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For the Good of the Nation
5 Jun 1981, Fuse Records
Made available as a digital download album in August 2016. |
Leon’s
first album on the Fuse label was a throwback to his very early work,
consisting (mainly) of live performance, recorded by Bill Leader. The studio
work (the opening two songs and the closing one) was done at Leader Sound
Studios in Halifax, the rest being a composite of gigs at Keighley Folk Club
(near Bradford) and the Beyond the Fragments conference in Leeds, with plenty of highly enjoyable audience interaction left in the edit.
Although the bulk of the LP is Leon alone, he is assisted by Roy Bailey, who takes lead vocals on “Let’s Give Thanks” and Frankie Armstrong, who joins in prominently on some of the live cuts. Of the dozen tracks, five can be traced to earlier times, “Stand Firm” stretching as far back as the Vote For Us album of 1964, and much more recently, “Boys Will Be Boys” appearing on a 1980 Canadian LP recorded at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Others date to the early 1970s and there are also three songs new, but heavily based on earlier material (“Simple Simon”, “Money” and “A Question of Numbers”).
This album seems to have appeared simultaneously with the songbook of the same name, and the label also re-issued four earlier Rosselson albums at around this stage. The sleeve design is based on artwork by Peter Kennard, who would later also design the cover image for Leon’s Wo Sind Die Elefanten?. (Kennard in turn may have been influenced by Robert Tressell's observations on how money itself is inherently useless, eg, "And what do they do with their money when they get it? Do they eat it?".)
The album is also notable for including a reading of a poem. Although the earlier "School Taught Me" had been read out on That's Not the Way it's Got to Be, it was published with music; By contrast, "Why Workers Must", on this album, only exists as poetry and is therefore unique in Leon's audio output. (He has penned many more poems however, several of which appear in his songbooks, but this is the only one committed to vinyl.)
Although the bulk of the LP is Leon alone, he is assisted by Roy Bailey, who takes lead vocals on “Let’s Give Thanks” and Frankie Armstrong, who joins in prominently on some of the live cuts. Of the dozen tracks, five can be traced to earlier times, “Stand Firm” stretching as far back as the Vote For Us album of 1964, and much more recently, “Boys Will Be Boys” appearing on a 1980 Canadian LP recorded at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Others date to the early 1970s and there are also three songs new, but heavily based on earlier material (“Simple Simon”, “Money” and “A Question of Numbers”).
This album seems to have appeared simultaneously with the songbook of the same name, and the label also re-issued four earlier Rosselson albums at around this stage. The sleeve design is based on artwork by Peter Kennard, who would later also design the cover image for Leon’s Wo Sind Die Elefanten?. (Kennard in turn may have been influenced by Robert Tressell's observations on how money itself is inherently useless, eg, "And what do they do with their money when they get it? Do they eat it?".)
The album is also notable for including a reading of a poem. Although the earlier "School Taught Me" had been read out on That's Not the Way it's Got to Be, it was published with music; By contrast, "Why Workers Must", on this album, only exists as poetry and is therefore unique in Leon's audio output. (He has penned many more poems however, several of which appear in his songbooks, but this is the only one committed to vinyl.)
Thumbnails (click to enlarge)
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Song list
1. Let's Give Thanks
2. Why Workers Must [Poem]
3. For the Good of the Nation
4. Simple Simon
5. Stand Firm Second version
6. That's the Way the Wheels Turn
7. Money
8. Boys Will Be Boys Second version
9. All You Need
10. Question of Numbers, A
11. As Long As You've Got Your Health
12. Somebody's Stolen the End of My Dream
2. Why Workers Must [Poem]
3. For the Good of the Nation
4. Simple Simon
5. Stand Firm Second version
6. That's the Way the Wheels Turn
7. Money
8. Boys Will Be Boys Second version
9. All You Need
10. Question of Numbers, A
11. As Long As You've Got Your Health
12. Somebody's Stolen the End of My Dream