Musical recordings lost to history (The Stationary Ark, etc.)

[psychonaut]

@psychonaut

With the renewed interest in The Stationary Ark generated by the Synth demo, people reached out to the CBC and to Mills-Cockell to ask for the original recording of the song, but nobody could find a copy. Apparently neither CBC nor Mills-Cockell had thought to keep any tapes. Mills-Cockell has heard Feil’s arrangement, which he says doesn’t bear much resemblance to his original composition. (When Feil’s friend improvised the tune for him back in 1984, he probably also hadn’t heard the original for nearly a decade, so it’s likely much of it was misremembered.)

Wonderful news: A fan has finally located a VHS tape of Stationary Ark at the University of Manitoba library and uploaded to YouTube the opening theme. Finally, after all these years, the public at large can hear Mills-Cockell’s original version:

The Stationary Ark Theme (original, Gerald Durrell, 1975)