Taken from the album 'Well At Least It's British' 1964 on Decca Records. Written by Alan Klein. Not to be confused with the American manager who is often cited with destroying The Beatles, this Alan Klein was born in London and had been around the music scene since the later half of the 1950’s, playing summer camps and the likes, firstly with The Al Kline Five and secondly in a duo with future Tornadoes guitarist George Bellamy. By 1961, and fed up with singing songs about ‘Memphis, Tennessee’, Klein had struck out on his own and hit the jackpot when Joe Brown covered his song ‘What A Crazy World’, taking it into the top 40 and, in turn, inspiring the 1963 film of the same name in which Klein himself also appears alongside Brown, Marty Wilde and Susan Maughan. 1962 saw him recording the singles ‘Striped Purple Shirt’ and ‘Three Coins In The Sewer’ with Joe Meek and by 63 he’d hooked up with manager Ken Pitt, who went on to manage David Bowie (who clearly knew the Klein album well!), whilst slowly being lauded as a poor mans Anthony Newley. Despite Decca Records objecting to a front cover of Klein standing on a bomb-site, he stood his ground and made his point clear for his sole solo LP, the sardonic and perfectly conceived ‘Well At Least It’s British’ which came out in mid 1964. The album itself not only has the likes of Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan playing their usual roles, but also goes as far as to lambast the current ‘British Invasion’ that was as American as apple pie in favour of British music hall, and all with a healthy dose of cockney humour! Unsurprisingly, the album was barely promoted by Decca and flopped, leaving Klein disappointed, whilst the so-called British Invasion boomed further in it’s wake. Undeterred, Klein moved label (oddly, to Parlophone, home of The Beatles) and released ‘It Aint Worth The Lonely Road Back’ and the brilliant ‘Age Of Corruption’, the later of which mocked the P.F. Sloan penned ‘Eve Of Destruction’ to such a degree that it was pulled from shelves the day after it’s release!!! Disappointed further, Klein drifted around the theatre circuit for a couple of years before joining The New Vaudeville Band under the pseudonym Tristram, The Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood, tasting fame and having hits with ‘Winchester Cathedral’ and the self-penned ‘Finchley Central’. A last stab at fame came in the guise of a cover of The Beatles ‘Honey Pie’ (sure would love to hear this!?!) on Fontana Records in 1969, after which Klein seemingly disappeared from the scene altogether! A cd of the album was released on RPM Records, including bonus tracks culled from early 1960's singles, in 2008 for which Klein contributed, thanking the likes of Damon Albarn for keeping the flame alive, since Albarn himself had cited Klein’s brilliantly British album as a great influence on ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. Sometimes you just can’t win, but at least it’s…I do not own,or claim to own any copyright regarding this recording.