The "plot" for this load of total twaddle is - as hinted by the title - that all music has disappeared, so Bill Drummond gets in his trusty Land-Rover and drives from East to West across England, Wales and Ireland getting random groups of people (crop-pickers, workmen, taxi-drivers, nuns, kids in a classroom etc) to sing different notes for 3 minutes which he records, and then at the end of the film they are all mixed into one ensemble choral piece. He then listens to it once on an Irish cliff-top, but we are not allowed to hear it, and then he permanently deletes it. So it is never heard and the whole thing is a total pile of pointless self-indulgence.
The reason he denies us the chance to hear the piece is not really explained, but Drummond has as an eccentric track record of how he treats his music and restricts its availability, so pulling a stunt like this could perhaps be anticipated. Alternatively maybe there is a simpler explanation that the project failed and the results were too poor to let anyone hear them?
The film does have some merit for being well composed and photographed, the journey (which also contains a trip to Berlin for another bit of befuddled zaniness) and the encounters he has with his "choir" are interesting, and he talks a lot about his musical career and the various and sometimes notorious events which it contained. I'm not sure there were any new insights, but it was worth hearing his comments.
However these are not enough to justify the cynical way we are taken on a journey and then cast adrift. There is an implicit trust when watching a filmed venture like this that its outcome will be shared instead of being confiscated. If Drummond's intention was to show the naivety or fragility of such a trust, he succeeded but it's little more than a slap in the face for the audience. This film has never had a proper release in Britain, and frankly does not deserve one.
The reason he denies us the chance to hear the piece is not really explained, but Drummond has as an eccentric track record of how he treats his music and restricts its availability, so pulling a stunt like this could perhaps be anticipated. Alternatively maybe there is a simpler explanation that the project failed and the results were too poor to let anyone hear them?
The film does have some merit for being well composed and photographed, the journey (which also contains a trip to Berlin for another bit of befuddled zaniness) and the encounters he has with his "choir" are interesting, and he talks a lot about his musical career and the various and sometimes notorious events which it contained. I'm not sure there were any new insights, but it was worth hearing his comments.
However these are not enough to justify the cynical way we are taken on a journey and then cast adrift. There is an implicit trust when watching a filmed venture like this that its outcome will be shared instead of being confiscated. If Drummond's intention was to show the naivety or fragility of such a trust, he succeeded but it's little more than a slap in the face for the audience. This film has never had a proper release in Britain, and frankly does not deserve one.
