Leon Rosselson - Official Website

FUSE RECORDS CFCD024 

Tracks:
Conversation on a Mobile
The Ghost of Georges Brassens
Barney's Epic Homer
Barney's Got a Job Now
A Proper State
When They Ask Me
The Third Intifada
See Life's Road Before You
Like Love
Faslane 365
The Power of Song

"This new album is predictably angry but at times startlingly original and sophisticated. It starts with a well-performed, bitter story about mobile phones, which veers between cabaret and a thoughtful observation on non-communication in a communication-obsessed world. Then comes a song about the great French songwriter Georges Brassens, and a series of political and social comment songs that deal with everything from fame and the consumer society through to death, the Middle East and nuclear disarmament, using an elaborate mixture of stories and musical ideas." - GUARDIAN (See the full article at the guardian.co.uk) 

"Another triumph of the craft of wordsmithery and full of typically nifty and barbed wordplay... Another splendid set" - fROOTS

"He's had a long career but this is one of his best." - MOJO

"The songs on A Proper State, like those throughout his half century of singing and writing, obstinately defy category... The title track excoriates the bread and circus world of celebrity obsession, fashion-fetishism and the 'heart-shaped emptiness' of liposuction and botoxification.... When They Ask Me casts a lyrical-satirical eye on death, whose complete antithesis, Like Love, is one of the sweetest simile sequences imaginable for that indefinable, yet often over-defined, human condition." - SOCIALIST LAWYER

"Rosselson is on great form here and has lost none of those qualities which have made him for so long such a fascinating and uplifting presence: a wonderful ear for melody, a poet's skill with words, a subtle and highly intelligent humour and a brilliant ability to make his theme poignant by concealment." - THE PENNILESS PRESS

"No composer of songs in our native tongue, it seems to me, gets close to his level of eloquence." - COLIN RANDALL SALUT LIVE

FUSE RECORDS CFCD 012 

A stunning new release featuring 15 of Britains finest acoustic music performers singing 15 Rosselson classics.

STILL IS THE MEMORY Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
WHOEVER INVENTED THE FISHFINGER John Kirkpatrick
DON'T GET MARRIED GIRLS Elizabeth Mansfield
INVISIBLE MARRIED BREAKFAST BLUES Barb Jungr
WHO REAPS THE PROFITS? WHO PAYS THE PRICE? 
Chris Foster
STAND UP FOR JUDAS David Campbell
SONG OF THE OLIVE TREE Janet Russell
THE WALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN Martin Carthy
LET YOUR HAIR HANG DOWN Daniela Rosselson
MY DAUGHTER MY SON Sandra Kerr
WILLIAM Roy Bailey
THE MAN WHO PUFFS THE BIG CIGAR Eliza Carthy
JACKBOOT DEMOCRATS Des de Moor
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN Robb Johnson

All songs by Leon Rosselson

'He has the passion of Brel, the commitment of Brecht and the wit of Lehrer.' SONGLI NES

'This is an important album of songs written by England's greatest living songwriter.' THE LIVING TRADITION

'The man is a songwriting colossus'  fROOTS 

14 Rosselsongs ranging over 40 years from around 1963 to 2004: 

Jumbo the Elephant
Song of the Free Press
The Wall That Stands Between
Remembrance Day
General Lockjaw Briefs the Troops
Monsters
Dead Men Never Die
The Enemy's Poised to 
Attack
I Don't Want Your Red, Red Roses
Strange the Things We don't 
Remember
Brass Band Music
Song of the Olive Tree
They Said...
My Father's Jewish World.

With Frankie Armstrong, Bill Amatneek, Martin Carthy, Robb Johnson, Elizabeth Mansfield, Camilla Saunders, Fiz Shapur, 
Jody Stecher & Miranda Sykes.

