12.02.2006

Nothing




Rene Halkett + David Jay Nothing 7" (4 AD, 1981)

One of the best lessons that I've learned is that the word "No" does not hurt. Once I learned that, I found that if I asked for something, most of the time the request would be judged on its merits. The words "Hey, I'd like to play music with you" or "I want to put out a record of your music" became much easier to say than it was to keep the desire to do such things silent. I imagine that David Jay had learned that No is just a word before he approached Rene Halkett about putting Halkett's voice & words to music. Perhaps the conversation went something like this:

Rene Halkett: Hello?

David Jay: Cheers. Is this Rene Halkett?

Rene Halkett: Yes, it is.

David Jay: Listen, Rene. I am in a band called the Bauhaus. You were one of the original Bauhaus. I make music. You write poems. Let's get together and do some music poetry thing.

Rene Halkett was born in 1900. In 1923, he hooked up with the Staatliches Bauhaus Weimer, a group of German Bauhaus artists, designers, performers, writers, and musicians. Halkett's gig was that of a painter and poet.

David Jay was born in 1957. Inspired by the mid Seventies British punk/DIY movement, Jay formed the band Bauhaus. They made a few influential records.

Jay got the idea to do a record with Halkett. Halkett recorded his words on a portable cassette recorder in his Cornwall cottage in 1980. Nearly a year later, Jay went into the studio and recorded music for it.

I, for, one am glad that Jay didn't care if Halkett said No to his idea. This is a great record.


Comments:
Thanks for posting this. I always wondered if this was any good, but never even saw it in a store, let alone got to hear it.
 
I haven't heard this for such a long time. Utterly bizarre. Many thanks.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?