Dan Waddell

Nichts ist je vergeben und nichts vergessen …
Als die Leiche eines Mannes auf einem Londoner Friedhof gefunden wird, ahnen DCI Grant Foster und seine Kollegin Heather Jenkins nicht, wie weit sie die Suche nach dem Mörder in die Vergangenheit führen wird. Immer mehr Opfer fallen einem geheimnisvollen Killer zum Opfer, doch was die Ermordeten verbindet, ist unklar. Bis Nigel Barnes, ein Spezialist für Ahnenforschung, erkennt, dass die Spur ins Jahr 1879 zurückreicht. Damals hatte der »Kensington Killer« London in Angst und Schrecken versetzt …

Ils furent deux enfants assassins, condamnés pour avoir battu à mort un vieil homme sans défense. Deux garçons maudits qui ont purgé leur peine et se construisent une vie d'adulte sous des noms d'emprunt. Dieu sait comment, un justicier a retrouvé leur trace pour leur infliger les affres de l'enfer. L'inspecteur Foster sait que les explications se trouvent dans le village de Mackington, qui n'a jamais pardonné aux deux «petits bâtards diaboliques»…

This extravagant six-CD set documents the astonishing life span of the first pop independent label in the U.K., Immediate Records. Founded in 1965, Immediate flipped, flopped, and staggered its own way, competing against unhip American labels like EMI and Decca until late 1969. The label, and the documentary CD set, showcases in particular the Small Faces, who enjoyed a brief U.K. number one hit, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. More familiar to American listeners will no doubt be the three-chord sock-hop favorite "Hang on Sloopy" by the McCoys, and a number of covers of familiar American folk-rock hits are present as well. The esoteric collector will appreciate inclusions by such café balladeers as the Poets and Les Fleurs-de-Lis, also signed by Immediate before the advent of the swinging London sound, marked by the Rolling Stones revolution and other mod developers influencing the pants off the tiniest studio cover bands. Immediate also helped sculpt the success of anguished bellower Chris Farlowe, soon to be joined by the similarly throaty vibrato of PP Arnold and, of course, manager/producer Andrew Oldham's best toss of the dice, the Small Faces, whom he ripped away from Decca. By the fourth disc, you are, in fact, in the throes of swinging London, featuring Farlowe's heart-stopping "Yesterday's Papers" and Arnold's "The First Cut Is the Deepest," written by the much-in-demand Cat Stevens. Most of the music is minimal and often out of tune, production at an early-time low, replete with tinny echoes and accidental outtake moments.