Sunday, 4 February 2007

Apocalypse Now ...and Then

Now we have the impending catastrophe of global warming to fret about, cold-war era nuclear paranoia seems like ancient history. If you like your apocalyptic terror the old-fashioned way, though, here's a trio of tracks to help you get back in the pre-1989 groove. Dig out Raymond Briggs' "When the Wind Blows" too, perhaps, to help deepen the mood.

Black Sabbath - War Pigs
From the superlative Paranoid. Ozzy dusts off the hoary old truism that civilians are "just like pawns" for the warmongers - and then, as if he's only just learnt the rules, and fears there might be other games in which pawns call all the shots -- lamely adds "in chess".

Leonard Nimoy - A Visit to a Sad Planet
What a twist this tale has.

The Sons of the Pioneers - Old Man Atom
"When Einstein's scared, brother you'd better be scared." Indeed. From this fabulous collection that I picked up in Fopp for a fiver.

(What's the reason for this post? I'm excited because I'm waiting for this awesome-looking 6-CD box set to land in the mail, which might prompt another post on this subject next week. You lucky people.)

5 comments:

Thistle said...

The CD box set looks awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing 'They Locked God Outside The Iron Curtain'...

iamquentin said...

yeah, you've got to think you're onto a winner there. Johnny Cash doing nuclear-themed public information spots also holds a great deal of promise...

Thistle said...

Definitely felt the 'Old Man Atom' tune. I remember my dad saying how a couple of times as a kid he remembers going to bed and thinking he wasn't going to wake up...

Tom N said...

Illogical, I know, but I don't think the Nimoy tune link works

Thistle said...

The Nimoy tune does work, but there are one too many http:s in the link. Take it out and you'll be fine.

It is a melacholy number indeed. Great electric harpischord. One of my favourite instruments.