Blue Jam

by

Chris Morris

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Be warned, this is serious stuff. Often misdiagnosed as comedy Blue Jam is a chilling but sometimes funny probe into the darkest corners of the human mind. Chris Morris blends surreal sketches designed to haunt, amuse and terrify with an excellent blend of ambient music from the likes of Aphex Twin and Brian Eno. Highlight sketches are as follows:

'Unflustered Parents' deals with two parents who are entirely undisturbed by the fact that their six year old son has gone missing and is probably lying dead in the woods somewhere. Eerie sound effects of rustling leaves and cawing birds conjure up images of a cold winter's wood whilst the actors convey mild annoyance at the interuption of their lives by this unwelcome event.

'Acupuncture' is my personal fave. A dispassionate and mentally detached woman comments on her acupuncture services whilst a hapless man endures the treatment in the background. She is admirably dedicated to the welfare of others, unfortunatly she uses six inch nails and a hammer.

'Lizards' is about a television repair man who arrives to help a couple whose television is pouring out lizards. His helpful comments range from, "Use windscreen wipers to wipe them off" to "Have you checked with the cable company sir?"

'Suicide Journalist' is a scathing satire of personality driven journalism, art house pretension and the need for a new gimmick. The story is narrated by a man who is so detached from common sense that he must have the life expectency of a [slow] may-fly.

'Fix-it Girl' Remember Harvey Keitel in his role as clean-up man in Pulp Fiction? Imagine if Jules and Vincent opened the door to find that their boss had sent them a four year old girl to do the job. A remorselessly evil girl.

Blue Jam is not for the faint hearted. It will offend many. But those who condemn it will be missing the entire point of the excercise. Real life is constantly subject to murder, abuse and terror. Chris Morris using a light coating of acid-jazz and ambience, combined with comedy that sometimes (though rarely) achieves laugh-ou-loud status, exposes all the dark crevices of the mind and the harsh world in the newspaper headline that we prefer to detach ourselves from. Some of the sketches are just plain funny-surreal with beyond nightmarish unreality little chilling content. Others will be akin to being whacked round the back of the head with a baseball bat. Marily Manson would recoil in horror. Easily the most inventive and thought provoking work to come out of British radio in the last decade. It has a horrible fascination.

To be listened to with the lights off.

Whenever anyone criticizes the work of a cult figure they are accused of not getting it, of it being over their heads, etc. Let me preempt those statements by saying that yes, I am a fan of Chris Morris. Brass Eye is brilliant, Jam is brilliant, etc. I do get him. But this is just not very well-done. There are good moments, of course, but much of it is rather boring and hard to hear over the incessant ambient techno soundtrack. I would recommend saving your money (all of this stuff can be heard online and since it is out of print there is no issue of Morris not getting any royalties) and buying the DVDs of his various television shows.