General Strike ‘Danger in Paradise’

01 Interplanetary Music (3:42)
02 The Fatal Glass (2:46)
03 Next Day (1:28)
04 Babycart to Hell (2:38)
05 Snowdrops (3:44)
06 The Barkless Dog (4:23)
07 Guided Missiles (4:17)
08 My Other Body (3:50)
09 Bamboo House of Dolls (3:26)
10 Interplanetary Dub (3:02)
11 We Travel the Spaceways (3:25)
12 Friendless Animals (1:04)
13 Sea Hunt (4:09)
14 Danger In Paradise (3:15)

Total time 45:00
Cassette released by Touch, TO:02, UK, 1984

While the CD reissue of this cassette has been posted on a dozen or so blogs, the tape itself offers a different experience, as original artwork, tracklisting and Richard Cook’s liner notes all provide a different context to the music. Steve Beresford and David Toop were frequent collaborators during the 1970s, either on the Obscure label or on Toop’s own Quartz label, with such releases as Steve Beresford’s cassette Three Pullovers in 1975 ; Beresford, Eastley, Burwell & Toop Whirled Music, in 1979 ; or Alterations (incl. Steve Beresford) Up Your Sleeve LP, in 1980. A classically-trained piano player, Beresford got involved with the British improvisation scene in the 1970s, especially with the Company group and festival (many records on Incus). In the early 1980s, Toop and Beresford were members of David Cunningham’s band the Flying Lizards, whose 1984 LP Top Ten on Statik, was entirely made of covers. As General Strike, the duo crafted elaborated miniatures from dub-like bass-lines, exotic keyboards and toy instruments, throwing in many references to dub, film music, Riuychi Sakamoto’s neo-classicism (on #3 Next Day), Sun Ra on 3 covers (where Lol Coxhill contributes saxophone). The Sun Ra covers are minimalist and playful – the Shy Ones play Fire Music, sort of. The track My Other Body, is probably a remix of General Strike’s first 7” single My Body, produced by David Cunningham, and definitely sounds like a Flying Lizards’ outtake, hence its choice as the opener for the CD version on Cunningham’s own Piano Records in 1996. #12 Friendless Animals sounds like a Pierre Bastien track out of the first Mecanium 1988 LP. Jon Wozencroft and Panni Charrington designed the booklet in a decidedly Cold War mood which is a little puzzling compared to the music but adds another dimension to the tracks.

Download [incl. 24pp booklet + postcard scans]

General Strike discography
1979 My Body, 7”, Canal 01
1985 Danger In Paradise, cassette Touch TO2
1985 ‘Reach For N’ on Myths 2 LP, Sub Rosa

See also:
Steve Beresford, Kabuki Kore CD, kkcd11, 2002 >
David Toop/Max Eastley New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments >