Derek Raymond, James Johnston & Terry Edwards — I Was Dora Suarez

My relationship or should I say obsession with this spoken word/ sound scaping album goes back to when it was original released back in 1993, at the time I'd read a review about it saying that this was one the most appalling and gut wrenching things your likely to hear. So I spent the ensuing years looking through record shop rails across the world trying to find a copy of this depraved fruit, but I never could, but it always stayed in the back of my mind taunting me—so I was very excited when I saw it was to be reissued.

So was it worth the 15 years wait? Yes indeed it was & it's really more disturbing, grim and appalling then I could have imagined, but also with some moments of great beauty too both word wise and instrumental. The album was collaboration between gritty ‘n’ grim UK crime writer Derek Raymond and James Johnston and Terry Edwards of London based grim ‘n’ brooding rock band Gallon Drunk. It takes texts from Raymond ‘s 1990 bleak, sick and sleazy serial killer novel I was Dora Suarez, which Raymond reads /performs the texts with real macabre gusto in his well spoken public school tones. Underneath the texts Johnston and Edwards build an highly effective and atmospheric mix of darkened avant jazz, dark ambience, blacked rock/country improvising, deep/un-nerving cinematic tones, splatters of bleak field recordings and the odd more pretty/tuneful acoustics guitar, harpsichord and piano textures.

The album takes in near on 80 minutes of spoken word and musical backing with most of the tracks taking in a killing and the aftermath. Raymond detailing each in great grotesque, wordy and wonderful descriptive manner so you can almost smell the killer’s victims faeces, their blood and innards strewn across their last resting place. He often also details the killers disturbing sexual self abuse and masturbation during and after murder. I grantee no matter how iron cast and gory hungry you are you will be well and truly disgusted yet deeply compelled by this. There’s an extra 12 minute track that wouldn’t fit on to the original releases here for the first time which is just as good as the rest of the album. The albums also topped off with a selection of interesting liner notes from Terry Edwards, Raymond and writer and Raymond fan Cathi Usworth.

A really gutwrenching, atmospheric, nightmarish dark trip into the mind of a killer. This is one of the most disturbing, sickening things you’ll every have heard, yet it’s done with such class, atmosphere and grim grace to make it highly compelling and re playable- just make sure you’ve not eaten before playing it.