(previously: Mixtape of the Found Decade)
(previously as overture: Novas 0)
(previously in story time: Novas 0.01)
(previously in story time: Novas 0.02)
(previously in story time: Novas 5.3)
Never say never again, I guess.
There is a Novas 6, which takes the story of the Novas a little further into the future, and I think concludes it, but for now I’m leaving the story details of that unsketched. All I’ll say is that Cat Stevens performed in New Zealand and that reminded me of the odd driving beat of Angelsea, which seemed to connect to the equally odd beat of Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill, and then somehow I stumbled on Scriabin’s Preparation for the Final Mystery, and a musical line seemed to form between those two points.
And I thought that was that, but then a Cold War vibe seemed to keep creeping back into my head. And then: Stranger Things Season 3, which referenced both R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. and Neverending Story…. and the often uncredited female singer on that one, Beth Andersen, also did Dance Dance Dance for Scarface (1983), and the riff seemed the same as something, but what? And suddenly: Squares And Triangles.
And so this one was constructed as a musical palindrome, to match that strange sense of parallelism and tension the Cold War gave us. Every track of the first ten matches another one counting from the other side. Here becomes There. Up becomes Down. But it requires an eleventh to unlock the final code.
THIS BEGINS PROGRAM ELEVEN/I.
This story takes place before 0, just after 5.3. It is 1980. Jack is now an Operator for Astradyne. Susan is a mere Agent, under the neural control of SYSTEM.
Novas 0.1: The Clouds Run Parallel
01 Thompson Twins – Squares and Triangles (1980, England / New Zealand) SYSTEM and SKYWATCH
Inspiration
Is what we hunger for
There must be changes
It's part of the law
Search for new angles
(1 9 8 0)
Squares and triangles
(1 9 8 0, 1 9 8 0)
Shapes and figures
You keep wasting my time
New combinations
Now much harder to find
Search for new angles
(1 9 8 0)
Squares and triangles
(1 9 8 0, 1 9 8 0, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh )
Tantalising
The search for new clues
Celebrating
Different points of view
Search for new angles
(1 9 8 0)
Squares and triangles
(1 9 8 0, 1 9 8 0, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh )
Jack is introduced to the Simulation interface.
That whiplash cultural shift of the decades, caught in a flashbulb.
Parallels with: Dance Dance Dance (the melody line).
02 The Beatles – Back In The U.S.S.R. (1968, England) JACK
Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR
Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSSR
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR
Show me round your snowpeak mountains way down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
Jack is inserted into the simulated USSR both as a System Agent and as an in-world agent.
1968, but there was only ever one candidate for this really.
Parallels with: R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (the title, and the classic 50s rock format)
03 Shivaree – Goodnight Moon (1999, USA) SUSAN
There's a nail in the door
And there's glass on the lawn
Tacks on the floor
And the TV's on
But I always sleep with my guns
When you're gone
There's a blade by the door
And a phone in my hand
A dog on the floor
And some cash on the nightstand
When I'm all alone the dreaming stops
And I just can't stand
What should I do I'm just a little baby
What if the lights go out and maybe
And then the wind just starts to moan
Outside the door it followed me home
Goodnight moon I want the sun
If it's not here soon I might be done
No it won't be too soon till I say
Goodnight moon
There's a shark in the pool
And a witch in the tree
A crazy old neighbour
And he's been watching me
And there's footsteps loud and strong
Coming down the hall
Somethings under the bed
Now it's out in the hedge
There's a big black crow
Sitting on my window ledge
And I hear something
Scratching through the wall
Oh what should I do I'm just a little baby
What if the lights go out and maybe
I just hate to be all alone
Outside the door it followed me home
Goodnight moon I want the sun
If it's not here soon I might be done
No it won't be too soon till I say
Goodnight moon
Well you're up so high
How can you save me
When the dark comes here
Tonight to take me
Up my front walk
And into a bed
Where it kisses my face
And eats my head
What should I do I'm just a little baby
What if the lights go out and maybe
I just hate to be all alone
Outside the door it followed me home
Goodnight moon I want the sun
If it's not here soon I might be done
No it won't be too soon till I say
Goodnight moon
No it won't be too soon till I say
Goodnight moon
Susan is still not in a happy frame of mind after the events of 5.3. Brought into the Simulation by force, her subconscious is resisting it. In-world, she is also a spy.
