walker said:
bands name is glasgow and aberdeen universities, bands Album is Bruce Thornton
ahhhhh yes. that was an interesting concept production between the two campuses (campii?)
based on the life of Bruce Thornton, a biology teacher at Glasgow, but who studied in Aberdeen. he was chosen purely for that reason. the trouble was ge was, like many biology teachers of that time, incredibly dull - as borne out in track 3, the 17 and a half minute drone that is "Bruce visits the bakers to get a loaf" where the vocalist mumbles 'baguette, bloomer or wholemeal" over and over only stopped by the final seconds where a woman chimes in with "here's your white sliced, Sir".
Side 2 opens with sound of cheese being sliced, i kid you not, as the intrepid teacher makes a sandwich before the highlight of the day and, some say the entire album, where he sits on a park bench to eat it. The rustling of the crisp packet is accompanied by birdsong, providing the only real music on the whole record.
It takes bravery and imagination to end a record with a twenty seven minute lullaby as "Bruce takes to his bed", alas the group posses neither of these attributes and all you get is shuffling sounds and the odd creak of springs as a lone violin emanates the neighbourhood tom wailing at the moon, at least i think that's what it is. the final nine minutes of single note casio keyboard really push the listener and, possibly, the casio, to the limits.
the liner notes urge you to play the record again as soon as it ends so the alarm will wake you as it does Bruce every morning. i'd urge you to place this album on a hot radiator and make an ashtray out of it.
