LADY JUNE'S "LINGUISTIC LEPROSY" LP KEVIN AYERS EX/M

	£		27
	$		36

  YOU ARE BIDDING ON LADY JUNE's "LINGUISTIC LEPROSY" 1974 ON VIRGIN CAROLINE LABEL. CAT No. C1509. 

NOTE: THIS IS A VERY RARE 1st ISSUE. MATRIX NUMERS ARE: C 1509AB 2U & C1509 B-3U.

ALSO!  INCLUDES ORIGINAL LYRIC SHEET ON STAMPED POSTAGE PAPER!!!!

CONDITION:-

Cover: EX+  MINOR RINGWEAR ON FRONT & REAR, MINOR CREASING (SEE PHOTO)

Vinyl: MINT - SERIOUSLY!

HONETLY, YOU WILL REALLY STRUGGLE TO FIND A BETTER COPY THAN THIS!!

Studio Album, released in 1974

Track Listings

1. Some Day Silly Twenty Three
2. Reflections
3. Am I
4. Everythingsnothing
5. Tunion
6. Tourist
7. Bars
8. Letter
9. Mangel/Wurzel
10. To Whom It May Not Concern
11. Optimism
12. Touch Downer

Review 1

Linguistic Leprosy could almost be seen as a microcosm of a whole underground scene; as an artist, poet and musician, Lady June acquired a name for herself as an integral part of a musical culture in the late 60s and early 70s which included Gong, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow and Hawkwind. This extended far beyond loyalties to a record label, although the embryonic Virgin empire had its roots in many of these bands, and indeed the album appeared initially on Virgin's offshoot label, Caroline. Indeed it extended beyond even a common musical thread: in a curious twist to the affinities many like-minded artists share, Lady June actually housed many of them in her London flat.

Amongst her tenants was Kevin Ayers, a name which has been closely associated with her down the years, even to them currently both residing in the Mallorcan village of Deia. Ayers it is who is the most prominent collaborator with her on the Linguistic Leprosy project, as the producer and principal musician, although Pip Pyle and Brian Eno also lend a hand.

Lady June has released various tapes through the underground network, and for many years presented multi-media shows around London. Today, only Linguistic Leprosy remains for general public consumption. Reflecting a multiplicity of talents, the album represents a pastiche of ideas, with probably three differing approaches.

The first showcases Lady June's patent poetry. Those familiar with the words of two of her contemporaries, Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, might consider her work to fall between the two; she has honed Allen's talent for wordplay into a much purer form but, like him, retains the same overt tinge of lunacy. Like Gilli Smyth, she is also happy to use the spoken word against a textural backdrop. A good example here is 'Am I', which alternates between song and speech set against a lyrical piano passage.

The second set of songs are more in keeping with her musical company of the time - soundscapes here wonderfully manufactured by Kevin Ayers and Brian Eno. The 'Everythingsnothing'/'Tunion' suite is a fine example of this - the former a drone-like piece featuring a Kevin Ayers sound collage, the latter a collaboration between Ayers and Eno building slowly on a guitar riff much in the style of Gong.

The third style is the one which Kevin Ayers devotees will identify with instantly. Songs such as 'Bars', 'Mangel/Wurzel' and 'Some Day Silly Twenty Three' are all classic Ayers songs; apparently Ayers was sent away with a set of lyrics and asked to write music for the album - the resultant songs have the same tempo and feeling as some of the contemporaneous material from 'Odd Ditties'.

The main impact of the album is to capture the essence of a whole era; here is the spirit of the Whole World, the free expression of the psychedelic movement, the lyrical diversions of Gong and the early Canterbury scene. Linguistic Leprosy should not just be seen as a highly enjoyable one-off exercise in idiosyncrasy - it also stands out as one of the most original albums of its time.

PHIL HOWITT ( Editor of FACELIFT magazine )

Review 2

Conjoining music, poetry with visual art was a logical step in the climate of the time and the early 70's saw a variety of gigs by Lady June,writer, painter and eccentric, who in her travels around the Mediterranean had met Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers and
Daevid Allen in the burgeoning hippy scene of Mallorca.

1974 saw the first performances of her 'Uppers and Downers' show in Amsterdam. The poems from thiswould form the basis of ‘Linguistic
Leprosy' and eventually be published by Virgin Books in 1975, sell out and run to a reprint.

A creation of pooled talents unfettered by hype, personality or commercialism, the larger part of the music and production of the album fell to Kevin Ayers whose career was at its most commercially successful.

The gentle approach of 'Linguistic Leprosy', surrounded by his oldest friends, finds him relaxed and enjoying himself.

The diversity of June's vocal delivery is matched throughout the album by a charming and eccentric array of musical soundscapes from the acoustic inputs of Ayers and Pip Pyle to the ambience of Eno and David Vorhaus.

Timeless beyond its genesis, the originality of this work together with its Canterbury connections have ensured the collectable status of 'Lady June's
Linguistic Leprosy'.