Leon Rosselson - The World Turned Upside Down: Rosselsongs 1960-2010 (4CD) (2011)

The brilliant Leon Rosselson is underrated only because his ideological leanings don't conform with the mainstream. He has been recording since the early 1960s, and this 4CD overview offers a superlative selection of his oeuvre, including material from vinyl albums that, unfortunately, are ever likely to be reissued in any other format. As a British songwriter, Rosselson is unequalled in the past half century. Much of his oeuvre is in the French chanson mould of Brassens, although he is invariably categorised, not surprisingly, as a folk singer. He surfaced in the early 1960s as Britain's answer to Tom Lehrer – but with a great deal more gravitas. His collaborators over the decades have included Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey, both of whom are well-represented on this collection. My only quibble is that this excellent compilation features his Blair-era revised version of "The Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party" rather than the Hugh Gaitskell-era original, issued on a Topic 10-inch more than 30 years earlier. But that's a minuscule criticism of a set I will cherish for the rest of my life, not least because it includes contemporary songs such as "Where Are The Barricades?" that are year to appear on any regular albums. I sincerely hope ALL of Rosselson's recordings will, before, long, be made available, at least in a downloadable format.

Track List:

CD 1:
01 - Conversation On A Mobile
02 - H-A-N-G-O
03 - Across The Hills
04 - Battle Hymn Of The New Socialist Party
05 - Tim Mcguire
06 - Stand Firm
07 - I Dreamed I Was Walking Alone
08 - Do You Remember
09 - Coming Home To You
10 - Dead Men Never Die
11 - Flower Power = Bread
12 - Palaces Of Gold
13 - Invisible Married Breakfast Blues
14 - She Was Crazy, He Was Mad
15 - The Ugly Ones
16 - Why Does It Have To Be Me
17 - Kangaroos Like To Hop
18 - Jumbo The Elephant
19 - Brass Band Music
20 - Topside Down Party

CD 2:
01 - The Ant & The Grasshopper
02 - One Two Three
03 - The Word Market
04 - Song Of The Mother Xmas Union
05 - They're Going To Build A Motorway
06 - Plan
07 - The Man Who Puffs The Big Cigar
08 - Don't Get Married, Girls
09 - In The Park
10 - It Goes On
11 - We Sell Everything
12 - Let Your Hair Hang Down
13 - The World's Police
14 - On Her Silver Jubilee
15 - Perspectives
16 - Stand Up For Judas
17 - Whoever Invented The Fishfinger
18 - Abiezer Coppe
19 - The World Turned Upside Down Parts 1 & 2

CD 3:
01 - Not Quite But Nearly
02 - Story Line
03 - Jackboot Democrats
04 - Who Reaps The Profits - Who Pays The Price
05 - Flying High Flying Free
06 - It Wasn't Me, I Didn't Do It
07 - Bringing The News From Nowhere
08 - Ballad Of A Spycatcher
09 - Skin
10 - Susie
11 - I Heard It On The Radio
12 - Wo Sind Die Elefanten
13 - Song Of The Old Communist
14 - Whatever Happened To Nannerl
15 - General Lockjaw Briefs The British Media
16 - Out Of The Fire & Smoke Of History
17 - The Voice That Lives Inside You

CD 4:
01 - Sing A Song To Please Us
02 - The Song Of Martin Fontasch
03 - A Very Busy Man
04 - Harry's Gone Fishing
05 - It's Just The Song
06 - Money Matters
07 - The Ghost Of Georges Brassens
08 - The Wall That Stands Between
09 - Like Love
10 - General Lockjaw Briefs The Troops
11 - Postcards From Cuba
12 - Song Of The Olive Tree
13 - My Father's Jewish World
14 - Where Are The Barricades
15 - Talking Democracy Blues
16 - The Power Of Song