FRANK' S LAMENT (EP)
by BABAL
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumLIMITED EDITION VINYL IN COLOUR SLEEVE PLUS DOUBLE SIDED COLOUR INSERT WITH ORIGINAL ART BY PAUL KOPAL AND ANDY WHITE. INCLUDES 2 21CM ART PRINTS OF THE FRANK'S LAMENT EP COVERS OF THE VINYL AND CD. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
If you live in North or South America click here mrrmusic.com/babal/ to purchase and save on shipping costs from Europe
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 days£10 GBP or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumFULL COLOUR DIG-PAK WITH 4 PAGE COLOUR BOOKLET WITH THE ORIGINAL ART OF PAUL KOPAL AND ANDY WHITE. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
If you live in North or South America click here mrrmusic.com/babal/ to purchase and save on shipping costs from Europe
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 days£6 GBP or more
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GET THE SET - HAVE DIFFERENT COVERS AND ARTWORK /DESIGN PLUS A FREE COPY OF GLOSSOLALIA ALBUM.INCLUDES 2 21CM ART PRINTS OF THE FRANK'S LAMENT EP COVERS OF THE VINYL AND CD. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 daysedition of 10 9 remaining£13 GBP or more
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FRANK'S LAMENT AND THE C.O.C.O.T. VINYLS PLUS A COPY OF THE BREAD AND CIRCUSES CD. INCLUDES 2 21CM ART PRINTS OF THE FRANK'S LAMENT EP COVERS OF THE VINYL AND CD. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 daysedition of 10 4 remaining£16 GBP or more
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PART 2A "THE GLACIER", PART 2B "THE BIG EVERYTHING" AND PART 2C "FRANK'S LAMENT" CD EPs OF THE CIRCLE OF CONFUSION OF TONGUES TRILOGY PLUS A FREE COPY OF THE BREAD AND CIRCUSES ALBUM. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 daysedition of 10 8 remaining£12 GBP or more
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THE CIRCLE OF CONFUSION OF TONGUES CD, PLUS PART 2A "THE GLACIER", PART 2B "THE BIG EVERYTHING" AND PART 2C " FRANK'S LAMENT" CD EPS PLUS A FREE COPY OF THE BREAD AND CIRCUSES DVD. Vocalist Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 - thankfully through extensive chemo and a stem cell transplant she has recovered and the cancer is in remission. Because of this, all profits will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer in the UK.
Includes unlimited streaming of FRANK' S LAMENT (EP) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 daysedition of 10 6 remaining£16 GBP or more
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card
£6 GBP or more
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SYNTHESIS
INNOVATION
EXPLORATION
IMAGINATION
FRANK HAD ALL THESE THINGS, AND MANY MORE.
TONALITY IS NOT JUST A CULTURAL INVENTION BUT A NATURAL FORCE, LIKE GRAVITY SAID FRANK
AND LIKE GRAVITY, FRANK WAS PULLED BACK TO EARTH.
TO FEEL HIS FEET UPON IT – WHICH NEVER FELT RIGHT TO HIM.
HE LIKED TO FLOAT, TO RIDE THE TREE-SHIPS INTO THE CLOUDS
AND HE HEARD STRANGE BIRDS, CRYING IN THE SUNSET.
HE PLAYED RAINBOWS ON HIS STRINGS
HE WAS CAUGHT UP IN THE WHIRLWIND OF SOUND
HE COULD FIND THE KEY,
HE COULD JOIN IN
IF HE COULD ONLY STAY –
BUT HE HAD TO COME BACK NOW AND AGAIN,
BUT HE KNEW THAT REALLY HE WAS A SPIRIT,
AND HIS THOUGHTS BELONGED IN A CRYSTAL BALL
WHERE FATE AND REALITY HELD TEA TO WHICH HE WENT
THIS WAS FRANK’S LAMENT
THIS WAS FRANK'S LAMENT
EXPANSION.
INSTINCT
EMOTION
INTUITION
FRANK HAD ALL THESE THINGS AND MANY MORE
BUT HE DID NOT KNOW THE WAY
HE SAW A KEY, FOREVER TRAPPED IN AMBER, AND HEADED FOR IT.
A DESIRE SO STRONG COULD MELT THIS PRISON, HE THOUGHT.
IT WAS A LONG JOURNEY AND HE WAS TIRED AND TEMPTED BY AVARICE
BUT FRANK’S RICHES LAY TO THE WEST AND HE KEPT TRUE
AND ONE DAY, AS THE SUN SHINES IN A MELLOW TONE,
YOU’LL SEE FRANK ALL ALONE,
AND THE LIGHT THAT COMES FROM HIS EYES WILL POUR FROM THE UNLOCKED DOOR OF HIS HEART.....
