RD Laing - Track Six

R.D. Laing - Track Six. From the album "Life Before Death" (1978). Charisma CAS 1141.

Life before Death is the result of a collaboration during 1977 and 1978 between the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing (7 October 1927 -- 23 August 1989) and the composers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. It takes the form of a series of sonnets and other poems written and performed by Laing to an original musical score.

The album was recorded at the Regent's Park Recording Company, London, and issued on the Charisma label in 1978. The musical direction and orchestrations were by Nic Rowley. The recording engineer was Stephen Lipson, assisted by Alan Jacoby. The sleeve artwork was designed by Hag.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D._Laing

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• experience

[celestialrailroad]

Why did he go for this inane background muzak, I wonder? At the beginning its like a rant out of a Bergman film -- an 'orgasm of hate' -- over some thumping bit of faceless studio orchestra 'disco'. in 1978 he should have been collaborating with the young Adrian Sherwood: 'RD Laing in Dub'. Imagine that! The use of reverb and echo on his voice later in the piece hints at this possibility, although the way it repeatedly slips into total bathos is priceless, and definitely 'so bad its good'.

[Ivoid2]

@celestialrailroad My understanding is that Ken Howard, who did the music along with his long-time associate Alan Blaikley, was a psychiatrist as well as being a successful songwriter and composer. So I think this collaboration came about via a professional connection on the psychiatric side.

[julesthemadman]

Beautiful. The end makes me cry. Laing always comes across as a bit of a tough guy, but he has vulnerability. I dig this poem big time.

[polecatcontinuum]

Terrific.

[psykos448]

So bad it's good? No! So great it's godlike!

[maw160351]

Just love ir..........

[Testecoeur]

don't you have the other tracks?

[unstoppableachievers]

this is astonishingly good!

[julesthemadman]

@armoredcar3 Cheers. Just found it.

[armoredcar3]

@julesthemadman Website rdlaing-lifebeforedeath has the whole album in sequence.

[julesthemadman]

@celestialrailroad I have the same feeling. I play it most days. Sadly I don't have the whole album, and am reliant on these excerpts, but what we have here gives a picture of as man who was complex and just wanted others to be free and honest - the "congruence" of person-centred therapy taken to an extreme in the face of the politics of experience... Good to see more people are watching this... the Laing message is catching on, folks!

[celestialrailroad]

@armoredcar3 "The music, though, is sadly not quite as wonderful as the arresting, macabre sleeve would suggest. It’s a vaudeville pastiche of styles: reggae, rock, pop, disco, music hall; no genre was safe from the drab dabbling of onetime West End musical arranger Nic Rowley (one of whose other clients was Dame Edna Everage)."