1. Disrespect
2. The
One
3. Rum
Thunderbird
4. Cold
Cold Ground
5. Fool
To Myself
6. Hot
Dog
7. Sorry
8. Connecticut
9. Congo
Blue
10. Castaway
11. The Last Word
Click on track title to listen, right-click for free download.
* Tom
Robinson: piano, ac.
guitar, programming
* T.V.Smith: acoustic
guitar, backing vocals
* Adam Phillips:
guitar, ac. guitar, backing
vocals
* Jo Burt: bass,
acoustic guitar, backing
vocals
* Tom Fenner: drums,
percussion, backing vocals
Photography
by Del LaGrace Volcano
Sleeve design by Cactus
All titles
composed 1995 by Robinson
/ Phillips / Fenner / Burt (except Disrespect: Robinson
/ Phillips / Fenner / Burt
/ Scott / Lallaman). Publishing: Duncannon
Music
Extra
musical contributions by
Badsha Lallaman: rap
on disrespect
Mark Ramsden: sax
on disrespect and castaway
Al Scott: bass on
disrespect, odd bits of
guitar
Henry Twinch: organ
and some of the piano on
disrespect
Simon Leveller: mandolin
and backing vocals on rum
thunderbird
Jeremy Leveller:
backing vocals on rum thunderbird
Burt Leveller: backing
vocals on rum thunderbird
Badsha
Lallaman appears courtesy
of Debt Records/Detrimental
T.V. Smith appears
courtesy of Humbug Records
Members of The Levellers appear courtesy of China
Records
"Disrespect" is dedicated
to Vlod and "Connecticut"
to Dan Hartman.
SAFER SEX information
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Higgins Trust
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WC1X 8JU
Helpline: 0207-242-1010
Open 12 noon - 10 pm, 7
days a week
UK
National AIDS Trust and the
UK National AIDS Helpline:
0800-567-123
HOT PRESS REVIEW
To
understand "Having It
Both Ways" you have
to know your musical history.
Way back in 1978, Tom Robinson
released an album called
"Power In The Darkness".
An authentic expression
of the zeitgeist of the
late Seventies, it articulated
the nature of the erosion
of civil liberties, the
proliferation of racism,
the rise in unemployment
and social unrest which
came to the fore under the
oppressive aegis of a deeply
unsympathetic Margaret Thatcher-led
Tory government. Famously,
too, Tom Robinson was homosexual
and a vociferous champion
of gay rights. Power
In The Darkness, an
awesome document of its
times, was rightly considered
a classic.
To some extent, the rest
of Robinson's career was
eclipsed by that explosive
debut. As Thatcherism started
to win all the battles and
oppositional forces disappeared
from view, Robinson briefly
hit the spotlights again
when the immaculate War
Baby went to number
six in the singles charts
in Britain, but the FM sound
of the album it came from
alienated many of his fans.
Robinson, it seemed, was
doomed to occupy that marginal
ground between jazzy stubbornness
and sensible AOR.
Unbelievably, however, almost
two decades on, Tom Robinson
has come up with the goods
again. For, make no mistake, Having It Both Ways is the true successor to Power In The Darkness,
as relevant to now as that
debut album was to then.
To begin with, the old anger
is back and it has a sharp
renewed focus and drive.
There's not a weak track
in sight: all are as good
as anything Tom Robinson
has ever composed before.
There's the personal politics
of the reggae-like "Disrespect",
that gets to the core of
the loss of self-belief
in all communities that
have been ravished of hope
and opportunity. Or the
achingly sad "The One",
that could be about any
lonely person you've ever
set eyes on whose life has
passed them by.
"Cold Cold Ground"
crashes and bangs around
like a thunderstorm with
a hangover, as Robinson
hits hard at our lack of
social conscience and fuels
his vitriol with lines like:
The 21st century will be here soon
Fucked in a gutter, howling at the moon
And begging on the cold cold ground.
Having
It Both Ways shimmers
with intelligence and commitment.
It is a superior work by
an exceptional songwriter,
one of those rare records
that astonishes from the
very first listen. If Bob
Dylan, Neil Young or Bruce Springsteen released an album like this,
you'd have been informed
it was a solid gold masterpiece.
But Tom Robinson has always
had either no image at all,
or one that was too ambiguous
to ever court world-conquering
appeal. But I guarantee
you'll have to go a long
way to hear a more vital
record this or any other
year.
PATRICK BRENNAN
©Hot Press,
Dublin
