The A666, the Devil’s Highway, is a road I know well- I use it everyday to get to work, picking it up on the southern edge of Bolton and following it across the Lancashire moors towards Darwen. The road goes on into the heart of Lancashire, having started miles earlier in Salford. The A666 has been celebrated as the opening song on The Eccentronic Research Council’s album 1612 Underture which came out last year and which I got for Christmas. 2012 was the 400th anniversary of the trial and executions of the Pendle Witches. The ERC’s album bills itself as A Folkloric Sonic Pilgrimage To the Home Of the Pendle Witches and it’s a really interesting record. Andy Votel’s Finders Keepers Records were involved, often a mark of quality. Maxine Peake narrates most of the tracks, telling the story of the Pendle Witches and drawing some modern parallels, dragging in William Blake, Dr Who, Holland and Barrett, Terry Duckworth, barm cakes, Crocs and flip flops, Top Of The Pops, city councils and Rabid Cameron, with the dialogue bouncing between 1612 and 2012, ending with a ouija board resurrection of Old Lizzie Southern. It is, it states in the liner notes, a concept record. The album has a real story telling flow, some cracking electronic music and sonically becomes quite disturbing two thirds of the way in. This is the opener….
Filed under: maxine peake, the A666, the eccentronic research council, the pendle witches | 3 Comments »
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