The KRS MooSick Show #2: Albion & On

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