Between Today And Yesterday (Alan Price, Geordie Boys, The Town That Was Murdered, And His Musical Tour De Force)

While I take some time to clear my head from the mid-winter confinement of spending entirely too much time indoors, I offer an extremely listenable, altogether pleasant, and entirely out-of-print recording from Alan Price. The talented Price is perhaps best known for his role as onetime pianist for The Animals and composer of the wonderful soundtrack to Lindsay Anderson's, 'O Lucky Man!' His extremely uneven output over the years has served only to keep his name out of the spotlight, but 'Between Today and Yesterday' remains a high point in his overlooked career. The recording is a heartfelt autobiographical reflection on his upbringing in an impoverished North England shipbuilding community, post-Depression, and an assessment of his then current world view as it relates to his roots. In a slightly conceptual context, Price approaches the matter with the greatest of heart and soul, insight and tenderness, with Side One designated as 'Yesterday,' and Side Two as 'Today.' Given the setting, it's a thoroughly British recording, filled with the hallmarks of the English working class; strains of jaunty music hall numbers, pints of Bitter, bangers and mash, unfiltered cigarettes, and tea with biscuits. The recording was unavailable for some time, and although it was briefly re-released on CD, that too has sadly gone out-of-print as well.

Thom Jurek of the All Music Guide has this to say about the 'Between Today and Yesterday:'

Between Today and Yesterday is considered to be ex-Animal, R&B bandleader, and film soundtrack composer Alan Price's pop masterpiece. Released in 1974 after he won awards for his soundtrack to the Lindsay Anderson film O Lucky Man, Between Today And Yesterday was a humble collection of songs built around Price's growing up in Jarrow, a deeply impoverished area outside Newcastle --- home to heavy industries like coal mining and shipbuilding --- and explores his place in a world where poverty was more the norm than the exception. "Jarrow Song," the album's centerpiece, details the 1936 march by its residents to London to make the government aware of the poor's plight. It is the stuff of British legend and so, now, is Price's song. Generally, Price was an underachiever in the pop world, but this album is a masterpiece. There are no excesses for a mid-'70s concept recording, and the anger and finger pointing is beyond the accusation of self-righteousness. The title track is one of the most moving, songs about aging ever written, and "Look At My Face" is one of the most sophisticated and graceful pop songs from the entire era. Lyrically, Price was in a class by himself, and compositionally, he was more astute than almost all of his British peers -- Elton John and Procol Harum's Gary Brooker excepted.


I've added a few songs from 'O Lucky Man!' that were written in or about the same time as those from 'Today and Yesterday,' and are in the same vein both musically and thematically. Also included is a video that lends a bit of insight into the Jarrow Crusade of which 'Jarrow Song' was written. Please give Alan Price a listen while I enjoy the sun, fresh air and a short break.

Yesterday
1) Leftover People
2) Away, Away
3) Between Today And Yesterday, No.#1
4) In Times Like These
5) Under The Sun
6) Jarrow Song

Today
7) City Lights
8) Look At My Face
9) Angel Eyes
10) You're Telling Me
11) Dream Of Delight
12) Between Today And Yesterday, No.#2

Bonus (O Lucky Man!)
13) Poor People
14) Look Over Your Shoulder
15) Justice
16) My Home Town
17) O Lucky Man!, No.#1

To download, click here.

For more info on Alan Price, visit his website here.