R.D. LAING Life Before Death Orig UK LP Ken Howard Alan Blaikley Avant Garde RD

	£		37
	$		49

** RECORD COLLECTOR **

R.D. LAING

Life Before Death

Original UK LP released on Charisma Records in 1978. Includes printed innersleeve & promo info-sheet.

The first contact between R. D. Laing and the composers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley came about in 1976 when Howard invited him to contribute to a film interview for his documentary series Life Force. At this time Blaikley was training as a psychotherapist at the Westminster Pastoral Foundation, where Laing’s celebrated ‘existential study in sanity and madness’, The Divided Self, with its thesis that madness can be a positive transformative experience, was a required – and inspiring – text. Howard and Blaikley decided to approach Laing again with a view to some form of collaboration – a sort of marriage between music and psychotherapy.

Known for their hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, they had also displayed a keen interest in broadening the scope of pop music, exploring interior and philosophical themes in albums such as Ark 2 (Flaming Youth), Private Parts (Peter Straker) and the eponymous Matthews Southern Comfort. They recall a series of exhilarating meetings at Laing’s house in Eton Road, Hampstead, the first of which took place on Saturday 24 September 1977. Adrian Laing, R. D.’s son, writes in his biography of his father (R. D. Laing, Peter Owen, 1994) ‘The idea being batted around was a serialised TV show or musical of some kind. Ronnie, being imbued with implantation and birth, suggested a sort of ballet involving a dance of the spermatozoa raving and fighting to fertilise the egg.’

This and many other ideas were discussed at long afternoon sessions, invariably fuelled by copious draughts of malt whisky and punctuated by Laing’s accomplished piano improvisations and interruptions by his infants. When the epic spermatozoa extravaganza finally failed to lift off, Laing somewhat tentatively produced a sheaf of battered and much amended poems which he began to declaim in his powerful Glaswegian rasp. These profound, witty and often beautiful expressions of his inner feelings at a time when much of his outer life was in turmoil immediately inspired Howard and Blaikley to devise a wonderfully sympathetic and varied musical counterpart.

Tony Stratton-Smith, the maverick head of Charisma Records, who had launched the careers of artists ranging from the Bonzo Dog Band to Genesis, the Nice and Lindisfarne, was intrigued by the concept and sessions were set up at the Regents Park Recording Company near Lord’s Cricket Ground. Stephen Lipson who has worked with Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Cher and the Pet Shop Boys, engineered and Nic Rowley was Musical Director. The album was produced by the composers.

Tracks Are :-

Side One

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six

Side Two

Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve

Released on 'Charisma Records' in 1978

Catalogue No. CAS 1141

Disc is in EX++ condition

Sleeve is in EX condition (light wear)

Please contact me via Ebay Messages with any questions I will try my best to get back to you as quickly as possible.

PAYMENT BY PAYPAL ONLY FROM NON-UK BIDDERS

IF BUYING MORE THAN ONE ITEM PLEASE WAIT FOR COMBINED INVOICE!!!

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UK 1ST CLASS POSTAGE RATES FOR LPs & 12" SINGLES:

1 LP £3.50
2 LP £3.50
3 LP £3.50
4 LP £7.00
5 LP £7.00
6 LP £7.00
7 LP £7.00

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE RATES TO EUROPE FOR LPs & 12" SINGLES:

1 LP £5.50
2 LP £7.00
3 LP £8.50
4 LP £10.00
5 LP £11.50
6 LP £13.00
7 LP £14.50

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE RATES TO DESTINATIONS OUTSIDE EUROPE (USA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN ETC ETC) FOR LPs & 12" SINGLES:

1 LP £8.50
2 LP £10.50
3 LP £13.50
4 LP £16.50
5 LP £19.00
6 LP £21.50
7 LP £24.00

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POSTAGE RATES FOR 7” SINGLES & CDs:

UK: £1.50 – then £0.50 each extra.
EUROPE: £4.00 – then £0.50 each extra.
DESTINATIONS OUTSIDE EUROPE: £5.00 – then £1.00 each extra

*********DOUBLES COUNT AS TWO*********

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT COMBINED SHIPPING ON ALL 12" VINYL / LPS / 12" EPS / 12" SINGLES - PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY!!!!

We offer combined shipping on all LPs / 12" Vinyls: our shipping rates are listed above. HOWEVER shipping packages that weigh more than 2kg is VERY expensive. Therefore we can only offer combined shipping up to a maximum of SEVEN (7) LPs / 12" vinyls. Any extra purchases will be invoiced, packaged and shipped separately.

***Due to the physical logistics of how I can package orders, I will not combine box sets with other items, I will only package them individually***

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COMBINED POSTAGE FOR DIFFERENT FORMATS will be invoiced at my discretion:

While I am happy to combine (for example) one or two 7” singles into one package with 12” records, sometimes it simply isn’t practical (like if you want me to combine one 12” record with three or more 7” records). I simply do not think that these combinations can be packaged together safely and securely. Therefore these will be invoiced separately as two packages.

IF YOU ARE UNSURE, please contact me before bidding!

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Sorry but I am no longer willing to carry combined transactions beyond two weeks of auctions (see below).

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PAYMENT

I would appreciate payment within seven days of the auction’s end. If you want to bid on more of my auctions ending a week later please inform me. I will wait and issue a combined invoice at the close of the second week’s auctions.

However, I am no longer willing to carry combined transactions beyond two weeks and in these cases would appreciate payment promptly after the close of the second week’s auctions.

I am sorry to have to introduce these measures – I always try to be patient and allow buyers to bid on extra auctions and / or delay payment. Unfortunately some buyers have been stretching out transactions to unacceptable lengths so I feel I have no option but to limit ‘carried over’ transactions to two weeks.