Just a quickie bringing together music representing different facets of Englishness and modern British life, because I was watching Battle Of Britain the other night, and it seemed like a fun idea at the time.
I think it's a fairly good film rather than a great one (there's a rather pedestrian romantic subplot which gets in the way), and in some respects Ron Goodwin's martial score does suit it. But it's the original William Walton soundtrack, remnants of which play out over the climactic dogfight sequence, that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end... Swirling, terrifying, peaking, fading, and underpinning a largely silent montage of the gruesome horror of war, in which ambient sound effects occasionally smash their way through the dialogueless ballet to remind you of the burning flesh, the panic, the metal coffins dropping out of the sky, the blood-blinded young men... It's a piece of film music up there with the best of Bernard Herrmann as the sort of evocative, emotive gut-stirring tuneage which actually adds to the moving pictures up there on the screen, rather than distracting and breaking the spell.
Anyhoo, the BOB bits serve to bookend and provide a bridge between a bunch of disparate tunes which (to me) say something about Englishness - complaining, stoic, weather-obsessed, tea-drinking, romantic, piss-taking, perfectionist, pragmatic, small-minded, big-hearted, toilet humoured, rumour mongering, sceptical, credulous, hardworking, blagging, boastful, self-effacing, parochial, peerlessly accepting...
The worst England has to offer is just the best on a bad day. It was probably raining.
73 mins // 67 mb // 128 kbps
01 “A Call To Arms” :: Robin Of Sherwood
02 “Battle Of Britain (Main Theme)” :: Ron Goodwin (Battle Of Britain)
03 “A Prayer For England” :: Massive Attack
04 “Oh England My Lionheart” :: Kate Bush
05 “Smalltown England” :: New Model Army
06 “England My Home” :: The Levellers
07 “England’s Finest” :: Pop Will Eat Itself
08 “Good Morning Britain” :: Aztec Camera
09 “England” :: Carter USM
10 “The Battle In The Air” :: William Walton (Battle Of Britain)
11 “Rags To Rags” :: Humurak D Gritty
12 “I’ll Be Surprised” :: Skinnyman
13 “Witness The Pitness” :: MC Pitman
14 “It’s Happenin’ In England” :: Blak Twang
15 “Correct English Remix” :: Aspects & Taskforce
16 “The English Patient” :: Gunshot
17 “Sailing By” :: Skim
18 “Little Britain” :: Dreadzone
19 “Agricultural Ardkore” :: Shitmat
20 “My England” :: Lady Sovereign
21 “Fuck The Millennium” :: 2K
22 “Battle Of Britain (End Theme)” :: Ron Goodwin (Battle Of Britain)
Also available at The KRS MooSick Show podcast page
