Mysterious extra-terrestrial Thomas Jerome Newton falls to Earth on a mission to save his drought-ridden home planet of Anthea from ecological destruction.
Determined to find a way to transport water back to his dying world, Newton begins selling patents for advanced technology, but his success soon makes him a target for both the government, and a sinister rival corporation.
As his mission drags into years, Newton finds himself seduced by the excesses of our world and becomes desperate to return home to his family.
An all-new, fully-authorised graphic novel adaptation of the cult 1976 movie starring David Bowie and directed by Nicholas Roeg.
The film, based on the classic science fiction novel by Walter Trevis, sees an extra-terrestrial called Thomas Jerome Newton (played in the movie by David Bowie) land on Earth in search of water to save his dying home planet.
Using his advanced scientific knowledge, Thomas Newton becomes incredibly rich and uses his wealth to search for a way to transport water back to his home planet. But as his mission on Earth drags on, Newton becomes seduced by the excesses of our world and grows increasingly desperate to return home, unaware that he has become a target of interest for the U.S. Government and a sinister corporation, eager to exploit him.
The all-new graphic novel also features exclusive bonus material including a 10-page article on the production of the original film and is illustrated with dozens of rarely seen on-set photographs. As well as cover concepts, character designs, a ‘script to art’ section chronicling the development of the artwork, and a reproduction of the original movie poster.
Villa Anamaria is an ornate Art Nouveau-style villa in Pefkos, on the Greek island of Rhodes. It is at the end of a beach road overlooking Askeftos Bay. The villa used to belong to Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, who sold it to an Italian couple several years ago.
Villa Anamaria 1990
On Pefkos maps, Villa Anamaria is still referred to as the ‘Pink Floyd Villa’.
It has been on the market for nearly five years, and is currently valued at 1.1 million Euros. So far, no one has offered to buy it, and Villa Anamaria is gradually beginning to look like an unloved, derelict building.
No Echoes
Once, Villa Anamaria, an ornate house
above a rocky, remote Rhodian bay,
was neat, discrete, resplendent in hot sun,
with turquoise wrought-iron gates and walled garden,
Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the band he founded in 1970s, the glam rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours.
The Human Menagerie is Cockney Rebel’s debut studio album. It was produced by Neil Harrison, and released by EMI Records in November 1973.
Tracks:
Hideaway
What Ruthy Said
Loretta’s Tale
Crazy Raver
Sebastian
Mirror Freak
My Only Vice
Muriel the Actor
Chameleon
Death Trip
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals
Jean-Paul Crocker – electric violin, mandolin, guitar
Milton Reame-James – keyboards
Paul Jeffreys – bass
Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel. Produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons, it was released by EMI Records in June 1974.
Tracks:
Sweet Dreams
Psychomodo
Mr. Soft
Singular Band
Ritz
Cavaliers
Bed in the Corner
Sling It!
Tumbling Down
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals
Jean-Paul Crocker – electric violin, mandolin, guitar
Milton Reame-James – keyboards
Paul Jeffreys – bass
Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
The Best Years of Our Lives is the third album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel released in March 1975. It was the first album that used Harley’s name ahead of the band (the band was previously known simply as Cockney Rebel). The album contains the band’s biggest hit, the million selling ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’
Tracks:
Introducing The Best Years
The Mad, Mad Moonlight
Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)
It Wasn’t Me
Panorama
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Back to the Farm
49th Parallel
The Best Years of Our Lives
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals
Jim Cregan – guitars, backing vocals
George Ford – bass guitar, backing vocals
Duncan Mackay – synthesizer, keyboards, Hammond organ, electric piano, clavinet, elka, grand piano, violin
Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion, marimba
Timeless Flight is the fourth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976.
