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Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy - 1974 - Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy
Born to Russian and Scottish parents, June Campbell Cramer was raised in Plymouth and received a strict education. In the late fifties, she studied at art college, and from the early sixties spent most of her time living in Spain, painting and working as a fashion model. She lived in various other places for a while, including Italy, Greece and the Balearic Islands. It was while living near Palma in Mallorca that her path crossed with the Canterbury school : Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Kevin Ayers were occasionally residing on the island. It was through June that Allen and Ayers met Wes Brunson, the American millionaire who sponsored Soft Machine in their early days. From 1967, her involvement in painting, music and poetry intensified, and her artworks received numerous exhibitions. In 1970, June made a conscious decision that it was time for her to combine the music, visuals and words. This multi-media approach was subsequently developed in her performances, literature and recordings. Her public appearances became more frequent. She gave a talk and played tapes to polytechnic students in London and had several gigs in Britain during 1971, including a brief residency at the Electric Cinema in London. By now she had adopted the name Lady June. Further public appearances were made by Lady June during 1972, including a performance at the badly organised International Carnival of Experimental Sound at London's Roundhouse, with Steve Hillage, Tim Blake, David Bedford and Lol Coxhill, an appearance at the Edinburgh festival, and the 'Fun and Games' gig in London during November with Geoff Leigh, Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe and Gerry Fields. In addition, she performed in London with Henry Cow and a slide show, and during June played a gig with them at Amsterdam's Paradiso. During 1974, Lady June gave her 'Uppers and Downers' show at the Cosmos in Amsterdam. The title was to be used for the booklet of poetry published by Virgin that appeared the following year. Also, there was a solo appearance at Amsterdam's Melkweg, supported by Hatfield and the North with whom she also made many private recordings. Work on her album progressed during the year; the finalised session was released by Virgin on the budget-priced Caroline label in 1974 with the title Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy. Recorded at cost of £400 according to one review, it features Brian Eno (who was also resident in the Maida Vale area of London), Kevin Ayers (who wrote much of the music) and Pip Pyle. It is an adventurous and intriguing kaleidoscope of music and words. 01 - Some Day Silly Twenty Three 02 - Reflections 03 - Am I 04 - Everythingsnothing 05 - Tunion 06 - The Tourisy 07 - Bars 08 - The Letter 09 - Mangel-Wurzel 10 - To Whom It May Not Concern 11 - Optimism 12 - Touch-Downer LINK
