Tom Rowlands reunites with director Joe Wright for Life Of Galileo

[neorev]

If Underworld can do music for a play and release it, the Chems could too.

Do it, Tom!

[WhiteNoise]

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Ed loved it

[Enjoyed]

So.

The show was fantastic. Great acting, some really interesting and engaging storytelling devices, puppets, jokes, audience participation and the setting - complete with planetarium style projections on the ceiling - was wonderful (my first time at The Young Vic).

In terms of Tom's involvement, it was evident from the moment we arrived. An incredibly Chemical piece of music was looping before the show while people made their way in. And Tom's squelches, bleeps and Hanna style chimes dusted the air very naturally throughout the 3 hour show.
There was a club scene, which was hilarious and ominous and honestly up there with some of the new Chemical music they've been DJing. The intro music was similarly engaging, even when looped for 20 minutes. It was simple, very dancey with those funk guitar sounds I fell in love with from Come With Us as well as some familiar synth sweeps and percussive synth rhythms.
The interval, as I mentioned in Chemical spotting, was made up of Let Us Build A City and another more minimal electronic piece with non-descript female vocals - again reminiscent of Hanna.

The good news is that the club scene music and the funky intro (and outro) music made me 100% certain that those two new tracks they are playing in their DJ sets, are theirs.

The bad news is that there is not enough music in the show to form a proper release. Though a two track Tom single could most certainly work...

[inchemwetrust]

Great write up enjoyed! Im hoping LOG will hop over to our parts because your review got my interest.

Im also enjoying the fact that you said the 2 tracks that you heard are already being played in the chems dj sets really got me thinking.

Im sure you saw the videos that have been posted up here recently from their last 2 dj sets (ben posted them as potential chem tracks) Do any of those ring a bell perhaps?

[Enjoyed]

Im also enjoying the fact that you said the 2 tracks that you heard are already being played in the chems dj sets really got me thinking.

Sorry for the confusion. I simply meant that the music in the play was very similar to the tracks they've been playing in their DJ sets, which leads me to believe they are definitely Chems tracks.

I'm uploading my very basic recordings of the music during the interval and before the show.
PM me if you'd like a copy. Fair warning though, neither are great, especially the second one - lots of audience noise and a not very well aimed microphone on my part.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Well Life of Galileo finished its run last weekend, and we've had a review here and, more recently some comments on FB. I actually saw 'Galileo' back in May but decided to wait for other people's reviews. I didn't really want to be the first (and only) forumite to review it as was the case with Trespass Against Us.

So, a "Track Recap" (a la Ben J) with reference to the BBC radio interview. I won't bother with spoiler tags. You can read the whole play for free online. I'll add additional thoughts on the play in a second post.

Performance: Fri 12th May. A preview performance prior to the official opening on the 16th of May.

Notable Chemical attendees: Tom Rowlands (working, I presume), Adam Smith (audience-ing).  I brushed past them chatting to each other in the foyer beforehand but I don't think they sat together. I presume Tom was at all the preview performances, as the production was still being fine-tuned.

1) Filing In/Filing Out Music:  The one that's on FB and indeed on Enjoyed's phone. A funky little piece that loops seamlessly. Not technically part of the play as it accompanied the audience arriving and departing. The production (or do we say "sound design" these days?) seemed pretty polished to me, and it's a nice groove. I don't think the track really goes anywhere (hence, easy to loop), and I don't see how it would get a conventional Chemical release. Unlike Enjoyed however, I reckon this track may not have been composed for the play. I think this is one of several pieces in/around the play that Tom already had, and he finally found a way to give it/them some exposure. Incidentally the guitar on this reminds me of the Magnum PI theme, but that's probably just me.

2) Opening & Closing Music. The first piece of music on the BBC radio interview, 23.31- 24.01 (streaming time). If you downloaded it as a podcast, add approximately 2 seconds to these times. The track re-emerges from 24.15 to 24.32 and is also the final music you hear at the end of the BBC interview (27.40 - 28.28). It was appropriate that they "bookended" the BBC interview with this piece, as it also bookends the play; at the very start and again at the end when Galileo says his final line, "We've hardly begun!" His words are followed by the projected visuals of the "entire universe". The big chords work really well with those big visuals on the ceiling. Meanwhile, the initial "tinkly" part of the track reminded me of New Order's Elegia, which helped me to recognise it when it reappeared at the end. I'm sure this track was created for the play.

