CURLY'S AIRSHIPS by JUDGE SMITH
CURLY’S AIRSHIPS - 2000
This is the first digital release of my second solo work which was released as a double CD set in 2000.
‘Curly’s Airships’, with a running time of 2hrs 20 min, is a work of words and music on a grand scale. the work is written in a new form of narrative composition I call 'Songstory', and it tells the true and extraordinary story of the giant dirigibles of the 1924 Imperial Airship Scheme and the men who flew them. The climax of the piece is the destruction of the world's biggest airship, the R.101, on its maiden voyage to India in 1930.
Other performers include Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton and David Jackson from Van Der Graaf Generator; John Ellis and Paul Roberts from The Stranglers; Arthur Brown and Pete Brown (plus a 1920s dance band, a classical tenor, an Indian music ensemble, an eighty-two-year-old actress, a full military band and at least two cathedral organs).
The bizarre events which led to the loss of this national symbol of technological prowess, and the death of almost all the 54 people on board (including a Cabinet Minister and the ships designers) have the dreadful inevitability of a Greek tragedy. It is a tale of the incompetence and arrogance of government bureaucrats, the ruthless ambition of a powerful politician and the moral cowardice of his officials; a story of strange psychic phenomena, the thoughtless bravery of aviators, and the extraordinary spell cast by the gigantic machines they flew – the giant airships, certainly the most surreal and dreamlike mode of transport ever devised.
Six years in the making, and assisted by an Arts Council grant, CURLY'S AIRSHIPS is probably one of the largest and most ambitious single pieces of rock music ever recorded.
A world of further information about the project is available for free download from www.judsge-smith.com.
Tracklist
| 1. | Voices From a Crystal Set | 3:17 |
| 2. | Walking Her Out | 4:11 |
| 3. | Curly Takes Us Up | 6:44 |
| 4. | Drifting About Like a Bad Smell | 3:14 |
| 5. | Curly in the Clouds | 8:49 |
| 6. | A Capital Idea | 4:01 |
| 7. | A Shrieking of Aluminium | 6:58 |
| 8. | Curly on Civvy Street | 6:03 |
| 9. | That Imperial Airship Scheme | 3:25 |
| 10. | From the Sidelines | 4:14 |
| 11. | A Kindly Sort of Cove | 6:27 |
| 12. | Curly at Cardington | 6:42 |
| 13. | A Creature of Grace | 3:46 |
| 14. | A Byronic Sort of Blighter | 4:58 |
| 15. | Big Chief and Some Minor Bugs | 6:13 |
| 16. | The Canadian Run | 4:40 |
| 17. | Conan Doyle & The Flying Sieve | 2:39 |
| 18. | Horrors at Hendon | 4:52 |
| 19. | As Safe as a House | 5:24 |
| 20. | A Ship of Fools | 6:17 |
| 21. | The Night Before | 7:39 |
| 22. | The Morning After | 4:11 |
| 23. | Bedford to Hastings | 9:17 |
| 24. | Hastings to Beauvais | 9:15 |
| 25. | The Muffled Drum | 4:34 |
| 26. | The Final Taboo | 6:05 |
Credits
JUDGE SMITH - Words, Music, Programming, Vox,
PETER HAMMILL - Vox
HUGH BANTON - Organ
DAVID JACKSON - Saxophones, Whistles
ARTHUR BROWN - Vox
PETE BROWN - Percussion, Vox
JOHN ELLIS - Guitar, Mandolin
DAVID SHAW-PARKER - Vox, Acoustic Guitar, Banjo
PAUL THOMPSON - Vox
PAUL ROBERTS - Vox
GWENDOLYN GRAY - Vox
NICK LUCAS - Vox
MIKE BELL -Vox
RIKKI PATTEN - Guitar
JOE HINCHLIFF - Accordion
IAN FORDHAM - Bass
RENÉ VAN COMMENÉE - Tabla, Tambura
TAMMO HEIKENS - Sitar, Tambura
THE MYSTERY MARCHING BAND (Conductor GEOFFREY BRAND)
DAVID LORD - Mix Producer
License
All rights reserved.
Judge Smith co-founded the band Van der Graaf Generator in 1967 with Peter Hammill, & has since been involved in many music projects as writer, composer or performer. He has written stage musicals, classical & rock libretti, songs for television & a book on Life after Death; directed a prize-winning short film, & released fourteen CDs & two DVDs. He was born in 1948 & lives near Glastonbury, UK.