Tracks:
Red Is a Mean, Mean Colour – 4:29
White, White Dove – 5:37
Understand – 7:15
All Men Are Hungry – 4:51
Black or White (And Step on It) – 5:48
Everything Changes – 2:23
Nothing Is Sacred – 5:43
Don’t Go, Don’t Cry – 5:04
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
Personnel:
Steve Harley – lead vocals, producer, liner notes
Jim Cregan – guitars, backing vocals
George Ford – bass guitar, backing vocals
Duncan Mackay – keyboards
Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
Love’s a Prima Donna is an album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in October 1976. The album reached No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart in November 1976.
Tracks:
Seeking a Love
G.I. Valentine
Finally a Card Came
Too Much Tenderness
(Love) Compared with You
(I Believe) Love’s a Prima Donna
Sidetrack II
Seeking a Love, Pt. 2
If This Is Love (Give Me More)
Carry Me Again
Here Comes the Sun
Innocence and Guilt
Is It True What They Say
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
except Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals, guitar, producer
Jim Cregan – guitar, backing vocals
Jo Partridge – guitar
George Ford – bass, backing vocals
Duncan Mackay – keyboards
Stuart Elliott – drums
Face to Face: A Live Recording is a live album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1977. Following the release of the 1976 studio album Love’s a Prima Donna, the band embarked on a UK tour to promote it. Harley recorded a number of concerts between December 1976 and January 1977 and the best tracks were then sorted for a live album.
Tracks:
Here Comes the Sun
(I Believe) Love’s a Prima Donna
The Mad, Mad Moonlight
Red is a Mean, Mean Colour
Sweet Dreams
Finally a Card Came
Psychomodo
If This Is Love (Give Me More)
The Best Years of Our Lives
(Love) Compared with You
Mr. Soft
Sebastian
Seeking a Love
Tumbling Down
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
All songs written and composed by Steve Harley
except Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals
Jo Partridge – guitar
George Ford – bass guitar
Duncan Mackay – keyboards
Stuart Elliott – drums
Hobo with a Grin is a debut solo album by Steve Harley. It was released in July 1979, eighteen months after Harley had disbanded Cockney Rebel.
Tracks:
Roll the Dice
Amerika the Brave
Living in a Rhapsody
I Wish It Would Rain
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Someone’s Coming
Hot Youth
(I Don’t Believe) God is an Anarchist
Faith, Hope and Charity
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals
Jo Partridge – guitar
George Ford – bass guitar
Duncan Mackay – keyboards
Stuart Elliott – drums
The Candidate is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley released in 1979.
Tracks:
Audience With the Man
Woodchopper
Freedom’s Prisoner
Love on the Rocks
Who’s Afraid?
One More Time
How Good It Feels
From Here to Eternity
Young Hearts (The Candidate)
Personnel:
Steve Harley – Vocals, Producer (all tracks), Writer (all tracks)
Yvonne Keeley – Backing Vocals
Jo Partridge, Phil Palmer – Guitar
Nico Ramsden – Guitar, Backing Vocals
John Giblin – Bass
Joey Carbone – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Steve Gregory – Saxophone, Saxophone Arrangement
Stuart Elliott – Drums
Bryn Hawarth – Mandolin (track 1 only)
The English Chorale – Choir (track 3 only)
Robert Howes – Choir Director – Robert Howes (track 3 only)
Yes You Can is the third studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released in 1992 within Europe and 1993 in the UK.
Tracks:
Irresistible
Victim of Love
Rain in Venice
Star for a Week (Dino)
Promises
Fire in the Night
The Alibi
New-Fashioned Way
The Lighthouse
Dancing on the Telephone
Personnel:
Steve Harley – vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, harmonica, producer
Jim Cregan – acoustic guitar
Alan Darby – guitar
Rick Driscoll – guitar
Harvey Hinsley – guitar
Robin LeMesurier – guitar
Nick Pynn – acoustic guitar, guitar
Barry Wickens – acoustic guitar, violin, viola
Kevin Powell – bass
Adrian Lee – keyboards
Duncan Mackay – keyboards
Stuart Elliott – drums
Paul Francis – drums
Dave Mattacks – drums
Poetic Justice is the fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released in 1996.
Tracks:
That’s My Life in Your Hands
What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?
