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
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
£12GBPor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
We Are Sane
Geoff Mann: “Is basically about the political machine where people lie through politics in order to get their own way, maintain power through a whole load of half-truths. I was doing some therapy in a local psychiatric hospital, and was struck by the way that ‘sanity’ is as much an institutional reality as it is a personal one. Some people end up being treated for being too sensitive to the outrage, injustice and general madness that surrounds us in the world… the concept of normality inherent within the concept of divide and rule… reigning dogma and cats.”
Jane Mann: “The thing that immediately hits me about this song, as with many of the others on the album, is how well the lyrics have stood the test of time. To me it describes the powerlessness of the individual who is manipulated by the state and the media with half-truths and ‘fake news’ to think they may have a say in their future but in reality they vote against a background of propaganda and downright lies. In the light of Trump and Brexit, the lyrics are extremely prophetic... but then many of Geoff’s poems and songs were.”
Clive Mitten: “The lyrics reference the different forces at play in society – politics, the media, the seductiveness of technology - and how these influence, mislead and manipulate individuals. We Are Sane leaves you with a very strong image. Te deum (laudamus) is ‘god we praise' in the catholic mass. The deliberate misspelling as 'te dium’ is irony given the style and content of the opening. Dictator's Excuse Me starts at the waltz bit just before 'and we are not to blame'. These titles were mine, hence the jokes in them. Of all the memories I have working with the band over the years, that one frantic afternoon when Geoff and I wrote most of We Are Sane is the one I cherish most.”
Andy Revell: “Geoff’s lyric-writing during the development of the Fact And Fiction album was astonishing to me, in a number of ways. The creativity, the richness of the language and the passion are all obvious. But I was also stunned by the confidence with which Geoff not only played with meanings but also imagery and the sounds of the words, from ‘Appetite Angel going down’ to ‘thrum-humming transistor’ in We are Sane, for example. Geoff could also be very economical when it suited the song.”
Brian Devoil: “I always said that anyone who could work ‘lebensraum for megalomania’ into a lyric had to be a genius!”
lyrics
i) Te Dium
In upstairs rooms the meals are eaten
The cars in the garage ready to go-go
Disco baby shed no tear hot light overhead shaking meat meet
Ho ho weekend, ha ha party, moo moo sacred cow
The White House some days on the lawn
Well kept pedigree snap over bones
Surplus requirements appetite angel going down
ii) We Are Sane
Meanwhile below reports flop into the in-trays, in-trays
Meanwhile below reports flop into the in-trays
She stares out of her window, her will is still in bed
She has no memory of herself for care has drained her head
The poster on the billboard says she should paint her lips
Like the smiles on the TV people
Would you file this please Mary?
Would you file this please Mary?
File # 1 "If the thought processes of an individual can be permanently limited to the point of strict conformity to an outside source of thought, the said individual need no longer be considered as such. The enforcement of order becomes possible for anybody with enough power to control what is projected.
See? It's all quite simple...“
"Mary!"
This woman's place is in a home, society has judged
She does not fit official standards and they cannot be budged
There's something in her eyes that says
The struggle’s gone too deep
And there's no comfort in the thought of
Watching acolytes of doubt try hard to fight their problems out
Excess profit has the clout to spread the message
We are sane! Not insane!
She reads about a will to power in papers full of lies
She hears that every time she breathes
Some foreign kiddy dies
She's convinced it's her fault, she's tortured by the strain
As words of judgement pour out of the
Mouths of those who make their mark
By keeping people in the dark
Those who bite worse than they bark are loudly shouting
We are sane! Not insane!
And the chorus says - "It's all quite normal...”
And the chorus says - "It's all quite normal...”
The choruses...
Are happy as they know no different way
Except what they've been told today
Accepting their limited 'truth' and blankly humming
We are sane!
But we are not to blame, we must protect the claim
iii) Dictator's Excuse Me
Praise those who hold power, they shall save the last hour
Using sacred science they can stamp out defiance
File # 2."Technician, we want you to build a component
For each of our workers, to be with them always,
At all time watch closely, so we can keep track of
Their actions, their interests, their morals, their time out.
Some musak to maim them, some fear to contain them.
Policy will judge them, brute forces degrade them.
Practical behaviour, the cleanser, the saviour.
A private vocation has no sense of nation.
The maintenance of power can be so fulfilling,
Just as long as all the slaves are willing.
So this is an order, we must curb thought disorder
With a miniature transmitter, we can Pavlov the litter
And train it to do what we tell it, state surgeon, the seed plant
Thought soon get a new slant.
So tiny a dogma, idea turn to quagmire,
Thrum-humming transistor, a brain-wave insistor,
Closed circuit hypnosis, an inbuilt psychosis,
Not one self expression, deliberate supression.
A cycle to squeeze out, anyone who we doubt
Will must be pliable to be reliable“
Tuned into the media system, picture getting hard to see
How did you end up as a prisoner
When you were supposed to be free?
Oh, wouldn't you like to know?
Lebensraum for megalomania
Endless song with one refrain
All eyes fixed upon the conductor
Baton taps inside the brain…
At least
We are sane!
credits
from Live And Let Live - 2021,
released November 5, 1983
Geoff Mann: vocals, percussion, Andy Revell: guitar, voice, Clive Mitten: bass, bass pedals, keyboards, voice, Rick Battersby: keyboards, Brian Devoil: drums, percussion
great! the knife.... my favorite Genesis song... possibly, yes. but beat the drum is very... And then there were three.... or eleventh Earl of mar (wind & wuthering). Christian Mumford
I remember the excitement when The Sentinel was released having seen the band live a few times before. I loved the album but was aware that there were tracks missing and it had been rumoured that it was to be a double album. To hear all these takes and works in progress takes me right back to the 80's and the buzz of all the new prog that was coming out back then. This is an absolutely essential purchase for any Pallas fan. nuttinikki
A spirited, modern imagining of classic ’70s prog; Pink Floyd vocalist Durga McBroom and Finnish prog icon Jukka Gustavson guest. Bandcamp New & Notable May 10, 2023
Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more pay tribute to the enduring and visionary music of Lou Reed. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 23, 2024
Arrive Alive in Atlantis Tuna in a can (Skipjack 52)... Serve Laks & pump gas at Shell... Thon Hotel in Norway take bitcoin... Flip burgers anywhere in Norway... The Federation came & went... I need to take piano lessons... Move to Sydney... Sing opera... The Royal ballet & the blitzkrieg bop, chart a Marillion single in Belarus. Christian Mumford
The first official outing of the "what would be" Steve Rothery Band. Riccardo Romano was missing with his keyboard wizardry and no singer at all (later Martin Jakubsky of Stillmarillion). Marillion's catalogue was represented by excerpts of instrumental sections where Steve had his solo spot. This is a milestone in the forming of a great band that later became the spokesman of early Marillion era and of course of Steve's solo material. If you want to hear how it all started you have to get this Alessandro Carmassi