3) "Further-ish".  (24.34 - 25.36). This was still early in the play (Scene 2, perhaps). I guess this one's a bit tinkly too. As a memory-aid I decided it sounded like a possible outtake from Further (but maybe you disagree?). I suppose that might make sense insofar as Further has a space-y sci-fi feel to it, and so does LoG (but "sci-fa" rather than sci-fi).  A very pleasant piece of music with nice dramatic drums which I think could probably hold its own as an album track.  I'm 50/50 on whether this is an "old" track or if it was composed for LoG.

4) The Party (club) Scene. This was where the Young Vic transformed into a nightclub, with cast members wearing sparkly outfits and performing some stylised disco dancing (picture here or

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).  You may have heard this one before. How? Because, unless I'm very much mistaken, it's "Here Come The Drums" (or whatever

track is called).  It took me a minute to recognise it, as it's the first time I've heard the track without distortion. And it plays LOUD!  I guess you could describe it as Future Disco, complete with real drumming in places. At the time I thought: the human drumming has been recently added, but listening back to the youtube clip now, I can hear the drums at 0.30.  This was an edit of the track and it lasted perhaps two minutes or so, with a fade-down in the middle for some dialogue. I'm tempted to 'promote' this (in my head) from B-side status to perhaps the AA side of a double-A sided 12". This track wasn't composed for LoG.

5) Interval Music. I was absent from the auditorium for the entire 15 minute interval. So, well done to Enjoyed for recording that high pitched dance-y track with the female vox. Personally I would be surprised if this track was composed for LoG.

6) "The horrible beliefs and opinions of Master Galileo Galilei, physicist to the court - or A Foretaste of the Future" (yes that's the full title), by James 'shock machine' Righton (formerly of Klaxons) and Tom Rowlands. A song (of sorts) performed by actor Jason Barnett with help from other cast members on the chorus. I don't know if Barnett can't sing, or if the song just didn't have enough notes, because he "talk-sang" the verses.  I think the chorus was a mixture of pre-recorded vocals and additional live cast vocals. It didn't sound particularly like anything that Rowlands or indeed Righton would write, and it wasn't brilliant. It was also the only music actually performed by the cast, and as such it didn't really fit with the rest of the play. I wonder if they cut this song out before the end of the run. I suspect it was still there on Opening Night however, as Righton attended with his wife Keira Knightly. It would have been awkward for him if the song wasn't in the play on the night.

(btw off topic, I'm actually looking forward to Shock Machine's forthcoming album.)

7) Sun Progression (25.52 - 26.40). The bit that sounds like Music Response's intro. This accompanied Galileo whilst he stared at those close up projections of the sun, like in

(though slightly confusingly, the sun progression merges into track 3 above on the trailer).  It sounded like it was mostly done on analogue equipment, and felt kind of old skool. But it worked well with the visuals. This part of the play reminded me of Danny Boyle's Sunshine – which is a good thing. I'm sure this one was composed for the play (in fact, Tom says as much in the interview).

8 & 9 ??) Other bits: there were a couple of occasions in the second half when music could be heard playing really quietly in the background. But it was too quiet for me to get my ears around, a bit like when your neighbour has their stereo on but you can't make out what they're listening to. So I reckon there were an additional couple of tracks in the second half, but I simply cannot describe them because they were too quiet.

Overall thoughts on the music.  A mixture of soundtrack-y stuff and more Chemical dance-y stuff. I reckon the dance-y stuff was mostly left over bits and pieces that hadn't found a home on any Chemical release, whilst the soundtrack-y stuff was probably written for LoG in particular. These bits might have required a little more polish if they were in a film rather than a play, but were nonetheless exciting to hear (and a little bit exclusive).

