Alan Klein

Most definitely not to be confused with the other well-known Allen Klein of the '60s (the one who managed <a href="spotify:artist:22bE4uQ6baNwSHPVcDxLCe">the Rolling Stones</a> and later <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a>), Alan Klein was a British musician and composer (born June 29, 1940, in Clerkenwell, London) who first came to notice in 1963 as the lead composer for the soundtrack to What a Crazy World. While he would gain a modicum of attention for his cult album Well at Least It's British -- an album that explored British musical traditions as opposed to American-based blues and country, as was the standard for the most popular English groups of the day -- upon its release in 1964, it was during the re-emergence of "British-ness" in rock in the mid-'90s (i.e., Brit-pop) with such artists as <a href="spotify:artist:0O98jlCaPzvsoei6U5jfEL">Damon Albarn</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:7MhMgCo0Bl0Kukl93PZbYS">Blur</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:13W7XLRXdWeLmIu9vacE1w">Jarvis Cocker</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:36E7oYfz3LLRto6l2WmDcD">Pulp</a> that the work of Klein once again came into vogue. During his own time, Klein shifted his attention from performance to songwriting and back again, save for a brief stint as vocalist for <a href="spotify:artist:4UD9XOagGdElo7BpVzLltZ">the New Vaudeville Band</a> in 1966. Klein did release further singles in the latter half of the 1960s, including a version of <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a>' "Honey Pie," and a number of singles that appeared on Decca in 1970. RPM Records reissued the Well at Least It's British album on CD in expanded form during 2008, with a pair of <a href="spotify:artist:2qFfH4tRlRJtTqPoapoerO">Joe Meek</a>-produced singles and some odds and ends serving as bonus tracks. ~ Chris True, Rovi