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The Land Of Holy Joy CD​/​DL

by Band Of Holy Joy

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes shrinkwrapped in a gatefold gloss wallet with 8 page booklet. Artwork by Inga Tillere

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Land Of Holy Joy CD/DL via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 70 Stereogram Recordings releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Desperate Ways, Her Art EP, Every Turn Of The Tide, The Darkening Fair, Dark Heart EP, Stereophonic, Longhope, Christmas Again, and 62 more. , and , .

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1.
1. THE LAND OF HOLY JOY Turn north out of the city No escape from sleaze and scandal in the provinces Secrets of the whips laid bare Them gang of men who pray on child in care The sordid vision of a celebrity sneer Whose love of hatred is the thrill of fear I’m living in the land of holy joy / coughing dancing in the lanes I am conniving through the land of holy joy / toxins coursing through my veins Turn east out of the town and head for the sea Watch the sun rise over grey and dirty expanse of water I’ve got to uphold myself in this eeting world Keep my head above the drowning swirl I am picking through the fraudulent bad For proper people a good time to be had I’m living in the land of holy joy / coughing dancing in the lanes I am deriving through the land of holy joy / to find utopia once again Turn west from the sea and head for the wooded hills The sun has set, the night is star bidden and still Oh peace of mind and now begin to see The man I was and the man I can be Turn south again: head towards that city Take on sodium lights that shine without pity I’m living in the land of holy joy / coughing dancing in the lanes I am conniving through the land of holy joy / toxins coursing through my veins I’m living in the land of holy joy / coughing dancing in the lanes I am deriving through the land of holy joy / to nd utopia once again
2.
ISN’T THAT JUST THE LIFE The tattoo on my pelvic bone is fading Fifteen years displayed on the palest skin A fragile stem topped by a simple blue flower It has been with me through the darkest of darkening hours I am gone today but I’ll be here tomorrow, I’ll trade all of my joy for some of your sorrows, I’m a sensitive girl but I’m tougher than you, it has always been this girl who has seen things through, isn’t that just the life Suicide mother gave girls spikey acid drink Children in the street play with brightly coloured looms We float about in a dream then the war is brought home McCann troll found dead in a hotel room I am gone today but I’ll be here tomorrow, I’ll trade all of my joy for some of your sorrows, I’m a sensitive girl but I’m tougher than you, it has always been this girl who has seen things through Teenager stabbed on bus dies in best friends arms Disabled work longer hours because they are grateful Some nights I break I admit I just walk and I cry But I’m going to change this world before I die I am gone today but I’ll be here tomorrow, I’ll trade all of my joy for some of your sorrows, I’m a sensitive girl but I’m tougher than you, it has always been this girl who has seen things through Isn’t that just the life Isn’t that just the life Isn’t that just the life Isn’t that just the life
3.
ALL THE GIRLS ARE WEARING DESERT BOOTS OF PALE AND SUBTLE SHADE All the girls are wearing desert boots of pale and subtle shade All the boys I know still work so hard a hope that never fades All the beggars on the street know the value of what you give Politicians though they really do know what it is to live Everyone they’re staring into phones to pass bus rides away I’m being told I don’t belong I’m clinging on I’m here to stay And in this slick new world I hold on to that old passionate thought That life can be more than cruelty property money fashion and sport, fashion and sport, fashion and sport
4.
MEN WHO DISPLAY A DIFFERENT KIND OF PAIN All his life he’s been in trouble He had to make that work for him Not let others use it against him That’s the way he always thought They say they haven’t got a chance Men conditioned like him Hard men, loud men, tough men Men out of sorts with place and time Men who are born to crime Compelled to the drama and the grime Men who go against the grain The only things that make life worth living are the things that kill Now that makes sense to him And maybe this city has a heart Himself he’s never found it They say they haven’t got a chance Men conditioned like him Hard men, loud men, tough men Men out of sorts with place and time Men who are born to crime Compelled to the drama and the grime Men who go against the grain I tried going straight I just couldn’t make it I saw another chance I just had to take it Nearly died a few times Never had that need to fake it Something inside of me Works best when it is fuelled by hatred He knows he has made mistakes But now he gives you his word All those things The violence, the theft, the deals They’re true But they’re in the past He will give you confessions if you want them You can go over every murder one by one To him, that’s not important, not now But let it go, and watch you run And how your love will last The days of mean and blood and ignorance are over For now
5.
VIOLENT DRUNKEN STRANGERS Sordid vicious world Violent drunken strangers Seedy careworn rooms Full personal service Beaten very badly Shabby cold bus station Desperate aching hungry Fear distress angry There is no real love here Home is somewhere over there A memory of a younger day Passport they have taken away First you have your name Battered out of you Forced out on the game Beaten black and blue And then one day you just vanish Sordid vicious world Violent drunken strangers Seedy careworn rooms I just want to be with my friends Sordid vicious world Violent drunken strangers Seedy careworn rooms Oh for a smile from someone I know Oh tonight if I could just go out dancing
6.