Additional thoughts: I couldn't help noticing some of the random stuff on sale for Record Store Day this year, including for example: Pineapple Express OST. Just a vinyl compilation of pop songs that had previously come out on CD in 2006.  Now imagine using RSD to release exclusive music which would appeal to fans only. E.g. Trespass soundtrack (either the used or unused stuff) or the Life of Galileo stuff.  It might not have mass appeal but a 3000 or 5000 pressing release would be something special for the fans. It would certainly appeal to me more than a £14 one-sided 12" of a track I already had, as was the case with CHEMICAL. Well, just a thought.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Additional thoughts/review of the play which is under spoiler tags so as not to detract from the more "chemically relevant" post above.

Spoiler

Thoughts on the play and its staging. (tl;dr? jump down to my links to professional reviews at the bottom)

As per the clips already on this thread, the stage at the centre accommodates about 30 ticket holders. The actors didn't just walk around them on the wooden walkway, they moved right through the middle, sometimes skipping over audience members stretched out on the floor (lawsuit waiting to happen!). A couple of the actors started the play seated amongst the "floor-sitters" and would then suddenly pop up and start participating in the play, then sit down again!  So, well done to the Young Vic for making things as immersive as possible, though I suspect the idea of sitting on the floor for three hours appeals more to 19 year old theatre-goers than it does to say, 39 year olds.

The projections and the music helped to add modernity to the proceedings, though I wasn't sure about Galileo's (Brendan Cowell's) stage attire: a pair of faded jeans and a Winnie the Pooh "Planet-Balloons" T-shirt. Almost too casual.  There was also something surreal about watching people in modern dress perform a play based very much in the past. On the one hand there's techno booming out of the speakers but on the other hand the discussion is about 'newly invented' telescopes and whether the earth revolves around the sun.

I'm aware that the play was meant be about still-relevant issues: dogma v science and telling truth to power, but so much of it was about Galileo and what he was trying to demonstrate that you couldn't ignore the story at face value.

As for Brecht, well I've avoided him until now, so at least I can claim to be more cultured than I was. At times the dialogue zings along nicely whilst at other times it feels stodgy and long-winded (Brendan Cowell: "Scene 5 has been cut. You can fuckin' guess why!"). I can imagine other productions of 'Galileo' might be rather dry and difficult to swallow, so well done to Joe Wright et al for sweetening the pill.

The cast were great at inserting humour even when it wasn't explicit in the text. Almost all of them (except Cowell) played multiple roles which was impressive but also at times confusing. Brendan Cowell himself was a force of nature – a passionate yet down to earth Galileo (whilst looking at the stars), demanding your attention without appearing arrogant.

There are lots of professional reviews online if you want to have a read, but I can't find any that go into detail about the music. This review from City Am was the one that most spoke to me

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The eye in the middle of this image blinked, which reminded me of an animation from somewhere else involving a wall with numerous eyes spying through it and blinking independently. But I can't remember where I know that from. Sound familiar anyone?

[Enjoyed]

4) The Party (club) Scene. This was where the Young Vic transformed into a nightclub, with cast members wearing sparkly outfits and performing some stylised disco dancing (picture here or

View this post on Instagram

).  You may have heard this one before. How? Because, unless I'm very much mistaken, it's "Here Come The Drums" (or whatever

track is called).  It took me a minute to recognise it, as it's the first time I've heard the track without distortion. And it plays LOUD!  I guess you could describe it as Future Disco, complete with real drumming in places. At the time I thought: the human drumming has been recently added, but listening back to the youtube clip now, I can hear the drums at 0.30.  This was an edit of the track and it lasted perhaps two minutes or so, with a fade-down in the middle for some dialogue. I'm tempted to 'promote' this (in my head) from B-side status to perhaps the AA side of a double-A sided 12". This track wasn't composed for LoG.

You're absolutely right! I thought it sounded familiar too but I just put it down to being a big fan already appreciating anything that was played. But yes. It is that song and I remember watching that video.

I take your point with those dancier tracks too. Probably left over bits that found somewhat of a new home (I can't say the 'audience coming in' music was particularly in keeping with the theme of Galileo but the cast members sure were enjoying it every time it was on.)

Perhaps a future release after all? Certainly the club scene track which they've already played out to [presumably] much praise.