Two Damn’d Lies
Loveless
Strange Communications
All in a Life’s Work
Love Minus Zero-No Limit
Safe
The Last Time I Saw You
Crazy Love
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Personnel:
Steve Harley – lead vocals, producer
Paul Francis – drums
Andrew Brown – bass, double-bass
Thomas Arnold – Hammond organ, accordion, percussion, piano, keyboards
Ian Nice – piano, keyboards
Nick Pynn – acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, dulcimer, mando-cello
Phil Beer – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bottle-neck guitar, violin, vocals
Richard Durrant – classical guitar on ‘Crazy Love’
Mark Price – drums on ‘Strange Communications’ and ‘The Last Time I Saw You’
Herbie Flowers – double-bass on ‘Strange Communications’
Susan Harvey – vocals
Unplugged is a 1999 live acoustic album by English songwriter and musician Steve Harley.
Tracks:
My Only Vice (Is the Fantastic Prices I Charge for Being Eaten Alive)”
Star for a Week (Dino)
The Best Years of Our Lives
Judy Teen
The Last Time I Saw You
Mr. Soft
(Love) Compared with You
Tumbling Down
Only You
Bed in the Corner
Sling It!
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Sebastian
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Personnel:
Steve Harley – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Compiler
Nick Pynn – Acoustic Lead Guitar, Dulcimer, Mando-cello, Violin
The Quality of Mercy is a studio album from English rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. Led by Steve Harley, the band’s line-up consisted of new musicians compared to the last Cockney Rebel album. The album was released on CD in the UK and Norway only, through Gott Discs, whilst Pinnacle Records handled the album’s distribution within the UK.
Tracks:
The Last Goodbye
Journey’s End (A Father’s Promise)
Saturday Night at the Fair
No Rain on This Parade
The Coast of Amalfi
The Last Feast
Save Me (From Myself)
When the Halo Slips
A Friend for Life
Personnel:
Vocals, Guitar – Steve Harley
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Robbie Gladwell
Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Backing Vocals – Barry Wickens
Keyboards – James Lascelles
Bass – Lincoln Anderson
Drums – Adam Houghton
Stranger Comes to Town is a studio album from English songwriter and musician Steve Harley. The album was released in 2010 and was Harley’s first studio album in five years, after the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel album The Quality of Mercy.
Barry Wickens – Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Violin, Viola, Background Vocals
Lincoln Anderson – Bass, Double Bass
James Lascelles – Piano, Synthesizer, Percussion, Keyboards, Hammond B3, Synthesizer Strings, Mini Moog, Dulcimer (Hammer), Melodica, Drums
Kerr Nice – Piano
Katie Brine – Background Vocals
Marcus Greenwood, Sam Hewitson, Maisie Colquhoun, Grace Nickalls, Maya Hodgson, Joe Dobson – Choir, Chorus on “2,000 Years from Now” (from Spooner Row Primary School)
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s work can be found at:
Voodoo Excess, Jeremy Reed’s latest collection, is a history of the Rolling Stones in verse, prose and prose-poetry.
In Voodoo Excess, Jeremy Reed chronicles the Stones’ progress from the early days at the Crawdaddy Club in 1962 to the fiftieth anniversary in 2012; he explicates Mick Jagger’s dance steps and his accent; he examines the Rolling Stones’ logo; and the different ways Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood angle their cigarettes; he describes the emotional impact of the Stones’ Hyde Park performance; he details the Redlands bust and the anti-establishment stance and attitude of the band; and he looks unflinchingly at the violence of Altamont and the inevitable death of the summer of love.
Voodoo Excess is far more than a Rolling Stones biography and it is far more than a collection of Rolling Stones-themed poems and prose-poems – what Jeremy Reed has achieved with Voodoo Excess is to provide an incredibly in-depth, up-close and intimate chronicle of the life and times of a group of musicians who have – for fifty years – collectively and individually continued to define the term ‘rock and roll rebels’.