'... lyrics of genuine wit and poetic value' - DAILY TELEGRAPH, 24 July 2004
                       
 'Buy this album and ruin a dinner party with a heated political debate. Not many people can do that.' fROOTS  - Aug/Sept 2004
       
'Rosselson defines the power, musical eloquence and history of politicised song' - RECORD COLLECTOR Nov 2004

'... he holds the attention through sharp writing that deploys anger, irony and wit in appropriate measures' - THE LIVING TRADITION Sept/Oct 2004

FUSE RECORDS CFCD 007 

- 1. It's just the song 
- 2. Harry's gone fishing 
- 3. Mercenaries
- 4. She came from out of nowhere 
- 5. Postcards from Cuba
- 6. Money matters
- 7. Bad driver
- 8. Child killers
- 9. Sun
- 10. You noble diggers all
- 11. Encore 

LEON ROSSELSON With Roy Bailey, Mark Bassey, Martin Carthy, Paul Jayasinha, Robb Johnson, Claire Lintott, Liz Mansfield, Ruth Rosselson and Fiz Shapur

'His songs unquestionably reveal the sharpest of minds, a wicked sense of fun and, whatever you make of the politics, thought-provoking assumptions and assertions.' - DAILY TELEGRAPH 19 February 2000

'He speaks the unspeakable, articulates the unthinkable, observes the tiny, absurd details that denote a darker, deeper picture. It's brilliant.' - fROOTS November 1999

'...a typically excellent work of wit, wisdom and songcraft.' - TIME OUT October 1999

 

FUSE RECORDS CD CFCD 006

18 of Rosselson's finest and most ambitious songs

- 1. The Ant & the Grasshopper 
- 2. Perspectives 
- 3. They're Going to Build a Motorway ... 
- 4. Plan 
- 5. The Man Who Puffs the Big Cigar 
- 6. Garden of Stone 
- 7. History Lesson 
- 8. Ballad of a Spycatcher 
- 9. Song of the Moderate Man 
- 10. Consider the Majority 
- 11. The Saint 
- 12. No Cause for Alarm 
- 13. Experts 
- 14. In the Park 
- 15. The Last Chance 
- 16. The Rules of the Game 
- 17. Somebody's Stolen the End of my Dream 
- 18. Topside Down Party

'..Rosselson's songs here savagely lampoon over two decades of governmental crassness & corporate stupidity with an acerbic lyricism that has become his exclusive domain' - FOLK ROOTS June 1997

'..arguably the best collection of old material Rosselson has put together yet' - TAPLAS May 1997

'..these re-recordings and originals track back more than 25 years to confirm the reputation of one of the most incisive of British writers and performers. One moment savagely political, the next tellingly funny...' - SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH 28 February 1997

Price: £11

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FUSE RECORDS CFCD 005

- 1. The Heartening Tale of John Pratt 
- 2. Soldiering On 
- 3. Monologue 
- 4. A Very Busy Man 
- 5. The Word Market 
- 6. They Took It Out 
- 7. It Goes On - Intruders 
- 8. The Song of Martin Fontasch 
- 9. Just Like Animals 
- 10. All That is Different is Part of the Dance

LEON ROSSELSON with Martin Carthy, Liz Mansfield, Fiz Shapur, Chris Foster and Sianed Jones

'... a set of riveting songs. Leon Rosselson's integration of words and music is as immaculate as ever and the performances of the supporting cast are superb.' - FOLK ROOTS Jan/Feb 1996

'... a master of barbed eloquence' - DAILY TELEGRAPH 11 Nov 1995

'The most spine-chilling effective cut, The Song of Martin Fontasch, is an emotional roller-coaster of sadness, fear and hope.' - ROCK 'n' REEL Spring 1996

LEON ROSSELSON with grown-ups Chris Foster, Liz Mansfield, Ruth Rosselson and Fiz Shapur and children Amy Dawson, Yolanda Rosselson, Alphonse Ryan, Ella Ryan and John-Jo Ryan.

