Customer Reviews

O Lucky Man

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was thrilled to discover that this album was finally released on CD. I've worn through numerous copies of the LP, and ever since the advent of the CD, I have been looking for it on CD with no luck, until now!

Like many other folks, I was profoundly moved by the film and music of O Lucky Man. Years later, when my wife finally saw the film I had talked about for so long, she offered the opinion that it was a little boys adolescent fantasy, and in retrospect, I think there is some truth in that. As soundtracks go, O'Lucky Man is in a class by itself. Not a mere aural background to a film, but rather it is an integrated part of the film, the characters, and the commentary.

I still think of it as an amazing bit of work, and was lucky enough to attend a seminar on the movie in Los Angeles, hosted by Lindsay Anderson and Malcolm McDowell, in which we learned among other things that the song "My Home Town" had a sequence of someone attempting suicide, which Travis tries to stop by climbing a rain gutter and effect a rescue, only to have it tear away from the building at the last moment. Anderson discovered that even the original negative of the scene had been destroyed by Warners, who felt that film was too long, and ordered the cut. Anderson joked about the impact of a 3 minute scene on a movie that was already running at a "leisurely pace" and found a first generation print of the scene under his bed. That night was to be the first time the film was to be screened as it was intended. This was not to be, and although he hand carried a print of the scene to be spliced into the film for the night, somehow, it still never happened! Which led to a very funny, and (...)off director howling at Hollywood for it's classic ineptitude. I'm waiting for my VHS copy to arrive to see if the video release has the footage restored. I'm recalling this from memory, about 15 years ago.. So I hope I haven't made too serious a mistake here.

The music however is another matter. The integration of the Alan Price and his band into the film, the strength of the songwriting, made it one of my favorite albums. I was searching for something related to Alan Price, and there it was, a lovely reissue of the soundtrack on CD. Sound wise, this is an open and clean sounding reissue. The album always seemed to be mixed a bit on the low side, and this reissue allows the soundstage to emerge a bit more defined.

Price is an odd musician, he has released albums that celebrated an almost working class take on the music world, and also lovely concept albums like "Between Today and Yesterday," and a great live album "Performing Price," which was just released on CD.

In contrast to former bandmate Eric Burdon, who followed a completely different career path, Price cut wonderful covers of songs like Randy Newman's "Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear" a far cry from his R&B roots.

I really love this album, and I agree with David Kinney in that this work stands on it's own even without the film. Of interest is the updated liner notes by Malcolm McDowell, in which he says that he was amazed that this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award ... my thoughts exactly.

Go ahead, buy this CD.. it's a wonderful bit of work.

Here's a rarity alright...a soundtrack to a great cult film that stands on it's own merit. It is not at all neccessary to have seen Lindsay Anderson's minor masterpiece to appreciate Alan Price's wonderful song stylings. Alan Price had a featured role in the film and many of the songs were performed concert style within the context of the fiim, but they have lost none of their lustre away from the big screen and some 30 years down the line. Ballads, instrumentals, music hall, and good old northern english soul make for an eclectic and thouroughly pleasant listening experience.Top pick; The title cut ,a rollicking good time and a tune Alan's old mates The Animals would have been proud to call their own. Hey, go rent the movie (uh..good luck) but by all means don't pass up the chance to own this wonderful timeless piece of musical inspiration.

The album itself is a mini-masterpiece. The two-star rating refers to this Collector's Choice reissue of the album. Right from the get-go, there are serious problems with background noise/hiss, and it's pretty distracting (and I'd imagine, pretty simple to remove with modern technology). I downloaded the title track from iTunes, and sure enough, their version was crisp and clean. So I figured I had purchased a faulty CD, and ordered another. Sure enough, the same darn background fuzz was there. This is interesting to me, since the Collector's Choice reissue of Alan Price's "Between Today & Yesterday" was devoid of such sound problems.

I'm no audiophile, just a casual music lover, and the sound quality issues on this CD were very noticeable. The remaster needed more noise reduction, or something (and yes, I'm aware that employing too much noise reduction can be detrimental, but go compare the CD and iTunes versions of the title track for yourself to see what I mean).