Product details:
Title: Voodoo Excess
Author: Jeremy Reed
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224 pages
Publisher: Enitharmon Press
Published: 12 June 2015
ISBN-10: 1907587500
ISBN-13: 978-1907587504
Contents
INTRODUCTION: The Rolling Stones and Jeremy Reed (by R J Dent)
PART 1 – THE GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD
Bonnie Dobson (born November 13, 1940, Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian songwriter, singer, and guitarist, most known in the 1960s for composing the song ‘Morning Dew’. The song, augmented (with a co-writing credit) by Tim Rose, became a melancholy folk-rock standard.
‘Morning Dew’, also known as ‘(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew’, is a post-apocalyptic song, a dialogue between the last man and woman left alive following an apocalyptic catastrophe. Dobson has stated that the initial inspiration for ‘Morning Dew’ was the film On the Beach which focuses on the survivors of virtual global annihilation by nuclear holocaust.
Dobson would recall how the guests at her friend’s apartment were speculating about a nuclear war’s aftermath and ‘after everyone went to bed, I sat up and suddenly I just started writing this song… What happened with that song is that I saw a film called On The Beach and it made a tremendous impression on me, that film. Particularly at that time because everybody was very worried about the bomb and whether we were going to get through the next ten years. It was a very immediate problem and I remember I sat up all night talking with some friends who went to bed or something and I just sat and suddenly I just started writing… and this song just came out and really it was a kind of re-enactment of that film in a way where at the end there is nobody left and it was a conversation between these two people trying to explain what’s happening. It was really apocalyptic, that was what it was about… It took the form of a conversation between the last man and woman – post-apocalypse – one trying to comfort the other while knowing there’s absolutely nothing left.’
Morning Dew by Bonnie Dobson
Take me for a walk in the morning dew, my honey
Take me for a walk me in the morning dew, my love
You can’t go walking in the morning dew today
You can’t go walking in the morning dew today
But listen! I hear a man moaning, ‘Lord’
I know I hear a man moaning, ‘Lord’
You didn’t hear a man moan at all
You didn’t hear a man moan at all
But I know I hear my baby crying, ‘Mama’
Yes, I know I hear my baby crying, ‘Mama’
You’ll never hear your baby cry again
You’ll never hear your baby cry again
Oh, where have all the people gone?
Won’t you tell me, where have all the people gone
Don’t you worry about the people any more
Don’t you worry about the people any more
Take me for a walk in the morning dew, my honey
Take me for a walk in the morning dew, my love
You can’t go walking in the morning dew today
You can’t go walking in the morning dew today
You can’t go walking in the morning dew today
Bonnie Dobson premiered ‘Morning Dew’ in her set at the inaugural Mariposa Folk Festival that year with the song’s first recorded version being on Dobson’s At Folk City live album in 1962.
Dobson would not record a studio version of the song until 1969, that being for her Bonnie Dobson album. ‘Morning Dew’ was not published until 1964 when Jac Holzman of Elektra Records contacted Dobson with an offer to sign her as a songwriter as Elektra artist Fred Neil had heard ‘Morning Dew’ and wished to record it.
‘In 1964 I was contacted by Jac Holzman of Elektra Records, who told me that Fred Neil wanted to record ‘Morning Dew’ and that as I’d not published it, would I like to do so with his company, Nina Music. I signed a contract and Neil recorded the song. His is the original cover, on Tear Down the Walls by Vince Martin and Fred Neil. His singing of it differed from mine in that he altered the lyric slightly, changing ‘Take me for a walk in the morning dew’ to ‘Walk me out in the morning dew.’ He was also the first person to rock it.’
