artist: EDWARD WILLIAMS
title: Life On Earth - Music From The 1979 BBC TV Series
label: Trunk
country: UK
format: CD
The ground breaking natural history program Life On Earth hit UK TV screens 30 years ago, in 1979,
and this is the first time the beautiful music composed for David Attenborough's series by Edward
Williams has been commercially issued. It's quite extraordinary that something so utterly beautiful
has remained unissued until now. Comes with a 16 page booklet.
Track Listing:
01. Life On Earth Begins In The Sun's Energy
02. First Fossils - Blue Greens - Ciliates
03. Comb Jellies - Hydromedusae - "Birth" Of A Medusa - Gymnopedie For Jellyfish
04. Coral Larvae - Arabesque For Flatworms
05. The Giant Clam - Slow Dance For Nudibranchs - Glaucus And Valla
06. The Sex Life Of The Fern - Spores, Fertilization And Growth - Pine Cones And The Petrified Forest
07. Coming Out Music - The Leaf Bug - The Spiny Leaf Insect Sheds It's Skin - Cocoon Spinners
08. Fish Of The Sea - Shoals And Loners On The Reef
09. Eusthenopteron And The Primeval Swamp
10. Nile Crocodile Family - Oral Transport For The Young
11. Mating Dance For Prairie Garter Snakes
12. Birds In Flight - Stork - Fairy Tern - Sooty Tern - Tropic Bird - Frigate Bird - Albatross
13. A Gullimaufry Of Small Mammals - Buckbilled Platypus Swimming - Desman Underwater - Pygmy
Or (Silky Furred) Anteater And Baby - Flying Foxes - The Several Punces
14. The Big Mammals - Elephant And Their Ancestors - Lion Hunt - Wildebeeste Stampede - Lion Kill
15. Japanese Macaques - Warm Baths In A Snowscape
16. Man - A Choice For The Future Of Life On Earth?
"The music reminded me very much of my first encounter with library music and the magical, twinkling
ambient sounds of science, nature and music for jellyfish. Some frantic letter writing followed. Edward
Williams had to be traced. Eventually I tracked him down and went to meet him at his home in Bristol. It
was fascinating to learn that he had connections with other important musical characters that I was
dealing with, like Tristram Cary. I also learned that Edward had invented the soundbeam, an incredible
musical education tool. He also told me about his extraordinary 1970s VCS 3 touring band called Uncle
Jambo's Pendular Vibrations. Edward also explained the genesis of the rare and elusive vinyl album.
Basically, he'd had less than 100 copies privately-pressed for any members of the orchestra who had
played on the recording and wanted one. And so in late 2009, 30 years on from the day it was created,
we can all enjoy some of the most beautiful music made for some of the greatest TV ever produced."
The sounds composed and created for the series are quite magical. It's the sound of science, of
underwater life, of progress, flight, fight, death and courtship. There are swamps, petrified forests,
snowscapes and coral reefs. And of course, music composed for a wide variety of birds, animals and
sea-dwellers of all shapes and sizes. Influences include Erik Satie, British pastoral composition of the
post-war period and pioneering UK electronics. What's extraordinary is that Edward Williams created a
sound way ahead of his time; listen to track 2 or 3, and you will hear music that could easily be mistaken
for the contemporary soundtrack work of Cliff Martinez or Clint Mansell. The music itself is hard to
categorize -- of course it's soundtrack music, but it hints at classical, at library music, touches on the
avant-garde, and has a strong ambient feel and an unusual timeless quality. It involves over 70
musicians, with the composer placing much of the played music through his vintage 1973 VCS 3
synthesizer." (Jonny Trunk - Trunk Records)
*Featured on the and/OAR top 300 list at Discogs.