(previously in Program Eleven/II: Novas 0.01)
It is 1979. Susan and the other children of SKYWATCH, now calling themselves the Novas, have been on the run in the city underground, building a tentative career as punk musicians while dodging the attentions of the Center for Scientific Progress.
BEGIN PROGRAM ELEVEN/II MODULE FIVE.
Fascinating or boring? Is this a cool world or what?
01 Karla DeVito – Cool World (1981, USA) UNDERGROUND ROCK REBEL SUSAN
I can't make up my mind what the possibilities are Fascinating or boring? Is this a cool world or what? I'm in a brown study I'm in a blue funk I'm in a purple haze But they fade into a cool world (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh Is this a cool world or what? I had a broken down heart I had a settled down soul I had a head full of doubt Till I heard about the cool world Now I'm laughing up my sleeve I'm talking through my hat I'm whistling past the graveyard Pretending it's a cool world (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh Is this a cool world or what? Whoa I want some French sunglasses Call waiting on my phone I want a house for my mother Just like Moses Malone I keep my options open My possibilities pure I keep my eye to the main chance I keep my place in this cool world (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Is this a cool world? (cool world) Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh Is this a cool world or what?
Susan reflects on her newly dangerous life.
Probably the best known Karla DeVito song, and one I’ve been hoping for a chance to use.
02 Berlin Blondes – Science (Scotland, 1980) ASTRADYNE’S NEW SYSTEM (booting up)
Science is for me and science for you And who will describe the stuff that I know? We've been watching, watching for Science, science And I know you've been watching too Science, science Science is for me and science for you And who will describe the stuff that I know? We've been searching, searching for Science, science And I know you've been searching too Science, science Science is for me and science for you And who will describe the stuff that I know? We've been learning, learning for Science, science And I know you've been learning too Science, science Science, science Science, science Science, science Science, science Science, science Science, science
Multiple groups are searching for Susan and the Novas.
Just one of those weird little one-hits that make searching 80s synthpop ephemera so exciting. Did I ever hear this one in the actual 1980s? I don’t know. I feel like I might have.
Why were Scottish postpunk / New Wavers trying to pretend they were German? I don’t know. It was just a thing. Because Kraftwerk, maybe? Everyone wanted to be Europeans, or filmstars, or robots. Italian futurism was in the air along with Austrian economics and digital technocracy (and don’t look too hard at why that was, or what historically Italian futurism led to).
03 The Takeaways – Sweet And Sour (1984, Australia) SUSAN
I know that times are tough And dreams can cost me dearly Well my dreams have been turned and tossed But now they unfold clearly Ambition is a beast we all must tame Become so obsessed with it we lose the game One day the wind blows hot and cold Life can be sweet and sour But I am in control It can chill me to the bone Give me wings to fly on my own I am in control Well I keep my head ahead of the tide Cause when one door slams another opens up wide When the green eyed monsters knock at my door They'll wonder what on earth they came here for One day the wind blows hot and cold Life can be sweet and sour But I am in control It can chill me to the bone Give me wings to fly on my own I am in control
Susan is ambitious but feels increasingly concerned about the highwire she is treading between safety and fame.
So “The Takeaways” were a fictional band in an Australian television drama, but the song was written by Kiwi singer Sharon O’Neill (and she later recorded it for herself in 1987 as “In Control”). Then the lead singer in this video was acted by Tracy Mann but the actual singer is Deborah Conway. Television is complicated!
04 Timbuk 3 – Waves Of Grain (1989, USA) JACK
It was a nice clean assassination The gunman slipped through immigration Like the gentle wind that swept the plain And ruffled over waves of grain Sailing safely out of sight On board the next connecting flight The gunman smiled, he felt no pain So high above the waves of grain Then someone snatched the video away From the hands of a tourist at the gate And soon a blast on board the plane Sent it crashing into the waves of grain The blown-up stills told the story Large as life in all its glory A man's face in the 29th frame Appeared within the waves of grain Now the pictures have been confiscated The tourist was incarcerated The drugs they gave him numbed his brain Now all he sees are waves of grain Now rummaging through the ravaged rubble I wonder is it worth the trouble? Does the slightest trace of truth remain Running through the waves of grain? Running through the waves of grain Running through the waves of grain Running through the waves of grain Running through the waves of grain
As well as the Center, other darker agencies are also operating in the shadows.
