Attila The Stockbroker: 40 Years in Rhyme
Zorch Productions
 

THIS spoken word album by Morning Star columnist Attila the Stockbroker has been launched to celebrate his 40th anniversary as a punk poet. Set to dub reggae music from Kingsley Salmon this is a stunning collection of political poetry relevant to our current times of austerity and privatisation.

Afghanistan gives us a history lesson of the country from the hippy trail of the ’70s, to the time of its socialist government and consequent destruction by US destabilisation paving the way for the Taliban, 9-11 and subsequent wars.

Attila poses the question of how different things may have been if the secular socialists had been allowed to continue with their social programmes and the forerunners of the Taliban and al-Qaida had been defeated before they had begun.

Turning his attention to Britain, Justice for Grenfell/Corporate Manslaughter Dub is an angry polemic about the neglect leading up to the tragedy and the lack of accountability of those responsible.

There are some re-workings of previous poems like Tell Sid (He’d Better Buy a Jumper) railing against privatisation with relevance to the current energy crisis. And there is the classic Every Time I Eat Vegetables (I Think of You) about the people he experienced when he actually did work in a stockbroker’s office.

But there is also some contemporary commentary. No Fascists In Worthing tells a true story of Attila’s own part in Hope Not Hate exposing a Tory councillor who was a secret member of a racist far-right group and Vaccinate!Vaccinate! is a call for us to all to defeat coronavirus and not be taken in by conspiracy theories.

Tenaman also pays tribute to NHS staff in sharing his own experience of being treated for bladder cancer and the need for people his age to check with the doctor if they suspect something is wrong.

Turning his attention to Brexit My Generation is a riposte to The Who’s Roger Daltry and what would seem to be a trend of former rebellious musicians moving rightwards as they get older. This does represent Attila’s frequently stated disagreements in his Morning Star column with the paper’s views on the referendum and its aftermath.

However, there would seem to be some common ground in the sentiments expressed in Take Back Control/Hartlepool Dub where recognising the EU’s corporate nature he understands why working-class communities saw it as a chance to strike a blow in the class war but ultimately, we need strong trade unions to really take back control.

Ending with another re-working of an old poem Andy is a Corporatist this is an enjoyable listening experience combining poetry, reggae music and fierce polemics of the kind we need more of.

Available here, price £10.