My first reaction on reading about the album was, " genius why didn't I think of that?" and immediately phoned Esther for a copy for airplay.
2nd July 2008 marked the 50th anniversary since the BBC broadcast of the first of the eight Radio Ballads, the Ballad of John Axon. Peter Cox had just published his book " Set into Song" about the making of the Ballads and of the three protagonists, Peggy Seeger, Ewan McColl and Charles Parker and now this album, Primary Transmission. It takes the original ballads into the 21st century and to a new audiences, indeed who would have thought that Ewan McColl's singing would be on Radio One in 2008. Thanks to Colin Murray, who chose the opening track England as his "record" of the week.
Good things don't happen overnight. Lewis Atkinson (aka Broadcaster) has been making electronic music at home for as long as he can remember, not through any commercial ambition but out of a love for creativity & technology that at times has bordered on obsession, "its cost me several relationships", he told me. We swap notes about that compulsion to steep yourself in your projects, I can sympathise, I've come close myself, pouring over edits, getting the cut in the right place not being quite satisfied.....and my how time flies.
Lewis also has a love of the spoken word and on receiving the entire collection of Radio Ballads from Kitty McColl, his new obsession began. He began taking samples from them, arranging them on an electronic clipboard on his computer to use as inspiration for new musical compositions before dropping the soundbites back in.
He's been working on it for two years, a great proportion of that time was taken getting approval from the BBC, who own the rights to the original radio, to license the use of the samples for his project. Fortunately says Lewis, "Kitty undertook a lot of that work".
The result is seven tracks and perhaps seven new ballads. Peter Cox, author of Set into Song, a book about the making of the original ballads said Loneliness, with its eerie melancholia, actually works better than the original ballad from On the Edge. The reworkings have also met with positive enthusiasm from Peggy Seeger, herself, who has introduced them to her students.
Is it fair to call them new ballads, have they indeed been given a new 21st century meaning ? Lew says not. If that's the result or if that's what the listeners interpretation is, that's fine, but it wasn't his intention. "I was fascinated by the difference in Ewan's muscular voice in contrast to Peggy's." says Lew. He goes on to say he was fascinated with the sound clips and would leave chosen ones on his clipboard until the right musical moment presented itself.
The opening track, England, has had successful airplay on Radio One and has also been selected for the fROOTS summer cd. Lew explains, "I wanted to create a driving song" and has dropped extracts from The Ballad of John Axon, The Song of the Road and the Body Blow into a sound track not to far removed from Lemon Jelly.
....and is he a fan of Lemon Jelly. Of course, but is quick to add that he was making music in a parallel universe before the Jelly's and with a burst of excitement says, "what I would have given to have licensed the soundbite on
the duck song"
Lewis's creativity had the benefit of Callum McColl's production input and his enthusiastic reception of the home rendered cuts at his professional studio. " I didn't realise how different they would sound," Lewis told me and went on to say, "its always tempting to put a number of elements into the mix when perhaps one or two would do and Callum new exactly what to take out and what to leave in."
Broadcaster's commitment and dedication is apparent in his first commercial release and despite the time the project has taken and the ever present danger of over egging the pudding, the tracks move with pace and retain a playful creativity.