Like Nena and the Luftballoons, it turns out that Timbuk 3 had many more songs than just that one about the future being so bright they had to wear shades.
A nice play on the blurriness of secrets seen in “film grain” as well as the blind patriotism of “amber waves” (plus echoes of the crop-duster scene from “North By Northwest”). It’s only 1989, a year before Twin Peaks but the same year as Tim Burton’s Batman, and you can already sense the dark clouds of Nineties conspiracy nihilism starting to build that would rain down hard a few years later as The X-Files, and go on for about a decade, never really stopping for the next either, until now we’re fully underwater.
The cynical weariness in the voice is almost certainly Jack’s, making this our new first introduction of him. He’s probably the investigator, not the gunman, but it’s the path he will end up on unless Susan’s optimism saves him.
05 Steel City – Radio Girls (Finland, 1982) SUSAN (in a nightmare)
Radio girls I can hear them running up to me I can hear them call my name I don't know just what they But I'm going to lose this game When I just can't see them nowhere But they're keeping out of light My escape will soon be over When the day turns into night Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please wouldn't you hide me Radio girls will find me, find me Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please stay beside me Radio girls will find me, find me I can see the shadows growing tall I can hear them whispering I can see them dancing on the wall They think I'm just imagining If there's somewhere I could run and hide Somewhere I could feel so safe But they seem to be right here inside And they seem to know my face Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please wouldn't you hide me Radio girls will find me, find me Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please stay beside me Radio girls will find me, find me Radio girls will find me When I wake the nightmare's still with me Running from the radio As I try to shake the sleep from me Knowing there's nowhere to go Now I know that they will get to me Even though I try to run When the day ends they reach out to me When I'm emptied through the sun Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please wouldn't you hide me Radio girls will find me, find me Radio girls will find me Radio girls will find me, find me Mister please stay beside me Radio girls will find me, find me Find me, find me, find me, find me
Susan is haunted both by dreams of the Center and fears of the future. Her nightmares might not be entirely natural.
Another weird song that has finally found its place in the story. I would guess it’s probably about the fear of conformity to the radio-friendly mainstream, a standard terror for edgy artists in the New Wave years. Is fear of “selling out” even a thing now, in the Youtube and Tiktok era? But that’s probably why the idea of self-labelling oneself an “influencer” sends shivers down my spine.
06 The Art of Noise – Close (To The Edit) Version 1 (1984, England) ASTRADYNE’S SYSTEM (playing a very interesting game)
Dum dum dum Dum dum dum dum dum dum Dum dum dum dum dum La la la Dum dum Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum Dum dum dum La la la la la la la Cl-cl-cl-close To the-to the-to the edge To the-to the-to the edge To be in England in the summertime with my love (hey! hey! hey!) Close to the edge
Susan travels to England to try to shake her pursuers.
I’ve used The Art of Noise before (“Paranoimia”) so: yes, Trevor Horn wearing another hat. I guess I like his music!
I didn’t actually much like this song when it came out, though. Mostly because it was an instrumental and I just didn’t go for those as a kid, the video scared me, and also, it was hyped to heck and back again as the Most Amazing Song Ever (and came out in some ridiculous number of pointless re-edits, which just seemed stupidly over-marketed). I guess samplers really blew the minds of people who first experienced them.
But it’s a perfect little bridge piece and I’m glad I can finally showcase it.
07 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Jerusalem (1973, England) JACK and SKYWATCH COMMAND
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green And was the Holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of Fire! I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Til we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land
Unknown to Susan, SKYWATCH also has a network in London. Jack is drawn into this network.
A call-forward to Carly Simon’s “Let The River Run”, and also kind of a mission statement for all of Series Eleven. (Which is about what goes on with the characters and how they change inside the System being as important – or more important – as getting out of it.)
