Part One - The View From Here

The title of the album is taking from a poem written by Doctor Edward Wilson, chief scientific officer on the “Terra Nova” Antarctic expedition 1911-1913, who perished with Captain Scott on the return journey from the South Pole. Edward Wilson was born in Cheltenham and lived at The Crippets on the edge of Leckhampton Hill, overlooking the site of Jaguar Sound where the album was recorded. The painting in the background of the front cover is the view of Hut Point from Observation Hill painted by Wilson in the Antarctic and in the most extreme conditions. The freezing winds on top of Observation Hill meant that he could only keep his gloves off to sketch for a couple of minutes at a time. In the foreground is the flyer Captain John Alcock, who along with navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown was the first pilot to cross the Atlantic in a Vickers Vimy, June 1919.

The back cover is one of the three motor-sledges taken on the “Terra Nova” expedition.

In the centre of the sleeve is a picture of the ‘Floyd Bennet’ coming to land at the first Antarctic air base, Little America, piloted by Admiral Byrd, the first aircraft and pilot to reach the South Pole in 1929.

The picture in the centre of the case is a view of the South Pole from the air, sometime in the 1950’s.

Part Two - Tracks in the Snow......

1. Hut Point (4:36) This is the site of the Discovery expedition headquarters, Scott’s first Antarctic expedition of 1901. Everything moves out from here.
	2. U.H.F. (4:04) Ultimate Hi-Fi! Ultra High Frequency! A journey in sound! Listen…… Voice Loop from Car Boot Special Brunswick Stereo Demonstration Disc circa 1958.
3. Streamliner (3:36) Travel by Streamlined 1930’s Locomotive power. As Art Deco cleaned and paired down the lines of cutting edge design in the early part of the last century the development of all forms of transport, air, sea and land were effected and also in turn inspired the new look. They were fast even when standing still.
	4. Carpet of Fireflies (5:01) Travelling in Costa Rica Gaby found a rain forest at twilight filled with these tiny glowing insects. A city of tiny lights……
5. I.T.O.M. (3:36) Itom produced these perfect lightweight motorcycles in the 1950’s / 1960’s and the sports versions were highly successful racing machines. My dad raced a Mk1 (left) and now I’m halfway through restoring a Mk8 (right).
	6. Winter Road Movie (4:57) It’s night, and you’re driving home in the snow. Just the rhythm of the wipers and the huge white flakes streaming towards the car. Even familiar things have taken on strange new shapes…..
7. Cape Crozier (4:43) Cape Crozier was the destination of the most outstanding polar journey ever undertaken. In the depths of the Antarctic Winter, Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard struggled for thirty days in the constant dark of night through blizzards and light in -77°F to reach an Emperor Penguin rookery and return to Cape Evans with three eggs. The worst journey in the world.
	8. First Atlantic Flight (8:37) We finished work on this track exactly eighty years after the first flight in 1919. Alcock and Brown’s ex RAF Vimy skimmed just above the waves, with all the instruments iced up. They occasionally climbed above the fog to take navigation readings from the stars. They crossed that Ocean in the open cockpit of a Bi-plane. It was seven years before anyone else managed to make the same crossing.
9. Blue Sky Barrow (5:02) I’ve known this place since childhood, it’s very close to The Crippets and Edward Wilson knew it well also. There is a fantastic sense of timelessness here, even the pathway you take to reach it is Neolithic. A return from the ever-changing vastness of the Antarctic ice to the absolute tranquillity of an ancient and familiar landscape.

Kev Fox