(COPYRIGHT: KAREN LANGLEY)
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THE AXE
03:31
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An axe is for cutting and chopping you'll find,
Do not look for things to grind, like gossip at the garden gate, all curdled into liquid HATE.
Take no axe to your neighbours neck, when he clings to opinion like a twisting vine;
Let the blade chop, heavy and keen.
Listen, while he vents his spleen,
He sees the weapon, in the dirt; and bloodied stains upon your shirt....
He will choose to live or die, by his own words of truth or lie!
You need do nothing as the vine creeps up
His throat and head and covers all;
Lost in a forest of his own making; step back into sunlit clearing as choking leaves surround him
Your eyes are STILL, your ears still hearing,
Silence falls upon the LAND,
You take your axe up in your hand
Talk quietly but carry a big stick
Talk quietly but carry a BIG STICK......
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Bones & Blood Rise Up
What kind of people are you, to tell us what to do?
Do you share, do you care, how do you sleep at night?
Can you dream of good, while you sleep?
Take care....................
Bones & Blood rise up ( x 10)
Take my hand and come to the lonely places, where the poor feed and grieve; to the lonely places take my hand and come.......
Bones & Blood rise up (x 20)
Do you stop to think how you behave affects us?
Do you have thinker skin, one that can't protect us?
(musical break)
Do you stop-to think how-you behave-affects us
Do you have-thicker skin-one that can't protect us. (x 10) (to end).
Karen Langley/Rob Williams 13/3/13
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Endless Re-Run Society
What do we want? We want what we had; we don't want the future, and we care little for the journey ahead.
We are content with the big fat, overblown nowness of NOW.
The James Bond-Skyfall world where Adele sings us a hash of old tunes, sewn together with whale-oil lipstick and horse-tail eyelashes.
No equine products have touched our mascara at any stage in its UK manufacture. (It's on the package it must be true!).
Play the movies JA!, the three little pigs call endlessly from the screen, and cannot be terminated - even by Arnie; who has total recall, total recall, total recall, again and again and again and again.
Who needs a second Wizard of Oz - only a country so shattered by sleep deprivation, eyes encrusted with the sour milk of human kindness,
That they cannot find the poppy fields of forgetfulness,
Cannot walk toward the Wizard with hope anymore.
Coz they know that the curtain will reveal a stunted little man in a green suit, lining his pockets,
Who doesn't give a fuck about your latest disaster.
Even our dramas are on loan from the Bank of Eternal Repeats, run by the media corporations.
Early evening entertainment -watch this, watch this - brought to you by Viking river cruises, another repeat, another repeat.
But this time, instead of violent death by axe and fire, we are conquered by luxury.
Overfed, over-entertained, maxed out on desire, and retching on silk cushions.
The rich vomit in private cabins of capitalism; while the poor puke from the dinghies of desolation.
Page 2
But the endless re-run society will always be there to pick up the pieces.
Parliamentary debate continues apace as England carries on, working at 3 jobs to keep 4 people to feed 1 house.
The House of the Rising Slum!
That will always need feeding, that will always take the majority of all you earn.
But in the Garden of the endless re-run society, there is someone playing on the lawn,
Naked, unashamed, growing stronger every day,
The child of time, all-singing, all-dancing
Waiting to step into the limelight.
Maybe this time, the rhythm will be slower. the dancing will engage us all in a beautiful, entrancing Bolero;
That must be learned; step by step, by each and every one of us
Not copied, not rehearsed, unjudged and strictly not an endless re-run, strictly not an endless re-run....
Let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance.....
Crazy paved corporate fun (x6).
Karen Langley/Rob Williams (18/3/13)
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about
PART 2C OF "THE CIRCLE OF CONFUSION OF TONGUES" TRILOGY.
For sheer contrast of tone and rhythms, Babal have pulled off a wonderfully lyrical, yet progressive collection of tunes on this, their latest EP. It’s easy to forget that Karen Langley’s versatility as a vocalist stretches from high-strung belt out avant-garde imagery to the mix we have here of poignancy and rich,lush,satin quality vocalese.
Let’s start with “Bones and Blood Rise up”. The juxtaposition of jazz rhythms featuring Jon Sharps exacting time signatures blends into full harmonic convergence with a great, grounded bass and guitar/synth patterns from the skilful Rob Williams.
Flattery for the half-time, slightly dragging vocal of fragile beauty from Karen – more like lace patterns around the wedding cake, embroidering a powerful central force. But this cake isn’t very sweet and promises some Miss Faversham moments; “take my hand and come to the lonely places, where the poor feed and grieve, take my hand and come”.
This is truly a tale of 21st Century Britain, couched in a jazz-folk polyrhythmic language that crosses the continents. Unusual, unsettling and by the time you get to the final chorus “Do you stop to think how you behave affects us? Do you have thicker skin, one that can’t protect us?” the chilling ex-machina delivery of Karen, underpinned by the mournful, lounging guitar of Rob, leaves a sad twist to a beautifully executed tale of imminent rebellion.