DISCREDITED ART FORM I had begun working on “Violent Drunken Strangers” in 2013. It was a project that gathered brutal build. These fractured sentences came from various inner city and suburban locations. My last great poem had been on temperature-distressed pylons and neglected motorway service stations, but that was quite abstract and I found myself getting bored. I never finished the project. The gritty allure of this assignment kept drawing me back. I had to get to the heart of what these people were going through, as artists that is what we must achieve. The psychic and geographical reference points are blurred. There was no real beginning and I was beginning to think there would never be an end. The work came from need, but it was a need that was distorted by total subjectivity. My subjects, being what they are, and let’s not mince words, were rather shy of me, but I pushed and I probed and soon I was capturing pure rare moments of raw sensitivity. I was onto something good and soon I would publish. Was it an expression of my state of mind during those, needy wanting off-moments? I got very close to my subject, and maybe I overstepped certain boundaries, but the next thing I knew I had woken up in A and E with both eyes missing.
7.
A GOOD CLOSE FRIEND We look for moments of tenderness and humanity To shine through the dark moments This never-ending parade they call the news in our lives I always wanted to just push away, for my spirit just to fly And now my heart is hollowed out My soul is knocked about My dignity has suffered a rout My dreams destroyed throughout The damage caused I can’t say Tomorrow is another day Hope is on the way To help those you have hurt and betrayed We’re going to see what you’re made of then I guess I beat my wings Drank wine with knaves and kings Pushed against constraints Gambled with fate always playing a game Oblivious to hurt or harm and all the same I abused every charm, I lost that game Now my heart is hollowed out My soul is knocked about My dignity has suffered a rout My dreams destroyed throughout The damage caused I can’t say Tomorrow is another day Hope is on the way To help those I have hurt and betrayed We’re going to see what you’re made of then And all the hurt I caused Comes a tumbling in at once on top Louche clouds appear Cold sores on mouths and hard cruel tears One day I will bring this stupidity to an end But right now I need a strong measured drink and a good close friend.
8.
A PLACE CALLED HOME Cleaner air, spectacular views At the things down there that happen on the news Living and lifestyle Close to the heart of the city Virus machine, dream so pretty A place called home That I can call my own Where I can be alone Surrounded by millions of strangers Creative flexible workspace Nothing here to worry me Space to relax, energy efficient I’m being a part of it A place called home That I can call my own Where I can be alone Surrounded by millions of strangers From a native to a hipster I say to you son Take pride in the things you do and never run Don’t be casual in what you throw away You may regret your careless stance some day And it’s not where you’re going but where you’re from That matters around these parts Nothing beats a pure and loving heart And if you tire of my beery platitudes I can just as soon switch to some bad attitude A place called home That I can call my own Where I can be alone Surrounded by millions of strangers
9.
I’M CRASS HARRY I’m an old man I shouldn’t be here I’m out of my depth and bones frail There are four police wrongly arresting me I hit the large one first Before I’m brought down to dirt And they would lock me away Where I would be forced to stay But I would always laugh and crack a dirty joke We’ll see whose spirit gets broke I’m Crass Harry I’m waiting in the reception of the practice They want to measure my blood They will inform me my diet is wrong I will tell them I’m not drinking that much I only saw out the appointment to score some Viagra The doctor then tells me I have some form of cancer They would lock me away I would be forced to stay I would always laugh and crack a dirty joke We’ll see whose spirit gets broke I’m Crass Harry The woman from the council arrived at my door She said they were going to relocate me I would be gone in the morn I said I wanted to die in the place I’d been born She said I had no choice Harry you have not got a voice And they would lock me away I would be forced to stay I would always laugh and crack a joke We’ll see whose spirit gets broke I’m Crass Harry I don’t know where I got the name Crass Harry I was a punk in them days but I never liked Crass Was it because I was working class? That I did not take to the way they portrayed certain things? I don’t know, I never liked the Cockney Rejects either I was out there with the likes of Subway Sect But a bit too obsessed with fighting and sex To ever make the grade as a true cultural outsider of heightened sensibilities and general cool demeanour I beat the cancer by the way How, I couldn’t really say But I’m living proof of those who live in hope Whose spirit just won’t get broke I’ve ended up in a residential support home Some nice older women in here it must be said And I’ve still got those thoughts dancing in my head But though the mind still flies the flesh isn’t able Still, Saturday night, I feel alright, I feel alright, I feel alright…

credits

released September 21, 2015

All songs written, arranged and performed by Band Of Holy Joy.
Recorded at Slowfoot Studios in Forest Hill by Frank Byng.
Produced by Frank Byng and Band of Holy Joy.
Executive producer – Tim Melia.
Mastered at Trace Recordings by Mark Beazley.

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Stereogram Recordings Edinburgh, UK

We are an Edinburgh based record label run by JEREMY THOMS with press and PR by journalist INNES REEKIE.
Artist roster includes LOUISE McCORKINDALE, CHRIS REEVE,
THE VINTAGE CALVINOS, THE CATHODE RAY, JAMES KING & THE LONEWOLVES, ROY MOLLER, ST.CHRISTOPHER MEDAL, THE FABULOUS ARTISANS, BAND OF HOLY JOY, LOLA IN SLACKS, NEW LEAF, MILTON STAR, THE EASTERN SWELL, STOOR and THOSE UNFORTUNATES
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