Morning Dew by Bonnie Dobson (arranged by Fred Neil)
Walk me out
In the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out
In the morning dew today
Can’t walk you out
In the morning dew, my baby
Can’t walk you out
In the morning dew today
Thought I heard
A young man moanin’ Lord
Thought I heard
A young man moanin’ Lord
You didn’t hear
No young man moanin’ Lord
You didn’t hear
No young man moan today
Where have all the people gone
My honey
Where haye all the people gone
Today
Don’t you worry
‘Bout those people, baby
You’ll never see those people
Anymore
Thought I heard
My baby cryin’ mama
Thought I heard
My baby cryin’ mama
You didn’t hear
No baby cryin’ mama
You didn’t hear
No baby cry today
Walk me out
In the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out
In the morning dew today
Can’t walk you out
In the morning dew, my baby
I’ll never walk you out
In the morning dew again
The first studio recording of ‘Morning Dew’ appeared on the 1964 album Tear Down the Walls by Fred Neil and Vince Martin. It was this version which introduced the song to Tim Rose, who in 1966 recorded ‘Morning Dew’ for his self-titled debut album after soliciting permission to revise the song with a resultant co-writing credit. Dobson agreed without having any intended revision specified and as of the February 1967 release of the Tim Rose single version of ‘Morning Dew’ the standard songwriting credit for the song has been Bonnie Dobson and Tim Rose: Dobson, who in 1998 averred she’d never met Rose (who died in 2002), has stated that she’s received 75% songwriting royalty as she retains sole writing credit for the song’s music.
Morning Dew (with additional lyrics by Tim Rose)
Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can’t walk you in the morning dew, my honey
They can’t walk you out in the morning dew at all
I thought I heard a young girl crying, momma
I thought I heard a young girl cry today
You didn’t hear no young girl crying, momma
You didn’t hear no young girl cry at all
Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can’t walk you out in the morning dew, my baby
They can’t walk you out in the morning dew at all
Thought I heard a young man crying, momma
Thought I heard a young man cry today
You didn’t hear no young man crying, momma
You didn’t hear no young man cry at all
Now there’s no more morning dew
Now there’s no more morning dew
What they were saying all these years is true
‘Cause there’s no more morning dew
Oh, now there’s no more morning dew
Oh, now there’s no more morning dew
Lord, what they were saying all these years was true
Oh, ’cause there’s no more morning dew
Yeah, now there’s no more morning dew, now, now, now
Oh, now there’s no more morning dew
What they were saying all these years is so true
They have chased away all our morning dew
Oh, now there’s no more morning dew
Oh, now there’s no more morning dew
Bonnie Dobson recalls her involvement with Tim Rose: ‘In 1967 while I was living in Toronto, I had a call from Manny Greenhill, my agent, saying that Tim Rose wanted to record ‘Morning Dew’, but he wanted to change the lyric. I duly signed a new contract and Rose was written in as co-lyricist on the basis of his new lyric.’
Dobson also says: ‘Tim Rose, I’ve never met him, was written into the contract subsequently, I think it was 1967, maybe early ’68. I had a call from Manny Greenhill saying Tim Rose is going to record your song but he wants to make a few changes, write a new lyric. I think what happened was there was no way we could not actually cut him in on the lyric because I had performed it and then published it. I hadn’t done it the way you’re supposed to do things, so it was somewhat in the public domain.’
‘So that was difficult, but the worst part was that when I came to England in 1969 and I gave my debut concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall everybody had thought that Tim Rose had written that song because he had never ever given me any credit at any time for anything to do with that song. I’ve written songs with other people and I have never claimed them for my own. I just think it was really a dreadfully dishonest thing to do. I still get my royalty check, but I still consider it quite a grievous injury.’
‘In 1968, when Lulu released her single of ‘Morning Dew’, a full-page ad was placed in Billboard referring to it as ‘Tim Rose’s Great Hit’ – no mention of Ms. Dobson at all.’
‘From that time till now-particularly here in England – people have never believed that I had anything to do with the writing of ‘Morning Dew’. Rose never gave me any credit. Even Nazareth’s single from 1981 has only him listed as the composer.’
‘It has caused me a lot of aggravation and unhappiness. Even though I have and still do receive substantial royalties (75 percent as opposed to his 25 percent), it doesn’t make up for the man’s behaviour.’
