The Tenementals are a band/a collective of academics and musicians that have intrigued me since I first heard of their inception. The bands musical journey since then has been nothing short of outstanding, their thought provoking lyrical take on various significant events from Glasgow’s radical history are often both empathetic towards the protagonists in the stories while being cutting about some of the dark events in Glasgow’s history themselves. And the brilliant wordplay is more than matched by the superb musicianship and sumptuous arrangements which perfectly soundtrack each mini epic.
Die Moorsoldaten
My introduction to the band was their first single (not on the album), a departure from their own songs telling of the radical history of Glasgow, but a release which was firmly entrenched in the same ethos of sharing a slice of radical socialist history with a 21st Century audience. That song was a cover of the anti-fascist 1933 prisoner of war song Die Moorsoldaten (Peat Bog Soldiers), which the band recorded in both English and German, which really fired my imagination while striking a chord with the ideologies, principles and values I hold dear. The song featured in the Ginger Quiff Top 50 songs of 2023 of last year and since then they have released a steady stream of remarkable singles… another non album track, Te recuerdo Amanda (featuring a sublime vocal from Monica Queen), and three singles which feature on the album, A Passion Flowers Lament, Peter Pike or Pink and the soaring epic that is the albums opener The Owl of Minerva.
Unfortunately I have yet to witness the band in their full live glory but everything I have read about their performances suggests a unique and outstanding experience.
A Dear Green Place
So what of the nine tracks that make up the anthology that is Glasgow: A History (Pt I of IV), do they stand up to scrutiny? The answer is of course an indubitable yes. Everyone should own a copy of this record. While residents of the Dear Green Place will relate to much of the album and the tales it tells of the city, whether they are born and bred, have ended up one of our own for whatever reasons (we’re aw Jock Tamson’s Bairns), and whether they love or hate their home, you don’t need to be Glaswegian to appreciate the deftness of the writing and the genius and flair that emanates from these songs, and the keeping alive of the radical history of the no (a) mean city through song.
The album opens strongly with what is perhaps the bands magnum opus, a formidable flight over the city from its centre, the opening lyric “the owl of minerva takes flight at dusk from the Finnieston Crane she flies East” paraphrases GWF Hegel before the owl in question heads around the city North, South and West taking in historic sites from across the city, imparting her wisdom on Glasgow’s chequered history past and present, and the buildings and sites that are there to remind us.
No Pasarán!
Having said The Owl of Minerva is the bands magnum opus, there is absolutely nothing on this album that screams out “filler”, every track earns its place on this quite remarkable of albums. A Passion Flowers Lament may be gentler and more fragile than its album predecessor, but that doesn’t mean the anti-fascist message isn’t as strong, perhaps even more powerful for all that. The song is inspired by the statue of Ibárruri Gómez beside the River Clyde, a memorial to the men of Glasgow who lost their lives fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War…the lyric “once more the jackboot seeks to recruit, pass they shall not, pass they shall not” pays tribute to the belief that it was Gómez who first coined the phrase “No Pasaran”.
Repent or Repair
“Pentimento – The word pentimento is derived from the Italian ‘pentirsi’, which means to repent or change your mind. Pentimento is a change made by the artist during the process of painting. These changes are usually hidden beneath a subsequent paint layer.” National Gallery, London
Once again a work of lyrical artistry, using the word as an analogy in reflecting on Glasgow’s history as part of the British Empire, “A portrait of Empire to repent or repair… Pentimento” soundtracked by a beautifully understated melodious arrangement.
Peter Pike or Pink feels like an uplifting celebration of all the lives of those who were tried for treason and executed or deported as a result of the Radical Rising of 1820 in which many workers went on strike for government reform. The lyrics question what happened to one particular name, as discovered by Professor David Archibald on a walk through Sighthill cemetery during a lockdown, a name listed as Peter Pike or Pink who was deported to Australia, which inspired the song.
At the centre of Universal Alienation is a famous speech by the trade union legend Jimmy Reid, the song which bookends the speech picks out the phrase “we’re not rats we’re human beings”, and musically could have featured on any of the politically charged albums by anarcho-punks Chumbawamba. While musically, Machines for Living feels like a cross between early 80s jangle pop and Scottish Southern Rock a la James King and the Lonewolves, who incidentally also returned this year with one of 2024’s albums of the year.
Past and Present
Post Production mourns a Glasgow gone by, it is a yearningly beautiful lament on the price of progress “we don’t need to make things when it’s all post production”, part spoken word, part sorrowful chorus, like an architectural and industrial Big Hard Excellent Fish’s Imperfect List.
The penultimate song on the album is a quirky and beautifully touching recounting of a life from childhood to old age through the experience of Victoria Park’s Fossil Grove, home to eleven fossilised tree stumps from 330 million years ago. The reflective nature of the lyrics is a graphic realisation of how small and mortal we are in relation to the universe
People Make Glasgow
The album feels like it comes full circle with the closing song, People Make Glasgow, like the opening song The Owl of Minerva, this closing song is another dynamically propelling potent commentary that doesn’t whitewash the dark past of Glasgow, this time focusing on the good, the bad and the quite frankly often ugly people who made Glasgow what it was and what it is today, from Empire builders to Irish immigrants, human exploiters through the Sighthill Martyrs to the Red Clydesiders and everything in between.
In a year that has seen the release of a plethora of excellent albums by bands and acts old and new, this delightfully thought provoking album holds its own and is easily a contender for album of the year. Roll On Pt II …and still the river flows.
The Tenementals are:
Bob Anderson – drums
David Archibald – vocals
Jessica Argo – cello/theremin
Sophie Askew – harp
Ronan Breslin – keys
Jen Cunnion – vocals
Mark Ferrari – bass guitar and vocals
Therese Martin – vocals
Olivia McLean – cello
Lily Mohaupt – vocals
Sarah Martin – vocals
Simon Whittle – guitars and vocals
The Tenementals – Bandcamp