This is the third album by Charles Hayward,
published in 1991. Second printing: 2004.
MUSIC FOR THE ARMCHAIR THEATRE OF WAR.
A UNIQUE AND ENTERTAINING SOUVENIR FOR YOU TO TREASURE AND KEEP
credits
released January 31, 2016
'Switch on War' a dream state synthesis of nights watching live TV coverage of the 1st Gulf War, the reduction of colours to an electron midnight blue, the long periods of nothing really happening, the contrasting landscapes, (the desert, the city at night, the newsroom), the sudden hurtling through space, through a doorway, a camera on the nose of a missile, the bearing of silent witness slowly turning into complicity and mute acquiescence. At the back of the mind the thought that all this would soon be reduced to snapshot memories, archive, newsreel, history.
Originally devised as a performance for the Club Integral, in South London, at the height of the military activity, 'Switch on War' was a harsh and brutal response to the media coverage of the conflict informed by a grotesque and disconcerting anti-music aesthetic heavily influenced by the disorientating, overloaded sound world of Space Invaders arcades.
The CD version was recorded binaurally some weeks later, live in a disused morgue, as the war came to its stalemate close. By this time the anger had a bleak streak of sadness, a distorted expressionist requiem.
This CD had the life expectancy of a magazine article or some such, no more than a year and it would be archive, a mere souvenir.
Charles Hayward
A fantastic early 90s album. This is what the decade could have been remembered for along with other standout records like 'Acadie' (1989) or the Teenage Fanclub albums, instead of grunge or 90s "alternative" (not knocking Nirvana, etc). Unfathomably, the record failed to make an impact. Rated A+. tideracer