If there was a common theme in Briggs’ work, it was his humanitarian preoccupation with life’s underdogs and the tension between human dreams and disappointing, often painful reality. When, after September 11, 2001, Briggs was asked by a newspaper to “do a When the Wind Blows-type of thing on it”, he declined. In The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984), Briggs’ take on the Falklands conflict, the dead lie forlorn as the title characters strut across the political stage.īut it was not a stance he sustained he admitted finding most politics too confusing. In his black comedy of nuclear holocaust, When the Wind Blows (1982), an ordinary couple survive a nuclear attack and are still obediently following futile government instructions, unaware that they are slowly dying. Father Christmas is not the generously proportioned old buffer heave-ho-ing his way down the nation’s chimneys, but a moody, foul-mouthed old soak fed up with the backbreaking physical tedium of his job (Briggs envisaged him as a workman “a bit like my Dad, who was a milkman”).īriggs was sometimes described as a political writer and it was easy to see why. When the Wind Blows tries hard to bind ties with the actual movie, which is splendid in itself, but aside from a few effective tracks, the soundtrack remains quite pedestrian.His characters, too, were instantly recognisable. Dialogue from both characters is woven between each song, enhancing their naïve outlook and their false hope for the 'powers that be.' Hugh Cornwell's 'Facts and Figures' and Paul Hardcastle's 'The Shuffle' are short on amiability and come off as poorly manufactured, weakened by run-of-the-mill '80s rhythms. Only 'Folded Flags' seems to associate with the movie's cold war theme the best, and some relatively smooth saxophone playing from Mel Collins helps to resuscitate things a wee bit.

Bowie's 'When the Wind Blows' and Genesis' 'The Brazilian' seem to carry the most flow musically, and the ten-part medley from Waters and his studio team has its moments, but for the most part it drags and sputters with boggy instrumental staleness. Raymond Briggs' animated tale about an elderly British couple living out their last days after the bomb has dropped spawned this hit-and-miss soundtrack, with contributions from Squeeze, David Bowie, Genesis, and a lengthy coda from Roger Waters and the Bleeding Heart Band.

When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs