projects

Project Background + Status

This 78 min. audio documentary, released by HIDDEN ART RECORDS in 2002, arose as a result of my efforts with pioneering activist Miriam Ryle to publicise the devastating effect that the bombing of the 1991 Gulf War and subsequent sanctions were having on the civilian population of Iraq.

Faced with intransigence, ignorance and outright hostility from mainstream media, a planned visual documentary was abandoned in favour of an audio odyssey that took us from the heartbreaking hospitals of Baghdad to the depths of US foreign policy archives, from the stunning kindness of a UN official to some of the best musical talents of the UK electronica scene, all of whom contributed to the project for nothing, and donated their royalties to MEDICAL AID TO IRAQI CHILDREN.

Garnering the kind of reviews one can only dream of, the album took over 3 years to make, half of which was spent fighting legal battles with music companies over rights, whilst 3000-5000 children died every month from malnutrition, dehydration and easily preventable disease in a political climate that, not just in retrospect, was completely and utterly insane, and ultimately totally pointless and counter-productive.

Listen, and judge for yourself.

The project is completed, and features original music by MICHAEL STEARNS, HIGHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, BASS COMMUNION with NASEER SHAMMA, SOMA, BARBED, KAIT GRAY, TOM MIDDLETON and BOLA, with exclusive re-mixes of ORBITAL and APHEX TWIN.

A double disc release, featuring the music only on CD 2, is available to buy at:

www.adasam.plus.com/hiddenart/page14.htm

www.amazon.co.uk/Fire-This-Time-Various-Artists/dp/B00006LIBX

www.amazon.com/Fire-This-Time-Various-Artists/dp/B00008J2R7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255546722&sr=1-1
 

A large website was built to support the project, and is still available at:

 http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~gw/index02.htm

 

Album Reviews

"....unbeatable for its sheer devotion to truth...."
NEW INTERNATIONALIST MAGAZINE – Best Album of the Year 2002

"...terrifying and timely....assembled with such originality that it creates its own new genre of protest record...."
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 5/5

"....a landmark CD....extraordinary...."
THE BIG ISSUE

"....powerful, eye-opening, blood-boiling stuff....essential listening...."
IAIN BANKS, author 'The Wasp Factory' and others

"....immaculately produced....needs to be heard...."
MUZIK MAGAZINE 5/5

"....extraordinary....compelling....overwhelming...."
RED PEPPER MAGAZINE

"....stunning....one of the most important albums to address these issues...."
DUSTED.COM

"....a shattering protest record...."
UNCUT MAGAZINE 4/5

"....an amazing double album which should be issued to every citizen of voting age...."
MINISTRY OF SOUND MAGAZINE 10/10

"....more relevant, more essential now than ever....a masterpiece...."
BIG ISSUE NORTH 10/10

"....informative, emotional, brilliantly researched; it demands your attention...."
MARK THOMAS, comedian and activist 'The Mark Thomas Product' - Channel 4, UK

"....this extraordinary album....nothing short of staggering...."
THE BIG CHILL

"....as brave as it is powerful...."
PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

"....if such voices of dissent were allowed to be heard, the world might not be in such a state...."
THE WIRE MAGAZINE - Best 50 albums of the Year 2002

"....takes your breath away....one of the strongest and most consistent statements yet to come out of the current anti-war movement...."
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

"....astonishing.....a brilliant intervention in the propaganda war...."
THE SCOTSMAN

"....stunningly coherent and compelling.....should be owned by anyone who even remotely doubts the motives behind the war against Iraq...."
VUE MAGAZINE

"....unusual and disturbing....sound in every sense...."
THE OBSERVER

"....stunning....stylish, intellectual and thought-provoking...."
WINNEPEG SUN DAILY

"....ambitious....unique....a powerful political piece...."
NOW TORONTO

"....emotional, shocking and eye opening...."
Q MAGAZINE 4/5

"....presenting people with awful facts they'd like to ignore....uniquely effective...."
TIME OUT NEW YORK