Compost Mentis

• PCM Sequencing by "Bobby"
• PCM & CV Sequencing by Andy Preston
• Compiled by Sarah Checksfield
• Produced by Andy Preston
• Recorded in 1998-2004
• Re-re-release date: Winter 2005
• Released by Edge Effect
• Catalogue Number EEC0006
• Duration: 53:57

This disc started it's complicated history as Edge Effect's first release as a group. But almost immediately after it's release, Edge Effect was troubled by internal ructions and one of the members left, taking with him any rights we had to release his work. Thus a second version was put together from this initial release and a planned follow-up CD.

If that's not complicated enough: as Edge Effect has moved away from a more "wacky" eclectic sound into the field of ambient music, it became apparent that this CD as not really suitable for Edge Effect; but at the same time, it seemed unfair to just throw away my excellent contibutions.

So with a bit of juggling of titles, and yet another Zappaesque re-working of the tracks, we present not "Compost Mentis" by Edge Effect but "If It's Dark, You Can't See" by Compost Mentis.

1. Yellow River (Checksfield) (3.38)
   Last summer the cats taught me to do the psychick travel thing, and we all went for a long lazy tour round some of the more hard to reach places, hard that is, if you have to travel in a non-psychick kind of way. This is a brief glimpse of one of our destinations, the Yellow River, the sun setting, the balmy evenings, the river gentley lapping at the side of our boat... quite picturesque.
2. Places Gone But Not Forgotten (Checksfield) (5:13)
   Swindon is a boom town, which means that each year there seems to be one less wild place to visit, & another housing estate to avoid. This track is dedicated to all of those places that we'll never see again but will live on in our memories, & especially to Rushey Platt on the banks of the River Ray.
   
   It's quite funny that although neither myself or Sarah like Jean Michel Jarre's work at all, a bar or two of his Fishing Junks at Sunset have managed to find their way into this track.
3. The Young Man and the Sea (Checksfield) (3.39)
   Having disregarded his Hemingway novel, the child walks along the beach, his teddy bear in his hand. The waves are washing gentley, belaying the power and majesty that is the sea. That great unchanging force that will remain long after the boy and the bear are forgotten.
4. Bollocks (Edge Effect Cosmic Mix 2) (Checksfield/Preston) (2:16)
   This track is cool in all of it's incarnations, however we felt this was the best. Contructed using only samples of the word "bollocks" after a particularly tiresome week at work, it is surpisingly "upbeat".
5. Slayer (Checksfield) (2:19)
   Given the challenge to complete a song during an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", this track has a very hunter/hunted kind of feel. Can you imagine that little girl relentlessly stalking the big scary vampire...
6. Bobby's Tuff (Checksfield) (2:10)
   There had been too many light fluffy tunes, with pretty imagery and I felt that Sarah was maybe having too much of an influence on me (being the hands, ears and brain, it isn't that difficult - SC). I wanted to do something more befitting of a tough punk rock bear that survived the eighties, and this is what came up with. Very macho...eh?!
7. Dandelion Fluff (Checksfield) (2:54)
   A warm summer breeze catches a small dandelion clock and blows it apart, one fluff is carried away on the wind, another floats off down the river. Floating, drifting, spinning away.
8. Psychick Country Fayre (Checksfield) (2:54)
   Once a year the cats get together where no-one is watching to celebrate their cattiness. They come quietly and psychickly so as not to wake the neighbours, but once gathered they begin to talk, amongst themselves, while their owners slumber peacefully. Here we find them in full party mode with the fun and frolics at their height.
9. Piglet and the Wizard (Checksfield) (2:13)
   A wizard stands on a mountain top, summoning the elements to do his will. He is interrupted by the idle musings of Piglet who stands to watch the spectacular display of swirly lights for a moment, before moving on his way; leaving the wizard to his spells. The wizard continues for a while before disappearing in the inevitable puff of smoke.
10. If It's Dark, You Can't See (Preston) (2:52)
    I don't know what happened here. I suppose Andy's higher self must have popped in on the way to The 97th Dimension the day he made this track. Suddenly from somewhere, he seemed to be able to write real music. Either that, or it's proof of the theory that if you have an infinite number of monkeys, and an infinite number of typewriters you'll eventually get a big pile of broken typewriters, or something like that.
11. My Brain Is Melting (Checksfield/Preston) (4:18)
    This is the second time that Andy has made a track by remixing this particular module of mine. It's first outing was as I said, "Be careful, that bread bag is really a camera!". This time, he's kept closer to the original's nutty atonal sound, He added a bit of a techno beat & replaced those tortured animals with electronic sounds that border on comedy sound effects. As he was working on the remixing, we kept thinking about Bill Bailey's Aldous Huxley sketch - specifically the "My Brain Is Melting" punchline, which we then used as a sample to add the finishing touch. Works nicely with the whole Compost Mentis theme, dunnit?
12. Subliminal Revelers (Preston) (4:31)
    Andy loves this track, He's not sure if it's the moronic, finger on the jack plug bass-line, or the bits when the feedback stops, or the plinky - plinky - plink percussion, but it seems to have a special place in his heart.
13. Requiem for Mir (Edge Effect Zero Gee Mix) (Checksfield/Preston) (3:09)
    Christmas 2000 - the Mir space station has been in orbit for 14 years, hosting crews from all over the world. Everything is quiet now, the life support systems have been deactivated, the radio is silent, only the computers are in control. Like a ghost ship, it orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, waiting to meet it's fate. On the 23rd of March 2001 it will plunge through the atmosphere, & those parts of it that do not burn up will crash into the Pacific Ocean. It's designers had estimated that it would be in service for 2 years.
14. Out of Memory (excerpt) (Checksfield) (2:33)
    Windy Miller off on his bicycle to meet up with Chippy Minton, Dr Mopp visiting Mrs Hunniman, even though she is quite well, and all the boys from Pippin Fort sitting around having a quiet smoke. Everything was right with the world.
15. Pyramid of The Sun (Checksfield) (5:03)
    Deep in the jungle, stands the ruined temple of the Sun. It's builders are long gone, but their descendants still keep the count of days here. According to an ancient calendar this is the day of The Festival of The Sun. The bright Sun beats down on the equally bright costumes of the people who have come to celebrate the gift of life & the hope of freedom.
16. Crazy Old Gits (Preston) (2:17)
    303 style squelchiness from the late 90s, coupled up with a recording of the legendary Ian Leighton commenting on street theatre from way back in 1988.
17. Dancing Pixies (Edge Effect Tired Mix) (Checksfield/Preston) (1:04)
    A group of bright bouncy pixies head home after a long night of dancing.(they orginally just kept on dancing forever but this was deemed cruelty to pixies, so they had to leave the party) They're still full of beans when they leave and keep on dancing and bouncing. As they spy home and begin to think of their warm cosy beds they begin to tire, and the closer they get the tireder, and tireder they become, until finally...

Many of our friends have asked exactly what it is on the cover of this CD (someone even thought it was a photo of Andy's penis???), the answer is, of course, a compost heap. If you look closely you can see a piece of lemon peel and an old egg-shell. The original photo was taken in September 2002. This photo shows a view of the same compost heap, 6 months later.