Radio Actors - "Nuclear Waste" - or, Sting In A Tin
Around the time of the formation of the Police, frontman Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) took part in the recording of a European single credited to a fictitious band called Fast Breeder & The Radio Actors. This single, titled "Nuclear Waste", was an anti-nuke protest song written by Harry Williamson, who has played with offshoots of Genesis, Gong, and Hawkwind. The single was first released in 1978 on the Nuke imprint, distributed in the U.K. by Virgin Records, then issued a second time in 1979 on the Charly imprint, distributed by Pye Records.
Harry Williamson was the son of novelist Henry Williamson (Tarka The Otter), and a founder of the left-wing Green Party of England and Wales. Williamson immersed himself in the hippie culture of the 1970's, so it made sense that he would fall in with the free-festival musical movement championed by the likes of Hawkwind and Gong. For this one-off single, Williamson assembled musicians from that space-rock scene, including guitarist Steve Hillage, saxophonist Nik Turner, and bassist Mike Howlett. Howlett had previously played with Sting in another pre-Police band called Strontium 90, and he tapped the soon-to-be-famous singer to front the Radio Actors on "Nuclear Waste".
The song (the writing of which was credited to a misspelled "H. Williams" on the original 1978 pressing) features Sting singing in very much the same angry tone that he often sung in on the Police's debut album Outlandos d'Amour, which was released later that same year. His punk-rocking lead vocal is well matched with the playing of the other counter-cultural musicians, whose background vocals resemble those on many other new wave recordings. Sting was not involved with the B-side, a more mellow space-rock instrumental titled "Digital Love". This track uses a recording of a street-digging gas board generator as a recurring sound effect, but it's otherwise more jazz-based than the A-side, showing guitarist Steve Hillage to good effect. Whether you regard the single as a new wave or prog item, it's good stuff.
In 1995, the two songs were issued on a CD in the U.K. with three bonus tracks. The CD was packaged in a circular tin box, and was credited to all of the individual musicians involved, instead of being billed to the Radio Actors. Its title was Nuclear Waste - Sting In A Tin. As a result, Sting's name appears twice on the outside packaging, but he is only present on one of the bonus tracks in this "tin", that one being a 1994 remix of the original A-side, titled "Nuclear MegaWaste". This mix makes the song's instrumentation sound fuller, particularly drawing more attention to Hillage's guitar. The other two bonus tracks were new recordings made by Williamson in 1994 with Australian singer Liz Van Dort, who seemed to be serving as a Kate Bush substitute. "Spiral Diatribe" and "No-Ozone Blue" both have tribal beats, and largely unintelligible lyrics. "No-Ozone Blue" is the better of these two tracks, using congas and vocoder vocals to resemble a recording that Kate Bush -- or perhaps Peter Gabriel -- might have made in the '80's. Williamson and Van Dort later collaborated as a duo called Faraway.
Fast Breeder & The Radio Actors "Nuclear Waste" (b/w "Digital Love") (Nuke single NUKE 235) 1978
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
The Radio Actors "Nuclear Waste" (b/w "Digital Love") (Charly single CYS 1058) 1979
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
Sting, Steve Hillage, Nik Turner, Steve Broughton, Mike Howlett, Liz Van Dort, Dombek, Javier Fredes, Harry Williamson "Nuclear Waste - Sting In A Tin" (Voiceprint VP181CD) 1995
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
3. Spiral Diatribe
4. No-Ozone Blue
5. Nuclear MegaWaste
Harry Williamson was the son of novelist Henry Williamson (Tarka The Otter), and a founder of the left-wing Green Party of England and Wales. Williamson immersed himself in the hippie culture of the 1970's, so it made sense that he would fall in with the free-festival musical movement championed by the likes of Hawkwind and Gong. For this one-off single, Williamson assembled musicians from that space-rock scene, including guitarist Steve Hillage, saxophonist Nik Turner, and bassist Mike Howlett. Howlett had previously played with Sting in another pre-Police band called Strontium 90, and he tapped the soon-to-be-famous singer to front the Radio Actors on "Nuclear Waste".
The song (the writing of which was credited to a misspelled "H. Williams" on the original 1978 pressing) features Sting singing in very much the same angry tone that he often sung in on the Police's debut album Outlandos d'Amour, which was released later that same year. His punk-rocking lead vocal is well matched with the playing of the other counter-cultural musicians, whose background vocals resemble those on many other new wave recordings. Sting was not involved with the B-side, a more mellow space-rock instrumental titled "Digital Love". This track uses a recording of a street-digging gas board generator as a recurring sound effect, but it's otherwise more jazz-based than the A-side, showing guitarist Steve Hillage to good effect. Whether you regard the single as a new wave or prog item, it's good stuff.
In 1995, the two songs were issued on a CD in the U.K. with three bonus tracks. The CD was packaged in a circular tin box, and was credited to all of the individual musicians involved, instead of being billed to the Radio Actors. Its title was Nuclear Waste - Sting In A Tin. As a result, Sting's name appears twice on the outside packaging, but he is only present on one of the bonus tracks in this "tin", that one being a 1994 remix of the original A-side, titled "Nuclear MegaWaste". This mix makes the song's instrumentation sound fuller, particularly drawing more attention to Hillage's guitar. The other two bonus tracks were new recordings made by Williamson in 1994 with Australian singer Liz Van Dort, who seemed to be serving as a Kate Bush substitute. "Spiral Diatribe" and "No-Ozone Blue" both have tribal beats, and largely unintelligible lyrics. "No-Ozone Blue" is the better of these two tracks, using congas and vocoder vocals to resemble a recording that Kate Bush -- or perhaps Peter Gabriel -- might have made in the '80's. Williamson and Van Dort later collaborated as a duo called Faraway.
Fast Breeder & The Radio Actors "Nuclear Waste" (b/w "Digital Love") (Nuke single NUKE 235) 1978
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
The Radio Actors "Nuclear Waste" (b/w "Digital Love") (Charly single CYS 1058) 1979
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
Sting, Steve Hillage, Nik Turner, Steve Broughton, Mike Howlett, Liz Van Dort, Dombek, Javier Fredes, Harry Williamson "Nuclear Waste - Sting In A Tin" (Voiceprint VP181CD) 1995
Track Listing:
1. Nuclear Waste
2. Digital Love
3. Spiral Diatribe
4. No-Ozone Blue
5. Nuclear MegaWaste
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