Records

Leon Rosselson has been performing as a singer and songwriter for over 60 years. For such a lengthy career, choosing only two LP’s worth of material proved to be a difficult task. But, completing the task at hand is exactly what Mr. Rosselson did; personally selecting seventeen career-spaning tracks (and specific versions of those tracks) to encompass a life-long dedication to music for a higher cause. Music that not only entertains, but also helps to enlighten and empower those in the fight for a better world. May the music found in Chronicling The Times continue to encourage and inspire that fight!

The compilation is a companion to Leon’s memoir, Where Are The Elephants?, and is available as a double LP or CD. Both include all the song lyrics. The double LP has liner notes by Robb Johnson. 

Tracklist:

Song of the Old Communist
Stand Firm
Across the Hills
Ballad of a Spycatcher
Flower Power = Bread
She Was Crazy, He Was Mad
Topside Down Party
Rules of the Game
Postcards From Cuba
Bringing the News from Nowhere
General Lockjaw Briefs the Troops
Where Are the Barricades?
Talking Democracy Blues
Wo Sind Die Elefanten?
World Turned Upside Down (Part 2)
The Ghost of Georges Brassens
Stand Up for Judas

“This man knows exactly how to turn good ideas into great songs, and always with such a command of language, whether it is the playful delight in wordplay of She Was Crazy, He Was Mad or the sharp-as-razors anger and analysis of Where Are the Barricades? His songs ask pertinent, not rhetorical, questions.” —Robb Johnson

“In many ways, Leon Rosselson is the embodiment of the original ideals of punk rock. His hair isn’t spiky, but his music is, using fearless wit and political integrity to highlight the hypocrisies of those in power.” —Billy Bragg

Mail order from Fuse Records (UK only)

Double LP: £20 (incl. postage to the UK)
CD: £15 (incl. postage to the UK)

Use the Buy Now button above to order via PayPal, or send your order and a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here.

Order online from PM Press (USA and worldwide)

Chronicling The Times – Double LP Click to order on pmpress.org

Chronicling The Times CD Click to order on pmpress.org

Leon Rosselson has been at the forefront of songwriting in Britain for over 5 decades.  His latest collection (and final recording) features some of his finest songs, ranging from the humorous to the poignant and from the lyrical to the satirical. Stories for our times, musically varied and not a word out of place

Track List:  1. FULL MARKS FOR CHARLIE  2. WHERE ARE THE BARRICADES?  3. LOOTERS 4. BENEFITS  5. SIXTY QUID A WEEK  6. I’M GOING WHERE THE SUITS WILL SHINE MY SHOES 7. LET’S GIVE THANKS  9. REJOICE  8.  MARITAL DIARIES  10. FAIR’S FAIR  11. ACTIVE AGEING  12. PARIS IN THE RAIN 13. THE BALLAD OF RIVKA & MOHAMMED  14. FOUR DEGREES CELSIUS  15.  AT DAWN 

With Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, John Kirkpatrick, Liz Mansfield, Janet Russell and Fiz Shapur.

2 DVD Live Set Now Available!

Leon Rosselson and Robb Johnson 

In this glorious 2 DVD set, Britain’s finest living songwriters are captured
live (on tour in Berkeley, CA), presenting two nights of their original songs,
words, and inimitable performance.

Turning Silence into Song (Disc One) showcases a pair of career-spanning
“greatest hits,” with a suitable sprinkling of new and previously unreleased
material. All introduced and contextualized with a large helping of trade-
mark wit and dry irony.

The Liberty Tree (Disc Two) tells the story of Tom Paine’s extraordinary life,
interweaving Paine’s own words, from his letters and the pamphlets which
made him one of the most influential and dangerous writers of his age, with
extracts from newspaper reports, diaries, letters, and other documents of
the times. The songs of Robb Johnson and Leon Rosselson add another di-
mension to the story, reflecting Paine’s radical ideas and evaluating them
in the context of the 21st century. This unique blend of words and music
challenges received opinion in the same way Paine’s writings did.

Together, herein you’ll find over four hours of the finest contemporary songs,
stories, humor, and observation from the greatest practitioners of the craft.  

 

Price: £15

Postage to the UK included in the price.  

Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below.

 

In the U.S.A. & Canada, this CD can be bought via the PM Press website 

 

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Leon Rosselson has been at the forefront of songwriting in England for 50
years. His songs range from the lyrical to the satirical, from the personal
to the political, from the humorous to the poignant. His best known song,
“The World Turned Upside Down,” has been recorded by, amongst oth-
ers, Dick Gaughan, John McCutcheon, and Billy Bragg (who took it into
the pop charts in 1985) and has been sung on numerous demonstrations
in Britain and the U.S.

Robb Johnson is now widely recognized as one of the finest songwriters
working in the UK today. His songs feature in the repertoires of a wide va-
riety of musicians, from folk legend Roy Bailey to acclaimed cabaret diva
Barb Jungr, and he enjoys a similarly diverse spectrum of critical acclaim.