Also not quite in the 1980s, but so closely thematically and musically linked to Kim Carnes’ Crazy In The Night that it has to be in there.
Parallels with: Strange Behaviour (that walking the keyboard riff)
04 Thomas Dolby – Leipzig (1981, England) SYSTEM
Thirty-nine and you need some leeway
Soon you're eyeing the overseas page
The trains are running late
As you close the garden gate
Stepping through your steel front doorframe
Dinner's in the microwave sweetie
Leipzig is calling you Henry
(on the cardboard thoroughfare)
Leipzig is calling you James
Leipzig is calling you Leonard
(the clouds run parallel)
Leipzig is calling you names
Cars are burning
On yellow lines
Wheels turning
Traffic light
Change
Another misty bus-queue morning
Faces smile down from a hoarding
Stoop to the bin
Drop something in
Well you'll soon feel yourself again
And every place is just the same
Isn't it?
Leipzig is calling you Benny
(from the mouth of the megaphone)
Leipzig is calling you James
Leipzig is calling you Leonard
(and other cartoon characters)
Leipzig is calling you names
Like the sound of taxi brakes
The sound of a dentist's drill
The colour of skates on ice
Under cling-film
It's calling
Leipzig is calling you names
Hear it calling
And every place is just the same
Isn't it?
Leipzig is calling you Benny
(from the mouth of the megaphone)
Leipzig is calling you James
Leipzig is calling you Leonard
(and other cartoon characters)
Leipzig is calling you names
Jack falls deeper into the Simulation, attracted despite his better judgement to the danger of the spy game and the ability to reinvent himself.
Thomas Dolby’s first single, setting the tone for his trademark dense and cryptic style. The entire song plays with the parallelism of Cold War East-West espionage (which he’ll later revisit in Budapest By Blimp). Faces on a hoarding… billboards or Party officials? A bin: rubbish, or a dead drop? Henry, Benny, Leonard and James, all good spy names. The ever-popular out-of-control taxi as an assassination method.
I tried for so many years to get this one to rhyme with Laurie Anderson’s Big Science (“otherwise what are the characters going to fall off of?”), but that single’s just too long and doesn’t want to play.
Parallels with: Satellite to Russia.
05 Elisa Waut – Summary Of All My Dreams (1982, Belgium) SUSAN
A man like you says nothing at all
The line's a line the circles are round
No one that I see the vision like
A world I should see I see not
My infancy is back
My tears are dry
My hands are wet
Summary
Summary of all my dreams
Summary
Of all my dreams
The fog turns back towards your room
A sound is light the lightning is clear
A cold breeze from my hands spread
Too much of me inside your head
The grave is warm
You rest your mind
But you're not dead
Summary
Summary of all my dreams
Summary
Of all my dreams
See my words
Feel me thinking
See my words
Feel me thinking
See my words
Feel me thinking
See my words
Feel me thinking
Summary
Summary of all my dreams
Summary
Of all my dreams
Of all my dreams
Summary
Of all my dreams
Summary
Summary
Susan is initially cold towards Jack, even though they are assigned to work together.
A lovely find thanks to the Youtube algorithm, though I was searching for covers of Back In The USSR. 1982, cassette tape self-release, and perfect. The Bond riff is very strong at this point.
06 Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night (1983, Canada) JACK
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can
So I can
Watch you breathe and weave those storylines
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can
So I can
Keep track of visions in my eyes
While she's deceiving me
She cuts my security
Has she got control of me?
I turn to her and say
Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades, oh no
Don't masquerade with the guy in shades, oh no
I can't believe it
She's got it made with the guy in shades, oh no
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can
So I can
Forget my name while you collect your claim
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can
So I can
See the light that's right before my eyes
While she's deceiving me
She cuts my security
She got control of me
I turn to her and say
Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades, oh no
Don't masquerade with the guy in shades, oh no
I can't believe it
Don't be afraid of the guy in shades, oh no
You can't escape
Cause you got it made with the guy in shades, oh no
I say
I wear my sunglasses at night
I wear my sunglasses at night
I wear my sunglasses at night
I say to you now
I wear my sunglasses at night
I wear my sunglasses at night
I wear my sunglasses at night
I cry to you
I wear my sunglasses at night
I wear my sunglasses at night
Jack is using some kind of datashades which give him access to out-of-world data inside the Simulation. This, the crossing point of the palindrome, is also the moment when he falls in love with Susan; at the same time, she doublecrosses him.
