Leon’s return to the studio after some years working on live production projects, the first of three fully-fledged collaborations with Roy Bailey was made at his new label Acorn’s own Stonesfield Studios, in December 1974.
The collection is interesting for the fact that the two singers each take lead vocals on their own tracks, Rosselson handling his compositions, Bailey dealing with a sequence of non-originals (but also Leon’s “The Ant And The Grasshopper”). Leon performs a couple of poems on the album, including Adrian Mitchell’s “Time And Motion Study” plus his own “School Taught Me”, read without the original backing chords.
As one looks through the track listing, it is apparent that there is little brand new material here, several of Leon’s own songs originating in his early-1970s period when he was not recording. Only “Coats Off For Britain” constitutes a literally new composition, alongside the two songs which make up “The World Turned Upside Down”. (Confusingly, these latter two, although separate numbers, are not individually billed in the listing.)
The album was re-issued by Fuse Records in 1979. It was then issued in America in 1981 under the title, Songs of Life From a Dying British Empire, with a different sleeve design and extravagant liner notes. This edition was itself re-issued on CD years later, but with extremely poor sound reproduction. It has since been made available for digital download.
The collection is interesting for the fact that the two singers each take lead vocals on their own tracks, Rosselson handling his compositions, Bailey dealing with a sequence of non-originals (but also Leon’s “The Ant And The Grasshopper”). Leon performs a couple of poems on the album, including Adrian Mitchell’s “Time And Motion Study” plus his own “School Taught Me”, read without the original backing chords.
As one looks through the track listing, it is apparent that there is little brand new material here, several of Leon’s own songs originating in his early-1970s period when he was not recording. Only “Coats Off For Britain” constitutes a literally new composition, alongside the two songs which make up “The World Turned Upside Down”. (Confusingly, these latter two, although separate numbers, are not individually billed in the listing.)
The album was re-issued by Fuse Records in 1979. It was then issued in America in 1981 under the title, Songs of Life From a Dying British Empire, with a different sleeve design and extravagant liner notes. This edition was itself re-issued on CD years later, but with extremely poor sound reproduction. It has since been made available for digital download.
"What this record is about is the fundamental decency and creativity of ordinary people and the cruelty of those who press the buttons, who see men as soldiers, children as an investment, homes as properties and aspirations and dreams as a source of profit. It is about the unsinkability of those who have nothing. It is about a society in which there are those who expect only obedience - whether the orders are to die for king and country, to work harder for the national interest or to hail progress in the form of slot machines and motorways - and those who are expected only to obey." - LR (sleevenotes)
"The songs on this record are not by and large for singing on the barricades... what I think these songs do is probe, examine, throw light on the point at which the impersonal world presses on, chafes, tears at, constricts, deadens the personal life. They are songs about people in political situations. They are about trying to be human in the face of an inhuman system." - LR (sleevenotes to US edition, 1981)
"The songs on this record are not by and large for singing on the barricades... what I think these songs do is probe, examine, throw light on the point at which the impersonal world presses on, chafes, tears at, constricts, deadens the personal life. They are songs about people in political situations. They are about trying to be human in the face of an inhuman system." - LR (sleevenotes to US edition, 1981)
Thumbnails (click to enlarge)
Song list
1. School Taught Me
2. Streets of London (words: John Hasted, music: traditional)
3. Time and Motion Study (Adrian Mitchell)
4. I Just Can't Wait (Ian Campbell, John Dunkerley)
5. Coats Off for Britain
6. High in Control Rooms
7. The Ant and the Grashopper
8. The Rose of York (Leslie Hale, Ken Thompson)
9. Plan (That's Not the Way It's Got to Be)
10. They're Going to Build a Motorway
11. Punch and Judy Man (John Conolly)
12. Perspectives
13. The World Turned Upside Down [part 1]
14. The World Turned Upside Down [part 2]
2. Streets of London (words: John Hasted, music: traditional)
3. Time and Motion Study (Adrian Mitchell)
4. I Just Can't Wait (Ian Campbell, John Dunkerley)
5. Coats Off for Britain
6. High in Control Rooms
7. The Ant and the Grashopper
8. The Rose of York (Leslie Hale, Ken Thompson)
9. Plan (That's Not the Way It's Got to Be)
10. They're Going to Build a Motorway
11. Punch and Judy Man (John Conolly)
12. Perspectives
13. The World Turned Upside Down [part 1]
14. The World Turned Upside Down [part 2]