Onto “Frank’s Lament” and from the opening sedate and powerful chords and completely off-kilter vocals, we know we are in for a somewhat different ride. Language and mood hold all the keys in this piece; flurries of wonderful synth oboe and orchestrations abound, illustrating and complementing the fabulous dips and dives of Karen’s outrageously over-prog vocal that borrows angst from Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weil, Dietrich and Nico, amongst others.
But none of those really nails the unique sound and vocal quality that Karen produces on this track. It’s a gorgeous journey as Frank finds he has one foot in the real world and his head floating in the ether. He has put the ladder against the wall and is ready to climb over the top to salvation. Robs guitars draw him up and we go with him, off into the sunset.
“Frank’s Lament” is a mega-prog track of lushness, with vignettes of intricacy and lightness. Three-quarters of the way through you are suddenly pitched into a darker place – never expect a commonplace dream or nightmare in a Babal track; Frank has mood swings.
Entirely different territory for “The Axe”, a plangent folk fable of almost medieval brutality. Karen lulls us into a mysteriously dark description of violence in the forest; who has the axe? What was the crime? Slow, rhythmic drums and music build as the voice progresses, coming right down again to a menacing whispered warning at the end of the song; “Talk quietly, but carry a big stick....” An entrancing oddity pulsing with a dark underbelly.
One of the favourites on this EP has to be “Endless Re-run” – maybe it’s the track that epitomises the Babal world-glance at its most acerbic and zany. “What do we want? We want what we had” is the opening line, and Karen proceeds to whirl us through a broken Britain that has an almost innocent desire (initially) to destroy itself with pleasure and addiction.
As sharp guitars change the backdrop, the story changes, giving vent to the inequalities of the endless re-run society that will always be there to pick up the pieces. Where no-one really cares about you unless you have money – again, Karen recalls a Brechtian view of a community lost in its inability to value anything beyond cash, property and addictive lifestyles. And yet it is funny! It bubbles along with hellish guitars and great rhythms – this world has life and refuses to be squashed! The manicness and elitist madness flows through the song, leaving you excited and exhausted. A stand-out track.
But maybe “Frank’s Lament” is the track that will introduce a whole new audience to Babal’s unique take on the musical story-telling world they inhabit. It would be an invitation worth taking up and maybe a new classification of cross-over genre music could be said to be “Babalesque”; no label, just music. Switch into whichever gear tells the story best – and expect some beautiful music from the centre of the heart.
Kit Pallanto. October 2019
For sheer contrast of tone and rhythms, Babal have pulled off a wonderfully lyrical, yet progressive collection of tunes on this, their latest EP. It’s easy to forget that Karen Langley’s versatility as a vocalist stretches from high-strung belt out avant-garde imagery to the mix we have here of poignancy and rich,lush,satin quality vocalese.
Let’s start with “Bones and Blood Rise up”. The juxtaposition of jazz rhythms featuring Jon Sharps exacting time signatures blends into full harmonic convergence with a great, grounded bass and guitar/synth patterns from the skilful Rob Williams.
Flattery for the half-time, slightly dragging vocal of fragile beauty from Karen – more like lace patterns around the wedding cake, embroidering a powerful central force. But this cake isn’t very sweet and promises some Miss Faversham moments; “take my hand and come to the lonely places, where the poor feed and grieve, take my hand and come”.
This is truly a tale of 21st Century Britain, couched in a jazz-folk polyrhythmic language that crosses the continents. Unusual, unsettling and by the time you get to the final chorus “Do you stop to think how you behave affects us? Do you have thicker skin, one that can’t protect us?” the chilling ex-machina delivery of Karen, underpinned by the mournful, lounging guitar of Rob, leaves a sad twist to a beautifully executed tale of imminent rebellion.
Onto “Frank’s Lament” and from the opening sedate and powerful chords and completely off-kilter vocals, we know we are in for a somewhat different ride. Language and mood hold all the keys in this piece; flurries of wonderful synth oboe and orchestrations abound, illustrating and complementing the fabulous dips and dives of Karen’s outrageously over-prog vocal that borrows angst from Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weil, Dietrich and Nico, amongst others.
But none of those really nails the unique sound and vocal quality that Karen produces on this track. It’s a gorgeous journey as Frank finds he has one foot in the real world and his head floating in the ether. He has put the ladder against the wall and is ready to climb over the top to salvation. Robs guitars draw him up and we go with him, off into the sunset.
“Frank’s Lament” is a mega-prog track of lushness, with vignettes of intricacy and lightness. Three-quarters of the way through you are suddenly pitched into a darker place – never expect a commonplace dream or nightmare in a Babal track; Frank has mood swings.
