sorting through the vinyl#7 Tom Robinson Band

On rooting through the vinyl vaults today I came across a Tom Robinson Band LP called 'Tom Robinson Band'(Creatively enough!!) and featuring early singles and bits that didn't feature on other LP's a kind of best of and rest of compilation.

Listening through to it again it's a decent listen..it's on the Budget FAME label which suggests it was EMI reissue and features songwriting input from the likes of Peter Gabriel and Elton John plus a Bob Dylan cover.

It's also a product of it's times, say what you like about Thatcher(and trust me I do!!) she did at least inspire the arts if only as a reaction to Thatcherism and this album is rich in protest with tracks showing the TRB's involvement with Rock against Racism , Amnesty international and even gay rights with 'Glad to be Gay'.

Political dissent seems to have died a bit post New Labour and the likes of some of the BRITPOP luminaries happy to pop around to number ten...with a despised coalition in power you would expect more and yet generally things are eerily quiet.

'Glad to be Gay' is worth a listen and a comment as it reflects 'Gay Bashing' which obviously was still taking place in the late seventies when the track first appeared...it's interesting really how Putin's current russian laws have been considered medieval and yet this track plus the Conservatives Clause 28 in the mid eighties show that only a few decades before we were at the same point.

The album is very earnest,very political but with some lightness such as the Elton John co-written disco song 'never going to fall in love(again)' again

As it's a capsule of a time politically it seems a bit dated now even though racism and bigotry are still with us..I guess the difference is that bigotry is now masked in a dislike of ideology to get around the race aspect.....truth is bigotry is still bigotry..and yes there are still some political performers out there though sadly they seem on the outside now...maybe pop and politics don't mix but I can't help think someone should give it a try again soon.

This is a well played piece of vinyl and as such audibly it reflects that these days...however itll be a while till I let it go...