08 Linda Jardim – Energy In Northampton (1980, England) SUSAN and THE ALIENS
Silently they came one night Attracted by the glowing light Their scanners led them to the town Northampton Aliens who were lost in space Needing help from the human race And they found new energy at Northampton Northampton, Northampton, Northampton, Middle England Calling planet Earth Calling planet Earth We are approaching They had travelled miles across the vast unknown Fleeing from a neutron war, they had to leave their home They were looking for a world where they could start anew For their ship was breaking, they must find somewhere soon There was a town on planet Earth With energy for which they searched A town with all the modern technology A town where they could be free Tracking station Beta We have a UFO sighted over Northampton! A town where they could be free Silently they came to ground Left their ship and went to town For they knew there was energy in Northampton Aliens from outer space Needing help from the human race They found the answer at Northampton Northampton, Northampton, Northampton, Middle England Touchdown Touchdown We have landed Commencing contact They have the energy and technology For which we have been searching Aliens who were lost in space Needing help from the human race And they found new energy at Northampton Northampton, Northampton, Northampton, Middle England Northampton, Northampton, Northampton, Middle England
UFOs are sighted in England and Susan as well as agents from SKYWATCH, the Center and the Company are all drawn towards the activity.
Oh wow. This one. I remember it, somehow, as well as my baffled incomprehension on hearing it. You’re welcome. Now I’m not alone.
Did you detect a faint smell of Trevor Horn? You should, because Linda Jardim was a singer for Chromium (“Caribbean Air Control” plus a bunch of other songs about UFOs), and the production is Rod Thompson (keyboards on The Buggles’ second album).
So anyway, Northampton is just a bit north of the infamous technology town Milton Keynes and seems to have been part of a designated development area in England and it was 1980 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars (1977) and Space Invaders (1978) had made everything space suddenly the cool thing and here’s Trevor Horn’s circle fresh off making a UFO-themed disco album… and yet how did a city council get from there to “let’s literally make a promotional single for our city about, specifically, UFOs landing here”? It still seems a bit of a leap?
Well one possible reason might be that Northamptonshire, in 1978, had an actual UFO flap. And the thought might have been to capitalise on that brief piece of publicity.
Specifically: the 2 November 1978 Close Encounter 3 case of Elsie Oakensen, a 50-year-old school teacher (her story written in 2001 is here, page 44, if you’re interested). Elsie’s… whatever… could easily be interpreted as a very personal hallucination, if it wasn’t for the second report of a matching UFO on the same night.
Real UFO encounters tend to be a lot less dramatic than fictional ones, and this is not just fiction but rock opera, and not just rock opera but science-fiction rock opera, so Susan’s experience has the knob dialed up to, well, eleven.
09 Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters – Ejection (1973, England) JACK and THE INTERCEPTORS
There's only one course of action Left for me to take I've tried every switch selection That might control this state I think for my protection I better make it straight Into ejection I'd better tell base Ejection That I think it's a case For ejection Explode into space Ejection Protect my face Ejection Radar screen's projection Tells me I'm too late To make a course correction I'm about to meet my fate There's no time for reflection Better make it straight Into ejection Bust through the sky Ejection The air rushing by Ejection It's a case of goodbye Ejection I'm too fast to die Ejection When a ship meets with destruction The captain stays to drown But no tin contraption Is going to drag me down My reference intersection Tells me that I'm bound For ejection Eight times my weight Ejection I've got to escape Ejection Only one move to make Rejection Abandon this crate Ejection Abandon this crate Ejection Watch me go Ejection Time to blow Ejection Watch me go Ejection Ejection Echo Juliet Echo Charlie Tango India Oscar November
SKYWATCH interceptors are disabled by a UFO in an aerial confrontation.
This is one I definitely heard as a kid and loved.
Oddly, almost none of the other tracks on Robert Calvert’s (Hawkwind) side project album about the complex politics of malfunctioning custom-modified American jet fighters in the 1960s West German air force are anything like this one. It’s almost as if one amazing single got retrofitted into a concept album that had a very different tone.
This is something I’ve wondered about some other concept albums, particularly Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (the standout and yet very out-of-place song there being “Forever Autumn”, a song with nothing about Mars in it at all).
