Negativland Presents Over The Edge Vol. 1: Jam Con '84

The first in the irregular series of edited presentations from Joyce's Over the Edge radio series — very often the testing ground for Negativland's formal releases — Jamcon '84 first surfaced as a tape on SST, then an expanded CD some years later on the band's own Seeland label. "Jamcon '84" itself unsurprisingly provides the core of the disc, "jamming" itself referring to the activity of those semi-legal ham radio operators who were working against the ham community's self-imposed standards. The similarity between jamming and Negativland's own stance about music and popular culture being obvious — and the Weatherman himself being an active ham radio participant himself — Joyce and crew merrily went ahead in creating this celebration of a not-quite-legitimate stance. Interviews with jammers, snippets of ham-radio users and talk show host complaints, phone calls from confused listeners, and more are tied together with the jammer convention idea. Among the amusing moments: Mickey Mouse phoning from prison, Dr. Carl Sagan as (allegedly) a convention reporter, the sudden appearance (and subsequent chopping up) of Dave Gilmour and the Police, and a campaign speech from the mysterious C. Eliot Friday. The CD includes two presentations from 1985, the first being "Negativland's 4th of July Stockholders' Picnic," starting with the studio staff allegedly finding out that they have to do the week's broadcast out at a park — in the middle of the night. There's a parade of condiments, ill-received speeches, and the debut of the "Nesbitt's Lime Soda Song," which would later turn up on Escape From Noise. Meanwhile, "Body English" is an as-it-happened vivisection of Ronald Reagan's second inaugural speech, turning into an elaborate detailing of the efforts of the "new screw" in D.C. to actually report on the happenings.