Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Barry Adamson and the Scala cinema in London’s King’s Cross were made for each other. The former Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds member has thrived in a solo capacity, where his work has painted vivid pictures and scenes, many of them cinematic – so he was a natural choice for this project.

Dubbed “The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-Up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits”, SCALA!!! Is a tribute to the adventurous programming, the all-night screenings and live performances that became synonymous with the building. The docu-film itself features interviews with John Waters, Peter Strickland, Mark Moore, Ben Wheatley and Adamson himself, a natural choice to portray these figures and so much more in music.

His score includes references to the cinema’s resident cats, some of the films the cinema screened and a few of the artists that played there.

What’s the music like?

Full of character. Adamson’s score teems with life and is packed with musical incident and colour, painting his subject with uncanny accuracy and using references that knit together really well.

The styles vary wildly and entertainingly, with tracks that range from barely longer than half a minute to fully fledged instrumental songs, each one evoking a scene. The loose limbed funk of Scala Posters (Mondo Bongo) is a highlight, like an excerpt from a detective soundtrack. The dubby As Steve Woolley Sees It and the swirly Acid Celluloid are pocket-sized bits of fun, while the excellent Barry’s Iranian Embassy Blues has a compelling urgency. Spandau Politics is a lot of fun, a kind of one-fingered keyboard bossa nova cousin to Joe Jackson’s Stepping Out.

On occasion some of Adamson’s brief but brooding interludes create a spirit of paranoia and expectation, looking nervously around.

Contrasting with this are the booming drums of Another All Nighter, while the baleful trumpet leading the crashing cymbals of the End Title is definitely calling time on the night, especially when we cut to the lithe bass on its own.

Does it all work?

It does. Short but sweet, this is a fine set of intoxicating music.

Is it recommended?

It is – with the proviso that you should watch the film, too! Barry Adamson has clearly had a lot of fun here, and his musical versatility brings great colour, humour and unbridled funk to proceedings. An old school pop soundtrack, in the best possible way.

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Published post no.2,789 – Thursday 5 February 2026