UPDATE: I sought out the original CD release by Warner Bros., and the background hiss and problems are all gone! So all fans of this album and Alan Price should BUY THE WARNER ARCHIVES CD RELEASE!!!!!!!

"O Lucky Man!" (1973), directed by Lindsay Anderson (with Ralph Richardson, Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren) is a constant source of joy when I watch it again and again. Off I go with Mick Travis (McDowell) in his crazy surreal journey up and down, back and forth, "around the world in circles" along with the Alan Price's band that provide the music commentaries in the traditions of a Greek Chorus or Brecht's Theater. I love his songs to the film very much. It is possibly the best use of a rock soundtrack in a film. I am a proud CD owner and I listen to it constantly - in my car, at work, while exercising. It is short; ten songs only last for 25 minutes but what the minutes they are. Each song, every note and each word feel so perfectly simple and so joyously cool that you can't forget them. For many years, after I saw the film for the first time, I used to sing to myself from time to time, especially if I was sad or confused or would face the important and not easy decisions:

"Everyone is going through changes
No one knows what's going on.
And everybody changes places
But the world still carries on." -
and the song would always make me feel better. Eventually, it has become the important part of my life philosophy.

The most famous and deservingly so is the title song, "O Lucky Man" which was presented in the movie not once but two times, in the opening scene and in the final one. The second rendition is perhaps the best track on the CD, the most memorable scene in the movie and the best performance by Alan Price. I can go on forever about the disc, the songs, their melodies and the lyrics but it is better to hear them once than to try to describe them. They are all wonderful, as much as the film is and the film would definitely not be the same without Alan Price, his band and his songs and instrumental compositions for the film ("Pastoral", "Arrival"). I just want to name the songs and their lyrics:

"O Lucky Man!":
If you have a friend on whom you think you can rely -
You are a lucky man!
If you've found the reason to live on and not to die -
You are a lucky man!

"Poor people":
Someone's got to win in the human race-
If it isn't you, then it has to be me.

"Sell, sell"
Running here, running there
Keep it moving, sonny, don't despair
Because the next one will be, the next one will be, the next one will be, the best one of the year

"Look over your shoulder"
When everything in life seems just as it should be
At last success seems just around the door
Don't forget boy
Look over your shoulder
'Cause things don't stay the same forever more

"Justice":
We all want justice but you got to have the money to buy it
You'd have to be a fool to close your eyes and deny it

"My Town":
Down on the corner of the street
Where I was born we used to meet
And sing the old songs
We called them dole songs

"Changes":
Love must always change to sorrow
And everyone must play the game,
Here today and gone tomorrow-
But the world goes on the same.

And that's what you may learn in the end of your journey to the top of the stairs, to the success:
"Takers and fakers and talkers won't tell you.
Teachers and preachers will just buy and sell you.
When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell-
You'll be a lucky man!"

I caught the movie, O Lucky Man! on television years and years ago, and never knew the actual title. The funny thing was, I only caught a total of fifteen minutes of it. I never forgot it. I was totally unaware of the "trilogy", and of the beautiful soundtrack, until I tried to buy all three movies at the same time for different reasons. If you don't know, "If", "O Lucky Man", and "Brittania Hospital" are the movies, all great. When I saw this movie in total, the first thing that caught me was Alan Price. Not the music, his face. The brilliant stroke was just to have him in it. You are not just listening to music while watching something else. It's Alan Price singing and playing. And he is affecting. There's is something sly, and smart-assed, in his face and lyrics. This sounds like a rave for the movie, which is how I came by it, but the music itself, without aid at all, is so deft and smart in it's own right, that it really only adds to it to see it performed. Every line, from beginning to end, is like Price himself. Most notably, "Look over your shoulder" affects me the most. Musically, it is very sly and very deft. Try to Play it. Lyrically, it is the perfect note for the soundtrack itself. The beginning is all catch-phrases. Happy stuff. And out rolls the happy lines "...there's always someone coming after you". This is, in my opinion, the best that the early seventies had to offer. I agree with the 9/11 stuff, but I think it still belongs in its era. Phil Ochs had already gotten there himself, at a cost to himself, but only Alan Price could have written such great music to match a film like that. Also quite notable are "Justice", a personal favourite, and "changes", a parody of a song that I could not get out of my head for years. I still remember snatches at Baptist churches with my parents and now I only remember Alan's lines, thankfully.
Not forgetting, "my home town", simple but great. "Poor People". very mean to say that poor people just don't understand the way things really work. Half of the album is an instruction book in how to rise above, and forget, the working class. But it is all so clever, and the main theme restates it. It has an open interpretation as well, not my favourite, musically. If you are a fan of movies, it is an uncommon soundtrack. If you are a fan of the seventies, well, who knows? It is the cream of the crop, in my opinion. If you are a music fan or a musician, it is absolutely essential that you buy this album right now and learn from it. By the way, I am going to buy it right now. I only wish there was more of it. But the tracks on it are the crucial ones that you hear(and see) in the movie. Alan Price is an amazing composer and singer(and musician).