Can you get any more proto-slash-actual-cyberpunk than sunglasses at night?
07 Informatics – Satellite To Russia (1982, Australia) THE SOVIETS
<Russian>
Americanski fascists!
Americanski fascists!
An action scene.
I could really use a translation of the Russian lyrics. Some kind of reference to Reagan, I think.
08 Animotion – Strange Behaviour (1986, USA) SYSTEM
You're running in the night Hiding from the light of day You say you're fine but I know better Cause you would never act that way If something wasn't wrong If something wasn't out of control I know you don't seem all that different From everybody else I know Coming from you That's nothing but strange behaviour Whatcha going through Causing that strange behaviour? So strange Something isn't right Something's got you under its spell But I would not be so suspicious If I didn't know you so well You might as well confess You know that I'm gonna find out So just don't keep on acting Like you don't know what I'm talking about Coming from you That's nothing but strange behaviour Whatcha going through Causing that strange behaviour? So strange So strange You won't even talk to me Now you've changed You're nothing like you used to be Talk to me
Susan begins to suspect Jack, however, because of his System Agent status. Meanwhile Jack becomes paranoid of the System himself.
We’ve met Animotion before in 5.4. Astrid Plane (what a name) is still singing in 2019! But what happened to her web page?
Running in the night is a nice callback to Shadows Of The Night and in fact all of 5.1, but Susan isn’t there yet.
09 John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (1985, USA) SKYWATCH
Well they come from the cities
And they come from the smaller towns
In beat-up cars with guitars
And drummers going crack boom bang
ROCK in the USA
ROCK in the USA
ROCK in the USA
Yeah yeah
Rocking in the USA
Well they said goodbye to their families
Said goodbye to their friends
With pipe dreams in their heads
And very little money in their hands
Some are black and some are white
And they ain't too proud to sleep on the floor tonight
With the blind faith of Jesus
You know that they just might
Rocking in the USA
Hey
Voices from nowhere
And voices from the larger towns
Filled our head full of dreams
And turned our world upside down
There was Frankie Lyman Bobby Fuller Mitch Ryder
(they were rocking)
Jackie Wilson Shangri Las Young Rascals
(they were rocking)
Spotlight on Martha Reeves
Don't forget James Brown
Rocking in the USA
Hey
ROCK in the USA
ROCK in the USA
ROCK in the USA
ROCK in the USA
Novas: The Company’s population dynamics Simulation spins to a climax as its musical revolution takes effect.
Kind of a nice flashforward to the scenes at the end of 5.2.
10 Beth Andersen – Dance Dance Dance (1983, USA) SUSAN
When you're tired of feeling down
And always staying home alone
Come with me gonna go downtown
Gonna party all night long
Cmon dance dance dance
Move to the music
Let your heart go free
Dance dance dance
You can't refuse it
Dance dance dance with me
Let's go down to the Odyssey
They got some people you oughta meet
They dance all night till the sun comes up
And then they dance right out in the street
Cmon dance dance dance
Move to the music
Let your heart go free
Dance dance dance
You can't refuse it
Dance dance dance with me
An action scene.
I guess the entire concept of Miami Vice was ‘Scarface: The TV Series’. Miami and 80s music.
11 Baba Yaga – Secret Combination (1999, Russia/Hungary) JACK
<Russian>
A sticky old Wednesday
An everything is wrong day
The police just took my car away
Right before the rain came
There's only one thing to save me
She's waiting and she's usually happy
And everything just goes away
I can leave it for another day
She's got a secret combination
She just a-punches buttons on my elation
She's got a secret combination
To keep me in the race
<Russian>
When you've been fighting with your best friend
The dog has wet the floor again
Your neighbour's gone round the bend
Cos the stereo is loud again
There's no one else who I can find
Who'll make me laugh before I lose my mind
And just before I can descend
To hell and back I'll be all right again
She's got a secret combination
She just a-punches buttons on my elation
She's got a secret combination
To keep me in the race
<Russian>
She's got a secret combination
She just a-punches buttons on my elation
She's got a secret combination
To keep me in the race
She's giving me a happy face
Jack has fallen for Susan.
One of the best byproducts of the end of the Cold War was Russian folk singers turned pop-rock bands.
I think they’re Russian! Discogs thinks they’re Russian. And Hungarian. Far too many other bands and/or albums and/or songs called Baba Yaga to be entirely sure.