This recording is aimed at those who like to know where we, Western civilisation, have been and perhaps from that knowledge, work out where we may be heading in the future ... there are at times unsettling parallels with present day tensions.
This is a very "British" recording, with Side A taking the listener through the social, society, technological and ordinary lives of British people back in 1914, prior to the announcement of war, specifically dealing with the British "very comfortable" lifestyle and how they were completely unaware of the world events about to occur - World War. The recording deals with life before the war and does not focus on the war itself too much - this is not a "war time recording"
Side B takes the listener through a journey of how things changed once war was announced, the call to God to protect the troops was nationwide and made by friend and foe alike. The journey details both the "front line" action and what was happening back at "home" in England for the ordinary folk.
Loads of very interesting information (if such things interest one) ... the Morris motor car with an engine around 1000cc was released to the market costing 175 pounds! With the startling fuel efficiency of 50 miles per GALLON of fuel with a top speed of 50mph! Let me convert a few of those measurements for you .... that is 4.54 liters of fuel per 80 kilometers (17.6 kilometer per liter) Wow! Beats taking a horse but not so good if you have more than two riding the vehicle as these cars didn't have a lot of "grunt".
Mention is also made of the 1914 scifi book "The Shape Of Things To Come" written by HG Wells which revolved around the world being run by "atom machines" and predicted the creation of the "atom bomb" some 50 years later ... it was not a best seller as most people considered such concepts to be way too far fetched in 1914
BBC SCRAPBOOK - 1914 (Compilation)
Fontana Records
Cat# 493 015 FDL
1964
UK release
Cover is in very good condition, no personal writing, no seam splits. The mono printed large format 14 page booklet is included and also in very good condition.
New inner plastic liner sleeve
Vinyl is in very good condition, visually inspected under a white halogen light source and I can only see a couple of very light scratches on either side, not surprising really as it is not every day that you would be putting this vinyl on the turntable! Just looking at the vinyl is not good enough so I then played the album ENTIRELY, both sides, and there are no issues with surface noise or clicks/pops at all.
New outer protective plastic sleeve
There are no specific details for the contents of each side but I can tell you that the listener is taken through a journey of how life was in England at this time and the fact that most of the population had no idea of what was about to happen (side A) and when the war began (Side B). Very skillfully scripted and produced, this album takes the listener on a journey back through time (think of this record as a plastic time machine)
TRACKS: Side A, Side B
