Listen With Sarah - Are You Sitting Comfortably

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5...according to our Brian on Wed 29 Nov, 2006.

One of the greatest things about going out into the country is the sound of farm animals & the smell of cowshit. If ever I wanted to bring a bit of the countryside into my living room, it'd have to be Withnail & I on the telly or this CD by Listen With Sarah called 'Are You Sitting Comfortably?". What we have here is 14 tracks by a lady called Sarah Nelson who, in the last weeks of his life, charmed John Peels socks off with her utterly lovely brand of organic electronica. Thank god the lasses are giving us a real break from this male dominated landscape at last (see last weeks wonderful Psapp LP) cos not one tune here passes you without it's warmth or naive playfulness touching you in earnest. Skittering toytown drum 'n' bass, woozy Microsoft sounds washing through your soul, farmyard animal noises set to Trumpton/Lemon Jelly-esque breaks & a children's book style wonderment escaping each tune as it blinks into life through your speakers. Absolutely essential. Support this with all your might. DIY future bliss.

** This CD was withdrawn from sale in November 2005 following legal threats from Oliver Postgate (creator of Bagpuss), who objected to my plunderphonic use of the Ivor The Engine theme in ANIMAL HOP (track 1). He refused all negotiations, offers of payment and donations to charity. The ‘Ivor’ theme was originally written and performed by Vernon Elliott in 1959, commissioned by Smallfilms.

ANIMAL HOP was the first Listen With Sarah creation to catch John Peel’s ear and later reached number 27 in the Festive Fifty 2004. **

The EP collection consists of 4 previously unreleased EPs (14 tracks in total), which were originally demo CDs sent to John Peel during the last 2 months of his life. This is a selection of works I recorded between 2003-4. The first 3-track EP, “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” was in Peel’s last ‘RECORD BOX’ (September 2004). 6 tracks were played on The John Peel (/Rob Da Bank) Show, and 2 were in John’s final BBC World Service Shows. After John died, I decided to release these 4 EPs on one CD (with fond memories and warm thanks to John Robert Parker Ravenscroft.)

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