‘Morning Dew’ became a signature song of the Grateful Dead, whose singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia was alerted to the Fred Neil recording by roadie Laird Grant in 1966. The Grateful Dead introduced ‘Morning Dew’ into their repertoire as their opening number in January 1967: that same month the group recorded their self-titled debut album featuring ‘Morning Dew’ and released that March.
Dobson says: ‘I always liked the Dead’s version of ‘Morning Dew.’ My one regret is that when they first appeared in Toronto – was it 1967 or 1968 at the O’keefe Centre? – they didn’t sing ‘Morning Dew’ in the concert that I attended. I also regret that I was too shy to go backstage and meet them.’
The Grateful Dead’s patronage of ‘Morning Dew’ has resulted in the song’s being recorded by a number of hard rock acts such as Episode Six (featuring Roger Glover and Ian Gillan – later of Deep Purple):
It has also been covered by Blackfoot (who added an extra verse):
Walk me out in the morning dew, baby
Please walk me out in the morning dew
I can’t walk you out in the morning dew
I can’t walk you out in the morning dew, yeah
Yeah
I thought I heard a young girl cry, baby I thought I heard a young girl cry You didn’t hear no young girl cry You didn’t hear no young girl cry today
Well, I thought I saw a flash in the sky this morning Thought I saw a flash in the sky today Well, the earth it trembles and The sky is no longer blue Now there is no more morning dew, oh today
(Solo)
Now there is no more morning dew Now there is no more morning dew today What they’ve been sayin’ all these years has come true Now there is no more morning dew Oh, today No more morning dew today
Won’t you please walk me out in the dew The dew Morning dew, yeah, yeah
In Robert Plant’s version, Plant changed Tim Rose’s line ‘What they were saying all these years is so true’ to ‘What they been saying all these years is not true’:
The Jeff Beck Group version comes complete with bagpipes at the start to evoke the highlands):
Long John Baldry’s version has a beautiful piano introduction, broken by the rumble of an atomic explosion, followed immediately by screams or sirens or both:
and Jazz Is Dead’s instrumental version is full of emotional power, despite being lyric-less:
Different versions of Morning Dew can be found on:
1962 Bonnie Dobson, At Folk City
1963 The Briarwoods Well Well Well
1964 Vince Martin & Fred Neil, Tear Down the Walls
1966 Tim Rose Tim Rose, ‘Morning Dew’ (single), plus later re-recordings
Almost Famous is a 2000 comedy-drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe, telling the coming-of-age story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while on the road with a fictitious 1970s rock band named Stillwater. The film is semi-autobiographical, Crowe himself having been a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.
The film received positive reviews, and received four Oscar nominations, with Crowe winning one for best original screenplay. It also earned the 2001 Grammy Award Best Compilation Soundtrack Album. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert hailed it the best film of the year.
The film is based on Cameron Crowe’s experiences touring with rock bands Poco, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In a Rolling Stone article, he talks about how he lost his virginity, fell in love, and met his heroes, experiences that are shared by William, the main character in the film.
Crowe compiled an alternate version of the film for home video called Almost Famous: Untitled, which was a compilation of both released footage and his favorite deleted scenes. It runs for about forty minutes longer than the theatrical release and was subtitled “The Bootleg Cut“.
The Wicker Man is a 1973 British horror film directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Britt Ekland. Paul Giovanni composed the soundtrack. The film is now considered a cult classic.
Shaffer read David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual, in which a devout Christian policeman is called to investigate what appears to be the ritual murder of a young girl in a rural village. Shaffer decided that it would serve well as the source material for the project.
Inspired by the basic scenario in Ritual, Shaffer wrote a screenplay which centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of Summerisle, in search of a missing girl the locals claim never existed. Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the inhabitants of the island practice a form of Celtic paganism.
Shaffer wanted the film to be ‘a little more literate’ than the average horror picture. The idea of a confrontation between a modern Christian and a remote, pagan community continued to intrigue Shaffer, who performed painstaking research on paganism. Working with director Robin Hardy, the film was conceived as presenting the pagan elements objectively and accurately, accompanied by authentic music and a believable, contemporary setting.
The image of the wicker man, which gave the filmmakers their title, was taken from a paragraph in The Gallic War, Julius Caesar’s account of his wars in what is now France. Caesar wrote:
‘The whole of the Gallic nation… believe that unless one human life is offered for another the power and presence of the immortal gods cannot be propitiated. They also hold state sacrifices of a similar kind. Some of them use huge images of the gods, and fill their limbs, which are woven from wicker, with living people. When these images are set on fire the people inside are engulfed in flames and killed. They believe that the gods are more pleased by such punishments when it is inflicted upon those who are caught engaged in theft or robbery or other crimes; but if there is a lack of people of this kind, they will even stoop to punishing the guiltless.’ (Julius Caesar, The Gallic War, 6.17).
The Wicker Man, released in 1973, became a cult classic. Hardy and Schaffer also collaborated on a novelization of their film.
In 2011, a spiritual sequel entitled The Wicker Tree was released.
It was directed by Robin Hardy, and featured an appearance by Christopher Lee. Hardy first published the story as a novel, under the name Cowboys for Christ.
First announced during April 2000, filming on The Wicker Tree began on 19 July 2009. It follows two young American Christian evangelists who travel to Scotland; like Neil Howie in The Wicker Man, the two Americans are virgins who encounter a pagan laird and his followers.
Here is a trailer:
Those involved in the production of the film have given conflicting statements regarding the identity of Christopher Lee’s character, referred to only as ‘Old Gentleman’ in the credits Writer/director Robin Hardy has stated that the ambiguity was intentional, but that fans of The Wicker Man will immediately recognise Lee’s character as Lord Summerisle.
Recently, it was announced that a fully-restored print of The Wicker Man is due to be released on DVD as The Wicker Man (The Final Cut). Robin Hardy has confirmed this.
The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei.
Pompeii along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, were mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The eruption was cataclysmic for the town. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599.
The objects that lay beneath the city have been well preserved for thousands of years because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana.
Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.
In 1971, the rock band Pink Floyd recorded the live concert film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, performing six songs in the ancient Roman amphitheatre in the city. The audience consisted only of the film’s production crew and some local children.
R J Dent’s article on plagiarism – based on a real incident.
Plagiarism may be a dirty word, but there’s always someone ready to steal it…
(Note: The names of the musicians, groups and albums in this article have been changed in order to avoid anyone being libeled.)
It’s every writer’s dream: the brilliant and famous singer of the world’s greatest group gets in touch with you and says: “We’re writing a new album, so can you help us with the lyrics?” You’ve started to make a bit of a name for yourself with your writing, so you graciously accept the offer, and within a year you are fully valued, recognized and rewarded (artistically, philosophically, spiritually, socially and financially) for your ability to write perfect and succinct lyrics on important subjects.
That’s the summary of a dream of many aspiring poets/lyricists.
That’s nothing like the version that happened to me.
First of all, it wasn’t anywhere grand, like backstage at the O2 Arena, Earl’s Court, or even the MAN for that matter. No, this was an introduction by a friend in a café. Read more...
Precisely eight days and three minutes after their lunar launch on May 16, Pink Floyd (hereafter referred to as PF) crewmen Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Rick Wright and Syd Barrett landed PF at the recording studio in the Mohave Desert on the Eastern Seaboard, 399 miles east of American Samoa.
PF ventured closer to the moon than any craft has ever done, and the PF crew received the traditional hero’s welcome from those who waited in the pre-dawn hours aboard the SS Arnold Layne for its re-entry. Read more…
R J Dent says: ‘I always wanted to write a Pink Floyd story, and I was inspired to write The Pink Floyd Story Considered as a NASA Space Flight Report after reading J.G. Ballard’s The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race and Princess Margaret’s Facelift, both from Ballard’s classic, The Atrocity Exhibition.’
R J Dent 
