Sidney Sager - Children Of The Stones (Vinyl LP)

JBH100

There is only 17 minutes of music throughout the series, so Trunk have fitted it all onto a one sided LP. Artwork is by Julian House – legendary hauntologist (Belbury Poly etc) and the man behind some of the greatest spooky band artwork of all time - Stereolab, Broadcast, Primal Scream etc etc. Sleevenotes by Stewart Lee and inner sleeve notes by Alan Gubby of Buried Treasure Records.

When Children Of The Stones (AKA COTS) was first shown on kids TV back in 1977, just about anyone who watched was scared shitless. The 7 part drama centred around disturbing happenings in a strange pagan village of very weird and unusually happy people, all set in the midst of the stone circle at Avebury – known as Milbury for the show.

The series shown across British TV (and USA TV in 1980) would scar, disturb and influence an entire generation. Without COTS it’s unlikely we’d have hauntology, spooky folk stuff, stone circle clubs, weird walks and a hunger for such pagan oddities everywhere. And COTS really is the key TV series in many of these modern movements, way before The Wicker Man. Even though The Wicker Man was released in 1973 it was an adult film only released to a few cinemas.

Very few people saw it and its influence really started in the late 1990s with the first release of the music. Whereas COTS on the other hand was shown at 5pm, on schooldays, to a whole nation of impressionable kids, who had never seen or heard anything quite like it. The power of COTS runs deep. So much so Stewart Lee made a whole documentary about it. The release of this long-awaited album will be a “Happy Day” for many.

TRACKLIST

A1. HTV Ident
A2. Children Of The Stones Opening Title
A3. Mrs Crabtree Views The Painting
A4. Someone Who Is Happy
A5. Matthew And Dai
A6. Adam Touches The Stones
A7. Circle Of Fear (I Can't Wait)
A8. Nobody Ever Leaves
A9. Being Alone
A10 . Within The Painting
A11. Matthew's Accident
A12. Serpent In The Circle
A13. Tom Browning
A14. Look, It's Jimmo
A15. Narrowing Circle
A16. Premonition Of Dr Lyle
A17. Dai Cast The Bones
A18. The Barber Surgeon's Amulet
A19. Never, It's Mine
A20. He's Not There
A21. Anger The Fire
A22. Such Power
A23. It Is Time
A24. Squaring The Circle
A25. We've Lost Them
A26. Go Now And Be Happy
A27. I'll Return This At The Same Time
A28. We're Trapped
A29. The Circle Is Complete
A30. The Circle Is Broken
A31. Children Of The Stones End Title