Musick that Needed Work: N - Nash the Slash

Back to a Series I Started in 2015 

 

As I've stated before when I reopened this can of worms --- 2015 --- at the time I opened a folder (always a dangerous act) I had labeled: "Musick that Needs Work". It was a Pandora's box of files that needed some special attention, meaning anything from missing tracks to cleaning up the sound to fixing the tags to getting the art work, whatever. In the eight & a half years since I started this, I have finished through letter M.

December 5, 2023 I once more tackled this task. Dial M for Music. I made myself a promise that I'd make my way through to the end in some timely fashion. The problem is, I keep adding musick that needs work to this folder, so although I've moved onward through the alphabet, the letters I come to now keeping having more items than when I began. Such is mania.

Well, here’s N. Up first is Nash the Slash... 

 

Nash the Slash - In-A-Gadda-Da-Nash, Cut-Throat Records CUT9CD, 2008.
decryption code in comments

Astronomy Domine
21st Century Schizoid Man
Animal Magnetism
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Baba O'Riley
Follow the Leaders
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Constantinople

Enjoy,
N

I Might Be Slow, but not Forgetful

On October 14, 2015 (yes, 2015...you remember back then in the old days), an Unknown (aka Jack Bone) visitor to NSS queried in the comments to a Nash the Slash post Soixant-Neuf:
     "Hey buddy (I guess that's me???) you wouldn't happen to have Nash's soundtrack to Nosferatu?"

Well, I didn't, but I've been looking ever since & finally got a copy. Don't know if Unknown Jack Bone is still looking or will find out that I (finally) replied, but as I love all things NtSlash, here it is.

Released on Nash's own label, Cut-Throat Records ( "Music in a particular vein"), Nosferatu is Nash the Slash's soundtrack recording to the 1922 German silent expresionist horror film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; also known as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror or simply Nosferatu) directed by F. W. Murnau & starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok.

Nash vividly enhances the dramatic building of suspense & impending doom inherent within Murnau's reinterpretation of the Count Dracula story, capturing the romantic & tragic essence of the tale. Nash primarily uses synthesisers, drum machines, & samplers on this project (along with a haunting Romanian choir) to match the graininess of the deteriorated visuals & the feel of the time period. He superbly spotlights the recurrent themes & motifs within the film, revisiting them in various iterations to develop narrative continuity (particularly for  Nina, variations on Gabriel Urbain Fauré's Requiem [tracks 2, 4, 18, & 30] & Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre [tracks 19 & 23]). The soundtrack never overpowers or draws attention away from the screen, but instead moodily adds to the total experience.

Nosferatu has almost certainly had more restored releases than any other silent film. Including all the illegitimate copies of the Atlas version, there are a vast number, likely in excess of a thousand, of cheap home video editions. The original film was 63 minutes, which matches Nash's soundtrack. If you want to try watching the movie sync'd to the music, there are basically five versions:
the 1965 Atlas Film version based on MoMA's print;
Elite version January 2000;
Diamond Entertainment version July 2002 with replacement pipe organ score;
& Madacy versions March 2003
& August 2004.

The Atlas version is a copy of the most complete copy extant, which was obtained by New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1947. That copy is derived from a French print from the late 1930s/early 1940s, in very good condition overall. The French version is a copy of a Czechoslovakian export print from the 1920s that was seized by the Nazis, now lost. The background story of this print has only been unravelled in recent years so many sources still refer to it as a 1926/27  "second French version".  The Czech version had been shipped to the Cinémathèque Française. At the French archive the German intertitles were replaced with French ones, after which the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) got a copy that had been preserved at the Cinémathèque Suisse.

On acquisition, MoMA (in all probability through their then film curator Iris Barry) replaced the latest French intertitles with English ones in anachronistic 1927 Futura font &, as per Nosferatu's first US screenings in 1929, all the character names were reverted to the ones of the original novel: Count Orlok becomes Count Dracula; Ellen & Hutter become Nina & Jonathon Harker; Knock becomes Renfield; etc.

So the intertitles have been translated from the original German into Czech, back into German, then into French, & then finally into English… Yet somehow they still make sense!

So turn down the movie volume (it's a Silent Film, fer Satan's sake), crank up the soundtrack volume, kick back, light up, & enjoy.

Nash's world premiere performance was on Thursday July 13, 2000 at the Grand Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The male choir was recorded live in Brasov Orthodox Cathedral, Romania by Dmitri Vole.

Nash the Slash - Nosferatu, Cut-Throat Records CUT5CD, 2001.

 tracklist -

Murnau's Vision
Nina & Jonathon
Renfield's Scheme
"Don't Worry Nina"
Foreboding Journey
Jonathon Awakes
The Land of Phantoms
"You are Late"
Blood
Letter to Nina
"What a Lovely Throat"
Fear & Premonition
Sense of Menace
The Crypt
Dracula Packs
Rats
Venus Flytraps & Other Vampires
Nina Among the Dunes
Fatal Breath
Renfield's Master
Dracula Unpacks
Nosferatu
The Ship of Horrors
Drum Alarm
The Book of Vampires
Plague
Renfield's Revenge
Nina's Trance
Sacrificing Nina
The Morning Sun

Enjoy,
NØ

Soixante - Neuf

This post has been updated 06/07/2015. Read ADDED below:
                                            03/23/2026

 


Nash the Slash, who took his stage name from a murderous butler in a 1926 Laurel & Hardy movie (Do Detectives Think?), is the nom de guerre of singer/songwriter/musician Jeff Plewman. He made his auspicious debut in 1975. He wrote & performed the soundtrack to Un Chien Andalou, a 1929 silent film by Luis Bunuel at Toronto's Roxy Theatre on March 17 - a 15 minute short before the Rolling Stones' feature Gimme Shelter.

