After a couple of years of rumours about the re-release of this album (July 1992), Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy finally appears as a CD on the See For Miles label.

Linguistic Leprosy could almost be seen as a microcosm of a whole underground scene; as an artist, poet and musician, Lady June acquired a name for herself as an integral part of a musical culture in the late 60s and early 70s which included Gong, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow and Hawkwind. This extended far beyond loyalties to a record label, although the embryonic Virgin empire had its roots in many of these bands, and indeed the album appeared initially on Virgin's offshoot label, Caroline. Indeed it extended beyond even a common musical thread: in a curious twist to the affinities many like-minded artists share, Lady June actually housed many of them in her London flat.

Amongst her tenants was Kevin Ayers, a name which has been closely associated with her down the years, even to them currently both residing in the Mallorcan village of Deia. Ayers it is who is the most prominent collaborator with her on the Linguistic Leprosy project, as the producer and principal musician, although Pip Pyle and Brian Eno also lend a hand.

Lady June has released various tapes through the underground network, and for many years presented multi-media shows around London. Today, only Linguistic Leprosy remains for general public consumption. Reflecting a multiplicity of talents, the album represents a pastiche of ideas, with probably three differing approaches.

The first showcases Lady June's patent poetry. Those familiar with the words of two of her contemporaries, Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, might consider her work to fall between the two; she has honed Allen's talent for wordplay into a much purer form but, like him, retains the same overt tinge of lunacy. Like Gilli Smyth, she is also happy to use the spoken word against a textural backdrop. A good example here is 'Am I', which alternates between song and speech set against a lyrical piano passage.

The second set of songs are more in keeping with her musical company of the time - soundscapes here wonderfully manufactured by Kevin Ayers and Brian Eno. The 'Everythingsnothing'/'Tunion' suite is a fine example of this - the former a drone-like piece featuring a Kevin Ayers sound collage, the latter a collaboration between Ayers and Eno building slowly on a guitar riff much in the style of Gong.

The third style is the one which Kevin Ayers devotees will identify with instantly. Songs such as 'Bars', 'Mangel/Wurzel' and 'Some Day Silly Twenty Three' are all classic Ayers songs; apparently Ayers was sent away with a set of lyrics and asked to write music for the album - the resultant songs have the same tempo and feeling as some of the contemporaneous material from 'Odd Ditties'.

The main impact of the album is to capture the essence of a whole era; here is the spirit of the Whole World, the free expression of the psychedelic movement, the lyrical diversions of Gong and the early Canterbury scene. Linguistic Leprosy should not just be seen as a highly enjoyable one-off exercise in idiosyncrasy - it also stands out as one of the most original albums of its time.

PHIL HOWITT ( Editor of FACELIFT magazine )