posterity, and now, with hindsight, we can be proud of who we are, and what we like? And after all, it’s these songs, from these films and these programmes, by these people, who made us who and what we are.


Unlike Hayden, occultist Mike Raven, who made four horror films between ’69 and ’72 including the legendary Disciple Of Death and Crucible Of Terror, couldn’t act for toffee, and had a speaking voice like Rambling Syd Rumpo’s retarded camp brother, so much that in Lust For A Vampire, his voice was dubbed by Valentine Dyall and his eyes were even dubbed by Christopher Lee! But as a blues DJ on the pirate stations (and subsequently Radio 1), he introduced thousands to great black American music, and without him, a chap from Cambridge called Roger Barrett might never have heard any Pink Anderson and Floyd Council records…


What I’d like to oversee is the release of a compilation (maybe several) of the best stuff. Half the songs mentioned still aren’t


RIDING FREE


“Darius” Drewe Shimon’s Definitive Top 30 Britsploitation Tracks


1) ALLIGATOR MAN – Stoneground (Dracula AD 1972 – Alan Gibson, 1972)


2) RIDING FREE – Harvey Andrews (Psychomania – Don Sharp, 1972)


3) TELL THE WORLD WE’RE NOT IN – The Peddlers (composed by Christopher Gunning) (Goodbye Gemini – Alan Gibson, 1970)


4) ALEXANDER – The Electric Banana (What's Good For The Goose – Menahem Golan, 1969, Take An Easy Ride – Kenneth F Rowles, 1975, and possibly quite a few others)


5) UP THE JUNCTION – Manfred Mann (Up The Junction – Peter Collinson, 1967)


Cilla Black and David Warner in 1968’s Work Is A Four Letter Word


involvement with military ghost story Pass Of Arms, glam films/TV plays like Side By Side (also soon to come on DVD) and Jumping Bean Bag, missing occult movies like Secret Rites (starring notorious witch Alex Sanders, whose album is just as rare), the recording careers of Tim Curry, Luan Peters and Caroline Munro, Playschool presenter Toni Arthur’s lost occult folk album Harken To The Witch’s Rune, or the recordings of bands like Monument, Zior and Laudunum, whose careers read like unfilmed Hammer scripts. And remember, this is just the British stuff.


available on CD (although Andy Votel, Mark Stratford and others have made valiant attempts). The soundtrack to Peter Collinson’s The Penthouse is available, as is the Manfreds’ Up The Junction, but the other claustrophobic horror thrillers he directed between ’72 and ’79 (Fright, Straight On Till Morning, Open Season and Tomorrow Never Comes), all had great theme songs, including one by cult genius John Howard, and another by Annie Ross, the “voice of Willow McGregor” herself.


Speaking of which, we haven’t mentioned The Wicker Man either, although in all honesty that most revered of Britcult films has been discussed at such length by now that there’s very little we don’t already know. Suffice to say that without it, many of us wouldn’t even be reading, or for that matter writing, this article.


We also have little time to elaborate upon the late entry that is Ray Davies’ urban terror fable Return To Waterloo (’86), Roy Harper’s starring role in Made, Cilla Black crooning a paean to (and imbibing) magic mushrooms in the completely insane Work Is A Four Letter Word, Sandy Denny’s


By the way, for anyone who may be under the impression (as indeed I was) that Blonde On Blonde appear in Jose Larraz’ ’78 sleaze flick The Golden Lady, I would like to inform you, having obtained a copy, that said band are actually a pair of dollybirds in shiny blouses and not the much-missed Britpsych combo. Pity, though the pair in question (oh, alright, both pairs – Cheesy Sexist Ed) are pleasant enough to look at, and could herald a new obsession among collectors. Not that it’s new to me – I’m still waiting for someone to release the definitive Adrienne Posta anthology as we speak.


Though the “junkshop” craze, which is inextricably linked to all this, may have temporarily slipped from fashion (it’ll be back, just ask London DJ Thogdin Ripley, of Night Of The Long Swords/Glam Racket infamy), I wouldn’t bet against a club springing up somewhere in London between now and 2010 with a play list culled from Britsploitation gems. If I didn’t run it myself, I’d go, although pulling might be difficult. Sometimes, as an inbetweenie, you also realise you’re an outsider. It goes with the territory…


So, the next time you’re planning a jaunt across the leafy suburbs, slap some of the above on your player and set forth. Just resist the urge to chant “Ley” repeatedly in stone circles, play cowboys and Indians on a farm, or, as I’ve said before, to throw frisbees into substations. You know what will happen.


Win Psychomania CDs, see page 87 • 49


6) DO THE CLAPHAM – Kipper (Confessions Of A Pop Performer – Norman Cohen, 1974)


7) GOLDEN EYES OF EVIL – Mystic (Horror Hospital – Anthony Balch, 1973)


8) I CAN'T STAND STILL – Carl Davis (What Became Of Jack And Jill? – Bill Bain, 1970)


9) CRUISING CASANOVA – Adrienne Posta (Adventures OfATaxi Driver – Stanley Long, 1975)


10) LADYBIRD – Nanette (Fright – Peter Collinson, 1972)


11) WASH ME IN HIS BLOOD – Maxine Barrie (The Fiend – Robert Hartford Davis, 1971)


12) CHUNDER IN THE OLD PACIFIC SEA – Barry Crocker (The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie – Bruce Beresford, 1972)


13) MAYPOLE – Paul Giovanni & Magnet (The Wicker Man – Robin Hardy, 1973)


14) BABY LOVE – Katch 22 (Baby Love – Alastair Reid, 1968)


15) TAROT – Andrew Bown (Ace Of Wands – various directors, created by Trevor Preston, 1970-72 )


16) SYLVESTER’S LAST VOYAGE – Forever More (Permissive – Lindsay Shonteff, 1970)


17) THE STRIPPER – Night (The Monster Club – Roy Ward Baker, 1980)


18) DON’T WEAR ME OUT – Michael Feast & David Dundas


(Private Road – Barney Platts-Mills, 1971)


19) IT’S LEGAL – Shirley Anne Field (Beat Girl – Edmund T Greville, 1959)


20) STEPPING STONES – Johnny Harris (Fragment Of Fear – Richard C Sarafian, 1970)


21) THEY WANT LOVE – Tony Kingston (I Start Counting – David Greene, 1969)


22) THE BEST PART OF YOU – Pentangle (Tam Lin – Roddy MacDowall, 1970)


23) PARTY TIME – Alan Love & Julian Littman (Hammer House Of Mystery & Suspense: Black Carrion – John Hough, 1984)


24) JUST OUT OF REACH – The Zombies (Bunny Lake Is Missing – Otto Preminger, 1966)


25) BUT I MIGHT DIE TONIGHT – Cat Stevens (Deep End – Jerzy Skolimowski, 1969)


26) IT BRINGS A TEAR (DARKNESS ALL AROUND) – Audience


(Bronco Bullfrog – Barney Platts-Mills, 1970)


27) AU PAIR GIRLS – Roger Webb (Au Pair Girls – Val Guest, 1970)


28) SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN – Amen Corner (Scream And Scream Again – Gordon Hessler, 1969)


29) POOR PEOPLE – Alan Price (O Lucky Man! – Lindsay Anderson, 1972)


30) STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING – Annie Ross (Straight On Till Morning – Peter Collinson, 1972)


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