Sublime electronic underwater score from 1981 by former member of Black Sabbath. Comes with unique blank seascape sleeve with sticker sheet to make your own underwater scene sleeve. How super fucking cool is that?

SLEEVENOTES
Since I started collecting records I have been slightly obsessed with underwater music. I could analyse this in many ways but the most obvious starting point for me was the weekly dose of Sunday afternoon TV onboard the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau throughout the 1970s.

My collection of underwater LPs and singles is now extensive - in the hundreds I reckon. But in amongst it all is only one underwater soundtrack from the UK. And this is it. It took me an age to track down Jezz, but I did. And now you don’t have to take an age to track down an original super rare copy of the 1981 pressing.

These days when there are so may represses, rediscoveries and reissues, I thought we’d make this stand out a little more, so I decided to take us all back to my childhood 1970’s when I used to get a little “Action Transfer” set on very special occasions, and stick the little transfers of scuba divers, fish and mini subs all over a small paper underwater landscape. Sadly we couldn’t get classic rub down Letraset style transfers but I think Kev (DJ Food) has done a miraculous job in creating a modern version.

So sit back (mess about with the stickers) and wonder at the beautiful, submersive electronic sounds created by Jezz all those years ago. Dive in, the water is lovely.

Jonny Trunk 2023

THE SLEEVE
To put together such a unique sleeve Jonny Trunk teamed up with Kevin Foakes / DJ Food who used AI programming to generate this underwater wonderland, the sleeve images and the record labels. The sticker sheet was generated using influences from vintage 1970s “Action Transfer” imagery and period graphic styles. The result is a magical clash of then and now tech and a totally unique sleeve for an incredible soundtrack.

THE MUSIC
As underwater albums go, this is the very peak. Made using the best cutting edge synth tech of the day (see tech list below - most used by Vangelis at the time too!!!), the result is a sublime wash of underwater ambience, emotions and more. IT GETS NO BETTER.

THE COMPOSER
Jezz Woodroffe (aged 29 when this LP was originally made), having played keyboards from the age of five and reaching musical distinction at the age of ten, has played in many bands. Jezz left ‘Black Sabbath’ in his pursuit to find alternative ways to stretch his ability and because of his obsession with perfection released his first solo album “Opposite Directions” and single “Peace In Our Space” (Graduate Records). The resulted in the offer to score for the film ‘Wonders Of The Underwater World”. Faced with a difficult task, Jezz set up his complex of equipment at the foot of the screen (as in the silent movies) and played to the action. It soon became obvious that his talents and sympathy for the underwater environment were enhancing the filming beautifully. Having been totally involved in this project from its original conception I could only sit back in awe and admiration during the three months it took Jezz to complete the soundtrack, which, when viewed with the film is a very moving experience. The music, listened to in its own right - as an album - is for me as much an amazing trip as the two years around the world it took to make the film!

THE STUDIO EQUIPMENT USED ON THE LP
Yamaha Polyphonic Synthesisers CS80 & CS60 ~ Yamaha Symphonic Ensemble SK20 ~ Yamaha Monophonic Synthesisers CS30, CS150 & CS20M ~ Yamaha Electric Grand CP708 ~ Roland Monophonic Synthesisers SH1, PRO-MARS ~ Roland Digital Sequencer CSQ600 ~ Roland Vocoder VP330 ~ Roland Organ / String Synth. RS09 ~ Mini Moog & Moog Prodigy Monophonic Synthesisers ~ Godwin String Concert 649 ~ H/H Electric Piano P73

TRACKLISTING:
Side One:
1 Wonderland In The Wilderness
2 Nature On A Knife Edge

Side Two:
3 Sunken Tombs Of The Truk Lagoon
4 Magic Of The Dolphin

DETAILED TRACK NOTES
SIDE ONE
Wonderland In The Wilderness The Red Sea has become one of the most popular diving locations in the world and the remoteness of Ras Muhammed at the southern tip of the Sinai desert, has if anything encouraged a great invasion of divers form all over the world. The experience of the diver is like an amazing trip to another planet. The inhabitants, fish of all kinds including sharks and 6ft long Moray Eels, eat right out of the divers’ hands. To visit the depths of coral reefs at night in the dark is an eerie experience of continuous surprises. Disaster strikes this fragile coral world when a freighter founders on one of Ras Muhammed’s submerged islands and the salvage operation produces a nightmare for the marine life similar to a nuclear attack!

Nature On A Knife Edge
The Galapagos archipelago is a conservationists Mecca where some of the most unusual creatures on earth are to be found. One of these creatures is a 200 year old Giant Tortoise known as ‘Lonesome George’ - he is the last remaining one of his species! The Galapagos region is one of the most prolific in marine life and includes the prehistoric looking Marine Iguana but the stars of the show are the Sea Lions who perform the most amazing underwater acrobatics. To spend some time on the Galapagos is to feel that you are at the dawn of creation, in a world that is on the brink of destruction. However every effort is being made to conserve the fantastic animal and plant life that exists there.

SIDE TWO
Sunken Tombs Of The Truk Lagoon
Truk Lagoon has been described as the Gibraltar of the Pacific. In an American air attack called ‘Operation Hailstone’ the Japanese were caught by surprise and many of their ships were sent to the bottom. The submarine I169 lies in 160ft of water and sank with the loss of all crew. Still loaded with aircraft and high explosives, each wreck has become a time capsule which reflects the lives of the 40,000 men for whom the clock stopped one violent and fateful day in 1944. This dramatic film, which was awarded a gold medal at The Brighton International Underwater Film Festival, gives a chilling visitation to one of the world’s strangest museums. The wreckage inside is well preserved while the outside has provided a base for exotic growth.

Magic Of The Dolphin
The mysterious qualities of dolphins, which have fascinated man for centuries, provides inspiration for the film ‘The Magic of the Dolphin’. The theme for the film is the behavior of dolphins in the wild and the search for a particular friendly dolphin to take the place of a famous wild dolphin named Donald who made many friends around the shores of the British Isles before he mysteriously disappeared. The search takes Dr. Horace Dobbs’ team two year round the world and includes the discovery of some horrific killing of dolphins in some places but eventually a wild bottle nose dolphin befriends the team in the Red Sea.