I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Young Team (1997).

When Mogwai released Young Team there was quite a bit of buzz around them.  I remember when I bought the album, that I had no idea where they were from.

With the Asian-looking characters on the cover and a picture of Fuji Bank (and no band members names listed) I assumed they were Japanese.  Of course, a closer listen reveals a lot of Scottish voices quietly chatting away during some of the songs (which doesn’t necessarily mean they are Scottish…but indeed, they are).

Young Team is a great debut and Mogwai shows a lot of versatility.  It opens with a spoken word bit about Mogwai (If the stars had a sound it would sound like this).  It’s a slow instrumental, actually quite pretty, with picked guitar and continual bass and even harmonics.   It gets loud by the end, yet even that is restrained.  But just when you think that Mogwai is going to be another post rock instrumental chill out band, they hit you with “Like Herod.”

“Like Herod” is one of the more amazing songs in instrumental rock.  It plays with loud and soft dynamics like nobody’s business.  Opening with a slow rumbling bass, the guitars pick out intricate melodies.  Then at 3 minutes, all hell breaks loose in the form of big guitar chords and screaming guitar notes.  Things slow to a crawl about 6 minutes into the song. But we’re only half way done.  And those quiet notes are once again blown away by those same chords and screaming notes.

You could pretty much end the disc right there and call it a success.  But “Katrien” shows off another side of the band: a spoken word side.  Behind some gorgeous melodies there’s something of a rant.  It’s followed by “Radar Maker,” a 90 second piano-based instrumental.  It’s quite delicate and it leads right into “Tracy” a beautiful 7 minute song with a pretty melody and lovely washes of sound.

The middle of the album has two shot songs: “Summer [Priority Version]” is a condensed version of that quiet/loud dynamic that Mogwai does so well.  And “With Portfolio” plays havoc with a pretty piano song by throwing in washes of noise and sound effects which completely take over by the end.

The unfortunately titled “R U Still In 2 It” belies its bad name with some beautiful quiet guitar work played behind a vocal turn by Aidan Moffat.  There’s even a sung chorus!

“A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters” is a two-minute sort of intro to the final track on the disc, the amazing “Mogwai Fear Satan.”  A 16 minute instrumental that is quite beautiful as it opens: distorted chords that don’t overpower the melody.  They bolster it as it builds and builds until it reaches a moment of silence which is filled by…a flute (!).  The song continues to build with a gorgeous repeating motif.  Then it slows down again to let the flute really sync with the song until it reaches its beautiful end.

It’s a great debut, deserving all of the praise that was heaped on it.

[READ: March 3, 2011] To Ruhleben and Back

This is a true account of one man’s escape from Ruhleben prison in Germany during WWI.  I admit that I had never heard of Ruhleben before (and frankly I’m really surprised I never have, as roughly 4,000 British citizens were interned there from 1914-1918).

This story was published in 1916 as one man’s account of his escape from the prison.  And then it quietly went out of print. McSweeneys’ Collins Library has now (well, in 2002), seen fit to get it reissued once again.

The introduction explains the historical veracity of the book, and also promises a rather ripping yarn.  And indeed, Pyke does not disappoint.

Well, maybe a little in the beginning.  The early parts of the book are a little slow.  It explains who he was and how he wound up in Germany during the war.  The short version is that he was a journalist who was frustrated that he wasn’t hearing proper news from the war, so he volunteered to go to Germany (even though at this point all English men and women were being incarcerated).  He moved there and since he spoke fluent German, he was able to blend in.  Until he was caught.

We don’t know how or why he was caught, but he was put in a solitary prison.  This is the part that is not so ripping.  He was thrown into a prison room about ten foot by five foot.  He had nothing with him and was given scraps of food twice a day.  He basically sat in this tiny room for weeks with no contact of any kind.  He was fairly certain he would go mad.  (It was an intense section, just not very “ripping”).

Through the mysterious workings of the German police, he was transferred to two other prisons (each more spacious and full of light than the other) until he was eventually relocated to Ruhleben.  And he admits that he was really looking forward to going there (!).  I guess this was his opportunity to write the truth.

Anyhow, Ruhleben proves to be a fascinating encampment. It was an old racetrack of sorts; the prisoners were left in the stables and barracks with no source of heat and no real bathroom facilities.  For four years!  And yet, the prisoners made a small village out of the place.  They received mail and exchanged for goods and services.   Currency was even used in transactions (for food and clothing).   They also had dramatic performances and an orchestra. The introduction even suggests that some of the prisoners recalled their time there with a kind of fondness.

Pyke even met some people he knew as soon as he got there (and they provided him with food and clothing to keep warm).  He was also known as the crazy Englishman who came to Germany after the war had started.

Despite these high times, it was still a prison, and Pyke was determined to escape (which he did).  He escaped and wrote this book which was published two years before the end of the war.  So everyone knew what things were like in Germany.  How amazing!

The book really picks up speed once he gets to (and escapes from) Ruhleben.  He and another man escaped together and then proceeded to march over 70 miles to the Dutch border.  It took two weeks, during which time they ate about 4 ounces of food a day. They were able to pass for Germans a few times (even being able to buy provisions from a store and a meal from an inn) but were in pretty serious danger almost all the time.  Even though we know that he escaped, the dangers are very real, and the story is very exciting and fairly amazing.

It’s also an amazing account because, since the book was written while the war was still going on, he wouldn’t name names or give any details about anything to prevent anyone from getting into trouble.  He was very cryptic about how he escaped, so that the guards didn’t block the means.  He gives some hints, but who knows if anyone could decipher them.  Collins thoughtfully gives a footnote that explains exactly how he escaped.

But the most interesting part is his prose.  It’s written in the style of a 1916 British adventure story, so it has all of the tell-tale signs of a ripping yarn: adventure, cunning, prisoners etc.   But it is also very amusing in its attitude.   It’s very stiff-upper-lip, what-ho-chap, let’s-get-Gerry-ol’-boy.  And by that I mean he talks about the German people (mostly the soldiers) as if they were no match for anyone. He seems to mock everything about the enemy.   It makes sense, obviously, because he outsmarted them, and also to keep up English spirits during the war.  Nevertheless, the style is very amusing to read.  And it really does read like an early twentieth-century adventure story.  It just happens to be true.

Pyke himself is also a fascinating individual. The Introduction talks about his amazing cleverness and all of his wonderfully original ideas.  And, yes, Wikipedia will give more details, too.

I’m really pleased that I read this. Thanks, Paul Collins.