Sunday 16 January 2011

Clock DVA


Just a quick one:
Just spent an hour or so trawling the internet and found a couple of discussions on Clock DVA and the works of Adi Newton. Interesting stuff indeed. A lot of miss-information and available "Demo" downloads made me dig out a treasured tape. "Agony".
I first saw this tape in 1989 in the collection of my first wife, and was kindly given it in a separation "deal" in 1995. Strange how these things come about - I also got the "Girls Don't Count" 7"EP by Section 25 - but I'm not going to dwell on the spoils of a failed marriage.
Susan (the 1st Mrs. Cammack) got the tape from Stephen Singleton back in 1980 and now I own it. I hadn't played it for years, it has stood the test of time well though.
It all begins with "No.2", an extract from a Samuel Beckett play from 1975 called "Ghost Trio".
"Mine is a feint voice".
Then the tracks go from high energy "punk" songs like "Cage" and "You're Without Sound" ( a superior version to the one that ended up on the "Hicks From The Sticks" LP) through to dark experimental ideas like "Le Viol" to free form improv. All with a heavy dose of essential tape hiss.
I was once asked the question, if your house was on fire what treasured item would you rescue - this tape is high on the list.
I am uncertain to the DVA line up on "Agony", I do know they were quite varied during 1978-1979. On here is piano, violin, clarinet, synth, drums, bass and electric guitar in the mix. There is a rumour going about that the German label Vinyl-On-Demand are releasing a box set of Clock DVA demos this year, it will be nice to hear a crystal clear "Agony".

Pictures:
1: "Agony" tape sleeve.
2: a 1979 DVA picture from the internet.

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