10 Emmylou Harris – My Baby Needs A Shepherd (2000, USA) SUSAN’S MOTHER
My baby needs a shepherd, she's lost out on the hill Too late I tried to call her when the night was cold and still And I tell myself I'll find her but I know I never will My baby needs a shepherd, she's lost out on the hill My baby needs an angel, she never learned to fly She'll not reach sanctuary just by looking to the sky I guess I could have carried her but I didn't even try My baby needs an angel, she never learned to fly Oh I ran so far through a broken land I was following that drummer beating in a different band And somewhere on the highway I let go of her hand Now she's gone forever like her footprints in the sand Toora loora loora lo First the seed and then the rose Toora loora loora li My kingdom for a lullaby My baby needs a pilot, she has no magic wand To help her part the troubled waters of the Rubicon But in my soul I know she'll have to go this one alone After all that is the only way she's ever known But there is no lamp in all this dark That could chase away her shadow from the corners of my heart I pray she rides a dolphin but she's swimming with the shark Out where none can save her, not even Noah and his ark Toora loora loora lo To the cradle comes a crow Toora loora loora li My kingdom for a lullaby My baby needs a mother to love her till the end Of every rugged mountain and down every road that bends Sometimes I hear her crying but I guess it's just the wind My baby needs a mother to love her till the end
The Company covertly takes control of SKYWATCH and sends its agents to capture Susan and her parents, the directors of the Center.
Susan’s parents watch helplessly as she flees the Company agents but is captured by the UFO.
The emotional firing mechanism of the set and yet not from the 1980s at all. So why is it here? Well first, “because it belongs here”. Emmylou has been around since the 1960s and although she wrote this song in 2000, she could have written it much earlier. It’s Dylanesque in its dark fairytale sense of both private and political doom.
But more: because I first encountered this song in a playlist curated by an early 2000s conspiracy website and it’s haunted me ever since. (As has the trajectory of that subculture, which has gone to some very dark places I can’t follow). Perhaps it’s an attempt to reframe some of those vibes to somewhere they might do some more good.
In Novas, Susan’s mother is singing this song, and her bleak despair at Susan’s fate is very real. And her daughter is entering a very dark passage in her life. But none of the observers are seeing everything that is going on, or where it will lead.
Susan does need both an angel and a pilot.
Oh, and SKYWATCH the organization has an antique AI which the Company will acquire and integrate into their own corporate AI SYSTEM. The songs “The Third Planet”, “Be Free” and “All You Need Is Love” are very definitely the voice of SKYWATCH/AI. SKYWATCH/AI almost certainly does not survive beyond “All You Need Is Love”, because in that song it sacrifices itself to allow Jack and Susan to escape SYSTEM’s control. (Jack observes its destruction in “After The Snow”). So everything that happens in Novas 1 has its seed in this moment.
I don’t know what happens to the rest of the Novas in 1979; I think some are recaptured by the Company while others remain at large. They all then reunite after Jack and Susan’s escape in 1982, and later form the core of the 1984 Revolution and what follows the fall of the Company in 1987. But they’re the backup singers, not the leads. They’ll be around somewhere.
11 Nikki Sudden – The Angels Are Calling (1983, England) JACK and SUSAN (separately)
Ahh sha la la la Ahh sha la la la Ahh The angels are calling The angels are calling The angels are calling to me I know your name I've seen your face The angels are calling out to me And when it gets lonely And I need a saviour That's when I'll call out to you The angels are falling My baby is calling The angels are calling out to me The angels keep calling And my faith is growing The angels keep calling out my name And when the frost falls And I need an answer That's when I'll call out to you The angels are falling My baby keeps calling The angels are falling My baby keeps calling The angels are falling My baby keeps calling The angels are falling My baby keeps calling out my name Oh yeah Oh yeah
Unknown to everyone, Susan has survived and will resurface in the musical underground, lost and on the run, in a few months.
Jack has witnessed Susan’s disappearance and vows to locate her, but he and the former agents of SKYWATCH have bigger problems right now as the Company moves to consolidate control.
THIS ENDS PROGRAM ELEVEN/II.
(next in story time: Novas 5.3)
(next in story time, first module of Program Eleven/I: Novas 0.1)
(next in release time: Novas 2.7, first module of Program Twelve)