ACCOLADES

“. . . some of the most literate and well-made topical songs now being
written” —The New York Times [on Leon Rosselson]

“Britain’s finest songwriter since Richard Thompson.” —Venue [on Robb Johnson]

“A highly subversive pairing of two of the left’s most eloquent songwriters.” —Daily Telegraph 

  

Price: £30

Postage to the UK included in the price.  

Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below.

 

“It’s the life work of of one of Britain’s finest contemporary writers – not just songwriters but writers in any form…. The World Turned Upside Down concludes with ‘The Power of Song’, to which this magnificent retrospective is a living testament.” – review in Songlines January 2012

“Sitting here with a four-CD boxed set, including an extensive booklet offering valuable insights into the whys and wherefores of it all…. you not only get the full benefit of his stinging satire , you get a sharp sense of the times for which they were written. This is a remarkable achievement for any songwriter, whether it’s the 17th century stories recounted in The World Turned Upside Down and Abiezer Coppe – sung so powerfully by Roy Bailey – to the modern follies depicted by the likes of They’re Going to Build a Motorway, Ballad of a Spycatcher and The Wall that Stands Between.

…a well-rounded picture of a remarkable artist who’s never taken his eyes off the ball even – or especially – when that ball is bouncing in a determinedly anti-popular direction.” – fRoots May 2012

” …to my mind, one of the best songs ever written is Song of the Olive Tree, about the fate of a tree and the people of Palestine. It’s a song that is at once beautiful, depressing, anger-inducing and, finally, hopeful and inspiring.” – Taplas January 2012

“I’ve sung his children’s songs to my children (and other people’s children) and his grown-up’s songs to my grown-ups (and, more than likely, to other people’s grown-ups) and in the process of singing, have never ceased to marvel at the skill and care of Leon’s writing. We’ll not see his like again, even if we wait for fifty years…” – Tykes News Winter 2011/2012 

“And along with the 4 CDs (the first three covering the best of his output in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and the fourth the 90s/noughties) we have a quite magnificent liner booklet with nearly 80 pages of text and photos. Really informative text on the writing of each song, as there was no need to waste space filling it with song lyrics; if there is a better enunciator of song lyrics than Leon, then I’d like to know where that person is. Every word he sings is crystal clear. “ – The Living Tradition May 2012

“An anarchist Noel Coward” – Irish Left Review (see full text) 

CFCD 068.
Straight from vinyl heaven, a set of sparkling songs from the folk and protest boom of the early 60s; powerful performances from a group featuring Martin Carthy, Roy Bailey & Leon Rosselson, compiled from The Three City Four (Decca 1965) and Smoke & Dust (CBS 1967).

Distributed by Proper Music Distribution.

CFCD 008
Unapologetically challenging and provocative, The Last Chance weaves eight finely-crafted human stories around one of the burning issues of our times: the Israel/Palestine conflict. Songs to move the mind and the heart.

The Song of Martin Fontasch
Song of the Olive Tree (sung by Janet Russell)
The Last Chance
They Said…
Yafa! (lyrics by Mahmoud Salim al-Hout, music by Reem Kelani, sung by Reem Kelani)
My Father’s Jewish World
The 3rd Intifada
Loyal Soldiers.

Distributed by Proper Music Distribution but it may be too controversial for most record shops.

All profits from the sale of this CD go to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

PM PRESS PMA 013-2 – DOUBLE CD RELEASED IN THE STATES NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UK 

“When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property.” –Thomas Paine

The Liberty Tree tells the story of Tom Paine’s extraordinary life, interweaving Paine’s own words, from his letters and the pamphlets which made him one of the most influential and dangerous writers of his age, with extracts from newspaper reports, diaries, letters and other documents of the times. The songs of Robb Johnson and Leon Rosselson add another dimension to the story, reflecting Paine’s radical ideas and evaluating them in the context of the 21st century. This unique blend of words and music challenges received opinion in the same way Paine’s writings did.

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. MY OWN MIND IS MY OWN CHURCH.”

 In the U.S.A. & Canada, this CD can be bought via the PM Press website 

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

Postage to the UK included in the price.  

Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below.

 

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

FUSE RECORDS CFCD004

Songs and Stories for Children

– 1. Skin
– 2. Flying High Flying Free
– 3. My Heterodontosaurus
– 4. Why Does It Have To Be Me?
– 5. Free to Roam
– 6. Questions
– 7. The Vitamin Dance
– 8. One Two Three
– 9. Air
– 10. Don’t Put a Banana in Your Ear
– 11. Bear Story
– 12. Kangaroos Like To Hop
– 13. Song of the Clock
– 14. Ella’s Bedtime Story

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

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 

FUSE RECORDS CFCD 009

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