Pete Wiggs (of St Etienne) put together the soundtrack to a film celebrating a lost London (from the 1950s through to the 1980s). If it was a London that ever really existed at all. It was screened at the Barbican last year and Pete's soundtrack came out in December. The Youtube clip below shows a London of coffee shops, Routemasters, the Festival of Britain, jazzy instrumentals, raincoats and twin sets. A long-vanished world from before when most of our pop culture existed, well over half a century ago.
This is the trailer for the film. Whimsical and nostalgic. Whimsey and nostlagia, coupled with hyper-modernity and instantness (instantanaiety?), seem to be the flavour of our current times. Anyway, regardless, I like this.
The clip is lovely. I'm trying to imagine how a contemporary equivalent would look and having difficulty believing it could be so charming... but maybe that's just the lure of nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or does the Teddy Girl have a slight look of Helena Bonham-Carter about her too?
You have a point C, she does look like HBC.
ReplyDeleteSwiss Adam
This just goes to strengthen dispair at the gentrification of Soho and surrounding areas in London. Unaffordable flats and office space is taking all the character out of that very colorful part of the big city.
ReplyDeleteThe Blow Monkeys lent their new track Lions of Charing Cross to the Save Denmark St. Campaign.
I hate nostalgia. Get on with making the present as good as it can be. (That doesn't mean tearing down old buildings though..)
ReplyDeleteI think you're right Hazard. Nostalgia is the enemy of art and all that. It's seductive though isn't it?
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