Taking A Trip To The Dark Side Of The Archives
The Incidents OST
The Lounge Bar Orchestra
Greg Healey has been working through the archives of the Reg Omeroyd scores which saw him conducting The Lounge Bar Orchestra in the 1960s and 1970s. Amongst the gems that he has so far uncovered were the theme tune and incidental music to the BBC series ENDANGERMENT made in 1972 but sadly wiped along with so much material from that time. The Incidents was a BBC2 play, starring Peter Wyngarde from Department S and Jason King, and Jean Marsh of Upstairs Downstairs who had previously appeared in TV science fiction as Jean Kingdom in Doctor Who. The reason for its complete obscurity wasn’t that it was wiped, but that it was unscreened due to significant concerns about the content which included sexual situations and violent scenes. Much of the storyline, concerning material found at an Iron Age fortification which triggered uncontrollable sexual desire amongst scientists in Dr Marcus Grey’s laboratory, was considered too strong even for those times when a backlash against earlier strict censorship led to a relaxed acceptance of content that had been frowned upon a few years earlier. Thanks to Greg Healey, though, we finally have access to some of the music that graced this lost classic.
The Incidents
This theme tune has unmistakable elements of the style I recognise from previous Lounge Bar Orchestra recordings from the 1970s. First of all, there is the jaunty feel that calls to mind The Persuaders, with the horns to the fore but with some clever work on the strings to give it a slightly more unsettling feel. That unsettling feel is definitely enhanced by the otherworldly vocal harmonies that we were familiar with from the original Star Trek theme. You can get a picture in your mind of what the opening titles might have looked like. I saw Peter Wyngarde’s character, Dr Grey, driving to the laboratory and meeting his assistant, played by Jean Marsh, with the two of them walking into a bunker style laboratory where most of the action will take place.
Temporal Damage
Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer were pushing the boundaries with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop at the time The Incidents was made, and you can hear their influence in the unsettling, modernist Temporal Damage. It is less a piece of incidental music and more a soundscape of a nightmare. You hear snatches of voices along with almost orchestral bursts of music in a cacophony of confusion. Quite where it fitted into the story is obviously something we’ll never know but I see it as the incidental music to a scene where the scientists are exploring the Iron Age fort and seeing their equipment going haywire. Quite what the viewers would have made of it in 1973 is anyone’s guess!
Car Park in Reverse
I have to admit that the title of this one has me stumped, but what I can tell you is that the music moves from a relaxed groove to a very unsettling burst of a woman screaming. It is a track that wrongfoots you at the end of every section with the track never taking the direction you expect it to. It’s a very clever piece of music that might have drawn the viewer into a very confusing landscape of the mind where nothing is what it appears to be.
Sex Inside the Forcefield
You could see the composer having great fun writing the title and waiting for the reaction! Given the unsettling, occasionally nightmarish feel of the previous two tracks, you would be forgiven for expecting music from the heart of diabolism. Instead, what you get is the type of music that Abigail could quite happily play at her party alongside Demis Roussos! It’s the sound of the 70s encapsulated in a three-minute track.
This is yet another sublime collection from The Lounge Bar Orchestra and I look forward to seeing what else emerges from the archives in the future. All I know is that it is bound to be good.
