Sunday, June 30, 2019

finally, and in conclusion, chapter No. 296.



so the thing finally sees the light of day. here, originally from 2003, is some information which has in the last few days become more relevant, or indeed, relevant again. presented for completion's sake, and because a few people actually asked me, again, about all this. good that it's out, though.

also see: https://simply-superior.blogspot.com/2017/02/oh-ye-of-little-faith.html


"background: the "Alan and Sylvia" mentioned in this letter are Alan and Sylvia Cook, friends of both Chris Watson and myself. Alan is one of the great unsung heroes and influences on parts of the "industrial sheffield scene", as well as being on several h3o recordings. I used to regularly visit them, and on one occasion we were in the vicinity of Western Works, the (now demolished) Cabaret Voltaire recording studio, and decided to drop in. Richard H. Kirk and Steven Mallinder, the two remaining members of the group were not only long standing friends of Alans, but acquaintences of mine. I can't say I was ever close to them, but I knew them, and had done ever since Flesh had played support to them in Newcastle (poster etc elsewhere on the brainwashed/h3o site, now at archive.org).

I had been petitioning all three of them, mainly through Chris, to agree to the release of "Chance Vs. Causality", the long-lost Cabaret Voltaire soundtrack to a film of the same name by Babette Mondini (as she was called at the time), of which a fragment of the audio was released on a 70's b-side. it is a stunning piece, and deserves release. at the time, the best possible solution would have been to do this on Touch, being, as it was then, pre-eminent in the field of sophisticated packaging and attention to details. I had located the film maker (which none of CV had been able to do), and all the machinations were arranged to effect what would have been a very fine release. but Chris kept dragging his heels...on, and on...which was the case with everything one tried to get him to do. and still is.

so, when passing the the studio and deciding to drop in, I casually asked if Richard & Mal had thought any more about the proposal. Richard replied that they had their own Doublevision label, and that if it were to see the light of day, that is where it would emerge from. no tensions, no demands, nothing untoward. just a casual enquiry and casual answer.

this document is the result of Chris being told of what I had "done" (whatever that is), and is presented here to clear up questions I am regularly asked, and to publicly show the levels of engagement that he states himself as applicable to his involvement with The Hafler Trio. the rest speaks for itself."