I Talk To The Trees

He Has His Lucid Intervals

1888/10/05

After dinner toast at Little Menlo

Spoken by: Arthur Sullivan, composer

Introduction by: Col. George Gouraud

Record format: Edison yellow paraffin cylinder
Recording date: October 5, 1888
Location: Little Menlo, London, England
ENHS object catalog number: E-2439-7

George Gouraud:

From Gouraud to Edison, continuation of introduction of friends. Now listen to the voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan.

Arthur Sullivan:

Dear Mr. Edison,

If my friend, Edmund Yates has been a little incoherent, it is in consequence of the excellent dinner, and good wine which he has drunk. Therefore, I beg you would excuse him. He has his lucid intervals.
For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening’s experiment — astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same, I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery. Arthur Sullivan.

Technology Is Killing Music

1843/06/06

This eternal piano-playing is too much to bear! … These shrill tinkle-tones with no natural resonance, these heartless whirring-tones, this arch-prosaic rumbling and hacking — the fortepiano is killing all our thoughts and feelings, and we are becoming stupid, dull, imbecilic. This prevalence of piano playing, not to speak of the triumphal march of the piano virtuosos, is characteristic of our time and truly bears witness to the victory of machine over spirit. Technical proficiency, the precision of an automaton, the identification with strung wood, the sonic instrumentalization of human beings, is now hailed and celebrated as the highest good.”

Heinrich Heine, Paris 1843

I Talk To The Trees

1001/01/01

Noise related endeavours of little historical import are found collected in the annals.

Largely irrelevant ramblings, asides, and diversions are below.

Before The Dream Faded

1001/01/01

A rough history of the band with the occasional detour into matters contemporary.

An over reliance on the West Sussex County Times back issues and in particular its Sound Wave column which revolved around regular gigs at Champagnes nightclub in Horsham means that information is far more scarce after the closure of that venue in the middle of 1989. (With the Internet having been a source of information about new bands for twenty years now it’s perhaps difficult to either remember or imagine the importance local newspapers, radio stations and fanzines had).

Some dates are a best guess but are usually accurate to within a couple of weeks. There will be a certain amount of overlap with the pages elsewhere on the site to avoid hiccups in the chronology. There’s quite a lot to add yet.

Song posts are dated to the nearest month and chord names should only be taken as a guide.

This is a work in progress which I’ve been pottering along on for some years with a fair bit to do yet. There may be problems with links as I move posts and pages across from the previous Gits website.