He later formed the three-piece progressive-electronic pop group FM with fellow Torontonians Cameron Hawkins & Martin Deller. They spent the better part of a year working on their debut, but BLACK NOISE wasn't released until 1979 when American Passport Records picked it up - over 2 full years after its completion. Despite the album going gold, the Canadian distributor (GRT Records) went broke, so distribution rights went to Capitol. By this point, FM had received nothing. Not until 1995, when FM re-issued the album on CD, did the band make any money from the sale of this record. To this day it sells very well on CD as one of Canada's top progressive-rock recordings, highlighted by the cult classic "Phasors on Stun".

He first donned his trademark body-bandages at a show at Toronto's The Edge - based on the near-disaster at the 3 Mile Island nuclear plant. He came out on the stage covered in green phosphorescent makeup shouting to the crowd "This is what happens!" By this time he had ventured out on his own & formed the independent label Cut-Throat Records. His first solo release was 1978's BEDSIDE COMPANION, a 4-song 12" EP of instrumental electronic music. His live theatrical shows had become infamous in the Toronto area, each based on a theme. Even his choice of instruments is unusual for the pop realm -preferring electric violins & mandolins to guitars.

The following year saw his second solo release - his first full length LP. DREAMS & NIGHTMARES was a collection of instrumental horror stories, destined to become another of Nash's trademarks. It sold over 12,000 copies in the first year - one of the most successful independent releases at that time. He opened up some shows for Devo, Pere Ubu & Elvis Costello, all the while gaining a reputation for his bizarre yet intriguing interpretations of the macabre.

He released a 7 minute twisted cover of Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" as his first ever single the next year - prior to his first tour of New York. This led to opening slots for the likes of XTC & Gary Numan for their North America tours. That summer he found himself on his most auspicious tour to date, on the same card as The Who in front of his hometown crowd at CNE Stadium. Though he offered to do the gig for free, he would end up being paid $125 - minimum union wage.

His next full album was 1981's DECOMPOSING. It was the first LP playable at any speed. DECOMPOSING gained rave reviews in Playboy magazine & The Village Voice.

1984 marked the unofficial reunion of Slash with FM cohorts Cameron Hawkins and Martin Deller. They collaberated with him on his most commercial record to date - AMERICAN BAND-AGES. A collection of re-workings of rock standards, it featured covers of Grand Funk's "We're an American Band", Joe South's "Hey Joe" and CCR's "Run Through the Jungle". Ironically, tho he'd been a solo artist for the better part of eight years at this point, he was nominated that year for a Juno for best new male vocalist - losing to eventual winner Alfie Zappacosta.

That same year, 1984, saw THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC. It contained some of Nash's greatest songs. "Swing Shift" has always been one of my favorite songs. The violin bridge before the final chorus is a simply sublime Pop Goes the Weasel, & you gotta love: 'Swing shift / soixante-neuf, tie her to a tree with a skipping rope'.

Nash the Slash - The Million Year Picnic, Ralph Records NS-8409, 1984.

all decryption codes in comments

Side 1 -

The Million-Year Picnic
Swing Shift (Soixante-neuf)
Blind Windows / Countervail
Lost Lenore
Side 2 -

Dead Man's Curve
The Chase
Pilgrim's Lament
Life in Loch Ness

 

Enjoy,
NØ

ADDED: 

Jack Bone  recently asked if I could re-upload The Million Year Picnic. I have done so, but while I was at it I decided to post up a few other related items.

First is the Nash's first band, Toronto, Ontario, Canada's prog-rockers FM & their first release. After this Nash went on to his evocative solo career...

FM – Black Noise, Passport Records, 1978.

Side One –

Phasors on Stun

One O’Clock Tomorrow

Hours

Journey

Dialing for Dharma

Side Two –

Slaughter in Robot Village

Aldeberan

Black Noise

 

 

 

 

Then a few other Nash the Slash gems I had lying around…

 

Nash the Slash – Bedside Companion, Cut-Throat Records CUT-1. 1978.

This Side –

Fever Dream

Masquerade

That Side –

Blind Windows

The Million Year Picnic

 

 

Nash the Slash – Dreams & Nightmares, Cut-Throat Records CUT-2, 1979.

Left Side –

Islands

Ylla

The Chase

Un Chien Andalou

Right Side –

Blind Windows / Countervail

Moon Curse

Lost Lenore

'Til Death Do Us Part

 

 

Nash the Slash – Children of the Night, Cut-Throat Records CUT-4, 1980.

Side One –

Wolf

Dead Man's Curve

Children of the Night

Deep Forest

In a Glass Eye

Side Two –

19^th Nervous Breakdown

Swing Shift (Soixante-Neuf)

Metropolis

Dopes on the Water (Smoke on the Water)

Danger Zone

 

 

 

 

One of the most interesting releases from M. Slash, this instrumental composition is able to be played at any turntable speed (16, 33 1/3, 45, or 78rpms) & still be musically coherent (it was recorded at 45rpms). I've included all four speed versions.

Nash the Slash – Decomposing 12" mini-album, Cut-Throat Records CUR-5, 1981.

Side One –

The Calling

Life in Loch Ness

Side Two –

Womble

Pilgrim's Lament

 

 

On May 10, 2014, Nash died at his home in Toronto at age 66, from a suspected heart attack.

 

 

RIP,

NØ