The whole 15-track show from Geoff's farewell gigs at The Marquee, London - November 1983. Remastered and lovingly compiled, and presented with a lavish 24-page full colour booklet with brand new artwork, sleeve-notes and photos. This is the brand-new 2021 version, repressed in June with new cover and disc artwork.
Includes unlimited streaming of Live And Let Live - 2021
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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Once described as a ‘melting pot for ideas that wouldn’t fit anywhere else’, Sequences soon became a fixture in our live set, and a firm favourite with the fans. Over the years it varied in length from just under 10 minutes (SKAN Demos) to well over 20 minutes, with live versions released on both Live At The Target and Live And Let Live albums.
Although named Sequences, because it was a sequence of musical ideas, we felt that it had developed into a coherent and moving piece of instrumental music, which the live recording on the Target album bears out. But then Geoff wrote and sang his lyrics and the piece took on a whole new meaning. We felt the instrumental version made musical sense, but Geoff’s words elevated it to another level. To write such a compelling lyric and then weave it into the existing music as if they were always meant for each other is another example of Geoff’s remarkable tenant and legacy.
When looking for a new vocalist in mid-1981 we used Geoff’s version of Sequences (a home-recording of him singing over the Target version) as our yardstick to judge the applicants. And as we went through the process and finding ourselves unable to find anyone who could match Geoff’s emotional delivery, we eventually realised that Geoff himself should be our new frontman. A couple of weeks later he made his debut at the Reading Festival in August 1981 coming on in the now famous army uniform to sing Sequences in front of tens of thousands of people!
When we conducted a fan club poll of our favourite tracks back in 1984, Sequences was the clear winner. This wasn’t surprising as it had been the closing number of our live set for the past three years. When Geoff decided to leave the band in 1983, capturing a version of the track with him for posterity was the prime motivation behind recording the farewell shows at the Marquee which became the Live And Let Live album.
GEOFF’S LYRICS
Sequences tells the story of a young man from the Warrington area volunteering for the army at the outbreak of war in 1914, and signing up for the local South Lancashire Regiment. Geoff drew inspiration from the experiences of his wife Jane’s grandfather, Jack Parham, who had served in both World Wars, rising to the rank of Major General. Those of you that have seen Twelfth Night in concert will know that Geoff used to wear an army uniform to perform the song, but what you may not know is that it was an actual war-time uniform belonging to Jack Parham.
The opening words of the song refer the social and peer pressure applied to young men to sign up and ‘do their bit’. Many of you will be familiar with the poster “Your Country Needs You” featuring the image of a pointing Lord Kitchener. Having signed up, for which the applicant was given a shilling coin worth 12d or 1/20 of a pound, our new recruit then comes under the scornful gaze of first the Regimental Sergeant Major and then the Colonel of the regiment. After a sleepless night (or two...) they finally go over the top and into battle. The aftermath of the battle sees our hero surrounded by the casualties of war and questioning what it was all for…
The overriding message of the lyric is summed up in the line ‘if hate and war could solve anything don’t you think they’d have solved it a long time ago’. Talking not fighting... Good can triumph over evil and there is hope for all of us…
Geoff’s belief in love, soon to be crystallised in his embrace of Christianity, is his closing remark at the end of a truly superlative lyric. It is in all senses the perfect conclusion.
lyrics
And it seems my time has passed
Before me until now, in sequences of moments
And now I see this poster, they seem to need me anyway
I'll take the shilling sign
I'll make a positive move, to be an action man
The women seem to want us to go
So I can't refuse,
No, I can’t refuse
So I find myself in a country somewhere
Where mayhem's madman minions all march around a square
Unquestioning obedience is the order of the day
Your friends are coloured khaki and your enemies are grey
The Sergeant Major’s pep talk
"Alright my likely lads, you've left your mums and dads, now
Our glorious leaders start a war, to protect the 'ole of 'umankind that's why they always stay be'ind
What d'ya mean ain’'t it wrong to kill?‘ Not if the top men say so! Where you're going, sonny, general's top chap next to him you're a small piece of crap
If none of us went out of fight,
We'd never prove our side was right would we?
ATTENTION!“
The Colonel’s pep talk
"The front line is a pretty bloody place to be, that's why you go instead of me
Now, I'd hate to send you all off thinking that if you get yours
You're going to fret about your families, so don't.
They'll get some lovely souvenirs
A nice bronze plaque on which will be your name
You'll get free crutches if you end up lame, good God
'Though the numbers of dead will contain many zeros, the survivors will return to a land fit for heroes
Would I lie to you? PRESENT ARMS!“
Put next to a young boy in a knee-deep trench
Whose hand even shakes when he keeps it clenched
We attack tomorrow in dawn's early light
And as this sinks in I'm so scared
I can't wait for it and tonight to be over
It and tonight to be over
"ALRIGHT LADS, OVER THE TOP WE GO!“
I can't take it, I can't make it, I trip, stumbling
Caught in the barbed wire,
Amongst the heat and smoke of the crossfire
It's madness, madness, mad mad mad mad mad mad...madness
On a station platform full of stretchered flesh and bone
Legacy of how easy it is to destroy whatever's grown
Maybe there's a reason, hat is worthy of a name
Just sick illusions I suppose will happen again
Next time they ask for men at least I'm beyond recall
I didn't gain my self-respect, I didn't gain anything at all
If hate and war could solve anything, don't you think they'd have solved it a long time ago?
There's good and evil in all of us
It's up to you alone which you follow
And I know which is my cause from now on
The only one worth sacrifice
The only one I would have remain
When I'm gone, but I'm not gone... Yet!
The flags we weave only deceive
We must believe
We must believe… in love
credits
from Live And Let Live - 2021,
released November 5, 1983
Geoff Mann: vocals, percussion, Andy Revell: guitar, Clive Mitten: bass, bass pedals, keyboards, Rick Battersby: keyboards, Brian Devoil: drums, percussion
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