permission to use his
Galapagos Attenborough image too. So,
the music was in place, artwork all
organised and pressing at last could
begin.
And so in late 2009, 30 years on from
the day it was created, we can all enjoy
some of the most beautiful music made
for some of the greatest TV ever
produced.
Thanks for listening
Jonny Trunk, August 2009
http://www.trunkrecords.com/