Wednesday 6 September 2017

The Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project Presents; Clock DVA

More from my Throwback Thursday Retro Video Project.
This week; Clock DVA. A Northern English band led by Adi Newton who combined a jazz-funk lineup with post-punk/industrial influences on their first three albums. After that the band broke up and Newton continued on as a purely techno band under the Clock DVA name. Guitarist John Valentine Carruthers would go on to join Siouxsie & The Banshees. They don't seem to have made any proper videos during their classic early phase so mine appear to be the only ones.

CLOCK DVA ~ "SENSORIUM";


A track off their 1981 second album "Thirst" (also their best) using a silent "Lone Ranger" cartoon which was filmed off of a television set. This one definitely has the feel of an early Cabaret Voltaire video.

CLOCK DVA ~ "BLUE TONE";


Another song off of "Thirst" using an early French film "History Of A Crime". The film itself obviously filmed on a stage backdrop and is interesting in using a second stage during the scene where the prisoner is shown sleeping to portray him dreaming of his past life. This was a technique used on stage but not in film once they figured out how to do flashbacks.

CLOCK DVA ~ "MOMENTS";


This song from "Thirst" uses a strange British sci-fi comedy "The Automatic Motorist" from 1911. The film's idea of space is basically that of George Melies films but unlike Melies this film uses multiple sets and allows for a car chase and would have made the Melies films of only a few years earlier seem old hat by comparison.

CLOCK DVA ~ "FOUR HOURS";


The closest thing early Clock DVA had to a single (from "Thirst), here mashed up with a George Melies film "Zeus' Thunderbolts".

CLOCK DVA ~ "PIANO PAIN";


Another track from "Thirst" using some very early BBC TV footage that was captured on an American TV where it was somehow beamed through freak atmospheric conditions. Since almost no TV recordings exist from that era it's interesting to see how similar it was to that of the 1950's Golden Age. Incidentally while most people assume that TV started in the 1950's it's not at all true as I've written about here.

CLOCK DVA ~ "NORTH LOOP";


This one uses Edison Studios newsreel footage of the San Francisco earthquake and fire.

CLOCK DVA ~ "DISCONTENTMENT";


This track off the obscure 1980 debut album "White Souls In Black Suits" which was put out by Industrial godfathers Throbbing Gristle on their Industrial label on cassette only. Yes I actually have one. The video uses newsreel footage of New York shot for the French Pathe company sometime in the mid 1930's. Note; I had some trouble with sound levels on this one.

CLOCK DVA ~ "STILL SILENT";


This track from "White Souls" uses another Op-Art Fluxus film, by John Cavanaugh.

CLOCK DVA ~ "THE CAGE"


This track comes from a set of early demos and uses a "In The Land Of Nod" a weird film which uses some early stop action animation.

CLOCK DVA ~ "SEXUAL OVERTURE";


Another early demo for which I used a WW1 British film "The German Spy Peril". Actually it's only part of the final reel in which the hero is captured by an oddly large group of spies and tossed into a tunnel under Big Ben with a bomb. The rest of the film is apparently lost.

CLOCK DVA ~ "UNTITLED DEMO TRACK 2";


This is another early demo and uses one from a series of amateur videos various people made as homages to the Andy Warhol "Screen Tests" of the 1960's

CLOCK DVA ~ "THE SONOLOGY OF SEX";


This song is from the b-side of the "Sound Mirror" single from 1990 put out by the latter, synth only version of Clock DVA. The song is about Elizabeth Bathory the infamous Bloody Countess of the sixteenth century so I used various still photos portrayals of the Countess including some of actresses who have played her on screen including Isabelle Hupert and Palmoa Picasso.

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