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A Laugh, a Song, and a Hand-Grenade

A Laugh, a Song, and a Hand-Grenade (Transatlantic TRA 171)

A Laugh, a Song, and a Hand-Grenade
Adrian Mitchell, Leon Rosselson

Transatlantic Records TRA 171 (LP, UK, 1968)

Recorded in 1967 at concerts at the Universities of Bradford and Lancaster
Recorded and produced by Bill Leader
Cover photo and design: Brian Shuel

Musicians

Leon Rosselson, vocals and guitar [1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14];
Adrian Mitchell, spoken words [2, 4, 6-7, 9, 11, 13]

Tracks

Side 1Side 2
  1. [LR] Flower Power = Bread (3.30)
  2. [AM] Take Stalk Between Teeth
    Pull Stalk from Blossom
    Throw Blossom over Arm Towards Enemy
    Lie Flat and Await Explosion (1.45)
  3. [LR] She Was Crazy, He Was Mad (3.48)
  4. [AM] A Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Burial Party (3.18)
  5. [LR] Judgements (3.55)
  6. [AM] An Oxford Hysteria of English Poetry (4.13)
  1. [AM] The Whom It May Concern (1.55)
  2. [LR] Jumbo the Elephant (4.33)
  3. [AM] Ode to an Assassination of President Johnson (1.46)
  4. [LR] History Lesson (2.42)
  5. [AM] Vroomph (2.35)
  6. [LR] Palaces of Gold (3.00)
  7. [AM] To You (2.58)
  8. [LR] The Rules of the Game (3.04)

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14 Leon Rosselson;
Tracks 2, 4, 6-7, 9, 11, 13 Adrian Mitchell

Review

Aisnia Cswica's review is from Gramophone, December 1968:

By complete contrast to the Topic offering is a record that inherits the tradition in a quite different way: as the source of an idiom, and an audience, for a new popular poetry. Where Topic records faithfully the exact detail of traditional song, Leon Rosselson, with as great integrity, re-invents the forms of popular sung poetry in a modern urban style close to Brassens. Here (on A Laugh, a Song and a Hand Grenade, Transatlantic mono TRA171) he joins Adrian Mitchell for 45 minutes of contemporary poetry, half to the guitar, half to a renegade jazz instrument, Mitchell's voice. This is poetry for the ear more than for the page: the timing, delivery and (in Rosselson's case) the excellent guitar accompaniments are part of the pleasure. The performance is as good as the material, but the material has a wider value than this performance alone.