Still perambulating in a relaxed, even indolent way through the archive.
Even the most leisurely of strolls through the Echoesverse is gratefully appreciated
Up to AJP Taylor’s essay on Mosley’s increasing prominence as MacDonald was elected.
Ah yes, AJP Taylor. A great Mosley apologist if ever one existed.
Another prime example of the upside down cake that is this alternate history.
Absolutely. Imagine complaining in all sincerity by the 1960s that Mosley's ideas are being dismissed too fast!
I wonder if Mosley’s programme was ever described as a ‘Bennite solution’?
One assumes that, were Benn to receive anything like that level of significance, Mosley would be on hand with a way of 'taking care' of it…
This sounds like a parallel vision for the real-life egoist, but with no doubt very different outcomes.
Quite. In our world, Mosley's flight from the Labour Party led – not inevitably, but thanks to a lot of hard work by people on the ground – to his eventual disgrace and discrediting. Here… well, I hope you enjoy finding out for yourself
Another interesting vignette DB. I did like Louis' horror at the thought of being a 'wrecker', another little way in which the Commonwealth's grimness seeps into everyday life. He clearly cannot comprehend the idea of having earned the promotion through being good at his job (doubtless the system discourages such individualism) so it must either be a bureaucratic mistake or some nefarious plot.
Thank you Pip. (And thank you for posting that Louis Balfour Fast Show gif the other week that sparked the whole thing.)
My own thoughts on the situation were that being promoted was not necessarily unusual (even I recognise that this would be absurd) but that being asked to move from Nunhead to Birmingham was out of the ordinary. My feeling is that the free movement of labour around the country is (or was, at the height of the unions' powers) probably offset by strong protections for 'local' workers. (I.e. lots of internal promotions.) This was pretty much a condition of union compliance after Mosley's battle to put state managers into factories in 1946/7, so the fact that by 1958-odd Louis can be moved 'up and out' is possibly a sign of some Mosley strong-arming of someone or other.
On individualism: I suppose it's not entirely irrelevant to note how the difference in 'trad' and 'new style' is essentially how much freedom the players have within the ensemble.
Ironically if Louis were to express the view that aside from less repression things were virtually identical he would end up discovering the repression was the same as before, just applied to different people, such as those who deny the incredible and glorious progress of the Bevan regime. The beatings will continue until morale improves and all that.
Quite so.
Musically you will doubtless be shocked to hear I think I fall into the 'trad' jazz camp. The Tubby Hayes Qunitet just sounded a bit busy to me, too much happening at the same time with not enough co-ordination. Like Wall of Sound gone badly wrong or what Bowie's Heroes could have been if Bowie hadn't been a genius. If they are representative of 'modern' jazz I'll give it a miss, even if they do have a spot on name for a jazz group. Though as pointed out if it becomes establishment sound then it's not going to have a long shelf life if/when the mood turns against Bevan.
I am somewhat shocked to hear that you feel you fall into either of the camps at all, but on reflection it would make sense for you to favour a style from the 1920s. I could split hairs over the idea that the Tubby Hayes Quintet are lacking in co-ordination of all things, but frankly what stuns me most is your belief that Bowie was a genius. I don't disagree by any means, I'm just (pleasantly) surprised to be hearing you holding up the saxophone work on
Heroes of all albums as being preferable to the THQ.
Bowie of course was a massive jazz fan from an early age thanks to the influence of his older half-brother Terry, who was a frequent visitor to exactly the sort of clubs Louis is talking about here. He learnt to play the sax, by the way, under the tuition of Ronnie Ross, who was a leading British 'modern jazz' player (and another jazz link with The Beatles, playing sax on
"Savoy Truffle"). Thanks to the Bowie connection, he also later provided the sax solo on Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", which I suppose is probably his most famous work (although few would know that it was him).
Anyway – I am a fanatical Bowie fan, and his life and work will be explored in much more depth going into Volume 2.