CD Cover

Casebook Review:

A CD of music by Frogg Moody and Ian Marshall and narratives written by Martin Fido, Don Rumbelow, Robin Odell, Stewart Evans and Paul Begg, read by Camilla Burges.

This CD has been produced with the aim of helping today's victims of crime in the East End. With each CD sold, a donation is made to the Tower Hamlets Victim Support Scheme. As if this isn't sufficient reason for handing over a tenner, the words and music are dedicated to the memory of each of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper.

Camilla retells the story of these women's lives, from Mary Ann to Mary Jane, restoring to each her humanity and dignity - long-lost luxuries by the time the ripper sought to take away and destroy any remaining shreds. A short piece of music follows each victim's story, providing the perfect medium for reflection on these miserable lives, that could not in all honesty have been made much more wretched by the actions of one brutal individual, than they had already, by brutal times and yet more brutal circumstance. By the time the part in Annie's story is reached, where we are reminded that the grim reaper was about to strike with or without the ripper 's interference, it becomes clear that these women were victims of life, first and foremost. They would never have encountered the ripper had they not already been victims in one way or another. An anonymous killer, who couldn't have cared less, underlined the everyday misery of countless unnamed unfortunates by giving immortality to a handful. The later narratives, especially Mary Kelly's, help to reinforce this feeling of a whole community of victims, who have come to be represented by the few whose lives were taken by the ripper.

These five unlucky women, simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, have secured their place in our hearts and minds. The haunting music and words of Angels of Sorrow remind us to make room for all those long-forgotten men, women and children who led equally rotten lives but died in less memorable ways.

Angels of Sorrow can be purchased by contacting Frogg Moody at frogg@onetel.net.uk . Alternatively, you can pick up the CD at performances of Frogg's rock musical, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, or at meetings of the Cloak & Dagger Club.