'Fun songs, sing-along songs and a couple of good stories ensure that this cassette is popular with both children and adults.' - TAPLAS June 1995

'This is a cheerful compilation for children throughout the primary school' - JUNIOR EDUCATION April 1995

'Make no mistake these songs really do work for kids as my victims at Braithwaite and Eastwood schools will testify.' - TYKES NEWS Summer 1995

FUSE RECORDS CFCD004

- 1. Hugga Mugga * 
- 2. Story Line 
- 3. Barney's Epic Homer 
- 4. Boys Will Be Boys* 
- 5. My Daughter My Son 
- 6. Do You Remember?* 
- 7. Abiezer Coppe 
- 8. On Her Silver Jubilee 
- 9. The Ugly Ones * 
- 10. Susie 
- 11. Invisible Married Breakfast Blues* 
- 12. The Years Grow Tall 
- 13. The Invisible Man* 
- 14. Pills 
- 15. Across the Hills* 
- 16. Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party* 
- 17. The World's Police 
- 18. Voices 
- 19. The Voice That Lives Inside You

* Re-recording

LEON ROSSELSON with Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Martin Carthy, Howard Evans, Sue Harris, Sandra Kerr, Steve King, John Kirkpatrick, Liz Mansfield, Fiz Shapur and Roger Williams

'Proof that the art of songwriting is not dead. Occasionally acid flows from his pen but always the end product is thoughtful, witty and provocative.' 
- SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH March 1993

'Another nineteen weighty tracks full of barbed verbiage and challenging assaults on society's preconceptions ... the cuts included here tend to be slightly deeper and harder, exploring rather more imaginative and ambitious degrees of arrangement' - FOLK ROOTS Jan/Feb 1993

'A collection of some of the great moments of vinyl history as recorded by Britain's most witty, funny, poignant and biting lyricist.' 

FUSE RECORDS CFCD 002 

- 1. The Neighbour's Cat 
- 2. The Poet The Wife and The Monkey 
- 3. Wo Sind Die Elefanten? 
- 4. The Juggler 
- 5. Whatever Happened to Nannerl? 
- 6. Song of the Old Communist 
- 7. Where's The Enemy 
- 8. General Lockjaw Briefs The British Media 
- 9. Out of The Fire and Smoke of History

LEON ROSSELSON with Martin Carthy, Liz Mansfield, Fiz Shapur and Dave Swarbrick

'Mary Black and Capercaillie came close but my album of 1991 is Wo Sind Die Elefanten?. As Incisively anti-establishment as ever, Rosselson's eloquent word-play overcomes quarrels with the politics.' - DAILY TELEGRAPH 7 December 1991

'... a challenging songwriter whose work radiates acumen and wit' - Q MAGAZINE December 1991

'On a good day, one of the warmest and wittiest writers in the land with a humour that other acknowledged political writers like Costello and Bragg rarely emulate. And this, I reckon, is a pretty good day.'  FOLK ROOTS January 1992

FUSE RECORDS CFCD 001 

- 1. Tim McGuire 
- 2. Penny for the Guy 
- 3. Palaces of Gold* 
- 4. We Sell Everything 
- 5. Stand Up for Judas 
- 6. Sing a Song to Please Us 
- 7. She Was Crazy He Was Mad 
- 8. Not Quite But Nearly 
- 9. Let Your Hair Hang Down 
- 10. Don't Get Married Girls 
- 11. I Didn't Mean it 
- 12. No-One Is Responsible 
- 13. Still Is the Memory* 
- 14. Whoever Invented the Fishfinger 
- 15. Who Reaps the Profits? 
- 16. It Wasn't Me I Didn't Do It 
- 17. Bringing the News From Nowhere 
- 18. The World Turned Upside Down* 

* Re-recording

LEON ROSSELSON with Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Steve Barry, Martin Carthy, Howard Evans, Sue Harris, Rory McLeod, Simon Nicol, Fiz Shapur and Roger Williams

'Rosselsongs was a revelation, an album I that I could not only listen to but one which was amusing, thought-provoking, well-produced and relevant'
- ENGLISH DANCE AND SONG Christmas 1990

'Pretty much every track on this compilation is a winner, demonstrating not only the famous vicious edge of his songs, but also the funny, the sad and the quirky'
- FOLK ROOTS March 1990

'An excellent selection from seven different albums by one of the most able songwriters of our times'
- TAPLAS April 1990