this 1973 soundtrack to Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man (the middle part of his trilogy framed by If.....and Britannia Hospital) contains Alan Price's most memorable work since his heyday with the Animals. While the songs very closely follow the travails of young Mick Travis (played by Malcolm McDowell) through his fall and eventual rise, they also stand up quite well without the film's context. Each is delivered with Price's signature Geordie' accent and lyrical references to England's working class. The movie and the trilogy are satires on the British political system and few musicians have tackled the subject matter more brilliantly than Price.

O Lucky Man is one of the great movies of the last half century. It made a star of Malcolm McDowell, but is too often overlooked. The soundtrack by former Animal Alan Price is a bit like a bluesy Randy Newman, had Randy been born in the UK. Cynical, wise lyrics and appealing music to go with it. Sounds as good on my stereo as it does accompanying the movie. Still, you can't "get" the music without seeing the film. Look for this movie!

Glad to see this is finally available (again). It was on CD a number of years ago, only to disappear. I got really lucky when I bought it from a music warehouse I had been doing business with for 20 years. I bought 2 CD's (a Leonard Cohen and a Van Morrison one), and he had a bunch of cutout copies of this, and he sent me it for free! Despite that, if I had to pay 18 bucks for this CD, would I do it? Hell, yes! Every song on it is a gem. Even having 2 different versions of O Lucky Man! is excellent, as they are vastly different interpretations (the 2nd one that closes the album is the most rousing one). This album could stand on its own even if it wasn't a soundtrack (by the way, the film is fantastic as well). I play this CD a lot. It's one of the best soundtrack albums ever. It's Alan Price's most famous work (aside from his Animals work and his cameo in Dylan's Don't Look Back), and it's wonderful everytime you hear it. Buy it now before it goes out of print again. And see the movie too!

The film is a classic, but the music is an integral part of the film and as a result is memorable and unforgettable. One comes back to this classic for any number of reasons. Most recently, I thought of it when Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is marvelous in "The Queen", of course, but she was unforgettable in "O Lucky Man," in a part that fit both her and the era. She was recently on "60 Minutes" talking about her career, and I couldn't help thinking of her wild and wonderfully anarchic personality. Lindsey Anderson, the director, did a wonderful job, but what makes this film stand out is the integration of the film and the music, the film actors and the musicians. They are all there on stage, as it were. The music is used to punctuate and comment of the film. The caustic, cynical view of Alan Price makes the scenes of the film work far more effectively than they would without the striking voice and passion of the musicians. This album is an heirloom, an icon, a treasure.

It might help to watch the film and track how the themes and songs evolve and compliment each other. However, the songs themselves will hold up on their own merit as simple, beautiful melodies with intelligent instrumentation and an exceptional performance by Alan Price. Altough popular music is not always easy to judge on its actual artistic worth, one can sometimes come across a relatively obscure work that can only be judged on its true value. There is something beautiful in the lightheartedness and freedom of the compositions and performances--something profound in the unassuming gestures the songs make.