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Diana Rogerson, "The Inevitable Chrystal Belle Scrodd Record"
In the early 1980s, Diana Rogerson was peddling S&M gear at a shopin Kensington, creating her own films and performing in the performanceart duo Fistfuck (sometimes referred to as the "female Whitehouse")along with Jill Westwood. The short films were described as extremeversions of their live performances with urination and humiliation ascontrolled by Jill and Diana.
Klanggalerie
Soundtracks to these films created bySteven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound along with Diana and began to popup on compilations, credited to Chrystal Belle Scrodd. By 1985, thisdebut album was released. While Chrystal Belle Scrodd is the vehicle ofDiana and Steve, the "band" featured players like Trevor Reidy on drums(who's appeared on a number of early Nurse With Wound albums), KarlBlake of Lemon Kittens, the piano work of Robert Haigh of Sema, thevoices of Ruby Wallis (daughter of Chris Wallis and Diana, but creditedas Tathata Wallis), and a guy only credited as Matt on bass. While themusic fluctuates—from a band on the opener "Cradle Your Snatch," to theswelling of instruments like accordion mixed in with a bunch of otherthings on "Scitzo" (as heard on other NWW tracks like "Lea Tantaaria")and the inclusion of sampled bits of other songs—the music parts wayfor Diana's words, whether they're chants, sung, or spoken. Having thisrecord packaged on its own is fantastic, after dealing with thecompilation Beastingsfor years. I have always loved the juxtapositioning of songs in thisoriginal running order. Side B begins with Diana screaming at the topof her lungs in "Reach for Your Gun" and is followed by the epic"Unknown" parts one and two, with droning voices and light pianocontribution from Robert Haigh (fans of this track, should hunt downearly Sema recordings). The packaging for The Inevitable isimmaculate, with restored artwork and a booklet with rare photos, and,although attempts were clearly made, the recording hasn't beenrestored. It's clear that the master tapes were not used, as songs thatappeared on the CD compilation Beastings are fairly clear whilesongs that have never appeared on CD before have audible vinylcrackles. "Scitzo," for example is missing a couple minutes from theoriginal record, but culled from an edit used on Beastings. While "Unknown" was taken also taken from the BeastingsCD—as "Young Model" plays over the space where part one ends and twobegins (which isn't part of the original LP) and "The Demon Flower"plays over the drones towards the end—digital clicks and pops that wereon the Beastings CD have been noticably cleaned up. The Inevitable Chrystam Belle Scrodd Record and Belle de Jour are clearly better than the attempt made on Beastings, but perhaps due to lost masters or lack of time and funding, it isn't a perfect CD reissue campaign.
Klanggalerie
Soundtracks to these films created bySteven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound along with Diana and began to popup on compilations, credited to Chrystal Belle Scrodd. By 1985, thisdebut album was released. While Chrystal Belle Scrodd is the vehicle ofDiana and Steve, the "band" featured players like Trevor Reidy on drums(who's appeared on a number of early Nurse With Wound albums), KarlBlake of Lemon Kittens, the piano work of Robert Haigh of Sema, thevoices of Ruby Wallis (daughter of Chris Wallis and Diana, but creditedas Tathata Wallis), and a guy only credited as Matt on bass. While themusic fluctuates—from a band on the opener "Cradle Your Snatch," to theswelling of instruments like accordion mixed in with a bunch of otherthings on "Scitzo" (as heard on other NWW tracks like "Lea Tantaaria")and the inclusion of sampled bits of other songs—the music parts wayfor Diana's words, whether they're chants, sung, or spoken. Having thisrecord packaged on its own is fantastic, after dealing with thecompilation Beastingsfor years. I have always loved the juxtapositioning of songs in thisoriginal running order. Side B begins with Diana screaming at the topof her lungs in "Reach for Your Gun" and is followed by the epic"Unknown" parts one and two, with droning voices and light pianocontribution from Robert Haigh (fans of this track, should hunt downearly Sema recordings). The packaging for The Inevitable isimmaculate, with restored artwork and a booklet with rare photos, and,although attempts were clearly made, the recording hasn't beenrestored. It's clear that the master tapes were not used, as songs thatappeared on the CD compilation Beastings are fairly clear whilesongs that have never appeared on CD before have audible vinylcrackles. "Scitzo," for example is missing a couple minutes from theoriginal record, but culled from an edit used on Beastings. While "Unknown" was taken also taken from the BeastingsCD—as "Young Model" plays over the space where part one ends and twobegins (which isn't part of the original LP) and "The Demon Flower"plays over the drones towards the end—digital clicks and pops that wereon the Beastings CD have been noticably cleaned up. The Inevitable Chrystam Belle Scrodd Record and Belle de Jour are clearly better than the attempt made on Beastings, but perhaps due to lost masters or lack of time and funding, it isn't a perfect CD reissue campaign.samples:
