Fair warning: this review may contain more offhand references to now-undeservedly-obscure British cult fantasy & sci-fi shows than the usual stuff I write. You have been warned.
Soundtracks for things that don’t actually exist to need a soundtrack are increasingly a favorite sub-genre of mine. What you’re getting is that particular musician or composer’s unfiltered ideas, freed from the time constraints of having to match something that actually exists in visual form. (And by the same token, such a release is also an instant demo “calling card” for the artist in question.) But Phil Heeks, the mad genius behind the British Stereo Collective moniker, does observe many time constraints on this release, because he’s emulating such past classics as BBC Radiophonic Music, which was itself kind of a publicly-released calling card for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, showing off the vast range of their radio and TV theme tunes, station identification sounders, and jingles. Everything, from the name of this musical entity down, is part of that tribute.
With track titles like “Theme From ‘The Yesterday Children'”, “Ringstone Round”, and “Wires Are Dangerous”, you might be expecting near-beer versions of themes from The Tomorrow People, Quatermass, and The Changes, but in listening to Mystery Fields, the overriding musical influence I hear from the original Radiophonic Workshop is the great Paddy Kingsland, whose work did indeed grace The Changes, but also the memorable music from Doctor Who episodes that saw Tom Baker morph into Peter Davison, and both the radio and TV incarnations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Despite the game of track title scavenger hunt going on, it’s Kingsland’s knack for catchy melodies that seems to be the primary inspiration here. (That’s not a bad thing to be able to emulate. Some 40 years later I still find myself humming bits and pieces of Hitchhiker’s Guide and Logopolis, despite the fact that neither of those have ever had proper soundtrack releases of their own.)
To be fair, there’s some Peter Howell influence too (“Theme From ‘Space Guardians'”), a bit of Ken “Tripods” Freeman here and there (“Travelogue”), a hint of Malcolm Clarke (“At The Court Of Queen Jezebel”), and I really should point out that this is in reference to stylistic tributes. Nothing here is a cover. The music is all Heeks’, filtered through what one assumes is a lifetime of listening to the same Radiophonic Workshop albums that this reviewer has also been listening to for ages.
If you’re looking for new compositions in a vintage style that feels like a familiar old friend from 40 or 50 years ago, it’s hard to do much better than this. Not only is the music itself authentic, but with the inclusion of “station idents” and sound effects tracks, the album is even formatted like an album of a bygone era. It’s just a lovely retro treat for your ears.
- Theme from “The Yesterday Children” (03:21)
- The Ghosts of Fleet Forest (Opening Titles) (01:27)
- Theme from “Space Guardians” (04:16)
- Sound Effect: Dog Barking at Innocent Birds (00:12)
- Mystery Fields (01:59)
- The Rain and the Darkness (02:34)
- Sound Effect: Flying Saucer Landing (00:12)
- Puzzle Time (02:33)
- The Ghosts of Fleet Forest (End Titles) (01:21)
- Southern Television (Ident) (00:11)
- Midlands Television (Ident) (00:08)
- Travelogue (02:44)
- Sound Effect: Woman Laughing at Creaky Door (00:05)
- Ringstone Round (03:33)
- Wires are Dangerous (03:19)
- At the Court of Queen Jezebel (00:59)
- The War Within (03:08)
- The Nature of the Beast (02:16)
- Sound Effect: Blood-Curdling Maniac (00:06)
- The Bentley Saga (02:38)
Released by: British Stereo Collective via BandCamp
Release date: December 3, 2021
Total running time: 37:02
