Interim Report, March 1979

Interim Report, March 1979 album cover

The Warrington-Runcorn Development Committee commissioned this music in early 1979 as the soundtrack of a short film to publicise the work of the Committee in providing a thriving cultural life for the residents of the new estates of Warrington and Runcorn. Excerpts were shown later that year on BBC’s Nationwide.

1979 marked a change in the political and wider culture of British society. The Warrington-Runcorn development marks the swan song of post-war urban planning in the UK – soon, the ethos of building better communities would be replaced by Thatcherite “no such thing as society” greed. And look where that got us.

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Fortean Times review

Reviews

A potentially overhwelming experience for anyone ever separated from their mum in a crumbling multi-storey car park
Electronic Sound
Modern industrialized society is filled with ghosts. Chapman-Fox has found some of them and given them a voice. The results are dramatic and chilling, lasting long after the record ends.
Bandcamp Daily
Mercilessly evokes the golden age of Brutalist town planning, with dystopian analogue synths conjuring images of graffiti-covered subways, desolate multi-storey car parks.
Fortean Times

Tracklisting

No.Song titleLength
A01 Gateway To The North 2m 58s
A02 Aerial Views By Helicopter 3m 21s
A03 Castlefields 6m 06s
A04 The Town Of Tomorrow 5m 48s
B05 Intercity 3m 04s
B06 Shopping City 6m 37s
B07 Windmill Hill 4m 07s
B08 Gateway To The Future 3m 41s

Vinyl pressings

PressingDateDescriptionCopies
First pressingFebruary 2021Transparent yellow vinyl300 copies
Second pressingSeptember 2021Plain white vinyl600 copies
Third pressingMay 2022Yello and black splatter vinyl600 copies
Fourth pressingOctober 2023Egg vinyl – transparent white vinyl with a yellow yolk, in a gatefold sleeve with bonus 7″500 copies
Fourth pressingOctober 2023Reverse Egg vinyl – transparent yellow vinyl with a black yolk, in a gatefold sleeve with bonus 7″500 copies