English Heretic — Plan For The Kidnap Of Princess Anne

Here’s a curious release on English Heretic, by English Heretic; and its a picture disc too - always welcome, despite the apparent lower quality of sound. The album contains two long tracks, both short of twenty minutes and both very similar in terms of content and sound. As you may well have ascertained, the tracks concern the attempted kidnap of Princess Anne by Ian Ball; on March 20th, 1974, in London.

English Heretic use sound recordings associated with the kidnap, in an attempt to present the event from different angles. So, in the simplest terms, the first side, ‘Plan For The Kidnap Of Princess Anne’, uses a long spoken confession from Ball; whilst the second, ‘Ian Ball - The Most Dangerous Working Class Dissenter’, is comprised of news reports, eyewitness accounts and an interview with Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips (who was travelling with Princess Anne at the time of the kidnap) on The Parkinson Show. Ball’s confession is compelling listening, to the extent that I don’t want to ruin it for you by detailing it here. (In the most vaguest terms, it begins as an interesting tale which spirals into rather unexpected turns and destinations.) The sampled content of the second track is much less exciting, but its given weight by virtue of following Ball’s words. Underneath these recordings, English Heretic arrange a backing - and it is really a backing - heavily based around looping - indeed, a processed snippet of a male voice loops throughout practically the entire release. This is accompanied by piercing, whistling tones, and lower undercurrents. Other sounds appear, and the loop is reverbed and echoed back on itself; but essentially, its a very spare, sparse soundscape. ‘Ian Ball - The Most Dangerous Working Class Dissenter’ has a much fuller sound from the off, utilising similar elements to the first track, but with - most simply - more distortion and more volume. Synth lines and bleeps circle and loop the ITN news report, in a quasi-industrial throb; before cutting out to reveal an interview with Princess Anne. Soon after this, her words loop and entwine with quotes from Ball, whilst winding lines of organ-like sounds snake around. Its probably the most effective part of the record, in sonic terms.

This is an unusual record. It reminds me very much of a recent PE tape I heard, which consisted of very interesting samples over an nondescript wall of noise: neither element was aided by the other. The samples deserved to be heard cleanly, and the noisy backing was dulled by the samples laid across it. Here, the backing doesn’t so much get in the way of the sampled recordings, as appear rather superfluous. Certainly, it doesn’t really intrude on the spoken words and, in fact, becomes a ‘backing’ in the truest sense. I can’t help but feel, that both elements of the record would be better served separated. However, the release is saved purely by the words of Ball himself, in a confession that is a gripping listen - its worth acquiring for this alone.