Leisure Class
Parents Night at the Leper Colony
Leisureco
Dimitri
Mugianis, who was (is?) the group's leader, was the singer and, along with
Glenn Johnson, drummer, organist and lead vocalist in two of the 20 tracks, the
co-composer of all the songs.
The recordings cover the period 1979-1994. The sound and aesthetic are
predominantly punk, with snatches of new wave, some scattered soul snippets here
and there, a bit of jazz, plenty of serious fun and quite a few lyrics that
mean business. The recordings involve around 30 instrumentalists, playing, among
several things, trumpets, violins and guitars. There are various excellent songs
here: "Thing Called Love", the maladjusted "Zac", the incredible "I Love you
More", a saxophone-featuring punk song of schizophrenic love (!?), the
true-to-its-title "Weekend Punk" recorded in '79, the almost jazz ballad "Sorry
I made you cry", the catchy "It’s all true", the baffling "Jesus" and the
unsurpassable blues/jazz of the 10-minute-long "Ready to Receive".
Put together the (English) Astronauts, the Ex, the Dead Kennedys, the Clash, the Deep Freeze Mice, Frank Zappa, add a bit of jazz, stir with extremely exciting lyrics and there's your ticket for the worlds of Leisure Class! A real find!