Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
Soundtrack
ROUND ONE Reviews
New Musical Express March 23 1974
Having fropped the Magic Theatre part of their name, Principal Edwards are back with us again with a rather unoriginally titled album. Did they never hear of a record called Revolver"?
The album is excellently produced by the Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and musically the group are more interesting than when I last heard them two or three years ago, but quite frankly their brand of folk-rock saga doesn't jump up and grab me.,
They have moved away from peace, love and woodland magic to songs about the Average Chap and what a boring life he has, the Euro-man driving his juggernaut from Holland to Leeds and what appear to be the realms of science fiction ; pollution, urban horror and futurology.
I say "appear" because most of the group's lyrics are as incomprehensible as ever, and remain an inpenetrable barrierbetween me and them. I really don't know what they're about at all.
Their words seem to be picked at random out of a hat or else written in some kind of code understood only by SMERSH the Intergalactic Police and — presumably — the members of the band who write them. For example:
"Honeymilk of superneolithic men/Long long ago everywhere is clean. and fresh green/If you're lucky superlovely halibut may appear/Londondeath of the silly silken money men/ Days of debate everywhere is grey DDT/Big Daddy prints coupons for her vitamin C";
Well, it's a good game if you've ever played it. Half a dozen of you sit round in a room and each of you writes down a phrase, either the very first thing that comes into your head or something related to a theme you've all decided on. When you've all finished you each read out your line in turn and lo! You have a kind of poem. Sometimes you get apparent associations of ideas from one line to another, the results are always totally unpre dictable and often very funny.
Good laugh isn't it?
Enjoy the game, but here's a word of warning: don't go singing the results in recording studios, and certainly don't print them on the back of your LP Mitch Howard
***
Reply from David Jones published New Musical Express March 30th 1974
Mitch Howard's case against our lyrics, in his review of our album last week, is that they are incomprehensible to him. Therefore, he deduces, with all the sweeping logic of a borderline CSE English Lit. candidate, that they are composed at random. Considerable chunks of his review are in fact diverted from the business of musical criticism as he imagines us all sitting around shouting at random — "Zapristi!" . . . "habilbutlovely!" . . . "to the mill, Megan! — to compose what he calls "a kind of poem". Not so, Mr. Howard. I utterly refute your argument. I assure you, I never write at random, nor do my colleagues in sin, Nick Pallett and occasional scribe Root Cartwright. Generally, we write solo, and our work is carefully constructed and mind-shatteringly logical.
The example you quote ("Halibut Rock", first 6 lines) is the only really difficult bit on the album. The music was written first, and I found I had to write a fast arythmic sequence for voice singing counterpoint with a syncopated backing track: not easy. The result may at first look like shorthand, but added to the straightforward rest of the song, it all makes sense. Of course, reproduced with 2 misprints in your article, it read like gibberish!
For examples of real random writing, try "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" or "I Am The Walrus".
By the way, the album title "Round One" is a two-way pun, not one-way.
Peace, Love and woodland magic to you! — DAVID JONES, Principal Edwards, London , W.9.