Entirely different territory for “The Axe”, a plangent folk fable of almost medieval brutality. Karen lulls us into a mysteriously dark description of violence in the forest; who has the axe? What was the crime? Slow, rhythmic drums and music build as the voice progresses, coming right down again to a menacing whispered warning at the end of the song; “Talk quietly, but carry a big stick....” An entrancing oddity pulsing with a dark underbelly.
One of the favourites on this EP has to be “Endless Re-run” – maybe it’s the track that epitomises the Babal world-glance at its most acerbic and zany. “What do we want? We want what we had” is the opening line, and Karen proceeds to whirl us through a broken Britain that has an almost innocent desire (initially) to destroy itself with pleasure and addiction.
As sharp guitars change the backdrop, the story changes, giving vent to the inequalities of the endless re-run society that will always be there to pick up the pieces. Where no-one really cares about you unless you have money – again, Karen recalls a Brechtian view of a community lost in its inability to value anything beyond cash, property and addictive lifestyles. And yet it is funny! It bubbles along with hellish guitars and great rhythms – this world has life and refuses to be squashed! The manicness and elitist madness flows through the song, leaving you excited and exhausted. A stand-out track.
But maybe “Frank’s Lament” is the track that will introduce a whole new audience to Babal’s unique take on the musical story-telling world they inhabit. It would be an invitation worth taking up and maybe a new classification of cross-over genre music could be said to be “Babalesque”; no label, just music. Switch into whichever gear tells the story best – and expect some beautiful music from the centre of the heart.
Kit Pallanto. October 2019
credits
released January 16, 2020
Written and produced by Karen Langley and Rob Williams
Endless Re-Run Society – live recording by Vic Curtis . Recorded at the Bread & Circuses show, Brewery Arts Centre, Cirencester, 30 November 2013 (In memory of John Drummond)
Engineered and mastered by Martin Nichols at The White House , Kewstoke, nr Bristol.
Karen Langley – Vocals. Arrangements
Rob Williams – Guitars. Synthesis
Jon Sharp – Drums
Guest musicians:
The Axe:
Zoie Green – Synthesisers
Endless Re-Run Society:
Paul Smith – Bass
Eric Hej – Percussion
Front cover art: Paul Kopal
Back cover photo by Rob Williams (Headshots by Karen Langley)
Insert Art – Andy White
Head shots – Karen Langley-Harry Collison, Rob Williams- Karen Langley , Jon Sharp - Keith Eglon
Cover coordinator – Ralph Titley (the Funky Bunker, Malvern)
Thanks to Nick Katona and the crew of MRR Records for believing in us.
Big thanks to Marc C Nelson, Javier Mejias, Rebecca Avalar, Rachel Armour, Peter Skov, Jeannie Mattone, Chris Heard, Paul Giblin, Lee Henderson, Martyn Hasbeen, Shaun Histed-Todd, Harry Collison, Keith Eglon, Michael Laws, Chris Gill, Mario Champagne, Robert Brady, Barry Mart, Zoie Green, Ben Balsom
Written and produced by Karen Langley and Rob Williams
Endless Re-Run Society – live recording by Vic Curtis . Recorded at the Bread & Circuses show, Brewery Arts Centre, Cirencester, 30 November 2013 (In memory of John Drummond)
Engineered and mastered by Martin Nichols at The White House , Kewstoke, nr Bristol.
Karen Langley – Vocals. Arrangements
Rob Williams – Guitars. Synthesis
Jon Sharp – Drums
Guest musicians:
The Axe:
Zoie Green – Synthesisers
Endless Re-Run Society:
Paul Smith – Bass
Eric Hej – Percussion
Front cover art: Paul Kopal
Back cover photo by Rob Williams (Headshots by Karen Langley)
Insert Art – Andy White
Head shots – Karen Langley-Harry Collison, Rob Williams- Karen Langley , Jon Sharp - Keith Eglon
Cover coordinator – Ralph Titley (the Funky Bunker, Malvern)
Thanks to Nick Katona and the crew of MRR Records for believing in us.
Big thanks to Marc C Nelson, Javier Mejias, Rebecca Avalar, Rachel Armour, Peter Skov, Jeannie Mattone, Chris Heard, Paul Giblin, Lee Henderson, Martyn Hasbeen, Shaun Histed-Todd, Harry Collison, Keith Eglon, Michael Laws, Chris Gill, Mario Champagne, Robert Brady, Barry Mart, Zoie Green, Ben Balsom
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tags
about
BABAL England, UK
One speaks and a thousand misunderstand
where millions are silent and a thunderous applause erupts
where chatter
overwhelms humility and gossip destroys worlds
the tongues wag, the ears flap and the mind creates a wall
everything has been said but no one has understood
talking with conviction and concluding that knowledge is easy and effects a multitude of expanding smokescreens around truth
... more
discography
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Feb 2024
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